What Does the Bible Say About Why Am I A Member of the Church of Christ #9?

In this episode, we continue to discuss the structure or pattern of the church. We noted in the last episode that Paul had told Timothy to hold fast the pattern of sound words. We noted that part of that pattern was to appoint elders in each local church and we also noted that there was always a minimum of two elders appointed. There are specific qualifications that a man must meet in order to be an elder in the church. We discuss those. We then look at what the elders were responsible for doing. Paul had given them a warning in Acts chapter 20 that we talked about. We also noted that members of the congregation are told to be subject to the guidance of their elders for they would give an account to the Lord of their work. The next group of men who serve the local church are referred to as deacons. We look at the first mention of these men in Acts chapter six. As Paul did with selecting elders, he also provided the qualifications that a man had to meet in order to serve as a deacon in a local church.  We look at those qualifications and note again that there were always at least two deacons in each local congregation. So up to this point, we have seen that the structure or pattern of the local church consists of Christ as Head, elders as spiritual leaders, and deacons as servants. Of course, we do have evangelists who preach and teach the word, but they don't have any other special role in the leadership or work of the church. The remainder of the local church is made up of disciples or saints. We look at a number of passages that refer to them. We close this episode out by noting the simplicity of the structure or pattern of the local church of Christ compared to that of man-made denominations. We will have more to say about this in the next episode. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at scbamaboy2003@yahoo.com or to Eric McClam at ericmcclam50@outlook.com or to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net.

Arnie: 0:55

Good afternoon. This is what does the Bible say, brought to you by the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina. We hope that if you happen to be in the Sumter area that you'll drop in and visit with us on the Lord's Day. Worship with us, have Bible study morning or evening, and then also where we have Bible classes on Wednesday evening as well. So we'd be looking forward to having you with us. I'm Arnie Granke, and I have Fred and Glenn and Eric with me this evening and this afternoon. And Glenn, would you like to bring everybody up to date as to where we've been and where we're hoping to go here?

Glenn: 1:48

Sure. Well, last week, we started this study on the structure of the church. We mentioned a number of things that we've already, already covered, and concerning the the pattern of for the church, the New Testament pattern for the church. And we were talking about Christ being the head of the church. He's the He's the king of his kingdom, which is his church, and he's the head of the church. And one of the important passages we mentioned was Second Timothy, 1, 13, and 14, about the pattern, Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love, which are in Christ, Jesus, That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. So that's actually a command for us to hold fast to the pattern that has been presented to us, and that's what we're presenting to you, what the Bible says about the the Lord's church, the church that Jesus built. So we said that, we showed that Christ is the head of the church. And now we're talking about about elders. We had read Acts 14, 21, through 23 last week, and we were still in the middle of that, so I'm going to read that one again. That's acts 14, 21, to 23, And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, saying, We must, through many tribulations, enter the kingdom of God. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Paul and his command, companions had been in the cities of Lystra, Iconium, Antioch and Derbe, preaching the gospel. Paul was caught, apprehended and stoned and left for dead outside the city of Lystra. His followers and companions, they found him alive, and they took him to Derbe. They returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the saints there. When they left, they appointed elders in every church. So we see again that elders were appointed in churches. It is evident that the elders were appointed in each church or congregation, not an an elder over many congregations, as we would see a bishop over many congregations in a diocese and the Catholic faith. Another point to be made about this is the language used. In every situation we find elders being appointed. It is always plural. We never find it mentioned that an elder, that is one elder was appointed in a congregation deleted. What we find is more than one elder at each congregation who only worked with that congregation.

