What does First B Jackson teach about elders?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on elders is rooted in 1 Peter 5, and both Pastor Carl and Pastor Ray have preached it as a passage that belongs to anyone who leads anyone, not only to the men who serve on the elder board. The charge Peter gives is a single imperative, shepherd, and everything else in those verses describes how that shepherding is to be done. Pastor Ray, working through every verse of 1 Peter in order, noted that Peter refuses to speak from above the people he is addressing. The chief apostle calls himself a fellow elder, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and places himself in the crowd before he issues any command at all.
Peter layers three contrasts under that one imperative. Oversight is to be exercised not under compulsion but voluntarily. Not for sordid gain, a word the teaching traces to something sneaky and unheard of, but with eagerness. And not by lording a position over the flock but by proving to be an example to them. Both Pastor Carl and Pastor Ray pressed the hard questions that belong before those contrasts: Why are you in this work at all? Were you pushed into it by someone other than God, or by family expectation, or by the feeling that no one else will do it? Were you drawn by a desire for appreciation or an audience? Those questions are not rhetorical. The passage itself answers each one.
The Titus 1 teaching from Pastor Brian adds a further dimension. An elder holds firm to the trustworthy word as it was taught, not to generate something new but to pass on what was received without adding to it or taking away from it, so that he can give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke what contradicts it. The reward Peter promises for faithful shepherding is an unfading crown of glory, but Peter is clear that it belongs to the moment when the chief shepherd appears, not before.
Taught from 1 Peter 5:1-3 · 1 Peter 5 · Titus 1:5-16 · 1 Peter 3:1-7 · Titus 1:1-4
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
23 For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread.
24 When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.”
25 In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- November 4, 2018 Shepherd the Flock Among You Pastor Ray walks through 1 Peter 5, asking what truly drives those who lead God's people, and calling elders and all believers to shepherd with humility and eagerness.
- November 4, 2018 Shepherd the Flock Among You A Wyoming pastor walks through 1 Peter 5:1-3, asking hard questions about why anyone leads, and what faithful shepherding actually looks like.
- July 15, 2018 Hold Firm to the Trustworthy Word Titus 1:5, 16 examined: what Scripture says about church leadership, truth versus deception, and why the gospel must not be added to or taken away from.