Philippians (Lesson 8)

A single word in Philippians 1:1 can overturn a whole lot of modern church assumptions: bishops plural, deacons plural. That’s where we start, and it quickly turns into a candid, Bible-forward look at church structure, church government, and why so many congregations end up feeling like power struggles instead of spiritual families.

We talk through the most common models people experience, including deacon boards that function like bosses, systems where a distant bishop governs multiple churches, and the “one man ministry” approach where one leader answers to no one. Then we measure every model against the New Testament pattern: believers on equal footing in the body of Christ, gifted men serving rather than ruling, and a plurality of biblically qualified elders providing real oversight without lordship. Along the way we trace the thread through Acts 14, Acts 15, and Acts 20, showing how “elders” and “overseers” connect, and why shared leadership can make a local church steadier when personalities change or fail.

The conversation gets personal when we address why churches fight about who’s in charge. Pride produces contention, and Jesus flips the script in Matthew 20: greatness is ministry, and leadership is service. We also walk through Hebrews 13 and spell out what we should actually look for in spiritual leaders: men who speak the Word of God, live a faith worth following, show a life that holds up over time, and watch for souls like they’ll give account.

If you care about biblical church leadership, plurality of elders, and servant leadership that prepares people for the judgment seat of Christ, listen through to the end. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: what kind of leadership culture have you seen help a church thrive?

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Transcript

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Welcome And Philippians Opening

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Well, here we are again in Brother James. I greet you once again in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And I welcome you once again to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. Very, very happy that you've tuned into the program today. I believe that you will be glad you did. Hope you can stay with us for the full half an hour. We are trying our best to press on through this book of Philippians, but we are not making a great deal of progress. That's all right. This is our eighth program. We are somewhat through the first six verses, but not really. And so we'll just press on do the best we can. The Bible says in Philippians 1, verse 1, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops, plural, and deacons, plural, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. It's pretty clear from this verse that the Bible teaches not only a plurality of deacons, but a plurality of bishops. That's what it says, bishops plural, deacons plural. And so we're going to take some time on the program today to look at what the Bible says

How Denominations Stack Authority

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about church structure and particularly the leadership structure within a church. And we'll see what the Bible says, and you can do with it what you will. We're at uh liberty. You have liberty to agree with the Bible, you have liberty to disagree with the Bible, but we're going to try and do what it says so we can all come and stand before the Lord in a way that is pleasing to him. That's what we want to do. We want to please the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, uh the many denominational churches are set up to be run by a board of deacons or elders or presbyters, and these rule over the pastor, and they will either keep paying him or starve him out, depending on whether or not he does their will. And then the pastor under the board is over the congregation. Generally, in this situation, even though you're set up with a board type operation, you will still have a one-man ministry, because you're either going to have a very rich businessman who controls the deacon board, or you're going to have a very strong-willed and prominent deacon's wife who controls the deacon board and thereby controlling the pastor. Then you have other denominational groups where you have a number of churches and a number of pastors that are governed from afar by a bishop, and that bishop governs the pastors who have leadership authority over the church. And the Bible speaks of many bishops in one city. Several denominations have many cities for one bishop. So we're still looking for a scriptural setup. Then you have two organizations. Well, organization is kind of a loose word. One is very organized, one is not. You have uh groups that have one man with complete and total authority, answerable to no one, and he governs all the sheep who are under his authority. The two groups that use this system are primarily the Roman Catholic Church and the Independent Baptist uh churches. Uh somewhat the same situation. Now, somewhere in the middle of all this, somewhere in the middle of the Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Catholic

Equal Footing In Christ

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Baptist, somewhere in the middle of all this is going to be the Bible. Here's what God has in his word. He has every saved, born-again believer as a member of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, none superior to another, none inferior to another. Some of these members have been gifted to serve as a pastor teacher or an evangelist, and those men on equal footing with all their brethren serve in these capacities. These are gifts given by God. Then there are others who have qualified for the office of a bishop or of a deacon, and they serve in those capacities on an equal footing with their brethren. Now, if you look at these different systems, it's not hard to see the wisdom of God. If you build a church on a pastor, and then you build all of the church on or around him, it's quite likely that that thing is going to tip over and fall. If you build it on a group of men, it's a little bit more stable, but it's still quite capable of getting unbalanced and falling. But if everyone is on an equal footing before God, a man might fall, an individual might drop out, but the church itself is not going to tip over because one or more of the individuals making up that church gets out of balance. That's why it's such a dangerous thing to create within your church a group of people whose sole interest is in and whose loyalty is to the pastor. If you just hear for the pastor, when he goes, you'll go with him. He might move out of town, he might fall back into the world. You're very unstable if you're building your Christian life on one person. You can't be a cheerleader, a follower of any one man. Back in the day, people were shocked when Jim Baker fell or Jimmy Swaggart fell. You know why they were shocked? Because they had no way of knowing anything about these men, because they were not in fellowship with them. They weren't going to church with them. They weren't observing their life and watching their conduct. God never ordained you to stay home and watch a preacher on TV and get your ministry and your fellowship from an unknown individual. Come on. Now, if you're shut in and can't get out, you get whatever ministry you can, and that's great, but that's not that's not the Bible pattern. So what we're going to do is we're going to look at this letter to the Philippians in the church there, and we're going to notice in 1-1, Philippians 1-1, there are bishops plural, and there are deacons plural.

