Well, let me say, brethren, in
responding to the gracious introduction of our brother, how thankful
I am to be here with you and to be a part of this first conference. And it's my prayer and the prayer
of our people back in New Jersey, where I minister some ten miles
a little bit west and north of the city of Newark. that God
will bless us in these days together. I spoke to my wife last night,
spoke to one or two of my fellow elders yesterday morning, and
they assured me that we will be much in their prayers, that
God's blessing will so come upon all of us, that there'll be real
reason to believe that God has been in this conference and that
there is every reason to believe that if he's blessed us on this
occasion, perhaps he would be gracious to bless us in the days
to come. Now, when you got the advertising
about the conference, you will have noticed that the subject
was very general. It was just entitled the Christian
ministry. And the reason for that was that
Pastor Fry and the other leaders of this church thought they should
give me liberty to decide precisely what areas of the Christian ministry
ought to be addressed in our three days together. Well, what
I'm going to do this morning is to set out some things that
are very, very basic. And before I tell you what they
are, I want to explain to you why I've chosen to do this. We have come to such a state
in the visible Christian church that there is confusion, there
is ignorance, there is distortion. And in some cases, blatant disregard
for what the Bible has to say about almost everything that
has anything to say about. The Bible speaks about morals
and it says one man, one woman for life and men from their nose
at God. And when they get the hops for
another skirt, they feel they've got the right to commit adultery. Even Christian ministers. The
Bible tells us that homosexuality is perversion, and yet we've
got so-called ordained homosexual ministers. The Bible tells us
that I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority
over the man, and we've got women preachers, women elders. You
see, at point after point, in the Church of Jesus Christ, people
are doing nothing less been thumbing their nose at Christ and telling
him to mind his own business while they run the church the
way they want to run it. And brethren, that's not overstatement.
That's the situation as it is. And it's because of that situation
that we have got to start with some very basic issues in thinking
through this whole subject of the Christian ministry. And what
I want us to do this morning, and we're going to break up our
session into two sessions, we'll take a break where it's convenient,
is to ask two very basic questions and then attempt to answer them
from the Word of God. Question number one, the Christian
ministry, what is it? And that will be our first message.
The Christian ministry, what is it? When we come to our Bibles
with the question, what exactly is the Christian ministry? What
is the identity of a minister of Jesus Christ functioning in
his church? We want to answer that from the
Bible. Then the second question we're going to take up in the
second hour is, the Christian ministry, who should be in it? the Christian ministry, who should
be in it. So two very basic, two very simple
issues. But brethren, if we are not clear
on those issues, then two tragic results will follow. Number one,
if we are not sure of what the Christian ministry is and who
ought to be in it, How in the world can we know who we are
if we claim to be ministers and whether or not we belong where
we are? And secondly, how in the world
can we guide people? You get some man that comes to
you and says in the middle of the night he woke up and he heard
a voice saying, preach Christ. And he says, brother, I'm called
to preach. I know I am. I heard the voice
of God. How are you going to deal with
him? If you don't know what the Christian ministry is, and who
belongs in it. So for your own peace and comfort
and for good, solid guidance to others, we must have clear
biblical thinking on those two questions. All right, we're going
to take up the first question. The Christian ministry, what
is it? Well, when we take up our Bibles,
we find that throughout the Old Testament and right on into the
New Testament, God called men to lead his people in various
kinds of leadership roles. When he was going to bring his
people out of Egypt, he laid hold of a man named Moses. And he made Moses the great prophet
and the great administrator of Israel, and he led them for decades. And then he raised up Joshua
to be a great military leader, to lead them into the promised
land. And then he raised up the judges, Samson and Jephthah and
others. And then he raised up the kings,
David and Solomon. And then in the New Testament,
he raised up John the Baptist to be the voice crying in the
wilderness. Then he raised up the apostles
to be the initial leaders of the church. But now we ask the
question, what does God do now at this stage in history in raising
up leaders among his church. Does he still give to his church
prophets? Does he give them new Moses's? Does he give them new Joshua's?
