MCC Podcasts
Working It Out - Apostleship
This series, we were going to reserve the opportunity to go a little bit deeper in a book. Instead of racing in eight weeks or ten weeks through a book, we're going to be in first Timothy and we're structuring this series in such a way that we'll be able to spend some time in the text and to stop and linger when we want to. I don't want you to worry by today's example because we are going to go a little bit slowly with this book. This is the first in that series and we are actually going to get into the first three words of the whole book and especially the third word and stop. Now don't worry, we're not going to do that with every single message. We're going to get through this book in something sooner than 15 or 20 years it would take if we did this with every verse in the book. But all we're looking at this morning in this first in this series is the first three words of that book in first Timothy and they're words that often get overlooked and kind of rush through them to get to the other stuff. It's the way Paul starts the letter in verse one of chapter one, Paul and apostle, Paul and apostle and especially that third word, apostle. What is the force of that word? When we were preparing this series, looked at that and I thought, wouldn't it be fun to actually stop and talk a little bit about what it means to be an apostle, about the force of that office on the church, about the effect of the apostolic lifestyle on the church? And then I begin to ask the question, why did Paul mention that apostleship so often in the letters that he wrote? He wrote 12 or 13 letters and depending on who you, the person to whom you assign the book of Hebrews, but the majority of the New Testament. And in all of those letters that Paul wrote, he mentions his apostolic ministry except for in two of them in the introduction to the letters. So in Romans and 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and his letter to the Galatians, to Ephesians, his letter to the Colossian church and you understand these are cities or regions where the Christians had gathered and he's writing to the people, the Christians, the Christ followers in these cities or these areas. And he writes also to individuals and mentions his apostolic ministry. But in the church to Thessalonica, that second Thessalonians at least he mentioned that apostleship. And then in 1st and 2nd Timothy and of course in Titus, all of those, he starts with this idea of Paul and apostle and then he'll often attach sort of a commentary, further understanding of what he understands that apostolic ministry to mean or to be to him to what he says in reference to his apostolic ship. There are only two letters where he writes that we have record of and doesn't mention that apostle, apostolic ministry. And that's the letter to the Philippians and the letter to the Thessalonians, the first letter to Thessalonians. And there he in those letters, each of those letters, Paul is actually writing as though the letter were coming from his team. So for instance in Philippians, he starts out by saying this letter comes from Paul and Timothy, bond servants of Jesus Christ. In 1st Thessalonians, this letter comes from Paul and Sylvanas and Timothy. But in all the rest of them, he's writing and goes out of his way to reference somehow his apostolic ministry. And my question is why? What's there for us? Those first three words in the book of 1st Timothy, Paul and apostle, especially in light of the fact that when he writes to Timothy, he's writing remember to a young pastor who is an apprentice of Paul and he has a very warm relationship with Timothy. In fact, in the second letter to Timothy, most scholars believe that that was Paul's last letter he wrote. It was his latest letter. His last one he wrote before he died. And when you read 2nd Timothy, go read that. You'll see pathos just dripping off the pages and he's very warm and strong relationship and strong connection. And still he's referencing his apostolic office and ministry and function. Why? If you were to read up on that, you would find that for good reason, for good cause, different folks are going to say one of the things that's going on and why Paul references his apostolic office, his apostolic ministry so much is because it was in doubt so often. He was always having to defend the fact that he was an apostle because he wasn't one of the twelve. He became an apostle later. He became an apostle through a different experience, the presence of Christ. And there's definitely some truth to that. He needs to keep establishing the fact that there's authority in what he's teaching. Plus, he's sent to the non-Hebrew world to do his ministry. But I don't think that's the only reason that Paul keeps referencing the fact of his apostolic ministry. I mean, certainly this isn't Paul going out of his way to respond to some apostolic insecurity. Hey, I'm an apostle too. Hey, don't forget me. I'm an apostle too. You know, Paul's not the kind of guy that would put his title on his door. I mean, if he had an office door it would just say, "Paul, come on in." It wouldn't have all the degrees and accomplishments listed on the door. This is the same guy who wrote in Philippians chapter three when he's mentioning his credentials and his life accomplishments. Listen to what he wrote. Others think they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh or in other words to put confidence in their personal accomplishments. If they do, I have all the more and he starts listing some of his credentials as a great Hebrew leader. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews in regard to the law of Pharisee. I mean, that's like the law keeper of all lawkeepers and an expert in the law. As for zeal, persecuting the church as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. Well, that's a pretty strong statement. Remember all that in the context. Hey, if we have credentials about which we can brag, I've got even more than most. And then he says this, "But whatever we're gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ." "I've traded up," he says. What's more, I consider everything a loss, all of those accomplishments because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things and the all things in context really are my recognition, my pedigree. I've lost all that. And he says, "I consider them garbage that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." That's a better translation than many of the translations you have, but it's still a very polite translation. I won't use in this setting the best translation, but perhaps the cultured way for me to say this is that this could be translated as follows. I consider all of that, those accomplishments, those credentials, those degrees, the public recognition, and all the things that go with. I consider all of it when compared to the surpassing greatness of following and knowing Jesus, I consider it all as though it were feces, trash, waste, material. That doesn't sound like someone who has to be referencing his apostolic ministry out of any insecurity. He certainly is arguing and referencing the fact that he's an apostle in all of these letters for the sake of being heard. There's no question about that, but there's more to it than that. And I think some of the attachments, the commentary that Paul makes through these letters when he references his apostolic ministry, might give us some insight into what's really going on in Paul's mind when he keeps bringing up this apostolic office, this apostolic ministry. If you were to take all of those greetings and boil them down into the words that are attached to the apostolic reference, it would go something like this. He over and over again links himself with the concept of being a bond servant of Jesus Christ. You saw that in the Philippians reference where he doesn't mention his apostolic ministry initially, but he does reference that he and his team are bond servants of Christ Jesus. But over and over and over again, when he mentions himself as an apostle, in other words he says a bond servant of Jesus Christ. And the other thing that keeps being emphasized in all of these letters when he mentions his apostolic ministry is this. He says, "I'm called an apostle by the will of God." So several times he links being called as an apostle with having its source in God. In fact, in Galatians he even goes out of his way to say, just in case they miss it, called by the will of God, not called by human agency or sent out by men and women, but by God, goes out of his way to emphasize that. And those are the things you see attached in different words to this idea of Paul, apostle, when he's launching these letters to the churches and the leaders, young leaders, especially of these churches. He gets some insight into what Paul is thinking when he's referencing this office of apostle. Why in the world does that come up over and over again? Why is that so important to Paul? I think the best example of what Paul's thinking when he keeps reminding folks of his apostolic ministry is found in the greeting that we see in Titus. And so here you have an example of Paul mentioning his apostolic ministry, the servant nature of that ministry, and then giving us some insight into where his mind is when he mentions that ministry, by what he adds, by what he adds. Paul, a bond servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and he says this, in other words, here's why I'm an apostle, here's what I'm thinking, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness in the hope of eternal life, which god who cannot lie, promised long ages ago and he starts rolling on and on with this highly missional understanding of what an apostle is about. Do you see that? I'm a bond servant of Christ. I'm an apostle of Christ for the faith of people because God can't lie and God's got a dream and God's interested in seeing that dream come true. That's what me being an apostle is all about. And I'm asking the question, why does he keep bringing up that apostleship, that apostolic ministry, that apostolic lifestyle? Apparently that people stay attached to the apostolic task in the churches Paul started was essential to him. It's like he wants the word apostle apostolic, apostle apostolic, apostle apostolic to ring over and over and over in their minds and their hearts. Paul emphasized his apostolic office in order to emphasize the church's apostolic function. I'm increasingly convinced of that. It's not the only reason he referred to himself as Paul and apostle and then whatever was added to it, but it's one of the primary reasons. He wants to keep the apostolic before the churches he planted. Just a couple of points of support for that and give us some insight into how that was probably working with him. First is this, the word apostle and Paul's use of it sort of sets a tone for the church's ministry, the word itself. The word actually means something close to this. An apostle is one who sent with a mission or sent with a commission, sent with an objective, a specific