Galatians 2:1-2
Message #9 ~ An
Appeal to the Elders
Introduction & Overview
- Chapter 2 continues the narrative begun by Paul in chapter
1
- As we have seen before Paul is appealing to his history to
defend the origin of the gospel he has taught
- He is demonstrating quite clearly how the Gospel message
most certainly had to originate with God since he was not in the presence
of the other apostles or anyone else who could school him in the doctrines
held to by the apostles
- We are now getting to the point where the heart of the
debate begins to comes to light
- So today we want to look at the at the first 10 verses of
Galatians chapter 2
- We are not going to cover all there is to see in the first
10 verses of Galatians two but we are going to start
- The goal is to first see the major things that are
developing here in these first 10 verses
- As we begin to see major topics or themes will begin to
dive into some of them
- The first thing that stands out to me is the role the
overseers are playing in this drama as it where
- The role played by the overseers in these next few verses
is quite remarkable because it is the first time in Sacred Scripture we
see a council of elders take place
- For this reason we are going to take some time this week
and over the next few weeks to delve a little more deeply into the
biblical office of overseer
- After that, in the coming weeks, we can take some time to
amplify other themes that are present in these first 10 verses
- So let us begin by examining the problem and then get a
general feel for what is going on back in Paul’s day
- As we look at the issues and how they are solved I want us
to see how the church overseers were functioning in this situation and
then I want us to take some time to examine the role of biblical overseers
as present in the Word of God
- We will have a chance to see how the issues were addressed
in the churches of Galatia and then we can draw some insight for our lives
today
- Let’s look at the first 10 verses of Galatians chapter 2
- 1Then
after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking
Titus along with me. 2I went up because
of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who
seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in
order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3But even Titus, who was with me, was not
forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4Yet
because of false brothers secretly brought in--who slipped in to spy out
our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into
slavery-- 5to them we did not yield in
submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be
preserved for you. 6And from those who
seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God
shows no partiality)--those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing
to me. 7On the contrary, when they saw
that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as
Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8(for he who worked through Peter for his
apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to
the Gentiles), 9and when James and
Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was
given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that
we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
- Verse 1 tells us Paul, Barnabas and Titus go up to Jerusalem
- But why are they going, well in order to answer that we
need to look at Acts 15
- Acts 15 tells us in verses 1 & 2 that there were those
in Galatia teaching that men must be circumcised in order to be saved and
Paul and Barnabas we are told in verse 2 of Acts 15 had no small
dissention with the Judaizers over this issue
- As I have said so many times in the last weeks the very
heart of the gospel message was at stake
- Paul and Barnabas recognized that if they allowed the
Pharisees and the other Judaizer sects to add a requirement of the law to
grace they had completely nullified grace and made it of no effect
- This clearly was no small issue; so how did the early
church handle this in house debate?
- They sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to consult with
the apostles and overseers there in Jerusalem
- Now it has been 14 years since Paul has seen Peter but he
isn’t just going for a friendly visit there is business to attend to
- What is being described to us here is the first recorded
church council, sometimes referred to as the Jerusalem Council
- Paul along with Barnabas and Titus have traveled to meet
not only with the apostles but also with the other overseers (or elders)
- However before we get into a detailed look at what the
council sought to establish, how it arrived at its conclusion, how it
presented its findings and the response of the people I believe we first
need to understand the role of the biblical overseer
- So it is this aspect of these verses that I want to, God
willing, examine today
- I think there is great insight in these 10 verses about
the function of an overseer, the nature of an overseer, the character of
an overseer and exercise of the office of overseer
#1 The Reality of the Problem
- The sad reality is the entire doctrine of the role of
overseers in the church has been eclipsed by the doctrines of men and our
own whims
- Of course it is never a pleasant matter to confront
tradition but on the other hand I am reminded of the words of Jesus to the
Jewish leadership in Mark 7 with regards to the role of tradition; He
said:
- “…Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.”
- “Neglecting the command of God, you hold to the tradition
of men.”
- “…you nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to
keep your traditions.”
