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Class V: Church Government Church Government: Godly Authority Fostering Unity Church government. I'll bet at least half of you woke up last night thinking: "I've got to find out more about church government!" Okay, maybe not. Why Talk About Church Government? Church government is not something most Christians think much about. It's like a piston in a car engine. Maybe you know it's important, but you don't give it a second thought. Yet if it wasn't there, or was broken, you'd notice pretty quickly. There are several reasons we want to take an hour to think about church government.
What exactly is church government? Put simply, it's the system by which decisions are made in a church, a description of where authority resides. How, for example, should we decide what to put in our statement of faith? Who makes that decision? The answer to that question depends on our system of government. Obviously, that's pretty important. Church government can thus be a great tool for unity in the churchor a great detriment to it. Over the next hour, we'll think about how a biblically-based church government promotes unity, and how we can contribute to the unity of this church. My hope is that we will gain a better understanding of how God has called us to organize our lives in the church. I. ELDERSTHE SHEPHERDS OF THE FLOCK The Bible describes two offices in the churchelders and deacons. We won't take the time to describe these offices fully, because most of you have been or will be introduced to them in your membership classes. If you want to know even more, Mark Dever's little book, A Display of God's Glory, describes these offices in depth. This morning, I want to focus particularly on how these offices foster unity in a church. The term "elder" (or, in the Greek, presbuteros), is used interchangeably with "overseer" or "bishop" (episkopos), and "pastor" (poimenas).1 In Acts 20, Paul uses all three terms when he's addressing the elders of the Ephesian church:
Peter does the same in his first letter:
Elders are charged with the spiritual oversight of the church (Acts 6:1-6; 20:28). They are to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word, and they are also charged with being the principal governing body of the church (1 Timothy 5:17"The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor . . . ."). How Elders Promote Unity in the Church With that background in mind, let me suggest four ways that having a biblical eldership promotes and protects unity in a church:
II. DEACONSTHE SERVANTS OF THE CHURCH The second office clearly set out in Scripture is that of deacon. In the New Testament the word diakonos can be translated as "deacon" or "servant." Thus deacons are the church's servants (Acts 6:1-6). They attend to the practical details of church lifeadministration, maintenance, the care of church members with physical needs, and preparation for the services, among other things. The qualifications for deacons are given in 1 Timothy 3:8-12, and are similar to those of elders. There are, however, two clear differences. Unlike elders, deacons can be women as well as men. And second, unlike elders, deacons are not required to be able to teach. How Deacons Promote Unity In the Church In Acts 6, there is a great picture of how the service performed by deacons contributes to the church's unity. In the early days of the church, the Hellenistic (Greek) Christians began complaining against the Hebrew Christians because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So, upon the recommendation of the apostles, the church appointed seven deacons to make the food distribution more equitable (vv. 2-5). In this, we see three ways that deacons contribute to the unity of the church:
Church Members' Responsibilities What are some of the implications of this? What does this mean for us?
