Congregationalism Matters

If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and turn to the book of Galatians, to the book of Galatians. We're going to look at Galatians chapter 1. While you turn there, David was telling me yesterday that he had a professor, who's a friend of ours, talk to one of their students. They were talking about why to listen to good examples of expository preaching, biblical preaching. And the professor was very encouraging. He said, “Well, if you want to look at encouraging examples of expository preaching, you should listen to the sermons of First Baptist Church of Artesia.” And so, the student turned there and what he saw was a bunch of topical messages.

This is unusual for us as a church. Normally, what we want to do is take a book of the Bible and go through it verse by verse, passage by passage, and see what the Lord has to say. But occasionally, it's good for churches to take time to address specific topics, especially as we're looking towards redrafting our constitution and bylaws. We wanted to take particular time to look at the framework of how we work as a church, the structure of how we're placed together. You know, when you walk into a building like this one, you tend not to pay attention to the crossbeams or load-bearing pillars or different things. You're able to just enjoy the security of the house.

But as we want to be good stewards of this church, not just in its facilities, but in its spiritual health and life, we also need to pay attention to its spiritual structures as well. The sermon that we're going to pay attention to, or the topic that we're looking at this morning, may be, possibly, the most important sermon out of all the ones that I give in terms of how we operate together as a church, and in particular for all of us, including you in the pews, what our primary responsibility is as a church in our work together, as we broach this topic of congregationalism.

So, let me open this sermon just by reading to us from Galatians chapter 1, verses 6 through 9. And then I'll pray for us. Paul says this:

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

— Galatians 1:6-9 (CSB)

Let's pray. Lord, we do pray this morning that as we look towards this topic of congregationalism, as we think about how we operate together as a church, that you would help us to be responsible, to take on not just the structures of our church, but the spiritual life of our church, and that you would help us to be able to flourish and thrive in being able to obey and execute on your commands. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Last week we looked at Jesus's words that “where two or three are gathered, I am there among them.” There is an old Baptist amendment to this declaration, which is that “where two or three Baptists are gathered, there are four opinions among them.” Divisions are common in churches. Different opinions, convictions, even preferences that evolve into principles as people divide into factions and fight with one another. And often times when we make decisions as a church, you won't notice it when things are good. When things work well, it really doesn't matter who makes decisions because people tend to be united and walk together. And yet, when divisions arise, it is alarming how quickly the rulebook gets thrown out in the name of power.

This morning, I want to talk to you about your responsibility that you have as a church member. A power that you possess, that even I don't as your pastor. In fact, the most important job that you do as a church is in exercising an authority that Jesus has given you that he hasn't given me. If you understand the role that Jesus has given you in your responsibility as a congregation, as a church member, that will help reframe all sorts of opinions and divisions and the way that we even operate together as a church.

I want to talk to you this morning about your primary job description, which isn't a volunteer, which isn't a committee member, which isn't even being a pastor or a deacon, but your primary responsibility as a church member. And not just as a church member individually in the way that you care for one another, but the way that you operate together as one body, as a congregation, that God has given specific authority and powers to you for you to exercise responsibly, and in turn to lead to the flourishing of this church as a body. So, I want you to believe this morning that congregationalism, this act of working together as a church, as one unified body, as we participate in the life together, that that matters. That congregationalism matters.

I'm going to talk about it by going over four things. I'm going to talk about congregational authority: what Jesus has actually given to you as a church. Number two, I'm going to talk about congregational responsibility: with Jesus giving you that power, what are the four areas that you are supposed to exercise that authority and power? Third, I'm going to talk about congregational submission: how pastoral leadership and congregational authority are supposed to work together. And lastly, number four, I'm going to talk about congregational community: how it's important not just about getting these things right, but how rightly doing these three things actually leads to a flourishing, God-glorifying, unified community. So, we're going to start by kind of focusing on what's good, talking about the structures. And then lastly, we'll close by painting some pictures of what this is supposed to look like in our life together.

