Address—Joe Countouris
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Welcome to the meeting. Maybe we could start by singing #169.
If somebody could raise that tune.
Just ask for help.
Our God and our loving Father, we thank thee so very much for thy Son. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we thank Thee for this unspeakable free gift. We thank thee too, for the time that we have this evening to open up Thy word. We think of the subject that's before us, and we just asked Thee for the undertaking.
We think of the greatness of the Thy word and the weakness of the vessel, seeking to present it here tonight. And we just asked before help to speak well of Thee, to speak well of Thy Son, to speak well of Thy word. We just pray that if there's anything that is not from me that it would fall to the ground. We just asked this and Thy name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.
So tonight, the subject I have on my heart to talk to you about is twofold, assembly administration and assembly decisions.
Assembly administration has to how it affects you and I, what place we have in it, and then how assembly decisions are formed.
And the reason this is on my heart is because if you look at back in history and you don't have to go back too far, what you'll find is about once every generation there is a division among the gathered Saints.
And if we're left here and things continue as they are, very likely some of us in this room here tonight.
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Will be swept away. Will be taken away in a division.
And oftentimes these divisions have their root and one main thing and is simply submission.
And I would like to outline from the Word of God what God's order is. And in every sphere of your life, one thing that you will find consistent over and over again is that God has an order. God has an order, whether it's you as a husband and a wife, whether you as a parent, whether it's you as a child, whether it's you living under a government.
In a land.
God has an order in which He seeks for us to live, in which He promises to bring about blessing. Might not be always what I want, might not be always what I see, but what He is seeking for us to do is to occupy a position, and oftentimes that calls for us to be found in submission, something that is often very difficult to do.
So I'd like to start tonight by turning to First Timothy chapter 3. Because we're taking up a subject, we're going to be turning to a number of verses.
Throughout the word of God.
To try to find out what assembly administration is and how assembly decisions are formed.
So what is assembly administration? We mentioned the other day in the reading meeting that in your Christian life you have 3 distinct spheres. 1 is gift, one is priesthood, and one is administration.
Tonight we're speaking about administration. And within administration you have two arms. 1 takes care of the temporal cares of the Saints, Those would be deacons, and the other takes care of the spiritual cares of the Saints.
Those would be elders or bishops or oversight. That's what I'm going to focus on tonight. So in first Timothy chapter 3, verse one, this is a true saying. If any man desire the office of a Bishop, he desireth the good work. A Bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apartment to teach, not given to wine, no striker.
Not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient. Not a brawler, not covetousness.
Not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of God?
Not a novice less being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach in the snare of the devil.
Now let's turn over to Titus.
Titus, Chapter one.
Chapter one and verse 6.
Sorry, Titus chapter one and verse 5.
For this cause, left eye the encrete that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordained elders in every city, as I had appointed they. And then he goes on to list a qualifications against similar to what we had in first Timothy.
And So what we find here is that God has.
Ones in his assembly.
Who are set up in administration in the Assembly?
And what they seek to do is they seek your good and they seek your blessing.
And we read in Timothy that there were bishops, and we read here that there were elders. And somebody might ask, well, what's the difference between an elder and what's the difference between a Bishop?
It's Speaking of the same office, it's just looking at it from a different viewpoint.
When you read the word elder, it's Speaking of perhaps the characteristic of the person in that office.
And so Elder would would naturally focus our thoughts on those who are in our assembly, who are our older brethren, those who have walked in the path.
Those who have seen and experienced things that ones who are younger, like myself, have not.
Now, it's not necessarily everybody in the assembly who's older, because there might be somebody in the assembly who's 80 years old, but they've only been saved for two years. Does that mean that they're an oversight? I would think not. They're probably still in the position.
Of being a novice.
Even though they're older.
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But normally what you have is you have older brethren in your assembly who have walked the path and these are the ones that we are to look to for leadership to guide us in our assembly life.
When we find the word Bishop.
It's usually speaking about the work. What is the work that these ones do who have been set up in administration over the assembly?
I wanted to mention too that as we go through here, what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask a list of questions. This is how I tend to look into the Word of God by asking questions and then looking into the Word of God to find answers.
So we just asked what is the difference between bishops and elders? So the next question would be are there elders or bishops today?
