Calvary Bible Church
Sunday, April 26
  • Good morning, church.
    If you were to go down to the local bookstore this afternoon, or log onto Amazon right now, and search for books on "Leadership," "Organizational Growth," or "Management," you would be instantly overwhelmed by tens of thousands of titles. You would find books written by Fortune 500 CEOs, books written by Silicon Valley tech billionaires, and books written by retired four-star generals.
    And if you read those books, you would find a very consistent, highly predictable pattern for how the secular world believes a successful organization should be structured. The world’s blueprint is always a pyramid.
    At the very top of the pyramid, you have the CEO, the President, or the Commander-in-Chief. That person holds all the executive power. Right beneath him, you have a Board of Directors who control the finances and keep the CEO in check. Beneath them, you have an army of middle managers, vice presidents, and regional directors. And at the very bottom, forming the massive, weight-bearing base of the pyramid, you have the employees, the laborers, and the consumers.
    That is the blueprint of the world. It is built on power, it is built on leverage, and it is built on a rigid, top-down chain of command. And let’s be honest: it works incredibly well if your goal is to manufacture iPhones, build cars, or run a multinational bank.
    But church, here is the great danger of the 21st century: As a local church grows, as God blesses us, as we start to gain more members, construct larger buildings, and manage bigger budgets, the immense, almost irresistible temptation is to look at that Fortune 500 pyramid and copy it.
    We are tempted to say, "Well, the Senior Pastor is obviously the CEO. The Deacons must be the Board of Directors who control the money and vote on the pastor's ideas. The pastoral staff is the middle management. And the congregation? Well, the congregation is the consumer base. They are the customers we need to keep happy, entertained, and comfortable so they keep buying the product and putting money in the offering plate."
    Listen to me very carefully this morning: That is a demonic, unbiblical, destructive lie from the pit of hell.
    The local church is not a corporation. We are not a business. We are not selling a product, and you are not consumers. We are the living, breathing, blood-bought Bride of Jesus Christ. And because we belong exclusively to Him, we do not get to decide how this house is run. We do not get to borrow the blueprints of General Motors, Apple, or the United States government.
    We must use the blueprint that was handed down to us by the Apostles, written in the blood of the early martyrs, and preserved in the inerrant pages of the New Testament.
    Today, we are going to look under the hood of the church. Because we are growing, we need to ask the fundamental questions: How is this thing actually supposed to work? Who is in charge?
    As you look around our church, you might realize we have a very specific structure. We currently have two Elders—our Senior Pastor and my father. And right now, I have the profound privilege of serving as your only Deacon. Today, I want to explain exactly why we are set up this way, what those titles actually mean, and how this biblical structure protects this growing congregation from the wolves that want to tear it apart.
    If you have your Bibles, I want you to stick something in Acts 20 and 1 Timothy 3. We will be doing a bit of jumping around this morning so stick with me. We are going to do a deep dive into biblical church government.

    The Foundation: The True Head of the Church

    Before we can ever talk about the men who lead the church on earth—before we talk about elders, deacons, or pastors—we have to establish the absolute, unshakeable foundation of who actually owns the church.
    Turn over to Colossians chapter 1, verse 18. The Apostle Paul is writing about the spectacular, cosmic supremacy of Jesus Christ, and he says this: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence."
    Colossians 1:18 KJV 1900
    And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
    The church is repeatedly described in the New Testament as a living body. And, biologically speaking, a body can have only one head. If a body has two heads, it is a freak of nature; it is a monster. If a body has no head, it is a corpse.
    Jesus Christ is the sole, exclusive, ultimate Head of this church. I am not the head of this church. My father is not the head of this church. The Senior Pastor is not the head of this church.
    Jesus Christ purchased this specific flock with His own divine blood on the cross of Calvary. He rules it by the authority of His living Word. Therefore, every single human leader in this building is fundamentally an under-shepherd. We are middlemen. Our job is not to invent a vision for the church; our job is to execute the vision that the Head has already established in this Book.
    If a pastor or an elder ever stands behind a pulpit and demands absolute, unquestioning loyalty to himself, rather than pointing you to the absolute authority of the Word of God, you need to run out the back doors of that building as fast as your legs can carry you. We submit to human leadership only to the degree that human leadership submits to Jesus Christ.
    Jesus Christ is the sole, exclusive Head of the church (Colossians 1:18).

