The Gift of Leadership

SERMON: 2017-06-25--ac17174--the-gift-of-leadership SOURCE DURATION: 00:42:56.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: The material from candidate 0 through candidate 14 constitutes a continuous liturgical charge and response sequence (a form of pastoral application/instruction). Candidate 15 is an empty segment that immediately follows the formal conclusion of the sermon content, marking the transition to non-sermon material or silence. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- A little later in the service we're going to have the installation service for newly elected office bearers and to lead up to that I want to share with you some thought from Acts chapter 6 where the first deacons were chosen in the church. So let's read together the first seven verses as we talk this morning about the gift of leadership. In those days when the number of disciples was increasing the Grecian Jews or the Hellenists in other translations among them complained against the Hebraic Jews or the Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the twelve gathered all the disciples together and said it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit also Philip, Procarus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenes and Nicolaus from Antioch a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. Pray with me. Lord as we turn to your word now we are so grateful for the gift of leadership and the fact that historically you have raised up people to lead your people not with power and force but like a good parent with their children calling forth that which you have implanted in your people to the end that your church may prosper and carry on its mission of making disciples of all nations. We're grateful this morning for the many in this congregation who have occupied gifts of leadership on a variety of levels and who have imparted and have been used of you to impart wisdom and grace. We're especially thankful this morning Lord for the gifts of elders and deacons as they serve on our church council and we pray that as we reflect on what your word is to say about all of this that that we may in every way not only continue to be led by good men and women full of the spirit and full of wisdom but that we may also submit to their leadership knowing that in the Lord such things are desirable and honoring. So bless us in these moments together give me what I need to share your word with your people and may all of us gladly receive and live out the teachings of your word through faith in Jesus Christ and then Lord as we turn to the installation a little bit later may that just be a moment of knowing that you give us good gifts through people in the person of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit it's in Jesus name we pray amen. The story before us that we have read here in Acts chapter 6 is I trust familiar to most if not all of us after the amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost the early church experienced an explosion of growth virtually overnight they went from the hundred and twenty disciples who had gathered in the upper room to over three thousand and we read in Acts chapter 2 verse 47 that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved Acts chapter 4 tells us and other two thousand were added to the church they experienced explosive growth as God's powerful presence was manifest in the person of the Holy Spirit but with explosive growth also came the potential for explosive problems specifically the problem faced at this point in time by the early church was a potential split between the Hebraic Jews and the Hellenistic or the Grecian Jews and specifically in the story that we read a moment ago the Grecian Jews felt overlooked in the daily distribution of food and they felt that the Hebraic Jews were being favored had the potential as you can imagine to split this newly formed multicultural community right down the middle so what to do the apostles really didn't want to stop praying and preaching in order to serve tables and so they came up with a brilliant solution they gathered the whole church together and the result was the institution of the office of deacon listen again to how it is worded here in Acts chapter 3 to verses Acts chapter 6 to verses 3 and 4 the apostles speaking brothers choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom we will turn this responsibility over to them and give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word and that's what they did and from that day to this in different configurations most Christian churches have been led by a combination of elders and deacons and this morning as we prepare for the installation of two new elders and one new deacon want to try to draw from this story in the time that we have four very practical lessons that I think can help us understand the importance of the gift of leadership biblically speaking here's the first lesson that I want to draw from this story and that is the fact that the church's leadership model must always remain flexible the church's leadership model must always remain flexible up until this point of course the only leadership that we read about in the New Testament is that of the apostles they were designated by Jesus to carry out the great commission they were instrumental in the conversion Peter's speech was in Acts chapter 2 of thousands and thousands of people but now the situation has changed the growth as I mentioned a moment ago brought them to a breaking point and in response they instituted the office of deacon interestingly enough nowhere that I know of do we read that the office of elder was instituted except when you get further on in the book of Acts the church in Jerusalem is not only led by the apostles but it's also led by the elder so somewhere along the line the office of elder was instituted as well and the principle here I think is this that as the gospel