Reading: 1 Pet
4:10; 5:1,3
10 Each
one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves
as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 5:1
Therefore the elders among you I exhort... 3 Nor as
lording it over your allotments [the believers] but by becoming
patterns of the flock.
Thus, all the
saints, not just the apostles, should be stewards. The elders
should not place themselves in a special category, but they should
consider themselves stewards, just as all the saints are stewards.
In the church there is no such thing as rank. Rather, we
all are stewards of the grace of God, and we submit ourselves one
to another. If the Lord has placed you in the eldership, you
should not be proud. Do not regard yourselves as higher than
others, and do not lord it over the church as if the church were
your possession.
On the contrary, as a leading one, set an example for the saints
to follow. When the saints see such examples established for them
by the leading ones, they may say, “Lord, thank You for these
good examples. We desire to follow them in praying, in reading the
Word, in preaching and teaching, and in shepherding the saints.”
By the setting of the example and the following of the example, we
all shall eventually serve together as stewards of the manifold
grace of God. This is the proper church life, where there is no
organization, no rank, no hierarchy, and no clergy-laity.
In order for the church to go on in a proper way, there is the
need for some brothers to take care of the administrative affairs.
But this does not make them high officials with all the other
saints as their subordinates. In the church life... we have one
King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we all are His subjects.
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