Biblical Basis for Elders

Transcript

GR 744
6/27/1986
Biblical Basis For Elders
Titus 1:5
Gil Rugh

Paul's letter to Titus and the first chapter. Paul has spent the first four verses of this letter to Titus giving a basic salutation as was common in biblical times. He has spent the larger portion of that salutation focusing attention on himself, on his position as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, on the ministry that God has given him to carry out. Now this was done not because he was proud and wanted to focus attention on himself, but he wanted to establish the authority that he had as a servant and representative of God. And this would give to Titus his authority, because Titus is a representative of the Apostle Paul. So if Paul is sent as a representative of God and Titus is sent as representative of Paul, Titus in effect represents God also. So Paul has spent some time elaborating his own position.

The pervading theme of this letter to Titus is godliness or good works. Believers are to be living lives that have been transformed by the Spirit of God, and that transformed life is to be having an impact on the realm of the unbeliever. I think it'll be important for us to keep this focus before us. It is the very change in our life that is to impact the realm of the unbelieving. We sometimes think we as believers ought to be as much like the world as we can, but the very
emphasis of Scripture is we ought to be as different from the world in the right areas as we can be. We're not talking about an artificial difference, a man-made difference; but we're talking about true godliness that pervades our lives and all that we do. Titus is talking about godliness or good deeds. It is what we do, how we live, how we conduct ourselves that is to be manifesting the beauty of God's character before the world of the unbeliever.

Paul now is going to turn his attention to the subject at hand: Why did he leave Titus at Crete? And it's interesting that he is going to begin by talking about the matter of the organization of the churches of Crete. And he's going to begin with the leadership of the churches at Crete and the importance of godly leadership. I think this is a crucial realm. I think it's an area that we have drifted away from in our churches today. We have adopted some of the ideas, structures, and means of functioning that the world uses. And it has to a large extent inhibited and curtailed the effectiveness of the church. It is the church of Jesus Christ. The Church belongs to Him. He purchased it with His own blood, so it must be organized, structured and functioning the way that He instructs.

In v. 5 of Titus chapter 1 Paul says, "For this reason I left you in Crete. Now when Paul says "I left you in Crete," it would indicate that Paul had been there with Titus. And for whatever reason, the reason is not given in Scripture, Paul had to go on to another area. But the work at Crete was not done or complete. So he left Titus behind to finish up what needed to be done. It was "for this reason I left you in Crete." Evidently after Paul was released from his imprisonment in Rome, recorded at the end of the Book of Acts, he travelled and ministered. One of the places he preached during that time there in ministering to the churches at Crete, what takes place then is recorded in the Book of Titus. And we're not told about Paul's ministry, but we're told about what needed to be corrected and finished up in the ministry there in Crete.

So he tells Titus, "For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains." I wanted you to finish up the work, is what he's saying, set in order what remains. Complete the work of putting the church in proper order. Now this would involve, as we'll see in a moment, appointing proper leadership. It would also mean dealing with areas of conduct that were inconsistent and out of line among the Cretans. They were not living lives of godliness. They professed a relationship with Christ. Paul does not call into question that relationship, but he is burdened and bothered by the fact they do not have lives that are making an impact for godliness. So Titus, your responsibility? Finish up the work. Organize it properly and get them on the right track as regards things relating to godliness.

"Put in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you." And that "as I directed you" can be translated "as I commanded you." When Paul left Crete, he commanded Titus to complete the work and appoint elders. Now he writes back to Titus to reinforce that, but also to establish Titus' authority in the churches so that there would be no question that he had Paul's authority behind him.

I want to spend some time in our study together today looking at this matter of appointing elders and that whole area of elders and their functioning. I think it's significant that when Paul wants to deal with godliness in the churches he begins with the leaders. The theme of the epistle is godliness, but where does Paul start? As soon as he gets the salutation out of the way, he'll spend vs. 5-9 talking out the leaders, the kind of leaders, the quality of life of those leaders and the responsibi1ity of those leaders. This is probably for several obvious reasons. #1, the leaders would have to themselves be godly men. If we're going to have godly churches, we'll have to have godly leaders. So Paul wants to stress, here are the characteristics of godly people. They must be the characteristics of the leaders of the churches.

