Godly Leadership, Vital to the Church

Transcript

GRM 538
9/14/1997
Godly Leadership, Vital to the Church
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

On Sunday mornings we've been studying the book of Colossians. At the heart of the issue at the church at Colossae is the subject of heresy and false teaching. That, along with some conversations I've had with pastors recently and other ministries, had me thinking some about the issue of church leadership. It seems that when I have opportunity to visit with pastors, church leaders who are going through difficulty in their ministry, often a major part of the problem comes back to the fact that the church has not been structured biblically. So when it comes to handle conflict or false teaching, heresy there is an inability to deal with it as the church should because they are not set up, if you will, in a biblical manner. And I just want to go over some of the matters of biblical leadership with you and eldership. I realize you've been studying the book of 1 Timothy. Hopefully, this won't just be repeat, but we'll tie into some of what you covered in the material in that key book of the New Testament.


Turn to the book of Titus. We'll use Titus chapter 1. We're not going to talk about the qualifications of leaders because I know you went through that in your study of Timothy, but I want to talk about the matter of the leadership itself that God has appointed and ordained for the church. Titus is one of the letters we call pastoral epistles because the content of the letter, along with 1 and 2 Timothy deals with what we call pastoral matters - matters relating to the functioning of the church, the responsibilities of leaders in the church, and so on. The pervading theme of the letter of Paul to Titus regarding the church at Crete is godliness or good works. His stress is on the quality of life of a believer, of the good works that ought to characterize a believer, the godly lifestyle of God's people. We are to be reflecting and manifesting the beauty of God's character in the way we live our lives. And it's in this context that Paul begins, early in the letter, to address the subject of leaders, that they have to be godly, first of all. Then for the church to carry out its intended role as the body of Christ, it must follow the leadership of godly leaders who have been in place. He picks up this theme in verse 5 of chapter 1: "For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you". The letter to Titus probably fits between Paul's imprisonments in Rome. Evidence seems to be that he was released from the imprisonment in Rome that we leave him in at the end of the book of Acts, and he would be later rearrested and subsequently executed. During this time when he was free to minister, he was in Crete with Titus, establishing churches there, preaching the gospel, assembling those who were saved into churches in the cities there.

He puts it “I want you to set in order what remains.” For whatever reason, Paul evidently had to leave Crete before his work was done, and he left Titus behind. And Titus' responsibility was to complete the work of putting the church in proper order, and this would deal with appointing the proper leadership for the church, as well as addressing certain areas of conduct that needed to be tightened up and corrected. He was to appoint elders in every city.

I think it's significant that when Paul wants to write a letter with the theme of godliness, he starts with leadership. The leaders must be godly people. Nothing is more devastating to a church and its ministry as, through whatever process, they end up with men who are not godly men in the role of leadership. When those men's number one priority is not, first of all, to be godly in their own lives, and then lead the people of God in a path of godliness then power struggles develop, personal agendas are moved to the center. There is an inability for the church to truly be a biblical New Testament church. So, the leaders must be godly. They should model godliness for the church in their own lives, and then they set the tone and direction for the church. They are responsible for the spiritual health and well-being of God's people, as we'll see as we move along and look at some of these areas.

You'll note, first of all, that in verse 5, Titus was to appoint elders in every city. That word translated “appoint” means to appoint, to place in charge. Now it doesn't say anything specifically on how this is to be done. What is the procedure that is to be carried out? Turn over to the book of Acts. Maybe we ought to look at a couple of examples. I was just going to refer to it but turn over to Acts chapter 6. In Acts chapter 6 you have the appointment of men that would serve as deacons - that's usually, at least, how they've been viewed. In Acts chapter 6, verse 3 “select from among you, brethren, from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” So, it would seem that the congregation had a recognition of who these godly men were. Then the apostles officially appointed them to their task. Over in chapter 14 of Acts, in verse 23: "And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed." Paul swings through here and preaches the gospel, and a number of people are saved. Then he returns back through the region, and on that return, retracing his steps, he appoints elders in the churches that had been established not too long previously. There's a different word for “appoint” here than we have in Titus, a word that sometimes - the basic meaning of the word, would be “to choose, to elect by raising the hand.” So I mention this because some people have taken from this that we ought to have congregational vote because it says that they had appointed for them elders in every church and the word means to elect by raising the hands. Well, if that's the case, it's the apostles that are raising their hands because they're the ones doing the appointing. It doesn't really matter, as far as I can tell, what the process is in placing these men into position. Whether the congregation votes on them, whether there's recommendations from the congregation, the point of Scripture is number 1: these must be godly men who meet the character qualifications that are set forth in Scripture, like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Whatever process is used, we must be sure that it does not allow for the skirting of the biblical qualifications. It seems to me that ultimately that would mean that the final decision would have to be in the hands of godly men.

