Be Stable

We do not need to look very far in our culture and indeed the world to see that stability is as rare as hen’s teeth. People yelling for change and many do not even know anything about the change issues they are supporting. They just support them. Give them the quotes of Conservatives and tell them a Liberal said it they will agree with them. Give then the quotes of a Liberal and say a Conservative and they will disagree with them. Put the Left’s platform on the right side of the page and the Right on the Left and people will choose the Right’s platform because it is on the left side because they are Leftist and assume that the Left’s position is always placed on the Left. Even if they actually read the points they will agree because they believe they are looking at the Leftist agenda.

Even in medicine or nutrition we see this as coffee is bad and then it is good. Eggs are bad and eggs are good. Eat chocolate. Don’t eat chocolate. This medicine is a lifesaver or this medicine blows up your liver, cause suicidal thoughts or cause you to die of an MI. Indeed, a doctor is said to be practicing medicine and he practices on us while someone is making millions selling our herbs. Aromatics, essential oils and the like.

Unfortunately, you can find too much of the same instability and chaos in Church life. So many different theologies and practices. Many views on salvation, baptism, the gifts and many other issues. Understandably, it is confusing to the unbeliever, but there should not be so much confusion in the family of God. Indeed, we should not have Christians that are like those at Mars Hill seeking every new thing or as I call them Bar Hopper Christians. How can you have seeker churches when the Word says that there are none that seek after God? Why do you need so many programs or fads like Purpose Driven, Missional, Emerging and a new thing all the time? Why did we develop a Consumer Christianity for people to find the Church that fits their perceived wants instead of seeking what they really need from God. We no longer have to deal with conflict and be responsible. We just run to another church or find someone who will start one for us and cause division in the Body. It is a travesty as we should be the most stable people on the planet as we belong to a very stable God.

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 

Is it a Fivefold or Fourfold ministry? Notice how he used the word some before each gift, but not before teacher. If teacher was a separate gift he should have inserted some in their. He did not because pastor and teacher are part of the same gift. Kai between nouns can be translated as even/or making it pastor even teacher or pastor or teacher and some use pastor-teacher. This does match up better with 1 Tim 3 where one of the requirements of a pastor is that he has to be apt/or able to teach. Paul says in 1 Tim 5:17 that elders who rule well are worthy of double honor/pay and especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. Here kai is between word and doctrine and could be accurately translated word or doctrine tying them together. After all, he is laboring in the word to be able to teach the doctrine so they are tied together as the Word is God’s doctrine for man expressed in poetry, proverbs, signs, prophecy, history and so on. So an office of pastor-teacher seems fitting. Sadly, many preachers are not doing their job for they are preaching to please the members and the culture. What they are supposed to be doing is the following verses.

12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 

And what are these gifts for? The perfecting or the complete furnishing of the saints. To take you from an apprentice into a skilled laborer may be easier to understand. To take you from Pre-K through post-graduate in the work of the ministry. That has many facets. Building a house requires many skills and a person who did not know what a screw was can be trained to be a general contractor overseeing the whole job or specializing in framing, drywall, flooring, plumbing, etc. There are so many areas to serve our brethren, the unbelievers, the community, county, state, nation and the world that no one should be able to say that they have nothing to offer when God has clearly said every believer has at least one gift and some have more than one.