Ephesians 4:11c
Pastor-Teachers
Pastor-Teachers
The Pastor is a Shepherd. Churches are not led by CEO’s. They are not led by Coaches. Jesus Christ has set it up so that His flock is led by Shepherds. Did you know that the word for Pastor is actually the word “Shepherd”? Ephesians 4:11 should say “shepherds and teachers”. Jesus is called the Good Shepherd (John 10), so He is actually our Good Pastor. He is also called the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5), so He is our Chief Pastor. And He is called the Shepherd of our souls (Heb. 13), or, the Pastor of our souls. He is the perfect Pastor.
Shepherds feed the flock by leading it out to healthy green pastures and clean living water. He makes sure their diet consists of the nutrition they need to grow strong and healthy.
He cares for the flock with his own heart. Each of the sheep he knows by name and personally tends to their individual needs. If one is wounded, he carries it. If one is sick, he carries it. If one is newborn, he carries it.
The shepherd guards the flock. Like King David when he was just a shepherd boy, the shepherd beats off the wolves and bears and lions and thieves. It’s his job to protect the flock from predators who would seek to kill and steal away and devour. And the more personal the sheep are to him, the more jealous for their safety he will be. So much so that the shepherd would sleep in the gate so that he himself would be the barricade keeping any intruders from entering the sheep pen.
If any sheep go astray, he goes after them. He loves the sheep, he spends his time with them. I heard someone say “A shepherd that doesn’t smell like his sheep is not their shepherd.” His life is open to them, it intertwines with theirs – they know him and he knows them. Like the strings on your shoes, the life of the sheep and the life of the shepherd are laced together. Life is done together. A shepherd spends his time with the flock, and, He spends himself for the flock. He spends himself in feeding, caring, guarding, living and loving the flock that belongs to the One He loves the most: Jesus Christ.
***So when the Bible says that Jesus gave some to be pastors in Ephesians 4:11, the implication is that these men are to be images of Himself to the Church. A Church should be able to know Jesus by knowing her pastor. The pastor is filling in for a while, on behalf of Christ, until Christ the Shepherd of our soul’s returns.
As you read through the NT you will find there are several different titles that refer to the leader (or leaders) within a church. You will see the word pastor, actually the only place you will see the title pastor is in this verse in Ephesians. Everywhere else the word is used to describe the work the leader should be doing, that is “pastoring the flock”, literally, “shepherding the flock”. But, you will also see the word elder. This doesn’t refer to his age, but his position. You will also see the word overseer. You might be tempted to think, wow, there are a lot of different kinds of leaders in the Church. But, when you study those passages, you find that these 3 different titles all refer to the same person in a church. For instance, we see that right here in the Ephesian church all 3 of these titles are used in one passage to refer to the same person in the church. Turn with me to Acts 20:17, 28. Then turn with me to 1 Peter 5:1-2. The pastor is the elder and is also the overseer.
In 1 Timothy 3 the qualifications for a pastor are listed, but, the word pastor isn’t in there. You will find the word “overseer”, which is referring to the pastor. In Titus 1 you will find again the qualifications for a pastor, but, the word pastor is not in there. You will find the words “elders” and “overseer”. All three titles (pastor, elder, overseer) refer to the same person in the church. So the pastor can be called pastor, but, more often the Bible calls him the elder, or the overseer.
The Pastor is also a Teacher. Then we come to Ephesians 4:11 and we find that the Pastor is also a teacher. Paul says in verse 11, “It was Christ who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers.” The Greek scholars say that Paul is referring to one person here, someone who is a pastor and a teacher. It doesn’t mean that teachers aren’t a separate group, they are. In 1 Corinthians 12:28 it says that “God appointed in the Church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers…”
So if Paul says “pastors and teachers” in Ephesians 4:11, what does he mean by that? It means that while every teacher may not be a pastor, every pastor is a teacher – and must be a teacher. Again, 1 Timothy 3 and in verse 2 it says this guy must be “able to teach”. Then again in Titus 1, verse 9 refers to another qualification of the pastor when it says “The overseer must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Paul says the pastor must be able to encourage and refute. Necessary and inherent in these tasks are the ability to teach sound doctrine. As a matter of fact, fifteen times in this short 3-chapter letter Paul mentions “teaching”.
And that is what is stressed in Ephesians 4:11 – that teaching is the primary function of the pastor. Every time you see him he is teaching. He is teaching by his example in life, or by explaining his lessons. You can observe him like a motion picture and you can hear him like a lecturer when he preaches and teaches. But always the man is teaching. Always others are learning something.
But what should be learned from this pastor-teacher? What is the pastor supposed to teach? Pastors are to Teach the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul tells the young pastor Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
In 2 Timothy 4 Paul told the young pastor, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word”.
