Post by Brother Ben on Sept 16, 2011 12:55:00 GMT -5
New Testament Offices
As many of us have been lead of the Spirit to go outside of the camp for a fresh new view of the first century church and our desire to duplicate it, I have been lead to reexamine the offices that have been ordained for the assemblies. We are all used to something like this: Pastor, Assoc. Pastor, Music Dirctor, Youth Director, etc. ad nauseum. Each one of these offices points to the "one man ministry" mentality that we have been locked into, and if we are honest, comes from the strong bishop mindset that comes out of Rome and the High Churches.
The Epistle to the Ephesians is a "classic" church pattern and practice letter and we need to look at it's sacred advice.
Eph. 4
[1] I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
[2] With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
[3] Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Often, we have seen the abuse of the pastoral offices and when those offices have been questioned, the response from pastor and parishoners alike is opposite from, ". . . all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;" Paul goes on to lay a most important concept that has been completely shrouded in our multi-sectarian church concepts. Notice how many bodies of Christ there are:
Eph 4
[4] There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
[5] One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
[6] One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
There's one. . . that's it, just one. If, an assembly makes itself a little Empire where only those who submit to all 255 points of their Doctrineal Statement, Church Covenant, and Statement of Faith, are considered "members," they affectively put out all other brethren, thus making themselves the First Church of Diotrophese. However, God has a pattern that comes from the drawing board of Heaven and the next verses lay that pattern out:
Eph 4
[7] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
The main thing I want to point out from this passage is as follows:
1. He has given every one in the body grace to administer their individual calling.
2. He has given gifts unto men, (not gift, singular, i.e., the gift of salvation.)
So, what are these gifts? Read on:
Eph. 4
[11] And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
[12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
[13] Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
There it is. The Bible is a grammatically correct document. Amen? Yes, amen, indeed, and we need to pay attention to the commas in verse 11. Some assemblies got apostles, in the case of the Book of Acts, the original apostles, but in our continued faith, we still have those apostles, "the sent ones," chruch planters and missionaries.
Secondly, some assemblies get the prophets. These are those who are the "forth-tellers" of New Testament light, as opposed to the "fore-tellers," of the Old Testament, speaking of things to come.
NOTE: I will make an acception to the last statement in the case of the Apostles of Christ in that they, in their writings, have an O.T. prophetic gift as they transition the body into it's clear N.T. mode and stating the things that are to come, like John, Paul, and Peter's prophetic statements.
These prophets can be seen pracitcing their calling in the Acts:
Acts 11
[27] And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
[28] And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Acts 13
[1] Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
[2] As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
[3] And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 15
[32] And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
[33] And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
These prophets were the "wise ones," gifted with the ability to teach the assembly, go about confirming that the churches were "keeping the faith once delievered," and in the case of Paul and Baranabas, being available to be "sent" as missionary apostles.
Thirdly, he gave some assemblies, evangelists, those who were gifted in evangelizing different communities with the Good News of new life in Christ. These are the itinerent soul winners who are particularly gifted:
Acts 8
[5] Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
Acts 21
[8] And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.
Philip, interesting, had been serving in the capacity of deacon, or servant of the church and being faithful to his calling, the Lord used him also as an evangelist.
And, finally, we have the dual office of pastor and teacher. The pastor is just that, a pastor, or one who is able to watch over the Lord's pasture, Jesus' sheep that he knows, that know his voice, and that follow him. Unlike those whom it seems the Lord "sent" different places in the work of the Lord, these were the men who stayed home, wathced over the Lord's inheritacne, and taught them faithfully.
Acts 16
[4] And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
Acts 20
[17] And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
Acts 21
[18] And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
1 Tim. 5
[17] Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
James 5
[14] Is any sick among you? 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:
The office of elder, pastor, and bishop, it can be argued by the apparent same duties, are one and same office, just differnt titles. We see Paul addressing them here:
Phil 1
[1] Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
He was to be a good man with a good testimony:
1 Tim. 3
[1] This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Titus 1
[7] For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
So we see that not all assemblies had all of these offices, but that the Lord had appointed them as he saw fit in the body at large. For what reason?
[12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
[13] Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
These offices were supposed to be shared with each other in the different assemblies of the ONE BODY, but this has been undone throughout the ages by the unscriptural pracitce of sectarianism. I realize denominations were created to make a distinction between them and some error they saw in their "parent" group, but this does not justify creating an environment where one group sets another at nought UNLESS there is an issue of heresy and apostasy.
