The Government of the Church

Good evening. This is a true honor to be able to — it's been a while since I've been able to teach on Wednesday night here. I'm very thankful, so very thankful for David for just so many things, doing double-headers many Wednesday nights and putting these outlines together. We've grown a lot, haven't we, in these last couple years going through this, and so very thankful for everything that we've been learning.

All right, so if you have your outline, we're going to start here in point number one. But before we get into that, do you sometimes think about what your life would be like without Christ?

Some, like myself, were maybe too young to know what that felt like — that knowledge of and that awareness — going through certain events. People like myself were growing up in a Christian family. It doesn't mean I was regenerated at birth or anything like that, but just that knowledge and that awareness as far as what my life was like before Christ. But some of you may have a memory of your old self, of your former self, the one whom God transformed. He buried your old self and raised your new self to new life with Christ. Your old self has been crucified and put to death with Christ.

So just imagine — if you can't, just imagine and maybe think back — what your life was like without Christ. A life trying to make sense of critical questions. There are top four questions that may linger in your mind without Christ. Questions like your origin: Where did I come from? You're thinking about your meaning in life — like, why am I here? What's my identity? These are questions that those who are lost really struggle with. And when we're evangelizing, we have to have that person in mind. We have to have someone in mind who is living their life without Christ and they're struggling. Maybe they don't care, but the fact is that they're lost. Maybe they're considering these things, maybe they're not. They're just lost out to sea.

Another one is morality: What is the difference between right and wrong? The other one is destiny: Where am I going? What's my purpose in life? And these are hard questions for those who are not in Christ, who don't have Christ in their life, who don't have a compass to be able to live — a compass to be able to look for their destination, to answer their questions about whether something is right or wrong.

Social ethics: How do we relate to one another? We're going to get into that when we're talking here about ecclesiology — how we relate to each other in the church and how that's different from how you relate to each other if you're outside the church or part of the world. People struggle with that if you're not in Christ. And where do you look for that if it's not in Christ? Do you look to AI? Do you type in, "Hey, what should I do in this situation?" Often that's the case, and they're at the mercy of whatever they turn to. And think about politics: What and who do you put your trust into?

If it's not Christ, it will fail.

And so there are many people who actually put their faith and trust into something in politics. What about your job? Do you put your faith and trust into corporate values? Well, we're going to get a little bit into that. Is money your end goal? Is money your destination? Is why you're doing stuff to be able to achieve money? If you are struggling with these questions and you may realize, "Wow, I don't have Christ in my life," I would recommend maybe processing these logically through the book of Ecclesiastes. When you're going through that — like Solomon did, potentially one of the wisest people on planet earth of all time — going through these tough questions, going through what is important in life and what you get to at the very end of that.

So now it brings us to the importance of Christ and the importance of the church. That's what we're going to get into here. So read with me in point one — the definition of the church that we've been working through.

We took a break for a few lessons, but for like, I think it was the first seven lessons, we repetitively had this definition over and over again. We took a quick break with covenantalism and dispensationalism, and last lesson we revisited it. So now let's kind of break it down and let's make sure that we get this right.

So let's break down the first sentence here. "The church is the great company of persons" — that's kind of like the core part of the definition. And then you have kind of four phrases to highlight. I'm going to give you the words to kind of pick out here. "Whom Christ has saved" — you can highlight "saved." And "in whom He dwells" — that's number two. "Who He reveals God" — this is talking about Christ revealing God. And then the last one, the fourth one of this definition, is what we're going to unpack tonight.

"In whom He," meaning Christ, "exercises spiritual dominion."

And that should kind of — if you don't have Christ in your life and you're hearing this for the first time — there have been terms being thrown around about spiritual abuse. If you hear this kind of term like, "He exercises — Christ exercises spiritual dominion," that's going to maybe rub you the wrong way if you don't have an accurate biblical definition of who Christ is.

The next part — the next part of this point one here — is kind of like a summary of what we're going to get into. And before I continue reading this, what this is going to start out with is Christ, and it's going to get lower and lower, from Christ to something like a family or the church, and then it's going to get closer to the individual as we get further into this lesson. So that's kind of where we're going with this. So let me continue reading in point one right after "He exercises spiritual dominion" — that's the end point of that definition.

