Many of you were here during Lent. We did a series of teachings on the question of authority, the issue of authority.

And we were looking at a number of relationships that most of us find ourselves involved in. We're not all involved in every one of these relationships, but most of us are, and we are all involved in some of them.

Yeah, turn it on. If you haven't turned it on, please turn it on. Thank you.

And we saw some things that these relationships have in common with each other. That we have a certain obligation, if we would be faithful to the Lord, to those that He puts in authority over us, humanly speaking. And we looked at first parent and child, then we looked at husband and wife, Then we looked very, very quickly at state and citizen and finished up with employer-employee. So that most of us find ourselves in those relationships and in terms of our obedience to the Lord, we would be also obedient to those human authorities over us.

And the one exception to the rule is that if somebody in authority would begin to tell us something that is contrary to what we find in God's word, then of course we must not obey. If you would forbid what God has commanded or command what God has forbidden, that's the limit to human authority. But apart from that, we would discharge our obedience, our responsibility to the Lord, by being also obedient to those human authorities that He places over us, even if they don't know Christ at all, even if they have no relationship with Him whatsoever.

And as we went through the series, I said that there's yet another authority relationship that is somewhat like these four, though also somewhat different from them. And that's the authority, the spiritual authority, of pastor, flock, or if you like, elder and younger within the church. Not pastor with a capital P, not only the person who wears the collar, but someone who exercises the role of a pastor.

And several people said that they felt the series was incomplete without us taking a look at that relationship as well. So in a sense, this comes as an addendum to that series. If you missed it, it's available on tape. If you've got it, this is the final lecture in that series. And you might be sitting there saying, what in the world does that have to do with me? Anything but a pastor do I ever want to be. I'm not an elder, I'm very much a younger, I'm just getting started.

I want to start with 1 Timothy chapter 3 and look at a number of scriptures quickly this evening.

1 Timothy 3 begins with these words.

The saying is sure, and that tells you that it is already a proverb in the church by the time Paul quotes it. It's a saying that people are repeating all the time, and he's saying, I agree with him. It's a true saying. The saying is sure. If anyone aspires to the office of bishop, he desires a noble task. And you say, boy, that certainly doesn't answer my question. Last thing in the world I ever thought about being was a bishop.

The word bishop, however, in the New Testament, did not necessarily mean all the paraphernalia that we now attach to it today. The word bishop simply means overseer. Literally somebody who takes close, careful scrutiny of the people of God. Somebody who is concerned for those with whom he or she exercises a ministry. If you are reading the Good News Bible, where we have the word bishop, what it will say is church leader.

If anybody desires to be a leader in the church, he desires a good and noble thing. This is an encouragement, therefore, to you to dare, to aspire, to be a leader. It's not a bad thing. That is not necessarily a matter of pride and vainglory. Who am I to think that I should be a leader in the church?

Paul is saying, not at all. Not at all. If you desire to be entrusted with leadership, that's a good and a legitimate thing.

In the days of the New Testament, in the earliest church, There was no distinction between clergy and lay people. So when he speaks about a bishop, he simply means somebody exercising leadership. The other word that's used for a leader is elder. And those two words are used interchangeably. Turn over to Titus, a little bit to the right.

2 Timothy and then Titus, the first chapter. Paul is writing to the young man Titus and he says in verse 5, he says, This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. If any man is blameless, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of being profligate or insubordinate. for a bishop as God's steward must be blameless.

Then he goes on to give a whole series of qualifications. What I want you to notice, first of all, is that the word elder and the word bishop are used interchangeably. That you might appoint elders for a bishop must be blameless.

Elders, in the plural.

Not one. many elders in any given congregation, many elders to be appointed, there to be people of the highest reputation, there to be people whose character is known and trusted, there to be people who have stable family lives, there to be people who exercise and work out the character of their commitment in their families, there to be people of blameless reputation. My point being that without ignoring the development of history, very quickly we did begin setting aside a separate category of people and setting them free to do the work of the ministry full time and calling them clergy.