What is the identity of the leaders that God gives to his church
now that the church is established, now that the scriptures have
been given to us? What is the precise identity
of those who are called upon to lead God's people? Well, as we attempt to answer
that question, the answer lies in the practice of the apostles
and in the writings of the apostles. If we want to know what the Christian
ministry is, we look to the practice of the apostles. How did they
institute leadership in the churches formed under their ministry and
what instructions did they leave to the church in their writings. And when we look at the apostolic
practice and the apostolic writings, we come to the conviction that
the Christian ministry can be very clearly defined. And what
we're going to do now is take up our Bibles and we're going
to look at nine passages of scripture. nine pivotal passages of scripture,
all of them giving us a part of the answer to the question,
what exactly is the Christian ministry? First of all, in the
14th chapter of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 14. Now here at this point in chapter
14, Luke is describing the ministry of the Apostle Paul and his companions
in what we commonly call his missionary journey. Now, he had
gone through a number of cities preaching the gospel, and as
the Spirit of God blessed that preaching, people were converted,
they turned from their sins, they came to faith in Christ,
they were baptized, they were gathered into little groups,
sometimes larger groups, of baptized disciples of Jesus Christ. Now,
Acts 14 21. And when they had preached the
gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned. Notice they're going back to
places they had already visited. They returned to Lystra and to
Iconium and to Antioch. And when they returned to these
cities, what did they do? It says they confirmed the souls
of the disciples. That is, they had a ministry
of establishing these disciples more firmly in their Christian
faith. They didn't go back to fleece
the pockets of the disciples. And God have mercy on so-called
ministers that spend all their time empty in the pockets of
the disciples, begging for money. That isn't what they did. There's
no record they even talked about money. They confirmed the souls
of the disciples. They went back and they ministered
that these people might become established in their faith. Second
thing they did was they exhorted them to continue in the faith.
They didn't tell them, well, you've made your decision, you
can live like the devil now and you're all fixed up. You're going
to go to heaven when you die. Once saved, always saved. They
didn't preach any such doctrine. They established those disciples
and they exhorted them to continue in the faith. Persevering faith
is the only faith that will take a man to heaven. If a man draw
back, we read in Hebrews, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. Then what did they do? Now notice, then they went on
to tell them that through many tribulations we must enter the
kingdom of God. They hadn't heard the health,
wealth, and prosperity gospel yet. They didn't say you're going
to be carried to heaven on a cloud of ease. They said through many
tribulations you will enter the kingdom of God. So there was
their message to the disciples. But now notice What the next
verse tells us was their second major activity. Verse 22 describes
their activity in those three ways in which they helped strengthen
and build up those believers. Now verse 23 says, And when they
had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed
with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they
had believed. After they had established the
believers by appropriate teaching, the second great concern was
to give those congregations God-ordained leadership. And that leadership
is described in terms of appointing for them elders in every church. Now notice, they did not appoint
apostles to succeed them. They did not appoint prophets
to speak the word of God for them. There was only one kind
of spiritual leadership that they instituted in the churches. Do you see that? And they appointed,
and the Greek verb used, kairotoneo, means appointment in terms of
securing the suffrage or the vote of the congregation. John
Owen has a masterful treatment of this verse and traces out
the use of that word five pages in, I think, volume 13 or volume
16 on the Church of Christ. So it wasn't as though they just
came in and appointed their favorites, but it was an appointment that
involved assessing the character and the gifts of various men
in cooperation with the congregation, they appointed for them elders
in every church, now notice, and had prayed with fasting,
they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed. Now
you see, some people would say, if you have a group of believers,
all of them indwelt by the Holy Spirit, all of them priests unto
God, why do you need leaders? Well, the apostles didn't think
that way. They knew they all had the Holy
Ghost. They knew they were all in Christ. Yet they appointed
leaders, not to rival the Lord, but as the Lord's appointed means
to guide and shepherd his flock in all of those cities. So we're
asking the question, Precisely what is the Christian ministry? What is the identity of the pastoral
office? This passage answers by saying,
pastors, spiritually qualified leaders, are in this passage
described as elders who were appointed in the church by the
apostles. All right? Now we turn to Acts
chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. We're looking now at the apostolic
practice as we try to answer the question, what is the Christian
ministry? Here in Acts 20, Paul is on his
way to Jerusalem, and he stops off at a place called Miletus, Acts
20, verse 17, and he's sent to Ephesus and called to him, now
notice, the elders of the church. So the only spiritual leaders
that had been instituted in the church at Ephesus under the labors
of Paul were elders, presbyters. The leaders were the elders of
the church. And when they were come to him,
