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Shepherding with Authority and Humility: Elder Oversight as Servant-Leadership · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. I want to start today by asking
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  you to picture a boardroom. You know, glass walls, ergonomic
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  chairs, a really high stakes strategy meeting.
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  OK. The CEO is at the head of the
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  table and he's talking about market share, quarterly growth,
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  maximizing efficiency. Got that image.
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  I do. It's a very familiar one in our
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  culture. OK, now wipe that image from
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  your mind. Replace it with a hillside.
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  It's muddy. It smells like wet wool and,
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  frankly, manure. And there's a guy standing there
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  in the rain. He's leaning on a stick, just
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  watching a bunch of sheep to make sure they don't walk off a
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  Cliff. That is quite the contrast in
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  imagery to kick us off. It is, but it's the central
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  tension of what we're getting into today.
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  We are doing a deep dive into the biblical model of church
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  leadership. And I know for some people, the
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  moment I say church leadership, they just, their eyes glaze
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  over. They think about budget meetings
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  or, I don't know, Robert's Rules of Order.
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  Yeah, the. Administrative side of things.
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  Exactly. But the material we have in
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  front of us, it suggests that the modern church is in the
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  middle of a massive identity crisis.
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  We are torn between that boardroom and that hillside.
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  We are so tempted to borrow our instincts from the corporate
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  world rather than from the Bible.
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  It's a fundamental clash of worlds, isn't it?
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  You have the CEO model on one side and it's driven by things
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  that look really good on paper. Charisma efficiency numbers
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  growth. Right, the metrics.
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  The metrics and then you have the biblical shepherd model,
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  which is defined by things that they don't look very impressive
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  on a resume, things like sacrifice, character, fidelity,
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  patience. And this isn't just a debate
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  about job titles or, you know, what the org chart looks like.
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  No, not at all. This is a battle for the soul of
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  the Church. If we get this wrong, and this
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  is not an overstatement, the consequences are disastrous.
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  We either end up with spiritual tyranny where a leader dominates
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  the flock like a dictator. To domineering controller.
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  Exactly. Or on the other end, we get
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  spiritual cowardice where the leader is just too afraid to
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  protect the flock because he wants to be liked, he wants to
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  be affirmed. That sets the stakes pretty
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  high. I mean, we aren't just talking
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  about how to run a meeting more effectively.
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  We are talking about spiritual life and death.
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  We are. So today we're going to unpack
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  this by looking at the Office of the Elder.
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  And since this is Reformed thinking, we're going to view
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  this through the lens of Reformed theology in the
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  Westminster Confession. And we're planning to do a
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  serious heavy lift on the exegesis of Acts 20 and First
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  Peter 5. And that's necessary work.
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  It's so necessary because we have to remember the church is
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  not a volunteer association. Right, it's not the Kiwanis
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  Club. It's not a social club like the
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  Rotary or Knitting Circle. As Acts 20 powerfully reminds
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  us, the church is a flock that was purchased with the blood of
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  Christ. And that one reality, it changes
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  everything about how leadership functions.
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  You see, when the culture around us values efficiency, we try to
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  turn the elder into a manager. When the culture values
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  affirmation and, you know, just good vibes.
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  Don't rock the boat. Don't rock the boat.
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  We try to turn the elder into a harmless chaplain or a life
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  coach, but scripture just refuses both of those options.
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  So let's get into the weeds then.
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  We need to start with the terminology, because I think
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  this is where a lot of the confusion begins.
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  In our modern world, we love hierarchy.
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  We absolutely love knowing who reports to whom.
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  We do. But the New Testament presents
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  the pastoral office with a simplicity that is honestly kind
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  of baffling to our corporate mindset.
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  It's simpler, but it's also richer.
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  You know, people open their Bibles and they seen three
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  different English words. Elder, overseer and shepherd.
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  And so naturally, because we are conditioned by these Western
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  hierarchies, we assume these are different ranks.
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  Right, like a private, a Sergeant and a Lieutenant.
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  Precisely like the shepherd reports to the elder, who then
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  reports to the overseer. But the evidence in the Greek
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  text is just overwhelming that we are looking at one single
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  office described from three different but complementary
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  perspectives. OK, let's break those down 1 by
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  1 so we really get what the Holy Spirit is communicating here.
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  1st we have the Elder. The Greek word is presbyteros.
