Order in the Court of the King! (Elders and Order-4)

… besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:28

In the context of ‘false apostles’ and suffering for Christ, Paul mentioned his ‘deep concern for all the churches.’ What did he mean by that?

Who You Gonna Call?

We began this series a couple of years ago with a quote from 1 Corinthians. It concerned ‘divisions’ in the church that were causing some serious problems. The church in Corinth had elder/overseers, as did all the churches Paul founded, but they called on Paul to help them solve these particular problems. Why? Because of Paul’s ‘apostolic authority.’ Jesus gave Paul that authority and even predicted the suffering that would come with it (Acts 9).

As we read Paul’s letters to churches in Corinth, Thessalonica, Colosse, Rome, and Galatia, we see leaders in those churches asking Paul to help them address divisions and doctrinal challenges. The fact that they sought Paul’s help and Paul addressed their needs in his letters and visits has been invaluable to the Church for almost two-thousand years. However, we must not forget that Paul was human. That kind of pressure took a toll on him physically, mentally, and emotionally. I think that’s one reason he mentioned his deep concern for all the churches in the context of how he suffered for the Gospel of Christ.

Because Paul was human, he knew his life and ministry on earth would come to an end. Who would have a deep concern for all the churches after he was gone? He told the elder/overseers from the church in Ephesians that after his departure, “savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” He knew that men from within the church would “rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.” Paul, the prophetic apostle, knew what was coming. Question – who would church leaders call after he was gone?

That’s one reason why Paul wrote to his ministry partners, Timothy and Titus, to ensure that they would communicate the importance of qualifications for elder/overseers in each church. Timothy and Titus weren’t going to live forever. Peter and John weren’t going to live forever. The apostolic period would come to an end and Paul knew that having qualified leaders in every church would be necessary in keeping ‘order in the Church.’ That ‘order’ would have to be based on sound doctrine and the ‘pattern’ Jesus Christ had laid down for His Church.

Training Elders to Face Challenges

Even as Paul’s letters demonstrate how an apostle faced challenges in churches, his letters to Timothy and Titus taught them how to train elder/overseers to do the same. Let’s begin with Timothy.

Timothy

Timothy became part of Paul’s ‘apostolic team’ early in his life. We first learn about Timothy in Acts 16. Timothy traveled with Paul helping establish churches and learning how to serve Christ as a member of Paul’s ‘team’ (e.g. Acts 17; 19; 20; Romans 16; 1 Corinthians 4; 16; 2 Corinthians 1; Philippians 1; 2; Colossians 1; 1 Thessalonians 1; 3; 2 Thessalonians 1; Philemon 1; 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy; Hebrews 13).

As you read through those chapters you’ll see the vital role Timothy played in the life of the early Church. Sometimes he was with Paul; sometimes he was traveling to churches on Paul’s behalf. Paul knew he could trust Timothy. That’s why he wrote Timothy two very important letters; letters inspired by the Holy Spirit and thus part of the Canon of Scripture.

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 1 Timothy 1:3-6

This is an example of leaving Timothy at one church as Paul traveled to other places to either preach the Gospel and establish churches, or visit churches he had already established. Paul wanted Timothy to stay in Ephesus to work with the elder/overseers and church members obey the will of God. Keep in mind that Paul wrote this letter to Timothy several years after warning the Ephesian elders about external and internal attacks on the church, and a few years after writing his letter to the Ephesians.

Paul addressed both doctrine (orthodoxy) and practice (orthopraxy) in his letter to the Ephesians. He addressed many problems that existed in the church at that time, which was several years before his letter to Timothy. The Ephesian elders, who obviously loved and respected Paul (e.g. Acts 20:36-38), would have probably done their best for a time to follow Paul’s direction. I won’t go into the problems Paul addressed in the letter to Ephesus, but you can read it for yourself as you have opportunity. Especially note some of the challenges in the church that Paul addressed in chapters 4 – 6.

Paul ‘urged’ (parakaleó – exhort, encourage, beseech) Timothy to ‘charge’ (paraggelló – warn, command with authority, order, entreat) people in the Ephesian church. This included elders who would ‘teach’ and members who would ‘give heed to’ –

other doctrine (not what the Apostle Paul had taught)
fables
endless genealogies
straying from love from a pure heart
straying from a good conscience
straying from sincere faith
turning aside to idle talk
desiring to be teachers of the law
understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm

Paul also told Timothy that he wanted men in the church to pray ‘without wrath and doubting.’ He wanted women to ‘adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,’ which the apostle wrote, ‘is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.’ Paul wrote that women in the church should ‘learn in silence with all submission.’ Paul did not ‘permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.’ (1 Timothy 2:8-15)

Paul listed the qualifications for elder/overseers in 1 Timothy 3 (along with qualifications for deacons and their wives). Paul also wrote that he wanted Christians to know how they should conduct themselves in the ‘house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’

Paul also told Timothy that a time was coming when –

some will depart from the faith
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons
speaking lies in hypocrisy
having their own conscience seared with a hot iron
forbidding to marry
and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Elder/overseers had their work cut out for them. They would face some very tough challenges in leading, guiding, and protecting their church.

One of the challenges of any church is how members should treat each other. I started my Christian life as a young adult. I am now an old adult. What I’ve seen in almost 55 years as a child of God has shown me how poorly Christians treat each other at times. One of the problems I’ve seen is a disinterest, even disrespect, based on age. That should not be the case in the church. Paul summed up the proper way for people of different ages to treat one another in church situations –

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1-2

If Christians would just do that, so many of the church problems we witness today would disappear.

Paul then went into more depth with Timothy to explain how the church should treat widows and how the church should honor elder/overseers, “especially those especially those who labor in the word and doctrine” (1 Timothy 5:17).

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul addressed those Christians who were ‘bondservants’ (doulos – slaves). Many people were slaves in ancient times. Even though Christ had freed them from spiritual slavery, they were still in physical slavery. Paul told Timothy to tell them this –

Let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed. And those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. Teach and exhort these things. 1 Timothy 6:1-2

Paul told Timothy that if anyone taught otherwise and did not consent to wholesome words, ‘even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness’ –

he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 1 Timothy 6:4-5

Error and greed were another problem elder/overseers would face, which is one reason why some of the qualifications of being an elder were based on holding to sound doctrine and not being greedy.

Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:6-10

Paul went on to tell Timothy how elder/overseers should address those in the church who were ‘rich’ in worldly goods –

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Paul ended his first letter to Timothy with a command to –

Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge— by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. 1 Timothy 6:20-21

That’s good advice for every church leader today. Whatever your position in your church, ‘guard’ (phulassó – protect, watch, preserve by keeping an eye on) what God has placed in your trust. Whether you are an elder/overseer, a youth worker, Sunday School teacher, worship leaders, trustee, usher, etc., keep your eyes open for people causing problems in the church through their ‘profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.

Next Time

We’ll take a look at what Paul told Titus about challenges facing church leaders in the next part of our series, Order in the Court of the King!

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Order in the Court of the King! (Elders and Order-4)