Let's turn over to Acts chapter 14.
Acts chapter 14 and verse 23.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church and had prayed with fasting, that commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. And if you'll just remember what we read in Titus chapter one.
How Paul had sent Titus to ordain elders in every city.
What we find out here is that, and I don't believe that there's anywhere else in the word of God.
Where this is spoken of.
For there to be elders and bishops officially appointed you need two things. You need an apostle or you need an apostles delegate.
Paul was an apostle.
Titus was an Apostles delegate.
Do we have apostles today? We heard from Tim, I believe this morning or yesterday that we do not.
Apostles are no longer Somebody might do Apostolic work going into an area of the world where they have never heard the name of Jesus Christ.
But no one has the gift or office of an apostle today. Since there are no apostles, there are no apostle delegates.
Since there are neither of those two things in the assembly today, we no longer have elders or bishops in an official capacity.
So the next question somebody might ask is, if we don't have officially appointed elders, how can we have oversight?
Good question. Let's look at First Corinthians 16.
I believe this question came up last year.
At this at this camp.
First Corinthians, chapter 16.
Verse 15 I beseech you, brethren, you know the House of Stefanus, that it is the first fruits of a Ki, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the Saints, that ye submit yourselves unto such, and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth.
The Epistle to the Corinthians was an epistle that was written to an assembly that had tremendous disorder.
I believe that there were at least 10 different specific disorders that they were going on with that the Apostle Paul has to address.
And you and you and I learn characters of the House of God and the church through the disorders that Paul writes about in this epistle.
But one thing you never hear Paul address in Corinthians is elders or bishops.
And it's been suggested, and I would suggest as well, that the reason is because.
Perhaps there was nobody in Corinth who fulfilled all of those characteristics that we read about in Timothy.
Or that we could have read in Titus.
However, what we find here in the last chapter of One Corinthians is that even though the apostle Paul doesn't address officially appointed elders.
There were ones who were doing the work.
They addicted themselves to the care of the Saints.
And the Saints were asked to submit themselves unto them.
Now let's look over at First Thessalonians.
Chapter 5.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 12.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you and the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work. Seek and be at peace among yourselves.
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I believe that this epistle to the Thessalonians, this first epistle, was written about three weeks after the apostle Paul had visited them. I might be off on that. It might be three months, but it was. It was somewhere in that time frame very soon. And you'll remember that when we read in First Timothy that one of the qualifications for an elder or a Bishop was that they couldn't be a novice. Now, what's a novice?
A novice is someone who has been newly saved.
So when the Apostle Paul went here to the Thessalonian Saints, and I believe he was there for a couple of weeks.
Could he officially appoint elders there? Well, he couldn't, right? Because they were still novices.
But what we find is a short time after he had left and he had wrote to them.
He had already heard that there were ones who were doing the work.
They weren't officially appointed.
But the Spirit of God had raised up ones who were over them, who admonished them, and the Saints were to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
Oftentimes.
Difficulties, unrest, not having peace in an assembly has its root.
And failing to understand God's order because we all think that we have a say.
And we all think that that, say, should be the same. And sometimes we look at our older brethren as maybe just a roadblock.
To our assembly road map that we see fit.
Well, the apostle Paul says here that peace comes through recognizing God's order.
Now let's look over at Acts 20 and verse 28.
The question.
Before us is if we don't have officially appointed overseers, how can we have oversight Acts 20 and 28?
Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseer.
We find a very important principle here, and that is even though the apostle is the one that appointed or ordained elders and bishops or an apostles delegate, it has always been the Spirit of God who has raised them up.
And so as the apostles would go from church to church doing Apostolic work, saving souls, and they would cycle back through those assemblies and they would appoint elders.
What they would find are ones who the Spirit of God had raised up, similar to what we find in Thessalonica.
And they would choose them.
Wasn't random.
Today, that same principle applies. Today we don't have apostles and we don't have apostle delegates.
We don't have ones who are in the official capacity of elders. We can't as an assembly set aside the word of God and say we're going to appoint elders and we're going to appoint bishops, because the Word of God never instructs an assembly to do that.
But what we can't have confidence in is that the same spirit that raised up elders and bishops when they were officially appointed is the same spirit that's doing it today.
