(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So I'm continuing the decently and in order series. I took a bit of a break. I preached on the importance of praying and then I taught on the reprobate doctrine which is tied in neatly with Jeremiah chapter 6. So we're back into it and today we're going to be looking at the order of the church or the local church. I like using the term the local church. If you ever wondered why did so many Baptists say the local church? The idea behind that is because there is that false teaching that there is one universal church. Every saved person belongs to sort of this one church body and the Roman Catholics love that. They love that idea because they think that salvation is through one church. It is through their church and so if they just sign you up, if you just get registered, if you just get kind of inducted into their religion, I think it's by baptism what is it that gets you as a member of the Catholic church? Is it baptism or is it something else? It's a sprinkling? It's a sprinkling or whatever it is. They think they've got all these church members and they think you've got to be part of this one universal church but you'll soon see that that's not what church is. Church is not just some global body where people don't interact with one. In fact, churches are at a local level. And many times when we read about the Bible, yes, sometimes God uses the word church. If it's just the one church, it's describing every church. Many times you're going to see the term churches or different cities having different churches. And so this is where we get the idea of a local church. For you guys, Blessed Hope Baptist Church is your local church. Hey, there are other churches. There are other good churches in Sydney. I don't pretend to be like, oh man, we're the only one great church. I think that's a really prideful attitude to have. There are a lot of great churches that have served the Lord in this city. A lot of great soul winners still getting out there preaching the gospel. And so there are many churches in Sydney. I think it's the best. But anyway, there are many great churches in Sydney. And so, you know, we want to get this idea like why is church so important? What is church? And if we look there in Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, just a reminder for us in Colossians 1, chapter 16, it says, Now often we think about what God created. We think about, yeah, the heavens, the earth, the creation. Yeah, we get that idea. But then it says this, what else is created? Whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. And so in this Decently and in Order series, we've looked at the workplace or the employment, we've looked at government, we've looked at family, and now we're going to be looking at the local church. All of these things have some level of dominion, principalities, all these institutions have some element of power and understand that even these powers were put in place by Jesus Christ. They were created for Him. Created by Him and for Him. This is why I've been teaching you that every institution, whether it's a godly man or an ungodly man at the top of it, they are still all answerable to Jesus Christ. If they do well, if they follow the laws of God, if they practice things properly, how God asks, they're going to be blessed. But if they're corrupt, we deal with corrupt governments, corrupt politicians, even corrupt churches, even mess up families where fathers aren't leaving the house properly, whatever level it is, brethren, Jesus Christ is in charge of that and if they mess things up, Jesus was going to hold them accountable. Jesus is going to judge those people. Now let's keep going, verse number 17. Now we get to the church, verse number 18. So who is the head of the body of the church? Jesus Christ. It's not your pastor. It's not your pastor. Please don't treat me like the head of this church. Please don't treat me like I'm some type of god, man. I'm just like you, brethren. I am just another human being. You don't have to come and ask me for permission to do things in your life or in your family. Listen, as the head of your home's husband, you're in charge of your family. You decide what you do with your family. Don't come and ask me what kind of job should I do, Pastor Kevin? I've got this potential job offer. I've got this potential job offer. Which do you think I should take? That's not for me to decide. Go to God. God is the head of the church. God is the head of every institution. Jesus Christ is the head of all things. It says here at the end of verse 18 that in all things he might have the preeminence. So when we come to church the one that gets the preeminence, the one that gets the glory, the one that gets the worship, the one that gets the praise is Jesus Christ. We can be thankful for men. There's a lot of men that serve. I'm serving right now with the preaching, the teaching of the word of God. But don't forget, it's not about honouring man. It's thank God that I got to hear a sermon that helped me today. Thank God the word of God is being proclaimed. Give Jesus the glory. He is the word of God. We can't have the word of God without Jesus Christ. We can't have the preaching of God's word without the Holy Spirit working through the preacher and touching the hearts of those that are listening. Everything, especially the church, must give glory to God. Jesus Christ has the preeminence. Now let's drop down to verse number 24 there, Colossians 1.24. Because when we learn about a church, it's made up of believers, it's made up of those that want to give Jesus Christ worship, but also it requires ministers. Ministers are required to work in the local church. Look at verse number 24. Now who rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake which is the church. Now look at this, verse 25. Whereof I am made a minister. Paul was made a minister. Now before we keep reading, you must understand that all of us, and I'll show you this later, all of us have been called to minister in this church. But when Paul is saying that he has been made a minister, this is something where he is to serve the body. This is where he has taken a position of authority in that body to minister, to serve, to preach the word of God, to teach people the word of God. So we're all called to ministry, don't misunderstand, but there are some that are just referred to as being put in place to minister. That means it's their job to work in that local church. And when it came to the apostle