    The Great Misunderstanding (What is a Pastor?)

    With that foundation securely laid, we can now look at the human offices that Christ instituted to govern His body on earth. And right out of the gate, we have to address a massive linguistic misunderstanding in the modern American church.
    If you ask the average Christian today, "What are the leadership offices in a church?", they will almost always say, "Well, you have the Pastor, and you have the Deacons."
    But if you look closely at the Greek text of the New Testament, you will find something absolutely fascinating. In the governmental structure of the early church, the word "Pastor" is almost never used as an official, formal title.
    In fact, the New Testament only officially outlines two governmental offices for the local church. You can see them perfectly listed in Philippians 1:1. Paul opens his letter by saying, "To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons."
    Philippians 1:1 KJV 1900
    Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
    Bishops (or Overseers) and Deacons. Those are the only two recognized offices. So where did we get the title of "Pastor"?
    In the New Testament, the word "pastor" is primarily a spiritual gift and a function, not a noun on a business card. Ephesians 4:11 says that Christ gave to the church "some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers."
    Ephesians 4:11 KJV 1900
    And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
    To understand this, we have to pull out our Strong’s and take a deep dive into the Greek language. In the first-century church, the Apostles used three distinct, powerful Greek words to describe the exact same office.
    Elder, Bishop, and Pastor were not three different jobs in the early church. They were not three different tiers on a corporate ladder where you start as a Pastor, get promoted to an Elder, and eventually become a Bishop. There were three different lenses looking at the exact same man.
    Let me prove this to you. The absolute "Rosetta Stone" of biblical church government is found in Acts chapter 20.
    Let me set the historical scene for you. The Apostle Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. He is rushing to get there by Pentecost. But the Holy Spirit has already warned him that chains and afflictions await him. He knows he is going to be arrested, and he knows in his gut he will never, ever see the church of Ephesus again. He had spent three years bleeding, sweating, and weeping to plant that church.
    His ship docks at a port city called Miletus, about 30 miles south of Ephesus. He doesn't have time to go into the city, so he sends a messenger to Ephesus and calls for a final, tearful meeting on the beach with the church leadership.
    Look at Acts 20, verse 17: "And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church."
    Acts 20:17 KJV 1900
    And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
    The Greek word there is Presbyteros.
    Paul gathers these elders on the sand and gives them his final, desperate charge. Look at verse 28: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers..."
    Acts 20:28 KJV 1900
    Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
    The Greek word there is Episkopos (which is translated in other places as Bishop).
    And then Paul tells these Elders/Overseers what they are actually supposed to do: "...to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."The Greek word translated as "feed" is Poimaino. It literally translates "to act as a shepherd" or "to pastor."
    Do you see what Paul just did in the span of eleven verses? He looked at one specific group of men standing on a beach, and he used all three terms interchangeably. He called the Elders to recognize that they are Bishops who are commanded to Pastor the flock!
    Let's break down these three Greek words, because they completely define how our Senior Pastor and my father operate in this building.

    The Title of Dignity: Elder (Presbyteros)

    This is the most common term used in the New Testament. When the Bible uses the word Presbyteros, it is referring to the character, the dignity, and the spiritual maturity of the man.
    In the ancient Jewish culture, an "elder" wasn't just someone who had gray hair, or no hair, a walking cane, or a senior citizen discount. The elders were the respected, proven, battle-tested men who sat at the gates of the city to judge disputes, handle legal matters, and offer wisdom.
    When Paul tells Titus to "ordain elders in every city" (Titus 1:5), he is saying, "Find the men who are spiritually mature. Find the men who have weather-beaten faith. Find the men who don't panic when the storm hits because their roots are deep in the Word of God."
    Titus 1:5 KJV 1900
    For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
    If you turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul gives us the strict, unbending qualifications for this office. And if you read through that list, something should immediately shock you. Paul does not ask for a Master's degree in business administration. He doesn't ask for a charismatic, extroverted personality. He doesn't ask if the man is a brilliant public speaker, a snappy dresser, or if he knows how to run a social media marketing campaign.
    1 Timothy 3:1–7 KJV 1900
    This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
    Out of the 15 qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3, 14 of them are strictly, exclusively about the man's private character!
    He must be blameless (above reproach). This doesn't mean sinless, but it means there is no glaring, unrepentant flaw in his life that the community can point to and say, "He's a hypocrite."
    He must be the husband of one wife. In the Greek, this is a "one-woman man." It means he is fiercely, exclusively, and unquestionably loyal to his bride. His eyes do not wander. His heart does not wander.
    He must be vigilant, sober, and of good behavior. He is serious about the things of God. He isn't flippant or foolish.
    He must not be given to wine, no striker, but patient. A "striker" is a brawler. An elder cannot be a violent, hot-tempered man who flies off the handle when someone disagrees with him. He must be gentle and patient.
    He must rule his own house well. Paul asks a devastatingly logical question: If a man cannot manage his own children, if he cannot shepherd his own wife, if his own living room is in utter chaos, how in the world can he manage the eternal souls of the church of God?
    The only actual "skill" required in the entire list is that he must be "apt to teach." He has to know the Word of God well enough to explain it to the sheep and defend it against the wolves.
    Church, business success does not equal spiritual maturity. A man can be a millionaire CEO in the secular world, he can manage 5,000 employees, and yet be completely, utterly disqualified from being an Elder in the church of Jesus Christ because his character is rotten. The office of Elder is a title of spiritual dignity.

