Elders As Stewards or The Stewardship of Souls
Elders As Stewards or The Stewardship of Souls
ELDERS AS STEWARDS OR
THE STEWARDSHIP OF SOULS
By Jesse P. Sewell Introduction:
May we read together some brief passages from the Word of God?
“According as each hath .received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).
“Let a man so account of us as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Here, moreover, it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).
“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
“For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s stew-ard” (Titus 1:7).
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief; for this were unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).
“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercis-ing the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind” (1 Peter 5:2). A steward is one who is intrusted with something which belongs to another. We become his stewards when Christ becomes our Saviour.
Stewards of Christ are intrusted with the manifold grace of God; his gracious gifts, such as: the material necessities and blessings of life; talents, many or few, great or small; influence, extensive or limited, and also the mysteries of God, that is, the gospel of Christ, now revealed through his apostles and recorded in the New Testament.
Lordship necessarily implies stewardship. There can be no lordship on the part of Christ without stewardship on the part of his disciples. One cannot exist without the other. To acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ is to accept stewardship for him. So inseparably are these two things bound together that the extension and exaltation of the Lord’s church and the accomplishment of every purpose for which Jesus died, was buried, arose from the grave, and was exalted to God’s right hand, and there crowned as King, must await the good and faithful stewardship of God’s redeemed children. The law of God is: that stewards of Christ must be good stewards, and that stewards of Christ must be faithful stewards.
I. Teaching of the Old Testament.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
God created them: they belong to him by virtue of that fact. God gives to men the control and use of the earth, but he does not relinquish his ownership.
“And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
“The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine,” saith the Lord (Leviticus 25:23).
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalms 24:1).
God declares his ownership of the earth, of its ful-ness, and of all them that dwell on it. It is God who gives to man his power to get and possess wealth. “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God; for he it is that giveth thee power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18).
King David asked the people for material, gold and silver, with which to build a house for God. They brought, willingly and gladly, all that was needed. In 1 Chronicles 29:11-14 we read his words:
“Thine, 0 Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, 0 Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou rulest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:11-14). The teaching of the Old Testament is that God owns the earth and every thing in and on and about the earth; that he owns all the people of the earth, including their talents, even the talent to secure and possess wealth. Those of that age who believed, trusted, loved and obeyed him accepted this doctrine and praised God that they were permitted this relationship to him.
They were conscious of the fact that they were not. owners, but that they themselves were the owned pos-session of God, and that their possessions were his, in-trusted to them to be handled by them as his stewards.
II. Teaching of the New Testament.
“For the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof” (1 Corinthians 10:26).
“And Paul stood in the midst of the Aeropagus, and said, Ye men of Athens, in all things I perceive that ye are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. What therefore ye worship in ignorance, this I set forth unto you. The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is he served by man’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said” (Acts 17:22-28).
There is no change at this point in the teaching of the New Testament from that of the Old. It is declared that God owns the earth and its fulness, and this on the basis that he created it all. He is still the creator of life and breath and all things pertaining to life. This embraces all people of all nations. It is in him, his power and knowledge and wisdom, that they live and move and have their being. No man escapes the ownership of God until some man experiences life through some other agency. But the human family, created by God, in his own image, and for his use and glory, came to the time when they refused to glorify him as God. He gave them over to a reprobate mind, and they separated themselves from him by every conceivable form of sin. And human beings, as individuals, have been doing that same thing until today. Thus, are we lost from God and condemned in sin.
“Because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (2128). And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (28) (Romans 1:21-23; Romans 1:28).
Christians, all Christians, are owned by God in a double sense. They are his on the basis of creation, as are all men. Christians are saved, not because of inheritance, human blood, name or family, but because they have been bought with a price, redeemed from bondage to Satan, to which bondage they had given themselves, by God the Father with the blood of his Son. Christians are the owned servants, slaves of God; not only on the basis of creation, but also on the basis of recreation, redemption, or purchase.
“Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? and ye are not your own; for ye were bought with a price; glorify God therefore in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
“But there arose false prophets also among the peo-ple, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1).
“Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with cor-ruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
“Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possessions, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13-14).
