We're going to be reading in the book of Exodus, a couple of places. First in Exodus 3, and we've been looking at several weeks at different aspects here, this incident of the burning bush, and God appearing to Moses, and the commission that he's received, and we'll be looking later on in Chapter 17, and then also Numbers 11. You might tell the kids, I'm not going to instruct you as to what to draw. There's going to be, I'm going to talk about a certain movie, and there'll be something from that. Talk about elders, you might draw a picture of Mr. Cousins as the new elder. And there may be even something you hear in the sermon that might be suitable related to Mr. Cousins. Or even this incident with the burning bush. So there's quite a number of things you can draw. I'll begin with verse 12. It's sort of the conclusion of the first part of what Moses is to do in a commission. And notice then the promise that God says. And he says, Certainly I will be with you. And this shall be the sign to you, that is I who was sent. When you brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship at this mountain. Then Moses said to God, Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you. Now they may say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you. God furthermore said to Moses, thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, the Lord, and that again goes back to the I am, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever. And this is my memorial name to all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me saying, I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to the land flowing with milk and honey. They will pay heed to what He is saying. And you, with the elders of Israel, will come to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us, so now please let us go a three days journey into the wilderness. that we may sacrifice the Lord our God. But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it. And after that, he will let you go." Then turning over to chapter 17, in the book of Exodus, And the miracles of 10 plagues have taken place and the people have been released and are now in the wilderness. Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Raphanim. There was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people poured with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water. And they grumbled against Moses and said, why now have you brought us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, what shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone you. Then the Lord said to Moses, Pass before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you as a rock of form, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massa in Meribah, because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord's saying, is the Lord among us or not? And then going lastly to the book of Numbers chapter 11. I'll be reading verses 16-30, number 11. The Lord therefore said to Moses, gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people and their officers, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit who is upon you, and will put him upon them. And they will bear the burden of the people with you, so you will not bear it all alone. Say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat. For you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, O that someone would give us meat Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you rejected the Lord who is among you. And I wept before him, saying, Why did he ever leave Egypt? But Moses said, The people among whom I am 600,000 would be a reference to the number of men. Yet you said, I will give them meat so they may eat for a whole month. Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to be sufficient for them? Should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to be sufficient for them? The Lord said to Moses, Is the Lord's power limited? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent. And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them. And he took to the Spirit who was upon him and placed him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again. The two men had remained in the camp, and the name of one was Edad and the other was Medad. And the spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those who had been registered, but they had not gone out to the tent. And he prophesied in the camp. So a young man came and told Moses and said, Edad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. Then Joshua, the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, Moses, my Lord, restrain them. But Moses said to them, Are you jealous for my sake? Would it all, God's people, were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them? Then Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel." There is a sermon outline on the back cover of the bulletin. In the movie Field of Dreams, toward the end of the movie, sort of the climax, one of the characters named Terrence Mann, and he's played by James Earl Jones, and I'd love to have the rich voice that James Earl Jones has, makes this comment to Ray Kinsella, sort of the hero of the movie. He says, the constant, the one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us all that once was good. And that could be again. And the point that's being made, and is really being made in this movie, is that baseball has been a cultural constant. Something that we can depend upon, something we can look at for hope and for encouragement. The message is sort of, consider the importance of baseball in American life. The role it played in the Great Depression. You know, when things were so severe, when misery is great, and you could go to a baseball game and forget your miseries and forget your troubles for a few hours. Or during the 60s and all the turmoil over the civil rights, you could go to a baseball game And there on the field you see black and white working together. In the stands you see fans of