In John 21 we found Jesus, raised from the dead, speaking with Peter. Peter had denied ever knowing Jesus 3 times only days earlier as Jesus was being condemned to death. But there on that sandy beach, early in the morning, Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved Him. Peter responded 3 times by saying yes. And each time Peter said yes Jesus said something very important. He told Peter, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus was not only reinstating Peter after his failure but he was instructing him on his most important task as the soon-to-be lead pastor of the newly born Church. His task would be to feed the sheep the word of God.
It is a commission that Peter fully understood, and a commission he grew more convicted of as he pastored the early church. Towards the end of his life after 3 decades of experience in pastoral ministry he had one thing to say to the believers: “Like newborn babes crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation”. It’s like he was being interviewed by a local underground Christian radio station and the host asks him, “Peter, you’re at the end of your life now, you were the first to preach a sermon in the Church and you are considered a pillar in the Church. You have since seen many thousands come into the faith and have disciple many men to go on and become excellent pastors in their own right. You’ve written 2 books that will be included in the Bible. You’re an old man now, and, since you know that you will soon be martyred as Jesus said you would be, what would you leave the rest of us with? What would you say to the new Christian? What would you say to those believers who have been walking with the Lord for many years? Since you preached the first sermon ever in the Church’s history, what would your last words be to the Church?” And Peter would say, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk.”
The sum and the substance of all that the pastor-teacher is to teach is the word of God. Nothing else. We have nothing else to say. And we should tremble if we say anything else because James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Charles Spurgeon said there wasn’t a day he went into the pulpit without trembling knowing that it is God’s Word he was handling.
But just as there is strict accountability for those who will teach the word of God, you are accountable in regards to who you listen to. I heard someone refer to what they called “longhorn preaching”. It’s when a pastor has a point here and point there and a lot of bull in between. Don’t settle for bull, as many are doing.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow [listen to] deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” He says in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths.” Be on guard all of you. Keep your eyes peeled. Be Bereans and test everything you see and hear against the Word of God. Don’t just believe something because it sounds Christian or someone says they’re a Christian.
The Bible says that with each passing day that we are coming closer to the appearing of Christ and that leading up to His appearing will be a great apostacy, a great turning away from the faith, a great delusion. Satan is the Deceiver and his power to deceive the world is growing stronger and stronger until his greatest deception, the consummation of all that is false, arises in the world in the person of the Antichrist. He is the false Christ. He is Satan’s greatest lie. He is not God’s Messiah, but, Satan’s false messiah. And just as Ephesians 4:11 says that Jesus has given some to the Church, we read in 2 Peter 2:1 that Satan has also sent some to the Church. Deception is the rule in this world so long as the god of this age is running the show. The word of Jesus Christ is your only hope for knowing truth. Do not be deceived. It is your responsibility to know and obey God’s Word. The pastor and the congregation together must esteem the teaching of God’s Word. So take responsibility. As deception increases, so discernment needs to increase.
Applications:
Here are several application points for us: First, do you know if the man in front of you is handling the word of truth correctly? God wants you to take the Bible in your hands and examine everything you hear.
But that brings me to my second application: Be serious about making changes in your life as you hear God’s Word preached. If the man in front of you is proclaiming God’s word accurately and truthfully, are you responding? Pastors have a responsibility to handle God’s Word correctly but so do congregations. To go week after week hearing God’s Word and not do what it says in your life is to handle God’s word incorrectly. It is meant to be obeyed. It is meant to build us up. God uses people to build up people. God uses pastors and teachers to build up His people. But that requires that we take what we read and hear and make changes accordingly in our lives.
Conclusion:
I want to conclude with what I would call the greatest joy of being a pastor. And that is telling you the good news of Jesus Christ. Has anyone ever told you the good news of Jesus? We need good news today. We need good news we can trust. It seems like lately the news is telling us there are a lot of things we can’t trust these days.
But the good news of Jesus can be trusted, that is meant to be trusted, and needs to be trusted.
The good news starts with bad news. The Bible says that if you don’t know Jesus Christ today then you are separated from God. The reason is because of your sins. And the thing about God is that He is holy, and He won’t live with sin. Death is the payment for sin. But He wants you to live with Him forever. So he had to do something about your sins. And He did. He sent Jesus Christ to come down and die on the cross. And when He died on the cross He took your sins upon Himself and paid the price for you. And the good news is that you don’t have to live a perfect life to get into heaven, you don’t have to be religious or moral to impress God. The Good News is that if you believe in Jesus Christ today and that He died for your sins then today you will be forgiven and have eternal life.
