Jump Start # 1485

Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”

  Something unique happened last evening. I got to spend the entire service in the pew, rather than standing behind the pulpit. I sat with my wife on one side and a friend on the other. My friend happened to have her Bible opened and I got to see something very special. Car guys like to raise the hood and look at engines. Cooks like to share recipes. Musicians are interested in looking at guitars and how fellow musicians play certain pieces. Artists are interested in how fellow artists paint a certain way. Writers are interested in what inspires fellow writers. Bible people are interested in Bibles and what others do with their Bibles.

I am one of those Bible people. So I picked up my friend’s Bible and flipped through some New Testament passages. She had circled some words. Other times sentences were underlined. She written comments in the margins. I flipped through several pages. Her New Testament was filled with such markings. Now what is especially interesting is to know the person who owned that Bible. It wasn’t too long along ago that she rarely came and even more rarely brought a Bible. She came from a religion that didn’t promote reading and knowing the Bible. We had many, many hours of Bible study together. Her faith grew. She not only obeyed the Gospel, but her two children did and later her husband did as well. You can’t keep her away now. She loves the Lord with all her heart. And now, that Bible has become a constant help and companion to her faith. In just a short time, she has read and thought and made notes all over that Bible. She knows so much now. Every worship she comes with that Bible, a pen and her notebook. She writes and writes. She’s still learning. I can call on her in a Bible class and she knows the answers. She knows that Bible.

And all of that takes us to our verses today. God gave. God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors. Each of those words involve different roles and responsibilities in the kingdom. They are not the same. However, there is one thread that connects all of them together. Every one of them taught. The apostles were commissioned to go into all the world and preach. Prophets taught. Evangelists were told to preach the word. Pastors are specifically tied to the word teachers in this verse. God gave teachers. God didn’t give entertainers. God didn’t give counselors. God didn’t give church growth experts. God didn’t give PR men, nor motivational speakers. God gave teachers. God gave those who would teach His word.

These teachers were to equip the saints. These teachers couldn’t do all the work on their own. They had to prepare others. Equipping means to supply. The saints, that’s all of us Christians, have a job to do. But to do our jobs well, we need the right tools. A ditch digger needs a shovel. A mechanic needs a wrench. The tools that God’s people need comes through these apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors. What those men did was to teach God’s word. In teaching, God’s people were now equipped. They now that shovel in hand and were ready to go get busy.

There are two more statements in this passage. It’s progressive. One leads to the next, which takes us still to the one after that. Each are necessary. And each must follow the one before. The teachers equip the saints. This allows them to do the work of service. And that leads to building up the body of Christ. Do you see all of that? Teachers teach. Saints learn. Saints then apply what they learn. And the church grows. That’s the way God intended for this to happen. The church didn’t grow because somebody had a Bar-B-Que out back. The church didn’t grow because the teens got together one Saturday and washed chariots for the community. The church grew because the members were informed and knew God’s will and they taught their friends and neighbors. A strong church comes from strong members. Strong members come from those who are spending time in God’s word.

God is interested in you and I learning. He wants us to learn His will. He wants us to know His word. In any format, learning involves some doing on the students part. Light years ago, when I was at Purdue, I took a lot of biology classes. That was the direction  I thought I was going to go. Zoology, botany, chemistry, biology, dendrology, forest soils—tough classes. We had to know the Latin words for specific trees and be able to identify different kinds of soils. One thing for sure, the kid that never brought his book or never came with a pen and notebook, didn’t last long. There was too much to remember. There was too many difficult words and principles that he had to learn. Notes and notes were taken. Those notes were later read over and over before tests were taken. That’s how it is in school. That’s part of the learning process. The better the notes the better one learned. It’s that way for math class. It’s that way for high school. That’s part of the education process.

Now, why is it that some show up on Sunday without a Bible, printed or electronic, no pen, nothing to write on and they sit there and stare at the preacher and hope to learn something? The same happens to some in Bible classes? They just come and sit and stare. Where’s their Bible at? Why don’t they have a pen? Aren’t they coming to learn? Then there was my friend’s Bible  I looked at last evening. She was a student. It showed. What she does shows that.

God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors—but the equipping for service and the building up of the body comes from the saints who are ready to learn. There is a role the teacher plays. He must be serious. He must do his homework. He must think things out carefully. But the student has a role as well. Come to learn. Come equipped to learn. Come with a Bible, pen and paper. Come to grow. Come to change.

My friend is Becky. She is one of many, many Christians that I know world wide that have learned from others and is now able to teach others herself. God gave and she took. God gave and she became. That’s just the way it ought to be. A well played guitar shows the marks of being used. A well studied Bible shows the marks and the wear of being used.

It’s been said that a Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to a person whose life is not falling apart. Something good comes from those years of reading, thinking and chewing upon the word of God.

What’s your Bible look like? More importantly, what does your heart and soul look like? Do they reflect a life that has been taught the word of God?

God gave…are you taking?

Roger