United we stand - (Submitting to and following our shepherds)

Intro- I’ll always remember my last few days living at home. My mom was an emotional wreck and I was very sympathetic… I spent my last days playing “freebird” by Lynard Skinard on repeat in my room. I was so kind.

In my mind, I was ready for life on my own. I had a job lined up for while I was working through college, I knew how to drive, I knew how to buy groceries, I knew how to do laundry (not well, but i could manage) That is basically all you need to get through life so I was ready. That morning came when it was time to leave, My mom was crying, my dad was gleefully loading my luggage in the car. It was was time. I was about an hour away from home when the sinking feeling started to sit in my stomach… I don’t think I’m ready for this.

I never went back home, not even for a summer… But I still needed my parents. I called them constantly, they bailed me out of a few bad decisions. I was starting to learn how much I didn’t know. I miss my dad every day of my life, but possibly the hardest part about him not being on this earth anymore is all the times that I need advice and I wish desperately that I could call him.

Every single one of us, need guidance. Sure we can get through this life, figure out how to pay bills, etc… but there is not a single person here who is equipped to go through this life alone. That isn’t how God designed us, and That is why God blessed us with the church.

No matter how old, or wise we are… We need guidance.

Transition- We want to shift our focus a little this morning to thinking about how much we desperately need our elders. We added to our eldership this morning, but why is that important? We know from passages such as , and that God had a plan for elders, and He has a very specific list of qualifications for these men, but why do we need them? Maybe more important question for us is what is our responsibility to them?

It is easy to simply say that we need to submit to them… I want to spend a few minutes thinking about what that submission looks like.

We need to follow their lead.

We need follow their lead for direction

The very concept of following someone means that they are going somewhere.

This may seem overly simplistic but it’s important that we understand.

Often times we view the elders Job of being something like… Making sure the bills are paid, we have a building to meet in, we have worship services at the right times… basically, maintaining the status quo.

The fact of the matter is, An elder is so much more than a facilitator of a worship service or a building.

Our shepherds are tasked with caring for our souls, which includes taking us where we need to go.

They are to lead us in following God’s Word. God never called His church to assemble for worship, return home, and come back next week, and that be the extent of their “work”

Elders are to lead us in the work.(we have great examples of this here at NW.) They can lead us in new ways of doing that work as well. Their job isn’t to maintain things the way we have always done them, but rather to lead us in ways that will best glorify God. Even if that means changing something that I love. I must follow their lead in the direction that they are going.

We must always understand that the elders are not our standard. The Bible is, It is the elder’s task to keep us focused on that standard.

We need to follow their lead for instruction

The fact of the matter is, we all need instruction. None of us are smart enough to have all of the answers… Unless we are teenagers.

Even an elder doesn’t have all of the answers. That is one of the reasons why God’s word lays out His desire for an eldership that always contains more than one man. The elders are to study together, discuss the issues, and pray together. What you will find, is they make much better decisions collectively than any individual.

When we struggle with things in life that seem overwhelming to us and we just don’t know what to do, Our shepherd’s can instruct and advise us individually.

We need to follow their lead for protection.

Acts 20:28 ESV

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

The fact is, we live in a world that is dangerous. Not just physically, but spiritually. We have men who have agreed to serve God in this capacity and part of their job description is to protect us.

Imagine for a a moment, how daunting of a task that is. In a world that is constantly flooded with sin. movies are filled with it, tv is filled with it, songs are filled with it, our phones are filled with it, and imagine you have a responsibility in that chaos to protect the souls of these people.

In context, of The elders were called to protect the flock specifically from false teaching.

If you walk into any christian bookstore and browse their books, you will find a variety of books all teaching different things, how can we cut through all of that? How can we make sure that we don’t ever get off track in our teaching, and understanding of God’s Word? - We follow our Shepherds.

Why?:Why is it so important that We follow these elders? What if I think differently than them? What if I have ideas that I think are better? What if I disagree with a decision? Why is it so important that I follow them?

It is important because, If you are not following your shepherd’s then you are not following God.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

I have heard people in the past attempt to justify themselves as following God, but not following their elders. It doesn’t work that way.

If I tell my son (my youngest) to help his sister with a job and to listen to her, and he ignores her. He can’t defend himself and say, “Well, I didn’t listen to her, but I listened to you!”

If we refuse the leadership that God is placing before us, we aren’t just rejecting those men. We are rejecting God.

The people that have the hardest time submitting to an eldership are those who have never fully submitted to God.