These leaders, then, would be an example and pattern for the other believers at Crete. You want to know about godliness? Here are godly men that you can follow and pattern your life after. And of course the leaders will set the tone and direction for the churches. God will be working through their leadership.

"Appoint elders in every city." You note Paul says here, "Appoint elders." Now I'm interested in how much is written on how the appointing took place, but you can read it for yourself. "Appoint elders in every city as I directed you. "He doesn't go into any elaboration on how the appointing was done. I was interested to read some commentators, though, that said they were sure that what happened was the churches selected men and then Titus appointed them.
That may have been so, that may not have been so. The fact is there's not much said about how they are appointed. They are simply appointed.

Over in Acts 14. Acts chapter 14. Maybe you ought to go to Acts chapter 6 first. It doesn't have to do with elders, but there is a pattern seen here that was used on this occasion. In v. 3 of Acts chapter 6, "But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task." And there the body of believers was responsible to select from their number godly men and they would be appointed to the task by the apostles. Some believe these are the first of the deacons. So there it seems the body was involved in recognizing who were God's Spirit-filled men, and there certainly is nothing wrong with that pattern.

Over in Acts 14, verse 23 we're told, "And when they had appointed (talking about the apostles) elders for them in every church, have prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed." It's a different word for 'appointing' here. It sometimes means 'elect by raising the hands,' but some take that it means from this that if you are going to appoint men to spiritual office, everybody should vote because this word can mean 'elect by raising the hands.' However, it can't mean that here because the subject of the verb is the apostles and there's no indication that the apostles voted on this by raising their hands. If you were going to say it had to do with election by raising the hands, you're going to have to say it was the apostles who did the voting here because the apostles appointed them. So lexicons observe the fact that here the word simply means 'to appoint.' That's the emphasis. Now the development of Scripture is not on how these men come to be appointed. The emphasis of Scripture is on the qualifications of the men. Who can be appointed?

Now whether a congregation of believers recommends them, whether a nominating committee recommends them, however it is done, whether they volunteer themselves, the point is that these men must meet the biblical qualifications and then be appointed to the office. So we don't want to get all tied up in debates about how are these men brought to the point of being appointed. That's a secondary issue. The issue is, any man who is going to be appointed will have to meet the qualifications. And that's where the Scriptures will place the emphasis. Come back to Titus.

We'll be talking in detail about these qualifications as we pursue our study of this section. He is to appoint elders in every city. Now the title 'elder', we want to look at some of the words here. The word 'elder', the Greek word is 'presbytera' and we've carried it over into English when we talk about Presbyterian or the Presbytery. That comes from this Greek word 'presbyteros,' translated 'elders.' It's often said to emphasis the dignity and the age of the position. Different words will be used for the same position. Elders emphasize a certain dignity and age that goes with the position. The real development of it comes out of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the leaders of Israel were called elders. That seems to be the background here. Turn back to the Book of Exodus, chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3. Moses is being sent to Egypt. It is time for the deliverance from the Egyptian bondage After 430 years of bondage, God is now going to deliver His people. And as He speaks to Moses, in v. 16 of Exodus 3,

He says "Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them." It's interesting, evidently during that 400-year bondage in Egypt, the leadership of Israel had developed the center in elders. So now Moses is to go and approach the elders as the leaders of the nation and convey to them God's plan for delivering the nation. So all the way back to this early stage, the leaders of Israel are identified as elders.

