Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Acts 14; Ephesians 4 | Date: October 12, 2025 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

We have interrupted our series on the Psalms to look at a brief series on ordering the church, and I just want to mention how grateful I am to all of you for your encouraging support in this. As I mentioned, I feel a little awkward preaching about my job description and things like that, but you guys have been wonderfully encouraging this, and I actually, through it, have felt a little bit guilty.

Why haven’t we done this sooner? But it is good for us, it’s vital for us as a congregation to have a clear understanding of how Christ intends for his church to be ordered. And so we looked first of all at the apostles, then last week the elders, and we’ll do that a little bit more this morning: the ordering of the church, the role of the elders.

I’d like to begin with Acts chapter 14. Here we have Paul and Barnabas coming to Iconium, then to Lystra. There they’ve met severe opposition. And then I’ll begin my reading with verse 19: “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city. On the next day, he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, we’re grateful for all that you’ve given to us in Christ. We thank you for the forgiveness of sins, the blessed hope that we have, and we’re thankful that in this matter of the church, you have not left it to ourselves to figure it out, but you’ve given us an ordering of it in your word. We pray that you’ll give us here at RBC a clear understanding of that, give us a commitment to it, and we pray that you will, by that, make us increasingly effective in our service for Christ until he comes. We pray in his name. Amen.

The Role of the Apostles in the Church

We’ll begin by pointing out the role of the apostles in the church. Any discussion of the ordering of the church, of course, has to begin with the reaffirmation of Christ’s headship—that there’s one head of the church and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone holds that. Then we saw that the Lord Jesus has delegated his authority to his chosen apostles who were selected for precisely that role. They are his spokesmen. The word apostle means an ambassador, a spokesman for Christ.

And so it is through the apostles that Christ imposes his will on the church and gives us what we need to know to believe and to practice, and in particular now, into how to shape and form our congregations. We also saw then that the apostleship began to be associated with, in some sense and in some measure, with the office of elders in the church. The elders then do not have the authority that the apostles have, but they are charged with the responsibility to administer the apostolic rule in the congregations.

And so we saw many of the particular commands in that regard, like they are to preside, to lead, to rule. The idea is that they are to take the apostolic rule, apply it to the given particular situation in a local congregation, and work it out in the best way that they can. We saw then also that in corresponding passages the congregations are responsible to comply accordingly. And so we saw commands like obey, follow, respect, esteem very highly in love, and that because of their work. There’s to be a recognition of the seriousness of that work that they are entrusted with this responsibility: to carry out the rule of Christ as outlined by the apostles to their particular congregations.

Again, the elders are far from fallible. We all know that. Hang around us a little while, you’ll find that out. But they are assigned to oversee, and that’s one of the titles given to them as overseers. They’re assigned to oversee the affairs of the church and keep all of it in order and in best keeping with the apostolic order that’s been imposed on the church. Insofar as they are faithful to that, the congregation then is to follow and so on.

I thought I’d begin this morning then with a brief overview of some of the particular aspects of the elders’ oversight in the church, and then we will move on to look at particularly the goal, the endgame of the elders’ oversight in the congregation.

Particulars of the Elders’ Oversight

First of all, just some particulars, some areas in which specifically the elders are given to oversee the church. Now the word, again, is oversight, and that is all-inclusive of the congregation, but we do have some specific applications of that in the New Testament. In terms of spiritual guidance, both individually and corporately.

I mentioned last time some of the commands that are given to elders in the New Testament, and they are things like admonish, teach, command, manage, rule, urge, remind, charge. Then you have a string of them in 2 Timothy 4: to preach, to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort; other commands like insist. All of these entail the idea of the elders then taking the apostolic rule and applying it corporately to the congregation, individually to those in the congregation, to see that we all together follow the apostolic rule faithfully. Now, of course, keep in mind also for the elders in particular, Peter commands in 1 Peter 5 that they’re not to be lording it over the people, not domineering over them, and yet taking the oversight just the same. And then we saw in Hebrews 13 that the elders are to exercise this oversight as those who must give an account.