    The Title of Duty: Bishop / Overseer (Episkopos)

    The second lens is the Greek word Episkopos. This is where we get the English word "Episcopal." While Elder refers to the man's character, Bishop refers to his function and duty.
    In the first-century Roman Empire, an episkopos was a municipal manager. If the Roman Emperor conquered a new territory, or if he was building a new city, he would send an episkopos—an overseer—to manage the project, make sure the Roman laws were followed, and protect the city from rebellion.
    When the Holy Spirit uses this secular management term for the church, He is saying that the Elders are the official managers of the local body. They are the superintendents.
    We see this exact job description laid out in the scriptures. In Titus chapter 1, verse 7, Paul writes, "For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God..."
    Titus 1:7 KJV 1900
    For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
    A steward is a manager of someone else's property! And in verse 9, Paul tells us exactly what this steward is supposed to do: "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."
    Titus 1:9 KJV 1900
    Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
    As bishops, they are the ones charged with the terrifying responsibility of guarding the doctrinal purity of the pulpit, managing the direction of the ministries, and watching the horizon for false teachers.
    An episkopos is not a dictator, but he is a manager of the household of God.

    The Title of Devotion: Pastor / Shepherd (Poimen)

    The third and final lens is the Greek word Poimen, which we translate as Pastor or Shepherd. While Elder is the character, and Bishop is the duty, Pastor describes the heart and devotion of the office.
    As I mentioned, in the New Testament, "Pastor" is almost never a noun; it is almost always a verb (poimaino). It is an action. It is something you do.
    To the modern, urban American, a shepherd sounds like a very sweet, peaceful, pastoral job. We picture a guy taking a nap under an olive tree playing a harp while fluffy white sheep eat green grass around him. We put that picture in stained glass windows and on nursery walls.
    But to a first-century Judean, being a shepherd was one of the most violent, dirty, exhausting, and dangerous jobs on the planet.
    A shepherd lived with the sheep. He smelled like the sheep. He slept in the dirt across the opening of the sheepfold to act as a physical door. If a wolf, a bear, or a lion attacked the flock in the middle of the night, the shepherd didn't call 911; he grabbed his rod and his staff, and he engaged in brutal, hand-to-hand combat in the dark to protect the flock.
    When the Bible commands the Elders to "Pastor" the flock, it means they are commanded to feed the sheep the pure, unadulterated Word of God. It means they must bandage the sheep when they are broken. It means they must chase the sheep down when they wander into sin. And it means they must violently protect the sheep from the heretics and false teachers who want to devour their souls.
    So, let's put it all together. If someone asks you how the leadership of your church works, you can blow their mind with this biblical definition: "Biblically speaking, our leadership consists of men who have the mature character of an Elder, who serve the governmental function of a Bishop, and whose primary spiritual gift and heartbeat is to Pastor the flock." It is one office, viewed through three lenses.
    In the New Testament, "Pastor" is primarily a gift and a function (or action), not an official title. Acts 20 reveals three Greek words for the exact same office:
    The Title of Dignity: Elder (Presbyteros). This refers to the spiritual maturity and character of the man.
    The Title of Duty: Bishop or Overseer (Episkopos). This refers to the management and doctrinal protection of the church(Titus 1:7-9).
    The Title of Devotion: Pastor or Shepherd (Poimen). This refers to the heart to feed, lead, and protect the flock.

