PART 3 THE CHURCH OF GOD OR CHURCH OF MAN

PART 3 THE CHURCH OF GOD OR CHURCH OF MAN

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WHO CALLS AND QUALIFIES A BORN AGAIN BELIEVER FOR THE OFFICE OF PASTOR-TEACHER?

Have you ever thought about what determines a believer’s appointment to a leadership office in the church? We assume that it’s the same as someone wanting to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, plumber, etc. They go to a four or eight-year college to receive the knowledge required for the occupation. Along the way, they get involved in an apprentice program that allows them to learn how to apply the knowledge they’ve learned from someone who has obtained expertise in the field of study. Then, at some time in the future, they have to take so many tests, some intellectual or others hands-on, to prove competence. So, here’s a question for you to consider. Should ordination to an authority position in the church follow these same procedures?

It’s unfortunate today that many churches believe that the basis for determining whether a person is called to the leadership office of pastor-teacher is whether they’ve attended Bible college or Seminary. Being born again is, for some reason and in certain instances, not even given consideration. Believe it or not, there are even some who, aspiring for credibility to this position, simply go on the internet and pay a fee in order to receive a certificate of consecration. Shouldn’t there be a vetting process? And if there’s one, then who would be the chief Vetter? This brings us to the following question.

 

Who calls and qualifies the elders (pastors) of a church?

Let’s begin by going to the book of Acts.

 

Suggested Reading: Acts 20:3-21:4                                                                                       

17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.        

The Apostle Paul had been living in Greece for about three months and decided to depart for Jerusalem carrying with him monetary assistance for the persecuted financially destitute saints that are residing there. While on his journey, he chose to reside in a place called Miletus. From there, he made a decision to send someone with a message to the elders of the church at Ephesus requesting that they meet up with him there.

20-21 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

After a few days had gone by, the elders were able to join up with him. He conveyed to them that when he was with them at an earlier time, he kept back nothing that would be profitable (of help), having taught them at times in public and at other times in private (house churches) along with giving them instructions to give warning to both unbelieving Jews and Gentiles, so that they might repent to God the Father and believe in his Son Jesus Christ for salvation. Furthermore, he informed them that he was bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem and that subsequently, they would probably see him no more.

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.

And then, he made this astonishing statement. Take heed (be on guard, be mindful) unto yourselves (for your own spiritual well-being) and that of the flock (the congregation) over the which the Holy Ghost hath made (had called and qualified them for their work³) you overseers (those who examine, look after, or inspect another’s spiritual state). Did you notice that those who were designated as overseers were initially called and qualified by the Holy Spirit? In other words, it’s not just that a believer has a calling on their life. It’s not just that they were qualified and appointed by church leadership. It’s also that they were called and qualified by the Holy Spirit. What does the word qualified mean? Please stay in the same book and go to chapter 6.

 

Acts 6:3

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Here we see that one of the conditions for determining whether someone in the assembly was considered for the position, not of a pastor, but of a deacon, was that they were full of the Holy Ghost. In Koine Greek, this meant that the congregation recognized that they were eminently under the influence of the Holy Spirit.⁴ This is another way of saying that they were filled or controlled by the Spirit. What does the word filled mean? The word filled is found in the book of Ephesians. Let’s go there and find out.

 

Ephesians 5:18b

… but be filled with the Spirit;

The hope for each believer is that they’ll learn how to be filled with the Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit means to conduct themselves under the guidance, impulses, and energy of that life.⁵ What this means is that these believers were to give due diligence to cultivate His fruit. His fruit? What fruit? Please turn in your Bible to the book of Galatians, and we’ll find out what this is all about.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The fruit of the Spirit is nine spiritual qualities or elements of character, i.e., love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. However, what we need to know about them is that they need to be developed by us. And in order for them to be developed, we need to be taught by the leadership of the church on how to do this. This is another way of saying that if a believer learns about what each of these graces means, finds pertinent verses of such, memorizes and meditates on them, then they’ll have the proper divine perspective about themselves, others, and the circumstances of life in that aspect of it. And because of this, their fellow believers and even unbelievers will recognize the Spirit’s working in their life.