Pastor-Teachers
Pastor-Teachers
The Pastor is a Shepherd. Churches are not led by CEO’s. They are not led by Coaches. Jesus Christ has set it up so that His flock is led by Shepherds. Did you know that the word for Pastor is actually the word “Shepherd”? Ephesians 4:11 should say “shepherds and teachers”. Jesus is called the Good Shepherd (John 10), so He is actually our Good Pastor. He is also called the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5), so He is our Chief Pastor. And He is called the Shepherd of our souls (Heb. 13), or, the Pastor of our souls. He is the perfect Pastor.
Shepherds feed the flock by leading it out to healthy green pastures and clean living water. He makes sure their diet consists of the nutrition they need to grow strong and healthy.
He cares for the flock with his own heart. Each of the sheep he knows by name and personally tends to their individual needs. If one is wounded, he carries it. If one is sick, he carries it. If one is newborn, he carries it.
The shepherd guards the flock. Like King David when he was just a shepherd boy, the shepherd beats off the wolves and bears and lions and thieves. It’s his job to protect the flock from predators who would seek to kill and steal away and devour. And the more personal the sheep are to him, the more jealous for their safety he will be. So much so that the shepherd would sleep in the gate so that he himself would be the barricade keeping any intruders from entering the sheep pen.
If any sheep go astray, he goes after them. He loves the sheep, he spends his time with them. I heard someone say “A shepherd that doesn’t smell like his sheep is not their shepherd.” His life is open to them, it intertwines with theirs – they know him and he knows them. Like the strings on your shoes, the life of the sheep and the life of the shepherd are laced together. Life is done together. A shepherd spends his time with the flock, and, He spends himself for the flock. He spends himself in feeding, caring, guarding, living and loving the flock that belongs to the One He loves the most: Jesus Christ.
***So when the Bible says that Jesus gave some to be pastors in Ephesians 4:11, the implication is that these men are to be images of Himself to the Church. A Church should be able to know Jesus by knowing her pastor. The pastor is filling in for a while, on behalf of Christ, until Christ the Shepherd of our soul’s returns.
As you read through the NT you will find there are several different titles that refer to the leader (or leaders) within a church. You will see the word pastor, actually the only place you will see the title pastor is in this verse in Ephesians. Everywhere else the word is used to describe the work the leader should be doing, that is “pastoring the flock”, literally, “shepherding the flock”. But, you will also see the word elder. This doesn’t refer to his age, but his position. You will also see the word overseer. You might be tempted to think, wow, there are a lot of different kinds of leaders in the Church. But, when you study those passages, you find that these 3 different titles all refer to the same person in a church. For instance, we see that right here in the Ephesian church all 3 of these titles are used in one passage to refer to the same person in the church. Turn with me to Acts 20:17, 28. Then turn with me to 1 Peter 5:1-2. The pastor is the elder and is also the overseer.
In 1 Timothy 3 the qualifications for a pastor are listed, but, the word pastor isn’t in there. You will find the word “overseer”, which is referring to the pastor. In Titus 1 you will find again the qualifications for a pastor, but, the word pastor is not in there. You will find the words “elders” and “overseer”. All three titles (pastor, elder, overseer) refer to the same person in the church. So the pastor can be called pastor, but, more often the Bible calls him the elder, or the overseer.
The Pastor is also a Teacher. Then we come to Ephesians 4:11 and we find that the Pastor is also a teacher. Paul says in verse 11, “It was Christ who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers.” The Greek scholars say that Paul is referring to one person here, someone who is a pastor and a teacher. It doesn’t mean that teachers aren’t a separate group, they are. In 1 Corinthians 12:28 it says that “God appointed in the Church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers…”
So if Paul says “pastors and teachers” in Ephesians 4:11, what does he mean by that? It means that while every teacher may not be a pastor, every pastor is a teacher – and must be a teacher. Again, 1 Timothy 3 and in verse 2 it says this guy must be “able to teach”. Then again in Titus 1, verse 9 refers to another qualification of the pastor when it says “The overseer must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Paul says the pastor must be able to encourage and refute. Necessary and inherent in these tasks are the ability to teach sound doctrine. As a matter of fact, fifteen times in this short 3-chapter letter Paul mentions “teaching”.
And that is what is stressed in Ephesians 4:11 – that teaching is the primary function of the pastor. Every time you see him he is teaching. He is teaching by his example in life, or by explaining his lessons. You can observe him like a motion picture and you can hear him like a lecturer when he preaches and teaches. But always the man is teaching. Always others are learning something.
But what should be learned from this pastor-teacher? What is the pastor supposed to teach? Pastors are to Teach the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul tells the young pastor Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
In 2 Timothy 4 Paul told the young pastor, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word”.
