Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Cruciform Shepherd: Authority, Agony, and the Crown of Glory

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The Cruciform Shepherd: Authority, Agony, and the Crown of Glory · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Reform Thinking. It is good to have you with us
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  again. Good to be here.
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  We are opening up a subject today that I think keeps a lot
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  of people up at night. Oh yeah.
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  Especially if they care about, you know, the future of the
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  local church. We're looking at the leadership
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  crisis. And I don't mean that in a
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  vague, sort of abstract way. I mean the specific
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  heartbreaking pattern we keep seeing.
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  Yeah. A leader rises, the platform
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  gets huge. The books sell.
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  And then crash. It's the story that just keeps
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  repeating itself. It is exhausting.
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  It is. You scroll through your news
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  feed and it feels like what? Every other month there's
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  another headline about a pastor falling from grace or a church
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  just imploding because of an abuse of power.
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  It leaves you wondering if the men leading the church are
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  actually shepherds or if they're just, I don't know, corporate CE
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  OS in religious clothing. And that distinction is really
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  where we have to start. We're seeing what one of our
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  sources for today calls the Empty suit phenomenon.
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  The empty suit. Yeah, and you've probably seen
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  this. You have a man with incredible
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  professional Polish. He has charisma.
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  He can command a room. He has the right look for the
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  conference poster. He's got the brand down.
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  Totally. But internally there's spiritual
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  bankruptcy. The tank is just.
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  DRY. So we've traded the biblical
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  standard for a secular one. We want efficiency.
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  We want sparkle. We want the guy who can, you
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  know, scale the organization. We want a product, and the
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  problem is when you build a church on a product rather than
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  a pattern of holiness, well, people get hurt.
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  And that's the heartbeat of this deep dive.
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  We're looking at two sources today, Safe shepherds, elder
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  qualifications as a proven example to the flock, and also
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  the cruciform shepherd. Good stuff.
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  We're going back to the text, one Timothy 3, Titus one first
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  Peter 5 to figure out what a safe shepherd actually looks
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  like. And I have to say, I love that
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  term. Safe.
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  It just changes the conversation, doesn't it?
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  It really does, usually. We ask, is he a dynamic leader
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  or is he a visionary? Can he grow the church?
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  Exactly. We rarely ask is he safe, but
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  that is the mission here, to analyze the office of the elder,
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  not as some corporate promotion, but as a call to cruciform cross
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  shaped service. We have to distinguish between
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  the celebrity leader and the proven example.
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  OK, so let's get into the text then.
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  I think for a lot of people, even just the terminology can be
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  confusing. You go to one church and they
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  have a senior pastor. You go to another and they have
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  a board of elders. Another one has a Bishop.
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  Sometimes it feels like we're just making up org charts as we
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  go it. Can feel that way.
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  But biblically, are these different jobs?
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  That is a common confusion. But you know, when you open the
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  Greek New Testament, the fog really starts to lift.
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  You really only have three specific terms to watch for, OK,
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  you have presbyteros, which you know translates to elder, right?
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  You have episcopos, which means overseer or Bishop, and you have
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  poemen which is shepherd or pastor.
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  So 3 words. Presbyteros, episcopos, poemens.
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  Do they equal 3 different offices?
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  Like is the pastor the guy who preaches the elders count the
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  money and the Bishop runs the denomination?
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  Is that the idea? No, and that is the crucial
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  insight from our sources. These are not three different
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  offices. They're not a hierarchy.
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  They are one single office viewed from three different
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  angles. OK, walk me through that one
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  office 3 angles. So think of it like a gem.
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  If you hold it up to the light and you turn it, you see
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  different facets, but it's the same stone.
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  I like that when the Bible uses the term Presbyterus elder,
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  you're looking at the office from the perspective of.
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  Maturity, OK. Maturity, yeah.
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  It implies dignity, wisdom, spiritual gravity.
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  It's about the character of the man.
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  He is an older man in the faith, even if he isn't, you know, 80
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  years old. OK, so that's The Who.
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  What about the others? What about Episcopose?
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  So then you turn the diamond a bit and you see Episcopose or
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  Overseer that highlights the function of the role.
