Letters To Leaders 1
Letters To Leaders • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:15
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Intro
When I was a teenager I got sent to the office at school a lot… I had a problem with authority.
PRAYER
A - Dearest Father in heaven we gather today to celebrate your goodness, your wisdom, and your grace. You are worthy of our praise and our hearts gladly bring it to you.
C - Father we confess that we have a natural sinful bent in our heart to recoil from authority.
T - We thank you Father that you are using your authority to reconcile us to yourself rather then to abandon us.
S - Jesus we pray that your spirit would dwell richly within us so that we might not only submit to our God given authorities but practice the authority you have give to us according to your goodness.
Message
Authority is A Good Gift of God.
Authority is A Good Gift of God.
Authority structure was given before the fall.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Authority structure will be redeemed in the new Heaven and Earth.
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Authority Structure is found in the trinity itself.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Authority structure is necessary for flourishing.
4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you, and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
Authority Comes In Different Form and Function.
Authority Comes In Different Form and Function.
mistreatment loopholes… not to be discussed today...
Governmental
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
God created government
Their authority is given by God
Your subjection is God will
Government will continue into eternity… Revelation
Familial
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Family structure was created by God
God - Husbands - Wives - Children - Pets...
This is Good and Pleasurable when done well
Occupational
5 Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.
God has placed our bosses over us… [Jesus and the laborers]
We are to work for God not man
We can expect reward by this
Ecclesiastical
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Church members are to obey their leaders
they keep watch over your soul
they will have to give an account
Church Leaders are to lead to your advantage
Historically Church Leadership has taken the form of Deacons and Elders
Deacon = Diakonous = Servant = Diaconate…
Elder = Presbyterous / Episkopes = Supervisor, Overseer, Leader,
Authority at ABC is made up of Deacons & Elders.
Authority at ABC is made up of Deacons & Elders.
So You can Aspire.
1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
1 Tim 3.1-13
You should want this for yourself
You should want this for one another
You should want this for ABC
So you can Assess.
3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
Act 6.1-7 “1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”
Plurality
Good repute?
full of the spirit and wisdom
appointed for a duty…?
So You can Appoint.
5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—
Titus 1:5–16
This was the charge
Work still remained to be done
Appointed in every town… as directed
So you can Attain.
Eph 4.1-7 “1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Deacons and Elders exist by Gods design for your growth
equip the saints
building up of the body
unity of the faith
fulness of Christ
speaking truth
serving together
CLOSE
Dear Lord Jesus we desire to submit to your authority for you are good. We thank you that in your wisdom you have given us the good gift of delighted authority. Help us to submit to those who are over us as we desire to submit to you. For those of us who are ourselves in positions of authority we pray you would help us to lead well and in accordance with your will and word. As members of ABC help us to strive after you seek godly men to lead your bride until you should return to bring us home to be with you forevermore. AMEN
Group Questions
What kind of authority relationships are you in? Whose authority are you under? Do you exercise authority over anyone?
What are some experiences with authority you’ve had that stand out to you? Were they good, bad, or ugly?
Read Dan 4:34-35 | How does your heart react to this kind of language, to the idea that God rules over everything and does all that he pleases in heaven and on earth?
What does the fact of being made in the image of God mean for man’s relationship to creation?
According to these passages [Rom 13:1-7; Eph 6:1-4; Heb 13:7,17] To whom does God grant authority? What does He grant them authority to do? What response does God require of those who are under His authority?
Why is it important for all those who exercise authority, to wield their authority “in the fear of God”? What will happen if they don’t?
How would you respond to someone who thought that authority itself is a bad thing?
List out all the authorities you are under and all the ways you exercise authority over others. What does it practically look like for you to live under authority and exercise authority in a godly way?