objective, set out to some place that hasn't had anyone sent usually with a mission or a commission. They've been commissioned. The apostolic ministry then has a couple of applications and let's focus on those for a second. So the word apostle sets a tone for a ministry. Every time you're hearing the word apostle or apostolic, you think sent with a commission. Somebody sent with a purpose or a mission in mind. There are two applications of that apostolic ministry. One no longer exists and one still exists. And Paul, I think, is trying to say, don't forget the part that still exists. There's the apostolic office, the office of apostle. So there are how many apostles, not 12, how many, 14. There were 14 people who held the apostolic office and there are no more apostles in that sense. You have the 12 that walked with Jesus and then you have the one Matthias who replaced Judas Iscariot, who was chosen and then blessed and commissioned as an apostle. And then you have the one whose letter we read today, the apostle Paul. So there are 14 people who have held the apostolic office and there are no more of those. There are no more office of apostle people. Now let me say right now, there are clear thinking, wonderful, fantastic Christians and churches that disagree with that, who say no, there are still apostles in the same sense that Paul was an apostle and John was an apostle and so on and so forth. We're not among those churches, but we're happy to partner with them. But our conviction, and I think the conviction of majority of angelicalism is that that office of apostle was for the first century and it's done now. So there are no apostles that are going to come and say, thus say it the Lord, the same way the original apostles could come and say that. So that office no longer exists. However, there's the office of the apostle that was just for a time. But there's a spiritual gift in ministry of apostleship that the church largely ignores and forgets and it is still functioning. So there's a spiritual gift somehow of an apostle and there's an apostolic ministry that is still in play for us. And that ministry focuses on the sending and commissioning aspect of apostle. Remember, that's what the word means, one sent with a commission, one sent with a mission. Probably today's church planters and certainly today's missionaries, especially missionaries who are sent to people groups that have no gospel witness. They are the best, probably closest parallel, best application of the use of that gift. If you look at Ephesians chapter 4, we see reference, again, Paul's writing this, to the fact that God gifted people and then placed them in strategic ministry, different foci in local churches for the sake of accomplishing the task of God on earth. It says in Ephesians chapter 4, I'll begin reading in verse 11. So Christ Himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. There are four or five gifted people that God then gave to the church. The verse is immediately preceding us talk about spiritual gifts and God, granted these gifts to people. But one that's mentioned is the gift of apostle. So God gives somebody with a spiritual gift, an initiator, a launcher, a strategic ability to go someplace and start something and plant something new and break down walls and put something where there have not been anything before in some fashion. That's the apostolic gift, the apostolic function, taking new turf, loving new people, figuring out how things work and presenting the gospel there. And then God gives those gifts to the local church and among them, pastors, teachers, prophets, but among them are apostles, evangelists. These are the gifted people that God gives to the church. So the word apostle sets a tone for our ministry just by what it means. And we hear it differently than these folks would have heard it. And there's that apostolic ministry. The office of apostle is done, but the ministry of apostleship goes on. Paul's reference to himself as an apostle then reminds of his authority. But his primary point is to encourage the churches to remember the task of an apostle, to focus the focus of an apostle, the ministry of an apostle and our connection to that ministry. So with virtually every letter Paul writes to the churches, he's setting the tone of each church's involvement. And it's an apostolic tone. You catch that just from the mention of the word. It's a tone that reminds us that we're called together as a church with a mission in mind. That the tone of every Christian church is a missionary tone. Second and final point, the word apostle points not only to the tone of our ministry, but it points to the focus of our ministry. It actually directs us as though every time somebody reads Paul, apostle to whoever is receiving the letter, they're hearing this. Paul and apostle, don't forget that's what we're about. This is my ministry and that's what our ministry is about. Remember he's writing to churches that he planted and leaders that are leading those churches. And in Paul's writing, you almost have this sense that he sort of assumes, you know, if you understand my ministry, then you understand your ministry. There's not a lot of difference, pastor, he might say to Timothy, between what I've been called to do and what I'm now handing off to you, what you are called to do. There is the seed of the apostolic in that sense of initiating and going and the mission of God in every single local congregation and in every single pastor. So the word apostle points to the focus of our ministry, of