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  A job description. The job description.
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  It means watchful responsibility.
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  It means looking diligently into the affairs of the soul,
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  guarding the church from error. It's the work of oversight.
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  And the third one, Poyman. The third is Poyman, pastor or
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  shepherd, and this highlights the manner of the work, the how
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  the how it's tender, care, feeding, guiding, protecting.
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  So you don't have a board of directors called elders and then
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  a CEO called a pastor. You have men who are
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  simultaneously mature elders, watchful overseers and caring
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  shepherds. That connects directly to Acts
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  20, doesn't it? I was reading through the source
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  material, Yeah. And it points out this moment
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  where Paul calls the leaders of Ephesus together.
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  Yes, it's a vital passage for this Acts 20 verses 17 and 28.
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  So what happens? Paul summons the elders.
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  That's presbyteros. But then he tells them that the
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  Holy Spirit has made them overseers, Episcopos to
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  shepherd. That's Poyman, the Church of
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  God. Wow.
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  He uses all three concepts in one breath to describe the same
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  group of men. So they're all the same thing
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  they are. So if you're in a church where
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  the pasker is way up here on a pedestal and the elders are, you
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  know, down there just signing checks or something, something
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  is broken in the model. It's a distortion of the
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  biblical pattern, and Peter does the same thing.
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  In First Peter 5, he addresses the elders, tells them to
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  shepherd the flock, and describes them exercising
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  oversight. All three again.
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  All three. Again, this just destroys the
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  idea of a hierarchy where 1 Bishop rules over multiple
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  churches or where a senior pastor rules over a board of
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  elders. It's not biblical.
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  OK, so this brings us to the idea of parody, of equality.
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  I was really struck by how Peter introduces himself in that
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  passage. It's amazing.
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  I mean, here's Peter the Apostle, the rock, the guy who
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  walked on water. You would expect him to pull
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  rank, right? Absolutely.
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  You'd expect him to say I, the Chief Apostle, command you or
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  something like. That.
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  But he doesn't. He calls himself some
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  presbyteros A. Fellow Elder.
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  A fellow elder that's. Wild, and the apostle calls
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  himself a fellow elder. It is a profound statement of
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  structure. Even with his unique Apostolic
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  authority, when it came to the local church function, he
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  identified as one of them. He asserts parody, not
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  supremacy. So this is a theological
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  rejection of what's called prelacy, the idea of a Bishop
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  ruling over elders. Yes, and frankly, it's a
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  rejection of the modern senior pastor CEO model where one man
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  holds all the cards. Let's push on that a little bit.
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  Why is parody so important? I mean, aside from just being
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  biblical, which is obviously the standard.
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  Sure. What's the practice benefit?
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  Why is it safer to have a group of equals rather than one guy in
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  charge? Well, it's a safeguard against
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  tyranny. I mean, as the proverb says, in
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  the multitude of counselors there is safety.
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  We all have blind spots. We all have specific
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  temptations. If one man has unchecked power,
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  his personal weaknesses become the Church's corporate
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  weaknesses. That makes so much sense.
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  So if the guy at the top has an anger problem, the whole church
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  culture becomes angry. Right or if he's greedy, the
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  church becomes about money. But when you have a plurality of
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  qualified men, they balance each other.
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  So they can call each other out. They correct each other.
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  They share the burden. It protects the church from
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  becoming a personality cult. If one man falls, the church
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  doesn't collapse because the leadership was never about just
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  him to begin with. That leads right into the
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  metaphor that defines the role the Ender's peppered.
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  We talked about pastors having a church or my flock.
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  I catch myself saying it all the time.
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  How's your flock doing? We all do.
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  But theologically, that's actually dangerous language if
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  we're not careful. It's incredibly dangerous
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  because the flock does not belong to the pastor.
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  First. Peter 5.2 is so clear.
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  Shepherd the flock of God that is among you.
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  The flock of God. Yes, and Acts 20 says the church
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  was obtained with his own blood. The blood of God's own Son.
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  That is the price tag. The pastor is not the owner.