And in the clergy developed priests and deacons and bishops. Without ignoring any of that, my point is that in the earliest sense of the New Testament, leadership was always shared, always shared. It was not one man specially set apart, always shared. And it was a good and legitimate thing. They were encouraged to aspire to it. So I might even go so far as to say that if you're sitting back and dismissing the possibility that God would call you to leadership, there might be some real unfaithfulness there on your part.

God might have you want to be entrusted with leadership. Now, there's leadership and there's leadership. There's eldership and there's eldership. We could talk about those who are elected to be the vestry people, but we could also talk about anybody who enters into a relationship of pastoring, of caring for, of ministering to, of discipling, of encouraging somebody else. In that sense, all of us should be in the process of becoming elders.

All right, there may be an enormous number of people that you look up to and that you appreciate and thank God for their ministry to you, but at the same time, you ought to be passing it on to somebody else who is looking to you for that same kind of encouragement. On the last morning that our group was in Israel, Terry Fulham sort of summed up what had been one of his major teaching themes as we traveled throughout the land. And it was simply, I think Money quoted this the night that we got back, it was simply the fact that we had observed one of the most dramatic contrasts that you could ever see between the Sea of Galilee, where it was absolutely lush and rich and verdant and gloriously beautiful, and then a few miles south, the Dead Sea, where it was barren and arid and absolutely nothing could grow or live in, above, or around the Dead Sea.

And the reason, the geological reason for the difference, is that the Sea of Galilee takes in water and lets it out again, passes it on. And the Dead Sea simply takes. Simply takes. It has no outlet. Jesus says, whoever comes to me and drinks of the water that I will give, I'll not only fill him up, right, so he'll never thirst again, but out of him will come rivers of living water.

If they don't come out, they'll stagnate and we'll become dead seas. So there's a real encouragement before we say anything else. I want that to grip your mind, that God wants us, not out of pride, not out of vain glory. Look at me, how wonderful I am that people would elect me to be a leader. I may never be elected to leadership. but he wants me to be exercising leadership amongst those that he would bring to me for ministry. Every one of us.

Every one of us in that perhaps small case, letter E, are to be elders in that sense. The other thing, just look at Philippians chapter 2.

Back to the left again.

this should be a familiar passage to you I just want to underscore something about it Philippians 2 where Christ is the model for all of us the model of the faithful servant of God it starts in verse 5 Philippians 2 verse 5 have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

But he emptied himself. And you know the passage. He was born in the likeness of men, taking the form of a servant. That wasn't enough. He was obedient unto death. That wasn't enough. It was the most ignominious of deaths. He humbled himself, even to the death on a cross.

Have this kind of a mind in you. Be like Jesus. Be willing to pour yourself out in service and in humility. But the passage ends by saying in verse 9, because he was obedient, because he was willing to serve, because he was humble, therefore God has highly exalted him, raised him up to the preeminent position that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, every tongue confess that he is King of kings and Lord of lords.

Alright, so that that movement of humility and exaltation go together. And they're to be ours. If the first part applies, the second equally applies. Have this mind in you which you have in Christ Jesus. In other words, be willing to be a servant.

Be willing to be humble. Be willing to pour yourself out selflessly for others. But the end of the story is that the better we do that, the more we will share in that exaltation that is Jesus.

That we will be lifted up. And so, aspiring to leadership is legitimate and good and I'd even go so far as to say that in a certain sense, if we're not seeking the opportunity to minister to somebody else, there may be a holding back that is really unfaith.

Now, second point I've already alluded to in this very passage, that the principal characteristic of leadership, Christian leadership, spiritual leadership, the principal characteristic of Christian leadership is servanthood. Matthew 23.

Jesus draws this very, very sharp contrast. The Pharisees become the typical worldly way of exercising leadership, the secular mentality. Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.

So practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. In other words, that is a tying up of a little prayer in a small skin that they wear around their head.

