Episode 26
Individual Saints vs. Church Organization
Today, we dive into the intricate responsibilities of spiritual leaders, particularly the shepherds of the first century, and how their roles resonate—or clash—with our modern interpretations. Our main takeaway centers on the idea that these early shepherds were not merely figureheads but were deeply embedded in the lives of their congregations, sharing meals and personal moments, thereby setting a profound example of leadership through service. As we explore their model, we can't help but notice how today's church structures have morphed into more bureaucratic setups, often prioritizing administration over genuine shepherding. We'll tackle the nuances of respect and accountability within today's leadership, discussing how modern practices sometimes stray far from the original intent of spiritual care.
Takeaways:
- The first-century shepherds were deeply involved in their communities, sharing meals and lives with their flocks, which fostered genuine relationships and trust.
- Elders were seen as worthy of double honor due to their rigorous dedication to the spiritual well-being of their brethren.
- The modern church often misinterprets the role of elders as decision-makers, whereas the original intention was for them to guide and teach rather than rule.
- True accountability and respect in church leadership arise from transparency and mutual understanding, not from a hierarchical structure that prioritizes authority over service.
Transcript
And good day to you and welcome to our study once again.
Speaker A:We left off last time talking about trying to apply the principles and the teachings of the pastors or the shepherds in the first century to today's churches.
Speaker A:And that's usually how it is applied.
Speaker A:The responsibility.
Speaker A:We left off talking about the responsibility of these shepherds who were being examples to the flock and they were teaching them the word.
Speaker A:I believe they were in a position of showing such leadership and being an example by being among them.
Speaker A:In other words, they were in their homes and shared their meals and were thus supported by them.
Speaker A:They were worthy of double honor because of their extensive rigorous work of looking after souls.
Speaker A:This was their work and a description of their role and the responsibility of those in their care in that city.
Speaker A:Their responsibility was to know their elders.
Speaker A:It's the Greek word oida.
Speaker A:It's important to establish an attitude of respect and appreciation for them.
Speaker A:And thus that relationship was established in the first century.
Speaker A:One should, you know, no one really should worry about imposing on an elder because true shepherds, they wanted to serve and they were anxious for you to know them and to know their work and to be seen as the example of how things were to be treated.
Speaker A:Even as we've noted sometime in the past, when an elder sinned, they were to be rebuked by all that others may fear.
Speaker A:Now, that didn't cause them to lose their position.
Speaker A:They weren't demoted, they weren't taken off out of this role as a shepherd.
Speaker A:If anything else, if anything, it demonstrated the opportunity to be an example of how we deal with sin.
Speaker A:We're all potentially in the same boat.
Speaker A:And so they became again the example even on how to handle sin.
Speaker A:There is no indication that because an elder sinned, as Paul describes it to Timothy, that they should be demoted and no longer can serve as a shepherd.
Speaker A:Well, in the first place, these men weren't, they weren't just good men that we've elected to a position of leadership.
Speaker A:They were given the gifts and given special attention to the needs of saints.
Speaker A:Ephesians 4, verse 11.
Speaker A:They were gifts given by the Lord.
Speaker A:I don't know that men would have the responsibility or the right to say, well now we don't want to do that, want you to serve in that capacity anymore because you've sinned.
Speaker A:This is all part and parcel of a man made organization that comes with rules and restrictions that's imposed because of the nature of their work.
Speaker A:But I don't see anything like that in the first century.
Speaker A:In the first century, no One would worry about imposing on an elder to call on them for anything because they were there, they were to be used.
Speaker A:Their work that gives them cause for the high estimation that's given by God's people to esteem them highly in love for their work's sake.
Speaker A:1 Thessalonians 5 their work that gives cause for this high estimation is not the oversight of some local congregation as a decision maker, but the respect is rooted in love for them because of their responsibility that they've accepted, the sacrifices that they've made, the diligent work they perform for the individual souls of saints living among them.
Speaker A:And so that's why they were highly esteemed, that's why they were worthy of double honor.
Speaker A:This expression is a reference not to just monetary support.
Speaker A:No honor is expected from those who are lords over God's heritage and making decisions in secret and announcing decisions as law and expecting compliance without question.
Speaker A:Treating the thoughts of others with indifference is not cause for respect and honor.
Speaker A:Not only will this inhibit a personal knowledge of these men and a healthy respect for them, it often creates the opposite effect.
Speaker A:It causes criticism and gossip and rebellion and division and any other number of other problems among carnally minded people.
Speaker A:Other roles that are expected for which we are not provided even a proof text.
Speaker A:Leaders of churches become the emotional barometers of the institutional church organization.
