Welcome everyone. Today is an exciting day for us to study God’s Word. We find ourselves this week at the convergence of two really great things. First of all, we are nearing the end of this great book—1 Peter, which Mike Morris and Matthew McWaters have been faithfully preaching for the last few months. And I get a chance today to contribute to the preaching of this book. Mike will be finishing up 1 Peter next week. 

But also this is a great week for Verse By Verse Fellowship because we are installing deacons for the first time this Sunday. So I don’t think it’s an accident that the Holy Spirit has led us today to a passage that concerns elders and eldering in the church—1 Peter 5:1-5. 

As we considered this as elders, we thought it would be good to not only teach on eldering today, but also to teach on deacons and deaconing this Sunday. So that’s what I’ve been tasked to do. I have a two-part series this week entitled “Elders and Deacons.” Today I’m going to teach from 1 Peter 5 on elders. Sunday, I’m going to teach on 1 Timothy 3:8-13 on deacons. 

So, let’s talk elders. If you would, please stand with me for the reading of the text. 1 Peter 5:1-5. This is the Word of God. 

1 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 be revealed: 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

So here’s your outline for today. Five statements from the Apostle Peter: 1) the charge for elders, 2) the caution for elders, 3) the incentive for elders, 4) the expectation for the church, and 5) the plea for elders and the church. Here’s the first of those. Here’s Peter’s charge for elders. 

1.   The charge for elders: Shepherd the flock (5:1-2a)

2.   

I really love the book of 1 Peter, because it’s as if the Apostle Peter has lost his youthful impetuousness and brashness. Peter’s been through some stuff as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. He has suffered and he has been humbled and he has been shaped into the image of his Lord. So he’s very pastoral in this book. He’s very measured and encouraging to the churches that he’s writing to. 

But Peter hasn’t lost his trademark boldness. And I’m glad for that. And that shows up in verse 1. 

1 So I exhort [παρακαλέω] 

When you want to give a stiff challenge or a charge to your audience in the NT, you παρακαλέω.

1 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 be revealed: 

This is Peter loading up his gun in verse one, before he fires in verse two. And he’s got some firepower here. He makes three statements. 1) He’s a “fellow elder.” Peter’s writing to churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1:1). The churches in those regions must have had elders. Maybe Peter had a role in appointing or training those elders. We saw the Apostle Paul as he traveled through different regions of the Roman Empire setting up churches in the book of Acts. And when he did that, he would appoint elders over each individual church (Acts 14:23; see also 11:30; 15:2-6, 22-23; 16:4; 20:17; 21:18). And that’s who Peter is addressing here as a fellow elder. 

And it is unclear what church Peter was an elder over. It’s possible that he was over a church in Rome or elsewhere. It’s also possible that as an Apostle, Peter was a kind of “elder emeritus” for all the churches he helped establish. 

So Peter shared the elder title with them. But Peter was also 2) an eyewitness of the sufferings of Christ. None of the people he’s writing to in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia were eyewitnesses to the sufferings of Christ. This is part of what made Peter a “capital-A Apostle.” He saw Jesus. He was commissioned by Jesus. And not only that, when he saw Jesus arrested as part of that suffering, he bailed on him. Remember that? He denied his Lord three times (Matt 26:69-75). And yet still he can be called a fellow elder in the church, and even an apostle which is the term he used in the first verse of this book—“Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ” (1:1). 

And thirdly, 3) Peter calls himself a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. That may very well be a reference to Jesus’s transfiguration. Peter partook in that in a way that only a few did. And that aspect of Jesus’s glory will one day be revealed in the future, but Peter got a preview of that on the mount of transfiguration. 

Peter’s got credentials. That’s what verse one is all about. Peter is saying, “In light of the fact that I’m a fellow elder, in light of the fact that I’m an apostle and an eyewitness to Jesus’s suffering, and in light of the fact that I got a sneak-peak at Jesus’s future revealed glory, listen to me when I tell you, fellow elders….”

2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, 

Elders in this room, that should hit you like a ton of bricks. I know it does me every time I read it. Peter says, “Shepherd God’s flock… exercising oversight.” In other words, lead the church. Lead the sheep. Guide them. Oversee them. Love them. Protect them. Not like cowboys. You know the difference between cowboys and shepherds, right? Cowboys drive the sheep from behind. Shepherds lead from the front. They call and coax and exhort the sheep from the front. That’s what we do. We lead. 