Back in chapter 4, v. 29 we're told, "Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel." Turn over to Numbers chapter 11 where it indicates that these elders were known and recognized as the rulers of the people. In Numbers 11, v. 16, "The Lord therefore said to Moses, 'Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.1" So again, these elders were recognized leaders who are now going to be called together from out from among them a certain group will be appointed. Now this position carries over into the New Testament and into New Testament time. And in New Testament times, the members of the counsel which ruled the synagogue were identified as elders. So every synagogue had a council of elders as the governing body. And we're familiar in the New Testament through the gospels especially, we read of the elders and the scribes, or the elders, the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees. Those are the people identified when you read 'the elders' we're talking about those who were the leaders in the synagogue who became, then, the leaders of the people.

Look over in Acts chapter 4. Acts and the 4th chapter, v. 5. "And it came about on the next day that their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem." Down in v. 23, "And when they had been released, they went to their own companions, and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them." So, the background in Israel was that the leaders were called elders in the local synagogue. In New Testament times, the leaders were called elders, so it was a simple transition when the Church was established that the leaders there were identified as elders. It's similar to what we do in our own society. We have a title that denotes leaders, and so we'll use the title President, and that'll refer to a person in all kinds of positions but it comes to identify leadership or a board. We say, well there's a board. You can have all kinds of boards, but the concept of that board, that word denotes leadership but we use it in different settings. So when it came for the Church to be established, it was natural. The people, especially among the Jews, recognized the elders were leaders. Well, then, we call the leaders in the church elders.

Now there are two other words that are synonymous with the title 'elders' in the New Testament. Turn back to Titus 1 to see one of those words. In v. 5 Titus is to appoint elders, then he starts to talk about the qualifications of elders, and v. 7, "For the overseer must be above reproach." So here he uses another name for an elder; it is an overseer. The Greek word is 'episcopos.'
We're familiar with it. It's carried over into English as 'episcopal.' So the 'overseer,' the 'episcopos,' sometimes translated 'the bishop.' Now down through church history differences were made in these various offices--between a presbyter or an elder and a bishop. But in New Testament times in terminology, they are the same position. It's stress, 'overseer', seems to be on the office--one who oversees. That's the meaning of the word. A compound word that means to see over, oversee, one who had responsibility of the oversight.

Look over in Acts chapter 20, v. 17. The Apostle Paul is getting ready to meet with the leaders of the church at Ephesus, and so v. 17: "And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church." The elders of the church. Look over in v. 28, "Be on guard for yourselves"--here are some instructions to these elders--"be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." So you see the elders are those made overseers, given the responsibility of the oversight. So we could call the elders of the church the 'overseers' or the 'bishop' if you will.

There is another word or name or title that I believe is synonymous with elder and overseer, and that is the word we're most familiar with, 'pastor.' We're probably most familiar with calling leaders in the church pastors. Sometimes as a title, where we refer to 'Pastor So-and-so.' My understanding is that the New Testament would indicate this is the same position. A title as we would think of it, as used in Ephesians chapter 4. (Keep your Bibles at Acts chapter 20 because we're going to look there in a moment.) Ephesians chapter 4, v. 11, you remember in talking about the gifts God has placed in the Church, "some apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers." That word 'pastor' is the word shepherd, a 'poimentos,' a shepherd. That's why a pastor is a shepherd. And if you look in Acts chapter 20 again, in v. 17 he calls them elders; in v. 28, he says these elders have been made elders or have been appointed overseers, and note how v. 28 goes on. "To shepherd the church of God." To be the pastors of the church of God. What are we saying? The elders are made overseers to shepherd God's church. So all three ideas or names or titles are brought together here. So a pastor is a bishop or overseer and is an elder.

Look over in 1 Peter chapter 5, v. 1. "Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you."
V. 3, "Nor yet as lording it over the flock." You see, the elders are exhorted to shepherd God's people, to be the pastors of God's people. To oversee them but not lord it over them. So that concept. Now I think there's been a lot of misunderstanding. I don't want to belabor words, but the very fact that we've moved away in many areas in many cases from the biblical terminology has caused all kinds of confusion. So while I don't say you don't have to use biblical titles to be biblical, you have to be submissive to the biblical teaching on the subject. And to recognize what that biblical teaching is.