    The Plurality: Two Elders, One Flock

    Now, there is another crucial detail we have to notice in the New Testament blueprint. Whenever the Apostles established a church, they never, ever left it in the hands of one single man.
    The New Testament universally points to a plurality of elders in a single local church. When Paul writes to Titus, he tells him to "ordain elders [plural] in every city." (Titus 1:5). When Paul calls the leadership of Ephesus in Acts 20, he calls the "elders [plural] of the church." When James writes to sick believers, he says, "Let him call for the elders [plural] of the church, and let them pray over him." (James 5:14)
    James 5:14 KJV 1900
    Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
    Why is a plurality of elders so absolutely vital? Because isolation breeds destruction.
    Look at the landscape of the modern American church. Over the last twenty years, we have watched a catastrophic wave of "celebrity pastors" fall into massive moral failure, financial ruin, and theological heresy. Mega-churches have imploded overnight. Pastors have destroyed their families and dragged the name of Jesus Christ through the mud on national television.
    Do you know what almost all of those fallen pastors had in common? They operated alone. They built a pyramid. They were the CEO. They surrounded themselves with "Yes Men" who were terrified to challenge them. They had no true accountability, no peers to look them in the eye and say, "You are out of line. You need to repent."
    A plurality of elders is God's divinely designed shock absorber. It protects the church from the ego of one man. It protects the pulpit from going off the theological rails. It forces the leadership to pray together, reason together, and submit to one another in the fear of God.
    This brings us to our specific church. As I mentioned, we currently have two elders: our Senior Pastor, and my father.
    Now, some of you might be asking, "Okay, if there is a plurality of equal elders, why is the Senior Pastor the one up there doing the vast majority of the preaching? Is he the boss of your dad? Is he the CEO?"
    That is a great question. Biblically, our Senior Pastor and my father share equal governmental authority over this church. The Senior Pastor's vote in an elder meeting does not mathematically count more than my father's vote. However, practically and historically, even among a group of equals, there is usually a "first among equals."
    We see this among the Twelve Apostles. They were all equal, but Peter naturally stepped forward as the primary spokesman on the Day of Pentecost. At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, all the elders were present, but James stepped up to cast the final vision and summarize the doctrine.
    In 1 Timothy 5:17, Paul writes, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine."
    1 Timothy 5:17 KJV 1900
    Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
    The New Testament recognizes that within the elder board, there will be a man (or men) specifically gifted by the Holy Spirit for the exhausting, grinding labor of public preaching and teaching. Our Senior Pastor spends many hours a week buried in the text, agonizing over the manuscript, seeking God's face, and doing the heavy lifting of public feeding. Because of that labor in the Word, he naturally assumes a leading, vision-casting role. He is the primary teaching voice of the leadership.
    But—and this is the crucial, biblical safety net—he is still absolutely, 100% accountable to the plurality of the elder board. My father serves alongside him to provide wisdom, accountability, prayer, and shared governance. If our Senior Pastor were to step behind this pulpit next Sunday and start preaching heresy, or if he were to fall into unrepentant moral sin, my father and the future elders of this church have the biblical authority and the divine mandate to remove him from this pulpit immediately.
    And a godly Senior Pastor praises God for that protection! He doesn't want to be a CEO. He wants to be a brother, shielded by his peers.
    We currently have two elders because the New Testament universally commands a plurality of co-equal elders to protect against isolation and ego.

    The Historical Shift (How We Got It Wrong)

