Bulletins - Eagles Nest Church

- - Ephesians 2:1–9ESV
Alright, today we are asking the question:
Who runs the church?
Some people would say the pastor.
Others would say the deacons.
And in some congregational churches,
they might say whoever gets the most votes.
But before we ask who gets to make which decisions,
we need to ask a more basic question:
And that question is: "Whose church is this?”
Because if we get that wrong,
we'll turn church leadership into a battle over who gets their way.
Pastors will protect their position.
Members will protect their preferences.
And everybody will forget the reason we're even here.
Over the years, you've heard me describe our church this way:
Pastor/Elder led,
deacon served,
and congregationally affirmed.
And I’m actually going to change how I say that from now on,
because congregationally affirmed makes it sound like they just rubber stamp everything the pastor’s say:
That’s not the case.
Yes, they should affirm Christ,
Yes, they should affirm and follow their pastors’ leadership in the areas they have authority.
But they do have an authority of their own,
Which is why I’m going to start saying:
Pastor led.
Deacon Served.
Congregationally governed.
Perhaps you have heard congregational church governance called:
“congregational rule”
Which is in contrast to: “Elder rule” churches.
But the reason I don’t like that term
is because it makes it sound like super American and democratic,
where the congregation calls all of the shots.
So that’s why I’m going to start saying our church is congregationally governed,
Because I think that’s the closest term to what we see in the Bible.
Alright, so how does authority in the local church work?
1. Submission to Christ
Ephesians 5:23 ESV
23 …. Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.
That means I don't own this church.
The deacons don't own it.
And the congregation doesn't own it either.
Christ does.
And a unanimous vote can't make something biblical that Christ has forbidden.
And a pastor can't make his personal opinion a command from God by saying it loudly from the pulpit.
We all answer to the same Lord.
In Acts 6, the widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
The church had a real problem,
and the apostles led the congregation to address it.
They protected the ministry of the Word while making sure those widows received care.
Both responsibilities mattered.
They belonged to the same mission.
That's where we begin.
The question is how to faithfully carry out the work Christ has given us.
How does authority in the local church work?
1. Submission to Christ
2. Shepherd through Pastors
The New Testament describes the office of the pastors with several words:
elder, overseer, and shepherd or pastor.
They describe different aspects of the same office.
An elder must have spiritual maturity.
An overseer watches over the church.
A shepherd feeds, guides, and protects the flock.
And that involves real leadership and authority.
First Peter 5:2 tells elders to shepherd God's flock and exercise oversight.
1 Peter 5:2 ESV
2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;
Ephesians 4 says pastors equip the saints for ministry.
That means teaching sound doctrine,
guarding against error,
caring for souls,
and helping the church put Scripture into practice.
A pastor's job is bigger than delivering a sermon and waiting for the congregation to tell him what to do next.
Hebrews 13:17 says:
Hebrews 13:17 ESV
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Notice both sides here:
The congregation must follow,
and the leaders must give an account.
And that should make pastors extremely careful.
We aren't handling our own property.
We're caring for people Christ purchased with His blood.
But pastoral leadership also includes decisions where Scripture gives the responsibility without spelling out every detail.
The Bible commands us to teach.
It doesn't provide a preaching calendar.
It commands us to gather, pray, and worship.
It doesn't provide our service schedule or tell us how many songs to sing.
Somebody has to make those decisions.
And part of pastoral oversight is studying Scripture,
understanding the church's needs,
seeking counsel,
and leading us in a wise direction.
That leadership can't depend on meeting everyone’s preferences.
If we only do what everybody wanted beforehand,
we haven't really led anywhere.
At the same time,
Peter says pastors must not be domineering.
We lead through faithful teaching,
patient explanation,
godly example,
and genuine care.
“I'm the pastor, so don’t question” isn’t shepherding and ignores discipleship.
A pastor should welcome honest questions.
He should listen when someone sees a problem he missed.
And when he's wrong, he should admit it.
This is also why qualifications matter.
First Timothy 3 and Titus 1 require character, self-control, sound doctrine, and faithfulness at home.
A gifted speaker who doesn’t meet Christ's qualifications
has no business shepherding Christ's church.
Pastoral leadership is also shared.
The New Testament repeatedly describes elders in the plural.
Our pastors need to counsel one another, challenge one another, and remain accountable to one another.
Having another pastor doesn't remove the church's responsibility, but it does help keep shepherding from becoming one man's private project.
How does authority in the local church work?
1. Submission to Christ
2. Shepherd through Pastors