It’s a sobering thing, and that is all of these commands that we’ve seen to admonish, to teach, to urge, to rebuke, to preach, to insist—all of these commands that have been given to us—the elders then in the end will be accountable and held accountable for how faithful they were in doing that and applying the apostolic commands to the individuals in the congregation and to the congregation corporately as well.

We have some other specifics in the New Testament. I don’t want this to get too tedious, so we won’t go to each passage and show you. I’ll assume some familiarity with this territory, but just to highlight some of the specific areas of oversight that are specified in the New Testament. One famous one is in Acts chapter 6. We have the elders’ oversight in directing and establishing church ministry structure.

We will look at that in some detail, not next time, but the time after that. We’ll look at it more specifically in our discussion of deacons. But here the elders define or identify the problem. They define the solution to the problem. They stipulate how the solution should be carried out. They stipulate the qualifications for those involved with it. They direct the church and the role of the congregation accordingly, and they appointed men then to that task.

So in all of that, we have the workers then accountable to the elders, but we have the elders then overseeing, directing the church, establishing the guidelines, establishing the structure of the congregation, overseeing the congregation here in a particular way.

Another particular example we have in the New Testament is the overseeing of the distribution of funds in the congregation. We have two very clear examples of that in the New Testament. One is in Acts chapter 4 and Acts chapter 5 as well, but here there was this wonderful situation in the early church where they felt a responsibility to one another so that those who had felt responsible to help those who didn’t have, and so they’re pooling their money to help one another, and there we’re told that the monies are given to the apostles to be distributed accordingly. We find the same in Acts chapter 11. In this occasion, there’s a famine in Judea, and so those in Antioch want to help, and so the collection is made and it’s given to the elders for them to distribute. Now, I have little doubt that the elders had men that they delegated this responsibility to specifically, but still it shows that their responsibility entails even the distribution of the funds of the congregation as well.

Again, the idea here is just that of oversight. One of their titles is overseer. The older translations call it bishop, but an overseer is one who oversees or manages the affairs of the entire congregation, and that in every respect. We have some particulars in terms of this specific area or that specific area, but what we’re given then is that the elders are to oversee the whole. I’ve seen it in some churches where various areas of ministry were sort of islands, and those involved in those ministries were a little bit territorial with those areas of ministry.

And there’s something about that you’ve got to appreciate. They’ve owned their responsibility. They want to carry it out. But I’ve also seen it to such a degree when the elders dare speak up and say, “Well, this is the kinds of missionaries we should support,” or “These are the kinds of songs we should sing,” or “This is what we should be teaching in the Sunday school,” or whatever, that’s resisted, and there’s difficulty.

This is their stated area of oversight: oversee all that is going on the church, what is taught, what is done, and they’re leading and they’re teaching. This is their responsibility to carry out the best they are able as faithfully as they can the directives given by the apostles for the congregation. One prominent aspect of the elder’s role is that of appointing elders. We find this in many examples in the New Testament. I mentioned these last time, but this is why I began here in Acts chapter 14 to highlight this responsibility again.

In Acts 14:23, we read, “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” And here, this is given to us as Paul’s regular practice. He goes from city to city, establishes a witness for Christ, makes many disciples, appoints elders to oversee the congregation, leaves, moves on to another, and so on it goes. And those elders who are appointed are not themselves apostles; they’re elders in the congregation, but they are entrusted with the responsibility to carry out the will of Christ for the church as designated by the apostles. And actually here in verse 23, we have a wonderful picture also of Paul’s absolute confidence in divine providence. It tells us he appoints elders and committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. He moves on with a witness, establishes that witness, imposes the order on the congregation, and commits them to the Lord to carry on.

He moves on to another to do the same. Now, this passage is helpful for us in a couple of ways. In particular, I want to emphasize two ways that verse 23 establishes a pattern for us that is carried on through the New Testament.

