reFocus 08: John Neufeld

The last speaker at this year's conference was the Senior Pastor of Willingdon Church (the host church, of which reFocus Canada is a ministry), John Neufeld. He spoke on Wednesday morning on Elder Authority: God-Given Authority to Lead the Church. His text is 1 Peter 5:1-4.

Introduction

There is a crisis in expository preaching, but if there are going to be struggles in the local church, they are most likely to be in the area of leadership structure. We take models from the corporate or parliamentary world, then try to impose that on the church, and wonder why we are not pleasing God.

We have had great Canadian preachers in the past (T.T. Shields, Oswald Smith, A.B. Simpson, L.E. Maxwell, and Henry Hildebrand, for example) But where are such leaders today? Congregational governance in Canada has often adopted the parliamentary model, with church officers sometimes even seeing themselves as the "loyal opposition." And there is a tendency among Canadians to pull those who emerge as leaders back down to everyone else's level.

The consequences are frequent, messy church meetings; officers put in place according to popularity and not Scripture; and Pastors merited on everything but preaching the word. We see short pastoral tenures, with no investiture in the sheep (alluding to John 10:11-15).

Against this, Scripture is sufficient to direct the life of the congregation. There are Scriptural standards for conducting the life of the church. Within 1 Peter 5:1-4, we see the three words given for leadership in the New Testament*: elder, shepherd, and overseer ("exercising oversight," v. 2). These can also be translated as presbyter, pastor, and bishop. The terms denote not three different offices, but a single office under different names. This session will look at the significance of biblical eldership.

(*Excluding the apostolic office, which is foundational to the church and not to be built over and over again: it was a once-for-all office).

A. Why elders matter

1. God is now purifying His church through suffering

Pastor Neufeld started by reading from 1 Peter 4:12-19, the grammatical antecedent of 5:1-4. Peter tells us that the judgement has already begun, beginning with the "household of God" (v.17) Why has judgement already begun? Because God uses the tool of suffering (1 Peter 4:1-2) for judging and therefore purifying the church (1 Peter 1:6-7). Unlike the final judgement upon the world, this judgement is not for the purpose of condemnation, but for the purpose of purification.

2. Elders will uphold the word and help the church understand God's intent

Some but not all elders are teaching elders. Luther wrote that whoever teaches must ensure that it is well pleasing to God. So a teaching elder—a preacher—should speak the oracles of God, since this is what God wants to be declared. Quoting a local radio personality (a liberal Anglican, who in this case got it right), "It's not your house, and you don't get to pick the topics."

Without this guidance, the church will lurch forward, not knowing what its purpose is, and becoming uncertain or complacent in the hour of suffering.

B. Who elders are

1. They are spiritually mature men: not new believers

Why does Peter use the word "elder" (or rather, the Greek presbyterous)? Throughout the Old and New Testaments, elders play a role in leadership (Numbers 11:16-17; Acts 11:30, 14:23). In Acts 20:28-29, Paul exhorts the Ephesian elders to take care of their flock, since wolves will come in after him, to wage a contest against the church. The elders play a primary and fundamental role during such trials.

And they are men. In the Old Testament, elders appear to have been male. Then see Paul's counsel in 1 Timothy 2:12, which is explained in verse 13 because Adam was formed first, then Eve. The explanation of the command is grounded in creation: there is an order in creation. The man, Adam, is given federal headship over the human race, just as Christ, the second Adam, is also given federal headship over the human race.

2. They are a community of local leaders.

In 1 Peter 5:1, the apostle exhorts "the elders among you." The decisions happen at the local level, in the local church: not made by presbyters in a distant city. And Peter is not only an apostle, but "a fellow elder," giving local church leadership wherever he is.

3. Pastors are elders of the local church and vice-shepherds under Christ.

After the early church planters appointed "elders in every town" (Titus 1:5), how were they to be selected thereafter so as to continue the apostolic succession? At Willingdon Church, nominees for eldership must come from among the Bible study leaders, therefore demonstrating their shepherdship. The elders study 2 Timothy and Titus, weigh the nominee on that basis, say yea or nay, then it proceeds to the membership for a 75% vote.

4. They are men who will not run away in the day of suffering

Peter adds that he was "a witness of the sufferings of Christ" (consider the humility with which he must have written this, knowing what he was doing when Christ suffered). As Christ suffered, we suffer. The number one rule of pastoring is that you've got to know how to suffer. There is an elder in another church that is going through a crisis. He has heart trouble, and his family wants him to step down. His reply is that he will never abandon his post in the day of suffering.