The Lord says to bind the word of God on your forehead, and they did that literally. tied it in a little bag and bonded on their forehead for people to see they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplaces being called rabbi by men they love all that glory but you are not to be called rabbi for you have one teacher and you are all brothers and call no man your father on earth for you have one father who is in heaven neither be called masters for you have one master the Christ He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. That's one of Jesus' favorite comments. You find that over and over in a whole variety of contexts with a whole variety of illustrations to make the point. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted. So that proves it. If you doubted what I said about Philippians, here you have it on the authority of Jesus himself.

God would have us to be exalted, to be lifted up. And part of that would be to exercise leadership. And another word of Christ's is that he who is faithful in small things will be entrusted with greater ones. So the principal characteristic of leadership is servanthood. Jesus makes the same point on the night before he's betrayed over in John's Gospel, chapter 13.

Again, a very familiar story, and we considered it just recently, where he washes his disciples' feet. He arose from table, verse 3, John 13, verse 3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet.

Taking that most lowly of tasks. This was for the lowest servant in the household. Not the chief servant. This was for the junior, junior, junior servant. And Jesus took that lowest of roles upon himself. I love to point out, if you haven't noticed it, catch it tonight, the order of things. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands.

And that he had come from God and was going to God. Jesus was free to be humble. Jesus was free to serve. Jesus was free to abandon all of the external supports, the affirmation, the stroking from men, because he knew who he is in relationship to God. He was secure in the Father's love, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands. Here's the statement of his authority, his supremacy, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, he got up and washed their feet.

As we relax in our relationship with God, as we begin to look to Him and Him alone for our stroking,

we can afford to take the humble role of servanthood. But then he says, down a little bit further, verse 12, When He had washed their feet and taken His garments and resumed His place, He said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.

So it's not just, again, the role of Jesus, but it's for each one of us.

Definition of greatness, then, is servanthood. And leadership is a matter of having a servant's heart and seeking opportunity to minister.

now in the light of that I come back to 1st Timothy

and just very quickly I want to sum this up

that spiritual authority the authority of leadership grounded, as I hope we've seen now, in humility in a servant's heart is simply insistence on the truth.

Spiritual authority is insistence on the truth. 1 Timothy 4 and starting with verse 11.

Command and teach these things. This is set against the backdrop of Paul describing tremendous defection. The chapter begins by saying, The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, all manner of untruth, all manner of heresy being spread even in the church. And Paul says over against that, verse 11, Command and teach these things, the instructions that I've given to you.

Let no one despise your youth. I want you to catch that. It's not a matter of having become a graybeard. There's leadership even for those who are in years young amongst us. Let no one despise your youth. But set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Till I come, attend to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching, to teaching.

Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands upon you. Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. And then the summary statement, verse 16. Take heed to yourself and to your teaching. Hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

This is the sum total of Paul's teaching to the young man Timothy and virtually the identical thing that he said to Titus. Take heed to yourself and to your teaching. Hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. Stand on the word of God. 2 Timothy chapter 4, he says, whether it seems opportune or whether it's totally inopportune, Stand on the Word. 2 Timothy 4.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word. Preach the Word. Be urgent in season and out of season. When it's convenient, when it's inconvenient. When people give you an opening, and when you have to seize it.

Convince, rebuke, exhort, beyond failing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. As for you, always be steady. Endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist.

Fulfill your ministry. We could elaborate this at great length, but I think we've come to the very heart of it already.

Grounded in humility, not a coveting after glory, but a desire to serve.

Working out the truth that I would try to share with others to the best of my ability and with the help of God in my own life and in my family.

The essence, then, of leadership is sharing the truth of God with somebody else.

Take heed to yourself. Work it out. Practice what you preach. Take heed to yourself and to your teaching. Convince, rebuke, exhort. In season, out of season. Preach the word. Do the work of an evangelist. That's Christian leadership.

It's applying the word of God not only to myself, but sharing it with somebody else. We got into the shepherding training. And a couple of people, the very first time we began to do that course, a couple of people came, notebooks ready. They were all set to write down every little gem. And the more we got into it, the more it began to dawn upon them that what we were talking about was a lifelong adventure of getting to know God and His Word.

