Notes of an Address at Catford 1978
The Humble Service of the Lord Jesus Christ
“And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so; but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth” (Luke 22:24-27)
“And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee” (Luke 14:7-11)
“Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” (Luke 18:17)
In His ministry the Lord Jesus prepared the hearts of His chosen few, the twelve, for the service they would render after He had gone back to glory. One of the great features of teaching that He put before them so often was humility and we can well understand the need of it. They were going to represent Him and were to be endowed with a great deal of authority to do things in His name, and so this matter of humility was a most important one. The Lord Jesus well knew the frailty of the human heart, the corruption of the fallen nature, and the tendency of man always to exalt Himself at the expense of others, so any feature of haughty arrogance being expressed in the disciples or in their ministry would have nullified the teaching that they were going to continue and to present with force in the power of the Holy Spirit. So we can well see the necessity for this form of teaching.
When His disciples argued over who was to be the greatest, the Lord said, “I am among you as he that serveth”. In considering the Lord at the right hand of God we see something of the wonderful glory of the Son of God, and we must always have this in our minds when we think of Him expressing Himself as one who was among them serving as a humble man, seeking to help, to encourage and to bless them in the attitude of humility, grace and lowliness.
What a powerful testimony it was. The children could flock to Him, so too the adulterous, the needy and the helpless, and they all found in Him a ready answer of blessing, kindness, forgiveness and cheer. There was nothing in Jesus that repelled people, but rather something that drew them to Him. Oh, the power of attraction of the glorious humble man as He was here for God! This is the kind of attitude that He sought to instil into His apostles. He once said to them, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:55) when they wanted to call down fire from heaven in judgment against the village that had refused the service and Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, and again, He instilled this into them ‘Be humble, be lowly, be like Me’, as for example we see in John 13.
In Luke 22 there were those who were wanting to be foremost. This is the attitude of fallen nature, always wanting the foremost place. And before we criticise the apostles, we must look into our own hearts because there we see the very seeds of this hateful attitude of wanting to be the first, of having the pre-eminence, when in the Christian circle there is only one Man who is entitled to pre-eminence, “In all things He must have the pre-eminence” (Col. 1:18). So the Lord Jesus, very humbly and very quietly, corrects His disciples, those who were seeking to be the greatest. He did this by presenting Himself as the One who serves. The inference is plain, ‘If I am so great and glorious and powerful, and yet I can take a place amongst you as a humble servant, what ought your attitude to be towards one another?’ We would say, what a gracious, chiding word it was, calculated to set them right and to destroy this desire for pre-eminence.
In John 13 we have a beautiful picture. The early verses tell us of the One, the Son of God, who came from God, and who went back to God; the One who ever was with the Father before time began, who left that place and came into the world, and coming into the world accomplished His mission, and then went back to the Father. Strictly speaking it says He returned to God in John 13, but what I have said can be amply proved from other Scriptures. “I came forth from the Father … I go to the Father” (John 16:28). It is in this context that the Lord divests Himself of His outer clothing, takes up the towel, and bending down with a basin of water washes the feet of His disciples (John 13:4-5). This is the action of a servant doing the most menial tasks. Now He says “Do you really understand what I have done?” He says ‘If I have washed your feet, you ought to do the same for each other. Get down, do not be proud, do not be looking for some service to be rendered to you, I have left you an example that you should follow’. Dear brethren, what a wonderful example! If it was so for the disciples, how much more in relation to ourselves in our day. How we need to be marked by this spirit of humility towards each other and in relation to any service that we perform amongst the people of God.
The Humble Service of Saints in the Church
“Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.” (Phil. 1:1)
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Pet. 5:1-6)
I have said this by way of introduction to what is really upon my heart. Quite recently I was privileged to give some talks on the assembly, and after one of them a young brother wrote to me and said that he felt the Lord was speaking to him, that what I had said was the truth of Scripture. He said this destroyed a notion that was in his mind, what he called ‘the hierarchy that exists amongst the people of God’. And he asked if I would help him in a particular way with terms mentioned in Scripture, bishops, deacons, elders and ministers. Well that was quite a task, but we searched out the Scriptures and wrote him the letter, and I feel I want to speak now of what I wrote to the young man. We must not enquire what we have or have not got, or what other people have or have not, but instead we must ask what does the Bible say about the various forms of service? Now you will see why I have spoken about the humility of the Lord’s ministry to His own, because in the ordinary usage of these terms we can find things that are anything but humble, which are really a denial of the Lord’s ministry of humility. With these usages we will have nothing to do this evening; we want to see what Scripture says about these various positions of service.
