PT-1 "Equipping" (Eph. 4:12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2019 1:27 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “Equipping”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Eph. 4:12

 

            Message of the verse:  “12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

 

            I mentioned in our last SD as we looked at the introduction to what John MacArthur entitles “Building the Body of Christ” which covers Ephesians 4:12-16, that we would be looking at three different main point and that there would be different sub-points under these three main points.  We begin today with the main point entitled “The Progression of God’s Pattern,” and will be looking at the first comments on the sub-point “Equipping.”  MacArthur writes “In the simplest possible terms Paul here sets forth God’s progressive plan for His church:  equipping to service to building up.”  Here you have the three sub-points that we will be looking at under this first main point.

 

            In our last SD’s before looking directly at the explanation of the pastor-teacher we looked at the fact that Christ was the One who gave gifts to the church, and mentioned that the first gift that He gave was the apostles along with the prophets who worked along with the apostles.  We also mentioned that once those apostles and prophets died that this gift would not be replaced by anyone under that same category of gifts.  In other words there are no more apostles or prophets alive today and have not been since the last one, the apostle John died in the late 90’s AD.  The apostles were the ones that Jesus Christ taught as they walked with Him after He chose them at the beginning of His ministry, and He chose them to actually build the church.  Really there is no need to mention that Judas was not a believer and therefore had nothing to do with the building of the church since he killed himself right after the crucifixion of Christ.  One of the duties of these Apostles and prophets was to begin different church plants, and then once these churches were established they went into the church to choose leaders called as we looked at in our last SD’s Elders, Pastor-teachers, Bishops, and even deacons to aid the pastor-teachers.  This is how the church was to continue to grow as the Apostles began the churches with the aid of the Holy Spirit, and then chose spiritual leaders to take over the work, and then they would do the same thing as like in the case of the Antioch church, send out missionaries to continue to plant and grow churches so that they could do the same. 

 

            Last week at the church that I attend our Pastor was not preaching and so we had another man who is a Pastor but works at a mission agency preach, and what he talked about has a lot to do with what we are learning here in this section of Ephesians 4:12-16.  He began his sermon by reading from the gospel of Matthew 9:35-10:2 and then later on brought in a few verses from the 4^th chapter of John.  He entitled his message “Just Ask” and I will talk about this title in a moment.  One of the things that he talked about was the “Moravian Church,” and he asked if anyone had ever heard of this church.  Only a few had, and I was not one of them.  He went into the history of this church and later stated that there would probably be no one in attendance in our service today had it not been for the Moravian church.  This church was persecuted very early on and had to move to what is now modern day Germany.   Early on in the church’s history they began to choose 24 men and 24 women to pray around the clock that the Lord of the Harvest would send out laborers.  This went on for one hundred years, and God answered their prayers in a wonderful way.  You see when we look at this passage from Matthew and then John we see something that I had not seen before, and that is we are to “Just Ask,” just ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the fields that, as Jesus stated, were white with harvest. 

 

            I will include a website here in order for anyone who wants to read about the history of the Moravian Church https://www.moravian.org/2018/07/a-brief-history-of-the-moravian-church/

 

            When we just ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers He will do that as seen in this history of this wonderful church.

 

            We will continue looking at Ephesians 4:12 in our next SD.

 

Scripture that goes along with our quotation from yesterday:  Psalm 139:10 “Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.”

 

3/30/2019 2:07 PM

Intro to Eph. 4:12-16

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2019 9:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Eph. 4:12-16

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 4:12-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of 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 a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

 

            One of the problems that goes on in churches today is that they are using the ways of the world to build the church, to get growth in numbers and at times they forget to remember to help build up the spirituality of the people in the church.  Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that He is the One who will build His church.  In this section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians Paul is talking about church growth, growth the way that God will use it.  I have mentioned in earlier Spiritual Diaries that I attended a church for over 32 years until we got a Pastor who wanted to turn our church into what is called a seekers church.  Seeker churches do not follow the plan that is seen here in these verses.  Seeker churches bring their spirituality down to that of the world’s system in order attract people of the world to come in and to hear the Word of God preached, and when the Word of God is preached in a seeker church it is baby food as talked about in the book of Hebrews.  People will be drawn to a church because they are looking for something different from the way that they are living, and so if they walk into a seeker church and find that it has little difference from what they are living why would they want to go there.  Believers are to be salt and light to a dark world and the Bible tells us that believers are to be different than those who live in the world. 