The way we do it at Indian Hills is the Board of Elders ultimately appoints elders, but we are open to recommendations from the congregation. If someone's name is brought to the attention of one of the Board members, we will discuss that person. Periodically, it would seem that we ought to consider adding men to the Board. What we'll do is say, let's pray about whom the Lord might have provided as a possible candidate for an elder in this church. We ask the men to make a list of names that they believe are men qualified. Then we will sit together as a Board and ask the men to mention the names that are on their list. If someone's name appeared on every elder's list, it would seem that's a man that would get priority in consideration. The next step, when we have agreed on certain men as far as we know that they are qualified, we contact the person to see if they're interested in serving. If they are, they are given a questionnaire where they fill in doctrinal information, as well as personal information. Then they are interviewed by the Board. Then they are presented to you as a congregation. They give their testimony because you ought to view them as godly men and have confidence in them. And at the end, then, of a couple of weeks, if nothing has interrupted that process or caused us to think this is not the time or there is a lack of qualification or anything like that, then that person is appointed to the Board. That's the process we follow here at Indian Hills. That's not the only process that could be followed, but the point I want to make is, whatever process is followed, you have to be sure that the qualifications of elder are met. That's why it's difficult just to put names out in the congregation and vote on them. You would say, well, I don't know them well, but they've been around a while. I've seen them do things. I would vote for them. That's not enough. There must be a more careful screening.

Alright, let's look at this matter of elders. They appoint elders back in Titus. Pick up that and we'll stay with Titus. The word for “elder”, let me mention the Greek word: "presbuteros". The Greek word translated elder is a "presbuteros". Well, we're familiar with the word because it's been carried over into English - it's presbyterian. The Presbyterian Church has an elder form of government and structure. So it's called presbyterian. Sometimes this word is seen as denoting the age and dignity of the position that is to be held. Age is relative, but they would be old enough to have the respect and the dignity that should characterize the office. The background of the word is in the Old Testament. Wonder how they pick up this concept of elders leading God's people? Well, it's an Old Testament concept. Back in Exodus chapter 3 Moses is being sent to the people of Israel first and then to Pharaoh. He is going to be their leader in delivering them from Egypt, the bondage in Egypt. Then Exodus chapter 3, verse 16, God tells Moses, "Go and gather the elders of Israel together". Here we find, somehow in the growth of the nation in Egypt - when it was not in Egypt, it was a family, Jacob, and his family. During the 400 years captivity they've grown to be a great nation - perhaps, 2 million people - and it was during that time that an order of leaders had developed called elders. So by the time you get ready for the exodus, the elders are recognized as leaders of the people. They are identifiable people that Moses could go and address as leaders of the people.

Numbers chapter 11 - we're going to narrow down the elders in Israel. Numbers 11:16: "The Lord therefore said to Moses, 'Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel.'" How many elders there were we're not told. The numbers used for how many Israelites there were in the exodus would have been somewhere around 2 million. They do that from the numbers given of those who would have been of certain ages and so on. How many formed the elders of the nation we don't know, but he is to gather from among the elders seventy men. Note what He says in verse 16: "whom you know to be the elders of the people". So these are elders of the elders, if you will. From among the elders, gather seventy that you know are elders of the people. They have a recognition among the people as their elders and their leaders. The use of elders for leadership among God's people - here, the nation Israel - begins very early.

In the New Testament in the gospels, in Matthew chapter 16, verse 21, you find the elders, chief priests meeting together. In each community the synagogue was led by elders in Israel. Elders in positions of leadership in the synagogues that had developed in Israel in the different communities were a recognized group of leaders in the nation. They appear in the book of Acts as well as leaders among the Jews. So it was a natural transition when God created the church in Acts chapter 2, and then with its development, that the leaders within the people of God in that new entity, the church, would be called elders. Similar to what we would do with a title like president. Well, for legal purposes, I am the president of this church, for legal documents. There's a president of the United States with a title president gets to be used in a variety of contexts for a responsible leadership in different areas. So elders was picked up. The people of God were familiar with that. The early church was first of all comprised of Jews who had been converted. Acts chapter 2 was natural. What do we call the leaders in this group? Well, they're, same thing we called them within our nation, they're elders.

