It isn't uncommon for some believers to have uneasiness when the concept of elder/pastoral authority comes up. Often this concern is fueled by a history of pastors assuming unbiblical authority and unjustly wielding his authority in the church. However, the abuse of this doctrine does not mean it is emptied of meaning or to be abandoned. God has delegated real authority to his under-shepherds and this authority must be understood and respected by the Christian.

My topic this morning is defining elder authority, and I'd like to begin with a question, and the question is this, who are elders? Who are elders? Elders are men who the Lord has raised up to maturity in order to serve his church and to help his people grow and make progress. God worked in their lives through his spirit, He made them mature, and one of the purposes for their maturity is that they would serve the Lord's people and help them grow. They would help them make progress.

Like their master, they are not to be served, but to serve and to lay down their lives for the benefit of his precious bloodbought people. The argument is that If Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve, how much more his people who he is redeemed by his blood and then raised to maturity to serve his people. Elders are not to be served, they are to serve. Jesus is the chief shepherd, elders are his under shepherds. Jesus loves his people with a passionate self-sacrificing love and his under shepherds are to share his passionate self-sacrificing love for his people.

Paradoxically, part of that service is to exercise delegated authority which is given to them. I say paradoxically because it is a paradox in the way that our culture typically thinks about love. We can't even imagine how an expression of love would be the exercise of authority, but so it is in the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, delegates authority to men in his churches, and part of the way that they are to express love for those people is the exercise of authority. The New Testament directs elders to exercise authority, but it is delegated authority, meaning it is exercised on behalf of the master.

You're not the master, but you've been put in place by the master to exercise authority on his behalf. Delegated authority. And it is limited authority. In other words, these men who are put in place by the Chief Shepherd aren't given carte blanc to do whatever it is that they feel like they ought to do or want to do, but they are given written instructions about the government of his people. They are to govern according to the book.

I think all of us have seen and all of us would acknowledge the mess that happens when people in authority don't have a clear sense about the other jurisdictions and where the boundaries are, and therefore they aren't careful to honor the boundaries. The church is not the only jurisdiction, so while you might have been given a place of delegated limited authority by the Lord Jesus Christ in his church, it doesn't mean that there aren't other jurisdictions. God has given the people of earth, the church, families, and the civil government, each with a sphere of authority. And the authorities in each of these jurisdictions are wise to understand exactly the authority that's been given to them, the authority that's been given to the other jurisdictions, so we honor those boundaries which have been established through the design of Almighty God. Sexual abuse scandals in the church are classic examples of one jurisdiction overstepping and usurping the authority given to another jurisdiction.

When a church decides to handle a matter of sexual abuse inside the church and excludes the civil government, they have overstepped and usurped authority that God has given to another jurisdiction. So churches should be very aware of the jurisdiction of the family and of the civil government, of the authority that has been placed within those jurisdictions, they should be careful not to overstep and usurp. As we consider this topic, let's come to the Lord prayer and ask him to help us. Our Father, I thank you for the beauty of your kingdom. What other kingdom is there where the king lays down his life for the subjects?

Where the King raises up, blesses, helps subjects of his kingdom and gives them authority to serve those who are just coming into his kingdom, those who are trying to make progress in his kingdom you raise up to maturity and give those as a gift to your people such beauty Lord cause us to love your kingdom in Jesus name we pray amen In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 the writer of Hebrews says, remember those who rule over you. In the same chapter Hebrews 13 verse 17, just a few verses later, the writer says obey those who rule over you. A few verses later, same chapter, Hebrews 13 verse 24, the writer of Hebrews says, greet all those who rule over you. Remember those who rule over you, obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, and greet those who rule over you. So you have the repetition of this phrase, those who rule over you.

Other good English translations like the NASB and the ESV render it instead of those who rule over you, simply your leaders. When I look in detail at the Greek word that's being translated there, it appears to me that maybe those who rule over you has a bit of a harder edge than the actual Greek word that's being rendered, but that your leaders has maybe a little softness to it compared to what you actually see as the usage. So with people like me, translators can never win and you might be the same. In any event, the same Greek word is used in Matthew chapter 2 verse 6. It's really helpful often to go look at the other uses of a word to get to get a sense for that word.

