Our study is in the governments of the local church. Section one, authority is of God. Number one, he is known as multi and Lord. Now, given the references where these words are used first in the Bible, you'll find them used many times. Most high is usually in connection with Gentiles and Lord, and the word here has to do with master or his lordship, is generally used of his own people. Number two, Satan's rebellion. His rebellion was against divine authority. It's described in both Isaiah fourteen and Ezekiel twenty eight. And number three, man's rebellion. A, initially, in Genesis chapter three, we're very familiar with that, I'm sure. The fall of man was an act of rebellion. Egypt was deceived, we're told, but Adam was not deceived. So he deliberately disobeyed God and this was an act of rebellion and then B it is continuous Isaiah at sixty three ten says but they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit this is the history of the human race and C There is the rebellion of the Antichrist, second Thessalonians two. He is called the man of sin. And the word for sin there is the same word as iniquity and usually means rebellion. Then he says the mystery of iniquity does already work. Only he who now hinders will hinders will be taken out of the way. That will be a great rebellion against God under Antichrist. His name means against Christ. And D, the final rebellion in Revelation twenty, seven to fifteen, is when at the end of the millennial reign, Satan is loosed out of his prison for a short season and leads in the final rebellion, which is put down by fire from heaven. Number four, the Lordship of Christ. And this is for the individual believer. A. Accepted. Romans ten, nine and ten. When you received Christ, you accepted the Lordship of Christ. Because he says, as many as, no, excuse me, he says, Romans ten, nine. Remember he started forming? That if I shall confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, for Jesus as Lord. And believe in my heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And then B, it's proclaimed at the close of this age, Revelation four and eleven, the Lord is seeing the glory. All his people are gathered around him and they say, Bower it worthy, O Lord. And five, the headship of Christ. Now this is for the church. The lordship of Christ for the individual believer, the headship of Christ, or the church. A. He was so appointed. Ephesians one, twenty-two. God has given him to be head over all things to the church. And in Colossians two, nineteen, he rebukes some for not holding the head, that is not recognizing, not allowing the headship of Christ. and see the Holy Spirit now guides by the Word. The Lord is the head of the church, but he has sent the Holy Spirit into this world to be his chief agent, his vicar on earth. The Holy Spirit guides the church by the Word of God. In Ephesians two, he is said to be the one who is inhabiting the church. Church is built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit, and John, sixteen and thirteen, the Holy Spirit is said to guide us by the Word. Now this is the authority that God himself has given in the church. Now section number two, the authority of overseers. Let me say that the word overseers and the word bishop are exactly the same. They're translations of the word episcopus. Epi means over and scopal is to see. So an episcopus, we get our word episcopal from that, is literally an overseer. This is translated overseers, translated bishop. Now these same men are also called elders. The word elder is a translation of the word presbyteros, which means simply an old man. So the overseers were to be older men, elder brothers. So whenever you read about either elders or bishops or overseers, these are all the same person. One, they were made so by the Holy Spirit. Acts twenty and twenty-eight. There is no such thing as the election of elders in the Bible. The sheep do not choose their shepherds. They are made so by the Holy Spirit. And eight, they are over you in the Lord. First Thessalonians five and thirteen. Over you doesn't mean that they are bosses, but it means that they do have authority. in the Lord. It's by divine authority. And D, they are your guides. Hebrews thirteen, twice in that chapter, three times in that chapter, he tells us that they are your guides. And C, they are not lords over God's heritage. First Peter five and three. Incidentally, the word heritage is a translation of the word kleros, from which we get our word clergy. All of God's people are his clergy, and the elders are not to be overlords. They do have authority, but they are not to be despots or dictators. We want to stay away from unscriptural titles. In the early church, They were simply brethren, older brethren, and younger brethren. The older women were mothers. The younger women were sisters. All kinds of unscriptural titles have been added since this time. In Job chapter thirty-two and verse twenty-two, Job says, I know not to give flattering titles. Then he says, if I should give flattering titles to men, God might take me away. It's a good thing he isn't acting that sternly today because it'd be allowed people to take it away. C. H. Spurgeon refused to be called a reverend because he said only once in the Bible does the word reverend occur, and that's a title for God himself. Holy and reverend is God's name. He said there are great many reverend and very reverend and most reverend sinners in this world. and he doesn't want to be one of them. No man has any right to take any title that gives him a place of lordship over other Christians. Now, number two, this authority is exercised, A, in reception. Romans fifteen, one to seven, describes how that we are to receive And the elders, usually acting for the local church, are the ones who meet and get acquainted with new Christians, because they are the caretakers of the flock, the overseers of the flock. They are acting for the assembly in reception. They must be careful to receive, as he says in Romans, fifteen, seven, as Christ has received us. So receive