MY PASTOR; MY GIFT. PART 1 .
The man that is born again is born into a family (the
church). In this family, everyone of us has grace given to us. Some men in the
same family are given to us as gifts.
Ephesians 4
7
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the
gift of Christ.
8
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now
that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower
parts of the earth?
10 He
that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he
might fill all things.)
11 And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers;
12 For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ:
13 Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive
The men given to us in Christ as
gifts are Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers . Notice after
verse 8(he gave gifts unto men ), verse 9 and 10 are in brackets explaining how
God gave these gifts out the resurrection of Jesus. Then verse 11 stated the
gifts . So you can read verse 8 into verse 11 of Ephesians 4(Wherefore he
saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;)
Pastor is used today in a general
sense for any of these five gifts of men.
Jesus is the giver of these gifts
through the Spirit .
Hence, it is God’s will that we have ministry
gifts. HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN. It is God
who gave us these men. So you can not be too wise to say that you don’t need a pastor
( Ministry Gift ).
Luke 11
49
Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and
apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
it is the wisdom of God that we have
ministry gifts. Any fight against having a pastor is a fight against the wisdom
of God.
Paul being an Apostle on many
occasions stated in letters that he is an Apostle by the will of God .
1 Corinthians 1
1
Paul,
called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes
our brother,
2
Corinthians 1
1 Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in
all Achaia:
Galatians 1
1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by
man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
1
Ephesians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will
of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus:
Paul in all these scriptures and many
other of his epistles stated that his apostleship is BY the will of God . It is
God that set men in these functions. The question then is WHY ?
WHY SHOULD I HAVE A PASTOR?
My pastor is my gift primarily to
feed me – teach and instruct me God’s word. Pastors bring us to the experience
of what we have in Christ. In Ephesians 4, we see that He gave gifts unto men
for the perfecting of the saints . It is for the thorough furnishing of the
saints to do the work of ministry.
Ephesians 4
11
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ:
13 Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
The essence of ministry gifts is to
bring us to the unity of faith which is in the knowledge of the son of God. The
unity of faith is the oneness of conviction in the accurate knowledge of Jesus.
As this is being done, we will not be tossed to and fro again by every wind of
the teaching.
THE PRIMARY ESSENCE OF A PASTOR IS TO
BRING BELIEVERS TO THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE EXPERIENCE OF WHO THEY ARE IN CHRIST
Acts 20
28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which
he hath purchased with his own blood.
The flocks are God’s . They are
purchased by the blood of Jesus. The pastors are instructed to feed them. A
pastor who does other things like entertaining the believers, teaching them how
to make money etc. at the expense of his primary assignment to FEED the saints
with the knowledge of Jesus is ABUSING HIS OFFICE. Your pastor is not there as
your visiting partner though it is not bad if a pastor visits always. You must
realize that what makes him your pastor is that he feeds you with God’s word.
Anything aside this must be treated as additions not primary. Imagine going to
the hospital to be treated of an ailment,
the doctor instead of administering treatments starts giving you business
strategy? In as much as what the doctor is doing is not out rightly bad but he
is not a doctor to give you business strategies.
Pastors fit, complete, furnish,
perfect the saints in the knowledge of who they are, what they have and what
they can do in Christ. Your pastor is
one that consistently teaches you God’s word and brings you to the experience
of who you are in Christ. You don’t give yourself a pastor because of reasons
like fame or money. You discover your pastor by the role they are playing in
bringing you to the knowledge of Jesus in your local church.
1
Peter 5
1 The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed
the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof,
not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither
as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that
fadeth not away.
5 Likewise,
ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be
subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God
resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
Peter gives clear admonitions to
elders(pastors ) and their followers in the scripture above . Being an elder is
not a matter of age but one who is a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Elder
was used in a general sense to refer to pastors or those who have oversight
functions or ministry gifts just like pastor today is used to refer to ministry
gifts (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, pastors and teachers). In 1
Timothy 5:17, we see that an elder labours
in the word and doctrine of Christ. So we see the instruction to elders in 1
Peter 5 to feed the flocks of God .The pastor (elder) feeds the flocks not by
lording over them or by constraint. Pastoring is not done by forcing people
neither is it done for filthy lucre (eagerness to gain). It is done by examples
in feeding the flock . So far we have seen that pastor is a gift to the body of
Christ according to the will of God primarily to feed the saints and to bring
them to their reality in Christ. In subsequent parts of this series, we will
look at how to maximize the gift of a pastor in a church.