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  This is where we get our word Presbyterian.
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  Of course, this term is all about maturity.
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  In the ancient world, the elders of the city weren't just the
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  guys with Gray hair sitting on the porch.
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  They were the man who sat at the city gates.
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  They're the ones you went to when you had a property dispute
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  or a family crisis. They possessed gravity,
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  weightiness. So it's not just about being
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  old. I mean, I know plenty of old
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  people who aren't particularly wise.
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  Exactly right. It implies spiritual stability.
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  It's about a character that has been tested by time.
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  It signifies that this man is fit to be entrusted with the the
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  care of souls because he isn't a novice.
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  He's seen things. He's weathered storms in his own
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  life. It's about Wisdom, not just raw
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  energy or charisma. OK, so Presbyteros is about the
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  dignity of the maturity of the office.
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  Then we have the term Overseer. That's the translation of the
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  Greek word episcopose, and this is where we get the word
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  Episcopal. So if Elder describes who the
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  man is, his character, his standing, then Overseer
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  describes what he does, the function.
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  What's the function? It means supervision, vigilance,
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  and guardianship. He is watching.
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  Now Overseer can sound a bit like a Taskmaster.
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  Can it? Like a foreman on a construction
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  site making sure nobody is slacking off.
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  It can sound that way to our modern ears, yes, but in the
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  biblical context, it's much more like a century on a wall.
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  It's not about micromanaging People's Daily lives.
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  It's about looking out for danger.
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  It is a protective oversight. And that leads to the third
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  term, which really softens the other two Showard.
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  Point menu. This is the verb form.
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  It emphasizes the care, the feeding, the tenderness, the
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  intimacy of the role. It brings the warmth of pastoral
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  care right into the picture. Oversight isn't cold
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  surveillance. It is shepherding.
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  It's knowing the sheep by name. It's knowing which one is
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  limping, which one isn't eating properly, which one is more
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  likely to wander off from the flock.
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  I think this is where the reform view really clashes with some
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  other traditions. You see these terms used
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  interchangeably in scripture. It's not, as you said, like the
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  overseer is the boss of the elder.
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  And that's a crucial distinction in, for example, the Roman
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  Catholic model or the Anglican model, you have a Bishop and
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  episcopose who is a superior officer over a group of local
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  priests or elders. Right.
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  A regional manager. Almost.
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  In a sense, but the New Testament just doesn't support
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  that hierarchy. Look at Acts 20.
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  I mean, this is the smoking gun passage for this whole debate.
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  Paul is in Maletus, and he calls for the elders, the presbyteros
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  of the church in Ephesus, to come to him.
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  OK, so the elders are. There the elders of the
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  audience, but then in verse 28, he looks at those very same men,
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  and he tells them that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers,
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  episcopose, and then he commands them to shepherd Pumanya, the
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  Church of God. Wow, so in one sentence Paul
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  uses all three concepts for the exact same group of men.
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  He doesn't say OK, elders, hang on a second while I go get your
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  boss, the Bishop. It doesn't, and Peter does the
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  exact same thing. In first Peter 5, he exhorts the
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  elders to shepherd the flock by exercising oversight.
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  So the theological implication here is massive.
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  You cannot separate the function of oversight from the office of
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  the elder. There is no biblical warrant for
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  a hierarchy where a Bishop is a distinct and superior office.
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  They are one in the same. OK, but why does that
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  distinction matter so much to the person listening right now?
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  Maybe they're thinking, all right, so the org chart is flat.
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  Big deal, right? Why should they care if their
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  leader is called an elder or a Bishop?
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  It matters because it defines the nature of the authority they
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  are submitting to. It means that oversight isn't
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  just administrative management. It's not just running the
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  business side of the church, no. It is a spiritual watching over
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  souls. If you separate the Bishop role
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  from the shepherd role, you risked creating a distant
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  administrator who manages the church like a franchise but
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  doesn't, to use that phrase, smell like the sheep.
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  The biblical model ensures that the person making the weighty
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  decisions is the same person who is binding up the wounds of the
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  flock. It keeps authority tethered to
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  care. Authority tethered to care.
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  I like that. That's a beautiful way to put
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  it, and it leads us right into the core mandate.
