Kingdom Alert Update #208

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

A FATHER’S DAY SERMON:

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THE DIGNITY OF ELDER MEN *****************************************

Numbers 31:26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the CHIEF FATHERS OF THE CONGREGATION:

Leviticus 19:32 Thou shalt RISE UP BEFORE THE HOARY HEAD, and HONOUR THE FACE OF THE OLD MAN, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Jude 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, DESPISE DOMINION, and SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNITIES.
18 How that they told you there should be MOCKERS in the LAST TIME, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

We are living in an age that, in general, greatly despises authority (2 Peter 2:10, 2 Timothy 3:1-2, 4:3). The Devil is leading all who will yield to him to pervert God’s will in every realm. In this attack upon God’s design, feminism is rising up in rebellion against every trace of patriarchal rule. There is great contempt for the rule of men as ordained by God in the Bible. The world seeks every opportunity to turn God’s order upside down (Isaiah 29:16). For example, there are many today, and their numbers are rapidly increasing, who denounce the Biblical doctrine of pastoral authority. They decry one man taking care of the church of God (1 Timothy 3:5). Along with this, there is a great rebellion in our day against the elderly. Elderly men, in almost every institution of society, are quickly losing the honor and deference that earlier generations naturally bestowed upon them. Churches are being engulfed by this perverted darkness of the world instead of resisting it, and enlightening it. It would seem that Laodicean Christendom is walking in the same kind of destruction predicted by Isaiah long ago:

Isaiah 3:5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: THE CHILD SHALL BEHAVE HIMSELF PROUDLY AGAINST THE ANCIENT, and the base against the honourable.
9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as SODOM, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
12 As for my people, CHILDREN ARE THEIR OPPRESSORS, AND WOMEN RULE OVER THEM. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy THE WAY OF THY PATHS.
16 Moreover the LORD saith, Because THE DAUGHTERS OF ZION ARE HAUGHTY, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

Notice these words from an older (yet modern enough to stink) Presbyterian book:

“As we have noted, from the earliest times in every society, the old men have been asked to give counsel and leadership to the people; hence the term ‘elder.’…But in this matter of age, SOCIETY HAS COMPLETELY CHANGED ITS VIEWPOINT! In regard to being ‘good enough’ for the eldership, YEARS HAVE RELATIVELY LITTLE TO DO WITH IT….[And] until recently MEN ONLY were permitted…to qualify for eldership…[But] after careful study….the General Assembly…opened the eldership to the election of women.” (Paul S. Wright, “The Presbyterian Elder,” 1957)

The foundations have been crumbling for some time. Today the governments of the world and the various denominations of Christendom applaud homosexual marriage, and ordain homosexual, female pastors. It is time to attempt to repair the foundations (Isaiah 58:12). This study deals with church government, and in general, the attitude of Christians towards elder men in the congregation. What many modern churches call “liberty”(2 Peter 2:19), God calls destruction. What many call “contemporary” (Proverbs 24:21, Jeremiah 6:16), God calls rebellion.

Specifically, I will attempt to prove that there are ONLY TWO OFFICES for men to be APPOINTED or ELECTED TO in the local church – pastor and deacons. However, elderly men have an unofficial, though important role to play in the church due to their age and life experience.

Although there have been some exceptions among Baptists, the two offices of pastor and deacon represent the traditional, Baptist model:

“…in Apostolic times, and for many years after, pastors and deacons only were known as permanent church officers.” (Edward T. Hiscox, “The New Directory for Baptist Churches,” 1894)

In, “The Baptist Church in the Lower Mississippi Valley, 1776-1845,” W. E. Posey (1957) writes:

“Baptists preferred the term ‘elder’ to that of a ‘pastor’…and on occasions some churches used the title ‘bishop’ in preference to ‘elder.’ The term ‘ruling elder’ was brought to Kentucky from Virginia by people acquainted with the Presbyterian form of government. There was no place in Baptist polity for this OFFICE, yet it disturbed the churches a great deal.”

There are only two offices in the New Testament. However, there are THREE main SPHERES of authority: There is the chief pastor (i.e. bishop, elder), who manages the whole church (1 Timothy 3:1, 5). Then there are deacons, who take care of business that would otherwise distract or overwork the pastor (1 Timothy 3:8, Acts 6:2). These are the only two offices. Finally, there are elders or presbyters that do NOT hold a technical office, but yet are invested by God with a natural authority to help the pastor shepherd the flock by reason of THEIR AGE:

James 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the ELDERS of THE CHURCH; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

One “bishop” is ordained for each congregation. He rules the church as the presiding officer. The deacons are called to help him as Spirit-filled attendants. All the elder men have a responsibility to set an example, and help shepherd the sheep.