And also, we protect. I read a book a few years ago called A Shepherd’s Life. It’s a book written by a modern-day shepherd in Northern England named James Rebanks. And in that book, he shows how he shepherds his sheep. And one of the things that James Rebanks says in that book is that shepherding is not the picture-perfect postcard existence that many people think it is. He says it’s hard, muddy, difficult, dangerous work. 

And Rebanks tells this story about these dogs that showed up on his farm once. People from the big city bring their big, domesticated dogs out to the hills of Northern England, and they unleash them. And when they do that, and when these dogs catch the scent of sheep, they just go native. And they start attacking sheep. And the thing about sheep is that they are very vulnerable. When a more powerful animal chases them and they tire, they just lay down exhausted and give themselves up.

Well Rebanks came across these dogs that had attacked some sheep and bitten their ears off. And he grabbed these blood-thirsty dogs by the scruff and tried to keep them from attacking him or his sheep. And then their owner showed up and begged for the life of his dogs, because a shepherd had the authority to kill dogs on sight if they were unleashed. So, here’s Rebanks. He’s covered in blood, either the blood of the sheep or his own blood, he’s not sure. He’s got these angry, blood-thirsty dogs by the neck, and their owner is begging for their lives. And he doesn’t know whether to kill these dogs or give them back to the owner and assess the damage to his flock. That’s not exactly the romantic, picture-perfect existence of shepherding and sheep that we sometimes imagine. Put that on a postcard and send it to someone!

And you know that’s a great analogy, right there, for shepherding in the church. Shepherding is hard work. It’s difficult and dangerous work. Peter knew that. He knew all about the rigors and the difficulties of sheepherding. Maybe that’s why he was a fisherman. 

But do you remember what Jesus told Peter at the end of John 21? “Do you love me, Peter? Do you? Okay. Feed my sheep.” Jesus told him to feed his sheep twice. But he also said, “Tend my sheep” or “Shepherd my sheep” (21:16). And that’s the same word that Peter uses here—ποιμαίνω.  

2 shepherd [ποιμαίνω] the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight 

By the way, there’s this great convergence of terms in verses one and two. There’s the word “elder” (πρεσβύτερος). There’s the word “overseer” (ἐπίσκοπος) or more technically the verb form “exercising oversight” (ἐπισκοπέω). And then there’s the verb to “shepherd” or “pastor” (ποιμαίνω). Those three words in my understanding of church leadership are equivalent—an elder is an overseer is a pastor. I’ll talk more about that later. 

So Peter tells elders to shepherd the flock. Now as part of that counsel, he gives a caution for elders. Here’s the caution. 

3.   The caution for elders: Be above reproach (5:2b-3) 

Now Peter doesn’t use those exact words here—Be above reproach! That’s actually Pauline language from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. But what Peter says in verses 2-3 are an outworking of what Paul says about being above reproach. So the Pauline and Petrine expectations for elders are very similar. 

Here’s what Peter says. 

not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; 

“Don’t shepherd the flock under compulsion. Nobody’s putting a gun to your head. Do it willingly.” “Do it eagerly,” as he says later. “Do it as unto the Lord.” 

Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, “If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.” That’s the first qualification of an elder in my book. You’ve got to be aspirational. You’ve got to want it. And it’s not sinful to want it. It’s actually sinful to not want it, and yet do it because you’ve been talked into it. I never want to talk someone into being an elder or a pastor. And usually when people tell me that they want to be a pastor, the first thing that I do is try to talk them out of it. 

You’ve got to have that “want to.” You’ve got to have that Holy Spirit drive to serve in that capacity. Why? Because it’s hard. And if you can be talked into being an elder, you can be just as easily talked out of it. And you’ll quit and leave the church in the lurch. 

So part of being above reproach is that you are serving not under compulsion. Also look at the end of verse 2. Being above reproach also means that you are serving…

not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 

The KJV says, “not for filthy lucre.” The reality is that elders handle money. And sometimes elders get paid for preaching and teaching (1 Tim 5:17). And we have plenty of evidence in our modern-day world of preachers preaching in order to enrich themselves. And we also have examples of church leaders embezzling church funds and stealing the Lord’s money. That is shameful and abominable before the Lord. So elders need to be, in the words of Paul, “free from the love of money” (1 Tim 3:3, NASB95).

