Church Offices

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Okay, so today we are talking about church offices. Andre, you can sit there or pull a chair, whatever you want. We're going to talk about church offices, but we're going to start with a trivia, an Arrow Heights trivia game. Because I want to see how you guys will do with this. So this is on theme for what we're doing. So can we list all of Arrowheights, elders, pastors, who are they? Shout them out. Not what are they like, their names. There's Orion. Yes. You got Josh. Okay. Pastor Nathan. Nathan Rich. Still going. We're just going current, not all time. So there's four, right? We said them. Ryan, Josh, Nathan, Rich. So those are the elders or pastors. That's right. That. That's the easiest one, I think. Can we list the deacons? No, I'm not a deacon. David. Jeremy Lusk. I can't hear everybody. Adam Fenderson. Yeah. Jason Krebs. Scott Ferguson. Wait, is he one? I don't know if Scott is. Yeah. This one's hard. This one's hard. There's a lot of men. There's a lot. I think Yoel's dad is one. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay, okay. Okay. There's a ton. And we don't really have a good list of it. Maybe we should, so people can know them better. But there's probably like 30. So we're not going to list them all. But yeah, so we do have deacons. Right. So we got elders, pastors and deacons. Can we list all of Errol Heights Apostles? None. That's right. It was a trick question. But that is nonetheless an office that we see in the New Testament. So we're going to talk about it, but there are none here. And I'll explain why that is the right thing. So, yeah, church offices. So as you can maybe tell by the trivia game, we're not talking about the rooms that are upstairs in this building. We're talking about biblical offices, officers, particular biblical roles in the church. Not even necessarily talking about me or Raylene, people who work at the church. But these are. Because these, our jobs are more just a matter of wisdom. Churches are not required to have me. They're not required to have a finance person or whatever, you know. So we're just going to talk about the biblical offices, the ones that we need to have. But first, let's review. What is theology, Asher? It's the study of God and how to be more like him. Great. Good job. Now, what doctrine have we been studying? Like the big one? Yeah. Sorry. No, what Are you saying what was the answer? [00:03:19] Speaker B: The doctrine of the church. [00:03:20] Speaker A: That's right, the doctrine of the church. So what aspects have we've covered? We've done three lessons so far. Yeah. The nature and marks of the church was one. That's right. That was the second one. Purity and unity. There's one more, the most recent one. That was good. What was the last one? I think it was last week. Yeah, It was the third. Yeah, Church discipline. It was the third of the marks of the church. We kind of dug into church discipline. Ryan typically calls it church accountability. You may have heard it referred to as that in a sermon before, but yeah, so that's what we've covered so far. Now, today we're going to talk about the offices, the people who do the official work besides the members. We could talk about membership as an office. The membership together does have final earthly authority to make decisions. Members typically give delegate some of that decision making to pastors and other people like me. But that is, at the end of the day, it's up to the members. So we could talk about that as an office, but we're not going to because we don't want to say everyone has an office because then it kind of, you know, ruins the distinction. You know, everybody's an officer, so nobody is. But these are the official ones. So first major affirmation is this. So under the big Roman numeral 1, the church needs leaders and servants. The church needs leaders and servants. So go to Hebrews 13 with me. Hebrews 13:7. Can somebody read Hebrews 13:7? When here she gets there. Caleb, do you want to read? Yeah. 13 7. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the [00:05:40] Speaker B: outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. [00:05:43] Speaker A: That's right. Yeah. So why does the church need leaders? According to this verse, Hebrews 13:7. Why does the church need leaders? Yeah. Sorry, can you say that again? Yeah, so the servants can serve. That's a good answer, huh? It does keep the church in order. Those are both right. But what is this verse telling us? Yeah, yeah, we should follow them. We can learn from their faith. Imitate their faith, is the last phrase there. They speak the word of God, so they're also teaching the word of God. I think that is interesting. Preaching isn't just rightly done, someone's opinion about the Bible, but it is God speaking from them. So they speak the word of God. So those are a couple reasons why the church needs leaders. We could, like Jeremiah, we could list out others that aren't listed here, there are other places we could go. 1 Thessalonians 5, 12, 13, 1st Corinthians 16, 15, 16. Those are also places we could look, but for the sake of time, we won't. So the second affirmation then is this. So first, the church needs leaders and servants. Second, the church needed apostles. I put that in the past tense. The church needed apostles. So in Acts 1, Acts is kind of the history of the early church, the earliest New Testament church. In Acts 1, the disciples are tasked with something. What they need to do in this passage is they need to replace Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus. And Peter says, and I'll just read this, you don't need to go there. Peter says this as they're trying to decide how can we replace him. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us, one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection. So he's talking, when he says a witness of his resurrection, he is talking about apostleship. That's what he's talking about, because he's trying to fill in that number to 12. So according to those two verses, what is a qualification for an apostle? Well, let's look at it, since you guys aren't all looking there, because I just read it. One of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. So this needs to be someone who knew and followed Jesus. Couldn't just be someone random. He points out at the end there, this person must become with us a witness to his resurrection. An apostle had to be someone who witnessed the resurrection. Not necessarily that they were there at the tomb. They saw him walk out. They were not there for that, but they saw Jesus after he came back to life. So all the apostles witnessed the resurrected Jesus. That's one thing we're seeing. They had to have followed him. And then consequently, these apostles, these 12, were commissioned by Jesus in a special way for ministry. So what we also see is that apostles witnessed Jesus resurrected and he sent them out into ministry. So when you think of Paul, who is not one of these 12, he came later. He too was confronted with the resurrected Jesus and was commissioned into ministry. So even Paul, kind of an exception, fulfills those. So that's what an apostle is. Therefore, as we mentioned earlier, we don't see apostles today. Why do you think that is? Yeah. Oh, sorry. Jesus Christ. Can you say it again? Like, no one, like, saw, like, Jesus nowadays. Yeah, yeah. He would have to physically return in order to do that. Were you going to say that? Yeah, I think those are good answers, but there are kind of maybe some other practical reasons why, if you're thinking, okay, well, then why doesn't God continue to put people into that office, especially if they were so important to the early church, so important that I'm starting with them? Well, there are some reasons that we really needed the apostles at the beginning. Can anyone guess why did the church specifically need these apostles at the beginning of its history? Yeah, because they were unorganized and there was a lot of different sources that were kind of flooding into the church. And I think the apostles were there to back check and keep the church organized. Yeah. So they are keeping order in unity in the church and even protecting against wrong ideas that can kind of slip in because they had a more authoritative understanding of what was true. Anyone think of anything else that does cover a lot of it? Yeah. What I wrote out was that they were the first gospel witness. And so to witness to the gospel first required, I would say, extra divine power and help. They established the first churches. They performed miracles. And the purpose of miracles was to confirm the message that they were teaching In a world where it was a completely new message. It's not a new message anymore. It's very well known, especially where we live. They set doctrine, like David was saying. And some wrote scripture. And so that's another important thing. They were writing what we today are looking at and understanding and learning from. And so we needed apostles. We needed especially gifted and equipped with the spirit people to kind of kick things off, as it were. And so we can, I think, praise the Lord for giving us the apostles, because without them, we would lose all of that. It would be a fractured movement. There would not be any gospel unity, and it probably would have died as the Lord repeatedly would save these men from death so that their work can prosper. So we can praise the Lord for equipping and sending the apostles. So the church needed the apostles. But then affirmation number three is that the church needs elders. The church needs elders. What is an elder? Were you answering? Okay, a wise person? Yeah, should be. What is an elder? What else? You said at the beginning that like a pastor. Yeah, that's right. What do they do? Maybe like what David was saying with the apostles, they can be there for guidance. Yeah, yeah. They lead. They teach what is true about the Bible. So they lead, they teach or preach. They can make other decisions. Let's go to 1 Peter 5. We'll see something else that they do, which we did. Read this on Wednesday night, not that long ago. So go to 1 Peter 5. And can somebody read 1st Peter 5? 1 2, One Peter five. One two? Yeah. Thank you. [00:14:20] Speaker B: So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to give you, shepherd, the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but willingly, and side with all you, not for shameful gain, but equally. [00:14:36] Speaker A: Thank you. So this is. This little passage is addressed to whom? Yeah, the elders. I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder. That's what he says at the beginning. So he tells them to do something. What does he tell them to do? Shepherd. The flock of God. That's right. Shepherd. He tells these elders to shepherd. Shepherd is the same word as the word that we get pastor from. So that's one reason why I'm saying these are the same office. You'll probably go to churches, good churches, we know a lot of which will have different. They'll have some elders and some pastors. That's pretty common. But I think they should be kept together because of this. He tells the elders to shepherd. There's a passage in Acts 2017 38, if you want to look at it later. It's too long to Read now. Acts 2017:38, where Paul addresses elders but calls them overseers. Bishops, that's the same word, and alludes to them as shepherding as well. So we kind of see even bishop, overseer, elder, pastor, all used together to describe this office. I'm just calling it elder. So again, a lot of times it's divided up. I think we should keep them together. But why do you think Jesus gave the church elders or pastors? Why did he give us those? [00:16:13] Speaker B: Because we need to be taught God's Word from someone who's able to teach it. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we need help learning the Word. You know, I'm sure we've all, myself included, have had many times where we've struggled to understand part of the Bible if we've been reading it on our own. And so it helps to have someone that is equipped and able to teach it and also to not just teach what it says, but to encourage and apply it and exhort us to live like Christ. Yeah. Any other reasons why Jesus gave us elders? Listen to this verse. You don't need to flip here. You can write it down if you want. It's John 10, 11. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. So the reason that this is related to the topic of elders is that Jesus is the good shepherd. He is the top chief shepherd, some say. And our shepherds, which means pastors, remember our shepherds, our pastors, they serve under him while he is in heaven. They serve to represent him in a special way, to do his work of shepherding in his name for the people. And so while Jesus is in heaven, while we await for him to return, he has graciously given us shepherds in the meantime, to guide, to protect, to teach, to lead. Everything that a good shepherd would do is what our earthly shepherds must do, which is a high calling for them to do that, to try to imitate the good shepherd. They, of course, all fail at it. But God is gracious and has given our church faithful shepherds, I think. And so we can be thankful for that, that we do have good shepherds serving under the good shepherd. And so the church does need elders. We see elsewhere in the New Testament, especially in Titus and some other places, that's calling for multiple elders. So preferably, if possible, churches should have multiple for the sake of diversity of thoughts and for more wisdom. One person can be wise. But if there's five wise men in a room, then they're five times as wise, maybe even more. And so having multiple is good. The church needs elders. The fourth affirmation is that the church should have deacons. The church should have deacons. What is a deacon? We listed a few of the deacons we have, but what do they do? What are they? Yeah, they do serve. That's right. And that's true. All church members are called to serve in some way. So what makes a deacon special in office over a regular church member? Does anybody have an idea? Maybe a little bit of a difficult question. I think it's easier for me to understand the difference when I say a deacon is a leading servant. They are leading servants. All members ought to serve in some way. But deacons take an especially prominent role. They, in a lot of contexts, organize members to serve and kind of head that up. They take extra initiative. And rather than just serving and doing what somebody might ask you to do or tell you to do, they are actively looking for ways to help the elders be free to pray and to preach, you know, their main two jobs. And so deacons try to take all of as many practical responsibilities off their plate so that they can pray and shepherd and lead and teach and preach those things. And we see that in Acts 6. So if you want to go there, we can look at that real quick. Acts chapter six. So Acts 6 doesn't call the men that are in question deacons, but it does refer to them as deaconing. Serving, which is the word deacon just means servant. So in verses three through four, specifically, if you look at Acts six, look at verse three, we read, therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. So as I just said, we need deacons so that elders, and in this case it was apostles, can pray and do the ministry of the Word. Ministry of the Word would be anything from biblical counseling to preaching. Those are all kind of ministries related to the word of God, the Bible. And so that's what they need to be freed up to. The deacons were trying to preserve unity by serving practically to free them up. Now, it's not necessarily obvious that every church in the New Testament had deacons. It's not always mentioned. And so I said churches should have deacons because it's not as clear as it is with elders that every church did. I think most at least did. But it does seem like we would be losing something if we did not have deacons, especially with so much practical stuff. We have building property wise and all the people, our elders would be really tied up without the help of our deacons. And so they do a wonderful job. So I want to ask, how do deacons reflect Christ? How do deacons reflect Christ? Did I hear an answer? No. How do deacons reflect Christ? Any guesses? He says they're full of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, full of the Holy Spirit as Christ is. They should be. Yeah. Listen to this. Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. Elsewhere, Jesus says he came to serve, right? He came to serve Christ, though God came to be a servant. And I think deacons show that they are Christlike by humbly serving people. A lot of times in unseen ways. I see deacons actually here all through the week at different times. But most members don't know that because they're not here every day of the week like me. But they really do serve a lot and thanklessly and sometimes even suffer. And I think in that way they do reflect Christ, who is the great servant. So the church should have deacons. And then the last affirmation, the church should recognize church officers publicly. So if you're still in Acts 6, you can see an example of this. Acts 6 6. This is still that same passage with the deacons. It says these, they sat before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them. They prayed and laid their hands on them. And then one Timothy 5:22, First Timothy 5:22 says something similar. We see one Timothy 5:22. This is a command. But he says, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands. So