And it's our place, as we found in First Corinthians and in Thessalonica, to look at them, to submit ourselves unto them, to esteem them highly in love for their work's sake.
Next question, what is the work that they perform? What do they do? I heard a brother made a comment, I've heard it a couple times and I thought it was an unfortunate comment, he said.
A brother came up to him, a young brother, and said how do I know those in my assembly who are doing the work of oversight?
And the brother said to him, he said, well, you get in trouble and you're going to know real quick. And it was at a conference and the conference got a little chuckle out of it. And I thought that was unfortunate.
Because you should know the ones in your assembly who take the lead among you, not because you got in trouble, but because they love you, because they fed you. Let's continue with this verse. Acts 2028. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves.
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Among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. Let's look over also at Titus chapter one and verse 9.
Titus one, and verse 9. Holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
So those in the position of oversight, the work that they do.
Primarily is to watch.
Watch for those grievous wolves coming in amongst the flock, seeking to scatter. They're to feed.
There are two know the Word of God so that when somebody comes into the assembly preaching something that is contrary to the word of God, they have the knowledge to be able to.
Counter it. It's not that they have the gift of a teacher, per SE, though they might. We get that in First Timothy 5.
Elders that teach receive a double honor. So some elders, some bishops may also have a gift of teaching. But all overseers, everyone in the place of oversight has to be apartment to teach. They have to know the word of God. And then first Peter chapter 5.
First Peter chapter 5, verse one.
The elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being Lords over God's heritage, but being examples.
To the flock, and when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
So here again we find feeding, feeding the flock of God. Is it true that if you do something wrong and you get in trouble, you get away from the Lord?
It might result in one of these ones coming to you and talking to you.
It might.
If you really get away from the Lord.
It might even 'cause there to be further disciplinary actions, and these ones would come and talk to you. It might. So what that brother said was was accurate in and of itself. But we should know them first for their love, for their care.
For their feeding the flock of God.
Again, it's not necessarily that the ones who speak in the reading meeting or maybe stand up and present the gospel in your local assemblies.
Are in this position, they might not have a gift that is a public gift.
Remember, we're speaking about 3 distinct spheres, Gifts, priesthood, and administration.
The feeding that they're doing if they don't have a public gift like a teacher or a exhort or a prophet.
Is going to be perhaps after the meeting, maybe getting together with you?
How is the assembly to view them would be the next question.
How's the assembly to view them?
Well, we already read in First Thessalonians chapter 5 that were to esteem them highly.
We read in First Corinthians 16 that were to submit ourselves unto them.
And I'd like to add to those two portions. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
Hebrews 13 and verse 7.
Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation or manner of life.
Here again we have this class of oversight in the assembly.
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Again we have this class feeding the flock.
And it's not that we follow a man.
Who has been in our assembly? But we follow the faith of that man. Whose faith follow?
Considering the end.
Of their conversation.
Scroll down to look down to verse 17.
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.
Obey them.
Submit yourselves, they watch for your souls.
Tim Ruga often mentions to us in in our assembly when we're taking up something to do with oversight.
That they receive a crown of life, as we read in first Peter and he often mentions they receive a crown of life when they get to glory because.
They're mainly going to get grief while down here.
And the work that an overseer does often times is a shepherding work. And often times when we're in a bad state, I speak for myself. The last thing I want to do is talk to a shepherd.
And or hear a shepherd.
And oftentimes a shepherd.
Somebody who's in the position of oversight can get the brunt of somebody's fleshly attack.
But it's a needed work. It's a work they must do. It's a work that's not a choice.
For those who are in this position, for our older brethren, for the assembly to function properly.
According to what God has set up as to his order in the assembly.
These ones who are in this position one day will have to give an account to God for how they administered in that position.
And the Word of God exhorts you and I to make it easy on them.
I know when I was a young person.
How was your age? I didn't make it easy on them.
I didn't make it easy on them at all.
There were things that happened in the assembly.
In our assembly and at 15 to 20 years old.
I knew what should be done.
My older brother and who are 60 and 70 years old didn't have a clue so I thought.
And when things didn't happen the way I wanted them to happen.
I didn't have time for this.
I don't have time for these these brethren who don't know the word of God.
Who don't know what they should be doing.
It took a long time for God to penetrate the stubbornness of my heart.