What is an Elder?
Bishops, elders and overseers as far as Scripture is concerned belong to the same person, not to different persons holding different positions amongst the saints of God. Now having said that I have got to prove it. Let us consider Acts 20:17, “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church”. There is a very definite statement. Paul called the elders of the church. Now in verse 28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers”. He is speaking to the elders and is saying the Holy Spirit has made them overseers to feed the church of God. The first point to be settled by Scripture is that elders and overseers are one and the same person. Now in Philippians 1:1 Paul addresses himself to “bishops”. The Greek word which is translated “bishop” is the same Greek word that is translated “overseer” in Acts 20:28. I have proved my point that elders, overseers and bishops are synonymous terms for the same person engaged in some particular form of Christian service. That there is a difference between elders and bishops in their function in the character of service we shall see in a moment.
It is always good to get further evidence, so let us also consider Titus 1:5, “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee”. Then Paul goes on to explain some of the characteristics that should be seen in an elder and he says in verse 7, “For a bishop must be blameless …”. He is talking about the same service, the same persons who were to render the services. So again, we see that in Titus elders and bishops are the same person. Lastly, we turn again to 1 Peter 5:1-2, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder … taking the oversight thereof”. Now we have the noun in Acts 20, the overseers, here we have the verb “the oversight”, the work that they are doing, so here again we see Scriptural confirmation that elders and overseers are the same person. I hope that is sufficient to indicate the Scriptural basis for these three designations and also to show that they are in one and the same person.
Now let us consider the names themselves. The term elder is often used in the Old Testament and indicates those who ruled amongst the people of God, guiding, helping and ruling. They did not rule in a despotic way or an arbitrary way, but they simply saw that people were doing what the word of God said. It was not that they had power to enforce sanctions or punishment, but they were to see that the people of God followed in the way that God desired for them to go. When we come to the Gospels we find that those very rulers who should have been standing for the word of God were among the most inveterate haters of Christ. How often the rulers of the people stirred up enmity against the Son of God. But when we come over to Paul’s epistles, we find this term “rulers” or “leaders” is connected with this idea of elders. Now the term itself is often used in connection with age, simply to indicate that one is older than another, this is perfectly obvious, but amongst the people of God it indicates persons of maturity. Paul says distinctively concerning elders that they were not to be a novice (1 Tim. 3:6), rather mature persons able to handle the things of God for the benefit of the people of God. We will see some of their responsibilities, but we must keep in mind that an elder is a mature person, not necessarily just because he is of an advanced age, but he is mature in experience and in the things of God.
The term overseer (or bishop) explains itself, it means persons who look over, or oversee the flock of God to see what is necessary. When a shepherd goes out into the field to look at his flock, he is not thinking about how he is going to impress them with his power or authority, he is looking anxiously to see if there are features of need in the flock. Some of them may be injured, perhaps some of them need some care, some wound that has to be bound up, and he counts the flock to make sure they are all there, and if there are some missing he goes and looks for them, and he protects them from danger. He is overseeing his flock, looking for the signs of need there so that he can meet it because he has all the ability and knowledge to care for the flock. It is no good me going to look after a flock of sheep. I do not know the first thing about sheep. A shepherd is one who knows what he is doing, otherwise the flock is going to be seriously affected. So an overseer is a man who must know what he is about in a spiritual sense, in caring for the flock of God. We will see more of this later.
So we have the two terms, elder, being a mature spiritual person, able to handle the things of God correctly, and an overseer, looking over the flock that he might see the things that require attention and provide that attention for the benefit of all concerned.
The Necessity of the Elders
Dear brethren, over many years there has been much declension amongst the people of God. Much of it would have been spared if we had brothers of mature spiritual calibre, who had the well-being of the flock of God at heart, and who were of sufficient spiritual status to provide the influence that was necessary to meet the problems that arose. What a necessity it is amongst the various companies of the saints for this kind of person, a mature godly exercised person who really cares for the flock of God. The door is wide open for persons to take up this service. We shall now see how this comes about.