Eric: 5:01

And on talking about that. What do elders do? I looked up that word elder in the concordanse. And it's from 4245 which means presbytery or overseer, or one who presides over the assembly or the church. In Acts, chapter 20, verse 17, it says, From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And in verse 28 to 30, it says, Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers. And I think in the new in the King James Version, it says bishops, but overseer is the correct word for that. It says, Made you overseers to shepherd the church which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. In this passage, we find Paul is addressing the elders in the local church in Ephesus about the possibility of men coming in among themselves to lead Christians or saints away from the truth. So these men, elders were tasked with overseeing, taking care of and leading the flock the church or the congregation in Ephesus. The these are men that had been made elders, overseers, a shepherd by the Holy Spirit, according to his Word in First Timothy, chapter three, verses one. Now that is not some miraculous action taken by the Holy Spirit, but the church looked among its members to find out who was qualified to be an elder, and if those men had desired to be an elder they were appointed. We will learn more about the qualifications for being the

Fred Gosnell: 7:10

Well, Peter mentioned elders in in first, elder soon. Peter, chapter 5, 1, through four. And we begin here in verse one, he says, The elders who are among you, I exhort, I, who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed, shepherd the flock of God, which is among you serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. So Peter says he is also an elder, a fellow elder, and of course, he encouraged the elders that he was talking with to shepherd the flock. You'll see the word pastor, sometimes that is the same as shepherd the flock, which is among you. So to shepherd is to look after or to care for, to protect, to lead. Of course, this is speaking of primarily spiritual things. So the elders are charged with being the leaders of a local church, particularly in the spiritual sense to protect spiritually, one would ensure that only the truth is taught and lived by in the congregation of by its members, and that the members are cared for. The elders would look within the congregation to ensure that none of the saints were destitute or in need of sustenance as well. The last portion of this passage is interesting. It tells the elders should not feel compelled to serve in the capacity, but to do it willingly. Of course, that's one of the requirements. Is if a man wants to be an elder, then he can be selected, not for money, even though later on, we'll find out that they can be paid not as they were chiefs or lords over the members of the congregation, as if they were more important or were above them. So it should be an honor to serve in this capacity, but the one serving should not place themselves in the position of, I'm in charge and greater than

Arnie: 9:21

You know, perhaps Fred, another passage of scripture you. that fits with that is Hebrews chapter 13. I'm looking at verse 17 here that says, Obey those who have rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. This passage gives instruction both to members of a congregation and to the elders. First, it tells the members of the congregation, which would be the local church, in other words, to obey the the elders and to be submissive to them, because they will give account of their of their souls. And second is the point being made at the end of the last sentence, the elders will, or elders must, give an account of the souls of the members of the church. What a what a tremendous responsibility to not only be accountable for your own soul, but to be accountable for someone else's. The last sentence in this is very interesting in that it says to let them do their job with joy and not with grief. It's never enjoyable to be responsible for somebody else who will not listen or do what they know to be right, always needing to be corrected, led by the hand. In order for a leader to lead joyfully and really responsibly, the ones must being led, must be willing to be led and do so willingly. This is the two way street. The elders must want to lead, and the saints in the congregation must want to be led.

Glenn: 11:35

Another passage we want to look at is First Timothy 5, 17, through 25 and keep in mind we're talking about what is it that the elders do? Let elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine, for scripture says You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, that the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins are clearly evident preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some of the clearly are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. There's a lot in this passage. Elders who are teaching God's word and His doctrine should be respected highly and listened to, because they are the ones laboring among the members of the church. When it says that the laborer is worthy of his wages, could even mean that some elders could, could or should be paid a wage for the work that they do, although I do not believe that is the case, since the elders who are willingly serving, not by compulsion. Following that are instructions on dealing with those in the church who are sinning and how to deal with them, not partially nor physically. So we have seen a good bit about the work elders do. Now, let's take a look at who can serve as an elder. There are a number of qualifications and listed in First Timothy, three, one through seven At Titus, one, five through 11.

Eric: 13:54

In First Timothy, three verses, one through seven says, This is a faithful saying, If a man desires the position of a overseer, he desires a good work. An overseer must be blameless, a husband of one wife, temperate, sober, minded of good behavior, hospitable, apt to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not content covetous. One who rules his own house well having his children in submission with all reverence. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God. Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. And also in Titus, chapter one, verses five through 11, it says, For this reason, I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city, which is the local churches, as I command you, if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of disposition or insubordination, for an overseer must be blameless as a steward of God, not self willing, not quick tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober minded, just, holy, self controlled, holding fast to the faithful word, as he has been taught that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who who contradict.

