Ephesians 4: 11-13
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up 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 mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
A few introductory notes….
You will note that Ephesians chapter 4 begins with an appeal
to maintain the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace.
Take note of:
· the foundational attitudes that underlie this unity: humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in
love (the fruit of the Spirit).
· These foundational attitudes are built on these foundational truths:
There is one body, one Holy
Spirit, one hope, one Lord (Jesus
Christ), one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all. (Note the
Trinity here). Truth primarily governs
our relationships and not feelings.
Our constant challenge
as members of a church is to remember the very basics upon which the
church is built. We constantly need to remember these and rehearse these, lest
we forget... but how shall we
remember them?
‘Ah’, says Paul
in 4:8,
‘by the grace of God He has, through the
ascended Christ and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, given gifts[2]
to the church. By means of their ministry these things will be remembered in
all generations.’
The quote here is taken from Psalm 68:18 and it reflects the picture of a conquering king, who after the victory over his enemies
returns home with the spoils of war, and as he returns home he gives these
spoils of war as gifts to his people. Apply this to our King Jesus. By His victory on the cross He purchased the freedom of His people from the bondage of slavery,
and He has ushered in the new Kingdom. He triumphantly ascended back home to His
throne at the right hand of God in heaven, and from there He sent the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, and with the Holy Spirit
He sent the spoils of war, the gifts
here spoken of. He gave gifts to the church. What gifts? The answer is found
in 4:11, ‘And
He gave
the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers…”.
For what purpose did the ascended Lord give these gifts to the church? The ascended Lord gave His church these
gifts to maintain the unity of the
church - ‘one body’. The Lord Jesus gave His church a
particular gift, a body of foundational gifts, in the form of people to preserve the proper knowledge
and the proper attitudes of what the true church ought to be like and
look like.
The purpose of these foundational gifts is further explained in v. 12. These foundational gifts exist for the ‘equipping the saints for the work
of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ (the church).’ So, this is where the work of the pastor/shepherd - teacher fits
in. He is a gift from God to the church to help the church to remember the
truth as it is in Jesus (4:21). He
helps us to remember what Jesus said and
to remind us what Jesus was like in person.
The apostles and prophets are at the head of this list
because they are the foundation of the
foundation. In Ephesians 2:19,20 the offices of apostles and prophets are regarded
as ‘foundational’ in the church: “The household of God… is built
on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus as
the chief cornerstone“.
Foundations are only laid once. The building is constructed upon these
foundations. We are no longer building
the foundations of the church. These have been laid, and they remain forever
valid, and they are forever our reference point, and we build upon this sure foundation. The
prophets and apostles of the Bible continue to live and exercise their ministry
among us every time we open our Bibles and read and study and take seriously what
they have said. In that sense also we no
longer have prophets and apostles in
the same way in which we find them in the Bible. In that sense we also do not
need new apostles and prophets any more than we need a new cornerstone – the
Lord Jesus. Just because Jesus is now not visibly seen among us, we cannot say that
He is dead. In the same way, the apostolic and prophetic word which I hold in
my hands is not dead, but it is being proclaimed among us. Every time we preach
the Scriptures the prophetic and apostolic ministry lives in the hand of gifted evangelists and
pastor- teachers. With this in mind, I make the following observations.
1.The Work of the Pastor- Teacher is a
foundational gift to the church: The gift of the evangelist and the pastor-teacher continues to build upon the foundations of the
apostles and prophets and the gospels of
Jesus Christ.
2.The work of the
Pastor- Teachers is to equip the saints for the
work of ministry:The word for equipping is
the Greek word katartizo. It means ‘fixing
something that's broken’ (as when nets were torn cf. Matt. 4:21). It can also mean, ‘to
supply something that is lacking’ (as in 1 Thess. 3:10) where Paul
speaks to them about his desire to supply
what is lacking in your faith.
So, what is broken, what is lacking that needs
to be supplied?
Remember that through the fall, all of us have become broken,
leaking vessels. Through the new birth
we are restored in our relationship with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ, but it is through the ‘washing of the Word‘ that
we begin
to have our minds renewed, our hearts restored and our wills aligned to the will of God. This is
fundamentally the work of the gifted pastor –teacher. In this regard one meets many dear believers who
have had a conversion experience, but who were never brought under the
foundational ministry of an expository pastoral ministry. And they are like
those described in Hebrews 5:12-14,
and they are not in a good place. The
pastor – teacher’s job is to repair what
is broken or to supply what is lacking in the saints
even while he himself is subject to the
same discipline!
