The commission has scheduled a meeting on May 30 to examine Jonathan, Rolf and Shane. If those exams go well, then they will call a congregational meeting in early July to hold an election for ruling elder. The ordination service could be held the following Sunday.

But then what? What will they be doing? In the elder training class, we have spent the last few weeks examining the duties of the session. One of those duties--and perhaps the one that you will notice the most--is a regular system of visitation. One of the hallmarks of Reformed pastoral care is the practice of home visitation. Many of you have received such visits over the years, and you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. But for others this may be entirely new. So I would like to set forth the biblical and theological rationale for why we do this.

The elders are charged with the oversight of the church, and have been called by the Holy Spirit (verse 28) to shepherd the flock.

In Acts 20, Paul reminds the Ephesian elders of his own pastoral practice during his three years at Ephesus. Paul speaks of both the content and the mode of his teaching. In verse 20 he refers to how he has not shrunk from "declaring to you anything that was profitable." In verse 21 he says that testified "both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." In verse 24 he says that his ministry consists of testifying "to the gospel of the grace of God." In verse 25 he speaks of it as "proclaiming the kingdom," while in verse 27 he insists that he has declared "the whole counsel of God."

Notice how Paul relates all of these together. In verses 20-21 he is explaining his service to the Lord. The "anything that was profitable," is explained in his testifying of repentance and faith. There is a sense in which everything profitable for you to hear is summarized in these words. Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ summarizes the entire content of Paul's preaching. Likewise in verses 24-25 Paul summarizes his preaching by calling it "testifying to the gospel of the grace of God," which he then explains as "proclaiming the kingdom." The gospel, after all, is simply the proclamation that Jesus is Lord. It is the proclamation of Jesus' death, resurrection, and exaltation to the right hand of the Father. It is preaching of who Christ is, what he has done, who we are in Christ, and what that means for our lives.

And Paul tells the Ephesian elders that their calling is part of this same gospel: "Care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood" (v28). The church is not an afterthought to the plan of salvation. In our catechetical series we have covered the historia salutis (the history of salvation accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ) and we have looked at the ordo salutis (the order or application of redemption through union with Christ), but we have not yet looked at the last part of the catechism on the via salutis (the way of salvation-or how we participate in Christ in history). The reason why Paul insists upon that the elders give "careful attention" to the flock is because God himself his obtained her with his own blood. The eternal Son of God became one of us, and offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins. And notice that Paul does not say that Jesus died for each individual. He died for the church. Therefore the church is an essential part of the gospel that Paul preached.

And Paul says that because he has faithfully proclaimed this gospel, "I am innocent of the blood of all of you."

What is the implication? If Paul had been delinquent in his preaching, he would have been guilty of the blood of the Ephesian church. This is the same thing that Hebrews 13:17 says. "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account." The elders must give an account to Christ for how they took care of you. After all, you are the bride of Christ. Christ has charged his elders with caring for his bride, preparing her for the wedding supper. That's exactly how Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 11:2 "I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." And in 2 Corinthians, Paul expresses the same concern as he does in Acts 20: That false teachers will deceive the church and draw them away from Christ.

In 2 Corinthians it sounds like this: "I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." Or in Acts 20:29: "I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them." And just as in Paul's day, there are many false gospels out there; there are many false Christs. There are wolves in sheep's clothing--or to put it better--wolves in shepherd's clothing.

Paul makes it clear that the elders are to imitate his teaching. They are to continue proclaiming the whole counsel of God, the gospel of the grace of God, and proclaiming the kingdom. They must continue to testify both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. As he puts it in verse 28, "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood."

And just as the elders are called to imitate Paul's message, so also are they to imitate Paul's method. We don't have the details of Paul's daily pastoral care, but we do have the general pattern: "Teaching you in public and from house to house." The preaching of the Word in the public worship of God is essential to the spiritual health of the church. But so is the "house to house" teaching of the elders.

When I'm preaching from the pulpit, I do not try to make specific applications to you individually. Public preaching sets forth the general and corporate implications of the gospel, but in the "house to house" teaching, we can get to individual matters more easily. The home Bible studies have been one step in that direction. But elder visits take another step. How should you think about an elder visit? Think about it the same way you think about preaching. In the proclamation of the Word, Christ speaks to his church through his appointed messenger. In the visitation of the elders, Christ visits your home through his ordained representatives. He has commissioned these men to be his agents in caring for you, and in teaching you the way of life.

The purpose of such visits is threefold: 1) to strengthen you in the faith, 2) to encourage you in the worship and service of God, and 3) to promote the fellowship and communion of the church.

Or to summarize, the purpose of elder visitation is to apply the Word of God to your particular situation. The "house to house" teaching of the elders is an important part of the teaching ministry of the church.