And in Matthew chapter 2 verse 6 we read this, "'But you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not least among the rulers of Judah, for Out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Of course this is a messianic prophecy, this is a prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he will be to his people. He will be a ruler of his people. What Micah chapter 5 verse 2, which is what's being being quoted there in Matthew, says of the Lord Jesus is what the author of Hebrews says of those who were given leadership responsibility in local churches. They're not the same as the Lord Jesus, their authority is not as absolute as is Jesus's authority, and yet the point is they have real authority.

Church leaders have real authority among his people. Here's how I would like to spend the rest of the time. First is to talk about the scope of elder authority. What are the boundaries? What are the limitations to the authority of an elder in the local church?

And secondly, the character of elder authority may be as important as the scope, the character of that authority and what the New Testament says about the character of that authority is so important for us to learn and embrace. So number one, the scope of elder authority. I actually want to come at this indirectly And here's why. The best understanding is had by seeing things in relation to the roles of elders. In other words, I think it's a mistake to begin by talking about the authority of elders.

It's the right thing to do to talk about the role of elders. What is the work, the responsibility that God has given them to do? If you understand the work that God has given them to do, you very quickly began to see where the boundaries of their authority are. Here's what I'm arguing. The authority is because of the work that has been given to do.

In other words, the authority doesn't exist so that you can be the boss. The authority exists because you've been given work to do, responsibilities among the Lord's people, and the authority just gives you the latitude to do your work. Does that make sense? So if you understand with clarity the responsibilities of work that has been given to elders to do among his people, it becomes clear where the boundaries of authority are, because the authority is never separate from the work that God has given his under-shepherds to do. What are the key roles of elders?

What are their primary areas of responsibility? If we have that clear in our minds, defining the boundaries of authority will follow. Paul and Peter both say something which is enormously helpful. Elder work is shepherding work. Do you buy that?

If you don't, you're out of step with Paul and Peter. Elder work is shepherding work elders are shepherds to be precise they are under shepherds Jesus Christ is a great head of the church he is the chief shepherd Paul says this in Acts 20 in Acts 20 he's exhorting the Ephesian elders and he says shepherd the flock of God in 1st Peter 5 Peter is exhorting fellow elders and he says, shepherd the flock of God. Elders are shepherds, elder work is shepherding work. So the question for us is, what do shepherds do? Well we could go to Psalm 23, couldn't we?

The Lord is my shepherd. It says how the Lord shepherds his people. Then this is how the under-shepherds in many ways should shepherd, should do their work. Or we could go to John chapter 10 where Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd and then talks about how he shepherds the Lord's people. By the way, just as a side note, Psalm 23 and John chapter 10 should be such well-worn passages for shepherds.

We should be periodically over and over and over again reading and meditating on Psalm 23 where God says how He shepherds so that we know how we should shepherd. We should go to John 10 and see the good shepherd and how he shepherds so that we should know how we shepherd. Shepherds lead the flock. Shepherds feed and water the flock. Shepherds provide care for the flock in many other practical ways, but all related to the welfare of the flock.

This is the point of shepherding, is the welfare of the flock. It's not for the comfort of the shepherds. Shepherds spend sleepless nights out in the cold and that's figurative for the work of the shepherd. It is self-sacrificing work. It is for the welfare of the flock.

Shepherds protect the flock. Shepherds correct waywardness within the flock. But all of this is about love. If you wanted to sum up all of shepherding work in a single word, it would be love. The chief shepherd loves his people.

How do you know? Because he shed his blood for his people. He bought this people with his own blood and so his under shepherds must love his people. They must be willing to shed blood as well. It's not in the same way, it's not for the same purpose, but they lay down their lives for the people of God.

Having had their life bought by his blood, they then lay down his life for his people. So in Acts chapter 6, and Acts chapter 6 is the beginning of the New Testament Church. Acts chapter 2 is Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost the church goes from 120 disciples to 3, 120 disciples. And in Acts chapter 6 you have the problems associated with that kind of church growth setting in, and there's conflict in the church because one set of widows are being cared for and another set are being neglected.