he said unto them, and we'll not read this passage because
I believe At this point, what I'm going to do, God willing,
tomorrow in the final morning, is we're going to expound this
passage in which we have Paul as the model of a gospel minister. But what I want you to notice
is that after he reviews his own ministry among them in the
opening verses, he tells them in verse 25, this is the transition,
I know that you all among whom I went about preaching the kingdom
shall see my face no more. And he says, I'm pure from the
blood of all men. Now he's going to turn to these
elders and charge them with their responsibility. Verse 28. Take
heed unto yourselves, you elders, and to all of the flock. He likens the church to a flock
of sheep. Now notice carefully, in which
the Holy Spirit has made you Bishops, now that word bishop
means overseer, a looker over. The two words in the original
that are put together literally means, it's the word skopeo,
to look, and then the preposition to look over, epi, to look upon
or to look over. So a bishop is a looker over,
an inspector, one who watches over. So he says to them, you
elders, indicating that elders are bishops and bishops are elders,
both the same. Remember verse 17, he called
the elders and he says to the elders, the Holy Spirit has made
you bishops. Now notice carefully, take heed
to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit
has made you bishops or overseers. to feed or to shepherd the church
of the Lord which he purchased with his own blood. I know that
after my departing, wolves will enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. And from among your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples
after them. Remember and watch." And he goes
on to charge them with their responsibilities. Now, what's
the point of the passage? As we think of the question,
what is the Christian ministry? What is its precise identity? Well, in this passage, the only
ministers, the only leaders that Paul recognized in the church
at Ephesus were leaders that the Holy Spirit had made leaders. And what were those leaders made
such by the Holy Spirit under the guidance of the apostles?
not prophets, no, not apostles, but elders
or bishops. You see that? Those are the only
leaders that he said the Holy Spirit has made in the church
at Ephesus. So we take Acts chapter 14, they
went back in every city and what did they do? They appointed elders
to be the leaders of the flock. When he calls the leaders of
the church at Ephesus, he calls the elders whom he addresses
as the bishops or the overseers of the flock of God. Now then,
what we see in the apostolic practice, we see exactly reflected
in the apostolic writings. So turn, please, now to 1 Timothy
and chapter 3. Now, why did Paul leave Timothy
behind at Ephesus while he went on to further labors? Well, he
tells us in chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, why he left Timothy
at Ephesus. Notice, these things write I
unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly. He said, now I'm
writing a letter. I hope before long I'll come
on the heels of the letter, but if I tarry long, that you may
know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of
the truth. I'm sending this letter to you
hoping that I personally can come very soon after the letter,
but I don't have any direct revelation from God as to whether I will
come or when I'll come. And if I don't come, I want you
to do what I would do if I were there. And what would Paul do
if he were there? Well, among the many things he
would do, he tells us in chapter three, he would secure godly
leadership, more godly leadership for the church at Ephesus. And
how does he describe that leadership? Chapter 3 in verse 1. Faithful
is the saying, if a man seeks the office of a, here's our word
again, bishop, a looker over, an overseer, he desires a good
work. The bishop therefore must be,
and then he gives a description of the character traits that
must be present, and we'll look at those in greater detail in
our second message this morning. But you see, the point we're
making is this. Timothy, the church is not your
house. The church is not my house. The
church is God's house. And in God's house, God alone
makes the house rules. Now Timothy, the leaders in God's
house are to be bishops, elders. And if a man desires that office,
he desires a good work, but here are the requirements that must
be present in his life if he is to occupy that office according
to the will of God. But now the point is this. Paul
does not recognize any other office of spiritual leadership
and government in the Church of Christ. Now he does recognize
an office of service and therefore he starts in verse 8 to give
the requirement for deacons. There are two offices in the
church but the diaconal office is a serving not a ruling office. It is an office to be carried
out and to function under the direction and the oversight and
the spiritual authority of the elders or the bishops. And so
we see that what Paul did in his practice, he underscores
in his writing to Timothy. Turn to the book of Titus and
we see exactly the same thing. Titus was another one of these
relatively younger men that was one of Paul's assistants and
companions. Now he leaves him, not at Ephesus,
but in the island of Crete. And now he tells us why he left
him there. Titus 1 in verse 5. For this
cause I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things
that were wanting or lacking. In other words, there were churches
there, but the churches had a lack. There were things lacking in
the churches. And he says, I've left you there
that you might set in order the things that were lacking. Now,
notice and appoint elders in every city as I gave you charge. And then he gives the requirements
of character and gift that must be present in an elder. If any
man is blameless, the husband of one wife, et cetera. Now look
at verse seven for the bishop must be blameless. Now, wait
a minute, Paul. Do you want me to ordain elders
or bishops? Paul says, well, Don't you get
the message, Titus? They're one and the same thing.
