Well, good morning, everyone.
If you would open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter
four. Ephesians chapter four. Before we begin, let's bow before
our Lord in prayer. Seek his blessing. Our Father, we come into thy
courts this morning with hearts that are full of thanksgiving.
Oh, how thankful we are for your mercy in your grace that you
have reserved for your people in our Lord Jesus Christ, that
it enables sinners such as we are to come for your throne of
grace accepted and to call you our father, how thankful we are. And father, I beg of you this
morning that you would give us the spirit of worship, that you
would enable us to not just go through the motions of religion,
but to truly worship thee from the heart. enable us to worship,
enable us to hear a word from you, from your heart to our heart,
a word that glorifies our Lord Jesus Christ so that your people
would be enabled to see him with the eye of faith and in awe and
wonder bowed his feet. Father, we thank you for the
many, many blessings of this life. How richly you have blessed
this congregation materially, and especially spiritually, how
you've blessed us, how you've kept your gospel here for so,
so many years. Father, we're thankful. And Father,
I pray that you would not allow us to get off on a tangent, that
you'd keep our focus on Christ and Him crucified. Father, we
pray for the sick and the hurting of our number, your people, those
that we know of and those that We don't, Father, that you'd
be with them as you brought them into a particular time of trouble
and trial. Father, we pray that you'd heal,
that you'd comfort. We pray you'd give them a fulfillment
of your promise, that your grace is sufficient, that you'll not
leave and forsake your people. We pray a special blessing for
our brother Cecil and his whole family at this time, Father,
that you'd be with them in a mighty and special way. Father, all
these things we ask and we give thanks in that name which is
above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. Amen. Now I have titled our lesson
this morning, The Gift of a Pastor. And I want to be sure that this
comes across right, that it doesn't sound in any way self-serving.
And I don't want it to sound self-serving because it's not.
I don't want it to be self-serving. But one of the gifts that God
has given his church on earth is pastors. Verse eight in Ephesians
chapter four says, wherefore he saith when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. In the
last couple weeks we've looked at the spiritual gifts that he's
given to all of his people. And now if you skip that parenthetical
phrase there beginning in verse nine, he picks up in verse 11
talking about the gift of pastors that God has given his church
on earth. Now, it's important to remember
this, that the gift is not the pastor himself. The pastor is
a sinner, just like everybody else. He's needy, just like everybody
else. He needs God's grace. He needs God just in every way,
just as much as anybody else. The gift that Paul's talking
about here is what the Lord uses the pastor to do for his people. That's the gift. It's the function
that the pastor performs for the church. And this thing, it's
not just a commodity. It's a relationship. It really
is a relationship. The local church. How many preachers
and pastors and teachers do you know from all over the place?
Many, don't you? Many. You know, much of that
is by design. I invite as many different men
as I know who faithfully preach the gospel. I invite them here
to preach because I want you to know them. You know, that's
good for us. We know many preachers, many
different pastors, but the local church has one pastor, has one
pastor that God has raised up to teach and to preach and to
lead that congregation and no other, no other, just that one
congregation. Hold your finger there, look
at 1 Thessalonians 2. In this thing, it's a special
relationship. That's a gift from God to his
church. 1 Thessalonians 2. Verse five. For neither at any time used
we flattering words, as you know, nor cloak of covetousness. God
is witness. We're not trying to get anything
from you. God is witness. Nor men sought we glory, neither
of you, nor yet of others. When we might have been burdensome
as the apostles of Christ, but we were gentle among you, even
as a nurse cherisheth her children. So being affectionately desirous
of you, we are willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel
of God only, that's certainly true, the gospel of God, primarily
the gospel of God, but not the gospel only, but also, our own
souls because you were dear unto us. Now that's the relationship
that God's pastor has with the sheep, that God's given him to
lead and to preach to. And a pastor who has that kind
of attitude, that kind of heart, that kind of commitment, now
that's a blessing to God's church. In our text, Paul tells us what
the job, what the function of the pastor is for God's church.
