ATHENS
The past two weeks have been hectic for us. As many of you know we have been in the process of moving to Athens. Well, I was finally able to close on our house August 29th. My wife and I moved from Dublin to Athens August 30th after a horrible experience with UHaul (I will never use them again). To make a long story short, if you reserve a 17′ truck at 8AM in your town, you should expect to get a 14′ truck at 10AM in a town an hour away. We expected to have everything loaded up and be in Athens in the afternoon. Instead, I found myself unloading our truck at 11PM to get our mattress out so we could sleep that night. By the way, I’ve never had this issue with Penske or Budget. But, we’re moved in, we still have tons of boxes to unpack, furniture to move around, and all sorts of things to get situated.
WOODY
Last Tuesday we took Woody to the Vet Hospital for an overnight. He had to have an MRI Wednesday morning. The good news is that the MRI came back positive. His brain is fine, his spine is fine. The bad news is that Woody is still broken and no one knows why. The doctor said that it is probably a genetic condition - pretty much uncurable. They took a urine sample and discovered a high keytone level (which is usually found in diabetics). But he doesn’t have diabetes. So they are sending the sample to California to find out if there are any oddities. We started to change his diet a little to up his protein and we’ll have to probably put him on a multi-vitamin. But basically, unless California finds anything, Woody will remain the same. Of course God could always do something miraculous. I know you’ll all probably laugh at me, but the night I closed I went home and put some oil on Woody and prayed over him. It hasn’t really changed anything with Woody, but I felt like I should at least do it, since we are told to have Elders come and anoint us with oil and pray over us if we are sick (James 5:14). We’ve also been looking into getting Woody some booties so he can grip the wood floors in our house better.
I think that’s all for updates.
Your prayers are always welcome.
1 Timothy 3:2-7 contains a list that people usually consider to be qualifications for a leadership role within the Church. The normal practice (at least in Baptist circles) has little to do with determining if their leaders actually meet the requirements of this list, but they often use it if they want to kick their leaders out. I believe this list is there for a question, because they are items that mark true discipline and discipleship for Christ. However, I do not necessarily believe that a Christ-Follower must meet all these requirements to be considered someones leader/pastor/elder (whatever you may call them). The Bible gives us a number of examples of people who were leaders, people chosen by God. In this post I am going to pull out a few key characters and compare their life to this list. Hopefully, it will shed some light on this subject.
| An overseer must (be) | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Noah | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Joseph | ||
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
|
| Isaac | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Jacob | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Moses | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| David | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Solomon | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Judah | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Paul | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Peter | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Barnabas | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| Acts 14:23 Guys | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
| James | |
| 01. above reproach 02. a one woman man 03. temperate 04. prudent 05. respectable 06. hospitable 07. able to teach 08. not addicted to wine |
09. not pugnacious 10. gentle 11. peaceable 12. free from the love of money 13. one who manages his own household well 14. keeping his children under control with all dignity… 15. not be a new convert 16. he must have a good reputation outside the church… |
*Disclaimer: These strikes are not exhaustive, they are based purely on my and another’s memory. Therefore, there may be more strikes given the lack of historical detail on some of these characters .
My pastor and friend, Alan Knox, gave a lecture to one of Dr. Black’s (of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) classes about how his Ecclesiology was developed. He was able to record the lecture and post it to his website. I listened to it, thought it was great, and wanted to share it with you all.
This is taken with Alan’s permission from here.
Developing a Biblical Ecclesiology Lecture
This is a lecture that I delivered concerning how my ecclesiology - my understanding of the church - has changed over the last few years.Click here to download a pdf version of my PowerPoint presentation.
Click here to download the entire file (52 MB). Or, click the play button below to play the file online.
I was able to attend session 3 of a home church conference put on by NTRF. Here are some not I took from session 3 - Elder-Led Congregational Consensus.
The Practice of the Early Church
Session 3 – Elder-Led Congregational Consensus
(Steve Atkerson)
Everyone agrees that Christ is the head of the Church… opinions digress from that point.
Elder-Led Congregational Consensus is a little different than Elder-Rule form of church government.
Who is in charge here? Luke 22:23-27
We are not to be like the Gentiles.
How much authority should church leaders have? The same authority a child has, the same authority a servant has.
Leaders have authority, but it is a different type of authority (one that is unlike the Gentiles).
Who were the letters to churches written to?
Romans 1:7 – To all, not just the leaders
1 Corinthians 1:2 – To all, not just the leaders
2 Corinthians 1:1 – To all, not just the leaders
Galatians 1:1 – To all…
etc., etc., etc.
Philippians 1:1 – To all… “including the overseers and deacons”
etc., etc., etc.
Hebrews 13:7 – To all… and then asks them to “greet all of your leaders and all the saints.”
etc., etc., etc.
1 Peter 5:1-3 – Written to the elders “among you.”
Elders are important, but there is a decided lack of emphasis on Elders. We should appreciate them for their service (1 Thessalonians 5:12).
It appears that the authority that Elders have is the authority to persuade people to the truth.
Authority resides with the church corporately, not with its leaders.
Matthew 16:18-19
Matthew 18:16-17
Church leaders don’t make decisions for the church, the make decisions with the church. Perhaps like the Senate, a group of people can bring what they think should be done (leaders) and but they with the rest of the church decide together.
Doing it this way, means you will have to love each other enough to put up with one-another. You won’t always agree with one-another.
Acts 1:15,23 – Peter recognized a problem, need to fill Judas’ spot, but the 120 put forward two possible people.
Acts 6:3,5 – Recognized a problem of with feeding the widows, but the church picked the seven.
Acts 15 (22-23) – With the whole church…
1 Corinthians 5 – The whole church decides
1 Corinthians 6 – The whole church judges
Consensus is based on unity – Psalm 133:1; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:3-6; Phillipians 2:2; Colossians 3:15; John 17:11,20-23; 1 Corinthians 10:17; Ephesians 4:11-13;
Hebrews 13:17 – Obey is 13:17 in the Greek is actually more like “allow yourself to be persuaded or convinced by” your leaders or take their advice. Submit in 13:17 is more like “yield or surrender.” This is a process or battle after which one yields (or surrenders). Submission still occurs, but the picture is one of serious discussion and dialog prior to one party giving way.
The authority of “obey” and “submit” is merely that of the gift of persuading one to the truth.
The point of the verse is not to be a blockhead.
Caveat – 1 Peter 5:5 “You younger men, likewise, be subject (hupotasso) to your elders” and this is the word that really means to submit.
James 3:17 – But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
Conclusion:
There is a surprising lack of emphasis on church leaders in the letters to the churches.
Congregational consensus is the NT norm for church government (not majority rule, not elder rule). Church polity is to be that of consensus, not command. Authority resides in the church as a whole, not its leaders (Mt 18:15-20).
Generally speaking, church leaders have the same authority as children and slaves (Lk 22:24-27). Leaders are to lead by persuasion, example, life-style, influence and teaching (Heb 13:7).
Elders are to be given special consideration in the consensus process (Heb 13:17), especially when dealing with block heads and young Turks!
Churches are to be more elder-led than elder-ruled (1 Pe 5:1-3).