the one another. And B, in matters of commendation, Second Corinthians three, one to three describes letters of commendation. So if you were going to leave one group of Christians to go to another place, you would receive a letter of commendation, which would likely be signed by the elders of that group of Christians. and see in discipline. Now, Galatians six in verse one is an interesting verse. It says, if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Now, the word spiritual there is an unusual word, and it really means spiritual experts. This isn't a job for everybody. A newly saved Christian would not be the one to go and talk to one who was having problems and not getting along well. This is a job for spiritual experts. The word restore is a medical term. It means to set a broken bone. You wouldn't go to Blacksmith to get that done. You go to a man who has medical training and experience and be in teaching. In Titus I and IX, they are told to hold fast the faithful word and sound doctrine. Sometimes elders are not capable of giving the teaching that is needed, and in such a case they are responsible to invite to the assembly those whom they feel can give the teaching that is needed. And I would not presume to impose my teaching upon an assembly without the welcome from the elder brother. In fact, an invitation from them, because I believe this is the scriptural way. I believe that whenever they conduct a conference in any given place, that the elders are the ones who should decide... who is capable of ministering the word. It won't be to say that the Holy Spirit does this guidance because I happen to know that if the elders don't do it, the preachers do. They get together and shut out somebody they don't want and arrange it so as to have the ones that they do want. So it's arranged anyway. Far better to have it arranged for the ones who are responsible for the assembly than for those who are merely visitors there. And E, it is limited... to the man's own locality. There's no such thing as a man being an elder over a state or over a group of assemblies. Acts twenty, verse seventeen, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church at Ephesus. And he said in verse twenty eight, take heed to yourselves and to the flock. Not all the flocks, but the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseas. And S, this is always in the plurality. Philippians one and one addresses the Christians of Philippi with the bishops, plural, and deacons. And in Titus one and five, Paul said to Titus that he should see to it that there were elders, plural, in every church. Now some churches call their ministry of the elder and all the rest of the church officials deacons, but this isn't scriptural either. And some groups of Christians do not, are not concerned about elders, but they have government by a town hall kind of meeting, which they call a business meeting. And this is totally unscriptural. There is absolutely no foundation for a business meeting where all the men get together and decide everything. from who's going to replace the window light in one of the back rooms to what's going to be done about someone who is involved in immorality. The elders have that responsibility of overseeing the flock and no one else should do it. Now section number three, the qualifications of overseers. One, age and experience. A, not a novice. The word novice means one newly come to the faith. And B, they are called elders. So the first qualification is age and experience. Now this is relative. When he wrote to the Philippians, the church had been in existence about twelve years. And unless older men had moved in from somewhere else, there wouldn't be anybody there saved more than twelve years. But if they were the oldest and the best qualified, they of course would be capable of being the elders. And number two, good morals. Six things are mentioned. A, self-control. B, good behavior. C, temperate. D, not violence. E, blameless. And F, of good report. That means from those on the outside. A man would not make a good elder who had a bad reputation in the business world around him. And number three, he must have a good family. This includes, A, a good wife. Now, I know of nothing in the Scripture to insist that he must have a wife, but if he has a wife, he must have only one, a husband of only one wife. I believe this is the meaning of that statement. And B, his children, if he has any, must be subjects. They must be obedient. And C, he must be hospitable. Of course, it takes the wife to help with this. And D, he must have godly friends. Titus I and H says, A lover of good men. Now, you can tell a good bit about a person by the kind of associates that he has. A man is known by the company he keeps. I think poor Richard said that in the nominate, but it's true anyway. And number four, he must be spiritual. A, sober-minded. B, not covetousness. Covetousness is a very wicked sin. It's called idolatry. In our country, it seems to be the established thing. A man isn't considered to be worth very much if he isn't covetous. But God still calls with exactly what he did at the beginning. And C, he must be just, and also be holy. And E, he must be apt to teach. Now this doesn't necessarily mean that he has the gift of a teacher. He may or may not have. First Timothy five refers to some elders who are to be counted worthy of double honor because they labor in the word and doctrine. Some elders may not have the gift of a teacher, but they are apt to teach. That means simply that they are able to transmit whatever knowledge that they may have of the word of God themselves. Now section four, how to become an overseer. one it is not by election as i said a little while ago the sheep do not choose the shepherd now there are some people who use this verse that says appoint elders where the apostle paul uh appointed them or where he sent apostolic delegates such as titus to appoint elders and uh They say that this word appoint is from a word that means to give the hand or to show the hand or to point the hand. But the