Elders

And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, (Revelation 11:16)

I have been brooding over this message for a very long time.

Interestingly, the reason it has taken so long before getting to start writing it is because I have been unable to get the opening statement as is said in legal jargon, or a punch line in journalistic lines.

This has allowed me so much time to develop it as I continue searching the scriptures.

Incidentally, that opening statement has refused to come and so you will allow me to proceed the message without one. As a result, it might appear jumbled as I am allowing my thoughts to be transferred to the computer as they come.

An African proverb says that a seated elder can see farther than a young man on the tallest mast.

This appears paradoxical but it is not.

If you went to a Bible concordance, you will realise that the word elder is mentioned in the scriptures from the beginning to the end, and that very prominently.

Do you realise that it is the elders who lead worship in heaven?

Do you also realise that in David’s time worship was led by elders guiding their families into the same? Asaph, Jeduthun, Korah, etc.

Why is that so yet in our generation we think the best worship leaders are youngsters because they can leap and dance? Do we even know what worship is?

That is but one among many responsibilities elders are supposed to handle in the community.

Do you realise, according to the scriptures, that all kings, godly, wicked, heathen, had elders as a key part of the kingdom? Do you realise that Rehoboam’s fall was due to the single reason that he overlooked the elders? Do you realise that Joash morphed from godly to wicked for the same reason? You may also notice that the Gibeonites were able to con Joshua into a covenant because he did not have elders since he was the oldest among them all when the Gibeonites had the elders to come up with that convincing ruse.

Yet this post is not about the world and its systems. It is about the church of Christ.

Who is an elder?

He is of course an old man.

But that is not really the complete description since age alone is very limiting in giving someone such a title.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. (Proverbs 16:31)

An elder is thus an old man who has grown old living an exemplary life. Or in church circles a person who has grown old serving God and living a holy life.

This takes me to the Levites and priests, a topic I have handled severally before, the post I can easily remember being ‘Ministry and Mortality’.

God ordered that they serve from thirty years to fifty.

This makes an elder an old person who is not in ‘active’ ministry. I will call him retired from ministry if it makes you feel better.

Why is this important?

The main reason is that they will not be in competition with anybody.

Somebody will go to him for counsel without being scared of him taking advantage of the information shared to upstage them. You can share your vision with him sure that he will not use it to diversify his ministry with your vision as happens very many times when someone shares their vision with a church needing partnership or support.

Let me give a small ‘testimony’ to illustrate what I mean.

One time a young man came seeking my input. He was stranded on things relationships and marriage. This because in the church we were serving there was an overabundance of eligible girls. How was he to know who a good girl was?

I showed him a girl I had discipled and ensured him that she was probably everything he was looking for.

He went with my information to a friend who like him was unmarried and asked him to advise.

Before he knew it, his friend was marrying the girl.

The other reason is that they will be able to soberly and patiently listen since they are not under any pressure from anywhere.

That single factor is the reason Gibeonites were able to dupe Joshua and his team since they required results.

The greatest need for elders is being able to see a wide panorama with the little information they receive. This means that they can, due to their long walk with and service to God be able to deduce the various outcomes for a much longer period than the visionary and his team. They are also able to see the motivations of some visions and decisions, again from the little interaction with those seeking his wisdom.

Let me say a few things about a proper elder.

The first is that he has to be outside the action. It is impossible to be wise in action.

We know about player coaches. But that is not only a rare occurrence but many times a desperate measure because a coach has left and the team is in the process of looking for another. Or the team is unable to afford one.

Many governments shoot themselves in the foot because they put their elders in offices and give them titles thinking the wisdom they possessed out there will be translated into performance. It always fails because nobody can give himself oversight. Venerable gospel ministers have dirtied their names big time when they left (or retired from) their pulpits to seek or occupy political positions.

You can’t see the whole battlefield when you are battling enemies there. You must be withdrawn from the battlefield to be able to give any useful oversight there.

David is the best king when we read the Bible. And the thing that stands out is his teams.

He used priests to know God’s will. He listened to prophets and did what they said. And thirdly he relied on elders as the sounding board for his leadership.

Also Jonathan David's uncle was a counsellor, a wise man, and a scribe: and Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the king's sons: And Ahithophel was the king's counsellor: and Hushai the Archite was the king's companion: (1Chronicles 27: 32, 33)

David had elders. One is elsewhere called the king’s friend.

When Absalom overthrew him, he sent Hushai to counter Ahithophel since only an elder can counter another one.

They didn’t occupy offices or have titles. But they were available to offer wisdom to the king. They were his friends. This means he was safe with them since they were not looking for anything from him.

The second is that they are not dependent on the system. What I mean is that they do not offer their services for pay. They are friends who will support, cheer, challenge someone to excel.

Remember Barzillai the Gileadite who fed David when he was fleeing from Absalom and his response when David wanted to pay him back for his sacrifice? He refused that offer.