every church's ministry, and every church's ministry is about or focuses on the mission of God. If you can discover the mission of God for the world, you discover the mission of the church for the world. And it says though Paul is saying the mission of God for the world is apostolic. It's about going and taking good news where there is no good news. Going and taking hope where hope has been ripped up by the roots in people's lives. That's what the church is about. Likewise, it's as though Paul is saying that's what every Christian leader's life is about. Every pastor, every leader in every congregation. Apostolic is the focus of the church and apostolic is to be the focus of the leaders in the church. Everything we do, everything I do as a pastor, everything we do as leaders, every training we go to, every person we meet, every heart we try to mend, every soul we're trying to invest in and repair including our own has some connection with the mission of God for earth. In other words, the dream of God for the world. In other words, what God intends to finally do here. You discover that and you discover what the church is supposed to be about and what every leader in the church is about. Jonathan, when you're working and laboring over the books of the church and we both know that's a thankless job sometimes but absolutely essential to make sure that we're aimed in the right direction. That's all got to do with the mission of God or it's a waste of your time. Where's Alan Edmondson? Is he in this room? The chair of our church. Alan, when you lead a board meeting, when you challenge the pastors to consider this or consider that, when we go to the Thrive Conference in Sacramento and we try to learn it's all got to do with the ultimate agenda God has for the world. The mission of the church for the world and if we're investing ourselves for any other reason or forgetting that whole reason, we are wasting our time. We're missing Paul's point. Paul is saying apostolic, apostolic, sent with a commission and a mission over and over and over again virtually every letter he writes. He wants the first thing, people here, when that letter is read publicly apostle to be apostle. Let's not forget why we exist. That word apostle points to the tone of our ministry and the focus of our ministry. I have a pastor friend who recently contacted me and asked if we could have a cup of coffee and of course I wanted to do that and at that cup of coffee he said it was a two cup of coffee. You know what I'm saying? He said I want to tell you that my board is dismissing me. What? Why? Here's how it panned out philosophical difference because this pastor I think rightfully so in being biblical in what he was trying to do was believing that the purpose of the church is the mission and everything that the local church should do has to do with the mission of God on earth. But his leaders had a different philosophy, a different approach and their conviction is that the church is primarily about the fellowship itself and caring for each other and building stronger relationships inside the church and so as they tried to lead in one direction and he's trying to lead the church to be more outwardly focused they couldn't figure out how to make that work. That's pretty different philosophies and the best I was mourning because this is a good pastor and a good church. As mourning on the one hand celebrating on the other the courage it took for that pastor to say no we are primarily apostolic. How could you read Paul and miss that? It's about the dream God has for humankind and the earth that he created for humankind to inhabit. You figure out what God longs for here on earth for every single human being on earth and you have discovered the purpose of the church the tone of our ministry and the focus of our ministry. Now I may be putting way too much on the fact that Paul mentions his apostolic office over and over and over again and again hear me. I don't think it would be intellectually honest for me to say scholars from left to right agree that that's the primary thing Paul's doing. I recognize that but it's one of the things he's doing especially when you look at all of the attachments that he offers in these letters. An apostle and then all this missional language you get some insight into what that means to Paul. That word apostle it points to the tone of our ministry and the focus of our ministry. Some of us recently went to Thailand. Some of our members three couples went to Bangkok and all were all over Thailand and we got to spend some time and the reason we went was to just try to keep in connecting ourselves with some ministry partners we have there and hopefully over the years be able to kind of infect our church with the love for the people of the world. And one of our great ministry partners is a missionary named Jim Gustafson. In my estimation he's one of the most brilliant missionaries of our time doing some great work in all over Thailand. And so some of us went and spent some time with Jim and we got to see a community that we as Mount Covenant have invested in and we're partners with Jim's brilliant ministry there in south of Thailand especially and there's a community of folks who through various means have contracted HIV/AIDS and they're infected and affected by that terrible disease. And we're just saying look we love human beings and it's not God's dream in the world for anybody regardless of the means by which they experienced it to experience that kind of terrible disease in their bodies. And if