0:23
um which I read and I thought was was well written um for the most part I I agree with the author although I felt like he was a bit too diplomatic uh in dealing with some uh aspects of what I
0:36
would frankly call Fringe evangelicalism um that doesn't sound doesn't sound like evangelicalism will have a fringe but it does it it had
0:47
every every every movement every ISM has has its fringes and there are fringes to to evangelicalism um groups that that
0:58
definitely advocate certain aspects of our life as Believers in the 21st century and in this country uh to to a greater extent than is healthy and one of those fringes
1:11
of course is Christian nationalism which uh this particular author contrasts with patriotism um which something I
1:21
mentioned uh you I have a I have a number of shelves of US history books uh and even though I'm only second generation I'm very patriotic would not
1:33
want to live in any other country not even California even California um we made it through customs pretty well in San Diego
1:48
though um so I'm going to I I have some copies it's called the different shades of Christian nationalism this is kind of where I I tend to you I don't I don't deal well with Shades um I don't think I think I think that
2:02
doesn't exist I don't think it's healthy in any shade or form it is um uh it is a perversion of Jeremiah's admonition from
2:13
The Lord of course to the the uh the Exiles to pray for the city to which the Lord is is taking you well yeah that's that's definitely a principle and in the
2:23
New Testament we're we're to pray for the king you know we're which at that time I think was Nero um you know we're we are are to pray for our leaders and um and we are to be good citizens and I
2:35
do think we have responsibilities and duties and I also think it is Perfectly Natural at least since um the Tower of Babel that we should have an affinity to
2:47
the place of our birth so I don't think that we should be um anarchists I don't think we should be Rebels uh and I don't think we should threaten to move every time a certain
2:59
person is elected president you know I but on the other hand this this stuff that's going on is not healthy it's a false quinia a false god and uh I do I
3:11
do recommend um that you you read the article if there aren't enough copies I'm just going to put them up here at the front table if there aren't enough copies um you can find it online or I I
3:22
can certainly make more copies next week but today I want to talk about uh another aspect of coinonia from Ephesians 4 if you want to turn there
3:33
with me one of those really classic passages on the nature of the congregation now I say the nature of the
3:44
congregation there are those who think that what Paul writes is to the church Universal but Paul never writes to the
3:55
church Universal he writes to churches in particular locations and he writes in such a way that that it's only applicable to churches in a
4:06
particular location what we call congregations to say that it's written to the church Universal is in fact an evasion it's an abstraction that has no
4:16
practical value it's merely a way of saying that okay we agree that that's part of the Christian Life which just not part of this body it's part of the Christian life there are other churches that do
4:27
that we don't do that here because there are other churches that do that that's an abstraction uh and that is absolutely not at least in my opinion uh never was
4:38
in Paul's mind when when he writes I don't think it was in Peter's mind either when he and we'll we'll refer to Peter as well
4:53
um the path that Fellowship Bible Church took 30 years ago over 30 years ago now from the position of a hired senior pastor to the concept of pastoring
5:21
opposition and the main opposition was the main argument of opposition was that the Bible does not teach any particular
5:32
and that is up to the local congregation or the denomination to determine what polity it the church should follow shortly after that I I entered Greenville Presbyterian Theological
5:43
Seminary where Mark also uh graduated and we we heard much the same thing U that there is there is u a
5:54
determination of of how the church is set up that is really left to the church church that that the scriptures don't actually teach any particular
6:05
polity the problem is that the Bible does the New Testament does establish a very distinct polity both in the actions of the
6:16
Apostles and then in the letters of the Apostles and to say that um that the Bible doesn't teach a poity uh it would to say the New
6:28
Testament does not teach a church polity would be like saying that the Old Testament doesn't teach a polity of Israel which is ridiculous okay again
6:38
it's it's an evasion it's a merely a a denial of what the scripture says in order to defend what your church is doing but what I want to say today in
6:49
light of coia and Ephesians 4 is that I have long believed that you cannot have biblical quinia if you do not have biblical
7:01