We talk about this title 'pastor.' Again, I think it comes out of the Old Testament. The Old Testament is full of examples where the leaders of God's people, particularly the spiritual leaders, are identified as having a shepherding role. Turn back to the Old Testament, Numbers 27. We sometimes wonder, what is a pastor's responsibility? We sometimes equate being a pastor with being a mother, and the pastor is to mother the congregation. And there are mothering aspects of pastors. Paul uses the analogy of a nursing mother on one occasion in dealing with the people. But what is the stress and emphasis in the pastor's responsibility? In Numbers 27:16. Verse 15, "Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, 'May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd." You see the concept that is emphasized right here early? The shepherd is to lead the people. He will be one who will be over the congregation and lead that flock of sheep. So the shepherd is viewed as one like the overseer, and a key element is that he leads the sheep. Look over in 1 Kings 22. First Kings 22, we're going to look at v. 17, the context here is Micaiah the prophet, who comes and speaks and sees the scattering of the children of Israel in defeat in battle. And he says in v. 17, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said, 'These have no master. Let each of them return to his house in peace.'" You see Israel without a leader, without a master, without a shepherd and so they are scattered because the responsibility of the shepherd was to keep the sheep together and lead them as their shepherd and as their master.

Over in Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah has much to say about false shepherds and unfaithful shepherds. In Jeremiah chapter 3 you're going to find as you read in Jeremiah, and we won't have time to go through all the passages, that the shepherds are rebuked for not fulfilling their two responsibilities: leading the people, and feeding the people. And we'll mention that in a little bit, but those are the two responsibilities of elders, overseers, or shepherds--lead and feed. To rule the people and to teach the people. In Jeremiah 3, v. 15, God says, "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding." So God says that He has unfaithful shepherds but someday He'll provide faithful shepherds for His people who will feed them on knowledge and understanding.

Turn over to chapter 10, v. 21, "The shepherds have become stupid, have not sought the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered." See what happens when shepherds are turned away from the Lord? You get an idea of how Satan works. It's not new today, that the infiltration of Satan takes place on the seminary level to begin with. And there he takes place of the shepherds and takes them away from the Word of God. Then they come out and lead the flock away from the Word of God, and the people of God are scattered and in disarray. That was going on centuries before Christ through the false shepherds in Israel.

Chapter 23 of Jeremiah, v. l, "'Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!' says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending (or shepherding) My people: 'You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,' declares the Lord." See, the shepherds are responsible for the condition of the flock.

One other passage in Jeremiah, back in chapter 50. Jeremiah 50, v. 6,"My people have become lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray." And it goes on to develop that. You see the shepherds leading the sheep, but if they are not leading them biblically, they lead them astray. You might jot down Ezekiel chapter 34, vs. 1-11, where you read what Ezekiel has to say about the shepherds.

As you come to the New Testament as well as the Old Testament then there seems to be two responsibilities, two prime areas of responsibilities under which I think we can categorize about everything the shepherd is to do. He is to lead the people, and he is to teach the people. Leading and teaching are the two prime areas of responsibility of the elders, overseer or pastor. Now Paul is going to get into the area of the teaching in v. 9 of chapter 1 of Titus.

So we're going to talk about that in some depth when we get there. That area of leading and ruling is a key idea that comes out again and again. It is an area of debate even among believers today. Where is the leadership in the local church vested by God? My understanding is that it is in the elders, the overseers or pastors. In just the names that are used--elder. Well, we see the background for it in Old Testament and New Testament times alike. They were the leaders among God's people. No indication that there is any difference in connotation where it's carried over into the Church. The overseer, that word by very definition means overseer--someone who has the oversight. The pastor, again, the shepherd, one who is responsible for the oversight, the condition of the flock. Several passages also speak to this responsibility of leading or ruling.

