Romans Chapter 16:1-2

Now again, just like every child has a reason not to honor their parents, people come up with reasons not to honor their leaders, not to honor their bosses, not to honor their presidents, not to honor their pastors, their spiritual leaders. As Christians, we're not supposed to go around bashing our political leaders. We're supposed to honor them and pray for them.

Not just if we agree with them and agree with everything that they do. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. As Christians, we should honor one another, especially our parents and our leaders. Find out why this is important today as Pastor David continues in Romans 16 with his teaching, Honor.

Here's David. Turn with me to Romans chapter 16. It's kind of interesting because we get a glimpse into the heart of Paul and chapter 16 is a lot about relationships.

So with that preface, let's read Romans chapter 16 verse 1. It says, I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Chintria. Now Chintria was near Corinth in Greece and introduces us to this lady Phoebe, which is kind of interesting because Phoebe is actually kind of another name for Diana. And what's interesting about that is Diana was a pagan deity, if you will, the major pagan deity of Corinth.

And it's kind of interesting. So that tells us a little bit about Phoebe real quick. First of all, she's not Jewish because a Jewish person would not be named after a pagan deity. And also she didn't change her name when she became a believer. And so it allowed her to probably operate within the Greek community and minister to them. Verse 2, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and assist her in whatever business she has need of for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.

Paul's saying, hey, this Phoebe, she's awesome. She's a great help. And actually it's believed that Phoebe was the one who was carrying this actual letter or this epistle of to the Romans from Paul in Corinth to Rome, that she actually carried it to Rome. Obviously through this, you can look at these verses. She's been proven in ministry. She has a good track record of being in ministry. New Living Translation in this second verse says this, receive her in the Lord as one who is worthy of high honor.

Help her in every way you can for she has helped many in their needs, including me. Now mentions honor and we need to understand honor is a biblical concept. And what is honor?

Loose definition here is honor is a recognition, a respect or distinction for position, office or achievement. And the Bible indicates that we are to honor certain people, certain offices in our lives, if you will. One of them that comes out probably regularly, if you have kids, Ephesians 6, one and three, leading back to the 10 commandments. This is children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. So we're supposed to honor our mother and father, not just obey, but to honor our mother and our father. Now when does this honoring relationship, honoring your mother and father, when does that end? Does it end when you move out of the house?

No. Continues your whole life. You're to honor your mother and your father. Now granted, again, if you've got kids, you know that children always have a reason why they shouldn't honor their mother and father. They come up with reasons.

They're not really reasons. The Bible doesn't say honor your mother and father unless you just think they're a jerk and you don't understand what they're saying. It's not what it says. It says honor your mother and father, period, and that God will bless you for it and that you will live long and be blessed.

That's the kind of, you know, if you were a Spock, you'd say live long and prosper. But that's, you know, he ripped that off from Judaism anyway. But so honoring your mother and your father, that's one of those relationships of honor. What's another relationship of honor? First Timothy 517, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.

So elders, does that mean somebody older than you? No, it's talking about the biblical position, the office of elder. And we'll talk about that in a moment because it kind of ties back in with the diakonos or deaconos in verse one. So honoring elders are official positions in the church. And then first Peter 2 17 tells us honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the king. It's a great verse. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

That verse would keep you out of so much trouble if we just could do those four things, wouldn't it? Now when we talk about elder, it's actually from the Greek word presitere, where we get our word presitarian. And that's borrowed from the Jewish word of zachen, which means bearded ones. In other words, those who are experienced in ministry, experienced in the faith, those were the ones who were the leaders of the synagogue. And when Paul was developing through the Holy Spirit, the model for the church, he put in the office, these pastors, elders and deacons.

And these are the words that he's, he's using. So, but before, before we get into the elder thing, next life lesson, we should honor one another, especially our parents and our leaders. We should honor one another, especially our parents and our leaders. Now again, just like every child has a reason not to honor their parents, people come up with the reasons not to honor their leaders, not to honor their bosses, not to honor their presidents, not to honor their pastors, their spiritual leaders. As Christians, we're not, we're not supposed to go around bashing our spirit, our political leaders. We're supposed to honor them and pray for them. Not just if we agree with them and agree with everything that they do.

So I know that's a challenge. And we were sitting there going, well, I had easier time honoring this other guy or this previous administration or whatever. No, no, no. The Bible doesn't say, yeah, honor them as long as you agree with them. That's not what the Bible says. Now let's talk about these, this concept because some of you may not be clear on what we do here and what biblically we're supposed to be doing in terms of the structure of the church.