- “…thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition
which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that”
- Most of you know me pretty well, I hope I am always
remembered as someone who was willing to challenge false pretenses and
point people back to the Bible and back to truth
- Because of my love of truth I feel it is essential to
examine this issue of the role of overseers as we move through this
passage
- Furthermore I am both alarmed and amazed by this but there
is considerably more teaching in the New Testament on the role of
overseers than there is on the subject of baptism or the Lord’s Supper
- While I expect all you understand the importance of
baptism and the Lord’s Supper how many of you would be comfortable
defending the biblical basis for overseers or even the concept of a
plurality of godly men leading a church?
- Let me ask you this question for you to answer silently in
your heart; which is more important the singing of songs during a worship
service and the passing of a collection plate or is having godly overseers
of greater importance?
- As you contemplate this realize that there are only a
couple of verses that support singing and giving of monetary gifts in the
New Testament with very little information on the mode and means this is
to be done in
- Meaning there is no verse that says you shall sing a
minimum of 3 songs but no more than 10 songs in a service; nor is there a
verse that says there should be a box in the back of the church or we
should pass a plate or a sack to place your gifts in
- Verses such as these don’t exist because the New Testament
gives great freedom to churches to follow the precepts set forth without
describing in detail the means how to do it
- On the contrary the New Testament gives quite a lot of
advice on how overseers should be selected, appointed, what they should do
and how they are to execute their tasks
- Clearly if we believe that the Bible is the infallible
word of God then we must take time to understand what the Bible teaches on
the subject of elder/overseers and what their correct role is
- As we look at this topic you will hear me use the term
elder sometimes and other times you will hear me use the term overseer, I
am using them the same way the New Testament does which means I am using
them interchangeably as neither one connotes a higher or lower position
than the other
- In fact positions of power and title of prestige is part
of the nature of the problem
- Let me explain it this way many of us are very familiar
with the impact that Christianity had on the ancient world
- There were many barbaric practices that simply vanished
within a few centuries after Christ due to the spread of Christianity
- However let me also ask you this; how many people can tell
me the impact of secular culture on the church and where in the church
this was felt most strongly?
- The answer to this question is the church leadership
structure was most impacted by the secular culture
- If you have ever wondered how Roman Catholicism developed
its hierarchy of titles and offices it was borrowed directly from the
Romans who were around the 2nd and 3rd century
churches
- Have you ever noticed what titles the apostles and other
church leaders in the 1st century used to describe themselves?
- The most common term we hear used is brother or brethren
- Why do you think this is? The reason is the patter Jesus
set forth was for humble, servant like leadership
- Remember Jesus told the disciples not to seek after
titles; recall the context of Christ’s words recorded for us in Matthew
23:5-8 he speak of the Pharisees and how they wear broad phylacteries and
long tassels on their robes and love the best seats
- But then
he gives to his disciples the contrast when he says: “But you
are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all
brothers.”
- The early church in complete submission to Christ rejected
the notion of titles that generate pride as well as special clothing and
special seats
- Why do you think they rejected all these things, well
first of all because Christ said so but from a practical point if they
really and truly believed that they were all brothers it would be wrong
for them to lord their position over their brothers
- You see the church is unique in the world, it is not a
business, a government, a social club, a lodge or any other secular
institution
- Rather it is a family, specifically it is called in 1
Timothy 3:15 the household of God
- God cannot honor nor allow any form of church leadership
the would undermine the principle of family
- The nation of Israel was also a close nit family and how
was the nation of Israel governed in the Old Testament?
- They were governed by a plurality of elders; why? Who
would be closest the actual families of Israel but the elders who served
and lived among them
- The early church adopted a form of government that was
especially well suited to the brotherly and family style of church that
Christ had laid forth
- The early apostles, writing under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit admonished this type of church government as we will see as we
continue to examine this
- Key questions that must be asked and then answered are:
- How does leadership operate in a community that is to
preach and practice humility and servanthood?
- How does leadership organize itself is such a community?
- How is this leadership different from that of the
prideful, selfish world?