Two Way Acts 14:23 Establishes a Pattern

First, as I’ve already mentioned, elders appoint elders. I cannot find any exception to this in the New Testament. Elders appoint elders. Verse 23: they, that is Paul and Barnabas, appointed elders in every church.

We find the same, we saw last time, in the pastoral epistles in 1 Timothy. Paul sends Timothy to Ephesus, directs him to appoint qualified elders. We find the same in Paul’s letter to Titus. He sends him to Crete, and there in particular he tells him to put in order that which is lacking and appoint elders in every city. We have other lesser-known examples of that in the New Testament. I mentioned them last time: Crescens, who has gone to Galatia; Titus in Dalmatia; Tychicus to Ephesus; Carpus to Troas; Erastus in Corinth. In Titus chapter 3, Paul says he will send Artemis and Tychicus.

We have this reflected in the three or four passages in the New Testament where we read of the laying on of hands, appointing men, elders appointing men to the same office to carry it on. And in fact, maybe a better-known passage is 2 Timothy 2:2, where we have it implied the same kind of thing: “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” So here we have the elders teaching others, entrusting them with a message, appointing them to the task, and leaving them to do it. The pattern is consistent in the New Testament: elders appointing elders, qualified men appointing qualified men to do the same.

Second, this passage establishes a pattern for us in regard to the number of elders. The number of elders in a given local church. Notice verse 23 again. They appointed elders, plural, in every church, singular. Elders, plural, in every church, singular. Now, this is really not a controversial topic in our day. I remember a generation ago where it was controversial.

The typical independent church, typical Baptist church, would have a pastor and then a board of deacons. The deacons more or less functioned as elders in the congregation. Men like John MacArthur in particular began to say, “Hey, there’s a New Testament pattern here that you’re missing, that there’s a plurality of elders and that’s the norm.” S. Lewis Johnson pushed the same, not with quite the wide influence that John MacArthur had. Much later, Mark Dever and the 9Marks crowd began to push the same. By then it was fairly well established, I think, but for a long time this was a controversial thing in many churches.

But the pattern is clear. The model is consistent. A plurality of elders in every church. That’s what Paul does here in Acts 14:23. We find it all through the New Testament. Acts 11:30, we read of the elders in the church of Jerusalem. Now James there was a prominent elder there, but he was not the only one. In fact, we read of the apostles and the elders. And James was there. He was not an apostle; he was our Lord’s brother. He was not James the brother of John. This is James, our Lord’s brother, who’s an elder there in the church at Jerusalem. In Acts 15, we find again the elders, plural, in the church at Jerusalem.

In Acts 21, again, it refers to the elders in the Jerusalem church. In Acts chapter 20, Paul calls the elders of the church at Ephesus to come to him, and they’re going to have that sad farewell, you remember. But again, it’s the elders, plural, of the church at Ephesus. In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 1, Paul writes his letter to the church at Philippi and greets the two offices in the church—only two—the bishops and the deacons, or the overseers and the deacons. Both of those are specified, but there’s a plurality of each in each congregation. 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13, we have the same, where the congregation is responsible to those who labor among them in the word and who rule over them. Again, it’s the plurality of leaders the congregation is responsible to. 1 Timothy 5, again, we have a plurality of elders; those that rule well, consider them worthy of double honor, particularly those who labor in the word and in teaching. Again, a plurality of men in a single location. And then finally, James 5, a very practical application of it, where he instructs those who are sick in a very serious way and need help: let them call the elders, plural, of the church to come to them and pray with them. So there we have the pattern.

Elders appoint elders and there is to be a plurality of elders in each congregation. A couple of questions here before we move on. Number one, what might come up: might a congregation have just one pastor? And the answer, of course, well of course, they might. They might have that. But the norm that we see in the New Testament, without exception, is that there’s a plurality of men leading in the congregations. We’re dependent upon divine provision. Divine providence and providing—there might be a new work and it’s small and there are few in number, and for a time there might be just one, but the norm to which they’re striving is a plurality of elders in each congregation.

