Word of Salvation – February 2019
B.C.30 – Authority In The Church
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:7-17
Text: 1Thessalonians 5:12,13
Introd: The earliest known Christian confession is simply: Jesus is Lord!
It’s a confession that the church long used for admission of members: Jesus is my Saviour and Lord.
This Lordship of Christ is a key aspect of N.T. teaching… it features in many hymns and songs.
The problem is that ‘Jesus is Lord’ has become part of our regular Christian conversation.
So we rarely stop to think thru what that actually means.
We speak of our Lord Jesus Christ…. but what does it mean that Jesus is Lord?
If you lived in the ancient world…
in a society where one half of the population owned the other half…
you would have a very clear idea of the meaning of the word LORD.
It is a title…. but a title that speaks of OWNERSHIP and AUTHORITY.
It’s probably best summed up in the words of Jesus just before His departure:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
ALL authority! So nothing is excluded from His authority as Lord and Master.
But now think about the astonishing implications of that.
If ALL authority is Christ’s… then every kind of authority in the world is really under His authority.
The in reality all other authority must be merely delegated authority.
The Bible often makes that clear that this is actually the case:
For example: Romans 13 speaks about the GOVERNMENT.
And in that context Paul says: There is no authority except from God.
Ephesians clearly teaches the headship and authority of Christ.
Paul works out the implications of that for marriage in Ephesians 5.
In chapter 6 he deals with the authority of parents over children.
In that same chapter he also deals with authority in the workplace.
Tonight I want to work thru some implications of Christ’s Lordship.
But then particularly as it affects the life of the Christian community.
We want to see how the authority of Jesus our Head is delegated in the Church.
A] A QUESTION OF AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH.
- Scripture leaves us in no doubt about Christ’s Lordship also over the church.
First of all because Christ OWNS the church… and ownership implies authority.
You have authority over what you own.
Christ BOUGHT the church with His precious blood… so she belongs to Him.
His ownership is well and truly established by the purchase price Jesus paid for us.
Secondly the Bible speaks of Christ’s authority in context of His headship.
The New testemant repeatedly uses the BODY metaphor for the church.
It’s beautiful imagery – the church is a body made up of many parts.
All our individual strengths and abilities are brought together into the unity of church community.
BUT…a headless body has never been a viable proposition, has it?
A body needs a head… and the Head of the Body – the church – is Christ.
So – just as a HEAD controls the body and has authority over it…
so Christ controls the church and has authority over it.
A church without the authority of Christ is like body without a head… it’s a corpse.
The point is that Jesus delegates His authority in every area of life.
In society His authority comes thru government – even if Kevin Rudd isn’t aware of that.
In the family His authority comes thru parents – even if parents misuse it at times.
And in the church too Christ’s authority is delegated – to those who act on His behalf.
So authority has an important place in the Christian church.
Jesus gave His church office-bearers so that the church too is an organisation under authority.
- Not surprisingly people often reject authority in the church. In fact they reject authority… full stop!
We live in an age that is extremely ANTI-AUTHORITY.
People rebel against authority at all levels of society – also in the church.
For example: today many people uphold civil disobedience as a virtue.
If you disagree with a particular law in the land and you simply disobey it.
Children rebel against the authority of their parents: “I’m 16… you can’t tell me what to do!”
In schools rebellion against authority has reached the point where schools have security guards.
As Christians we know that satan is behind this breakdown in authority.
There is nothing he loves more than to undermine authority.
That has always been His way…. ever since his own rebellion against God’s authority.
In Eden he very successfully got man to rebel too.
So rebellion against authority has satanic roots.
Okay – in some rare moments we do get to a point where we have to make a choice.
When human authority goes against God’s authority then we must obey God rather than man.
But that is the exception… where disobedience is not only allowed but expected.
Our problem is that we always tend to react against authority and reject it.
And the arch-rebel encourages us to go against God’s delegated authority structures.
That also happens in the church.
Many today even feel that authority is incompatible with the Christian church.
And some of us here have had our struggles with that at times.
We read a verse such Hebrews 13:17: Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.
We say: A good text…. of course we agree with that!
And we’ll even do it too – at least – as long as everything is going smoothly.
But let problems come in the church…. or disagreements in the congregation.
