Ephesians Rooted wk 8

Church Leadership

Today we are going to look at three verses in our study of Ephesians 4, as we look at church leadership.

Churches like many other organizations and even individuals develop habits and traditions.

Just because a church develops a habit or tradition does not necessarily mean it is biblical.

Because of our fallen nature some times our practices, habits, and traditions are given priority over what God’s Word says.

Jesus addressed this very thing in Mark 7:1-13 when He observed the Pharisees were placing their traditions ahead of God’s Word.

We need to consider the human tendency to give our customs, and traditions precedence over what God’s Word says.

A way that we can decrease this possibility is to look at God’s Word.

Acts 17:10–11 NASB95

10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Here we see that the Berean church examined Scripture daily to see whether these things were so.

We need to diligently read God’s Word, pray, and seek God to help us to minimize the risk of placing our own plans, and traditions above God.

Church leadership is one area that has been prone to adopt patterns that vary from what the Bible says.

Our main text shows a five-fold pattern of leadership that the early church followed.

Ephesians 4:11–13 NASB95

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As we look at these three verses, we need to consider what the Bible says about church leadership, and how the church has drifted away from the biblical five-fold leadership pattern.

These five biblical leadership positions are apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastor, and teachers.

1. Evangelist

The first position we are looking at is that of an Evangelist.

Evangelist being one of the positions is only mentioned three times in the Word of God.

Acts 21:8 NASB95

8 On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.

Here we hear of Philip, who has not been mentioned since chapter 8 of Acts, and he was one of the seven that were chosen in chapter 6.

Some say that from chapter 8 to chapter 21 there are roughly twenty years, and Philip is still considered a significant church leader, with the title of evangelist.

The next time the title Evangelist is mentioned is found in our main text.

Ephesians 4:11 NASB95

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

In this list Paul gives to the Ephesian church Evangelist is the third position listed.

Then the last time Evangelist is mentioned is in 2 Timothy 4:5

2 Timothy 4:5 NASB95

5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Here Paul is writing to Timothy telling him that there will come a time when the people will not listen to the Word of God.

But we need to do the work of an Evangelist.

An Evangelist is someone that preaches the gospel, we generally recognize this position as a preacher who travels around to revivals, or crusades to share the gospel.

Evangelism is now considered to be one of the primary activities of the church.

Evangelism is widely accepted as a leadership position in a substantial number of churches.

2. Pastor

The next position to look at is that of Pastor.

Ephesians 4:11 NASB95

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

This is the only New Testament verse that mentions pastor, this verse also mentions the other four positions that we are looking at.

Although there is an absence of New Testament verses or support mentioning pastor as a church position, most Protestant churches are led by pastors.

This does not mean that pastors are not essential - a number of verses affirm pastors as being overseers and shepherds of God’s flock, and the KJV has seven Old Testament references to pastors.

Although pastors are of critical importance for churches to function properly today, an adjustment is needed to restore the New Testament team leadership paradigm.

3. Teacher

Next we come to the position of Teacher.

Teachers are mentioned 14 times in the ESV, 9 times in the KJV, and 79 times in the NIV.

There are a variety of descriptive verses about the position of teacher such as Titus 2:3

Titus 2:3 NASB95

3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,

Another verse is Acts 13:1

Acts 13:1 NASB95

1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

There are also a number of verses that admonish teachers to be careful what they teach, like Jesus’ exhortation in Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20 NLT

20 “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Then there are the verses that warn about false teachers, such as 2 Timothy 4:3

2 Timothy 4:3 NASB95

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

We hear throughout Scripture about teachers.

4. Prophet

The next leadership position we will look at the role of the Prophet.

Many of the New Testament references to teachers also includes prophets.

If warnings about false teachers are not counted, over half the times that the KJV mentions teachers it is in relationship to prophets or other leadership positions.

The ESV New Testament has 155 references to prophets, while the KJV and NIV have 157, far exceeding the references for evangelist, pastors, and teachers combined.

The New Testament never says that the position of prophet ended, many religious leaders have argued for centuries that prophets are not for today.

People who argue that there are no more prophets frequently maintain that prophets ended soon after the Old Testament or during the time period of the early church.

If we take all the references to the Old Testament prophets we are still left with 45 New Testament references that are unaccounted for.

Paul writing to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 12 speaking about leadership states that God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, etc.

There is an overwhelming list of New Testament passages on the need for prophetic leadership.

We need to reflect on how church leadership has deviated from how the Bible says the church should be led to the current leadership paradigm.

We need to consider how to transform the church to make it what the Scriptures maintain it should be.

5. Apostle

The final leadership position addressed in our main text is Apostle.

There are 80 to 90 references for apostle in the New Testament depending on the translation.

Church tradition has held that apostles are not relevant today.

If we take away the four gospels, and the verses that speak of Paul being an apostle there are still 16 New Testament passages on apostles.

We need to remember what Paul said to the church at Corinth, that God appointed first apostles.

The skepticism about apostles and other parts of the five-fold ministry team that has been the predominant religious tradition does not hold up under an examination of the New Testament Scriptures.

Whenever there is a conflict between Scripture and human traditions, followers of Christ should be humble enough to choose what the Bible says over their own beliefs, no matter how deeply held.