This 13-part series of classes has been many years in the making. About 25 years ago I began in earnest to examine the features, character and characteristics of the church as it existed in its earliest years. As I sometimes do, I kept my notes all along the way, and this series of classes is to a large extent the product of those years of on-and-off studying the subject. Several things in my experience contributed to my interest in making this 25-year study which I will mention along the way, and those go much further back.
There may be some difficulty in using the individual parts of this series separately, although viewer are free to do so if it serves their purposes. But to those whose interest is in knowing what the church was like in its earliest years, I recommend starting with Part 1 - Introduction to the Church of the New Testament and proceeding through the parts consecutively.
I have prepared some slides that I used in presenting the series in a classroom setting before adapting it to use as sermons. I have left my cues to advance slides or activate animations in the notes as posted on Sermon Central. If anyone is interested in having the PowerPoint files with the slides, I will be happy to send them. Send me an Email at sam@srmccormick.net and specify what part(s) you are requesting. Be sure that the word “slide” appears in the subject line. It may take me several days to respond, but I will respond to all requests.
THE CHURCH OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
OUTLINE OF THE STUDY
I. Introduction
II. The Origin of the Church
III. What is the church?
IV. The First Christians
V. Authority in the First Century Church
VI. Problems in the New Testament Church
VII. How the Church Functioned
A. Introduction to Functions
B. Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers
C. False Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers & Various Gifts and Functions
D. More Gifts and Functions
E. Evangelists, Preachers, and Ministers, Servants and Deacons
F. Pastors, Elders, Bishops, etc.
VIII. How the Church Worshiped
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VII. How the Church Functioned
A. Introduction to Functions
This section is about the functions of the members of the church insofar as they are recognized in the New Testament. We will study them in some depth – to assist in comparing the way we describe, organize, assign, and compensate those who perform the work of the church, to that in the New Testament. It is not an indictment of any person or congregation for doing what they should not, or for not doing what they should, but rather an examination of what we do, who does it, and how it is done, in comparison to the way those things are commanded, encouraged, or referenced in the New Testament.
The second purpose is to consider whether the things the first Christians emphasized are the same as those that we regard as important today. Originally, this inquiry was undertaken in the belief that in addition to conformance to the commandments of Jesus and the apostles, the
church’s acceptability to God was further predicated on adherence to the same procedures, practices, and methods the first century Christians used. But over the years, my intermittent study of this subject has shown me that we fare poorly in that comparison, and so my studies moved to a comparison to the New Testament not merely in the early Christians’ procedures and forms, but the early Christians’ priorities, deployment of human resources, and the way in which they used methods that were well adapted to meeting the challenges that confronted them–some of which were peculiar to their generation--and the dedication with which they went about their duties.
I have said that we are not just like the New Testament church in forms, procedures and methods. But I do not argue that we are astray, and neither do I deny that there is value in seeking to be like the New Testament church. The question this series considers is “in what ways should we be like those first Christians?”
In the last 150 years, the emphasis has shifted away from the consideration of what kind of people Christians--with Christ himself as our model--are to be, and toward practices used in worship. Today, differences in the way we conduct Christian assemblies accounts for most of the divisions between us and other Christians, all of whom place their hope for salvation in Christ. I have observed that among the Christians I have known over the course of my life, “assembly” has come to be thought of--and therefore institutionalized--as Christians’ primary means and venue of “worship.” One thinks some things are admissible in “worship” that we believe are not, and another believes some things are acceptable that others do not. So it is not unusual that in a small town, there may be 2 or 3 congregations assembling mere blocks away from one another, their faith being essentially the same, but not enjoying fellowship across congregational boundaries because of some facet of their assemblies that divides them.
Invariably, they are separate from one another not because of some fundamental doctrine such as those Jesus taught in the beatitudes or the rest of his sermon on the mount, or the foundational teachings of “the apostles’ doctrine,” as was the earliest Christians’ devotion:
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Act 2:42)
They were not marking their territory by the buildings they assembled in; in fact, they didn’t have buildings--other than the temple (and no Christian could enter the actual temple building), and their houses.
Perhaps this narrowing of the perspective of worship from whole life worship to the idea of “assembling to worship” accounts for the rigidity with which some in approach the question of what is acceptable in “worship” and what is not. One wonders whether there is any possibility of ever drawing all of these conflicting factions into one “tent,” and conducting assemblies in a way that we can all do in good conscience. I’m not suggesting that we must all gather into the same building, but that we each have the spirit of Christ, and recognize that it also resides in others who draw different conclusions on matters of opinion, judgment, and preference.