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  If these men are overseers, what does that oversight actually
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  require? The outline here calls it the
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  Watchman's duty. Yes, and for this we have to
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  look at Hebrews 13.69. This is a verse that I think
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  should make every leader tremble just a little bit.
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  It describes leaders as those who are keeping watch over your
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  souls, as those who will have to give an account.
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  Give an account. That's sobering.
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  It is oversight is fundamentally accountable care.
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  You are watching the flock, but you're also being watched by
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  God. You aren't just a volunteer
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  helping out of the nonprofit. You are a steward of God's most
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  precious property. And a big part of that watching
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  is what we call doctrinal guardianship.
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  And this isn't just about being a theology nerd or, you know,
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  winning arguments on the Internet.
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  It's about protection. It is about survival, It really
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  is. Paul warns the Ephesian elders
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  in that same passage, Acts 20, that fierce wolves will come in
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  among them, not sparing the flock.
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  And here's the scary part that I think we often miss.
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  What's that? He says.
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  They'll come from among you, from within.
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  But also, wolves don't announce themselves.
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  They don't walk in with fangs bared wearing a sign that says
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  hi, I'm a heretic. That's so true.
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  In the Church, error rarely looks like obvious heresy at
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  first. It often looks like being
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  relevant. It looks like being
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  compassionate. It looks like being
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  sophisticated and nuanced. Or just pragmatic?
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  Hey, this seems to be working so it must be from God.
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  I feel like that is the biggest door for wolves today.
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  Gragmatism. I think you're right.
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  That's the classic Wolf in Chief's clothing and the refusal
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  to guard doctrine and is so often framed today as humility
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  or as love. You hear people say things like,
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  well, we don't want to be divisive over theology, we just
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  want to love Jesus. Yeah, doctrine divides.
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  Love unites. But a shepherd who refuses to
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  guard the gate against wolves because he wants to be nice
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  isn't being loving, he's being negligent.
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  If a watchman on the city wall sees an invading army
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  approaching and refuses to blow the trumpet because he doesn't
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  want to disturb the city sleep, he's responsible for the
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  slaughter that follows. So what you're saying is true
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  love for the sheep requires intolerance of the error that
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  hurts the sheep? It has to.
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  You simply cannot love the sheep and coddle the wolf at the same
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  time. So that's the protective side.
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  The other side of that coin is feeding the flock.
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  The qualification able to teach is listed right there in First
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  Timothy. We aren't just protecting them
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  from poison, we have to be giving them actual.
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  Food and There's a massive difference between entertaining
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  A flock and feeding a flock. This the Ted Talk temptation in
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  the modern pulpit. You can draw a massive crowd
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  with spectacle, with humor, with deeply emotional stories, with 7
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  practical life tips to make your week better.
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  But sheep need food. They need the solid nutrients of
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  the Word of God. Not just spiritual junk food.
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  Exactly. A church can be incredibly busy,
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  huge in numbers, and yet be spiritually starving to death.
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  True oversight and sits on opening the scriptures and
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  applying them to real lives, real sins and real sorrows.
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  If the sheep leave the service feeling good about themselves
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  but knowing nothing more of God's character or will, then
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  when they walked in they haven't been fed, they've just been
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  entertained. And then we get to the topic
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  that, let's be honest, nobody likes to talk about discipline.
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  This is really where the rubber meets the road for a shepherd,
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  isn't it? It is discipline is shepherding
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  in its most difficult and painful form.
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  You could call it the surgery we bases on passes like Matthew 18,
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  First Corinthians 5, and the Reformed.
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  Tradition, importantly, views discipline not as a punishment,
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  like a judge sentencing a criminal.
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  Right, not as revenge. Not as revenge, but as a rescue
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  mission. The goal always is restoration.
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  I think that is a vital reframe because we often think of church
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  discipline as just kicking someone out.
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  Like an excommunication is just the church saying we hate you,
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  get out. And it certainly can create that
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  impression if it's done poorly, without tears and without love.
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  But the heart of it is protection.
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  First, it protects the flock from the spread of sin.
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  Paul says in First Corinthians that a little leaven leavens the
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  whole lump. It's contagious.
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  It is. And 2nd, it attempts to wake the
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  center up to their profound danger.
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  Silence in the face of open, unrepentant sin is not love.
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  It is leaving the patient untreated.