Something else that we should take note of is that these expressions of godliness reflect responses that are totally different from the way the world would reply in similar circumstances. Let me give you one example. What type of response do you think denotes the attitude of longsuffering? According to Koine Greek, the word longsuffering means patient endurance of wrong under ill-treatment, without anger or thought of revenge.⁶ The contrary, natural response to sufferings would be to get angry and consider retribution. Right?

This begs the question. How is a Christian able to respond in a godly manner to undeserved suffering? As we’ve already stated, this is only possible if we appropriate the teachings of leadership in this regard. When the subject of persecution is brought up, hopefully applicable verses of Scripture would be disclosed to the assembly.

Subsequently, they would be encouraged to hide these Scriptures away in their heart so that when a situation arises in this respect, even if they initially thought in their mind to respond according to the old ways of thinking, speaking, and acting, they’ll bring to remembrance the two avenues that were likewise mentioned in the messages from the pulpit in order to help them return to the right frame of mind. The first one is something that I’m sure will surprise you.

 

CONFESSION OF OUR SINS

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The first one is that the believer should confess their sins of anger and retribution to God the Father. This seems like an odd recommendation.

 

Why would this benefit me if all of my sins were already paid for and forgiven at the cross?

For many churchgoers, sin is considered to be that which involves an overt action. Sin, however, isn’t just what we exhibit in our behavior, but it also has to do with what we think or say. Being jealous of someone in our thoughts is just as much a sin as taking (stealing) what someone else has.

Scripture admonishes us to confess (admit ourselves guilty of what we’re accused of) our sins to God the Father or to whomsoever we’ve offended. We should do this because believe it or not, we’ve actually benefitted from it in three ways. The first has to do with being reconciled with the person whom we’ve offended. Second, God the Father is faithful to forgive us of our sins. The word forgive means that He removes the chastisement or discipline that He would have instituted if we hadn’t confessed them to Him. And third, we’re restored to fellowship with God the Father along with recovering the filling (control) of the Holy Spirit.

And by the way, it’s true that every person’s sins were paid for and forgiven on the cross in order to satisfy God’s justice. However, receiving God’s forgiveness in time has to do with our walk with Him.

I’ve heard from fellow believers who’ve stated that confessing their sins was a waste of time because they mentally sinned throughout the day. Their argument for not confessing sin was that it didn’t stop them from committing it again and again, so why continue to ask God the Father to keep on asking for forgiveness over and over?

I understand what they’re saying because I went through this dilemma myself following my spiritual conversion. After I eventually found a Spirit-filled church and began attending the worship services on a consistent basis, I noticed that when the service was over and I was on my way home, carnal thoughts would creep in. I’d confess them, and then they would come right back again. What was I to do to address this madness? The answer to this dilemma is what we’ll take a look at next.

                 

RECOVERY

I finally came to the realization that there was something I could do to limit the confession of sin, and that was recovery.

 

What is recovery?

Recovery means to choose to reflect upon God’s perspective in my thoughts as it relates to a   particular area of human weakness or human strength in my life. So, in respect to responding scripturally to persecution here are a couple of verses that we should consider making them our own.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

So, there you have it. Being qualified by the Spirit means that the believer is being influenced, prompted, and empowered by Him. I hope that we’ve come to the realization that the calling and appointment to a position of authority in the church shouldn’t be based solely on higher religious education. When looking for the right pastor, listen carefully to how they suggest a member of the congregation grows spiritually. Do they talk about developing the graces of the Spirit? Do they mention confession of sin and how to recover from it?

Well, here we are again, trying to answer this question. How can we recognize a Spirit-guided pastor? Another avenue would be to notice if what I’ll call foundational or absolute teachings are being taught from the pulpit. What do these doctrines refer to? We’ll find out in the next chapter. But before we do, let’s read an article that discusses the beauty of the filling of the Spirit and the part that we have to play concerning it.