does its work and the church community grows the leadership model undergoes changes to deal with the needs of the community historically in the reformed family of churches churches have been led as you know by elders and deacons elders looking after the spiritual needs of the congregation deacons looking after the practical needs both inside and outside the church and historically what has happened is that as churches have grown we have just added more elders and we have added more deacons until after a while when a church reaches a significant size you've got as many as 30 people gathered around the table on your church council trying to make decisions at one point in the history of this church we had that many people then if you understand that typically they serve one year or three year terms you've got a tremendous changeover happening all the time and it becomes administratively a very difficult model and that's why in more recent years most churches in our denomination have drifted away from that kind of a large decision-making body to a much smaller decision-making body and a lot of you here will remember that a number of years ago under the leadership of our very capable chairman Ben Van Heusen at the time we decided to reduce the number of elders and deacons to six elders and three deacons who make up our governing council as a church and this body together and I've talked about this before but it bears repeating has a fourfold responsibility they have a ministry of prayer they have a ministry of setting the policies by which the church is governed what we do and how we do it they supervise all staff and number three they are responsible for the exercise of issues related to membership people becoming part of community people leaving community issues of discipline as well that model has served us very well and it's also you know more recently we have been begun looking at the issue of pastoral care because how do you make sure in in a changing society where people's needs become so much bigger and where the nuclear family is increasingly disintegrating how do you look after everybody's needs and you know our our decisions about sections and section pastoring and the meet and greets that we have just concluded very successfully I might add the point is this needs change and when needs change the leadership model in the church has to adapt in order to carry on the significant ministries that God entrusts to the church that's what happens here in Acts chapter 7 the result is the practical needs of the widows are being addressed and the apostles can carry on with their ministry of praying for the church and proclaiming the word that's the first lesson I would draw from this passage together second lesson that I would draw from here is that biblically speaking church leaders need to meet certain requirements listen again how the apostles put it in verses 3 and 4 again choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the spirit and wisdom we will turn this responsibility looking after the practical needs of the widows we will turn this responsibility over to them and then Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 3 gives an even expanded version of the requirements of office bearers and let's just take a moment and read that together the print is fairly small because it's a long passage but it reads like this now the overseer that is to say the bishop or the elder in our language the person in charge of supervising God's people must be above reproach the husband of but one wife temperate self-controlled respectable hospitable able to teach not given to drunkenness not violent but gentle not quarrelsome not a lover of money he must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect if anyone does not know how to manage his own family how can he take care of God's church he must not be a recent convert or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil he must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap deacons likewise are to be men worthy of respect sincere not indulging in much wine and not pursuing dishonest gain they must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience they must first be tested and then if there is nothing against them let them serve as deacons now you can imagine that every time we make mention of this in the selection of nominees for the office of elder or deacons we have everybody going aghast and saying I'll never qualify because who can live up to the fullness of those biblical standards the reality is however that the more filled with the spirit we are and the more filled with wisdom we are and the more our lives measure up to some degree to the characteristics that God is looking for in our lives the more capable we are of leading God's people isn't that true character matters being filled with the spirit matters being filled with wisdom matters because when you're in a leadership position and that's not only true in the church that's true everywhere but especially in the church if you're going to lead the church you're leading God's people and your job is to lead God's people into the purposes that God has for you that requires being filled with the spirit that we've looked at in recent weeks and it requires a maturity of Christian character and that's why when it comes to selecting nominees for office in this community we take that very seriously and sometimes we in council hear you know sort of the criticism well it's always the same people that get nominated and it's always the same people that you call to serve it's not exactly true but there is some truth to it and that is because there is a process that council follows that brings us to the place of having these folks who are being installed this morning and that process is very simple I'll talk you through it real quick our council members serve a three-year term and so every year normally speaking we replace two elders and we replace one