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Book: Ephesians
 Print ( PC Only )
Ephesians 4:11
I. "And He gave some Apostles."
A. In 1Cor. 12 as Paul is speaking of the gifts of the Holy
Spirit, he said, And God hath set some in the church, first
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that
miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. [Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets?
[are] all teachers? [are] all workers of miracles? Have all the
gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
B. He is making reference to men that God has set in the church
with ministry gifts.
C. The gift of apostleship.
1. There were many disciples of Jesus, they numbered into
the hundreds.
2. From the many disciples He chose twelve to be called
Apostles.
3. The word apostle literally means one sent forth.
a. Thus Jesus is called in Hebrews the Apostle of
our faith.
b. Paul said that he was called to be an apostle.
c. In Philippians 2:25 Paul speaks of Epaphroditas
as being an apostle, translated messenger in
K.J.
d. In Romans Paul salutes Andronicus and Junia who
he declares are of note among the apostles.
4. If we stuck to the strict meaning of the word, I guess
it would apply most closely to a missionary today.
5. In the early church the requirements for Apostleship
seemed to be one who had been with Christ from His
baptism, who was an eyewitness to His resurrection from
the dead. It would also appear that he should also
exercise the gift of miracles. "Are not the works of an
apostle wrought by me?" ( Paul.)
5. Are there apostles today? In a true Biblical sense
probably no. There are those who have taken the title
of Apostle, the Mormon church in one of their claims to
be the true church boasts that they are the only church
who have 12 apostles with the authority to ordain men
to administer the rituals of the church. Thus they
boast of apostolic authority.
D. Some prophets.
1. It would seem that the New Testament the office of
prophet differed somewhat from that of the office of
the prophet in the Old Testament.
2. Agabas was referred to as a prophet.
a. He predicted a drought.
b. He predicted Paul's imprisonment in Jerusalem.
c. In Acts 13 it speaks of certain prophets in the
church at Antioch, such as Barnabas, Simeon,
and Lucius and Saul.
d. The daughters of Phillip were gifted with the
gift of prophecy.
e. Paul speaks of the women praying and
prophesying in the church at Corinth.
f. The promise of the Holy Spirit in Joel declared
that your sons and daughters would prophesy.
3. In the Old Testament it seemed that the prophet had the
ear of the nation, and he called on them to turn to God
and warned of the great dangers that they would face if
they refused to do so.
4. Today Billy Graham, though an evangelist, seems to also
exercise the gift of a prophet much life those of the
Old Testament era. I see him as a Isaiah, or Jeremiah.
5. I believe that Dave Hunt in a way could be considered
as a prophet
E. Pastor teacher.
1. I believe that this goes together, that the pastor
should be a teacher.
2. In Pauls listing in I Cor. he only mentions teacher but
makes no mention of that of pastor.
3. The word pastor is shepherd the one who tends the
flock. It is more than just feeding them, it is
overseeing them watching over their welfare.
4. I believe that this is my gift and calling in the
church. I have been called to be a pastor teacher.
II. What is the purpose if these gifts?
A. The perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry.
1. The New Testament word perfecting is that of bringing
to maturity or full age.
2. In Hebrews 6 the exhortation is to leave the first
principles of the doctrines of Christ and go on into
perfection or maturity. We need to hear more than just
repentance from dead works and the need for baptism.
3. The saints are the ones that are to be involved in the
works of the ministry.
4. To bring the saints to the place of spiritual maturity
that they are able to minister to others.
B. The edifying of the body of Christ. The word edify is to build
up.
1. This is where the Lord revolutionized my whole
philosophy of the church and thus my ministry.
2. I had been taught and had accepted without challenge
that the primary purpose of the church was the
evangelization of the world.
a. The church existed to win the world to Christ.
b. Thus every sermon that I preached was an
evangelistic sermon followed by an altar call.
c. I was continually stressing the message of
salvation.
d. The people I was preaching to were all saved.
C. I now see a threefold purpose for the church.
1. I now believe that the primary purpose of the church is
to glorify God. We exist for His good pleasure, and
when we bring Him praise and glory we are fulfilling
His primary purpose for our existence.
2. I believe that the church exists for the purpose of
perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry, to
build up the body of Christ.
a. I used to be so concerned about winning the
world to Christ, that I was not tending those
who had come to Christ.
b. By not bringing them into maturity, I was
keeping them in a state of spiritual infancy.
3. I believe that the Church cannot fulfill the great
commission to bring the message of Jesus Christ to the
world until we have come to a level of spiritual
maturity and have been built up in Christ.
a. I believe that witnessing is the most natural
thing in the world to the mature saint.
b. That your life becomes a witness to the world.
c. I love the scripture that declares, "They took
stock of them that they had been with Jesus."
d. We have thought too long that witnessing for
Christ is something that you say to others
about Him.
e. That can be a vital part of witnessing, but the
true witness is living the life of Christ
before them.
f. They will learn and believe much more by what
they see in you, than what they hear from you.
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