And what we see in Acts chapter 6 is that the Apostles are clearly leading the church. The apostles are clearly exercising authority within the church, and they say, we will give ourselves continually to prayer in the ministry of the Word. In other words, what happens in Acts chapter 6 is the apostles who are functioning as elders in this local church set in place an elder and deacon structure in order that they can devote themselves fully and continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word that is completely consistent with their role as shepherds in that church. Completely consistent. Prayer and ministry of the Word are the foundation stones for shepherding work, right?

Prayer, praying for the Lord's people, and the ministry of the Word teaching publicly and from house to house are the foundation stones for shepherding work. What does that mean in terms of establishing the boundaries of elder authority? Well let's look at each of the shepherding roles and talk about the implications on the boundaries of authority. First, shepherds lead. Shepherds lead.

Listen to Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Here in just the first three verses of Psalm 23, the shepherd is making the sheep lie down in green pastures.

He's leading them beside the still waters. He's leading them in the paths of righteousness. Shepherds lead. The implication is this, elders have delegated authority to order the life of the church according to the Word of God. Elders have delegated authority, not inherent in themselves because of who they are, but given to them by the Chief Shepherd, delegated authority to order the life of the church according to the Word of God by the book.

So elders don't tell everybody what to do in every area of their life, but elders are accountable to God for ordering the corporate life of his people according to his word. They are elders of the church, Not elders of your family telling you exactly how you ought to order the life of your family, although they may have a role in that, that is not their sphere of authority. They're not elders of the civil government telling the civil government how they ought to go about the business of constraining evil in the society, they are elders of the church given delegated authority to order the life of the church according to the book. At this point I'd like to recommend a rigorous study of the Regulative Principle of Worship. If you haven't studied the Regulative Principle of Worship.

By the way, I'm not spending any more time of it here, but the Reformers thought this was central to proper church life. In a nutshell, the Regulative principle of worship is the belief that corporate worship has always been something more precisely regulated than the other categories of life. Corporate worship, the corporate life of the people of God, is a category of life that is more precisely regulated. In other words, in other categories of life we might have broad general principles that we're applying, but that corporate worship, God cares so intently about how he is to be worshipped by his people that he is given more precise regulation so that if there's something that we think is a wonderful idea but there's not direct warrant from the Word of God to do it we are not in liberty to do it within our corporate life as the people of God. Churches are filled with people who have awesome ideas.

Just ask them. And elders are the same. Elders have heads full of awesome ideas and elders cannot afford to be passive either with themselves and their perceived awesome ideas or with the people in the church and their perceived awesome ideas, they have to consider those and ask, do I have warrants to do this, establish this as a pattern for us among our corporate worship, our church life, is there a direct warrant for scripture for this and if there isn't, they have to be prepared to say, no thank you and here's why. We can't do that. There's not a bold, Unbroken line between what you're suggesting we should do and what we have the warrant to do and and God has given us a full plate of wonderful things and we need to give ourselves to those things and not be diverted to other things.

Shepherds lead. Next, shepherds feed and water the flock. Shepherds feed and water the flock. In Acts chapter 6, I've already quoted it, they said, we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. This is about feeding the people of God, feeding the flock.

Psalm 23, he leads, he makes you lie down in green pastures. He leads you beside still waters. This is about feeding and watering the flock. The implication is that Elders have delegated authority to provide and govern the teaching of the Word of God. I say provide because this is right at the core of the work and responsibility of elders, teaching the Word of God.

Elders should be always busy about teaching the Word of God. Most teaching of the Word of God should be provided by the elders. You might say, but we have a big church, then you need a lot of elders. But we have a lot of teaching slots, then you need a lot of elders. And I say govern.

Because it is fine that others teach, you might have other gifted teachers in the church, but elders are always accountable for the teaching of the Word of God in a local church, always accountable. So they may delegate certain teaching to others, but they can never delegate the accountability. God holds them accountable. They own the accountability for the teaching of the Word of God in the local church. Brothers, defining and defending sound doctrine is a key element to elder work, to shepherding work.

Defining and defending. Sound doctrine is this, church. And defending that body of defined sound doctrine from attack is the work of the elders, is the work of local church shepherds. They have the authority to define and to defend sound doctrine. They have the responsibility before God to do it.