deacon this year we I'll explain later we only have one elder stepping down because Marty Vanderlain stepped down earlier to go off to New Brunswick but a call goes out to the congregation to suggest nominations nominations go to a nominating committee that goes through all the membership lists of the church you have to be a member to qualify for leadership position at this level in the congregation that gross list that the committee comes up with goes to council council as a whole has an opportunity to add or to delete names the names are judged by what we know in terms of people's commitment to the gospel to Jesus to the ministry and the vision of this church as well as spiritual giftings and qualifications council votes on that list and then people are approached with with the request will you serve in this capacity and some people say yes some people say no eventually we present to you double denominations to the congregation and you get a chance to vote and as a result of those votes those are the people that are here I find it significant in Acts chapter 7 that the the Apostles say to the church choose from among you seven men who fit these qualifications because your leaders can only lead with your permission and with your encouragement and support the process isn't perfect and none of our elders or deacons would profess to be perfect or fully measure up to the biblical qualifications but as I said a moment ago the more mature we are in the Lord the more filled with the Holy Spirit we are the better a leadership a community can be given by those who are in a leadership position the reverse is true too people who don't have that maturity don't have those qualifications they can cause a lot of chaos I remember at one of the previous churches where I pastored got a number of decades ago now we were having discussion about changing worship styles you're well aware of course that ever since the 70s most churches have gone through what's known as the worship wars the worship wars moving away from traditional hymnody led by organ and or piano to more of a praise band the kind of worship that we use here regularly caused a lot of chaos in a lot of churches particularly if it wasn't led very well and I remember having a conversation in one of our council meetings years ago in another church that I pastored where we had this elderly gentleman who was just adamantly opposed to the introduction particularly of guitars he just didn't like guitars and so we were having a conversation about that because how do you arrive in the same page and it was somewhere along the line in that conversation that I made the mistake of referencing Psalm 150 let me read you portions of it just to remind you praise God in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty heavens praise him for his acts of power praise him for his surpassing greatness no problem so far praise him with the sounding of the trumpet problems already praise him with the harp and the lyre awfully close to a guitar praise him with the tambourine and dancing praise him with the strings and flute praise him with the clash of cymbals and praise him with resounding cymbals let everything that is breath praise the Lord I'll never forget the moment and I don't remember whether he pounded the table or not I seem to recollect that he did but his face turned as red as red could be and I think he pounded the table with the words I don't care what the Bible says in this church we're not going to do this and I remember thinking to myself oddly enough in Dutch I said to myself let me try to think what it was again something to the effect that then there is not much sense in continuing this conversation because if the Bible isn't the standard by which we order our lives in the church then what is the standard by which we order our lives and of course then it becomes my standard versus your standard and whoever's got the biggest mouth the biggest clout and whatever else ends up winning Christian leaders need to be filled with the spirit they need to be filled with wisdom and they need to demonstrate Christian maturity so Christian leadership structure must be flexible Christian leaders need to meet certain requirements and then leaders should be publicly recognized notice again how the passage goes on they presented these men that is these new deacons to the Apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them now the laying on of hands and the praying here is represents two things I believe it represents first of all an official commissioning that is to say a public recognition that as a community on behalf of the Lord we are setting these people apart for this office they are no longer just the individuals that they are before stepping into that office they have responsibility and authority by virtue of the office very important to understand that it's like a policeman a policeman in civilian clothing has no more authority than you or I when it comes to directing traffic or enforcing the law put him in uniform or put her in uniform or give them a badge that badge now represents authority entrusted to this individual by a higher authority and so when we install elders and deacons we are publicly declaring on behalf of the Lord and on behalf of the structure of the church if you will that these people have authority and they have responsibility to occupy this office that sets them apart for a specific ministry why is that important because not only must people know what their responsibility and privileges are it must be publicly recognized because to have responsibility without the authority that goes along with it is a recipe for disaster and so when people are publicly placed in leadership they're no longer just your buddy and they are no longer just your friend or your husband or your wife they occupy a particular position of leadership that's one of the jobs of installation and in the past and we should still continue to