When elders pursue their calling with all confidence in the Lord, prayer, and humility, the kingdom of grace will advance, ourselves and others will be brought into it and kept in it, and the kingdom of Glory will be hastened!

Why an Article on Elders?

Each year seminaries and churches will hold preaching conferences. Some churches have diaconal summits. There are mission conferences, youth rallies, family camps, and singles retreats. Little is done around the office of elder. Why? Perhaps the topic is considered too obvious and not worthy of particular focus. Perhaps the topic lacks excitement at a time when the church needs to attract younger men to the office. Whatever the reasons, I would like us to think of the office of elder as a vital topic for consideration. There are at least three reasons for this perspective.

The first reason is that elders are necessary for the church. The Lord proves as much in the book of Acts. “So when they had appointed elders (presbyters) in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” ^[1]

Irish presbyterian minister Edward Donnelly gave a series of sermons on the office of ruling elder some years ago and noted that for the first 70-80 years of the reformed church in Ireland it functioned without an ordained minister or teaching elder. The churches gathered with ruling elders. A minister would come a few times a year from Scotland to administer the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. For multiple generations, the church survived and thrived under elders alone.

Not a few churches have been without pastors for extended periods of time. The elders had to lead the congregation until that time God provided a full-time minister to labor among them. Elders are necessary for the body of Christ. What is necessary for the body is worthy of the church taking time to consider.

The second reason to consider the topic of elders is that God appoints elders. “For this reason, I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders (presbyters) in every city as I commanded you.”^[2] While it is evident that men lay their hands on another man to ordain him as an elder, it is the Holy Spirit that makes elders. “Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”^[3]

Peter considered himself an apostle, yes, but also a fellow elder. “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ.”^[4]  Peter did not cease being an apostle or condescend with that title, he acknowledged it was an office established by the Lord that He was more than happy to identify with alongside his fellow elders. The office of elder is a vital topic because the Lord appoints elders.

The third reason to consider the topic of elders is that elders point people to Christ. “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you… and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”^[5] The crown of glory is not for the elder that lost the flock, beat down the flock, scattered the flock, or devoured the flock. The crown of glory is for the shepherd whose flock meets the good Shepherd in glory.

Any man that reads 1 Peter 5 thinking merely of the honor of the office has missed the mark. The office is an intensely weighty calling. Some elders have utterly despised God in the office and made shipwreck of their calling to the damage of many souls. Who has not come dangerously close to doing this very thing? Some feel temptation to sin in this particular manner even now. Pride and power are not what the office of elder is about. The elder will bear greater judgment on the day of the Lord.^[6] May all active and aspiring elders read and tremble before the Lord. Let us repent and cease from sin.

When John the Baptizer saw Jesus, He pointed all men to Him crying out, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”^[7] The faithful elder points the flock of Christ to the Good Shepherd of the flock. “Behold, Jesus Christ, the Savior of Sinners!” “Repent and believe in Him and have everlasting life!” The topic of elders is vital because the elder points the sheep to Christ.

Many Reformed churches require elders at the time of their ordination to make the following vow before God and His church. “Do you promise to seek the purity, the peace, and the unity of the church?”  Elders are not merely called to maintain the appearance of peace, purity, and unity. Elders are called to actually maintain the peace, purity, and unity of the church. They are to do so in such a manner that will glorify the Chief Shepherd who will soon appear.

With these positive reasons for considering the topic of elder, the rest of this article considers Christ’s call to elders. “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”^[8] If the foundations are destroyed, what can the elder do? Let the foundation of the elder be right, then he may build the walls higher. What has God called an elder to do?

Elders Must Love Christ

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to Him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, you know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”^[9]

On the night of Christ’s greatest trial, the night on which He was betrayed, mocked, beaten, scourged, crowned with thorns, pierced, crucified, and killed, one of His dearest friends added insult to His injury. Peter denied Christ three times. These weren’t the muffled shrugs of a cowardly acquaintance. Peter, the rock, cursed and blasphemed Christ’s name. He feared a servant girl more than he feared the Lord. While Christ was being examined for His very life, one of His dearest friends would not take the mildest shame for being numbered among Christ followers.

Peter’s betrayal is difficult to compare. Greater than Peter’s sin, however, is the meeting between Peter and Jesus over breakfast some days following Christ’s death and resurrection. As Jesus and His disciples gathered around to eat, Jesus turned to His beloved friend Peter and asked, “Do you love Me?” He did not ask just once or twice, but three times. “Do you love Me?”

Do you love Jesus? This is the first pillar in the Christian life. The Christian must love Christ who first loved him. The elder may be required to do more but he certainly must not do less. The elder must love Christ. To the elder and apostle Peter, Jesus asked, “Do you love Me?” The question that every elder and prospective elder must ask themselves as they rule, as they pursue peace purity and unity of the church is this, “Do I love Christ?” Elders, perspective elders, do you love Christ? There are five tests or prerequisites for loving Christ.

First, the elder must know Christ in order that he might love Christ. Jesus’s questions were not surprising to Peter. Peter knew his own sin. Peter had fled from the presence of Christ when Jesus looked over at him on that fateful night. Peter did not respond to the question with a mere acknowledgement of Christ. When Jesus asked His question three times, three times Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Peter confessed Jesus as Lord, ruler, king, God. He confessed Christ’s omniscience. Peter knew Christ with a saving knowledge. Previously Peter had famously confessed, “You are the Christ!”^[10] At breakfast, Peter confessed, “Lord, I love you.”