Speaker A:In other words, they listen to the complaints, they sort of read the pulse of the group for that organization to continue without loss of members, and they're very concerned about that.
Speaker A:They don't want to lose memberships, they want to gain members.
Speaker A:And so the work is dependent on the contribution of those members, and the contribution of those members is dependent on their satisfaction with the decision of the eldership.
Speaker A:So it kind of.
Speaker A:They all tie together.
Speaker A:The leadership is placed in a position of making members happy.
Speaker A:We often, sometimes look at this as being a problem among preachers, but it's equally a troublesome thing and influences the decisions of the local leadership.
Speaker A:It's required that they have greater control over the business decisions of that congregation.
Speaker A:Who and what can be done and where, who's going to be paid and how.
Speaker A:This can easily evolve into the church leaders becoming a department of human relations being more concerned with keeping the membership happy.
Speaker A:A great cause of alarm and nervousness is when people start leaving because of discontentment.
Speaker A:And so the fall guy is usually the hired preacher.
Speaker A:If the church is at its lowest in attendance, and the preacher often receives the blame for it, then it's time to start looking for another preacher.
Speaker A:Once again.
Speaker A:The Elders may assert their alleged authority here, and they're going to fire the preacher for the good of the congregation.
Speaker A:Some may want him, others may not want him, but his work is critical to the happiness of the membership.
Speaker A:The preacher is under constant scrutiny as individuals, judges performance.
Speaker A:And after all, if we're going to pay somebody a good salary, then we should make sure he's worth the money that we're giving him.
Speaker A:See, all the attention and focus is on him.
Speaker A:Questions are raised like, well, what, what, what's he gonna do next?
Speaker A:Or why doesn't he do this?
Speaker A:And comments like, he's not very good visitor, or his sermons are too shallow, or I can't follow his sermons.
Speaker A:And those are the kind of rumors among the discontented membership.
Speaker A:And if it's too, too bad and people start talking among themselves and there's discontentment, the elders pick up on that and they can say, hey buddy, it's time for you to go somewhere else.
Speaker A:It's a sad thing, but since he's so dispensable, if his performance is not satisfactory, you can always hire another preacher, you see, who can raise the enthusiasm.
Speaker A:And that's what this is.
Speaker A:It's like a pep rally kind of build.
Speaker A:Gives somebody a shot in the arm so they can continue through the week and, and get them all excited.
Speaker A:And so this repeated preacher cycle is commonplace among local church organizations.
Speaker A:And in that arrangement, very little attention is really given to the apathy or the sinfulness of others.
Speaker A:I mean, you can address it in sermons, but little thought is given to individual goals and objectives and, or their work, how they're growing, how they're producing, how they're handling sinful patterns.
Speaker A:In the event of complaints concerning an elder, much confusion exists on how to get him to rescind his position or change his view because he's in a position of power, you see.
Speaker A:And anyone would rarely attempt to get rid of an elder if they did.
Speaker A:It comes with difficulty.
Speaker A:And this elder could also be given the label of a deacon.
Speaker A:And other churches, it's just the leading administrators is what I'm getting at.
Speaker A:The largest dysfunction is the most fundamental problem that is at the root of all of these symptoms.
Speaker A:The church is an organization ruled by CEOs and managers and professionals who are hired or who may be fired.
Speaker A:They're fired and hired employees.
Speaker A:And these leaders make policies for the organization.
Speaker A:Well, such problems described that we've already looked at just briefly, they don't exist in the absence of the church organization, that institution.
Speaker A:And so as a result, we have no instructions on how to fix those problems.
Speaker A:Because the presumed arrangement didn't exist, we just assume that they existed.
Speaker A:We read into the text what doesn't exist.
Speaker A:And even if it could be shown that today's elders could be equal to the task of Spirit guided shepherds, would it not be best to do the work God's way and accept the primary role that is given to shepherds and that's to teaching?
Speaker A:You see, the other influence on the role of church leaders that deserves a quick note here is from the popular scholars and their writers and their colleges and the ones who put out the periodicals and the literature.
Speaker A:Naturally knowledgeable men among those lecturers and presidents and the editors, they could sway an eldership of a local church organization.
Speaker A:They have some influence.
Speaker A:This is not to malign the motives of these men, but to note that we, intentioned or not, these men present and they represent an even greater hierarchy of influence over the local church organizations.
Speaker A:The ironic difference is that these men use the very method of persuasive teaching that the shepherds of local cities should be using in their own rule, their own teaching.
Speaker A:And this scenario is worsened when political influence that glorifies man and increases their position among peers is at work.
Speaker A:The right association with certain men and certain colleges and certain papers gets the attention that's needed to accomplish a lot of personal agendas and goals.
