So we are continuing our unpacking boxes series. We're talking about the what's of the local church. But we've talked about the elements of worship, of music, we've talked about several other things. What we're now moving on to is that exciting topic, administration, or church leadership, to be more specific. It's perhaps not the most interesting topic, but it is contentious nonetheless. Even so, or even though some Christians and churches might develop different convictions on this issue, we should show them appropriate grace. But we also want our church to have its convictions formed by the whole counsel of God's Word. We want to be as free from unbiblical tradition as possible. And of course, if it's biblical, we want to embrace it. Now, regardless of opinion on the question of church polity, the one thing we should start off with is the one thing that all Christians should agree on. And that's this. Christ is the ultimate head of his church. He owns it. He purchased it with his blood. He's the head of his body Colossians 1 18 says the chief shepherd who's hurting his sheep. First Peter 5 for talks about that. Moreover, he plans for his church, or he has plans for his church, that he set into motion before the foundation of the earth. Ephesians 3.9 talks about those plans from ages past. And these plans include proper conduct for its members. In fact, if we look down, we're in three. If we look down to verse 15, Paul says, I, but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth. And so, yes, the Lord has plans for the church and he has plans for how we are to operate within the church. He didn't quite leave us to just simply make it up as we go along. He does have a clear outline for the church and its operation. And he gave Christians a variety of gifts. Why? So that the church, as it's operating as it should, would be edified, would be built up in love and in the Lord. Romans 12 talks about that. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about that. And of course, Ephesians 4 talks about that, where we read that he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the building up of the body. And therefore, perhaps the best way to think about the church is this. Church government is a theocracy and we understand what God is telling us as we read his word and as we apply it to our lives. He is in charge of his church. And since the church is his, we won't be surveying the various forms of church government today. There are lots of different forms of church government, and that could devote a lot of time or eat up a lot of our time. We don't want to devote our time to that this evening. Maybe another time we'll look into that. Well, what we're going to look at this evening is specifically the offices that he created for his church, according to his word. And what we see here in First Timothy, chapter three, is that he created two offices, an office of elders and an office of deacons. Because churches should be qualified by plurality of biblically qualified elders. What is that? A multiplicity. There should be a group of biblically qualified elders that govern the church, and they rule independently from others, but dependently upon the grace and power of God, and subordinately to the Word of God. Moreover, alongside them come the deacons who help to serve the needs of the church, but who do not have ruling authority themselves. Let's look at the first group, and that is the office of elders. So let's look at those who are elders. Now, as I use that term, I am aware of the fact that many Baptists are troubled by the word elders. And as I've talked about this in times past, it's usually a term that receives some pushback, but it is a biblical term and it is a term that we should use. The more popular term, of course, is pastor. But some also use another word, it's from the older English, it's in our King James Bibles, and that's bishop. And that word means overseer, and that's the word that we have in our texts today. And so sometimes we talk about elders, sometimes we talk about pastors, sometimes we talk about overseers. Now scripture uses all three of these words interchangeably. And we could look at a couple of examples of that. For instance, back in Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, verse 17. Acts 20, 17. We read as Paul is getting ready to leave Ephesus from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and he called to him the elders of the church. And so the elders of the church are about to gather. Now look down to verse 28. He's now addressing the elders. He's been addressing the elders in this chapter. And he says, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock. Among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. So, we've talked about this verse in reference to the fact that the blood of the Lord has purchased the Church. But notice also that we read that the Holy Spirit has made the elders overseers to shepherd, or to use a different word, to pastor, to pastor. And so there we see all three terms in Acts chapter 20, we see all three terms being used. We could see that also, and if you wanna look this up later, Titus 1 verses 5 and 7, we see the same thing. That's Titus 1 verses 5 and 7. And also 1 Peter 5, verses 1 and 2, 1 Peter 5, 1 and 2, we see that scripture is using all three of these terms, elder, pastor, overseer, or as some of the older translations say, bishop. It uses all three interchangeably. And so when we get to 1 Timothy 3, I'm sure a lot of this is just review of what you've already learned. When we're talking about the office of overseer, I hope you're seeing that we're talking about the pastor, the pastoral office or the office of the elder. Now, when we talk about this, the term elder, the reason I use the term elder is because that is the most frequent term in Scripture that's used of this office. Ironically, the term that we're most familiar with, pastor, is the least common. And so it's used the least. But that just works out that way sometimes. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with using the term pastor, but elder is the more common term. Initially, the apostles, as they are going from town to town, they are planning their churches. And what do they do? They appoint elders in each church. And it's always elders. We'll talk about that in just a moment. In Acts 14, 23, we could read about that, and every church, they are appointing elders. Now, over time, the elders would then elect new elders, and we'll talk about that in just a few moments, but how would they elect them? Based on the qualifications we see in this passage, and in Titus chapter one as well. And so that also brings us to the first point about elders. I want us to see elders must be biblically qualified. They must be biblically qualified. Now, search committees. I've heard lots of stories of search committees. And I know that's not the case here, but there have been search committees who have said, well, we don't know what to look for in a pastor. And they start Googling around and they start pulling up business accreditations and and different things like that, because they just don't know what they should have, or they have certain expectations, like we want someone who's young, but also full of experience, you know, kind of like with any business, and they're trying their best, but they don't really know exactly what they should be looking for in a pastor. Well, of course, scripture gives us that answer. search committees should turn to hear in Titus 1 verses 5-9 to be specific. Elders must be men who are full of the Spirit. They should be saved. They should be full of the Holy Spirit. Within their marriages we see that. Within their ministries we see that. Within the work of the man even in the world we see that. It is commensurate with a Christian work ethic. Well, elders will never be perfect. They should be able to set an example in these areas that we're reading about, meaning that everyone in the church really should strive for these qualifications, not just the elders. The elders are setting the standard for all to try to be encouraged and be built up in these character traits. What character traits? Well, based on 1 Timothy 3 here and Titus 1, an elder must be, and I'm just going to list these off, he must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, By the way, that's a male designation, isn't it? He should be a man. He should be a man. He must be temperate. He must be prudent. He must be respectable. He must be hospitable. He must be able to teach. He must be free from the love of money. He must be not addicted to wine. He must be not pugnacious. He must be gentle, be uncontentious, be not fond of sordid gain or money. He must manage his household well. He must control his children with dignity. He must be able to exhort and sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. He must be not a new convert. He must be self-controlled. He must be sensible. He must be not self-willed. He must be not quick-tempered. He must be loving. what is good, he must be just and devout, and he must have a good reputation with those outside the church. Wow, that's quite the list, and that's from both passages, both Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3. Since this church just went through First Timothy, I won't go into detail with each of these. I don't think that's necessary to retread all that ground, but it is interesting as I read through that list. So many of these traits focus on the godliness of the man, the character of the man, and the demonstrated leadership ability of the man in his home and elsewhere. That's what we should be looking for in pastors, in elders. Now we do also see that teaching is a specific requirement for the position. It's one that in fact, as we see the parallel to deacons below here and starting in verse eight, We don't see teaching required for deacons, but teaching is required for elders. Now, it's not that he's perfect in each of these categories. It's not that he doesn't have room to grow in some of these areas. We cannot set an unattainable standard. However, he also must not be disqualified on the basis of any of them. For instance, a man who is a womanizer, who is sleeping around on his wife, would be disqualified. He would not be someone we would consider. And we could look at all of that. But these are the qualifications that Scripture gives to us and elders must be biblically qualified. Second, elders, as I said earlier, elders must be biblically plural. Plural. What do you mean? You keep talking about the pastor or the elder. Well, don't be confused by that. Even though some of us are used to seeing in churches a single pastor in charge, a plurality of elders should lead the congregation. Why? Well, I mean, if we just consider for the fact that the human heart is deceitful, Jeremiah 17, 9, We need more than one man. If