Ordain elders in every city, the bishop therefore must be.
These are simply two words which describe one and the same office. And the whole idea that the bishop
is some kind of a super-pastor in a given area who has other
pastors under him and answerable to his authority doesn't have
one ounce of evidence in the Word of God. There is no such
office to be found in the Bible. No, not at all. It's found in
church history very early when men began to depart from the
Bible and began to be greedy for spiritual and ecclesiastical
authority and leadership. But it's not found in the Bible.
Now, isn't it interesting that if what we hear today is so important,
oh, if only the church had prophets, if only the church had miracle
workers, if only the church had this. Well, my friends, if ever
the church needed The best, it needed it here, in its infant
stage. But the apostle did not tell
Titus, I left you there at Crete to set in order the things that
are lacking. I want you to appoint prophets
and miracle workers and tongue speakers in every city. He said
no such thing. All he said was this, I want
you to appoint elders in every city. You see that in your Bibles? That's what my Bible says. Don't
believe it because I say it. As I tell my people again and
again, believe it only when you see it with your own eyes in
the Bible, and then believe it not because I said it, but because
God said it. That's it. So that the issue
is not what the preacher says, no matter how forcefully he says
it, but the issue is, does God say it? And if God says it, then
anything that stands in the way is the enemy of God. Whether
our past practice, our past thinking, current opinion, we can say to
every single thing that stands before the word of Christ, you
must bow to the word of God coming to us through his inspired apostle.
So the practice there at Ephesus was to recognize more elders
for leadership. The practice at Crete, recognize
elders in every single city. When Paul writes to one of his
favorite churches, the church at Philippi, or Philippi, how
does he think of that church? Philippians chapter 1. Here he
sits in a Roman prison, and he either picks up his pen or he
has someone writing for him, and he's about to dictate the
letter. And he thinks of that church at Philippi that is so
precious to him. As he thinks of that church,
how does he conceive of that church in his mind's eye? Well,
look at the opening verse there of Philippians. Paul and Timothy,
servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus. He thinks of the church, first
of all, as a company of those who are saints. And that word
saint simply means set apart unto God. Those who are set apart
from the world and the dominion of sin, and from the love and
practice of sin unto God, they are saints in union with Christ. Do you see that? That's how he
conceives of the Church in its basic identity. It is the company,
it is the communion of those who have been set apart from
sin and the world unto God in union with Jesus Christ. They have a vital life attachment
to Jesus Christ. And they are found where? At
Philippi, now notice, with the bishops, the overseers, the looker-overs,
the elders, and deacons. Now, no word about archbishops,
no word about subdeacons, no word about priests, no word about
superintendents, no word about nothing but elders and deacons,
bishops and deacons. Now, if that church was the church
that Paul clearly indicates it was, a thriving church that had
peculiar commitments to him and to the work of the gospel. Surely,
if we need prophets and miracle workers and this, that and the
other and bishops and archbishops and archdeacons and subdeacons
and all this other garbage, surely Paul would have written to them
and called them. Listen, you guys got an awful lot of work
to do. All you've got in your leadership is looker-overs, bishops,
elders, And then a class of official servants to carry on those service
ministries. You guys are really in a mess.
I mean, you're really way down on the ladder. You've got to
get you some miracle workers. You've got to get you some prophets.
He didn't say that. He looks at that church at Philippi
that is the darling of his heart, and you read through that epistle
and pours out his affection to them. And he's pleased that it
is a well-ordered church. Why? Because it has God's instituted
leadership in that church. Now, when we turn to the letter
to the Hebrews, this is passage number six. I told you we're
going to just look at nine passages. I want the Word of God to speak
on this issue of what is the Christian ministry. As the writer
to Hebrews is coming to the end of his letter, and giving some
miscellaneous exhortations, he says in verse 7 to all of the
believers to whom he writes, Remember them that had the rule
over you, Hebrews 13, 7, men that spoke unto you the word
of God. Remember them that had the rule
over you, And He identifies them as those men who spoke unto you
the Word of God, and considering the manner of their life, imitate
their faith. Now, we'll have time to come
back to the last part of the verse in the second hour. We'll
just touch on it briefly. Notice, He could say the men
who were giving you spiritual leadership were themselves spiritual
men. They're worthy of being imitated.