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  If a doctor sees a malignant tumor on an X-ray and doesn't
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  tell you because he wants you to feel good today, he is guilty of
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  malpractice. It is the same with the soul.
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  To say nothing while a sheep is walking confidently toward a
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  Cliff is not tolerance. It's a form of hatred.
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  Wow. OK, let's pivot to the heart of
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  the matter. We've talked about the duty,
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  guarding, feeding, disciplining, but what about the motivation?
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  What's going on inside the elder's heart?
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  We're going to do a deep dive now into first Peter 5.
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  This is where Peter the Apostle writes directly to the elders.
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  And the context here is absolutely vital.
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  Peter is writing to elect exiles.
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  These are Christians scattered across the Roman Empire who are
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  facing real persecution. Nero is likely on the horizon,
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  or perhaps already active. So this isn't a peacetime
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  manual. Not at all.
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  When the wolves of persecution are circling, when becoming a
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  Christian might literally cost you your life or your business,
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  you don't need a manager. A manager flees when the stock
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  price tanks. You need a shepherd who will
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  stand firm and if necessary, die for the sheep.
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  And Peter starts by calling himself as Simpres Pateros, a
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  fellow elder. He doesn't pull rank as an
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  apostle. He doesn't say listen to me, I
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  walked on water. Which is so profound, isn't it?
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  He levels the hierarchy. He grounds his authority not in
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  his special status, but in shared suffering and shared
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  service. He's saying, in essence, I am in
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  the trenches with you. I know the weight of this
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  burden. Peter then gives us these three
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  contrasts in this passage. I love this structure.
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  It's a not this, but that framework.
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  It just cuts right through all the noise.
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  Let's unpack the first one. The will not under compulsion,
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  but voluntarily. This is aimed squarely at the
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  reluctant leader, the one who leads out of guilt or social
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  pressure or simply because no one else will do it.
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  Maybe the nominating committee cornered him in the hallway and
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  twisted his arm. We've all seen that.
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  Happen we have that is leading under compulsion.
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  The Greek word is anancostus. It implies some kind of external
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  forces being applied. Peter says no, the elder must be
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  a volunteer of the heart. It must be Hikusi's voluntarily.
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  This has to be a spirit wrought desire to care for God's people.
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  You can't draft shepherds, they have to want the work itself.
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  So if you're only doing it because you feel like you can't
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  say no to the pastor, you're already starting from a
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  disqualified position. Effectively, yes, because when
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  the real Wolves come, the guy who is drafted against his will
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  is going to be the first one to run.
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  He has no internal fire for the work.
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  That makes sense. OK, the second contrast is about
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  the motive. Not for shameful gain, but
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  eagerly. The Greek here is Isrikurdis.
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  It's often translated in older versions as filthy lucre.
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  And obviously this is a clear warning against being in
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  ministry for the money. And there are certainly
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  prosperity gospel preachers who fleece the flock to pay for
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  their private jets. But shameful gain is much
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  broader than just cash. It includes status.
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  It includes the applause of men. It includes building a personal
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  brand or a platform. That hits hard in our influencer
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  culture, doesn't it? The currency of our day isn't
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  just dollars, it's likes and follows and book deals.
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  It is the temptation to use the church as a ladder for personal
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  influence is so real. You see pastors who use their
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  congregation as a stepping stone to get on a bigger speaking
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  circuit. Peter.
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  Contrast this with the word prothemus.
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  Eagerly, this means having a zeal, A readiness to serve
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  regardless of the cost or the lack of earthly reward.
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  It's serving because you love the Master and his sheep, not
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  because you love the perks of the job.
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  And the third contrast. This one might be the most
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  descriptive of the toxic leadership we see in the
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  headlines today. Not lording it over, but being
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  examples. The Greek word for lording it
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  over is katakiri ontis. It's a strong word.
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  It means to use the office for dominance, for raw power.
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  It's about coercion. It's about while binding
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  consciences with human traditions or personal
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  preferences, it is the heavy hand.
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  This is the leader who says do it because I am the pastor and I
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  said so. The old touch, not the Lord's
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  anointed defense. Right.
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  Using spiritual pressure to silence legitimate questions or
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  concerns. Peter absolutely forbids this.
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  Instead, he says elders must be Ty POI.
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  Examples. The elder is called to be a
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  living diagram of the gospel. His authority flows primarily
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  from his moral standing, from his character.
