Pastor Jeff on the Radio

Guest (Male): You're listening to Jeff Schwarzentraub, senior pastor of Brave Church. At Brave, we preach the word as if people's lives depended on it because they do. We believe the church was never meant to be a room full of spectators, those who are comfortable, silent, and watching from the sidelines while the mission goes unfinished.

Our mission is to awaken a Spirit-filled army to fight for the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our lifetime. If you're in the Denver area, join us on Sundays at our Englewood or Westminster locations at 8:30 or 10:30 AM. Learn more at brave.org. Once again, that's brave.org. Now here's Pastor Jeff with today's message.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: When Jesus was on planet Earth before He died on the cross and rose from the dead, He promised His disciples that He would establish His church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Then He went to the cross exactly like He said. He died for all the sins of the world. He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and after a period of time, He sent His Holy Spirit to the church so that the church could be His vehicle on planet Earth for propagating the gospel, for proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord so that He could be glorified and that the message of the gospel would get out so that those who were lost and dead in their sin could confess Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

But like any good leader, Jesus Christ established parameters for what the church was going to be like. He wanted us to know what leadership should look like in this vehicle called the church that He established. So today, what we're going to take a look at is: What should leadership in the church look like? If you have your Bibles, I encourage you to open up to 1 Peter chapter five. We're going to be in verses one through five today. If you don't have a copy of the Scriptures, you can take one underneath every other chair and read along with me as we do that so that you can get your eyes on a copy of God's word.

As we've been talking about what it looks like for Christians who are being persecuted in times for their faith, we're taking a look for what leadership in the church needs to look like during those times. So I'd like to read these five verses to you and then we'll take a look at four ways today that elders should be responsible in the church. Notice what he says: "Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

And here in that text, he really highlights for us what leadership in the church should look like and when leadership in the church is functioning well and what God's expectation of leaders in the church should be. So he starts in verse five and he says, "Therefore, I exhort the elders." Now verse one is really introductory material and he's exhorting the elders. Now notice what he says: "Therefore, I exhort." Now exhort means to come alongside. It means to give encouragement. It means to help take a step in a direction.

If you have the gift of exhortation or you've been around somebody with the gift of exhortation, it's when you're around that person they're not commanding you or telling you, "This is what you better do or else." It's that person that when you're around, they're able to discern things in your life, give you practical steps, and you start stepping in a new direction after you spend time with them and you say, "I really needed to go that way." That's the gift of exhortation. And what Peter's doing is he's coming alongside the elders of the church and he says, "Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as one of your fellow elders."

Now notice this. First of all, you see elders being in the plural. Elders is in the plural every time we talk about the church. Why? Because elders need to be a plurality of leadership in the church. There should never be one man that runs everything in the church. There should always be a plurality of men that are serving in the church for the purpose of glorifying God and doing what they want. Now it's interesting here because Peter says, "I exhort the elders as a fellow elder." In other words, Peter's saying this: "I'm one with you." I mean, when the book started, Peter referred to himself as an apostle and certainly he was. He was sent directly by Jesus Christ.

But here in the trenches, when he's talking to churches, he's like, "I may be an apostle, but here's what I really am: I'm an elder who's eldering along with you. I'm enduring what you're enduring. I'm getting what you get. I'm doing what you do. I'm one of you." Every church should have a plurality of elders that are doing what God wants them to do. And notice what he says: "As your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ." Peter saw Jesus Christ suffer, didn't he? I mean, Peter was the one out of all the disciples that always put his foot in his mouth.

So the night that Jesus was betrayed, he told Jesus directly to the face, the Son of God, here's what he told him: "Hey, even if all else fall away... In other words, I'm aware of who all my friends are, Jesus. I know them and they're probably not going to be cool like me. Even if they all fall away, don't worry about it. I never will. Even if I have to die for you, I'll do that." And what does Jesus say to Peter? "Peter, tonight before the rooster crows, you will betray me three times." And Peter did just that.