polity and not just in theory but in practice and that's for both words the coia as well as the polity cannot merely be in your in your
7:12
documents it cannot merely be in your statement of faith it needs to be in your life as a congregation and again everything I say I I firmly believe and
7:24
you may disagree with me um many have but I firmly believe that it is directed to to the congregation the congregation that providentially we are all a part of in
7:36
Christ and I think we all agree that the idea of a Christian not attending a congregation is not biblically
7:46
legitimate I guess there are uh in some places in the world so few Christians I guess that they don't even know each other but that's certainly not the case
7:58
in Greenville South Carolina in fact it's not really the case anywhere in in the Western World in our day um there there's there's a body of Believers that
8:08
God would have you attend and so what we're talking about when we talk about quinia is what what that means and what it looks like we looked at Philippians chapter 2 which
8:19
deals really with the the attitude of individual believer under the rubric or the umbrella of quania is to consider others more important
8:32
than yourselves to have this attitude that we find in Christ Jesus who did not consider himself but rather gave himself up so there's that giving there's the
8:45
other mindedness that um that is everybody's proper attitude toward coia but in Ephesians we see more of the
8:55
structure of it of of what it looks like now I've often pointed out uh verses 13- 16 in in the idea of the every member
9:06
Ministry what every joint and ligament provides but I do think that um what Paul is saying there starting in verse
9:18
13 is firmly predicated on verses 11 and 12 which is the polity of the church that you can't have verses 13
9:30
through 16 without verses 11 and 12 in fact the reason Christ gave the gifts of men was in order that you might have
9:41
what every joint and ligament provides to the growing up of the body into one man okay does that make sense because it's it's very easy to divide the two
9:52
and to say that that it's it's really not important um they're not connected but if you you read it um verse 11 and he gave some as Apostles some as
10:02
prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers and I I've pointed out and Mark's pointed out over the years um that U as we were taught in
10:12
seminary the Granville sharp rule applies here and that is that in instead of Apostles evangelists Apostles evangelists prophets EV um pastors
10:25
teachers you have Apostles prophets evangelists and Pastor teachers that the that the introductory word is is only once before those last
10:37
two nouns which means those last two nouns are themselves a group and and we would go so far to say from the rest of
10:47
scripture New Testament teaching that they are a group of the same men 30 years ago um the elders went on a
10:59
retreat up to Bon Clarken in Flat Rock um to look into what the New Testament had to say about pastoral Ministry and we spent several days
11:11
looking at the scripture and talking and when we came back um there were three words that we find in the New Testament and this is a summary for some of you um
11:37
[Music] and the word poen and you can recognize at least from the first two you can probably recognize Presbyterian from the first one uh from
11:47
the second one we get Episcopal uh which is a church with Bishops and then the third one is actually the word Shepherd um and and it is a verb as well as a
11:58
noun um everywhere the New Testament talks about the leadership Ministry of the local congregation these three words are used
12:10
Acts chapter 20 Titus 1 Timothy 1 Peter 5 and and several other places they're always used of the same group of men who
12:22
are called are called preso so this first word is their title
12:40
the word means elders and it's always plural at least in its usage in the New Testament with regard to the congregation it's always plural this the second word episcopos is it's a combination word uh
12:52
that means to oversee uh this is their function
13:10
and the second word is only ever used as a verb unless it's talking about the Shepherds who watch their flocks by night that's the only time in the New Testament that it's used as a noun except the Good Shepherd which refers of
13:20
course to Jesus Christ but in terms of the preso um who are to oversee the flock it's always called called The Flock um this is what this is
13:31
how they do it okay their function and this is the method to
13:45
Shepherd um in in over 30 years I've never heard or read any reasonable argument against this polity as establishing the New Testament pattern never and and I took
13:58
um Presbyterian polity in seminary um but have also looked at the Anglican polity um it just they're
14:12
all they all contain distinct elements of worldly human government this is the only one that doesn't and furthermore the elders at that time from the uh narrative in Acts
14:24
chapter 20 where Paul is having his last meeting with the Elders of Ephesus is in verse 28 he admonishes them to oversee or to