 

                The building of Christ’s church must be in accordance to what He wants to build and that can only be found in the Word of God and much of it is found in these verses.  John MacArthur entitles this 12^th chapter in his commentary on the book of Ephesians “Building the Body of Christ.”  That is what we will be looking at over the next week or so as Paul explains how God wants the church to grow in God’s way.

 

            MacArthur concludes his very short introduction to this section of Ephesians 4:12-16 by writing “As discussed in the previous chapter, God’s spiritual gifts to His church include both the individual gifting of every believer as well as the gifted men called apostles and prophets, who were given strictly for New Testament times and were followed by the gifted men called evangelists and pastor-teachers, who are given for continuing ministry to the church (Eph. 4:11).  It is God’s plan for the last two groups of gifted men—the evangelists and pastor-teachers—to equip, build up, and develop His church by the general operational procedure set forth in verses 12-16.  In this passage we are shown the progression, the purpose, and the power of God’s divine pattern for the building and function of His church.”  The highlighted areas in this last sentence are the main points that we will be following, and there will also be sub-points involved in these main points.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to learn this section of Ephesians as the Lord opens my eyes to see the way that He desires to build His church, and to find out what my function in all of this will be.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to see how the Lord is bring into my life messages and verses on humility, and to grow in that important area of my life.

 

Quotation for today and this one is again from David Jeremiah:  “You are in His hands and He is Lord.”

 

3/29/2019 10:12 AM

 

 

PT-7 "Explanation of Pastor/Teacher" (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2019 9:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  PT-7 “Explanation of Pastor/Teachers”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            It is my goal for this SD to finish the quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary on what is the explanation of Pastor/Teachers.

 

            “Elders are not to operate by majority rule or vote.  If all the elders are guided by the same Spirit and all have the mind of Christ, there should be unanimity in the decisions they make (1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:3; Phil. 1:27; 2:2).  If there is division, all the elders should study, pray, and seek the will of God together until consensus is reached.  Unity and harmony in the church begin with this principle.

 

            “With elders lies the responsibility to preach and teach (1 Tim. 5:17).  They are to determine doctrinal issues for the church and have the responsibility of proclaiming the truth to the congregation.  In listing the spiritual qualifications of the overseer, 1 Timothy 3:2-7 gives only one qualification that relates to a specific function:  he must be ‘able to teach.’  All the other qualifications relate to personal character.

 

            “Titus 1:7-9 also emphasizes the significance of the elder’s responsibility as a teacher:  ‘For the overseer must…be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.’  The threat of false teachers in the church was already so great that a key qualification for leadership was the ability to understand and teach sound doctrine.  ‘Exhort’ in that verse is the Greek parakaleo, which literally means ‘to call near.’  From its uses in the New Testament, we see that the ministry of exhortation has several elements.  It involves persuasion (Acts 2A:A14; 14:22; Titus 1:9), pleading (2 Cor. 8:17), contorting (1 Thess. 2:11), encouraging (1 Thess. 4:11), and patient reiterating of important doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2).

 

            “Elders are to be a resource for those who seek partnership in prayer.  James wrote, ‘Is anyone among you sick?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord’ (James 5:14).

 

            “From Acts 20:28 we learn that another function of an elder is shepherding:  ‘Be on guard for yourselves and for the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God.’  Involved in the concept of shepherding are the twin responsibilities of feeding and protecting the flock.  Verses 29-30 reemphasize the fact that the protecting ministry of the overseer is essential for countering the threat of false teachers.  

 

            “The elder acts as a caring and loving shepherd over the flock, but never in Scripture is a congregation spoken of as ‘his flock’ or ‘your flock.’  Believers are the ‘flock of God’ (1 Pet. 5:2), and the elder is merely a steward and caretaker for those precious possessions of God.

