An address to St. Kilda congregation by Rev. S. N. Ramsay on the occasion of the induction of Rev. R. W. Murray.
From Our Banner: February, 1969.  "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you."-Heb. XIII., 17.

These words which the apostle addressed here to the Hebrew Christians draw our attention to what our fathers styled "The Rule of the House" - that is, the government of the Church of Jesus Christ. And perhaps it will help us to get our thinking straight if we begin by defining the Church itself; the visible Church consists of "all those throughout the world who profess the true religion, together with their children."

But this Church is something more than the mere sum of professing Christians. Some regard her as an "organism," while others regard her as an organisation. And who is right? We answer that, as she is the living body of Christ, and has many members, she is an organism. But as she functions according to the practices and principles set forth in the Word of God, she is clearly an organisation, having a well-defined form of government, regular processes of discipline, being presided over by duly elected office- bearers ordained to their appropriate ministry. Under this government then, it is a cardinal rule of the house that all things be done decently and in order.

Church government is not some nebulous scheme of mystic management, but a well- ordered system of Presbyterianism - that is to say of government by Presbyters or Elders; and the power vested in these Presbyters - that is, in the Eldership - is the power not of devising the government of the church and formulating the laws according to which she is to function, but the power of assembling and setting forth and declaring and applying those rules which the great King and Head of the Church has set forth in the living Word.

It is regrettable that a number of people seem to imagine that the work of the Church and the life of the congregation will automatically run smoothly simply because she is the Church, and not some secular or commercial organisation; that because she has a spiritual character, she is on a higher plane where the application of the rules of government will be both undignified and unnecessary! History shows that this attitude has ever been a fruitful source of friction and of difficulty.

Let us remember that there is a Rule of the House, and that this rule is one that is not of man's devising but an appointed rule to which men may not add nor from which may they take away. "No power of man is equal to the task of framing a constitution for this Kingdom, for it is the kingdom of God and of heaven," and as man may not add to this rule nor diminish therefrom, neither may this rule be discarded or disobeyed. "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves."

There must be order in the Church, and if there is to be order then there must be obedience, obedience to that ''rule which God hath given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him." An integral part of this rule is the one which we find here in our text, and which requires that God's people should give obedience to that constituted authority which He has ordained in His Church, and that all should render "evangelical obedience" to those who, through the preaching of the Word, "command all men everywhere to repent and to believe the Gospel." Timothy was directed to "Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine" and our text here requires obedience to all such exhortation, and incidentally supplies us with some very good reasons why such obedience is desirable. And every member who signs his name to a Call enters into a solemn undertaking to "render to the pastor all dutiful respect and encouragement and obedience in the Lord," whilst the adherent who signs the "concurrence" in the Call by implication binds himself in like manner. Let us remember that Church membership confers many great and precious privileges - the privilege of public worship, of all the means of grace, and not by any means least the privilege of service.

In no sphere of life - and least of all in the Church of Jesus Christ - may we expect to enjoy privileges without accepting responsibility. Linked with the privilege of having regular services and a settled pastor surely is the responsibility of regular attendance! It is a grand thing to see a church filled to capacity at an induction service, but it would be a far grander thing to see it so filled every Sabbath day; yes, and at the week-night meeting, too! And if God has seen fit to provide a pastor for the people, then it is a most fitting way to show our thankfulness to God when we see that our places are not empty on the Sabbath day.

You who have signed the Call have contracted to give your minister every encouragement. What kind of encouragement is it - and what kind of obedience is it - when, with painstaking care your pastor has sought out a message from God and diligently prepared the food for your souls - he finds your places empty, your pews unoccupied, and the message that was prepared for your souls echoing back from the empty benches which testify to your indifference!

Then there is the sphere of service. There are so many ways in which one may render service in the work of God. We are not going to draw up a list of them, for the important thing is that we should be continually on the alert to discover them, and above all be ready to lay hold on them and respond to them when they arise. We will not all be pastors or preachers; we will not all be office-bearers or Sabbath school teachers. No doubt one treasurer will be enough! You see "there are diversities of gifts . . . there are differences of administrations . . . and there are diversities of operations . . . for the body is not one member but many. And if the ear shall say 'I am not the eye,' is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? . . . Now we are the body of Christ, and members in particular." As such then each one will have his part in the work performed by that body which is the Church; and each part, great or small, will be a part without which the overall work of the Church would be incomplete.

