Does it matter how a local church is organized?  In other words, is it really necessary for a church like ours to have elders and deacons?  Does the New Testament set forth a definite structure that every church must conform to in order to be counted as a healthy and faithful body of believers?

This coming Sunday, we will turn our attention to such questions as we consider the inspired words of 1 Timothy 3:1-7.  In this section of Paul’s first letter to Timothy, the Apostle lays out an organizational and ministerial structure for the church.  As we will learn in the coming weeks, that structural pattern consists of “elders” and “deacons.”

I have always appreciated how Dr. Guy Waters (of Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi) puts it in the title of his wonderful book on church organization and leadership: ‘How Jesus Runs the Church.’  That is exactly what the Apostle Paul is teaching Timothy in the third chapter of the Epistle!

Taking our cues from Dr. Waters, we’ve entitled this week’s sermon, ‘How Our Good Shepherd Governs and Loves His Sheep.’  As we prayerfully navigate the first seven verses of chapter three, we will see precisely this.  We will understand how it is that our Lord continues to be our Good Shepherd, even though He is presently reigning in heaven and is not with us physically.

Who could have guessed it?  The organizational structure of a local church like CPC is all about the immeasurable love of Jesus for you and me!!