Mark 9-10; Luke 22; John 13; Ezekiel 34; Service of Elders ~ 20250112 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
01/12 Service of Elders; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250112_service-of-elders.mp3
Intro/Recap
Next Sunday, at our annual meeting, our church family will affirm officers to serve in this local church, including elders. We’ve been taking the weeks leading up to this important day to study together what the Bible says about elders. We looked at Acts 20, where elders are also called overseers who shepherd God’s flock. Elders above all serve and seek to please the Lord with all humility. Paul says to the elders:
Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for [shepherd] the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
The shepherds are warned to keep alert and watch out for wolves. Shepherds are to feed, lead, guide and guard the sheep. Overseers are appointed by the gifting and equipping of the Holy Spirit to this task, and recognized by the local church.
Last week we looked at the character and integrity of elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Elders are to be above reproach, men of integrity; sexual integrity, moral integrity, financial integrity, social integrity, and doctrinal integrity; exercising shepherding oversight first in their own families.
Jesus and Servant Leadership
This week I want to look at the heart of elders, and specifically at some of the things Jesus said about servant leadership.
Matthew (20:17-28) and Mark (10:32-45) both record Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, taking his disciples aside and telling them:
Mark 10:33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. 34 And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.”
The very next thing these gospel writers record is James and John approaching Jesus, asking him to do for them whatever they ask.
Mark 10:37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
Matthew records that they even got their mom involved in this big ask! Jesus lays out that he is about to be betrayed, humiliated, and crucified, but they had premeditated this to be the opportune time to make a strategic move on a power grab. Both writers also record that:
Mark 10:41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John.
We aren’t told why they became indignant; maybe it was because of the inappropriateness of the timing, maybe the audacity of trying to manipulate Jesus by using mom, probably they were frustrated that the Sons of Thunder jumped the gun and beat them to the ask. From other passages we know that they were caught on more than one occasion arguing about who was the greatest. The preceding chapter in Mark (Matt.18:1-6; Mk.9:30-37; Lk.9:43-48) records:
Mark 9:33 … [Jesus] asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
This also comes right after Jesus:
Mark 9:31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
Jesus responded by taking a child in his arms and saying: “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mk.9:35).
Now in Mark 10, when all the disciples were indignant toward this attempted power grab by the brothers,
Mark 10:42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
You know this world has worldly ways of leadership. The question is ‘who’s in charge, who’s the boss, the top dog, who has the most authority, who gets to call the shots and control the show? Who is the greatest? Jesus says ‘No, my kingdom is not like that. If that’s how you think, you don’t know me, you’re not a follower of me.’ Jesus is pretty clear about this:
Mark 10:43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
Jesus isn’t just spittin’ platitudes. He meant what he said and he was about to show them what it looked like. If you want positions of authority in my kingdom, watch how I lead.
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
The Son of Man is the divine title from Daniel 7 of the one who rides the clouds and presents himself before the Ancient of Days,
Daniel 7:14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
Here’s what the Son of Man says about the way he sets up his kingdom:
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Philippians 2
It wasn’t too long ago that we studied Philippians 2;
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Selfish ambition is out. Pride is out. Humility is the way. Counting others as more significant than yourself is the Jesus way.
Ephesians 5
People get all bent out of shape about the church trying to follow the biblical instructions about male leadership in the church and in the home. We want to make it all about who wears the pants, but it’s not about that. Here’s what Ephesians tells us it’s supposed to look like:
Ephesians 5:24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
Self-sacrificial service out of love, seeking the eternal good of the other.
Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Shepherds who Feed Themselves
Back in Samuel 8, God warned of the self-serving ways of the kings of Israel, who would enjoy the privileges of leadership at the expense of the people they were set over.
By the time of the prophet Ezekiel:
Ezekiel 34:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. 6 My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.
Shepherds are not to feed themselves at the expense of the sheep. But by the failure of the shepherds of Israel, this passage makes it clear what God’s standard for shepherding is. Feed the sheep. Strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays, seek the lost. Equip the saints, pursue health, mend the broken, restore with discipline, seek through evangelism. Do it all with gentleness and humility.
After a promise to hold the shepherds accountable (7-10),
Ezekiel 34:11 “For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
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Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. ...
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Mark 6:34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” ... 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. ... 42 And they all ate and were satisfied.
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John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The Last Supper
Luke records another instance of the disciples jockeying for position, seeking personal greatness; it was at the last supper, after Jesus gave them the bread broken, ‘my body given for you’, and ‘the cup poured out for you, the new covenant in my blood’. He warned that one of them was going to betray him.
Luke 22:23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
Rather than humility and self-examination, this erupted into pride.
Luke 22:24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
This is at the last supper! Jesus took even this opportunity to again patiently instruct them;
Luke 22:25 And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
This is a paradigm blowing concept. Who is greater, the one who reclines at table and is served or the one who serves him? Clearly the greater reclines and is served by the lesser. But Jesus says ‘that’s not how it is with me.’ And he shows them.
John records
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
God the Son, Creator of all that is, stripped for service, wrapped in a towel, stooping to tend to the feet of his followers.
John 13:12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
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2025.01.12 Sermon Notes
Service of Elders; Mark 9-10; Luke 22; John 13; Ezekiel 34
Arguing about who is the greatest
Mark 9:30-37 (cf. Matthew 18:1-6; Luke 9:43-48)
It shall not be so among you!
Mark 10:32-45 (cf. Matthew 20:17-28)
Not to be served but to serve
Philippians 2:3-8; Ephesians 5:24-27
The duty of shepherds:
-feed the sheep
-strengthen the weak
-heal the sick
-bind up the injured
-bring back the strays
-seek the lost
Ezekiel 34:1-16; Psalm 23:1-3; John 10:10-11
Disputing about greatness at the last supper
Luke 22:14-27
An example of true greatness; the Creator of all, stripped for service, wrapped in a towel
John 13:1-17
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org