God wants his people to have an abundance of the best food, green pastures, still waters, and he wants them to be kept from poison. It's really simple, right? An abundance of good food, the best, and kept from poison. And again, this is fundamentally about love. In a spiritual sense, God wants a fat people.

God wants a fat flock in a spiritual sense. This is about the food that they get, the water that they drink. Green pastures, still waters. Local church shepherds are accountable for it. So local church shepherds have delegated authority for it.

Next, shepherds provide care. Care for the welfare. John 10, Jesus says, I am the Good Shepherd. He says he brings the sheep into the fold and he lays down his life for the sheep. The elders care, care, provide practical boots on the ground, dirt under the fingernails, care for the Lord's people seven days a week and the implication is this, elders have delegated authority to help the people of God grow and make progress according to the Word of God.

Spiritual fatness. This means that elders have authority to make demands on people's time and participation. Do you believe that? I believe that with all my heart. Elders have authority to make demands on people's time and participation.

Is this absolute and unlimited? Of course not. Elders don't have the right, the authority to make demands on all of people's time, all of their participation. This is not to micromanage the Lord's people, This is to love the Lord's people and to help them make progress to grow. This means that elders have a right to expect a reasonable level of access to people's lives.

If you don't get anything out of reading the New Testament, you should get this. For the people of God. It's not just Sundays and then we part never again to meet until the next Sunday. That's not how it works within the people of God. We're to be in each other's lives.

Elders are an important part of that. Alex spoke of this so powerfully last night. Our presence among the Lord's people is important and it's valuable to them. We have a right to expect a reasonable level of access to people's lives. In Acts chapter 6, he's talking about his example among the people of the Ephesian church to the Ephesians elders, and the implication is, follow my example, and he says, I taught you publicly and from house to house.

Paul was in the houses of the people. He was bringing the Word of God to bear in the houses of the people. From house to house to house to house to house to house to house. That's how Paul spent his time in the local church. Yes, he was a mighty public teacher, but you should never have been surprised to see Paul in a house with a little small family.

He didn't need a big crowd. He was a public teacher, but he was a house-to-house teacher. He was with the people. He was taking advantage of having access to the people of God for their welfare. There are two things I'd like to say here.

When shepherds meet with people, they routinely ask hard questions about sensitive topics. Shepherds don't meet with you just to shoot the bull. They might shoot the bull. I hope they're personable. I hope it's not all the deepest topics all the time.

I hope they're also developing a friendship with you, that we are developing friendships with the people in the local church, but we routinely ask hard questions about sensitive topics. I hope a time doesn't go by where I meet with a man in our church without asking him about matters of sexual purity, probing embarrassing questions about sexual purity. Now the modern sensibility revolts against that and say, you have no right to ask me those kind of questions, " and Elder says, I have the right. God gave me the right to ask those kind of questions. Not to micromanage you, but to help you grow and make progress in the faith.

Secondly, when elders meet with people, they bring the Word of God to bear and make observations on things that are completely outside of their scope of authority. So I'm talking out of the other side of my mouth here, sort of. I definitely believe with all my heart that elder authority is delegated authority and is limited authority. But I also believe with all my heart that an elder can speak to anything, even things that are way outside of my authority. If you're part of our church and you're a member of our church, I'm meeting with you, You're a participant in our church, I'm meeting with you, and as we talk about things that are happening in your life, there may be things that are completely under your authority, outside of my authority, and I might bring the word of God to bear on it.

I can speak to anything in your life. I'll say this to my fellow elders, we must be very judicious and have a light touch when we do that. But it's our job To bring the Word of God to bear, to help the people of God understand what the Word of God says and how that applies to life within our authority and outside of our authority. I have more to say on that in a minute. Next, shepherds protect.

Acts chapter 20, Paul talks about savage wolves. Even being among the elders, savage wolves are rising. This is always part of the life of a shepherd, the work of a shepherd, being on the lookout for enemies, opponents, savage wolves who will come in, wreak havoc among the flock. The implication is that elders have delegated authority to deal decisively with harmful people and harmful doctrines according to the Word of God. There are ravenous wolves and there are cantankerous sheep And they can be hard to tell apart sometimes, so we should be careful that we don't treat a cantankerous sheep like a ravenous wolf.

