SERMON OUTLINE

Elders Acts 20.17, 25-28

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.                                Acts 14.23

Introduction

At Rosedale we are moving toward an elder based leadership. Local churches are to be self-governing with a plurality of elders.

Elder, Overseer/Bishop, Shepherd/Pastor, Deacons

-Interchangeable terms. Acts 20.17, 25-28; Titus 1.5,7;

1   Peter 5.1-4.

-Elder, presbuteros, Jewish practice. Sanhedrin. Luke 22.66

-Overseer, episkopos, Roman practice.

-Shepherd, poimenos, OT background. Isaiah 40.11; Ps 23

-Three terms express varied aspect of leadership.

-Deacons help Elders in their work.

Functions of an Elder

1) Teach Biblical Truth: One of the foundational responsibilities of elders is to teach the Word of God and the doctrines of Scripture, and to expose wrong teaching. 1 Timothy 3.2; Titus 1.9.

2) Model Christian Behavior: For elders to communicate truth in its fullness they must also model truth. 1 Thessalonians 2.10-12; 1 Timothy 4.12-16

3) Maintain Doctrinal Purity: Elders are responsible to maintain sound doctrine in the fellowship of the church.

Acts 20.25-32; 2 Timothy 2.24-26; Titus 1.9

4) Discipline Sinning Believers: Elders are to use the process outlined in Matthew 18.15-17 to discipline believers who are sinning.

5) Oversee Direction and Finances: Elders have responsibility to manage the direction of the church and

its finances. Acts 5.1-11; 6.1-7; 11.30

6) Pray: Elders are to pray for the fellowship and for the sick. Acts 6.4; James 5.14-16.

Conclusion Hebrews 13.7-8; 17-18

-Remember, Examine, Imitate their faith

-Obey, Submit, Pray

During the American Revolution a man in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small defensive barrier. Their leader was shouting instructions, but making no attempt to help them. Asked why by the rider, he retorted with great dignity, “Sir, I am a corporal!” The stranger apologized, dismounted, and proceeded to help the exhausted soldiers. The job done, he turned to the corporal and said, “Corporal, next time you have a job like this and not enough men to do it, go to your commander-in-chief, and I will come and help you again.” With that George Washington got back on horse and rode off.

SERMON NOTES

Elders(1)             Acts 20.17, 25-28

-For the last couple of years at Rosedale we have been moving toward an elder based leadership. …Last January at our annual meeting we voted to proceed with an elder based leadership at Rosedale. …In October I will present to you the evaluation process we are using for elders and I will introduce to you our proposed elders. …Then at our regular budget meeting in November we will vote to affirm our new elders. …By January we will become an elder led congregation. …This morning I want to share with you the Biblical basis for eldership and the functions of elders. …In October we will review the qualifications of an elder.

-God has ordained that each local church function independently and under a plurality of leaders called elders. …In the NT each local expression of the body of Christ was to be self-governing. …From his first missionary journey it was Paul’s strategy to evangelize, gather a church together, and then place that church under local elders to lead them. …Read with me Acts 14.21-23.

-In the NT we do not find one church ruling over many churches. …Nor do we find one man ruling over the churches or a bishop ruling over an area of churches. …I will explain in a moment how these unbiblical systems developed but first let us look at the terms used for leadership in the local church.

–Elders (Acts 20.17) is the English translation of the Greek word presbuteros from which we get Presbyterian. …Overseers or Bishops (Acts 20.28) is the English translation of the Greek word episkopos. …And Shepherd (Acts 20.28) is the English translation of the Greek word poimenos. …These three terms elder/overseer or bishop/shepherd are interchangeable words that describe the same leadership position over the local church.

-You will notice in Acts 20 that Paul is addressing the same group of people, the leaders of the Ephesian church. …In v17 he calls them elders, then in v28 he calls this same group overseers and shepherds.

-We find the same interchanging of terms for the leadership of the local church in Titus 1.5,7. [Read] …Notice that in v5 Titus is to appoint elders, and then in v7 he calls these same men overseer/bishop.

-Let me point out one more example from 1 Peter 5.1-4. [Read] …Here again we find the three terms elder (v1), shepherd (v2), and overseer/bishop (v3) used interchangeably.

-So from now on you can start calling me bishop Ron. …Calling me bishop Ron would be quite Biblical and would be equivalent to shepherd Ron or elder Ron. …Some of our black churches prefer the term bishop or elder and that is correct as long as they are referring to a leader over a local church.

-In the early years of Christianity spiritual leaders in local churches were called elders. …The term elder was rooted in Jewish practice going back to the time of Moses. …Elders were appointed over groups of people to represent them and to lead them. …Elders became very influential under Samuel and the Kings and the Babylonian captivity. …By the time of Christ every major city in the Roman Empire with a significant Jewish population had a council of twenty-three elders called the Sanhedrin. …Their primary responsibility was to explain and interpret the Law of Moses, and to punish people for violating the law. …In Jerusalem the “Great Sanhedrin” was comprised of seventy elders (Luke 22.66). …It was the “Great Sanhedrin” that sentenced Stephen to death (Acts 6.12-15; 7.54-60). …From this tradition and practice the early church, which was primarily from a Jewish background, adopted the term elder for their spiritual leaders in the local church. …Although the NT church adopted the term elder for their leaders, the elders in the church did not have the same function as the elders of Israel …The function of elders in the NT church was given to them by the apostles. …Today the function of elders is directed by the Word of God.

-As the church expanded into areas that were heavily populated with Gentiles, spiritual leaders came to be known as overseers or bishops. …Episkopos, the Greek word translated as overseer or bishop, was the term used by Romans for the leader of a colony. …So this term would be familiar to Gentile believers and replaced the term elder for local spiritual leaders in Gentile churches. …Although the term changed, the leadership functions remained the same as those of elders. …In centers were Jew and Gentile believers were present such as Ephesus, both terms were used interchangeably.

