The Church's one foundation Is Jesus Christ her Lord.The Church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is something special. We should remember this. It is called the 'Bride of Christ'. Man may criticise its members, men may dilute its doctrines, but man will have to give account of these sins.
She is His new creation, By water and the word.
Though With a scornful wonder, Men see her sore oppressed;The wise Christian will hold the highest regard for that Church for which He died.
By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed.
Please read carefully:
| 1 Corinthians 3:5-17 | 1 Corinthians 3:1-10 | Ephesians 4:1-13 | 1 Thessalonians 2:1-4 |
Notice how the scriptures distinguish between 'priesthood' and 'ministry'. The first is the birthright of all believers - we are all 'kings and priests' (Revelation 1:6) - but ministers are only by divine appointment and gift of God.
"And he gave some, apostles and some prophets and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers".
APOSTLES:
As we have seen, an apostle was a foundation - next to Christ.
He must have seen the Lord.
(1 Corinthians 9:1)
and he will have a special memorial position (Revelation
21:14).
It is generally believed there are no apostles today. Some churches,
however, believe there are!
PROPHETS:
A New Testament time prophet was a Christian who obtained and declared
messages from God before the NT was completed (1
Corinthians 14:3).
Seeing we now have a more perfect word (2 Peter 1:19), we can beware of false words (2 Peter 2:1, 2), and since the completion of the New Testament we know that scripture contains all that we need (see 2 Tim. 3:16, 17 and also Isaiah 8:20). It is generally believed that there are no prophets today as in the early New Testament days. Some churches, however, believe there are!
The generally agreed three types of God-gifted men are now:
Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers.
These are God's gifts of the Spirit. They together perform the work of the ministry, preaching or communicating the gospel to the unconverted, edifying the Body of Christ (the Church) and teaching the word of God (see Ephesians 4:11-15).
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Each of these titles belongs to the same body of men. It seems there was a plurality of leadership in the local church, not a one man ministry.
WHAT DID THEY DO?
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1 Peter 5:2 | Acts 20:28 |
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1 Thessalonians 5:12 | 1 Timothy 5:17 |
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Hebrews 13:17 | 1 Peter 5:8 |
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Acts 20:35
1 Thessalonians 5:12 |
1 Timothy 5:17 |
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Hebrews 13: 7, 17 | 1 Peter 5:3 |
HOW SHOULD THEY BE REGARDED?
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1 Thessalonians 5:12 |
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1 Thessalonians 5:13 |
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1 Timothy 5:17 |
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1 Timothy 5:19 |
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Hebrews 13:17 |
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1 Peter 5:5 |
Notice their qualifications: 1 Timothy 3:1-16 and Titus 1:5-9
This then is the pattern for ministers and ministry in the local churches. Gifted, godly men, chosen of God and the local church; each elder contributing toward the good and progress of the fellowship according as God has given him.