III. THE CONGREGATIONTHE FINAL COURT OF APPEAL Having considered the offices that Scripture describes for the church, there's another question to be answered. Who has the final say on matters in the church? The elders? The pastor? An executive committee made up of delegates from each Sunday School class together with the leaders of each ministry team? Well, no. Throughout the New Testament, it's the congregation as a whole that seems to have final authority, particularly in three significant matters of church lifepersonal disputes, membership and discipline, and doctrine. In What Matters Does the Church Have Authority? 1. Personal DisputesIn Matthew 18 (vv. 15-17), Jesus makes the congregation as a whole the final court of appeal on matters of dispute between Christians. If one member has sinned against another and refuses to listen to his fellow church members, the matter should finally be brought to the entire church for resolution. 2. Membership and DisciplineIn 1 Corinthians 5, we see that it is only the congregation that has authority to discipline a member. Paul tells the Corinthians to expel a man from their fellowship; later he mentions that a majority of them had indeed inflicted that punishment (2 Corinthians 2). When the man repented, Paul urged the whole church to re-admit him. What we see in this example is that the congregation has the final say in who is a member of their fellowship and who is not. In matters of membership and discipline, the congregation is the final court of appeal. 3. DoctrineFinally, the congregation is also responsible for its own doctrine. In Galatians 1:8-9, Paul calls on the churches of Galatia to sit in judgment over any preacher (even himself!) who preaches a gospel different from the one they had accepted. Many other times in the New Testament, it is the church as a whole that is blamed for bad teaching, not the leaders. Again, in doctrinal matters it is the whole church that is given authority and that is held accountable by God. Implications for Unity The fact that the congregation has final authority over these significant matters has huge implications for the church's unity. For one thing, congregational authority fosters unity by forcing the congregation to take responsibility for protecting the gospelwhich is the very thing that unites us as Christians. It forces us to make sure that those we admit into our fellowship believe the same gospel we do. The result is a church that is unified at the core by a trust among those who are its members. Also, congregational authority fosters unity by protecting the church from serious error. Again and again, history has shown that hierarchical church governments tend to spread error quickly. When the national or worldwide leadership of such a church falls into error, they can force that error on local churches, thus creating enormous disunity and strife. Of course no particular form of church polity prevents churches from error and divisioncongregational churches included!but more centralized polities seem to have a (slightly) worse track record than congregational polities in maintaining a faithful, vital, evangelical witness. Moreover, consider what happens when a congregational church does fall into doctrinal error. At the very least, the error is likely to remain isolated, since that errant congregation has no authority to force their error on other churches. Why is that important to you? Keep watch and make sure that this church is congregational in practice, not just in name only. When things are going well, it can be easy to acquiesce and cede your responsibility to other people. But the preservation of the gospel depends on the members of the church vigilantly safeguarding what has been entrusted to them. Take that responsibility seriously. IV. HOLD AUTHORITY, BUT SUBMIT? WHAT GIVES? There's one final question we need to consider today. We've seen that Scripture gives the congregation final authority on certain matters of great significance. Yet it also tells church members to obey their leaders and submit to their authority. So what gives? How can we obey and submit to our leaders, and at the same time exercise our congregational responsibility to guard the purity of the gospel? Is It Serious? Is It Clear? One helpful way to determine when it's appropriate to challenge a decision of the elders is to consider (1) how serious a matter is (ii) and how clear it is. Let's say, for example, that the elders proposed an amendment to the statement of faith that would deny that Jesus Christ is divine. Now that is about as serious as it gets! Also, it's clear from Scripture that Jesus Christ is indeed both man and God. This is the kind of issue on which the congregation should never defer to the elders. In fact, this is where, if the elders continued to insist, the congregation ought to pull out all the stops, remove the elders from leadership, and even discipline them from the church! The church must preserve the integrity of the gospel message. Our Responsibility In light of all this, how can we as members foster unity by participating in the decision-making processes of the church? Let me suggest two ways: IV. CONCLUSION Godly and biblical leadership is crucial to the building of a church that glorifies God. When leaders exercise proper authority in the churchand when church members submit to that authority while still taking their own responsibility seriouslythe whole church working in harmony displays God's image and wisdom to the world. And that, after all, is why we are here! 1 Although some churches since the second century A.D. have used the word "bishop" to refer to a single individual with authority over several churches, this was a later development of the term and is not found in the New Testament. 2 The Bible is clear that only men are to serve as elders. In 1 Timothy 2:11-14, we read that a woman should not teach or have authority over a man. See also 1 Corinthians 14:34-36; 11:2-16. Whatever the exact authority Paul intended to speak of here as inappropriate, it clearly involves women teaching. May/June 2008, ©9Marks For teaching this material: You are permitted and encouraged to teach this material in any format you wish, which includes the ability to rewrite and personalize entirely at your discretion for the purposes of your own setting. For reproducing in print or online: You are permitted
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