Paul, he went about establishing church to church. He was being sent out by his local church in, oh where was he being sent out from? Antioch. He was being sent out by Antioch, and he went out and establishing other churches. He was this minister to the Colossian church. But let's keep going. According to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God. So God has given Paul a special dispensation to serve, to me, for you. To serve the local body. Verse number 26. Even the mystery which have been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints. So Paul's job was to reveal anything that may seem mysterious, any kind of mysteries in the Bible. It was his job to make it clear. It was his job to make it plain. And that is the job of the preacher. To come behind the pulpit and make clear what the word of God says. That's what Paul has been called to do. Verse number 27. To whom God would have made known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man. So this is the job of the minister who's been put in place by God for a church. What is it? To preach, to warn every man, to teach every man. Look at this. In all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Now for the men for those of you guys that came on Friday and I was teaching you about the job of the preacher and where I wanted you to get, so I showed you a graph and I said look, this side, the y-axis represents your knowledge, it represents your wisdom and then the x-axis, right, that represents your character. What we see there in verse number 28, it says teaching every man in all wisdom, so you've got to gain knowledge you've got to gain wisdom that we may present every man perfect and that's your character that's how you behave, that's how you act out your Christian life, right, in Christ Jesus. And so it's the preacher's job to help people in the church to know what Jesus Christ is asking from you so you can live that perfect life. And perfect doesn't mean sinless, it means complete. You have everything you need to be able to serve Jesus Christ at your full ability. Okay, so I just want to show you that. There's a body made up of believers, Jesus Christ is the head of that body and within that body, Jesus Christ appoints ministers to teach and to preach and we'll soon see that these ministers have authority alright. Now please turn to Hebrews chapter actually no, you turn to Psalm 22 for me, go to Psalm 22 and verse 22, you go to Psalm 22 and verse 22 and I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 2.12 Now you go to Psalm 22.22, you look on that page as I read to you Hebrews 2.12 because they're very similar, okay, you look at Psalm 22.22 and in Hebrews 2.12 it says, saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Hey I read to you from Hebrews 2.12 in the midst of the church I will sing praise unto thee. What did you read there in Psalm 22.22? In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. So you see these are parallel passages it's been repeated for us in the New Testament and it's defining to us what the church is. The church is the congregation the congregation of believers, okay, church is not a building I love this building, I think it's wonderful, we've got to fix it up, we've got to put carpet, got the painting we've got this image up here, everything looks cool, it looks wonderful, but this is not the church alright, when I say hey let's go to church I'm not thinking let's go to 250 Fairfield Street Fairfield East, when I think let's go to church I'm saying hey let's get together with other believers, that's what church is, amen. Church is not some universal church where there's some believer out there that I've never met before, I don't know his name, I don't interact with that person, no a congregation is an assembly, it's a gathering of God's people together, this is why a church is at a local level, okay, we're not some denomination, we're not just part of some greater group of churches or some man in charge, no Christ gets the preeminence and every church is made up of local believers, okay, and we ought to come together, we ought to have a congregation, we ought to have a love for one another, right, it's a bad thing that if you come to church and you know there are people in that church that you do not interact with, there are people in church that you don't even know their names, now look we don't have that much of a problem because we're a smaller church, but I've been in a church where it's larger, you don't even know half the people in that church, you've never spoken to that person in the church, it's not really operating like a church if it's working that way, okay, we're meant to be a congregation you know, we've got our own lives, we've got our own families, we've got our own jobs we're apart, but then the church is about coming together, right to give Jesus Christ the preeminence, so it is not a building, church is also not a legal documentation okay, now we're registered with an ABN number, right, and we've got and we needed to do that to get insurance and many times when you need to hire a hall, they need to see all the paperwork, they need to see your legal status, all these things, some churches get into the become a charity so they can claim back GST expenses or or get other benefits by becoming a charity, but you know what, all that documentation, that is not the church either, okay, that is not the church either, that stuff just helps you function in today's society you know, today's needs where the government may need certain things, or you might you know, to hire certain things, you know, making sure they can protect people, if someone has an accident there's insurance to cover the cost, so you know, it doesn't destroy the church or things like that those things I guess are needful, that they're in place, but brethren at the end of the day, we are not a document we are not some words on a government website with an ABN number okay, you know what, if one day, you know we didn't have a building, if one day, you know, it's dangerous to have that kind of level of documentation, where people are trying to force you, where you're allowed to preach in the church, at that day we just give up on the church, sorry, we give up on the building, we give up on the documentation, and we still can get together any place, any public place, anybody's house, and still have church because it's the people that make up the church, amen, it's the congregation that make up the church, now can you please turn to Acts chapter 7 for