C. What elders do

1. They shepherd

Those who are preaching and teaching elders (that is, pastors) feed the sheep (John 21:17), and defend the sheep from wolves (Acts 20:29). It is not enough to merely feed the sheep. You've got to call out the dogs to fight off the wolves who want to destroy the house of God. This means defending against deception and false teaching.

2. They exercise oversight

An overseer is one who gives oversight (1 Peter 5:2).

3. Some among them are called to preach and teach (1 Tim 5:17)

Hence, there are also non-teaching elders, whom we call upon to provide protection those who preach and teach, and with whom we share the load. This is why elders must pray together, study Scripture together, and be together in the principles of love and unity; otherwise, they will not stand the judgement in suffering that has already begun among us.

Elders will complement each other in spiritual gifts, as in the church as a whole. They too are shepherds: a church ought not to have decision makers who are not shepherds. But there must be officially delineated offices, otherwise there will be power plays.

D. Dangers in elder leadership

1. Compulsion

Eldership should not be undertaken because of pressure: everyone wants you to do it. Also, pastors late in their career may come under a feeling of wanting to leave but being trapped, being under compulsion to do what they do. But we need to thank God every day for our suffering and our calling.

2. Desire for gain

Eldership is a call to suffering for and with Christ. It is not a career.

3. Lust for power

Elders cannot lord it over others. The fundamental thing that we have is the power of our example. Everything we preach, teach, and lead people to do must be done in a powerless [i.e., not power-mongering] fashion, in imitation of the suffering of Christ.

E. Motivation for faithful elder leadership

"When the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory" (1 Peter 5:4). Roman generals crowned meritorious soldiers on the battlefield in such a way. We may be of no account in this world, but of great accounting before the Throne of God.

Our calling as elders is a calling to do what the Chief Elder calls us to do (paraphrasing Walter Martin). Referencing Bruce Ware's first session (III-B), Jesus Christ woke up every morning to do the will of His Father, and so too should we wake up every morning to do the will of His Son.

In the day of suffering, when the church suffers and we suffer, Jesus Christ calls us to stay where we are (John 10:11-15), and to be "faithful over a little," so that we may inherit much on the last day (Matthew 25:23).

After the session

Whew! Six electrifying conference sessions in less than 48 hours! We were almost finished, but not quite. Assistant Worship Pastor Andy Frew came to the stage. He told us there's a decibel meter in the room to manage sound levels, but that on Monday evening before Bruce Ware's opening session, we sang Charles H. Gabriel's My Savior's Love (a.k.a. I Stand Amazed in the Presence) with such passion—especially when Pastor Frew stepped away from the mike and stopped playing his guitar, and we sang a capella en masse—that we blew the decibel meter. So it was time for another rousing version of that song, and the energy in the room was palpable. (This is the same room—our chapel—where 24 hours after I gave myself over to Christ, I was so overcome during a worship session that I was down on my knees for 15 minutes crying and repenting for my sins. God is awesome in this place!) And so we came to the chorus and sang:

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior's love for me!

By His grace, and for His glory!

reFocus 08 Q & A: Expositional Preaching

Senior Pastor John Neufeld introduced three of our guest speakers: David Short, rector of St John's (Shaughnessy) Anglican Church in Vancouver, BC; R. Kent Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus at College Church in Wheaton, IL; and Bruce Ware, Associate Dean and Professor of Christian Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Serminary. They along with Pastor Neufeld are answering questions about expositional preaching. Our questioner is Stephen Kroeker, the pastor of Manitou Mennonite Brethren Church in Manitou, Manitoba.

1. How would you define expositional preaching? What is and what isn’t?

Hughes: It's not simply a running commentary where pastor goes through verse by verse and connects the thoughts together, which is characterized as very boring. It's also not an exegetical discourse where the pastor indulges in mere wordplay. It's also not coming with presuppositions and imposing them on the text: imposition, as opposed to exposition. It's also not a place where the preacher looks at the text, approaches it existentially, and relates whatever thoughts bubble into his mind.

Expositional preaching is when the preacher reads the text within the context of the book he is reading, and knows it well enough that he knows what the theme of that passage is; and then uses the structure of that text as a hint for the symmetry and structure of the sermon. Also, relating that passage into its place in the whole history of salvation and its relationship to Jesus Christ. Then applying the text to his own life. And finally standing in the power of the Holy Spirit and delivering the Word of God.

Pastor Neufeld then asked R. Kent Hughes, many pastors know how to exegete a text, but they don't know how to apply. Hughes' reply is that the text is an application in its original context, to its original audience. So if the pastor understands what the original context was, then the application will emerge. Expositional preaching is a dynamic and passionate process and should ideally come from within the heart.

