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God's plan for Overseeing His Church Ephesians 4:11 by Cooper Abrams |
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God's plan for Overseeing His Church Ephesians 4:11 by Cooper Abrams |
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In Acts 1:8 Jesus explained to us that we were to be His witnesses in our present locations and around the world.
The work or testimony believers are to have is found in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:19-20).
God's purpose is that His children be witnesses to the unsaved world and take the "Good News" which is the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ them. We must disciple, which is what the first word "teach" means in verse 19. Our task as Bible believing Christians is to instruct, disciple and teach the world of who Jesus Christ is and of salvation through Him. We are to do it in our town, county, country and throughout the world.
How then are we to do that? How can one person carry out the Great Commission? The answer is simple. In one's local assembly of believer....that means in their local church. God created the institution of the local church so that believers could carry out His plan. When believers work together, when that join with each other with a unity of purpose, God uses us, the power of God is upon us and the Good News is taught and people get saved and grow in Christ.
The Book of Ephesians was given to us by God to explain the details of His plan. It is to commission us to obey Him and work in unison to carry out His work. God wants to save the lost. Many times in the New Testament God states His desire. Two of these verses are:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
God states here in verse 11, His organizational chart as to responsibilities within the early church and today.
Note that God's word says He gave "some" to be apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. He called men and gave them different responsibilities and task to coincide with the need or His will.
2. Today we do not have an apostles and after the Apostles of the Lord Jesus died, there were no more. They were important in the early church because God gave them special powers, of being able to preform miracles to authenticate their message that Jesus was the Messiah. The Holy Spirit inspired them to write God's word the New Testament and after the Jews had rejected Jesus as their Messiah the miracle or sign gift ceased. We do not need Apostles today as we have the written and inspired word of God from their hands.
2. Prophets were clearly then preachers in the early church whom God used to record His word.
3. Are there prophets today? Only in the sense that God is still calling men to preach His revealed word. I believe the office of a prophet in the early church was to proclaim God's word in that special time before the word of God was completely recorded.
4. 1 Corinthians 13:8-9 state that where there was prophecy it would fail. This statement helps us to understand what is prophesized. God's word cannot fail, so the statement here must mean something else. The word translated "fail" is the Greek word "katargeo" (kat-arg-eh-o) and means to be rendered idle or figuratively to cease or to be put away. Once the word of God was written, the need of prophets ceased because all men could read the inspired word of God for themselves.
5. Once the word of God was revealed God ordained the office and calling to preach the word to men.
"But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5)
2. Missionaries are essentially "evangelists" in that they go forth preaching the Gospel around the world. Paul was an Apostle beginning called of God personally and he had the sign gifts of doing miracles. Paul was a prophet in that he was used to reveal God's word to the churches and win people to Christ. Paul was also an evangelist in that he was a missionary who went forth preaching the Gospel and starting churches.
3. Some may disagree with me on this, but I believe a true evangelists is a church planter. To be a true missionary one must be involved in planting churches. Why do I say this? Look at Paul. He was an evangelists and He started preached the Gospel in new areas, won folks to Christ and each time started a local church. Titus was an evangelist because Paul sent him to Crete to "organize" or "set in order" the believers who were meeting there. He was working in planting and establishing churches.
4. Philip as Acts 21:8 records was a missionary and church planter. Philips preached in Samaria and established assemblies there as well. He was used by God to witness to the Ethiopian Eunuch who went home and took the Gospel to his country. Churches sprang from his preaching and missionary work.
5. This view is not popular, but the way many use of the word "evangelists" today is not biblical and many who hold the title are not truly evangelists. Yes, they are "preachers of the Gospel" and they evangelize, but what is lacking is "church planting" as the result of their preaching. Most churches have an evangelist in to bring "revival" to a church. Revival means to renew something. Evangelists as exampled in the New Testament were not "reviving" but energizing people by the preaching of God's word and planting churches. However, how they use evangelists is up to the individual pastor and congregation. I hold to the office to be that of a missionary. Certainly, an evangelists is not a man who preaches outside the oversight of a local church, which means....no "John L. Doe Ministries, Inc." God's program for preaching the Gospel, as the New Testament shows is through and under the authority of a local biblical congregation. There is no example in the New Testament of a preacher or missionary working on his own without the support and blessing of a local church.
Note that in each of the other positions the office is preceded by the word "some." However, noting the word is omitted in noting the pastor-teacher is important. It seems clear that omitting the word means the pastor and teacher are one. If God was establishing another office in a local church surely He would have said and "some pastor and som teachers." Some have tried to use the term "teacher" to establish that deacons held an "office" in a local church. But grammatically that cannot be established by the way the verse is worded. Biblicall the "deacon" is a servant in the local assembly and there no "office of a deaon." This is explained in my article "A Biblical Look at Deacons" https://bible-truth.org/deacon.html .
That God used two words for the office is significant.
2. The Apostle Paul speaking to the churches stated he had been faithful to teach them God's word. He then instructed the pastors to "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:28-29).
3. This passages shows us that a pastor is an overseer and one called to shepherd the flock of God. A shepherd is an overseer, and is to feed the congregation by preaching the word. the verse states that the assembly is the Lord's congregation, because He purchased it with His own blood. Further Paul states Christ gave Himself for His church. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25). The pastor is therefore God's called servant to look after His children in their local assembly. It is not the pastor's church, but the Lord's. Note the following passsages that state this truth:
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." (John 10:14)
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13:20)
"For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." (1 Peter 2:25)
"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." (1 Peter 5:4)
2. But apart from establishing the organization of a local church, what does verse teach us? Let's look at this in closing.