Do you know Christ? I suspect you have professed as much, and I am not intending to question anyone’s profession. More than anything else, as we think about the office of elder, let us be certain that we know Christ and love Christ.

Some have pursued office in the church because they love Reformed theology and the doctrine of Christ. So far as it is faithful to God’s word, you must love Reformed theology and the doctrine of Christ. Nevertheless, love for doctrine alone is not sufficient to be a Christian, let alone an elder.^[11] A good husband does not merely love good things about his wife. He loves his wife. A Christian does not merely love things about God; he loves God. A godly elder must not merely love things about Christ. He must love Christ. No one can faithfully serve God who does not know Christ. You must know Christ.

Second, the elder must trust Christ because He loves Christ. Peter did not run into the wilderness after the resurrection to escape the wrath of God due to him for his sin. Rather, he ran to meet Christ for breakfast. He swam to him—jumping out of the boat to get to Christ quicker than the boat would take him. He trusted that Christ had died on the cross a few days earlier for him personally. The blood of Christ was sufficient to wash away his sin of betrayal. There was nowhere else Peter could go; no one else had the words of eternal life. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Savior of sinners. Peter trusted Him!

“Yes, Lord!” Peter made the good confession in the eyes of many witnesses. This is the model for all elders—we must trust Christ with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Saving faith receives Christ, rests in Christ, trusts in Christ alone for salvation as Christ is freely offered in the gospel. What conflicts are brewing and are even happening now? How will you get through them? Will you give up on the church? Will you give in to sin? Will you give way to error? How will you avoid these pitfalls? Trust Christ!

Third, elders must follow Christ to show that they love Christ. The 144,000 in heaven were redeemed from the earth for they are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.^[12] When Jesus was by the sea and saw Matthew at the receipt of custom He said to Him, “Follow Me.” Levi left his lucrative business and followed Christ to the end (likely suffering a martyr’s death).

An elder that loves Christ must follow Him. Following Christ is not just the call at the beginning, for the first year or two after ordination. The call is to follow Christ to the end. “Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”^[13]

This is a most challenging task. The church member comes and tells you something he plans to do. It is culturally acceptable but contrary to God’s word. You may be tempted to smile and say, “ok,” or worse yet, “good luck.” God calls you to follow Christ. You love Christ and therefore must tell the church member the way they should go. They must hold the hope firm to the end and so must you.

Bruce Hunt was led off to prison by the Japanese guards and the Korean Christians lined the way saying, “To the end,” “To the end.” The peace, purity, unity, growth of the church will be kept by elders who love Christ to the end. Faithful elders follow Christ. So, Jesus, after asking Peter the questions over breakfast concluded in this way: “And when He had spoken this, He said to Him, ‘Follow Me.’”

Fourth, elders must be born again of the Spirit to be able to love Christ. This is the sum of all that has come before. You must be born again! How can an elder be an example of godliness if He has not been born again of the Spirit? The work of an elder is not natural. To do it well he must have the aid of the Holy Spirit.

It is not the highest educated called to be elders. Churches need to be on guard against making academic achievement the leading criteria for elders. Worldly achievement is not God’s criteria. God committed His requirements for office to writing. Elders must be: “Blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.”^[14] Who can stand and say he is all these things? Certainly not me. With repentance, humility, and boldness in Christ, let us press for the mark.

Elders need the gospel preached to them as well as the rest of the church. I once heard about a minister in Georgia who came to realize that several of the elders in his church were not saved. Their spiritual state made his labor exceedingly difficult. But he pressed on and to remarkable success for the glory of the Lord and the salvation of souls.

Mr. Rees was a good friend of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and the key driver for Lloyd-Jones’s first pastoral call in Aberavon, Wales. Mr. Rees  later confessed that he was unconverted at the time Martyn Lloyd-Jones came as pastor. Rees was converted not long after Jones’s arrival.

If I may plead with you today with what I believe is the appeal of Scripture. If an elder reads this and realizes he has been laboring for the honor of His own name or any number of self-centered reasons and has not turned to the Lord in faith, may this be the last day of such folly. You must not think about shame to your name, shock in your church, or any ridicule from others, when you confess your spiritual state.  Instead, you must think about your eternal soul. God is not fooled. “Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.”^[15] You must repent of your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ while it is called “today”.

What greater testimony than one in the position of elder confessing the Lord truly from the heart who had but confessed Christ merely in an outward manner in time past. Elders, do you love Christ?

Finally, elders that love Christ must be compelled by love in all that they do for Christ. Some years ago, an elder at a church in Pennsylvania began writing at the top of his session, presbytery, and General Assembly notes something like the following—“Remember the love of Christ.” With that at the top reminding him of his chief motivation in ruling well he went ahead in his labor with the earnest desire for the glory of Christ’s name and the good of His church.

Paul’s motivation for serving Christ is written down in the inspired word: “The love of Christ compels us!”^[16] This is not primarily a verse about our love for Christ. Rather, it is about Christ’s love for us. The love of Christ is not that we loved Him but that He first loved us and laid down His life for us. His great love for us, to the extent of dying on the cross for our sins, compels us to all love and service for Him.

Read More