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  He's a steward. He's managing another's
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  property. That changes the emotional
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  weight of the job entirely. I mean, if I borrow your car,
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  I'm going to drive it differently than if I'm driving
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  some rental I don't care about, right?
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  But if I'm watching over your children, that is a whole
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  different level of responsibility.
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  It should instill a holy fear. It really should.
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  You're not managing a social club.
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  You are caring for souls that Christ died to save.
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  And you will give an account to the owner.
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  That's the biblical identity of an elder.
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  It's not about prestige. It's about protection.
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  It's about stewardship. OK, let's shift gears a little
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  bit to the nature of this authority.
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  So we've established that elders have authority, but it's not
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  unlimited, right? We're coming at this from a
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  reformed perspective, and the Westminster standards use a very
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  specific phrase, ministerial and declarative.
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  Yep. That sounds very academic.
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  Let's unpack that. What does that?
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  Mean, it might sound dry, but this is one of those theological
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  concepts that saves lives, or at least saves consciences.
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  The power of the church is not legislative.
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  That's the key. Elders cannot make up new laws.
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  They cannot invent sins. They cannot say you must do this
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  or you must not do that unless Scripture explicitly commands
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  it. I want to push on this because
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  it sounds great in a textbook, but it gets messy in real life.
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  It does. Let's paint a scenario.
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  Say a pandemic hits or a really heated political election that's
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  coming up, and the elders say to be a faithful Christian, you
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  must vote for candidate X or you must handle your schooling in
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  this specific way. Is that ministerial?
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  That is exactly where the rubber meets the road.
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  If they say you must vote for candidate X, they have crossed
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  the line from ministerial to legislative.
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  They're making a new. Law.
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  They're creating a new law that Scripture doesn't explicitly
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  state. But they would argue they're
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  just applying wisdom. They would say we're just trying
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  to lead the flock in righteousness.
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  And they can offer wisdom, yes, but they cannot bind the
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  conscience with their wisdom the way they can with Scripture.
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  OK, so what's the difference? They can say, we advise you to
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  consider this, or here is how we as elders are thinking about it,
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  But they cannot say you are in sin if you don't.
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  That distinction saves churches from splitting over preferences.
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  It protects the liberty of the individual Christian.
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  So they are minister servants executing the will of another,
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  and they are declarative, meaning they only declare what
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  the King has already said, correct?
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  They only declare what Jesus has ruled in his Word.
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  This stands in stark contrast to the Roman Catholic magisterial
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  view where the Church hierarchy agree, you know, holds the
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  deposit of grace and sits in judgement over the
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  interpretation of Scripture. And it also contrasts with the
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  charismatic New Revelation view, right?
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  A huge contrast. You see leaders saying God told
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  me or I have a fresh word from the Lord, and they use that to
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  bypass scripture and enforce their own will on people.
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  That is a massive red flag for me.
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  If a leader says God told me we need to buy this $10 million
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  building, it just shuts down all conversation.
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  How can you argue with God? You can't, and that's exactly
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  why it's abusive. It binds the conscience to the
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  leader's impulse rather than God's Word.
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  A faithful elder checks his authority at the door of
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  Scripture. If he cannot show it to you in
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  the text, he cannot demand it of your conscience.
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  The. Constraint actually makes the
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  shepherd safe. It does, but there's another
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  aspect of safety and how they lead.
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  First, Peter 5.3 forbids domineering.
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  We see this happen. We see the bully pulpit.
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  What's the difference between biblical authority and just
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  domineering? Well, domination relies on
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  personality pressure and coercion.
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  It uses anger or guilt to get results.
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  It crushes the weak to achieve a goal.
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  So it's about force. It is.
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  Biblical leadership, on the other hand, relies on pattern
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  and example. It persuades by truth and it
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  leads by holiness. It's not carnal force.
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  Our source material says authority is real, but it's
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  cruciform, it's cross shaped. Yes, Jesus washed feet.
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  He laid down his life. He didn't lead by shouting
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  people down or manipulating them.
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  A domineering leader creates a culture of fear.
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  You have to walk on egg shells around him.
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  A biblical shepherd creates a culture of trust.
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  The authority is there. He must rebuke.