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  You follow Him because you see Christ in Him, not just because
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  he holds a title or has a loud voice.
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  And all of this is done with an eye toward the Chief Shepherd.
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  That is the anchor for the whole passage.
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  Peter reminds them that when the chief shepherd, Jesus, appears,
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  they will receive the unfeeding crown of glory.
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  He's likely referencing the amaranth flower, which was a
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  symbol of immortality in the ancient world because it didn't
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  wilt quickly. He contrasts that with the
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  withering reeds of celery or Laurel that athletes won in the
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  Games. The point is, the ultimate
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  reward is future, and it's eternal.
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  And he also reminds them that the sheep belong to God.
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  The phrase to Theo is possessive.
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  It's God's flock, not the pastor's flock.
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  The elder is an under shepherd. His authority is entirely
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  derivative. He is, in a sense, looking after
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  someone else's children. That perspective changes
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  everything, and it leads us perfectly into the theological
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  framework. What we're talking about
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  reformed thinking here. So we need to get specific about
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  the nature of this authority. The sources make a critical
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  distinction between ministerial and magisterial authority.
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  This sounds technical, but it's actually really practical.
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  Let's break that down. This is a cornerstone of
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  Protestant ecclesiology, and it's one of the key things that
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  separates us from, say, Roman Catholicism.
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  Think of it this way. Imagine a fine dining
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  restaurant. You have the executive chef and
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  you have the waiter. The chef creates the menu.
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  He decides the ingredients. He sets the standard for every
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  meal. That leaves his kitchen.
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  That is magisterial authority. It has the power to create the
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  rules, to create the dogma. In the Church.
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  Only Christ and his Word have magisterial authority.
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  So Christ is the chef and the elder is the waiter.
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  Exactly. Now the waiter has authority,
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  right? He can tell you where to sit.
• 18:29
  He brings you the food, he tells you what's on the menu.
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  But, and this is the absolute key, the waiter cannot change
• 18:36
  the menu. He can't add his own special.
• 18:37
  He cannot go into the kitchen and decide to add poison to the
• 18:40
  soup. He cannot decide that he doesn't
• 18:43
  like the chef's recipe for the steak.
• 18:45
  His authority is ministerial. It is the authority of a
• 18:48
  servant. He simply delivers what the chef
• 18:51
  has already prepared. So an elder can't just make up
• 18:54
  rules for the church because he thinks they're a good idea.
• 18:57
  Not if he wants to bind your conscience before God.
• 19:00
  The limit of an elder's authority extends exactly as far
• 19:03
  as the Bible extends, and not one inch further.
• 19:06
  He cannot bind consciences with his personal preferences or his
• 19:10
  opinions. He can say the Bible clearly
• 19:12
  says do not commit adultery. He cannot say you must drive a
• 19:16
  Ford instead of a Chevy. Or to be a good Christian, you
• 19:20
  must homeschool your kids. He can give wisdom.
• 19:23
  He can give wisdom, he can give counsel, but he cannot command
• 19:26
  where scripture is silent. That is incredibly liberating
• 19:30
  for the person in the Pew. It protects the sheep from
• 19:32
  legalism. It is the very essence of
• 19:34
  Christian liberty. Your conscience is bound to the
• 19:36
  Word of God alone, not to the opinions of men.
• 19:39
  The Westminster Confession also talks about the keys of the
• 19:42
  Kingdom. This is another one of those
• 19:44
  phrases that is often misunderstood.
• 19:45
  It sounds like the Pope holding a physical set of keys to
• 19:48
  heaven. Right, and we look at chapters
• 19:50
  30 and 31 of the confession for this.
• 19:52
  The power of the keys is the power to retain and remit sins.
• 19:57
  But again, as with authority, this isn't magic, it's
• 20:00
  declarative. What do you mean by that?
• 20:02
  It means the elder has the authority to preach the gospel,
• 20:05
  to declare to all that if you repent and believe in Christ,
• 20:08
  your sins are forgiven. That opens the door of the
• 20:11
  Kingdom. And it is also administrative,
• 20:14
  which means exercising church discipline.
• 20:17
  If a person is an open, unrepentant sin and claims to be
• 20:21
  a believer, the elders have the authority to declare that they
• 20:24
  are acting like a non believer, and they close the door of the
• 20:28
  visible church fellowship to them for a time.
