SETTING A PROPER FOUNDATION - II

Titus 1:5
Bob Bonner
November 30, 2008

Last time we were together, it seems we barely began our study of Titus 1:5 before we had to stop. The reason was that Titus 1:5 explains the purpose for which Paul had written this letter to Titus. If one doesn’t clearly understand the subject of this verse, then one can’t fully appreciate the importance of the information found herein. In this verse, Paul gives Titus one primary instruction that concerns his mission on Crete: “Set the church in order.”

If you remember the historical setting, Titus, Paul, and Timothy all landed on the island of Crete to find a few Christians who had not been taught the word of God since they left Jerusalem thirty-two years earlier following their conversion to Christ at Pentecost, as reported in Acts 2. As a result, they had no idea what the church was or how they were live for Christ. Hence, Paul set out to begin the process of instructing these new believers to function as a church family. Keep in mind, these baby Christians were living in the midst of a very wild, immoral, “anything goes” world. They had never been taught what it means to live a godly life. For those who previously had Jewish roots with a sense of God’s morality, the culture of the day had done all but erase their memory of such godly guidelines. 

Not long after arriving and shortly after he had begun instructing the Cretan Christians, Paul had to leave Crete to return to Macedonia, so he and Timothy sailed off, leaving Titus to continue on with the work of establishing and building up the church on Crete. Shortly after his arrival in Macedonia, Paul sent this letter to Titus, telling him what he needed to do to set the foundation for a healthy church on Crete. Hence, he begins with “set the church in order.” Realizing that a local church family is only as healthy as the strength of its spiritual leaders, Paul first instructs Titus to begin setting things in order by “appointing elders in every city.” 

With that, we have asked, “What is an elder?” and “How do the terms ‘elder,’ ‘pastor,’ and ‘overseer’ relate?” After our brief study of God’s Word last time, we concluded with two basic points. One is that all three terms refer to the same position, with each term highlighting different characteristics of the office.  For instance, the term “elder” pointed to a man who was seasoned, wise, and full of character and integrity. “Overseer” pointed to one part of an elder’s responsibility, that of managing, ruling, and administrating. The term “pastor” points to another of the elder’s responsibility, that of caring, protecting, leading, and feeding the church of God. 

The second basic observation we made last time from the Scriptures was that this office of an elder, who is an overseer and a pastor, is only held by men.

With the rest of our time for this morning, we want to understand some important additional facts about elders as they relate to you and their role of leading you, the church. As we continue our study from this point on, I’m only going to be using the term “elder” to describe the office of leadership that all three terms, “elder,” “overseer,” and “pastor” represent. So when I speak of an elder, in your mind, you should understand that I am speaking of a pastor and overseer as well.

So far when I have spoken about elders in the local church, I have done so in the plural sense of the word. This raises a couple of questions. How many elders are there to be in the church? In other words, is there to be only one elder or one pastor of a local fellowship? Is there only one man in charge of each church family?

To answer these questions, let's quickly look at four different passages. First, let's return to Titus 1:5. Paul writes to Titus, his representative to the fellowship on the small island of Crete, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you.” Paul instructs Titus that in every city on the island of Crete where there was to be a fellowship or a home church, he was to appoint a plurality of elders to oversee that church. By the way, the term “appoint” does not mean ordain; rather it means to put in charge.  Titus was to put in charge not one man but several who were to lead the church by consensus.

Let’s look at another passage that sheds more light on this subject, Hebrews 13:7. Here the writer is referring to how the people are to treat the leadership of their church family. He states, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the outcome of their way of life, imitate their faith.”  Every one of those italicized words is plural, as this writer refers to the leaders.  Once again, he is talking about a plurality of leaders who were caring for these people, not just one.

Look back to Acts 20:17. Luke writes, “And from Miletus, he [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.” It's clear here that in Ephesus, the church had more than one elder.”

Finally, let's go to Paul’s first letter to Timothy, a letter that was written at the same time as Titus and shares with Titus several of the same themes. In 1 Timothy 5:17, Paul tells Timothy, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” Once again, Paul makes it clear to Timothy that in Ephesus, the church is to be served by a plurality of elders. There is never an example or mention of any church family being pastored by just one person. 

Now for those of us who have been leaders or administrators in the world of business and management, this goes against our grain. Instinctively, we cry out, “But somebody has to be in charge!” God’s word has an answer to that too, which leads me to my next point. 

Look with me at four different passages. First let’s look at 1 Peter 2:25. Peter writes, “For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd [pastor] and Guardian [overseer or bishop] of your souls.” In other words, Jesus not only is the ultimate shepherd, but he also models for us the type of leadership elders as a whole are to perform.

