Elders are not left to figure out where to lead the church and how to get them there.  God makes his wisdom and direction available to us in his word by his Spirit.

In an antiauthoritarian age and with concerns about abuse common, and not without substance, the danger is that we rebel against any and all authority. Add that to the expressive individualism of our age and there is a recipe for disaster for believers as they decouple their faith from church and refuse to be in relationship or be under authority. But as we saw abuse of authority isn’t new and God knows those abusers and will hold them accountable for their actions and inaction. And yet God’s remedy for bad leadership isn’t no leadership it is Christlike leadership. In scripture we see that an elder’s authority is:

God given.  In Ephesians 20v28 Paul describes the Ephesian elders as those whom the Holy Spirit has made overseers. It is a God given task, a Spirit inspired appointment with significant responsibility.  In Romans 13v1 we see that all authorities have been established by God.  And like all authority an elder’s authority come from God and is to be exercised on his behalf for his stated purposes.

For the good of others.  Elders serve Jesus as they serve the flock.  They lead the people where the Good Shepherd teaches us to go and in the way he says we are to lead.

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