14:35
Shepherd the flock of God among which God has set you as overseers now those those prepositions
14:45
are are really very very important um and this is where the this is where the rubber met the road and the stuff hit the fan 35 years
14:55
ago okay and that was that the elders came back and and disbanded the Pastoral committee because we felt that scripture teaches that the overseers of the flock
15:08
are themselves part of the flock among which God has set you as overseers not out from someplace else which God has
15:21
set you as overseers but from among the flock God has raised this is exactly what Paul and Barnabas and then Silas when he went around he set Elders in
15:35
each of the churches from among the church he didn't bring a group of men with him now there are Apostolic legats like Titus and Timothy but the
15:46
interesting thing about their job is that they were to inculcate into the local congregation this Poli it was not a pattern that you would
15:57
get somebody from somewhere else in fact one of the Cannons of NAA in ad 325 was to forbid
16:08
Elders from leaving their church and to forbid churches from enticing Elders away from other churches they would be excommunicated according to the Cannons
16:20
of NAA if if your pastor is hired they're always called frankly to a bigger church I've I've never known a pastor called to a small smaller Church unless he retires right and he has his
16:32
pension and everything already set up but the Lord is always calling them which is exactly the corporate world the corporate model but under the Cannons of NAA that person and the church to which
16:43
he goes would all be excommunicated because what they're doing is destroying the biblical polity and by destroying the biblical polity they're destroying the biblical coinonia
17:08
oh no it was I assume no it was as successful as all councils have ever been absolutely I'm only pointing out the the the historical context that would that would create such a
17:19
conclusion was was this understanding that this is the way the church was supposed to be um and and I appreciate you saying that because as we talk about biblical coia and biblical
17:31
polity um we are talking about something that has been one of the the deepest theoretical frustrations for me for over 30 years and that is nobody actually
17:44
believes nobody actually does this even people who agree don't do it okay and that's the 33
17:56
years now that that has been my consistent experience not 100% when I say nobody please don't don't take that
18:07
uh to excess it's it's hyperbola U but for the most part ours our church is no less transient than other
18:19
churches and the idea of coia and the coinonia of the body of Christ the church continues to play
18:30
fifth fiddle I don't know if there is one to the other coas that are in our lives that's that but I can take comfort
18:41
that that has been the reality of every Pastor for 2,000 years you can read it in the Puritan writings you can read it in crisis Dome you know you can read it I I it makes me think of um an episode
18:54
of Horatio of Horatio Hornblower I don't know if any of you are familiar with Horatio Hornblower um the the novels from early 20th century Forester anyhow
19:06
about the aponic wars and and the British Navy and uh Lieutenant Hornblower and Captain pilu and and in one scene Captain pelleu says to Hornblower you have tasted the bitter
19:17
Brew of the life of a captain it makes me think you have tasted the bitter Brew of the life of a pastor it is a bitter brew and there's very um I've often found found over the
19:29
course of time that the sweetener is usually artificial it's but the the problem isn't so much that everybody it's it's not that everybody's rebellious and
19:40
sinning that praise God that hasn't been the problem it has it times there have been that but it's just that what Paul is saying here with such heart in his
19:53
letters we're not getting we're coming up with our own idea ideas and our own plans and this is why I think the link between biblical
20:04
coinonia and biblical polity is is so vital and that's what I want to talk about this morning and and probably next week as well it it it is something that
20:15
is very is very um dear to my heart it's also something that I was planning on talking about three weeks ago if you look at my notes we just haven't gotten there um and that's good
20:28
because the this this this format I think is one of the primary areas where um the joints and ligaments provide what the body
20:38
the body needs but biblical polity is a very difficult um line to walk because you can very easily especially in the modern
20:50
setting you can either go back to the traditional what we call the traditional model of the church where you have the clergy maybe a senior pastor or pastoral
21:01
staff or a priest or or a pope um or you can go to the more democratic model like the anabaptists um where you you you have uh
21:13
essentially no structured leadership in the church and you can kind of defend both of those positions with some of the
21:23
