Ministry: the 12 and the 7

­- Leg joke
- Many different leadership styles in many churches, book of acts shines a light on God’s purpose in ch 6 and ch 20 for Church leaders
- Early chapters of acts about the birth and growth of body of Christ and the strategy of satan to smother it
- Chief actor 1 and 2 holy spirit, 3-6 chief actor satan
- 3 tactics of satan, physical violence, moral compromise, social distraction, persecution, corruption, distraction, still in same old rut
Acts 6 v 1-7, An every member ministry
- Church is growing, but quarrel between Greek and Hebrews over the widows’ breaks out, danger that the apostles were getting bogged down in administration and neglecting the ministry of the word.
- They did a wise thing, they didn’t impose a solution, they called a meeting, they sought wisdom from the body, not be right to neglect ministry of word for waiting of tables, it is not beneath them, it was not their calling, they were called by God to be apostles.
- Suggestion- delegate to those “full of spirit and wisdom”, the 12 to the 7, they would stick to preaching and prayer, without prayer the seeds sown may not be fruitful
- Church agreed, 7 were appointed, commissioned and authorized, vital principle everybody cannot do everything, indeed everybody is not called to do everything
- 1. God calls all his people to ministry (diakonia)
- 2 God calls different people to different ministries
- 3. God expects those he calls to ministry of the word to on no account be distracted by social administration
- Both the work of the 12 and the 7 is diakonia, ministry, neither inferior to the other, both are ways of serving God, both require spirit filled people, both can be full time ministries, the only difference is that they are different, the pastorate is not “the ministry”
- Diakonia is the generic word for ministry or service, it is not specific, in Romans 13:4 the magistrates of the state are known as the servants of God, which could be applied to pastors or other servants of the church.
- So in this passage it is clear that all Christians are called to ministry, because we are followers of him who said he did not come to be served but to serve, it is inconceivable that we should spend our lives in any other way than ministry (service), but there is a wide diversity of gifts, callings and ministries, we have to discover ours and help others discover theirs.
- When the apostles delegated, and concentrated on their calling the word of God spread and the number of disciples increased rapidly! Logical
- It is vital for us as a church to learn this lesson! I am not an apostle, but my job is to expound what they teach what they have left, that is first and foremost my ministry, too often we let pastors get bogged down in all sorts of other stuff
- Often it is the pastor’s fault, power hungry they want to keep hold of everything and delegate nothing, but it can also be the people of God’s fault, where the general rule is well we pay him, let him get on with it!, in either case it spells disaster! Standards of preaching decline, and people do not get an opportunity to use their gifts, the church falls sick!
- We need a basic biblical recognition that God calls different people to different ministries, the people have to set the pastor free from the unnecessary and the pastor ensures the people can exercise their gifts, if this happens the church will flourish!
- The spiritual gifts that God gives to us all are for the common good of the church, to build up the body of Christ, we need to hold on to the every member ministry of the body of Christ.
The pastoral ministry
- there is a role for pastoral ministry, this is what we think of as the minister, or priest or pastor, but what are they meant to be? Are they needed if everyone has a ministry?
- Acts 20 Paul and the Ephesians, pastoral oversight, feeding the flock, a teaching ministry, how do they feed, well they don’t they lead to good pastures to feed themselves
- Plural oversight, it is not a one man band, Paul always relied on others, there is a need for a leadership team in every church, with every part of that leadership playing it’s part.
- With the pastoral and plural parts of leadership vital to churches, Paul develops a metaphor in Acts 20 that is helpful for us to not, he describes himself and the elders as shepherd, secondly he warns of false teachers and thirdly he affirms the value of the people, who are God’s sheep.
The example of the Shepherd
-Paul speaks of his thoroughness, in his teaching the themes of the gospel, in his outreach, in his methods, he taught publicly and privately, day and night, nothing could stop him, he shared all possible truth with all possible people by all possible means, the whole gospel to the whole city with his whole heart. He was an inspiration to the Ephesians as he should be to us today
The invasion of wolves
-wolves were and in some cases still are the chief threat to the sheep, shepherd could never relax, Paul calls Churches to be on their guard, a double task, to feed the sheep and rout the wolves, unpopular to speak against false teaching today, but both Jesus and the apostles told us we must, to often we get sensitive and say nothing when we should speak out if we say and do nothing we are like the hired hand who cares not for the sheep.
-we cannot leave the flock of God defenceless, we need to protect it from error and establish the truth.
The value of the sheep
- we all must see the value of the sheep, v 28 is key here 28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.[a] Be shepherds of the church of God,[b] which he bought with his own blood.
- Implicit in this is three things; one the Church is God’s church, the church of god!
- Secondly it is bought with the blood of Christ
- Thirdly it is overseen by the Holy Spirit
- It belongs to the father, redeemed by the son, anointed by the Holy Spirit, it is not our Church, it is God’s church, this should humble us and inspire us, especially to love the sheep of God
- Now sheep at a distance are lovely to look at but up close they are dirty and full of beasts! They need to be dipped often, they are obstinate and unintelligent, are God’s sheep dirty, lousy and stupid? Let’s not stretch the metaphor too far………………
- Sheep can be a trial to a pastor, but the reverse is true also! How do we love that which we can find unlovable? By remembering how precious they are, when you are struggling to deal with a difficult person say “How precious you are in God’s sight, the father loves you, Jesus died for you, the Holy Spirit guides you, if the trinity care for your welfare, it is a privilege for me to serve you!
- To be the flock of God means to be in ministry together, to walk with God, stand against the devil and love one another, it is a great privilege to seek the will of God, to do the will of God and be in the place he has called you, can we continue to walk this walk together, into eternity?