The local church, part 4/5

According to the very clear testimony of Scripture, God has set leaders in the body of Christ, and it is equally clear that leaders cannot lead the whole worldwide company of believers, but that part of the flock “which is among you.” Scripture also gives clear instructions as to what these leaders should be like and how they should shepherd “the flock of God which is among you.” When the apostle Paul writes to Timothy about aspiring to “the office of a bishop,” I understand this to mean that the person in question does not so much push themselves into a leading position, but rather seeks to order their life so that they might one day be chosen for that very “good work.”

The apostle Peter instructs everyone to gird themselves “with humility toward one another,” but Scripture also draws a clear picture of how in the local church people should “obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them.” And there is a well-founded reason for this: “…for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you.” Right positioning in the local church therefore produces both joy and benefit. Leaders are guided not to lord it over those allotted to their charge, but to be examples to the flock. And it is precisely of this kind of leadership that Jesus left an excellent example when he washed his disciples’ feet and said: “For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.”

The task of church leaders is to care for the spiritual and physical needs of the members. First, as we have noted in earlier parts, among the church’s leaders there must be those who are apt to teach. Second, we notice how the leaders among Jesus’ first disciples made sure that the material needs of the members were met. When murmuring arose that widows were being treated unequally, the leaders stepped into the situation and asked that seven men be chosen who would thereafter make sure that all received their share of the care.

It is worth noting that in that particular passage it is written: “Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying…” Here again is a reference to the fact that the number of disciples was kept count of. The thought is confirmed by the passage where the apostle Paul writes to Timothy saying: “Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old…” So a careful list was kept of which of the widows belonged to the company for whom the church was to care.

When an individual believer joins a local church, they become part of a community in which they are cared for in many ways. Naturally the love of God that flows through the church is directed toward all people in the church’s sphere of influence, but it is equally natural that a person committed to the church more readily becomes a partaker of it.

Scripture:

John 13 Acts 6 1 Tim 3, 5 1 Pet 5