me, turn to Acts chapter 7 verse number 37 there is a false teaching about the church found in many of our Baptist churches who has heard of the term the church age can I just see a show of hands, the church age, wow, okay everybody, pretty much, right, the church age, now look the idea behind the church age, this comes from dispensational theology where it says, well, in the New Testament, you know after Christ resurrected from the dead, and they try to pinpoint exactly they try to figure out, you know, at some point the church started either they believe it started when Christ was resurrected from the dead or they teach that it happened on the day of Pentecost, you know, when they had the Holy Ghost come upon them and they weren't preaching the gospel, you know, and some people have different ideas as to when did the New Testament church age start listen, the church age did not start, it's always been the church has always been, people coming together to worship God, to give Jesus Christ the preeminence to worship God, that has always happened we didn't just turn a corner, now it's time for church now God wants to deal with a church age, and listen, that whole church age thing is no different to the understanding of Roman Catholics, they create this monster called the church age and they say every believer is part of the church, that's not what a church is, a church is not every believer, local churches of believers coming together that's what a church is, amen? This church age idea is crazy, they do not believe there was a church in the Old Testament because they say, well, you read the Old Testament, where does it say church? It says congregation, that's what it says it says the house of the Lord, that's what it says every time you read the house of the Lord which was the temple, or the tabernacle or Bethel, you know, back in the old days, that was a church coming together, offering their sacrifices, we come and offer our sacrifices of praise we come and serve God when we come to our local church it's just that things have changed a little bit between the Old Testament and the New Testament but to believe there was no church in the Old Testament is crazy you're going to tell me there was not a time when people came together to worship God just read your Bible, it happens over and over again, okay? Acts chapter 7, look at Acts chapter 7, verse number 37 Acts chapter 7 and verse number 37 This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me him shall ye hear. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness, with the angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers who received the lively oracles to give unto us what was the church in the Old Testament? There was a church in the wilderness, who was pastor in that church? It was Moses, Moses was the pastor of the church in the wilderness God's people, hey, that was like a, probably like a three million member church, that's a huge church praise God for that church, I don't know how Moses did it, he needed some help but look there's no difference, what did he have to do? It said that God set him up so they would hear Moses, what did Moses do? It says that he went up to Mount Sinai with our fathers who received the lively oracles, Moses received the word of God to give unto us Moses was a preacher, Moses was teaching and preaching God's word, Moses was the minister of the church in the wilderness just like Paul was when he was going out studying churches many, many local churches in the New Testament, well the Old Testament we have a church in the wilderness right there, and again, did Moses have a building to meet him? They had a wilderness, they were out in the open did he have an ABN number brother? Did they have insurance paperwork to make sure they didn't get, I don't know, stung by scorpions or something? No, right? There was still a church, regardless of all those things so listen, there was a church in the Old Testament, very clearly when the people of God when Israel would come together to worship God, that was the church alright, now please turn to Ephesians chapter 3 turn to Ephesians chapter 3 and verse number 20, and if anyone wants to be a pastor let me encourage you to study Moses, Moses was the very first pastor, okay, now he had a lot more responsibility not only was he the pastor, he was also the government, okay I mean he was everything, he wore a lot of hats that Moses, right? but if you want to learn what it is like to be a Moses, how to be a humble man that loves the people of God, just study Moses' life, and even when God is angry at his people, you see Moses step in and make intercession for them Moses had a love for the people, Moses was a people person and he was a leader, he was able to lead such a great congregation but let's go to Ephesians chapter 3 and verse number 20 Ephesians chapter 3 and verse number 20, and this passage just completely demolishes that false teaching of the church age okay, Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 says Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end, amen so, is there a church age there, brethren? are you ever going to open your King James Bible and read about the church age? it's never going to happen, the closest you're going to find is this passage and it tells us that there was glory in the church for Jesus Christ throughout all ages, all ages, Old Testament New Testament, before the Old Testament there was always a church brethren, there was always a place where people would gather, not a place, but people would gather to worship God, every age had a church and it says world without end, what is that telling us? with that end there's always going to be a church in eternity there's going to be church, okay, we're always going to have a time when we get together with believers to worship our Lord God, okay, and I'm going to show you that church very shortly actually I'm going to show you it right now, let's go to Hebrews chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 22 please, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 22 Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 22 I want you to see this one I'll give you a moment to turn there, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 22 so we saw that there was a church in the Old Testament and if you remember when Jacob would go and worship God he went to a place called Bethel, which used to be called Luz and there he would worship God, Bethel means the house of God that's where he would go to worship God, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 22 and then we saw the New Testament church, which we're all part of right now brethren the local church here in Fairfield East, we're that church, but there comes a time world without end for all eternity that we're going to be back in church you said what are we going to do in heaven Pastor Kevin, well we'll be going to church we're going to be learning God's word even more, you know we're going to just keep learning we're going to keep gaining knowledge, what a great thing, I like learning, I don't know about you but I like learning new things, I like it when I open God's word and oh wow I didn't know that before, I didn't notice that before, I didn't realize that before, well we're going to be doing that for all eternity, okay, I mean God has all knowledge you know, so it's going to take us eternity to learn what God has to teach us, but in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22 it says but ye are come unto Mount Zion, but look at this, is this Mount Zion on the earth, it says and unto the city of the living God is that the city of Jerusalem on this earth, it says here the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels, hey there's going to be a time when we're going to be together with the angels look at this, verse 123, to the general assembly, hey what's the church, it's the assembly, it's the congregation, to the general assembly and church of the first born which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect, wow, Mount Zion in heaven, in the heavenly Jerusalem we're going to be gathered together, all believers with the angels that serve God, right, and we're going to worship him at church, we're going to learn at church, I don't know guys, get up here and start preaching, maybe God's going to call you to come up and preach a sermon in heaven, who knows right, but listen, in heaven, in all eternity church has a place, the point I want to drive home there and I figure I've driven home more than enough, there isn't just this church age brackets, it's just a bracket, it's a timeout time God's just dealing with the local church right now, because he's put Israel listen, Israel was a church in wilderness, okay there is no church age, throughout all ages, world without end we're going to have church, I can't wait for the general assembly, I don't know what that church is going to be called right, well I guess that's the name of it, the general assembly, the church of the first born okay, first born, so it's everybody that's been born of God, everybody that's in Jesus Christ will be part of that church, hey what's going to be great about that church in heaven there's not going to be any tears amongst the wheat, it's all going to be the wheat it's all going to be the sheep of God, it's all going to be believers there's not going to be an opportunity for some false prophet to creep in teach us heresies and try to take over a church and lead it into wickedness now please turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5 turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse number 17 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse number 17 I realise in my notes that I've lost a verse that I wanted to teach anyway, it was one of the verses that basically said that God has given each of us a gift to serve in the local body you know all of us have been given some gift from God, we can serve for some it's the preaching of God's word, for some it's just to edify believers, it's to be a help, it's to be a prayer warrior we've all given different gifts by God to serve in this local church and I haven't got that verse with me right now but that's ok, but you go to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 22, sorry, 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 17 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse number 17 because even though we've all been given a gift to minister in the church as we saw with Paul, some people are set up to teach others some people are set up to instruct others, some people are set up to start churches and this is where the idea of authority comes from, even though we're all ministers, some ministers have been given authority in the local church in 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 17 it says let the elders that rule well, now let's stop there for a moment if you're talking about someone that rules, what are you saying to that person? that that person has authority, he's got authority he's got to rule over others, and so within a church there are others that are under the authority of the elder now the elder is another way of saying the pastor or the shepherd, the reason we use the word pastor today is because it's the Latin form of the word shepherd, ok, another term that gets used in the Bible is the bishop, ok, and the bishop is the overseer it means that you look out for the souls of others, ok, and this is the person that's been given authority in the church, let's read it again verse 17 let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor look at this, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine, so the one that has authority in the church, the one that is to rule in the church has to labor in the word and doctrine ok, so listen, when I prepare my sermons I'm not here, like I've said it many times, I'm not here for 10 minutes I'm not here for 15 minutes, mucking around putting some verses together and preaching fluff, you know, when you're laboring it means you're working in word and doctrine, I used to be I used to think I was in church, and I guess because the preaching, a lot of the preaching wasn't edifying, a lot of the preaching I wasn't being fed in church, and I'd be like man this man gets behind the pulpit, I'm thinking about my Baptist union church and I mean these sermons are boring, I mean how much time has he spent preparing these sermons, maybe he's copied it from someone else and this guy's getting paid for that, yeah but you know what this is how a child thinks right, what you don't understand until you actually put a sermon together, this is why I encourage men, hey men if you want to get up to preach let me know the reason I encourage men to do this is because when you are looking at the word of God and you say well I need to prepare something to preach to God's people, you start to understand how much work it takes, like if you want to preach a sermon that helps people, that edifies people, that feeds people, you know you need to spend a