Also look at verse 3.

3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

Another way to translate this word “domineering” is “lording it over.” Peter is saying, “Don’t lord your authority over the flock.” And that statement is a nod to Peter’s master. Because Jesus said to him and the other disciples, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant (διάκονος), and whoever would be first among you must be your slave (δοῦλος), even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve (διακονέω), and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:25-29).

Elders are called to be authoritative in the church, not to be authoritarian. Elders are called to disciple the flock, not to be despotic. Elders are called to demonstrate total commitment to Christ, not be totalitarian. 

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And as part of that. Write this down as #3.

3. The incentive for elders: A crown of glory (5:4)

4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 

Can I just make a confession this evening? I don’t know what that means—“the unfading crown of glory.” “What is that talking about, Pastor Tony?” I don’t know. 

Here’s some possibilities. It may in fact be a literal crown like the olive wreath (the στέφανος) that was given to winners of the ancient Olympic games. Maybe made of precious metals (unfading) or a kind of halo made to draw attention to ourselves? If that’s the case, I don’t know if elders are going to be wearing that for eternity. We probably will lay them down at the feet of Jesus like they do in the book of Revelation (4:4-10).   

But it might not be a literal crown, but an unfading sense of glory and enjoyment in eternity. In other words, our experience in eternity will be even that much more enjoyable because we have faithfully served the chief Shepherd as an under-shepherd. Either way, I’m motivated by this crown. This is a great incentive. Because unlike my 401K, this crown will go with me right on into eternity. 

By the way, notice the term “chief Shepherd” here. Do y’all see that? It’s no accident that “Shepherd” is capitalized. This is actually one Greek word, and it only appears here in the NT. And the point is clear here. Jesus is the chief shepherd, and we, as elders, are his under-shepherds. And the chief Shepherd is returning. Right? Look at verse 4. 

4 And when the chief Shepherd appears,

What’s that talking about? His return. When he returns, we’ll be judged, and Christ Jesus will dish out rewards. And one of those rewards involves a crown for elders who serve well. 

You might say, “I don’t need any incentives to serve Christ, Pastor Tony.” Okay. Well Peter thinks you do! And what’s so bad about incentives. If that helps elders serve better as elders, than I’m all for that. 

And it’s not just elders, there are several places where rewards are stated as an aspect of our future inheritance. Jesus was not afraid to incentivize faithful conduct with rewards. He said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:19-21).

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Now watch the transition in verse 5. Peter has been talking elders, elders, elders, elders. He’s been hammering away on how elders should be eldering. Now he switches to those who are being eldered. What is God’s expectation of those who are led in the church by elders? It’s really pretty simple. 

5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.

Write this down as #4 in your notes.

4. The expectation for the church: Submit to your elders (5:5a) 

By the way that term “younger” is not a command for younger people in the church to respect older people. That’s not what he’s talking about. He’s using the term elders here for the leaders of the church. They are the πρεσβύτερος. And the opposite of πρεσβύτερος “church leaders” are not “younger people” in the church. They are the non-elders in the church. So this term “younger” (Greek νέος) is a metaphor for those who are not leaders in the church. 

So you could conceivably have elders who are younger than non-elders in the church. And you could have “youngers” who are older than the elders. And non-elders who are older than some elders can’t say, “I’m not going to submit to the elders, because some of them are younger than me.” No. That doesn’t work. Peter isn’t telling younger people to submit to older people in the church. He’s telling non-elders to submit to elders. 

Now is there a rule of thumb here that elders should be generally speaking older men in the congregation? I think so. At least the average of all the men. I know there’s some debate among our church on whether or not I’m young or old. I’m 44. Some in this room think that’s young. Some of you think that’s ancient. But there was a time when I was a senior pastor and elder at age 29. And thankfully I was surrounded by a group of men, the other elders in the church, who were much older than me. I think that was a benefit to the church. But still the non-elders in the church were compelled by Scripture to submit to my authority as part of the elder board in the church.

I’m encouraged by the Apostle Paul and what he tells Timothy about this. Timothy was a young man who was tasked with leading the church. And he says, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim 4:12). 