"United to Christ, the church is the temple of God's indwelling. The organization of the church exists in regenerate members united in equality with one another, whose sole authority and lawgiver is Christ, as expressed in Scripture. In determining the will of Christ" — "will" is the blank — "and in applying His commands."

This word here, "commands," gives you a little bit of a taste of this exercising spiritual dominion. We as Americans don't like to be commanded, do we? That kind of rubs us a little bit the wrong way. But here when we read this, He applies His commands — "The Holy Spirit guides the whole church body to the right conclusions. God has appointed the offices of elder and deacon to minister to and serve the church." "Serve" is that last blank. So we've got: will, commands, Spirit, and serve.

So, I'm going to kind of preview a little bit of point number two here. The importance of headship is what we kind of see being introduced, where it starts with Christ. And we've kind of unpacked this in a way where you see the alignment — where it starts with Christ, and we see that in the Trinity. And then you see how that aligns with headship in the church. And then we're going to read some verses here in point number two that talk about the family, and then we're going to get into headship in the individual.

God gave the church to His people. The church gives structure. It gives purpose. It helps answer these questions that we alluded to before. And it all points to Christ. A biblical church will continue pointing to Christ, will point to the gospel. Every single Sunday when we come here, we need to hear the gospel, and we try to do that every single Sunday, every single Bible study, every single class, every single prayer.

Every time that we gather together as a church family, the gospel, the gospel, the gospel — it gives us that moral compass. This is why we're here. This is what answers the tough questions. And so we must have a head. We must have Christ. And you don't really know it, right, until you've lost it. And thankfully as Christians, we know that we don't lose our salvation. But it's worthy enough to try to consider what it is like without Christ and not take Him for granted. Thankfully, Christ said He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Then finishing point number one, it talks about — and we're going to get into this towards the end — elders and deacons who lead the church, for whom those two offices should absolutely model servanthood.

All right. So this brings us to our first application: How does the church know — "know" is the blank — how does the church know and follow the will of Christ?

Well, this is not in your sheet, but 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 says, "Rejoice always" — number one — "pray without ceasing" — number two — "and in everything give thanks" — those three things — "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." And that's 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18.

Read with me now in point number two. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus the Christ — Jesus Christ is not His last name, it is His absolute title, where He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. He is the King over all the universe, in and out of the church, where the Lord reigns.

The doctrine of the Lordship of Christ is absolutely primary. It is exclusively at the top. Christ is holy. And while He is Lord over all, He is holy in that Lordship. He is holy, meaning He is separate from His creation. He is the Creator — Creator being separate from creation. And not only is He separate from creation in the sense of being off to the side, He is separate as Lord. He is separate above. He is transcendent. He supersedes everything that happens within creation itself, within time and space, outside of time and space, everything forever and ever, everlasting to everlasting.

He is not your buddy-buddy. He is not off to the side. He is not your co-pilot. He is your Lord, whether you're a Christian or not. He is Lord over you. That is the first point that we must absolutely have as primary. He is the Lord of all lords. He is the King of all kings.

And so we continue now with point two, zeroing in on how this applies to the church. Christ alone is the Lord of the church. Christ as the sovereign Head of the church is its Lawgiver. The church's sole source of authority is therefore the absolute monarchy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So especially in relation to the church, He is Lord. And thankfully so — when we apply the gospel with that, there is nothing above the Lordship of Christ that can take that away. In this context of this lesson, we're going to come around to the point where He governs His church differently than He governs the world. He governs the world by giving people over to their own desires, lost in their own lostness — Romans chapter one. For the church, He is the sovereign Head of the church. He works all things for the good of those who love Him, the church.

Romans chapter eight — meaning He is in charge. He is fully in charge of the church. He guides the church. He shepherds the church. He commands the church. He governs the church. It is from Christ that we get the government of the church.

Read with me in Colossians 1:18. "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

Ephesians 5:22 and 24. "Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church. And He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."

This helps us understand the structure of Christ in relation to the church. And we've unpacked a lot of that in Ephesians 5 a few months ago. But there's obviously a lot in those verses. Let's go down to the application. What does Christ's headship mean for the church?