But in any event, ravenous wolves and cantankerous sheep harm the people the shepherds are charged to help. This cannot be outside the scope of their authority or outside the scope of their work. They're harming the people that you are charged to help and so elders must act when that happens. They have the God-given authority to confront them, to rebuke them privately and then publicly. Elders have that authority.

Elders have that responsibility. There are terrible teachers in the quote unquote Christian world. Is there a shortage of terrible teachers in the Christian world? Both live, but usually it's not live, usually it's what's being watched or listened to on audio. There are harmful books and blogs and elders have to be prepared to say, you should not listen to that.

You should not read that and you cannot promote that here and if you promote that here you're going to be nose to nose with elders who mean business. You cannot promote that here. Next. Shepherds correct waywardness. Shepherds correct waywardness.

The implication is When necessary, elders have delegated authority to lead the congregation in disciplinary processes according to the Word of God. In our church, the elders have the explicit right, in other words, we put this in writing, people know when they acknowledge our authority as elders, they are signing up for this. We have the explicit right to carry out certain forms of discipline ourselves the gentler forms of discipline we have the explicit right to carry ourselves in other words we can require you to meet with us. If you've acknowledged us as elders, as the leaders of the church that you believe you should be a part of, you're acknowledging that we can require you to meet with us. If we have an area of concern and we say we have to be together to talk about this, you can't say, no, buzz off.

In our church, we have the explicit, again, we have put this in writing, we have the explicit right to remove people from various responsibilities in the church if there are concerns. We've exercised that right within the last 30 days. Thankfully, the person involved was grateful, realized the necessity that they'd be pulled back from the responsibility given in order to focus on these other things in life that were demanding attention. The more serious forms of church discipline involve the congregation in our church, but it's always led by the elders. These things just they don't just unfold.

Disciplinary processes in the local church don't just unfold. They are led by the leaders of the church. They are led by the shepherds of the church. They are led by the elders of the church. The most serious form, which would be putting someone out of the congregation, is an act of the congregation.

In our church, it happens by a vote of the congregation. So that is clearly an act of the congregation. And in our church, members have the explicit right to appeal any form of discipline to the congregation. In other words, if someone feels like they are being mishandled by the elders in our church, they have the explicit, they have the right in writing to appeal to the congregation and make their case to the congregation that they're being inappropriately disciplined. Because at the end of the day, elders are acting on behalf of the Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and on behalf of the Lord's people.

And so we don't believe really fundamentally in elder discipline, we believe in church discipline. This involves all of the Lord's people at its heart. Unaddressed sin in the church is leavened, it spreads, it works its way through the rest of the batch. Unaddressed sin is a blight on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in front of a world that is watching, and shepherds have the responsibility and the authority that goes with it to address sin. Shepherds correct waywardness.

This is part of the work of a shepherd. So that was the first part, the scope of elder authority, and I've tied it to the work of an elder. We have authority not so that we get to be the boss, we have authority because God has given us work to do and we need the authority to have the latitude to do our work. Secondly, the character of that authority, maybe as importantly, is the character of elder authority. Not all expressions of the exercise of even rightful authority are created equal, right?

In other words, you can have an elder doing the right thing in the wrong way, causing harm, and that's not acceptable. The character of the exercise of the authority is vitally important, maybe as important as the exercise of that authority. Here's a question for you, I think this really puts it in perspective. How often does a man who has been a Christ-like husband for a decade have to put his foot down in his marriage? No, seriously, think about this question.

Do you know men? Are you a man? Do you know men? Have you observed men who have been operating as a Christ-like husband, laid down his life, wash his wife in the water of the word husband for a decade, how often does he have to put his foot down in his marriage? You find that the real answer to that question is that's not really how it works anymore at that point.

Rarely. This is not a man who every week or month or for a long period of time ever has to put down and just say, hey I understand you don't agree but this is the way it is. When a man has been operating like Christ in his marriage for a long period of time, gently, patiently laying down his life for his wife and washing her in the water of the Word after a period of years of doing this. The days of putting the foot down are so few and far between. Exactly, exactly!