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  He must correct. But he does it with the aim of
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  restoration, not control. OK, so we know what the office
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  is and what the authority looks like, but now we have to look at
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  the man himself who is qualified for this.
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  The lists and Timothy 3 and Titus one are famous, but maybe
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  we gloss over them too quickly. Very easily.
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  The source is called the first qualification, the umbrella
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  qualification above reproach. The Greek word is a
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  nephilimptan. A Nephilimptan?
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  OK, what does that actually mean?
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  It literally means not to be laid hold of.
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  Think of a wrestling match. You're trying to grapple your
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  opponent, but there's nothing to grab.
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  No loose clothing, no handle. So it means non arrestable.
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  In a spiritual sense, yeah. It implies that there's no
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  handle for an accusation to grab but.
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  We have to be clear here, this is not sinless perfection.
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  No, absolutely not. If the standard were perfection,
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  we would have no elders, period. Right, the Apostle John tells us
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  if we say we have no sin, we're deceiving ourselves.
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  We are. So it has to mean something
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  else. It means there is no credible
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  settling pattern of scandal. It means his life is not
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  characterized by hidden sin or glaring hypocrisy.
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  So it's about the pattern. It's about the pattern.
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  It's a life where accusations don't stick because his
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  repentance is habitual. When he sins, he owns it.
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  He makes it right. He walks in the light.
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  OK, give me a distinction. What's the difference between a
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  stumbling Christian and a man who isn't above reproach?
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  That's a great question. A stumbling Christian snaps at
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  his wife, realizes it, apologizes to her and the kids,
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  and asks for prayer. He brings it into the light.
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  OK. The man who is not above
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  reproach, snaps at his wife, habitually defends it as strong
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  leadership and hides it from the church.
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  One walks in the light, the other manages the darkness.
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  And the goal here is safety. The goal is safety.
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  A church that appoints a man based on his gifts, his speaking
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  ability, his vision without checking his character is just
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  inviting disaster. It makes sense.
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  If you hand the keys of the church to a man who lives a
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  double life, you're driving the bus off a Cliff.
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  Every time. Now let's tackle the one that
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  generates a lot of debate. Husband of one wife.
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  MIAs Ganekos Anbondra. Literally A1 woman man.
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  Which on the surface sound like don't be a polygamist, which I
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  guess was an issue back. Then it was.
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  But the sources argue this goes much, much deeper than just the
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  number of spouses. This is a qualification of the
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  heart. It addresses sexual ethics.
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  How so? In the 1st century, just like
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  today, sexual immorality was rampant.
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  An elder must be a fortress of fidelity.
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  And this isn't just about not committing physical adultery.
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  It's about being a man whose eyes and heart are fixed on his
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  wife alone. That is a massive issue today.
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  The statistics on pornography use among pastors are, I mean,
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  they're terrifying. They are.
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  And this is where the Safe Shepherd concept is so vital.
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  A man who is secretly enslaved to pornography is compromised.
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  He is living a lie. He's vulnerable.
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  He's vulnerable to blackmail, to shame and eventually to acting
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  out physically. He isn't a one woman man.
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  He's 1000 digital women man. He's not safe.
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  So this would disqualify a guy who is struggling with porn.
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  Well, struggling is a tricky word.
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  If he's fighting it, confessing it to other elders and walking
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  in repentance, that's one thing. That's a battle.
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  But if he is hiding it, if it's a secret settled pattern, yes,
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  he is disqualified. He is not safe, he cannot
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  protect the flock from wolves if he is opening the gate to the
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  enemy in his own private life. There's another angle to this
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  husband phrase that we have to touch on.
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  It specifies husband male. Yes, and we have to be clear
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  here. Our sources are writing from a
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  complementarian perspective. They see this as a gender
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  specific office. And in our culture, that is
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  increasingly viewed as offensive.
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  Yeah. Or, you know, archaic.
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  It is deeply countercultural, but the argument here is that
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  the family structure, father and mother, is a sort of microcosm
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  of the church structure. Scripture consistently uses the
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  male terms presbyteros, episcopos, and links them to the
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  role of the Father in the home. So it's not about competence.