 

            “As spiritual overseers of the church, teaching shepherds are to determine church polity (Acts 15:22); to oversee (Acts 20:28); to ordain others (1 Tim. 4:14); to rule, teach, and preach (1 Tim. 5:17); to exhort and refute (Titus 1:9); and to act as shepherds, setting an example for all (1 Pet. 5:1-3).  Those responsibilities put elders at the core of the work of the New Testament church. 

 

            “Every believer today is indebted directly or indirectly to these specially gifted men God has given to His church.  Through their preaching, teaching, writing, exhortation, and other ministries, they lead the lost to Christ, enrich our knowledge of God and His Word, and encourage us ‘to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called’ (4:1).  They are ‘worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching’ (1 Tim. 5:17).  ‘Obey your leaders, and submit to them,’ the writer of Hebrews tells us, ‘for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you’ (Heb. 13:17).

 

            “All of the gifts that Christ gives to individuals and to the church as a whole are gifts which He Himself perfectly exemplified.  If ever there was a preacher it was Christ, if ever there was a teacher, ruler, administrator, servant, helper, or giver it was Christ.  He is the perfect illustration and example of every gift, because His gifts to us are gracious gifts of Himself.”

 

            I really pray and hope that all of this exhortation on Pastor/Teachers has been a benefit to all who read it.  As stated before the church that I go to is a bit different in how they do the business of it, but if it was not a church that was not preaching and teaching the Word of God I surely would find another one to attend.

 

Scripture verse that goes with yesterdays quotation is from Proverbs 2:10-11:  “When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you.”

 

3/28/2019 10:18 AM

 

 

PT-6 "Explanation of Pastor/Teachers" (Eph. 4:11)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2019 10:09 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                 Focus:  PT-6 “Explanation of Pastor/Teachers”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            Just a note to say that I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on this important subject, and will do so until all of it is quoted.

 

            “Presbuteros is used nearly twenty times in Acts and the epistles in reference to a unique group of leaders in the church.  From the earliest beginnings of the church it was clear that a group of mature spiritual leaders was designated to have responsibility for the church.  The church at Antioch, for example, where believers were first called Christians, sent Barnabas and Saul to the elders at Jerusalem with a gift to be distributed to the needy brethren in Judea (Acts 11:29-30).  It is therefore clear both that elders existed in the church at that very early date and that the believers at Antioch recognized their authority.

 

            “Since the church at Antioch grew out of the ministry at Jerusalem, elders probably existed there as well. It is likely that Paul himself functioned as an elder at Antioch before he stepped out in the role of apostle.  He is listed in Acts 13:1 as one of that church’s teachers.  Elders played a dominant role in the Council of Jerusalem (see Acts 15: 2, 4, 22, 23; 16:4) and they were obviously very influential in the foundation of life in the early church.

 

            “As Paul and Barnabas began to preach in new areas, and as the church began to extend itself, the process of identifying church leaders became more clearly defined.  And throughout the New Testament, as the church developed, leaders were called elders.

 

            “In general usage, therefore, elder seems to be the most appropriate term for our day, since it is free of many of the unbiblical connotations and nuances of meaning imposed on bishop and even pastor throughout much of church history.

 

            “As early in the biblical narrative as Acts 14, we see that one of the key steps in establishing a new church was to identify and appoint elders for church leadership.  ‘And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed’ (Acts 14:23).

 

            “Nearly every church we know of in the New Testament is specifically said to have elders.  We are told, for example, that ‘from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church’ (Acts 20:17).  It is significant that the church at Ephesus had elders, because all the churches of Asia Minor—such as those listed in Revelation 1:11—were extensions of the ministry at Ephesus.  We can assume that those churches established their leadership after the pattern in Ephesus, namely, that of a plurality of elders.

 

            “Peter wrote to the scattered believers in ‘Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,…I exhort the elders among you…shepherd the flock of God’ (1 Peter 1:1; 5:1-2).  Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia were not cities, but rather territories.  Peter was therefore writing to a number of churches scattered all over Asia—all of which had elders.

 

            “What is the role of a pastor-teacher?  As the apostolic era came to a close, the office of pastor-teacher emerged as the highest level of local church leadership.  Thus it carried a great amount of responsibility.  Elders were charged with the care and feeding, as well as the spiritual guidance, of the entire church.  There was no higher court of appeal, and no greater resource for knowing the mind and heart of God with regard to issues in the Church.

