| Teacher: Rusty Kennedy Series: Ephesians |
Rusty's Notes | |
Acts 1:1-11 - I wrote the first narrative, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day he was taken up, after he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After he had suffered, he also presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”[1]
Ephesians 4:7 - Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.[2]
EPHESIANS 4:11-16
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
A.W. Tozer - In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of the work and quite literally wear our people out as well. I have heard more than one pastor boast that his church was a “live” one, pointing to the printed calendar as a proof—something on every night and several meetings during the day.… A great many of these time-consuming activities are useless and others plain ridiculous. “But,” say the eager beavers who run the religious squirrel cages, “they provide fellowship and they hold our people together.”
To this I reply that what they provide is not fellowship at all, and if that is the best thing the church has to offer to hold the people together it is not a Christian church in the New Testament meaning of that word. The center of attraction in a true church is the Lord Jesus Christ.…
If the many activities engaged in by the average church led to the salvation of sinners or the perfecting of believers they would justify themselves easily and triumphantly; but they do not. My observations have led me to the belief that many, perhaps most, of the activities engaged in by the average church do not contribute in any way to the accomplishing of the true work of Christ on earth. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid I am right.
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Ac 1:1–11). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:7). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 2:18–22). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (2 Ti 4:2–5). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 3:17–19). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:11–16). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 39). Victor Books.
4 While he was with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “Which,” he said, “you have heard me speak about; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he had said this, he was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”[1]
- Luke wrote Acts and only the first 11 verses speak about Jesus doing ministry.
- What we have today is reliant on the Spirit working through the believers… that would be the Church.
Ephesians 4:7 - Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.[2]
- The gifts came from Jesus.
EPHESIANS 4:11-16
11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
- (1 Corinthians 12 & Romans 12)
- These verses do not refer to individual Christian lives but to the collective life of the saints.
- The individual saint cannot be perfected apart from others.
- “He gave some to be apostles…” for what purpose? To show how clever they were, what gifts they had? No, “for the perfecting of the saints.”
- No saint can ever be perfected in isolation or in any other way than God has lain down.
- Apostles - A messenger of God - one sent my Jesus Christ and God the Father.
- They had the responsibility of imparting the truth taught by Christ.
- They were the final authority in the early church (1 Corinthians 14:37).
- They had been with Jesus. (1 Corinthians 9:1).
- Two thoughts today...
- 1) The original 12 (including Paul) plus secondary apostles who were of the early church.
- Apostles of Jesus and Apostles of the Church.
- 2) Apostles today? Silas & Timothy were referred to as apostles.
- Those who take the message of Jesus into virgin territory.
- We call them missionaries today.
- Prophets - Refers, not to those who foretell the future, but to preachers and expounders of the Word for the purpose of encouraging and strengthening the church.
- Their message had to line up with the Apostles' doctrine.
- Apostles and prophets are viewed as necessary roles in building the foundation in the early church before manuscripts were available.
- Ephesians 2:18-22 - For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.[3]
- Evangelists - travelling missionaries both in home and foreign lands.
- They are gifted with the ability to express the plan of salvation with clarity and conviction.
- Remember Romans 2:4 - God leads to repentance through his kindness.
- Pastors - Shepherd, one that cares for their flock. Also referred to as "elders", "overseers" or "bishops".
- Remember that the flock is not our own but is the Lord's flock.
- Jesus is the ultimate authority in the church.
- Teachers - Teacher of the Word.
- Pastors/Teachers are viewed as the same person.
- If God reveals things to you above the rest of the community, he will place you in middle of that group.
- He doesn't give you the insight to make you better than the other people but to give you more responsibility.
- It is not something you earn or vie for.
- He will put you there.
- Your insight can cause you to become critical of the ministers and instead of being intercessors for them, you choose to be fault-finders and will be left on the outside.
- All ministries, which are God’s gifts, are given to the local bodies to equip saints for ministry to one another.
- Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers can minister only to saints who assemble together in fellowship.
- That is why His Word bears down so hard on “proud flesh,” insisting that we understand and confess that no human gifts, no human talents can accomplish the ultimate and eternal work of God.
- You can write it down as a fact: No matter what a man does, no matter how successful he seems to be in any field, if the Holy Spirit is not the chief Energizer of his activity, it will all fall apart when he dies.
-
- Perhaps the saddest part about all this is that the man may be honored at his death for his talents and abilities, but he will learn the truth in that great day when our Lord judges the work of every person.
- That which is solely his own work, accomplished by his own talent, will be recognized as nothing but wood, hay and straw.
- To equip saints for ministry to one another... It is the pastor/teachers responsibility to teach the flock.
- 2 Timothy 4:2-5 - Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. 4 They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5 But as for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.[4]
- Teach the saints who they are and they will naturally take care of one another.
- The pastor/teacher should be the last one to visit you at the hospital.
- The pastor/teacher cannot take the group to any deeper spiritual depth than he is himself.
- You want teacher studying. You want me to go deeper.
- Each believer grasps their spiritual gift and learns how to use it accordingly in the body to build up the body. (small groups, everyday needs, encouragement, organization, fixing things, etc,)
- In times of testing and hardship, I have heard Christians cry in their discouragement, “How can I believe that God loves me?”
- The fact is, God loves us to such a degree that He will use every necessary means to mature us until we reach “unity of the faith” and attain “unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
- Our unity of faith is founded on this "filter of our identity in Christ."
- Where do we get the knowledge of God's Son? Read the Word and the Spirit will reveal it to you.
- Christ's fullness - Ephesians 3:17-19 - and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [5]
- Children - "not speaking infants"
- Saints are capable of verbalizing and applying what they know to be truth.
- The enemy wants to deceive even the church... but it is hard to trick the mature.
- The true Christian fears God with a trembling reverence and yet he is not afraid of God at all.
- He draws near to Him with full assurance of faith and victory, and yet at the same time is trembling with holy awe and fear.
- The world will never understand that the Christian, though born on earth, still knows by faith that he is a citizen of heaven!
A.W. Tozer - In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of the work and quite literally wear our people out as well. I have heard more than one pastor boast that his church was a “live” one, pointing to the printed calendar as a proof—something on every night and several meetings during the day.… A great many of these time-consuming activities are useless and others plain ridiculous. “But,” say the eager beavers who run the religious squirrel cages, “they provide fellowship and they hold our people together.”
To this I reply that what they provide is not fellowship at all, and if that is the best thing the church has to offer to hold the people together it is not a Christian church in the New Testament meaning of that word. The center of attraction in a true church is the Lord Jesus Christ.…
If the many activities engaged in by the average church led to the salvation of sinners or the perfecting of believers they would justify themselves easily and triumphantly; but they do not. My observations have led me to the belief that many, perhaps most, of the activities engaged in by the average church do not contribute in any way to the accomplishing of the true work of Christ on earth. I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid I am right.
- We must say focused. We are learning to live our life by another... that life being Jesus
- Through the individual relationships within the body, "the whole body" grows with a growth which is from God and each believer is empowered by Christ's life!
- The joint is where two believers, each possessing a totally different spiritual gift, come together.
- The joint is where the gifts of the Holy Spirit pass from one believer to the other for the purpose of bringing the entire body together.
- The principle of the cross - doing things for what others might receive than for what we might receive.
- An isolated Christian cannot minister to others, nor can others minister to him, and it is impossible for the gifts to be ministered either way.[7]
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Ac 1:1–11). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:7). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 2:18–22). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (2 Ti 4:2–5). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 3:17–19). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 4:11–16). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 39). Victor Books.
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