Let the Elders Rule Tuesday with Timothy # 66

1 Timothy 5:17-18  Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.  For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

This passage is a particular pickle for some of our Baptist brethren and, as I heard one preacher say, "this goes for the sistern, too". The Elders rule. What are we going to do with that?

Oversight of the elder was not a novel idea that Paul is proposing here. In fact, Paul says this in passing. The presupposition here was that the elders ruled, and here is how you treat them. Had this been a new idea in the church, Paul would have had to explain what this meant. We could do a Greek study, but, as is almost always the case, the text means the same thing in Greek as it does in English.  As a pastor admonishes those under his authority, and as a father rules his house, and as a man is the steward of his life and superintends his good works, so the pastor leads the church (1 Thes. 5:12; 1 Tim 3:4-5, 12; Titus 3:8, 14).  

If the first thought that comes into your mind is "church authority!" you may be a little imbalanced. If your first instinct is to kick against the pricks of authority and redefine and explain away Scripture when you find it offensive, then you need to ask if you are under the authority of God's Word? After the United States had won her Independence from Great Britain, some of the citizens so bristled at anything that looked like a monarchy, they objected good ideas that were in their favor. I think independent Baptists can get like that. Any mention of authority, oversight, and rule in the church and there is a visceral reaction and charges of dictatorship and popery fill the air. I'm wholeheartedly a congregationalist in polity and believe in church authority.  But it is clear that there is leadership in the congregation, there has to be, and if it isn't the pastor, then it is someone else. Of course there are bad pastors, just as there are bad church members. There are extreme cases where the man takes the office and imagines himself a king of his own kingdom, and there are cases where the pastor realizes he has taken a church which is someone else's kingdom. But let's be careful not to be imbalanced as a reaction against one particular evil. The body of Christ serves her Head, the Lord Jesus. We are all in the body under the kingship of Christ. Different members with different jobs, but all together as one. When we loose site of that, then all is lost.

Ephesians 4:1-3  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;  Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The office of pastor is a position of authority, under authority. The pastor serves a particular role in the body of the church, defined as outlined in the Scripture. The reason the qualifications of the bishop focused on his character is because you are electing a man to lead you and watch over your soul and character matters. The church disciplines, the church receives members, the church selects elders. The authority of discipline is with the church, so the pastor can rebuke and exhort, but the pastor cannot make anyone do anything. The shrewd politician understands this and takes advantage of it, but the godly see that a pastor is for their spiritual good. The true and blessed polity of God's churches depend on love, trust, and humility on all sides. The church selects its own elders who are qualified to lead and then they must voluntarily submit themselves to their leadership and oversight. If you can't trust your pastor to have oversight, why is he your pastor? Seriously, why? The book of Hebrews says that the pastor has to give an account, so that means that the church has called him to leadership and has recognized him as the leader (Heb 13: 17; cf. 13: 7).  The gentiles rule over others for their own gain, but Jesus disciples are to love and give sacrificially for the least of God's people. The servants and ministers of Christ follow their Lord and give themselves and give their life to live to bless and serve others.