And on the third time that he betrayed Jesus, his eyes met Jesus and what did he do? He went out and wept bitterly because he knew the failure that he had been. He witnessed the sufferings of Christ. He saw the resurrected Christ. He saw the nails in his hands. He saw the scar in his side. He knew what Christ had endured for him. He witnessed that. But when we read about witness in the New Testament, we're not just saying what we saw. Like sometimes we'll talk about witnessing a car accident or witnessing an event that took place. But witness has more to do than just seeing something; it's being a part of something.

So being a witness would be like this: Imagine you flew out to Oakland this fall and you watched the Broncos play the Raiders and you witnessed their fans treat Broncos people terribly. And you're a witness of that because everybody knows what Raiders fans are like. So you witness that. But if you're bearing witness to this, it's not just that you saw the fans shouting at the players and the coaches or throwing things onto the field. Because you wore orange, they were treating you the same way they were treating the people on the field. You were bearing witness to the fact that you were taking this heat.

And that's exactly what Peter's talking about. He's talking about by the fact of being an elder and the fact that he is a believer in Christ and the fact that he's serving, he's bearing witness of suffering as well in his life. And here's the reality: Every time you step out in faith for the Lord Jesus Christ, there's the potential of suffering more for His name. The more you step up and live for Jesus, the more potential there is for being persecuted for your faith. I remember my first day at Dallas Seminary. Chuck Swindoll was speaking and he told all of us who were sitting there: "Hey, just by being here today, you put a bullseye on the front and on the back of you and you're going to get shot at."

And I didn't quite know what he meant. Now some years later, I realize just by stepping forward in faith, there is a persecution or a suffering that comes from standing up for the glory of Jesus Christ. And Peter is getting in the trenches with these elders of these churches saying, "I'm a fellow elder with you. I know what it's like to suffer. I personally witnessed Christ suffer, and I'm witnessing suffering in my life. And that's just who we are and that's who I am." And notice what else he says. He says not only is he a fellow sufferer with Christ, but he's a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed.

In other words, why would he put up with all this stuff? Because you know what he's looking forward to more than anything else? Jesus Christ bursting through the sky in all of His glory coming back to redeem all those who are eagerly awaiting for Him. And the reality is not just elders, but all of us who have confessed Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior are all partakers of His coming glory. He is coming back and the Bible says He's coming back soon. And when's that? It means soon. That's what it means and we don't know when that is, but it's soon.

And when He comes back, we're going to be partaking in His glory. So why is Peter exhorting and encouraging the elders? Why is Peter eldering well? Because he believes that the sufferings are worth everything that's going on for the glory of Jesus Christ that is going to be revealed. And that's the background for what he tells us that elders need to be and the role of elders. Now when we see this word elder, there's really three words that are used interchangeably in the New Testament: one is elder, one is like bishop or overseer, and one is pastor. And they're all three used interchangeably.

When we talk about pastor, we're really talking about the preaching and teaching of the word. And when we talk about overseer, we're talking about the main responsibility of what that role is. And when we talk about elders, here's what we're talking about: we're talking about the character of the men that serve in that role. And that's what he's talking about here. So he's exhorting the elders who are leading the church and here's the first one: when it comes to eldering, the mandate of responsibility is shepherding Christ's church. When it comes to eldering, the mandate of responsibility is shepherding Christ's church.

In other words, what's a leader supposed to do in the church? What's the elder supposed to do? He's supposed to shepherd Christ's church. Notice what he says: "Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight." Now it's interesting he uses the word shepherd. Why does he use the word shepherd? Because he sees us as sheep. Now sheep are a unique animal. There is no other animal in the world that needs a shepherd, is there? Lions don't have shepherds. They have lion tamers; they don't have shepherds. Dogs don't have shepherds. They have owners; they don't have shepherds.

Why do you need a shepherd for a sheep? Can I tell you why? Because most of us didn't grow up on a farm, but let me tell you something about sheep. Sheep are needy. Sheep are defenseless. Sheep are helpless. Sheep cannot find food for themselves. They cannot feed themselves. Sheep are prone to wandering. If a sheep sees another sheep go off a cliff and it's following the sheep, all the sheep will go off the cliff until you put a stop to it. Sheep are not the brightest animal in the world. Sheep need to be sheared regularly.