even though they have now left you by death or they've been
taken elsewhere by the providence of God. But the point for this
morning in the first hour is this. Those that had the rule
were those that spoke the Word of God. And the men that spoke
the Word of God were those that had the rule. They were one and
the same men occupying the office of elders, bishops, overseers,
shepherds of the flock, and they work out that office, and this
is where this text is helpful, by spiritual rule and by the
proclamation of the Word of God. Verse 17 of the same chapter,
Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them. Why? for they watch in behalf
of your souls as they that shall give account." He is speaking
of those who have a particular charge from the head of the church
to watch over the flock of God, to give direction to the flock,
And they will one day give an account of that stewardship of
spiritual leadership. Now, it's clear that they knew
when he wrote, obey them that have the rule over you, the people
were not in doubt. They knew who they were. It wasn't
any Tom, Dick and Harry that said, well, I think I ought to
exercise spiritual rule. Here I come, you lucky people.
They knew who had the rule over them, and they knew that they
did so officially as those that would give an account to the
great head of the church in the last day. And then, 1 Peter chapter
5. 1 Peter chapter 5. As Peter writes to these suffering
Christians, People that are being persecuted, and he says even
more is coming, a fiery trial is going to come upon you. Notice
what he says to the elders in chapter 5 and verse 1 of 1 Peter. The elders therefore among you
I exhort. Now notice how he styles himself. Who am a fellow elder. Though Peter was an apostle,
he was also an elder. He was a leader in Christ's Church. And he says he was a witness
of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed. Now here is their job. Tend the
flock of God. Shepherd the flock of God which
is among you. Who is to shepherd the flock?
The elders. exercising the oversight, not
of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God,
nor yet for filthy lucre, not in it for your money, but of
a ready mind, neither is lording it over the charge allotted to
you. And it's a verb that means exercising
an authority down upon people, an oppressive, ungracious, unchristlike
authority. not lording it over the charge,
but making yourselves examples to the flock. And when the chief
shepherd shall be manifested, you shall receive the crown of
glory that fades not away. Christ is called the archipoemain,
the chief shepherd, and all pastors are poemain. They are just shepherds. They are under-shepherds of the
chief shepherd, even the Lord Jesus. So when Peter thinks of
the churches, how does he conceive of their leadership? He conceives
of the leadership in terms of elders. And so he writes to the
elders and he charges the elders to take care of the flock of
God. Now we come then to first Timothy
517. Because this passage gives us
an added dimension, and I think you'll see it all come together
now. I hope you do. First Timothy 5 and verse 17. Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor, especially or specifically the
translation of that word is debated by the men who give their lives
to studying Greek words. Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor, especially or specifically those,
that is, those elders who labor, and that word labor means to
work unto toil and pain, who labor in the Word and in teaching. Now what does this verse tell
us? It tells us at least this. Among the elders in any given
church, the God-ordained spiritual leaders, there may be some who
give themselves completely to laboring in the task of preaching
and teaching the Word of God. You see that? not two different
kinds of elders, the elders among you, one group, but within that
group a diversity of function. Some are laboring in the Word
and in teaching. Some are not laboring in the
Word and in teaching. But all of them are elders, and
all of them rule. But some, in the outworking of
their rule, according to their gifts, experience, opportunity,
the ability of the church to support them, they may be set
apart from the ordinary means of employment in order to, what,
sit around and play golf three afternoons a week? sit around during World Series
time and do what others can't do when they're at work, watch
the ball games? No! They're to labor unto pain
and toil in doing the work necessary to be able preachers and good
teachers of God's people. And I put myself through college
by the sweat of my brow and the pain of my back doing construction
work, and I tell you, the worst construction work I ever did
In August weather up in Connecticut, when it was in the 90's with
80% humidity and worked out in the hot sun, that's kids play
compared to the labor at sitting at my desk, bent over my Bible,
trying to prepare to preach and teach God's people as I ought.