And by the way, that word for “be subject” in 1 Peter 5:5 is the word ὑποτάσσω. This is a word that nobody likes because we are all called to submit to someone. And it’s a really common word in the NT. It’s the word used in Ephesians 5:21-24 and Colossians 3:18 when Paul says “Wives, submit [be subject] to your husbands.” Peter uses that same word to describe the same thing in 1 Peter 3:5. Paul tells children to submit to parents (Eph 6:1-4). He tells slaves to submit to masters (Eph 6:5-9). He tells the church in Rome to submit to the government (Rom 13:5). James uses this same word when he says, “Submit [ὑποτάσσω] yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (4:7). The reality is that everyone is required to submit to someone. Everyone is subject to someone else. And in Hebrews 2:5 this word ὑποτάσσω is used to state that everyone and everything, the whole world in fact, will submit ultimately to Jesus Christ. 

“Can we ever be unsubmissive, Pastor Tony?” Yes, there are times for civil disobedience. Peter and John gave us an example of that when they told the religious leaders, “We must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29). If your husband or your parents or your government or even your elders ask you to do something that conflicts with God’s commands, then unsubmissiveness is your only course. In those cases, I wouldn’t argue that it is the lesser of two evils. I would argue that it’s the greater of two goods. It’s good to obey your elders, it’s better to obey the LORD. That’s the greater good. But those are rare occasions. Don’t be to hasty to pull out the unsubmissive card, because you think your elders are asking you to do something that conflicts with the Lord. Are they really doing that? Or are you just hankering for a chance to defy them? 

And speaking of the unsubmissive card, let’s finish up with elders. Elders don’t be too quick to pull out the “thou shalt submit to me, your elder” card. There are times when we’ve got to do that. But a better course of action is persuasion and patience and communication. Remember we are shepherds not cowboys. We lead from the front; we don’t drive from behind. 

The best course of action for all of us is humility.  

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Speaking of which, write this down as #5 in your notes. Here’s Peter’s plea for all of us.

5. The plea for elders and the church: Be humble (5:5b)

In the words of Tim McGraw, “Always Stay Humble and Kind.” Peter says it this way.

Clothe yourselves, all of you, 

All of you. Elders and youngers. Elders and non-elders. When you add up the elders and the non-elders in the church, who do you have? Everybody!

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, 

When you come into church on Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Put your humility robe on. Clothe yourself metaphorically with humility and meekness and selflessness and gentleness. 

Here’s another way to say it. When you come into church on Sunday morning or Wednesday night, put on Christ Jesus like a garment. Because Jesus said, “I came not to be served but to serve.” Put that on, elders and non-elders alike. 

“I need a little more incentive to do that, Pastor Tony. I need a little more unction for that “humility toward one another” statement.” Alright. Try this on for size. How’s this for an incentive? 

for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

How’s that for incentive? Game, set, match! Right? Do we want God favoring us? Or do we want God opposing us? I want God favoring us! I want his grace. This is a Proverb that’s as old as time (Ps 138:6; Prov 3:34; 29:23). It’s as old as Solomon. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I want us to be known as that kind of church. I want to be known as that kind of elder leading those kinds of people. We are humble leaders leading humble followers. Not weak leaders. Not weak people. Humility is not weakness. Humility is not wimpy, conviction-less, obsequiousness. I hate that! Humility can have a backbone. Humility can be combined with conviction. Jesus showed us how to do this. We’ve got to embrace this. Because… 

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

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Now before we are done, I want to address more generally the way in which our church government functions here at VBVF. This is an aspect of what theologians call ecclesiology. The word ἐκκλησία is the Greek word for church. So this is part of the doctrine of the church, and specifically what we call church polity or church governance. Churches are not meant to be chaotic or disordered. And part of that governance of the church involves an understanding of the church leaders. So let’s get into this. 

When you look out on church history, there are essentially three different models of church government. Here’s a helpful diagram from the Moody Handbook of Theology. 

1) There’s the Episcopal form of government that is common in more traditional settings like the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church, the Lutheran Church, and even the Methodist Church. And the authority in these churches is vested in bishops or archbishops. Now “bishop” is an old English word that translates the Greek ἐπίσκοπος (“overseer”). So in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 in the KJV, you don’t see “overseer” you see “bishop.” 