scripture of the New Testament but you cannot defend either of those positions with the full Council of scripture the only one that you can defend is the idea that Paul is laying
21:37
out here in Ephesians 4 and Philippians 2 I want to finish reading this so starting in verse 12 for the equipping of the Saints for the work of
21:48
service to the building up of the body of Christ so there's the connection in verse 12 that the the the function of of the
21:59
elders the pastor teachers uh which by the way uh the the word nascus the teacher is also linked with these the Pres buuoy the elders um
22:13
and it is kind of the manner in which the shepherd is by teaching but as Peter will remind us in 1 Peter 5 also by example so th those
22:25
two uh functions or or uh means of pastoring but verse 12 provides the link between what follows which is the
22:36
description of description of coia and what precedes and that is the gift of Pastor teachers to the church all right so reading in verse 13 until we all attain to the unity of
22:49
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ now that Echoes
23:01
Philippians 2 where Paul says have this attitude in yourselves which what you found in Christ Jesus as a result we are no longer to be children tossed here and
23:12
there by waves and carried about by every wind of Doctrine by by the trickery of men by craftiness and deceitful scheming well that's one of the things
23:22
this article is is cautioning against that there is actually a great deal of trickery and scheming and craftiness sadly even within professing
23:36
Christianity now Paul tells us that the Devil Himself masquerades as an angel of Light and we are not aware unaware of his schemes so we ought not be surprised
23:48
that even within the church again going back to Ephesus and acts chap 20 the same town that this letter was written to Paul says take care for yourselves
23:59
and for the flock for I know that upon my departure wolves will come in among you okay so first we have the elders who are chosen from among the flock but then
24:10
we have wolves among the elders so there there is great danger and that has not changed and I think that the defense
24:20
against that danger is both biblical coia and biblical polity and both in practice and not only in theory so he says but speaking the truth in love we
24:31
are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint
24:44
supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love that's biblical coinonia
25:01
having this attitude which was in Christ Jesus being built up by what every joint supplies that's biblical quinia the function of the elders is to
25:12
equip all y'all including ourselves to do this so what I want to talk about in
25:37
and what what is the dynamic of biblical polity in the setting or the context of biblical quinia biblical quinia biblical Community having already talked about my
25:48
belief I think from Paul pretty directly that the Church of Jesus Christ is a new creation community and that every con congregation is itself a new creation
26:07
Community it is never been an easy thing to do I don't want to blame it on the 21st century modernism I don't want to blame it on the transient nature of of Our Lives that that they're all true but
26:18
you can read the letters to the Corinthians to see that it it wasn't working there either in the first century okay so there's there's always a
26:29
tremendous of Temptations and opposition to biblical quinia mainly because we walk by sight and not by
26:39
faith we we walk by our appetite Paul says there're their God is their belly we walk by our insecurity and our fears and our anxieties rather
26:50
than by faith and because of that we don't really hear what the holy spirit is saying concerning this entity this new creation that is manifested in the
27:03
church and so the church simply becomes as we talked about uh and Aon I think you agreed as far as the list of priorities that's that's how our minds have been led to think now that God is
27:14
our top priority and then you know we have these other things and that whole Paradigm is what's wrong he is our all and all and he never there's never a place
27:25
in the scripture where Paul says now this is your first priority and this is your second and give two hours to this and one hour to that and 15 minutes no that's modern time management is what it
28:22
mogn oh yes U that that I appreciate live oh yeah yeah and I think we we touched upon this a couple weeks ago I appreciate you saying that because there is um it is to me it is analogous to the
28:34
godhead obviously we we teach we believe that there is there is essential equality among the three persons of the godhead that neither neither of the
28:44
persons of the godhead are more God than the others and that same equality exists uh in between men and women that there is no ontological no essential
28:55
difference between a man and a woman but with the godhead there is a structural hierarchy as with a marriage there is a structural hierarchy and also as in a
29:06
