We have been looking at the role of elders in the church as we examine the words God has chosen to describe that role. We saw that elders are experienced in life, in living the Christian life, and that experience gives them wisdom. They cannot be novices but must have children who are Christians. All of that suggests that elders are mature men with life experiences behind them – not to mention having experienced the raising of teenagers!
Secondly, elders are “bishops.” This word might be translated “overseer” in your translation. In 1 Peter 2:25, it refers to Jesus and calls Him our “Guardian.” That is the essence of the elders’ role. They are to guard the flock, spiritually speaking, so that the church is being fed correct, healthy food spiritually. All the different aspects of the church ought to help the congregation and her individual members to grow closer to Christ and remain faithful to Him and His Word. That is the responsibility of the overseers, the bishops, the guardians.
That brings us to the concept of elders as “shepherds.” We began last week by looking at the idea that Jesus is our “Chief Shepherd,” from John 10 and 1 Peter 2:25. Jesus sets the standard for shepherds in the church. He is our model, our pattern. But, He has also chosen to give the shepherding responsibility to human beings, to men. In John 20:16, He gave that challenge initially to the apostle Peter who was far from being a perfect man. But, Peter was faithful and he, no doubt, served as an elder with distinction because He was faithful (1 Peter 5:1-2).
Elders are shepherds and I think that is the best way to look at them. They provide for us spiritually in the same way that literal shepherds provide for their sheep. We need spiritual food and spiritual water and the elders / shepherds make sure we have it – from the pulpit and from the classroom, and any other ministries that the church has, the elders have the responsibility to make sure these ministries help us, as their flock, stay faithful to Christ, stay faithful to His word, and make sure we are growing spiritually as we need to grow.
The church, each individual congregation, is pictured in the NT as a “flock of sheep” and elders are pictured as shepherds. We have seen that in Acts 20:28 and we have seen it here in 1 Peter 5:2. The noun for “shepherd” is used eighteen times in the NT and all but one time, it is translated as “shepherd.” In fact, in 1 Peter 2:25, Jesus is called the “Chief Shepherd.” That word “Shepherd” is the word translated “pastor,” out of denominational bias only in one verse: Ephesians 4:11. So, Jesus is the “Chief Pastor.” Let’s take a look at that verse as we conclude our study:
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“He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors [“shepherds” is a better translation] and teachers.” It is the elders’ responsibility to “shepherd” the flock. Therefore, it is the elders who are “shepherds” or “pastors” as the word is translated here. I as a preacher am not a “pastor.” It is elders who are “pastors” because this word means “shepherd” and it is the elders who are shepherds of the flock. These in Ephesians 4:11, in particular, are teaching elders as we saw earlier in 1 Timothy 5:17-19.
What is the role of elders? Based on these designations, we see that elders are to be experienced men who have gained wisdom from that experience. They are overseers / bishops / guardians over the local congregation in the sense that they have the final and ultimate authority over what happens within this local congregation. Finally, they are the shepherds. They are the ones who are especially interested in each soul in this flock and responsible for feeding every soul in this flock and trying to make sure each of us has what we need to be successful, spiritually speaking.
Pray for our process as we select men to shepherd our congregation and for those men who need to accept that responsibility.
Paul Holland