Fred Gosnell: 16:00

So when we look at those two lists that Paul one, that he wrote to Timothy, the other, he wrote to Titus. So that's a quite a list of traits there and behaviors and attitudes that must be possessed by elders. So in other words, elders are men who have done and do things right. They are faithful to God and willing to take leadership role in order to gently teach, lead and guide God's children in the way that he wants them to go and well, that means in the way that the Bible teaches him that he's makes sure that they're following it so they may be solid, learned, faithful children of God. So there are ones who will be capable and willing to lead God's children so that they may reach heaven ultimately. So with this in mind, I'd say one thing about the multitude of people who claim to be Christian, yet say that all one needs to do to get to heaven is to believe and have faith in Christ, Jesus. Why would the church need elders, if the only thing needed was faith? Person believes, no problem, he's going to go to heaven. Well, that's not what the Bible teaches. So these are men who are great examples. They are able to teach God's word. They're able to confront and convert those who oppose the truth. They raised and taught their own children, and of course, Titus, Paul Titus said their children must be faithful children to love and respect God. So if ever there were men to be highly respected, it it is the elders of the Lord's local church. Our President James A Garfield. He was an elder in a church of Christ. He was a Christian, and upon accepting the office of President of the United States, he said, I resigned the highest office in the land to become president of the United States. So President Garfield knew and understood the importance of being an elder in the Lord's church. So just a short time after his inauguration, Congress was to have a meeting of national importance at 10am on Sunday morning, and he refused to attend the meeting, saying he had a more important meeting to be in the worship of the Lord in quote, his house, at his table, unquote. This is the attitude our elders should possess. In fact, it is the attitude all Christians should possess.

Arnie: 18:30

Wouldn't it be wonderful if that were the case? You know, more godly people, hopefully. There's another group of men who are part of the structure of the church, and that group is called deacons. In a few minutes, we'll look at the qualifications that are set forth in the New Testament concerning their qualifications, because God's words specifies traits and attributes for deacons, just as with elders. The church is obligated to ensure that those that are appointed to serve possess these qualifications. These are men who, like the elders, are faithful and are dedicated and willing to serve in the church in various capacities. So let's take a look at at the first example of elders being selected, which was was in Acts chapter six, beginning in verse one, we'll read down to verse seven. Now, in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint among the Hebrews by the Hellenists, or the Greeks, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the 12 summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, It is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. Therefore brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word and the same pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Procurus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch, whom they set over the apostles, and when they, or set before the apostles, not over them, set before the apostles, and when they prayed, they laid hands on them. Then the Word of God spread. The number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Glen, would you like to take it from here?

Glenn: 21:22

The church in Jerusalem was having a problem. Some of the members, the widows, who are the the Greek or Hellenist background, were being overlooked or neglected in the daily distribution. We will come back to this in a moment. This may have been an issue like that described in First Corinthians one, or First Corinthians 11, where there was something like what we would describe as clicks being formed, and those who are not in the right group getting the proper or due attention as everyone in the accepted group. You have to read into this and somewhat This is a was in Jerusalem, where most of the people were of a pure Jewish, Jewish background. It was the women in the church who spoke the Hellenistic language who were being overlooked or neglected. This should be easy for most of us to relate to, since we see this kind of thing in our society a lot, where a group of people who are little a little different, are not included in the group of people who make up the majority. As a matter of fact, that has been an ongoing issue in the United States since its beginning, and it is one that we continue to try to overcome. The Jerusalem church of Christ realized the problem and initiated action to take care of it. That would be that they appointed qualified men to take care of the problem. You see from the reading that the men selected were once full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. It is not specified why these men needed to be so qualified to take care of a task such as making sure that all the members were getting the daily distribution. But that is the case. That's what the word of God says. Why is this the case? Because that is what God's word tells us. We don't need to question that. We just need to believe it and obey it. So who is to be appointed as deacons and what are their qualifications? We just saw in the previous passage that the basic qualifications those who are filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom the scriptures actually go a little farther than that. Let's take a look at First Timothy, three, eight through 13.

