In our last study we looked at two gifts that God gave to His church, apostles and prophets. And we saw how these offices have passed off the scene after laying a foundation for the church to be built upon. In this study we are going to be looking at 3 other gifts that God gave to His church, that is evangelists, pastor-teachers and teachers.

Our Scripture reference point is Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 7, which says "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says: ‘When He ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.’...And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-16.

Now the reason Christ gave these men, these offices to the church was for the equipping of the saints so that they might do the work of the ministry, to build up and encourage the body of Christ so that the Holy Spirit may transform us into the image of Christ, which is a life-long process.

And the three offices we are going to be looking at in this study are very much in operation today, or at least they should be. Without them there is much confusion in the church, uncertainty, not knowing what to believe and what not to believe. As Paul said "...that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting." Ephesians 4:14.

EVANGELIST

The first office we are going to look at is that of the evangelist. The Greek word is EUAGGELISTES, which means "one who declares good news." In other words it speaks of proclaiming the Gospel message.

Now in the broadest sense of the word, not speaking of the office of an evangelist, we are all called to evangelize. Jesus said in Mark 16:15-16 "...‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’"

Notice, He said "go" not "come" into the church and get saved, even though that does happen. We are to go out into the world and share our faith. We are to let our light shine in a world that is living in darkness.

In saying that, it has been estimated that 95% of all church members have never led anyone to Christ. Why do you think that is? Maybe they are afraid to do that? Maybe they don’t know how to share their faith? Those would be very good guesses, and that is what I would think, but it is wrong!

Dr. D. James Kennedy has a seminar called Evangelism Explosion to help teach people how to share their faith. And they did a survey to find out why people don’t share their faith, and the results were shocking. The number one reason why people don’t share their faith is they feel their lives don’t match up to what they are saying. They are not living what they believe! The only solution to that is to repent before God and walk in a manner that would be worthy of the high calling by which you have been called, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our lives.

Now living a life that is pleasing to God will cause people to take notice. But understand this, that only opens a door for you to share your faith. You see, faith doesn’t come by seeing! Paul said in Romans 10:17 "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Thus, our life should open a door by which we can speak the Gospel message, and as we do, lives will be changed, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12.

In saying that, there are some who have this gift, they are evangelists. And you talk to people who have this office, and people are getting saved all the time. Waiting in line at the movies, people get saved. The waitress at the restaurant gets saved while the person is ordering his meal. He comes out of the bathroom and someone got saved in there! And it makes you nuts, thinking their must be something wrong with you. You present the same information, the same message as they do, but you don’t have the same results. It is because they have this gift. It is a divine appointment by God and they do get results. And it does make me nuts, but I don’t have this gift, but in saying that it shouldn’t stop us from sharing our faith.

When we think of an evangelist we many times think of the old tent meetings where Hell, fire and brimstone was preached. And yet the word evangelist means "one who declares good news". Yes, people need to be aware that they are sinners, but, as Paul said in Romans 2:4, "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" Let us not forget that fact, it is His love that draws people to Him!

Now the New Testament evangelist went to where the sinners were, he didn’t wait for them to come into the church. And they preached the good news and as people got saved they would remain with them until a pastor could be raised up or sent to these new believers. And that is very important. Too often people go out and witness, see fruit, and then never follow up or get these new believers into a church that teaches the Word where they can grow in the faith.

In the New Testament we find the word Evangelist used only three times. Here in Ephesians 4:11, where it is speaking of the office of an evangelist. In II Timothy 4:5, where Paul is encouraging Timothy to use the gift that God has given him. It seems that Timothy had both the gift of an evangelist and pastor-teacher. And lastly, in Acts 21:8 Philip is called an evangelist.

We are going to look at a couple of passages of Scripture to show you how this gift operated. But understand this, all the apostles were evangelists, but not all evangelists were apostles. And as the office of apostle was passing off the scene, the evangelist picked up where they left off, going from town to town with the good news. They did not bring forth new doctrine or new revelations as the apostles did, but had the same kind of itinerant ministry as they did.

