Quoting from Psa. 68:18,18Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68:18) the Apostle Paul wrote, " Wherefore He saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men... And He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers " (Eph. 4:88Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Ephesians 4:8) and 11).
We are told that the saints " are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone " (Eph. 2:2020And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (Ephesians 2:20)).
CHRIST HAS THE SUPREME PLACE.
The supreme place of Christ must be strenuously upheld. He gives character to the church, It was upon the confession of His Person that the Lord would build His assembly. The apostle Peter, quoting the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone " (1 Peter 2:66Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (1 Peter 2:6)) goes on to say, " Unto you that believe He is precious" [literally, the preciousness, N. Tr.]. Once get the
eye off Christ and the key to everything is lost.
If our earth got out of right relation to the sun, disaster untold would be the inevitable result. So it is with Christ and His assembly.
The figure of the church as the body of Christ emphasizes this. Of what use is the body without the head? The head is vital to the body clearly, The remedy for the assembly troubles in Colosse lay in holding the Head.
That would deliver them from," philosophy and vain deceit "-modernism-on the one hand; and occupation with ordinances-" touch not; taste not; handle not "-ritualism-on the other hand. Holding the Head is surely looking to the Lord in glory for sustainment and direction, keeping in touch with Him.
The writer once heard an old Christian say quaintly, " Brethren, if we hold the Head we shall hold each other." Surely all denominationalism and division are only the fruits of not holding. the Head.
THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS.
The apostles and prophets were the foundation of the assembly. They clearly held an important and unique position. It was theirs to introduce Christianity into the world. For this a certain qualification was necessary.
In proposing the choice of an apostle to take the place rendered vacant by the death of Judas Iscariot the Apostle Peter stressed that the ('choice must fall on one who had companied with the Lord since the baptism of John unto the day of His ascension, a great point being that " one be ordained to be a witness with us of the resurrection " (Acts 1:2222Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. (Acts 1:22)). Further the apostles cast lots, so that the ordination might be the Lord's!
The Apostle Paul's ordination was peculiar to himself and on different lines. His life's work for the Lord and His ministry. were special to himself and of surpassing importance. The wisdom of God is clearly seen in this.
By the light above the brightness of the sun arrested, and by the Lord's own voice from heaven converted, Paul could witness to the resurrection of the Lord with power. Subsequently caught up to the third heaven he saw and heard the Lord. Were ever apostolic credentials more wonderful?
A DEFINITION OF GIFT.
The best definition of gift the writer has ever heard is, " The expression of an impression." What a deep impression must have been made on the apostles' minds as they journeyed with the Lord during those memorable three and a half years, as they witnessed that wonderful atoning death, and then what a deep impression must have been made when the verity of the resurrection of Christ was forced upon their unbelieving minds.
It was like the laying of a cold fire, and then on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit lit the fire and the apostolic testimony blazed forth.
What a deep impression was made upon Saul of Tarsus on that ever-memorable journey to Damascus, when he was chosen to be a minister and witness " both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee " (Acts 26:1616But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; (Acts 26:16)).
Moreover there was the ability given to express what had been impressed, and also the revelation of the fullness of the gospel and the teaching as to the assembly of God in all its aspects. More was communicated to the apostle Paul than to the others. Each was filled and furnished for his task.
The Acts of the Apostles in the main confines its narrations to the ministries of the apostles Peter a nd Paul, more particularly of the latter. The Epistles bring out the doctrines. Thus the foundation was laid.
The prophets are associated with the apostles in the laying of the foundation. Weather from 1 Cor. 14 the important position they held in the Christian assemblies. A prophet is one who reveals the mind of God in a special way for the moment. A popular notion is that a prophet foretells future events, but this is only a part of his work, and may even be wanting in some cases altogether. The New Testament prophesying is marked by speaking " unto men to edification, and exhortation and comfort " (1 Cor. 14:33But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. (1 Corinthians 14:3)).
