Understanding our Foundations Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Last week I had the choice to preach for an hour and a half, or break the sermon up into smaller bitesize chunks. Arn’t you glad I broke it up.
We established Christ as the Cornerstone of the church last week. It is essential to understand that He is the foundation and the part that all other building must match up to and square with. Anything out of parallel with Christ will weaken the whole church. This is what Christ himself taught and it is true to the inscription on that cornerstone.
Today we want to see that:
The foundation layer has four more parts.
The foundation layer has four more parts.
Apostles:
Apostles:
The Bible Exposition Commentary
Apostles: The word means “one who is sent with a commission.” ...
The Apostles were to give witness of the Resurrection (Acts 1:15–22), and therefore had to have seen the risen Christ personally (1 Cor. 9:1–2). . .
These men helped to lay the foundation of the church—“the foundation laid by the Apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20), and once the foundation was laid, they were no longer needed.
God authenticated their ministry with special miracles (Heb. 2:3–4), so we should not demand these same miracles today.
Jesus had many disciples, but He selected 12 Apostles (Matthew 10:1–4). A disciple is a “follower” or a “learner,” but an apostle is a “Eye witness who is a divinely appointed representative.” Every believer is to be a disciple. Jesus had multitudes follow Him and they learned from Him. Yet in the end there were only around 120 disciples were in the upper room on the day the Church began. That tells us we don’t chase the others away, but we allow God to bring them into a relationship with Himself.
Slide 2
There are no apostles today in the strictest New Testament sense. How could there be? While the Apostle Paul saw the Lord on the road to Damascus,
1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
Christ is not bringing people to saving faith this way any more. In fact, if someone tells you they have seen the risen Christ you should take what they say with a good bit of scepticism. There is no reference to Christ appearing to individuals after the completion of the New Testament.
Satan parades as an angle of light.
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Angels may appear to us. They do not always show themselves as angels.
2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
Slide 3
Slide 4
43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
Signs and wonders have been used by God throughout history to show transition. This is a big subject for another day. Let’s just say that this church believes and teaches that the sign gifts ended of themselves when the transition from the Nation of Israel to the Church was complete.
Prophets
Prophets
This is a controversial title.
Prophets are commonly associate with predictions of future events, but this is not their only function.
The Bible Exposition Commentary
A New Testament prophet is one who proclaims the Word of God (Acts 11:28; Eph. 3:5) to those who do not have it available.
Believers at the time of New Testament churches did not possess Bibles. The New Testament was not written and/or completed yet.
How could the church discover God’s will?
How could they know what to look out for?
The Holy Spirit would share God’s truth with men and women possessing the gift of prophecy.
Paul suggests that the gift of prophecy had to do with understanding “all mysteries and all knowledge” (1 Cor. 13:2), meaning, of course, spiritual truths.
The purpose of prophecy is “edification, encouragement, and consolation” (1 Cor. 14:3). The Bible Exposition Commentary
3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
I have been around a few people who believed they were a Prophet. It is odd how often they say things they believe will make you feel good. They most often do it in a way where they are boasting that they have this fantastic gift, and they sometimes even try to insist that scripture should now be changed.
As a church we believe in Sole Scriptura - or the Bible alone is sufficient. If it can’t be found in Scripture, my reply is, “That’s nice, thank you. Now I’m getting back to work for the Lord.”
Christians today do not get their spiritual knowledge through the Spirit teaching the Word - Scripture - The Bible.
With the Apostles, the prophets had a foundational and transitional ministry in the early church and they are foundational - we are not expanding that part of the building today (Eph. 2:20).
Evangelists
Evangelists
The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Eight: Let’s Walk Together (Ephesians 4:1–16))
“Bearers of the Good News.” These men traveled from place to place to preach the Gospel and win the lost (Acts 8:26–40; 21:28).
Sometimes men - Mark became an evangelist.
Sometimes couples
26 So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Possibly also women like Lydia, and even Mary after the resurrection. Though, there is no passage in the NT that labels a woman who was not married as an evangelist. Yet I have been privileged to know some women who I would definitely believe to have this gift.
All ministers should “do the work of an evangelist,” but this does not mean that all ministers are evangelists. The Apostles and prophets laid the foundation of the church, and the evangelists built on it by winning the lost to Christ.
5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Of course, in the early church, every believer was a witness .
19 Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
We too should we be witnesses today. But there are people also today who have the gift of evangelism.
The fact that a believer may not possess this gift does not excuse him from being burdened for the lost or witnessing to them.
Pastors and Teachers
Pastors and Teachers
The Greek grammar would place these two together. That means that the first must be able to do the second.
The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 4166. ποιμήν poimḗn
4166. ποιμήν poimḗn; gen. poiménos, masc. noun. Shepherd, one who generally cares for flocks.
28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
The three words used in the NT are:
Shepherd - Pastor
Overseer - Bishop
Elder - Teacher
Each of these titles suggests a different role, but we hold that they are one office. We will be covering this in more detail in another sermon when we cover the offices of the local church.
There are qualifications for this office. These are listed by the Apostle Paul in his books to Titus and Timothy. Our current Wednesday afternoon Bible Study is looking into Titus and we are currently exhaustively covering the qualifications listed there.
The parallels
The parallels
I hold to the historical view of the church that the gifted people listed above are in parallels. Polycarp was an overseer or bishop in Smyrna (a town 40 miles north of Ephesus). He lived from 69AD until he was martyred in 155AD. He wrote that it was the common belief of the true church that the Apostles and Prophets had ceased - the Apostles all having died and the Prophets having disappeared with the Apostles writings holding the standard of proclaiming God’s truth.
He believed the Apostles were like the Evangelists and the Prophets were replaced with the Pastors/Teachers.
Apostles - Evangelists
Prophets - Pastors/Teachers
This remained the position of the church until the year 1900 when the pentecostal movement started and people sought to reclaim every spiritual gift ever given.
Conclusion: Christ is the Cornerstone of the Church. He added Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastors/teachers to secure the foundation.
Conclusion: Christ is the Cornerstone of the Church. He added Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, and Pastors/teachers to secure the foundation.
Lets think clearly and biblically about these foundation stones. Their roles are important to getting the Church right.
1.Since God made the earth so wonderful in just 7 days, can we trust He can build His Church properly?
2.While Christ is flawless, all others make mistakes. How do we respond as building blocks of Christ’s church. Do we Square our whole life with the Cornerstone and the foundations that have been placed? Or do we think we can do our own thing?