we consider the fact that Proverbs 11, 14 says there's safety in the abundance of counselors, we need more than one man. There needs to be accountability and scripture when scripture talks about the leaders of churches that always uses elders in the plural. You never read about the elder of such and such church. It's always the elders of that church. And when the apostles are planning those churches, as I said earlier, Acts 14, 23, for instance, it's elders. Titus 1, 5, elders. James 5, 14, elders. It's always elders. Remember, a lot of these churches were smaller. Don't think that they're these mega churches that need to have multiple men. These are house churches in many cases, in most cases. Now, that doesn't mean that among the elders, there won't be one who teaches the majority of the time. And so he has the appearance of being over the others. But really, when we think about this, the term senior pastor is a misnomer. really isn't a senior pastor, and we shouldn't think of the associate pastor as the assistant pastor. We are pastors on the same level. So Jorge and I, we are the pastors right now of the church. He doesn't report to me. I don't tell him what to do. In fact, if I'm doing something wrong, I've told him he has full authority to come into my office just to make sure we're on the same page. He has full authority to come into my office and tell me I'm doing something wrong. Just like I do with him, but not because I'm over him, but because we are fellow elders in the church. And that's how that works. The New Testament. As we are looking at this and say, well, how many elders should a church have? Well, the New Testament doesn't command a definitive number. And praise God for that because if we had a quota we might be tempted to appoint unqualified men to be able to meet that. We don't want that, of course. God-given sense dictates that the numbers should be commensurate with the size of the church, the needs of the church. But don't think also that, well, if we bring on more elders, they all have to be paid. Not necessarily. We have bivocational elders. We also have lay elders, where we have men who come in and it is a volunteer ministry. But they are of the same level. They are not somehow underneath the compensated or paid elders. They are on the same level. And in some ways, if you think about that, that actually keeps the paid elders accountable, as you have lay elders who are looking into things. Now, prayerful consideration must be taken by each church to seek what number of elders would best serve the needs. And of course, we have to be flexible, as God will send us people sometimes, and then other times maybe we don't have those people, that's fine. But we prayerfully seek the Lord on that issue. Yeah, so we don't want to have a specific number necessarily, but we do want to have a number that will meet the needs of the church. Why? Because in the church, and this is my third point, elders must exercise biblical authority. Elders must exercise biblical authority. And that's stated that way for a reason. Not just authority, it has to be biblical authority. As we've been discussing this, I may have been using some words that make you uncomfortable. Elder, for instance. But there are other words. Overseer may make you uncomfortable. And I have used the word rule. I think I've used the word rule. I intended to, but that may make you uncomfortable as well. But that also is a biblical term. If we look to 517, we read about the elders who rule well. And so we see that, yes, that is what's stated there. Here the care that the elder exercises in the church is likened to managing a household. In verses four and five, we see that he must be one who manages his household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how to manage his household, how will he take care of the church of God? We see the terminology being used that way. There is some authority that the Bible gives to the elder in the church. But there is a question as to what it looks like, and so let's do a quick survey of that. First, elders, according to this passage, must oversee the flock. They must oversee God's people. In Acts 20, 28, Again, Paul told them that the Holy Spirit has made them the elders of Ephesus overseers. That's why they need to be on guard for themselves and for the flock. And so there's that guarding that's going on, and elders should be aware of that. Second, elders also, as we've seen here already, they must care for or manage God's people. They must care for or manage God's people. And the terms are interchangeable in the text. So consider the fact later, what Paul says to the family. Let's turn to chapter 5 verse 8. Chapter 5 verse 8. He's talking about those who are widows indeed. But he takes a moment to talk about what really is the man's responsibility. But if anyone does not provide for his own, And especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Men need to take care of their families. We understand that. In fact, many people know that even before they become Christians, men need to take care of their families. It's not really an esoteric thought. If they won't work for their loved ones, then what makes us think that if we elect them to be pastors, if we appoint them to be pastors, they would care for any of the rest of us? They must manage their households well. And if they're not taking care of their people, then they're not gonna take care of God's