The story of Jesus' healing the nobleman's son reveals the truth that God is at work all around us in ways that we often don't expect. ; Associate Pastor Chris Carrie explores the story of and challenges us to respond in the confident faith demonstrated by the nobleman - faith that sees us go beyond our own comfort zones in order to discover and participate in God's surprising work.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
God's Call to Ministry
Missions Week 2
Acts 13:1-3
Ephesians 4:11-16
Introduction
Who do you work for?
Some people might say “Well I work for a particular government department or private business”. Self employed people might say “I work for myself” or “I work for my clients”.
People like myself could say “I work for the Church”.
I wonder how many of us responded to my question with the thought “I work for God”?
Think about that for a moment. When you pause to consider your life is it possible for you to say “I work for God. I work for my Lord, Jesus Christ”?
Today we are exploring the topic of “God’s Call to Ministry”. We will continue to be challenged through God’s Word as we were last Sunday, to consider our work for the kingdom of Jesus Christ
We are going to ask the questions “Who does God Call to Ministry?”; “How do we hear God’s Call to Ministry?” and “How should we respond to God’s Call to Ministry?”
These questions are answered for us as we take a look at the way God called Barnabas and Saul to a particular ministry as recorded in…
Acts 13:1-3
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger , Lucius of Cyrene
Who does God Call to Ministry?
In Acts 13 we see two men – Barnabas and Saul – called by God and set apart by the church in Antioch
Sometimes we read stories of people like Barnabas and Saul (who from here on is called by his new name Paul), and we think that there are some people who are called to ministry as they were, and the rest of us stay in our churches and support them as best we can.
We have this false distinction of people who devote themselves to ministry and the others who still have normal jobs and fairly normal lives but who serve God where they can. We sometimes think of some people as super-Christians because of their devotion and sacrifice for ministry that seem to be beyond what normal Christians are capable of.
We need to refresh our minds with what the Bible says about this:
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are all God’s workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus. There are no super-Christians, just a super Christ!
God by His grace works in us in order to prepare us to do the good works that He planned in advance for us to do. We are ministers not on the basis of our choosing but on the basis of God’s choice. It was the Holy Spirit who told the church at Antioch
Why does Luke specifically mention that these men were present in the church at Antioch
He points this out for us so we will know that it was a mature church. There were people exercising gifts of ministry that are further described in…
Ephesians 4:11-13
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
When a church is mature it has within it Christians who are gifted by God to prepare other Christians for works of service which then build up the whole body.
The Church at Antioch
Ephesians 4:14-16
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
So the Bible clearly says that every one of us is called to ministry in some form or other – we have all been assigned good works to do. It also clearly says that it is God who assigns us those tasks, working within us through His Spirit to enable us to know what our tasks are and to carry them out by His power.
The issue is not what we think we are capable of or what we would like to do with our lives. The issue is: “what has God prepared for me to do and called me to do?”
The call to ministry is not about ambition but obedience.
That’s exactly what happened in the case of Barnabas and Paul. God called them through His Spirit. They and their local church simply had to choose to obey.
When by faith you realise that Jesus is Lord, it means that you recognise His right to command your life.
Colossians 3:1-3
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Sometimes we break our life into compartments. We have:
· Home life
· Work life
· Church life
· Social life
· Sporting life
· Etc!
God gets a definite look-in in our church life. He may have a reasonably significant role in home life. He might sneak in to our social life, work life and maybe even our sporting life occasionally.
We were never meant to look at life this way, for we died and all our life is now hidden with Christ in God. So when we think of our home life, we must think of Jesus. When we think of our work life, we must think of Jesus. When we think of every part of our lives, we must set our hearts and our minds on things above and look to Jesus. That is the Christian life.
· Every Christian has been raised with Christ, and now lives for eternity.
· Every Christian has died to their sinful nature and sinful desires, being controlled by them no longer. On the contrary…
· Every Christian has proclaimed that Jesus is Lord and therefore has a right to command their life.
· Every Christian has been prepared by God to do good works that He has planned in advance for us.
· Every Christian is called to Ministry, it’s just that God’s calling to ministry is different for every Christian.
Who does God call to Ministry? Every Christian!
I sense that there will be some Christians here today who still may not be convinced that they really do work for Jesus Christ.
If you’re in that position today I’ll share with you one more passage of Scripture – although there are many I could choose on the subject.
Colossians 3:23-24 says:
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Whatever you do, it is the Lord you are serving! He’s called you, He’s prepared you, He indwells you through His Spirit in order to work through you, no matter what work it is that you are doing.
God is calling you to be a minister. He is calling you to do the work of ministry. How do we find out what it is that we’re supposed to be doing?
Does God want you to be a missionary somewhere overseas? Does He want you to be a full-time Christian worker in Australia
How Do We Hear God’s Call to Ministry?