2. Why the big emphasis on expositional preaching? (Especially if we allow that a doctrinal message can also be faithful to scripture and profoundly deep/meaty)

Hughes: There are places for topical, textual sermons. But Scripture was given by the Holy Spirit. The text is sovereign. The text rules. He wants to stand behind the text, not in front of it, as so many do today. The Word of God is totally sufficient.

Neufeld: Expositional preaching takes twice as long to prepare, but he never wonders, "What am I going to preach this week?" The Holy Spirit determines what to preach by what has been ordained in Scripture (my paraphrase). He does not preach the things that occur to him, but the things that occur in the text.

Short: Expositional preaching delivers our congregations from our own hobby horses. If we preach Luke 20, we need to have first preached Luke 19. What is more relevant to us than Scripture? If we work on any particular passage and determine what God means in this passage, application will emerge.

Hughes: The Word of God is radical. Example: Dr. Ware's explorations of Daniel 4 and Isaiah 40 earlier in the morning (see notes here). By treating those texts in their context, the audience was electrified.

Ware: Expositional preaching determines that we preach the whole counsel of God—even the unfashionable things like hell and judgement. ...Unless you're a very clever expositional preacher who can dance around things like that. No methodology is a guarantee of anything. You have to have the heart, the desire, the make the emphases that God makes, and the applications that He wants people to receive.

It's possible to do topical exegetical sermons, e.g., on atonement, Christology, or exclusivity of the Gospel. On these topics, one can approach Scripture almost as if were the testimony of the witnesses. What are Ezekiel, Isaiah, or Paul saying about God on the witness stand? You'd better be faithful to the text, though.

3. Why has God chosen preaching? What’s the unique feature that sets it apart from other forms of communication? Certainly preaching is not the only form of communication used in the New Testament, we see God using conversation to radically transform lives as well.

Short: Scripture doesn't distinguish between preaching to one and preaching to many. The relationship of God to the world is through His Word. God made us from dust and breath. As human beings we are constituted both externally and internally to respond to the Word of God. When Satan comes along, he assails the reliability of the Word of God.

Rev. Short referred us to 2 Peter 1. We have apostolic witnesses. Peter cites the Transfiguration to back up his testimony. This is ambiguous, however: we know from Luke that Peter didn't really understand the Transfiguration at the time it happened. But it was through the Word of God that we was made to understand it.

4. What elements of preaching must always be there, and what elements can and need to change as the audience/context changes? (If we are committed to expositional preaching, but our preaching seems ineffective, what might we look to change about our preaching?)

Hughes: We have to understand that the Holy Spirit, when He authored the text, had a future audience (as well as a present audience) in mind. He begins with the Word of God and what it says, with confidence that its principles will communicate today.

Short: If you read Augustine's or Chrysostom's or Bernard of Clairvaux's or Calvin's sermons today, you could preach and apply them to a contemporary congregation with very few changes.

Ware: Cultural diversity is huge, but what is bigger is common humanity that spans time and cultures. Far too much emphasis is put on cultural relativity, and not nearly enough emphasis is put on common humanity. We all struggle with the same things. Consider Jeremiah 9:23—that is just as relevant to us today as it was in Jeremiah's time.

Neufeld: Congregants should be able to go home, read the passage one has just preached on, and be able to say, "Yes, that's what he just said."

Hughes cited Twain (a non-believer) who said, "It's not what I don't understand about the Bible that bothers me; it's what I do understand." Scripture is comprehensible.

Short: There's some idea that we can gain some kind of special insight by understanding how to make Scripture relevant to contemporary culture, but Scripture doesn't need that. (My paraphrase.)

5. As Canadian pastors, we are greatly influenced by American pastors, theologians and authors. What is unique about the Canadian situation? And, should that affect our ministry, or is the need in both countries the same?

Neufeld: Evangelical pastors are not invited into the national discussion forums. Our voice is not invited, sought, or to the most part even heard, in the nation as a whole. We live in a time very much like the New Testament era, in a pagan culture with no coherent centre. Nevertheless, this culture still claims the authority

Are all the great authors and writers in the US? We claim D.A. Carson as our own, being born in Canada. There are and have been many great Canadian pastors and theologians.

Ware: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has three up-and-coming Canadian theologians on its staff, one of whom has written a book on belivers' baptism (it was a gentle jab at the evangelical Anglican on our panel).

