back to index2022-01-30 Submit to Your Leaders Pt2
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If you can turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter 13, 17, 18, and 19. 00:00:11.800 |
And we're going to be in part two on this text. 00:00:28.720 |
All right, so Hebrews chapter 13, 17, 18, and 19. 00:00:34.760 |
Obey your leaders and submit to them for they can watch over your souls as those who will 00:00:40.240 |
Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. 00:00:45.800 |
Pray for us for we are sure that we have a good conscience designed to conduct ourselves 00:00:51.800 |
And I urge you all the more to do this so that I may be restored to you sooner. 00:01:00.960 |
We pray, Father God, that as we tackle this difficult text to apply, we truly ask for 00:01:08.080 |
your wisdom and a softened heart, Lord God, to hear your thoughts, your voice, and practically 00:01:14.640 |
how to apply this, Lord God, just asking for your guidance and your spirit. 00:01:22.920 |
Well, let me read a song, the lyric of the song, that I think captures the spirit of 00:01:32.440 |
not just our generation, but just kind of how we're taught ever since we're young. 00:01:37.920 |
And so this is a song from Frank Sinatra, "I Did It My Way." 00:01:45.160 |
And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. 00:01:49.800 |
My friend, I'll make it clear, I'll state my case of which I am certain. 00:01:56.360 |
I traveled each and every highway and more, much more. 00:02:02.680 |
Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. 00:02:06.440 |
I did what I had to do and saw it through without exemption. 00:02:09.920 |
I planned each charted course, each careful step along byway, and more, much, much more. 00:02:23.320 |
Not to say the things that he truly feels, and not the words of someone who kneels. 00:02:28.520 |
The record shows I took all the blows, and I did it, I did it my way. 00:02:34.020 |
Now this was a very, very popular song, and so the fact that some of you guys who are 00:02:39.320 |
younger may even know this song, again, it speaks to the popularity of what he is saying. 00:02:48.280 |
In the end, the lyrics of what he says is the spirit of the rebellion of mankind, right? 00:02:57.080 |
As catchy as the song is, and as popular as the song is, he says, I did it. 00:03:02.280 |
I visited, and I did all of this, and in the end, sometimes I regretted it, but one thing 00:03:16.160 |
The Bible says that the reason why man has sinned and fall short of the glory of God 00:03:27.600 |
Instead of doing God's way, he says, I'm going to do it my way. 00:03:32.240 |
How do we talk about this subject of submission and obedience when everything in our culture 00:03:43.480 |
If you hear athletes, you hear teachers, anybody who's made it in this world, and when they 00:03:52.160 |
speak, one of the key things that they say, you have to believe who? 00:03:58.680 |
You have to believe in yourself, and yet, everything that the scripture tells us is 00:04:08.000 |
I know that some of you have come from situations where you may have experienced trauma because 00:04:15.600 |
of leadership, and so whenever you hear the term submission, I mean, even if you didn't, 00:04:22.320 |
the idea of submission and obedience is not well received in our culture, but especially 00:04:28.580 |
if you have negative experience, which a lot of you do. 00:04:33.400 |
In fact, somebody told me that our church is known for people who've been burned out 00:04:38.680 |
or been hurt, and so we have a lot of people who come to our church who's had issues, and 00:04:43.880 |
so I don't know how they heard about it, but that was just our reputation. 00:04:47.920 |
In fact, somebody wrote this in one of their books and said that our church has that reputation. 00:04:55.000 |
A lot of you come from situations where you feel that you have been abused, so how do 00:05:02.480 |
This is one of those things that you just kind of want to black out. 00:05:08.080 |
Just teach me about Jesus and how to love Christ and the gospel, but submission to leaders 00:05:18.160 |
Well, it's in the scripture, and it's here for a reason, and I could tell you there are 00:05:25.360 |
not many things that I can tell you is one of the most practical things to practice and 00:05:30.400 |
You cannot have a church without the practice of what he says here, and so I'm going to 00:05:35.400 |
use this morning to go over this, and I didn't get to finish in the first service, so I'm 00:05:41.680 |
I didn't want to go too long, and so I'm just giving you a heads up. 00:05:48.840 |
Early on in church, we named our church Berean Community Church because we wanted to be like 00:05:55.040 |
Bereans were people who tested, tested everything that the apostles were saying. 00:06:01.620 |
And so from the get-go, we said, "We're going to study the Bible, and if things pop up that 00:06:07.080 |
we're doing, even if we've been doing it for 15, 20 years, if the word of God convicts 00:06:13.580 |
We're not going to just say, 'Well, this is what we've been doing, so it's too hard to 00:06:18.280 |
We're going to let the word of God dictate what we do." 00:06:20.720 |
So if you look at most churches, they are divided into two ways of governing the church. 00:06:25.500 |
You have a congregational church, and you have an elder-run church. 00:06:29.440 |
Most churches fall into one of those categories. 00:06:31.920 |
A congregational church, basically all the say is given to the congregation. 00:06:37.720 |
