1. Christ Above the Assembly
But you shall not be called Teacher, for One is your Teacher—the Anointed One—and you are all brothers.
And call no one your father upon the earth, for One is your Father, who is in the heavens.
Nor shall you be called instructors, for One is your Instructor—the Anointed One.
And the greatest among you will be your servant.
And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
— Matthew 23:8–12, SRT
And Jesus called them near and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
But it shall not be so among you; rather, whoever wishes to become great among you, let him be your servant;
and whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be your slave;
Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
— Matthew 20:25–28, SRT
Christ forbids religious title-domination and Gentile-style lordship. The greatest must become an attendant.
2. Order for Building
What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be for building up.
— I Corinthians 14:26, SRT
for God is not a God of disorder, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the holy ones.
— I Corinthians 14:33, SRT
Let all things be done properly and in order.
— I Corinthians 14:40, SRT
Order is not priestcraft; disorder is not liberty. God is not disturbance but peace, and all must be for building.
3. Gifts for the Body, Not Rank
And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of good news, and some as shepherds and teachers,
for the equipping of the holy ones, for the work of service, for the building up of the body of the Anointed One,
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Anointed One,
so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the Head—the Anointed One—
from whom the whole body, fitted and held together by every joint of supply, according to the working in measure of each part, makes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
— Ephesians 4:11–16, SRT
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each.
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth;
so neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who gives the growth.
Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
— I Corinthians 3:5–9, SRT
Teachers and shepherds are given to train the holy and construct the body, not to gather personal followings. God gives growth.
4. Tested Oversight and Service
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to oversight, he desires a good work;
Therefore an overseer must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
Not given to wine, not violent, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money,
Managing his own house well and keeping his children in submission with all dignity,
(For if anyone does not know how to manage his own house, how will he care for an assembly of God?)
Not a new believer, lest, being puffed up, he fall into the judgment of the Devil;
And he must also have a good testimony from those outside, so that he may not fall into reproach and a snare of the Devil.
— I Timothy 3:1–7, SRT
Servants, likewise, must be dignified, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for shameful gain,
Holding the secret of the faith in a pure conscience.
And let these also first be tested; then let them serve, being blameless.
Women, likewise, must be dignified, not false accusers, sober-minded, faithful in all things.
Let servants be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own houses well,
For those who serve well gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in the Anointed One Jesus.
— I Timothy 3:8–13, SRT
And in those days, as the disciples multiplied, a complaint arose among the Greek-speaking Jews against the Hebrew-speaking Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.
Then the Twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men of good testimony, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this need;
but we will devote ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
And the proposal pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a convert from Antioch,
whom they set before the apostles; and they, having prayed, laid their hands on them.
— Acts 6:1–6, SRT
Overseers and deacons must be tested. Ordered service protects widows and preserves prayer and teaching.
5. Shepherds, Not Lords
For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order the things that remain and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you:
If anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of reckless living or rebellion.
For an overseer must be blameless as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for shameful gain,
But hospitable, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,
Holding firmly to the trustworthy word according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort by sound teaching and to convict those who contradict.
— Titus 1:5–9, SRT
The elders among you I exhort, as a fellow elder, a witness of the sufferings of the Anointed One, and a partaker of the glory about to be revealed:
Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight not by compulsion but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly,
not as exercising lordship over those entrusted to you, but becoming patterns for the flock.
And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading garland of glory.
— I Peter 5:1–4, SRT
Obey those who lead you and submit to them, for they watch over your souls as those who must give account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.
— Hebrews 13:17, SRT
Elders are stewards, not owners. Oversight is real, but domineering over the entrusted charge is forbidden. Leaders must give account.
6. Correction, Discipline, and Restoration
And if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
But if he does not hear, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
And if he does not hear them, tell it to the assembly; and if he refuses to hear even the assembly, let him be to you as one of the nations and a tax collector.
— Matthew 18:15–17, SRT
Brothers, even if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of the Anointed One.
— Galatians 6:1–2, SRT
Sexual immorality is actually reported among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the nations: that a man has his father’s wife.
And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from your midst.
For I indeed, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged the one who has done this, as though I were present.
In the Name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, when you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One,
deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus.
— I Corinthians 5:1–5, SRT
But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused sorrow to me, but in part—not to burden you all.
Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the greater part,
So that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.
Therefore I urge you to confirm your love for him.
— II Corinthians 2:5–8, SRT
And if anyone does not obey our word in this letter, take note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed,
Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother;
— II Thessalonians 3:14–15, SRT
Correction seeks to win the brother; the fallen are restored in mildness; open corruption may require discipline; excessive reproof may drown; the disorderly brother is corrected as a brother, not an enemy.
7. False Teachers and Diotrephes
But beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
By their fruits you will know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
So every good tree yields good fruits, but the bad tree yields evil fruits.
A good tree is not able to yield evil fruits, nor a bad tree to yield good fruits.
Every tree not yielding good fruit is cut down and cast into fire.
Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.
— Matthew 7:15–20, SRT
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus the Anointed One has come in the flesh is of God,
and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus the Anointed One has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the opponent of the Anointed One, which you heard was coming, and now is already in the world.
— I John 4:1–3, SRT
But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive factions, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.
And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of the truth will be spoken of as evil.
And in greed they will exploit you with fabricated words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
— II Peter 2:1–3, SRT
Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of God, which He acquired through His own blood.
For I know that after my departure savage wolves will enter among you, not sparing the flock.
And from among your own selves men will rise, speaking perverse things, to draw the disciples away after them.
Therefore watch, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease warning each one with tears.
— Acts 20:28–31, SRT
I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not receive us.
Therefore, if I come, I will call attention to the works he does, speaking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with this, he himself does not receive the brothers; he forbids those who wish to do so and casts them out of the assembly.
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God; he who does evil has not seen God.
— III John 1:9–11, SRT
The flock must be guarded from wolves outside and inside, from men who draw followers after themselves, and from Diotrephesian prominence, gatekeeping, vile speech, and expulsion-control.
Trial
Every doctrine, practice, counsel, ministry habit, and public word touching this matter must be tried by the Word.
- Does it confess Christ as Teacher, Leader, and Chief Shepherd?
- Does it order the assembly for building, not display?
- Does it test overseers and deacons by character?
- Does it forbid domineering while preserving true oversight?
- Does it correct, discipline, and restore according to the Word?
- Does it test false teachers and reject men who draw followers after themselves?
Settlement
We will not call domination oversight, disorder liberty, cruelty discipline, restoration compromise, or false teaching charity.
The assembly belongs to God, the flock was purchased with the blood of His own Son, and all things must be done for building up.