-The final term used for local leadership in the church is the term shepherd. …Through Latin influence we now use Pastor rather than shepherd. …The term shepherd also finds its background in the OT. …In the OT God is portrayed as the Good Shepherd leading His people (Psalm 23). …Isaiah 40.11 says, “He tends His flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.” …God often calls his leaders shepherds and strongly chastises shepherds in Ezekiel 34, Isaiah 56, and Jeremiah 23, 25, and other places, for their selfish and self-serving, shepherding. …So the term shepherd and later pastor was adopted to describe yet another aspect of the spiritual leadership of the local church.

-In the Bible God helps us to understand Him and His ways by giving us different views on the same subject. …For example God calls Himself by many different names so we can have a fuller description of Him. …God gives us a variety of metaphors for the church so that we can understand the fullness and purpose of the church. …And God does the same for the leadership of the local church with the terms elder/ overseer or bishop/ and shepherd or pastor.

-The term elder brings to mind spiritual maturity, the wisdom of long experience, careful deliberate consideration of circumstances, patience and control under trial, stability, strength of character, and an earned respect and authority.

–Overseer generates ideas of management, arrangement of affairs, accounting, supervision, physical care, knowing what is going on and making sure all is done within given guidelines, care of resources, and responsible reporting to authority.

-A shepherd describes tenderness, care, mercy, protection, guidance, discipline, feeding, sacrifice, defense, and provision.

-Taken together these three terms describe the attitudes and functions of local leaders in the church.

-The NT also describes another group of leaders in the church called deacons. …We call our deacons at Rosedale the Administrative Board. …Deacons are appointed to assist the elders in carrying out the purpose of the church to make disciples.

-Let me take a moment to mention here that disciple literally means learner or student. …Look for a moment at Matthew 10.24-25. [Read] …As Christians we need to commit ourselves to be life-long students of God.

-We want to invite you to become a life-long learner by becoming a part of the discipleship training that we are going to offer. …We are going to explain this discipleship training at a lunch after the service on October 4^th. …I want to ask you to consider making a discipleship commitment to us and to take advantage of our commitment to you in the area of life-long leaning in Christ. …Sign up in the lobby for the lunch and learn about becoming a life-long learner.

-Making disciples is our purpose as a local church. …Everything we do, from cleaning the church, to the fellowship times that we have, to our services, to prayer times, should be with the purpose of building up a people of God that will then win others to Christ and see them built up in the faith as well.

-In the early church there were two levels of leadership in the local church, elders/overseers or bishops/ pastor or shepherds, and deacons. …Over time as local churches grew larger certain leaders took on more authority than they should have and created three levels of leadership in the local church with one elder ruling over the other elders, and then the deacons under them. …As some local churches became more influential than others, some of these strong leaders began to exert authority over a number of churches in their area. …Over the years this process evolved into a bishop ruling over a number of churches. …Today we have a system with a Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests and deacons. …Some evangelical denominations continue to have a system where an outside group rules over a number of local churches. …Any rule of men over a denomination and or a number of local churches that does not allow the local church to rule itself under God’s Word, is not Biblical.

-We are going to end this morning by looking at six functions of an elder/overseer/pastor.

1) Teach Biblical Truth: One of the foundational responsibilities of elders is to teach the Word of God and the doctrines of Scripture, and to expose wrong teaching. 1 Timothy 3.2; Titus 1.9.

2) Model Christian Behavior: For elders to communicate truth in its fullness they must also model truth. 1 Thessalonians 2.10-12; 1 Timothy 4.12-16

3) Maintain Doctrinal Purity: Elders are responsible to maintain sound doctrine in the fellowship of the church. Acts 20.25-32; 2 Timothy 2.24-26; Titus 1.9 (refute)

4) Discipline Sinning Believers: Elders are to use the process outlined in Matthew 18.15-17 to discipline believers who are sinning.

5) Oversee Direction and Finances: Elders have responsibility to manage the direction of the church and its finances. Acts 5.1-11; 6.1-7; 11.30

6) Pray: Elders are to pray for the fellowship and for the sick. Acts 6.4; James 5.14-16.

-The pattern we find in the Word of God for leadership in the church is that the local church is self-governing and led by a plurality of elders who are supported by deacons. …The terms used interchangeably for leadership in the local church are elder/ bishop or overseer/ shepherd or pastor. …Each term describes certain aspects of the varied role of the leader in the local church. …The elders are to teach and preach and model the Christian life. …They are to maintain doctrinal and moral purity in the fellowship. …They are to oversee the direction and finances of the local church. …And they are to pray for the church

-In closing turn to Hebrews 13.

–Verses 7-8 [Read] …God has appointed leaders over the church and we are to remember those leaders who speak the word of God to us. …We are to examine their way of life and we are to imitate their faith. …Leaders come and go. …Some leaders may disappoint you. …You may think that you will not survive when a leader leaves. …In remembering what your leaders have taught you and modeled for you, you must always remember that your ultimate leader is Jesus Christ Who is the same yesterday, today and forever. …Jesus will lead you and keep you to the end.

–Verse 17 [Read] …Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. …Ask all the questions you want. …Make suggestions and offer alternate solutions if you have them. …But in the end obey and submit to your leaders and you will be blessed and so will the work of God. …As elders we carry a heavy responsibility before God in our care for you. …We must give an account to the Chief Shepherd for what has gone on here. …You do make my work a joy and not a burden so I love you and thank you for that.

-My final word this morning is from verse 18. …Pray for us. …And pray for the leaders here and for God’s work here. …God needs to get a stronger hold on us so that we can see Him work with power in us and through us, so pray.