And the passage that they use to say that is, "We have priesthood of believers. 00:06:46.200 |
And so therefore, all the people in the church have equal say as to how the church is run. 00:06:54.480 |
The budget, the direction, the staff, the leadership. 00:06:59.440 |
And so that's how a congregational church typically runs. 00:07:02.600 |
A congregation has certain committees, and those committees have the final say. 00:07:07.640 |
And so the elders and the leaders have to submit to those committees. 00:07:14.360 |
Earlier on in our church, because we're a Baptist church, and most Baptist churches are 00:07:18.800 |
congregational, and that's how we ran the church for the first few years of the church, 00:07:22.600 |
simply because that's what I was taught, and that's the model that I saw. 00:07:27.160 |
But as we were doing church and studying the scripture, we realized that the scripture 00:07:35.840 |
In fact, that text, when it says that the priesthood of believers is not talking about 00:07:43.880 |
It's just saying that this is who we are as an identity. 00:07:46.840 |
But that passage is not saying that this is how the church should be run. 00:07:53.080 |
The reason why the elders are established is so that the elders can rule the church 00:07:59.480 |
So I believe, and I know there are good brothers that I fellowship with that may disagree with 00:08:07.200 |
me, but that is not what we see in scripture. 00:08:12.800 |
And so as an elder-run church, just like if you're in a congregational church and the 00:08:17.640 |
congregation is making the decisions for what the church does and does not do, you'd have 00:08:22.480 |
to have a very proficient congregation who knows the Word of God, is committed, and has 00:08:27.400 |
lordship because they are dictating the direction of the church. 00:08:32.720 |
So you cannot practice congregational church unless you have a high level of commitment 00:08:37.480 |
and high level of surrender to the Word of God. 00:08:40.560 |
On the flip side, if you are an elder-run church, the elders must be above reproach, 00:08:49.920 |
And if you have elders that you cannot respect, if you have leaders that are not above reproach, 00:08:56.880 |
he talks well, he may be a gifted speaker, he has a lot of knowledge, but there's a question 00:09:03.400 |
over the character of the man, then you cannot practice an elder-run church. 00:09:08.600 |
That's why we have such high view of eldership and leadership in our church. 00:09:12.920 |
One of the common complaints that we get in the church through the years is, "Why do we 00:09:19.600 |
It is better to not have elders than to have wrong elders or not qualified elders in the 00:09:27.000 |
The Bible says not to lay hands hastily because some men's sins are obvious, some men's sins 00:09:37.920 |
Is the character of the man, is he consistent in the home and outside the home? 00:09:44.320 |
Is he a Christian man at church, but he doesn't act like one at work? 00:09:51.240 |
He's very charismatic and has strong leadership when he's at church, but when he's at home, 00:09:59.140 |
He's great when everybody's in agreement, but as soon as there's a disagreement, there's 00:10:04.680 |
He has to be tested in every way so that we make sure that when an elder or leader is 00:10:10.360 |
established that we can have confidence to establish that person as leaders in the church. 00:10:19.160 |
And so last week we talked about five things that a leader is called to. 00:10:31.300 |
No matter how strong we feel about something, it cannot be our opinion because we are under-shepherds. 00:10:36.920 |
I don't have the right to come up here and say, "Because I have so many experience in 00:10:40.600 |
ministry, because I've experienced this, because this is how I was taught, you need to do this 00:10:48.120 |
And I'm telling you, that comes with no authority. 00:10:53.040 |
All I'm telling you, if that's the reason why I tell you what I tell you, all I'm telling 00:11:01.960 |
No one should submit to that because all we are are under-shepherds. 00:11:07.160 |
Under-shepherds mean that we are to represent Christ. 00:11:21.440 |
Number two, we have to teach the Word of God in season and out of season. 00:11:27.560 |
Whether people listen or don't listen, whether it scatters people or gathers people, we have 00:11:31.640 |
to accurately teach the whole counsel of God. 00:11:37.680 |
We cannot say, "Do what I tell you, but don't do what I do." 00:11:41.880 |
The moment somebody, one of the leaders say that, that person is disqualified because 00:11:46.840 |
part of leader, leading means that you have to be in the front and lead people to come 00:11:51.160 |
the direction I'm going because this is the way to Christ. 00:11:55.400 |
So in the way He deals with finance, in the way He deals with His home, in the way He 00:12:00.040 |
deals with in public, in private, at work, all of these, the elders and the leaders have 00:12:05.280 |
to be an example, not just teachers, but an example of what that means. 00:12:10.000 |
Fourthly, He has to keep watch over the people of God. 00:12:14.920 |
Remember that the word watch means to not sleep. 00:12:19.300 |
So if a leader in the church is overly consumed with things that have nothing to do with God, 00:12:29.640 |
So if you've ever taken a child to the swimming pool, you know that if you take your eyes 00:12:37.960 |
off of them for a second, they're in danger of drowning. 00:12:41.440 |
So if you don't have children, I want you to pay attention very carefully. 00:12:48.600 |