The first visit or two may feel a little awkward for some of you. That's understandable. We're so individualistic that it may seem odd to have the elders come to you and ask all sorts of questions. And some of the questions may seem rather personal. The elders will ask about your marriage, your children, and your finances. You may wish--especially at first--to give very vague, general answers. And that's fine. There needs to be a relationship of trust before you open up any wounds. But as that trust develops, I would encourage you to become more and more open with us. Our task is to preach a gospel of repentance and faith. If you are struggling in some area of your life, the elders are charged with caring for you precisely in that area. But we're not going to pry. We won't ask to see your checkbook! We'll just ask questions like, "how are your finances?" "How do you approach your giving to the Lord?" We'll ask about your growth in grace. We'll ask about your practice of family worship.

And children, we'll want to talk with you too. You are members of the body of Christ as well. When the elders come to visit, we will want to spend some time talking with you. Are you learning the catechism? (And can we hear what you've been learning?!) What scripture have you been reading/memorizing? What are you learning in Sunday school? Have you been honoring your parents and loving your siblings?

But we'll also ask if you have any questions. So be thinking of some questions to ask the elders!

Visitation is one of the best ways for the elders to determine when a child is truly confessing Christ. This takes the pressure off the parents. It is not the parent's responsibility to decide when their child is ready to make profession. That belongs with the elders. But how are the elders supposed to decide this, if they never talk to the children! (This is also an argument for elders being on the rotation for teaching the children's Sunday school classes!) Especially in a church where nearly half the congregation is under the age of 14, the elders need to be particularly interested in the covenant youth.

Now there are some who would object to the elders involvement with children.

At the end of the 20th century a new doctrine of the church began to take root, generally associated with a "patriarchal" model of society. I need to warn you about this movement, because it has done great damage in many churches, and may well continue to wreak havoc throughout the church for many years to come.

The basic premise is that the family is the basic unit of society, and therefore the father of the family has an authority that outweighs the magistrate of the state, or the elder of the church. Rousas John Rushdoony and certain other leading Reconstructionists (or theonomists), began to argue that all male heads of household ought to be magistrates and elders. They read a passage like Deuteronomy 6 and hear that fathers are supposed to teach their children the word of God, and so they argue that the "biblical" position is that only parents should teach their children.

Even those who refuse to go that far, still follow some of the same sort of logic. There are churches that have eliminated Sunday school, youth groups, and youth camps, because such activities supposedly usurp the parents' rightful authority.

But let's take a look at Deuteronomy 6. What does it really say? Moses has just reminded Israel of the 10 Commandments, and he now urges Israel to fear the LORD, and to teach God's commandment, statutes and rules to their children and grandchildren. Now in Deuteronomy 6:7-9, he says: [read]

It's particularly that last line that I would like you to consider. In a passage talking about teaching your children, Moses urges Israel to write the laws of God on the gates of their cities. Rushdoony and other patriarchalists claim that this means that all fathers were magistrates, but that does not square with Deuteronomy 1, where Moses appoints only the wise and experienced men as elders. (And the smallest unit of government had ten families for every elder). I believe a better explanation can be found from the nature of tribal society.

When I was in seminary, I got to know some of the African students-especially one gentleman from Nigeria. He was probably around 40 or 50 years old, and he told me about the changes that had occurred in Nigeria since his youth. Even 10 or 20 years ago if he saw a child misbehaving in the street, he could correct the child verbally, and the child would heed him. But today, all that has changed. As the modern world has invaded Nigeria, so have modern notions of family relationships. The children no longer listen to anyone except their own parents. In a tribal society, all adults have a certain authority over all children, which is supposed to work together in the training of the young. But the patriarchal movement limits this authority almost entirely to the father and the mother. The great irony of the patriarchal movement today is that it is blending the older concept of patriarchy with the modern emphasis on the nuclear family.

Deuteronomy 6, after all, is not addressed to "Fathers," or even to "parents." It is addressed to "Israel." Yes, you are to talk especially with your own children of the Word of God, but you are to speak of these things with all the children in the church!

Further, the patriarchal movement tends to ignore the New Testament. Or, more accurately, they assume that the New Testament simply restates the Old Testament. They do not adequately consider what the fulfillment of the promises might mean. For instance, in the Old Testament, barrenness was considered a curse. But in the New Testament, Paul goes so far as to praise singleness as a high calling.

The patriarchal social relations of the Old Testament are not reproduced in the New Testament. In Ruth, the widow Naomi was properly considered the owner of some property in Bethlehem, but she could not reap any benefit from that property unless she had a male relative to redeem it through marriage to her daughter-in-law. In Acts, we hear of Lydia, a seller of purple goods, who was considered a faithful believer. The economic status of women had changed, and the Word of God commended that change as entirely appropriate.

The Word of God does not give us a single pattern for society. There are several systems of social relations that are described, but none are prescribed for us. Rather, we are told how we are to live as the church of Jesus Christ in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

And the elders in the New Testament have a clear duty to "care for the church of God." And this certainly includes the children. Matthew 19:13-15 is often used to support infant baptism, it would just as properly apply to elder oversight: [Read]

The elders are called to shepherd the whole flock, both young and old.

Therefore let us pray for faithful shepherds, who will strive to present us as a pure and spotless bride on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Copyright © 2003 Peter J. Wallace