There are two other words that are synonymous with the word elder in the New Testament. First, the word episkopos - again, another word we recognize in English - episkopos - episcopal. You have the Episcopal Church. It's an overseer or a bishop. The word sometimes translated bishop in the Episcopal Church is ruled by bishops, so they picked up that concept, but the word is used synonymously with elder, for the same position and same people in the New Testament, and it emphasizes the responsibility. Elder denotes something of the maturity, respect, and dignity of the office. The word overseer - that's a literal translation. It means to see over, to be responsible for the oversight, the overseer. It's used in Titus chapter 1, verse 7 of the elders. So they're in that immediate context. You see the synonymous term elder and then he uses the word overseer.

A third word - you have elder, you have overseer, you have the word pastor. And that's probably the one we are most familiar with in our context. Probably used it more often, although we use elder quite a bit, but the word pastor is another title for identifying those who are elders or overseers. Ephesians 4:11: He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. That word pastor is simply the word to shepherd. They have the responsibility for the oversight and care of God's sheep. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts 20, verse 17: "From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church." So here the elders of the church at Ephesus come for a meeting with Paul. Look down in verse 28, he says to these elders of the church at Ephesus: "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers". So the elders have been made overseers with the responsibility to shepherd or pastor the church of God. So there you have all three terms used of these men. They are elders, they are overseers, they are shepherds of God's church. They have the responsibility of the oversight and the protection of the flock of God.

Turn over the 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 1: Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and partaker of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you. See, the elders are to be shepherds, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge but proving to be examples to the flock. And then the promise of the reward for faithfulness in that service. So you see, the elders are to be shepherding.

Now this concept of shepherding and being a shepherd of God's people comes out of the Old Testament as well. The concept comes, means to be the leader, responsible for the well-being of the people of God. Turn back to Numbers chapter 27. Numbers chapter 27, Moses speaking to the Lord, says in verse 16: "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 picture here. The responsibility of the shepherd is to lead the sheep. "Who will lead them out and bring them in", because sheep without a shepherd are in a very helpless position, very vulnerable.

Jeremiah chapter 3. I want you to understand part of my motivation in doing this on what is a shepherd for example, what is a pastor. Some churches have developed the idea that they hire a pastor to do the work of the ministry, but they want to be very careful that he doesn't have too much authority. Now understand when they are calling a man to be a pastor, they are calling a leader for the flock and a pastor is a leader. That is the background of the word in the Old Testament, and we develop an unbiblical situation, when oh, we want to have a pastor, but he's not going to lead. Where does that come from? Yet many churches function on that kind of level. And part of that comes from the rotation of pastors. Pastors come and go, but we'll be here. We bring in a pastor to do the work of the ministry until he gets used up and then he goes on and we bring in someone else. But a pastor is to be the leader of God's people. Chapter 3 of Jeremiah, verse 15: "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding." In this you see something of the role of a shepherd from the Old Testament, to feed God's people in the knowledge and understanding of God.

An interesting passage and one that is somewhat in detail is Ezekiel chapter 34. In a number of these passages in the Old Testament, some of which we haven't looked at - we didn't look at 1 Kings chapter 22, verse 17. There with the death of the king of Israel, Israel is described as sheep with no shepherd because the king of Israel was the shepherd of the nation. So in Ezekiel chapter 34: When the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, saying, "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?"'" He's addressing the kings of Israel. So you understand the position they had, that as the shepherds of God's sheep, we're talking about the king of the nation.

I had coffee a few years ago with a man who questioned whether I was functioning as a shepherd of God's people because I didn't visit everybody myself. I wasn't personally involved in everybody's life and he took me to Ezekiel 34 to show me that ought to be my role. And I asked him, "Well, do you have any idea who the shepherds are in Ezekiel 34? And do you think that the king of Israel could be in every home holding the hand of every person when you're dealing with a nation of millions of people?" And we sometimes read our concept, now the king of Israel was responsible for the condition of the nation. As a pastor, that's true, but different pastors according to their role will have different emphasis in their ministry, but as pastors, they do have the responsibility for the oversight of the flock and to see that the flock's in good condition even though different pastors may not do exactly the same thing. The condemnation here is the shepherds were taking care of themselves. This happens often. They just had a ruler from an African nation who has been deposed and passed away with cancer. He had bankrupt the nation by his own thievery. Makes himself a billionaire while the nation goes bankrupt. Well, that's the kind of thing that was taking place in Israel. The kings were robbing the people. They were eating well, and the people were going hungry. They were clothed in the finery, and the people didn't have enough to cover themselves. That kind of thing. The shepherds were not caring for the people. You can read Ezekiel 34 - the sadness of that condition. I have to say the background for the word pastor in the Old Testament was for a leader of God's people. My understanding of a pastor-teacher is a leader-teacher, one who has the oversight of God's people. The particular emphasis is in the feeding and nourishing of the people of God. And these two areas of leading and nourishing the sheep of God are two key roles in this area.

