MISSION NICARAGUA

This week I am with a team of pastors in Chinandega, Nicaragua.  We are teaching at a Bible Institute on preaching.  We have had over 140 pastors and church leaders attending this week.

"What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also."  2 Timothy 2:2

THE STANDARD FOR PREACHERS

If you were to ask me, “What are the characteristics of a solid pastor teacher?”  There are several characteristics I would list.  First I would say that they must know the word of God.  They must know what it says and how it flows and how it points Jesus.  A great preacher knows how most every passage fits in God’s story and how it ties to Christ and God’s Gospel and how it applies to us.

Second I would say that they must know how to communicate God’s word effectively.  A good preacher not only knows God’s word, but knows how to communicate it in a way it can be understood by the common man/woman and knows how to communicate it in a way that is captivating and intriguing.  

I would also say that good preachers speak the truth in love.  They don’t shy away from difficult truths in scripture, but preach them with boldness, yet they do it respectfully.  Good preachers can also effectively defend and contend for the faith.  They know God’s word so well that they can defend it and fight for it against skeptics and critics. 

Good preachers are also missional.  They have a desire to make Christ known where he is not known and be His witnesses to the unbelieving and watching world.  I would say that great preachers also live what they preach.  They preach to themselves and apply what they preach to their own lives as well as preach to others.  They are men of great integrity and display great faith. 

Lastly, I would say their message stirs great emotions and results in great action—both positive and negative.  God uses their words to bring the hardest of sinners to repentance and the most resistant of believers to obedience.  And their messages also produce great enemies.  Some of my favorite pastor teachers are some of the most despised men by the world because they stand on the truth of God’s word, which is counter to the world.  They don’t shy away from the truth no matter how it offends, but they defend it and contend for it.

These characteristics, in my opinion, are what make for great preachers.  And in Acts 6 and 7, we see all of these characteristics bundled up in the person of Stephen.  Stephen lived what he preached.  He was a man of great integrity and faith.  In the first part of Acts 6, as the church was getting more organized to better deal with their issues, they appointed seven men of great faith and integrity and wisdom, and of the thousands to choose from, Stephen was at the top of their list. 

We also learn in Acts 6 that on top of being a great servant in the church, Stephen went above and beyond for the cause of Christ outside the church in ministry.  Not only did he help handle issues within the church, he took God’s Gospel message out into the world in hopes of growing His church and advancing His Kingdom. 

He was a man of great integrity, and faith and wisdom.  He was also a mission-minded minister.  He had a desire to see the lost come to Christ and was passionate about making Him known where he was not known. 

In Acts 7 we learn that Stephen also knew the word of God and knew how to defend it and contend for it.  He boldly spoke the truth in love.  Stephen was a great man of God and the reason why he was so great is because he looked so much like Jesus.  Jesus was full of the Spirit, so was Stephen.  Jesus was full of wisdom, so was Stephen.  Jesus was full of power, so was Stephen.  Jesus was full of grace, so was Stephen.  And Stephen was the way that he was because of Jesus. 

For more on Stephen, click HERE and listen to “A GREAT MESSAGE OF FAITH FROM A GREAT MAN OF FAITH.”  

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

"The emphasis in Stephen’s life is on fullness: he was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom (Acts 6:3, 10), full of faith (Acts 6:5), and full of power (Acts 6:8). In Scripture, to be 'full of' means 'to be controlled by.' (Stephen) was controlled by the Spirit, faith, wisdom, and power. He was a God-controlled man yielded to the Holy Spirit, a man who sought to lead people to Christ." -Warren Wiersbe

THE GLOW OF GOD

Yesterday we looked at Stephen from Acts.  And of the many things I love about Stephen from Acts 6-7, one of my favorite details about him comes from Acts 6:15.  In this verse of Scripture, Luke tells us that while the Jewish religious leaders were trying to demonize Stephen, he simply sat  in front of them with the “glow of God” on his face.  Luke says,

And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.  Acts 6:15

These Jewish religious leaders hated Stephen, because he was traveling around to their synagogues preaching Christ and was doing great wonders and signs among the people (6:8).  And because Stephen was a disciple of Christ, these leaders of the synagogues charged him with being an enemy of Moses, of God, of the Law and of the Temple.  And we are told at the end of Acts 6 that as they are doing that, Stephen sits before them with a holy face.  What a rebuke!

Now what did his face look like?  We don’t know for sure.  We are not given a detailed description, but I picture something similar to what Moses’ face looked like when he returned to the Jewish people after spending time with God on Mount Sinai.  Stephen, like Moses, had the “glow of God” on his face.  Dr. John Polhill said this about Stephen’s countenance.  He said, 

Stephen’s face is described as being like the face of an angel. There was apparently a visible manifestation of the brightness of the glory of God on his face, as there had been with Moses (Ex. 34:29–30, 35).