    Now, if the New Testament is so clear that the church is supposed to be led by a plurality of coequal Elder-Bishops, how did we end up with the massive religious hierarchies we see in the world today?
    How did we get to the point where the Roman Catholic Church has a single Pope ruling the world, Cardinals ruling countries, Archbishops ruling regions, and single Priests ruling local parishes? How did the Episcopal and Methodist churches adopt these massive, top-down, tiered systems?
    To answer that, I want to take you on a 10-minute deep dive into early church history. I want to show you exactly when, where, and why the church abandoned the Apostles’ blueprint.
    We can trace this shift through three distinct phases in the ancient historical documents of the early church fathers.
    Phase 1: The New Testament Era (The Apostolic Blueprint)As we just proved from the text, throughout the first century (from 33 A.D. to roughly 90 A.D.), the church was fiercely committed to the plurality of local, co-equal Elder/Bishops.
    Phase 2: The Late 1st Century (The Continuation)Right after the Apostles die, the church is still holding the line. There is a famous ancient Christian document called The Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles). It was written around 90 to 100 A.D., making it one of the earliest Christian writings outside the Bible itself. In chapter 15 of the Didache, it commands the local churches: "Appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord." Notice the language! It still uses the exact plural form as in Philippians 1.
    Around the exact same time, in 96 A.D., a church leader named Clement of Rome wrote a letter to the rebellious church in Corinth. In his letter, Clement explicitly uses the words "Elder" and "Bishop" as completely synonymous terms.
    So at the end of the first century, the blueprint is holding strong.
    Phase 3: The 2nd Century Shift (The Ignatian Error)But then we hit the year 110 A.D. And everything changes. There was a very famous, very brave, and very fiery early church father named Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius was the Bishop/Elder of the church in Antioch, Syria.
    In the year 110 A.D., the Roman Emperor Trajan ordered Ignatius to be arrested for his faith. Ignatius was chained to a squad of ten brutal Roman soldiers (whom he called "ten leopards"), and he was death-marched across the empire, from Syria, across land and sea, all the way to the Colosseum in Rome, where he was thrown to the lions and martyred for the name of Jesus Christ.
    While he was on this grueling death march, Ignatius wrote seven famous letters to various churches along the route. And in these seven letters, we see a massive, catastrophic historical shift in church government.
    You see, Ignatius was terrified. He was about to die, and he saw a massive wave of false teachers and heretics invading the churches. The Gnostics were creeping in. The Docetists (who denied that Jesus had a physical body) were spreading lies.
    Ignatius believed that a board of equal elders was too slow, too argumentative, and too weak to fight off the heretics. He believed the church needed a single, powerful, absolute commander to dictate doctrine and maintain unity.
    So, in his letters, Ignatius officially separates the title of "Bishop" from the title of "Elder." He creates a new system that historians call the "Monarchical Episcopate"—the rule of a single Bishop.
    Ignatius wrote to the church in Smyrna and said: "See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery [the elders] as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons."
    Do you see what he just did? He built a pyramid! He put one single Bishop at the very top, acting as the voice of God. He put a subordinate board of Elders beneath him, and the Deacons beneath them. He argued that you couldn't even have a valid communion service or baptism unless the singular Bishop authorized it!
    Now, listen to me: Ignatius was not a bad man. He was a hero of the faith who died a brutal martyr's death for Jesus Christ. His motives were entirely pure. He built the pyramid because he desperately wanted to protect the church from heresy. It was a pragmatic, emergency wartime measure.
    But it was a human invention. It was not the biblical blueprint. And while it may have temporarily worked to fight off the Gnostics in the second century, it laid the foundation for the church's total corruption in the centuries that followed. Once you elevate one Bishop above the local church, it’s only a matter of time before you elevate one Archbishop above a region, and eventually, one Pope above the entire world.
    Pragmatism always breeds corruption. Church, we do not follow Ignatius’s blueprint. We do not follow the blueprint of the Roman Catholic Church. We do not follow the blueprint of Fortune 500 CEOs.
    We are a New Testament church. And we will stick exclusively, unapologetically, to the original blueprint of the Apostles: A plurality of co-equal, godly Elders, shepherding a single, local flock under the supreme headship of Jesus Christ.
    In 110 A.D., a church father named Ignatius of Antioch panicked over heresy and separated the Bishop from the Elders, creating a "Monarchical Episcopate" (a pyramid). We reject this human invention and stick to the biblical blueprint.