If they're not, their wool gets all sorts of dirt and everything around it. If they don't get sheared on their backside properly, they can't use the bathroom. If sheep fall over, they cannot pick themselves up. Sheep are 100% dependent on their shepherd. So when Jesus, pulling up in His boat, sees the massive crowds and they look like a sheep without a shepherd, it was not a compliment. What He was saying is these people do not know spiritually where they're going. And when it comes to us spiritually, we have to see ourselves as sheep.

We spiritually are prone to wander. We spiritually are prone to go our own way. We spiritually can't feed ourselves. God established the church for everything that we need. And so the role and responsibility of an elder is to be an undershepherd of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus, that we're going to talk about, to help all sheep get home. That's the purpose of an elder. The purpose of an elder is serving the sheep. Now we don't like the terminology sheep. Especially we as men, we hate it.

When we do men's events, we'll say stuff like this: we don't do a men's retreat; we do a men's advance. We're taking ground. We're warriors for Christ. We're brave. We're this. We're that. I mean, so we'll read passages like Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 and following, talking about putting on the full armor of God. And we'll talk about the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness and our feet fitted for the gospel. And we'll talk about the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit and the helmet of salvation. And we even have in bookstores, and I have a couple of these in my office, where you get Roman clothing with all this armor. Look at us. We're men. We're this.

At best, Ephesians six is defining a girded up sheep. I mean, that's all you are. Apart from Christ, you can't take care of yourself. God established the church because it was so needed in our soul to have people shepherding and pouring into us so we could be who Jesus wanted us to be. Now Jesus of course is the Chief Shepherd. And Jesus, when He was here, said, "My sheep know my voice." But He was training the twelve to shepherd the flock of God. Now let me just make one other point about this text in 1 Peter chapter five and verse two.

If you read this verse, get your eyes on it in your own Bible, and it says this: "Shepherd the flock of..." Shepherd the flock of, say it out loud with me, shepherd the flock of... God. Say it really loud: "Shepherd the flock of God." Okay, so whose flock is it? God's. Whose church is it? God's. Is it Pastor Jeff's church? Say it louder. No, and never will be. There's no churches owned by pastors. Every church is Christ's church. It belongs to God. Elders that serve, serve for a season for the purpose of elevating Christ. It's His church.

He came and died for the church. He's coming back for His church. He loves His church and it belongs to Him. There's no ownership of a pastor of any of the sheep. A pastor is serving under the authority of Jesus Christ to influence and encourage and build and lead the sheep. Now Peter, after he betrayed Jesus three times, post-resurrection of Jesus Christ, he meets Jesus on the beach and they have breakfast together. And in John chapter 21, Jesus begins to give him motivation for what he should do.

And it says in John chapter 21, verse 15, when they had finished breakfast, Simon Peter said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" And he said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." And he said to him, Jesus said to him, "Tend my lambs." He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." And he said to him, "Shepherd my sheep." He said to him a third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?"

And Peter was grieved because He had said this the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said, "Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you." And Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." What do you hear? Tend my sheep, shepherd my lambs, tend my sheep, shepherd my lambs. I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what He's saying. He's saying take care of my sheep. Tending my sheep means feed them, water them, encourage them, build them. Sheep, let me tell you something. I've heard people say stuff like this: "Is it wrong for me to want to go to a church where I'm getting fed? Is that just selfish?"

Is it wrong for you to want to go to a restaurant where they actually serve food? No. I mean, you need spiritual nourishment. If you don't go somewhere where the word of God is being taught, you are being spiritually malnourished and it is hurting your growth with Christ. It is not selfish to want to eat. It's an absolute necessity for you to do that. And so feeding the sheep... tend means to feed. Shepherd means to lead. Feed and lead the people of God. That's why at Brave Church, we'll talk about it like this: that the responsibility of elders is doctrine, discipline, and direction.

