Don't Imitate Everything the Elder Does - 09
Jesus warned about the Pharisees, "Do as they say, but not as they do."
As wonderful as godly leadership sounds, it doesn’t always exist. Every man has his deficiencies when it comes to loving God and obeying Him, even the Church elders. I suppose if you found the perfect pastor/elder, his name would be Jesus.
Yet the Apostles taught us to imitate godly people. And it was expected that elders would be the ones leading the sheep by their exemplary lives.
Of course, there are some in Church leadership that probably shouldn’t be. It was certainly the case in Jesus’ day. Consider this from Matthew 23:1-12.
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. 8But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. 9And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
A good elder lives what he teaches and he teaches what is sound and biblical.
But there are some bad elders too. And they are not necessarily easy to spot. They could look a lot like the scribes and Pharisees. They pour themselves into study. They are exhilarated by it; to think hard and to wrestle with the Word of God is like breathing the air to them. They read, learn, debate, and even expound upon the Bible with some effectiveness. They love to instruct. And they enjoy effectively influencing other Christians.
Yet these bad elders have a problem. It is a disconnect between their studiousness and a real love for God and their brothers and sisters. They prefer knowledge to people. They prefer power to service. And they’d sooner talk behind someone’s back than give someone the shirt off of theirs.
Yet, we know God says, the two most important commands are to love Him with all of your heart, soul, and mind. And then secondly, to love your neighbor as yourself. The problem of the bad elder is that he gets honed in on the last love, the one he already has for himself. And then the first two never get paid their proper attention.
I knew a man named Micah, newly married, who couldn’t find a church to join. He and his wife visited a few, but none were suitable. Why? It was because none of them measured up to what he thought a church should be and do.1 He was a studier. He read a lot. He knew theology. He most admired the historic Scottish Covenanters for having “figured things out” and for “holding the line.”
There were no local churches of this flavor anywhere. And it so happened that he and his wife never attended Church. They quit trying to find one to match his views. This meant they did not have the regular experience of worshiping God with a body of believers, along with its fellowship, the checks and balances of other Christians.
Instead, Micah led his wife in worship at home. The thing is, with the build-up of all of his internalized knowledge, it became glaringly obvious to Micah that his wife didn’t measure up to God’s standards either. And so he preached and she was supposed to learned. One might say he “lovingly” washed her with the water of the Word. She would say it was more like a drowning. The scrutiny was too great for her to bear. You might guess the result.
The Apostle Paul warns, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”2
This brings me back to elders. Bad elders would rather win a debate than win a brother. They are quick to fight for truth, which seems noble, but the fight usually goes on inside the church and rarely out in the world, where the enemies of Christ are legion.3 A bad elder will judge the flock and dismiss those who do not comply with his views. And if, by chance, the bad elder does not get what he is after, or his particular issue does NOT go the way he wants, he abandons the Church as unworthy. It is easy for a bad elder to “shake the dust off his feet” and leave. For him, it is simply another act of righteousness. It would be beneath him, and his service to God, to stand by and tolerate “a compromised teaching!”4
Paul describes love’s character and a bad elder ought to learn this teaching:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.”5
Oh! for a Church filled with such people: elders, deacons and all the members. Where love reigns and people are FOR people, not against people. Where they are patient. Where they don’t insist on getting their way.
Paul was such an Apostle. He offered up his body a living sacrifice. He labored in the Word. He taught truthfully whether opposed or unopposed, in season and out of season. He did not think of himself more highly than he ought. And he gave his time to laboring with his own hands and body, all while he built up the church. He was also skilled in tent-building. What did Paul’s exemplary life look like? It looked like someone who did not count himself first. It looked like someone who was willing to work with his own hands and not be a burden. It looked like someone who might correct a brother because of his love for Christ and the brother.
Paul told the the elders of Ephesus, "I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"6
This was Paul’s advice to the shepherds (the elders). He was leaving the area and they would see him no longer, and what does he tell them? “I’ve shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak…” This was the example he gave to them, while encouraging them that they should be such an example to others. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
How do you know when NOT to imitate a Church leader? Perhaps when his love meter is 90% for truth and 10% for loving the sheep. Even if he loves the truth 60% and the sheep 40%, he might be tipping in the wrong direction. I say, give me the guy that loves the sheep at 49% and truth at 51%. Just a thought?!
But it is simple. Idiot-like. If you do not love God primarily and people secondarily, then you have missed the point. And you are not an elder that people should follow. So if you aspire to be a shepherd of others, then first make work of loving God and people.
Furthermore, it will take time. You will need to grow up in your faith. And do I even need to say it? But no schooling degree, or years of seminary training, will make you a lover of God and men. Only years of life spent with God and His Word will prepare you.
He got heavy into studying the regulative principle. He did not believe instruments should be used in worship. He believed in singing psalms exclusively. I imagine that he felt if he did so, that he would be participating in sin.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
There is a lot of bravado in Christian men, especially on websites and in podcasts, who talk about fighting, and Christian cowardice; and they recount moments in history where people were willing to sacrifice all. Yet, these influencers hardly fight with the world at all. Their angst is typically aimed at the church. I recommend to such as these that they venture outside the church walls to fight (with humility) for truth in the world. Then they will have given us an example to follow. It is not that the church is without need of correction, but know who the real enemy are! (One man who I’ve always admired for his willingness to fight in the world is Pastor Matthew Trewhella of Mercy Seat Christian Church, Missionaries to the Preborn, DefyTyrants.com, and author of the bestselling book, The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates.)
Heaven forbid that the church leaver is wrong about the point over which he abandons his brothers and sisters. Wrong or right, as Paul said above, though a person understands all mysteries and has all knowledge, if he doesn’t love people, he is nothing.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Acts 20:33-35