and for me, that
utterance may be given to me,
that I may open my
mouth boldly
to make known the
mystery of the Gospel,
for which I am an
ambassador in chains;
that at it I may
speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
But that you also may
know my affairs
and how I am doing.
Tychicus, a beloved brother
and faithful minister
in the Lord, will make all
things known to you; whom are I have sent to
you
for this very
purpose, that you may know our affairs,
and that he may
comfort your hearts.
Peace to the
brethren, and love with faith from God the father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus
Christ in the sincerity. Amen.
Ephesians 6:19 -- 24
We have now
come to the end of the letter by Paul to the Ephesian church and as we have
studied this letter along with the other letters that we have studied come to
find that there were many issues that were plaguing the church that needed to
be addressed. What was occurring in
Paul's day is also occurring in our day and we have issues that must be
addressed to bring purityinto the church and to remove them, the heresies, and false teaching that are misleading many people who love the
Lord Jesus Christ. Finally we need to
discuss the office of a presbyter, or as some would call, a pastor, a bishop, a
deacon, and deaconesses. God has set
into order the church by means of His appointment and it behooves us to do all
things in their proper order, most things that Jesus Christ has commanded us to
perform at stated times. Jesus Christ
has set forth offerings that are to be presented, and service to be performed to Him, and this is not some thoughtless or irregularity performnce, rather to be at the
appointed times an hours. The question that may be asked: where and by whom He
decided these things to be done? Jesus
Christ Himself has fixed this, so that in order all things piously done are
done according to His good pleasure, and be acceptable unto Him. Therefore, those who present their offerings
at the appointed time, are accepted, and blessed; that is in so much as they
follow the laws of the Lord, then they sin not. As we would differentiate the order of the church between the
leaders, and those who are following, that is, presbyters, and congregants,
both, are bound, by the laws that pertain to them. Every one is to give thanks to God in his own order, living in
all good conscience, with all seriousness and in a dignified behavior, and does
not go beyond the rule of the ministry that has been prescribed him. The seriousness of this can be stated in
this way that those who do anything beyond that which is agreeable to God's
will, are to be chastised and that chastisement may come from the pastors of the church who have been vouchsafed to the congregants to aid us
from the danger in which Christians are exposed.
An example
that we have is the order of the ministers in the church and we can look back
to the 12 apostles that preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, God set
that Jesus Christ forth, and the apostles set forth Jesus Christ. The apostles had received their orders and they followed His orders being fully assured by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ and the establishment that is to be found in the Word of God, and had
the full assurance of the Holy Spirit so that they went forth preaching and
proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. By this preaching to the countries and cities, they appointed
from their first fruits of their labors, those having first proved themselves by
the Holy Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards
believe. This is not a new thing that
they were accomplishing for many ages before it had been written concerning
bishops and deacons. The Septuagint
translated Isaiah 60:17, "“I will give thy rulers in peace, and thy overseers in
righteousness.” It is interesting that
the Hebrew word that is translated as magistrates is also the word that is
easily translated as governors, and the word for a peace officers are also
taskmasters, or as we would say overseers.
The apostles knew, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be
strife on account of the office of the episcopate. Therefore, according to this understanding, it is much as they
had obtained this knowledge before asked the appointing anyone to the
episcopate, they appointed ministers and then afterwards gave him instructions
and those instructions were to continue even after those people died. Those to be appointed are to be eminent men,
and have the consent of the whole Church, as are those who have blamelessly
served the flock of Jesus Christ in a humble, peaceable, and disinterested
spirit, and for a long time have possessed a good opinion of all, and cannot be
justly dismissed from the Ministry from the qualifications. Unfortunately, not only in the times of the
early Bible writers and apostles, even in our day, we can see that some have been removed from the Ministry, even though they had
fulfilled their ministry with outgoing behavior and with honor. What is more unfortunate is those that have been replaced with
men who do not meet the requirements of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have responsibility to guard our
congregations.
Paul ins
this letter with sending to the children of God peace, in love with faith and
this from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ and that Grace should be
with all of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity. Therefore, let him who has love in Jesus
Christ keep the commandments of Jesus Christ.
The height of His love as far as it can extend is unspeakable and it unites us to God. Love
covers a multitude of sins, bears all things, and has long-suffering. Love
admits of no schisms: love gives rise to no seditions: love does all things in
harmony. By love have all the elect of God been made perfect; without love
nothing is well-pleasing to God. In love has the Lord taken us to Himself. On
account of the Love he bore us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by
the will of God; His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls.
In that day the LORD of host will be
for a crown
of glory and a diadem of beauty
to the remnant of His people, for a spirit of justice to him
who sits in
judgment, and for strength to those
who turned back the battle at the gate.
Isaiah 28: 5 -- 6
Praise be to God He has appointed leaders
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