As You Were

In a comment in my recent post about elders, Mark said:

I believe the Spirit weaves the tapestry, and, as in Acts, when the apostles came through and appointed elders, they simply recognized those that were already functioning in that capacity.

I would agree with that. Someone shouldn’t act or function differently based on being recognized as an elder. This is something that seems so common-sense, so eminently supportable from Scripture and yet it doesn’t seem to be as commonly held as perhaps it should be.

Being an elder is a recognition of what you are already doing, rather than you starting to do something new because you become an elder. In other words, you don’t function as an elder because you have been recognized as an elder, you are recognized as an elder because that is how you are already functioning. Someone doesn’t start to teach because they are an elder, they are already recognized as being able to teach. You don’t serve the church because you are an elder, you are an elder because you are serving already. You don’t become a better husband because you are an elder, that is who you already are. The qualities to be desired in an elder are qualities all Christians should be seeking to exhibit and elders exemplify those qualities and therefore are leaders because we should be emulating their model and example of how to live.