 

            “First Timothy 3:1 says, ‘It is a trustworthy statement:  if any man aspires to the office of overseer [episkopos], it is affine work he desires to do.’  In verse 5, Paul says that the work of an episkopos is to ‘take care of the church of God.’  The clear implication is that a bishop’s primary responsibility is that of being caretaker for the church.

 

            “That general responsibility involves a number of more specific duties, perhaps the most obvious of which is to oversee the affairs to the local church.  First Timothy 5:17 says ‘Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.’  The Greek word translated ‘rule’ (proistemi) is used to speak of the elders’ responsibilities four times in 1 Timothy (3A:4, 5, 12; 5:17), once in 1 Thessalonians 5:12 (where it is translated, ‘have charge over’), and once in Romans 12:8, where ruling is listed as a spiritual gift.  Proistemi literally means ‘to stand first,’ and it speaks of the duty of general oversight common to all elders.

 

            “As those who rule in the church, pastoral elders are not subject to any higher earthly authority outside the local assembly.  But their authority over the church is not by force or dictatorial power but by precept and example (see Heb. 13:7).”

 

            It looks like to me that Lord willing, I will be able to finish this section in our next SD.  I can say that the churches that I have attended do not call those who MacArthur refers to as “Elders” but are called “deacons.”  I remember reading something in another of MacArthur’s books about church rule and he stated that the government of the church is not as important as those who are involved in that government.  For instance if a church has good deacons which help the Pastor’s in ruling the church are good godly men wanting to follow what the Scripture has to say then it really doesn’t matter to me whether they are called deacons or elders.  The opposite is also true that if the church is ruled by “deacons” and they don’t follow the Word of God then their name means nothing.

 

Quotation for today and this time it is from David Jeremiah:  “Wisdom is development. Wisdom is discipline,  Wisdom is discernment, Wisdom is Dignity, Wisdom is Discretion, Wisdom is depth of understanding, Wisdom is devotion to God.”

 

3/27/2019 10:46 AM 

PT-5 "Explanation of Pastor/Teacher" (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2019 10:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-5 “Explanation of Pastor/Teachers”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            This is the fifth SD on this subject about Pastor/Teachers, and as I mentioned in John MacArthur’s commentary he has a lot of things to say on this subject, actually six pages and so I think because all of this is so important for us to understand that I will over the next few days just quote from the remaining pages, and do as much as I can type each day so that we all get the benefit of reading what he has to say on this subject of Pastor/Teachers.

 

            “First Peter 5:5 contains a similar usage:  ‘You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders.’  As in 1 Timothy 5:2, the word is here used to contrast age and youth.  In such a context presbuteros in generally understood to mean only ‘an older person,’ not necessarily an officeholder of any kind, and that was the primary meaning of the term in general Greek usage.

 

            “In the time of Christ presbuteros was a familiar term.  It is used twenty-eight times in the New Testament to refer to a group of ex officio spiritual leaders of Israel.  See, for example:  ‘the chief priests and elders’ (Matt. 27:2); ‘the scribes and elders’ (27:41); ‘officers of the temple and elders ‘(Luke 22:52); and ‘rulers and elders of the people’ (Acts 4:8).  In each of those instances, and in every similar usage, presbuteros refers to recognized Jewish religious leaders who were not defined as priests of any kind.  Those elders seem to have been members of the Sanhedrin, the highest ruling body in Judaism in Jesus Time.

 

            “Matthew 15:2 and Mark 7:3, 5 use the phrase ‘tradition(s) of the elders.’  There presbuteros refers to an ancestry of leaders who passed down principles governing religious practice.  They were the teachers of determined Jewish religious leaders, and in that sense elder is equivalent to rabbi and may or may not have signified official status.

 

            “The New Testament church was initially Jewish, and it was natural that the concept of elder rule was adopted.  Elder was the only commonly used Jewish term for leadership that was free of any connotation of either the monarchy or the priesthood.  That is significant for the New Testament use of Jewish terms, because in the church each believer is a co-regent with Christ and there could therefore be no earthly king.  And, unlike national Israel, the church has no specially designated earthly priesthood, because all believers are priests (1 Pet. 2:5, 9, Rev. 1:6).  Therefore, of all the Jewish concepts of leadership, that of elder best transfers to the kind of leadership ordained for the church.