Or - as one preacher described it - is it in the DNA of the church for Christians to divide themselves from other Christians over differing beliefs on procedures and forms? Certainly not, if we have Jesus’ DNA. The New Testament describes the church as the body of Christ, with him at the head. Comparison is made to the human body, of which each member is an essential functioning part. When all members recognize and perform the respective functions to which they are well suited, problems and burdens are minimized and the body accomplishes its functions and purposes effectively. If because of injury, disease, or other malfunction, a member does not perform its function, the result is pain, trouble, and danger to the body and to the carrying out of its purposes.
These ideas have been developed primarily with the churches in view that I have known while living in several states before moving to Montrose, but it includes examples from other sources and speaks to conditions I believe are observed in many churches in varying degrees. The conclusions and interpretations appear reasonable to me, and in some cases inescapable. Nevertheless, conclusions and interpretations are what they are--the product of my reasoning in the application of the scriptures.
Do not believe anything just because I say it. If something I say doesn’t ring true to you, investigate it on your own, but by all means decide for yourself what you believe and how you should serve the Lord.
B. How the Church Was Empowered
The functioning of the church is orchestrated by the Holy Spirit as the agent, or alter ego for Christ. The Holy Spirit does so by giving gifts which are to be employed by persons performing functions by use of the gifts.
Read 1 Cor 12 in its entirety. (We will later draw on Romans 12:3-8 and Eph 4:11-13 for other details about the Spirit’s gifts and how they empowered the functions of the church.)
We cannot clearly understand what the New Testament tells us in the depth I would like to without some occasional inquiry into the meaning of the words used in the original language, so as to get the clearest understanding of what the writers say.
We must now define a word – gift, or gifts - that is important to understanding the empowerment of the church in the first century, and why some things are and must be different today.
Grace, or gift – from the word charisma
Vines: charisma (G5486), (a) a gift involving grace (charis) on the part of God as the donor, is used in the Roman letter to describe God’s free bestowments upon sinners, (b) in Paul’s first letter to Corinth, of his endowments upon believers by the operation of the Holy Spirit in the churches...
Paul used the word charisma 5 times in 1 Cor 12:
V4 - there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit
V9, 28, 30 – gifts of healing, amidst a list of several others that are clearly gifts within the same context
V31 – earnestly “desire the greater gifts”
*Show diagram of empowering of the church
Talk through the chart:
The Head. Jesus is the head of the church, as we have mentioned that earlier in this series, so one passage will suffice:
Eph 1:18-23 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
The Holy Spirit. Before leaving this earth to ascend to the Father, Jesus said:
"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.” John 16:7
In vs 13-14 Jesus said:
John 16:12-14 I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.) He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.
See then, that although not present on the earth, Jesus is still the head of the church. The Holy Spirit would not have a separate agenda, but would take what is Christ’s and disclose it to the apostles.
Grace as Gifts. We cannot account for every action the Holy Spirit took on behalf of Christ, but the passage in 1 Cor 12, along with elucidation in John 13 & 14 show us that the Holy Spirit gave gifts to those early Christians, which are called grace, or as we would pluralize it, “graces” in John 12-14 and other chapters.
In so doing, the Holy Spirit was carrying out the will of Christ, the head, for dispensing grace to the church he purchased by his death.
Eph 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Paul then goes on to a list of functions that flow from Christ’s grace, or gift. We will study the Spirit’s gifts listed there in a later class.
Functions “God has appointed.”
In 1 Cor 12 we saw that God himself has appointed gifts to individuals, and along with those gifts, duties, or functions that employ the use of those gifts.
1 Cor 12:28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.
The gifts that each member of the body receives is as distributed by the Holy Spirit. Similarly, there is a variety of functions, or ministries, each to be fulfilled according to a member’s gifts.
1 Cor 12:4-5 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.
The eyes cannot perform the function of the hands. The head, as important as it is, cannot perform the function of the feet (vs 19-21).
Neither can the members of the body say, we will all be the head, the hands, and the feet, the heart, lungs, and liver. The parts of the body do what they are equipped to do.
C. THE FUNCTIONS
In conjunction with the functioning capacities, the New Testament mentions gifts that enabled persons to perform in those capacities. The gifts, and the functions they empower, are so closely coupled a gift and the function it empowers sometimes sounds the same, as in miracles, helps, and serving.
The gifts are differentiated from one another—all members do not receive the full complement of gifts, although clearly some have more than one gift.
One may ask, “What about apostles? Weren’t they the nerve center of the early church?”
Note that in this diagram, the apostles do not appear. Although the church was served by the apostles, and in some sense governed by them, rebuked by them as needed, the church was not empowered by the apostles. The church was empowered by the Holy Spirit carrying out the will of the church’s head, Jesus Christ, in giving gifts to be used in the functioning of the church as a body – the body of Christ.