How does one become an Elder?
How did the elders find themselves in this position in the early church? We find there are three answers. First of all, there was apostolic appointment, not only Titus 1:5 where Paul sent Titus as his delegate to go to the island of Crete and to appoint what was lacking, but also in Acts 14:23 we find Barnabas and Paul similarly engaged, appointing elders. Secondly, in Acts 20:28, the Holy Spirit set them as overseers in the assembly at Ephesus. Thirdly in 1 Timothy 3:1 the person himself was deeply exercised to perform this service. In speaking on 1 Timothy 3 I want to point out that in the Authorised version the verse reads “If any man desires the office of a bishop …”, but I understand from good authority that there is no such word in the Greek that indicates that it is an office. This clearly destroys any idea that there is an office in this position of a bishop. Mr Darby’s translation gives a better rendering “If any man aspires to the work of oversight …”. This involves labour, exercise and concern. In 1 Timothy 3 therefore the onus is upon the person himself in his desire to perform this work.
We are not living in the apostolic days, we are living in the close of the church period. Is there anything in the world today that corresponds with apostolic authority? Is there any central body of believers which has this power by apostolic succession? In spite of all the claims that are made to this end, we would say there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that ever such a thing was contemplated as apostolic succession. Yes, we have a succession in 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul says to Timothy “The thing thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also”, and so the truth is maintained, but it is the truth that has a succession, not the apostolic position. Apostles are gone forever. That we have the apostles’ fellowship is true, because that involves the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, but not apostolic succession. Therefore we have no body of men that we can turn to and ask for an indication of which people are to be appointed as elders in the various assemblies. This does not exist.
However, the other two things exist—the personal exercise of the believer in relation to the work involved, and the setting of the Holy Spirit in the assemblies where the need is greatest. These two things continue, and will continue, right to the end. It may be that many of us have wasted our time to such an extent that there is no longer the opportunity for us to qualify for this position amongst the saints of God, there is no time for us to reach the maturity and spiritual status that is necessary for the fulfilment of this work. We can all ask our hearts if this is so or not, but there are young people here, and if the Lord does not come, the maintenance of the things that we trust in, that we believe in, and that we value will rest very squarely upon your shoulders. We do not want to return to the things we have given up. We do not want to give up truth that we have been taught, that has been secured at such cost and suffering. We want it maintained, so upon your shoulders will rest the maintenance of the truth as it has been delivered to us. We want you young people to be concerned to be men and women of spiritual maturity, and to be exercised, to apply yourself with diligence to the things of the Lord, not only in the acquisition of knowledge, but in the practice of the truth in your lives, that you may be men and women of influence among the saints of God. There is a crying necessity for such, because, if the Lord does not come, young people will come along to the meetings and you will be responsible to care for them and teach them, and if you do not know the truth you will not be of any use to them, and if you do not practise the truth you know, you will not be an example to them, so upon your shoulders, dear young people, lies very heavily this burden. The sooner you apply yourself to it, the better. So this personal exercise is a very important thing.
I must now leave it to the Holy Spirit to place us where our worth and influence will be best used. He knows best. The Holy Spirit knew in Ephesus that these particular people were necessary and so He set them there. It is very interesting to see that this service is connected with all the Persons of the Godhead. We have quoted Acts 20:28 where the Holy Spirit set them as overseers. In Titus they are referred to as God’s stewards, responsible to God Himself as to the exercise of this service, and the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as “the Bishop”, He is ‘the Chief Bishop’ or ‘Overseer’, under whom all the rest operate and serve Him and His beloved people. So you can see it is an exalted service. It has to do with God, it has to do with the Lord, and has to do with the Holy Spirit. It is a very important function.