Okay. Um, Paul said in the structure of the church, again, anointed by God, led by the Holy Spirit, Titus chapter one verse five, he says, for this reason I left you in Crete, he's speaking of Titus in this one, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city as I had commanded you and kind of tied in with this Acts chapter 14 verse 23 says, so when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they were commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So there we see a biblical model where there is a spiritual leader who appoints elders to help set things in order that are lacking and, and to lead the church.

So, and that's what we've done here. Now, when we started home Bible study, when I started six months, nobody came next six months and people trickled in and there was a season where we did not have elders. You know why? I didn't know anybody. I didn't know the people who were coming.

I had to get to know them. I didn't, you know, I didn't want, you know, some guy walk in and go, Hey, you, you look like an elder. Let's make you an elder and hope you do the job.

No, no, no, no. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says, look for those who are proven, tested, and then you set them in place. One of the tests that happens with every leader that's in position in this church is I watch what happens when I have a disagreement with them. If they will pray for me now, gang, the elders, the deacons, the board of directors, they have the authority and the ability to come to me and in a discussion say, you know what, pastor, all due respect, I absolutely disagree with you, but that always happens behind closed doors. When we walk out, that's done because they know that, you know, I'm accountable to God.

They can say, Hey, you, you know, I'm not sure you should handle it like this, but you know what? You're the one that's going to have to explain this to God. So you do what you do and I'll support you.

Whatever your decision is. See, because what we don't want is fraction and division, and we're going to get to that later in this chapter and an elder to go, well, you know, I disagree with you like that because I'm out of here. Well then you got a problem because every time there's a disagreement, then you got fractured and division in the church. So again, these, these roles, pastors, elders, unions are biblical roles. Now we also have here, we have a board of directors, which is really kind of an office of the elders, but it's more specifically to financial oversight.

And we have that and we also use an outside accounting firm to come in and look at our books every year. But so these are roles and, and what are these roles supposed to do and what are the, you know, what are they supposed to be? And, and I carry the title, let me go ahead and say, I carry the title, senior pastor.

That's that title. Pastor is in the Bible. A lot of times it's a verb, not an out, but pastors in the Bible, senior pastors, not in there. So you could come in and go, well, call yourself senior pastor.

Why is that? Well, because it shows that I am leading the other pastors. Doesn't mean I'm older than all of them. It means I'm in a leadership role. So we use the title, senior pastor. Now, if you're sitting there going, it's not in the bubble. Well, neither is car.

How did you get here today? Trinity's not in the Bible, but it's a theological concept. The appearance of the Trinity is when Jesus was baptized, Holy spirit came down to him, voice from heaven. Anyway, so what is this whole deacon thing? So acts 2017 speaks from a light as he sent to Ephesians and called for the elders of the church.

Well, these elders supposed to be doing acts 20, 28. So therefore take heed to yourselves to all the flock among whom which the Holy spirit has made you overseers, the shepherd, the church of God, which you purchased with his own blood. Now let's understand, and I mentioned this Thursday, I believe in the priesthood of believers. The Bible talks about the priesthood of believers. Martin Luther, part of the reformation was about the priesthood of believers.

What does that mean? That means that you can go straight to God. When you need forgiveness, you can go straight to God. You can pray. You don't have to come to me, Hey, will you forgive my sins?

I don't have the power or the authority to forgive your sins. God does go to him, talk to him about that being said, there is an administrative authority that God placed in the church. I didn't come up with it.

God came up with it. It's in his word. You're agreeing or disagreeing with the word of God itself. And elders are supposed to be in authority over the church. First Timothy 5, 17 says this, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honors, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. So they're supposed to rule. They're supposed to lead. We're not used to the word rules. So let's use the word lead.

It's probably more descriptive. And again, the elders and the deacons and the pastors in this church, do you realize every one of them volunteered in this church? None of them came to me like after they were here a couple months and Hey, you know, I'm probably seeing my name on that tie.

They're pretty heavy hitter. And I won't talk to you about being a deacon. No, no. I've watched these men pour their lives out for the sake of this fellowship and watch their support of the ministry and support of me prayerfully and their consideration for you people. And then as I've seen that, I said, okay, well, this man's acting like a deacon. Let's see him raised up as a deacon. God's already anointed him as a deacon. I'm just agreeing with what God's doing. God's already anointed him as an elder. I just agree with what he's doing. God's already called him and anointed him to be a pastor. I'm just recognizing the title. Man does not make deacons elders and pastors.