The Church's Authority to Defend the Gospel

We'll start with point number one: congregational authority. Look again at Galatians chapter 1. Let me just read 6 through 9 again for us.

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him!

— Galatians 1:6-9 (CSB)

Paul is writing to these churches in Galatia, and there is an issue of people coming up and preaching a different gospel message. And Paul is being explicitly clear to these churches on what they are called to do in response to these false gospels: they are to curse them. In other words, there is a gospel message that is so essential for salvation, so essential to life itself, that it is not worth tolerating. It requires proactive action. Paul is so incensed at the thought of the gospel being misapplied that immediately after his introduction and initial greeting, Paul skips the pleasantries. He doesn't talk about his gratitude or how much he loves the congregation. He jumps straight into this issue because the gospel is of first importance.

It is good news that you and I believe: that God is a holy God, who died for sinners like you and I, that even though we deserve to suffer in hell forever, that Jesus would bear the punishment of sin, die on a cross, and rise from the dead. So if anyone turns from their sin and trusts in him, they can have everlasting life. That life-saving, sin-forgiving good news was being threatened by false teachers arising in the church in Galatia. And that message, the content of those words, contains the power to save souls.

If you're here and you're not a Christian this morning, this may be a weird sermon to listen to for your first time visiting a church, but let me encourage you, that's the main message that we want you to believe: the power of God to be able to save sinners like you, that's not based on what you do or who you are, but that you could turn from your sin and trust in this Jesus. You could believe in this good news and find everlasting salvation in him. If that kind of salvation is found in that message as being preached, then to distort that message, to tweak that message, to even add a little bit of an amendment to that message, like these false teachers in Galatia were doing, is to lose the power of the gospel that saves itself.

If you add even one small provision, like getting circumcised as a prerequisite to coming to Jesus, you have lost the gospel. Not only have you lost the gospel, you have lost the gospel in such a severe manner that Paul is instructing these churches to send that person out of the church and tell them that they are going to hell. “A curse be on him.” That is a heavy action that requires authoritative power. If you discipline your child, your five-year-old can't look at you and say, “I cast you out of this home,” no matter how insistent or loud or strong they may be, they lack the authority.

And notice where Paul roots his authority here in Galatians chapter 1. Does he base it on himself? No, he doesn't. He says, “If I come and preach to you a gospel contrary to what you have heard preached, then I'll be accursed.” He said, “kick me out.” It's not even based on an authority of an angel. There is no person that can show up to these churches in Galatia and say, “You should listen to me because of who I am or because of what I say.” The authority that Paul is appealing to here in Galatians 1 is not based on any inherent authority that any individual possesses, but it is based on the authority that comes from the message they have received. From the message they have received, which implies two things.

First, it implies that they actually know what the gospel is. It implies that you and I, even if you don't have a doctorate in theology, are capable of knowing what the gospel is. You can know that God is holy and that we're sinners and that Christ is gracious and that we need to turn from our sin and trust in Jesus. You can know that gospel. Not only can you know it, you also know it well enough that you can enforce the truth of the gospel. You can enforce the truth of the gospel. In other words, you as a church member have the authority to affirm the gospel message. And that also means that when false teachers arise, you have the authority to reject those who do not preach a faithful gospel message.

The Church's Authority Over Its People

This is exactly what Jesus talks about in Matthew 16, when Peter responds to him and says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus tells him:

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.”

— Matthew 16:16-19 (CSB)

What is Jesus telling Peter? He is telling him that that profession of faith that he just gave, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, is turning the keys of the kingdom in such a way that he is opening up the stores of heaven. That whenever you and I stand up and we preach the gospel to those who don't have the good news, what we are doing in heaven is we are turning that key. People are hearing the good news of the gospel. The Spirit is supernaturally shining light into the darkness of broken, enslaved hearts, and people are coming to life. Whether it's orally preaching the gospel in Europe, or church members sharing the gospel while they're in the hospital, or inviting their neighbors over to dinner. You are exercising the authority of the gospel as you preach the gospel. Not only are you exercising keys by identifying the right gospel message, you're also turning the keys of the kingdom by caring for and stewarding and identifying the right gospel people.