And then suddenly its easier to change churches than submit to authority.
It’s easier to give up on the Christian church than to knuckle under and obey.
“What right does the church have to interfere in our lives? They are not going to tell me what to do”.
- At this point it is also worth noting that in our society DEMOCRACY is our highest ideal.
Government BY the people, FOR the people.
But then folks want the church to be DEMOCRATIC too.
If there is going to be any authority in the church let it be democratic.
So we want elders to act as OUR elected representatives.
They had better take up OUR causes and do what WE expect them to do.
And if they won’t do that then we’ll go to another elder.
I want to say to you that the Christian church is NOT a democracy.
Sure – it has some democratic elements in it… we vote in the selection of office bearers.
That’s biblical… they did that with the deacons in Acts 6.
But the church is NOT a democracy.
If anything the Christian church is a MONARCHY because Jesus Christ is KING of His church.
So office-bearers in the church are not OUR representatives but His representatives.
We here are the citizens of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
And in the church we live under His Kingship… under His Lordship.
But therefore also under the leadership of His appointed representatives.
Scripture leaves us in absolutely no doubt about that.
The reason for that is that in the church of Jesus all things ought to be done decently and in order.
All things ought to be according to the will of Christ our Lord.
B] THE TYPE OF AUTHORITY JESUS INSTITUTED.
- There are two prominent views as to how this authority works itself out in the church.
First of all there is the CONGREGATIONAL structure of authority.
That is found in a wide range of evangelical and Pentecostal churches today.
According to them authority in the church really is totally democratic.
Authority is vested in the congregation as a whole.
So the final decision in any matter must always be voted on by the whole church.
It’s a meeting of the whole congregation that makes ultimate decisions.
Reformed Christians have generally had a problem with that.
We believe it does not do justice the authority structure we find in the Bible.
Secondly there is the PYRAMID kind of authority structure.
These churches have their authority placed in what we call a HIERARCHY.
Bishops… and archbishops… have the final say.
The highest peak of that kind of authority is vested in the Pope in Rome.
Someone who may even make infallible statements in an official capacity.
We as Reformed Christians also have our problem with that kind of church authority.
Scripture knows of no pyramid system with one man at the top who has the final say.
- We believe the correct Biblical model is the Presbyterian model that we find in Timothy and Titus.
Church authority is vested in a church council… or Session.
And that church council is made up of pastors and elders and deacons.
This Reformational understanding of church authority was rediscovered by Luther and Calvin.
It avoids what has so often becomes the tyranny of the one man at the top.
It also avoids the confusion of a whole congregation having the final say.
Instead we have elders, pastors and deacons – biblical office-bearers.
And together they form the Church Council through which Christ rules His church as Lord.
If we pause and think about it this kind of structure is very meaningful.
Because the three offices in the church closely parallel the offices of Christ.
We confessed earlier that Christ is the anointed One…. anointed as prophet, priest and king.
And pastors, elders and deacons parallel those three offices of Christ.
Even more: It shows a beaut glimpse into the kind of authority the church has.
Christ as Prophet has appointed in the church pastors to carry out the prophetic ministry of the Word.
Christ as Priest has appointed deacons to exercise His priestly work of compassion and sacrifice.
Christ as King has appointed in His church elders thru whom He carries out His Kingly rule.
So together pastor, elder and deacon reflect the headship of Christ in His church.
- Let me add – and I want to stress this – that these leaders have no authority in themselves.
In the church there is no room for dictators.
I have all sorts of difficulties with self-appointed pastors and prophets.
I cannot handle people who set themselves up in all kinds of self-appointed ministries.
Or who create their own little following.
That is not the Biblical form of authority.
If we were more discerning here we would have far less trouble with self-appointed tele-vangelists.
The officers in the church have no authority in or of themselves.
They are always under the authority of Christ.
They are always to act on His behalf and in harmony with His loving Lordship.
In I Thess.5:12 Paul speaks of those who are “OVER YOU”.
But notice carefully: Paul says “…over you IN THE LORD…”
They have authority – but it is an authority under Christ Jesus.
We see the same thing in Hebrews 13.
There we are told to obey our leaders and submit to their authority.
But the writer immediately adds an important qualification.