Jesus teaches the lesson of stewardship in that beau-tiful little story usually called the parable of the talents, recorded in verses fourteen to thirty of the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. This is a very easy, simple, understandable story. It describes a common occurrence in the days of Jesus. The hero of the story owned servants, slaves; they were his property, in the sense in which any person or thing can be the property of another. They were in his possession. He went on a long trip into a far country. Before his departure he delivered to his servants his goods. He gave, in the sense that he delivered it into his possession and use, to each of his servants a portion of his goods, on the basis of the ability of that servant to properly use what he received. They knew what was expected of them. The Master trusted his goods to the possession and use of his servants and went on his journey. When he returned he dealt with and rewarded them, not on the basis of the amount of goods they had for him, but on the basis of the faithfulness with which each had lived up to the trust placed in him. He was just as pleased with the one who brought to him four talents as with the one who brought ten. The two had been equally faithful. He was displeased with the one who brought only one talent, not because it was not four or ten; he had never expected it to be four or ten; but because this servant had not been faithful in the use of his Master’s goods. The kingdom of heaven, the church of the Lord, is like this. God intrusts his redeemed, bought and paid for, servants with his goods, material things, talents of every kind, and even with the gospel of his Son in which is deposited his power to save. He delivers his goods to each of his servants on the basis of the in-herited and developed ability of each to properly han-dle and use what he receives. At the end of the way he rewards each one, not on the basis of what he brings, but on the basis of his faithfulness in the use of his Master’s goods. This is the doctrine of Christian stew-ardship, To recognize and set aside a certain percent of one’s income, to be used directly fo^ the promotion of the kingdom is a fine practice, but it doea not fully meet the demands of Christian stewardship The Christian steward must realize that he himself is a bought and paid for servant, and that all of his talents and possessions belong to the same Master who owns him, and that all of them, not a certain percent of them, are to be used by him for the honor of the Master, and for the accomplishment of his purposes. The money with winch Christians buy their groceries, clothing, homes, furniture, automobiles, radios, tobacco, cigarettes, tea, coffee, beer, and whiskey, is iiist as much the Lord’s money as what he brings and puts in the treasury on the Lord’s day. The talent the Christian uses to teach school, practice medicine or law, farm, do the work of a mechanic or machinist is as much the property of God as is the talent with which he preaches, teaches God’s word, sings and prays in the church or out. The influence the Christian uses to bring people along his way in his business or profession is just as much the property of God as is the influence he uses to bring people to hear the gospel. This percentage idea is simply no part of the teaching of the New Testament. The Christian must be eareful with the money, talent and influence he spends on and for himself as he is with that which he uses directly in and for the church.
III. The Stewardship of Souls. When the Lord provided for the salvation of lost souls and the establishment of his church, he provid ed that a group of men with specified character and qualifications be selected and appointed in each of his churches for the performance of certain duties. These men are called elders, pastors or bishops. To them he intrusts his redeemed sons and daughters in each of his congregations. These elders, bishops, pastors are his servants. The souls intrusted to them are his,souls, bought and paid for with the blood of his Son. The elders of each church of the Lord are stewards of Christ, in the first place, as are all other Christians, and, in the second place, they are his specially appointed stewards of souls.
“Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
“For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward” (Titus 1:7).
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account” (Hebrews 13:17).
“Tend the flock of God which is among you, exer-cising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind” (1 Peter 5:2).
There is no more beautiful or fundamental teaching in the New Testament than this doctrine of the stew-ardship of souls. There is no more sacred relationship than that between the pastors in a church of the Lord and the souls of that church, intrusted to them by Christ the Lord.
There is no more sacred or serious responsibility than that which is placed by the head of the church on the pastors of each church in their capacity as stewards of souls.
There is no more honorable, valuable or profitable position open to man than that of a steward of souls in a church of the Lord. This relationship cannot be successfully maintained; this responsibility cannot be effectively met,, and this position cannot be faithfully filled by any sort of accidental, slip-shod, unplanned procedure. It calls for and makes necessary the very best and most prayerful effort possible to God’s very best servants. It calls for an intimate and sympathetic knowledge and un-derstanding of each soul in the church. It requires a deep controlling love for and interest in each one of these souls. It demands constant and patient watch, care, nurture and guidance for the weak and careless. The high purpose of the stewardship of souls can never be attained by any number of “elders meetings” and public meetings of service and worship. It calls for a more understanding, intimate, and sympathetic personal contact and service than can ever be given by such organized and public procedure. And all of this calls for an accurate, understanding knowledge of God’s word.
