A Topical Sermon on the Role of Elders

The elders will accept nominations for additional elders anytime after next Sunday’s worship assembly. They would like to have all of the nomination forms in by Sunday the 14th of March. You have elder nomination forms on the reverse side of the song sheets in your worship bulletins this morning, and there will be more nominations provided in your adult Bible classes and on the information booth in the foyer and on the information booth in historical hall. But please, spend time, lots of time, in prayer with regard to whom you will nominate and with regard to this process as a whole. Ask God to be the one who selects our elders. Ask God to open our hearts to His will for the leadership of this church.

Today and next Sunday our worship assemblies will be focused upon the biblical view of eldership. This morning we address the question, ‘What is the role of an elder?’ What does such a person do?

One thing we can all agree upon is that an elder of God’s people is a spiritual leader. So who was the greatest spiritual leader who ever walked this earth? It was Jesus; Jesus was the supreme spiritual leader. Therefore, the most appropriate way to understand the role of an elder is to stop and reflect upon the kind of spiritual leader that Jesus was. The more like Jesus, the better the elder. Simple as that.

After we have considered the example of Jesus we will look at Paul to see that he lived out the example of Jesus in his leading of God’s people. We will conclude by looking at 1 Pe 5:1-11, the passage which we read as our responsive Scripture reading earlier in the service. I know this seems a lot to cover, but I will be interested in making just one point; that point is that an elder is to be a humble shepherd of God’s people. That is the role; that is the function.

Please take your Bibles and turn to Jn 10:11-18 so that you can follow along as I read. In Jn 10:11-18 Jesus says,

John 10:11 ¶ "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

Where is the emphatic focus of this passage? It is on Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. No one makes Him do it. He chooses to do it. He chooses to put the needs and well-being of others above His own life. Jesus is the divine model of a spiritual shepherd. Persons who accept the role of a shepherd/ an elder are to have that same kind of willingness. They must be committed to putting the needs and well-being of others above their own lives.

Persons suitable for the eldership then are not after glory or power. They are unconcerned with status or prestige. They love the body of Christ and all the people who comprise it. They love it enough to sacrifice. They love it enough to put the needs and well-being of its people ahead of their own. They love it enough to lay down their life for it.

In other words, elders who adopt the leadership style of Jesus very naturally become more and more humble. They lose their selfish desires. They grow more committed to and more concerned about others.

Someone has said that ‘Pride takes the high profile jobs––the things you get credit for. Humility––on the other hand––it washes feet.’ It is so easy for people to hear the word "elder" and think power, status, honor. But we must quit hearing this title in that way. We must hear words like humility, sacrifice, love, commitment, and Christ-likeness.

Jesus was the Good Shepherd who washed feet and laid down His life. God’s Church will always need spiritual leaders willing to do the same. In your prayers with regard to Broadway’s elder selection process, pray that our new shepherds will be like the Good Shepherd who is Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus said that He "came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many." May God add to us new elders whose commitment to service and love has been shaped by these and similar words from the mouth of our Lord. May all of our elders keep growing into that kind of humbly serving shepherd.

Now turn in your Bibles to 1 Thes 2:5-12.

5 As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; 6 nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, 7 though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. 8 So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

1Th. 2:9 ¶ You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. 11 As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, 12 urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Paul uses a different metaphor here from the shepherd metaphor employed by Jesus; in fact, Paul uses two metaphors, but I want us to notice that both of Paul’s metaphors point us in the same direction as Jesus’ shepherd metaphor.

Look first at v 7. In the Greek original Paul says of his leadership of the Thessalonian Christians that it was "like a nurse cherishes her own children". Paul is emphasizing that he and those who worked with him in Thessalonica were not a burden to the Christians there––but were tender with them and cherished them.

Paul’s second metaphor is found in vv 11-12. In these verses he compares his care to that of a father––a father who urges, encourages, and pleads. Notice again that we find no desire for power, no hunger for self-importance. The focus is exclusively on the well-being of the people placed in Paul’s care by God.

Paul’s style of spiritual leadership conforms wonderfully to the model established by Jesus. Like Jesus, Paul wanted to serve and not be served. Like Jesus, he lived his life for the well-being of others. May Broadway’s elders cherish the members of this church family like a nurse cherishes her own children; and may they urge, encourage, and plead with us like a loving father.

Now turn to the passage which we read as our Scripture reading this morning, 1 Pe 5:1-11. Peter refers to the role of elders as a role comparable to that of a shepherd tending a flock of sheep. This is a metaphor of both care and protection, and it takes our minds right back to Jesus as the Good Shepherd. And notice that Peter’s words suggest that back in the first century there was a tendency to turn the role of this spiritual leader into a role of lording it over God’s people. Peter urges those to whom he writes not to adopt that style of care.

And notice what forms the middle of this passage. Look at vv 5-6.

You younger men, accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble." So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you.

Peter moves from talking about elders to talking about humility. Humility on the part of all who form the communities of faith to whom he writes. We should all realize that if the spiritual leaders are not humble, it is unlikely that many others will be.

Some have made much of the word "authority" here in v 5. It is important, therefore, to note that the word "authority" does not even appear in the Greek of this verse. The Greek simply says that the younger men should be subject or should submit to their elders and that all of the Christians should clothe themselves with humility.

Submitting to a humble, shepherd-like elder is very different from submitting to a domineering overlord. Peter makes clear the kind of elders he wants to see in God’s church. They are humble shepherds and not lords.

We will look at more verses on elders next week, but surely we can all see that their primary role is humbly to shepherd the people of God. Contrast that with many of the ways that elders are viewed today. I think the most common viewpoint is that they are decision-makers. They are like a board of directors. This model is from the corporate world; it is not from Scripture.

Have you ever noticed that in the NT there are no reports of elders meeting. We never read of them doing things like approving the budget or hiring staff? Please don’t mis-hear me. It is altogether appropriate for elders to make these kinds of decisions. The problem is that we think that is all they are to do, when that is the very least thing they do; that is a minor role at best. Instead of our only prayer for our elders being something like, "Dear Lord, bless our elders as they make decisions," our prayers should be that they will be our spiritual shepherds who will love us, care for our souls, and protect us from the evil forces which attack us in this world. In short, we should pray that our elders will demonstrate a care for each one of us that is patterned after the example of the Good Shepherd.

Sisters and brothers, as you consider the elder nomination forms that you have in your worship bulletins this morning, look for persons who cherish others, who are humble, who would lay down their lives for this body of God’s people. Look for those who will be counseling, teaching, encouraging, and exhorting the members of this church family. Look for persons who have no desire for the position but a passion for the service. Look for men who have given their hearts to God. Look for men in whom you clearly see the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.

Let me read a story that Bonner Bennett sent me by e-mail. Ironically it came to me exactly one year ago today, 2/21/98. [Read from copy of that story]. That is the kind of elder I want. I want a shepherd whom I know would come. I want a shepherd who would risk his life for the sheep as Jesus gave His life for mine. I want a shepherd whose life and heart have been wholly to Jesus and all the people who are His.