Turn back. We looked at this passage before. Go back to Matthew chapter 18. We looked at this last week, talking about discipline. I just want to focus at the end of this passage, as Jesus talks about the authority of the church in relation to discipline, talking about someone who's in unrepentant sin. You've already confronted them one-on-one. You've already brought two or three witnesses. They continue to not believe. This is what he says in verse 17:

If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

— Matthew 18:17-20 (CSB)

Notice what this final step of discipline involves. That the final party, the final acting subject in response to this person who's in unrepentant sin, isn't the pastor. It isn't the deacons. It isn't the committee heads. The final acting subject when it comes to disciplining this person in unrepentant sin is the church. In other words, the church is the one who's been given this authority as an institution to recognize who these people are that are professing a true gospel. That when Jesus gave the church the keys of the kingdom, this authority to be able to declare what the right gospel message is, he also gave the church the authority to recognize who the right gospel confessors are. The acting subject when it comes to identifying someone to be a member of the church, or identifying someone to be in unrepentant sin, isn't me. It's actually you.

This is the reason why when we have members' meetings, we actually vote on members. You may remember cleaning up our roll and having a lot of votes on a lot of members. Do you realize that the reason why we do that isn't just some formality because of our bylaws? The reason why we do those votes is because you are the ones biblically who are responsible for taking that action. You have the authority to look at any soul that we vote in and say, “They're preaching a true gospel. And they're walking with Jesus.” And whenever someone's not walking with Jesus, to be able to work together as a church to publicly say, “Based on the way that they're living their life, they are not walking in a way that's consistent with someone who is following Jesus.” That's not an authority that God's given me. That's an authority that God's given you. You will have to stand before the Lord for the way that you exercise that responsibility, for the way that you make that decision. That's precisely why whenever we present a motion to vote someone into the church, we don't just say, “Hey, all those in favor of that person becoming a member.” I specifically say, “All those in favor of taking responsibility for that person's discipleship.” Because that's what we mean by membership. What I'm trying to show is that that's not just a responsibility that the Lord's given me. That's an authority that we all have together. That's something that we're acting together because that's an authority that the Lord has given all of us, and it is your job to exercise that authority responsibly. Specifically in four areas, I'll talk about in point two.

Four Areas of Congregational Responsibility

Congregational responsibility. Congregationalism, or the church acting together to make decisions, covers four specific spheres. The first two are explicitly biblical; the latter two are more of a logical inference. Okay. The first category that the congregation needs to act together on is church membership. You've heard us talk about this for the last three Sundays in a row now. You have a God-given responsibility to care for each other, which also means that you have an authority to look after and care for every single sheep that's here in this church. There's not a single member of this church, if you're a member of this church, that you are not responsible for, that you're not accountable for, that you do not have a God-given responsibility to care for.

Now, that doesn't mean that every single person in this room needs to have the same level of closeness and relationship with every single person in this church. This room can seat like 350 maybe people. If this room's filled up, I'm not expecting you to be besties with every single soul that walks through the doors. I've been part of churches with over 900 people in membership and after you get past around 100, 150 people, it becomes really hard to have a close personal relationship with every single person. I want to alleviate you from that burden. When I'm talking about responsibility for people, I'm not saying that you need to know every single person at that same level of intimacy. But it is a responsibility that you have. You're accountable for every single person whether you know them or not.