If all of the elders of all of God’s churches could be called together in one group, with all of their limitations and short-comings, I would, with perfect confidence, challenge any man or group to gather together any group of equal number from anywhere or everywhere, that would be superior to them in1 the combined qualities of Christian manhood. I would not except preachers, teachers or any others.
But, having said this, I must now say, that when the elders of God’s churches come to fully understand, properly appreciate and to faithfully determine their service on the basis of the New Testament doctrine of the stewardship of souls, these churches will come to partake of the divine nature, to exhibit the image of God, and to exert and influence a power for the sal-vation and blessing of humanity which the world has not yet seen.
IV. Jesus Is Our Example.
Elders, bishops, or pastors are shepherds. This idea carries us straight to Christ himself. Early in Hebrew history the word shepherd came to be a metaphor. The literal keeper of sheep, so prominent in the life of that day and land, became a type of the highest servants of Jehovah, a symbol for the expression of lofty ideas and ideals. Priests were called shepherds, and so also were prophets. Later princes and kings came to be thus designated. So beautiful was the figure and so rich the idea that finally it was applied to God himself. Kings and princes, priests and prophets were under-shepherds, here on earth, and Jehovah was the over-shepherd in heaven, and we hear the beautiful shepherd song:
“Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou hast anointed my head with oil:
My cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and loving-kindness shall follow me all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah for erer” (Psalms 23).
Before men ever called God father, they called him Shepherd. All of the under-shepherds of Israel, one after an-other, proved unfaithful. There was a good shepherd in heaven but none on earth. They failed. They did not guide wisely. They did not properly feed the flocks. They were not good in life and they were not faithful in service.
“For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams, they comfort in vain; therefore they go their way like sheep, they are afflicted because there is no shepherd. Mine anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats; for Jehovah of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle” (Zechariah 10:2-3).
“And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, even to the shepherds, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill the fatlings, but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not strength-ened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, nei-ther have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor have ye ruled over them. And they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and there was none that did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, surely forasmuch as my sheep became food to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but my shepherds fed themselves and fed not the sheep; therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them" (Ezekiel 34:1-10). But a good shepherd was promised. He would feed and guide and save the sheep. Through many genera-tions this idea of the Shepherd-Messiah was thrown be-fore the minds of the prophets of God. It burned into the very soul of the people. When they saw and condemned the bad shepherds, they always presented the picture of the good shepherd who was to come. So “0 thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain: 0 thou that tellest good tiding to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom and will gently lead those that have their young” (Isaiah 40:9-11). So far as the New Testament reveals, Jesus never referred to himself as priest, preacher, clergyman, elder or bishop. But he did often think and speak of himself under the figure of a shepherd. When he looked upon the crowds of Galilee “he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
He spoke of himself often as sent to gather the lost sheep of Israel.
It was to a people whose eyes, ears and minds had been filled for centuries with this picture of the coming shepherd that Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep. He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholdeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf snatcheth them, and scattereth them: he fleeth because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep” (John 10:11-13).
Thieves and robbers had preceded him, men who had been guilty of all the gross neglect and outrageous sins mentioned by Ezekiel, Zachariah and others, but Jesus iyvag the promised good shepherd. He teaches his under-shepherds their work and how they are to perform it in the following words: “Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him to hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake unto them this parable, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them doth not leave the ninety and nine and go after that which is lost, until he find it. And when he hath found it, he lay- eth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he eom- eth home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found miy sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance” (Luke 15:1-8).
He said to Peter: “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). In other words: “Be a shepherd and do a shepherd’s work.” Peter got the shepherd idea fixed in his mind and heart. We read from his letter which he later wrote to Christians: “For ye were going astray like sheep; but are now returned unto the shep-herd and bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).