He says in verse 11, he gave some apostles, Now an apostle
was a man who was selected by God, who was taught the gospel
directly from the Lord Jesus Christ in person. Apostle could
perform miracles, and they did that not so it was a party trick,
but so the people would know this man has to be from God. He has a message from God. This
tells me I ought to listen to him. The Lord inspired the apostles
to write the New Testament scriptures. Well, that's a gift, isn't it?
To have the scriptures that the Lord used these men to write
the scriptures, that's a gift. But he gave some apostles. He
hadn't given the gift of apostles to us. There are no more apostles
anymore, and there never will be. They fulfilled their ministry,
and we don't have them anymore. And that's all right, because
they fulfilled their ministry. They've completed the word of
God to show us Christ. We don't have apostles anymore,
but we have what the Holy Spirit inspired them to write and that's
more important. Then Paul says he gave some prophets. Now a prophet is an interpreter,
he's an orator of hidden things, hidden secret things that God
hadn't revealed to anybody else but the prophet. The prophet
was a man who was moved by the Holy Spirit. to interpret the
scriptures, particularly the Old Testament scriptures, and
he could foretell certain events, some of the future. That's what
the Old Testament prophets were, weren't they? When they wrote
of Christ, they're foretelling future events. They're foretelling
how Christ is gonna come. Isaiah told so clearly of his
birth, of his life, of his work, of his death, of his resurrection.
Those were things that would happen in the future Isaiah wrote
of them so that the Old Testament believers would look forward
to Christ coming. And so that we'd recognize him
when he did come. Now that's a very helpful gift
to God's church, isn't it? To have them identify this is
the Savior who's coming, here he is, in type, in picture, in
promise. That's a very helpful gift. But
now God hadn't given the gift of prophets to us. Just like
the apostles, there's no more prophets today. There's no more
prophets today because we don't need them. It's okay that we
don't have prophets. We don't need them. They fulfilled the
ministry that God gave them to do. They've completed the word
of God. Under inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, they've completed the word of God to show Christ to
us. We don't need a prophet. We got something better. We got
the completed word of God. Then Paul says he gave to some
evangelists. Now an evangelist is a traveling
missionary, like Timothy or Titus, Walter Groover, Moose Parts,
these men were missionaries. They'd travel around and go to
these foreign places and preach the gospel there. But you know,
and we stand in awe of those men, don't we? I do, I stand
in awe of those men, what the Lord's used them to do and what
he laid upon their heart to do. But you know, there is a sense.
in which every believer is an evangelist. Every believer has
the opportunity to travel in your sphere of influence in your
life and tell people about Christ. It could be in the home. I mean,
can you think of a person more influential in a home than a
mother who can teach her children the scriptures? I can't think
of one. I mean, just what a sphere. Maybe
it's not a traveling missionary, Well, you've got a mission there,
don't you? How about people on the job? People you know out
in the community to tell people about Christ and maybe think,
well, I don't feel like I'd mess that up. Well, you can give them
a bulletin. You can invite them to come hear
the gospel, can't you? In that sense, every believer
is an evangelist. Then Paul says he gave some pastors
and teachers. Now here is one the Lord has
given us, in this day, pastors and teachers. Now there are some
pastors, there are some teachers in the church. Here I am teaching
here this morning, we got other teachers teaching our children
this morning. There's pastors and teachers. Sometimes it's
two different offices. But the pastor, he's always a
pastor and a teacher, always. The word pastor that Paul uses
here means a herdsman. or a shepherd. A pastor is to
care for the sheep that God's given him to care for. He's to
rule the church for the good of the sheep, for their good. And here's how he rules. It's
not with an iron rod. The pastor rules the church by
preaching the gospel, by preaching Christ and teaching God's word. That's why we go line by line.