Another question, a little more practical, is: is there any distinction among the elders? Is there any distinction among them or are they all the same? And I mentioned last time, if you want to look at it, you can in 1 Timothy 5:17–18, where the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads the grain,” and “The laborer deserves his wages.” Here he’s establishing that they are to be compensated for their work and supported in it financially.

But notice it’s a plurality of elders, but notice here there’s a distinction: “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.” So we might say all elders rule; some may be particularly given to preaching and teaching. That’s a distinction that’s drawn here. I mentioned last time that this is where Presbyterianism makes its distinction between ruling and teaching elders. There’s something of that here, provided that we understand that all elders rule, even if by reason of gifting or whatever other circumstances some may be given primarily or particularly to preaching and teaching.

Well, then it raises another question. Might we have lay elders as well as staff elders? We find here the norm is for elders to be supported financially in their work. Might some labor without compensation? Of course, Paul did in Corinth, and we find other examples of that, and that’s in large measure left up to both the elders involved and the abilities of the congregation and so on. So yes, you can have both lay—what we call lay elders—and staff elders.

Some churches, I’ve seen it even in our constitution, I mentioned a couple weeks ago that it would be a good practice to conform our constitutions well to our commitment to the sufficiency of scripture. Here’s an example of why that’s a good idea. I’ve seen some churches stipulate in their church constitution that there must be a certain percentage of lay elders as over against staff elders. One, I don’t see any provision for that in the New Testament anywhere. I think, why would you want to box yourself into some stipulated percentage like that when the Scriptures never do? And what if God would provide in such a way that you could have a team of all who are compensated and working full-time or whatever? There are advantages, I think, to having lay elders. I love the fact that what we call lay elders, non-staff elders, can give oversight to financial matters more than I have to do. That’s wonderful for them to do that. So there can be some distinctions in those ways.

But there still is, and here’s the word, there still is a parity. That’s the word, P-A-R-I-T-Y. An equalness among—they’re on par with one another. There’s not one who has more authority than another. One may be given this particular aspect of work to specialize in, one may be given the other. But we have, when it comes to their making their decisions, there’s not one who’s more equal than the others or something like that.

Now, in terms of function, there is a variety of function in the leadership. You see that even among the apostolic community. Of the twelve, you have the three. Of the three, you have the one, Peter, who’s always the spokesman. You find the same for Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas. It’s always Paul who’s the spokesman. By reason of giftedness, prominence, whatever, we find it in the Jerusalem church where James is particularly prominent. He’s not even one of the apostles, one of the twelve, but yet he is prominent there in the congregation, the spokesman for those who are there.

We may have some of that in ours as well. Pastor Boyd has been here for so long there’s a natural deference given to him and—he’s scowling at me, but that’s perfectly natural and perfectly right. But when it comes to decisions that are made, there is a parity among them. And there are advantages then to the plurality of elders in a congregation. I think they’re obvious.

One, of course, is shared wisdom. Not one elder knows everything. Shared wisdom is certainly helpful in making decisions. How do we most faithfully carry out the apostolic order in this local congregation? And to have a collective wisdom for that is entirely helpful.

Another advantage of a plurality of elders is these shared responsibilities—varied giftedness, varied areas of insight. We wouldn’t want one to get spread too thin. There’s a diversity of gifts. Some can balance out the weaknesses of others. In all those ways, there are shared responsibilities and it’s an advantage to the church. One very important one is their shared accountability.

Every elder is himself subject to the very leadership he himself helps to administer. And so no elder is off on his own, unaccountable, but there’s a plurality of elders watching over all. All right then, so elders together as a team are given to instruct the church, to provide direction, to provide leadership in a congregation. This is Christ’s design for the church very clearly in the New Testament: that Christ imposes the order on the congregation by means of his apostles, and that apostolic order in the congregation is to be administered faithfully by pastors and elders who oversee the congregation. All right, all of that, just some particulars. I was afraid that’s a little bit tedious, but I think it’s helpful just to see those particulars in the New Testament. But now let’s look at the bigger picture, and we’ll spend the rest of our time here.