Think of our church and its relationships like a spider's web, with its little strands and points of intersection all throughout, kind of painting this web of relationships. And not every single point or person is going to be connected to every single other person directly. And yet, if you zoom out and look at the life of the church, everyone should be connected to this web in some meaningful way. In such a way that if anyone begins to stray away, the strands of this web are able to reach out and pull this person back in, to be able to pursue that person and bring them back into the fold. That's the kind of care that we're expected to have for one another. It's part of the reason why I loved the practice of cleaning up our roll. I've talked with so many pastors about that operation and structure that we did. It was a lot of motions. It was a lot of decisions that we had to make, but more importantly, it was a lot of phone calls. And I love that it wasn't just me making those phone calls. I love that our church as a whole got to demonstrate the care that we had for every single soul by dignifying them, not just by wiping the table clean in the name of convenience, but by taking the time to address every person who's ever taken the time to step through our doors and commit to our church, to say to them that they are souls that matter. They're worthy of our attention and care. We want to exercise the same kind of responsibility for every single soul that comes through our doors.

Secondly, the congregation is responsible for church leaders. Think about what Galatians 1 is talking about. Galatians 1 says that “if I, being an apostle, or an angel from heaven comes to you and preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you have heard preached, let him be accursed.” In other words, if someone comes, whether it's myself or someone else, stands behind this pulpit and preaches a false gospel, you need to curse them, which means you need to kick them out. And at the very least, it means that you need to fire me if I ever preach a false gospel behind this pulpit. You have the responsibility to do that, which means you need to have the authority or the means or the method to be able to do that.

It's so interesting talking to churches that are able to almost like spawn pastors from the ether. Like one second they're not there and one second they're there and they're hired and they're just here. I remember hearing a conversation between two pastors where one guy was claiming that congregationalism was from Satan. And the other pastor just asked, “Well, what happens if you end up preaching a false gospel?” And that pastor responded by saying, “Well, I've been very clear with my church that if I ever preach a false gospel, that my congregation is to storm the stage, tackle me, and get me out of there.” To which the other pastor said, “Do you think there's a more peaceful way to do that? Like maybe a vote?”

Let me ask you, if I ever stood up here and told you a false gospel, if I denied the divinity of Jesus, or I said that there were extra things that you had to do in order to be saved on top of putting your faith in Christ, what would you do? How would you go about it? You have the authority to fire me. Not only do you have the authority to fire me, you have the responsibility to fire me: to call a special members' meeting, get the people together, clearly state and show the evidence of what I've done, and kick me out. You have the responsibility from God to do that. And here's why, because gospel leaders are the ones who teach you the gospel message. Do you notice in Galatians 1, how closely the message is tied to leadership for Paul? He's saying, “If you hear me preach a false gospel, kick me out.” In other words, that message has a direct connection to that person's authority and ability to teach in the church.

Gospel teachers, like myself, like pastors, have a responsibility to proclaim every Sunday the gospel message behind this pulpit. Which means if you have the authority to protect the gospel message, you have the authority to recognize gospel teachers and gospel preachers. You have a lever that you can pull to kick false teachers out, which also means, on the flip side, you have the authority to identify gospel preachers who preach a true gospel, which means you voted for me to be your pastor. I know because I still have the index cards in my office. If I ever forget it, I could just look over there and look at all the ballots and remember that I was voted in. You have the ability to affirm gospel preaching pastors. Otherwise, you'd be stuck playing whack-a-mole, striking corrupt leadership every single time that they prop up without any ability to stop corrupt teachers from coming in.

You have a responsibility to recognize true gospel preachers. That was practiced by the church too. In the book of Acts, in chapter 6, you have deacons—I'll talk about it in two sermons—where the apostles stand before the church and they say, “We don't have time to address this issue of Greek widows not being fed.” And the words of the apostles are, “Choose from among you, men of good reputation who could take care of this matter.” And it says that that response pleased the whole company, the crowd, the congregation. And they chose from among them seven men. The same process should exist for us as well. The congregation has a responsibility for the gospel message, which means you have the responsibility for gospel teachers.

