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In
reading the history of the early church in
Acts
it
soon becomes apparent that elders (presbyters) played a significant
role. While they are not mentioned by name until one has read more
than one-third of the narrative (Acts 11:30), it becomes evident as
the story unfolds that the presbytery is important to the
development of the ecclesia. It is the elders of the church in
Jerusalem that received donations for their poor from caring
brethren in Antioch (11:30). That it was common if not the rule that
each new congregation had elders is indicated in 14:28 where elders
are said to be “ordained in every church.”
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Moreover
elders are seen as part of the decision-making process, for in one
of the first crises in the early church the presbytery is gathered
with the apostles (15:6) to deal with the problem. And it is
noteworthy that “the brethren” were part of the
conference and that the matter was settled only at the pleasure of
“the whole church” along with apostles and elders. If we
are looking for norms for our time in the life of the early church
this should be one:
There
is evidence in the New Testament that in decision-making the elders
always acted in conjunction with the whole church.
Should we not have a compelling reason for doing otherwise? It
underscores the people’s right to know what is going on and to
share in the decisions that are made. If we should draw up a “Bill
of Rights” for church members, this should be one of them.
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The
early church was dependent on the Old Covenant Scriptures for its
understanding of who an elder was and what he was to be. The Jews
who had become Christians were as aware of “the elders of
Israel” as they were the elders of the ecclesia. There are
four references to these elders of the old Jewish system in
Acts
before
Christian elders are mentioned. Of the eighteen references to elders
in
Acts
eight
of them refer to the elders of Israel. The gospel records, of
course, abound with such references, at least 25 of them, all of
which refer to the elders of Israel. One grim reference tells how
Jesus informed his disciples that he must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders and be killed (Mk. 8:31).
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Even
more recent to the early Christians than the elders of the old
Mosaic system were the elders of the Jewish synagogue, which stood
as a kind of bridge between the ritual of the temple and the
simplicity of the ecclesia. There was hardly any difference at all
between the function and qualifications of the elders in the
synagogue and those in the church. But the prototype for the elders
of the synagogue was the elders in the Old Testament church.
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The
quotation above from Jeremiah can therefore serve as the thesis of
this essay, that we do well to form our concept of the work of
elders as much from the Old Testament as from the New Testament, and
that the basic trait of the elder in the Old Testament is that of
shepherd. That is a pregnant line in Jer. 3:15: “1 will give
them shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge
and understanding.” That one passage comes near saying it all,
for the elder is first of all God’s man, one after his own
heart. Moreover he is a shepherd that feeds the sheep, and with
great care, for it is with knowledge and understanding.
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This
is a continuing theme in Jeremiah, who is a prophet of hope as well
as of doom. In fact the prophet sees the
bad
shepherds
as one cause of the woe and the
good
shepherds
as a reason for hope. “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and
scatter the sheep of my pasture,” says the prophet in 23:12,
and goes on to condemn them for not watching after the sheep. Then
with a cry of hope Jeremiah assures the people that God will
regather his scattered sheep from all the nations and bring them
back to their folds where they will prosper. Then in 23:4 he says,
“I will set shepherds over them who will feed them; and they
shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall there be lacking.”
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Jeremiah
frequently names the
carnal
shepherds,
those who were concerned only for themselves, as the cause of
Israel’s fall, as in 50:6: “My people have been lost
sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray.” And yet
shepherds, the faithful ones who cared for the sheep, were essential
to the prophet’s dream of renewal for Israel. “I will
give them shepherds after my own heart” remains one of the
great shafts of light in the Old Covenant Scriptures.
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In
their judgments against shepherds who were not faithful the prophets
reveal what God expected of them. “Should not the shepherds
feed the flocks?,” Ezekiel (34:1) asks in a woeful judgment.
He refers to things they did for themselves,
but
you do not feed the flock,
he
complained. In the following verses he spells out what is involved
in caring for the sheep, which goes far in clarifying what the early
Christians deemed to be the function of elders, whom they referred
to as shepherds. Ezekiel’s description is in Ezek. 34:4, and
if we listed them as positive functions they would read as follows:
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1.
The shepherd strengthens the weak.
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2.
The shepherd heals the sick.
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3.
The shepherd binds up the broken hearted and brings back those who
have wandered away.
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4.
The shepherd seeks out those that are lost.
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It
is noteworthy that this is what the prophet refers to as
ruling,
the
only intimation in the Old Testament that the shepherd had an
authoritative role. He says, “but with force and cruelty you
have ruled them.” We may deduce from this that they were to
rule
with
kindness and friendly persuasion, or better still they ruled by
teaching, encouraging, healing, and seeking out those who had
strayed. There is no suggestion that “rule” or
“authority” is in any way arbitrary or official. The
shepherd had no authoritative office. He ruled only by serving. He
led by being a servant.
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But
the most impressive picture in the pastoral passages of Ezekiel is
that of God himself as the Shepherd. The prophet hears God say,
“Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out”
(34:11), and “I will seek out My sheep and deliver them from
all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day”
(34:12). That the vision of God as the faithful Shepherd is not an
uncommon one in the Old Testament is evident from such passages as
the famous 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not
want.”
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It
may well be that our Lord was led by the prophecy of Ezekiel to
identify himself as “the Good Shepherd” (Jn. 10:11). He
fulfills the prophecy in that God acts as the Shepherd of his people
through Jesus Christ.
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Here
we have the ultimate motivation for those who serve as pastors of
God’s people:
allow
God and Christ to serve as shepherds through them.
If
we have’ any question about the role of the presbytery in the
church today, we can look to Christ and resolve that the elders of
the church, as God’s under-shepherds, should emulate the ways
of the chief Shepherd. When elders function with the spirit of
Christ in view, we will have far fewer leadership problems. Even
though Jesus could lay claim to all authority in heaven and on earth
he made it clear that he was in the world not to rule but to serve.
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I
have long been impressed with the statement made by Ludwig von Mises
when he was asked what he would do should he be made dictator of the
world. “Abdicate,” he said. That should be the attitude
of our elders if they are ever tempted to be anything other than
humble servants in the church. And once we see the prophetic view of
the elders-shepherds in the Old Testament as teachers and servants,
which was surely the view held by the early Christians since the old
Scriptures were their only Bible, we can question a practice that
makes business men the elders of the congregation.
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We
all know that elders can “run the church” without
“feeding my flock.” Men can serve as something like
corporate executives without even a semblance of the heart of a
shepherd.
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“I
will make them shepherds after my own heart” is the lofty
concept we should hold before those who would lead us. It we could
call a moratorium on the use of the term “authority” in
reference to our elders and employ terms like serving, shepherding,
and pastoring instead it would do wonders for our crisis in
leadership. Since the Scriptures nowhere describe the leaders of
God’s people in authoritative terms, we have good reason for a
moratorium. In fact the very opposite is the case, for when Jesus
referred to the rulers among the Gentiles as those who “lord
it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them,”
he went on to say “It shall not be so among you; but whoever
desires to become great among you shall be your servant” (Mk.
10:42-43).
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To
our shame we have to concede that it
is
so
among us, for all too often “those in authority” and the
“great ones” are elders and ministers. While the Son of
God himself girded himself with a towel so as to serve our leaders
take unto themselves titles and offices so as to rule.
It
shall not be so among you!
is
a mandate from the lips of our Lord that would revolutionize our
thinking about “the eldership” if we would but listen.
With Jesus as our example of leadership, we would reach for the
towel more than for the gavel. We have far greater need for the
heart of a shepherd than the skill of an executive. —
the
Editor