1. PETER THE EVANGELIST - ACTS 2

On the day of Pentecost, as the 120 disciples were empowered by the Spirit of God and they spoke in languages they didn’t understand, Peter stands up and points the crowd that had gathered around them to the Scriptures. He tells them that this is what the prophet Joel spoke of.

And from there, Peter launches into a sermon that is clear, it is concise, and it is Christ centered. That is the way all teaching should be. Lets pick up His sermon beginning in verse 22 of Acts chapter 2. We read "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it." Acts 2:22-24. The focus is the resurrection of Jesus, and that is truly the heart of the Gospel.

The result is seen beginning in verse 37, which says "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for [because of] the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’ And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them." Acts 2:37-41. Notice, they were convicted, they repented and got saved, and 3,000 people came to the Lord from just that one sermon. And many believe that the 3,000 just spoke of the men, not the women and children. And it has been estimated that on that first day the church began, they had over 10,000 people. Peter was an evangelist, appointed by God for that office.

2. PHILIP THE EVANGELIST - ACTS 8

Philip was a lay person who became a deacon in the church, overseeing the food pantry, and then God raises him up to be an evangelist. And in Acts chapter 8 God uses persecution to scatter the saints and to spread the Gospel. They were comfortable in Jerusalem and now God was stretching them and sending them. And beginning in verse 5 of Acts chapter 8 we read "Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city." Acts 8:5-8.

Philip preached Christ to them, people got saved, and there was great joy there. Things were happening in Samaria, but Philip gets a call from God to go down to the barren, dry wilderness of Gaza, a desert! Why? Because there is one person there that is searching and he needs to hear the good news. That is the heart of an evangelist. It doesn’t matter if he is speaking to the thousands or just one!

And as Philip shares with this eunuch, he gets saved, there is great joy, and Philip is on the move again to the area of Azotus or Ashdod and then to Caesarea. And one thing you will notice with Philip and Peter is they were students of the Word. If God has placed this upon your heart, if you have a joy in sharing your faith, and you see results, know the Scriptures! You will need them and you will use them.

Now for the rest of us who don’t see those kinds of results, just take those steps of faith as God leads. We may not have that gift of being an evangelist, but God does call us to share our faith.

PASTOR-TEACHERS/TEACHERS

Now we are going to look at the last group, the pastor-teachers and the teachers. In Ephesians 4:11 it says "some pastors and teachers" and in the Greek the two are linked together, and it is speaking of the pastor-teacher. Then in I Corinthians 12:28 we see Paul speak specifically of teachers, and there is a difference, as we are going to see.

TEACHERS

First we are going to look at teachers, and this is a very broad office. Think about it for a minute. We have teachers at Bible Colleges, teachers who teach at seminars, teachers who teach small group Bible studies, teachers who teach through books they write, we have teachers that teach the young children in Sunday School, the middle aged children in Sunday School, and the teenagers in Sunday School, and-so-on. All very important, all the same office, but used in a different way.

And please, don’t take any of these teaching roles lightly, we don’t here at Calvary. There comes a big responsibility with teaching and I am always bothered when someone new comes into the church and is ready to come and teach a Bible study, even a Sunday morning! I don’t know them and I would not allow them to do something like that until I did know them.

James 3:1 tells us "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." You see, if you are not teaching right, be it a Bible study, Sunday School, in books, at Seminars, or whatever, then you are misleading God’s people and He will hold you accountable for that! I am not trying to scare you, but from what I have seen, especially from the televangelist’s, but not exclusively, they are taking away or adding to God’s Word, and they see no problem with that, and I think they are taking what James has said far to lightly! Thus, stick to the Word of God and you won’t go wrong.

PASTOR-TEACHERS

Now why did Paul say "pastor-teacher" and not just pastor? Because there is no such thing as just a pastor. If you are a pastor, then you are a teacher. You, of course, can be a teacher without being a pastor, but not the other way around.

The word for "pastor" in the Greek is POIMEN, and it speaks of one who feeds, one who leads, one who cares for a group of people just like a shepherd does for a group of sheep. In saying that, when I first met with the board of elders here at Calvary, they wanted to know what my plans were if I was the pastor of this church. And what God had shown me before I even met with these men was as simple as this. To make these people the best loved and the best fed people in Manitowoc. That is my hearts desire.

