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NASB | Acts 14:23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 14:23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they believed [and joyfully accepted as the Messiah]. |
Subject: What is Biblical Chruch Government? |
Bible Note: I have been an active member in many different congregations of the Lord's Body, around the country and around the world. I was a deacon in one congregation for four years. I have served in congregations, both with elders and deacons and those without. There's not any specific scripture that be called upon to support my statement so I'll call it common sense inferred from the God's intent I see in His Word. I believe God really does want us to mature as individual christians and collectively as congregations where we see the urgent need for elders and deacons. (It's my belief that you can't have one without the other, that is "elders AND deacons.") Having traveled as much as I have and seen and experienced the amount of pain and heartache I've seen in my lifetime, I now know at least a little bit of the reasons why our Lord set up this pattern of government in His Body, the church. We humans, especially Americans, have a great tendency to be individuals, think, speak and do things as an individual. But we come together as a part of the Lord's church, we need to humble ourselves to follow God's pattern. In the Bible, we see the separate congregations at least per city were totally independent and autonomous with each other. Although the elders consult with each other on tough decisions like we see in Acts 15, this is the highest form government we see in NT. And they had a miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit helping them. After installing elders in a congregation, they should be followed with complete humility and submission. The only time any decision should be questioned is if it goes counter with God's Word and not in just one man's opinion but it should be confirmed with at least one other man's opinion with specific scripture to support that conclusion. I suppose almost everyone on this Forum knows about the qualifications from the Bible for elders and deacons. But just in case, they're in 1 Tim 3. It should be understood without saying but I gotta say it anyway: It's paramount that these qualifications be followed to the best of our ability. It's those qualifications that equip our elders and deacons to do the very important job they do. It's also very, very important that elders and deacons do their jobs with this utmost in their minds. They'll all be judged to a higher standard on God's Judgement Day and that everything they do should reflect glory to God and God's love to man. In other words, these men should love all mankind to a high degree and realize how humbling the appointment of this office should be. We must buffet our spiritual bodies just like the Apostle Paul did to keep ourselves humble but this practice is paramount with elders and deacons. As I see it, following God's pattern in His Word is one of the secrets to preventing a lot of mistakes and helps toward long-term, successful life of the church. That's why divorce between husband and wife in the Lord's church is getting to be a problem throughout the church. We all need to aspire to grow in faith, maturity and understanding of God's will. This includes our aspirations to be teachers, deacons and yes, even elders. If we're not growing in this manner, then we must look inward and find out why. Soul-searching and constant re-evaluation is a very good thing to do as far as God is concerned. Now you might be asking about overseers, bishops, shepards and pastors. In the Greek language, the Bible writers were referring to the same person, as elders. The word prophet is one that means our modern day preacher or minister. Well, that's my two cents worth. Let's hear from you folks. God bless us all. |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Acts 14:23 | Author | ||
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RAVEN | ||
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justme | ||
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Searcher56 | ||
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justme | ||
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Rowdy |