Chapter Nine: Spiritual Authority and its Limits: Principles of a Theocracy

By Dr. Steve Davis

 What you will get from this chapter:

1) The church does not belong to a denomination. Who does the church really belong to?

2) What are an Elder’s top priorities?

3) Why does he have to command the Elders to take oversight of the flock?

4) What is meant by the church being a “theocracy?”

The church does not belong to a denomination. A church may be affiliated with, connected to, in fellowship with a denomination, but no church “belongs” to a denomination.  The church, the ministry, doesn't belong to the denomination, to the official board, to the deacons, to the pastor or to any other human entity.  The church belongs to Jesus Christ. He said in Matthew 16:18   “. . .  I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Jesus Christ declares that the church belongs to Him and that He is the one who will assemble it, make it grow and keep it strong. He has given certain ministry gifts to every church. These gifts are In the form of individual Believers raised up, equipped and ordained by God. Their work Is to prepare the church for spiritual warfare; to tear down strongholds of the enemy, and to see captives set free. 

Most church people and many ministers think that the minister and leaders have to stand before the people and answer to the people for what kind of job they're doing. If that were the case, leadership would be easier. A Pastor would simply find out what the people want and give it to them. The Bible doesn't teach that leaders stand in front of the people to give account for how well they did their jobs. The people have input and do give feedback (1 Corinthians 4:3‑4). But that isn't the most important evaluation. "But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or man's judgment:"  The Bible also does not teach that the leader is out there doing whatever he feels good about at the time, answering only to himself. "...yea, I judge not mine own self ...He that judgeth me is the Lord,” wrote the Apostle Paul. Every leader will stand before the Lord Jesus, and answer as shepherds of the flock of God. Every leader will stand before the owner of the vineyard and answer for his or her work as a worker in God's vineyard.

An Elder’s priority list.  Because the Elder has such responsibility, this admonition is given to the Elders in Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”  The Elder is first to possess his own vessel in honor, guarding himself and maintaining his walk before the Lord. Then, he is to look out for, to know the state of, to carefully guard and maintain the spiritual health of the flock. He is reminded that it was not a group of men who called him to be an overseer, or who voted for him to preach sermons to them. The Holy Spirit Himself chose him, for the purpose of feeding the people, who are the possession of God, purchased by the blood of Jesus.

A leader is responsible first for his or her own family and then for the ones that God has called him or her to minister to (I Timothy 3:5). The leader's calling to see the congregation mature and function as one body under the head, our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Jesus is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). Each Believer is to prepare himself or herself for the ministry that God has called each to. The Elder is to love the flock, set the example to the flock and to serve them the things of God.

God reveals His methods of operation In the Bible, and they work. What we need is to let them work. Every book of the Bible, historical, prophetic, poetic, and every epistle of the Scriptures deals with this subject to some degree. There is a continuum of the heart and mind of God for His people as a functioning group of God-lead individuals, working together by the power of God and for the glory of God.

Some Christians aren't aware of what their inheritance is in the Kingdom of God. They are not aware of the glory that has been entrusted in the church. Peter had learned much as an apostle and wanted to exhort the elders to be very careful to feed God's flock (1 Peter 5: 1‑2). Elders are exhorted to feed the Word of God to the flock of God regardless of administrations, building programs, regardless of philosophies or traditions. Also in verse 2, Elders are told to take the oversight of the flock. To be aware and responsible. 

Why does he have to command the Elders to take oversight of the flock? Because nobody in his right mind would WANT to! You couldn't pay a person enough! That's why he says, "not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind."  There is no salary that's enough to cover the day and night responsibility and spiritual resistance that comes from being In oversight, caring for the church. In 2 Corinthians 11: 26‑28, the Apostle Paul tells of all the sufferings and trials he's endured because he responded to the calling of God. He lists being in perils of robbers, perils of the heathen, perils in the sea, in weariness, painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in nakedness, and then, he lists one more peril, that most people would not even compare to the others in the list:  He says in v.28, '  Beside those things that are without, (on the outside) that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches (which weighs on me from the inside)." 

We have to put ourselves in the mindset of doing things and living according to what God's Word says. The sole legitimate rule of faith and practice in the church of Jesus Christ is the Holy Scriptures. They are why we do the things we do, and don’t do the things that we might think we would like to do. The reason we preach the Gospel and not whatever we feel like, is because God’s Word tells us what to preach. The reason we send out missionaries is because God’s Word tells us to. The reason we are born again is because God’s Word says to be. All that we do in our churches must be based clearly on the Word of God and nothing we do in our churches can be contrary to the Word of God.

We want to do what God's Word says. It is the Word of God that sustains us (1 Peter 2:2).  Some Christians need the Word of God in milk form. Hebrews 5:13 teaches that those who are unskilled in the Word need milk. There are those who can take the strong meat of the Word of God. These are mentioned in Hebrews 5:14 as being those who have been racking up experience in putting the Word of God to use in their lives. But if the elders are serving strong meat and the congregation’s collective digestive system isn't ready for it, it will be "spewed out of the mouth!" The spiritual life is a continual growing process. A minister's function is to feed the flock of God. To get the Word of God into the flock. The responsibility of the eider who labors in the Word (1 Timothy 5:17) is to see that the Word of God goes forth so that the needs of the people are being met.  

What we mean by the church being a theocracy. In a democracy, the voice of the people becomes the voice of God. In an autocracy, the voice of the strongest person becomes the final authority. In a theocracy, the voice of the Word of God is accepted as the final authority. Since the Word of God is the authority, the key to having authority among the people of God is very simple. Be under the rule of the Word of God – do and say what the Word of God says to do and say. A n Elder or Pastor is for this reason directed in the Word to give himself continually to the Word of God and prayer. That is the only legitimate source of authority in the body of Christ

In 1 Peter 4:10, the Elder is called the "steward of the manifold grace of God." On the same subject, I Corinthians 4:2 says, "Moreover, It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful." Faithful here means, "loyal, able to be believed, trustworthy and dependable." Jesus spoke of the steward's responsibility concerning those that have been entrusted with finance as well as the ministry of the Gospel (Luke 16:1‑8). The Elder is to be an example to the flock of a Believer walking with the Lord in submission to the Word of God.

Copyright Steven L. Davis  www.stevedavis.org