I think once in a while it's very important to praise one another. I always — I don't really care to be acknowledged by everybody. But I would like to acknowledge Pastor Casey and his example as the pastor of our church, where he oftentimes, as we're doing something, will whip out a Bible verse that will justify what we're doing. And this is what Christ's headship means for the church — that in all we do, may we be doing so in obedience to the Scriptures. Everything that we would be doing, we should have a Bible verse ready to go. And I think we can look at how Pastor Casey models that and try to apply that each to our families. Very important.

All right. Point number three. While Christ is the monarch of the church, the government of the church resembles a democracy. "Democracy" is the blank.

In the interpretation and execution of His will by the body, the whole church is entrusted with this shared duty and responsibility — "duty" meaning like obligation, this is your duty — the whole church is entrusted with the shared duty and responsibility of carrying out the laws of Christ expressed in His word.

So here we have the reality of what — this is where it starts to get a little bit more real, right? We've been kind of high-level talking about Christ, but the reality is that Jesus ascended into heaven. He is not physically with us now. And so now there is a government that resembles a democracy. That's what we're kind of left with, but He left us — not only just to kind of try to figure it out on our own — He left us with the Scriptures and He left us with the Holy Spirit.

And so Christ is still the monarch of the church, but the church resembles a democracy governed by people who subject their laws to the Scriptures.

Now, as we continue on in point number three, this is necessary for the church to be, quote, "the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth," as in 1 Timothy 3:15. As the representative and guardian of God's truth, the church must be rightly led and governed by the Holy Spirit working in and through it. That blank there is "governed."

The Holy Spirit always works along with the word of God.

That particular line has got to be underlined a million times. As you're going through this — the Holy Spirit always works along with the word of God — that's why we do Bible memory. That's why we go back, because if something is not right and it disturbs the whole of you with the Holy Spirit indwelling within you, you can bring that out. And so the Bible memory that we do is not just for a contest, not just to see who can do memory. This is real stuff in your circumstances as we govern the church. And as you go about with your family — those who are younger, maybe one day having a family — to be able to know how to govern your own family in the same manner.

So here we're back in point number three. The Holy Spirit takes the external revelation of Christ and reveals it inwardly to the hearts of men. The Holy Spirit enlightens one member of the church through the counsel of another. The result is a combined deliberation by which the whole body is led to the right decision by the Spirit through the word — "the word" being the last blank there.

John 14:26, read with me here: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."

And what I like about this particular verse is actually the verse that follows it in verse 27. Maybe make a note here in verse 27, because right out of Jesus's lips — our Lord, the Messiah — right after this verse in verse 27, He says, "Peace I give to you." And then He says, "Not as the world gives, and do not let your hearts be troubled."

And so let that be an encouragement for you as we understand that we still have the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit.

The application for this is: Why must we all be teachable and listen to instruction?

All of us are under Christ and ultimately taught by the Holy Spirit. Especially for us elders and those who teach, we must be the biggest students of all. There's no way I can stand up here and try to teach something that I didn't dig into myself. And then when there are other people teaching and preaching, I want to have the best notes of all. That is absolutely important — not to be competitive, but for my own sake, for the sake of the church, for the sake of the elders, for the sake of my family, and for the sake of my own soul.

It's absolutely important. And if the elders are doing it, how much more should you be doing it? Very, very important to be teachable and to listen. You should never feel like you've made it. You should never feel like, "I've got this gospel thing down and I'm just going to coast through." Right? When you get that way, just look up right there.

Look at the cross.

And then read this application: Why must we all be teachable and listen to instruction?

So flip over to the back here. And this is going to be very encouraging, and hopefully it highlights the Holy Spirit in understanding whom Christ gave to us. In John 16:12, up in your upper right-hand corner, Jesus said, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

What an encouragement that is — where Christ is taking care of His people by giving us the third Person of the Trinity.

In 1 Corinthians 2:10 and 12, the next verse here: "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."

Now, I'll flip back over to the front, and we'll get into section four here. Read with me: "The headship of Christ and the authority of His word necessitates that no one person has original authority in the church, or has power over the whole. No one can add to or take away from the laws of Christ. No one can interfere with Christ's direct and absolute sovereignty over the hearts of His subjects. Thus, each church member is equal to every other member."