Do not ever let somebody that is not used to watching children, especially around the 00:12:54.720 |
water, because when children drown, they drown in seconds and they don't make any noise. 00:13:01.400 |
It's like fall off a cliff or they touch animals, you'll hear something, but at the pool or 00:13:08.540 |
And all you have to do is to be distracted for a minute. 00:13:12.200 |
You're there and have a conversation with your friend, husband and wife. 00:13:15.280 |
Next thing you know, your child is just floating and it doesn't take long for a child to drown. 00:13:20.080 |
So if they are not used to watching children around water, it's not safe. 00:13:25.880 |
And so the Bible describes the leaders in the church who have to not sleep, of course, 00:13:36.840 |
And that the things of God has to consume us and watch over the church. 00:13:42.360 |
So if we're not aware of what's going on inside the church, and you have wolves that are coming 00:13:46.040 |
in, you have we're not aware of what's going on in our own hearts, then we're not we can't 00:13:50.680 |
be watching the way that God called the leaders to watch. 00:13:53.360 |
And then fifthly, it says we need to give an account before God. 00:13:58.040 |
That these men have to function in life knowing that there is a stricter judgment. 00:14:04.360 |
We cannot live our lives like everybody else. 00:14:15.000 |
But the leaders have to stay sober knowing that there will be stricter judgment. 00:14:21.040 |
And so we need to take our situation very seriously. 00:14:24.120 |
So we this is just all a review of what we talked about last week. 00:14:28.080 |
I think many of you felt sorry for us because I got a bunch of emails saying we're praying 00:14:43.080 |
But today, the second part of it is what is the responsibility of the church? 00:14:48.480 |
Now all this with the premise understanding that we have to have a high view of the leadership. 00:14:53.320 |
But he says, first of all, just obey and submit to them. 00:14:59.360 |
Let me read you another song from Whitney Houston, a little bit more recent, recent 00:15:19.040 |
It starts out by, "I believe the children are our future." 00:15:26.880 |
Show them all the beauty they possess inside. 00:15:28.920 |
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. 00:15:31.280 |
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be." 00:15:39.960 |
I really want to know how many of you know this song. 00:15:42.400 |
Not know me like you memorized it, but you know about this song. 00:15:49.040 |
And you probably sang it when you go to karaoke bars. 00:15:55.360 |
Maybe not really understanding the content of what she says. 00:16:02.800 |
I never found anyone who fulfills my needs, a lonely place to be, and so I learned to 00:16:10.120 |
I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadows. 00:16:13.560 |
If I fail, if I succeed, at least I'll live as I believe. 00:16:18.280 |
No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity. 00:16:23.240 |
Because the greatest love of all is happening to me." 00:16:26.680 |
So up to there, you would think, like, "Oh, she converted." 00:16:30.000 |
"I found the greatest love of all is easy to achieve. 00:16:36.080 |
Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all." 00:16:47.040 |
But this is what we sing in our generation, and sometimes not really knowing what we're 00:16:55.680 |
So within that spirit, it said, "At least, even if I fail, at least I have my dignity." 00:17:11.720 |
Because the greatest love of all that we need to teach everybody is to love yourself and 00:17:21.640 |
So within that context, when you hear, "Obey your leaders and submit to them," how do you 00:17:29.520 |
How do you convince people that this is necessary and this is important? 00:17:33.680 |
So it's easy to kind of skirt around this, especially knowing that many of you have been 00:17:40.880 |
How do we apply this, and why is this here, and why is this important? 00:17:48.360 |
It doesn't sound as harsh when you see what it means in the Greek, because the word "obey" 00:17:57.760 |
So if I am to ask you to obey, I'm basically trying to persuade you. 00:18:02.640 |
So every Sunday when I open up the Word of God, I'm trying to get you to be persuaded, 00:18:09.000 |
If you're the receiving person, it means to be easily persuaded, to be persuadable. 00:18:15.320 |
As the Bible says, that we are the clay and he is the potter, meaning that we come before 00:18:23.320 |
the Lord asking for him to mold us and change us. 00:18:28.080 |
The word for "submit" basically means to put yourself under, to put things in order. 00:18:34.360 |
And so the idea of obeying and submitting is to place yourself in a position where you 00:18:39.640 |
can easily take the commands that are coming from God through the leaders and to submit. 00:18:45.640 |
You know, this idea that we, I just, you know, those two songs that we, that I just kind 00:18:53.760 |
And at the end of the day, the Bible says when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, one 00:18:58.280 |
of the chief things that God says is part of the curse is that the wife who was created 00:19:03.800 |
to be a suitable helper, he said he's going to, she's going to have contention with her 00:19:08.720 |
He said her desire is going to be for her husband, meaning that word for desire means 00:19:18.080 |
And so is it within that context, it's this idea of submission is not just about the church 00:19:24.240 |
In fact, whenever we think about submission, right, in the context of the church, the conservative 00:19:30.880 |
