In His physical absence, God has set into place a body of men – called elders, bishops, shepherds, or pastors, who will continue looking out over His flock and keep the sheep moving in the right direction.
God’s shepherds are…
SACRIFICIAL (10:11)
Consider how Jesus describes Himself as the shepherd – verses 11, 15, 17, 18.
Elders serve sacrificially – they give of their time and energy, meeting together, counseling others, making plans, and discussing the budget and the future. They make phone calls and they make visits. They do things that help the church move forward and it takes time and energy. They may have a counseling session after worship on Sunday or Wednesday. They may have to meet with someone in their home.
PROTECTIVE (10:12-13)
After discussing the qualifications of shepherds in Titus 1, Paul writes that there are rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, “who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain” (1:10-11).
It is the role of the shepherds to make sure that what you are fed is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That’s a big part of how the elders shepherd – they guard your soul by making sure you are fed the truth from the pulpit and Bible class. I answer to the elders, in a sense, for what I preach. They want me to preach the Gospel so that you can be taught, strengthened, and encouraged. It is their responsibility to make sure the Bible class teachers and the Bible class material is doing the same thing. That it is, first of all, that it is true to God’s word – nothing else will satisfy the needs of our souls – and secondly, that it helps us live our lives from a practical standpoint.
INTERESTED IN UNITY (10:16-17)
Jesus, of course, is interested in unity between God and man and in unity between man and man. John 17:20-21; Ephesians 2:13-18.
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Elders, then, must be interested in unity to fulfill the expectations of the Chief Shepherd. They need to be evangelistic, sharing the good news with others so that the lost can be united with God in Christ.
They are also interested in unity in the congregation itself. When Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:2 that an overseer must be “temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, apt to teach, not pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable” and that “he must have a good reputation with those outside the church” (3:7), he has this idea of unity in mind.
WILLING (10:18)
Finally, Jesus did all that He did willingly – from the heart. The Father did not have to compel Jesus to sacrifice Himself. The Holy Spirit did not have to entice Jesus to lay down His life. He did it all willingly.
So, too, elders have to be willing accomplices for God’s work. The very first qualification Paul laid out for the elders in 1 Timothy 3:1 is this: “If any man aspires to the office of overseer…” Do you see the qualification? The KJV says, “If any man desire the office of a bishop…” and the NIV says, “If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer…” So, elders need to do what they do willingly.
The office of the eldership is the most important office in the land. It is so because it is the guiding office, the guiding influence, the earthly examples of the shepherd-hood of Jesus Christ to the church. We can’t have men in the eldership with noodles for backbones. We can’t have men in the eldership with convictions that are as limp as a wet dishrag. Nor can we have men who have hearts of stone. We can’t have men in the eldership who must have things their own way. It’s not a role for weak men. It is a role for meek men.
So, if you have elders, appreciate, esteem, and obey them because they serve as Christ’s under-shepherds sacrificially, protectively, interested in unity, and willingly.
–Paul Holland