There's many a time I've wished I could have the luxury of going
back to being a hod carrier. It's kids play. compared to truly
laboring in the Word and in doctrine. Now then, we bring all of these
passages together, and what's the picture that emerges? We're
asking this one question in this first hour. What is the Christian
ministry? What is the identity of the Christian
minister? And I answer, in terms of the
Bible, a Christian minister is an elder, a bishop, an overseer,
One who is duly recognized to function in the church as a shepherd,
as a teacher, as a ruler among God's people. Now if we don't
think of the Christian ministry in those biblical terms, then
we get into all kinds of trouble. Because when we ask who should
be a minister, if we don't think of a minister in terms of his
identity as an elder or a bishop in the church, then we've got
no biblical materials to guide us. Because the biblical materials
guide us how to recognize an elder. How can a man know if
he's equipped to be an elder, to equip to be a bishop? The
Bible doesn't give us any materials to guide us if we think of the
ministry in some other category. That's why it's so vital to start
with thinking biblically about the identity of the Christian
ministry. Now, the ninth passage is the
one that sets the field And then after we've looked at this and
said a word of application, we'll take our break, and that'll lead
us very naturally into the next session. The great question is
this. Behind this matter of the Christian
ministry, who is it that ultimately makes Christian ministers? Who
is it that makes men hit the standard of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus
1? Who is it that makes men willing
to take on the burden of guiding and teaching and shepherding
the flock of God, knowing that we're going to give an account
in the last day? Turn to Ephesians chapter 4 for the answer. Ephesians
chapter 4. After Paul is exhorting or exhorts
the Ephesian Christians to seek a life of congregational unity,
meekness, forbearing with one another, he then shows the basis
of that unity. Verse four, one body, one spirit. But then in the midst of that
unity, there is diversity of gifts. Verse seven, but unto
each one of us was the grace given according to the measure
of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith, when he
ascended on high, he led captivity and gave gifts unto men. Quoting
from the Psalms, now then, pointing to the ascended Christ, who now
fills all things, verse 11, and he, that is, the ascended Christ,
he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers, shepherds and teachers. And the construction is such
that these are not two separate offices or gifts of Christ. but
two different descriptions of one and the same. He gave shepherds
and teachers, shepherds to govern and guide and rule by means of
teaching and instruction in the Word of God. And why did He give
them, verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of
service, unto the building up of the body of Christ, etc.?
Now, what does this passage tell us, and why is it so crucial?
It's so crucial because it tells us this. If ever there is any
church that has a true shepherd of Christ, a true teacher and
preacher of the Word, or in the language of the other passages,
if there is ever a church that has a true elder or true elders,
a true bishop or a group of bishops, if you ever find such a person
in any church, you know why you find it? Because Jesus Christ,
the head of the church, has molded and fashioned that man. and given
him as his personal gift to that church, that that church might
be perfected and built up to the end that his own body, the
church, might increase both in size and in conformity to himself,
growing up into Christ in all things unto a full-grown man. So when we ask the question,
what is the identity of the Christian minister, we must ultimately
trace it back to the fact that he is one whom Christ has fashioned
and Christ has given as a gift to his church. Now, I close with
this very simple, fundamental question. Does Jesus Christ give
to his church Men who have no ability to shepherd his people? No ability to feed his people? no ability to guide them by consistent
example of godly life? Does Jesus Christ hate His church
so much that He would give, as the official leaders of His church,
men who can't lead, men who can't teach, men who can't govern,
men who can't set an example of godliness? I ask you, does
Jesus Christ hate His people that much? No, He loved His church
and gave His life for the church. And if Jesus Christ loves His
church, the only kind of men He gives as pastors and teachers
are those who can truly shepherd His people, who can teach His
people, who can govern His people, who can guide His people. And
every so-called pastor or shepherd who isn't doing that, Jesus didn't
give him. He's put himself in that office
or the devil has pushed him into that office in order to curse
the body of Christ instead of build up the body of Christ. You feel the weight of that?
You feel the weight of that on your own spirit? Jesus Christ,
the Head of the Church, He gives pastors and shepherds. Well,
if He loved the Church enough to give His life for it, what
kind of pastors and shepherds will He give to His Church? What
kind of teachers will He give? Not those who confuse the Church. not those who lead the church
into embarrassment and shame by their stupid programs and
cockamamie schemes and large indebtedness and by men whose
lives are shoddy and bring shame upon the name of Christ and make
God's people hang their heads. in shame whenever their church
name is mentioned because the pastor's name has been emblazoned
in the headlines as being immoral, being an embezzler, a womanizer,
money-hungry? My friend, Christ doesn't give
shepherds like that. Christ gives shepherds who in
a little way, to some degree, reflect His own heart. They are
willing to give their very life for the sake of the sheep. Now,
we come all the way around full circle to where we started. What
is the Christian ministry? What exactly is a pastor? According to the New Testament,
a pastor, a Christian minister, is an elder, a bishop, an overseer. He is a shepherd and a teacher
given by Christ. to the Church to govern and to
teach, to guide and to instruct, to perform those two great functions
for the well-being of the Church of Jesus Christ. All right? We'll
take a break at this point, and then when we come back, we'll
take up the second question, and then we'll still have some
time, I hope, for discussion at the end.