church, we normally think about, right, we normally think about wives submitting to husband, 00:19:35.880 |
or at least that's kind of the context we hear all the time. 00:19:39.680 |
It says in Ephesians 5, 24, wives submit to your husbands. 00:19:44.280 |
I hear people saying that sometimes out of context and not really understanding what 00:19:53.360 |
A lot of times the husband's frustrated with their wives and they'll open up, you know, 00:19:56.560 |
Ephesians 5, 24, and it says, right here, submit, submit. 00:20:06.280 |
And I hear, I hear husbands using that text because he's frustrated. 00:20:10.880 |
Maybe the wife is nagging her, not doing what he says. 00:20:13.880 |
Maybe they have a, they have a contention and they, you know, they don't agree on something. 00:20:17.800 |
And so he's using his muscles from the scripture. 00:20:23.320 |
I want you to understand the context of this, okay. 00:20:26.440 |
First of all, if you ever have to open up the scripture to your wife and say submit, 00:20:36.800 |
And the only reason why you're bringing that up is because she's having a hard time respecting 00:20:42.260 |
So the first thing that you should look at is what are you doing that is making it hard 00:20:48.880 |
for her to follow you before you bring out the scripture. 00:20:54.280 |
But understand this, prior to Apostle Paul going into wives submitting to your husband, 00:21:00.400 |
he actually says in Ephesians 5, 21, and be subject to one another in fear of Christ. 00:21:07.360 |
So this idea of submitting is to the husband and the wife. 00:21:12.560 |
That our general attitude should be to be agreeable, to learn to submit to one another. 00:21:19.700 |
And then he breaks into saying to the wife, you need to submit to your husband as the 00:21:26.660 |
And the reason why they need to do that is because of the calling of the husband to sacrifice 00:21:31.880 |
his life for his wife as Christ did for the church. 00:21:36.440 |
So the reason why the wife is called to submit is so that the husband can die for you. 00:21:44.380 |
So the general calling is for everyone to submit, but specifically for the purpose of 00:21:50.480 |
building a family that honors God, where the husband can sacrifice, the woman needs to 00:21:58.920 |
So whenever somebody whips out the Bible and says, look it here, and he's using it for 00:22:02.360 |
selfish reasons, you've already shot yourself in the foot. 00:22:06.240 |
If the only way that you can get your wife to submit to you is to open up the scripture 00:22:10.760 |
and say you must do this, again, you probably already lost your wife. 00:22:17.160 |
In Ephesians 6, 1 it says, children obey your parents. 00:22:20.480 |
First Peter 5, 5 it says, younger men submit to the older men. 00:22:24.480 |
Romans 13, 1, every person be subject to the governors. 00:22:28.000 |
Colossians 3, 22, slaves in all things obey those who are your masters on earth. 00:22:35.040 |
So the general disposition of everyone is called to be agreeable, to be easily molded. 00:22:43.620 |
Because the elders and the leaders are called to teach the word of God as under shepherds, 00:22:48.800 |
that if you choose to challenge everything that is being taught, it is not profitable 00:22:55.560 |
You know, everybody goes through different stages of maturity. 00:22:59.760 |
When you're first born, not just first born, but like born first, right, when you're born, 00:23:12.640 |
Your parents have to teach you how to walk, to eat, to go to the bathroom, and so that's 00:23:20.280 |
So spiritually, when you first become a Christian, you need other Christians to tell you, this 00:23:25.320 |
is the Bible, these are the doctrines, this is what God calls us, this is the church. 00:23:31.920 |
The dependent stage is very difficult because it requires a lot of attention, right? 00:23:38.640 |
And you need to basically watch them constantly. 00:23:42.000 |
You gotta watch what they eat, you gotta tell them when to sleep, when to wake up. 00:23:45.440 |
But they're also the cutest period, during that period, because they don't know any better. 00:23:54.600 |
And that's the teenage stage, where you learn to wipe your butt and eat your food, take 00:24:00.080 |
your own shower, and all of a sudden, you've learned everything. 00:24:04.160 |
That's the stage where your parents become the source of your information, and then all 00:24:12.080 |
It's interesting because during that period, you see children kind of going through that 00:24:18.040 |
period and if you see your kids fighting with one another, and I would walk into the room 00:24:24.360 |
and let's say, you know, Jeremy and Zachary is fighting and then Zachary, when he's a 00:24:29.680 |
little kid, he was like, "Daddy, Jeremy's saying this, is that true?" 00:24:36.080 |
They don't look up encyclopedia, they don't go to Google, it's like, is he correct? 00:24:42.960 |
It's like, if I say it's not true, it's like, "Daddy said it," so that settles it. 00:24:46.620 |
And then they get into adolescence and all of a sudden, they say, "Hey, hey, you shouldn't 00:24:51.160 |
be doing that because this is the way things work," and then Zachary would turn to his 00:24:54.360 |
older brother, Jeremy, he's like, "Jeremy, is that true?" 00:25:03.160 |
So truth is determined during that adolescent period, all of a sudden, you have to challenge 00:25:08.000 |
your parents to see because they're starting to try to figure out how the rest of the world 00:25:17.520 |