Speaker A:But once we start on this slippery slope, the pressures from popular demands and the expectations of powerful men in these positions make it very difficult to turn back to biblical patterns of teaching.
Speaker A:And so, as we look at several passages for just a few minutes, we want to emphasize what the Scriptures emphasize with regard to speaking the truth to one another.
Speaker A:That is to say, we should be looking at truth discovery.
Speaker A:It's an opportunity for discovery and seeking God's will.
Speaker A:And whenever we get to the position that we've got it all figured out and we've understood the truth and we're never able to go back and confirm it, you better be sure that you've got it right the first time, because you're never going to get it afterwards, because you're not searching.
Speaker A:You've already made up your mind.
Speaker A:You're not going to grow beyond what you've already reached.
Speaker A:This is a real problem.
Speaker A:It makes it difficult for people to examine themselves, to see whether they're in the faith, to examine their teaching in relation to what God's word has revealed.
Speaker A:But you'll notice passages like Ephesians 4:25 there.
Speaker A:Paul says, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor.
Speaker A:For we are members one of another.
Speaker A:Jesus says, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
Speaker A:There's certainly truth as revealed from God's word.
Speaker A:It's the absolute will of the Almighty, and if he's revealed it, it's the truth.
Speaker A:But there's also truth with respect to ourselves.
Speaker A:It is the accurate and true condition of our hearts.
Speaker A:And that's something that seems to be at large and not so easily understood and seen.
Speaker A:And so that also becomes very relative or it's treated very relatively.
Speaker A:We're not very efficient at understanding the truth about ourselves.
Speaker A:So there needs to be always a sense of discovery and learning and growing and stretching ourselves and seeking God's will and applying those truths to our own lives.
Speaker A:In Colossians 3, 9, Paul says, do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings.
Speaker A:Well, well, these are all in context of sharing the truth to grow and conform ourselves to the image of Christ.
Speaker A:And this is the responsibility of all spiritually minded people.
Speaker A:Yet it is the responsibility of every disciple of Christ that we always seek the truth and speak the truth to one another.
Speaker A:In the next half of our discussion today, I want to introduce anyway this thought of decisions as we are applying this discovery to ourselves, that we understand the distinction between personal application and applying these truths to me versus applying it to the church.
Speaker A:Decisions of local churches are often thought to be the hands of its leadership, some board or some eldership, something like that from our text.
Speaker A:In Ephesians 4, leadership of 1st century saints was placed in the hands of apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds.
Speaker A:But even with their leadership, they didn't make decisions for the church.
Speaker A:They were never looked at as decision makers.
Speaker A:We've concluded that the shepherds of these cities would extend their watchful eye to the entire life of that flock.
Speaker A:And because they were divinely appointed of the Holy Spirit, the saints would submit to their watchful care.
Speaker A:It was an arrangement that God had ordained and had arranged, and therefore they were to submit to that.
Speaker A:No one questioned their qualifications because they were led by the Spirit.
Speaker A:Even in the selection of Titus and Timothy.
Speaker A:These were Spirit guided men and Spirit guided revelation with regard to their qualifications.
Speaker A:To allow uninspired men today, many of whom are unqualified, to teach at all, and all of whom are not guided by the gifts of the Spirit, would certainly result in the refusal of saints to submit because they don't respect their position nearly the same.
Speaker A:They're just men with Opinions.
Speaker A:Such rejection, however, would be justified.
Speaker A:Church leaders and elders and deacons can't find authority from the first century shepherds.
Speaker A:They don't.
Speaker A:That's comparing apples to oranges.
Speaker A:And the unfortunate overwhelming problem is that the majority of men who are appointed to fill some hierarchy of rule are not as much qualified to lead as they are to make demands and to hand down their decisions and keep things, you know, running as smoothly as one would expect in an operating a business.
Speaker A:But when problems occur, many of them know their limitations.
Speaker A:Many know that they can't lead in teaching and can't convince the gainsayer that they can't restore the wayward and they can't stop the mouths of the false teachers.
Speaker A:Among those who have an ability to do that, restrict their work primarily to their assemblies where the local church meets or have chosen, you know, or they just simply said that they're not actively involved in teaching and that's okay.
Speaker A:Among those of this latter group who think they, they just aren't teaching elders, they have the attitude that, well, you know, we can, we can hire it done, we can be sure that it gets done and that fits our overseership, they would argue the preacher will do what we can't do or don't want to do and we'll just sit back and run the business.
Speaker A:That's the reasoning.
Speaker A:In other words, the elders will get the professionals hired like a subcontractor would do it.
