Among SBC, worship in Spirit and truth is our focus. That is, Trinitarian worship that focuses on the Spirit presented Christ who shows us the Father. Over the past two Lord’s Supper Sundays we’ve been listing what that looks like in detail. Remember, this isn’t what we’re doing but what we aspire to do:
- Sundays are special.
- Teaching and preaching that simply unfolds the text.
- The Sunday worship service is the high point of the church’s week.
- We’re after loud singing with music that is true and that the congregation can get behind
- We’ll continue in prayer
- We’ll work hard at transferring the faith to children, teens, and young adults.
- We will be deliberate about one-one-one or small group mentoring for those new to the faith.
- We are constantly thinking in terms of teaching teachers – training people into speaking the word to one another
- We want to take decided steps toward evangelizing non-Christians. Including placing a surprising, almost unreasonable priority on financially supporting gospel partners who work outside this local church.
I thought we’d conclude this mini-series called “Church Aspirations” today, but instead we have “Church Aspirations, Pt 3”
We aspire to a church that has a culture of soft accountability. A lot of this involves the work of pastors-elders-bishops. Let the Spirit explain by turning to Acts 20.
In Acts 20, for at least a day Paul rejoins the elders of the Ephesian church with whom he had served for a couple years. One of the goals of their meeting is for Paul to remind them what good ministry looks like, and he does that by reminding them how he had trained them, what he had taught them, how he lived among them during those years.
Before we get into the main point, I want to glance at v.28 in anticipation of our next mini-series on Lord’s Supper Sundays. Remember, Paul is meeting with the elders of the Ephesian church, and he advises them in their ministry to:
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
The way these elders will work effectively is by attending to their own character and habits for the good of the church. A large part of leading God’s church will consist in having solid character. But notice: Paul reminds these elders that the Holy Spirit has made them overseers of the church…the word for overseer is episkopos or bishop. A bishop’s job is to pay attention for the sake of the church. But did you notice: Elders are bishops – two nouns describing two roles held by one man. Is that clear to you?
Then Paul directs these elders/bishops – care for the church of God. Well, the Greek word for care is ποιμαίνω, the verb translated as to shepherd. So, shepherd the church of God. In fact, that’s how the NIV renders this sentence. Well, what’s another word for shepherd? PASTOR. So, PASTOR the church of God. The elder-bishop is to pastor. The elder is to bishop/ oversee. The overseer is to pastor. The pastors are elders and are bishop/overseers. When a church votes on a pastor they are in the same move voting on an overseer and on an elder.
And one final observation: at least in the Ephesians church there were a plurality of elders-pastors-overseers. Does all this make sense?
After that little side-trail, let’s pick up in the middle of v. 18:
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ…
Paul divides his ministry to the Ephesian church – which was focused on teaching – into two spheres: 1) teaching you in public; and 2) from house to house. The pastor-elder has a ministry to the gathered church from the pulpit/ lectern. And he has a ministry of teaching in private settings: in a living room, in a coffee shop, on the back patio.
In the 17th century in England was a pastor called Richard Baxter. His church in Kidderminster where he spent 17 years was a large one – probably at least 1000 souls. Pastor-Elder-Bishop Baxter was a believer in a strong public pulpit ministry. In fact, he wrote a poem about preaching that contained these lines well known to clergy even today:
I preach’d, as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men!
But it was his ministry into the homes of his congregants for which he is mainly remembered. He would take two full days a week and try to visit 7-8 homes each day. His visits to these houses wasn’t to comment on the wallpaper or on the number of chickens or show the church that he was just a regular guy… but to check up on his flock’s understanding of the gospel and their religious practices, review a few lines of the catechism, pray with them, and leave them with the blessing of God. I’ve read that by the time he left that church almost the entire town was converted.
We are committed to in-home elder visits here, though I had to add the word “starting” – we are committed to starting in-home elder visits at SBC. I had hoped to start this year…but won’t get to it until 2027. It’s a practice I started about ten years into our work in Newton, and we continued even throughout COVID. During COVID I told people we could meet anywhere they’d like, they could wear any number of masks they want, they could request me wear any number of masks or none at all…but these meetings were important enough not to discontinue.
These private pastoral visits are immensely helpful in discovering how people are thinking and making any necessary corrections. You cut off problems before they become large. The private teaching serves the public teaching ministry in that through visiting the preacher understands details of what people are passing through and can deliver more pointed applications in his sermons. The pastor is supposed to know the state of his flock and everyone feels better when there is a process in place for this.
The specific process we had in Newton is basically what I want to continue here. People would sign up online to be visited. No one had to sign up though folks were encouraged. Elder visits last 1.5 hours. The pastor doesn’t come in with intimidating questions like: how is the state of your soul? But rather: a) what’s going well in your home? b) where are the struggles? c) is your bible reading plan working well? d) in your spiritual habits/ disciplines, where could you use help? e) is there any way to fit more comfortably/efficiently into the Body? f) what specifically can I pray for?
These conversations can take place anywhere, but I think are especially effective taking Paul literally: from house to house. There’s something really healthy about sitting in one’s own home with your pastor/elder/overseer discussing practically the life in Christ.