do that in one form or fashion everybody that occupies a position of leadership in the church needs to be publicly recognized as being ordained to this particular task gives you authority it gives you responsibility now furthermore the laying on of hands and this is the second part of this is an impartation of the gifting of the Holy Spirit for that particular office it was Moses years ago as I recall who was complaining to the Lord who am I to lead these cantankerous people through the wilderness into the promised land and there isn't a one of us there isn't a one of us who is called to lead God's people who doesn't discover very quickly that the challenges and the difficulties that come along with leadership particularly in this day and age are far more than what we can handle and while the flesh you know likes the recognition and the flesh likes to be the boss and the flesh wants to be somebody I'll tell you it wears off real quick in the reality of the painful decisions that you need to make and the laying on of hands is an importation of wisdom by the Holy Spirit and strength by the Holy Spirit so that on the one hand we can hear from God and on the other hand we can have an ear on God's people and on the situation that we find ourselves in in the world so that God's people can be led in the right direction good leadership is an incredible gift that God has given to the church and I want to tell you we would have never survived what we have come through in recent years if it wasn't for the fact that God in his wisdom with your support has given you wise and good people to lead you in God's ways for God's glory and you ought to give them a hand and you ought to be grateful to the Lord for the people that God has put in your life let's hear it for them give you an example of the wisdom that you need and I don't think I've told this story before but this is a number of months ago now we had a young couple come to the church and periodically you'll have people come to the church for handouts and it always takes a lot of wisdom whether those requests are genuine or whether they're just using the church for you know their own particular drug needs or alcohol needs and in this particular situation we had a young couple came in and I think Valerie and Nancy were talking to the young woman didn't she have a child talking in the office about how can we help you and unbeknownst to them the young man was wandering through the building and Edwin how many microphones did he steal eight of them stole eight mics didn't know that until one next Sunday morning Edwin comes here and all our microphones are go on now what are we going to do well you know we had some extra ones lying around so but here's the story they weren't very smart thieves they pawned them at the local pawn shop Edwin goes there after church we call the police long story short we get all eight of them back and the pawn shop is out 50 bucks a microphone which is what they had paid the thieves blows your mind also makes me wonder how in the world of pawn shop things somebody is just coming around with eight microphones that they have lying around that they're going to sell off I mean really aren't those stolen of course they are still takes a lot of wisdom and that's just a very practical little thing but you know wisdom that you need in marriage relationships and wisdom that you need in in making decisions that relate to people's lives and to the future and to the well-being of the church and at all we live you do understand we live in very changing times don't you and that what used to be the stability of the family that was just rock-solid and just enabled people that to grow up and to it's fragmented people and the needs and broken people's lives are bigger than they've ever been and we all need to be full of the spirit and to be full of wisdom to know how to navigate the waters of the changing times so that God's people can remain faithful to the Lord and we can have the resources that we need to make sure that all our needs are met so that we can remain committed to the vision that the Lord has for us but one final lesson then that we draw from this and that is this the result of this is rapid growth in the church so the word of God spread the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith historically the church has always struggled with two opposing needs the one is the need to look after the needs of the community the other is to be faithful to the Great Commission and to reach beyond the Great Commission those two can only happen if both needs are being met if the needs of the community are met then there is energy to reach out beyond the needs of the community to the broader community in the outside and typically what happens in churches is that when churches are small they need to grow so they're committed to evangelism when churches grow they get to a certain point where people become very comfortable with each other and the very comfortableness that's not a word but you know what I'm trying to say with each other makes it so cozy that nobody wants outsiders quote-unquote becoming part of their nicely organized world and what you have happening here is that the the apostles can see that the tension in this community is going to split them wide apart and so they address it by bringing the deacons on board and the result is that the dissatisfaction among the widows dies down there is peace in the house and now the apostles can commit themselves to stepping outside and continuing their ministry of prayer and preaching and what's the result the church grows rapidly and many priests come to faith so with that we're going to move this morning into the installation service and as we do we want to take note of the fact that the two people whose terms are up at this point are Daryl Brown and Annette Radyk. Daryl has served as elder for three years and has served capably as chair of council after Marty stepped