People go through periods where they become independent, where they were dependent, they 00:25:21.280 |
know enough about scripture, they've kind of lived their Christian life, and they've 00:25:24.200 |
seen the good, they've experienced this and that, and so it's like, "What do the leaders 00:25:37.720 |
Can you imagine what the world would be like with just teenagers? 00:25:43.380 |
Can you imagine what Disneyland would be like with just teenagers? 00:25:49.440 |
I know some of you guys are teenagers here, right? 00:25:53.520 |
18, maybe as young as 17, 18, 19, and I'm sure it doesn't apply to you, right? 00:26:03.680 |
And that's why you're at this church, because you've matured, and you want the word of God, 00:26:09.160 |
and you are coming out of your dependent stage to the final stage of maturity, and the final 00:26:18.880 |
Interdependence are people who are independent who chooses to submit to one another. 00:26:25.400 |
That's the final stage, where you have a relationship with your children as adults. 00:26:31.300 |
They have their own mind, they have their own, they're mature enough to take care of 00:26:34.960 |
them, but we're able to have a relationship where we can talk to them, "Hey, you have 00:26:39.200 |
some things and I have some things," but you choose to submit to one another, because 00:26:44.040 |
only way that you can function in a society is if that happens. 00:26:48.420 |
So when you grow, you choose to submit, right, to your boss, you choose to submit to society, 00:26:56.620 |
you choose to submit to your husband, you choose to submit to the leaders, and so even 00:27:02.040 |
though I am able to be independent, I choose to be dependent, because that's the final 00:27:10.640 |
So this idea of obeying and submitting is not because the top, most holiest men are 00:27:19.840 |
It's because of the job that we are called to do. 00:27:25.280 |
It says they need to be above reproach, but in order for the leaders to do their job and 00:27:33.760 |
And again, like I said, it's one of the most tangible things that the church can do in 00:27:44.680 |
Verse 18, it said, "Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be 00:27:53.720 |
If you are a nurse or you're in the healthcare, right, and this would be true of anybody who's 00:27:58.720 |
taking care of other people, right, but let me just use that as an example. 00:28:03.000 |
If you're a nurse and you go into the room and you need to give them medicine, you need 00:28:07.120 |
to turn them around, wipe them, clean them up, and you need to make sure that they're 00:28:11.280 |
taking the pills and do the, and then the patient's just cranky. 00:28:21.020 |
And they refuse you, say, "Don't tell me what to do." 00:28:29.680 |
And so, you know, because of the job that the nurse is called to do, if the patient 00:28:35.400 |
is not compliant, the first person that gets hurt by that is the patient. 00:28:41.200 |
It makes the job very difficult for the nurse, but it makes it impossible to treat that patient 00:28:50.620 |
He said, "Let them do this with joy," because they've been called to sacrifice. 00:28:59.220 |
So if the leaders are here for the purpose of the well-being of the church, and you refuse, 00:29:06.680 |
and you challenge everything that happens, and they said, "It's not profitable for 00:29:14.000 |
Remember how whenever the Israelites would rebel, remember how God would describe the 00:29:24.160 |
You know, whenever I hear that term stiff-neck, obviously it's pride. 00:29:47.080 |
A stiff-necked person is never willing to yield because, "I have my idea. 00:29:53.840 |
That's how the Bible describes an unyielding nation, stiff-necked. 00:29:59.560 |
And if you own dogs, you know, every once in a while you'll see the owners taking the 00:30:04.120 |
dogs out to a walk, and the dogs are up in the front, and the owner is just kind of being 00:30:09.640 |
But every once in a while you'll see a dog who doesn't want to go, and you see the owner 00:30:16.880 |
The dog's not happy because he's being dragged. 00:30:20.080 |
Owner's not happy because the owner has to drag the dog. 00:30:23.120 |
But this has to be done because you're going to poop in the house if you don't. 00:30:27.800 |
That's how the Bible describes a nation that is stiff-necked, unyielding. 00:30:36.600 |
Working with unyielding people is like working with cement. 00:30:43.360 |
Somebody told me years ago, we had a pastor that came to our church, and he spent a lot 00:30:50.280 |
He was like, "Yeah, I can't believe they did this." 00:30:54.960 |
Then after that retreat, somebody came up to me and said, "Hey, Pastor Peter, how come 00:31:04.960 |
I said, "Because if I vent, it would be about you." 00:31:10.880 |
That pastor's at our church, so I vent when I'm over there. 00:31:15.600 |
So if you want to hear me vent, come with me to the retreat. 00:31:24.880 |
I have so much to say, and I'm trying to be careful. 00:31:33.040 |
But the job that we have been called to do is impossible to do if people are stiff-necked. 00:31:42.160 |
Let me give you three practical things that the church has to submit to and obey in order 00:31:52.520 |
First of all, and this is the easiest of them all, is that you need to obey the teaching 00:32:00.800 |
We said we put a high premium on the teaching and preaching of God's Word. 00:32:05.740 |
If I ever stand here and say, "You need to do this because this is my experience, and 00:32:12.040 |
I was a Bible major undergrad, so you just need to trust me, and you just need to do 00:32:16.080 |