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  It's not saying women aren't smart enough or women can't
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  lead. Not at all.
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  It's about created order and role.
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  Just as Christ is the groom and the Church is the bride, the
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  under shepherd reflects that masculine protection act of
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  care. It's a theological statement,
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  not a capability statement. OK, then we move from the
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  marriage to the home itself. The household test.
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  First Timothy 3 says he must manage his own household well.
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  Why is this the proving ground? Why the home?
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  It's an argument from the lesser to the greater.
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  Paul asks pretty bluntly, If someone does not know how to
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  manage his own household, how will he care for God's church,
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  right? The home is the laboratory.
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  It reveals the real man. It's the stress test.
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  Exactly. You can fake holiness for an
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  hour on Sunday morning. You can be charismatic and
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  funny. But you can't fake it at 2:00 in
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  the morning with a sick toddler. You can't fake it during a
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  heated argument about the finances.
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  The home strips away the performance.
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  I want to stop you there though, because when I read who manages
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  his household well, I immediately think of the parents
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  who are listening, who are doing everything right, but they have
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  a teenager who is just rebelling.
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  Does this qualification mean an elder has to guarantee the
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  salvation of his kids? Because if so, who on earth can
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  qualify? That is the heavy question,
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  isn't it? If the standard is perfect kids,
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  we are all disqualified. But look at the text closely.
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  It doesn't say his children must be saved.
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  It says he must manage his household well.
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  It's about his activity, not necessarily the child's final
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  outcome. So it's the difference between a
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  man who is neglecting his kids versus a man who is faithfully
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  parenting a wayward kid. Precisely.
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  Is he a faithful father? Is he present?
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  Is he disciplining with love? Is he praying for them?
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  Or is the chaos in the home a result of his own negligence and
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  anger? That's the real distinction.
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  He really pierces through to the heart.
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  It asks, is he a tyrant at home? Is he absent?
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  Is he passive? Because if a man is passive at
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  home, letting his children run wild and his wife carry the
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  entire spiritual load, he will be passive in the church when
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  wolves come in. And if he's a tyrant?
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  If he's a tyrant at home screaming at his kids and
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  intimidating his wife, he will abuse the sheep in the church.
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  The home proves if his theology actually works in real life.
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  It's a sobering test, and it links closely to the next set of
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  qualifications, the ones about temperament.
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  Not a drunkard, not violent, not quarrelsome.
• 18:30
  That would quarrelsome. Our source translates it as not
• 18:34
  a fighter. Amicon non fighting.
• 18:36
  And this is so incredibly relevant for the age of social
• 18:39
  media. We have the keyboard warrior
• 18:41
  phenomenon. You see guys who think they are
• 18:44
  defending the faith by being brutal online, engaging in
• 18:47
  endless Twitter spats, mistaking pugnacity for courage.
• 18:52
  It is so easy to confuse being a jerk with being bold.
• 18:55
  It is, but the text says the elder must be gentle, not
• 18:59
  violent. A man who cannot control his
• 19:01
  temper, whether that's physical violence or, you know, verbal
• 19:04
  violence online, he cannot control the church.
• 19:07
  He lacks the self-control required to handle the delicate
• 19:10
  souls of God's people. He'll use the Bible as a club.
• 19:13
  Instead of a bomb, yes. So we've gone through all this
• 19:15
  character stuff. Now we move from character to
• 19:18
  skill, and there's really only one skill listed in these
• 19:20
  qualifications, right? Everything else is moral, but
• 19:23
  there's this one able to teach. And that is the main mark that
• 19:27
  separates elders from deacons. Deacons must be dignified and
• 19:30
  hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
• 19:32
  But elders must be didacticos, able to teach.
• 19:35
  OK, So what does that mean? Does this mean he has to be a
• 19:38
  mesmerizing order? Does he need to be able to hold
• 19:42
  a crowd of thousands in the palm of his hand?
• 19:44
  No. And that is such a critical
• 19:46
  distinction. It's not about public eloquence
• 19:48
  or rhetoric. It's about doctrinal fidelity.
