Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

The Acts of the Apostles

permit these technical problems to detract from the statement’s intent and impact. Whatever the correct rendering may be, the point regard ing the immeasurable worth of God’s church is still made. “With this,” says Gooding, “we touch the mainspring of all true defence and shep herding of the church: the cost at which God bought it.”33 The price one is willing to pay for an object demonstrates its value. For the Church, God gave His only Son as a sin-bearing sac rifice. The Son bled and died for the Church. How could God have paid more for His Church? He has paid an incalculable price. How God must love the Church! How much it must mean to Him when His chosen elders earnestly care for His blood-bought children. Richard Baxter dramatically captures the passion of Paul’s persua sive reasoning when he states, Can you not hear [Christ] saying, “Did I die for these people, and will you then refuse to look after them? Were they worth My blood, and are they not worth your labor? Did I come down from Heaven to seek and to save that which was lost, and will you refuse to go next door, or to the next street or village to seek them? How small is your labor or condescension compared to Mine! I debased Myself to do this, but it is your honor to be so employed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation, and will you refuse that little that lies upon your hands?” Everytime we look out upon our congregations, let us believingly remember that they are purchased by Christ’s blood, and that therefore they should be highly regarded by us.34 What an immense honor it is to shepherd the church of God! It is a most serious matter when a pastor elder is inattentive to the needs of the church of God, yet this remains a common, worldwide problem. I am convinced that one of the key reasons elders neglect the congrega tion and many men lack the desire to be elders is that they fail to compre hend the inestimable value of the church of God and fail to appreciate the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5: 14,15). When men grasp the eternal value of God’s flock and the nearly unimaginable price paid for our salvation, they should be inspired to commit their lives wholeheartedly to caring for the church of God. As the great hymn writer Isaac Watts wrote: “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

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