WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.040 Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.719 This is the word of our Lord. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:16.480 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:26.640 There in the last few months have been many, many new people who have come to IBC, and many have asked, what kind of church is this? 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:28.399 What kind of church is Emmanuel? 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:29.120 What are we like? 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:30.399 What's our philosophy of ministry? 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:31.039 Kind of questions. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:48.000 And so I want to look at these two verses this morning, Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12, to sort of answer that and to give you a bigger picture of what drives Emmanuel Bible Church and what makes our church distinct maybe from other churches in the area. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.799 But to begin, I first want to address what the Lord is doing through his universal church. 00:00:52.960 --> 00:01:00.719 To understand rightly what is happening at any local church, you need to have a little bit of a bigger picture and understand what God is doing through his universal church. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:12.640 And of course, universal church is just a phrase that means every true believer in Jesus Christ, everyone who's been baptized by the Holy Spirit, regenerated through faith in Christ, is part of his universal church. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:18.480 And every person who's part of the universal church ought to be part of a local church. 00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:22.719 But I want to begin by talking about the universal church, the body of Christ in the world. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:34.319 It should manifest itself through local congregations, where believers who have faith in Christ join themselves to a different congregation where they grow and they do Christian life together. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:48.640 With that in mind, do you understand that the Christian church is the only organization, the only institution, the only entity in the whole world that God has promised He will bless and He will build. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:49.599 This is it. 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:59.120 God has not promised He would bless and build a nation or a social club or a people group, but He has promised that He will bless and He will build His church. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:04.239 The church is the place on earth where the gathering of true believers takes place. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.120 We are drawn together in the church. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:11.599 It's the place on earth where believers get together to worship Christ. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.840 It's the focal point of worship. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:17.520 Thus, the church is the most precious assembly on earth. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:20.719 And there is no other group of people on the earth that can say this. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:25.360 We gather together as Christ's children because we are bought by the blood of Christ. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:35.280 There is no other organization in the world that can say that they are precious because Jesus paid for them through his own death, his own blood that he shed. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:44.159 The church proclaims the forgiveness of sins, and thus, according to Matthew 16, the church is the place in earth where heaven is most reflected. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:51.039 In heaven you will be freed from the power of sin, and the presence of sin, of course, being removed from you as well. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:58.400 On earth, you get to live that out in the frailest shadow, the most feeble shadow, but nevertheless the strongest shadow there is on earth. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.439 You get to live out that heavenly reality of being forgiven. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.800 It is forgiven people together, worshiping together. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:10.319 The church is ultimately the place where Jesus will proclaim his triumph over the nations of the world. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.280 Because it reflects heaven, it's the gathering of worshipers. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:22.000 When Jesus returns at the second coming, he will reign in judgment over the nations of the world, and his church will be with him, reigning with him. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:25.919 The church is the realm of true spiritual fellowship. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:38.080 Again, there's no other organization on earth that exists for believers who are like-minded and put together into one body to fellowship with one another, encourage one another, and provoke one another towards godliness. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:42.000 The church is the proclaimer of divine truth, it's the protector of truth. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:47.840 1 Timothy 3 verse 15 says this that the word of God has been delivered, or at the end of Jude. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.400 The word of God has been delivered once for all to the saints. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:55.360 The church then protects and defends the word of God as it preaches and proclaims it. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:58.560 The church is the chief place for spiritual growth in the world. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:03.599 If you want to grow spiritually, it's going to happen in the church because it's where the body is. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:09.360 It's where people come together to be convicted of sin, to have the word of God taught and to grow in godliness. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:21.600 You know, unless you're a pastor, unless you work at the church, you're not going to show up at work one week and your boss is going to have like an emergency meeting and, you know, in the break room, everybody on your team in the break room, open your Bibles to Ephesians 4 and let's have a sermon on Ephesians 4. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:24.319 That's not going to happen in the workplace. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:31.439 But that's what your soul needs to grow spiritually, and that's why the church is the place where spiritual growth happens. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:36.560 Beyond that, the church is the place for the launching of global evangelization. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:38.639 Missionaries are sent from the church. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:44.319 They're raised up in the church, they're sent out by the church to the world which needs the church. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:50.240 And thus the church is the environment where strong spiritual leadership develops and matures. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:58.000 This is the place where godly men and pastors are cultivated and raised and nurtured and then sent out into the world. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:03.040 I say all this because the church, of course, gets a bad rap from the world. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:18.879 The world doesn't respect the church, and so it's easy the church is always her the world is always hurling accusations against the church, and it's easy for our minds to be overwhelmed with that and us to start to second guess the beauty of the church and second guess what what it is so precious that the Lord is doing in the world through the church. 00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:31.920 And so I want you to have the big picture here that in the world, the Lord is using the church in a unique way because it is the only organization or institution or body or collection of people that is anywhere even close to like this. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.120 The Lord loves the church and proclaims that it is his bride. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:45.759 He gives himself up for her to nurture her and to sanctify her and present us spotless and faultless before the very throne of God above. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:48.639 So that's what's happening in the universal church. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:52.879 In light of that, what about this particular local church, Emmanuel Bible Church? 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:55.040 And so what makes us distinct? 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:56.240 Where do we fit in in that? 00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:58.639 And I want to do this first by negatives. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:05.199 We'll get to positives later, but I want to begin by saying what Emmanuel Bible Church is not, what our philosophy of ministry is not. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:11.199 And I know it's, you know, some might say, oh, it's better to do what it is and what the positive is versus what it's not. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:20.079 And there's advantages both ways, but I think it's just going to be more clear when we get to the positives if you first have in mind what I'm saying we're a church that we're not like. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:22.399 First of all, we're not a seeker-sensitive church. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:34.800 And the seeker-sensitive is a phrase that is often used in evangelicalism to describe a whole massive movement of churches that builds itself around uh accommodating those that aren't Christians into the church. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:45.920 And you get everything in the spectrum from pastors that say the best way to build a church is to do a survey of the community, find out what it is people are looking in the church, looking for in a church, and build that. 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:51.120 I mean, the best-selling books on church growth or church philosophy of ministry all imbibe this. 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:52.000 They all teach this. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:59.279 The Purpose Servant Church probably being the most, uh the best-selling Christian book about this of all time, probably, and that's what it teaches. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:10.240 You know, do a survey, figure out what the what people are in Springfield, Virginia or Alexandria, Virginia that don't go to church and ask them what they would like in a church, and then put that in the church to bring them to church. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:11.680 Is that making sense? 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:17.439 Because as I'm saying it out loud, it doesn't make sense, but that's that's the seeker-sensitive church. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:23.120 There's this idea there are those who are seeking for God, it's just that the church is keeping them away from God. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:28.399 And so if you build a church that gets around that, then you will have them meeting the Lord in the church. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:33.120 And we're not that kind of church because that church, I think, is a fool's errand. 00:07:33.360 --> 00:07:35.680 There are not people that in that sense are seeking for God. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:40.720 No one seeks for God, the Bible says we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:42.000 Our sin separates from him. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.680 We're in darkness without Christ and we're running from the light, not running to the light. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:57.040 And by the way, at a practical level, if you build a church that will make non-believers comfortable in church, it's not going to be a church that will make believers mature. 00:07:57.439 --> 00:07:58.800 It's not going to happen. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:11.600 And this is, of course, the legacy of the seeker-sensitive church is you have big churches with lots of campuses and lots of sites and lots of activity, that 10, 15, 20 years into it, they realize we're not making mature believers. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:13.519 And that's not me criticizing them from the outside. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:23.360 That's the leaders of the whole seeker-sensitive movement have fessed up to that and said, you know, the weakness of their churches that they're not developing missionaries or pastors are not making mature followers of Jesus Christ. 00:08:23.839 --> 00:08:25.040 Well, no kidding. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:33.120 You know, I'm coaching soccer right now, and it would be silly of me for the to design my soccer practice around what would be helpful to football players. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:35.279 What would attract football players to the soccer team? 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:36.879 What kind of things do football players need to know? 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:42.879 And I'm coaching football on the soccer field, and at the end of the season we don't win any games, and I'm like, oh, you know, I'm not making good soccer players. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:46.240 That's because you're doing drills for the wrong sports, genius. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:51.200 So we're not a seeker-sensitive church. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:54.240 We're not a church that pursues cultural transformation. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:09:01.519 We don't take our calling, our objective in this world to transform society, to eliminate poverty, to transform the arts or the culture. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:11.759 There's many big churches with famous pastors, as you might know, that that's their mission statement, to transform society, to eliminate poverty, to, you know, advance justice or whatnot. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.759 Um we're not about cultural transformation. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:15.360 We're not about political activism. 00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:19.600 It's not our objective or our agenda to get certain candidates or certain parties elected. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:24.080 That's not what God has called us to do, and we're not down with that approach to church. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:29.360 We are not uh about designing some kind of program where non-believers would be comfortable. 00:09:29.440 --> 00:09:32.399 I mean, I hope non-believers do come to church, by the way. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:40.480 I hope they do, and I hope they hear the gospel, and I hope they're convicted by their sin, and I hope they hear worship and are convicted by their lack of it in their own life. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.159 But, you know, I hope they're not comfortable also. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:56.399 I mean, I hope they, if a non-believer comes to church, and I hope there are some coming, again, as I just said, but I hope they're looking around and they're we're singing songs with complex lyrics, and it's hard to follow those songs if you don't know Jesus. 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:01.600 It's hard to work from God the Father to the Son, to the Holy Spirit, into the world, like those last few songs we sang did. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:04.000 It's hard to track with if you're not a believer with ears to hear. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:04.559 It's hard. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:06.080 I mean, Dan's prayer was long. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:10.320 I hope non-believers here are like, man, is that guy still talking? 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:13.759 And the answer is yes, he's talking to God. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:14.960 That's who he's talking to. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:16.960 I hope you're not comfortable with that. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:28.159 You know, I love that we read scripture, long psalms, and it just we're reading a l, you know, five minutes to read the psalm, and a non-believer's like, the guy is still reading, yes. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:31.360 The sermons should be longer, though. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:32.159 I'll grant that. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:33.039 You're right. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:34.639 They should be longer. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:36.240 I'll work on that. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:40.320 We're not a church that's driven by numbers. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:47.679 We're not trying to grow the biggest or the best or the baddest, whatever adjective you want to use, church in the block. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.360 That's not, we're not a self-help church. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:52.080 We're not designing a church to help you feel better about yourself. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.320 We're not primarily a program-driven church. 00:10:54.480 --> 00:11:01.759 We don't design a church or church ministries to exist to, you know, funnel programs out and to host programs. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:04.320 We have programs, but that's not what drives us. 00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:06.320 So, what does drive us in? 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:07.600 What's the positive side of this? 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:13.519 Our philosophy of ministry largely comes from Ephesians 4, verses 11, really all the way down through 14. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:17.200 But this morning I want to focus on verses 11 and 12. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:23.840 The context of this little passage here about our philosophy of ministry is that Jesus has just defeated the world. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:28.000 This is Ephesians 4, verses 11 down through 14. 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:29.679 Jesus has defeated the world. 00:11:29.759 --> 00:11:38.559 He's defeated sin, he's defeated the death, he's defeated the devil, he's defeated the grave, he died on the cross, bearing the penalty for our sin in his own body. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:46.000 God poured out his own triune wrath on Jesus Christ, who suffered under the wrath of God, bearing the penalty for our sin, paying for it. 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:48.159 So he has defeated the power of sin. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:56.720 He then goes down to the grave, his soul descends to Sheol, he liberates those who had died in faith before and sends them up to victory. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:11:59.759 And so he has, in that sense, literally conquered the grave. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:02.480 He has freed those who were under the power of death. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:08.080 He then resurrects back on earth, claiming his body, eliminating the fear of death in the grave. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:18.399 So much so that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, where O death is thy victory, where O grave is thy sting, the sting of death is swallowed up by the resurrection of Christ. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:21.279 He has defeated and conquered those enemies. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.600 And he now ascends to heaven. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.879 This is how he's celebrating or proclaiming his victory. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:52.240 It was common in the Greek or Roman empires for when there's a military victory to send a runner out who announces the victory, and sometimes they would even share the spoils of victory. 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:56.240 When the king arrives, he would share all the spoils with his loyal subjects. 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:59.039 They get the benefit of their leader's victory. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:00.799 And that's what's happening in Ephesians 4. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:08.320 Jesus has conquered sin, the grave, and death, and now he is celebrating his victory by giving us gifts. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:10.240 Why do we get gifts? 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:16.320 We didn't fight the battle, we didn't win the war, we didn't defeat death or the grave, or we weren't crucified for sin. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:19.679 We didn't bear one another's sins on the cross to bear the wrath of God. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:27.360 Jesus did that, but through faith we're united to Christ, and so we receive the gifts that he has and he shares them with us. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:32.559 So what's happening on the earth is he ascends into heaven, he plants his victory flag on earth. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:40.080 He he digs the hole and plants his flag on earth to proclaim his victory over the earth and over sin and hell. 00:13:40.559 --> 00:13:43.039 That flag is flown in the church. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:45.600 The church is that proclamation of victory. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:54.399 The church is the existence of the church is proclaiming to the devil and to the power of sin and death in the grave that Jesus won. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:55.919 Because look, the church is here. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:14:02.480 The devil tried to stop it and he was defeated, and now the church's very existence is the proclamation of victory. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:08.639 Jesus then gives gifts, namely spiritual gifts, to the church to build the church. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:13.200 As we encourage one another and minister with one another, the church is built. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:21.519 So as the church is built, we are proclaiming the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death and hell. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:28.399 And we looked at spiritual gifts a few weeks ago, how Jesus distributed them as we were up in the beginning of Ephesians chapter 4. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:32.559 But this morning I want to talk about how Jesus now is growing his church through those gifts. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:35.200 Let me give you an outline: three levels of church growth. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.279 Three levels of church growth. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:42.720 And I give it to you like this because understand that the church is going to be, the foundation will be laid and then it will be built. 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:47.360 And that's what Paul is describing in Ephesians 4 as a church is going to be built with us in it. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.559 The first level of church growth here is the founding of the church. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:54.480 The founding of the church. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:00.480 The church is founded with the apostles and the prophets in verse 11, and he gave the apostles and the prophets. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:05.440 This is a continuation of what was before the parentheses that he ascended on high in verse 8. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:06.639 He gave gifts to men. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:11.039 Speaking of those gifts, he particularly gave the apostles and the prophets. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:15.840 These are two different groups of people that were used to lay the foundation of the church. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:24.639 The apostles, of course, were the twelve that Jesus had called, had separated from the world, had known them by name, and sent them into the world to turn the world upside down. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:26.320 Eleven of them were from Galilee. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.639 The only one who was not from Galilee was Judas. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:29.759 He was from Jerusalem. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:32.720 Judas, of course, ends up betraying Christ. 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.240 The eleven that were from Galilee were not well educated. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:38.480 They were not powerful or influential. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:40.240 You had fishermen. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:48.960 You had a zealot, which is like a political activist, borderline terrorist, depending on what you read about zealots, and you had a tax collector. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:50.159 A tax collector. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:51.279 I mean, my goodness. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:53.679 These are the worst of the worst people. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:59.759 They were chosen by Christ individually to take the gospel into the world. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:03.120 They were the foundation of the church. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:10.960 And I say that they were the foundation because when Jesus ascended to heaven, the church had not been built yet. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:23.200 If you see the church as coming from the Old Testament, the church existing in the Old Testament, just continue on at the New Testament, you're not going to rightly understand the point of spiritual gifts or how the apostles are the foundation of the church. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:24.960 It's not going to make a lot of sense. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:38.960 But if you rightly understand that the church began at Pentecost, the church began in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit comes and seals people in their faith, that's the beginning of the church, then you see how the apostles are indeed the foundation of it. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:42.320 Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection is the cornerstone. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.039 The cornerstone is put first, the plumb lines go out. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:51.759 The church is built on the foundation of the apostles, then, who are the ones who go into the world proclaiming the message of the gospel. 00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:55.120 They're the ones who are being the foundation of the church. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:01.919 You know, from building, when you build something, a building, for example, the first thing you do is you build the foundation. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:07.680 We have in our neighborhood a bunch of trees that were just knocked down, and they're making like six or eight different little row houses there. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:12.640 And uh when they first knocked down the trees and started building the row houses, the first thing they put down was the foundation. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:17.200 Before they even dug trenches for the pipes or where the roads are, we couldn't tell where the driveways were. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:21.359 We couldn't tell how it was going to meet up onto Cherokee, how it was going to connect to the road that went by. 00:17:21.440 --> 00:17:25.039 We had no idea the layout of this, but we could see the foundations for the houses. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:26.400 That's what they put first. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.640 And then you'll build on top of that. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:30.559 And that's the way Jesus built the church. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.359 The cornerstone is his death and resurrection on the cross. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:34.720 He is the cornerstone. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:36.319 The apostles were the foundations. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:38.480 They're the ones that brought the gospel into the world. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:40.480 They turned the world upside down. 00:17:40.720 --> 00:17:43.119 These people certainly did turn the world upside down, too. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:46.799 Some of their enemies even accuse them of just that in the book of Acts. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:49.039 They say, these are the ones that are turning the world upside down. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:50.640 They probably said, guilty. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.079 Yes, we are. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:54.960 The Lord sent us to do just that. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:59.440 1 Corinthians 15, verse 8, Paul refers to himself as the least of the apostles. 00:17:59.599 --> 00:18:06.160 So I think Judas, who killed himself because of his remorse over betraying Christ, is replaced with Paul. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:12.960 Paul then becomes the apostle to the Gentiles with the eleven others from Galilee as the gospel goes into the world. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:15.279 There is no apostolic secession. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.599 When the apostles die, they don't hand off their apostolic mantle to somebody else. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:22.960 It terminates with them because they're the foundation. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:30.640 You know, it doesn't make sense if you have a foundation, you build a first story, you want to build a second story, you don't pour a new foundation on top of the first story. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.079 You would crush your house. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.319 The foundation is laid once and the church is built on top of that. 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:40.079 I mention that because all kinds of people teach apostolic succession. 00:18:49.839 --> 00:19:07.200 I've mentioned before, but I visited a very large charismatic church up in Northern California, and they have on the wall of their church, they have a timeline of the 12 apostles and who succeeded them through the hundreds and you know, 2,000 years of church history all the way to present day. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:09.359 So you could see who the 12 apostles are today. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:13.759 And lo and behold, their pastor was in the line of secession from John. 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.119 This massive timeline wraps around the wall of the whole church building. 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:21.440 And you could buy a rolled up version in the bookstore if you wanted for that on your house wall. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:25.440 I thought about it, but no way no way Deeder would have allowed that. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:28.160 You know, that's just it's it's silly. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:34.240 It's not taught in the Bible that the apostles died and handed off their mantle to somebody else who has apostolic authority. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.720 This was something that God gave to be the foundation of the church. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:40.799 Same with the prophets. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:51.200 You see the prophets in the New Testament, they are somebody different than the apostles, clearly, and it's not evident in the SV, but it's the Greek literally says he gave some to be apostles and some to be prophets. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.720 It's a different group of people here. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:20:03.039 These prophets were people called by the Lord to minister his word in the time before there was the Bible and before there the New Testament had been completed. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:08.480 These prophets were also a temporary gift to the church to help the establishment and the launching of the church. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:17.119 And let me tell you something, I'm sure you know all that, but let me tell you something you may not have heard about prophets before, but I think it's so critical to understand how they work in the New Testament. 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:21.119 When you see the New Testament prophets, they're always doing one thing. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:24.960 They're proclaiming the gospel from the Jews to the Gentiles. 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:30.400 There's a New Testament focus on prophets bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:37.279 This is a huge deal if you remember that in the Old Testament, the promise of the Savior was held inside of Israel. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:53.680 Christ comes and says he's a light to the nations, and the gospel should go to the nations, gives his great commission to go to the nations, died, buried, resurrected, ascends to heaven, then his Holy Spirit comes and seals the church there in Jerusalem. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:20:58.640 And the angel even says, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the earth, but they don't go anywhere. 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:00.720 They stay there in Jerusalem. 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:03.759 It is the prophets that compel them to go out. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:07.119 As persecution comes, it's the prophets who say, You need to go into the world. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:14.640 This is the great mystery that the early believers didn't understand, that the gospel was going to include Jews and Gentiles together in one body. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:16.640 You see that described in Ephesians. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:19.039 That's called the mystery of the gospel. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.559 They did not understand that, even the apostles didn't understand that. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:27.359 Jesus taught about it for 40 days in Acts chapter 1, and they didn't understand it. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:35.359 But the prophets came and compelled them to see that the gospel needed to go from the Jews to the Gentiles. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:38.160 You see the prophets first in Acts chapter 13. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:48.079 Acts chapter 13, the prophets are gathered together, and the first thing you see them doing in the New Testament is separating Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries to the Gentiles. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:51.359 Even the list of prophets, it highlights their ethnic diversity. 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:56.799 When you look at Acts 13, verse 1, it lists the early prophets that were separating Barnabas and Paul. 00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:59.759 It's Simeon, who is called Nazer, speaking of his dark. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.480 Skin, Lucius of Cyrene, and Menaeon, a lifelong friend of Herod. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:15.200 These are three people from three very different, what we'd call ethnic groups, that are bound together here as New Testament prophets that are scattering the church into the Gentile world. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:21.759 When you see prophets ascribed in Ephesians, it's connected to the preaching of the mystery of the gospels for Jews and Gentiles. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:30.720 When you see them in 1 Corinthians 14, the prophets are preaching a message, often through languages, so that people from different ethnic groups can hear it. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:37.599 And Paul says, 1 Corinthians 14, that outsiders come and are convicted by their sin when they hear the message of the prophets. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:46.480 Gentiles are coming to church, hearing the message of the Jewish Savior, and are convicted by their sin as it's preached against them by these prophets. 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:48.559 That's New Testament prophets. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.400 Prophets, of course, give way in the New Testament to pastors and teachers. 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:54.000 We'll see that even in this very verse. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.759 There are no more prophets today. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:59.920 I know that there's no more prophets today because there are no more prophets today. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:07.599 I mean, the guys that claim themselves to be prophets today can't even tell you the weather tomorrow, much less, much less anything of actual spiritual significance. 00:23:07.759 --> 00:23:10.480 I know you all had Baylor winning the NCAA tournament. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.559 That does not make you a prophet, okay? 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:14.880 Does not make you a prophet. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:20.000 The prophets and the apostles were given for the foundation of the church. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:24.640 Well, this gives way to the second level of church growth here, the expansion of the church. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.640 You see the founding and now the expanding. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:28.960 That's the next group in verse 11. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:31.359 He gave some to be evangelists. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:32.400 Evangelists. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:38.480 The word evangelist, it specifically means the spreader, the preacher of good news, someone who's always speaking the good news. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:41.759 It's a noun that's only used two other places in the New Testament. 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:47.759 One is 2 Timothy 4, verse 5, where Paul tells Timothy to do the work of an evangelist. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:49.519 To do the work of an evangelist. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:54.640 Paul is telling Timothy, you need to preach the word in season and out of season. 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:59.279 Be faithful to correct, teach, rebuke, and train people up in righteousness. 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.920 And if you're doing that, you will be doing the work of an evangelist. 