Elders Ordained In Every Church

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And this plurality of leadership is found from the very beginning of the New Testament church. Men serving side by side with other men, some with greater responsibility and ministry opportunities and abilities and gifts more finely developed than others, but none in a lordship position. That of course belongs to Jesus Christ. Acts 14, starting at verse 19, says this. And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. How be it? As the disciples stood around about him, they rose up and came into the city, and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders plural, in every church singular, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed. Now in my mind, if I didn't have any other scripture, it's absolutely clear from this passage that a singular church had a plurality of elders, and that those elders are ordained by the minister preaching the word of God and teaching the Bible to that congregation. That's what it says. Verse 22, then it then pleased it the apostles and elders plural with the whole church singular to send chosen men. So here's what you got. You have one church at Jerusalem. You have a man who is in a principal leadership position in that church. His name is James. And working with James, you have a group or a plurality of elders within that church singular. That's what you had in Acts 14. That's what you have in Acts 15. That's what you have in Philippians chapter number one. Now look at Acts 20 and verse 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders plural of the church singular. Now to me this is so clear. I don't understand why whenever I teach this or put this in print in a book, all the brethren begin to uh just just kind of flip out and wonder, what in the world are you saying? How can you say this? Don't you know the pastor runs the church? Don't you know the deacon board runs the church? Don't you know the uh no, Jesus Christ runs the church. The word of God governs the church. Men are given responsibility to teach that word and to oversee the activities of a church so that that word is properly followed and applied. No man is supposed to run the church. No group of men is supposed to run the church. That's our problem. Now next twenty twenty-eight, same chapter. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, plural, and to all the flock singular, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, plural, to feed the

Elder Versus Overseer Explained

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church of God singular, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Now when you lay verse seventeen down with verse twenty eight, the same group of men are called elders and overseers. So what is an elder? Comparing Scripture with Scripture in the same passage in the same context, an elder is an overseer. He is one that has the oversight. The office is called the office of a bishop. The man who fills the office is called an elder, and the work of the man that fulfills the office is the work of oversight. Keep an eye out on things from a position where one's vision is clear and unobstructed. Now turn your Bible to Hebrews thirteen and Matthew twenty. Hebrews chapter thirteen and Matthew twenty, and then we'll throw in a little something with it from first Peter chapter two. Hebrews thirteen, Matthew twenty.

Pride And The Urge To Rule

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You know when things get rough at home? It's when there is conflict over who's going to be in charge. Now you know that's right. You know when things get rough in the church house? When there's a conflict over who's going to be in charge. You know when conflict arises over who's going to be in charge? Well, the Bible says in Proverbs 13 10, only by pride cometh contention. Now, if everybody in a church was humble, you wouldn't have any fighting over who's in charge. The problem in a church is not who's running the show. The problem is who is controlling the hearts of those who make up the show. Nobody gets upset about who's in charge unless they want to be in charge. If somebody wants a place of leadership in a church, it's very clear in the Bible how to go about getting one. You qualify spiritually by meeting the biblical standard. Oh, I know there's an easier route. Flesh and carnality and destruction is always easier than being filled with the Holy Ghost and living a consistent good life. But there's a right way and a wrong way, and well to do things the right way. The Bible says this in Matthew 20, verse 20. Matthew 20, verse 20. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, the other on my left, on the left in thy kingdom. I am amazed at how early on, how early on mothers were trying to promote their sons into leadership places and high places within the church. Verse 22. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye asked. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? The Lord said, I'm not looking for people to be in charge, I'm looking for people to follow me. I'm not looking for people to take the primary spots, I'm looking to people for people to do what I did, lay down their life for others. That's what he wants. Verse 24, and when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. How about that? Against here's brethren against brethren, over what high places, brethren against brethren, over what? Leadership position. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. Well, you sure hear that word thrown around a lot in many church circles and church groups. Authority, authority. I have the authority, he has the authority, the pastor has the authority, who has the authority? Jesus said Jesus said verse 25. Not so. What do you mean not so? Not one brother exercising authority over another brother. The Lord doesn't want big men and little men, big women and little women, big shots and little shots. He wants brothers and sisters exercising gifts, filling offices and ministering one to another. That's what he wants. How do you know that? Verse twenty six. But it shall not be so among you, whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. You see what the Lord said? You want a top spot? You want an important spot? You want a leadership spot? Then start serving people, start bearing people's burdens, start helping people, be a blessing to others. You see, God's church is totally opposite from the world. The world says serve yourself and you'll get ahead. God said, No, I came to turn that whole system upside down. Quite honestly, if you've been saved in any length of time and been from church to church, it's really sad how little churches today resemble biblical churches and how much they resemble corporations and businesses. It's really sad. All the politics that goes on, all the infighting that goes on, all the striving and campaigning that goes on.