Speaker A:And these elders are sometimes deacons in other churches, organizations.
Speaker A:But what I'm getting at is these leading men and they decide how much salary they're going to provide along with other uses of the church's money.
Speaker A:In other church traditions, the pastors are hired to come to a church, to minister to that church by occupying the pulpit.
Speaker A:And the decision makers, they sit on the sidelines as supporters.
Speaker A:Either way, there's a hireling involved who is assigned the task of teaching.
Speaker A:Well, you don't read about that Timothy and Titus, they weren't hired to preach in Ephesus and Crete.
Speaker A:That is not a relationship that is established at all.
Speaker A:The teachers and those who were teaching were the shepherds of those local cities.
Speaker A:So the denominational model of church organizations produce a lot of leaders to rule over the local churches in an effort really to control their beliefs and their practices.
Speaker A:In other words, to maintain the integrity of that group and what they stand for and control the fellowship of the membership.
Speaker A:See the decision makers, they control who preaches in the pulpit, who teaches the classes and what is taught to a lesser degree.
Speaker A:But they have some control over that as well.
Speaker A:So this model was adopted many, many years ago by the Church fathers and later Catholicism, the mother of institutionalism.
Speaker A:Every denominational child born from its seed seeks to control their unique beliefs and their practices that set them apart from all the other sister churches.
Speaker A:And if anyone who is granted a teaching position goes outside those boundaries, outside of their tradition, then the decision makers can exercise their right of rule and have him or her removed.
Speaker A:And that's how it's usually done.
Speaker A:Now, the logic for the practice of local church rule is there because the infamous King James Version speaks of the rule, their rule, and therefore they have to have something to rule.
Speaker A:And so because Christ is the head of the church, it is assumed that their rule must not be in the Word because that's already been decreed.
Speaker A:So they have no authority there.
Speaker A:There's only one lawgiver, they would say, that's Jesus Christ, James teaches us.
Speaker A:And so they have to rule in making judgments and rule in making decisions as administrators in an organization.
Speaker A:That's the logic.
Speaker A:The descriptive term used to support that role is usually the word overseer.
Speaker A:What is overseen is not individual souls, though.
Speaker A:It's the attendance charts and the visits and the calls onto the slackers and the financial situation and the maintenance of the church facilities and the order of services and the structure, you see, the schedules and who does what and when.
Speaker A:We find no such pattern in the Word of God.
Speaker A:It doesn't exist.
Speaker A:Woe to the so called shepherds of Israel who support a sectarian view of the organization and seize all decision making for the benefit of their own peace of mind.
Speaker A:We have, I think, answered the unjustified use of this word rule in other places.
Speaker A:And I think you see that the word rule is from a word patho, and we talked about this in earlier discussions.
Speaker A:But the New Testament shepherds, they led and they gave guidance and oversaw souls.
Speaker A:We're still searching for the New Testament pattern of a ruling body of men who make decisions for a local church.
Speaker A:Undoubtedly, decisions must be made by leaders concerning their personal work.
Speaker A:And the same decisions have to be made in everyone else's work too, for that matter.
Speaker A:But notice the following comparisons between the rulers of a church organization and that of the called out in any given city.
Speaker A:And I won't just notice some of them with you.
Speaker A:Without the existence of an organization, any decision that affects all the Christians in a city would be discussed and determined by everybody.
Speaker A:That's exactly what we see in the Scriptures In Acts chapter 15 in verse 22, it seemed good to the elders and the whole ecclesia.
Speaker A:The shepherds are not a body of rulers who make decisions apart from the saints in selecting men to help the widows.
Speaker A:In Acts 6, verse 5 states, and the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, and so on.
Speaker A:So the decision was made by everybody.
Speaker A:The decision in Acts 11 was made by every man.
Speaker A:In Acts 13, the first three verses, Acts 14, verse 26, we observe the whole ecclesia gathered together for a work, for an endeavor.
Speaker A:And According to Acts 15, the whole ecclesia was allowed to have a part in the making of a decision, as is seen in verse 4, verse 22, verse 23 and verse 25.
Speaker A:The whole ecclesia was invited to that meeting, and it seemed good to the whole ecclesia to send these letters by chosen men to the called out in these other cities.
Speaker A:When those chosen men went to Antioch to deliver the letter, the multitude gathered together.
Speaker A:Chapter 15, verse 31.
Speaker A:The apostle Peter placed the burden for finding a replacement for Judas.
Speaker A:He placed it upon the entire group.
Speaker A:In Matthew 6, the first six verses, the apostles turn to all the disciples and ask them to choose men to administer care for the Grecian widows.
Speaker A: d I might just Add in Matthew: Speaker A:Today's leaders of churches make the final call in church discipline.
