When we think of self what do we think of?

I think our minds go straightaway to self denial. Tim Keller has written an excellent book on self forgetfulness. I have often found myself giving the advice to people that you need to forget your self, don’t focus on your self. We see self love as a problem. In our culture, when someone is described as being full of one’s self, that is a bad thing. Philippians 2 tells us to consider others as more important than oneself. 

But I also think sometimes we present self too simply. Our view of self needs to be more nuanced than that. The New Testament speaks of self in different ways.

Before we come to the Lord’s Table, we are to consider ourselves (1 Cor 11 v 28). In 2 Corinthians 13, we are to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith.  Romans 6 v 11 is one of the key verses for believers in how we live out the Christian life, “Reckon yourself, consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God.” (Romans 6 v11)

These verses tell us that our concept of self matters. We have to understand who we are and what is our identity.

If we have too high a view of ourselves, we will become proud and conceited. We will be devastated when we inevitably sin or face criticism. Too low a view of ourselves will show itself in looking for acceptance and identity by what we do or achieve. It can lead us looking for affirmation in all the wrong places. I have been been struck that those of us in Christian leadership can easily fall into these extremes, in fact we can find ourselves struggling with both too high a view and too low a view in one day!

So I want us to think about what we need to understand about ourselves as elders to enable us to fulfil this role. To consider ourselves, reckon ourselves.

First of all, an elder must have a belief in the sovereignty of God. He is the Lord of the universe and he rules over all the earth. Before the foundation of the world God set his love upon you, he chose you in Christ. There has never been a time when God did not love you.

In time, at a certain point of history, God sent his son Jesus Christ to live for you and to die for you, to rise for you, to ascend for you, to sit at his Father’s right for you, and one day he will come again for you. “The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2 v 20)

We must know that it is this God who has worked in the elder’s life by the Spirit bringing him to faith in Jesus Christ and new life. It is by God’s Spirit he enables us to put sin to death.

There is nothing which I have written here that is not true for every Christian, but it must be the testimony of every elder. These things must be known and experienced: we are sheep before we are shepherds.

Secondly, an elder must have the belief that he has been shaped by God’s providence.

The elder must know that the Holy Spirit has been preparing him for service. Through years of experience as a christian and by means of his experience in church in which he serves, God has been providentially at work. His appointment to the eldership by the church and presbytery was not a mistake but God’s hand was clearly in it. Men do not put themselves onto the eldership. Good churches have a process for appointing elders where there is input from the elders and a vote by the congregation, and the involvement of Presbytery. Elders were not ordained by accident or mistake.

The elder can look back and see something – not everything of course – but something of the providence of God in bringing him to the point of Ordination and Installation.

Elders are where they are not by any mistake. Elders are in the church they are in because of God’s sovereignty. Elder: the circumstances of your life, the difficulties, all that you have gone through, are not an accident or have occurred by blind chance, but all has occurred due to the loving sovereign hand of God. God has so worked in your background and shaped you to this point. 

Thirdly, the elder must know he’s been called by God through his Spirit and by his people.

The desire for the work of an overseer is an excellent thing (1 Timothy 3 v 1). There needs to be a willingness on the part of the elder to do this work and give himself to it.God’s people have recognised him and so there is a desire by the congregation for the elder to shepherd them. There has been a period of training for becoming an elder, and in our context, there is also the involvement of presbytery and the role they play in guarding, training, examining, appointing, ordaining.

All of that is to say elders have not put themselves into their position, but God through his church and by his Spirit has put the elder into it. 

God is the one who calls and so an elder acts under Christ’s authority. Elders are shepherds, but are under shepherds.

This understanding of who elders are in Christ and what they’ve been called to do by Christ should give elders a dignity and a responsibility. Being an overseer of God’s people speaks of privilege and authority.

I think this is particularly helpful when it comes to pastoral work. Elders need to recognise they are not our own, but are stewards in God’s house. It is his church, his flock, his people, his work. Yet, he has delegated his authority to elders, he has given them keys to his kingdom. What do keys do? Open and close doors. So the elders are given these keys to use in Christ’s church.

Elders speak with an authority they’ve been given. In Ordination, an authority is given to the elder. I often say to a couple the night before a wedding that the most important thing that will happen tomorrow is what you can’t see. It is what God does: “What God has joined together let no man separate”. In Ordination, by the laying on of hands God sets apart his elders. There is something definitively different before an elder gets on his knees and after he get up from his knees – God has done something. Elders are different whether they feel it or not after the act of Ordination.