To make me recognize that it wasn't my brethren who are the problem, it was me.
And that.
It was my.
Lack of knowledge as to his order.
And what he was doing that was at issue.
You see, when there's difficulties in the assembly, oftentimes we can see that difficulty with one perspective. How does this affect me?
What we don't realize is that.
God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not his ways, And in any given situation or circumstance in life, whether it's in the assembly or not, God is dealing with a broad range of issues.
A broad range of people.
And he's orchestrating circumstances in the assembly in the context of what we're bringing up in such a way so that he will reveal what's in your heart.
And what's in my heart?
And he knows exactly what button to push. He knows exactly what circumstance to bring up.
And oftentimes, in the hardness of our heart, we don't see it for a long time.
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I would just beg you younger young people.
Don't make it hard.
On your older brother.
Don't make it difficult on them.
Don't make them stay up late at night praying.
For your spiritual well-being thinking that this guy is gone.
Make it easy on them, help them minister to them, love them.
Understand the work that they have to do.
How they addict themselves to your care and how that one day they're going to have to give an account.
Look also at verse 24.
Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints they have. Italy salute you. Just another verse that speaks to us of this class of oversight that is leading.
From among the Saints.
So the next question I would ask is I see this this class in our.
Assembling. Do they have authority?
Do they have authority? Let's look over at Revelation chapter one.
Revelation chapter one I'm going to read from verse 9.
I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the Isle.
That is called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the 1St and the last. And what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, unto Pergamus, and the Thyatira, and the Sardis, and the Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
And as I turn to see the voice that spake with me and being turned, I saw 7 golden candlesticks.
And in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like under the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to his foot, and gird about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hair, hair were like what were white like wool, as white as snow. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, his feet like under fine brass, as if it burned in the furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp 2 edged sword. And this countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, and he laid his right hand upon me, saying, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the 1St and the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in thy right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars of the angels of the seven Churches.
And the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
We're not really taking up this subject from the standpoint of those who are overseers, but in this room, no doubt there are ones who occupy that position.
And.
These verses that we have read present to us a tremendous.
Picture of the character that should occupy somebody in that position.
When dealing with difficulties in an assembly.
As we see.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
In his character as a judge.
But what I wanted to point out here was this 20th verse, the mystery of the seven stars in his right hand. His right hand speaks to us of authority, and the stars are the angels of the Church. The angels of the church don't speak to us of some mystical being that hangs over our church.
Hangs over our assembly to make sure everything is OK.
The word Angel speaks to us of a ministering servant.
And in the context of what we're taking up here, and in the next chapter and in the next unto the Angel on to the Angel, it's speaking to us of those who are in the position of oversight.
And Angel is singular, but as we read in Titus, he was to ordain elders plural in every city.
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And an assembly one person is not a.
And oversight.
It's a group. Might be a small group, but it's a group. It's more than one.
But here are these ones who are in the position of oversight, and they're seen in his right hand.
A position of authority. Now let's turn back to Deuteronomy. Old Testament. See an Old Testament picture.
Deuteronomy chapter 8.
Dude, sorry. Deuteronomy 17, verse 8. Deuteronomy 17, verse eight. If there arise in a matter too hard for the in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and thou shalt count. Shall come. Shalt come unto the priest, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire, and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment, and thou shalt.
According to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee, and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they have informed thee, according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do. Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand, nor to the left.
And the man that will do presumptuously.
And will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die.
And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
Presumptuously.
I think that word perhaps means rudely or arrogantly.
Imagine if perhaps some brothers who were in an assembly in the position of oversight.
Came to a brother and said we need to talk to you and that brother said you're not talking to me.
In the Old Testament, that individual would be cut off. They'd be killed.
Now that's the law.
But God's moral ways never change.
And if we think that during the Day of Grace we can act more presumptuously than Old Testament Saints did, then I believe were gravely mistaken.
Now, in light of everything that I've mentioned about overseers, oversight and an assembly.
Going to ask a question. Can oversight fail or is it infallible, meaning it can't make a mistake?
The Catholic Church, I believe, looks at the Pope as being infallible. He cannot sin.
God in his wisdom, not my wisdom, certainly.
Has decided to place administration into the hands of men.
What do we know about men?
We have the flesh, everyone of us.
Oversight is never viewed in Scripture as being infallible.