Look with me at another passage in this same epistle. In 1 Peter 5:1-4 Peter writes:

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and

witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that

is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising

oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will

of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording

it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the

flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the

unfading crown of glory.

This term “Chief Shepherd” is used only once in the New Testament. It points to someone being the ruler, the authority, the chief or senior elder, pastor, and overseer to whom all other elders answer.  This is the only place where what we would call “the senior pastor” is mentioned in Scripture, and it only applies to Jesus Christ.

In Hebrews 13:20, the writer of Hebrews says this of Jesus. “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord . . .”

The expression used here, “the great Shepherd,” is different than the one used in 1 Peter 5, but in essence points to the same conclusion. The term for “great” refers to rank and authority. In other words, in comparison to all other elders, shepherds, or pastors, Jesus is above all.

What we conclude, then, of Jesus is that He is not only the ultimate example of what it means to be a pastor, shepherd, elder, and overseer, but he is the chief, the highest ranking pastor, shepherd, elder, overseer, or in our modern terms, “the senior pastor.” No one else in Scripture holds that specific title. In fact, there is no example of any one person ever called to be a head elder, senior elder, or the lead elder in a church. Obviously, humanly speaking, certain leaders always seem to be able to impress others easier or carry more weight than some, but when it comes to leading the church, the elders must humble themselves before each other and treat each others as equals.

So, let’s return to that complaint that rises up so naturally from those of use who have been in the service or the corporate world, that “somebody has to be in charge.” We see now that somebody is in charge, and His name is Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:22-24 says:

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the

husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church,

He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to

Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 

It is very clear that one person is in charge of the church. We can’t see Him, but nonetheless Jesus is still in charge of the church. The elders as a group are his servants, and He won't stand for anyone trying to usurp His place or compete with His headship.

Now, allow me to answer in a general way how this works--that is, Jesus leading the elders of a local church family and being the senior pastor. It begins with the elders weekly humbling themselves before the Lord and each other by throwing out the window their personal agendas or how they think things should be done and humbly seeking the Lord's direction in matters through prayer and searching the scriptures. As they do, Jesus leads them in consensus in where He wants them to go. Efficiency experts will tell you that that is crazy. Anybody who has ever worked on a committee will tell you that it would be so much easier if just one person could call all of the shots. But the church is a mystery of God; the church is a miracle of God, and He chooses to take what the world considers foolish to show the world He is in charge. Thus it leaves us with a choice: do it our way, or do it His way. The only time I recall our making poor leadership decisions as elders is when we have reacted to pressure being placed upon us to make a quick decision, whether that pressure comes from people in the church or from a situation. As time moves on and as elders mature, they learn the value of patience and waiting upon the Lord.

I could list numerous examples from the past twenty years in which our elders have had situations we weren't sure how to handle. So we have prayed, looked at the scriptures, (knowing that they had guidance for us) and then discussed the matter. Sometimes we have discovered that certain situations were not specifically covered in the Word of God, so we prayed and asked God for wisdom, for direction, and for unity in mind and purpose. We sometimes would find ourselves disagreeing at first. But as we continued to pray, humbling ourselves before each other, listening to each other rather than lording it over each other, and as we continued to seek what the Lord wanted, somehow He always brought together ideas that every one on the board could agree with, and we moved ahead. In other words, unanimity, being of the same mind, is the way we find the mind of Jesus in a matter. If it is God’s will, we can’t go in two directions at once. There has to be agreement. Sometimes this takes quite awhile for the Lord to get us all on the same page. While this is happening, individuals in our church family get exasperated with us, because we seem to lead so slowly. It is not our desire to lead slowly, but rather it to lead correctly, being confident that we have heard from Him. 

To my recollection, our board has never made a decision in which everyone was not unanimous. As a rule, when someone says, “I don't agree with you in that suggestion,” or “I don’t feel comfortable going in that direction,” we don't get bent out of shape nor do we pound the person into submission. We just figure that the direction from God isn't completely right and the Lord has something better. Sometimes, with in a few minutes and at others, within a few weeks, He shows us His will and unanimously, we follow. 

A common danger, typical of persons who lack confidence in God’s supernatural invisible leadership over a group of people, can be easily illustrated from the Old Testament. It is quite true that God chose Moses and Joshua as single men, listening to God alone to lead several million disunified Hebrews from Egypt to Israel. But once there, God had a clearly laid out plan of how He wanted people to follow after Him. When it came to spiritual or corporate leadership in worship, He had a high priest. But when it came to civil leadership and the governing of moral laws, He had a group of elders overseeing the people. During the four hundred year period of the Judges, whenever there came a time for war, he raised up for a short period of time, until the event was completed, a judge to lead the people. But for the rest of the time of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, God was the King over Israel, and all the people were called to seek Him as their ultimate ruler. Israel was not a democracy; it was a theocracy, with God as King.

