Presbuteroi: Shepherd's of God's Flock (Rev. Erik Veerman)

As many of you know, we just had our church’s 5th anniversary a couple of months ago. Because of that, we have been taking a few weeks to walk through our foundations as a church and how those work out in our ministry.

We started 3 weeks ago with our calling to be faithful in three things: faithful in our devotion to God, faithful to Biblical doctrine, and faithful to the great commission. We considered the church in Antioch as an example of a church that was faithful in those ways.

Then 2 weeks ago, we talked through the primary means through which God changes us. The Holy Spirit works through God’s Word, Prayer, and the Sacraments. We call those the means of grace. Our worship, our discipleship, and our mission revolve around those means of grace.

Then last week, Coleman preached on the central unifying theme of the Bible - God’s Covenant promise to his people which he fulfilled in Jesus. God’s Covenant with us is what ties together the Old and New Testaments including God’s covenant people of old and the church today. That covenant theme affects our teaching and prayer and ministry and really, our lives.

That brings us to our focus for today. The question is, why do we call ourselves a Presbyterian church? What does that mean and why is it important for us?

We have two sermon texts this morning. The first is from Acts chapter 15. Please turn there. You can find Acts 15 on page 1098 in the pew Bibles. We’ll look at verses 4-21.

This passage is about the Jerusalem council. Remember from three weeks ago, the church in Antioch had sent the apostle Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem. They were to work with other elders and apostles concerning an important matter in the church. Our verses this morning are about the council itself.

Reading of Acts 15:4-21

Our second reading is from 1 Peter 5:1-5. Please turn there. That is on page 1206. The apostle Peter is writing to the church scattered across Asia minor. In the prior chapters, he has been encouraging them in their persecution, and then Peter turns to address the elders and their role.

Reading of 1 Peter 5:1-5

Prayer

Every single organization in the entire world shares one thing in common. I’m talking about corporations, non-profits, governmental agencies, countries, states, counties… social clubs, and sports team … Each and every one of those organizations shares one thing in common. They all have leaders.

Some leaders are effective, some struggle. Some are inspiring, some lead by example, some you want to follow, others you don’t have a choice.

From the world’s perspective, good leaders are often identified as strong and decisive. They are the take-charge kind of people who are willing to take risks and make hard decisions and sometimes whatever it takes to be successful.

Well, that leadership model is a far cry from God’s call for leaders in his church. No, rather, the church is called to raise up shepherds of God’s flock. Elders. These men are not to be like army drill sergeants or naval commanders. They are not to be heavy-handed CEOs or brash politicians, or whip-you-into-shape coaches.

No, elders in the church are called to care for your soul and to pray for you. They have been entrusted to lead in matters of eternal consequence. They are therefore to be humble like our chief shepherd, Jesus, who humbled himself and laid down his life for us, his sheep.

Elders are to serve. They are to pour themselves out for us, as God’s sheep.

Now, you may be asking, what does all of that have to do with being a Presbyterian church?

Well, actually, it has everything to do with being Presbyterian. The word presbuteros is the Greek word for elder. The plural is the word Presbuteroi, elders. We are a Presbyterian church because we believe that God’s design for leaders in his church centers around elders.

Given that, what I want to do this morning is argue for two things related to elders:

Number 1, that God has prescribed elders to lead his church.

And number 2, the model for elder leadership goes beyond the local congregationals.

That is where we are headed. And by the way, this is not the first sermon we have had on elders. We have had a couple of them. It’s usually when we have opened nominations for elders and deacons. In those sermons, we’ve mainly focused on the Godly character qualities of the officers, as both Titus chapter 1 and 1 Timothy chapter 3 reveal.

Today, we will not be focusing on the qualifications of elders. But I don’t want you to get the impression that those are not important. No, those qualifications are absolutely critical.

Rather, my goal today is to make a Biblical case for the role of elders in God’s church.

1. Elders as God’s Prescribed Leadership

Number 1: elders (presbuteroi) are God’s prescribed leaders for his church.

And the first thing I want to say is that if we take the New Testament as a whole, we are given two offices for the church – elders and deacons. I’ve already mentioned Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3. Titus 1 speaks of the qualifications of elders and 1 Timothy 3 speaks about the qualifications of both elders and deacons. Broadly speaking, the word deacon is the word for servant. Deacons are entrusted with the mercy needs of the church family and stewardship of tangible needs. Elders, on the other hand, are to minister to the church’s spiritual needs and are to oversee the church.

The word elder, itself, presbuteros, refers to someone mature, typically older. In the Greco-Roman culture of the time, it referred to those with wisdom and dignity who were counsellors or advisors. Often the word elder was used in a formal way as a title, like the elders of the city.

In the New Testament, elders were to be able to teach. In other words, one application of their wisdom and knowledge was the ability to convey it to others.