you think there's a stigma in the United States or at least has been for anybody that's contacted HIV/AIDS boy you ought to see what it's like in Thailand you're kicked out of your household you're not welcome in your village you have nobody nothing no support no help until the Christians show up isn't that interesting. And it's not surprising to me because the truth is even as is the case with most tragedies that humans experience the HIV/AIDS it's mostly the Christians who are trying to make a difference around the world not exclusively but so they're in Thailand the same way and we're saying hey we feel like God wants us to love those folks and so we've partnered with Jim and we're going to keep partnering with him great things are happening there one of the things we got to do when we went to Thailand was to sit down on the floor for a lunch with the theologians on his team they're doing some spectacular work and some great thinking how do you reach folks in Thailand with the gospel of Christ so that it's contextualized it works for them in their context but doesn't compromise what Christianity is the same time quite a challenge but apostles know how to do that they're gifted at that we set down with them in this circle and boy we were we were basically in on a great conversation with them that's what it turned out to be it wasn't them telling us stuff and the Americans are here so we got to actually sort of just sit in on this conversation broke out among them and Jim was translating the best he could but they were going at it this was not something they put together for they were putting together for us we just basically got to watch them dialogue theologically and it was spectacular it was a little bit scary and it was profound in it and one of our wisest oldest men who went with us on this trip sat quietly through all this and there are moments when I thought oh my what did they just say what does that mean because they're not being guarded at all in their discussions about contextualizing the gospel and at the end of our time the sky stands up highly respected man in our church he stood up and he said I want to say some things he said and and what I want is I'm paraphrasing so this isn't what he said but it's best I can remember I have learned some things here today in this discussion and one of the things I've learned is that American church needs to be much more clear creative forceful and those weren't the words he used but you hear what I'm saying in doing what we know to be right because he's watching them work through all of this stuff and I bring that up because it was especially rewarding to me they didn't know it but I had about a year earlier talked with my friend Jim Gustafson this missionary that was hosting us he's been investing in my life for a long time and influencing me as a pastor and I had come to the conclusion that there's way too much of a difference in the way I view being a pastor and leading the church between the pastoral gifts and the apostolic function just I need to be more like a missionary in my leadership and so I had said to Jim you know what I think we need to do Jim this about a year before we were in Thailand I almost feel like we need to take all of our denominations pastors and lock them in a big hotel room with the best of our denominations missionaries and not let them out for a year so that the missionaries the apostles among us can retrain us by how to be pastors can reacquaint us with the apostolic task that has always been at the heart of the church at least according to Paul Paul an apostle as if to say church apostolic sent with a commission never forget everything we do every time we do it every waking moment is about the mission of God it's cliche now because the quote has been used so often and I've used it before and I can't even off the top of my head recall whose quote it is but the quote goes like this it's worthy repeating the quote goes like this from this great author I can't even remember who it was says the church doesn't have a mission the mission has the church what is the dream of God for earth and humankind is it God's dream that folks infected with HIV AIDS and affected by all of that directly and indirectly should not be loved by their families is that God's dream really is a God's dream that children should be thrown away and used for profit by people with broken minds and broken hearts is a God's dream that some go hungry while others have way more than they need and let the food rot in the refrigerator is a God's dream that some folks struggle while others prosper is a God's dream that there be injustice is a God's dream that some people go without the message at least the opportunity to hear that Jesus loves them unconditionally is a God's dream that some folks have plenty of friends and some have none is it's God's dream that some humans are valued higher than other humans it is not God's dream for the world it is not God's dream for the world neither is it God's dream that people meet and come in contact with yet another benign church that's more consumed with its own friends and its own self-absorption than with a mission of God God dreams for a world that is no longer broken and for our lives with every ounce of our energy we are to be apostolic set with a commission to fix things that are broken every single man says though Paul is saying that and that alone is why we're planting churches that and that alone he would say Timothy is what a pastor leads a congregation to be may we never forget that ever