Now I firmly believe that God has placed the pastor as the shepherd over local flocks. I don’t believe the church is run by congregational rule, where everyone votes on what to do, what to teach. That is very dangerous because you have the sheep leading the shepherd, and in any given church 10% are the core or heart of the church. Another 30% are just getting fired up for the Lord. But 60% are new believers and unbelievers just checking out the church. Thus, you have the 60% leading the 40%!

I also don’t believe the church is run by the elders, where the pastor is just one of the elders, all are equal. And in a situation like that, the pastor can be told what to teach, and-so-on. He is a hireling not a shepherd. He is controlled by the elders. I don’t think the Scriptures support this either.

I truly see that the pastor is the shepherd of the church, and he leads them as he is lead by God. Now if you don’t believe your pastor is being led by God, what are you doing in that church! Yes a pastor is an elder, PRESBUTEROS in the Greek. We see that in Acts 20:17 where Paul is calling for the pastors of the local churches in Ephesus to come out to meet him. The thing we need to remember is that not all elders are pastors. An elder deals with the spiritual matters of the church, a deacon with the physical matters of the church. These men are there to assist in the work, to support the pastor, but too often they try to usurp that position.

If you look at I Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9, which gives us the qualifications for bishops, or overseers, EPISKOPOS in the Greek, you will notice that "bishop" is in the singular, not the plural, speaking of the pastor. And both in I Timothy and Titus they are to be able to teach sound doctrine. But in I Timothy 5:17 we read "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine." This can’t be just speaking of pastors, for some of the elders didn’t teach! And so, all pastors are elders, but not all elders are pastors or bishops!

Now what is the primary responsibility of the pastor? Interestingly enough a survey was done to find out what the ideal pastor was like. And in this survey they wanted people to write down the time a pastor should spend in Bible study, visiting members of his church, visiting the sick in the hospital, counseling, administrative work, and-so-on. When they averaged things all out they discovered that the average Christian expects their pastor to put in 135 ½ hours per week in ministry! That would leave 32 ½ hours per week to eat, sleep, spend time with their family. That is about 4 ½ hours a day!

Now I don’t see that here in our congregation but that is the mentality in many churches. It’s like going to a football game, where you have 22 people doing all the work on the field, and 60,000 people in the stands just sitting and watching. And many pastors have burned themselves out doing it all, because you can’t! That is why it is the body of Christ. I am so blessed here, that in this small body of believers, many are involved in the work of the ministry, which frees me up to study the word.

There are basically three primary responsibilities that a pastor has for his flock, and lets look at those for a few minutes.

THREE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES FOR A PASTOR

1. GUIDE

The pastor is to lead his flock down the right path. You see, there are so many paths out there competing for their attention, but there is the right one they are to travel on. And the way a pastor guides his flock is by example. You see, you don’t drive sheep from behind like cattle, but you lead them by going out in front and showing them the way.

In II Timothy 3:16-17 we read "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." Here is a difficult area. People, for the most part, have no problem with what is right, what is wrong, how to stay right, but when I, as a pastor have to correct someone, then I am unloving, uncaring, and-so-on. I must say that when someone receives what I have to say, and they may not agree with it at first, but they pray about it, beautiful things come out of that. When I see people get angry because of what I have to say, that rebellion tends to grow, things may get ugly, and many times that person will leave the church because they don’t want to be corrected.

I think, for the most part, I am pretty gracious, at least I try to be. In fact, when compared to Paul the apostle, I’m a pushover. Paul named names in letters of people who were in rebellion, read in front of the congregation to expose their sin. Why? So they would get right! Yes, Paul told Timothy "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." A shepherd is to lead his flock down the right path, and correct them when they are heading in the wrong direction.

2. GRAZE

As a shepherd we are to bring the sheep into rich, fertile fields to feed upon, that is the Word of God. We are to teach them for if we don’t they well be spiritually sick and malnourished. There are so many winds of doctrine blowing through the church today, no wonder the sheep are so sick, weak, and easy prey for the wolves that are out there.