And here's how that looks like here in our church: that looks like me standing before you and saying, “Hey, if there's anyone that you think is qualified to serve as a pastor or a deacon, please let me know.” And if you're able to think of someone, or if there's someone at our church that exemplifies the qualifications that we'll hear about in the next two sermons, and that name consistently comes up enough times, then that brother, or that brother or sister when it comes to the diaconate, will get presented to the church to be nominated to be a leader. And you have a responsibility between that members' meeting and the next members' meeting to vet that person, to consider whether or not they are qualified, or whether or not they're competent, or simply whether or not they should serve in that capacity as a church. And then, what we do in our members' meetings, you would vote them in to be a pastor or a deacon at the church. In other words, there should never be someone who serves in a spiritual office at our church that our church did not explicitly affirm. There should never be someone who leads in this church that the church does not explicitly affirm. Those first two are a biblical necessity. The next two are more of a logical responsibility, as a result of our leadership.

Number three: Constitution, bylaws, statement of faith, and church covenant. It's really as simple as this: if the congregation is responsible for the gospel message, that means you are also responsible for the stuff that determines what our church is organized around and what we believe about the gospel message. Does that make sense? So, the Constitution, who in this room has actually read our church's Constitution? Okay. Honestly, it's probably a mercy on you all, it's kind of messy, right? And a lot of times we tend not to think about our Constitution. We live in a country. I don't know how many of you have actually read the Constitution in terms of how it operates. Constitutions tend not to come into play until there are emergencies or something that goes wrong. And it's important for us to give you the final buck in terms of what we do and how we're organized because you guys have to have the ability to take control in case someone ever does preach a false gospel. Not only that, you have the responsibility to believe and defend everything that our church believes in our statement of faith, or how we commit to one another as a church covenant. Those documents are not themselves the church, but they do help us understand what the church is and what we do. The church statement of faith is a “what” document. It explains what we believe. The church covenant is a “do” document. It explains what we'll do. And the church constitution is a “how” document. It tells us how we're organized and how we make decisions. You have the responsibility to guard all of those things, which is why if you're interested in serving in the bylaw committee, you should talk to me.

Okay, number four: budgets. We'll have an entire sermon dedicated to understanding biblically what the Lord says about our money, about giving and budget. It's not because we're behind, it's because all of us have dollars and all of us are responsible for how we use them. But for now, it's worth knowing that the budget, our church's budget and how we spend our money, is an extension of what our church has decided to do together for the ministry of the Word. Whether it's to support missions, or to pay for a pastor's salary, or to address any administrative needs that we have as a church, our church needs to be unified in how we use our funds because ultimately, it's not any of our money, it's the Lord's money. And we want to be responsible with how we spend our money.

There are so many examples in the world today of churches that will use their 501(c)(3) status or their tax exempt laws to do all sorts of terrible things with funds. I remember hearing a news story about a prosperity gospel megachurch where a janitor found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash hiding in one of the bathroom vents. Don't check our vents. You'll probably only find the bones of a mouse. But there is not one cent that gets spent at our church that isn't recorded and reported to you. There is not one penny that our church spends, that our church as a collective did not agree to spend. And that is important. That's important in light of our accountability before God. That's important in light of our transparency for you. Not only that, it's important for all of us in taking responsibility for what we do with our dollars. You know, we talk a lot about being able to minister to the world and be able to send missionaries or raise up pastors. One of the primary ways that you and I get to do that as a church is by financially supporting good gospel work. I'm so grateful that you guys are willing to trust me to say it's more valuable for me to dedicate the 40 hours I would have spent working, investing in the life of this church, or in raising up leaders, or in sending missionaries. I love that we can dedicate our dollars to be able to support this building, so we don't have to deal with the administrative headache of setting up and tearing down or moving locations. Every dollar that we spend needs to be dedicated towards the ministry of the gospel and helping it spread to the ends of the earth. And because it's your money, we just think it makes sense for you to agree on how we spend it. That's congregational responsibility.

