**pictures of Peter, Paul

Who's Watching the Sheep?

Elders

The end of this message is really going to bring it home for all of us. Hang in there with me...

Job, work

Last week: apostles, prophets, evang, shep, teach

If God keeps giving you that job, you become that!

Keep serving, you'll be known as a servant/minister/deacon

Evangelists evangelize, prophets prophecy...

What do elders do? ELD?

Elders: shepherd, oversee, and manage

Captured best in this one concept: shepherd the flock

**1 Peter 2:24-25 (NIV)

²⁴ [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Peter 5:1-2 (NIV) ¹ To the elders among you,
[[I appeal [come alongside]
as a fellow elder,
a witness of Christ's sufferings
and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ]]
² Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-

Shepherd and Overseer. Christ is the role model for elders.

Shepherds literally oversee. Imagine that shepherd on a hillside, looking out over his flock. What's he watching for?

• Straying sheep

Did you hear Peter? "you were like sheep going astray"

Luke 15:1-7 (NIV) ¹ Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

• Sick sheep

James 5:13-15 (NIV) ¹³ Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. ¹⁴ Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

call the elders - sick sheep don't lie there quietly. They need to call out. The elders-shepherds-must be attentive. They have to listen to their sheep.

• Attacks and dangers - from outside and inside

Acts 20:17 (NIV) From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

Acts 20:28-31 (NIV) ²⁸ "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ²⁹ I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ³⁰ Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ³¹ So be on your guard! ..."

**wolf in sheep's clothing

• Manage a flock that isn't theirs!

"Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood."

Like the parable of the money bags, this flock doesn't belong to the elders. We are sheep, we belong to Jesus Christ.

The elders have a HUGE responsibility. They have to manage the flock and return it to Jesus Christ, the real Shepherd and Overseer.

Elders manage a flock that isn't theirs. Elders are in charge of God's flock, bought with Christ's blood.

Elders are responsible to Christ.

Every church NEEDS elders

The Jerusalem church had the 12 apostles. Who needs elders? About 15 years later, the apostles and the elders met with representatives from other churches. (Acts 15)

Paul and Barnabas started three churches in Turkey (Lystra, Iconium and Antioch):

Acts 14:23   When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

See the process? Appoint the elders, then commend them to God

Acts 20:32   [Paul to the elders in Ephesus:] "And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,

Titus 1:5 (NIV) The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Requirements

1 Peter 5:2-4 (NIV)
² Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers-

• not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be;
• not greedy for money, but eager (to serve);
• ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

1 Timothy 3:1-7 (see Titus 1:5-9)

1 Timothy 3:1-7 (NIV) ¹ Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.

1 - wants the job

2 - godly character (see if these sound familiar in a minute)

² Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, ³ not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. ⁵ (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?)

3 - manages family well

4 - good reputation inside and outside church

⁶ He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. ⁷ He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.

Our responsibilities

To elders

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13  (NIV) ¹² Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over [manage] you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.

1 Timothy 5:17-20 (NIV) ¹⁷ The elders who direct the affairs of [manage] the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For the Scripture says, "Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain," and "The worker deserves his wages."

¹⁹ Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. ²⁰ Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.

To each other

1 Peter 5:5 (NIV)
Young [ones], in the same way be submissive to those who are older.
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." [Proverb 3:34]

Titus 2:2-6 (NASB)
² Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

⁶ Likewise urge the young men to be sensible;

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, ⁴ so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

Older Men:
temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance

Younger Men:
self-controlled; doing what is good. Have integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech

Older Women:
³ Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. ⁴ Then they can train the

younger women
to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands...

To God

Titus 3:3-8 (NIV) ³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote [manage] themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.