The Humility Needed of an Elder
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed …” (1 Pet. 5:1)
Now you will see the importance of what I said at the beginning about the attitude of humility. Naturally, if you give a man a position it is not very long before he goes a step further that the position warrants, he begins to think highly of himself. He is somebody important, people look up to him, ask his advice and want him to do things, so the position grows in his mind until he thinks of himself as above the rest, and this has been the way that what we call the clericy and the laity has developed. Indeed, church history tells us so. Instead of this attitude of humility, there is this idea of pre-eminence, and a desire to be something. Oh, the need for humility in the exercise of this service amongst the people of God! We are not saying for a moment that there are not humble people who bear the title of bishop or deacon or elder, according to the knowledge they have and in the firm belief that they are doing right, but we are occupied with what the Scripture says, and we seek to take our bearings from that.
Peter, the ‘First Apostle’, the ‘main person’, the ‘rock upon whom the church is built’, the ‘first pope’—does this Scriptures indicate this? Is not Peter instead saying, ‘I am one among many. I am not above many, I am an elder, just as you are, and I want you to perform your service in this particular way that the Scriptures indicate’. Oh, dear brethren, what an evidence of the Lord’s ministry to Peter being appropriated. There was a time when he did think himself the foremost, saying, ‘All the others might forsake you Lord, but I will never do it. I will be faithful right to the end, no matter what the others do’ (Luke 22:33), but how soon he found to his bitter experience that he was just like the rest. But now he says, ‘I am not the foremost at all, I am only one amongst many others who are doing this important service.’ Indeed, if you look at the Scriptures where the ordination of elders is mentioned, it is always in the plural, and never in the singular. Take, for example, elders being ordained in a gathering of 100 people, we might say, for example, there were 6 elders. Does that tie up with the present usage of the word? Six bishops for 100 people? This is the kind of thing that Scripture presents. And they are not one above many, but they are all working together, helping to forward the things of the Lord.
The second phrase is extremely important, “who am a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed”. Oh, the experience that Peter had in his soul! The experience of walking with the Lord and seeing all the sufferings that He endured in His pathway of reproach and opposition. After the cross he must have became aware of those atoning sufferings on the cross, not that he saw them, but he would realise something of what they meant. He knew that for the Lord there was suffering first, then the glory, the place at the right hand of God. ‘Now,’ Peter says to the elders, ‘I have experienced this. I have seen the suffering of the Lord. I have shared in it also, but I am very thankful that at the end, there is glory. I was on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord and saw a little picture of the coming glory.’ And if you read Matthew 16-17 you will find that when the Lord announces the church to be built upon His Person, in between that and the Mount of Transfiguration (a picture of the glory), the Lord lays down the principles of discipleship; the suffering, the sacrifice and the reproach that would be involved in following Christ. Now Peter says, ‘This is the kind of thing we elders can expect. We are not going to receive adulation, or prominence, we are going to be partakers of the sufferings such as Christ met with in His pathway here.’ Thank God, the end is secure, and we are going to enjoy the glory!
The Service of an Elder
“… feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof …”
Titus 1:9 says that the elders are to minister the word of God. This is nothing to do with rules or regulations, or conforming to a certain pattern, it means simply that an elder cares for the people of God, he shepherds them and he feeds them. There is no such thing in Scripture as a flock belonging to any man, it is the flock of God; it is the assembly of God, and what the elders present is the word of God. So the elders responsibility is a very important one. Again, let us speak of a shepherd; if he went into a field where there was a flock of sheep and flung some hay in and went away feeling that his job was finished, he would be a poor shepherd. Feeding means much more than providing food. In Scripture it means caring in the widest possible sense, and if you look at Ezekiel 34:1-6, where God indicts His shepherds because of their lack of care for His flock, you will see what an important service it was in that day. He says, “ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them”. All these were indictments against their care, so Peter says, “Feed the flock of God”. How well he had appropriated what the Lord Jesus had said to him in resurrection, “Lovest thou me Peter?”, “Well if you do, care for my sheep, care for my lambs.” Peter could not possibly miss the importance of what the Lord told him on that resurrection day (John 21:15-17). He is asking the other elders to do exactly that, to feed for and care for the flock of God.