But after they had lived for four hundred years in the land of Israel and had failed to remove the Canaanite tribes from the land, the Hebrews began looking over their shoulders at these foreign kings, who were visible and convenient and easy to communicate with. These human kings were given the credit for their nations being so successful in comparison to Israel who had no visible human king. All their neighbors were living under a human monarchy except Israel, and the Israelites wanted to be successful like their neighbors. The problem was that they didn’t realize that they were failing as a dominating people not because the system was flawed, but because they had quit following after the Lord. 

So, at the end of the period of the Judges and after years of demanding that God make them like the rest of their neighbors and give them a king, He did. This was a blatant insult and rejection of God as their king. He had never failed them when they sought after Him as their king. He had provided for them and protected them as they sought after and worshiped Him. But now, they were demanding someone else to be king—a sinful human to be their king.

God was very gracious at that moment not to wipe them all off the face of the earth. Instead He warned them, before giving in to their request, that if they wanted to reject Him as their ruler, He would give them a king, but they would not like it. He warned them of the human abuse a king would place on them: unnecessary taxation, dragging them off to war for the king’s own selfish pursuits, and so on. But they said, “Thanks for the warning, but no thanks. We want a human king. We’ll take our chances.” And sure enough, all God’s warnings and prophecies about what would happen to them as a nation in exchanging His invisible rule for that of a visible human ruler came true. Ultimately civil war broke out among the kings, the nation turned its back on God, and the theocracy was destroyed. Rather than Israel’s ruling the globe as the most powerful nation of the world, look at what you have today.

Today Christians have not learned the lesson from the mistakes of the nation of Israel. We still want to put our trust in a secular system or a flesh and blood, visible person to be our spiritual leader rather than the Chief Shepherd, who is invisible. 

There are two additional things to consider about elders. In 1 Timothy 5:17 Paul writes, “The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.”  This verse teaches us that elders are to be honored or held in high regard, even if they struggle in their leadership, but as good intentioned, good-willed men are doing their best. If they rule well, if they have been faithfully at the task seeking God’s direction from His word, then they are not to be slandered or spoken ill of to anyone, including your children. Instead, you are to honor them. In all cases, one of the best ways to honor elders is to continually pray for them, that they would be wise and sensitive to the Lord’s leading.

Some might ask, “Why would they need our prayers?” Because as spiritual leaders, elders will undoubtedly be attacked more often by the evil one than others. Furthermore, even though elders, like parents, husbands, or any other person in leadership may make mistakes, they do not do so to intentionally cause harm. They are more often than not placed in “no win” situations, where a decision is not going to be liked by everyone. In such cases, we are to remember that they are doing their best to honor the Lord in the midst of those situations. Hence, be quick to pray, slow to dump, and slow to anger. 

In 1 Timothy 5:17 we find another point. There is more than one kind of elder. 1 Timothy 5:17 tells us, 

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor,

especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the

Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and

“The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

Some who are elders are worthy of “double honor,” which is a euphemism for being paid for their efforts, beyond the honor of being held in high regard. These elders are unique in that their spiritual gifts are those of preaching and teaching. To do that kind of work takes time to study the word of God and to prepare to teach and preach it on a regular basis. I hope you have realized that we take the preaching and teaching of the Word of God seriously here. When someone comes to this pulpit, they don’t come here to preach, flying by the seat of their pants. They had better be men who have a high regard for the Word of God and who can demonstrate that they have studied and prepared to teach it before they show up. Should they fail to do so without good reason, they more than likely will not be asked to preach again.

For an elder to teach effectively, week after week, he must be freed up from other labor typically necessary to provide for his family. Hence, Paul exhorts Timothy to make sure that teaching elders receive “double honor” so as to not “muzzle the ox,” as Paul writes. They need money to support their families while they serve. So all elders are to oversee, but some elders carry extra duties and are assigned a special role as a teaching or preaching elder. How many of our elders presently preach on a regular basis? (Say, 6 times or more a year) Would it be a benefit or drawback to have more than one teaching elder (say 3 elders) to share the pulpit on a regular basis (say 6 or more weeks at a time)?When a church family member struggles with an elder or the elders as a whole about something that does not concern a violation of Scripture, what should that person do: Keep quiet? Complain to others? Seek out the elder(s) to speak with them and if he doesn’t get satisfaction, leave? Just leave without talking to the elder? Support the elders anyway, even though, after speaking with them, he still disagrees with them?

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