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:06.000 You want to do the work of an evangelist? 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.960 Teach the Bible to people that don't know it. 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:10.799 And specifically teach it as good news. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:13.519 The word evangelist has wrapped up in it good news. 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:15.519 You're a good news speaker. 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:21.039 The other time you see the word evangelist in the New Testament is for with Philip, Acts 21, verse 8. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:26.319 Philip is called the evangelist, the one who ministered to the Ethiopian eunuch is now recognized in the church as an evangelist. 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:30.079 Wherever he goes, he's speaking the good news to people. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:35.920 Evangelist isn't an itinerant ministry where you're going around preaching a bunch of different places. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.599 An evangelist is someone who is known. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:41.680 They open their mouth and they're known for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:45.519 You see it in preaching, like I mentioned through Timothy from the pulpit, he's preaching the good news. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.400 You see it in street evangelism, like with Philip. 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.359 You see it in evangelism with people that don't know the Bible. 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:53.359 You see it with a small group of believers. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:54.880 You got ten believers in a room. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:58.720 If you're talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ in that sense, you're being an evangelist. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.200 You're proclaiming the good news. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:03.519 This is a gift that God gives the church. 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:05.759 Is some people who are particularly good at that. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:07.839 Now you are all called to evangelize. 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:08.720 Amen? 00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:10.480 Do you believe that? 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:11.680 I hope so. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:13.839 It doesn't mean you're all good at it, though. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:15.759 I mean, that's the reality. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:20.079 It's a gift that God has given some people in the church, but you're all called to do it. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:21.920 And it's sometimes it's hard for us to understand. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.119 We use it as an excuse, like, I'm not good at evangelism, so I better not try. 00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:25.920 Wrong. 00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:26.559 Wrong. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:31.519 That would be like me saying, listen, the gift of mercy is not mine. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:32.880 I do not have the gift of mercy. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:35.039 That means I don't need to be merciful. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:37.599 I don't, because the gift of mercy isn't mine. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:39.440 That's not going to get me very far in life. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:42.880 I would be lovingly confronted that, hey, you're not being merciful to people. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:44.160 Like, yeah, that's not my gift. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:46.240 Well, you still got to do it though, okay? 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:48.799 Ditto with evangelism. 00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:50.559 Evangelism is not your gift? 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:51.839 Okay, that's fine. 00:25:52.079 --> 00:25:56.799 The Lord's given some to be evangelists, yet you're still a recipient of the Great Commission. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:59.440 You're still called to go into all the world and preach the gospel. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:04.400 You're still called to use opportunities you have as a stewardship to preach the gospel. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:08.480 Evangelism still stands as your calling in this world. 00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:12.640 I mentioned the noun's only used twice, but the verb is used 50 times in the New Testament. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:13.680 It's a very common word. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:19.119 To be a gospel or a good news preacher, to say the good news to people. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:23.839 Modern technology has not canceled out the Great Commission. 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:26.880 Sending somebody a YouTube link does not count as evangelism. 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:29.279 You are called to be the evangelist. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:31.920 Pressing social needs have not altered the Great Commission. 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:40.319 Yes, there's injustice in the world, and yes, there's poverty in the world, and yes, there's crime and horrible things in the world, but the Great Commission is not for you to fix those things. 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:44.559 The Great Commission is for you to be a spreader of the good news of the gospel. 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:51.039 Spiritual problems in the church, even in the church itself, have not passed the importance of evangelism. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.200 That's what we are called to be doing. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:57.759 God has given us to the church some who are particularly good at that. 00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.279 So you see the evangelists. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:04.400 And next, you see the shepherds and teachers, is how my version of the ESV renders it, the shepherds and teachers. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:08.079 What's kind of hidden in an English translation, some translations say pastors and teachers. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:16.799 What's kind of hidden is that unlike the other names in this list, in the Greek it's very obvious these last two names, these last two titles, shepherd, teachers, are one person. 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:25.440 So you see the apostles, comma, you see the evangelist, comma, and then here you see the pastor teacher or shepherd teacher. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:26.480 It's one person. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:29.920 I know it's in the Greek you it's missing the Oxford comma. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:32.160 That should be your uh your heads up here. 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:33.519 There's no comma after shepherds. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:39.039 It's the shepherds and teachers are the same person, the same category of person. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:43.759 Now it's this translation says shepherd, some translations say pastor. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.559 It is the Greek word that is always translated shepherd. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.519 It's a very common biblical word, it's always translated shepherd. 00:27:49.839 --> 00:27:54.559 Some of the older translations render it pastor here, and that's where we get our titles pastor from. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:55.519 I'm a pastor. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:00.000 It comes from a weird translation of this verse, but a better word than pastor is shepherd. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:01.359 But you can even see the connection. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:07.759 Pastor is from the Latin with the idea of a pasture, and that's where shepherds are seen, that's where they're doing their work. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:12.960 So that's what the idea is here that pastors are shepherds and teachers. 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:15.839 The Bible has a lot to say about this category of people. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.599 2 Timothy 2 is probably the most robust description of them. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:28.720 2 Timothy 2, these pastor teachers are supposed to be, they're described as teachers, as soldiers, as athletes, farmers, workmen, vessels, and slaves. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:36.480 Those are all the examples as Paul goes through 2 Timothy 2 to describe the role of a shepherd, or as an elder, or as a pastor in the church. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:39.279 And I read that list and I think those are kind of, I like that. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:44.960 My first reading the list, I'm like, I like being compared to a teacher, soldier, athlete, farmer, worker, vessel, slave. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.160 Like they're kind of manly descriptions there. 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:49.519 But then I read a little bit more carefully. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:51.839 I'm like, you know what, they're not very flattering though either. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:53.119 They're not exalted positions. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:57.759 They're designed to highlight work and humility. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:06.559 That's what Paul's going for with all those descriptions a teacher, a soldier, an athlete, a farmer, a worker, a vessel, which just carries liquid, or a slave. 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:11.599 It's designed to highlight sacrifice, labor, service, hardship. 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:13.359 It's not designed to be glamorous. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:19.599 And of course, the best, the most common New Testament phrase or word to describe this office is that of a shepherd. 00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:29.519 Again, a shepherd is a hard worker, he is a protector, he has the well-being of others at the forefront of his mind, but it is not a glamorous position. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:33.519 But it is the word that is used to describe God in the Old Testament. 00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:35.039 He's the shepherd of his people, Israel. 00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:41.039 David, of course, being the shepherd called to be king, fulfilled in Christ, he proclaims that he is the good shepherd. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:46.000 And then the New Testament picks up on that and says, Christ is the good shepherd, we are his under-shepherds. 00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:52.160 He has given shepherds, under-shepherds, to the church in the form of elders, pastors, or teachers. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:54.319 We all labor under Christ. 00:29:54.400 --> 00:30:01.039 In fact, Paul in Acts chapter 20 gives a sermon to the Ephesian elders, the same people who are going to get the book of Ephesians. 00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:04.160 Paul's already preached to them in Acts chapter 20, verse 17. 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:05.920 He calls them the elders in Ephesus. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:19.119 And he tells them in Acts chapter 20 they need to shepherd the flock of God by protecting them, warning them of false teachers, warning off the false teachers, correcting the flock, guarding the flock, caring for the flock. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.200 That's what a shepherd does. 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:28.079 In Acts 14, verse 23, Luke says that Paul's goal was to appoint elders or shepherds in every city. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:32.960 Then every church he plants, he wants to raise up elders or pastors or shepherds that are there. 00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:52.880 When you take all of this together, what the New Testament describes about this, and there's a lot more that I even that I have, we don't have time to talk about, you understand the New Testament that uses different words for the same person: pastor or shepherd, elder, overseer, sometimes translated bishop or presbytery, it's the same word for overseer. 00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:54.880 Those people are all the same person. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:57.519 Every elder should be a pastor. 00:30:57.920 --> 00:31:00.079 Every overseer should be an elder. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:06.000