The Role Of Elder
Notes
Transcript
Good morning!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
I wanted to take a minute this morning and layout for you what we will be doing for the next month or so.
Before we begin the study of the book of Hebrews, there are a couple of other things we need to take care of.
We are going to spend the next few weeks talking about eldership and then on Jan 17 we will have our State of the Church/Vision casting Sunday.
In praying about when to take care of these things, I felt led to start with learning and talking about eldership.
This is fairly long process and the goal isn’t necessarily to affirm new elders right at the end, but rather to give us an opportunity to begin thinking and praying about it.
Then, as the Lord leads, we will walk through the process of affirming and ordination of elders.
We will dig into that process a little later in this mini-series, but I wanted you to know what to expect.
Eldership affects all of us because they are the ones that are tasked with leading the church.
For that reason, I want you to fully understand where we are in the process and to understand how the process works.
To start talking about elders, it is good for us to understand why we have elders and what their biblical role has been.
I want to start today with a brief introduction to the...
The cultural and historical context of Elders.
The cultural and historical context of Elders.
We see scripture refer to elders in Genesis and pretty much through the rest of the bible.
From an OT perspective, an Elder was a person with authority and he was entitled to respect and reverence.
Typically due to age and status in the family.
This wasn’t just common in Israel, but also in most other cultures surrounding Israel.
We see them mentioned in Genesis 50 when Joseph goes to bury his dad.
7 Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him,
We also see elders referred to as men holding and serving in a political role.
7 The elders of Moab and Midian departed with fees for divination in hand. They came to Balaam and reported Balak’s words to him.
The elders were the leaders of the people and served in that capacity whether it was something localized to their families or on behalf of the people as a whole.
They would gather together as a representation of the whole and make decisions for the whole people group.
We see God tell Moses to go and gather the elders of the Hebrews in Egypt.
They were not yet the “Tribes of Israel”, but there was an established leadership among them.
These men held a place of authority in the lives of the Hebrew people.
By talking to the elders, Moses was able to share God’s message with all the people.
The word would go through these men, and out to their families.
The “elders of Israel” held a rank among the people indicative of authority. Moses opened his commission to them (Ex. 3:16). They attended Moses on all important occasions. Seventy of them attended on him at the giving of the law (Ex. 24:1). Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.
16 “Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.
Moses also uses these men to help him when Moses was presenting the Law of God to the people.
Their participation modeled obedience to the people.
Their affirmation gave the people the encouragement to follow.
1 Then he said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders, and bow in worship at a distance.
The elder was a keystone figure in the social and political fabric in the daily life of the nation of Israel.
This is true of many far eastern cultures today.
In all of these examples, these men were appointed by their families.
They were the decision-makers in their families and if you wanted anything to take place, you had to have their approval.
This is still true in many cultures today.
I went through training for selling gas pumps to what the gas industry calls the Emerging Network Partners.
In order to successfully sell to a culture in an elder led model, I needed to understand how that culture works.
I may do business with a few people from the same family, but they may not be the final decision maker.
Part of my job is to build a relationship with the customer so that I can learn the family dynamic.
Without that understanding, I can’t be successful because the person that I’m speaking with isn’t the one that can decide on the deal.
That system works very well for those families, and until I understand the dynamics, I won’t be successful.
As we think about what an elder is, we must look at their historical role to gain the correct perspective.
It is important for us to understand the significant role these men played in daily life.
The elder was relied on for wisdom, leadership, provision, and justice.
It was understood that the elders would lead with the good of the entire family in mind.
There was the expectation that any decision that was being made by the elders would be mutually beneficial for the people.
All of this was based around a family model.
Typically, your elder was a family member.
He was someone you knew and loved and he knew and loved you.
The role of Elders changed during the Babylonian exile.
The role of Elders changed during the Babylonian exile.
Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology The Intertestamental Period > Elder
The office of elder survived the Babylonian exile, but not without change. As previously, elders were in positions of leadership both in the homeland (Ezra 10:14) and Babylon (Jer. 29:1; Ezek. 8:1; 14:1; 20:1, 3).