In John 21 we found Jesus, raised from the dead, speaking with Peter. Peter had denied ever knowing Jesus 3 times only days earlier as Jesus was being condemned to death. But there on that sandy beach, early in the morning, Jesus asked Peter 3 times if he loved Him. Peter responded 3 times by saying yes. And each time Peter said yes Jesus said something very important. He told Peter, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus was not only reinstating Peter after his failure but he was instructing him on his most important task as the soon-to-be lead pastor of the newly born Church. His task would be to feed the sheep the word of God.
It is a commission that Peter fully understood, and a commission he grew more convicted of as he pastored the early church. Towards the end of his life after 3 decades of experience in pastoral ministry he had one thing to say to the believers: “Like newborn babes crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation”. It’s like he was being interviewed by a local underground Christian radio station and the host asks him, “Peter, you’re at the end of your life now, you were the first to preach a sermon in the Church and you are considered a pillar in the Church. You have since seen many thousands come into the faith and have disciple many men to go on and become excellent pastors in their own right. You’ve written 2 books that will be included in the Bible. You’re an old man now, and, since you know that you will soon be martyred as Jesus said you would be, what would you leave the rest of us with? What would you say to the new Christian? What would you say to those believers who have been walking with the Lord for many years? Since you preached the first sermon ever in the Church’s history, what would your last words be to the Church?” And Peter would say, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk.”
The sum and the substance of all that the pastor-teacher is to teach is the word of God. Nothing else. We have nothing else to say. And we should tremble if we say anything else because James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Charles Spurgeon said there wasn’t a day he went into the pulpit without trembling knowing that it is God’s Word he was handling.
But just as there is strict accountability for those who will teach the word of God, you are accountable in regards to who you listen to. I heard someone refer to what they called “longhorn preaching”. It’s when a pastor has a point here and point there and a lot of bull in between. Don’t settle for bull, as many are doing.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow [listen to] deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” He says in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths.” Be on guard all of you. Keep your eyes peeled. Be Bereans and test everything you see and hear against the Word of God. Don’t just believe something because it sounds Christian or someone says they’re a Christian.
The Bible says that with each passing day that we are coming closer to the appearing of Christ and that leading up to His appearing will be a great apostacy, a great turning away from the faith, a great delusion. Satan is the Deceiver and his power to deceive the world is growing stronger and stronger until his greatest deception, the consummation of all that is false, arises in the world in the person of the Antichrist. He is the false Christ. He is Satan’s greatest lie. He is not God’s Messiah, but, Satan’s false messiah. And just as Ephesians 4:11 says that Jesus has given some to the Church, we read in 2 Peter 2:1 that Satan has also sent some to the Church. Deception is the rule in this world so long as the god of this age is running the show. The word of Jesus Christ is your only hope for knowing truth. Do not be deceived. It is your responsibility to know and obey God’s Word. The pastor and the congregation together must esteem the teaching of God’s Word. So take responsibility. As deception increases, so discernment needs to increase.
Applications:
Here are several application points for us: First, do you know if the man in front of you is handling the word of truth correctly? God wants you to take the Bible in your hands and examine everything you hear.
But that brings me to my second application: Be serious about making changes in your life as you hear God’s Word preached. If the man in front of you is proclaiming God’s word accurately and truthfully, are you responding? Pastors have a responsibility to handle God’s Word correctly but so do congregations. To go week after week hearing God’s Word and not do what it says in your life is to handle God’s word incorrectly. It is meant to be obeyed. It is meant to build us up. God uses people to build up people. God uses pastors and teachers to build up His people. But that requires that we take what we read and hear and make changes accordingly in our lives.
Conclusion:
I want to conclude with what I would call the greatest joy of being a pastor. And that is telling you the good news of Jesus Christ. Has anyone ever told you the good news of Jesus? We need good news today. We need good news we can trust. It seems like lately the news is telling us there are a lot of things we can’t trust these days.
But the good news of Jesus can be trusted, that is meant to be trusted, and needs to be trusted.
The good news starts with bad news. The Bible says that if you don’t know Jesus Christ today then you are separated from God. The reason is because of your sins. And the thing about God is that He is holy, and He won’t live with sin. Death is the payment for sin. But He wants you to live with Him forever. So he had to do something about your sins. And He did. He sent Jesus Christ to come down and die on the cross. And when He died on the cross He took your sins upon Himself and paid the price for you. And the good news is that you don’t have to live a perfect life to get into heaven, you don’t have to be religious or moral to impress God. The Good News is that if you believe in Jesus Christ today and that He died for your sins then today you will be forgiven and have eternal life.
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