through these different epistles, through these different books
of the Bible, so that we are taught line by line, precept
upon precept, the word of God. That's how the pastor rules the
church. And that's why I say every pastor is a teacher. He
teaches God's word. Now I'm gonna tell ya, no man
is sufficient for these things. No man. The only way that a man
can shepherd God's people The only way he can teach them the
word of God is if the Holy Spirit calls him to the work. He calls
him to the work, he gives him the ability to do the job, and
he calls him to a particular place, to a particular people,
and he'll sell out to do it. He'll sell out to preach to those
people, to be the pastor of those people. Now, Paul tells us specifically,
here is the job of a pastor. Here's why this is a blessing
and a gift to God's church. This is why God gives pastors.
Number one is so that God's elect are made complete. He says in
verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints. That's why God's
given pastors, for the perfecting of the saints. And that word
perfecting means complete. It means furnishing, it means
equipping, God's elect are incomplete in themselves. We're not what
God requires us to be. I don't think there's one person
in this room who would claim you are what God requires you
to be. Now, I don't think there's one. Well, that means we're incomplete,
doesn't it? We're not what God requires us
to be. The pastor's job is to preach we're complete in Christ. That's how we're complete. Christ
is all we need. The job of the pastor is equipping.
The job of the pastor is to be sure God's sheep are equipped
with what they need. We need to be restored to Christ. Adam cut us off from God. We
need to be restored to Christ. Well, the only way we can know
how we'll be restored to God is by the preaching of Christ.
We need faith in Christ. I mean, if I would be saved,
I must be equipped with faith in Christ. God's got to give
it to me. Well, the only way faith is going to come is by
preaching Christ. Faith comes by hearing. And hearing
by the Word of God. We need to be taught what the
Word of God means. I don't know by nature what the
Word of God means. I need to be equipped with that
knowledge. The only way we can know what
the Word of God means is by the consistent preaching of Christ.
Maybe we'll finally learn every book, every chapter, every sentence,
every semicolon, Everything, it's all Christ. If we finally
learn that, we'll know what the word God means. I need to be taught how to walk
in this world. How's a believer supposed to
walk in this world? How's a believer supposed to
conduct himself in this world without being self-righteous?
Now, how am I supposed to do that? The only way I can be equipped
with that knowledge is by the consistent preaching of Christ. If I finally learn it's all Christ,
And I learned to look to Christ, not look to the law, not look
to my faith, not look to my conduct, not look to my morality. And
I finally learned to look to Christ, my walkers will be just
fine. Because I'll be following Him. And God's people, God's sheep,
they need comfort. They need comfort. They need
trials and afflictions in this world that our Savior has promised
is going to come to every last one of us. God's sheep are gonna
be so tired and weary that they can't go on. They need to be
strengthened. They need help. How's that gonna happen? By hearing
the preaching of Christ. Only Christ and Christ all the
time. That's why God gives us pastors.
If that pastor will be enabled by God to preach Christ and Christ
only, we'll be complete. Number two, God gives us pastors
for the work of the ministry. He says in verse 12, for the
work of the ministry. And I'm not poor-mouthed when
I say this, this is just a fact. The job of a pastor is the worst,
best job a man can ever have. If it's done right, it's hard
work. I mean, it's hard work, it's
a consuming, It's hard work in prayer. I mean, you think you can just crack
this book open and come up with God's message? Then you just
open up this book and say, oh yeah, I know what this means.
It's hard work in prayer. It's hard work in seeking God's
message for God's people in this hour. I mean, I've been around
the gospel as long as I can remember. I mean, as far back as my memory
can go. And I'll be in the study and
come out and Jan will say, well, how's it going? And I say, well,
I see some true things here, but I don't have a message yet.
And she said, well, I don't understand what that means. She said, that's
preacher talk. I don't understand what that means. But it's hard
work. It's hard work. It's hard work
to keep being faithful, to stay in that study, work on a message
when nobody's looking. You know, always, whenever I,
before I became the pastor, I worked out in warehouses and different
places. Well, you know, your boss is
always going to be kind of coming around and seeing you. He's going
to know if you're working or not. Nobody knows if I'm working or
not. I mean, you might figure out if I didn't work when I show
up Sunday and don't really, you know, have anything that makes
any sense, but you know, that's hard work to keep doing that.