- We must seek the answers to these questions as we examine
the pages of Scripture if we are to live in harmony with the revealed plan
of God for our lives and that of this church
#2 The problem of terminology
- The terms we use to describe our leaders are of paramount
importance
- Think about this, if the President of the United States were to walk into the room we would all rise to our feet and address him as
Mr. President
- This is a formal title that he carries to signify the
weight of his office
- This is amplified even more in monarchies where there is
much fancier protocol on how to address people of different titles that
are bestowed upon them because of their bloodline and nobility
- Terms like your majesty, your grace, or your excellence
are all examples of honoring a position of leadership
- But again remember Jesus’ words, that we are not to be
called Rabbi – the goal is not have castes within the church but we are to
all be brothers on equal standing before the Lord because of the work of
Christ in our lives
- Christ didn’t do a greater work in saving an elder than he
did in saving anyone else thus there should be no preference given to the
office
- For this reason the New Testament bestows two titles on
the leadership of the church
- Let me give you a hint they are not reverend, clergyman,
father, priest, bishop, arch bishop, pope
- In fact if we are going to correct the issue our misuse
and abuse of terminology then we need to evaluate how we use the terms
pastor and minister as well since they are not New Testament terms either
- If we use these terms to describe the work that the man is
doing and these are merely descriptive words then that is fine however if
we are using these terms as a title of honor, no matter how sincere our
heart is in the matter we must confess that this is not a biblical term
- If Jesus
commanded against the disciples being called Rabbi which simply means
teacher then wouldn’t it follow as well that in the 21st
century Jesus’ words would have said “But you are not to be called
pastor, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.”
- This may sound harsh to you if you have spent most of you
life attempting to honor and respect the teacher of truth that God has
placed in the pulpits in the churches you have attended over the years
- I will be very honest, I am personally guilty of this one
too and had to be censured by the Word as I prepared this message
- Any time Cliff used to call me and I would see it was him
calling me I would answer the phone like this: “Hey Pastor”
- But keep in mind the twofold focus; first, we have a
pastor/teacher and that is the Holy Spirit
- Second we are all brothers, meaning we are all equal in
the faith to each other, both men and women
- So now you ask if you can’t call the pastor “Pastor”, what
should we call him?
- A simple answer would be if we are all equal in the Lord
and we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord then simply referring to
each other as Brother Bill, Brother Mike, etc. or simply by name is the
biblical model
- Culturally it is polite to say Mr. Smith or Mrs. Jones as
a more formal address and since this is a civility shown to all not to a
select few it still meets with the approval of the biblical model
- Now some of you may be sitting here and thinking to
yourself that we are in the middle of a pastor search process, or we are
seeking a new pastor
- I agree we are in the process of seeking the man God would
have to stand in this pulpit and teach week after week, I am involved in
that process
- But I also must say that as I prepared for this message
that it became clear to me that again I to was wrapped up in worldly
terminology
- So I would like to purpose something, I ask that we alter
our terminology to reflect the language of the New Testament
- Now I know asking people to change their long ingrained
terminology is hard
- It is somewhat like trying to remember to write the new
year on your checks for the first few weeks of January after you have
spent the previous year writing the old date
- But since I sense that we are people that was called by
God, we are people who seek to be defined by what God is going among us
now, and we are Bible-believing people let us agree to hold each other
accountable for being Biblical in our speech
- With regards to the Pastor search process can we say we
are seeking a new teaching elder? Or we could call it the teaching elder
search process?
- The term elder is the primary termed used in throughout
the New Testament, as we already highlighted this was a term borrowed from
how the Jews governed their towns for millennium before
- The other term we see in the New Testament is the term
overseer which is a term that helps to describe the work that an elder
does
- Again these terms are used interchangeably in the New
Testament and I will use them interchangeably as we discuss this over the
next few weeks
- In fact quite the opposite is true as we see in our next
point about servant leadership however based on time we can’t start that
topic so we will save that for next week
#3 Servant Leadership
- This morning we examined two aspects of the nature of the
problem, first we saw that teaching on the principles of biblical
eldership is often times nearly non existent within the church
- Second, we saw that there was an issue of terminology of
how we define our church offices
- In the coming weeks as look 7 God-ordained aspects of
biblical eldership I trust the Holy Spirit would do a work in your heart
as he has begun to do in mine over this issue of returning to what the
Bible says about eldership
- To give you a flavor of what we are going to look at I
will give you the outline for the next few weeks right now
- God-willing we want to look at 7 distinct aspects of
biblical eldership; they are:
- Servant Leadership
- Shared Leadership
- Male Leadership
- Qualified Leadership
- Non-Clerical Leadership
- Pastoral Leadership
- Proper Response to Leadership
- I am anticipating that it will take a couple more weeks to
cover this but again as I said at the beginning, God made this topic important
on the pages of the New Testament therefore it should be important to us
as well as a New Testament church
Conclusion