Sometimes Christians bear a misplaced sense of guilt or inferiority because we don’t do some of the things that other Christians do. Most Christians don’t give up all their worldly possessions or travel to foreign lands. Most Christians in our country aren’t ridiculed or persecuted for their faith. Most Christians don’t do door-to-door witnessing or stand up and preach to crowds. Many Christians though have a sneaking suspicion that they’re supposed to be doing these types of things and wonder if they lack faith or obedience because they’re not doing them.
Many Christians struggle with the idea of finding God’s will for them. We’re often not sure whether we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re not sure how to make decisions on what we should do next.
The first thing I want to say about that is “Relax!” God is always at work. God is always at work in you and around you. God is at work in your past, present and future. We don’t need to find God’s will as if it was some mystery just out of our grasp, we just need to learn to see it, hear it and do it.
So how did it work in the passage we’re studying today?
Verse 2 simply says: “2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.””
There’s something that comes out of reading this passage in it’s original Greek phrasing that I reckon is exciting.
When it says “they were worshiping the Lord”, the word translated as “worshiping” is
λειτουργέω [leitourgeo /li·toorg·eh·o/] (it’s where we get the English word “Liturgy”).
What’s so exciting about that?
Well in Romans 15:15-16 Paul writes:
15 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God
As Paul describes his calling to the ministry of the gospel that God called him to, he calls himself a λειτουργός [leitourgos /li·toorg·os/]. It’s the exact same word that described what he was doing before he was called to be a minister of the gospel, except in Acts 13 it’s in it’s verb form and in Romans 15 it’s in the noun form.
Do you get that? Paul was ministering, then God called him to minister! He was ministering in the church at Antioch , when God called him to minister among Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire .
The NIV uses the word the phrase “worshiping the Lord”, other translations us the word “ministering to the Lord” or something similar. The point is that they were worshiping God by serving Him. However that’s not all they were doing.
This group of five prophets and teachers were serving the Lord together… and fasting.
I’d love to sidetrack onto a study on fasting in the Bible, but what you need to understand about most fasting is that it is all about humbling yourself before God and casting yourself completely upon His mercy and grace. It’s reminding yourself that you cannot do it on your own, that you need God. It’s a way of demonstrating to God and to yourself your complete dependence on Him to sustain you. It’s a way of focusing your attention on praying to God instead of doing what you normally do to sustain your life and to enjoy your life.
So these men were serving God together, in an attitude of humility and dependence upon God which was expressed in their fasting. At that point the Holy Spirit said…
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
How did the Holy Spirit say that I wonder? Was there an audible voice that came from thin air? Probably not! It was probably through one of these men who had a gift of prophecy, BUT I think it’s important that we’re never told, because how the Holy Spirit said it isn’t the point. The fact that He said it is the point.
God is more than able to reveal His calling to you. He is more than able to redirect your life. The key here is on what the people in the story were doing.
They were serving where they were, and they were doing so in humility and dependence on God.
Illustration - Thomas the Tank Engine
Point: it’s easy to direct something that’s moving!
Eg: My aim in going to Uni, ministry hopes for Bsn.
Some of the things God needs to do to change our direction can be traumatic, and those are the times we especially need to have humility and trust in Him. He can be relied on to direct us well.
However if we are serving God together with others – prayerfully, humbly, dependently – then we can be confident that God will make clear for us the things He wants us to do.
How Should We Respond to God’s Call to Ministry?
Acts 13:3
3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off
The response
When God speaks to us the best response is to continue to fast and pray. Continue to earnestly seek God and make sure that you are sure of His leading in the situation.
Well before both Chris and I were called to our roles here the Elders of the Church began meeting at 6:30 on Tuesday mornings to pray. I won’t recount the whole story to you – I doubt that I even know the whole story – but God made it clear to them what the church needed to do to follow His calling. The Elders, Pastors and our Board Chairman still meet on Tuesday mornings to pray, and I’ve got to say that it’s quite often not that easy to get there. That’s actually part of the point! It’s meant to be a sacrifice. It’s meant to be something that demonstrates our firm belief that we rely on God to work in people and to work through people. Our service to the Lord is not based on what we can do for Him, but on how we can be in step with what He is doing.
When you are sure of God’s calling, you have great confidence in doing what He’s called you to do.
We are all called to ministry.
As we serve God faithfully and humbly He will show us what He wants us to do.
We must respond in faith and faithfulness – faith that God has spoken, and faithfulness to do what He has said.
Some people see the church as a bit like a cruise ship. What matters most is how comfortable we can get and how much we enjoy the trip.
Jesus told His first followers that He would make them “fishers of men” (Matt 4:19).
I see the Church as more like a fishing boat than a cruise ship. Our job is to work together effectively to bring men, women and children into the joy of eternal life with Christ. My job, and the job of others on this boat, is to serve you not by indulging you or pampering you, but training you to do your job well, and helping you when there are things that hold you back from doing so.