    The Shock Absorbers (The Office of Deacon)

    So we have established the role of our two Elders. But Philippians 1 mentioned two offices. What about the Deacons?
    If the Elders are the managers and the spiritual shepherds, what exactly is a Deacon?
    This is where this sermon gets very personal for me, because right now, I have the distinct honor and heavy responsibility of serving as your only Deacon right now.
    Let me be very clear about what my title means. The Greek word is Diakonos. It is a beautiful, humble, glorious word. It simply means "a servant." In the secular Greek world, a diakonos was a table-waiter. It was someone who rushed around, serving food, clearing plates, and running errands, literally kicking up dust in the house as they hurried to meet the guests' physical needs.
    I am not an Elder. I do not have the governmental authority of our Senior Pastor or my father. I do not hold the office of Overseer. My job is to kick up dust serving this church.
    To understand the immense, vital importance of the Diaconate, we have to look at the exact historical moment the office was created. Turn back a few pages to Acts chapter 6.
    The early church in Jerusalem is exploding with massive growth. Thousands of people are getting saved. But as any leadership team will tell you, massive growth always brings massive logistical problems.
    Look at Acts 6, verse 1: "And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration."
    Acts 6:1 KJV 1900
    And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
    The church has hit its first major internal crisis. There are two groups of Jewish Christians: The Hellenistic Jews (who spoke Greek and adopted Greek culture) and the Hebraic Jews (who spoke Aramaic and were traditional locals).
    There is a massive, daily food distribution program to keep the poor widows from starving to death. But racial, cultural, and linguistic prejudice has crept into the church. The Greek-speaking widows are being systematically passed over in the food lines by the local Hebrew distributors.
    The people are angry. The Hellenists are screaming at the Hebrews. The church is literally on the verge of splitting right down the middle over a logistical issue with food distribution.
    They bring the problem to the Apostles (who were functioning as the first elders of the Jerusalem church). Look at the Apostles' response in verse 2: "Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables."
    Acts 6:2 KJV 1900
    Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
    Now, if you read that with a modern, cynical mindset, it sounds incredibly arrogant. It sounds like the Apostles are saying, "Listen, we are the big-shot preachers. We are too spiritual, too important, and too busy to get our hands dirty feeding poor widows. Let the peasants handle the food."
    But that is not what they are saying at all! The Apostles understood the absolute, critical necessity of the division of labor. They understood that if the spiritual leadership of the church gets bogged down in the massive, exhausting logistical administration of running the physical building, managing the finances, and handling the benevolence programs... the pulpit will starve!
    If our Senior Pastor or my father spent 40 hours a week unclogging the church toilets, balancing the Excel spreadsheets, setting up chairs, and organizing the blessing room, they would step behind the pulpit on Sunday morning completely spiritually bankrupt. They will have spent zero hours in Scripture, zero hours in agonizing prayer for our souls, and they will have nothing of substance to feed the sheep.
    A church where the elders are doing all the physical labor is a church where the pulpit will eventually starve to death.
    So the Apostles say, "We cannot leave the Word of God to serve tables." Verse 3: "Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."
    Acts 6:3 KJV 1900
    Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
    They established the proto-Deacons. Seven men of absolute impeccable character, filled with the Holy Spirit.
    Notice what the Deacons did! They stepped into the middle of a racial, cultural, logistical nightmare. They took over the food distribution. They managed the finances. They made sure every widow was fed. They solved the administrative crisis.
    And look at the glorious result in verse 7! "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly..."
    Acts 6:7 KJV 1900
    And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
    Because the Deacons handled the physical needs, the Elders were freed up to unleash the Word of God, and the church exploded with health and growth!
    Church, my job as your Deacon is to be the shock absorber of the local church. My job is to handle the physical and logistical burdens of this facility and this congregation. My job is to protect the body’s unity. My job is to put out the logistical fires so that our Senior Pastor and my father are completely free to study, to pray, to seek the face of God, and to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ with absolute power and clarity.
    Now, obviously, as this church continues to grow, one Deacon won’t be enough. The Apostles appointed seven in Acts 6! My prayer and our vision are that God will raise up more godly men in this congregation to step into the office of Deacon and serve alongside me, so we can bear the physical load of this growing ministry together.
    You cannot have a healthy church without biblically qualified Elders, and you cannot have a functioning church without Spirit-filled Deacons. They are the two pillars of the apostolic blueprint.
    The Greek word Diakonos means a servant.
    In Acts 6, Deacons were created to handle the physical, financial, and logistical needs of the church so that the Elders would be free to focus on prayer and the ministry of the Word.