I'd like you to think back to King David. You know, as you go through the historical books, they provide a rich resource for assembly administration principles. As you go through the historical books, there are at least four different ways that you can look at them. One is the historical context, what was happening. We had some of that earlier this week. One is the moral context. We also had that.
One is administration.
And one is prophetic. Somebody might be able to come up with some more, but those are the four that I know. And the King would speak to us of the group and the assembly who are in the place of oversight.
And so when you read stories about David, David would present to us that character. Did David ever fail?
He failed terribly and the administration of his Kingdom.
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Did God stick with David even though he failed?
He did.
Even when there were ones who perhaps judged a matter better.
He did. He stuck with David.
What about those in this room tonight who are husbands?
Of a wife.
My poor wife.
And.
Lives with somebody who fails constantly in the administration of being a husband.
Somebody who lacks patience.
Somebody can be overbearing.
Does God set aside His order as to the husband and wife relationship because of my failure?
He doesn't.
What about those in the room who are fathers?
Have you ever spanked your children too hard? I have.
Have you ever yelled at them when they shouldn't have been yelled at? I have.
Does God?
Remove his order as to a father over a child because of failure. He doesn't.
What about the government that we live in?
What if this president, or the next one if we're left here, destroys the Constitution?
We're not living by the Constitution anymore.
We're going to live by military law, and he comes up with his idea of what law should be.
Are we willing to submit as the Word of God says?
Or are we going to?
Go fight.
Does God set aside his order with you and I?
As to our responsibilities to a government, because there's failure.
He doesn't.
It's still there.
What he seeks from us is submission, submission of heart.
Assembly decisions.
Let's turn over to 1St Corinthians Chapter 11.
Why are there?
Difficulties in an assembly.
First Corinthians Chapter 11, verse 18.
For first of all, when you come together in the Church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must also be heresies, or it should be sex among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. Sex divisions would speak to us of difficulties within an assembly where you have parties.
These brothers over here don't like these brothers, and these brothers don't like those brothers sex would talk to us about.
Those divisions officially breaking off and they're no longer meeting together.
The Apostle Paul tells them that these divisions that were among them that he spoke about in the first chapter. I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos.
He says they're going to result in sex.
And the reason was that the approved may be made manifest among you. The Lord allows difficulties to come into the assembly.
Because when things are going easy, we can all play the part.
We can all dress up nice and we can all come to meeting and we can all look like we're going on well when things are nice.
But a difficulty comes in and what happens is it tends to take away the facade.
I know this is true in our personal lives as well.
And what we really are comes out.
It manifests itself.
And that's what the Apostle Paul is saying here.
How are assembly decisions formed?
Is there a place in the Word of God where we can find out where?
We have a picture or something that would indicate how assembly decisions are formed.
Or are they just simply up to human wisdom? Well, I think they should be formed this way. And I think they should be formed this way. Let's turn over to Acts 15.
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X15 presents to us perhaps the best resource for seeing how assembly decisions are formed. The character is a bit different because in those days they had apostles, they had official elders.
Official bishops, We don't have apostles, we don't have official. Elders, we don't have official.
Oversight.
But the principle that is laid out here is still applicable.
And I'm going to read verse one. And certain men came, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.
When, therefore, Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem under the apostles and elders about this question.
If you turn over to Galatians 2, I'm not going to read it now, we don't have time, but you'll find that there's a little bit more information on this, this time in Paul's life.
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenix and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. And they caused great joy into all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all the things that God had done with them.
The first thing I want to mention here is that.
They didn't spread the matter.
They're traveling from Antioch down to Jerusalem, where these different ones came from, and on their way, they bring joy.
What often happens today?
When there's a difficulty in assembling.
Is the matter gets spread? Why? It's Satan's work. He knows that if he can spread this matter, he can get confusion to come in.
And it doesn't just spread in the assembly, spreads to other assemblies. I'm going to call this laboring brother over here or this brother who's held in high regard, and I'm going to plead with him to see this way my way, Maybe I can get him to call back here, tell these brothers what to do.
Paul and Barnabas kept this difficulty very close. They brought joy to the brethren where they went. They didn't go to a conference and talk to people and gossip and say, you know what's going on down here?
They brought joy to their brethren.