The elder women help specifically in regard to younger women and young children. These aged women do not hold an ordained office of she-elders.

Neither did Phebe hold an ordained office of deaconness. Nevertheless, Phebe had some responsibility delegated to her, and the church had a responsibility to assist her graciously:

Romans 16:1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is A SERVANT of the church which is at Cenchrea:
2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye ASSIST her in whatsoever business she hath need of you:

Elder men naturally, and morally before God, have a place of authority in the church. Phebe served as a sister, but she did not posses an ordained office (any more than the aged women of Titus 2). In the same manner, elder men are to serve as FATHERS. Their eldership is not an ordained office, since EVERY elder man has this responsibility.

This does not deny that there is a place for the whole church to come together and vote. It only maintains that the elder men have a very weighty responsibility and position of honor in the church:

Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become SOUND DOCTRINE:
2 That the AGED MEN be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
3 The aged women LIKEWISE, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, TEACHERS of good things;

The very FIRST thing Paul calls “sound doctrine” is the responsibility of AGED MEN to set an example. He tells Timothy that the time will come when they will not endure “sound doctrine” (2 Tim. 4). It is God’s design that the experience of older men be passed down to the younger, to keep them from repeating the same mistakes. Since the word “likewise” is used for the aged women, it is reasonable to suppose that Paul means that the aged men are also to be teachers of good things. They are not called to prepare a sermon every week (like the ordained bishop), but they ARE called to admonish and exhort the youth, and to exercise a general, pastoral leadership over the flock:

Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ASK THY FATHER, and he will shew thee; THY ELDERS, and they will tell thee.

Acts 18:8 And Crispus, the CHIEF RULER OF THE SYNAGOGUE, believed on the Lord with all his house;

“Every synagogue appears, in the first place, to have possessed one official who exercised a presidency over the others, represented the congregation before the civil authorities, and had a general superintendence of the internal affairs of the congregation [Acts 18:8]…”
(“Imperial Bible Dictionary,” 1887)

Much of the general pattern of the synagogue, in the providence of God, was followed by Christian churches. In a chapter entitled, “Arguments in favor of the early Christians copying in substance, the model of the Jewish synagogues,” David Benedict (“Fifty Years Among the Baptists,” 1860), quotes Vitringa as stating:

“So great was the similarity between the primitive Christian churches and the Jewish synagogues, that by the pagan nations they were mistaken for the same institutions.”

Albert Henry Newman writes:

“As a feature of synagogal organization the ELDERSHIP was too familiar an institution to be considered worthy of remark [in Acts]….The sabbath meetings were presided over by the ‘ruler of the synagogue.’”
(“A Manual of Church History,” American Baptist Pub., 1904)

While the pattern of the synagogue was generally followed, the Christian pastor is called to walk in the humility of Christ, not popish pageantry.

But what if an elder (aged) man is not worthy to exercise any general leadership? We might ask the same question about the aged women who also have a responsibility to lead younger women in Titus 2. And what about wives who are told to obey husbands and ask them about doctrine at home (1 Corinthians 14)? What if the husbands are unworthy? The obvious answer is that these elder men should be EXHORTED to labor in the Word, walk in sobriety, and be diligent in helping the pastor keep watch. Yet, one principle privilege they possess due to their position (by age) as elders, is to not be REBUKED (but only entreated as fathers):

1 Timothy 5:1 Rebuke not AND ELDER, but intreat him as A FATHER; and the YOUNGER MEN as brethren;

This respect for elders is the general, moral law of God throughout the whole Bible:

Job 32:4 Now Elihu had WAITED till Job had spoken, because they were ELDER THAN HE.

Lamentations 4:16 The anger of the LORD hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they FAVOURED NOT THE ELDERS.

Lamentations 5:12 Princes are hanged up by their hand: the FACES OF ELDERS WERE NOT HONOURED.

Leviticus 19:32 Thou shalt RISE UP BEFORE THE HOARY HEAD, and HONOUR THE FACE OF THE OLD MAN, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; HONOUR TO WHOM HONOUR.

This ancient law is written in the conscience of man, and it is confessed by practically every nation throughout history. Notice the general leadership pattern in the Old Testament:

1 Kings 12:6 And king Rehoboam CONSULTED WITH THE OLD MEN, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye ADVISE that I may answer this people?
7 And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.
8 But he forsook the COUNSEL of the old men, which they had given him…

There is evidence that the earliest Christian church fathers, while doctrinally wrong in some of their language, were only trying to defend the Biblical doctrine of authority from the attacks of the Gnostic antinomians:

Clement (30-97 A.D.):

“…let us esteem those who have the rule over us; LET US HONOR THE AGED AMONG US…”
(Clement to the Corinthians)