"Equal" is the blank.

Each member has both a responsibility and a voice in the decisions of the whole body.

"Likewise, no action of the majority can bind an individual against his conscience and duty toward Christ."

So as we unpack this a little bit — I think you all have the same note as I do — we are going to get into church authority and the priesthood of the believer in lesson 17. That's what kind of hints at this, and we're going to unpack that in lesson 17. But I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12.

This gets to the point where there's a transition from Christ to believers within the church, and what this means in terms of how Christ being the Head of the church results in unity within the headship — the singularity of the Lordship of Christ. So read with me starting in verse 5.

"Another, the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit." I love those adjectives and those modifications of "the Spirit." You have "the" Spirit, you have "same" Spirit, and you have "one" Spirit. I mean, it's just pinpoint accuracy — the apostle Paul is just driving this home, and there's no ifs, ands, or buts about the exclusivity of this unity that we all have within the same Spirit.

And so you kind of glance through the rest of chapter 12, and it goes into a lot of that. And skip now down to verse 27 and read: "Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it."

So there we have in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 what helps us understand that. If you flip over on the back of your sheet, you'll see Romans chapter 14 there under parentheses number four. Read through that if you're having trouble with this. And like I said, we're also going to unpack it a little bit more in lesson 17.

So then back on the front — the application for point number four is: What is the danger of men exalting themselves over others? "Themselves" is the blank.

The answer that I got was that you miss Christ. You totally miss Christ.

Jesus said in Matthew 20:16, "So the last shall be first and the first last." So that is in my mind the danger of men exalting themselves. If you feel like you made it, look at the cross. If you're not looking at the cross, you're in danger of exalting yourself over others.

All right. Point number five — the mutual submission. "Submission" is the blank. The mutual submission and unity in the church, which is necessary to function as one organic whole, is only possible by yielding to the Holy Spirit.

So you've got submission and yielding.

The whole church must strive together. The whole church must strive together to walk in and maintain this unity.

So here's where things get a little closer to home. This is in my mind best displayed and unpacked in a biblical marriage, where both — both, and you're just talking about two sinners — both submitting to Christ. And then you see how it gets very complicated when you have multiple marriages, and then there are some who are not married, and you've got children, and you've got a whole other mix within the church. And so this unity becomes very difficult to govern.

And I think us as elders would be fools if we think that we can do it on our own. And we can't. We're going to get a little bit into that as a responsibility of the individuals as we get into this. But every now and then, Rebecca and I will talk and we'll go through some ups and downs, and then we'll get through it by grace and forgiveness with each other. And we're like, "I don't know how marriages without Christ make it through." Like, all those tough questions that we went through at the beginning — there are some marriages, or a lot of marriages, in fact, that don't do that. They don't forgive. There's no grace. They don't know where they're going. If they think they know where they're going, it ends on a temporal basis. There are so many cobwebs of sin that start to grow within a marriage. And then you kind of see a lot of the problems there that hit close to home very quickly. And then you magnify that in the church, and it gets cobwebs of sin — so important, absolutely critical, that we maintain unity by keeping our eyes on Christ as the Head.

I came across this statement not too long ago — well, several years ago — but I've always thought it was a very good comment: No organization will endure if Christ is not at the center of it. No organization. That's like leadership 101. It's biblical. Because you think about a country, you think about a Fortune 500 company — a Fortune 500 company without Christ is getting ready to be the broken 500 without Christ. It's just a matter of time. What are you putting your faith and trust into? Schools — if the school is not having Christ at the center, it's a matter of time before it will not endure. It will fall.

Businesses. When you think about corporate values and how superficial those are, based on whatever executive comes up with them, those organizations without Christ will not endure. Read with me now right here, 1 Corinthians 1:10.

The application for point number five is: How can we strive together to maintain our unity?

If you're going to struggle with an application question after you leave from here, this is the question to struggle with. How can you and I strive to maintain our unity as a church?

The answer that I have — kind of a general idea; I know there are going to be much more specific applications as you talk about reconciling with one another, or growing vertically, or growing in how you do different things — but the one that I want to put forward as primary for this lesson is to remember the gospel. Remember the gospel. Remember the person and the work of Christ. Just like we remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, we remember Christ. We keep the things of Christ holy. We keep the things of Christ separate from everything else. And so we need to remember Christ. We need to remember the gospel. And we're going to do that this weekend, right, when we're reflecting on the work that He accomplished.

