1. Christ Above the Assembly
You, however, must not be called 'Teacher'; because I alone am your Teacher, and you are all brothers! And upon earth call none your father; for One is your Father, He Who is in heaven. Neither select leaders; for One is your Leader, the Messiah. But the greatest among you shall become an attendant: and whoever sets himself up shall be brought low; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
— Matthew 23:8–12, FFT
But Jesus, calling them to Him, said: "You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their strong ones oppress them; but it must not be so among you. On the contrary, whoever desires to be promoted among you, let him be your attendant; and whoever may desire to take rank among you, let him be your servant: just as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give up His own life as a ransom for many."
— Matthew 20:25–28, FFT
Christ forbids religious title-domination and Gentile-style lordship. The greatest must become an attendant.
2. Order for Building
What then is it, brethren? If when you meet, each of you has a hymn, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a language, has as explanation, let all be for education.
— I Corinthians 14:26, FFT
for God is not disturbance, but peace in all the assemblies of the saints.
— I Corinthians 14:33, FFT
But let everything be decorous and orderly.
— I Corinthians 14:40, FFT
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, Apostles; some, preachers; some, missionaries; and some, pastors and teachers: for the training of the holy in useful work, to construct the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the comprehension of the Son of God; to a perfect manhood, to the standard height of the perfection of Christ: so that we may be no longer raw recruits, wavering and reeling at every breath of the training, by human cunning with villainy, perverting it into an instrument for error; but, following the truth in love, until we attain the whole in Him, Who is the Head Christ; from Whom all the body, harmoniously constructed and balanced through every joint of the combination, with proportionate energy in each of its limbs, the body may grow up an edifice in love with itself.
— Ephesians 4:11–16, FFT
What, then, is Apollos? and what is Paul?—ministers by whom you believed, and each endowed as the Lord decided. I planted, Apollos watered; but God prospered it. Consequently, the planter is nothing, nor the waterer; but God Who prospered it. Yet the planter and the waterer are equal; and each will receive his own pay, according to his own work for we are both God's workmen. You are God's farm—God's building.
— I Corinthians 3:5–9, FFT
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
This word is true. If any one aspires to an overseership, he desires a noble work. The overseer should, however, be unassailable, the husband of one wife, watchful, sober, orderly, hospitable, taught; not a drunkard, nor a pugilist, nor an extortioner; gentle; not contentious; not avaricious; regulating his own house well, keeping his children in obedience with all propriety. For if any one does not know how to govern his own family, how can he take care of a Divine assembly? Not a new convert; lest inflated he should fall into the crime of the Devil, being intoxicated with pride. And he ought also to have a fair reputation with the outsiders, so that he may not fall into reproach and the accuser's trap.
— I Timothy 3:1–7, FFT
Deacons likewise should be grave; not deceitful, nor addicted to much wine, nor greedy for money: but preserving the secret of the faith with a pure understanding. And let these be tested first; afterwards, being proved irreproachable, they may serve. The women as well should be grave; not slanderers; watchful; faithful in everything. Deacons must be husbands of one wife, and governing their children and their own houses well; for they who have served nobly, acquire to themselves an honoured station, and much freedom of speech in the faith which is with Christ Jesus.
— I Timothy 3:8–13, FFT
But about this time, when the number of the disciples kept increasing, a complaint came from the Hellenists (or Grecian Jews) against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the distribution of relief. The twelve then convened the body of the disciples, and said, "It is not desirable that we should have to neglect the Divine teaching, in order to attend to mere money matters; therefore, brothers, choose from among yourselves seven men of attested character, full of spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint to look after this business. But we will ourselves constantly attend to prayer, and to the office of teaching." And the suggestion pleased the whole assembly: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of holy spirit; Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a convert from Antioch, whom they presented to the apostles; and having prayed, they laid their hands upon them.
— Acts 6:1–6, FFT
Overseers and deacons must be tested. Ordered service protects widows and preserves prayer and teaching.
5. Shepherds, Not Lords
I left you in Crete for this purpose, that you might set affairs right upon a permanent basis; and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you— if any one is blameless, a man of one wife, having believing children, and not under accusation for profligacy or vice. For an overseer ought to be irreproachable as a Divine steward; neither brutish, nor passionate, nor a drunkard, nor a rioter, nor avaricious: but, on the contrary, hospitable, beneficent, grave, just, godly, temperate; and capable to teach the reason of the faith, so that he may be able both to advise in the healthy doctrine and to convince its opponents.