all races, you know, being back in their team, and being united, and cheering on their team. But today, as we consider the war on terror with all its complexities, and all the questions and troubling issues involved. You can go to a baseball game, you can become like a little child and forget all the complexities that are out there, and just have fun again, and not worry about the big issues of life. If baseball in some way does that, in some way it's been a constant there, it's been a benefit to Americans in our society down through the ages. And I think there's a sense in which that could be true. How much more is it true when we consider elders? Because as we would look at elders in the histories of God's people, the eldership has been something that's constant. And there's been some things that have been beneficial to the people of God. How much more than something merely like baseball has been constant and beneficial. How much more the eldership has been constant, has been beneficial to the people of God worldwide, wherever they are. We need to consider just how constant and how great it is. You know, as Moses is being sent back to the people in captivity, already there's a leadership in place. Already there are elders who are in charge of the people of Israel. They're being led by those elders. And later on, when kings come along, when prophets come along, when priests come along, and you might think, how wonderful that there are prophets in the land who speak the Word of God. But there are also elders there as well. And when we get to the New Testament, we have apostles. I don't know how great they are, but there's also the mention of elders. In Acts 15, when our decision comes up in an issue that comes before the church, who is it that decides? It's the apostles and the elders who come together to decide it. And as Paul and his associates go and start churches on these missionary journeys, what do they do? They put elders in charge in each town, each place, where a new congregation is set up. And thus as we look forward to an ordination of an elder, a new elder tonight, their cousins, it's a practice. that's been constant through the history of the church. It's a practice that goes back before the time of Moses. And so what we're doing precedes Moses. And what we'll be doing in recognizing another elder tonight. And God has from that time been using elders for the well-being of his people through ages. And as we look at elders, especially in the Pentateuch, the first thing and the first point we need to see is the basic nature of the office. What's involved in being an elder? Well, first of all, it's a position of leadership, but leadership is things on the screen. Thus, as we read in Exodus 3, 16, as Moses is commissioned to go to Pharaoh to speak to him and demand that Pharaoh let his people go. He isn't sent directly to Pharaoh. He first goes, if you look in verse 16, he's to go to the elders of the people of Israel. They are the leaders of the nation in captivity. And as that group of 70 went down, it was one family that grew to a much larger group, now numbering 600,000 men. and women and children on top of that, leadership would have become necessary. For them to stay as people, to be united, to have cohesiveness, to be able to settle disputes, to be able to make decisions about the future, there had to be some sort of leadership in that group. And Israel followed the example of most ancient societies. It was those who were experienced, those who had age, they were thought to be most qualified to lead. And thus the term that's used is the word elder. An interesting thing is that in the Hebrew, the word originally meant bearded. I'm glad that Eric still has his beard. It was really pointing to an outward circumstance, that that person had to be of such maturity that they could physically grow a beard and look healthy doing that. But also it was pointing to what was going on on the inside, that they would have experience, they would have knowledge of life, they would be wise in their decision making. needs that type of leadership. To lead, whether it be a family or a more complex group like a congregation, or even more complex like a nation, is no simple task. It takes maturity. It takes those with understanding. And I think we lose that. I saw an ad for a new TV show called Kids Nation. And from what I can tell from the ads, they're going to put 40 children together. There's not going to be any adults around. You know, just 40 kids. They're going to work out this situation. They're going to come up, the thought is, I'm sure, with an ideal society, you know. If we just get all the adults out of the way, there'd be peace, there'd be harmony, there'd be no war, no fighting, no bickering, and all the rest. Now, of course, I think there's going to be some cameramen that'll be adults. They won't trust those $100,000 cameras to just any 15 or 13, 12-year-old child. There'll be a director around them, that sort of thing. But they'll have this group that'll be off, and they'll try to form a society. You know, just sort of an ideal society without any adults around. Well, I can guarantee you there are about three things that are going to happen. First is the older children will take charge. They will be the ones that will be seen as, you know, what should we do now? And quite likely, not having the maturity that they'll lord it over, they'll become bossy and arrogant. Second thing is that disillusionment will quickly come into place. They'll find out that having a society is a lot of work. There's going to be disunity, there's going to be squabbles. Not everybody is going to get along together. And third thing, they'll see that an ideal society really can't be formed. It'd be hard with mature leadership. It's impossible with immature. Real life and real situations demand there be mature leadership. It's difficult enough when the mature leaders, those who've been through life, who know a lot about life and its problems