In most of these Episcopal forms of government, there aren’t just local elders, there are also bishops and archbishops (or superintendents). There is a hierarchy of authority. So local churches don’t have pure autonomy. Sometimes the word “apostle” is invoked to describe these archbishops. You probably know that the Roman Catholic church sees the Pope as a modern-day Apostle Peter. So there is what’s called apostolic succession in the Catholic church. And the Pope has a supervisory authority over all the Catholic churches. Some Protestant churches have similar structures to that, but without a Pope or a view of Apostolic succession. 

More common in Protestant churches today are the other two forms. 2) There is the Presbyterian church model. The Presbyterian church is part of the reformed tradition of John Calvin and others. This involves elders over local churches. And Calvin didn’t differentiate between overseers (ἐπίσκοπος) and elders (πρεσβύτερος). And that makes sense to me, because as Paul goes about in the book of Acts and installs churches, you see a plurality of leaders established in each local church. The best example of this is Acts 14:23 where it says, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Now there is a third model. 3) There’s also a congregational model, which can oftentimes have elders, but these congregational churches see the authority over the church vested in the local church, in the congregation itself, as opposed to the elders. This is common in the Southern Baptist world and also among Evangelical Free churches. I’ve heard people that I respect argue for this kind of church government even in tangent with elder leadership. But I have a hard time seeing this as a biblical model. And I think this kind of congregationalism is more a nod to the democratic structure of the U.S. government and other places than what we see in the Scriptures. 

Now there are some variations on these. For example, Calvary Chapel churches are not congregational. They don’t have congregational voting. And they see their local pastor as “The Elder” over their churches. So in some ways they have more of an Episcopal form of government. They certainly don’t have a plurality of elders over the church. 

And just for the record, we as a church body here a VBVF are an elder-led church. We have a Presbyterian ecclesiology, but we don’t baptize babies like Presbyterians. We don’t have congregational voting. And we don’t have archbishops or governing bodies over us. We are completely autonomous as a church. And we have a plurality of elders, meaning that our elder board is made up of a group of men who are called elders who share the leadership task over the church body. So when we read 1 Peter 5:1-5 and see the term elders, this passage is applicable to the six men who sit on our elder board: Tony Caffey, Mike Morris, Bob Butler, Forrest Tilger, Don Starnes, and Jerry Smith. That list of names will change over time. But the commitment to a plurality of elders will not. 

Now, as we come to the terminology for church elders, I know that these terms can be very confusing. And there’s a bewildering number of terms that come from different traditions and denominations. You have elder. You have overseer. You have deacon. You have deaconess. You have shepherd. You have bishop. You have pastor. You have clergy. You have parson. You have priest. You have superintendent. You have vicar. You have apostle. There are even more terms in the Anglican and Catholic churches: cardinals, saints, moderators, archbishops, prelates, etc. 

So instead of defining all these terms and explaining how they came about, I’m just going to give you a simplified way to understand the structure of the church. And this is how I see it presented in the Scriptures. There are really three roles: 1) Elder/Overseer, 2) Pastor/Shepherd, and 3) Deacon. 

Now there are apostles, and I dealt with that last Sunday. I don’t see that as an ongoing office in the church. The apostles had their role in the past. But there are no apostles in our day, not capital-A apostles who write Scripture like Peter, Matthew, John, and Paul. I don’t believe in apostolic succession, and I don’t think the Pope is a modern-day Apostle Peter.

Let’s look at these terms. First there is the elder, which in Greek is the πρεσβύτερος. And the overseer is the ἐπίσκοπος. And the reason I see these as the same office is because those terms are used interchangeably in Titus 1. Paul instructs Titus to appoint elders/overseers over the church. Paul writes to Titus and says, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders (πρεσβύτερος) in every town as I directed you—if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer (ἐπίσκοπος), as God’s steward, must be above reproach” (Titus 1:5-7). Those terms, elder and overseer, are used interchangeably. 

Also in Acts 20, Paul gathers the “elders” from Ephesus. Luke writes, “Now from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called the elders (πρεσβύτερος) of the church to come to him.” (Notice that there are plural “elders” from one church in Ephesus!). So in verse 17 Luke calls them elders. But a few verses later in 20:28, Paul calls them “overseers.” He says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (ἐπίσκοπος), to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” So again, these terms “elders” and “overseers” are interchangeable in the NT. Elders are overseers. And overseers are elders. An ἐπίσκοπος is a πρεσβύτερος. 