— Titus 1:5–9, FFT
I therefore entreat you old men, as an old man, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a participator of the majesty which is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among which you are exercising the oversight, not unwillingly, but willingly; not for the sake of sordid gain, but from good disposition; not as domineering over the charge entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd makes His appearance, you shall be rewarded with the unfading crown of honour.
— I Peter 5:1–4, FFT
Be obedient to your leaders, and orderly; for they watch over your souls as having to give an account; so that they may do this joyfully, and not sorrowfully; for that injures yourselves.
— Hebrews 13:17, FFT
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
"If your brother ever wrongs you, go and remonstrate with him while you are by yourselves. If he should listen to you, you will have won your brother over; but if he will not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that by the evidence of two or three witnesses the whole affair may be settled. Then, if he will not listen to them, report it to the assembly; and if he also refuses to listen to the assembly, let him be to you just as a heathen and a tax-farmer.
— Matthew 18:15–17, FFT
Brethren, if a man among you should fall into some sin, you who are spiritual restore him in a spirit of mildness; looking to yourself, for fear you also should be tempted. Support one another's burdens, and so perfect the law of Christ.
— Galatians 6:1–2, FFT
It is commonly reported there is depravity among you, and such depravity as never is among the heathen: that is, some one has married a wife of his father. And you are self elated! But should you not rather be sorrowfully indignant; so that the person who has done this deed might be expelled from among you? For I, although absent in body yet present in spirit, have decided already, as if I were present, that the person who has done this shall be delivered in the name of our Lord Jesus—my spirit and yours agreeing together, in the authority of our Lord Jesus, to deliver that fellow to Satan—for destruction of the flesh; so that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord.
— I Corinthians 5:1–5, FFT
If one man has been distressed, that has not distressed me; except partially, because I would not burden you all. The punishment is better for such a fellow, than that it should be upon you all; however, you should now rather cheer and console him, for fear that excessive reproof may drown him. I would advise you, therefore, to punish him in love;
— II Corinthians 2:5–8, FFT
but if any one does not obey our order by this letter, mark him, and do not associate with him—so that he may turn again. Do not, however, regard him as an enemy; but rather correct him as a brother.
— II Thessalonians 3:14–15, FFT
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 guard yourselves from the false teachers, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but who in their hearts are plundering wolves. You can recognize them by their fruits. Do they ever gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Thus every useful tree produces useful fruit; but the worthless tree produces worthless fruit. A useful tree cannot produce bad fruit; nor can a worthless tree produce good fruit. Every tree not producing good fruit will be felled and used as firewood. Reject their produce; for by this you can recognize them.
— Matthew 7:15–20, FFT
Friends, don't believe every thinker; but test the teachings, whether they emanate from God: because many false teachers have gone out into the world. By this you can recognize the teacher from God: every teacher acknowledging that Jesus Christ came bodily is from God; and every teacher who does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This, then, is the test of the antagonist of Christ, whose coming you have heard of; and now he is already in the world.
— I John 4:1–3, FFT
But false prophets also came among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will shuffle in destructive errors, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing speedy destruction upon themselves. Many also will follow them in their debaucheries, on account of whom the Way of the truth will be defamed; and in greed they will trade upon you with a fine flow of delusive reasons. Their conviction, long recorded, will not be deferred; and their destruction will not be postponed.
— II Peter 2:1–3, FFT
Guard yourselves, as well as the whole of the fold in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you shepherds, to nourish the church of God, which He has purchased with the blood of His own Son. I know that after my departure ferocious wolves shall come in among you, not sparing the little flock; yes, from among your own selves men will spring up, speaking pervertingly, in order to draw followers after themselves. Because of this, be on your guard: remembering that for the space of three years I never failed to warn every one night and day with tears.
— Acts 20:28–31, FFT
I wrote something to the assembly; Diotrephes, however, who likes to make himself prominent among them, rejects us. If I come, therefore, I will make him remember his conduct, sneering at us with vile expressions; and indeed, not content with these, he did not receive the brethren, and hindered those who would, and expelled them from the assembly. Do not, friend, imitate the bad, but the good. The well-doer is from God; the wrong-doer has not seen God.
— III John 1:9–11, FFT
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.