    The Role of the Congregation (Hebrews 13:17)

    We have talked about the Head of the Church (Jesus). We have talked about the Overseers (the Elders). We have talked about the Servant (the Deacon).
    But the blueprint is not complete without the final, most massive component of the building: The Congregation. That is you.
    Church government is not just a list of rules for the guys with the titles. It requires the active, joyful, biblical participation of the flock.
    I want to close our time today by looking at one of the most terrifying, sobering, and beautiful verses in the entire New Testament regarding the relationship between the flock and the shepherds.
    Turn to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. The writer of Hebrews issues a direct command to the congregation: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you."
    Hebrews 13:17 KJV 1900
    Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
    Let's be honest. "Obey" and "Submit" are two of the most hated words in the 21st-century American vocabulary. We live in a hyper-individualistic, anti-authoritarian culture. We love freedom, we love independence, and we despise anyone telling us what to do.
    But the church is not a democracy. It is a theocracy, governed by Christ, through the under-shepherds.
    Why does God command us to submit to the spiritual leadership of the Elders? Does He want you to be mindless robots? Does He want our Senior Pastor and my dad to be power-hungry tyrants?
    No. Look at the reason given in the text: "for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account."
    I want you to feel the agonizing weight of that phrase. When our two elders sit in a room late at night, praying over the direction of this church, agonizing over church discipline, praying over the marriages that are falling apart, praying for the sick... they are not managing a business. They are watching for your eternal souls.
    The Greek word for "watch" here is agrypneō. It literally means "to be sleepless." It means staying awake in the middle of the night, staring into the darkness, terrified that a wolf will attack the sheep.
    One day, our Senior Pastor and my father will stand before the burning eyes of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat judgment. And Jesus Christ is not going to ask them how big our congregation got. He is not going to ask them how much money was in the offering plate. He is not going to ask them how many Facebook views their sermons had.
    He is going to look at them, and He is going to demand an absolute, strict accounting of what they taught you, how they protected you, and how they shepherded the flock that He died for.
    That is a terrifying reality! It keeps them awake at night! The responsibility of an Elder is a crushing, supernatural weight that no man can carry in his own strength.
    And so, the writer of Hebrews says to the congregation: "Listen, your leaders are carrying a terrifying burden. They have to answer to God for your souls. Therefore, make their job a joy, not a grief!"
    If a congregation is constantly complaining, constantly rebelling, constantly gossiping, and constantly fighting the biblical direction of the leadership, you will break the hearts of your shepherds. They will lead you with grief and groaning. And the text says, "that is unprofitable for you." A heartbroken, exhausted shepherd cannot effectively feed the sheep.
    But when a congregation loves their leaders, prays for their leaders, submits to the biblical teaching of the Word, and rallies together in unity... the Elders lead with immense, overflowing joy. And a joyful shepherd will lead you into the greenest pastures and the deepest waters of the grace of God!
    The congregation is commanded to obey and submit to their leaders.
    Why? Because the leaders are staying awake to "watch for your souls" and must one day give a terrifying account to God for how they led you. Make their job a joy!
    Conclusion
    Church, the blueprint of God is absolutely perfect.
    It is not a pyramid of corporate power. It is a beautiful, interconnected body.
    We have one supreme, glorious Head: the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us with His blood.
    We have a plurality of godly Elders—currently our Senior Pastor and my father—who share authority, manage the house, and stay awake at night to fiercely protect and passionately feed your souls.
    We have the office of Deacon—which I am honored to hold—to kick up dust serving the physical needs of the body, protecting the unity of the church, and ensuring the pulpit never starves.
    And we have a congregation of saints, joyfully submitting to the Word, loving one another, and mobilizing to take the Gospel of Grace to a lost and dying world.
    That is a biblical church. That is a church that the gates of hell cannot prevail against. That is a church that can withstand the storms of culture, the enemy’s attacks, and the pressures of massive growth.
    Let us commit today, as a family, to reject the blueprints of Babylon, to reject the corporate pyramids of the world, and to build this house exactly the way the Master Architect designed it.
    Let's pray together.

      • Colossians 1:18KJV1900

      • Philippians 1:1KJV1900

      • Ephesians 4:11KJV1900

      • Acts 20:17KJV1900

      • Acts 20:28KJV1900

      • Titus 1:5KJV1900

      • 1 Timothy 3:1–7KJV1900

      • Titus 1:7KJV1900

      • Titus 1:9KJV1900

      • James 5:14KJV1900

      • 1 Timothy 5:17KJV1900

      • Acts 6:1KJV1900

      • Acts 6:2KJV1900

      • Acts 6:3KJV1900

      • Acts 6:7KJV1900

      • Hebrews 13:17KJV1900

Calvary Bible Church
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