lot of time laboring in his word, okay and you're just sitting there and sometimes brethren I'm just laboring, I'm not even writing anything, I'm just thinking, I'm just meditating I'm thinking of one verse and I'm thinking how does that apply for us today, well I'm thinking hey that sounds a lot like this other passage in the Bible, let me go and find out what that passage says because maybe that adds further light to what this passage of the Bible says I mean all of that time right, just studying, thinking, praying, asking God give me wisdom, Lord help me teach your people correctly because I want to make a mistake, all that labour is behind the scenes and nobody sees it and you think the pastor gets just behind the pulpit and just says a few words and man that guy gets paid for that, yeah you know what if he's not feeding God's people I don't believe he deserves to get paid, you know if he's just given 10 minutes of a preparation why is he there, why is he there, but you see here the one that rules well in the house of God is to labour in word and doctrine alright, he's got to have knowledge, he's got to impart that knowledge unto others, verse number 18 so you see there that the elders, you know biblical speaking are to be paid, they're to be rewarded for their labour right verse number 19 and look you know I don't say that I don't like preaching that because I don't want anyone to get the idea that I'm in it for the money and look do I need to get paid to look after my family and feed my kids and pay the bills, of course of course but you know it can take a long time to get to that point where you can actually provide yourself serving God because we live in a nation that doesn't like God, we live in a nation that takes a long time to get a church started, get people invested and for people to go you know what I'm being fed by the word of God, I want to give to this work I want to make sure my pastor doesn't go hungry, you know it takes time for that to develop it doesn't just land in your lap but you can see here that pastors are called to be paid and then it says in verse number 19, actually let's go back to verse number 17 it says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour I haven't got time to explain this to you, but the honour there is of course making sure that his needs are met, it's not just making sure that his needs are met but he has double that, so he has more than what he needs, the double honour that's what he's referring to, but that's only for the elders that rule well if you don't rule well, you're not deserving of double honour but then there's a flip side to that authority, so you've got the authority you rule well in the house of God, you get paid even double honour if the church can afford that, but then there's a flip side to that and look at verse number 19 so what that's saying is that if someone has something negative, nasty to say about the pastor, let's say someone comes up to you oh man I've got to tell you something really bad about Pastor Kevin, I found out he's in some really bad sin, that's okay, you can discuss that but make sure you do that before two or three witnesses now if someone comes to you behind you in your ear, oh Pastor Kevin blah blah blah say hold on, we need some other witnesses, and if others can't listen to this, I don't want to listen to that there's got to be two or three witnesses, right, now if the pastor has sinned, and we discussed this in the men's bible study, if the pastor has sinned alright, and you've gone out and you've confirmed this is correct you've got two or three witnesses as well, several people have checked the evidence this lines up, he's done wrong, maybe he's disqualified himself in verse number 20, it says them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear listen, pastors are not allowed to get away with extreme wickedness I can't say pastors are not allowed to get away with sin because we all sin especially if you get to a point where you disqualify yourself, pastors are not to remain in power, okay, the church is to come together, we'll look at the evidence that's at hand, and do the best to rebuke that elder hopefully that elder will be embarrassed, step down, and look it says rebuke them before all, why, why is that important, we don't want to hurt his feelings look, that others also may fear, man the pastor has messed up his life, the pastor has made this mistake, we better make sure we don't make those same mistakes, so you've got to call out the pastor when he does wrong okay, yeah they're worthy of double honour, but they're also worthy of double shame if they disgrace the office alright, I don't want that to happen to me, alright I have a fear of God, I don't want to mess up, I don't want to get into some filthy sin I don't want to disqualify myself, alright, because you know if I knew that I would be ashamed and I would be rebuked before all that at least would kind of make me double, you know, think twice before doing something extremely wicked, alright, instead of getting away with certain things, now let's go to Hebrews chapter 13, let's go to Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number 7 so the point I want to show you there brethren is that there is authority in the local church and it's the elders, it's the elder responsibility to rule well, alright and if they do well they're worthy of double honour, Hebrews chapter 13 and verse number 7 Hebrews 13 and verse number 7 it says remember them which have the rule over you so who did we see who has the rule over you in the church? The elder, the pastor alright, the bishop, remember them who have spoken unto you the word of God, what is their job? To speak to you the word of God, teach you the word of God we've seen that already, alright, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation, again the conversation there is your lifestyle, your behaviour, you know the pastor isn't just someone who should speak eloquently and give great speeches and preach great things but his life should also demonstrate that he is someone who is faithful to God, right, his house has to be in order, his wife needs to be a good woman, not out there gossiping and back saving people his children need to be in order, not involved in horrible sins and running wild in the church, right you've got to look at that person's lifestyle and that's another thing that gives me great fear, right, because if people are looking at my life, looking at my behaviour and trying to pattern themselves after that, I