what it may please the Lord to
continue to help us. We'll further our meditation
in the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians and chapter 4 and this
evening we'll read verses 11 and 12. So, the Epistle of Paul
to the Ephesians and reading verses 11 and 12. And he gave
some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some
pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." So it's very important for us
to realise that the Lord, the great God, actually gave these
people who were enumerated under different titles and they had
different offices. But they all had really a common
aim and a common desire which really was to set Christ before
the people. And so we read, and he gave some
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers. And of course we know that there
were the 12 apostles originally and then of course Judas Iscariot
and destroyed himself and that left 11. And then the Apostle
Paul was added to that number which brought it back to the
12 Apostles. And they were wonderfully blessed
in teaching and spreading the Gospel and the doctrine of the
Gospel far and wide. It was their wonderful position
and their wonderful blessing to do just that. And they were
the only Apostles. There haven't been any Apostles
since then, although some people like to think there are. But
the Apostles were those twelve and they were of course greatly
blessed in their ministry and in establishing the Word of God
in many parts indeed throughout the world. So there we have the,
perhaps we might say, the chief, the Apostles. And then after
that we read the Lord sent prophets Well, we've read together in
this chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the 11th chapter. We
read, and in these days there came prophets from Jerusalem
unto Antioch. 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. So again, it would seem that
The prophets referred to in this verse had a signal office to
conduct and to fulfil and it was really one of prophecy. And so we have this statement,
he gave some apostles and some prophets. Again, to a large extent,
if not completely, there is not the same prophecy today. And so we have apostles and prophets,
and then he comes and says, and some evangelists. And you see,
the Lord gave evangelists. He gave the apostles. He gave
the prophets. And also, he's given evangelists. Evangelists, of course, were
used to spread the Word of God throughout the world. There were
those who were established as missionaries who gave up all
their home comforts to go and spread the Word of God. And they
were those evangelists. They went from place to place.
They weren't in any particular settled place. But they went
as the Lord directed them. And they were given by God. And how wonderful it is to realise
the Lord in His grace did send and does send still evangelists
here and there. comes to the last, really two
which are separate in some ways and yet joined together in the
other, some pastors and teachers. And of course, pastors were really
set over churches. And it's a wonderful blessing
to think of that. The Lord in His goodness did
send pastors, did establish pastors, so that the Church of God should
be fed and should be established. And then there were these teachers.
And we should not ever belittle teachers. And remember this is
a comprehensive statement and it means the many that God has
sent to teach. And that of course comes down
to what we know today as those who teach in the Sunday school.
They are important. And it's not something which
we should consider as just picked up and thought well that would
be a a useful person to think that this is an office given
by God. He gave some teachers. It's a very solemn responsibility. It's a very important position
and to recognise that such are honoured by Almighty God. And these people that we've read
about here in these five individual positions, they all were sent
by God for a wonderful work. And the 12th verse tells us really
what that work was. For the perfecting of the saints. Well of course it doesn't mean
to say that the saints of God on this earth are going to be
perfect. But it does mean they are going
to be established in the truth. They are to be brought to a right
knowledge of the truth. And this is the position really
today, specifically of pastors and teachers. And it's not just
a position of little importance. They are indeed given by God. They are sent by God. And they
are used by God for the Church of God. And so what a blessing
it is today to know that this is true. for the perfecting of
the saints. So their time is not to be wasted. And indeed, as the Apostle wrote
to the Corinthians in that first chapter, the beautiful words
that the Apostle uses with regards to the preaching of the Gospel. And he tells us in the 21st verse
of the first chapter For after that, in the wisdom of God, the
word by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. So the Lord ordained
that pastors and teachers should preach the Gospel. It is the
ordained way of blessing. And people today often belittle
the preaching of the Gospel. And people today often sometimes
almost eliminate the preaching of the Gospel. And they put other
things in their place. Entertainment in place of the
preaching of the Gospel. But what a wonderful thing it
is if we recognise the importance of this office and to believe
that the Lord has given, therefore, these evangelists and these pastors
and teachers for this wonderful purpose of the blessing of the
saints, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry. This is a ministry which God
has ordained. It's a very blessed office. It's a very wonderful office.
It's a very solemn office. And it's God who sent, and it's
God who gives the Word. And it's important to realise
that. We should not put people up on a pedestal, but nonetheless
we should recognise that these are sent by Almighty God and
they are given to the Church of God for the edifying, for
the perfecting of the Church, for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body
of Christ. And of course this is so important,
the edifying of the Body of Christ. To realise what the Lord Jesus
Christ did and how Good it is to have the Lord Jesus edified
in our hearts. He's lifted up and we praise
and glorify him for all that he's done. This is the privileged
position of these who preach to edify the body of Christ. And of course this really has
a double significance. It edifies the Lord Jesus Christ
himself and also it edifies the body, the whole body, and all
the Church, the true Church of God, are part of the body of
Christ. It's a wonderful consideration. It's a wonderful truth to think
that you and I form part of that body. And therefore, those who
are sent, those who are given to preach the Gospel, are favoured
to bring this about, the edifying of the body of Christ. and how
important it is and how necessary it is for us to examine ourselves
in our little lives to see whether we are those who are blessed
with this perfecting of the saints, blessed through the work of the
ministry and are blessed in our souls to the edifying of the
Body of Christ. Well, we should be thankful tonight
that the Apostle was directed by the Holy Spirit to speak such
words for our instruction and to realise how important it is
and how privileged we are today in our land to be able to gather
together to hear the preaching of the Gospel and to pray for
those who are evangelists and those who are pastors and those
who are teachers. Remember, they're all called
and sent by Almighty God for the eternal good of the never-dying
soul.