Speaker A:And yet they would only represent the church if they were ruling administrators of an organization, right?
Speaker A:Yet biblically, any matter that may impact the welfare of others, all saints would be involved, and all saints would discuss it among themselves and pray to the Father.
Speaker A:For example, consider the matter of discipline.
Speaker A:Some call it church discipline.
Speaker A:In the absence of an organization, it is clear that every individual Christian has to decide to withdraw from the impenitent brother or sister.
Speaker A:The withdrawal is not a withdrawal from the local church organization of which the impenitent were members.
Speaker A:That isn't the point.
Speaker A:It's not like they're losing church membership.
Speaker A:The withdrawal of fellowship was the action of every saint among them who were withdrawing their personal fellowship.
Speaker A:The decision doesn't go for a board or an eldership where they then judge the case before it reaches the attention of others, and then they they give out their ruling.
Speaker A:In this way, there is no church action, as is in a scene in the corporate church decision made by leading church decision makers.
Speaker A:You see, it becomes the responsibility of every saint that is represented in the word ekklesia and Then another observation.
Speaker A:Only leaders of a corporate institution would collect from individual financial supporters to do what seems right to them on behalf of the people.
Speaker A:The examples of giving to provide for the physical needs of the poor or of those who had committed themselves to the work of spreading the gospel.
Speaker A:That's been swallowed up by the organization to which individuals are required to become members today.
Speaker A:Invariably this work of the church is considered the work of the local church organization through which individuals must work.
Speaker A:In other words, they become members.
Speaker A:They contribute to it by giving money into the collection, and the decision makers with this money decides on how it's to be used, where it's to be sent, who's to be supported to preach, and on and on it goes.
Speaker A:But phrases like the called out at Corinth with its elders and deacons, or like Philippians 1:1 or the statement in chapter 4, verse 15 no called out had fellowship, but ye only.
Speaker A:These are oftentimes proof texts to support the view that Philippi was such an organization.
Speaker A:It proves no such thing.
Speaker A:The called out is referred to by the second person plural pronoun.
Speaker A:It's that way in verse 15 and verse 16.
Speaker A:The called out at Philippi were individuals in Christ.
Speaker A:They lived at Philippi.
Speaker A:If he's talking about an organization or a church institution, it wouldn't be in the plural.
Speaker A:He's talking about only one.
Speaker A:But it's in the plural.
Speaker A:Because he's not talking about a a local church organization.
Speaker A:He's talking about individual souls.
Speaker A:In addition to that we find in Galatians.
Speaker A:The Galatians saints illustrate the identity of the called out.
Speaker A:In chapter 6, verse 1, he addresses them as brethren, and Paul applies the instruction to individual Christians who are accountable to one another.
Speaker A:When he says, ye that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.
Speaker A:No one would think that this describes a local church organization or the clergy of such an organization.
Speaker A:Why would Philippians 4:15 be any different?
Speaker A:These individuals sent once and again to Paul's necessities, just as Paul instructs the Christians of let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaches in all good things.
Speaker A:There are other examples, other examples describing the saints at Philippi in verse seven of chapter one ye all are partakers of my grace ye all are partakers.
Speaker A:Philippians 2:12 Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Speaker A:Now how's that applied to churches?
Speaker A:Verse 15 that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
Speaker A:Or what about chapter four, verse nine?
Speaker A:Those things which ye have both learned and received, and heard and seen in me do.
Speaker A:And the God of peace shall be with you.
Speaker A:These friends are addressed to saints in the plural, but yet they are applied individually.
Speaker A:The one body into which individuals at Ephesus were called was not a local church organization.
Speaker A:These individuals trusted, they heard, they believed according to Ephesians 1:13.
Speaker A:And you know, Colossians 2:6 explains that they had received Christ.
Speaker A:They walked.
Speaker A:Chapter 2, verse 2.
Speaker A:They were saved through faith.
Speaker A:Chapter 2, verse 8 of Ephesians.
Speaker A:Buried and risen with him.
Speaker A:Colossians 2:12.
Speaker A:Sealed, made near by the blood of Christ.
Speaker A:Fellow citizens of the household of God.
Speaker A:Called in one hope of their calling.
Speaker A:Rooted and grounded in followers of God.
Speaker A:They were light in the Lord.
Speaker A:I mean, on and on we could go.
Speaker A:What does it describe?
Speaker A:It describes individual saints.
Speaker A:They'd put off the old man.
Speaker A:They walked circumspectly.
Speaker A:As wise.
Speaker A:We want to return to this, but for now we trust you.
Speaker A:Have a good day and a pleasant week.