 

            “The elders of Israel were mature men, heads of families (Ex. 12:21); able men of strong moral character who feared God and were known for their truthfulness and integrity (E. 18:20-21); men full of the Holy Spirit (Num. 11:16-17); capable men of wisdom, discernment, and experience—impartial and courageous men who would intercede, teach, and judge righteously and fairly (Deut. 1:13-17).  All those characteristics were involved in the Jewish understanding of presbuteros.  The use of that term to decide church leaders likewise emphasizes maturity of spiritual experience, shown in the strength and consistency of moral character.”

 

We will continue tomorrow with this quote.

 

Scripture verse that goes with yesterday’s quote (1 Peter 5:10):  “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

 

3/26/2019 11:25 AM

PT-4 "The Explanation of a Pastor/Teacher" (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2019 10:16 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-4 “Explanation of a Pastor/Teacher”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            We have and will continue to look at the office of Pastor/Teacher, and as I look at the many pages that John MacArthur has written about this in his commentary it will take us a very long time to finish this section, but I might add it should be profitable for all of us.

 

            We begin today by looking at the Greek word “Poimen” and this is the word translated as pastor, or shepherd and it is used a number of times in the NT; however Ephesians 4:11 is the only place in the KJV where it is translated “pastor.”  All other times it is translated as shepherd.

 

            It is interesting that two of the three times that this word is used it in the epistles, poimen refers to Christ.  Let us look at Hebrews 13:20-21 “20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”  The highlighted word “Shepherd” is the word poimen.  One more from 1 Peter 2:25 “For your were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd [poimen] and Guardian [episkopos] of your souls.”

 

            MacArthur writes “In Ephesians 4:11, pastor (poimen) is used with the word teacher.  The Greek construction there indicates that the two terms go together, and we might hyphenate them in English as pastor-teacher.  The emphasis is on the pastor’s ministry of teaching.”

 

            I have to say that this next paragraph in MacArthur’s commentary brought up some bad memories from the pastor that I sat under for five years and finally had to leave, and one of the many reasons was that he was the opposite of what this following paragraph describes.  “Poimen, then, emphasizes the pastoral role of caring and feeding, although the concept of leadership is also inherent in the picture of a shepherd.  The focus of the term poimen is on the leader’s attitude.  To be qualified as a pastor, a man must have a shepherd’s caring heart.”  I am so very blessed to have a pastor that I sit under that fits these qualifications seen in this paragraph. 

 

            We will now begin to look at the Greek word for Elder which we did mention earlier.  Presbuteros is used about seventy times in the NT, and like zaqen (which means “aged,” or “bearded”), sab (which means “gray-headed”) and our English word elder, the term presbuteros refers to mature age.   We find this in Acts 2:17 where Peter is preaching and quotes from Joel 2:28 “And your old men shall dream dreams.”  Now the Hebrew word for “old men” in Joel is zaqen and the Greek word that is used in Acts is presbuteros.  Used in that sense, elder does not constitute an official title but simply means an older man. 

 

Now this word is used in the feminine for in 1 Timothy 5:2 to refer to older women, women who are there contrasted with younger women.  Paul writes [Appeal to] the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.”  In that context the term again simply signifies a mature age, not an office in the church.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for learning all of these terms and what they mean as I have never really studied them like this in the past.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Humility is something that Jesus was and something that I as a follower of His need to have.

 

Today’s quotation and this one is from Charles H. Spurgeon:  “The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affection.”

 

3/25/2019 11:12 AM

 

             

PT-3 "The Explanation of a Pastor/Teacher" (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/24/2019 8:39 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                Focus:  PT-3 “Explanation of a Pastor/Teacher”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            A couple of days ago we looked at some Greek names for the different office of Pastor/Teacher as there are other names which fit into this category and office.  We want to continue that in our SD for today.