people. Moreover, as we consider how they raise their children, they should be able to discipline their children, for instance, without domineering, without losing self-control. They should be able to lead in such a way that it does not provoke the child unto wrath. They should be leading in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Now if they can do that with their kids, then they can do that with the rest of the Church of God. And so that's why the illustration is given there and why the qualification is given there. Must care for or manage God's people. Third, not only must elders oversee God's people and care for or manage God's people, elders decide policy for God's people. And we want to be careful in how we say that. But Acts chapter 15 gives us a great example of this. Let's go back to Acts 15. This is the Jerusalem Council. Now, as you're turning there, there were some issues that Paul and Barnabas and the rest of the people who were going out and serving in the churches elsewhere outside of Jerusalem, they were facing these issues that were coming out of Jerusalem. Namely, there were those who were coming from Jerusalem and shaming the Gentile converts there. making them feel as though they are lesser. Some were teaching that they needed to be circumcised in order to be true converts to Christ. Of course, those were the Judaizers. Oh, and Paul and Barnabas come to the Jerusalem Council. They are coming to address this issue right there in Jerusalem where the issue originates. And so we see in verse two that they come. The brethren decided. We're not really told exactly how that process goes about, but they decided that Paul and Barnabas and some others needed to go to Jerusalem. To the apostles and elders concerning this issue, and so they come. And they're greeted there warmly until verse 5 when we see that a sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up saying it is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the law of Moses. And so we see up there, there's the problem group right there. Well, so what do what happens? First, six, the apostles and elders came together. And so the church is gathered to receive Paul and Barnabas. The Pharisees stand up. They say what they say, their peace. And so the apostles and the elders, they come apart, too. They gather together. They were already gathered together. So the gathering together must be gathering together somewhere else to discuss the issue. They want to look into this matter. And we could go on to read about the debate there, and to read what Paul says, what Peter says there, what James says there. And it's interesting that James speaks up, because James is not an apostle. James is an elder. And when we get down there, and we see just what he's saying there, Verse 19, he says, therefore it is my judgment. Now he is speaking in the presence of apostles, but this is what the elder says, the elder James, he says, therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled. and from blood. Now these things are not commanded. What he is saying is that we need to make sure that they are not causing offense to our Jewish brethren. And that's why he made this determination. So when we get down to verses 28 and 29, we are reading about the letter, verse 23 really, we see the letter sent by them, the apostles and the brethren who are elders, Verses 28 and 29, For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials, that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication. If you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well, not you will be saved, but you will do well. Farewell. And so where does that wording come from? Well, that that wording comes from James, the elder, not from the apostles. Interestingly. And this letter then gets distributed. They go out, in fact in chapter 16 we see this continuing on, chapter 16 verse 4, Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem for them to observe. Decrees now if you if you really want to rile some people up start talking about well the elders decree this or that Now I don't necessarily suggest that we rile people up, of course But we do see that the elders made decisions that would be befitting for the whole church for the unity of the body and and that they then distributed that word. Now, why are they distributing it? It's not that Jerusalem is over these other churches. Rather, what it is is that the Jerusalem church, because the problem was coming from that church, decided to send this letter out to the other churches to make sure that the issue was taken care of. They do not command circumcision. They do not command all of this other stuff. But they do ask, that the Gentile converts be mindful of the sensibilities of their Jewish counterparts. And that makes sense because we want to not cause our brothers and sisters to stumble. We want to make sure that there is unity within the body. And so the elders do decide policy. And there's another example of this, but for the sake of time, we'll just keep moving here. Not only do they decide policy, but elders also lay hands on or ordain those ministering to God's people. Now I've mentioned Acts 14, 23 a couple of times, and that is the apostles appointing elders in the churches that they plant. but they sometimes do something different. Look to Titus for a moment. Titus chapter one, verse five, we see Paul saying this, for this reason I left you, Titus, in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I