14 Let our leaders represent the entire assembly. Then let all those in our towns who have married foreign women come at appointed times, together with the elders and judges of each town, in order to avert the fierce anger of our God concerning this matter.”
Because of war, the death that is involved, and the separation of families during exile, the concept of an elder began to change.
It was a typical tactic of war to separate families and leadership structures in order to subdue people.
If you remove their leadership, they won’t be able to organize and rise up.
The breakdown of the tribes caused there to be great voids in leadership.
Rather than each family having an elder over them, that authority began to shift to affluent and prominent families.
This lead to the emergence of an aristocratic ruling class.
The role of the elder began to take on a very different form because it was no longer based on families, but rather people with wealth and power.
We see the effects of this as we enter into the new testament.
The role of the elder is a vital one, but when the position changed, so did the style and, I would say, the quality of the leadership.
When the intimacy of the family relationship is removed from the equation, it became easy for those in authority to work for their benefit rather than that of those under their rule.
However, even though the roles changed, it was still a vital role in the life of Israel.
I don’t want to imply that all the elders were self-centered or careless with their responsibility, but when we see the elders mentioned during interactions with Jesus, they are lumped in with the scribes and Pharisees.
23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”
We know that these priests and elders protested Jesus because He was a threat to their power.
They controlled everything and Jesus showing up and teaching things differently than them, was messing that up.
57 Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened.
22 saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.”
66 When daylight came, the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the scribes, convened and brought him before their Sanhedrin.
5 The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem
6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family.
7 After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”
8 Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders:
9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed,
10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy.
Do you see the pattern?
Again, it is very possible that there were good elders around and they aren’t mentioned in these passages because they weren’t refuting Jesus.
But, we do see that there were many that didn’t like Jesus stealing their thunder.
In our time in preparation for Christmas, we saw how Jesus came to show us the true nature of God.
In these interactions with the church leaders, Jesus is showing them and those around that they were missing the point.
This is an important lesson for us as we are considering elders.
We will look next week at the qualifications for elders, but we can see through these texts that there was something missing.
Just being influential, wealthy, or old, doesn’t mean that a person is going to be a good elder.
Depending on your church history, you may have had some personal experience with that.
When we talk about elders, we are not just talking about the older people in the church.
We aren’t just asking people to be elders based on worldly talents, wealth, or position.
We are asking God for Godly men who He has called to lead the church.
Let’s look further into the early church and see why and how elders were established within this new context.
1 In those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.
2 The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.
3 Brothers and sisters, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty.
4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
5 This proposal pleased the whole company. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch.
6 They had them stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
7 So the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith.
After the Holy Spirit came upon the church, it began to grow.
Very quickly it became apparent that there needed to be a group of people, whose responsibility was to oversee the church.
This text in Acts doesn’t use the specific word elder, but if you look at the cross-references in verse three, you are pointed to 1 Timothy 3:7 when Paul is listing the qualifications for Elders.
Luke is talking about appointing these men to make sure that the needs of the church were met.
The Christian church was young and realized that there was a need for expanded leadership.
The apostles knew that their role was to preach the word.
We see a clear distinction between the roles of some elders.
In our by-laws, we have language that specifically distinguishes the difference between the fellowship of Elders and a Pastoral Elder.
Both roles have equal authority, but there is a needed distinction.
Having other elders allows me, the pastoral elder, to focus on preaching and teaching the word, and it ensures that the church is following God and not a man.
Any major decisions are made by the elders and not just by the pastor.
The other elders often focus on specific areas of leadership as God leads.
For example, Aaron handles most of the administrative things for the church.
But as a whole, we are all responsible for oversight of the church.
As you guys know, Glen, Aaron, and Jeff have been called by God to TGP Kolin.
While we are currently still operating as Elders over both churches, but this is a temporary arrangement.
In the future, both churches need their own elders.
We are not in any rush, but it is good for us to be asking God about elders.
According to our by-laws, we need a minimum of four elders at each church.