Pastoral Leadership and Congregational Limits

So, you have the authority to decide what the gospel is and how we are to enforce it. You have that authority given from Jesus to affirm that. Number two, you have the responsibility over these spheres and how you care together as a church. That being said, you also have congregational limits. That brings me to point number three: congregational limits. Congregationalism is not democracy. I'm going to say that one more time. Congregationalism is not democracy. And the reason why I say that is because congregationalism precedes democracy. It came before democracy. This isn't Athens where anybody gets to dictate what the church does or does not do. This is not a free-for-all where people get to stand up and campaign for whatever they think is right, because ultimately, not any one member is the head of the church. Jesus is the head of the church. Which means that the Lord has also given us pastors that have the responsibility to lead or to guide the church.

So turn to your Bible to Hebrews chapter 13. Look at two passages quickly on this. Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. This is the author of Hebrews giving commands to Christians and how they're supposed to follow Christ. He tells them:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

— Hebrews 13:17 (CSB)

You have a God-given command and responsibility to submit and obey me. And that's a real authority that comes with real responsibility. Can you see me puffing out my chest a little bit right now as I'm saying that? That's a real responsibility. That being said, that's a real command and authority and responsibility that comes with a massive asterisk, which is this: the authority that I possess as a pastor in caring for you is one that's built on trust, not power. It's an authority that's built on trust, not power. It's more like being a husband than being a boss.

If I'm your boss and we work in a job and you disobey my commands, I have the authority to fire you, to be able to enforce whether or not you're able to continue to work or not work here. A pastor doesn't work like that. A pastor can't look at you and command you, “Take out the garbage.” A pastor can't look at you and unilaterally control your life like marionettes. A pastor doesn't have the authority to unilaterally kick you out of the church. It's more like a husband who takes on the burden of leadership and guidance in saying, “Let's do this.” A pastor has a responsibility not to enforce power, but to persuade with their presence. To be able to consistently bring up this book, to be able to teach you all and demonstrate not that you're supposed to follow John, but you're supposed to follow Jesus. That you're supposed to follow Christ. It's an authority that's built around persuasion, not power.

That's exactly why in Ephesians 4, Paul talks about pastors and teachers that are there supposed to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That I'm not actually the primary player, I'm not even necessarily the quarterback. I'm more like the coach. I'm not the one on the field in the workplaces, in the neighborhoods, every week doing that work, even though I love it. Personally, I love doing that kind of stuff. I'm more on the back lines trying to provide reinforcements for you as you do the work of the ministry. Which means that there is a power dynamic at play that's built on trust and how the congregation and on how pastors work together. It's built on goodwill. It's built on obeying Scripture, and it's built on trust.

So, think of it this way. If an issue is important and it's clear, then the church has the responsibility to act. But if this issue is important and the situation is unclear, then you should look towards your pastors and trust them in terms of what to do. This is what I mean: it might look different depending on the situation. If the issue is related to any of the four things I talked about—about church membership, about leadership, about our governing documents, about our budgets—those things need to go to the church. It doesn't matter how confident I am. It doesn't matter how sure I am. It doesn't matter how intensely I feel about the subject. You need to make the final decision on those things. And if it's very clear, then it should be relatively easy for you to be able to make that decision. Think about 1 Corinthians 5, the situation where the guy is sleeping with his dad's wife. That is a very important problem. And no one is confused about what to do about that problem. That is a perfect example of where the church works together in order to fix that problem.

At the same time, if the situation's unclear and it fits under those four categories, it's my responsibility as a pastor to teach you in a way that the thing moves from a situation's unclear to clear. To help disciple you, help you think through the issue, walk through Scripture, provide categories as we think about various issues together, so that you can make the right decision, whether it's an issue of discipline or an issue of leadership. Now for situations that are not in those four categories, there may be situations where pastors may need to lead by pointing the way forward and asking the church to follow them.