this," I said, "There's not much authority there." 00:32:20.080 |
Because somebody else can say that and say, "Well, I'm older than you. 00:32:27.240 |
And anybody can use whatever position that they have to supersede. 00:32:30.000 |
"Oh, I got an MBA, so I know how to do this more than you." 00:32:34.640 |
Our authority does not come from ourselves or our experience but the Word of God. 00:32:39.200 |
And so when the Word of God is clearly taught, if you have a problem with what is being said, 00:32:47.720 |
Don't come and say, "I just don't agree with you because I just know better." 00:32:53.160 |
There's not much authority of that when I say it, and there's not much authority when 00:32:57.680 |
Because in the end, all it sounds like is, "I'm smarter, smarter than you, smarter than 00:33:02.680 |
you, better than you, more talented than you, so you should listen to me." 00:33:11.720 |
I would not preach that way, nor is it convincing if you say it. 00:33:17.160 |
But if the Word of God is open and it is clear and you're convinced that's what the Word 00:33:31.160 |
I've had people, years ago, I've had this young lady come to me and say, "You know what? 00:33:42.160 |
She's like, "I mean, Scripture says here, here, here, here." 00:33:48.880 |
You're being legalistic, but God understands me. 00:33:58.860 |
And so God understands, even though the Word of God says it's like, well, I mean, you choose 00:34:03.440 |
to make the Word of God subjective and you kind of pick and choose what you want to obey. 00:34:09.800 |
And that's the easiest, because that's where the Word of God clearly spells it out, right? 00:34:16.080 |
Secondly, and this is the part where the rubber meets the road, right? 00:34:21.640 |
There are things that we are doing in the church that if the church doesn't cooperate, 00:34:30.900 |
As an example, we decide to buy the building. 00:34:36.600 |
I don't know if buying the building is a good idea." 00:34:39.260 |
And I know some people, just the fact that we spent money, a lot of money, that's just 00:34:43.740 |
Just the fact that church is about doing God's work, so you can give it to missionaries and 00:34:47.440 |
feed the poor, but buying a building seems very secular. 00:34:54.560 |
Even though the Bible doesn't say you need to have a building, there's a lot of logistical 00:34:57.920 |
business decisions that we need to make for the sake of the church. 00:35:02.920 |
We're not saying that every decision that we make is perfect. 00:35:06.280 |
We're not even saying that every decision that is being made is the best decision. 00:35:12.160 |
But we have been given the task to make these decisions. 00:35:15.800 |
And so we have to do our best to make these decisions that sometimes you may not agree 00:35:22.420 |
But we cannot run the church if the people in the church are constantly saying, "Well, 00:35:27.280 |
that's not what I believe, and I'm just going to protest this." 00:35:33.320 |
How many of you have ever run games at a picnic? 00:35:38.720 |
You guys are traumatized, so you're unwilling to admit it. 00:35:42.160 |
If you've ever run games, even once, I can almost guarantee that you came out of that 00:35:51.560 |
Because what typically happens is you run games, and no matter how well the game is 00:35:57.420 |
run, there's always somebody who's going to say, "What is this? 00:36:13.540 |
And there's always somebody who's going to protest. 00:36:17.140 |
But the thing is, the person who's running the games has poured his heart out, get the 00:36:24.100 |
But there's always somebody there who's doing that. 00:36:26.380 |
And not to say that, don't ever say anything bad, but you have to either lead or follow 00:36:39.580 |
And if you're not doing one of those things, you're a troublemaker, because that's all 00:36:55.060 |
So if you're not going to lead, if you're not going to follow, the next best thing is 00:37:10.220 |
But when you don't lead and when you're not following and you're refusing to get out of 00:37:13.780 |
the way, you're saying, "I'm going to show up to the park. 00:37:17.500 |
I'm not going to participate, but I'm going to make sure everybody knows how this stinks." 00:37:27.700 |
And yeah, these are not maybe biblical things, but these are things that needs to happen 00:37:35.860 |
But basically, you've committed to make it difficult for other people to lead. 00:37:49.260 |
You ever have a group of friends that you get together and you decide where to eat? 00:37:54.660 |
And you have this one friend who just, "I can't eat pho. 00:38:11.820 |
And so at the end of the day, so what do you want? 00:38:16.980 |
So every time you gather together, you can only eat what that person wants to eat. 00:38:30.220 |
It's just too hard to do anything with that guy around. 00:38:34.740 |
So everybody has to submit and to give in to that person who's just being selfish because 00:38:43.060 |
they don't know how to give in to other people. 00:38:53.140 |
I cannot and the other person is like, "I don't like, I have to eat pho. 00:39:00.020 |
So what ends up happening is the group gets divided. 00:39:08.620 |
And then you have pho-lo-ship over here and then you have the pho haters over there. 00:39:16.100 |
And then so you have that group split in two by two strong headed selfish people. 00:39:27.660 |
If we give in to selfishness in the congress, "Oh yeah, they won't let us do it." 00:39:32.900 |
Yeah, because if we give in to you, that means everybody has to give in to you. 00:39:40.840 |
So sometimes we need to deal with hard headed people for the sake of the church. 00:39:47.940 |