Verse five. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believe, saying that it is needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
And the apostle and elders came together for to consider this matter.
And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, or men brothers. Another principle that we didn't mention when we looked at First Timothy 3 or Titus, One is that oversight administration is only for the brothers.
It's not for the women in the assembly.
Is this because the women aren't spiritual enough?
Is this because the women aren't smart enough?
Is this because the women don't know their bibles enough?
No, obviously it's not that. I would suggest in an assembly, probably the majority of the women are far more spiritual and know their Bible far more than us guys do.
It's simply God's order.
It's God's order.
Aren't we interested in following God's order?
There's three things that I want to point out here. I don't have time. I'm going to go a little bit quick here.
That.
Are needed.
In formulating an assembly decision.
And the first thing I want to mention before that is it says and when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up.
Oversight deals with those who the Spirit of God has raised up. There are older brethren.
There's very few in an assembly who occupy that position. It's not for novices, it's not for women. But let's say that you're a young man.
And you have a care for the assembly.
Can you go to a care meeting and learn? You can.
And I would just caution you to be careful.
When you go to the care meeting, if you're a young person and you have a care for the assembly.
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Be careful how much you get involved. I failed in this point.
I've pushed into areas that I shouldn't have pushed into. I've pushed into areas that were not given to me.
That cause difficulties, so be careful. If you have a care you can go. You might even be able to present something that can be used.
But after much disputing, Peter rises up and we have to know those of us who are younger when to just stop and let those who are in the position of oversight to take over.
Let them formulate.
The path that they feel the assembly should take.
So Peter here, he presents to us somebody who has experience.
And he speaks to us here of his experience.
And I'm going to skip down to verse 13. You can read this later.
He gives his experience and we need the experience of our older brother. They can tell us about things that have happened in the past.
And they can say these this is what happened. I remember this when I was younger or this is what happened to me. And that's what Peter did. Verse 13, James stands up and what does James do? He opens up the word of God imperative that we have the word of God. How can we make an assembly decision without the word of God? Well, are we just going to base it on?
I think this is the direction that we should go. Sounds pretty good.
Human wisdom. We must, must have the word of God. So James stands up and presents the word of God.
And then down to verse 28.
The Spirit of God, for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.
The Spirit of God is needed in an assembly decision.
Now I'm going to go back a little bit here. How are they? How is this decision formulated? You have this, what I'm going to call a care meeting. Some might take exception to that. It's certainly not a brother's meeting.
Because not everybody in the assembly who is a brother necessarily has a care for the assembly.
And so you're not necessarily getting together as a brothers meeting, you're getting together as those who have a care for the assembly.
And they get together and they formulate a path that they should take. Peter gives his thoughts as to experience. James stands up and he gives his thoughts as to.
The word of God.
And what's 22 Saying?
Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surname Barsabbas and Silas, chief men among the brethren, and they write a letter.
The oversight determines a path that they feel the assembly should take.
And although the oversight has authority, they don't have authority to make assembly decisions.
They have authority to come to you and talk to you.
They have authority to speak to you.
But they don't have authority to make assembly decisions. Assembly decisions are done are formulated or sorry.
They are.
Can't think of the word.
Stamped or approved by the assembly.
With the Lord in the midst. And we get this from First Corinthians five. First Corinthians 5 when the brethren had come together.
It was an assembly meeting, a special assembly meeting.
But.
Assembly decisions are not.
Based on democracy. Sometimes, because we live in a government that's based on democracy, we get an idea that everybody has a say or that if this were an assembly and we were going to formulate a decision, we have to get at least half of the assembly on board before we can make an assembly decision. But that's not what's presented here. What's presented here is that there are ones in the assembly who bear the moral weight of the assembly.
They're ones who have walked the path, who have walked with God.
And the assembly.
Seeing these ones who have been raised up by the Spirit of God to occupy this position.
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They go along with that decision.
With the authority of the Lord in the midst, an assembly decision is formulated.
What if I don't agree with a decision? What is my recourse?
So the assembly just made a decision.
I recognize that God has raised up those to be in the position of oversight to guide the assembly.
They have outlined a path that they feel the assembly should take, but I don't agree.
What should I do? Well, you could go talk to them. Your brother would be happy to talk to you, I'm sure of it. Usually we don't want to do that though. We want to talk to everybody else, right.