Doctrine, discipline, and direction. And doctrine means this: it's teaching. So when we talk about doctrine, we talk about this: it's God's word. That's what we're responsible for. So this book, from Genesis one through Revelation 22, made up of 66 books, is God's word. He spoke it. It's 100% true. It's all true. And elders' responsibility is to elevate this book and this word and say we will not change one bit of it. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Not one jot or tittle of it will change.

It may be uncomfortable for God's people to hear at times, but we won't change any part of the word. One of the responsibilities of elders is holding up this book and saying this is what God says, therefore we will not waver or we will not change what God says. That's part of the responsibility. That's what doctrine is; it's God's word. And then we have this: we have doctrine, we have discipline. What's discipline? A lot of people think elders' job is like to kick people out of the church when they're like really, really bad people.

But here's the problem: we're all really, really bad people. I mean, we're all sinners and we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Discipline is God's ways. It means part of being an elder is that you're able to teach people how this book works in their lives. Like here's what it means to be a godly man and here's what it means to be a godly woman and here's how we're to get along in church and here's what it looks like to forgive one another, even though that's uncomfortable, and here's what it looks like to steward your resources and here's what it looks like to be part of a church.

These are God's ways. That's discipline. That's the growth part of what elders are called to do and to come alongside and exhort the church to live out God's ways. And then the third is God's direction, which is this: it's God's will. It's God's will. It's God's word, God's ways, and God's will. What's God's will? Well, the only way you can know God's will is to seek God. Because God has unique things for each church in the body of Christ that He wants to accomplish.

That's why as elders, we always spend the first part, like half an hour, 45 minutes, or an hour, of every meeting that we meet on our knees declaring this to God: "God, you're the head of the church, we're just your servants. God, this is your church, you can do whatever you want. What do you want us to do? Where do you want us to go? How do you want us to lead? Lord, don't let any of us have our own agenda. What do you want to do?" That's God's will because God has a unique way that He wants to use Brave Church unlike any other church in history to accomplish His purpose.

And so as elders, we need to be spiritually attuned to what God is saying so we lead the church well. And why is that important? Because you know what we like to do as sheep? We like to sit in one place. We like to be comfortable; just come take care of me. And when elders are leading and moving, that's when sheep start "baa, why are we going that way? Why are we doing this?" That's what elders do. We're leading. And so we need to make sure that we're hearing what Christ is saying so that we're leading in the right way.

And just to be clear, because I want to let you know a little bit about our elders and how we work, because one of the questions that came in after the family chat was, "Pastor Jeff, do you get most of the vote on the elder board? Don't you have a majority vote or something like this?" The answer is no and let me tell you why. Because we've never voted and we never will vote. There's no vote on our elder board. There's consensus on our elder board, which means until we're united in what God is saying, we don't move forward.

Now you're going to ask this question: "Well, Pastor Jeff, there's no way we could all think the same thing." No, we never do. So what do we do? We seek the Lord. And there are times where we say, "Hey, listen, I'm listening to what you guys are saying, I'm the minority here and you guys have heard me, we've prayed together, so I'm trusting what you guys say and I'm all in with you." Which means I'm going to be behind it, I'm going to say I'm for it, I'm going with you, we're still united. Let's go.

That's how we do every single decision. That's who we are. That's why the character of an elder and their heart for God is so important because that's how we come to consensus and that's how we make decisions. And when we do, say for instance, "Hey, we're going to remodel the worship center" or "We're putting another campus" or "It's going to cost us this to do," we as elders decide that if we're actually going to ask the body to do this, we're giving first. We're going to be in, like we're in this financially.

So I can tell you as an elder, because I've been an elder since we started the church, 100% of the time we've done a fundraiser, I've given 100% of the time generously. Because that's what we're called to do. How can we ask God's people to do something if we're not willing to do it? That's what it means to be an elder. It's shepherding the flock of God. It's what we're called to do. It's leading and feeding God's people. Now this is why this is important for you: because you want to be in a church where elders take seriously their role of leading and feeding God's people.