So, I served at a church where I was a non-staff, or I was serving as a pastor, and I remember sitting in these meetings during COVID where we were discussing all sorts of complex issues, like when do we move from the outside in our gatherings to inside? When do we take our masks off? When do we ask people to keep their masks on? And I don't know about you, I've never led the church through a global pandemic before. That was like a brand new experience for me. And in that situation, the church that I was at decided not to have congregational votes. The reason why they decided not to vote on it was because it didn't fit in those four categories, and being able to see people raise or not raise hands was just going to cause a lot of division. And so what they did instead was they deferred to the pastors to be able to make that call. I think that's totally responsible and okay for a church to do. You guys have trusted me to be a pastor who teaches the Word. That also means that I control what gets taught behind the pulpit, who gets to preach, on what Sunday, and how those decisions get made. That's an act of trust that the congregation gives to pastors.

So, think of the dynamic kind of like this. Imagine that all of us are in a car. The pastors have the responsibility to teach the Word and to guide and lead the church in terms of direction. Which means that the pastors have what we would affectionately call the steering wheel. We get to turn the car in one way or the other as we preach the Word, as we provide direction. That being said, the congregation has an emergency brake. They have the ability to stop the car. Not only stop the car, they're able to yank someone out of the driver's seat if they need to. You have the responsibility to stop bad work from happening, which means in most cases, there is a general disposition of goodwill and trust to follow pastors as they teach and lead, trusting them as faithful teachers of the Word. But every time we have a members' meeting, every time you and I have a vote, that's not a formality just kind of wasting people's time. What we are doing every time we vote on a decision together is we are acting, kind of like a fire drill, practicing together in case there ever is an unusual but necessary time where the congregation needs to step in and take control and stop the vehicle. So, you have an authority, you also have limits. It's a relationship of trust that also requires real accountability. Elders lead, or pastors teach and lead, while the congregation follows, but occasionally needs to step in and stop in cases like Galatians 1.

The Spirit of Congregational Community

And the reason why we care so much about this process and these decisions is because of point number four: congregational community. What is this supposed to look like? Why do we care so much about the structures and decisions that we make? The reason is because having a congregational structure, when enacted right, is supposed to lead to what I would call a congregational spirit. Have you ever been at a church with a very insecure leader? Or one where there's like an underbelly of anxiety about what will happen behind the scenes, or what could happen? That leads to a natural environment of distrust, of uncertainty, of instability. The purpose of congregationalism is to help you have a baseline of trust so that you can get to the real work of actually caring for one another. That within the structure, you're able to trust that the pillars can actually hold weight. That the house isn't just going to collapse on you. That you can actually rest and care and love and be able to disciple one another.

In other words, congregationalism is not essentially about motions or seconds or having votes. There is no appendix to the Bible that has Robert's Rules of Order. This is not what congregationalism ultimately is about. It's about being able to grab consensus so that we can move forward together. It's the easiest way to be able to capture what our church thinks and be able to work together in action. I go to the Southern Baptist Convention every year. So does Steve when he's able. There are over 10,000 messengers that are able to vote and bring up any motion from the floor. You could just imagine how many crazy uncles are in that room. And the reason why they have rules and structures and motions and seconds isn't because they don't care about the family life, it's actually because they care about the family life and they don't want to waste people's time. It's the easiest way to capture what the group thinks and be able to move forward together.

In other words, congregationalism, when we do these structures right, when we make these decisions well, when we pass on the authority and you're able to feel the right authority on yourself as well as trusting the pastors as they do their work, it enables you, the church, to be the church. It enables you to be able to focus on your primary work. In other words, what ultimately grows our church isn't our programs. Your primary responsibility in this church is not to volunteer. Your primary responsibility exists as a church member. My primary identity at this church is being a church member. That's more important than serving as a pastor or a deacon or a volunteer. It's being a follower of Christ. It's being proactive in caring for one another and showing the love of Jesus.