• 20:31
  But they are not deciding that person's eternal fate.
• 20:33
  They are making a judgement about their outward profession
• 20:36
  based on the clear teaching of the Word.
• 20:38
  And this ties into the doctrine of cessationism, right?
• 20:41
  The idea that the miraculous revelatory gifts of the
• 20:44
  Apostolic age, like prophecy and apostleship, have ceased.
• 20:47
  It does. It's directly connected because
• 20:49
  we believe there are no longer apostles or prophets receiving
• 20:53
  new binding revelation from God. The Elder today guides the flock
• 20:57
  exclusively by what Peter calls the more sure word of prophecy,
• 21:01
  which is the Bible. So an elder can't justify big
• 21:04
  decision by saying the Lord told me in a dream last night that we
• 21:07
  should build this new building. He cannot.
• 21:10
  He must use the staff of Scripture.
• 21:12
  If he can't show it to you in the text, he can't mandate it
• 21:15
  for the flock. His private revelations or
• 21:18
  feelings are not authoritative for anyone but himself, if even
• 21:21
  then. That is a massive safeguard
• 21:23
  against spiritual abuse, isn't it?
• 21:24
  Because if the leader has a Direct Line to God that you
• 21:27
  don't have, you can't question him.
• 21:29
  You can't argue with God told me exact.
• 21:31
  But if his authority is the text, then you, the listener can
• 21:35
  open the text and check his work.
• 21:37
  That is a beauty of the Berean spirit from Acts 17.
• 21:40
  The congregation can and should examine the Scriptures daily to
• 21:44
  see if these things are so. The Bible is the great
• 21:46
  equalizer. It puts the leaders and the
• 21:49
  people under the same authority. Let's talk about the men
• 21:51
  themselves, then. We've established the office,
• 21:54
  the theology, the limits of authority.
• 21:56
  But what about the specific qualifications, the lists we
• 21:58
  find in First Timothy 3 and Titus One?
• 22:01
  The sources call these guardrails.
• 22:02
  And that's a good word for them. Character matters so much
• 22:06
  because character determines how authority feels to the sheep.
• 22:09
  If a man is disordered in his own soul, if he's angry or
• 22:13
  anxious or arrogant, his oversight feels like danger.
• 22:17
  If he is holy, if he's gentle and self controlled, his
• 22:20
  oversight feels like safety. You can have the right theology
• 22:24
  on paper, but if you are a jerk, you will destroy the church.
• 22:27
  The umbrella term used in Scripture for all of this is
• 22:30
  above reproach. Now be honest.
• 22:32
  Does that mean sinless perfection?
• 22:34
  Because if it does, we can just pack up and go home right now.
• 22:36
  No, absolutely not. If it meant sinless perfection,
• 22:39
  Peter himself wouldn't have qualified.
• 22:41
  After denying Christ, Paul wouldn't have qualified.
• 22:44
  It means there is no settled, unrepentant pattern of hypocrisy
• 22:47
  in his life. It means there is no scandalous
• 22:49
  sin that would bring the gospel itself into disrepute in the
• 22:52
  community. It speaks to a fundamental moral
• 22:55
  self mastery. Being super minded, self
• 22:57
  controlled. These traits prevent a man from
• 22:59
  leading by his mood swings. You don't want a leader who is
• 23:02
  unpredictable or volatile. You want stability.
• 23:05
  One of the most interesting qualifications, and I think it's
• 23:08
  one of the most ignored in our day, is the domestic test, the
• 23:11
  requirement that he be a man who is managing his own household
• 23:15
  well. This is the uncurated proving
• 23:17
  ground it really is. A man can fake it on a stage for
• 23:21
  an hour a week. He can be charming and
• 23:23
  impressive in a board meeting, He can write brilliant
• 23:25
  theological papers. But he cannot fake it. 200 and
• 23:28
  over seven with his children and his wife.
• 23:30
  The home reveals the true man. And the logic Paul uses is just
• 23:34
  undeniable, isn't it? He says if a man cannot shepherd
• 23:37
  his own family, how will he care for God's church?
• 23:40
  It's a powerful safeguard against the public success,
• 23:43
  private disaster dynamic that we see so often in the headlines.
