God's Gifts to Us and Our Churches

Ephesians 4:11-14  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  (12)  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  (13)  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,  (14)  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

God gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. Therefore they are gifts to us from God.

What do apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers all have in common?  A vital aspect of all their ministries involves speaking. Sometimes it is to preach the good news that God uses to bring people to repentance. Other times it to explain to believers how to grow in in their spiritually maturity. And other times it is how to avoid or get out of false teachings..

Preaching, proclaiming and teaching are all essential ministries within the church. Service to those in need is also crucial and of course should not be neglected. But without evangelizing there would be no church because God has decreed that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). And after we come to saving faith in Jesus God wants us to grow in the knowledge of Him, His holiness, and His will. Without godly preaching we remain spiritual babies and are susceptible to all manner of deceptions.

Prior to the coming of Jesus in the flesh, God used prophets to exhort the people of their day and give us much of the Bible. Jesus chose certain men, including Paul, as His apostles, or ambassadors, and gave them the power to proclaim the gospel and help raise up His Church. Later the church also sent out some who they referred to as apostles, who apparently served in ways like those we call missionaries today. Evangelists then and now are gifted by God to share the gospel of repentance from sin and the salvation that only Christ provides by He death on the Cross.

Pastors (shepherds) and teachers are particularly essential in ministering to the local church. Pastors usually are gifted to both preach and teach to their flocks, but also to counsel, comfort, and at times confront individuals within their congregation. Teachers are gifted to help people understand God's Word, but may not be gifted to care for others in the same way that pastors are apt to be.

Not everybody who calls themselves apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are actually gifted and called to be such. Some people portray themselves as such because they have good intentions but God does not grant them them what is needed to serve in those ways. Other people are actually false prophets and false teachers, and their motives are self serving.

Churches who have shepherds and teachers who are truly called and gifted by God should be exceedingly thankful that God has so blessed them. Leaders like that will help them learn more about how holy God is and how we can have lives that are pleasing to Him.

I am so thankful to be in a church where those who serve as elders are men who seek to meet the Biblical standards of elders including that an elder "...must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it." Titus 1:9 ESV

The church now also has a pastor to serve as a senior elder for all in the church. From his preaching it is evident to us that he is called, gifted, and has been and intends to continue to diligent to study, prepare, and present what God wants us to know so we can grow in spiritual maturity. I gladly respect him and will support him in whatever ways I can, as I am sure many others in our church will. One passage of Scripture that comes to mind as I ponder how blessed we are to have this man as our senior pastor is the following.

1 Timothy 5:17-18  Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.  (18)  For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages."

What Kind of Preaching Do You Want to Hear?

       2 Timothy 4:1-6   I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.    ESV

Paul's second letter to Timothy was his final epistle that was included in Scripture. He was once again a prisoner and the time of his departure from this life had come. It would now be up to Timothy and others to continue the work of preaching and teaching that he had been doing for years.

His charge to Timothy needs to be understood by all who are called to preach the Word of God, whether they are pastors, teachers, evangelists, missionaries or others. Even those who aren't called or gifted to teach need to know this charge so they can avoid teachers who don't adhere to it, and encourage those who do.

The charge Paul made is not to be taken lightly. Paul makes it clear that he is doing so in presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead.

The Word of God is to be preached. It is to be done so when it is convenient to so and also when it is out of season, not convenient, not popular, or even hazardous to those proclaiming it. The preaching is not in order to entertain, draw crowds, or make money. The purpose of the preaching is to reprove, rebuke, and exhort and it is done with patience and teaching.

The preaching needs to be with patience because many people won't like what God has for us in the Bible. And the preaching needs to me more than just telling people, even believers, to stop doing and believing things that are contrary to Scripture, they need to be taught what the Bible actually says and not what they might think that it says. They also need to be taught why what God says in His Word is what they need to believe and do. (Even if the reason is simply because the God who made heaven and earth says so.)

There are multitudes of false teachings that become quite popular because they suit the passions, pride and desires of people. Listening to those kind of teachings catches people's attention and they want more of it. They'll gladly wander off to the churches, conferences, and rallies where such things are being proclaimed. They read the books and watch TV shows that promote them. They let themselves become convinced that the stuff that is tickling their ears is from God.