If you have that in the eldership, you have two hard headed people who are so strong headed 00:39:59.480 |
So when we call for submission, the submission is not just for the congregation to submit 00:40:07.640 |
That even though we have multiple of leaders, if the majority of the leaders decide one 00:40:12.280 |
thing, every leader has to submit to that, including myself. 00:40:17.060 |
I may be the senior pastor of this church, but I cannot unilaterally make decisions in 00:40:20.960 |
this church because I need to be submitted to the rest of the leaders in the church. 00:40:26.480 |
So for practical reasons, the church needs to submit to the decisions that are being 00:40:31.760 |
made in the church because we're making decisions for what's beneficial for the church. 00:40:36.560 |
So like I said, you may have never led the church, so you may not fully understand what 00:40:40.800 |
I'm saying, but if you led anything, like games, if you've ever tried to serve somebody 00:40:48.400 |
for their own benefit, if you've ever raised children, you know exactly why this is such 00:40:57.280 |
Now if you have a leadership who is selfish, self-willed, and they're not walking right 00:41:02.600 |
with God, they're distracted constantly, it says, do not entertain an accusation against 00:41:09.520 |
If you hear slander and things that are being said that is hurtful to the leadership, and 00:41:15.440 |
then it's hurtful to the church, challenge them. 00:41:19.060 |
If it's true, then bring it to the church because accusation against a leader will hurt 00:41:31.140 |
If the accusation against a leader is true and the church does nothing about it, it will 00:41:38.080 |
And so for practical reasons, right, to bring submission. 00:41:44.660 |
And then third and final thing is church discipline. 00:41:47.740 |
In the 25 years of our church, we've had situations where people were unrepentant and it's risen 00:41:56.620 |
to a certain degree and we'd have to threaten with church discipline to bring them into 00:42:04.420 |
Most of the time, it's enough where we didn't have to bring it to the church. 00:42:08.060 |
We've had one instance where we actually had to bring it to the church years ago. 00:42:12.020 |
So in 25 years, we had one church discipline. 00:42:16.180 |
So we take this very seriously because we know not only is it embarrassing, it also 00:42:22.060 |
causes friction in the church because, "Oh, how can a church do that? 00:42:29.600 |
Because you have a concept of church where you do whatever you want and there's no consequence. 00:42:34.420 |
No, church is the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in it. 00:42:39.200 |
And the Bible says that he who destroys the temple will be judged by God. 00:42:42.940 |
So we have to be gatekeepers of the church to make sure that this church and the community 00:42:49.260 |
and the life of the church doesn't become more and more like the world. 00:42:53.120 |
So there are times we need to fight individual sins in the church so that we keep this at 00:42:59.200 |
bay, that this church is the church of Christ, that we do not represent the world. 00:43:05.380 |
Now, having said that, I don't know anybody who has been confronted with their sins who 00:43:13.820 |
Most ideal situation is they repent and say, "Thank you for turning me from my sins." 00:43:18.540 |
But a lot of times what happens is when we try to bring attention of sin, they'll turn 00:43:26.120 |
And then they'll begin to start to spread things and say things to other people. 00:43:30.780 |
If we feel that this is important enough that we raise it to church discipline, the church 00:43:46.380 |
Because we cannot carry out church discipline. 00:43:51.540 |
I'd rather be where you are, where I don't have to deal with this. 00:43:56.180 |
I'll let the other people make this decision, let them carry it out because it gets murky 00:44:00.620 |
and dirty and then accusations come against us whenever we make even an attempt to do 00:44:05.820 |
this because if we love you and gracious and we just sweep everything under the rug, you 00:44:10.460 |
know, then every time we do that, it's like, "Oh, the church is so gracious, people are 00:44:14.940 |
But anytime we try to bring attention to any kind of sin, we know that that's going to 00:44:20.420 |
be reversed and accusations are going to come our way. 00:44:25.460 |
But it must be done because one, it's taught by scripture and second, we need to keep the 00:44:31.940 |
As much as it needs to be gracious and loving, it also needs to be holy. 00:44:35.940 |
So if the church chooses to carry out discipline and the congregation in the church is saying, 00:44:41.780 |
"Oh, those bad people are doing that to you," right? 00:44:45.640 |
It's no different than a father disciplining a child and the mother embraces the child 00:44:49.980 |
and saying, "Oh, your dad, your dad's doing that. 00:44:56.260 |
Is that a loving, gracious thing to do for the mother to go against the discipline of 00:45:02.180 |
It's one of the most selfish things to do because you're not helping that child. 00:45:08.460 |
You're not helping that child to understand what he needs to turn his sins from because 00:45:12.620 |
"Oh, those are bad people, those are bad people, but I'm gracious." 00:45:20.460 |
If we have a church that resists when church discipline needs to take place, you cannot 00:45:30.260 |
So that's why we say if we're in a habit of bringing discipline to the church for any 00:45:34.700 |