Two points must be emphasized: -
Firstly, they were divinely, not humanly, ordained. Passing through a theological college does not impart to a man a gift. Gift must be divinely bestowed, "the... Spirit dividing to every man severally as He will " (1 Cor. 12:1111But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:11)).
Secondly, we believe in the early days of the Church there was a mighty action of the Spirit of God, so that these gifts had power and grace in such fullness as to make operative to the full the gifts bestowed upon them. Now-a-days thousands take positions in the professing church, ordained of men, who have little or no qualifications for the work they essay to do; in too many cases not even converted men.
APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION AN EMPTY CLAIM.
The Scriptures give no instructions for the carrying on of the apostolic office from generation to generation as was the case with the High Priesthood in Israel. On the contrary the apostles and prophets are said to be the foundation. A foundation is laid once and for all. One might as sensibily speak of the foundation of a building being carried up story by story to the roof as to speak of apostolic succession. Neither the apostles nor the prophets had successors-they formed the foundation.
It is true that the apostle Paul deputed Timothy and Titus to appoint elders in connection with their spheres of service, but there was no hint of these having authority to appoint others in succession.
Those who claim apostolic succession to-day are the ecclesiastical descendants of power-seeking sacerdotalists, who would enslave men's minds, and plunge the twentieth century into the medievalism of the dark middle ages.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY.
The only Scriptures in existence on the day of Pentecost were those of the Old Testament. Manuscript copies of these were rare, and mostly confined to the synagogues, and reading was the accomplishment of the learned few.
Suppose a town with a synagogue in it, where the Jews assembled, and who were banded together in bitter rejection of Jesus of Nazareth. Outside the synagogue reigns pagan darkness. Heathen temples abound with their horrid rites. Into this city come two men. They are apostles of the Christian faith.
The preaching of the cross is to the Jew a stumbling block; to the Greeks folly; for the natural man • cannot understand the things of God, they are spiritually discerned.
These apostles have got no book, embodying the Christian teaching as we have to-day in the New Testament.
The apostolic message is absolutely revolutionary. " These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also," was the cry of the fanatical Jews at Thessalonica. The apostolic message was alike the death-blow to an anti-Christian Judaism and to dark paganism.
No wonder it needed POWER-the mighty power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit-to reach, regenerate and save men, and bring them into what was very new and opposed to all the thoughts of men, viz: the Church of God.
And further the only idea the young converts could gain of how Christianity could change men's lives was to be seen in the lives of those who brought the message. So the apostle Paul could say, " I beseech you, be ye followers of me" (1 Cor. 4:1616Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. (1 Corinthians 4:16)). Would that be modest language for a servant of Christ to employ to-day? And yet surely it was right for the apostle Paul to use it, and he used it with a deep sense of the grace of God, for the Corinthian believers were inhabitants of a city proverbial for its dissolute wickedness, whence it had passed into a proverb that if a youth was drawn into wickedness he was said to be Corinthianized. The Corinthian believers were dependent upon the apostle's life to know what practical Christianity meant. On similar lines he could say to Timothy, "Thou hast fully known my doctrine and manner of life " (2 Tim. 3:1010But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, (2 Timothy 3:10)).
From every point of view the apostles and prophets occupied a very special place, and received special grace. Their work is done. The foundation has been laid.
EVANGELISTS.
An evangelist is characteristically by his very name the bearer of God's good news, the gospel of God' grace. Very little is said about the evangelist in Scripture-Philip is the only man called an evangelist.
An evangelist cannot be copied. There is a gift bestowed upon him by the ascended Lord that puts him into touch with men generally in the gospel.. He cares for men's souls. He lays himself out to reach them by the gospel. He is a man of energy and initiative and prayerfulness and zeal. He is moved by a divine compassion in seeking the lost.
The world is the sphere of the evangelist. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature " (Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15)), indicates alike the sphere of his operations and the constancy of his occupation. Men of that stamp have crossed the seas, and amid heathen and cannibal races have preached the subduing gospel of the grace of God.
It is significant that the evangelist is not mentioned first in the list of the gifts, but next in order after the apostles and prophets. The apostles and prophets were the means by which, once the initial formation of the church took place on the Day of Pentecost, it stretched out from Jerusalem, and assemblies were formed in various countries, as we have recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.