church there is a structural hierarchy that that yes to be an to become an elder is to take a that's one passage and the other one that I was going to turn to is Hebrews
29:23
13 it is to take a position of higher responsibility and one for which you will give a higher account uh Hebrews 13:1
29:39
17 so I I don't want to be misunderstood I absolutely do not believe that every believer and certainly I I do not believe that women should be Elders in the church but I also do not believe that every man
29:50
should even aspire to be an elder Paul makes a distinction about those who aspire to be elders and and James then gives the warning that let it not be many of you uh so I don't think it's
30:02
something that we should um necessarily encourage in others but rather recognize it in others okay to encourage it in
30:13
others risks the possibility of raising someone up someone up illegitimately that's that's very dangerous and I don't I I hope that that the elders have have never you know
30:25
encouraged anyone it's really more our responsibility to be overseeing to be looking over the flock to recognize those upon whom God has placed
31:04
no uh he will incur the Judgment of what the Deeds have done in the flesh yes um but the scripture both in the Psalms and in in uh 1 Corinthians um 7 uh make it very clear that that we cannot save the
31:15
soul of soul of another uh yeah we it's very much analogous but I and I agree with you it is very much analogous the father um but but there is the big
31:27
difference and that is there's no place where the father is said to be called to a higher judgment for the shepherding of his children's Soul he would be called to the Judgment as a father it's also um
31:39
as I said I I don't encourage men to become elders but I do encourage men to become fathers okay there there's no such statement as as Hebrews 13:17 with
31:50
regard to a father that is not to diminish the importance of the father is merely to describe the difference the there is an analogy there absolutely the the husband and wife the parents and
32:01
children that you know that's that's all analogous the the structure of the godhead is mirrored in several structures what I'm trying to Define is the structure of the church which
32:14
actually transcends the family keeping in mind as Jesus said in the Kingdom that that we're neither married nor given in marriage that that whole that whole institution that was created at creation
32:27
will will somehow not be in the new Earth when it is consummated okay now I don't think there'll be I don't know I don't think there'll be Elders either
32:37
but um there's no indication that there will be but let me let me read this verse before um I I call it Aaron
32:47
um obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls that's episcopos okay they keep watch over your souls
32:59
as those who will give an account let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you
34:24
are raising them up as fellows the the calling is apparent is a vocation we've talked about identity and vocation calling as an elder is a different vocation um and what what I'm trying to
34:36
say is while there's an analogy between the father and the uh the pastor um it's not to the point that I think the F the pastor should be called father I I do not think that at all um
34:49
but the the main difference is that the the father and the mother if if God is gracious their children will become their
35:00
Brethren their brother and sister in the Lord um that's that's not even the desire of the Elder that that all of the
35:11
flock become Shepherds that's not biblical it's not helpful um so I think there are a lot of similarities but that
35:21
the the main difference is in the in the community of the church which frankly I do think do think is not just one of a list of priorities
35:32
in the life of a Believer but is it's the it's the environment in which Faith grows uh and it's the environment in which Faith grows
35:43
regardless of the context or condition of the family and there are many who have experienced the an unbelieving family you know whose whose life was in
37:31
well uh clericalism is uh actually it's in my notes to to talk about that it'll probably be next week but um that that is a that is a danger and it's a danger that that Mark and I um face all the
37:49
um it it is not our place to tell anybody how to live their life in the particulars but only in the general aspect of ACC according to the honor and admonition of the Lord according to the
38:08
word it seems to me that in a church like ours where the elders are honored I I don't want to be misunderstood into saying that we're not we're not honored and we're Dishonored I mean frankly
38:19
we've got Mother's Day we've got Father's Day now we have National Pastor appreciation day so um we got what we need you know we got that day so the government has given us that that honor
38:30
no I I don't I mean there the the analogy goes even further because you do you have children who don't honor their parents you have
38:40