So we have elders, overseer, pastor. All are referring to the same basic position. That would be true today. That doesn't mean every elder or every pastor does exactly the same thing. Those who are elders, pastors, overseers have the basic same responsibilities for the leadership and oversight of the flock and to see that they're nurtured and cared for. That doesn't mean that everyone will do the same thing. I stand up and teach you and nourish you. Another elder or pastor may spend time with you personally in praying with you, exhorting you, and helping you through a difficult time, and in those different ways. But a pastor is to have oversight, leadership, and responsible for the spiritual condition of the flock.

In 1 Timothy 3:5, an elder, in verse 4, is to be "one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?)". That same word is used over in chapter 5, verse 17: Let elders who “rule” well be worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. That word rule, manage, proistemi. The word means to rule, direct, manage, conduct. That means that the overseers, the elders, the pastors are responsible to lead God's people. My understanding, quite frankly, is congregational form of government is not a biblical form of government. I realize many congregational forms of government are led by spiritual leaders. There was a time when we were congregational in that there were certain things the congregation voted on, but we were really ruled by elders. But as it's normally carried out, the congregational form of government is not biblical because it's not rule and leadership by the godly leaders that God has appointed to that role. Thus you have people who are not of the character that is required of an elder who have the weight in the decision because their vote carries just as much weight as the most godly person in the congregation. That works fine in a general flow, but then you get to a situation that is a crisis that has to be resolved by people of all spiritual levels. Then there is an inability to grapple with it, and churches get torn apart. So we think, oh well, it's working fine, our congregational form of government's working fine.

I was dealing with a church recently, and their congregational form of government - they have been using it, but now they have a crisis in the church. They have a split in the church. It's almost irresolvable without tearing the church apart because the element in the church that is not functioning biblically can marshal enough votes to keep the church from going forward. I say, this is a terrible state of affairs. Who ever said that God's church was to be ruled by popular vote? It's inbred enough, it's in our democracy, but even when God established the nation Israel, He didn't establish a democracy, He established a monarchy. When He established the church, He didn't establish a democracy. He established rule by godly leaders. Acts 20:28 - we won't go back there, but we read the responsibility of the elders was for the oversight of the church, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. So the Holy Spirit appoints these men.

Well, how do we know? I take it number one is they are men who meet the biblical qualifications. Number two: they are recognized as such in the congregation, and so formally appointed. Turn over to Hebrews 13. This is something we go over often. There's another side to this leadership. If God has appointed elder, overseer, pastors to lead the flock, it means that God's will is for the flock to follow the leaders. Otherwise, leadership is not taking place - not effective leadership. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17: "Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you." The responsibility of God's people is to obey their leaders and submit to them. Follow their leadership.

Turn back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 12: "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction". Elders are to be diligently laboring. They have charge over God's people. They give instruction. "That you esteem them very highly in love because of their work". That word to “esteem” very highly is a word - that's an accurate translation - all out of bounds. Your estimation of them and honoring of them ought to be great. And I realize that gets misused, and I listen to men using these kinds of verses, and I'm embarrassed. But that is to reflect the attitude that ought to be there for leadership. It ought not to be a fighting against the leadership. It ought to be an appreciation of the leaders. One thing happens when you have in place the structure that God has appointed where you have the leaders that God has appointed doing the leading, that frees up the rest of the body to exercise their gifts and carry out the ministry God's called them to do. So it doesn't restrict the body, it really frees up the body for a fuller, more effective, more complete ministry.

A reminder: the responsibility of the body is to follow the leaders. I mention this, but you know, every crisis is a new event. We don't have a crisis now. It's a good time to talk about it. The test of leadership is when you disagree. Marilyn has no trouble following my leadership as a husband when I'm doing everything she would like me to do. That's easy. The test of leadership is when a decision is made you don't agree with, you don't like. Then it comes down, am I really following the leadership God's appointed?