Why then is the evangelist not put first on the list? One might have contended that his parish was the world. Surely converts are the first necessity.
Yes, that is so, and the Lord Himself gathered the first converts during His ministry on earth, who formed the early church on the Day of Pentecost. On that day itself it was an apostle whose one sermon was used to about 3000 souls.
Why then does the evangelist come third on the list? There is surely a reason.
Let an illustration help. If a person wishes to keep bees, what would his first step be? Would he procure a swarm of bees, or purchase a beehive?
If he procured a swarm of bees and had no beehive, where would he put his bees? Surely his first concern would be to procure a beehive, and then when he got the bees he would have a suitable place for them.
AN EVANGELIST TRUE TO THE ASSEMBLY.
In a similar way God acts. The apostles and prophets, to carry out the illustration, make the beehive, in other words are used to the formation of the church of God upon earth. There is a spot where the converts can be brought to, cared for and nourished.
Only yesterday the writer saw two little thrushes more dead than alive in a park in the far north of Scotland, whilst most unseasonable frost and snow were making havoc of the fruit blossoms in the very last days of April. Having wandered from the nest they were like to perish in the cold.
So in the same way how helpless is a young convert. How happy for the evangelist to have the assembly to which to introduce his converts, where they can be nurtured in the things of the Lord.
It has been said that the evangelist should be like a pair of compasses. A compass consists of a fixed and a free leg-the fixed leg remaining stationary in the center of the circle to be made -the free leg stretching out as far as it can and taking in as wide a sweep as its length will permit.
So every evangelist should be loyal to the assembly, give assembly truth and principles their true place, and being true to that place go out into the world, and as led of the Lord to exercise his gift, and finding converts, bring them to the center from which he works.
THE EVANGELIST RESPONSIBLE TO THE LORD.
It is not that the evangelist is under the control or guidance of the assembly, but is under the guidance and control of the Lord, and he should not count in vain on the fellowship of his brethren.
If however the evangelist contravenes the truth of God in carrying on his work, his brethren should seek to recover him from wrong methods or ways. If these are persisted in, and sufficiently serious, it would be the duty of the assembly to refuse its fellowship with him in his work. What room there is for love and forbearance-" with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love " (Eph. 4:22With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; (Ephesians 4:2)). If the 'spirit of that verse characterized Christians they would not go far wrong.
PASTORS AND TEACHERS.
The very words chosen to express the character of these gifts go far to explain them. Pastor is the same word, which is translated in other connections in the Scriptures as shepherd.
Teacher suggests the thought of a schoolmaster, an instructor.
The Pastor or Shepherd cares for the sheep, will protect them from their enemies, will seek out proper pasture for them, will look after them when sick or feeble. Does not the character of the Good Shepherd in John 10 stand for a beautiful model in many ways of the Pastor? Of course the Good Shepherd gave His life for the sheep, and His death was an atoning death. This stands by itself-His death alone was an atoning death.
But in other ways the Lord stands as a model of the pastor or shepherd. Indeed the apostle Peter speaks of the Lord as the chief Shepherd, showing his thought that the Pastors are under-shepherds.
The Teacher on the other hand is taken up with instruction. It is his delightful work to open out the word of God to God's people. How necessary is his work. How much we need to have a true knowledge of the word-of the gospel, of. the church, of the history of the Israelites, of the dispensations, of the Lord's coming again, of prophecy, besides all the moral bearing of the Word on our life and ways, and also the revelation of God as Father, and of the Lord Himself, besides all the truth that subjectively is connected with the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
GIFTS ARE FOR THE WHOLE CHURCH. A gift is a gift wherever he finds himself.
A gift is not localized, but wherever the pastor or teacher. finds himself he can exercise his gift. An evangelist is an evangelist wherever he is, and free surely to use his gift wherever led of the Lord.
Gifts cannot be manufactured by official ordination. The only ordination that counts is the "ordination of the pierced hands."