The Purpose of the Pastoral Role

Look at Ephesians chapter 4. Our question here is, what is the purpose of the elder, of the pastoral role? What is it we are here for? Ephesians chapter 4. I’ll be doing something a little bit backwards here. In a few weeks we’ll be looking at Ephesians 4:1–6 a little more carefully. But today I want to pick up with verse 7 and following. It’s a long, complex sentence, but we’ll work it through. Verse 7:

“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says,” and here he quotes Psalm 68. You might remember when we looked at Psalm 68, there was this wonderful picture of God being enthroned, the Lord God enthroned in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and that was foreshadowing the ascension of Christ. Well, Paul picks up on that here.

So, starting again, verse 7: “Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says, [Psalm 68] ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.’ In saying ‘he ascended,’ what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers [or pastors and teachers], to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, the measure of the structure of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Okay, I told you: a long, complicated sentence. Let’s take it piece by piece. Verse 7, Christ is providing for his church. He’s giving gifts to them. And for that, he reaches back to Psalm 68 to give Old Testament background to it all. What it foreshadows then and foresees is the Lord Jesus, having finished his mediatorial work, ascends to the right hand of God. And what is the first exercise of his kingship? Pentecost. He sends his Spirit, and he gives gifts to men by his Spirit. So he’s ascended, he’s now setting out to build his church, and to do that he gives gifts.

Now verse 11 specifies the gifts that he has in mind here, and the gifts are people—men with various essential ministries. He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers. Now, several passages in the New Testament list the gifts that are given for the congregation. Here, the focus is on those gifts that are of a foundational nature, or those that form the backbone of the church.

And so, apostles: these are spokesmen, personal spokesmen for Christ. Prophets: these are men who received direct revelation. You want to glance back maybe just across the page to chapter 2 verse 20. You’ll be reminded that these apostles and prophets are the foundation on which Christ builds his church. These are the ones who give us Christ, laying the foundation of the church. With that, we have evangelists that are those who preach the gospel. This is anything from itinerant evangelism to planting churches to ministry in settled ministries in a church. And then we have these last ones and they’re linked together: pastors and teachers, or shepherds and teachers. And there’s been a lot of discussion. Is this just one office? Or are these two different offices? The way it’s worded, most would agree that this is speaking of at least some overlap in the office, highlighting the teaching nature or the teaching function of the pastoral office: pastors and teachers.

And they are given then for the edification and the building up of the church. Now verse 7, back at verse 7, we’re told that each one of us is gifted. And verse 12 will pick up on that in some ways, but the focus in verses 11 and 12 is those gifts that form the very backbone of the church and its ministry. We have the apostles and prophets who are the foundation of the church, and then we have pastors and teachers who, we might say, following on the metaphor of the apostolic foundation of the church, pastors and teachers form the construction phase of the church, building on the foundation that has been laid by the apostles and prophets. These are the gifts that Christ has given to the church. Pastor-teachers are gifts from Christ to the church.

Pastor Boyd is Christ’s gracious gift to this congregation. He should be recognized as such. Pastor Greg is Christ’s gracious gift to this congregation. Pastor Eric is Christ’s gracious gift to this congregation. And if I may be so bold, there’s one other who is Christ’s gift to this congregation. Now the New Testament elsewhere points us to think on this level, that there is, on the one hand, elders appoint elders—there’s a human appointment—but on the other hand, we’re to look above that and see that in God’s providence, this is his appointment in the congregation. This is Christ’s gift to the church.

Paul speaks of that in Acts chapter 20 where he speaks to the Ephesian elders in his farewell discourse to them. And he charges them, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to the flock of God over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” Paul appointed them, and yet it is the Holy Spirit who has done it. We’re to look over it all and see God in providence working out, providing for each congregation of the church. And so there is to be a recognition then with appreciation that this is Christ, the chief shepherd, caring for his church.