That's the goal for us brothers, as elders, to operate in such a consistent, gentle, faithful, self-sacrificing way, washing the people in the water of the world, in the water of the word, that the days of us Putting our foot down in the church are few and far between. That's our goal. I'd like to bring us to three texts that speak to the character of the exercise of authority by elders. The first is Matthew chapter 20. Please turn to Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew chapter 20. I'll be reading verses 25 through 28. Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 through 28. This is after the mother of James and John come to Jesus and she asks for places of honor for her sons in Jesus's kingdom. Matthew 20 beginning in 25, but Jesus called them to himself and said, You know the rulers of the Gentiles, lord it over them.

And those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to serve, did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Here's the great truth of this text. Jesus is the model for the exercise of all authority. Jesus, who did not, who deserved more than anyone to be served, even so, he did not come to be served, but he came to serve, that's the model.

That should permeate the exercise of our authority. Does Jesus exercise authority among his people? Of course! But it began with the laying down of his life for his people. That is the context for the exercise of the Lord Jesus's authority among his people.

That is the context for how Jesus exercises his authority over his people is that he began by creating a people by the laying down of his life and the spilling of his blood. He bought that people with his blood. Do you resent the exercise of the Lord Jesus' authority in your life? Do you resent it? No, you don't resent it for a nanosecond because you know he's in it for your good and in the moments when you doubt you look to the cross and you see that all this began with the shedding of his blood and the laying down of his life and so you embrace his authority.

The people in our churches should know that we are laying down our lives for them day by day, week by week, month by month. We desire their welfare. That should be the context for the exercise of our authority. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 4 begins with this, fathers do not provoke your children to wrath. Fathers' authorities in the family jurisdiction do not provoke your children to wrath.

Paul's not saying fathers do not exercise authority, he's acknowledging that there is a way of exercise of authority which is exasperating to the people under authority. So you can bring that principle right over into civil government, to the jurisdiction of the civil government. The civil governments can exercise their authority in a way that's exasperating to the citizenry. And in the church, elders can exercise their authority in a way that's exasperating to the Lord's people. May it never be so among us.

Brothers, it is unkind and sinful to tempt the people of God to sin by the clumsy, heavy-handed exercising even of our rightful authority. I'm going to say that again. It is unkind and it is sinful to tempt the people of God to sin. Have you ever thought of it in that light before? When you are clumsy and heavy-handed in the exercise of your authority, you are potentially drawing the people of God into sin, to grumbling and revolting against your authority because you're clumsy and heavy-handed, we'll have to answer for that.

It's unkind and sinful to tempt the people of God to sin by clumsy, heavy- handed exercise of our even of our rightful authority, meaning even sometimes you're within your bounds to be doing what you're doing, but you do it in such a character, in such a way that you tempt them to sin, to revolt against your authority, to grumble about the exercise of your authority. We have this phrase in this text, Lord it over them. Jesus says you see the Gentiles, they Lord it over them. This is someone who has lost sight of the chief shepherd. If lording over happens in the church, if lording over is the character of the exercise of authority by a local church shepherd.

They've lost sight of the chief shepherd, and they're starting to act like their Lord. That's what the phrase means, lording it over. I'm Lord, me say you do. You don't own those people, you didn't buy those people. They're Jesus's people.

Elders exist to serve the people. The people do not exist to serve the elders. Right? Elders exist. The whole reason that they exist is so that the Lord's people would flourish.

The people don't exist to serve the elders for the ease and the comfort and the exaltation of the elders. Never, never, never. How unlike Jesus that would be. The second text is 1 Peter chapter 5. Alex had us here last night.

It's a wonderful text. There are a multiplicity of New Testament texts about eldership. If I had to give them all up but one, I would keep 1 Peter chapter 5. So wonderful. I'm going to be reading 1 Peter 5 verses 1 through 5.

Peter writes, The elders who are among you I exhort. I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Peter exhorts his fellow elders in this text, And his exhortation is that they shepherd the flock of God. This is exactly what we've been talking about, it's His flock. God owns the flock, you shepherd it. He has put you in place.