Our boat has bunks for resting in when you’re weary, but no deck-chairs for lounging around in. It features an infirmary to patch up the sick and hurting. It features a galley for keeping the workers well fed and in good spiritual health. It has navigation equipment not to find the warmest climates or the calmest seas, but to help it go wherever the fish are.
I could go on but I think you get the point!
God has called you to be a worker, not a tourist.
He has placed you in homes, in schools, in workplaces, in clubs, amongst friends, amongst strangers – He has placed you in these places in order for you to do the work there that He has prepared in advance for you to do. He’s placed you there to do that work not in your own strength but in His. He’s placed you there not for your own purposes but for His. It’s not about you, it’s all about Him. It’s not about now it’s all about forever.
It may be that God will direct you to serve Him in some other place or in some other way like He did for Barnabas and Paul. If He’s does then obey. If He’s speaking to you about that today then respond as you ought to. If He spoke to you through Mike last week then I hope you’ve already responded – keep it up!
Response Cards:
· More teaching on Prayer and Fasting
· More teaching on hearing God’s will – eg: making decisions about study, career etc.
· More teaching on / help with Spiritual Gifts or finding your area of service
· Interested in joining a team of intercessors who will fast and pray for our church
· Share your feedback and prayer needs.
We have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only one short hour before sunset in which to win them - Robert Moffatt
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Missions - Standing for the One True Gospel
Missions Focus Week 1
Galatians 1:1-10
Speaker: Mike H
As the Apostle Paul writes to the Christians of Galatia, he passionately defends the true gospel - the genuine message of salvation through faith in Christ alone. These Christians had been sold a counterfeit by false teachers, with the result that they were at risk of losing the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
Mike challenges us from this Scripture to share Paul's passion to proclaim and defend the one true gospel, so that others may have the chance to share with us in the precious gift of eternal life.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Leadership in the Church pt 2 - Qualifications of Leaders
Leadership in the Church pt 2
08/08/2010
We looked at the origins of these roles to clarify what each has been designed by God to do: Elders give their attention to the ministry of the Word and to prayer, applying both of these in their work of caring for the people that God entrusts to them in the local church.
Deacons are also people of spiritual maturity who have been given specific tasks to perform. They have the confidence of the congregation in performing those tasks because they are full of the Spirit and wisdom, and they have been empowered and entrusted to those tasks by the Elders.
Of course every Christian has a specific role to play in the church. We are all deacons in the sense of what that word means. However some people are given particular authority to make decisions on behalf of the church and to carry them out, and it is therefore important that they are recognised, supported and held accountable in those roles.
Today we are going to look more closely at the type of people who we should be appointing to these roles. As we saw in Acts 6 last week, good leadership helps to provide the right environment for church health and church growth. Poor leadership creates an environment of tension, unhealthy conflict, spiritual immaturity and corruption and compromised witness.
Churches need godly leadership.
As we go through the qualifications of leaders today I hope that you will also keep in mind that these are things for us all to aspire to and to be growing in. They are not just for people appointed to positions of leadership. They are things that God expects and wants to produce in all of us.
Pray
Let’s begin by looking at the qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3 for overseers (Elders). I want to warn you that we will spend the most time looking at the ones at the start of the list, so don’t panic when you look at your watch and see how far we still have to go!
Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.
I want you to realise that authority in the church should never be given to those who seek it. The people we want serving as Elders are in that role because they love God and they love the congregation. They want to serve both God and the congregation in the challenging yet noble task of applying the ministry of the Word and prayer to the lives of those they lead. Being an Elder is not about getting together once a month to make decision on what happens and how things happen. It’s not about getting your own way in anything. It’s about the noble task of shepherding souls.
When Jesus’ disciples were experiencing conflict due to personal ambition, He corrected them by saying:
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [1]
(Matthew 20:25-28)
That’s how it is with Elders. To be qualified for Eldership a man must desire to serve in a noble task, not lord it over others. Jesus Himself is our example – it’s a high calling but not glamorous!
So when you look for people who are suited for the role of Elder, look for men who delight in serving. Look for people who are not ambitious or self-important but men who serve humbly out of love for others.
2 Now the overseer must be above reproach,
One of the problems that many people have when they look at these qualifications is that they seem to rule everybody out! Is anybody able to live up to this list?
We often think being above reproach means never falling short, never needing correction or rebuke. However that completely contradicts everything the Bible teaches about the Christian life and how we need to do those things for each other. There are no perfect Christians, just a perfect Christ.
To be above reproach means that there should be no continuing sin in your life. It means that you are not harbouring sin. We all have our own particular weaknesses and temptations, but we should not allow them to have a permanent presence in our lives.
When a Christian sins, the Holy Spirit convicts us in order to produce confession and repentance. We own up to it and we turn away from it. God forgives us and cleanses us from that sin (eg: 1 John 1:5-10).