have directed you. And so we see sometimes the apostles would appoint others to appoint elders. And we see that Titus, in his case, was acting as a de facto elder in the church. And then he is calling up and training up elders who would be able to work in those churches. He's almost an apostolic apostle. He is standing in the place there of the apostles. later with timothy we see something a little bit different let's go back to first timothy chapter four now first timothy chapter four verse 11 that's not right first timothy Let's see. Just have the wrong cross-reference there. He tells Timothy, well, Paul tells Timothy, and you can find this, I apologize for the wrong cross-reference there. Paul tells Timothy to remember the fact that elders laid hands on him and ordained him. Now it's interesting as I compare these three examples, and I'm thinking about the timeline, Acts 14, Titus 1, 1 Timothy 4. What we see with these three examples is almost a lesser emphasis as time goes on, on what the apostles do, and a greater emphasis on what the elders are doing within the church. Let me put it this way. there is a transition happening and the Apostles are passing on the authority to churches so that churches would appoint their own elders. because we don't have Apostles today. The Apostle Peter, unfortunately, cannot come in here and say, here's your new elder. That would be great if we could have that, but we only have the Word of God now. We only have the writings of the Apostles as inspired by the Holy Spirit. And of course, it is ultimately the Holy Spirit who appoints elders. Again, Acts 20, verse 28. It is ultimately the Holy Spirit that appoints elders. But what we see is the baton being passed and authority being passed, and it's actually the elders who lay their hands on the people. And so that's what we start to see as time goes on. We not only see that elders are laying their hands on or dating them, the people ministering to God's people, but fifth elders instruct God's people in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it. And that's from Titus one nine. This is part of the part of the qualifications that Paul gives to Titus Titus one nine. where it's supposed to be holding fast. Elders should be holding fast to the faithful word, which is in accordance with teaching so that he, the elder, will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Now, elders shouldn't be pugnacious, they shouldn't be contentious, but they do need to be bold if they need to be bold, and they need to be able to say, that's wrong, if they need to say it. Don't listen to that, don't follow that, don't believe that. Well, why? Well, let me show you from God's word why. It's not that elders don't show some grace there and some patience for people who are growing, but they do have a charge. to not only persuade others with the word, but to do so with authority. An elder must be able to watch for wolves, both outside and inside the congregation, and if necessary, rebuke them. That's what Paul is talking about in Acts chapter 20, ravenous wolves will rise up from among yourselves. He's warning them that they won't spare the flock. And so they need to be ready. They need to be ready. That's part of the reason why they're called overseers. They instruct God's people in sound doctrine and they rebuke those who contradict it. Six elders rule God's people. Well, they rule God's people well. And there's a word that people shy away from there in ruling God's people. But as we look at 517, again, the elders who rule, but the qualification there, they rule well, are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. Some argue that the word here just means, you know, to lead, to guide, you know, to persuade. Well, it's true that elders should do that, and they do not have a license for tyranny. This is the same term that is translated manage in chapter three, verses four and five. He must manage his household well. In verse 12 as well, for the deacons. Imagine a father who is simply saying, well, I only lead my toddler. I only try to persuade my toddler. I don't use force. I don't ever speak sternly. As the child is sticking a fork in the power outlet again. No, don't do that. You'll get shocked again. No. It requires a little bit more, right, on the part of the elder and on the part of the father. And the Greek, the best Greek lexicons say that in 517, the word means to exercise a position of leadership, to rule, to direct, to be at the head of. And that's why the New American Standard Bible here, the ESV as well, the English Standard Version, the King James Version, the New King James Version, and even the Revised Standard Version. They all translate the word rule. They all use the word rule. And incidentally, that is the same term that's used in First Thessalonians 512, which says that the elders have charge over you in the Lord. They have rule over you in the Lord. In the Lord, that is a key qualifier there, but it is rule. So the key here isn't that they just rule, but they rule well. So we see here a lot of different words to describe what an elder should do. Words like oversee, care, manage, decide, lay hands on, rule, instruct, rebuke. They all describe the office of the elder. We had to deal with an issue at a previous church where someone had a vocal opinion that elders, the only job that the elders should have is just preaching and prayer. That's the