But that is not all. Pastor-teachers are not just there to
repair and supply what is lacking. Eph. 4:12 goes on to say that the goal
of the pastoral ministry is to equip and prepare the saints for the work
of ministry (literally diaconal
service). The fixing and supplying
what is lacking is meant to make the saints into servants, and in this way
every member of the church contributes to the wholeness of the entire body. God has not given pastor-teachers to do everything in the church. They are simply repairers of broken vessels.
They are simply those
who constantly remind the church of what they ought to be and do. This means
that pastor- teachers need to know their calling from God, and their
giftedness, and then they need to be sure that their own sinful selves are
constantly subjected to the disciplines of the Word and prayer. That requires
self- discipline and diligent study of the Bible
with constant prayer and with watchful self examination.
The Bible insists that
the pastor-teacher must be qualified to lead and teach the flock. He must possess a true competence from God for
the pastoral office (1 Tim 3:1). It
must be a willing and not a forced desire (1
Pet. 5:2). He must have the character traits provided in 1
Timothy 3: 1-7. The discipline of
godliness is vital. 2 Timothy 2:15-26 and 1
Peter 5:1-5 describes these disciplines in detail. The pastor must set an example for his people
in speech, lifestyle, love, faith, and purity (1 Tim 4:12).
.
A pastor is expected to do many things. He must be a counsellor
to those who need guidance. He must encourage those who are discouraged. He
must comfort those who are distressed. He must mentor leaders and give direction
to the eldership team. He must be involved in the leading and administration
of the church. He participates in
activities outside the church. He presents a face to the community. But
his main work is that of a preacher. In this he follows the pattern set by the
Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles. He also follows the example of our Lord
Himself. Our Lord Himself was firstly a
preacher. When the crowds wanted more
miracles, Jesus said to His disciples, "Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because
for this purpose I have come" (Mk.
1:38).
"Preach the
word!" is Paul’s
instruction to Timothy. "Be
ready in season and out of season.
Reprove rebuke , rebuke, exhort, with
complete patience and teaching" (2 Tim. 4:2) … and here is
part of the agony of preaching . Pastors must preach whether people want to hear
or whether they do not want to hear …
"the time is coming when people will
not endure sound doctrine, but having
itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn
away from listening to the truth, and wander off into myths." (vv. 3-4). And he must preach whether they will hear or
not hear, and when they will not listen, he continues to walk among them a
broken heart, for they do not disobey him but the Lord whom he represents. The
ministries by the prophets and apostles bear eloquent testimony to that.
Church members and leaders should take great care to insist
that their teaching pastor maintain the work of preaching as the priority of
his ministry. The spiritual health of a church ultimately depends upon a sound
pulpit. It is the prime means which God
has given for maintaining a sound
church. Look at the Bible and look at
the history of the church. When has church and society prospered most? When her
pastors were most committed to the exposition of God’s Word! We look back to
the days of the apostles, when the Word of God was preached widely and with
great effect. By contrast we look back to the dark ages (AD 500 – 1500) and consider
what happened when the Bible wasn’t preached, but traded for tradition, mysticism, and pragmatism. We consider the mighty effect that the Protestant Reformation had on the
church when the Word of God was preached by men like Martin Luther of Germany and John Calvin of Switzerland,
and John Knox of Scotland and when the
members of the church were equipped and encouraged to
live like true believers. We
look at the Puritan era, the 1600’s in England for examples
of healthy church life. We look at the Great awakening at the end of the
1700’s and into the 1800’s for examples of church revivals. We note the Downgrade Controversy of the late 1800’s and into the 1900’s, and we observe the loss of
confidence in the authority and
sufficiency of the Scriptures and its
terrible results upon the life and vitality of the church. Charles Haddon
Spurgeon sounded the alarm in his day, but
that faithful pastor only could watch with a broken heart as his own denomination, the
Baptist Union of England descended into coldness and apostasy from the gospel.
The life of the church, by God’s own design depends on God called, God equipped pastor-teachers. Pray beloved people that God
would continue to grant us these gifts
for the health and maintenance of the church
for the sake of a future
generation. God have mercy on us if we
were ever handed over to
ruthless shepherds who do not truly care.