He's raised you to maturity, given you the fruits of the Spirit in your life, made you able to teach, given you an exemplary family life, and put you in service to his people so that they make progress and flourish. Then Peter tells us how our shepherding should and shouldn't be done. It should be done willingly, it shouldn't be done by compulsion, it should be done eagerly, it shouldn't be done for dishonest game, it should be done being examples, laying a pattern of life that's worth following, It shouldn't be done lording it over, not being Lord's over. Here's what Jeff Pollard said in a recent sermon on this topic. He said, elders are not just imperious leaders there to tell you how to live, but ones who walk with you and show you how to be Christlike by example.

Amen. That's it. We walk with each other. We walk with the Lord's people. We we we come aside beside them in areas of struggling, knowing that we've struggled in those areas in time past and that the Lord has shown us how to get out of that pit.

So we walk alongside them and give them a pattern of life that is worth following. The people God has appointed us to serve need to see us going about our work in this way, giving attention to the shoulds, being willing and eager and being examples and being careful to avoid the shouldn'ts, never by compulsion. We should never make them feel like we're being made to be a blessing to them. Never for dishonest gain, never being Lord's over, as if we've lost sight that Jesus owns the sheep. We need to make war against the pride in our hearts and have a savor of grace and mutual submission in all that we do.

As elders operate among the Lord's people in a local church, there should be a sense of mutual submission. Yes, you have real authority, yes you must exercise that authority, but it should be done with a patience and a grace and a love that exudes mutual submission, willing to defer, willing to patiently bear with and work with and walk alongside. Jesus is the chief shepherd, they are his sheep, and to read the parable of the one who begins to mistreat his fellow servants while the master is away is a terrifying thing. Do you know that parable? The master's away and one begins to beat his fellow servants because the master is away and how he gets dealt with when the master returns is a fearful thing.

We should live under the thought of that. Third text, 2 Timothy chapter 2. I believe this is the last text we'll go to, 2 Timothy chapter 2. This is from a pastoral epistle. In other words, Paul writes certain one of these letters particularly to give pastoral counsel, counsel to church leaders.

This is one of those letters, it is a pastoral epistle. There are pastoral principles in view in this text in 2 Timothy chapter 2. I'll be reading verses 23 through 26. 2 Timothy chapter 2, 23 through 26. Paul writes, But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition if God perhaps will grant them repentance So that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil Having been taken captive by him to do his will. This is a text about the character of the exercise of authority of a servant of the Lord among his people. So is there authority? Yes. Doesn't matter how that authority is exercised.

Yes. And look at the words here, not quarreling but being gentle. That is about the character of the exercise of authority. Being gentle, being patient, being humble, bearing with. Sometimes a ravenous wolf will be among the flock and this passage isn't for that.

When there's a ravenous wolf biting sheep, an elder can't act like this but most times you can and you should. Most times it's not a ravenous wolf eating. Most times you can have this patience, this humility, not being quarrelsome, being gentle. Most times you can and should. Ask yourself this question.

If you're an elder, if you're exercising, actually if you're exercising authority in any jurisdiction So this would be every father in the room every mother in the room is exercising authority anytime the husband is away the mother is the authority in the house she's exercising authority we should ask ourselves this question does this describe the rule for me or the rule for me or the exception? Not quarrelsome, patient, humble, bearing with is that the rule in the exercise of my authority or the exception. For the servant of the Lord, it should be the rule and not the exception. Okay, applications. I'd like to make three applications in closing.

This is to elders. Number one, have very, very clear in your mind where the boundaries of your office are. Know your roles, the work that God has given you to do inside and out, and know the boundaries that are associated with those roles. Have it clear in your mind where the boundaries of your office are. People are going to make choices that you think are very unwise but are not within your authority.

This is going to happen. If you're an elder this is going to happen all the time. The people that are in the church that you serve are going to do things that you think are very unwise, but it's not within the authority of the work that God has given you to do. They're going to send a son or daughter into an environment and you think the end of that might be disaster and you think they shouldn't do it but it's not under your authority. They're going to watch things and allow things to be watched that you think are questionable and bring bad influence into their homes.