Let’s now look at 1 Peter chapter 5. Verse 1 uses the plural of the word elder. And then we are given a beautiful description of the role. Elders are to shepherd the flock of God. And what does a shepherd do? A shepherd cares for the sheep under his care. He protects them from danger. When they wander, the shepherd seeks them out. The shepherd’s staff is used to keep the sheep close to the fold but also to fend off predators, like wolves.

The primary role of an elder is, in fact, to “shepherd the flock of God.” That command is right there in verse 2. By the way, the word shepherd is the word for pastor. They are one in the same.

Shepherding includes comforting us in grief and pain by pointing us to the hope of Christ. Shepherding includes directing us away from our sin and toward righteousness. It is reminding us of God’s promises and the forgiveness we have in Jesus. Shepherding is guiding us in the wisdom revealed in God’s Word - wisdom for life. In all those ways, elders are spiritually caring our souls.

Also in verse 2, shepherding involves “exercising oversight.” Do you see that phrase? It is having a responsibility over us – a spiritual authority. But the apostle Peter is clear, elders are not to take advantage of the flock, nor be domineering over the flock, but are instead to be examples to the flock. They are to spiritually oversee us - caring for and loving and guiding us.

By the way, there is something very important here. The root word for oversight is the Greek word episcopos – an overseer. Does that sound familiar? Episcopos. It’s where the episcopal church gets its name. In the English, besides being translated overseer, it’s sometimes translated as bishop.

Let me say this. We believe the New Testament uses the word elder and bishop or overseer interchangeably. They are merely two roles of one spiritual leadership position.

Let me give you four examples of this synonymous use:

·      First, our 1 Peter 5 text right here, verses 1 and 2. An elder is described as having the responsibility of oversight. Both words are right there.

·      Second, in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he addresses the saints in Philippi which include overseers and deacons. The word overseer in Philippians 1:1 is the plural of the word episcopos. Paul is identifying the two offices of the church. But in 1 Timothy 3, he uses the word elder – persbuteros in place of overseer. In that chapter, he refers to elders and deacons. In other words, Paul is not creating a new office for an elder. Rather, he’s simply referring to one and the same office.

·      Third, and related, in Titus chapter 1, verse 5, Paul directs Titus to appoint elders in every town - presbuteroi. Then in verse 7, he describes their qualifications. He begins with the phrase “For an overseer” – episcopos. He’s just commanded Titus to appoint elders and then describes what these overseers should be like. Again, both words are used interchangeably – elder and overseer.

·      Fourth, earlier in the service we read from Acts 20. The apostle Paul had called the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him. He refers to them as presbuteroi. But then when he is speaking to them, he says this “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” He refers to the same group as both presubteroi and episcopoi.

Personally, I think that is pretty clear. God’s plan for his church is to have elders, who oversee the flock of God. Put simply, an elder equals an overseer equals a shepherd. They are one and the same

Just so you know, I did not grow up in a presbyterian church, but in my early 20s, I came to the conviction that a presbyterian form of church government is God’s design for his church. That’s partly why I am here today.

To be sure, there are many many faithful churches that are not Presbyterian. We are all first and foremost, Christians. We believe in the atoning death of Jesus Christ for us. He died in our place to break the bonds of our sin and pay our penalty. When we come to him in repentance and faith, we are made righteous in him. Furthermore, we believe in the resurrection. We believe in eternal life. I want to be very clear about that. That Gospel is the very center of what we believe, and we share that belief with many churches.

But we also believe that the Bible speaks to other less important things, and one of those is God’s leadership plan for his church. We are presbyterian for that reason.

Now, before we move on to point number two, let me make one side note here. All the examples in the Bible of elders are men. Furthermore, the description of the roles and qualifications are focused on men. Because of that, we also believe that the office of elder, which includes pastors, is reserved for men. We believe that is God’s design. That belief in no way diminishes the worth or dignity or respect of women. There is no inferiority in that pattern that God has given. There are also many many other ways that women serve and lead in the church. We just believe that God has given spiritual authority and oversight in the church to qualified Godly men.

I know that is not culturally popular. However, we believe it is what the Bible presents as God’s design. If you would like to talk through that more, I would be glad to. Please reach out to me.

Let me summarize this first point. God, through his Word, has given us his pattern for leadership in his church. That leadership comes through elders who faithfully serve and shepherd the church of God with humility. They are entrusted to care for, guide, oversee, and protect God’s sheep, you and me.

2. Elder leadership in the visible church

That brings us to point number 2. God’s appointed elders are to work together to oversee the broader church. In other words, the elders of our church have a responsibility to support other churches. And the elders of other churches, have a responsibility to support us.

Think about this. Probably 99% of organizations in the world have a leadership hierarchy. Think of a business. You have the owner or president at the top. Then you have several people who report to him or her, like CEOs or CFOs. Then below that you have middle management, and it works its way down to the various workers.