3. Service through deacons
Now where do deacons fit?
The word deacon means servant.
Their office exists to serve the church,
and Acts 6 gives us a clear picture of the kind of service involved.
The apostles devoted themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
The congregation selected qualified men to oversee the neglected distribution.
Those men handled a serious practical need so the whole church could be cared for.
And this pattern helps us understand the relationship between pastoral oversight and deacon service.
Deacons handle entrusted responsibilities that help the church function and free the pastors to focus on shepherding.
That can include caring for people in need,
overseeing practical arrangements,
helping administer finances,
and caring for the building.
The particular assignments depend on the church's needs.
Deacons exercise real authority within those entrusted responsibilities.
If the church asks them to oversee a practical ministry, they need room to organize it, make decisions, and get the work done.
But it all falls under the authority of the church,
and oversight of the elders.
Deacon’s are also church members.
And as church members,
not deacons per-say,
they can raise concerns about a pastor's teaching or ministry methods just as other members can.
Serving as a deacon doesn't require silently agreeing with everything a pastor says.
And pastoring doesn’t require only doing things if all the deacons agree.
Because deacons aren't a second set of elders.
Scripture doesn't give them an office of ruling over the pastors or directing the church's teaching.
Still, their counsel matters enormously.
Before I brought it to the church that I wanted to start leading us toward weekly communion,
who do you think I talked to about that first?
Well, the other pastor (My dad),
but then the deacons.
And that wasn’t to get their approval,
it was to get their counsel.
“Doug Nelson’s story early on at the church about changing something.”
He agreed it was the right move, but it was too fast.
I’ve said before that deacons don’t have the power of the church,
but they often have the pulse of the church.
They are often some of your most faithful congregants,
who sit under your teaching,
know people,
hear concerns,
see needs,
and help us understand how a decision will affect the congregation.
And so if I’m going to lead the church in a particular direction,
and the deacons are like, “WHOA MAN!”
That’s often, not always, a strong indicator (or pulse) of where the rest of the church is at.
I.E. signing the covenant.
A wise pastor hears them.
A wise congregation takes their recommendations seriously.
And their service is spiritual work.
In Acts 6, neglect threatened the church's unity.
Caring for those widows protected people, preserved fellowship, and supported the ministry of the Word.
That's why First Timothy 3 requires trustworthy, godly men who have already been tested.
We recognize faithful servants and entrust them with responsibility.
How does authority in the local church work?
1. Submission to Christ
2. Shepherd through Pastors
3. Service through deacons
4. Safeguarded through the congregation.
So if pastors lead and deacons serve, what authority does the congregation have?
In a congregational church,
the gathered membership bears final responsibility under Christ and Scripture for the church's doctrine, membership, discipline, and recognition of qualified leaders.
That responsibility is huge.
In Matthew 18, Jesus says to tell an unresolved matter of sin to the church.
In First Corinthians 5, Paul addresses the congregation about removing an unrepentant member.
And in Second Corinthians 2, he describes discipline carried out by the majority.
The whole church is responsible for who it affirms as belonging to Christ.
That's why membership matters.
We need to know who has covenanted together to carry these responsibilities.
Membership means joining together wth the people whose faith we can affirm and whose lives we help watch over.
The congregation also guards the gospel.
In Galatians 1:8, Paul tells the churches to reject even an apostle or angel who preaches another gospel.
“Pastor said so” will never excuse following false teaching.
And in Acts 6, the apostles give the qualifications and lead the process, while the congregation selects the men.
The church participates meaningfully in recognizing those who will serve it.
That is why we examine qualifications and choose leaders together.
If a pastor or deacon becomes disqualified, the church has a responsibility to act through a fair, biblical process.
I am a pastor, but I'm also a member of this church.
I stand among you as a fellow believer who needs correction and accountability.
First Peter 2:9 calls God's people a royal priesthood.
We have equal access to God through Jesus Christ.
The pastor doesn't have a shorter line to the Father.
That equality doesn't erase different responsibilities.
But it does means we carry them as brothers and sisters, serving the same Lord.
Now, does congregational authority mean each individual member has authority to overrule the pastors whenever they disagree?
No.
One member isn't the congregation.
You have a voice and a responsibility to speak truthfully.
But the church's collective responsibility doesn't become a personal veto over every decision.
And the church doesn’t have the right to vote in ways that contradict Scripture.