About how wrong that decision is.
Who else can we talk to?
Could we talk to the head of the Assembly?
Can we talk to the Lord?
Is he not over that assembly?
Does he not control every aspect of that assembly?
Did he just allow that decision to be passed that I didn't agree with? He did.
And so my recourse is to go before Him in prayer, and if I feel that a decision has been wrong, what I would ask him is one to show me if I'm wrong, or to show the brethren if they're wrong.
That's my recourse.
For me to start telling my children.
This is what's going on. Get them riled up. Get them to go talk to the young people if they were that age.
Or start telling people in the assembly we get a little party together.
Is that from the Spirit of God?
Is that from the word of God? Is that God's order?
Is that what he would have us to do?
Is that orderly?
The problem is we don't believe in the power of prayer.
And we believe that we are right.
Go to the Lord in prayer.
Next question, what if the majority of the Assembly doesn't agree? You have a decision and the majority of the Assembly didn't agree with that decision. I heard it explained this way, and this is a democratic principle.
He said in my family.
Me, my wife and my five children. Let's say that every one of my children has a say. So that's five votes. My wife has two votes. That's seven votes. But I have 8:00.
I have 8:00 so even if the majority of my family feels that we should do something as a family.
As the head of the family, if I feel before the Lord we should do something else, I have to do what I feel before the Lord we should do.
Is it that I don't listen to them? No, of course I listen to them.
Oftentimes they're right, like Sarah with Hagar and Abraham.
And that's a democratic principle, so it's faulty. But we have to understand that God sticks with the oversight and the assembly. That's where the moral weight lies. That's who we should be behind.
Even if the majority of the assembly thinks otherwise.
I'd like you to think back to Absalom.
And David?
Who had more people, David or Absalom?
Absalom stole the hearts of the people.
David was left with a few.
Who did God stick with?
He stuck with David.
A picture of sticking with the oversight and difficulties and an assembly.
He didn't stick with somebody who tried to usurp the oversight.
Who thought that he could judge matters better than David?
He stuck with David and in time he brought David back.
Even though it wasn't the majority.
Last point, what if the conscience of the assembly is not reached? Is it still a binding action?
I liked what Bill wore.
Mentioned as to the conscience of the Assembly.
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You'll never read about the conscience of the assembly and the Word of God.
And I think furthermore, it's not actually a scriptural principle, because conscience is individual.
Conscience is not something that is an assembly.
The Lord of the Lord wants your conscience and my conscience engaged in the decision, however.
So Bill War explained it like this, and I'm going to repeat it. It's not repeating it exactly, he said. The conscience of the Assembly is the Assembly recognizing who the Spirit of God has raised up.
And an assembly.
And having their conscience as engaged in what God is doing.
They follow those who occupy that position.
The difficulty today is that though we might say there's no democracy.
Sometimes, using this phrase, the conscience of the Assembly has been used to try to bring in democratic.
Principles.
My conscience wasn't engaged in that, so it wasn't an assembly decision.
Well, that's not quite right, right?
Our consciences should be engaged.
In God's order.
And our desire should be to be subject to what God's order is.
And a willingness to follow his order even when things happen that aren't.
Quite to my liking.
Or even very much to my liking, remembering that.
In every situation, every difficulty in an assembly, God is working in many, many different ways.
And He's got something for you and for me and for you and you and you. Everyone in that assembly, God is working with them. There's something that they need to see. And oftentimes an assembly decision happens. And the way I react to it, the Lord shows me that there's something wrong with me. Maybe that decision wasn't done entirely correctly. Maybe it was done really poorly.
But how did I react to it?
What is my part in it? How did I fail? What is God saying to me?
What has he revealed to me about my heart and that difficulty? So I would just encourage you, stick with the oversight.
Follow God's order.
Recognize that God does have an order in every sphere of your life. Let's just thank Him for the time.
Our God and our loving Father, we thank thee so very much for thy Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus, we.
Thank you for that work on Calvary's cross to save us from our sins. We think of the subject that's been before us. We think of this by assembly, and we just pray that and whatever sphere of life we find ourselves, that we would be subject to thy word, subject to the order that thou was set up, knowing that this is the path of blessing. Help us in this and thy name we pray, Lord Jesus, Amen.