 

            We stated that Elder emphasizes who the man is, and bishop speaks of what the man does, and then pastor will deal with the man’s attitude and also his character.  Now all three of these terms are used of the same church leader, and also all three identify those who will be feeding and leading the church; yet each term has a unique emphasis.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Episkopos was the secular Greek culture’s equivalent to the historic Hebrew idea of elder.  Overseers, or bishops, were those appointed by the emperors to govern captured or newly-founded city-states.  The bishop was responsible to the emperor, but oversight was delegated to him.  He functioned as a commissioner, regulating the affairs of the new colony or acquisition.  Episkopos therefore suggested two ideas to the first-century Greek mind:  Responsibility to a superior power, and introduction to a new order of things.  Gentile converts would immediately understand those concepts in the term.”

 

            If we were to trace the biblical use of the word and office of episkopos we would find that in only once, in the book of Acts, and that would be at the end of the book (Acts 28:28).  Now the reason for this is that at the beginning of the church age the converts were all Jewish and then in chapter ten we see the first Gentile conversions, and as the church changed to mostly Gentile churches then the word would be seen more.  For example this Greek word episkopos is found more frequently to describe those who functioned as elders as seen in 1 Timothy 3:1.  “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”  The word “overseer” is the word episkopos, and also I want you to notice the word “man” noting it is only men who can biblically be qualified for this office.

 

            The uniqueness of this position of overseer, episkopos is that of a leadership role in the church and was specifically responsible for teaching as seen in 1 Timothy 3:2 “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,” and again notice the qualification of being the husband of one wife.  Let us look for other leadership responsibilities of this man as found in Acts 20:28 “"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”  Paul is talking to the Ephesian elders as he states that they will not see his face again, and so he wants to encourage the elders or overseers to shepherd the church, to protect the church, so he is to feed and nurture the flock of God.  MacArthur adds “Biblically, there is no difference in the role of an elder and that of a bishop.  The two terms refer to the same group of leaders, episkopos emphasizing the function and presbuteros emphasizing the character.”

 

Scripture reference for our last quote is from Job 22:27-28 in the NIV:  “You will pray to Him and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.  What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.”

 

3/24/2019 9:07 PM

PT-2 "Explanation of a Pastor/Teacher" (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2019 9:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                               Focus:  PT-2 “Explanation of a Pastor/Teacher”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            This Spiritual Diary will be a bit different than the others that we have done from this verse in Ephesians chapter four.  It is my practice for some time now to make Saturday a day that I pray for the Pastors of our church, and I do this from a prayer sheet that I learned when I was studying Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians.  I will only quote the first page and a half from this prayer sheet and the reason that I am doing this is because that part of this prayer sheet gives us functions that a Pastor/Teacher should be doing.  Now the word “Elder” does come up on this prayer sheet, but as we have been learning this is the same office as Pastor/Teacher.

 

“Those called to be elders in the church, who preach, teach and lead God’s flock, are entrusted with the unequalled duty of proclaiming the gospel to unbelieving sinners, and bringing those who believe and are baptized into the fellowship of the local church.  There the Holy Spirit will sanctify them as they worship God in spirit and truth, submitting to the exposition and application of Scripture.  Pastors also must intercede for their people through public and private prayer, oversee the administration of the Lord’s Table so their people will regularly confess their sins and renew their covenant of obedience, equip other teachers and workers within the church, superintend and enforce church discipline, and provide biblical counseling to the congregation.  All of this spiritual work is to build up the saints to maturity—‘to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13).

“The elder must be a spiritual physician who can capably apply biblical cures to those vices and heresies that might afflict members of his church.  He also must be a tender shepherd who, while feeding the flock, also heals their wounds, clams their fears, protects them from spiritual dangers, and comforts them in their distresses.  In short, he is to be a champion for biblical truth (1 Tim. 4:12), a provider of spiritual resources (1 Peter 5:1-2), a guardian and protector (Acts 20:28-31), and always a model of spiritual virtue (1 Tim. 4:12), for all of which he is directly accountable to his Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:17; James 3:1).