There is an obvious danger to this: abuse of the position. This is seen throughout scripture. There have always been false shepherds, lording it over the flock which is a perennial danger, where leadership is domineering. The power goes to the elder’s head. The abuse of the position though does not negate the right use of the authority an elder is given.

This act by God in Ordination enables elders to deal straightforwardly with Christ’s flock. Elders do not have to manipulate. Sadly there is a lot of that manipulation in conservative evangelicalism. I sometimes think that the obsession with 121 bible studies and personal work can lead to an unhealthy dependence on one person. We need to say to people I’m your elder not your guru. 

The ways in which elders can manipulate are manifold. Elders can make someone feel special, helping them feel like they have the inner track. The elder might not even be aware of it but loyalty is being bought in this instance. Even in communication by notes and messages, elders must do so out of genuine love and concern. I’ve known leaders who use those communications to keep people on side. It is a fine line between showing genuine concern and needing people to be kept on side.

In the last 30 years, it has been popular to decry a call to ministry. It a reaction against a false super-spiritual approach to people entering ministry. However, it has had devastating effects. People have been told any Christian should think and pursue full time ministry and we have ended up with many people who shouldn’t be publicly preaching. It has been to the detriment of themselves and the congregations they serve. That is not to doubt their sincerity, but just to say they would have been more fruitful in other vocations. In the last 5 years, with the cost of living and ministry being more difficult and with allegations thrown at leaders regularly, ministry has become less attractive to young people. The chickens have come home to roost. If you keep telling people there is no such thing as a call to ministry, it is no surprise that the long term effect of this being, unsurprisingly, people haven’t been called.

As ministers and elders in the UK haven’t had a sense of self and calling, leaders have led through manipulation. You remove accountability also, and that gives you some indication as to why some of the abuse scandals that have rocked the church have taken place.

The opposite problem – which is equally likely – is that elders become timid. There arise shepherds who are terrified of offending the sheep, nervous about leading and conflict averse. I suspect this may well be more of an issue than we like to admit. All of us want to be liked and the elder is no different. Elders like to be counted as peoples’ friends, the desire itself not being wrong, but it can get in the way of good shepherding. The parent who desperately wants to be their child’s friend will be incapable of disciplining them. Elders must love the flock, but must be willing to not be liked. The sheep don’t always love the shepherd. 

The elder having an understanding of self will realise they are under shepherds, called by Christ to this work, which gives an elder dignity and poise, enabling them to speak the truth in love with gentleness. It also enables elders to be realistic, to evaluate and appreciate their particular gifts, understand their strengths and weaknesses. It should give them a willingness to take feedback and accept their limitations.

It also enables elders to persevere in their responsibilities even when faced with tremendous difficulties. What keeps an elder going is that they are called to this work by God. What this understanding should do is it give to an elder a sense of dignity and authority but it should also be humbling. 

The model in many ways is the Apostle Paul in his understanding of himself, that he was the least of the least (which is impossible!). He lived his life in the awareness of his past sins: he could never forget that he was there when Stephen was stoned, giving approval. (Acts 8 v 1; 22 v 20). He lived in the light of his past righteousness – there things he once boasted in which now he realised were worthless.  His present reality was struggles (2 Corinthians 11 v 23-29). Allied to all of this, he saw clearly the dignity and privilege of who he was. He was an Ambassador, an Apostle, a Minister of Christ Jesus.

We can see throughout his ministry the balance of authority and humility.

Elders can be like dogs! There are ones that growl at you grumpily but they scurry off if you come near them. There are those who will do anything for you if you scratch their ears or tummy. There are ones that cower and look with wide eyes at you desiring pity. There are elders who who grovel  and compromise and apologise at the slightest trouble. There are men who will do anything if you give them a pat on the head.

If you are an elder, God chose you in eternity, he created you and he shaped you into the person he wanted and he called you to his service and ordained you. He has given you an authority. Dignity and humility is the biblical self concept. Elders should seek to develop and grow in these things as we live with its tension and complexity. We are sinners and we are saints. We are beggars we are princes.

Which is exactly what God says in Psalm 113:7

“He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.”

I originally got the the idea for this article from Knox Chamblin’s book “Paul and the self” & an address given by Edward Donnelly at the Banner of Trust Ministers conference in the 1980s. I am pretty sure the elders as dogs illustration comes from him.