But even though people will turn away from the truth, we need to heed what Paul wrote to Timothy. We are to be sober minded, endure suffering, and do the work of an evangelist. The word evangelist means "messenger of good." The work of bringing the message of good it to to covey was is truly good, which is the actual truth of the Word of God. Good is not what merely sounds good as told by clever talkers and writers. Good is that God says is good.

Are you called by God to preach or teach? Then take your calling very seriously. Carefully study Scripture so you convey it to others as clearly and effectively as the Spirit of God enables you. Are you called to learn godly Biblical teaching? Then see to it that you study Scripture as best you can and be sure you listen to those who preach and teach it just as God inspired it to be written.

I'm now going to a church where the new pastor's sermons do not entertain me. They don't make me feel comfortable. They are not fun. But they are wonderfully Bible based, explaining Scripture passages with other Scripture passages. They make me want to take more notes and also to hear the recording of them again. And they encourage me to spend more time reading and studying God's Word. They help me to want to understand and live out the Word of God. That's the kind of preaching I want to hear. How about you?

 

Is Right Teaching a Numbers Game?

Is it likely that the discernment of two people would be more accurate than the discernment of 15 consultants and 99% of the membership of a church? Well, based on that wording, it would seem unlikely that the vast majority would apt to correct and the one or two who came to perceive things differently.

But right sound Biblical doctrine is not a numbers game. Instead it is what does Scripture actually say. Again and again God has raised up men like Noah, Abraham, Moses and the prophets and had them preach and teach what He wanted His people to believe and live by. Sometimes the people would obey for a season and then stray into believing other things.

Then God sent His very own Son, who was and is the way, truth, and life. Jesus in addition to being one and only sacrifice that can redeem us, taught his disciples what He wanted them to teach others. He also directly taught Paul. Those apostles taught others, and what they taught was the sound teaching that God wants His church to know and obey.

But individuals and entire churches would listen to other teachings and believe them. Paul had to both write to those churches and go to them to correct the errors that kept creeping into the churches.

Paul also spent years teaching individuals like Timothy and Titus to be able to teach correctly and straighten out errors that had infiltrated the churches.

However, as generations went by, error crept in and false doctrines came to permeate the Church. But in His mercy God brought along men who took the time to study Scripture and see how far what was by then the accepted teachings in the Church had caused it drift away from what is in God's Word.

The great reformers in the history of the Church were able to be used by God to help people get out of the mire of deception they were in by diligent study of Scripture and then preaching it. Most often they would go through books of the Bible verse by verse since God had a purpose both in what He said and how He said it in Scripture. They always used Scripture to explain Scripture. They also took the time to investigate the meanings of words and phrases in the original languages and what was being referred to in the time God had it written, believing that what God meant when He inspired its writing He still meant.

Even what is written in the Old Testament means the same thing now as it meant them. But how it was understood by the priests and teachers in their time had to change when God Himself came in the flesh and clarified what such things as sacrificing animals was a foreshadow of. Jesus was the actual Lamb of God to take away the sins of world. And many of the teachings of those who taught the Law of God were wrong. Not because there was anything wrong with the wording of Scripture, but those who were teaching it were in error. They were false teachers and didn't know it.

To teach what is right takes careful study of God's Word. We always have to go back to Scripture and read it in context, and read entire books of the Bible, and as much as possible learn about what it says in the original languages and historic context. Getting deceived is easy. Entire churches and even denominations have started with a strong clear understanding of Scripture and over time became swallowed up in deceptions that had them compromising into religiosity and worldliness.

Let us remember:

(2 Tim 3:16-17)  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. ESV

Right teaching is not a numbers game. It is a proper understanding of Scripture. If you'd like to grow in your understanding of Scripture you should take the time to study it. One place you could do that for free is with the online resources of the Masters Seminary where John MacArthur is president. Here is a link to the resources page:

http://www.theologicalresources.org/the-masters-seminary/tms-resources/

On that resource page you can access the free courses by clicking the link below the Online Lectures paragraph.

Let's study God's Word so we continue to learn what God wants us to know, believe and obey.