Ideally, we would have seven, but we can operate with four.
It is more important that we have elders that are qualified and called than it is to have a specific number.
Elders played an important role in the life of a church and establishing that leadership was important.
Look with me at Acts 14:21-23
21 After they had preached the gospel in that town and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,
22 strengthening the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith and by telling them, “It is necessary to go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”
23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church and prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
We see that something new is happening.
We see that God is still using elders in the lives of his people, but how they attain that role is different.
The apostles were being led by God to make disciples, which created churches, then appoint elders to led those churches, pray over them, and then entrust them to God.
That means they moved on and made disciples in new places.
We know that they were still in contact with those churches, but they entrusted them with the elders.
We see this again in Titus 1:5-11
5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town.
6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion.
7 As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money,
8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled,
9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of empty talk and deception, especially those from the circumcision party.
11 It is necessary to silence them; they are ruining entire households by teaching what they shouldn’t in order to get money dishonestly.
Paul is reminding Titus of why he was sent out.
There were those in the community that were trying to teach falsely in order to line their pockets.
Titus was tasked with finding and appointing godly men that knew Christ and would follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
We see God using a well-established leadership model but in a new way.
God established Elder leadership in the church.
God established Elder leadership in the church.
Again, a new church is established and Paul leaves Titus in Crete to appoint elders in every town (church).
God is building up the body of Christ by putting Godly people in the role of elder.
In looking at the qualifications of elders, we see many of the same characteristics that were in the Old Testament elders.
The role of the elder was moving back towards what it was intended to be.
God is using a concept that was common and understood but used it in a very intentional way.
The Holy Spirit led the apostles in how to go about putting men in charge of the church.
No longer was a person given that status based on age, familial status, wealth, or political status.
The apostles choose elders through prayerful fasting and the testimony of how they lived their lives.
They needed to know, as they put brand new churches under the leadership of believers, that they were men that represented Christ.
The apostles didn’t just choose anyone to be in charge.
Look at verses 6-9 again.
6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion.
7 As an overseer of God’s household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money,
8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled,
9 holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
The apostles knew first hand that no one but Christ is perfect, however, they were looking for men who were striving to be like Christ.
They need to be able to lead the church with wisdom, in obedience to the Holy Spirit, and be able to protect the church.
This was and is an incredibly big responsibility that required a lot of those serving in that capacity.
It is one that I, nor any of the other elders take lightly.
It is our responsibility to be the under-shepherd.
God is the Shepherd of His church, and we follow his direction in leading it.
TGP has been around for about ten years now, and it is significant to me that we have such incredible fellowship and unity among our members.
I don’t say that to pat myself on the back because I’ve only been an elder for about three years.
What I want to point out is that, since God told us to plant the first church, there have been men in leadership whose sole desire was to be obedient to God.
We joke about this from time to time, but when we have a vote of affirmation from the church, they have always been 100% in agreement with what the Elders have presented.
This happens for a couple of reasons.
The elders don’t move on anything until we all agree that God is moving us in that direction.
Secondly, our members are praying for us and also asking God before they vote on anything.
If we are all asking God what to do, he is going to tell us all the same thing.
This has been significant in my personal spiritual growth.
I grew up in church and all that I had been a part of until TGP, there was little agreement on anything.
Being under the leadership of a group of elders who follow God showed me that what I read about in the new testament was actually possible.
As a young man, I would read Acts and other epistles and wonder why the churches I knew didn’t look like the NT churches.
It was because the leaders and membership, myself included in that, were primarily seeking their own desires.
We were trying to figure out the best way to “do Church” and then after we had all our plans we would ask God to join us in what we were doing.
It has been an incredible blessing to experience the Holy unity that comes from following God.
When we consider someone for eldership, we are seeking men that are committed to pursuing and obeying God in their personal life and in the life of the church.
Next week we are going to dig deeper into the qualifications of an elder.
This week I’m asking all of you to spend some time praying for our elders and I ask that you would begin asking God who he is calling to be an elder at TGP West.