Four Tests For Church Leaders

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Hebrews thirteen seven. Remember them plural which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their plural conversation. Verse seventeen, obey them plural, they have the rule over you, that's oversight. And submit yourselves, for they plural watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. A number of things pop out of these verses. Oh, they are used by preachers far and near to make sure the people know that they are in charge. But number one, in both verses, the people addressed are told to submit themselves to a plurality of overseers, not to an individual. That's not a congregation bowing down with the authority of one man. It's a people who are blessed to have a number of biblically qualified individuals watching out for them. The tone of these verses is not an adversarial relationship, it's a ministry relationship. One watches out for the other, one cares for the other, and then the Bible says there's there's four things, four things we're to look for in an overseer. First of all, who have spoken unto you the word of God, not church constitutions, not bylaws, not rules, not regulations, not standards and convictions and creeds and denominational pronouncements. No, the word of God. The word of God whose faith followed. That's the second thing. You know, there are a lot of men who preach a great sermon and get an outline out of a book and bring a great message, but they don't believe what they're saying. We don't want to hear a great sermon from a guy on Sunday morning and come back Sunday night to hear him correct the Bible or cast doubt upon the Bible. We don't want to find him in the middle of the week living a sinful life. Whose faith follows? They've got to believe the word and practice what they preach, considering the third thing, considering the end of their conversation. Alright? How does what this man teaches work out in his Life. How are things with he and his wife? How does it affect his children? Do they respect him? Look up to him? Love him? How d how does life work out if you live according to what this man taught were Bible principles? You see, men might be acting at church. We don't care what somebody acts like. We care how their life turns out. Fourth, they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy. Here's what we want. We want men who are concerned with our spiritual well-being, who are concerned with how we will fare when we stand at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. I don't want I don't want someone using the pulpit to manipulate me for his personal or financial gain. I don't want to sit and listen to a man in a pulpit try and make up for the fact that his little ego and his little self-esteem needs a boost, and the only way he can get it is by running me around. I don't need that, don't want that. I want somebody who is concerned with how I will fare when I stand at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and know that that individual would count it a great joy if I received a full reward. How about that? That's what I want. I want someone who isn't using me for their benefit. I want someone who is using up their life, their talents, their gifts, their abilities for my spiritual benefit. I don't want to take a negative route. I don't. But I I I don't see and I don't hear a lot of ministry that convinces me that the objective is to encourage me, to edify me, to warn me, to instruct me, so that when I stand before God, God will be pleased with the life that I have lived. All of this compromise, all of this failure to treat certain subjects and certain passages, all of this emphasis on materialism and temporal matters. That's a man trying to tickle the ears of carnal people so that they will reward him temporally with their love, loyalty gifts, so forth. I don't I don't need that. I don't need that. Oh, a little a little bit of it once in a while, you know, once a year maybe. Pick you up and uh cheer you up a little bit, I suppose. But I've got a date with Jesus Christ. Every one of us must give account of himself to God. The Bible says we must all stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Brother, I need you not to lord over me, I need you not to run my life, I need you not to manipulate me, I need you not to use me like your own personal ATM machine. I need you to teach me God's word with your lips and with your life so that I can live in such a way as to be ready, fully ready to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, the order and structure of church government is for gifted men and dedicated proven men to labor together for the benefit of every saved man and woman so that all of us can have full joy in the day when we stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the role of the bishops, the deacons, the pastors, the teachers. That's the duty, that's the responsibility. Well, this is the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. The time sure flies by, especially when

Judgment Seat Focus And Wrap Up

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you're having so much fun. If you'd like this entire study on Philippians, uh the ordering information will be posted on our website, and that's Jamesnox.com. Jamesenox.com. There you find all of our books, all of our study materials, sermons, entire uh texts of books in many different languages there for use by missionaries and and Christians around the world. Also, you can contact us the good old fashioned way by mail. Our address is 872 Glenwood Road. G-L-E-N-W-O-O-D Glenwood Road. That's in Deland of Florida. And the zip code number is 32720 32720. And that mailing address is in the United States of America. This program is heard at many different times over many different radio stations across America and around the world. And the announcer will be on in just a moment to let you know when this program will be heard again over this radio station. We hope and pray that at that time you and a friend that you invite to listen with you will join us for the preaching of the cross radio broadcast. Until then, I'm Brother James. May the Lord richly bless you.

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