Often, however, we have blind spots in our own lives where we have not been sensitive to the Spirit’s quiet voice of conviction. God has designed the Church to help us overcome sin in these areas as people speak the truth to us in love. Elders in particular are charged with admonishing those who are under their care (1 Thess. 5:12). We cannot expect people in our congregation to accept admonishment from us if we do not accept it from each others and from other believers. In fact one of the most important things that Elders do is keep watch over each other to make sure that our lives are above reproach (Acts 20:28). If there are any issues that exist in our lives we have a responsibility to each other and to the whole church to make sure that we deal with them.
So to sum up what this qualification is all about, it is simply that when an Elder becomes aware of sin in his life through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of fellow believers, he sets an example by confessing and turning away from that sin so that he may be above reproach. If he will not turn away from sin in his life he is disqualified from being an Elder.
Elders should never, ever pretend to be perfect or even to be closer to perfect than anyone else. That is hypocrisy and it denies the gospel. The holiest people I know are the ones who seem to consider themselves the most wretched!
Elders should model the Christian response to their own imperfections with honesty and humility. That’s what it means to be above reproach.
the husband of but one wife,
Now we’re going to get into the issue of whether an Elder must be a man. This is an issue that has caused a fair bit of debate over the years as you can imagine.
We simply don’t have enough time for me to give you a thorough exposition of the Scriptures on this topic today, so what I will do is summarise our church’s position on that by highlighting the key issues, and I will happily talk to anyone who is interested in further depth later on. I will also assure you that as we study God’s word together at some point in the future this issue will arise because of the passages we are studying and we will deal with it thoroughly then.
But what we need to emphasise when we look at male and female roles in the church or in families, is that there is no such thing as a battle of the sexes in the Church of God
We believe that God created us male and female in order to complement and complete one another so that both will be blessed and God will be glorified. We believe God is the One who determines how men and women should relate and how they should support one another, and that He has revealed these principles through His Word.
When you look at things from a point of view of selfishness and struggle for power then any distinction between people always creates a winner and a loser. You can pretend to be civilised and try to negotiate an equal settlement, but there will always be a suspicion that you’re getting the raw end of the deal. The only way to keep everyone happy is to make everything the same for everyone. The problem is that it doesn’t actually make people happy and it wasn’t God’s idea for things to work that way.
God wants us to learn to love and trust one another. He wants us to learn to submit willingly to each other – that includes everyone just in case you haven’t read Ephesians 5:21! God wants us to be willing to serve one another. One way that God helps us to do these things is that He assigns us roles for us to carry out faithfully without striving to have someone else’s role and without forsaking our own role.
As each church or denomination has wrestled with this issue we’ve seen a wide range of conclusions reached. Some churches have succumbed to the influence of men who abuse their power and will continue to do so by keeping women firmly “under the thumb”. Some churches have succumbed to a worldly view of gender relationships and treat men and women as basically the same out of a desire for equality. Some churches have maintained male Eldership which seeks to be faithful to the Scriptures in all respects and some churches have instituted male and female Eldership with the same goal in mind. We need to speak out against the first two but accept both of the last two with good grace. In our church we are convinced of the Scriptural injunction to all-male Eldership. Therefore we need to be careful to guard against the tendency to leave women out of important decision-making processes and pastoral care processes and so miss out on the gifts and wisdom that God has placed within the godly women of our church.
So if we are convinced that an Elder in our church should be a man, must he be a married man?
The short answer is “No”! Often it is assumed that mature men are married, but that is not always the case. God calls some men and some women to celibacy – sometimes for a season and sometimes for life. The Apostle Paul was unmarried, and encouraged others to remain so if that was a gift God had given them (1 Cor. 7). It would be strange to recommend celibacy and if single men were considered of insufficient maturity to serve as Elders.
What about the issue of divorce? Many churches have interpreted this verse to imply that an Elder must have only been married to one woman.
We need to be clear about our teaching on this point – God hates divorce. I would imagine that everyone here who has been through divorce shares that opinion.
But as awful as divorce is, it is not more powerful than the ability of God to forgive and restore and grow people to maturity even through experiences that He does not desire for them. It’s happened in my life plenty of times, just with different sins.
I could talk at length about this subject and I would be happy to do so with anyone who would like to.
There are some horrible husbands who have never been divorced, and there are some godly men who have. Let’s not contradict the gospel and appoint the wrong people to leadership based on a misunderstanding of the biblical qualifications. Rather, if a man is married let’s make sure that he really is a one-woman man and completely faithful to his wife. If he is single he needs to avoid the sin of sexual immorality.
temperate, self-controlled, respectable,
I’ve grouped these three together because they really flow on one from another.
The first two terms are very closely related. The first one, “temperate” refers to being clear minded. It means to be alert and to not have your thinking impeded by anything – uncontrolled emotions, sinful desires, intoxicating substances, doubts and fears or anything else. An elder must be able to think clearly in all situations. Remember they are charged with keeping a careful watch over themselves and the flock.
