Family of God
Matthew 18 is referring to a dynamic situation. To properly implement this process, it requires a healthy and biblical congregation. The Lord wants there to be elders in the congregation to feed the flock.
1 Peter 5:1-2A
1The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2AFeed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
The elders are to take oversight; however, they are not to be supervisors in the life of the believer, 1 Peter 5:2B-3.
2Bnot by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
It is suppose to be a relationship grounded and grown in love. It is never to be a controlling relationship. Elders are to serve as an example. Believers do not need some fleshly god telling them what they can and cannot do.
We all need to humbly seek advice from elders and look to their example. They are held to a higher accountability, Hebrew 13:17.
17Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
We must also be careful who we allow to be our elders and who we yield our lives to. Rule comes from the Greek word Hegeomai { hayg-eh’-om-ahee}. It means to lead, to go before. Just as a boat that leads through treacherous waters.
1 Timothy 5:1-2 describes how the relationship should be in the congregation.
1Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; 2The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
This speaks of family relationships, daddy, mommies, sisters and brothers. There are not to be presidents, business managers or sales managers in the congregation. It is to be a family. When a congregation has relationships such as these, it tends work out more smoothly.
There is to be Judgment in the Congregation. It is because our God is a God of order and not confusion.
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