• 23:47
  If a man is harsh or impatient or emotionally negligent with
• 23:50
  his own family, he will inevitably treat the church the
• 23:53
  same way. The church is, after all, just a
• 23:55
  larger family of God. If he hasn't learned tenderness
• 23:58
  and patience and sacrificial love in his own living room, he
• 24:01
  is not ready for the pulpit. I think we have all seen the
• 24:04
  tragic stories of female pastors who were out saving the world
• 24:08
  while their own children grew up to resent them and the faith.
• 24:11
  And according to Paul, that's a disqualifier.
• 24:13
  And we as churches need to be brave enough and loving enough
• 24:16
  to say that a man who loses his family to win a ministry has
• 24:21
  actually lost both. We've touched on some of the bad
• 24:24
  leadership styles, but let's categorize them a bit.
• 24:27
  The sources list some real world distortions.
• 24:30
  What are the specific archetypes of bad eldership we need to
• 24:33
  watch out for? OK, first we have the
• 24:35
  domineering controller. This is the Katakuriantes guy
• 24:39
  from First Peter. This is the man who treats the
• 24:41
  church like his personal fiefdom.
• 24:43
  He uses intimidation or anger or spiritual pressure to get his
• 24:47
  way. He crushes dissent.
• 24:49
  He views honest questions as rebellion.
• 24:52
  Then there's the careerist. Yes, this is the one motivated
• 24:54
  by shameful gain. He uses the church as a ladder.
• 24:58
  He's always looking for the bigger pulpit, the larger
• 25:00
  conference, the next book deal. The flock is just a means to an
• 25:03
  end, a stepping stone for his own ambition.
• 25:05
  He preaches to get famous, not to feed the sheep.
• 25:08
  If a better offer comes along, he's gone in a heartbeat.
• 25:10
  And the third one, which is maybe the most common in our
• 25:13
  soft conflict divorce culture, is the coward.
• 25:16
  The coward is subtle. He often seems very nice.
• 25:19
  He seems gentle, but he refuses to confront sin or protect the
• 25:23
  vulnerable because conflict is costly.
• 25:26
  He desperately wants to be liked.
• 25:28
  He wants peace at any price. But as we said earlier, his
• 25:32
  silence leaves the sheep defenseless against wolves.
• 25:35
  In a very real sense, he lets the wolves eat the sheep because
• 25:38
  he's afraid the wolf might turn and bite him.
• 25:40
  So if those are the distortions, what is the healthy picture?
• 25:43
  If we strip all that away, what does it look like when it's
• 25:46
  actually working? First and foremost, it looks
• 25:48
  like plurality a team of elders. The New Testament never
• 25:52
  envisages a senior pastor who functions like a Lone Ranger CEO
• 25:55
  with the board of yes men. It envisions a plurality of Co
• 25:59
  equal elders who share the burden of shepherding and.
• 26:01
  Why is that so important? It prevents the one man ministry
• 26:04
  and the personality cults that are so dangerous.
• 26:06
  It forces mutual accountability. Even the best, most godly man
• 26:10
  has blind spots and weaknesses. A plurality of elders helps to
• 26:14
  cover those blind spots. And the sources use a phrase
• 26:16
  here that I love courage with tears.
• 26:19
  That captures the balance perfectly, doesn't it?
• 26:21
  Is firmness in truth, not wavering on doctrine or ethics,
• 26:25
  but gentleness in delivery. Remember, Paul warned the
• 26:29
  Ephesians with tears. He wasn't a stoic, detached
• 26:32
  bureaucrat. He loved those people deeply.
• 26:34
  So it's oversight that's done at the hospital bedside, not just
• 26:37
  in the boardroom. Exactly.
• 26:39
  It's shepherds who smell like the sheep because they're
• 26:41
  actually among them, living life with them, weeping with them,
• 26:44
  rejoicing with them. Now we're coming to the
• 26:46
  application. In Reformed thinking, we often
• 26:49
  talk about the three uses of the law.
• 26:51
  How does all of this biblical teaching apply to us, whether we
• 26:55
  are leaders or just people sitting in the pews?
• 26:58
  We should only start with the first use of the law, which is
• 27:00
  to be a mirror. When we read these high
• 27:02
  qualifications in the first Peter 5 or First Timothy 3, they
• 27:06
  act as an indictment. They show us our sin.
• 27:08
  Because nobody measures up perfectly.