What does that look like? That looks like a member praying through their membership directory and asking the Lord to look after his people. It looks like a church member calling another member when they're feeling discouraged to ask for prayer and for advice. It looks like young men going to do visitations with members that aren't physically able to make it to the service even though they've never met before. It looks like members being proactive in initiating a difficult conversation about sin that you see in someone else's life because you love them more than your own comfort. It looks like sharing with other church members after Sunday service, not just about your week, but what you've been learning from the Word and from the sermon. It looks like having concerns about the direction of this church and loving the church enough to talk directly to your pastor instead of gossiping about it. It looks like seeing visitors come into the church and seeing them sit down in the pews and being proactive in reaching out and getting to know them. It looks like members coordinating and working together to be able to help meet a member's practical needs, knowing that their life situation, their particular needs, need proactive help and guidance. It looks like a pastor candidate after being nominated, hearing of multiple caring members being concerned about him stepping into a role of leadership, being willing to withdraw his own nomination to be a pastor so he could take extra time to care for his own soul. It looks like a member showing up to church for their evening service, for their Bible study, not just because of all the good that it does for their own soul, but because they know that when they show up, their presence encourages everyone else who's also there. It looks like a member after voting against a motion at church and losing, supporting that decision and trusting that the Spirit was at work and earnestly praying for the church's success. It looks like a pastor after teaching, realizing that the church isn't ready to move forward with a decision yet, instead of pressing his own preference or forcing his way, taking a step back so he could take the time to teach and disciple before moving the church to make a decision together. It looks like members listening attentively to the sermon, not just to learn, but to also evaluate whether or not the preacher is being faithful in his teaching.

Wouldn't you want to be part of a church that's like that? I'm so grateful that most of these stories are directly from things I've seen in this church. From things I've seen so many other faithful churches. I'm grateful that you guys have been so faithful in already taking up that responsibility and exercising it together. I'm so grateful when I read our church's minutes, looking back at decades of our church's faithful life, seeing examples of members like Allan or Orley or others who have faithfully exercised this responsibility as a church member in our church's life. There are so many bumps in our church's history. There are so many difficult moments in our church's life, and I love that the system of congregationalism didn't fail, it actually worked. In being able to steward and care for all that the Lord has given us. And I love that in the future, if we understand this responsibility well and we exercise it faithfully, there will be so many examples of good gospel faithfulness here in this church. And Lord willing, as we raise up and send other people out, so many other good gospel preaching churches that are able to exercise this kind of responsibility faithfully.

We'll close with just one more story. Agnes Shankle was a church member of the Metropolitan Baptist Church in 1944. And they were voting on a new senior pastor. Their previous pastor had been there for 30 plus years, Pastor Ball. And the leadership, the nominating committee had put forward a man named Ralph Walker. And Agnes Shankle had no formal position of authority at the church. She led a small little Bible study every week, but at the church meeting, Agnes stood up and questioned whether or not Ralph Walker was theologically compromised. In fact, she had specific concerns that she had heard about his preaching. If you remember about the SBC's history in the 1900s, they had a lot of issues with people that were denying the trustworthiness of the gospel. And she shared those concerns about this specific man, whether or not he had a consistent view of the authority of Scripture. And after confirming that this man actually did not believe that the Bible was completely true, moved the church to reject that pastoral nomination so that they could faithfully nominate a faithful man named K. Owen White, who ended up pastoring that church for years. And led to a pattern of faithful pastors that eventually led to the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in 2000, when Mark Dever became pastor. And I went there in 2019, and I was able to learn from them. If Agnes Shankle didn't stand up in that congregational meeting and say something, then that church wouldn't still be believing the Bible today. What are you doing with your responsibility that God's given you? How are you going to steward and care that responsibility until the day that Jesus returns? Let's pray. We do ask, Lord, that you would help us to be able to steward and care for our church, together as a church. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to be responsible to care for those that you've put under our care as an extension of your work as the chief shepherd. We pray, Lord, that you grant our church unity as we think about making decisions and acting together, that we would be faithful and trusting of you and all the ways that you're at work in our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.