children who don't walk in the path that their parents example and teach you have that in the church as well you have believers who who don't walk in the Council of the elders
39:47
resp teacher leader of church so because I person didn't know oh know oh yes never being sa Christ said must
40:00
be right and and that the that's the what what um arel was referring to uh you know let not many of you become teachers there's that stricter judgment
40:11
there's a judgment that that Mark and I and and Elders in the church face it is for what we've taught but also for how we've pastored so Peter says um in First
40:23
Peter 5 he calls himself a fellow Pastor a fellow Elder fellow presbuteros okay he doesn't call himself as your pope you know he says as a fellow Elder but he says not lording it over that's
40:36
clericalism okay we have no Authority in the sense of of of of your souls and yet we do have authority under God over the
40:48
flock we we have absolute definite biblical Authority and that should not I think that's what Thessalonians and Hebrews is saying y'all shouldn't take that
40:59
lightly really I mean it's not going to go well for you it's like again going back to the analogy that if if children uh honor your father and mother Ephesians 5 that it might go well with
41:11
you upon the Earth right now in the Old Testament if a child was rebellious toward its parents what was the solution timeout chair timeout chair right wooden
41:22
right wooden spoon no I don't know how many how many times it actually happened but they were to be taken outside the city GES and stoned to
41:40
death no matter what it was the decision was disobeyed by either of it became right right and I think that illustrates usw that to to have
41:56
bled Authority that God has set up over us to do that at all is to lose already have to be under under the law
42:06
so to be under the rule I have to do the I have to yeah You' lost already right you've lost already I thank you for that point that is not the point that's lording it over he says not lording it
42:16
over but as examples and I found that that over the course of three decades and especially within reformed churches especially what the people look for in their Pastor is
42:29
good Biblical good Biblical teaching and I do find that for the most part the people who come to me come to me with Biblical or theological
42:41
questions very rarely with questions about how to live their life or the next major life decision and I'm going to use an example without
42:53
names um but the the announcement um that that we received that and it was phrased this way after much prayer and
43:04
counsel the matter had never been brought before the elders and yet the person felt perfectly at ease with the idea that
43:15
they had sought counsel and that's mainly because the primary consideration of the function of Elders is Elders is this and I think many people who've come
43:27
come to a church-like Fellowship Bible Church and we're not the only ones one of the most refreshing things is the fact that the Bible's actually being taught and people are being encouraged to be in the word and to let the word
43:40
shed light upon the word and all the full counsil and that is absolutely vital but is that it is that the only function is that the only thing for which that's James let
43:53
not many of you become teacher but I don't think that's Hebrews where we will be called to account for the shepherding of your souls I I think the the idea of Peter in
44:05
his letter is that the elders lives should be such that you can follow them and and do and I was so blessed and I don't hear a whole lot of this but but a
44:17
few weeks few weeks ago um someone said uh one of the things I've learned at Fellowship over the years and then went on to describe
44:28
just just something that was that they brought joy to my heart uh in terms of of their particular situation it it is that that's why it's it's not just
44:39
teaching when when we're equipping not just teaching okay so even that passage in Thessalonians that that Abigail referred to um there is one last Clause it says
44:52
you know that that you esteem them high very highly in love because of their work and then he says live in peace with one another see there's that coia again
45:03
right there uh attached to the idea of polity is coia and if we're not if we're not adhering
45:15
to biblical polity then we cannot hope for biblical quinia well we we need to close so let's close in prayer and Lord willing will'll pick this discussion up again next week father we do thank you
45:27
for your word and ask that you would plant it deeply within our minds and our hearts that it might grow and and produce a harvest of righteousness For
45:38
Your Glory and for our good we do pray that you would knit our hearts together that we would indeed begin to understand and and to live the coia of which your
45:49
word speaks we pray that we would have wisdom to avoid the Temptations and the errors and the struggles that we all face in this world that we would walk by faith
46:01
and not by sight we ask that you would guide us by your spirit For Your Glory we ask in Jesus name amen