and difficulties, to make wise decisions. How much more when such leadership, such wisdom is totally lacking. And thus the elders have a responsibility for God's people to lead. They're given authority to lead the people, to make wise decisions. And that's been a constant from the time of the Egyptian captivity all the way on till now. Second thing we can note about the role of elders is it's in plural. As it talks about the leaders of God's people of Israel, it's in the plural. And so if you look at the first reference, it's in Exodus 3.16. Moses says to go to the elders. And in verse 18, the elders are to go with him. And you can go to the next reference in chapter 4, 29, and then go on to chapter 12, 21, and 17, 5, and 6 that we read. And we can look at numbers 11, 16, and on. And then we can go through the rest of the Old Testament. And you see that every place where it refers to this leadership, it's plural. It's never singular. There's always more than one elder involved in the leadership of God's people. Now, we don't know the exact numbers, but it seems to be fairly large. In Numbers 11, Moses is to choose 70 of the elders, and the implication is there's a lot more elders out there than merely 70 elders, but he's to choose 70 of all those elders. And God is going to do something special for them. In Judges 8, we read a little later after they settled in the land, that in this one town called Succoth, maybe one of the largest towns, there are 77 elders in that particular town. Now there are elders who made an unwise decision, who when Gideon comes along and asks them for help, you know, respond to him harshly and don't give them any help, and they are punished later. because they didn't do it. What we see is the elders are talked about, and the same would be true in the New Testament. There are a couple of rare examples where John and Peter talk about themselves as the elder. But most cases in the New Testament, elders is plural as well. Then we think in terms of leadership, in terms of a plurality, in terms of a group. There's a couple of reasons for that. One is that it guards against any one person becoming too powerful, becoming the ruler, the one who directs all. And churches sometimes have a tendency to do that, that they have a pastor who is strong-willed and dynamic, that he becomes the little ruler, the little Hitler directing all that goes on in the church, and whatever he says goes. And that, of course, is unhealthy. But more important, as we see again and again and again and again as they quarrel, elders, elders, elders, elders, elders, it should help us to appreciate the importance of the collective wisdom of the elders. The elders function best when they're working together, when they're advising as a group. And encourage, if you have an issue, something that you want some counsel, come to the session, come to the elders, so that we can advise you together. One man says that the sum of the knowledge of the whole group is always going to be greater than that of any one individual in it. And it has to be. And so the elders of the collective body are wiser than any one elder could ever be. Third thing to see is the spiritual office. In the New Testament this is highlighted, you look at qualifications, and we did that before the election. But we can also see this also in Numbers 11 in the Old Testament. And there we read of how the Holy Spirit came upon the elders. And they prophesied. And what was God doing when he did that? He was marking these elders and saying they had just as much a right of being leaders, of being equipped for leadership as Moses did. They could rightly be called alongside of Moses to help him. because God had equipped them. Spiritually, they had what was necessary. And later on, they maybe had, you know, prophets and elders. And there might be a tendency to think, well, the elders are inferior to that prophet in the land. But God had some prophets off. Not only once, but at the beginning. to indicate that what they're doing is not inferior to what the Prophet does. That they have the same Spirit, the same Holy Spirit on them, just like the Holy Spirit was upon the Prophet and anointed them for the work that they were called to do, the Holy Spirit anoints the elder for the work that he is called to do. And the emphasis is upon that spiritual maturity and experience. It's not only having some experience in life, but it's spiritual experience, spiritual maturity. And as we think of it, a man can be a business leader in the community, can hold high office in the government, can be well known as some sort of celebrity, athlete, or whatever that people look to. But those things do not qualify. for leadership in the Church. What qualifies for leadership in the Church is the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual. And that's why we go through this whole process of nominating and electing, and then having the elders confirm that one who is elected has those spiritual qualifications needed to be elder. The second point we can see as we look at the penitent as a responsibility of the elder given here. And first, it's to be a witness. They are to see and to hear what happens and take notice of it. And the implication is that they would then use that knowledge for the benefit of God's people. We looked at the incident in Exodus 17 where Moses is told to pass through the people, to be seen by all, so that all would know that he's doing, that he's responding to their outcry that there's no water. So he's to pass through the people. And who does he gather with him? He's to take some of the elders in Israel and reply. And why? So that there would be witnesses, that as later on Moses strikes that rock, and he uses that staff that he had in Egypt There'd be those who would see, who would understand what's going on. That this miracle took place because God was doing it. And He was doing it through the hand of Moses. Now all the people in some sense would have become aware of the