can't let down you know, you mess up as a pastor, you let down the whole church okay, but I want to show you there that once again there is a man that has the rule over you in the house of God, let's drop down to verse number 17, verse number 17 it says obey them that have the rule over you so brethren, look, this is the word of God, what does it say, you've got to obey me you know, if you like me as your pastor, listen, if you think I can't obey the pastor, I can't obey the man of God then let me encourage you, I don't want any problems just find a church, find a pastor that you can obey because that is your command, okay, that is your command, I would rather you just leave the church, pastor, I don't think I can obey you and I'm going to find myself another church where I believe I can, fine do that, it's better, it works out better, because I don't want to have to have problems in the church right, but look, there is a need for obedience, right, it's very clearly there, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves again, what is submission, it means someone has authority over that person that has to submit to that, right, submit yourselves, look at this for they watch for your souls, that's what a bishop is, an overseer you're watching 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, so if you can't obey me brethren, find another pastor, you have my blessing, find another church I'm not mad at you, I'm being honest with you, okay because I don't want to have to give a bad account of you to God, when I have to stand before God and give an account for this church, okay, I don't want to say, well you know brother, who can I use, brother, what's the name that we haven't got brother Matthew, alright, God, brother Matthew made my life so hard you know, I asked him to do things in church, he wasn't obedient, I told him to leave God, I told him to leave, I said go find another pastor that you can be obedient to, and he just wouldn't do it Lord, that's not going to be profitable for you brother thanks for being the guinea pig for that, okay, I was trying to find some other name of someone that we haven't got in this church but anyway, you know what I'm saying, right, you can see there that the pastor must give accounts, so who's accountable for the church the pastor's accountable, who is he accountable to he's accountable to God, alright, and the member of the church should be submissive to that person that has the rule over them, that's the proper structure as we've seen in the decently in order series, there's always somebody that has the rule and there are always those that have to be submissive to that rule, whether it's government whether it's church, whether it's your workplace, whether it's the family this is the order of God, even the trinity, we've seen Jesus Christ is submissive to the will of the Father's will, okay, so it's not an evil thing it's God's nature, and that's how he's put the powers into place in this world, please turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 5 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 1 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 1 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 1 the elders which are among you I exhort now I'm going to show you how this ties in with being a pastor or a bishop the elders which are among you I exhort who am also an elder, so Peter was an apostle but he was also a pastor, he was also an elder of a church, okay he says that he was the pastor of the church in Babylon, that's what he says I haven't got time to go through that right now and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, look what he says in verse number 2 so this is one pastor speaking to other pastors, he says feed the flock of God, how are we to feed the flock of God? we saw with the word of God, right, laboring in doctrine in the word and in doctrine, okay, feeding, so if you're feeding the flock what is that referring to? A shepherd and the sheep, amen it's the shepherd's job to make sure the sheep are being fed alright, so there's the shepherd, and again the Latin word for shepherd is the pastor, and that's why today we're so used to using the term pastor to refer to the person that rules in the house of God, okay but again, who has authority in that description? does the sheep have authority over the shepherd, or does the shepherd have authority over the sheep? the shepherd has authority over the sheep, so that's the again, it's the same idea, hey, the pastor is called the elder the elder, and look, we know that that's not referring to someone that's necessarily old, though it could be, it could be someone that's old, but when it's talking about the one that rules in the house of God, it's the one that has spiritual maturity, okay and so the pastor ought to be someone that has lived a long Christian life, he's got a lot of experience, he's got a lot of leadership abilities you know, and I'm not trying to talk myself up, and that's the last thing I want to talk about but that's the man that it ought to be, someone that can be the elder, and what's the difference between, what's the opposite to an elder? the younger alright, the younger, the younger, so the younger in the faith, right and so again, if you were to put together into place, you know, you had an elder person or a younger person, it's the younger person that's called to give honour to the elderly, right, to the one that's older, the one that has the experience, again it's not you know, the Bible doesn't teach us that the elderly should honour the youngest, you know, the youngest no, it's the other way around, okay, this is talking about spiritual maturity alright, so again, you see that framework, let's keep going there in verse number 2, feed the flock of God which is among you take in the oversight thereof, again we saw oversight that's where the word bishop comes from, bishop means the overseer so who's overseen the church? the pastor the pastor oversees, is the congregation that oversees the pastor? no, the pastor's given the title overseer because he's watching over those that are under him, okay, so you can see how very clearly, whether it's the elder, whether it's the shepherd, whether it's the bishop those titles, that job is always somebody that's over those that are under him, it's not the other way around, okay, in the word of God, take in the oversight thereof, not by strength, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, okay, now let's go to verse number 3, because the next