3. To the Hebrews God said, "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" (Hebrews 13:17)
4. On a personal note, let me be candid with you. God has called me to be the pastor of this congregation. My duties are clear and following Paul's example in Acts 20:18f, I must admit I am certainly not perfect, but will say with a clear conscience that honestly I have tried to preach the whole counsel of God's word in humility, in truth and tried as best I could to tend to each of the sheep of this congregation. That is the calling of a pastor God's undershepherd.
However, I am only a shepherd. The congregation of a church are not dumb sheep. The are men and women with intelligence and have wills to commit themselves to the Lord. The are people and have a responsibility to follow the Lord. The pastor preachers God's word and carefully and correctly instructs the Lord flock to the best of his ability. The pastor then is messenger of the Great Shepherd and the One who owns the flock. To follow God's messenger is to obey the Master of the Sheep. Jesus in Revelation 2-3 shows us this by addressing His instructions to the seven churches of Asia to the "angel" (messenger) or His pastor. It was the pastor's responsibility to heed the Lord's instruction and to warn his congregation of their errors. The Shepherd can teach, and lead, but sheep must believe and follow God's instructions.
A sheep that will not follow is in danger. The shepherd picks the best grass and water, but if the sheep wanders off and ignores the shepherd's leading he will find himself in trouble. He will be in danger. A sheep that ignores God's message endangers himself and will become worthless to the Lord. He will not grow or reproduce. He will also hinder and mislead other sheep. I have seen sheep crossing a road or path. One sheep jumps because something startles him and the sheep following all jump too. Although there is no reason to for them to jump, they are just following the one ahead.
The power of God will be on a church if its members in unison work collectively together, individually dedicating themselves to our Savior and committed to being a vital part of their collective ministry in their local church.
What a challenge we have before each of us today. What a wonderful privilege we are given to be saved by God's grace and then given the opportunity to serve and honor our Lord. Folks, we should all honor the Lord with our lives and show to Him and the world the wonderful truth of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
The question is simple: "Are you committed to the Lord in your personal life and to your local church?" One way to test this is to examine what you do through the week in attending the services of your church. That means your attendance, your support of the church, in following your pastor and working together doing all you can to help the ministry of the congregation. It begins and is dependent first on dedicate to the Lord and if you truly love Him it will show in your personal life. Living one's life and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide you is a vital part of one's commitment. You shuld be praying for your family, church family, the unsaved and for your pastor.
If you are not, may I say that God is gracious and merciful to us. Today you can make that commitment to become faithful and from this day forward be faithfully used of the Lord. Think about the lives you could touch and help for the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of those who you could have the privilege to help win them to Christ?
The question then is "What will you do?"
It is always encouraging to receive email from those who find the messages helpful, or who have comments.
Introduction: In Ephesians 4:1-10 God tells us of the unity of His plan for believers. God tells us He has a plan for every believer and that plan involves each believer living filled with the Holy Spirit, living a godly life, and jointly working with other Bible believing Christians in carrying out God's purposes. God's purpose first is revealed in the life of the individual as we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us and guide us to living the life God has planned for us. Second, God's plan is that we work collectively with other believers.
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)
I. The Order of the Local Church. (Eph. 4:11)
A. God is not the author of confusion, but of order. That means God has a plan and the plan is organized in such as way to allow the plan to be carried out. From life we know that when men work together, they need organization. There must be a leader who has the first responsibility and then there are those with whom he works to carry out the task at hand. It is true in our homes, in business, or any organization that is formed. A group of people with a clear leader, and chain of command will never be effective in doing their appointed job.
B . First there were Apostles. These were the men God called and discipled Himself who He used to give us He word. These were the twelve men who were the Lord's disciples. To that group He also added the Apostle Paul. To be a true Apostle one must have been personally called by the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. First there were Apostles. These were the men God called and discipled Himself who He used to give us He word. These were the twelve men who were the Lord's disciples. To that group He also added the Apostle Paul. To be a true Apostle one must have been personally called by the Lord Jesus Christ.
C. Second there were Prophets. The definition of prophesying is "the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God." Some Apostles were used to foretell the future and give us God's written prophecies concerning the end times that are coming. However, not all Apostles were prophets. John, and Paul were both Apostles and Prophets, but mot of the others were not.
1. Another work of a prophet was to record God's word under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A vital part of prophecy is the preaching of God's word. Preaching is prophesying. James, Luke, Peter, the writer of Hebrews were prophets speaking forth and recording God's word under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
D. The next office in the early church was the "evangelist" who is a "preacher of the Gospel."
1. To Timothy, the young preacher, Paul wrote,
E. The last office God has set up in a local church is the "pastor-teacher."
1. The word "pastor" is the Greek word "poimen" (poy-mane) and literally means a shepherd, or one who tends herds or flock. Vines points out that it does not mean one who simply feeds sheep, but one who tends to them and takes care of them. The pastor as a shepherd has the responsibility to spiritually take care of the sheep. Being a "shepherd" involves a number of different tasks which includes instruction, discipline, protection, and having the oversight over all the congregation. A pastor-teacher is certainly more that being just a preacher.
II. God's Undershepherd.
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10:11)
4. The scripture is clear in stating the role of the pastor-teacher. There is a further matter involved and that is the role of the sheep in his response to their God called shepherd.
1. Clearly God has set in order the local church organizations so that the local church may proper function and carry out God's will.