Now we're not talking about things that aren't questionable, we're talking about things that you think are questionable, you're concerned about it, and they're allowing it and you wouldn't and don't think they should. We're going to be people who leave the gathering of the people of God on the Lord's Day and they're going to spend their time later in ways that you don't think are appropriate, you think are questionable as the spending of the use of time. These are all times where it's important to have very clear in your mind where the boundaries of your office are. Number two, speak to anything. Speak to anything while being careful to operate within those jurisdictional boundaries and acclimating your speech to whether you are speaking to something under your authority or not.

So speak to anything while understanding the jurisdictional boundaries and acclimate your speech. Meaning you should talk differently to a brother when you know it's outside of your jurisdictional authority. You talk to him differently when it's inside your jurisdictional authority. It might sound like this, brother, at the end of the day, I understand that this is your call. You're ordering the life of your family you are the head of your family, and I'm not I Want I want to labor with you I want to wrestle with you I Want to bring what I believe is the Word of God to bear on this situation and try to convince you that you're headed down a track that's going to harm your family.

At the end of the day, I know it's your call, it's not my call. I sort of wish it was my call because I'm passionate about this, but hey, this is your family. It might sound like that. Number three. This is important, I haven't even touched on this one, but this is important.

Don't be timid when acting within the boundaries of your authority. Yes, be patient, yes, be humble, don't be timid when you are acting within the boundaries of your authority. This is the counter reaction to being heavy handed. In other words, on one end of the continuum, you have a jerk who's heavy-handed in the exercise of his authority, but on the other end of the continuum, you have someone who is inappropriately sheepish that they're even exercising authority at all and you're harming yourself as an elder and you're harming the people that you're serving if you're too timid. Timidity actually erodes your authority Because you're acting like you don't have it.

You're apologizing for doing the work that God has given you to do. Don't ever apologize for doing the work that God has given you to do. Yes, do it patiently. Yes, do it in humility. No, don't be quarrelsome.

But don't act like you don't have authority when you do because if you do it makes it makes it that much harder the next time you need to exercise your authority. You can actually erode the footing for your work by being too timid. Some of you need to stop apologizing. Sometimes you will be within the bounds of your authority, the rightful bounds of your authority, and you will exercise your authority in the right way, it will have the right character to it, and it will still be resented and maybe even raged against. If you're an elder and you haven't realized that, you haven't been an elder for very long yet.

Sometimes you'll be within your rights, you'll do it humbly, patiently, you will not do it in a quarrelsome way, and it will still be resented. You are dealing with humans in your church, that's all you have in your church. They're not really sheep, they're humans. And sometimes humans, even Christian humans, even growing Christian humans even normally mature Christian humans resent authority sometimes they do Here's my counsel get over it Grow up. Shepherding work is manly work.

If you have a thin skin, be a blessing as a member or a faithful participant in your church. We cannot be oversensitive children in our work. Number four and finally, It overrides everything else. Look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, the author and finisher of our faith. It's his blood that bought these people, It's His love that assembled these people.

We were not a people, but now we're a people. We were not a family, now we're a family. We were destined for destruction, now we're destined, we're children destined for heaven. Jesus did that. Jesus is the chief shepherd.

Jesus loves them more than you love them. Jesus loves you more than you love you. Jesus will help you in your work. They're his people. You're among his people.

So look to him. He will help you exercise the authority he has delegated to you. Take the book and go to him. Look to him and then try to act like him among his people. You know how he acted.

You know how he treats you. You have first-person knowledge, most of us for decades. You know how he treats you. That he's not quarrelsome, that he deals with you patiently, with humility. Why would Jesus need to deal with us with humility and yet this is how he has interacted with his people, continues to interact with his people, now we try to act like him.

It's all summed up with one word, love. His love for his people, our love for his people. How much benefit have you received from being among his people? A mountain of benefit, a mountain of good, praise the Lord. Father, I thank you for the beauty of your kingdom.

We begin here, we end here praising you that you have made a kingdom where the king dies for his subjects. Oh, to be part of it, to be entrusted with serving these blood-bought people, such a privilege. God, may we may we relish worshiping you through the service of your people. Pray this in Jesus name, Amen.