thought is well, what if my pastor is, you know, asking me to obey stupid things, what if he's coming into my life and he's telling me who I should marry, what job I should take, you know, he's checking my bank account to see if I've given my tithes and my offerings to the church I would never do something crazy like that, I would never do anything crazy like that but we know there are some pastors that overstep their boundaries where is their authority? Is there authority in your home? Is there authority in your workplace? Is there authority over your wife and your children? No, the pastor's authority is in the church, it's in the congregation, it's the local assembly, when we come together to praise God that's where the pastor holds authority, brother, one day I might work for you, you might have a business, right, and you need an employee and I need to work a job, okay, maybe, I might go and work for you and guess who's in charge when I'm working for you? You're in charge, you can't just go with Pastor Kevin, you've got, you know brother tells me to obey you, well yeah, that's a church, right in fact, I've had a pastor once work for me, alright and yeah, I honour him as a pastor, but at the end of the day, he's working for me, I'm his boss, so I'm telling him what to do on the workplace okay, there are proper structures, there are proper institutions my authority is in the church and that's it, that's it I don't want to look after your family, I don't want to go to your job and tell you how to do your job I don't want to tell you who to marry, I don't want to tell you when to go on holidays I don't want any of that brother, please keep it, you know, make the decisions for yourself you know, if you're a man, if you're a husband, if you're a father, you decide what is right for your family, you don't need to check it with me, okay when it comes to church though, I ask that you please obey those that have the rule over you okay, it'll make all our lives a lot easier when that happens alright, look at verse number 3 1 Peter 5 verse number 3 so I'm not here, even though I have the rule, remember I am ministering the church, I am a minister what does the word minister mean? The servant I'm serving this church, I am not the lord of this church I don't come here so you can serve me, oh pastor Kevin, do you need your shoes polished you know, and sometimes you guys come out and you, you know, you've given me gifts and you've done nice things for me, brother Ramson buys my lunch almost every time, I have to tell him stop doing it, but here's the thing, when we go and have lunch we're not at church anymore, so he doesn't have to obey me when I ask him to do that, he still pays for my food sometimes, you know, thank God for those that do nice things, I appreciate it, right, but listen, you're not here to serve me, I'm here to serve you, and part of that work of service is to have the rule in the house of God okay, so there is one lord, there is one head of the church, that is the lord Jesus Christ, it is not pastor Kevin, it is not anyone else, look at verse number 4 again, we see the chief shepherd, right, the pastor is a shepherd, but there's a chief shepherd even above the pastor, when the chief shepherd shall appear you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away brethren, I want that crown of glory, this is a special crown that's given to elders, that's given to shepherds, that's given to pastors, I want that crown of glory, alright, so I don't want a lord over you I don't want to serve you for filthy lucre, you know I don't want to disgrace my office here and commit some grievous sin, I want to rule well, I want to feed you the word of God, because I want this crown of glory, that's what I want you want to know what I want brethren, that's what I want, okay, if I get a kebab once in a while that's great but what I really want is this crown, okay, that's what I really want okay, and so I don't want to mess things up but the point is, it's very clear there, that the pastor has authority in the church, okay, now let's go to if you guys can turn to, where can I get to turn to, let's go to 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 3, I better hurry up 1 Timothy 3 and verse number 1, 1 Timothy 3 and verse number 1, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work now look at this, a bishop then must be blameless the husband, not a woman, he's got to be a husband of one wife, not divorced, not multiple wives one wife, vigilant, sober of good behaviour given to hospitality, apt to teach apt means aptitude, you've got the ability to teach, not given to wine no striker, not greedy or filthy lucre, but patient not a brawler, not covetous, now look at verse number 4 so before you can be allowed to be a pastor, you have to have at least proven yourself that you can rule your own family, your own wife your own children, they're not going crazy, right? once you've proven yourself in that institution, then that is a person that can step into an office of a bishop the office of an elder, the shepherd, look at verse number 5 once again, who is ruling? if a man know not how to rule his own house, why? because he's also got to rule that church of God how shall he take care of the church of God? what is that saying? that if you're not a leader, if you can't manage your family if your wife is not submissive to you, if your wife is the one running the show if your children are not obedient to you, if your children don't listen to dad you're not going to be able to manage the house of God because it's going to be even more difficult it's going to be even more challenging, your family is like that stepping stone you do well as a family man, then you'll be able to do well in the house of God alright, so you see that that's the pastor's role now please turn to, let's drop down to verse number 8 verse number 8, there is another office in the church that holds some authority and that is the role of a deacon of a deacon, now I've served, before I became a pastor, I served two years as a deacon and it was great, I learnt a lot of behind the scenes things I served in the church a lot more faithfully and do a lot more for the church and things like that I served in many capacities, I was a Sunday school teacher, Sunday school superintendent I'd be preaching once or more every month at church and of course as a Sunday school teacher you're preaching every week basically to children, so I was able to get a lot of skills through that but many times the office