this laying on of hands specifically was, I would say, a customary, traditional way to recognize church officers. I think it is good. And we see that happen at our church, you know, most recently deacons being appointed and people came up and put their hands on them and prayed for them. I think it is good that we recognize deacons and elders so that we know who they are. Now again, there are a lot of deacons, so it's going to be hard to remember. But when the new people came up or when you see them, when we take the Lord's Supper, you can kind of recognize who these people are publicly. So we can know them, we can pray for them, we can even thank them. So those are all reasons we should probably recognize our church offices. Does that make sense? Good. Alright, let's talk about some errors to avoid. So I have two errors to avoid. There's probably more, but I thought of two. We must deny that there are modern day apostles like those of the New Testament era. So we talked about this, but why is this necessary? Why must we deny that? [00:26:10] Speaker B: Yeah, because Christ is fulfilled. [00:26:15] Speaker A: You say Christ is fulfilled. [00:26:18] Speaker B: There's no prophets or anything. [00:26:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. But I'm also looking like, why, why can't we have a category and say, well, you know, maybe these people believe that and it's fine. Why would I say it's maybe dangerous to believe that? [00:26:36] Speaker B: Yeah, that way no one can claim supreme authority over the universal church. [00:26:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's right. Apostleship does claim a lot of authority. There's maybe not One example is the Roman Catholic Pontiff, the Pope and the cardinals who are claimed to be direct succession of apostles. And they claim a lot of authority. One of the things that apostles did, we saw earlier was that some of them wrote the New Testament. If this sort of authority continues on, then God may be speaking through people, different things all over. And it kind of becomes a big mess of tradition and knowing what is the true Word. But in addition, we see that one, they don't meet the qualifications that we talked about earlier. Modern day apostles again claim a lot of authority. And the Bible, which I think Nathan was getting at, has ceased to be written. You can look at Revelation 22:18, which says, do not add to the words of this book. At the very end of the Bible, it has ceased to be written. And so the authority still speaks, the Spirit still speaks from the Word, but we are not speaking new words. So that is why it is a dangerous belief. I would say the second error to avoid is we must not fail to follow biblical instructions about the qualifications and responsibilities of church officers. We don't want to add too much, and we certainly don't want to take away what church officers are supposed to do. And one really important thing, some of the more famous passages about elders and deacons are in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. And in those two passages, Paul is writing the qualifications for elders and also deacons. And he says a lot less about what they do than who they are. It is their character that takes prominence. And so above all else, we need to not ignore the character qualifications of elders and deacons. They need to fulfill those to the best of their ability. And it doesn't matter how gifted someone might be preaching or how active someone is serving and how useful they are as a handyman around the church, if they fail, if they are not qualified, they should not be in those roles. All right, let's talk about enacting the doctrine. I got three applications. Do not. First, do not disregard or overlook the biblical directives for church offices. So of course we can do this by studying the word, remembering these passages, meditating on them frequently. Number two, ensure as members that the officers have the authority needed to carry out their responsibilities. And so I think our church does a great job of this. Sometimes people can kind of breathe down the necks. They can be overbearing when we should. If we believe these men are qualified as elders, we should follow their lead and trust them. And then finally, we can work to raise up the next generation of church officers. What are some ways that churches can do this? Or maybe ways that churches do this. Might be a little difficult. There are, you know, normal ways to do this. One on your end, you can always be plugged into the church and active. A culture of discipleship goes a long way where people are open and willing to disciple, be discipled by one another. A culture of discipleship where we understand that when we come together as a church, that is the most important part of the week for our discipleship. And churches can do other things. They can do programs where they train people, they can test people all sorts of ways that churches can do this and should do this so that we don't leave the church with no officers. If we all die or move, you know, we want to leave. Well, so we should work to raise up the next generation of officers. Okay. Any questions about church offices? Great. Well, let's pray and then we can head over. Father, thank you for your word. And thank you today for the officers of the church. Thank you for our pastors, Ryan, Josh, Nathan and Richard. We pray that you would bless them, you would help them to uphold their responsibilities of praying and ministry of the word. Lord, sanctify them that they can continue to be qualified according to your word. Lord, we pray for all of our manifold deacons who serve so well. Lord, humble them, train them in the Word, Help them to pursue holiness. And, Lord, help us as we grow that we too, might serve the church in other ways. We pray this all in Christ's name. Amen.