Respecting Our Elders

"They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. 23Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust." Acts 14:21-23

Sometimes we as church members simply don't agree with something within the church. Whether it be a policy, a doctrine, the way a service is done, or the simple wording of the bulletin. Or maybe it's one of a myriad of other things. What's important to know about these types of disagreement is the way to handle them. What would be the easy thing to do? To complain. To complain to anyone who will listen about how you don't like the color of paint in the ladies room. (As an example, we'll go with that.) So every time you see someone from church, you squeeze your complaint about paint into conversation. And before you know it, the church is buzzing about the bad paint color in the ladies room. Some people like the color, some people don't, and what you have essentially done, is caused division in the church. People are divided over the paint, and before you know it, other complaints are brought forth, and soon the whole church is in turmoil all because you couldn't agree with the paint decisions.

While true division in the church may not stem from something as basic as paint color, it could also stem from that very thing, sadly enough. What we need to realize is that these complaints, these feelings of unrest that we have are the enemy trying to squeeze in. If he can use something as basic as paint color to keep God from working within the body, by golly he's going to use the paint color to his very advantage. Our enemy is sneaky like that. So what do we do?

We turn to the body of elders that we put into a role of leadership at our church. When we have a complaint, we address our governing body, and then trust that they will do what is best for the body as a whole. But wait, you're saying, my complaints are about the governing body! My answer to you on that then is when was the last time you prayed for those people? When was the last time you spent some time praying for each of those people individually? As we see in the verse above, Paul and Barnabas did that very thing. They established leadership in the church and then spent serious time praying and fasting for them. When one of our elders is struggling with something, that's the devil trying to get his foot in the door, and that's when we need to be praying for them even more, so they can battle away those demons and remain strong in their walk with the Lord.

It's so important to respect those who have been called to leadership. Disrespect can lead to division, which needs to be avoided at all costs. If there is something we want to see changed, first we need to pray on it, and see if that desire is truly from God. Once we think we know that change is from God, then we need to bring it before our leadership in love, and then we need to trust those we've put into that position to make the best choice for the body of believers. Sometimes, that change isn't meant for now, and we need to respect that decision of our elders. But that doesn't mean that we can't keep praying. More than anything, we need to continue to pray for our leadership because they need it. Paul and Barnabas went through so many hardships...perhaps some of those hardships were division caused by paint. Hardship comes, as the enemy will always try to get in the door. But we can beat that hardship away through prayer and respect. And remembering to trust those we've selected as our leaders.