We learn in Exodus 34 that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the Old Covenant, he had the “glow of God” on His face and in Acts 6, Luke tells us that Stephen had the same glow.  He was preaching on the New Covenant and about how the old is fulfilled in Christ and God puts that same glow on him.  Stephen was not Moses’ enemy, but was God’s man--same as Moses.  And he like Moses was delivering a message from God.  Moses' message was one of anticipation of Christ and Stephen's message was a message of fulfillment in Christ.

For more on Stephen, click HERE and listen to, “A GREAT MAN WHOSE MINISTRY MADE A GREAT IMPACT.”

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

Stephen’s face is described as being like the face of an angel. There was apparently a visible manifestation of the brightness of the glory of God on his face, as there had been with Moses (Ex. 34:29–30, 35).  -Dr. John B. Polhill

ORGANIZATION IS GODLY

 Have you ever heard someone say, "I believe in God—I’m a spiritual person, I just don’t like organized religion?”  Ever heard that or something like that?  I have heard professing Christians say, “I believe in Jesus—I’m a Christian, I’m just not a fan of organized religion.”

 

I had a friend I grew up with in church who got to the point where he was extremely critical of any sort of organization in the church.  He and a group of his friends decided to form their own group (which, by the way, sounds somewhat organized.)  They did not meet in a building--they did not have a pastor, did not have music, or adult bible studies or kids ministry.  They would just allow the meetings to go how the Holy Spirit led them to go.  Some meetings would last 30 minutes and others would go up to two hours.  Sometimes they would spend the majority of their time praying, at other times they would sing.  At times, people at random, when they felt led, would teach.  But their goal was to not plan or organize anything because they believed that anything organized was worldly and unspiritual.  They believed that anything in a system could not be of God.

One of my issues with this approach (and I have a few), is the argument that says formal organization is not from God—that it is ungodly.  I take issue with this and the reason why is because we learn from Scripture that our God is extremely organized.  He has created all that is and has ordered it a certain way.  

When you read the creation account in Genesis 1, you see that God is very orderly.  We are told in v. 21 that He created every living creature that moves, according to their kinds.  He created all these different species and made them in such a way that scientists can group them together by their physical features.  He is so organized that he brings the sun out each morning and the moon each evening (or keeps the earth revolving).  Everything goes on all the time as it should because our God is so organized. 

We see that He is organized in the way he has created and sustains us.  Think about our bodies.  God gave us bodies that are extremely organized in the way they function.  Now, because of the fall, we do at times experience malfunction in parts of our body, but our bodies were created to function and keep functioning in a very predictable and organized way. 

Think about God’s word.  Is it organized?  Yeah.  We learn in His word that he has chosen to use his people to write orderly accounts about who He is and all He has said and done throughout history.  Remember Luke tells Theophilus at the first of His Gospel, it seemed good to me to write an orderly account for you. 

So God’s Word is orderly.  And not only do we see that He is organized in creation and in His Word, but also in His church.  Remember he inspired Paul to write these words in 1 Corinthians 12,    

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

(VERSE 18) God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

You see, God desires for His church to be organized—one body with many parts arranged to function together in a cohesive and organized way.  

Now there are some who take this to the extreme.  Just like my friend's church was one extreme, there are others on the complete opposite end who say that the church is an organization and must be run like business and the pastor functions as a CEO.  They develop these complex organizational charts with various boards and committees and sub committees that oversee and monitor every little detail of church life and they provide five to six page job descriptions for everybody on staff and four times a year they have performance reviews.  And though they factor in the work of the Holy Spirit, He must work within this complex yet organized system. 

That’s the other extreme.  Both I believe are wrong.  You see the church is not an organization, it is an organism.  Now it is to be an organized organism—but it is an organism.  This is Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 12.

The church is a body—it is an organism that it is alive—living, breathing,  growing and maturing because it is made up of believers who are alive, not just physically but spiritually.  They are living, breathing, growing and maturing in Christ.  And it is an organized organism with many parts functioning as one body, with one Spirit, under one head, with one mission—to make Christ know and advance God’s Gospel everywhere.

And for the church to do this—to function as one body with many parts under one head with one mission, the church must be organized.  The church must develop ministries to equip God’s people to function effectively in this way.  The church must have a designated place to meet and set times to do so and have capable and gifted people in leadership positions in these ministries to help them succeed.  The church must be organized to impact the world for Christ.

For more on church organization, click HERE and listen to "ORGANIZED TO IMPACT THE WORLD."

"QUOTE" OF THE WEEK

God is not a God of disorder.  1 Corinthians 14:33