In short, he was not ministering to David and his people because he was expecting anything in return. He was not like Mephibosheth’s servant.

Now that is your elder. Why would David refuse to give such a man audience or listen to anything he said?

Due to that, they simply cannot be compromised or threatened to agree with the boss. They will not be scared of the boss since he is not over them nor does he hold any sway over them.

Third is that they must be effectively older and have had a longer experience than the person they are guiding though there may be some exceptions.

It would be guesswork following guidance from someone younger since their experience is much narrower and their scope smaller.

Do you wonder why many churches fail?

The pastor is the oldest and thinks that he doesn’t need elders to guide the church under his care. Many choose the rich and powerful as their companions. And we wonder why many churches have become corporations at all levels!

Peter and John started out as apostles. But we later see them calling themselves elders.

We see Paul saying the same when he is writing his latter letters.

We can clearly see the authority they wield as elders, and it is not the authority to rule or perform, but to guide.

We can comfortably say that they grew through the system to get to that point.

You remember Moses’ father-in-law?

It was his detached level that could give him the counsel on the need for Moses to delegate, something Moses could never have been able to see for the challenges his leadership made him handle every single moment of his life.

Jethro had been a priest and leader of Midian and therefore understood leadership better than Moses who was on his first appointment. He had most probably gone through the burnout that he was advising Moses against. But it is important to realise that he had been a spiritual leader. That he got his wisdom from his spiritual experience.

That is not to say that all elders must have been ministers. I am only saying that the most effective wisdom for a minister must come from a minister. Others will only give general wisdom.

Another plus for an elder is his ability to balance between justice and mercy. As someone who has walked with God for a long time, he is able to extend mercy to the fledgling as well as be firm on the rebel.

Because he is detached from the action, he can be able to accurately assess the situations without bias since his only bias is in the direction of God and His standards.

An elder cannot be bought because he does not sit on those decision-making boards as he guides from outside. He also can’t be unfair to anybody since he does not make those decisions.

However, he is able to plead for the repentant because he understands human nature more than most. But he is very firm on the fakeness in some repentance for the same reason.

An elder is the sounding board for the church leadership and in extension the whole church. And I think this is probably the most poignant point I will make on this post.

That is why a priest retired at fifty so that he can become an elder.

Moses went to the elders before talking to Israel in Egypt. Paul addressed the fathers first in his address after his arrest in Jerusalem. And like I have already said earlier, the success of a king depended with his relationship to his elders and secondly by the spiritual stature of those elders.

You might also remember that Israel slid into idolatry after the deaths of the elders who outlived Joshua.

My verse for the elders is what the elder, John the revelator wrote.

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. (1John 2:14 a)

You might have noticed that the instruction on the father (what a spiritual elder really is) is repeated word for word in both verses.

That experience the has with God is the crowning part of his ministry since that is what he uses to minister to the church of Christ.

I will hasten to add that a deacon is not the equivalent of an elder.

A deacon serves the congregation while an elder guides the spiritual direction of the same congregation.

Both are indispensable to the congregation.

A pastor lies between those two; depending on the guiding arm of the elders even as he guides the ministering arm of the deacons.

Incidentally, their qualifications are the same, the only difference being age and that one is active in ministry while the other ‘watches’ over it, a ministry he understands well because he only left it because he had raised enough ministers to do it.

The only ministry the elders can do is teach as Peter and Paul say.

 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. (1Timothy 5:17)

This verse tells us one thing. The source of all these spurious doctrines we are handling is the lack of spiritual elders. Sadly, very few churches have any elders. Some have women elders. Others have young people, even unmarried, as elders. Their qualification for an elder is the status in society of the overabundance of gifts.

But the first qualification of an elder is age. Incidentally that is the same with a deacon and bishop. Then marriage. Then a long time in the faith. And then many other qualifications.

Removing the first qualification disqualifies the whole position.

The elder should be the among the oldest believers in a congregation. And it is better if he is older than the pastor.

But he must have a potent and vibrant relationship with Christ.

That is what the Bible clearly states.

The exceptions must be few but not sway too far from what the Bible says.

Allow me to stress that gifting is not part of the requirements of an elder. And from what I have shared you will agree with me.

Gifts are for performance, if I may call it that. Oversight and counsel do not require gifts.

An elder does not need to have been walking in charismata but in obedience to Christ’s revelation.

The gifts he possessed or walked in when he served are therefore irrelevant to his role as elder.

The only plus for gifts is when his ministry involves ministers walking in the giftings he walked in as his guidance could then get beyond counsel to guidance into the nitty gritty of the ministry. And that is something so wanting in our generation.

Ministers refuse to retire. Some even have problems going for sabbatical.

The few who retire either get into politics, political appointments or business. The ones who do not fly far off get into ministerial consultancy where they get paid for being elders.

Allow me to pause here for now.

I will continue on this topic later.