Of equal importance to all, whether old or young, rich or poor, will be our stewardship. We do not go along with those forms of "stewardship campaigns" which retain the services of some worldly commercial enterprise to raise funds for the Church; and probably the most serious objection to such schemes is that to employ these agencies is to call on the world to do what is clearly the work of the Church herself. For let the Church - as is her duty - teach Scriptural views of stewardship, and let her people apply these principles faithfully, and the Church will never find occasion to call in "big business" to exact from her people that which ought to be given cheerfully as unto the Lord. It will be the duty and responsibility of the pastor and of "those who have the rule over you" to instruct the people in every aspect of Christian duty, that of "scriptural giving" included; and it will be the duty and responsibility under God for every member to render all due obedience.

We might notice further that the direction given here is both to obey and to "submit yourselves." What is the difference? As Christ Himself is the great shepherd of the sheep, so the pastor is the under-shepherd. And if we think in terms of 1 Peter II., 25 - "Ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls" - we will recognise that the true under-shepherd will be both the "shepherd and bishop" of the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made him overseer. He will be both "poimena and episkopon." As the shepherd therefore, he will lead the flock to pastures; he will feed it and instruct it and see to its nourishment and its refreshment. He will bring it healing and comfort in its troubles, and as he shares, as he will share in its joys and in its sorrows, a strong and precious bond will be forged linking both together in love, in sympathy, in respect and in appreciation. And the more faithfully the shepherd leads and the more implicitly the flock obey the greater will be the joy both of the one and the other.

But let us remember that he is both shepherd and bishop. This word means simply, the 'overseer'. In this capacity then it will be his duty to admonish, to reprove, to rebuke with all authority. As for the flock, doubtless they will find it easy and pleasant to receive the shepherd's care, but not so easy perhaps to 'submit themselves' as it is in our text, to the ministrations of the 'overseer'. But painful and all as such submission may be, yet a right response to faithful dealing with our waywardness will bring nothing but good to our souls. Yes, the flock must be fed and the flock must be cared for, but the flock must also learn to be disciplined if it is to prosper and to grow.

Yet we would be far from the truth if we were to think of the obedience owed to the minister as obedience only to the government and discipline of the Church. In fact we should be missing the very kernel of the truth. The pastor's first and great exhortation will doubtless be to repent and to believe the gospel. His commission is at one with that of the apostle when he declared, 'Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God . . . ! Perhaps we hear too much these days about the 'offer' or the 'invitation' of the Gospel; and we know that down the centuries controversy has raged around these issues. It may help us then to get our thinking clear if we were to attend more to the Scriptural assertion that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent and to believe the Gospel.

This is not a mere invitation, to be accepted or declined as fancy dictates; nor is it an offer made to a select group of individuals. It is a direct command, and it concerns "all men everywhere". We must recognise then that God gives voice to this same command today, and that He does so through the reading and the preaching of the Word; and the preacher in turn is under obligation to teach all things whatsoever Our Lord has commanded, exhorting all men to repentance toward God and faith in His Son Jesus Christ, praying always that God will enable him faithfully and clearly to present the truth, and He through the Spirit will cause that truth to live in the hearts of His people.

And the flock itself, if it is to be truly blessed must in its turn be obedient to the shepherd; praying that God will bless him abundantly and use him mightily in bringing both themselves and others to a saving knowledge of the truth and to a closer walk and fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord, remembering that he is set apart and ordained to watch for their souls, as one that must give account."

Finally, there is a very real sense in which the congregation has the power to make their minister's life one of joy and happiness, or one of grief and misery.

Perhaps then we should mark this text clearly in our Bibles, so that we may refer to it and be reminded of it throughout all the days and the years to come; "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for this is unprofitable to you."