Now verse 12 tells us the purpose of these gifts, the reason that they’ve been given, their reason for being, what makes their work so essential. This is a long, complicated sentence. Let’s work it out. Verse 11: he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Why? Verse 12: to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. This is Christ’s intention for these offices—to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That’s their role: to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. The work of the ministry is not to be carried out only by a professional class. It is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Their role under Christ is to equip them so that the ministry will be carried out.

This is a wonderful picture of the church. Through the guidance, the leadership, the faithful teaching of the pastors and elders, the church is built up and strengthened and equipped to serve others also. Verses 12 and 13 spell it out a little bit further: “For the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” That is what God’s people need, he says, under Christ’s care: to learn the faith and to come to a knowledge of the Son of God. That is, to understand the person and work of Christ, the implications of the gospel, who the church is, why we are here, what we are to be doing.

And they’re to do this so that, verse 13, they will mature and grow up into Christ who has to become all that he’s called them to be. Verse 14: “So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.” That is, they are not then to be like children. And the pastors and teachers are given to teach so that they become stable in the faith. They come to a knowledge of the faith, a knowledge of the Son of God. And they’re not like children who are carried about and open to any idea that comes along. And each time the world comes by with a new attack and a new subtle argument, they’re not left wondering, “Oh, I wonder if that’s right.” But they’re so stable now in the faith because they’ve been taught. They’re not carried around back and forth when wokeism comes along or whatever the next thing is. They’re not carried back and forth and wondering what God’s will is. They’ve been taught and they become stable in the faith. They have a firm grasp on the truth. And so they become discerning. And they’re stable.

Verse 15: so they’re able and equipped to speak the truth in love. They love, but their love is not naive. It’s not wishy-washy. It’s not a jellyfish kind of love that naively falls for each next idea that comes along. They understand the truth. They’re committed to the truth. They’re discerning. They’re not confused by the various ideas that come by. But the truth to which they are committed has shaped them, so that when they speak the truth—not with a rough edge—they speak the truth in love. Here are people who have learned the truth, come to a knowledge of the Son of God, and so it gives them a discernment, stability in life, and yet it has shaped them individually as well. They’re tempered.

And as a result, verse 16, the whole body held together, each part working properly, and the body grows so that it builds itself up in love. I suspect there’s a little bit of the now and not yet, already and not yet, going on here. The church striving to become what one day it will be in perfection. But this is a marvelous portrait of the church. Growing and they’re learning. They come to a stability in the faith. It has tempered them so that they can speak truthfully with one another in love. And that grows out of verse 11 and 12: Christ’s gift to the church, fulfilling their office faithfully in teaching and in preaching and in leading; and verses 12 and 13, thereby grounding the saints in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.

Wonderful portrait of the church. And in the end, people notice. That’s an unusual church. Those people are joyful. They know what they believe. It’s affected them. They get along wonderfully. They’re not thrown back and forth by every idea that comes by. They’re discerning. They grasp the truth. They’re so joyful in it. And they all seem to minister one to the other, helping one another in their own spiritual walk. So finally the entire body then, through the ministry of the gifts that God has given to the church, individual hearts are changed, individual lives are transformed, until finally the whole body corporately is transformed as well and marked by a loving stability in the faith.

Again, verse 12: they’ve come to the unity of the faith in the knowledge of the Son of God. Men and women from all kinds of different backgrounds, nationalities, ages, each with their own struggles, each with their own baggage, each with their own brokenness in many ways, and yet all have come together in a marvelous unity, grounded in the faith, come to a knowledge of the Son of God, and they speak the truth in love.

Marvelous portrait of the church. One day we’ll be there perfectly. And that is what we are aiming for in our experience today. And that’s the role of the elders in the church: to guide the church to a maturity in the faith in both doctrine and in behavior. Now, in many respects, I’m preaching to myself this morning, to my fellow elders, but it’s important for the entire congregation to understand why we’re here, what we’re supposed to be doing, and then, as we saw last week, to follow and encourage accordingly. For this to be done, these elders must meet certain qualifications. Whereas looking ahead a bit, the deacons, for them to serve effectively, they must meet certain qualifications as well. And we will look to that next time.