“Even the uniquely gifted apostle Paul asked the question, ‘And who is adequate for these thing?’  (2 Cor. 2:16).  He realized that no man could effectively discharge the immense obligation of spiritual leadership by human wisdom, effort, and strength alone.  He knew that only God could provide the power to be an effective leader, although he struggled with his flesh and found himself not doing the things he wanted to do and doing the things he did not want to do (Rom. 7:14-25).  God graciously gave him suffering and pain to continually humble him and make him dependent on divine power (2 Cor. 12:7-10).”

“If Paul is the ideal human model of one with a pastor’s heart, that is only because he carefully patterned his pastoral ministry after that of Jesus Christ, who perfectly modeled the pastor’s heart during His earthly ministry.  He was the ultimate example of affection for His sheep (John 10:11-16, 27-28), unselfishness for His disciples (John 13:3-17), compassion for His people (John 11:33-44; cf. Matt. 23:37-39), protectiveness toward His lambs (John 10:2-5), delight for His church (Matt. 16:18-19), gratitude for His followers (Matt. 11:25-30), and intercession for His beloved children (John 17:6-26).  That model of the shepherd’s heart is the divine standard for all pastors today.”

 

Quotation of the day:  “Pray the largest prayers.  You cannot think a prayer so large that God in answering it will not wish you had made it larger.  Pray not for crutches but wings” (Phillips Brooks).

 

3/23/2019 9:45 AM

 

PT-1 "Pastor and Teachers" (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/22/2019 10:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 Pastors and Teachers

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            The first thing that I want to say is that this will be a very long section, and as you may realize it is a very important section as we consider the pastors and teachers subject.

 

            The Greek word of pastors is poimen and is the normal meaning for shepherd.  It emphasizes the care, protection and the leadership of the man of God for the flock.  Next we look at the Greek word for teachers: didaskaloi, and this has to do with the primary function of pastors.  While listening to a sermon on this subject John MacArthur stated that this was one gift, in other words it is the gift of Pastor-Teacher, and as stated the major function of the Pastor is to teach, although they do, and also do other functions.  It is interesting that the word flock is included in this definition, for Peter speaks about churches being the flock.  “1 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

 

            John MacArthur explains why he believes this is one office:  “Though teaching can be identified as a ministry on its own (1 Cor. 12:28), pastors and teachers are best understood as one office of leadership in the church.  Often the word and (kai) means ‘that is’ or ‘in particular,’ making teachers in this context explanatory of pastors.  That meaning cannot be conclusively proven in this text, but the text of 1 Timothy 5:17 clearly puts the two functions together when it says:  ‘Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching’ (lit., ‘labor to exhaustion in word and teaching’).  Those two functions define the teaching shepherd.  To fully understand this ministry, some key questions need to be necessary for proper understanding.” 

 

            We will now look at these questions in order to help us understand this:

 

            How is the pastor-teacher related to the bishop and elder?  There is no difference between bishops and elders as Pastors are not distinct from them for the terms are simply different ways of identifying the same people.  We looked at the Greek word for pastor which is poiemen and it has the same basic meaning of shepherd.  Now the Greek word of bishop is episkopos, and we derive Episcopalian, and the basic meaning of this is “overseer.”  Now the Greek word for Elder is presbuteros and we get Presbyterian, and this denotes an older person.

 

            There is textual evidence that all three of these terms refer to the same office.  This can be seen in the qualifications for a bishop found in 1 Timothy 3:7, and those for an elder are found in Titus, as Paul uses both terms to refer to the same man (Titus 1:5, 7).  We have already looked at 1 Peter 5:1-2 and this brings all three terms together.  Peter, as seen in his letter, instructs the elders to be good bishops as they pastor:  “Therefore, I exhort the elders (presbuteros) among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd (poimaino) the flock of God among you, exercising oversight [episkopeo] not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God.”  (Quoted from John MacArthur’s commentary, the passage from 1 Peter.)

 

            I am not going to go over all of these words, but in Acts 20 Paul uses all three terms interchangeably as he is talking for the last time to the leaders from Ephesus. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Elder emphasizes who the main is, bishop speaks of what he does, and pastor deals with his attitude and character.  All three terms are used of the same church leader, and all three identify those who feed and lead the church; yet each term has a unique emphasis. 