God does. Thank you for listening to Cross the Bridge. We'll return to David's teaching in just a moment.

You know, it's often the case that during this time of year, many of us will make New Year's resolutions in order to better our life. And this year, Cross the Bridge wants to help with the Cross the Bridge Every Day devotional book. Cross the Bridge Every Day is filled with 365 days of scripture, David's life lessons and practical applications that will help you find victory in life and encouragement every day of the year.

David's devotional also offers a detailed index, allowing you to find specific devotions that deal with subjects like depression, relationships, salvation and more. The way to abundant life is through fellowship with Jesus Christ and Cross the Bridge Every Day makes spending time with the Lord convenient and enjoyable. Cross the Bridge Every Day is available this month only for a gift of any amount to Cross the Bridge Ministries. To donate, call 877-458-5508 or visit us online at crossthebridge.com. Act on your resolution today and receive David McGee's devotional with your donation.

Again, that number is 877-458-5508 or online at crossthebridge.com. Friend, do you have a heart for the lost? I invite you to send us the first names of your lost loved ones and we will have hundreds of people praying for them. Just go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and you'll enter their name. And if you put your name and email address in there, I'll send you free resources to equip you to pray and teach you how to reach your lost loved ones. Please don't wait.

This is so important. So please again, go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and send us the first names of lost loved ones. We'll send you some free information and together we can partner to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world, the whole book for the whole world. Now let's return to David McGee's verse by verse teaching in the book of Romans. What is our responsibility towards these people who are leaders in the church? Well, you know what?

I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to read the Bible to you and see what the Bible says about these relationships. First Peter 5, 1 says, the leaders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. A couple of verses down says, likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes. All of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility for God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He's not talking about submitting yourself to older people. If you look at first Peter 5, he's talking about that office specific of elder. And that doesn't just mean an older person. I remember my first elder, my youngest son Benjamin said, dad, I don't get it. I said, what? He said, he said, you made a man, an elder who's younger than you are. I said, it's a, it's a biblical term.

It's not a chronological age. And so this elder we're, we're to submit to elders. First Thessalonians 5, 12, dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord's work. They work hard among you and warn you against all that is wrong.

Think highly of them and give them your wholehearted love because of their work and remember to live peaceably with each other. So respect, honor, think highly. And again, that verse first Timothy 5, 17, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. What else is the relationship with elder? James 5, 14, very important.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil. And then they say in the name of the Lord. Now this is an interesting verse.

Why? Because I just mentioned the priesthood of believers and I just said, you can go directly to God. And then here's this verse that says, go to your elders and have them pray for you.

What does that tell us? That there is a spiritual anointing and authority upon leadership in the church. That doesn't mean it's, it's, it's stronger than your anointing or your authority, but there's something biblically that you're supposed to call upon them when you're in trouble or when you're sick. And I often use this verse to say, Hey, this is, you know, if you're sick, come have us pray for you. And that's part of the reason we believe that God still heals people.

Hey, I'm sick. Would the elders pray for me? Yeah, we'll pray for you.

Come on up here. We'll pray for God. We know you don't heal anybody anymore and they're sick. So just take them on home in Jesus name.

Amen. Now God still heals people, but it says to call on the elders. Hebrews 13, seven, remember your leaders who first taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives and trust the Lord as they do.

So it's talking about kind of imitating them. Trust God as they do. Hebrews 13, 17, give this to you in two versions. New King James says, obey those who rule over you and be submissive for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you. So this verse says it's for your benefit to submit to them.

Or Hebrews 13, 17, new living translation. Obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls and they know they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this joyfully and not with sorrow.

That cert would not, would certainly not be for your benefit. So they are accountable to God. Who's accountable to God? Deacons, elders, pastors. And I understand this as pastors now, maybe you're sitting there and go, what happens when a deacon goes haywire or a elder goes haywire or a pastor goes haywire? Then God is going to lead me to speak to them. I have set at different times, I've set all three of those offices down. I've set people down from those offices. Why? Because God spoke to me that I was supposed to do that.

So I've done that. I didn't like doing it, but not everything I do as senior pastor here is enjoyable. Some things are difficult. So understand I'm going to pray. I'm going to ask God and if I see something in somebody's life, maybe they need to focus on their family for a little while or whatever, I'll deal with it. And so be in prayer for me as I lead this flock and according to this, it's to your benefit to submit to the leadership of the church.