Now let's look here in point number six — we're going to get to the individual, to you and I.

Read with me in point number six. It is the responsibility of the entire church to maintain a pure faith and practice. "Faith and practice."

It is the responsibility of the entire church to maintain a pure faith and practice.

Now this next list of things can be very convicting. You may measure yourself with this list here, and I think it's a worthy self-examination that we all have to go through. This list says this includes: faithful worship; faithful observance of the ordinances; mutual watch care; faithful discipleship, exhortation, and edification; and faithful gospel proclamation, evangelism, and missionary endeavors.

So if I'm just going to maybe pinpoint a couple of these, I may be putting my finger on a very sensitive spot. And it doesn't take very long for us to do that to ourselves. Some of us need to be preached to and have the preacher's pointed finger go right to that sensitive spot. And some of us don't. So take it to consideration what this list says here and listen to the Holy Spirit through the reading of His word.

By worshipping, we're not just showing up. We're not just mouthing the words to the songs. We're not checking our watch during the service. But we are faithful worshippers, observing baptisms and participating in the Lord's Supper. Are you preoccupied with the visible and ignoring the spiritual impacts to your own soul along with the souls of others? Are you thinking about spiritual matters, or are you looking around and comparing yourself? There are many things we need to self-examine here to make sure that we are faithful, that we are maintaining pure faith and practice.

Do you have a burden for others — to visit their homes? Right, that's a — that hits at me. I could do more of that. And some of you do visit people at homes that are going through things. Do you have a mentee or a disciple? Or are you a mentor to help guide others? Are you faithful in proclaiming the gospel to people? This is stuff that we need to do and we are responsible to do as members of the church.

So I continue reading here — in Revelation, in the middle of point six, in Revelation 2 and 3. Christ commands — hear that word — Christ commands the seven churches of Asia to maintain both good doctrine and works. These letters are addressed to the entire church. This is for each and every member of the church to constantly observe and obey.

So these last three blanks are "doctrine and works," and then "every member of the church to constantly observe and obey."

Revelation 3:22. And I say this at home a lot — after reading the Scriptures: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

So the application for point six here is: Are you sometimes inclined to let others do this work?

Are you sometimes inclined to let others do this work — meaning, are you a back-row Baptist? Now, nothing against the back-row Baptist, because I'm telling you, I'm like a second-row Baptist. But there are some times where you've got a back-row Baptist who does a lot of behind-the-scenes work. So nothing against the stereotype. But are you letting others do the work? Are you sitting back and letting others do it? That's something to consider here.

So I hope that we can all see how much we need Christ in the church, that we need and depend on Christ, and that the church without Him in the church body is going astray in a heartbeat — along with other dear, dear souls going astray without Christ, without the biblical Christ, and without a biblical church like what we have.

Read with me in point seven here. To help the church keep its faith and witness, two offices are recognized in the church. The first is the office of elder. "Elder" is the blank.

The office of elder is sometimes interchangeably referred to as bishop or pastor. And you see a list of those Scripture verses that point to that — a couple of these are on the back, and we'll get to those in a second.

Elders exist to serve and minister to the church. They are not like the priestly order of the old covenant. The priests of the new covenant are the entirety of the church who are graciously united to Christ, their great High Priest. That last part is kind of another reference to the priesthood of the believer, where there is a priestly role that we need to be playing as a believer.

The rest of point seven here: The role of the elder is primarily to shepherd and teach — those two blanks there: shepherd and teach. You can go to Acts 20:18–35 there.

They are appointed by the local congregation in recognition of God's work in their lives. The Bible indicates a plurality of elders in each church. It was the norm. So that last blank is "plurality."

And make sure we're all going to come back for lesson 17. Very important to be able to get more of the scope there for the authority of the elders.

Hebrews 13:7. And I love this verse here. You know how we talked about remembering the gospel and remembering Christ? And typically when you're reading the Scriptures, that's all it really talks about. Well, here in one verse it says, "Remember your leaders" — kind of unique.

"Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith."