 

            Lord willing, we will continue to look at these terms in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I find these titles very interesting, and as I look at the different churches I find that not all of them will have the same idea as what we will be looking at, but to me the main point in all of this is to sit under a man who has been called by God to teach and preach God’s Word.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to do what the Lord leads me to do and then as I do them to leave the results of what He is leading me to do up to Him, as I don’t want to try and promote myself what He is leading me to do.

 

Verse that goes along with yesterday’s quotation: (2 Corinthians 1:20) “For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”

 

3/22/2019 11:11 AM    

Evangelists (Eph. 4:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/21/2019 8:25 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  “Evangelists”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”

 

            We have been talking about the Apostles and the Prophets in our past SD’s and stated that once these men were gone that that was the end, as there would be no more.  God has not stopped leading the church as there are still more offices seen in this 11^th verse of Ephesians chapter four, and we will be looking at the office of evangelists in our study today.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Evangelists” (euangelists) are men who proclaim good news.  The specific term evangelist is used only in this text in Ephesians; in Acts 21:8, where Philip is called an ‘evangelist’ (see Acts 8:4-40 for details on one of Philip’s evangelistic efforts); and in 2 Timothy 4:5, where Timothy is told to ‘do the work of an evangelist.’ But these limited references describe a vital, extensive, and far-reaching ministry, indicated by the use of the verb evangelizo (to proclaim the good news) 54 times and the noun euangelion (good news) 76 times.  God was the first evangelist, since He ‘preached the gospel beforehand’ (from proeuangelizomai; to Abraham, Gal. 3:8.) Even the angel evangelized (‘bring…good news,’ [from euangelizomai]) in announcing the birth of Christ (Luke 2:10).  Jesus evangelized in ‘preaching the gospel’ (Luke 20:1), as did the apostles in ‘preaching the word (Acts 8:4).”

 

            Now that we have all of the words used to describe evangelists we need to now look further into their function.  What are evangelists to do in our world today?  Well the work of the evangelist is to preach and also to explain the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to those who have not yet believed.  His job is a proclaimer of the salvation by grace through faith in the Son of God.  It was in our prayer meeting last evening that our Pastor told us of a man who is dying of cancer and he had the opportunity to go and talk to him about Jesus Christ and what He has done for this man.  Tomorrow (Friday March 22) he has another appointment to go and to tell this man the good news that Jesus Christ took his place on the cross for him, and all he needs to do is to admit that he is a sinner, and that Christ has paid for all of his sins and then if all of this is sincere then he will be saved and from what we are told of him he will soon go to heaven and see his Savior.  That is doing the work of an evangelist.

 

            The connotation of an evangelist in our society today is a man with ten suits and ten sermons who runs a road show.  This is not the case as New Testament evangelists were missionaries and church planters which is much like the apostles, (however without the title and without the miraculous gifts).  They went where Christ was not named and the led people to faith in the Savior.  After that they taught the new believers the Word and built them up, and then moved on to the next territory.  This certainly is the job that missionaries do in our world today.

 

            MacArthur adds “Timothy illustrates the fact that an evangelist can be identified with local churches in a prolonged ministry for the purpose of preaching and expounding the true gospel, in order to counter false teachers and their damning message and to establish sound doctrine of godliness.”

 

            As mentioned in the case of our Pastor in talking to this dying man about the good news, these evangelists are uniquely designed and given to the church to reach the lost with the saving gospel.  Our Pastor is a very emotional man who has to wipe tears from his eyes many times as he preaches on Sundays, especially if we see someone come forward to receive the Lord as their Savior.  He has a wonderful heart for the lost and so in my eyes he is not only our preaching pastor, but also an evangelist, something that all true believers should be doing, that is sharing their faith with the lost.  All churches need evangelist to not only be active in the church, but also to send them out into different areas of the world as what we now call missionaries to tell others about Christ and the salvation he offers.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my prayer that the Lord will trust me to tell others about the good news of the gospel, and that He would give me divine appointments to share Christ with.  I need to be like what Peter talks about “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” (1 Peter 3:15).

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will, in His time continue to teach me the truths of Romans 12:3.

 

Today’s quotation:  “God’s promises are like stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine” (David Nocholas).

 

3/21/2019 9:03 AM