• 19:51
  OK Titus 1.9 clarifies this. It says he must hold firm to the
• 19:57
  trustworthy word as taught, so that he can give instruction and
• 20:01
  sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
• 20:06
  So it's defensive as well as offensive.
• 20:08
  It's about feeding and fighting. It is.
• 20:10
  He needs to know the truth well enough to feed the sheep, but he
• 20:13
  also needs to know it well enough to spot poison.
• 20:17
  When a new trendy heresy comes along, or when a wolf enters
• 20:20
  with plausible speech, the elder has to have the theological
• 20:24
  backbone and knowledge to say no, that is not what scripture
• 20:27
  teaches. Now this.
• 20:28
  Brings up an interesting theological point from our
• 20:29
  sources regarding cessationism. We don't see able to work
• 20:33
  miracles or able to speak in tons in this list of
• 20:36
  qualifications. That is a significant silence,
• 20:39
  isn't it? It's very interesting what is
• 20:41
  not on the list. If I were hiring a CEO for a
• 20:43
  company, I'd want visionary on the list.
• 20:45
  If I were looking for a spiritual guru, I'd want healer
• 20:47
  or prophet. But Paul doesn't list.
• 20:50
  Must be able to perform miracles.
• 20:52
  And that silence is deafening. Think about the danger of a
• 20:55
  leader who claims to have a direct hotline to God for new
• 20:59
  revelation. If I claim I can heal you or
• 21:02
  that God gave me a specific prophecy for your life, who
• 21:06
  becomes the center of attention? You do.
• 21:08
  You become the mediator. What do you become dangerous by
• 21:12
  restricting the qualification to able to teach meaning able to
• 21:17
  explain this book? It levels the playing field.
• 21:21
  The authority is in the text, not in the man's supposed magic.
• 21:25
  It protects the sheep from the Super apostle who uses spiritual
• 21:28
  gifts to manipulate people. But signals a shift.
• 21:30
  A huge shift from the Apostolic age to the ordinary office of
• 21:34
  the Elder. The Elder rules by the sword of
• 21:36
  the Spirit, which is the written word, not by signs and wonders.
• 21:39
  OK, let's talk about the element in time.
• 21:41
  We live in such a fast-paced world.
• 21:43
  We like instant results, but Scripture puts a pretty big
• 21:46
  speed bump in the process of appointing leaders.
• 21:48
  It does. First Timothy 3.6 says he must
• 21:51
  not be a recent convert. And the danger here is very
• 21:54
  specific. Or he may become puffed up with
• 21:56
  conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
• 21:58
  Puffed up with conceit. Fried.
• 22:01
  Pride, a novice, a new believer is tender.
• 22:05
  They might be zealous, they might be gifted, but they
• 22:07
  haven't been tested by time. If you elevate someone too
• 22:12
  quickly, their pride can just swell.
• 22:14
  They start to think the platform is about them.
• 22:16
  It's like putting a really heavyweight on a shelf that
• 22:18
  hasn't been reinforced yet. It's just going to collapse.
• 22:21
  And the collapse damages both the man and the church.
• 22:24
  That is why First Timothy 5.22 adds, do not be hasty in the
• 22:29
  laying on of hands. Do not be hasty.
• 22:31
  Yeah, that is so hard for us. When a church has a vacancy or
• 22:35
  when a church is growing fast, the pressure is we need leaders
• 22:38
  now, right? Look at that guy.
• 22:39
  He's successful in business. He's particulate.
• 22:41
  Let's just make him an elder. And haste masquerades a zeal.
• 22:45
  We think we're moving the mission forward, but we're
• 22:47
  actually bypassing God's wisdom script, she says.
• 22:50
  Wait and watch. You can't see character on a
• 22:52
  resume you. Can't.
• 22:53
  You can't see it in an interview.
• 22:55
  You see it over seasons. You see it when he suffers.
• 22:57
  You see it when he's criticized. You see it when things go wrong
• 23:00
  in His life. That is what our source calls
• 23:03
  the proven example. He needs to be a typos a die
• 23:06
  cast of Christ's character and that takes time to form.
• 23:09
  That concept of proven. This is so countercultural.
