1 Peter 5:2- shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nthe leaders of congregations, elders have many duties. First off,\nthey are responsible for the teaching of the flock. This means not\nonly must they take an active role in teaching but that they keep an\neye on what is being taught. It is they who protect the flock,\nfighting false doctrine whenever it rears its ugly head and\naddressing any sin within the congregation. Finally, they are to\ncare the members, putting their needs above their own and serving\nthem dutifully and faithfully. This demands that they know their\nmembers well and to love them enough to sometimes put up with\ndifficult people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThough\nwe only listed three duties, they have a wide range of applications\nthat can be both difficult and time consuming. However, there are\nthose who wish go beyond their God-given duties and add more than is\nallowed. This begs the question on where the authority of elders\nends. Before any man becomes an elder, he must know the answer to\nthis question and have the humility to not go beyond God’s\nboundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tFirst\noff, he is not to go beyond God’s word. This goes without saying but\nthere are many who fail to understand this. The authority goes to\ntheir heads and they believe that they can do as they please. In\nsituations where this happens, the congregation accepts false\nteachings and as such the congregation is hurt as a whole. Their\noverall relationship with God is destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tSecond,\nhe is only in charge of the congregation he is an elder of. As seen\nin our main passage, 1 Peter 5:2, the apostle tells the elders to\nshepherd their flock. Though this responsibility is daunting in and\nof itself, there are those who desire to go beyond this. They wish\nto see the elders of one congregation oversee the work of many and in\nessence \u201csponsor\u201d them. For many, the original intention is good\nbut regardless it does more harm than they realize. It falls under\nthe first category we mentioned and tarnishes not only their\nrelationship with God but also those of other congregations as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tLastly,\nhe is not in it for himself. The author has not heard of many cases\nof this but there are men who become elders desiring the power and\nprestige it can bring. In these cases, they use their position to\nachieve their own desires and the good of the congregation comes\nsecond. These men have missed the point of being elders. They are\nthere not only to serve God but also the congregation. Their goal\nmust be to see their group grow spiritually and without this desire\nthey will not be effective leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\tThe\njob of an elder is not always easy but as Paul says in 1 Timothy 3,\nit is a good and necessary work. Though we did not cover them here,\nthe qualifications alone are hard to live up to and then the work\nitself is not easy. However, all men should desire to fit the\nstandard if not have the position itself. Those that do strive to\nbecome elders must understand these qualifications and exactly what\nthe job entails before making this decision. One final note though\nis that elders do not become them of their own initiative but are\nappointed by others. Though this is the case, the choice to accept\nis still the man’s and he must understand it thoroughly. Let us all\ntake time to study every aspect of God’s word, including this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1 Peter 5:2- shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly As the leaders of congregations, elders have many duties. First off, they are responsible for the teaching of the flock. This means not only must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wmadisonchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}