And finally I remember one of the guys raising his hand and he said, Boy, that seems like a lot of work. I said, praise God, you've got the point.

But it's a delight of how can you counsel somebody else? You can't possibly counsel somebody else, Christianly, unless you're into God's word yourself.

But as you are into God's word yourself, as he's opening it to you, revealing the riches of his will for you, then you become more bold to share it with somebody else. So we came to the point where we were talking about Christian counseling.

And I said what I intended to be, you know, one of those little statements that sort of just catches you off guard like that because it's just unexpected.

And the statement was simply, Christian counseling is giving advice.

This advice. It's not my own best idea, not my gut reaction, not what three out of five psychologists have said, but it's giving the advice of God's Word. But everybody was writing that down. Nobody jumped back. Nobody got it. They were just writing that down furiously. Christian counseling is simply sharing what God has said. It's not a technique. It's not some esoteric piece of knowledge that you learn out of a psychology textbook.

It's sharing the Word of God.

Now, I want to say one other thing, and then I'm going to wrap this up. There is abroad in the church today a whole brand of teaching that I want to disavow in the strongest terms. In fact, they tend to use the word shepherding to describe the ministry of Christian leadership. When they use that word, they don't mean what we mean by it here at all. What they mean is the shepherd is somebody to whom you give away your conscience.

And you continually refer to that person for God's word for you. That is not what we're talking about when we talk about shepherding here at Truro. The distinctive of Christian leadership in this sense of elder younger or pastor flock is that it never takes away the responsibility of the other person. That person is answerable to the Lord Jesus himself.

I don't know God's will for you, except in terms of what he has said generally speaking here in his word. So you don't look to me, you look to the Lord. You look to His Word and you look to the Holy Spirit. And you don't come to me to get that specific guidance for each decision in your life. You come to the Lord.

And we've seen a bondage develop where this sort of thing has been done, where rather than being a matter of discipling somebody into maturity, it really strips away the whole freedom of his walk in Christ and brings him into an enslavement. Secondly, the relationship of the Christian elder is never, never, to come in between those other structures of authority in which we find ourselves.

Let me put that very concretely.

I may not come between you and your husband if you're a married woman. Your source, your channel of authority is from God through husband to wife. I may not come between you and your parent and overthrow what God is saying to you through your parent, though I may be your pastor. I may not come between you and your employer or between you and the state, except, again, to come full circle if the one in authority should be telling you to do something contrary to God's Word.

That's the uniqueness. That's the one thing that differs from the other structures of authority. Eldership is supportive. It is a supportive authority to the other structures in which we find ourselves. So that my counsel will be always to you to go through the channels that God has placed you in and seek in His Word what He's said for all men generally and seek from His Spirit what He's saying to you in particular.

We insist on the truth. We call people to it. But we have no power to abrogate their responsibility to God Himself. We simply remind them and give the advice of His Word. We support the structures in which they find themselves and we call them and ourselves to God's very highest standards.

That, I believe, in very, very brief, is the character of leadership. And I would just reiterate that God would have us seek the opportunity to be those who would be used of His Spirit to further, in this way, somebody else's growth in the Christian life.

Let's bow our heads together.

Father, thank You that Your Word does feed us and nourish us and help us to grow strong.

But we would seek, Lord, to be bolder, more courageous, not ever in a sense of knowing it all, but in a sense simply of sharing with others the marvelous things that You have given to us,

we would seek to preach the Word.

Some of us may have opportunity to do that publicly. For others it might be very quietly one-on-one. We would seek to be urgent in season and out of season. When it's convenient, when it's not convenient. We would seek to convince, to rebuke, to exhort, to build up others that You would lead into the scope of our influence. Just, Lord, as You have fed us through the ministry of others, so we would desire tonight to be available to You,

to be ministers of the good things of God, to move into eldership

for others that You would entrust in some way to our care.

Lord, then not only for ourselves, but for the sake of this ministry, we would commit ourselves afresh to digging into Your Word and to devouring it daily, to making it our own, to taking heed to ourselves and to our teaching that by so doing we might save both ourselves and others.

Amen.