Now certainly there's been disaster stories and you know, weird stuff and you know, people making the people of the congregation come and sign their mortgages over weird stuff like we don't do stuff like that here anymore. No, we've never done anything like that, but there's again, there's a biblical authority now, but here's the life lesson and here's straight from the Bible. We should honor, obey, respect and submit to our elders or our spiritual leaders. We should honor, obey, respect and submit to our elders or our spiritual leaders.

Again, we have this concept. We have pastors, elders, deacons broken down real simply deacons are responsible for physical oversight, for waiting on the people of the church and the physical aspect of the church elders more so of a spiritual nature and pastors are really biblically. There's not a big difference between pastor and elder. Really the distinctive that we use as pastors, I mean elders should be pastoring. Pastors should be elderly if you will. Pastors are generally those who are in full time ministry. So we have some elders that continue to work jobs that you know, sometimes I'll have them up here to teach because it says the elders are supposed to be apt to teach. So and again, according to the Bible, I'm the one that's supposed to be appointing the elders, supposed to be appointing the deacons.

I don't do that lightly. We are what we call a spirit led, pastor led church. You don't see biblically where the deacons get together and vote whether a pastor gets to keep his job for the next year. You don't see the elders getting together voting to see if the pastor gets to keep his job.

And let's go ahead. Can a pastor led church go off the rails? Absolutely. Can a deacon led church go off the rails? Absolutely. Can an elder ran church go off the rails? Absolutely. Why?

People are involved. But as long as I understand, the elders understand and the deacons understand that we are accountable to God, it's going to be good. See, because you may get upset with me about some decision I make. And I don't like that.

But you know, I'll be okay with it. But I do not want to displease the true and the living God, the eternal God, and the one who died that I could be forgiven and be here at this church. Jesus tells us to love one another the way He loved us. How did Jesus love us? On the cross. He died for us. This is the way we're to love one another.

This is what we're called to do. And humanly speaking, it is impossible. Spiritually speaking, it can be done. I've seen bonds and relationships form in this place that all the power of the enemy and deception and all sorts of things could not budge or break. Don't you want to be in that kind of relationship?

Don't you want to be in that kind of community? Then that takes pouring yourself out and at times being a little scared, feeling like you might fail, but understanding that everybody in this place has experienced the grace and the mercy of God. See, because we have to extend grace and mercy to one another.

Why? Jesus Christ extended grace and mercy to us. How could any of us sit here and sing worship songs, sit here and look into the word of God, sit here in the middle of the church, and when we think of all the things that have gone wrong in our lives, except for the grace and the mercy that God has already shown us. People will hurt you. People may speak evil of you and you're still called to love them. Some relationships you're still called to honor them. May God give you the ability to do that because as you do that, you will be honoring God.

And through that, you will develop relationships that will take you through some difficult places in life. God himself, Jesus Christ, has demonstrated his love in such a remarkable way to each and every one of you by dying on the cross. See, all of us have sinned. All of us have fallen. All of us have messed up. Jesus never messed up and yet he died a sinner's death.

Why? For you and I so that we could be forgiven. He showed his love for us in a very demonstrable way. Friend, if you ever feel like you're not loved, you think about the cross.

Now I know we think of this as kind of just a religious emblem. It's much deeper than that. This is the love of God expressed towards you. And whenever you go through a moment in time and you think, well, I'm not sure anybody loves me, quit believing the law. Jesus Christ loves you. And he loves you more than anybody else.

And he's not a fair-weather friend. He says he's never going to leave you. He's never going to forsake you. And with that assurance and that confidence, may you begin to reach outside of yourself to others and build these relationships that we see so beautifully exampled in the Bible. Maybe you've heard that Jesus Christ has died for you before and hopefully you have, but have you made that personal? I grew up in church. I knew the facts about Jesus, that Jesus died for my sins. I was not born again.

I had never made it personal. I'd never asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins. Friend, if you're here today or listening to the satellites or the live stream or radio or television and you're not absolutely sure you've been forgiven, you can be forgiven in the next few moments. The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, and 10, and 13, that if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and that whosoever calls on the name of Lord will be saved. It's asking him to forgive you. God is so willing to forgive you that he gave his son, his son's life so that you could have access to forgiveness. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven and I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life and I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again.

Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him and he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness, those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. When you call, ask about this month's special offer featuring David's devotional book, Cross the Bridge Every Day. This inspirational book offers 365 daily devotions as well as a detailed topical index to help you grow deeper in your relationship with the Lord. Cross the Bridge Every Day is available now for your gift of any amount. Again, the number to call is 877-458-5508, or you can go online to crossthebridge.com. Thank you for listening. We pray that you will join us next time as we continue to Cross the Bridge.