And Paul told the church at Thessalonica, esteem them very highly in love
for the work's sake. Now it's hard work, but that's
what God's pastors do. And here's why. The word that
Paul uses means The service of those who prepare and present
food, it's like a cook and a waiter down at the restaurant. That's
what the job of a pastor is. The work of the ministry is to
seek out and prepare and present God's message for his people
in this hour. Whatever the pastor prepares
in the study, that's what the sheep are gonna eat. Now I'm telling you, it had better
be good, true, nutritious preaching of Christ. If not, God's sheep
are gonna suffer. They're gonna suffer. I've seen
it happen so many times. Just trust me, I've seen it happen.
The congregation suffers for it every time. The work of the
ministry, it's hard work and it's, It's very important for
the feeding, the edification of God's sheep. How are they
gonna grow if they're not fed? And you know, it's hard emotional
work too. Paul called it the care of the
churches. He said, on top of everything
else, I've got the care of all these churches. And it's a burden. It's a burden to care for you
all. It's a burden I gladly accept.
I gladly take on. But it's a burden. Brother Henry
told me this, and I always remembered it. And then years later, I thought,
I know exactly what he's saying now. He told me this, though. He said, when my girls were 7,
8, 9, 10 years old, he said, whatever happens to your girls
happens to you, doesn't it? Every heartache that they have
is your heartache. Every tear they shed is your
tear. I said, yes, sir, it is. He said, I have that times 300.
I'm telling you, that made me appreciate him all the more.
Oh my, how much I appreciate it. Now you can't know that unless
God's given you that responsibility, but if that care, that heartfelt
care is not there, how can a man be effective? But
if it is, that heartfelt care is there. That's a gift from
God. Then thirdly, God gives us pastors,
Paul says in verse 12, at the end of the verse, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. And that word edifying means
building up. That's what I was saying a minute
ago. God's people are built up by the pastor preparing and giving
them a message that's all Christ. And here's how we're built up.
in Christ. You kind of think of that means
being made stronger and, you know, I can stand on my own.
The way we're built up in Christ is by being made more dependent
on Christ. We're built up in Christ by having a lower, lower,
lower, lower, lower estimation of ourselves and a higher estimation
of Christ. Now, how's that going to happen?
By the faithful preaching of Christ. Oh, I'll see myself as
low. I'll be like Isaiah. I'll see
myself as low once I see Christ high and lifted up. You know,
our children will not be physically built up and grow and mature
physically the way that they should if all we feed them is
junk food. Well, the same thing is true
spiritually. You can't just go, you know, skipping over, skimming
over, you know, the Word of God and expect that to be a blessing
to God's people. You got to get in there and prepare
that food. You got to get in there and dig it out. What's
a gift from God if he gives us a man who's equipped to do that
job? In fourth, God gives us pastors for the unity of his
people. He says in verse 13, till we
all come in the unity of the faith. Now that word unity means
agreement. Now I know we're all not going
to agree on every little thing. But every believer does agree
on this. Every believer agrees on Christ. Every believer agrees in his
sin-atoning blood, in his righteousness being the only righteousness
that there is. Every believer believes redemption is all in
Christ alone. Every believer believes that.
Every believer believes the same thing because there's only one
thing to believe. There's not many things to believe.
There's one thing to believe. It's Christ. is one thing to
believe. Every believer believes the same
thing about how God saves sinners. It's all Christ. And you know
how we'll all agree on that one thing? Is that the pastor doesn't
get off on a tangent and only preaches Christ. Now I'll say this about unity.