of a deacon today it's kind of like, they're not given the full authority that we see in the house, in the bible because the deacon, and I haven't got time to go through this, you can read about it in your own time in Acts 6, but the deacon was there to help help the ones that do have the role in the house of God to manage affairs, to manage the administrative tasks of the church so that the apostles could be able to get out there and preach the word of God, to labour in the word of God sometimes when a church gets too large you need extra extra hands and this is where the deacon steps in but there in 1 Timothy 3 verse 8 it says likewise, when it says likewise it means in the same way we just finished talking about the pastor the bishop, so likewise the deacon ought to be pretty much like a pastor, likewise must the deacons be grave, not double tongued not given too much wine, not greedy for filthy lucre look at this, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience and let these also first be proved so before someone can become a deacon, they must also first be proved okay, this is why you've got to serve faithfully in church for some time prove yourself, show yourself able to be that person let that person also be proved, where am I up to brethren? verse number 10, then, so let them be proved then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless, even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers sober, faithful in all things, and what upsets me in so many independent fundamental Baptist churches, they're putting people into positions of deacons that aren't even married, you've got to have a wife what in the world, what's going on okay, why do they have to have a wife, why do they have to have children because again, if they prove themselves to rule in their families, they can have some authority in the church, you know, people are putting, I remember, you know, I won't name the church I was in a church, and you're given a piece of paper these are all the names that have been brought forward to serve as a deacon, and I'm like well this man has no wife, this man I think is even unsaved well this one's married, but he's a new believer, right, I mean it's like are you crazy, we don't just put deacons for the sake of having deacons, they've got to meet the qualifications they've got to have a wife, they've got to show themselves leading a house even so, look, must their wives they've got to have a wife, must, okay, must have a wife be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children oh this one has one child, children, multiple children, why? Having one child is challenging, of course, but when you have children you know children argue and fight, so you have to prove that you can manage a household, where children sometimes argue and complain because sometimes that's what church is going to be like, you're going to have people with different opinions people are going to clash, people aren't going to agree, and you're going to have shown yourself to be able to handle a situation where people aren't on the same page, this is the deacon as well okay, the deacon basically has to have the same qualifications as a pastor it's a disgrace to me when I see these deacons, not married, no kids it's like I'm a deacon, haven't you read the Bible? haven't you read the qualifications, how is it that you've proved yourself, in fact you've proven yourself to not know the word of God, how can you step into that position it's crazy to me, it's insane I don't understand what's going on, then we wonder why our churches are suffering we haven't got the right leaders in place it's like this list is here so we can work toward that but if you take shortcuts, you're going to get a shortcut pastor, you're going to get a shortcut deacon, that messes things up these things are here for a reason, ruling their children ruling their children in their own house as well, for they that have used the office of a deacon will purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus, brethren I want to elevate the office of a deacon, it's a great office you purchase to yourself a good degree, but our churches have diminished what a deacon is, or anybody can be a deacon, you don't need to be married, you don't need to have kids you don't give them any responsibilities, they're just some figurehead just giving a vote, they're not giving any kind of authority, any kind of positions where they're ruling things in the house of God, you diminish it so lowly that people think, oh just a deacon? you purchase to yourself a good degree, this is better than a Bible college degree you want a degree in the house of God become a deacon, aim for that those that want to be pastors one day, aim to be a deacon, but not just a deacon, a deacon that is qualified according to God's word, when the need comes up it's a great office to have, it's a great office to have serving the people of God so brethren, in conclusion, the house of God is important, the local church is important, what is the church once again? it's a congregation, and we've all been called to minister to serve one another, the person that gets behind the pulpit brethren, whether it's a pastor or some other preacher, they're not there to be served, they're there to serve you when someone prepares a sermon please, just have in your heart, this brother has gotten behind the pulpit he's spent hours laboring the word of God, maybe he's nervous I mess up words all the time, misspeak, he's going to say things that might sound wrong, but he's faithfully serving God, he's doing it for me he's doing it to serve me, and so I better listen I don't want to switch off, who's preaching this afternoon? Oh, it's brother so and so? Who cares who's preaching this afternoon? You're coming to hear the word of God being preached that person has labored because he loves you, because he wants to serve you but what else do we notice this, we notice that in a church there's authority the pastor has authority, and I'm thankful for that, it's a lot easier when someone has authority to call the shots and make hard decisions sometimes and it is hard decisions sometimes, especially as COVID stuff, but what you are called to do brethren, is to be obedient to that pastor, make my life a lot easier so I can give a good account of the church and of you, because I want it to profit you in heaven, I want the Lord to reward you for being a faithful obedient member of the church, making the pastor's life easy and helping them out, okay let's pray