The believers experience the dispensing of the divine Trinity corporately by living in the church. In this message we shall consider more aspects of the believers’ living in the church.
The believers not only obey the church (Matt. 18:17) and meet with the church (1 Cor. 14:23a, 26a) but also serve in the church. To serve in the church is to serve in the spirit and in coordination for the building up of the Body.
In the church certain brothers serve as elders. In the first local church, the church at Jerusalem (Acts 8:1), there were elders taking care of the government of the church (Acts 11:30; 15:2, 4, 6, 22; 16:4; 21:18). Acts 14:23 says that eventually elders were appointed in every church. Thus, there were elders in the church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17). Afterward, Paul ordered Titus to appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5). The New Testament indicates that the elders were not voted in by their congregations, but were appointed by the apostles according to their maturity of life in Christ. They were charged by the apostles to care for the leadership and the shepherding in their churches.
In 1 Peter 5:2 Peter gives the elders a charge concerning shepherding: “Shepherd the flock of God among you.” Literally, the Greek word rendered “flock” is little flock. This refers to the church of God (Acts 20:28), which is small in number (Luke 12:32) compared to the world. According to 1 Peter 5:2, elders are not rulers; they are shepherds. Sometimes a shepherd may have to rule the flock, but that is not the ruling of a king. It is a ruling of someone who cares for the flock. Shepherding is a proper care exercised over the flock. The flock needs to be cared for, protected, led in the right direction, and brought to a place where they can eat and drink. This is shepherding.
In 5:2 Peter does not tell the elders to shepherd their own flock. Instead, he charges them to shepherd the flock of God. The flock is not the elders’ possession but is God’s possession. In a sense, the elders are employed by God to shepherd His flock.
In the New Testament elders are also called overseers (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1; 1 Pet. 5:1-2). The Greek word translated “overseer” is episkopos, from epi meaning over and skopos meaning seer; hence, overseer (bishop, from Latin episcopus). An overseer in a local church is an elder (Acts 20:17, 28). The two titles refer to the same person: elder, denoting a person of maturity, and overseer, denoting the function of an elder. When an elder is carrying out his responsibility in the church, he is functioning as an overseer. When an elder functions he exercises oversight. The overseers, therefore, are not a group of people different from the elders. It was Ignatius in the second century who taught that an overseer, a bishop, is higher than an elder. From this erroneous teaching came the hierarchy of bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope. This teaching is also the source of the Episcopal system of ecclesiastical government. Both the hierarchy and the system are abominable in the eyes of God.
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