The second term “self-controlled” refers to not just their ability to be clear minded but also well behaved. They put into practice the principle of Romans 12:2 – they are not conforming to the pattern of this world, but are being transformed by the renewing of their minds.
We all know what it’s like to be so caught up in something so powerfully that we don’t think clearly and therefore don’t do what is right and good. Elders need to be mature in their ability to manage their own internal dynamics and their behaviour in all situations.
Let me give you an example of one way that has worked out for me this week. Usually my stories are about me messing up but this one’s about God helping me not to mess up – except for what I did wrong at the start!
We had a topsy-turvy day on Thursday and I ended up needed to leave the Laser I normally drive at work and come home in our Falcon. As I drove into our driveway there was another car where the Falcon is normally parked so I needed to swing to the side and park in the Laser’s normal spot – making sense so far?!
Anyhow the Falcon is longer than the Laser so as I swung the car into the side carport I heard the awful crunch and scrape of the side of the car scraping along the edge of a brick wall. I reversed off and examined the damage – it’s ugly!
Now at that moment when it happened I could feel straight away a frustration and also embarrassment rising up within me that wanted to find someone to blame. I wanted to be angry that my plans for the afternoon had been messed up and I was driving the wrong car. I wanted to be angry that someone was parked where I should have been able to park.
Imagine how I would have behaved and how I would have treated people if that misplaced anger had taken hold. Thankfully it didn’t, but what if it had. To be above reproach I would have needed to go and apologise to people I’d treated badly and seek restoration.
That leads to the last word of the three: respectable. “Temperate” refers to our internal dynamics and “self-controlled” refers to our behaviour. “Respectable” refers to how our behaviour affects other’s opinion of us and of Jesus who we represent. Each one flows on to the other.
When I manage myself and my behaviour well, I will lead a life that brings glory to God and earns the respect of others. If I fall short, but show godly character in apologising and showing that I am working on growing in that area I still bring glory to God and earn the respect of others. If I excuse my lack of self-management and lack of self control by blaming others for my attitude and my behaviour I lose the respect of others and fail this test.
OK, we’ve made it through the ones that we needed to spend a bit more time on, let’s pick up the pace as we go through the next group!
hospitable,
Do you remember a controversial politician replying to a question with the words “Please explain?” The question she was asked was “Are you xenophobic?” Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners. The Greek word translated as “hospitable” is “Philoxenia” – the love of strangers.
Most people are a little bit xenophobic. We like to hang out with people we know and feel comfortable with. We naturally seek out our little cliques and are careful about who we let into them. God commands us to not show this sort of favouritism, but to accept others and treat them as we would like to be treated. Elders in particular are charged with welcoming strangers and making them friends.
When leaders show hospitality not only does it set a good example but it helps new people to settle quickly into the life of our church family and feel like they really belong, they are really connected. It’s an important ministry.
able to teach,
We’ve already seen that the Ministry of the Word is an important part of an Elder’s duty. An Elder needs to teach by example through the manner of his conduct. He needs to teach in the way he converses with others. He needs to be able to teach when an issue comes up that needs biblical perspective. He needs to be able to teach anyone who has questions about our faith. Whether he teaches large groups, small groups or individuals isn’t the point, the point is that he must be qualified to teach. This doesn’t mean he needs to know everything, but he must have a really firm grasp on the message of the gospel and what the Bible teaches about how we should live as God’s people.
3 not given to drunkenness,
This group of four are all related to being temperate, self-controlled and respectable, but specific applications of that principle. The issue of drunkenness is a basic one but very important. Of course some people get distracted by whether Christians should drink alcohol at all, but that’s not an issue here. Elders should not be men who get drunk.
not violent but gentle,
Violence indicates a critical breakdown in being even-tempered and self-controlled. It is ugly and happens physically, verbally and emotionally. The opposite of this is the gentleness that is the fruit of a Spirit-led life. Violence is the abuse of power for selfish purposes, gentleness is love expressing itself in care for others.
not quarrelsome,
Similarly being quarrelsome is all about selfishness and pride. It means that you have to get your way in everything. A quarrelsome person would make a dangerous Elder because they would need to have everything in the church going their way. They don’t understand that godly leadership requires submission – handing over responsibility to qualified people and letting them serve; making decisions for the good of others more than your yourself and so on. There have been times when I have allowed people to do things that I have been sure would be better done differently or not continued to argue a point even though I felt strongly about it. Sometimes I have been shown right and others have had a chance to learn from that. Sometimes I have been shown wrong and I’ve learnt from it. A quarrelsome person doesn’t learn or let others learn – they are always right.
not a lover of money.
Being a lover of money involves at least two critical mistakes:
1. selfishness
2. short-sightedness
Christians are called to love others, be generous toward others and to live for eternity not for what is temporary. You can’t do these things and love money. You cannot serve God and money (Matt 6:24).