Eric: 23:45

And that passage says, likewise, deacons must be reverent, not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with the pure conscience. But let these also first be tested. Let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons, obtained themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Paul writes to Timothy guide, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote these words above about the qualification of deacons. He started with Likewise, because he had given the qualification for elders immediately prior to his writing or to writing this. This list isn't as long as the one for the elders, but still impressive. Generally speaking, deacons in the church the Lord's Church are appointed to take care of various aspects of the church, to ensure that all things are done decently and in order, and to relieve the elders from having to deal with those tasks, particularly in one local church, there may be many saints, therefore it can be too much to do for the elders of a congregation. Therefore, just as Moses have given advice by his father in law, Jethro, the priest of the Midian, to select godly men among the tribes to act as leaders and judges over the tribes and even smaller groups, so that Moses was not burd, burdened with making all the decisions for the people of Israel. The church is instructed to have elders and deacons. This is the same concept in the military or even a large corporation, the work is divided up to ensure that all the people within get taken care of. We do not have the authority to organize or lead the church as a corporation does for even as Israel was, but we have the New Testament scriptures for guidance in the structure of the church.

Fred Gosnell: 26:24

Of course, then one of the scriptures that Paul wrote talked about being the pattern that must be adhered to. So, so we have seen so far is the the structure or the pattern of the church. Christ is the head. Elders are spiritual leaders, deacons, are, are servants. The word deacon, by the way, is a transliteration of the word diakonos, which just means servant. So deacons now as servants to ensure the work of the church gets done efficiently and in order. Beyond that, there's no other structure. Of course, we do have evangelists who preach and teach the word, but they do not have any other special role in the leadership or work of the church. Of course, sometimes churches violate that the preacher ends up being in charge. I mean, that's that's not what the Bible teaches. So the remainder of the church, the local church, is made up of disciples or saints. So saints are simply Christians, and not some special group of Christians. Of course, to be a saint in the New Testament, you don't have to die physically. You simply have to obey the gospel. So the following are some scriptures in the New Testament that mention saints. Jude three. Jude says, Beloved. while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you. You you are to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all, delivered to the saints. First Corinthians, one, verse two and three. There Paul to the church at Corinth, he say,s To the church of God, which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ, Jesus, called saints with all who are in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The word sanctified, there is a verb, and the word saints is the noun form of that word. So Ephesians, three, eight. Therefore to the Ephesians, he says to me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Then, first, Thessalonians, 3, 12, and 13. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. So others that we will not quote at this time are in the Second Thessalonians, one, verse 10, Revelation 15, verse three, Revelation 16, verse six and Revelation 20, verse nine. The ones we quoted are sufficient to show that saints are simply Christians, saved, those who are disciples.

Arnie: 29:22

You know, there are some others there that you suggested that we ought to read, and possibly we can do that next Lord's day. We're about out of time. We've only got a little over a minute here. So I'll just say this, that the structure of the church is very simple. You can see that as the according to the passages that we've been reading, it's not elaborate, as the structure in most denominations, generally is. There's no organizational structure outside the local church or congregation. We never find in the New Testament any example of there being a body or Group with the responsibility of setting standards or writing bylaws or rules or overseeing the work of many congregations. If we were to work, look at the Catholic Church, for example, we would see that the Roman Catholic Church is governed by the Pope in the Vatican, rules are made and interpretations of Scripture are given by the Pope. There are Archbishops, bishops, priests, they're just a whole list of officers in in the church. And in other denominations there also are national headquarters, regional headquarters, the preachers in congregations who are called pastors who lead over the congregation. The pastor, term pastor, by the way, actually is a Bible term reserved for those who serve as as elders. You can look that up in in your Bible, and you'll see that that's that, that's so. Most denominations have some sort of documents or creeds they have developed and written by those in the national, regional or other headquarters that govern the teaching of the denomination. The problem with this is that there's no mention of any of those things in the New Testament. The New Testament is our only guide for the church. I think this is a good point for us to stop on. We hope that you will be with us again next Lord's Day afternoon, and we pray that God will be with you during the course of the week. Have a good week.