Dear brethren, when we bring this home to ourselves, how do we do this? We certainly do not do it by criticism. We certainly do not do it by fault finding, or adopting a rule of tyranny amongst the saints of God, and that ‘my word must be obeyed at all costs’. Surely there is sufficient guidance for us in the word of God as to how we are to do this kind of thing. Surely love would be the great motive, love for the people of God, love for the name of Christ. The shepherd is very attached to his sheep. I remember a dear brother in Northumberland, and his flock of sheep had contracted foot and mouth disease, and all had to be destroyed, and many of them were known by name, and our dear brother was crying as his flock was destroyed. He had become attached to them. They were not only a means of making money, they were animals, they had life, and he moved amongst them and got attached to them. Dear brethren, ought this not to be our attitude towards each other? We belong to the flock of God. We are His, bought at a tremendous cost. This is what Acts 20:28 says “Shepherd the flock of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own” (J.N.D.), that is, the blood of God’s own Son. What a cost! And if this was the cost, ought it not to tell us the concern that we might be governed by, the features that encourage and help and bind together, rather than scatter and destroy?
“… not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind …”
What a poor business it is if we enter into some form of Christian service just because we reason that ‘It has to be done, nobody else is going to do it, so I suppose if no one else is available, I will have to do it’. This is constraint, and such service is not much use in the light of heaven, and it must not be done for filthy lucre. What a terrible business it would be if we serve amongst the people of God for financial gain. What a terrible outlook!
“… neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”
How does this ring in your ears when you hear such expressions as ‘My Lord Bishop’? Does not this verse destroy that kind of idea, lording it over God’s heritage, not seeking some position of pre-eminence, but caring and loving and supplying? The following story may seem amusing, but it is very much to the point. A brother was asked to go and preach in a Methodist Chapel and he went along a long time before the meeting was due to take place, and as he went in the door he found a little box marked ‘Expenses’, so he took a half crown out of his pocket and put it in, and after he had served the saints there a brother came forward and said ‘Brother, we would like to help you with your expenses,’ and handing him a half crown, he said ‘this was in the expenses box’. So the brother took it and went home, and when he told his wife and children about this experience, his little daughter said ‘Well, Daddy, if you had put more in you would have got more out.’ Well, dear brethren, this presents a very serious point. The service must not be done for what we get out of it, but rather for what we give out. Elders are very much responsible before the Lord as to put into the Christian circle as much love, care and influence as they can possibly supply.
“… And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”
Think of that! The Chief Shepherd is going to give a reward to all those underlings who really care for the people of God.
“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
We hear a great deal today about the young people not being submissive towards the elders. The Scriptures say here very definitely that they should submit themselves to the elders, those who are concerned about their spiritual progress. Hebrews 13:17 tell us that they watch for our souls, that is the part for the leader. Now perhaps if we who are older were more governed by the truth ourselves and had more spiritual power and influence, it would be easier for the young people to submit themselves to such when they spoke, and advised or exhorted or admonished. A great deal of responsibility rests upon those who are a little older. It is not all upon the shoulders of the young. We ought to be showing a better example.
The Qualifications of an Elder
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without: lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” (1 Tim. 3:2-7)
“If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.” (Tit. 1:6-9)
Briefly, as I finish, if you examine 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, where Paul shows the characteristics of those who are to be occupied with this kind of service, it falls mainly into three categories, three characteristics, which are very carefully defined. Firstly, Paul considers the person himself, what he is to be; secondly what his home is to be; and thirdly, what he is to be in the circle of the saints. A very, very high standard is demanded of those who are occupied in this service amongst the saints of God. I say this very humbly, dear brethren, that the measure in which we fail individually, or in our homes, or among the people of God is the measure in which the testimony is going to be adversely affected, but the measure in which we answer to the truth, either individually, or in our homes, or in the assembly is the measure the assembly is going to be prospered.
May the Lord help us all to be concerned with what the Scripture says about these various things. It is obvious that this responsibility rests very squarely upon the shoulders of the brothers, but this does not mean that the sisters cannot be concerned in this kind of service in prayer, and a wife can do a great deal to encourage her husband as she can also do to adversely affect her husband. So wives, encourage your husbands to take their part amongst the people of God, help them all you can in prayer and influence, so that the things of God might be forwarded in these last days. Above all, let us remember that there is a Man in the place of power, supreme in glory. Our service is not the object, rather He is the object. These practical things have to be faced day by day in the Christian life and experience. May we all be helped for His name’s sake.