Bro. Ben
As many of us have been lead of the Spirit to go outside of the camp for a fresh new view of the first century church and our desire to duplicate it, I have been lead to reexamine the offices that have been ordained for the assemblies. We are all used to something like this: Pastor, Assoc. Pastor, Music Dirctor, Youth Director, etc. ad nauseum. Each one of these offices points to the "one man ministry" mentality that we have been locked into, and if we are honest, comes from the strong bishop mindset that comes out of Rome and the High Churches.
The Epistle to the Ephesians is a "classic" church pattern and practice letter and we need to look at it's sacred advice.
Eph. 4
[1] I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
[2] With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
[3] Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Often, we have seen the abuse of the pastoral offices and when those offices have been questioned, the response from pastor and parishoners alike is opposite from, ". . . all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;" Paul goes on to lay a most important concept that has been completely shrouded in our multi-sectarian church concepts. Notice how many bodies of Christ there are:
Eph 4
[4] There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
[5] One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
[6] One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
There's one. . . that's it, just one. If, an assembly makes itself a little Empire where only those who submit to all 255 points of their Doctrineal Statement, Church Covenant, and Statement of Faith, are considered "members," they affectively put out all other brethren, thus making themselves the First Church of Diotrophese. However, God has a pattern that comes from the drawing board of Heaven and the next verses lay that pattern out:
Eph 4
[7] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
The main thing I want to point out from this passage is as follows:
1. He has given every one in the body grace to administer their individual calling.
2. He has given gifts unto men, (not gift, singular, i.e., the gift of salvation.)
So, what are these gifts? Read on:
Eph. 4
[11] And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
[12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
[13] Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
There it is. The Bible is a grammatically correct document. Amen? Yes, amen, indeed, and we need to pay attention to the commas in verse 11. Some assemblies got apostles, in the case of the Book of Acts, the original apostles, but in our continued faith, we still have those apostles, "the sent ones," chruch planters and missionaries.
Secondly, some assemblies get the prophets. These are those who are the "forth-tellers" of New Testament light, as opposed to the "fore-tellers," of the Old Testament, speaking of things to come.
NOTE: I will make an acception to the last statement in the case of the Apostles of Christ in that they, in their writings, have an O.T. prophetic gift as they transition the body into it's clear N.T. mode and stating the things that are to come, like John, Paul, and Peter's prophetic statements.
These prophets can be seen pracitcing their calling in the Acts:
Acts 11
[27] And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
[28] And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Acts 13
[1] Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
[2] As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
[3] And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 15
[32] And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.
[33] And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.
These prophets were the "wise ones," gifted with the ability to teach the assembly, go about confirming that the churches were "keeping the faith once delievered," and in the case of Paul and Baranabas, being available to be "sent" as missionary apostles.
Thirdly, he gave some assemblies, evangelists, those who were gifted in evangelizing different communities with the Good News of new life in Christ. These are the itinerent soul winners who are particularly gifted:
Acts 8
[5] Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
Acts 21
[8] And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.
Philip, interesting, had been serving in the capacity of deacon, or servant of the church and being faithful to his calling, the Lord used him also as an evangelist.
And, finally, we have the dual office of pastor and teacher. The pastor is just that, a pastor, or one who is able to watch over the Lord's pasture, Jesus' sheep that he knows, that know his voice, and that follow him. Unlike those whom it seems the Lord "sent" different places in the work of the Lord, these were the men who stayed home, wathced over the Lord's inheritacne, and taught them faithfully.
Acts 16
[4] And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
Acts 20
[17] And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
Acts 21
[18] And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.
1 Tim. 5
[17] Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
James 5
[14] Is any sick among you? 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:
The office of elder, pastor, and bishop, it can be argued by the apparent same duties, are one and same office, just differnt titles. We see Paul addressing them here:
Phil 1
[1] Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
He was to be a good man with a good testimony:
1 Tim. 3
[1] This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Titus 1
[7] For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
So we see that not all assemblies had all of these offices, but that the Lord had appointed them as he saw fit in the body at large. For what reason?
[12] For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
[13] Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
These offices were supposed to be shared with each other in the different assemblies of the ONE BODY, but this has been undone throughout the ages by the unscriptural pracitce of sectarianism. I realize denominations were created to make a distinction between them and some error they saw in their "parent" group, but this does not justify creating an environment where one group sets another at nought UNLESS there is an issue of heresy and apostasy.
Bro. Ben