little thing that happens in the church, yeah, then we would probably lose authority to carry 00:45:42.100 |
But when in rare situation where someone is unrepentant to the point where we need to 00:45:47.180 |
bring this to the church, we need to have the cooperation of the church. 00:45:52.340 |
One, because the scripture says so, and two, the church cannot be healthy if the congregation 00:45:59.460 |
chooses, "Oh, the dirty work, we'll let the leaders do the dirty work, those bad people, 00:46:16.580 |
Not only does it hurt that person, it hurts the church. 00:46:20.220 |
And I know this is a difficult thing to swallow, but the church cannot be holy and it cannot 00:46:28.700 |
be healthy unless this is carried out by the whole church. 00:46:34.500 |
The Bible says if the sin rises to the point they're unrepentant and it's hurting themselves 00:46:39.260 |
and hurting the church, and the church decides that, "You know what? 00:46:42.340 |
This discipline needs to happen to bring them to repentance, and we ask of you to only to 00:46:47.140 |
associate with them, to bring them to repentance, and you blow us off," you're not just hurting 00:46:53.340 |
that person, you're also hurting yourself and you're hurting the church. 00:46:56.700 |
Again, I say this with clarity and with authority because my conscience is clear, because this 00:47:08.420 |
Our church cannot, it cannot allow what is circulating around the world in our culture 00:47:16.540 |
into the church, because it is constantly biting at the door. 00:47:27.380 |
There's never a time when sin and world and our enemy is not trying to knock through the 00:47:37.460 |
And so the leaders have been placed in the church to guard the church, but we cannot 00:47:44.900 |
do our job if the people within the church keeps opening the door when we shut it. 00:48:00.820 |
The next part is prayer, which I'm not going to get to. 00:48:06.980 |
There's nothing more practical that needs to be practiced by the church. 00:48:12.340 |
Everything sounds great, it's like, "Oh, we're going to worship God and we're going 00:48:17.140 |
All these things feel good, but where the rubber meets the road is where this application 00:48:24.460 |
You can't just be bystanders watching and saying, "Well, I have my values and I have 00:48:29.780 |
You ever hear advice from the world about marriage? 00:48:39.380 |
I forget which one is which, so I might have switched it, right? 00:48:43.820 |
And so the whole counsel that you get from the world is how do people from Venus communicate 00:49:09.740 |
So the whole point of it is to bring you back to Earth. 00:49:15.060 |
But if you get into marriage and say, "I'm from Venus, so this is what I like," and then 00:49:19.780 |
you have another person, "But I'm from Mars." 00:49:23.300 |
So what you end up doing is you end up going from relationship to relationship, from church 00:49:27.420 |
to church, from group to group, looking for people to accommodate you. 00:49:36.100 |
So I want to look for a church that's going to allow me to be me." 00:49:43.340 |
If you do that in marriage, you're going to have a very difficult marriage because you 00:49:48.780 |
have two selfish people demanding the other person to adjust to them. 00:49:53.460 |
But the whole purpose of our sanctification is these two people who went astray and landed 00:49:57.960 |
in Venus and Mars, God is trying to bring them to himself. 00:50:03.720 |
And so the church is God calling people who have strayed to get back to God. 00:50:11.180 |
So if we are not willing to change, if we're not willing to submit, if we're not willing 00:50:15.220 |
to obey and we are stiff-necked, you're going to flip that around and say, "This is who 00:50:23.260 |
I am and I need other people to change for me." 00:50:31.080 |
And so as difficult as this teaching may be for some of you, understanding it, in the 00:50:41.480 |
It's just arrogant to think, to submit to your husband, to masters, to government, to 00:50:49.960 |
And yet, this is one of the most beautiful words in scripture. 00:50:58.160 |
Because he who in every way was God did not consider equality with God something to be 00:51:12.540 |
It is by his submission that you and I are saved. 00:51:28.280 |
Heavenly Father, we know how difficult this is. 00:51:43.360 |
That even now, Father God, that maybe we're all brothers and sisters who are uncomfortable 00:51:48.880 |
with this very teaching because of the pain that they've experienced in the past. 00:51:55.760 |
I pray that you would give wisdom, restoration, knowing Father God that it is only by your 00:52:03.560 |
grace that we can build a church that honors and glorifies you. 00:52:09.000 |
Lord, despite our weaknesses, despite our tendency to wander, we know that it's because 00:52:16.080 |
you made the promise that you will build the church and the gates of Hades will not be 00:52:22.200 |
Help us, Lord God, to anchor ourselves to Christ, that we would not drift by every wind 00:52:27.380 |
of doctrine and that this church would be a church where Christ is the head and that 00:52:34.080 |
we have a high view of the church, high view of you, high view of leadership, high view 00:52:38.120 |
of the word of God, that this kingdom that you inaugurated would continue to magnify 00:52:48.240 |
And as the world and its wickedness becomes more and more evident, and as you warned 00:52:53.920 |
us, Lord God, that love of many will grow cold, help us, Lord God, to be a greater and 00:52:59.280 |
greater light in the darkness that we are in.