down to go to Tracy New Brunswick with Tina they're coming back next week for two weeks just so you know and they'll be giving a report to the congregation when they're here Annette has served very capably these three years as deacon and I would like you to give them a warm round of grateful applause for their service to this community. So replacing them this morning then are Joe Balma and Errand Uyarda as elders Joe has served as elder before Errand I think this is your first term and Sharon DeVries is being installed as deacon and Sharon has served as deacon before as well so here are some reflections then on leadership from the form of ordination of elders and deacons that we use in our denomination and the office bearers of the church we see the love of Christ for his people as the Lord of the church he appoints leaders and by his spirit equips them so that believers may grow in faith develop disciplined Christian living serve others in selfless love and share with all the good news of salvation elder served by governing the church in Christ's name they received this task when Christ entrusted the apostles and their successors with the keys of the kingdom of heaven elders are responsible for the spiritual well-being of God's people they must provide true preaching and teaching regular celebration of the sacraments and faithful counsel and discipline and they must promote fellowship and hospitality among believers ensure good order in the church and stimulate witness to all people deacons serve by showing mercy to the church and to all people they receive this task in the early church as we have noted this morning when the apostles designated special persons for the work of mercy in Acts chapter 6 in Christ's name deacons relieve victims of injustice by this they show that Christians live by the spirit of the kingdom fervently desiring to give life the shape of things to come deacons are called to assess needs promote stewardship and hospitality collect and disperse resources for benevolence and develop programs of assistance they're also a crack call to speak words of Christian encouragement and in word as well as deed they demonstrate the care of the Lord himself going to invite the three of you to come forward and prepare to respond to questions of commitment before the Lord and before the congregation as mentioned previously appointed to the office of elder are Joe Balma and Aaron Wiarda and appointed to the office of deacon is Sharon DeVries to express your acceptance of these offices you are asked here in the presence of God and his church to answer these four questions question number one do you believe that in the call of this congregation God himself is calling you to these holy offices second do you believe that the old and the New Testaments are the word of God the only infallible rule of faith and life third do you subscribe to the doctrinal standards of this church rejecting all teaching which contradicts them and fourth do you promise to do the work of your offices faithfully in a way worthy of your calling and in submission to the government and discipline of the church Aaron what is your answer Joe what is your answer and Sharon what is your answer going to ask the existing office bearers to come forward we're going to commission these two men and Sharon with prayer and the laying on of hands following that our retiring chair will charge the congregation and then following that we will have a song of response and we will start drawing the service to a close so we invite you to join us in prayer you don't have to but if you feel comfortable it's it's it's a good practice to extend your hand just raise it like this extend your hand to join us in blessing these newly installed office bearers and inviting the Lord's blessing on them so they may lead you well into the green pastures of God's word so let's pray together Father God we want to thank you for Aaron Joe and for Sharon thank you that they were willing to step forward and that you chose them to serve in these offices pray that you will equip them with your Holy Spirit with wisdom and with the gifts that they will need as they go forward pray that they will truly share in your heart and your vision for Maranatha for this church this body that you have called together here and that they will lead it with your discernment then and with your love and with your strength and your authority Lord I just want to agree with David's prayer and thank you for these faithful servants I pray Lord your blessing on them your protection over them and their families I ask Lord that you would impart your Holy Spirit upon them even now that you would fill them that you would empower them that you would grant them the fullness of the gifts that you've provided for them Lord may they experience growth in their own lives and never underestimate Lord how you can use people who are obedient to you and now may God our Heavenly Father who has called you to these sacred offices guide you by his word equip you with his spirit and so prosper your ministries that his church may increase and his name be praised and all God's people agreed and said amen and amen the congregation please stand for the charge I charge you people of God to receive these office bearers as Christ's gift to the church recognize in them the Lord's provision for healthy congregational life hold them in honor take their counsel seriously respond to them with obedience and respect accept their help with thanks sustain them in prayer and encourage them with your support especially when they feel the burden of their office acknowledge them as the Lord's servants among you do you congregation pledge to receive them as you have been charged we do God help us thank you [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:42:48.640; remove through 00:42:56.000] you [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:42:56.000; resume after this marked segment]