When I said unity, probably what first popped into your mind was
not what the word means, agreement, was it? When I read that word
unity, you thought about, you know, agreement, we're not fussing
and fighting with each other. Let me say this about unity in
that way. If we all agree on the preeminence
of Christ, all those other differences won't matter, and there'll be
unity. See that? Number five, God gives us pastors
so that we'll know Christ? Do we all come in the unity of
faith and the knowledge of the Son of God? Now, this is another
way for Paul to say God gave people pastors so that his people
will be given saving faith in Christ. Remember what our Lord
said in John chapter 17? This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou
hast sent. If we know Christ, we'll believe
on him. To know Christ is to believe
on Him. If you know Christ, if you know the Son of God, you'll
believe on Him. But how can we believe in somebody
we don't know? How can we believe in somebody we've never heard
of? We can't, can we? Well, the job of the pastor is
to preach Christ, so we'll know Him. So we'll know Him and believe
on Him. Number six, God gives us pastors
so we grow and mature in the faith. In verse 17, he says,
unto a perfect man. And that word perfect, it means
full grown. It means mature and it means
wanting nothing necessary for completeness. Now, the more we
hear of Christ, the more we'll grow and the more we'll mature. But that takes time. It takes
time. It's not gonna happen overnight.
And it's gonna take not just calendar time, it's gonna take
some time well spent. It's gonna take some time sitting
under a man who constantly preaches only Christ. That's how God's
people grow and mature. One of the best pieces of advice
that I got when I became the pastor here was this, deal honestly
with the word of God. Just deal honestly with the word
of God, and God's people will prosper. That's what Paul's saying
here. It's not surprising, on the other
hand, to see believers who do not regularly sit under a pastor.
For whatever reason, they don't do it. You know, for whatever
reason. There could be a million reasons.
For whatever reason, they don't. And it's not surprising to see
them be immature in the faith. You can't get that from listening
online. It just doesn't come that way.
The only way we can be complete and mature is in Christ. And
that takes somebody preaching Christ to us. That's the pastor's
job. Then number seven, God gives
us pastors to preach nothing but Christ all the way to the
end of time. At the end of verse 13, he says,
under the measure of the stature, of the fullness of Christ. God's
pastors are to keep preaching Christ until the whole mystical
body of Christ is complete. Until they're all together at
one time. And that's not gonna happen till we're all in glory. And then preaching will be no
more. We won't need somebody preaching
Christ because we're all gonna see him face to face. We're all
gonna be worshiping him face to face. But until then, we're
to preach Christ. Until then, we're to preach Christ.
That's the pastor's only job. You see the pattern here? The
pastor's only job is to preach Christ. That will fit every need
God's people need. What else could be more important?
What else could be more important than the preaching of Christ?
And until we're all together in glory, here's something else
that'll help the church of God. The whole church on earth will
function well together like a body functioning well together. And
you know how that'll happen? If we're determined to preach
Christ to our generation. Look at verse 16. From whom the
whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love. Now, how's the body of Christ?
How are our believers still in sinful bodies, still carrying
around a sinful nature? How are they gonna all function
well together as one unit, as one well-functioning body? How
are they gonna grow together in love? It's by the preaching
of Christ. That's the only thing that'll
get the job done. and that's the pastor's job. And if that
happens, boy, that's a gift, that's a blessing to the church,
isn't it? Then number eight, God gives us pastors so we'll
be established. Established in the faith. Verse
14, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight
of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Oh my goodness, the dangers that
are all around us, that are in us and around us from the sin
in this world to deceive us and pull us away from Christ, to
try to take our attention. This is Satan's goal, is to do
anything he can to get your focus off Christ and to get you trusting
anything other than Christ alone. Now, his goal is to deceive just
exactly the way he deceived Eve. Well, a babe in Christ can be
easily fooled. A babe in Christ can be easily
deceived, because they think, oh, well, that sounds good. That
sounds real good and religious, and it grabs their attention,
and off they run after it, right? You all know I have a new grandson,
three months old. And you know an amazing thing
about this kid? He's so easily distracted. Janet
bought this little spinning thing. He can be crying and all upset,
and just anything shiny, anything spinning, just gets his attention. You just spin that thing, and
normally, unless something's real bad wrong, he'll quit crying.