4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
This is a really interesting one, particularly in the light of Titus 1:6 which says that an Elder must be “a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.”
This has caused a lot of issues for people over the years because they haven’t been sure of how this test should be applied.
The translation of Titus 1:6 raises a couple of questions: What does it mean that his children “believe” or “are faithful”; and secondly, how do we define “children” – are they children who haven’t reached adulthood, are they children who still live at home, or are they still his children regardless of their age?
We don’t have time today to explore all those issues, so let me just remind you of some important biblical issues regarding belief. God has chosen us to be saved through faith in Jesus (eg: Eph 1:4, 2 Thess 2:13, James 2:5). There are two things at play here: the divine work of God through His Spirit to reveal the truth and the free will of man to exercise belief. We could spend all day trying to explain that but we won’t! What is clear is that no human can produce faith in any other human. We can share the truth consistently and we can pray faithfully but we cannot produce illumination or faith in anyone else.
As a father I find that terrifying – I cannot control my children’s eternal destiny. I can be faithful to my role as a father so that my children when they are young inherit a rich legacy of faith in God, but as they grow up and are pulled in all sorts of directions by temptations, false teaching and their own desires all I can do is play my role and entrust the rest to God.
That’s what we need to see in our Elders – men who minister well to their families and whose families show evidence of that ministry.
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
Eldership does not come naturally, it only comes with spiritual maturity that does not develop overnight. Natural leadership is a fairly rare gift, and we are tempted to latch on to such people and follow them. But if men aren’t allowed to develop spiritually, their role as an Elder will be based on their natural ability to lead rather than on God’s Word and His Spirit. They will become independent and full of pride. It’s not fair to do that to someone just because they have the natural confidence and charisma to lead. Give them time to grow first.
7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.
We’ve already heard that an Elder must be respectable, why particularly focus on a good reputation with outsiders? We have a natural tendency to act in different ways around different people. Sometimes Christians are tempted to just go with the flow and live by different standards in their workplaces or homes than those that govern what they do “in church”.
That’s not OK. It doesn’t reflect well on the genuineness of our faith or on the message of the gospel and work of the Spirit to produce transformed lives. This is the devil’s trap. He could not stop Jesus from rescuing us from darkness and giving us His righteousness. He does all he can to stop us from living in that righteousness and sharing that salvation with those who have not yet received it. He strives to get leaders of the church caught up in sin and scandal and therefore tarnish the gospel and the pure witness of the Church.
Elders must be men who live up to what they preach among Christians and non-Christians alike.
Having stepped through these qualifications of Elders as listed in 1 Timothy 3, I’m going to make just a few comments on what this passage teaches us about deacons as well.
8 Deacons, likewise,
In other words, “Deacons, in the same manner…”
We should realise the similarity in the biblical requirements that apply, so I will just mention some of the key differences for your attention.
are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
All very similar so far, except that deacons should keep hold of the deep truths of the faith, not necessarily be qualified to teach them. The Ministry of the Word is essential for Elders, but may not necessarily be part of the specific tasks assigned to a Deacon.
10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
This testing is similar to what we are right now applying to both Elders and Deacons. We need to be confident in the character and spiritual maturity of our leaders. However there is an extra dimension for deacons because of the specific roles they are called to play – they need to be gifted and called for those particular roles! It would make no sense at all for someone who has struggled in the area of financial management to be installed as church treasurer. We need to make sure we have the right people doing the right jobs. We are a body and not every part is the same – we need all of the parts doing the jobs they have been designed to do.
11 In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
This one gets to the issue of gender – the Greek text is simply “In the same way the women of them…”. This can be translated as meaning the wives of deacons or deacons who are women, and different translations take different approaches to this.
Using the whole counsel of Scripture as a guide we see no reason to assume that deacons must only be men. There are a number of reasons for this, so as usual talk to me if you would like more info!
12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.
Again, this is very similar to the requirement for Elders. The fact that there is a requirement here for men and not women probably speaks to the way gender roles were structured in that society and which group most needed this exhortation!
13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. [2]
It would be easy to misinterpret what this verse is talking about. There’s a very simple yet profound principle being described here. This has nothing to do with a person’s assurance of salvation. It has nothing to do with our position in Christ. In Christ we have been given the full measure of God’s grace, and there is nothing we can do to earn any more of God’s love than we have already been given.
The standing that is talked about here is rather the position of being well respected and appreciated by those you serve and who observe the way you conduct yourself, and also refers to the favour you find in the Lord’s eyes as a faithful servant who will be justly and generously rewarded (1 Cor. 3). There is also a sense in which deacons who serve faithfully in their specific tasks show themselves of good character to be entrusted with a role of general oversight as Elders. This is not a promotion as the world sees it, but rather an opportunity to take on even greater responsibility in service. The church does not need or want Elders who will lord it over others and use their position for their own benefit, therefore it is well advised to seek out men with a proven track record of faithful service rather than self-promotion.