It's for your own nourishment and for your own good. And that's what Peter tells us. So shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight. That means leading very well. The second thing he tells us: if the mandate of elders is responsibility of shepherding Christ's church, when it comes to eldering, the model of readiness for being an elder is showing Christ's character. The model of readiness for being an elder is demonstrating Christ-like character, showing Christ's character. Notice what he says: "Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock."

Now the model of readiness has everything to do with Christ's character. It has to do with Christ's character coming in and through you. And notice what he says. Here's how we should do it: exercising oversight how? Not under compulsion but voluntarily according to the will of God. It means nobody should elder because it's a "have to." It is a "desire to." 1 Timothy three says that anyone who would desire to be an elder desires a noble task. There should be a compelling that I want to do this, I get to do this.

And I can tell you this: as hard as it's been at different times to lead this church, I'm still loving every part of it, even when it's hard, and I'm privileged that I get a chance to serve the Lord in this capacity. It should never be begrudgingly or, "Oh, I have to do this, it's my job, it's my responsibility, I'm a man of God, I have to." No, no, no. It is by voluntary. God doesn't make somebody become an elder. God can put it on somebody's heart, draw somebody in that direction, and that's what he's called to do, right? Not "have to" but voluntarily.

What else does he say about elders? Notice this one: "And not for sordid gain, but with eagerness." Not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. Sordid gain, what does that mean? I mean, I was reading the King James version this week. It doesn't use sordid gain; it uses filthy lucre. Not for filthy lucre. I don't even know what filthy lucre means. Here's what sordid gain means: it's beyond just being motivated by money. It's when a pastor or elder is fleecing the congregation for their money.

It means when they're using their position of authority to get your income. It means, "I need this." And I could stand up here and give examples over the last 25 years of people and things I've seen. I'm not going to do that. You'll see it. But when it goes off in your heart that, "Hey, he's just asking for my money so he can get more rich," that's bad. That's not the motivation of an elder. It doesn't mean that an elder can't get paid. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that it's okay to pay our elders.

I did a sermon on this from 1 Corinthians chapter nine, if you want to go back and listen to it. But 1 Timothy chapter five says this: 1 Timothy 5:17 says the elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor. That's income. Especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing," and "The laborer is worthy of his wages." There's nothing wrong with paying a pastor. There's nothing biblically wrong with that.

What sordid gain is, is beyond paying a pastor. It's when the pastor has a greedy heart and is using his influence to fleece the flock because he wants to profit off anything that the congregation does. That's wrong. Like it's 100% of the time wrong, right? You should not be ever motivated by money, nor should you be looking at sheep as people that you can get money from. You should always be serving the Lord first and foremost, looking to Him for what He wants to do and be grateful that you get to serve in that position.

And then finally he says this, verse three: "Not as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock." Now Jesus said if anyone wants to be great, he would become a servant. And in Mark 10:45, Jesus even said, "For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Narcissism as an elder is one of the most dangerous things ever. When a pastor or elder feels like you as a congregation owe me something, that's a danger. You need to run away from that.

Like, I've seen things over the last 30 years where, you know, pastors have different people mow their grass because they tell them it's your job as a congregant to do that for me. Now if you want to mow my grass, come see me, do it voluntarily. But the point is you don't owe me anything. You don't have to do anything for your pastor. Pray for me, love me, encourage me. You don't owe me anything, right? And when somebody sees their position as lording it over you and telling you, "Here's what you need to do for the church and here's what you need to do for me," and they come across as forceful...

Guest (Male): Before we go, we encourage you to get planted. Get rooted in a local church that will push you to grow, not just make you comfortable. If you’re in the Denver area, join us on Sundays at our Englewood or Westminster locations, 8:30 or 10:30 a.m. We’d love to meet you. And if this message has stirred conviction in you, partner with us. Your gift helps take God’s word to more people in more places who need to hear it. Visit us online at brave.org. Once again, that’s brave.org. Join us next time for more bold, biblical teaching from Pastor Jeff.