only thing he should focus on. The management of the church falls to other people. The pastor, the elder, he doesn't do any of that. But as we see in scripture, there is much more to the pastoral office than just that. Now, it's not less than that. He should be preaching and especially the one who is charged with most of the teaching, obviously, and he should be praying. He should be praying, but he should also be ruling well. Under Christ's elders have authority that's nowhere granted to deacons or to even the whole church and scripture. Now, are there limitations to that authority? Yes, of course. Obviously, with this word rule well, there's a limitation. We go back to chapter three. We see in verse six, for instance, a warning about those who might become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. The next verse follows in like manner, an elder might fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. God condemned in Ezekiel 34 verse four, he condemned those false shepherds of Israel for ruling with force and harshness. No, that should not be a part of a shepherd's description. They should not rule with force or harshness. And that's why God condemned them. Jesus commanded his disciples in Matthew, chapter 20, verses 25 through 28. Not to lord their position over people. Don't be like the Gentiles who lord their position over the people. OK, so what's the dividing line? Well, the great shepherd. contrasting himself to the religious leaders of the day, says this, I am gentle and humble in heart. That should be descriptive of the elder as well. He told his disciples that those wanting to be first must serve all, right? When his disciples asked about seeds of prominence, he tells them about the importance of sacrifice and suffering. And he highlights the self-important leaders of the day, those who love titles and honors. He says, in contrast to that, the humble will be exalted in the end. He calls his people away from lording their positions over others toward humble service. Think about the model he gave in John 13. He washed his disciples' feet. We talked a little bit about that, about the feet this morning, about how that was the job of the lowliest of servants to even unlatch the shoe. the individual, but he, the master, puts a towel around himself and he bends down and he washes his disciples feet. He says, go thou and do likewise. Elders should be serving, not just in teaching, Although that is service, we have to see that teaching is service, but more than that, it should also be helping to meet physical needs where they can. Paul's apostolic example was that of deaconing, of service. Acts 11, 29 and 30 elders were responsible for distributing money. And so elders must not only be theologians and residents, although they should be that, they should serve others. They should never see themselves as these ivory tower elites, you know, who are above menial tasks. I remember this story, R.C. Sproul was sharing it. He said that he just brought on a new elder. He said, OK, so we have a Bible study in a few minutes. The chairs are in the room over there. If you'll just grab the chairs and start setting them out in rows like so. And the guy said, oh, no, I don't do chairs. And R.C. Sproul said something along the lines of, I guess you don't, because you're not here anymore. An elder doesn't see himself as above such things. The term many use is servant leadership. And there's a lot of accuracy to that term, because an elder should be one who serves. He focuses on the one another commands of scripture and models them. He doesn't just call others to live according to him. He should strive to model them as well as he can. And that's why whenever we see the calls or the descriptions of authority in scripture given to elders, we see that it is always given caveats. He should manage or care for the church well. He should pay attention to himself as he does to the flock. He should rule well and labor in preaching and teaching. And there are various passages we can look at with that first Peter 5 verses 1 through 3. We see some interesting points there. He must shepherd the flock eagerly and willingly exercising oversight. but without being compelled to do so, which would be no profit to the church, of course, without seeking shameful gain, his desire is not wealth or influence, of course, and without domineering. He can be firm in conviction, but he should also remain gentle in heart. So with those important limitations noted, we must be balanced. The simple exercise of authority is not authoritarian. And this is one thing that we have to see on the other side of this. It's not just that the elder should serve or should rule well, but it's also that we as the church, when we're looking at the fellow elder and we're looking at the rule that's happening there, we should, not see just the simple use of authority as authoritarian. The Lord still calls his elders to rule. There wouldn't be so many warnings against heavy-handed rule if elders lacked authority to exercise. Their attitude, though, should be that of service, just as a congregation's attitude is to be that of submission. And if any fall into sin or step out from under the roles God has called them to, then the Christians in the congregation should engage in the church discipline process just like they would with anyone else. And we'll talk about church discipline in a few weeks now. There's more we can say about