As I said I have plenty of experience in these pastoral visits and they are overwhelmingly positive. When I first began, I would regularly come home and say to Tonia, I can’t believe I waited so long to do this. The 1.5 hours flew by and I don’t recall us ever getting through all six questions. I’ve got vivid, holy memories of sitting around the Colledges’ living room, sitting in my office with Whitney Cummings during COVID, sitting outside with old Bill and Lorraine Murphy next to their pool, on the Felters big L-shaped couch….
Imagine the strengthening and clarifying and gladdening gift of pastor-elder-bishop and congregant family spending 1.5 hours together once or twice/year discussing the life in Christ in detail. This shouldn’t sound strange to our ears. The Good Shepherd says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them…. In saying this he sets a pattern for all under-shepherds.
For better or for worse, I don’t recall any hard conversations during these house-to-house visits. Those pastor visits are almost entirely eminently pleasant and fun…really! However, Church, I want you to buy into the idea that your pastor-elder-bishops are NOT SUPPOSED TO BE agreeable men with an easy laugh always proffering atta-boys and claps on the shoulder, always nodding approvingly when you state your opinions about things, always offering over-the-top thank yous for whatever contribution you make to the Body.
Rather, following Paul, the overseer-elder-pastor should not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, even if the words he speaks are hard to hear, words that {gasp} expose you as a fallen human capable of mistakes and intentional transgressions.
The elder-bishop-pastor should sometimes be sounding a note of correction in your ear. The elder-bishop-pastor should sometimes be sounding a note of correction in your ear. The elder-bishop-pastor should sometimes be sounding a note of correction in your ear.
Paul tells Titus that he is to appoint elders who must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Further down in his letter he tells Titus to declare these things [about what sort of good works we’re supposed to do in light of the gift of Jesus Christ]; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
Just a little later in this brief letter: The saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things…. And then, As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him…
In this little letter Paul stresses the need for hierarchy and authority within the church, but not just authority in name but authority that is being exerted.
The teacher of the Word of God, Paul says to Timothy, needs to realize that all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction…
There is a way for a pastor-elder-bishop to correct, Paul reminds Timothy: And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
But you can’t miss the emphasis in these letters to church leaders about church leadership:
Teach and urge these things….Command and teach these things…Put these things before the brothers and sisters…Command these things…
There’s an elder elder in my life, and when I talk with him I’m impressed by how closely he listens and also how ready he is to not agree or not fully agree and to correct the way I’m thinking. He’ll quibble with little things. Even when I get on my soapbox and vigorously state an opinion, instead of being bedazzled into silence, he’ll listen carefully and then push back on certain points. But he doesn’t speak out of temper, even as he is plainly disagreeing and correcting.
I and you want this voice in (y)our life. You don’t want to get too old, too spiritually mature, too professionally accomplished that you think you’re beyond the correcting voice of elder-pastor-shepherds. No, think of them as they are: they are the resurrected, victorious Christ’s gift to you, and one of the means by which Christ overcomes the devil in your opinions and habits and heart.
We aspire to be a church where elders-bishop-pastors in public and private teaching are not shrinking from regularly, gently correcting congregants on the basis of the word of God. You know that in various classes when someone says something that’s off I’ll push back. I do this so regularly that now most people answer questions or make comments with a preface like, this is probably wrong… (!) But that’s ok. The norm is correction. And the norm should be that rather constant correction is taken without any fur standing up on anyone’s spine. But rather, oh, yeah, this is how things work. Who wants a coach who just stands by and watches you eat your donut and bend your back while doing dead lifts?
It is an elder’s responsibility to work on knowing each soul under his care. It is a congregant’s responsibility to make his work easy. Thank Christ for the gift of texting where in 60 seconds you can fire off a “have a tough conversation in front of me today; please pray.” Or, “applying for a new job.” Or, “my son is giving me grief.” Keep elders posted, and this doesn’t have to be an involved conversation. Thank Christ also for the gift of the thumbs up emoji. The elder can just do that and that’s good touching base stuff.
One thing that the history of God and Israel spotlights is the propensity for poor leadership. The prophet Ezekiel especially focused on this, the abysmal shepherds of Israel. Jesus comes along and says, I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
Then Jesus did lay down his life for his sheep. Then he rose again. Then from the right hand of God he established the elder-bishop-pastor and gave them to the church. Through them Christ will guide his sheep. These elders-bishops-pastors aren’t perfect but, then again, Christ holds the in the palm of his hand. He is particularly active in them not for their own sake but for the sake of the Church.
It would be foolish for you to attempt the Christian life with a marginal, distant relationship – or none at all – to Christ’s gift of pastor-elder-overseer.
When Christ is ruling in your life in the way that he set up that rule…when you are under the soft accountability of an elder and the elder is diligently watching over your soul – which is not the same as being a helicopter pastor or any kind of micromanager, then the last words of David, the Shepherds of Israel are fulfilled:
When one rule justly over men, ruling in the fear of God/ [God] dawns on the like the morning light/ like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning/ like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.
Pray daily for your elders-bishops-pastors because they are a chief conduit of Christ’s blessed rule into you and your generations. Pray that they’ll be protected from the evil one – their frame is but dust. Pray that we’ll do our work with joy and not with groaning, for groaning would be no advantage to you. Pray that we’ll be given insight into the text, into the world, into yourselves. Pray for integrity and humbleness. Pray that they’ll have an elder relationship too.
Elder congregant soft accountability – this is the way forward. This is the path of righteousness upon which the Good Shepherd is leading us.
AMEN.
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