• 27:10
  Yeah, every pastor listening to this is probably cringing right
• 27:12
  now, thinking of his own failures.
• 27:14
  We all are. Every elder has failed at some
• 27:17
  point. They have served with mixed
• 27:18
  motives. They have felt resentment when
• 27:20
  their work wasn't appreciated. They have secretly sought
• 27:23
  applause. The law slays our self
• 27:26
  righteousness. It reminds us powerfully that we
• 27:29
  are not the Savior. Which of course drives us to the
• 27:32
  gospel remedy. This is the only hope for any of
• 27:35
  us. Christ is the only true shepherd
• 27:38
  who laid down his life perfectly, who never had a mixed
• 27:41
  motive, who always served eagerly.
• 27:43
  Our standing before God is based entirely on our union with
• 27:46
  Christ, not on our performance as leaders.
• 27:48
  The gospel covers the sins of leadership, and it covers the
• 27:51
  sins of rebellion from the flock.
• 27:53
  It's the only thing that keeps a leader from despairing over his
• 27:55
  failures or becoming arrogant about his successes.
• 27:58
  We have to lead from a place of being forgiven sinners.
• 28:01
  And finally, the third use of the law, the guide.
• 28:03
  OK, we're forgiven. Now what?
• 28:05
  How do we move forward? And grateful obedience.
• 28:07
  For the head, it means truly believing that Scripture is
• 28:09
  sufficient and rejecting the pragmatism of the world.
• 28:12
  It says we need business techniques to build the church
• 28:15
  for the heart. It means actively cultivating
• 28:18
  affections that mirror Christ's love for his sheep and
• 28:20
  explicitly rejecting the deep seated idol of power.
• 28:24
  And for the hands, it means specific, concrete deeds of
• 28:27
  service. It means doing the hard,
• 28:30
  unglamorous, unseen work of caring for people.
• 28:33
  The sources have a very specific message for the listener here,
• 28:36
  for the congregation, for the person in the Pew.
• 28:39
  The call is to submit to faithful oversight.
• 28:42
  And to do so with trembling joy, not as a burden, not as a chore,
• 28:46
  but recognizing that faithful elders are Christ's gracious
• 28:49
  provision for your safety and your spiritual health.
• 28:52
  It's a gift to be watched over by men who will give an account
• 28:55
  to God for your soul. If you have godly elders, thank
• 28:58
  God for them. Pray for them.
• 29:00
  Don't make their difficult work miserable.
• 29:02
  And for the aspiring elder, the young guy listening to this who
• 29:05
  thinks, I think I want to do that someday.
• 29:07
  The exhortation is to seek the office not for status, but, as
• 29:11
  Paul calls it, a noble task of dying to self.
• 29:14
  It is a call to sacrifice, not a call to glory.
• 29:17
  If you want to be famous, go into business or entertainment.
• 29:20
  If you want to bleed for the sake of others, then come to the
• 29:23
  elder ship. We've covered a lot of ground
• 29:25
  today. We've moved from the Greek
• 29:27
  definitions of the office to the heart motivations of the man,
• 29:30
  from the high theological framework to the very practical
• 29:33
  guardrails. And it all comes back to that
• 29:35
  central image we started with the Shepherd.
• 29:38
  True biblical oversight is Christ's love made visible
• 29:41
  through qualified, flawed, forgiven under Shepherd.
• 29:45
  It is not tyranny and is not cowardice.
• 29:47
  It is, at its heart, accountable care.
• 29:50
  I want to leave you, the listener, with a final thought
• 29:52
  to chew on. This week the sources mentioned
• 29:54
  that unfading crown that the Chief Shepherd brings when he
• 29:57
  returns. It reminds us that all this work
• 29:59
  is done before the face of God. But here's the question for us
• 30:04
  in our modern church culture. Are we looking for a king like
• 30:06
  Saul, head and shoulders above the rest, Impressive.
• 30:09
  Commanding, a guy who looks good on a conference poster?
• 30:12
  Or are we looking for a shepherd like David, a guy who fights
• 30:16
  bears and lions in the dark to protect the sheep when no one is
• 30:19
  watching? That is the perennial
• 30:21
  temptation, isn't it? We want the outward image of
• 30:23
  strength, but God desires the inward heart of a shepherd.
• 30:27
  Something to think about. This is reformed thinking.