Short: Some observations on local cultural differences. E.g., he lives in Shaughnessy, where many residents are caught up in keeping up with the Joneses (to paraphrase). Canadians generally have an over-rosy view of human nature, overly positive, self-righteous about our peacekeeping role in the world, etc. As a consequence, the "clarity passages" in the Bible are very difficult to deal with.

6. How do you preach/lead in such a way that the church remains focused on Jesus and is not you as pastor? (or How do you preach in a compelling way that makes people say, "Wow. Isn’t Jesus amazing!" and not, "Wow. That pastor is really something else!")

Short: Lazy preachers are the ones who congregations think well of. If you study Scripture, the text always points to Jesus Christ. If we're lazy in our study or preparation, we'll throw a couple of ideas together with some heartrending stories, and then that's when people walk away thinking, "Isn't that pastor amazing?"

As pastors, we have to be humble, and show evidence to our congregations of progressing of growing in our walk with God (to paraphrase).

Hughes: You've got to stand behind the Bible, and everything you do (in preaching) has to serve the Word. When Hughes started out as a pastor, he loaded the text with a lot of illustrations. Over the years, he has moved away from this practice, since illustration can detract from or overpower the text. Because the text is sovereign, he wants the illustrations he uses (sparingly) to serve the text. They are only to be used judiciously when the time is right.

7. How do you preach to a multicultural audience? Sometimes it seems hard enough to communicate an ancient story to a contemporary mono-cultural audience...

Neufeld: Our sermons are simultaneously translated into seven different languages. The translators get a sermon manuscript ahead of time, so they have time to prepare. Other-language believers and

Many congregants are first-generation Canadians, many of them or Chinese or Korean origin, and are highly receptive to the Gospel. Those who have grown up in this culture are often more resistent to the Gospel—it takes eight or nine times to hear the Gospel before one repents and is saved (to paraphrase).

Amazingly, the Holy Spirit anticipated issues that we might not even have expecte. For example, he preached a sermon series on 1 Corinthians regarding meat sacrifices to idols, and got a lot of emails afterwards from Chinese Canadian believers who are struggling with this very issue in their families today.

8. How do you preach to both believers and unbelievers at the same time? In your ministry, do you focus on one over the other?

Neufeld: You can be encouraging the faith of both the believer and the non-believer. So many say you have to be "seeker-sensitive" to reach the lost, but genuine, bona fide non-believers out there want the truth straight up. Tell it the way it's written, and the Holy Spirit will regenerate those whom God calls.

Of course people will be offended. We have many non-believers coming here each weekend. There are some who are offended and leave, but there has never been a weekend when someone hasn't come to Christ.

9. What do you do to ensure that you are not preaching on talent alone, but are relying on the Holy Spirit? (Both in the process of studying and in preaching.)

Hughes: Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that a pastor can be pleased with the sermon he's prepared, without any dependence on the Holy Spirit, and effects a false passion, which is a very seductive thing. It's a matter of constant repentance and dependence upon God and submission to His Word.

Neufeld: He was preaching from Philemon on reconciliation. He thought he had it all worked out, but something happened the day before to convict him of the truths in that letter. He trusts that the Holy Spirit will awaken him on whatever he's preaching on.

Ware: The self-suffiency of God. When he first encountered this doctrine, he was transformed. Everything we have is a gift of God, and anything we have to contribute is His doing and by His grace. Do we struggle? Yes, we are still sinners. But Ware is grateful to God for His mercy in revealing His self-sufficiency to him early in his life.

Short: This is delicate, but if we rely on our gifts and not on the Spirit, we have a ministry that is shallow, and God will deal with us. He will not allow that to continue.

Hughes: The gift of gab and a great presence in front of people can be a great disability. God's strength is perfected in weakness.

10. How does biblical theology fit in, if we are only to “say what the text says”? How do you preach a single passage within the context of the meta-narrative of Scripture?

Short: The sermons one hears in evangelical churches tend to take a text and use it as a springboard to talk about other things. E.g., preaching on God's call of and promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, and interpreting

Exodus is about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Every time you preach on Exodus, you need to preach on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus said that all Scriptures bear witness to Him. When we preach on Zechariah, Hebrews, or Leviticus, people need to go away with a greater understanding of who Jesus is.

Finally, to wrap up, Pastor Kroeker asked Rector Short if he could recommend any books on this subject (apart from the Bible itself, if I may expand upon what he said!). Reverent Short recommended Vaughan Roberts' book God's Big Picture: Tracing the Story-Line of the Bible (Intervarsity Press, September 2006), which is a short, readable book built upon Graeme Goldsworthy's work.