Jesus is the great, good divine bishop or shepherd of all redeemed souls. In each church of his he provides for under-shepherds, pastors, elders or bishops. As to these under-shepherds, Peter says: “The elders therefore among you I exhort who am a fellow- elder. Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind” (1 Peter 5:1-2). This is what Paul had in mind when at Miletus he said to the elders of the church in Ephesus, for whom he had sent: “Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he pur-chased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
Through the teaching and example of the great divine Shepherd, who now watches over the souls of the redeemed from the very throne of God, God expects to inspire, train and equip men in each of his churches to shepherd, that is to feed, guide, protect, lead, nurture and train each soul in that church. By building in them the shepherd’s disposition and the shepherd’s skill he hopes to enable them to give a good account of each soul in the flock at the end of the way. And this good account he will demand.
These shepherds in the Lord’s churches will be expected in that final roundup to present each re-deemed soul, entrusted to their care, safe and sound, or to give a justifiable reason for his absence. On that great day even good excuses will not serve. As the elders of the early church began to lose this ideal of the stewardship of souls, they drifted away from the shepherd ideal of service. Little by little they magnified their office in ways not suggested by the good Shepherd of the sheep. They made of themselves priests. They made a specialty of law and discipline. They degenerated into tyrants, and set themselves up as the sole custodians of the grace of God. They came to claim sovereignty, not only over the kingdoms of this world, but also over the vast empire of the dead. The Lord’s elders forgot their stewardship of souls and made of themselves lords over his heritage. Darkness covered the earth. The heirarchy of Rome and the East ruled the world. The dark ages were on.
V. Conclusion On the basis of more than forty years of active and rather widespread observation of and participation in the affairs Of our lord’s churches, my deliberate judg-ment is that the greatest danger to the eldership in these churches at this time is at the point of their stewardship for souls. Their great danger is not in that they do not carefully guard the teaching of their congregations. It is not that they do not rather faithfully see after the hungry and naked and sick and otherwise needy in their midst. It is not that they do not rather faithfully conserve and handle the finances. It is not that they are not interested in the preaching of the gospel at home and abroad. It is not that they do not lead in providing good workshops and houses of worship. In all of these things there is of course room and a call for improvement as in the case of all human endeavor. But I am fully persuaded that the good elders of the Lord’s churches experience their weakest point and face their gravest danger as stewards of souls. Their great danger is that they will fail here as did the under-shepherds of Israel. Their danger is that they will fail here as did the elders during those centuries in which the church was departing from God to the consummation of Roman and Eastern heirarchy. And if they fail here the Lord’s churches fail utterly, as they failed then.
It is the obligation of each church of the Lord on earth today to see to it, that in it, the ideal and practice of the New Testament doctrine of the stewardship of souls is restored and maintained, that “when the chief Shepherd shall appear,” his under-shepherds in all his churches may “receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). And for all of God’s stewards of souls, everywhere, may we all pray that: “the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our’ Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever” (Hebrews 13:20-21). In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Study
1. What is a steward ?
2. When do Christians become stewards?
3. With what are stewards of Christ entrusted?
4. What two Christian principles are inseparably connected?
5. What two things are required of Christian stewards ?
6. What is the Old Testament doctrine of steward-ship?
7. What is the New Testament doctrine of stew-ardship ?
8. In what additional sense are Christians owned of God?
9. What is Jesus’ doctrine of stewardship in the parable of the talents?
10. To whom does Christ entrust his redeemed children ?
11. In what additional sense are elders, bishops or pastors stewards?
12. Mention and discuss some qualifications essen-tial to the successful stewardship of souls.
13. Discuss the development of the shepherd idea in the Old Testament.
14. Which Psalm reflects this idea?
15. In what ways did the shepherds of old fail?
16. Was this failure serious in God’s mind?
17. By what promise were the people encouraged?
18. By whom was this promise fulfilled?
19. What is the difference between the shepherd and the hireling?
20. Who is the Shepherd or Bishop of souls now?
21. Who are the under-shepherds or bishops?
22. In what passage of scripture does Jesus teach his shepherds their work and how it is to be performed ?
23. What instruction did he give Peter at this point ?
24. What instruction did Peter give his fellow-el¬ders ?
25. Who must give an account of the souls of a church ?
26. What should be the attitude of the members of a church toward their shepherds?
27. In what ways did the bishops of the early churches depart from the New Testament spirit and practice?
28. In what did such departure result?
29. What are present-day conditions in the church¬es at this point?
30. What can and should be done about it?