Well, a presbyterian form of government is very different. There is no top. We don’t have a pope. There is no archbishop of Canterbury. We don’t have a hierarchy of bishops and cardinals we certainly don’t have priests. We believe in the priesthood of all believers. The temple curtain was torn in two when Jesus was crucified. Jesus is our high priest and we can go to him directly.

What I am saying is this: one implication of elders leading the church is elders leading the church. Instead of a top-down hierarchy, the presbyterian form of church oversight is shared and it’s representative. It’s like an upside-down pyramid. The higher you go, the more elders you have in oversight.

Let’s look at the example in Acts 15, which we read. As I mentioned, this is called the Jerusalem council. It happened because a theological division had come to several local churches. We are not going to consider the specifics of the disagreement. We actually did cover that a few years ago when we went through the book of Acts. Today, we’ll just consider how the council worked.

The particular issue was causing division and confusion. So, what did the apostles and elders do? Well, they gathered together in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas were sent by the church in Antioch. They were welcomed by other apostles and elders, verse 4. We learn here the council included the apostle Peter and the apostle James. And look at verse 6. It says, “The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.” In fact, that phrase, “the apostles and the elders” is used 5 times in this chapter.

And what did they do in this council? Well, they deliberated. They listened to arguments from both sides. They took turns speaking. They considered the Scriptures. And in the end, they decided the matter. Later in chapter 15, we learn that they wrote down their decision and they distributed it to the churches in Antioch, Cilicia, and Syria. Now look at verse 28. This is an important verse. “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:” And then they went on to describe the particulars. You see, the Holy Spirit worked through the apostles and elders in this council.

We believe this is the model of oversight that the church is to have. There are no other layers. No bishops, no cardinals, no popes.

In this council, it was just apostles and elders together. And to be sure, the apostles filled a unique role at this point in redemptive history. In our 2 Corinthians study we saw that the apostles were given unique gifts. Nowhere in the New Testament are new apostles to be appointed. Rather, it is elders which are to be appointed in every town.

Do you see what I am saying? Elders from different churches are to work together to oversee the broader church. That is the presbyterian model of church oversight.

On a quarterly basis, a subset of our elders at Tucker Pres gather with elders from other churches in the Metro Atlanta area. We pray, we oversee men who desire to be pastors, we support church plant efforts and support the Reformed University Fellowship campus ministries in our area. Occasionally we work through difficult things like when elders break their vows and hurt their people. We care for those churches and families. Spiritual discipline is often involved in those difficult situations.

Occasionally there are theological matters to discuss. Often those theological matters are considered at our annual assembly, which includes elders across North America and some from across the world. Just three months ago, a question about Christian Nationalism arose. As you know, that’s a sticky subject. And so at our denomination’s assembly, we approved a study committee to review the range of beliefs about the relationship between Christianity and the state. That committee will consider the Scriptures and it will report back next summer or the summer after on how we should be thinking about these matters from a Biblical worldview. When that report comes back, it will be a matter of deliberation just like in Acts 15. That is just one example of many.

Now, I do not want you to think that your elders here are spending hours and hours on matters outside of our church. We don’t. But we do spend some time and energy to support the broader church family.

Why do we do that? Well, because we believe that it is the pattern God has given the church. Godly elders primarily shepherd the flock of God where they serve but also joining with other elders in the Acts 15 pattern of broader church oversight.

Conclusion

You may be asking, why does it matter to me? Well, for one, it matters because if this is God’s ordained structure for his church, then we want to be faithful to that end. It matters because if culture dictates leadership in the church, then there will be leaders who do not align with the principals of loving and humble eldership, but who instead are domineering or who mistreat the flock of God. We read from Ezekiel 34 this morning. It’s one of several Old Testament passages where God drops the hammer on the worthless shepherds of Israel who abandon the flock or who have led the flock astray or who are lazy or are in it for their own personal gain or because of their pride.

Godly elders are instead are to be committed to the truth of God and are to be loving examples to the flock.

This matters because God’s care for his people and his oversight for his church is to come through faithful elders. And those elders are to love Jesus and his Gospel, and are to love us and shepherd our souls, and are to love Jesus’ church and care for her.

This matters because when it comes time to nominate men to this role, we should have an understanding of their responsibility and character.

I know you know this, but I am going to say it anyway. Your elders here at Tucker Pres are sinners. It’s true. We, at times, have failed and will fail you and the church.

But we have a Savior in Jesus who has died for us. He is our Great Shepherd. And in his salvation and through his Spirit, your elders are striving to love you well and point you to him. In our monthly session meetings, that’s when our elders meet, the most important thing we do, which we prioritize, is to pray for you and for our church. Would you pray for us as we seek to be faithful to this important call – the call to be your presbuteroi, your elders, who serve under the great Sheperd of the sheep. Amen.