miracle, as there was water there, where there was no water before. And they could drink, and they could give water to their animals and such. But the elders were to be an eyewitness. They were to see in a specific way how it came about, how Moses struck with that same staff that he struck the Nile. And when he struck the Nile, the water began to be polluted. And when he struck the rock, water flowed out. And just as we sang in Psalm 48, Selection A, there's an implication then. that this was given to them so that they would teach others, that if they would lead and guide and be involved in the life of the congregation, they would be able to recount that miracle and its meaning and significance to point out, you shouldn't complain against God, you shouldn't complain against Moses. This is what God did. In Numbers 16.25, the elders are called upon to be eyewitnesses again. But this time, did eyewitness the ground swelling up, dathom and abound. As these ones have been complaining, as they are singled out for judgment, they were eyewitnesses to the judgment of God upon the wicked. Those who are wicked and stay steadfastly in their wickedness will incur the judgment of God. So why are they called to be specialized witnesses today? So again, they could instruct the people, that they could be involved in the life of the nation, pointing out the fact that God judges those who do wickedly. We could point out too in the book of Ruth how Boaz makes this transaction with the nearest kinsman of Ruth. It's done before ten of the elders, they're witnesses that this has taken place. And today elders are to be witnesses to the truth of God, to his word, the reality of Secondly, the elders are to represent the people of God. In Exodus 3.18 that we read, the elders are to go with Aaron and with Moses to Pharaoh. Why? Why should this group of men go training along behind Moses and Aaron? They're acting as representatives of the nation. That message is coming to Pharaoh, let my people go that they may worship me, isn't just coming from two renegades. It's coming from the people. It's a message from all the children of Israel to Pharaoh. And so as they go, they go not only representing themselves, but representing the whole people. And similarly, we could look at Exodus 19, 7. As Moses gives the commandments, the God's commandments, to the people. Who does he give them to? Well, it's pointed out there, he gives them to the elders. Why the elders? He's trying to say that the elders are exempt, that the elders have to live according to the standards, that they're not to lie, or to steal, or to commit adultery, but the elders, well, yeah, they can murder, and they can make idols, and they can do the rest. Now, he's given it to these ones who are elders as representatives. As the representatives of the nation, they receive these commands from God, and as they to live according to the nation is really promising to live according to those standards. Another time when there would be representatives is found in Leviticus 4.15. When it comes to life, if the nation is sinned, the solution is that a bull is to be offered. And it's offered, the elders of the congregation lay their hands on the head of that bull. They do so as representatives of the whole people. The whole nation has sinned, and they're coming as representatives of that nation and asking for pardon, asking for atonement, asking for blood to cover over the sins of the people. Today we see that same sort of thing, that the elders, as they're involved in their official capacities, are doing so as representatives. When they exercise discipline against someone, it's as representatives of the entire congregation. As they go to Presbyterian Synod meetings, it's as representatives of this congregation. And as there's an interaction with the world outside, the elders need to understand that they're representing not just themselves or their What type of reputation do the past and the elders have? Related to this last representation is the fact that the elders who deal with sin. We can see that in Leviticus 4, but also we can see it in Deuteronomy 21. at the beginning of that chapter, there's someone who's been slain, someone who's been murdered on the open field, and they don't know who the murderer is. How are they to deal with it? There's a God-guiltiness that's on land because of this death, this murder of an innocent man. Well, we're told there in verse 6 that the elders in the nearest city are to take a heifer and to wash their hands over the heifer. Very interesting image. And then they're going to make a declaration that they have not shed the blood of this one who's died, and they don't know who's done it. And then the heifer is killed. But there's an issue of sin. There's an issue that murder has been committed in the land. And how will that blood guiltiness be taken care of? They're not merely to ignore. The elders are to lead the way in dealing with that sin. And today, I think it takes place in terms of formal discipline. That it becomes, especially the province of the elders, to exercise discipline against those who want no sin. And indeed, they're to render judgments And we said before, it's based on their wisdom and their experience upon their spiritual maturity. There are all sorts of issues that we call upon Scripture for them to judge and be involved in. Deuteronomy 21, a little later, talks about the sovereign, rebellious son. And the parents are to take him before the elders. In chapter 22, there's a marital dispute between a couple of families, and that's to go to the elders. In chapter 25, there's a man who's not willing to take his brother's wife, as in the Book of Ruth, and that goes before the elders. A specialized case is in Deuteronomy 19, that a city of refugees, a mariner comes and wants to claim sanctuary there, that he's a manslayer, for her to hear and her to decide. whether that's truly the case or whether it's the murderer trying to escape judgment. And similarly