As well as gaining an excellent standing, those who serve well gain “great assurance in their faith”. This is not talking about a greater certainty of salvation, but rather a greater boldness and confidence in living out and expressing their faith.
Many of the tasks that we take on in serving God and His Church are nerve-wracking or daunting to us at the start! However as we step out in faith and obedience we find that God enables us to do what He has called us to do. There is a confidence that grows in a person who has experienced that. The longer we serve in any particular task, the greater the confidence we have in doing it.
People of various ages have often remarked about how comfortable I seem to be in front of a group of people. The truth is that I don’t always feel that confident, yet I take on public tasks boldly because it is one of the things that God has called me to do. Early on in my journey, this was a much more terrifying thing for me to do than it is today, because I am further along in my journey of service. Christians should never hold themselves back from service, because if they do they will not only disobey their Master and leave His work undone, but they will stop themselves from growing in confidence and usefulness to God and His Kingdom.
Deacons who serve well are noticed by God and by others, and they grow in their own confidence in allowing their faith to make a real difference in the Kingdom of God
Monday, August 2, 2010
Leadership in the Church pt 1 - the Function of Leadership
1/08/2010
Intro
When I was about 8 years old I stayed at a friend's house overnight and we went to school together the next day. The routine in his family was that the kid's made their own school lunches in the morning - that's not how it worked in my family! I was all at sea trying to get the Glad Wrap out of the roll and around my sandwhich instead of all stuck together in a clump - it was clear I had no idea how to do it. The mother seemed very surprised that I had not ever done this before, but every family has it's own routines and it's own rules.
Similarly, each church has it’s own ways of doing things that aren’t necessarily obvious when you’re first settling in to the family. It's not always obvious as to who is expected to do what, and who is allowed to do what.
One of the key pictures that the Bible uses to describe the church is “The Body”.
Ephesians 4:15-16 is a great example:
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
There is meant to be structure to the church - derived from Jesus Himself - by which people are connected in, helped to grow and equipped to work.
How do we make sure that the way we do things is living up to this biblical picture?
How doe we make sure that our church remains intimately connected to Jesus as its Head and isn’t being led astray from Jesus? How do we make sure that everyone Jesus brings into our fellowship actually get’s connected in the way He has designed them to? How do we make sure that each one of us is doing the good works He has planned and shaped us to do? How do we make sure that each part is loving God and each other part of the body?
When you look at the instruction given in both the New and Old Testaments on this issue, the answer is always the same: godly servant leadership.
To get some answers for these questions, let’s take a look at the very early church that’s described for us in Acts 6:1-7
Acts 6:1
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food
Here’s the first point to realise – whenever a church grows it’s leadership and it’s structures need to change. Here’s a church that exploded from 120 or so to over 3000 in one day, and then after that it just kept growing despite increasing opposition.
The Church at this point had a leadership of 12 men who personally knew Jesus and had been trained for ministry by Him. They were responsible for basically everything that went on, but they’re finding themselves swamped by the sheer volume of stuff they’re supposed to be looking after, and people are falling through the cracks.
Now the issue here is that Grecian Jews were complaining against Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. People would bring in money or food to be used to help widows in need – women and their families who did not have the financial support of a husband or other family members.
There’s history here. Most likely the Grecian Jews are those who have come from outside the local area where the main language is Aramaic. These are possibly people who have travelled to Jerusalem
When I was growing up in Busselton I used to really enjoy the tourist season where a lot of young people would come down with their families and we would hang out at the campsite where I lived. But I also resented the tourists as well. I didn’t like the extra traffic on the roads and queues in the shops or other people trying to catch my waves!
As a local you have a sense of entitlement, and you don’t always feel inclined to share.
I can imagine the Hebraic Jews sometimes felt the same during the 3 big festivals each year when their city would be overrun with visitors. It’s a great time of celebration of God and each other, but it’s also a bit of a pain in the neck! And the visitors I’m sure sensed sometimes that the welcome wasn’t all that warm. There would have been that natural pride from living in the sacred city and surrounding villages as opposed to an unclean Gentile city or region, and there would have been that natural reticence to share.
So you have outsiders and insiders, who on the one hand are one people, but there’s also a niggling history of prejudice between them.
That feeling of uncertainty or suspicion is then aggravated because their widows aren’t being looked after in the same way that widows among the Hebraic Jews are being looked after.
There’s nothing in the text to suggest that there is any deliberate or malicious oversight. It’s just that the church has grown and the structures haven’t changed to include everyone yet. It’s hard to serve people well when you don’t really know their needs. It’s hard to serve people well when you’re too busy to give careful thought to your service. That’s the situation the 12 Apostles were in.
It’s interesting that the Apostles don’t rebuke the ugly attitude of complaining that was in evidence. They go to the heart of the problem – leadership and structure.
