In this message we would like to fellowship concerning the eldership. No one among the saints is qualified in himself for the eldership. According to 2 Corinthians 3:5, the Apostle Paul said that we are not sufficient of ourselves but that our sufficiency is in the Lord. So, all the brothers who bear the responsibility of the eldership should put their trust in the Lord. In order to be faithful to their responsibility, they should spend more time for the church and pay more attention to the saints by visiting them individually.
Acts 20 is the record of a word by Paul addressed to the elders from Ephesus. It was given in Miletus while Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem for the last time. From Miletus Paul sent some to ask the elders in Ephesus to come to him.
Verses 17 through 19 say, “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them, You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you all the time, serving the Lord as a slave with all humility and tears and trials which came upon me by the plots of the Jews.”
At that time Paul and these believers were people absolutely for God. At the same time there was another group of people, the Jews, who claimed to be for God also. These two were in rivalry. The Jews even hated Paul and his followers to such an extent that they plotted and conspired to damage Paul and his ministry.
Paul is a real pattern to all of the elders. He is a real pattern. Although he himself had never been an elder, yet he set up a model, a pattern, an example for the elders whom he had trained. So, whatever he spoke about himself, his expectation was that all the elders would follow his steps and imitate what he had been doing. First Paul said that he was serving the Lord as a slave. The elders all have to serve the Lord as a slave. They are not put into a position of dignity or rank. In the church there is no rank and no position. There is only humility and slavery. Following humility there are tears, not joy and happiness. Then third are the trials which come upon us from other people who claim to be for God, and even conspire to undermine the work.
Elders should serve the Lord not just as servants, but slaves, losing their right and all kinds of liberty. Actually, to be put into the eldership is to be brought into slavery. We all are slaves to serve the Lord. To serve the Lord here is not to serve the Lord directly, but indirectly by serving His people. The elders must pick up the burden of a slave to serve the big family of their Master. We must behave, do things, and even have our being as slaves with all humility.
We should brand ourselves with the word humility. We have no right to be proud of anything. Everything that is glorious should go to our Master. He is the only One who is qualified to be proud of anything. We are destined to be humble. To be humble is not an easy thing; to be proud is easy. To be humble and even to be humbled is not a happy thing, but a thing of tears.
For the elders never to drop tears for the saints under their care might not be so good. Tears should go along with our humility. We should be humbled by the situation and ready to accept the trials from others.
This portion of the Word spoken by Paul is not only an admonishing word, but also a kind of prediction or foretelling. It is not only a charge but also a foretelling. What is pictured in these few verses is exactly the situation in which we are today. Paul was serving the Lord as a slave with all humility and tears because at his time there were others competing with him. They even plotted to undermine his work, his ministry, and himself. So, trials followed.
The elders should not anticipate much comfort but be prepared to face sufferings and trials. On the one hand, we all must pick up the burden of the eldership. Yet, on the other hand, we must be ready to face any kind of trials that come upon us from others. At Paul’s time the trials came from the Jews who were not atheists, but those who worshipped God, and, in their view, served God.