today, much of the work that the elders do are making judgments. As issues are brought up, as difficult cases come, they make a judgment about what should happen. Well, the third point is we need to see the importance of being a leader, the effect that it has on the people. And we can see as we look both the negative and positive effects. First the negative, and we can see several examples where the leaders lead in the wrong way. The people of God are adversely affected. One case of that is in 1 Samuel 8. There's a clamoring for a king. God has been supplying the leaders. And he has really been the leader of the nation. But they want to be like all the other nations, have a king to go out before them and lead their armies and that sort of thing. But notice, if you look closely, who it is that is making this demand? Who is putting pressure on Samuel to appoint this king? It's the elders of the nation. They're the ones that are leading the way, taking the lead and saying, we want a king. And as God speaks a little later to Samuel, he says, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. Another case is found in 1 Kings 21. Queen Jezebel wants a field that belongs to a man named Naboth. And so she conspires with the elders of his city of Jezreel to have him killed and sends them a letter And what do they do? Do they stand up for what's right? Are they being good leaders? No. They give in to her demands. And an innocent man is put to death. And we can go on to Lamentations chapter 1 and 2 as Jeremiah looks at the destruction of Jerusalem. And why it came about, he comments and laments the poor leadership. It wasn't the elders alone, but they're part of that leadership. That instead of encouraging the people to be faithful, encouraging them to repent and turn back to God, had led them astray. And he's lamenting over that. The contrast is how good leaders have a powerful effect. on God's people for their good. One example, this is in Ezra 6.14, it says the elders of the Jews were successful in building to the promised sign of Haggai, the prophet, the Zephariah, the son of David. In this case it was rebuilding the temple. And how did the temple get rebuilt? Who did it? What's pointed out is the elders who did that, who led the way, who heard God speaking, who heard the command of God and responded to it, and then put it into practice. They led the way. And the temple got rebuilt. The second example is given at the end of the book of Joshua, chapter 24, verse 31. testimony to the influence that godly elders have. It says, Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua. Now we might expect this God-appointed leader that they would be faithful while he was around, but it goes on to say, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had known all the deeds of the Lord, which he had done for Israel. So those who outlived him, who had outlived Joshua, those elders still exerted a godly influence on the nation. So the nation stayed true as long as there were those elders who were around and remembered what God had done and were able to call people and remind people of what God had done for them. Leadership is so crucial. really in all areas of life, but especially the church. It can be good leadership, it can be bad leadership. And it has a profound effect. I can think of that as I watched the Illinois-IU football game last fall. In the first half, IU fell behind 25-7. And I don't know if you saw that game, but they showed the IU sidelines. And you could tell the players by the way their heads were down. And all the rest of their body language said that we've lost. That this team is too good for us. But then they showed Coach Hefner. speaking to the team. And he was fired up. And he wasn't going to take any of this, we're going to lay down and let them roll over us. You may remember, the end of the game, the field goal with no time left, and Indiana wins 34-32. And it all came back to the leadership. A leadership that said, we can do it. A leadership that said, we won't lose, we will win this game. And even though the players, many of them were already thinking, we've lost. The leadership would not permit them to think that way. And it's the same thing in the church, and even more so. We need leadership. who lead according to God's standards, who will do what is right no matter what, who will move forward and build in the kingdom of God no matter what the obstacles, no matter how great the opposition. And with leadership, the church will move forward. Let me suggest two suggestions for application this morning. First, as we look to have a new elder, as Eric would be ordained and installed, I encourage you to pray for him. Really for all the elders, but as he would take on this crucial role, along with the elders, that you would be fervent in your prayers for him. Because he, as well as the rest of us, needs wisdom from above. need strength and help that comes from God. So be fervent in your prayerful. Second, encourage the men of the congregation to aspire to be an elder. Suckers had 77 elders. Now don't envision a day when we would have 77 elders, but It's surely good to have more of it. To see more men being raised up and placed in that office. It's a man's desire. The church needs those who are good leaders. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks. for the leadership that you've given to the church. From even before the time of Moses, there were elders. Even until today, and we look forward to having even a new elder today. And we give thanks for that, that constant you have had. The Vizier Church has needed leaders. You've instituted this office of elders to lead and direct. to represent, to be witnesses for you. We pray in particular for Eric, that as he would take on this new responsibility, that your Holy Spirit would be upon him in a special way, to give him wisdom and discretion, to give him a faithfulness and a forcefulness to come through you. We pray these things in Christ's name. Thank you.