word simply means to point out. And the reason that the apostles and the apostolic delegates had to point out elders was that there was no directions given. So far, the word of God had not been carefully ordered so that we would know who these men are. Now there are some who say you can't have an elder now because you don't have an apostle to appoint him, but this doesn't make sense because we have the scriptures, we know exactly what their qualifications are, and if the Holy Spirit raises them up, all we have to do is to recognize them by those qualifications. But it is not by election, it is not by voting, And number two, it was by appointment by apostles and of their delegates. And number three, the qualifications are now clearly given. Now here are some of the things that are said about our recognizing such elders, eh? Spiritual men should desire. They should desire this job. The word desire in First Timothy one and one, if any man desire the work of an overseer, it says the office of a bishop in our King James Version, but the word office and the word work are exactly the same. It's not an office at all. It's a job. And the word desire means to reach out the hand. So spiritual men should reach out the hand for this kind of work. They should want to care for the people of God. And be as fast they are to be recognized. First Thessalonians five and twelve. Now, recognized doesn't mean to have a recognition dinner and to put their names up on the bulletin board. Recognized is the word it simply means to discern, spiritually discern. know who they are because we know what the qualifications are and then see they are to be obeyed Hebrews thirteen and seventeen obey them which have the rule over you literally who are your guides if you climb a mountain with a guide and you don't do what the guide tells you to do you're risking your life and his too And the elders are the guides for the assembly. For anyone to be insubordinate, unwilling to be guided, is to cause difficulty all the way around. And D, they are not to be rebuked. But rather, E, entreated. The word entreated is translated exhorted in revised versions. In other words, we don't ball out the an older brother, but we go to him as you would to a father and point out the things that you feel that he may not know. And S, they are to be honored. First Timothy, five and seventeen. And G, they are to be supported, if necessary. does in connection with the honor of the elders, he says, thou shalt not muzzle the ox and fed about the corn. There are some men who devote all of their time to the shepherding of the flock, and if they have financial needs, those who are benefited by them should be benefited by these men, should be willing to do something to help them. And the age they are to be submitted to, First Peter five and five, you younger, he says, submit yourselves to the elder. And finally, I, they are to be prayed for. I wonder how much we know about the hardships, heartaches, the tears and the prayers of elder brethren. I have sat in the meeting. When the elders of my own assembly wept over someone who was not doing what they should do and prayed about how this case should be handled, what could they do? You don't know how much it means to take that responsibility. When Paul names all of the hardships that he endured, he adds, beside that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. It's a real burden for a person who cares. And four, this is not an office, but a work. I don't think of the position of an overseer as being an honorary degree, an honorary title. Sometimes here people use the unscriptural expression. He is on the oversight. first place, it doesn't make sense. It isn't good English. Oversight means looking after them. You can't be on the oversight. You could be an overseer, but this is something that you get on, like you get on the town board or something of this kind. You either are doing the work or you're not doing the work. If a man desires the work of an overseer and begins to do the work of an overseer, and has the qualifications of an overseer, he'll be recognized as an overseer. But when he ceases to do the work, he ceases to be an overseer. It's just that simple. No such thing as a man was an overseer, was an elder five years ago, and therefore he has to still be one today. Not so at all. And section five, the responsibilities of an overseer. state these very simply. One, to do for the block what the chief shepherd would do if he were here. On First Peter chapter five, he plainly says that when the chief shepherd shall appear, that's the Lord Jesus, then he's going to let it be known how much he appreciated what the undershepherds have done in his absence. to do for the flock what the chief shepherd would do if he were. And two, to give account to Christ, both daily and at his return. Hebrews thirteen and seventeen says, they must give account. Now he said, behave yourself so that when they give account, they won't have to do it with sorrow. They can do it with joy. He says if they do it with sorrow, this is unprofitable for you. I'll tell you very frankly, I would hate to think of the elder brethren in my home assembly having to give a bad account of me to the chief shepherd in heaven. He'd be very serious business. I wouldn't want them turning in a report like that on me. I'd want them to do it with joy. I'd want them to, when they pray about me, to rejoice that I'm going on to the Lord. and not that I'm making a problem. Help with the solution to problems don't be a part of it. And number three, if faithful, he will receive a crown of glory. Now there are five crowns offered for faithful service in the New Testament that have nothing to do with our salvation. Salvation is a free gift. But crowns are rewards. And one of these crowns is mentioned here in First Peter five and four, and it's called a crown of glory. Now, this indicates, I think, something of how much the Lord appreciates those who look after his flock in his absence, the care of his people, are going to share in his glory in their coming day.