Turn over to 1st Timothy chapter 3. The Epistle to Timothy. And look at Timothy chapter 3. First Timothy chapter 3. Here in writing to Timothy Paul is covering much of the same material we have in Titus 1, and in v. 5 after saying that the elder must be one who manages well his own household, he asks the question in v. 5,"(But if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)" So you see, if a man is going to be an elder, and we'll talk about this qualification or we looked at qualifications, he must be able to rule his house, otherwise how will he take care of the church of God? He has responsibility for oversight in the church of God ;if he can't take care of his own house, how's he going to take care of the church of God? And that word 'to rule his house,' 'to manage his house' means to be at the head of something. To rule or direct, to manage something. It's used over in First Timothy 5, v. 17, "Let the elders who RULE well be considered worthy of double honor." So key element in the elder's responsibility is the rule. Now Peter puts this in proper perspective, remember, in First Peter 5. They are not to be 'lording' it over the congregation. This doesn't mean that 'Now I'm boss; I'm the dictator,' but it does mean that God has established an order in His church. And there will be leaders appointed. Now it's important for us all to understand this if we're to function biblically. It will of necessity require that God's people follow their leaders. Tremendous breakdown. I'm amazed in the conversations I have with churches--pastors and boards--and usually you have conversation because they're having trouble, how much of the trouble centers in the leadership. And yet the Scripture is as clear on this area as it is on any other area, as far as I can tell. How God has established the leadership for His church. In fact, in Acts chapter 20, v. 28, you remember, the elders are commanded to shepherd the church, and remember, "the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." There we're told it was the Holy Spirit who made the elders the overseers. So rebellion against the elders' leadership is in effect rebellion against the Holy Spirit. Remarkable plan of Satan to divide and fracture the Church and try to do away with God's plan of leadership in the Church. It's so simple and we hesitate to speak about it because right away people think, Oh, he's got an ulterior motive; he's trying to solidify control. Another way that Gil wants to get control.

But, Scripture is Scripture. Now, we have to be careful that there are not ulterior motives or wrong motives, and we'll see as we go through the qualifications of elders it puts this back into a proper balance. We need to recognize that God has appointed leaders and that means the body is to follow them. In fact Hebrews chapter 13, v. 17, instructs the Church to submit to its leaders because those leaders will give an account to God for them. Just like in the Old Testament passages we read, God required an accounting of the shepherds for the condition of the sheep. So I will give, along with the other pastors of this flock, an accounting someday to God for the spiritual condition of this flock. And Hebrews warns it won't be profitable for you or for me if I have to give a bad accounting. I think it's interesting that in Hebrews 13 it says it won't be profitable for the flock if the shepherd has to give a bad account. So it is God's plan for us together in honoring Him and for our good that we function biblically. Now problem with this is it runs contrary to our democratic thinking. We pride ourselves in everybody ought to have his say and his vote. I don't have any problem with that politically. I like it. The problem is, I have to come not to my governmental structure to find out how the church is to be organized and function, I have to come to the Word of God. And even if I like my political structure better than the Word of God, I have no authority to change it, because as Acts 28 says, the church is God's church. And He says, here is how My church functions. So all I have to do is come to the Word of God and submit to it. Crucial area. Most churches are set up for non-biblical functioning, because it's important that everybody have their say. I have no problem with the saints having their say. I also recognize that God has appointed leadership, and you look at a flock of sheep and that's the example. If all the sheep are going to make the decisions and have the responsibility for the decisions, what's that flock going to be like?
I take it if God appoints leaders, then He'll give them the wisdom to make the decision and the sheep have to trust the leaders.

Now again, this will point up why it's so important to have godly leaders. When the leaders in the church have gone away from the Word of God, then I think the life of that church is over. That's happened in our major denominations. The leadership has gone away from the Word of God and the life has gone out of those churches. It's very simple. All you do is come to the Word of God and find out here's God's plan. Alright, now I attack it. That's exactly what Satan does. He does it in our evangelical churches. There are churches that will live and die over every man voting and every man ruling. Is it biblical or isn't it? You've got the Word, you've got to decide. Search the Scriptures. Is it true or isn't it? The issue is not, how was this church structured enough? This church is not structured biblically, you'd better change. Not functioning biblically, you'd better change. That's true of all of us individually.