I'm appalled at the cavalier way people will turn against the leadership. I'm not saying because the leadership has abandoned the virgin birth, denying the substitutionary atonement. Somehow the battles are never that clear. People don't want to do battle over doctrine because you could say, let's turn to the Scripture and see what it says. So, you say, oh no, we don't have any doctrinal problem, but we disagree with this, we disagree with that. Often it's placed in a nebulous sense. What has God given leadership for? How could an army go to war, and we get out on the battlefield, and all of the sudden, we have to take a vote? How many want to do this? How many want to do that? You just couldn't fight a battle that way. There was a little bit of controversy on our football team. I saw on the news where over quarterbacks the people vote. The coach steps up and says, "Well, I want you to understand there's no debate over this. Here is who our quarterback is. Here's the way we operate." Well, how did you have that? You're going to have 77,000 people voting in the stands, and somehow this guy down here - he's a wonderful coach, we just honor him, we admire him, but he doesn't have the good sense to know how to run the team on this case. Where do people come up with these dumb ideas? Why do all of a sudden we know more than him on this? It happens in the church. Oh yes, we have wonderful leaders, godly people, I'm learning the Word. All the sudden they make a decision we don't like. I'm out of here. So remember the test of leadership is when you don't agree.

Now if it's a doctrinal issue, then it ought to be resolved. Let's sit down and talk. What's the doctrine at stake here? Where has the leaders departed from the Word of God? But it's not over whether I don't think we ought to put a sidewalk back here. I don't think we ought to put an addition on here. I don't think we ought to do this. I think we ought to do that. Well, isn't it strange that God, the Holy Spirit, would appoint elders in the church and then give the other people who are not elders all the wisdom to know what ought to be done? Stop and think, what kind of God is that? He's appointed elders for the church, but He's given the non-elders all the wisdom and insight on what the decisions that ought to be made. That ends up being a reflection on our God, doesn't it? I'm not saying elders cannot err, but I think we need to be careful. When things are going well, people don't. It's usually a decision over where there's a disagreement. So remember, the test of leadership is when you disagree.

The pattern of New Testament eldership seems to be a plurality. We won't take the time to look, but like in Acts 14:23, they appointed elders, plural, in every church. That is a check and balance within the pastor-eldership. And we divide up responsibility here at the church. While we distinguish pastor and elder for the helpfulness of it and in the organization, the roles and responsibilities would be the same in light of the New Testament. So there's a delegating of the responsibility. I have great influence in the congregation, more than any other pastor or elder because I have the privilege of what, speaking to you every week, where they don't. But by the same token, I am responsible and accountable to those elders, and that is good. You've got to follow their leadership and someday they may decide that for the good of this ministry I should be replaced. What's your responsibility? Your responsibility is to support me if I disagree. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Why? What do you have elders for? Now I'd have to say, I don't understand all that was involved in their decision, but we recognize the fact they were the godly men that God had put in place in this ministry, and so we accept the fact that God has given them the wisdom for this ministry at this time because you can't always know all the details of every situation. And that's the responsibility the pastors and elders have, as they have to work through the decision. And it's good that's that way. Otherwise, I might get off track and then get up and what, try to sway you as a congregation to support me. Your decision would be made on my powers of persuasion, not perhaps on what would be biblical and right and godly in a certain situation.

Well, I'll say two other things. Number one: especially in our day - important that we just remind ourselves - pastors, elders, overseers must be men. Now we have within quote the evangelical church a whole movement called the egalitarian movement. The argument within that is that we are all equal, meaning the same, basically. The church will be liberated and freed for more effective ministry when it begins to appreciate the gifts of women, so they move then to move women into leadership roles, teaching in seminaries, the training of pastors. If they can teach to train the pastors, why can't they pastor the churches? Movements in this direction.

1 Timothy chapter 2, verses 11 and 12: I do not allow a woman to teach or be in authority over a man. And a variety of ways that passage is handled by those who claim to be Bible-believing Christians and we won't go into those details. You've studied that recently and we've done it on other occasions, but we just remind ourselves that God's plan for leadership is men. That's been true from the beginning. That's true in the home. It's true in the order of things. God did not appoint women as king in Israel; He appointed men.