And I already showed you in 1 Peter 5 that the elders are told to exercise oversight in the church. In other words the πρεσβύτερος are called to ἐπισκοπέω. Elders are called to oversee.  

Now let’s talk about this second role 2) “pastor/shepherd.” This is really more of a duty than an office. There is no office of pastor in the Bible. There is the gift of pastoring (see Eph 4:11). And there is the task of pastoring or shepherding (1 Pet 5:2). So why am I called a pastor? Well, pastor as a term has been used in the church to describe vocational or ordained pastor-preachers. Paul talks about elders who are worthy of double honor or “remuneration” because they specialize in teaching and leadership. Paul says “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’” (1 Tim 5:17-18). 

So just to be clear, that’s me. I’m your ox. I’m a teaching elder. Mike Morris also has the title of pastor. He’s a teaching elder in our church. We all should be equipped to teach as elders according to 1 Timothy 3:2. But some of us specialize in that. 

So I said there are three offices in the church. But there are really only two. And I’ll just call this 1a, 1b, and 2. There are elders and there are deacons. Elders are made up of lay elders and vocational elders. But they are all elders. And then the second office is deacon. 

“So what’s a deacon, Pastor Tony? How’s that different from being an elder?” Well, Paul mentions the office of deacon in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. And I think there’s a precursor to this in Acts 6. But very simply Deacons are sanctioned servants within the church. The word deacon or διάκονος in Greek simply means a servant. So in a sense, we are all deacons. But there are little-d deacons and capital-D Deacons. And we are installing our capital-D Deacons at VBVF for the first time this Sunday. 

And just to be clear, deacons are under the authority of the elders. Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile explains this in his book Finding Faithful Elders and Deacons. This is a good quote. He says, “Deacons and elders make up the two enduring offices of the New Testament church. While deacons serve the practical or physical needs of the church, elders serve the overall spiritual needs of the church. The two offices are not like two chambers of government—a House and Senate with more-or-less equal authority. If deacons are table servants or waiters, then elders are maîtres de or head chefs. Elders exercise authority or rule in the church (1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 13:17). However, whatever authority the elders have has been delegated to them by Jesus. Further, the Scripture and Christian love set boundaries for the proper exercise of that authority. As Pastor Mark Lauderbach puts it, ‘An elder with no Bible is an elder with no authority.’” Amen to that, right? 

Another great resource on the nature of eldership is this book by Alexander Strauch. This book was really formative for me when I was studying this topic in seminary. I know it was helpful to our elder board here at VBVF too as they worked through it together. It’s a book called Biblical Eldership. 

And here’s what Strauch says about the office of elder. He says, “The New Testament requires that a pastor elder ‘[hold] fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching’ (Titus 1:9a). This means that an elder must firmly adhere to orthodox, historic, biblical teaching. ‘Elders must not,’ as one commentator says, ‘be chosen from among those who have been toying with new doctrines.’ “Since the local church is ‘the pillar and support of the truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15b), its leaders must be rock-solid pillars of biblical doctrine or the house will crumble. Since the local church is also a small flock traveling over treacherous terrain that is infested with ‘savage wolves,’ only those shepherds who know the way and see the wolves can lead the flock to its safe destination. An elder, then, must be characterized by doctrinal integrity.” 

1 Timothy 3:1-7 details some of those character expectations of a church elder. Titus 1:5-9 does the same. 1 Peter 5:1-4 details some of the shepherding tasks of the elder. But intrinsic to this role of elder is this expectation that elders guard the doctrinal integrity of the church. Elders have to do that. We have to guard the church from wolves. We have to guard the church from divisive troublemakers. We have to guard the church spiritually and financially and doctrinally and logistically. 

I thought eldering in a church was difficult before 2020. Then we had this thing called COVID-19 that brought a whole new challenge to church leadership. So pray for your elders. Would you do that for us? 

Some of you might ask, “Well what about deacons? Tell us more about that role in the church.” I will. This Sunday. Come on back.

And some of you might say, “Okay well what happens next in 1 Peter? How does Peter conclude this great book after talking about elders and youngers?” Good question. Come on back next Wednesday. And Mike Morris will answer all of your questions. Pray with me.