Whenever you have resentment, hostility, complaining, exclusion or anything of that nature going on, you need to look at leadership and structure. Something’s not working properly. Yes, we ought to expect better behaviour and better attitudes from followers of Jesus, but those attitudes and behaviours also highlight a problem that needs to be fixed, which is exactly what the Apostles did.
Acts 6:2-4
2 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3 Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
As the Church grows the needs grow and it is beyond the ability of the Apostles to meet all those needs well. So what do they do? They expand their ministry team!
Their primary task was the ministry of the word and prayer. Of course, everyone in the Church was equally able to pray and we read in Acts 2 that they were devoted to it, however not everyone was equally able to teach and apply the Word. Jesus had trained these men and entrusted this task to them. They needed to do what they had been prepared and called by Jesus to do, and let others do what God had called them to do.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:5
“There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.”
Paul calls himself a servant (deacon) of the gospel in Ephesians 3:7, and there are many other references that we could look up where this word is being used.
Whatever role you have in the church, you are a servant of God and of others.
What was needed in this case was to connect the right servants to the right tasks.
5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem
So it’s interesting that this story starts with infighting and ends with unity and growth.
That’s what good leadership does in the Church. It applies the wisdom of God and the leading of the Spirit to the practical family-life issues that come up in order to help the whole church grow in unity, in ministry and in number.
How does this story help us know how to structure our church?
In our church we have Pastors and Elders who together make up the Ministry Team; and Deacons, who make up our Board of Management.
The interesting thing about this text is that it does not mention Elders or Deacons! It mentions 12 men who had the responsibility pray and teach and 7 men who were given responsibility to overlook the daily distribution of food to widows who were in need.
A quick history lesson will help you understand how this passage applies to us today.
Originally as we have already heard the 12 Apostles were responsible for overseeing all the affairs of the church. Then they appointed 7 men to oversee a specific area of responsibility so that they could concentrate on fulfilling their main ministry. So we have one group with general oversight and another entrusted with specific responsibility.
By Acts 11 we read of Elders in the Church at Jerusalem
In Acts 14:23 we read that as they returned from their first missionary journey, “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”
In Acts 20:17-38 we get a great picture of this process of the Lord’s Apostles handing over responsibility for spiritual leadership to Elders – men who had not been appointed by Jesus personally as the Apostles had, but rather men who had been appointed to leadership because of their maturity, holiness and firm grasp of right doctrine.
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus Asia . 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God
32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. 37 They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
This passage teaches us a lot about the ministry of Elders, which we won’t explore in detail today. I want to just pull out some of the big ideas though. You can see in this passage that Eldership:
· Continues the ministry of the Apostles in the teaching and governing of the Church. (Interestingly, the Apostle Peter calls himself a “fellow elder” when writing to Elders in 1 Peter 5:1. The Apostle John simply calls himself “the Elder” in the letters of 2nd and 3rd John).
· Follows the example and teaching of the Apostles ministry (v. 18-26)
· Involves watching over their own lives first and the lives of those who God has entrusted to their care (v. 28)
· Involves guarding the church from error and attack (vv. 29-31)
· Is hard work! (v. 35)
So getting back to Acts chapter 6, let’s apply the pattern of what happened in that situation and apply it to our own context.
As the church in Jerusalem Jerusalem
So in this particular situation, which was to do with financial administration and distribution of food, the Apostles invited the church to bring forward 7 trustworthy men, who the Apostles then commissioned for that task, giving them the authority to carry it out. Notice that the Apostles specified for the church to choose men “Full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom”. In other words men of demonstrated spiritual maturity and the discernment necessary to make good decisions in carrying out their role.
Over time the word “Deacon” was applied to people serving in these recognised capacities within the church. Deacon simply means “Servant”. Of course we are all servants of Christ and of His Church. We are all to serve one another in love, and we have all been shaped by God in order to do good works which will build up the Church.
So what does this actually teach us about the role of Deacons in the church?
Simply this, that we all have different areas of service, and that it is important for our leaders to be able to delegate responsibility to other believers who demonstrate suitable Christian character and suitability for the tasks which they will be given responsibility for.
When it comes to our Board of Management, we follow a similar process to Acts 6. Given the nature of their role and the authority they have it’s important for members of our Board to be recognised by the whole congregation for their character and calling. They need to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.
However it is that we organise our Deacons or what titles we give them, the main thing to keep in mind is that being a deacon means being a servant. It is not a title to pursue. It is not an office by which you get to have a say in what goes on. It is being entrusted by the congregation to serve faithfully in a particular area.
So to wrap up the different roles, we could summarise to say that Elders have governing authority in the church and are to watch over it as under-shepherds to Jesus Christ. Deacons are people who have been entrusted with a particular responsibility within the church and have been given the authority necessary to carry out that responsibility.
[1]All Scriptures from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Grand Rapids
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