I thank my God upon
every remembrance of you,
always in prayer of
mine making the request
for you all with joy,
for your fellowship
in the Gospel from
the first day until now,
being confident of
this very thing,
that He who has begun
a good work
in you will complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ;
just as it is right
for me to think this of you all,
because I have you in
my heart, inasmuch
as both in my chains
and in the defense
and confirmation of
the Gospel, you all
our partakers with me
of grace.
Philippians 1: 3 -- 7
Friday was
a day off for me as I traveled to visit my children so no blog, therefore, we
take up this study of the Bible once again as we are now in the book of
Philippians. Before we actually delve
into this book we must take time to learn about what it means in regards to
church government according to the Scriptures.
Philippians is a good place in which to do this before we actually go
verse by verse, and see how those words are appropriate and apply to our
lives. Paul begins this letter, a
letter of thanks to the Philippians for their help in his hour of need and also
takes time to give them some instruction.
The Philippine Church was undergoing some strife and problems that dealt
with how the church was being governed and a loss of unity, a unity of purpose,
in attitude, a goal, a loss of labor for Jesus Christ. Coworkers in the Philippian church were at
odds with each other and hindering his work or proclaiming Jesus Christ. How often does this happen in the church
today where congregants are taught to run around tearing pieces of paper and a
type of pressure front seeking to pray for people in their healing and other
things that seem to be godly but in actuality are only giving them a false
sense of godliness. It is the Gospel of
Jesus Christ that needs to be proclaimed.
Furthermore, many people have various forms of church government and all
in all, they may not be so bad but are they based upon Scripture? Church leadership from the beginning of the
Christian church existed as can be seen by James being the leader of the
Jerusalem church. Yes, the Jerusalem
church was considered to be the headquarters, if I could be so bold to say
that, and this due to the fact that it was at Jerusalem were Jesus Christ was
slain, and where the apostles lived and worked in traveled from so it was in
that role for them to look to Jerusalem.
But there was not to be a Pope!
Unlike the Roman Catholic Church who has skiing their way to become the
sole leader of the Christian Church, yes, edition of, Cardinals, and others
informs of leadership, but the Pope when he speaks ex Cathedral is said to be
saying the very words of Jesus Christ's for he is the vicar of Jesus
Christ. No one is to say that they are
the vicar of Jesus Christ. Just so we
understand this: a vicar is a person who is authorized to perform the function
of another. Now this seems to be
correct and in some sense,and it is correct for we all who are Christians are to
become in the image of Jesus Christ and perform His work
but none of us are to become the one who is the single officer and the sole head person
who is speaking as if he was Jesus Christ as does the Pope and his words are not to be disobeyed
when spoken ex cathedral. Leadership in
the church has always existed and each congregation had their own leader,
Bishop, Presbyter, to lead the church.
The officers of a local congregation were charged with carrying forward
in particular places the work begun by the apostles and their delegates. There were two kinds: Presbyters or Bishops,
and Deacons or Helpers. In time the
original apostles of Jesus Christ, those 12 men, died and passed away leaving
behind a vacuum that would need to be filled and this was by teaching and
training others to fulfill their role as teachers of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. It is necessary that there be
officers in the church for the church's preservation and well-being.
What does
it mean these terms Presbyter or Elder, and or Bishop or Overseer? The New Testament gives us clarity in this
area and can joins the two words, Presbyter or Elder, to be speaking about one
in the same office. We can identify
these officers from these following facts: they appear always as a plurality or
as a college in one and the same congregation, even in smaller cities, as Philippi. Furthermore, the same officers of the Church
of Ephesus are alternately called Presbyter or Bishops, period Paul sends
greetings to the bishops and deacons of Philippi, but omits the presbyters
because they were included in the first term, as also the plural
indicates. In the Pastoral Epistles
were Paul intends to give the qualifications for all church officers, he again
mentions only to, bishops and deacons, but uses the terms presbyter afterwards
for bishops. Peter urges the presbyters
to tend to the flock of God (1 Peter 5: 1 -- 2). Therefore there is an interchange of terms that has been
continued throughout the books, or letters written, in the early church so we
are also to understand that term in the same way. Therefore there is to be no single soul person who speaks a word
of God as the victor of Jesus Christ.
There is to be no lording over the congregants by some leader of the
church. How often we see this abuse and
if this occurs in your church this needs to be corrected according to Scripture. We cannot sit back and say well is wrong,
and do nothing, we are also to aid the leaders in keeping the church pure and
in unity. We'll continue this in the
up-and-coming blogs.
Turn us back to You, O LORD,
and we will
be restored;
renew our days as of old, unless
You have
utterly rejected us,
and are very angry with us!
Lamentations 5: 21 -- 22
Pray for the leaders of your church
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