elders. I've spent more time on this than I intended to. I would recommend that you pick up Alexander. I think his name is Strouch. I think I may be mispronouncing that though. I just recently heard an interview with him and I think I've been mispronouncing his name, but I'm used to saying Alexander Strauch, S-T-R-A-U-C-H. His book is called Biblical Eldership, An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership. And in that interview, he said he's actually updating that book. So there may be a new edition coming out soon, but it's a fairly thick book, and it is all about the biblical role of eldership. But since we're talking about church leadership, it is worth saying something about deacons. And I want to say something about that as we close, because the Bible calls for the office of deacons as well. Now, many of us who have grown up in Southern Baptist churches or have had an SBC background, we typically think of a single pastor who is in a church, and we think that he is like the CEO of the church, and underneath him are the vice presidents of the church, and those are typically the deacons. And that's usually the layout you see. In fact, in some churches, you'll even see that on the wall. You'll see a picture of the pastor, and then underneath him, smaller pictures, and those are all the deacons of the church. And so it's actually set up that way in some churches. And some churches indeed imbue deacons with authority, in some cases ultimate authority, where the deacons are telling the pastor, OK, this is what you need to do rather than the pastor leading, the deacons are leading in the church. And that's that's unbiblical. That's not what we see in scripture. Scripture, when it uses the word deacon and the whole word family that's associated with the word deacon, He uses it in connection with service, always with service. For instance, when Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law in Luke 4, 39, We see that she gets up and she serves. What does she serve? She makes them food. That tells us that Jesus healed her completely because she's able not only to get up out of bed, but she's able to go into the kitchen and start cooking. She is completely and totally healed. And she serves them now. She's been served and now she serves them. And that's what we see. It can refer to administration, it can refer to ministry, and it is a ministry. like the monetary relief efforts for those in Judea in Acts 11, 29. The Christian concept for service to others and to the Lord with all humility is the deacon service. As Christians, we should all be involved with this spiritual service. We should all be deacons. But of course, there are specialized tasks that may require us to call deacons. And we do appoint deacons in the church for those tasks, like building maintenance and different things that would require people to focus on those issues. It's not that pastors are uninvolved in those issues, but in that case, it is better to have someone who can focus in on those issues. And at this church, we do. We have some men who really serve and they serve well. And I've been really amazed with seeing how well the deacons here serve. It's been an encouragement to me. The office exists, and it needs to exist. We see it in Scripture where deacons are called out and they are given a task in the church. What task? We're never told in Scripture. The job of deacons is never outlined in Scripture. We do see in Acts chapter six that they come up because the Hellenistic Jews, the Jews from Greek backgrounds, were being neglected. And so deacons come up to serve them. In Philippians 1, 1, we see that both overseers and deacons were there at Philippi. Here in 1 Timothy, we read deacons also, or deacons likewise. There were deacons in Ephesus that Timothy needed, and that Timothy needed to qualify as well. It is important for deacons to serve and deacons, even though they don't teach, they can teach. And in fact, it's not uncommon or at least unheard of for some deacons to be given the role of elder in a church. Maybe they become a lay elder in a church, but they don't have to do that. And if they are just simply serving people and making sure that the needs of people are being met, they are fulfilling that role. But they likewise need to be qualified. And we see, starting in verse eight, the qualifications for the deacon, and they are pretty much the same as the qualifications for a pastor. They should also be examples to the flock. Well, trying to wrap this up quickly so that we don't run into the kids here. But as we wrap this up, I want to say that I know that there's a lot of tradition and a lot of disagreement about this issue. And with that noted, I don't want to be heard as saying that churches that don't practice a model of church leadership exactly like I've outlined tonight, very briefly outlined tonight, are somehow false. They're not. In fact, I've benefited personally from a variety of congregations with different leadership structures, and that's because God is gracious. And he saves people in many different kinds of churches and praise him for it. But what do we here want to do? We want to do everything according to God's word. We want our convictions shaped by God's word. And that conviction should start with this, the Lord Jesus Christ is over the church and he gets to tell us how the church operates. And it's incumbent upon us as the church to bow to his headship on the matter.