Or in ways that take away from pastoral authority.
We must hear Scripture, pray, ask questions, consider the facts, and seek the church's good.
We don't vote to win.
We exercise biblical responsibility as people who will answer to Christ.
How does authority in the local church work?
1. Submission to Christ
2. Shepherd through Pastors
3. Service through deacons
4. Safeguarded through the congregation.
5. Share the Work.
Alight, so putting this all together.
Church authority is like two overlapping circles of responsibility:
pastoral oversight and congregational accountability.
Both stand under Christ and His Word.
Pastors have responsibility to teach, shepherd, and lead.
The congregation has responsibility to guard the church's faith and membership, choose qualified leaders, and hold them accountable.
In the overlap, pastors teach and recommend, the congregation considers and governs, and deacons help counsel and carry out the work entrusted to them.
Doctrine is one example.
Pastors teach and defend it.
Members receive that teaching, examine it against Scripture, and reject a false gospel.
Discipline is another.
Pastors investigate carefully, teach, and guide the process.
The church hears, appeals, and ultimately acts.
Finances give us another practical example.
A congregation decides the budget and entrust its administration to the appropriate leaders.
And that doesn't require a church meeting every time somebody buys printer paper.
But leaders also can't treat the church's money as their personal spending account.
Delegation gives room to work within agreed responsibilities.
Accountability asks whether that work is being done faithfully.
The same principle applies to ministry decisions.
Pastors shouldn't need a congregational vote on every sermon passage,
counseling appointment,
or ordinary arrangement for worship.
But with decisions that our not spelled out in the Bible,
the congregation has reserved to itself must come before the congregation.
Leaders should honor the responsibilities and procedures we have agreed upon.
For example, I can’t change the name of this church and say: “Pastoral authority!”
And if pastoral leadership becomes unreasonable, the congregation can address that together.
We can ask for an explanation,
seek a wiser course,
and make needed biblical changes that follow our constitutions procedures.
That's part of what a church constitution does.
It states how we intend to carry out our responsibilities together.
The constitution doesn't outrank Scripture,
but we shouldn't ignore it whenever it becomes inconvenient.
If a provision needs to change,
we explain why and amend it through the proper process.
The Lord's Supper provides one example.
The congregation can govern that we will observe it at least monthly
while entrusting more frequent observance to the elders' pastoral judgment.
The congregation establishes the agreed provision, and the elders lead within it.
That's a way for both responsibilities to work together.
And individual conscience has a place here too.
I'm your pastor, but I don't stand between you and God as your priest.
I can urge you to read Scripture.
But I can't declare that your evening devotions are disobedient because I prefer doing mine in the morning.
But personal preference isn't the same as conscience.
Preferring a different service arrangement doesn't automatically mean following the church's leadership would make you sin.
So when you disagree, speak honestly and graciously.
Ask for the biblical reasoning.
Explain your concern, and be willing to hear an answer.
Pastors should be willing to reconsider.
Members should be willing to follow a wise decision even when it wasn't their first choice.
And deacons can help by bringing concerns into honest conversation and helping carry out the church's shared work.
Acts 6 ends with the Word spreading and disciples multiplying.
That's why getting this right matters.
It helps us care for people and keep doing the work Christ gave us.
How does authority in the local church work?
1. Submission to Christ
2. Shepherd through Pastors
3. Service through deacons
4. Safeguarded through the congregation.
5. Share the Work.
6. Serving the One Who Saved Us.
A church won't become healthy merely because it has a well-written constitution.
Proud people can fight their way through almost any set of rules.
We need the grace of Christ.
Our Savior had all authority, and He used it to serve us.
He gave His life for sinners who had rejected His rule.
He bore our guilt on the cross and rose from the dead to bring us into His family. \
Our standing before God rests on Him,
and His Spirit enables us to serve one another.
That leaves no room for a pastor who treats the church as his kingdom,
or a deacon who treats his office as personal status,
or a member who insists the church must revolve around his preferences.
We belong to Christ, and we belong to one another.
So let pastors lead faithfully,
deacons serve faithfully,
and members exercise their responsibility faithfully.
As we correct one another when needed
and encourage one another wherever we can.
So how should church operate?
Pastor led.
Deacon served.
Congregationally governed.
All under Christ and His Word.
And all of it for the good of His people and the glory of His name.
- - Ephesians 5:23ESV
- - 1 Peter 5:2ESV
- - Hebrews 13:17ESV

Ephesians 2:1–9ESV

1. Submission to Christ

Ephesians 5:23ESV

1 Peter 5:2ESV

Hebrews 13:17ESV