That they exercise this authority as people who themselves must give account.
So there is authority in the church… but not as it has sometimes been done.
When ministers or elders have become petty little dictators.
Harsh and unloving office-bearers who laid down the rules.
And they forgot that their authority was an authority under the Lord of Love.
There is authority in the church.
But not in the way of the America’s televangelists and their imitators….
Building their own little empires and playing their own power games.
Authority in the church is always an authority under Christ.
Their authority is His authority as He calls them thru the church.
They serve the church to make visible Christ’s Lordship over His people.
C] ALL-ROUND OBLIGATIONS.
- At this point let’s take a closer look at I Thess. 5:12,13.
In this whole matter of authority we all have certain obligations.
First: those called to leadership have some obligations.
In fact there are 3 implied obligations for office-bearers in I Thess. 5:12,13.
– The first obligation is to WORK HARD or LABOUR DILIGENTLY among the people.
IOW the offices of the church are not just for status or honour… but for hard work.
Any office-bearer who is in it only for the glory has missed his calling… he’s misusing his office.
The first obligation is to SERVE as Christ served… and that is plain hard work.
– The second obligation of the office-bearer is to have CHARGE OVER the church.
IOW it does involve authority and decision making.
It is an exercising of the loving rule of Christ.
And office-bearers may not side-step issues just because they are difficult.
– Thirdly there is also an obligation to ADMONISH.
IOW not only to fight against sin in our own lives… but also in the church.
It means being honest and caring enough to say hard things at times.
And when that is done lovingly then it again and again leads to repentance.
Of course – as your office-bearers we often fail in these three areas.
We repeatedly need your forgiveness and God’s forgiveness for our failures.
We also need your prayers and we need your encouragement.
Because here are three obligations office-bearers may never avoid.
- But now note that Paul also spells out three obligations for members towards their leaders.
Those under the authority of Jesus thru His appointed leaders must also do three things.
– First of all they must RESPECT the office-bearers.
That means accepting them for what they really are.
Not just a bunch of good guys (maybe!?!) but servants of Jesus in your midst.
So even if you don’t like a man as a person… or have a personal problem with him…
you are still called to respect that man as an office-bearer.
And that respect includes what Hebrews 13:17 says: Obey and submit.
– Secondly there is the obligation to hold them in high regard… to esteem… or honour them.
IOW not only must you privately respect them for what they are.
But you must also publicly hold them in honour as God’s servants.
I know that in Reformed Churches by and large we do have a high regard for office-bearers.
But let’s work at keeping it that way.
– Thirdly there is the obligation that all this be done in love.
Not to respect and honour them grudgingly because you have to.
But in love… so that it may be a joy to you as well as to them.
If your office-bearers serve on behalf of Christ as Lord…
then we need to love them… because the work they do is His work.
- Finally notice how Paul concludes these verses.
Here are verses in which he spells out our duties.
– The obligation of office-bearers towards the congregation.
– The obligation of the congregation to its office-bearers.
But he then concludes with the words: LIVE IN PEACE WITH EACH OTHER.
I believe that this isn’t just an accidental change of subject.
I believe that this a deliberate statement that makes sense in this context.
When pastors and elders and deacons
work hard, exercising authority and admonishing sin in the congregation…
And when the congregation as a whole
respects, highly regards and loves its office-bearers…
then we have a good formula for peace and unity in the church.
In fact we could probably all think of instances of terrible disharmony.
Precisely because office-bearers shirked their duty on behalf of Christ.
Or precisely because the congregation failed to respect their leaders.
So we can conclude by saying that Jesus has instituted authority in the church.
Authority in the church – but for a purpose…!
Not only just so that everything might be done decently and in order…
but especially so that there might be peace in the church of Jesus Christ for His glory.
Amen!
BC stands for Basic Christianity. What are the fundamentals of the faith?
BC also stands for Belgic Confession – a document in which the Christian church (in a time of great persecution) spelled out the basics of what she believes.
When Christianity is a mile wide and an inch deep it needs to grasp again the basics of the faith and confess them in a world where the faith is increasingly under attack.
Those who drew up the BC declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would “offer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags and their whole bodies to the fire” rather than deny the truth expressed in this confession.