Just so, you know, and then, boy, you spin another one over
here, and he'll look over there, you know. That's a baby in Christ. So easily distracted. So easily deceived. by a little
religious spinner. The job of the pastor is to keep
us focused on Christ, so that we'll learn a little bit and
we'll be established, and these shiny, spinning religious toys
won't take our attention from Christ. A babe in Christ is like
in the tall grass. Boy, it'll blow this way and
that with the slightest breeze, won't it? That's a baby in Christ. The slightest breeze can blow
them off course. The job of the pastor is to keep
preaching Christ. Just keep plowing, keep planting,
keep weeding, keep preaching Christ so that we finally grow
to be like that tree. The tree of righteousness planted
by the living waters that David talked about that will not be
easily moved. Like the grass that's here today
and gone tomorrow. And then a child can be easily
deceived by tall stories. I've got a bunch of tall stories.
I've built them up over the years, telling them to my girls. Now,
they know all my tall stories. Well, you know who's going to
hear them next, don't you? And I'm going to deceive him. I'm going
to trick him. I'm going to have so much fun telling all these
tall stories. That's a baby in Christ. who hears these tall
stories, oh, they're wrapped in religion, they sound, you
know, got a bunch of religious words in them, told by a false
prophet who can easily deceive that babe in Christ. The job
of the pastor is to preach Christ and him crucified only. All the time, every message,
so maybe we'll finally learn the difference between the gospel
and a crafty lie. It won't be deceived. And here's
the last one, and you can't end without this one. The job of
the pastor is to speak the truth in love. Verse 15. But speaking
the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which
is the head, even Christ. Now God's people need to grow
in Christ. I don't care who you are. I don't
care how long you've been trusting Christ. Every believer needs
to grow. We need to grow in Christ. Paul
says we need to grow into Christ. We need to grow more dependent
on Christ so that we trust him more. And again, I'm trying to
sound like a broken record here. The only way that can happen
is by the preaching of the truth. They're not preaching true statements.
You've heard preachers preach true statements and then get
a blessing from it, didn't you? I can't say anything he did wrong. I can't put my finger on it,
but that wasn't a blessing. There's a difference between true statements
and the truth. The truth of Christ. But now
listen, nobody's going to grow up right if we're always beating
them up with the truth. The gospel can only be preached
in love. We preach the truth in love.
Now, never compromise. Never bend on the truth of Christ.
But do it in love. Do it in love. Brother Chris Cunningham will
hate that I use this as an example, I watched the funeral message
he preached for Brother D. Parks. And I thought the Lord
gave Chris something very, very good and very, very wise. He'd
lay out the gospel. I mean, you know Chris, unbending,
no mistake in what the man was saying. And then he'd say, if
you don't believe that, I'm not mad at you. I just want you to
know the truth. And I thought, that's preaching.
That's pretty. That's. People can't be taught
the love of Christ or beaten with a steel rod of the truth.
You see that, don't you? God's pastor preaches the love
that preaches the gospel you love. By God's grace, this is
true. I love Christ. I do by God's
grace. I know I only love him because
he first loved me, but I do love him. And since I love him, I
want him to be glorified. I want him to be exalted and
I want him to be worshipped. That's why I preach the gospel.
That's why I preach Christ because I love him. And I love you. I don't want to be overly emotional.
But I love you. I love believers. Everywhere
I go. but this is different. Maybe
I don't know. I hope I'm not saying something
wrong, but it's just the truth. This is different. This is different. I care deeply whether or not
you believe Christ. I mean, deeply I care. That's
why I only preach Christ to you. Now, whatever God uses to point
us to Christ like that, so we believe on it. That's a gift
from God. All right, I hope that'll be
a blessing to you and helpful.