I want to note one other factor here. From my study, it seems clear that there is a plurality of elders in the churches. We won't go back and reread all those passages, but for example, in Acts chapter 20, v. 17, when Paul from Miletus calls for the elders of the church at Ephesus, he called for the elders of the church. There was a plurality in that leadership. In Acts 14:23 Paul appointed 'elders_', plural, in all the churches. In Phil, chapter 1, v. 1, he wrote to the 'elders' at the church at Philippi. In Titus chapter 1, where our study centers, Titus is exhorted to appoint 'elders' in every city, plurality in every city, every city having its own church in those days. So the biblical pattern seems to be a plurality of leadership. Now that doesn't mean there won't be different responsibilities within that pattern. Obviously, at Indian Hills we have a plurality of elders, but I'm the Chairman of the Board of Elders. That gives me a position of perhaps greater influence. But when it comes down to decide, every elder has the same vote I do. And every elder has the ability to say 'No' and put a stop to anything just like I do. If they say 'No' we stop until we resolve it. So even though there is order within the group, there is a plurality of leadership. That seems to be the biblical pattern.

Not so difficult. We look and say, if that's so simple why do you spend so much time on it? Seems so simple, isn't it the simple things we get off track? We say, Well Lord, I've come up with Plan B. We have an official board and we have a board of trustees, and we have a board that watches the pastors, and we've got all our boards. How do we get there? Well, so-and-so got voted Sunday School Superintendent, and so-and-so got voted Church Treasurer, so-and-so got voted this, and whoever got voted into those they formed the board and that's how we govern our church. Well, that's interesting. What's it say in the Scripture? I mean, how we come up with all these intricate and wonder and amazing plans, when all we have to do is come and put to work what God has said. Now what we need to do is turn our attention from this point on, and we will in our coming studies, to the qualifications God sets down for elders as well as looking at their responsibility in teaching and nurturing the flock on sound doctrine. Key that we have men who meet the biblical qualifications--men that are growing and ready to take that responsibility to serve in that capacity. We talk about enlarging our elders in this local church. We need more godly men to take on elder responsibi1ity. They need to search the Scriptures again on these qualifications. Men need to be examining themselves in light of the Word. Am I qualified? If not, why not? Where am I now, and I'd better correct it. These qualifications, as well! See, are the result of godliness and maturity for all of us, even though not every single person obviously is going to be appointed by the Holy Spirit to carry on the function of an elder.

How are we doing as a church? How are we doing in our attitudes? You know, if God had appointed angels over the churches, we'd have had a little easier job. But I look around and I see the flaws and the weaknesses and the shortcomings, and that makes me think, They're no better than I am. Keep in mind, Titus is going to appoint from among the Cretans, elders. They're not going to be perfect men; they are going to have to be men who are biblically qualified. Are we functioning biblically? Our goal is to be biblical. We search the Scripture. We have to be open, Are there changes that need to be made? That's why we're talking about adding additional elders. As we've searched the Scriptures and evaluated our condition, we really believe we could be more effective and more biblical by having more men share in the elder responsibility.

How are you doing? As a person who has to follow the leadership of the shepherd? I have to give a word of commendation. This is a flock that is easy to shepherd. I appreciate the responsiveness. I believe it is a flock that has been open to the leadership of the elders. I don't want you to think I have an ulterior motives and this is my chance to grind an axe because we finally got to Titus 1. God has blessed me through the congregation. One of those blessings has been people who are willing to be led. You know when the real test of leadership comes? The test of your willing ness to be led? When we disagree.

I can follow anyone as long as they do everything the way I want it, when I want it and how I would do it. Well, the real test comes when they do something differently than I would do. I'm not talking about if it's unbiblical--if it's unbiblical, that has to be dealt with--but obviously, there's going to be challenges. With that willingness to be led, support the leadership, commit ourselves to what God has called us to do, is the strength of the local church. That enables God to work in us and produce that unity that honors and exalts Him. Let's pray together.