• 23:13
  In the corporate world, if you have the skills, you get the job
• 23:17
  immediately. In the church, you can have all
• 23:19
  the skills, but if you haven't stood the test of time, you
• 23:21
  weren't ready. Because the work is suffering.
• 23:24
  That's really the subtext of all this.
• 23:27
  Caring for souls is messy. It's exhausting.
• 23:29
  It involves conflict. If a man hasn't been proven in
• 23:32
  the fires of ordinary faithfulness, he will either
• 23:35
  quit when it gets hard, or he will crush people to make it
• 23:38
  easier for himself. And that leads us right into the
• 23:41
  distortions we see today. If we ignore these biblical
• 23:44
  standards, what do we end up with?
• 23:46
  Our outline identifies some of these as the idols of
• 23:48
  leadership. The first one is celebrity.
• 23:51
  Ah, celebrity. It's confusing visibility with
• 23:54
  virtue. We just assume that because a
• 23:56
  man is famous, or because his podcast has millions of
• 23:59
  downloads, or because he writes bestsellers, he must be holy,
• 24:02
  right? But we have seen time and time
• 24:05
  and time again that gifts and godliness are not the same
• 24:08
  thing. It's the empty suit all over
• 24:09
  again. It is.
• 24:11
  And then there's pragmatism, the IT works philosophy.
• 24:14
  What do you mean by? That.
• 24:15
  It's the mindset of, look, this guy is a bit arrogant and maybe
• 24:18
  he fudges the truth a little, but he draws a crowd.
• 24:21
  The seats are full. The budget is met.
• 24:23
  So we use marketing metrics. We use marketing metrics to
• 24:26
  evaluate spiritual health. That is a deadly, deadly idol.
• 24:29
  And authoritarianism using authority to feed insecurity.
• 24:33
  This is the man who needs to be in control, to feel safe.
• 24:36
  He surrounds himself with yes men.
• 24:38
  He views questions as insubordination.
• 24:41
  He equates disagreement with him as rebellion against God.
• 24:45
  It's using the office to serve the self rather than the sheep.
• 24:49
  The 4th one mention is fame or serving for shameful gain.
• 24:54
  We usually think of money when we hear that.
• 24:55
  You know the prosperity preacher and the private, sure, but
• 24:58
  shameful gain can be applause. Oh.
• 24:59
  Absolutely. The emotional payout of being
• 25:02
  admired. The ego stroke of being the man
• 25:05
  of God on the stage, that is shameful gain just as much as
• 25:09
  skimming from the offering plate.
• 25:11
  OK, now we can't just point the finger at the leaders.
• 25:14
  They're idols of the Pew too. The listener has a
• 25:17
  responsibility in all this. The first one listed is
• 25:19
  consumerism. Yes, this is the mindset of what
• 25:23
  can this church do for me. It treats the church like a
• 25:26
  vendor. A service provider A.
• 25:28
  Service provider. Yeah.
• 25:30
  I want good music, a short sermon, a youth group that
• 25:33
  entertains my kids, and a pastor who makes me feel inspired.
• 25:38
  It totally rejects the idea of submitting to oversight.
• 25:41
  I want the goods, but I don't want the governance.
• 25:44
  You nailed it. And that leads directly to the
• 25:46
  idol of autonomy. We want a pastor to comfort us
• 25:49
  in our sorrows, but we reject an elder who corrects us in our
• 25:52
  sins. We want the benefits of the
• 25:54
  hospital without having to go through the surgery.
• 25:57
  That's a powerful image, and it leads to therapeutic leadership.
• 26:01
  We prefer soothing over shepherding.
• 26:03
  We want peace at the price of truth.
• 26:05
  We want to be told we're OK. We don't want to be challenged
• 26:08
  to be holy. And so we pile up teachers who
• 26:10
  tickle our ears, just as Paul warned Timothy.
• 26:13
  So we. Create the market.
• 26:14
  We create the market for the very empty suits we complain
• 26:18
  about. If the Pew demands
• 26:20
  entertainment, the pulpit will eventually provide clowns.
• 26:23
  If the Pew demands therapy, the pulpit will provide life
• 26:26
  coaches. But if the Pew demands truth and
• 26:28
  holiness, the pulpit must provide shepherds.