A second thing about being an elder is a man must aspire to that office. 1 Timothy 3:1: And if anyone aspires to the office of elder - means to reach out for something, to stretch out for something. Now the aspiration of the office and the desire for the office doesn't mean that I should be in the office, but there ought to be that desire. So as we try to evaluate qualified men, then we approach those men. Perhaps their name has come up and we've looked over the qualifications and in our initial evaluation they look to us to be qualified. The next step is we ask them, would they desire to serve as an elder? If they would, then we give them a questionnaire. In fact, on the front of the questionnaire, they can circle I would like to be considered for an elder or I would not. If they say no, I would not like to be considered, they don't need to give a reason. They don't have to give an explanation. We don't try to talk them into it, and say, oh, we really need you. No problem with saying, in our discussions to this point, we believe you would be an asset in the leadership of this church, and you seem to be qualified, would you be willing to serve, do you have a desire to serve? Sometimes the man says, no, at this time I don't. Well, one of the indications is, if that is the way God's leading, God will place that desire in the heart of the person. Yes, I would, I do have a desire for that. So that is another test. This is not a game where, oh, beg me, talk me into it. That's not a problem here at this church. I appreciate the honesty of the men that have been approached and men who have said no, I would not want to pursue it at this time. I appreciate that honesty in taking this office seriously. That is part of the process that we go through.

So you may recommend a name to one of the elders and then think, well, why didn't they ever do anything with it? But we may have approached the man, and he may have said no, no, I don't desire that right now, I would not want to pursue it. Well, we don't necessarily go back to the person and say the person you recommended said no or because there may have been an issue of qualification come up. Quite frankly, what it comes to then within the elders, would any man on the Board be uncomfortable proceeding with this man? That's enough to put that a stop. There has to be unanimity. There may be an elder or two there that says I don't know him well enough to address the subject. Well then, he can get to know him. But if any elder has a conviction that the man is not qualified or would not be ready for the position or whatever, simply by his expressing that takes that name off the list. So there has to be unanimity among the elders. So you may give a name and when it comes to the Board, again, there would be no way for us to go back to you if there was a qualification issue or if there was another kind of issue. So we try to sort through as carefully as we can because the test for elders, their godliness, comes often under pressure situations. Now the pressures on. The hard thing is to do the right thing. You need godly men in place, especially at those times, because the pressure is there to not do the right thing or to avoid doing what should be done. There needs to be godly men in place who will not succumb to the pressure, who will not avoid something unpleasant, but are committed to be godly men and do what is necessary. That preserves the integrity of the body and enables it to function as it should.

We went to elder government in the late '70s, it was around '77 or '78 when the congregation voted here for the last time to not vote again, but to put all their authority, if you will, in the hands of the elders. In the battles and conflicts we've experienced in the '80s and '90s, I fear the church would have gotten torn apart. We took losses in battles and conflicts, but they would have been almost irresolvable if they had had to take place on the floor of the congregation with different people trying to get supporters marshaled behind them. So again, we want to be careful we are as biblical as we can be and that prepares the church to function as biblically as it should.

Again, I can say as a pastor-elder here, I sit with the Board regularly in my role, that it is a blessing and a privilege to be a leadership for the body where the people follow, are supportive of the leadership, are appreciative of the leadership. That's a testimony to you as a body. Hebrews 13 says to obey your leaders because they'll give an account. In a preliminary account, I can say yes, I appreciate your goodness in being good followers, your faithfulness in that area, your encouragement to the elders. I trust you pray for them, you support them. Remember, the responsibility is simple. In one of our conflicts, some of our men in seminary turned to a seminary professor and said, what do we do in the conflict of our church? His response was simple, you follow the elders. Follow the elders. That's our responsibility. Well, what if I don't agree? Well, that's why you have godly men in place. You trust them and follow through. I appreciate your support in the ministry of this body and trust God will continue to use us together.

Let me just say one more word. At Indian Hills, we have a division. I am the only member of the pastoral staff who sits as an official member of the Board of Elders. We do that for the integrity of the leadership, partially. That is so that the staff are not involved in voting on their salaries, for example, some of those things, so we have divided the leadership up here. Even in that matter I sit as the Chairman of the Board, but I do not vote on issues unless there would be a tie. So that's another area of order that we have established the Bible doesn't address, but we've found for functioning, that's the way we've broken up the responsibilities in the ministry here.

Let's pray together:
Thank You, Lord, for Your grace, for Your provision for us. Thank You for the way You've blessed us as a church. Thank You, Lord, for a body of believers who have supported the ministry of the leaders of this church, who pray for the leaders, who follow the leaders in difficult times, under pressure, and, Lord, have enabled the testimony of this church to continue on. I pray for the leaders, Lord, that indeed, we will be men who are godly in our character, in are personal walk with you, I pray, Lord, that our leadership will be a godly leadership. Lord, our desire is this body will be a testimony for You in every area. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.