                                               

LORD, FILL ME WITH YOUR SPIRIT

“The kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20). [NIV]

If [we’re] not disillusioned with how much [we’ve] allowed our talk to pass for our walk, discontented with the sparse amount of spiritual fruit [we’re] truly bearing, and disappointed by the impotence of our own efforts, [we’ll] never be distressed enough to really plead with God to fill us with the Holy Spirit.

If we’re not disturbed by how little we can do in our own power, we’ll never be desperate enough to ask God for his.

 

What Is the Filling of the Holy Spirit?

But when we pray for this, what are we asking God for? In the words of Wayne Grudem, [we’re] asking God for “an event subsequent to conversion in which a believer experiences a fresh infilling with the Holy Spirit that may result in a variety of consequences, including greater love for God, greater victory over sin, greater power for ministry, and sometimes the receiving of new spiritual gifts” (Grudem, 1.242).

Now, of [course,] every Christian receives the Holy Spirit upon conversion. Being born again is the greatest miracle any human being can possibly experience, and it only happens by the omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

But the reason we talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit as “an event subsequent to conversion” is because that’s how the New Testament usually talks about it. Paul was exhorting born-again Christians when he wrote, “[Be] filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). And almost all of Luke’s description of Spirit-fillings occurred to people who were already born again (see Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9, 52). And we’re actually talking about events (plural) because, just like the same people received repeated fillings of the Spirit in the book of Acts, we also need to be filled repeatedly.

According to the New Testament, we need to be repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit for two primary purposes: empowered worship and witness.

 

Intoxicated with God

When Paul told the Ephesian Christians to “be filled with the Spirit,” he was talking about Spirit-empowered worship:

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-20) [ESV - English Standard Version]

Be careful as you read these verses. Don’t let your familiarity with it or your experience-based preconceptions about worship styles or other things cause you to dodge the punch the Holy Spirit intends to land here.

Paul is saying, don’t be intoxicated with alcohol, but be intoxicated with God! His words confront each of us with the penetrating question, [are you intoxicated with God?] Does our heart so overflow with love for God that our [hearts], whether light or heavy, can’t help but sing, both to God and to one another? No matter what our circumstances, are we overflowing with thanks to God?

If not, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit because [we’re] not worshipfully enjoying God according to the grace available to us. That means [we’re] not glorifying God as we ought, and are we not experiencing satisfaction in God [as] we might.

 

Empowered by God

When Luke described this experience of Spirit-filling among Christians, its purpose was for Spirit-empowered witness:

[And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.] And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:29-31)

Those early Christians were feeling fear from the threats of the religious authorities, the same ones who had crucified Jesus. But their response was to ask God for boldness to preach the gospel and supernatural power to minister to people. And God answered their prayer.

Don’t let yourself be immediately distracted by popular controversies, like whether all the miraculous gifts in the New Testament [continue] or some have ceased. Those questions are important in their place. But there are more fundamental questions for us here. [Are you responding to your fears of real physical threats, disapproval, or scorn with desperate prayer for God to empower you to overcome?] Are we laying hold of God until he answers?

If not, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit because [we’re] allowing fear and unbelief to gag or mute our witness to the reality and gospel of Jesus Christ. And because [we’re] silent, people who need the gospel aren’t hearing it.

 

Whatever It Takes, Lord!

Here’s wonderful news: our heavenly Father loves to give his Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13)!

[For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened] (Luke 11:10).

Do you feel dry? Are you weary? Are you tired of talking so much about glorious [theology] but not experiencing the reality of it? Does your worship feel distracted and hollow? Are you lacking in gratitude to God? Do you long for more fruit, both the internal fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the external fruit of empowered ministry?

Then [you’re] a good candidate for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Your dryness and discouragement may, in fact, be invitations from God to press in to him. The desperation that comes from living with low-ebbing affections and spiritual impotence can itself be a gift from the Holy Spirit, because it’s when we become disillusioned enough with our mere talk, our anemic worship, and our weak selves that we really become prepared to pray:

 

Whatever it takes, Lord, fill me with the Holy Spirit and any gifting [you’d] be pleased to give me.⁷