• 26:31
  That puts the ball back in our court as listeners, doesn't it?
• 26:34
  Yeah, we have to want the right thing.
• 26:35
  We do. We have to be willing to sit
• 26:37
  under men who will tell us the hard truth because they love us,
• 26:41
  not because they hate us. So as we start to wrap this up,
• 26:44
  we need to center this all back on Christ.
• 26:46
  We've talked a lot about the under shepherds, but the text in
• 26:49
  First Peter 5 directs our eyes to the Arch appointment, the
• 26:52
  Chief Shepherd. And this is the gospel key.
• 26:54
  If we just leave this as a Libby of requirements, it's crushing.
• 26:57
  It's just law. Impossible.
• 26:59
  It's impossible. Who is truly above reproach?
• 27:02
  Only Jesus, who is the true husband of one wife.
• 27:06
  Jesus who gave himself for his bride, the church who manages
• 27:10
  his household well. Jesus, who loses none of those
• 27:13
  the Father has given him. So the elder is really just
• 27:15
  trying to look like Jesus. He's a copy.
• 27:18
  He's a reflection. He's a moon reflecting the sun.
• 27:21
  The elder can only shepherd by abiding in the vine.
• 27:25
  The grace to be an example, to be patient when criticized, to
• 27:29
  be faithful when tempted, is supernatural grace.
• 27:33
  It is Christ in Him, the hope of glory.
• 27:35
  And there's a reward, but it isn't what the world chases.
• 27:38
  The text talks about a crown. The Stefanon in the Greek games,
• 27:43
  the winner got a Laurel reef. It was a huge deal, but within a
• 27:47
  few days the leaves would brown and crumble.
• 27:50
  It was a fading glory. OK, Peter.
• 27:52
  Contrast that with the Amerantinon, the unfading
• 27:55
  flower, the crown of glory. So the elder who laborers in
• 27:58
  obscurity, who deals with the messiness of sin, who maybe
• 28:01
  never gets a book deal or a conference, invite his.
• 28:04
  Reward is safe, it's kept in heaven for him, and it is given
• 28:07
  when the Chief Shepherd appears. That is the hope.
• 28:10
  The reward is not the applause of the congregation now.
• 28:12
  It is the well done of the Master then.
• 28:14
  That's beautiful. It reframes the whole endeavor.
• 28:17
  It's not about building a Kingdom here.
• 28:19
  It's about serving the Kingdom that is coming.
• 28:20
  That is the essence of. It So as we close, what's the
• 28:23
  call for the church, for the people in the pews?
• 28:26
  For the church, a point slowly. Stop looking for the cool
• 28:31
  factor. Stop looking for the CEO.
• 28:33
  Look for the man whose life is safe.
• 28:36
  Honor the men who match the text, not the trends.
• 28:39
  Look for the dad who loves his kids.
• 28:41
  Look for the husband who cherishes his wife.
• 28:43
  Look for the man who knows his Bible and actually lives it.
• 28:46
  And for the elder, or for the man who's aspiring to be an
• 28:49
  elder? Labor and obscurity if you have
• 28:51
  to. Don't seek the platform, seek
• 28:53
  the face of God. Watch your life and your
• 28:55
  doctrine closely, and remember you are a steward.
• 28:58
  These people belong to Christ, so treat them with the
• 29:01
  gentleness and the truthfulness that He showed you.
• 29:03
  And for you, the listener, here's a challenge to take with
• 29:06
  you from this Look at your own church leadership, not with
• 29:09
  critical spirit, not to tear them down, but with biblical
• 29:12
  lenses. Are you praying for your
• 29:13
  shepherds? Are you encouraging them in this
• 29:16
  well, this impossible task? And are you willing to submit to
• 29:20
  their care, even when it challenges your autonomy?
• 29:23
  It's a question worth asking because safe shepherds make for
• 29:25
  safe sheep. Thank you for diving deep with
• 29:28
  us today on Reformed Thinking. We hope this helps you cherish
• 29:31
  the Church and the Chief Shepherd even more.
• 29:34
  Amen. Until next time.