Remember what Jesus said to Peter, that if you love Him, that is love Jesus, "Feed My lambs", "Tend My sheep", "Feed My sheep". And Peter never forgot what Jesus said to him. In I Peter 5:2-4 we read "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away."

Speaking to pastors, he is telling them not to be in the ministry because of some duty, but do it joyfully unto the Lord. Don’t do it for the money but from the heart. Don’t do it to lord over the people, but serve them, be examples to them. My pastor, Phil Ballmaier is that kind of example to me, and I thank God for this man and the example he has given to me on what a shepherd is all about. Feed the flock that God has given you with the rich Word of God!

3. GUARD

As a pastor, as a shepherd, I am to guard the sheep from the wolves who come in disguised as Christians, as sheep, but are ready to destroy and devour the sheep with their false doctrine. A shepherd needed to be on guard at all times, watching over the sheep, and if a wolf was spotted, they would launch their rod to send those wolves scampering away. Folks, I am sorry to say that in the church today we have people protecting the wolves instead of exposing them, and that is wrong. If someone came into this church leading this flock astray, they would either stop what they are teaching, or they would leave the church, end of story. Now some may feel that is harsh, but how many of you would allow your children to play with wolves? None of you, and I won’t allow wolves to come in and destroy the sheep God has entrusted to me.

Now some like to say, "What gives you the right to do that?" The Word of God! Paul said in Acts 20:28 to the Ephesian pastors, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." God has made me an overseer in this church, and to allow false doctrine in would show my lack of concern for the sheep that God has entrusted to me, the sheep He has purchased with His own blood! If someone did begin teaching false doctrine, Paul told Timothy what to do. He said "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia-- remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine." I Timothy 1:3. A shepherd is to protect his sheep, to guard them.

In all three of these areas we have just looked at, GUIDING, GRAZING, and GUARDING, they all contain one important element, the teaching of God’s Word! You teach them so they know where to go. You teach them so they can feed on the nutrients of God’s Word and be strengthened in the inner man. You teach them so they are aware of the danger that is out there. It is as Nehemiah 8:8 says, "So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading." Ezra read the Word, explained the Word, and then he applied the Word to their lives! That is what I try to do here at Calvary Chapel.

Now for those pastors that are not feeding their flock, they are hirelings, more concerned about their own well being than shepherding the flock. Listen to what God has to say in Ezekiel 34:1-10 regarding false shepherds. He said "And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to the shepherds: "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them." 'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: "as I live," says the Lord GOD, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"-- 'therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD! 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them."

Remember, a pastors responsibility is to guide the sheep, allow the sheep to graze on the Word of God, and guard the sheep from the wolves that are coming in to destroy them. It is truly a shame that when leaders are looking for a pastor they look for someone who is good with people, good with administrative type work, and teaching, if it is thought of at all, it is at the bottom of the list, and that should not be.

As I bring this study to a close, let me share with you what Ann Landers found out when she tried to discover what the perfect pastor was all about. In her story, The Perfect Pastor, she said:

"The results of a computerized survey indicated the perfect pastor preaches exactly 15 minutes. [I’m already out of the picture]. He condemns sin but never embarrasses anyone. He works from 8 in the morning till midnight and is also the janitor. He makes $60 a week, wears new clothes, drives a new car and gives $50 a week to the poor. He’s 28 years old and has been preaching for 25 years. He is wonderful, gentle and handsome and loves to work with teenagers and spends countless hours with senior citizens and makes 15 calls a day on parish families, shut-in’s and hospital patients. And he is always in his office when you need him. If your pastor doesn’t measure up simply send this letter to 6 other parishes that are tired of their pastors too, then bundle up your pastor and send him to the church at the top of the list. And in one week you’ll receive 1,643 pastors. One of them should be perfect."

There is no such thing as a perfect pastor, but pastor’s need to remember that you can’t please everyone, and you won’t! Serve God, please the Lord, do those things that God is leading you to do, and you will be rewarded for faithful service.

Evangelists, pastor-teachers, and teachers are given as gifts to the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we are transformed into His image when we go to be with Him!