Personally, I feel like I'm one of the most blessed men in this church — one of the most blessed human beings in this church — because I get to serve alongside a great eldership of men. And I don't really know where I would be without the example of Christ and each of the elders that we have.

And I love our family and how we just have things rolling around here. It's all good. But there have been times when we get on each other's nerves. Right — we're all sinners. I don't know, it might just be me, guys. But it's like brothers sometimes do. And I love getting to know each of them — how they talk about their wives in a loving way, and I've learned about their history, about how God brought them through various trials. I feel privileged to be able to get to know that.

And the same goes with our deacons. We're remembering our leaders — same goes with our deacons. I want to imitate all the leaders that we have here at Beulah Baptist Church. Christ is pouring out of these men, out of these leaders. And then you look around and you see the mothers and you see the adult women who are not glorified as much.

It's very Christ-like to be able to see that. The things that happen in this church are borderline miraculous. It's not beyond the supernatural — well, it is supernatural. It is supernatural to serve one another. It is just what we do in this church. Whether you're a formal deacon recognized as holding the office, or you're serving as an informal deacon, we've talked about that — it's just like everyone's a deacon, able to serve.

But we recognize formal deacons in an office — we've gone over that. But as God's word commands here: consider the result of our leaders' conduct and imitate their faith. Imitate their faith.

And the application here in number seven: Is an elder higher in rank or status than any other believer?

Pretty clear, right? The answer is no. The answer is no.

All right. Read with me now in point eight — I've got a couple more. We're going to move through these fairly quickly.

The second office recognized in the church is that of deacon.

The deacon is a helper to the elders and the church in both spiritual and temporal things. With deacons here — deacons relieve the pastors of external labors and help attend to the needs of the flock. All right. We go to Acts chapter six, the go-to passage where deacons were first introduced to the first-century church.

If you're reading there in Acts chapter six, we see one of the main reasons why deacons are called out to be an office within the church — how necessary it is to be a deacon. One of the main reasons is to bring unity to the church. There was division here, and you glance down — I'm not going to read it, but in the first seven verses I would like for you to make sure you look at the division that was between the Hellenists, the Greeks, and the Jews. And there were physical needs that needed to be met in order to bring unity to the church.

And so for us here, people cannot come to the church if they're sick or they can't drive. It's too much for moms if their babies can't sit in service and they've got to do something here. We have deacons that made this baby-changing room. We have formal deacons that do some important things about visiting widows and orphans as far as doing that kind of work. But then the informal way — deacons that we have all over this church, able to meet the needs whether it's doing something that cannot be seen or noticed by anyone.

And then we as Baptists know that there is nothing that brings unity more than good old hospitality and food. Amen. Right. That is a treasure upon treasures when we all get together and we're committed — right, Acts 2:42 — to having fellowship, to break bread with one another. And we see the benefits of that. And it's all because of the act of deacon work.

They are gifts given — these people who serve are gifts given by Christ Himself. Some call them angels. I just simply call them deacons.

All right. Point nine. Last point. Qualifications of elders and deacons are found in Titus 1:5–9 and 1 Timothy 3:1–13, and those are on the back there. They are always accountable — "accountable" is the blank — to their local church body.

They must always be humble stewards of the church. The Spirit of Christ is the true administrator of His church.

If you're in your Bibles, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

Got a couple more minutes here.

2 Corinthians chapter 3.

As you're turning there, I'll restate this statement. If you're turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 — where it says the qualifications of elders and deacons are found in Titus and 1 Timothy — they are always accountable to their local church body. They must always be humble stewards of the church. The Spirit of Christ is the true administrator of His church.

And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, starting in verse 17, I'm going to read verses 17 and 18.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all" — talking about the whole church here — "but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

He is our destination. He is who we are being made out of through our sanctification. He is the prize. He is the end goal. That's who we're becoming like. That's who we're being conformed to be like.

So in the biblical structure of the church, it is God that provides the means of transformation, only done by the work of the Spirit. And in Psalm 127:1, "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it."

You can also say, "Unless the Lord governs the house" — but stick to the Scriptures. I just want to relate that idea to governing: "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it." Psalm 127:1. So may we continue praying, asking the Lord to continue transforming each and every one of us.

Thank you.