The apostles received their empowerment as gifts, or graces, from the same source we do—the Holy Spirit--although their gifts were highly specialized. They are in the functions represented by the lower box.
Many functions that existed in the first century are specified in three key New Testament passages.
• In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul discusses the use of gifts, and points out that there is a top tier of gifts (v28). Yet he explains that although some members of the body appear weaker, or less “presentable,” they are essential to the functioning of the body.
• In Romans 12:3-8, Paul encouraged his readers at Rome not to think more highly of themselves than they ought because of possessing spiritual gifts, though he emphasizes that all of them are essential to the functioning of the body. He discusses these gifts according to their respective functions.
• Ephesians 4:4-13 deals with unity and right treatment of members to each other, and cites several functioning capacities, emphasizing that they are to function in harmony.
Read Rom 12:3-8 and Eph 4:4-13.
In addition to these three passages, directions were given by Paul to Timothy and Titus with regard to establishing persons in functioning capacities of overseers and deacons in the churches they were helping to start.
Those instructions, in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, describe the qualities of men who are to serve as deacons, or servants. Instructions pertaining to deacons appear to be linked to an earlier occasion (Acts 6:1-6) in which a problem of neglect was corrected by selection of seven men to oversee a particular matter. A plausible possibility is that the seven men served in a capacity somewhat like that of the deacons about which Paul gave instructions to Timothy.
It is from these passages and various related references that we draw our information on church functions in the first century.
*Show slide with all the functions from all the verses
You will immediately recognize that functions are often overlapping - not only in the first century, but all through the church’s history. Some individuals have received more than a single gift, and thus empowered, performed multiple functions.
Some of the functions refer to the day-by-day activities of a Christian's life; others pertain to a formally recognized, appointed capacity.
1 Cor 12 makes it clear that the differentiation of functions was made recognizing that not all members were to perform all of them. (All are not apostles, are they? Or prophets...teachers...workers of miracles - v29)
D. Bestowing honor on less “presentable” members
Notice the inter-working of the parts, and the care they have for one another. Then, Paul goes into a discussion of the comparative honor of one part of the body to other parts, how they are of varying “presentableness.”
Paul accepts as a premise that some parts of the body are “deemed to be” (v23) “weaker,” less “honorable,” or less “presentable” than others.
Re-read 1 Cor 12:20-31
Thinking of members of the church body being more presentable, or having either greater or less “honor” than others, doesn’t sit easily with us.
Are there members of the body in Montrose. How and on what basis, are we to do our “deeming?” (v23)
What Paul says here is that in the church, there are those who have what are thought of as “greater gifts,” in human thinking, and for all I know, in God’s thinking. But we do not think less of those who have lesser gifts, but lift them up and honor the gifts they do have.
We praise our children for each little accomplishment – learning to feed themselves, first steps, etc., but when they are grown up those accomplishments are not praiseworthy any more.
When I lived in Virginia, attending a wonderful little church in Alexandria, there was a man named Johnny. He did not have a gift for plumbing the depths of theological mysteries, and their were many functions he was simply incapable of performing. But Johnny was happy to be useful in the Lord’s service in ways that suited his ability.
Johnny had, at some point in the past, been given the duty of unlocking the building before the times designated for assembly and preparing the building for the members to enter and enjoy a time of mutual encouragement and fellowship. Then Johnny patiently remained until the last person left before locking the building.
1 Cor 13 shows honoring others in action.
It springs from a problem at Corinth. They thought too highly of the gift of speaking in tongues, and therefore tongue-speaking members.
“If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and do not have love, it is nothing...if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing”
Johnny’s gift for punctuality and dependability in readying the building for service and securing it afterward is greater than speaking in tongues, if Johnny does it with love, as he did. At one time Johnny got the false idea that someone else wanted the job he was doing and, seeming a little perturbed that he might have to give it up. When he was assured by those in charge that he was doing a fine job and we wanted him to continue to do it, his face beamed like a sunny summer day!
Love is the great equalizer. It lifts up the lowly--and by their own choice--brings the mighty low.
Having read 1 Cor 12:20-31, we cannot deny that there are greater and lesser gifts. But the possession of a “greater” gift must not be a reason for pride, for the lesser gifts are also important, and all gifts come from the same Spirit who gives them.
With this in mind, let us begin to examine the functions.
“First apostles, second prophets, third teachers” (1 Cor 12:28)
First, second, and third--what does that sequence mean? Is it intended chronologically, in order of importance, or something else?
Let us see. We will examine that question in Part 7B of this series - “Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers.”
