Look at what Christ told his disciples, and by extension us, in the Great Commission:. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age Matt. Christ was the fulfillment of the law and his apostles continued his teaching.
Therefore, they must study to know its fullness, and they must seek opportunities to teach it.
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The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory Col. The mystery Paul was focusing on was the gospel coming to the Gentiles and Christ living in them.
In the Old Testament, nobody knew that the messiah would come and indwell people, and, even more so, they never thought this would happen to the Gentiles specifically. Paul talks about this in Ephesians 3: The Gentiles could be saved in the Old Testament, but they never had the same privileges as the Jew.
Only a Jewish priest specifically could enter the holy place, and only the Jewish high priest could enter the Holy of Holies where God dwelled. These divisions made the Jews proud, and therefore created a great animosity between Jews and Gentiles. However, in the New Covenant these divisions have been removed. Jews and Gentiles are fellow heirs of the promise in Christ. Now, this gives us the other aspect of being a faithful steward.
For Paul, a Jew, to give his life reaching the Gentiles was phenomenal. They were separated by ethnicity, culture, and religion, and there was a heated racism that divided them. However, he was given a stewardship to reach not only Jews, but also those who were far away from God—the Gentiles.
Faithful stewards of the Word of God share it with everybody, no matter the race, culture, or socio—economic status. It was said of Christ that he was the friend of sinners Matt. He went to areas and to people who were not accepted. He was a faithful steward of the Word. This seems to be a common pattern among Christians: Unlike Paul, most are not willing to stretch themselves out of their comfort zone to reach even those who would seem unreachable. He reached out to people of a different culture than him and had antagonism towards him.
Who is God calling you to share the fullness of the Word of God with? Effective ministers are faithful stewards of the mysteries of God.
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If Christ came back now, would you have been a faithful steward of the mysteries of God? How can you be more effective at this? When Paul uses this word he is talking about being mature in Christ. We see this as the very ministry God calls pastors and teachers to do in the church.
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Listen to what Ephesians 4 says:. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves , and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming Eph. Paul describes the church as infants tossed to and fro by every wind of teaching. Being an infant is not bad.
Infants are beautiful and they are gifts to rejoice in. They symbolize life and the new birth. However, in using the illustration of a natural infant, if a person continues to act like an infant even as an adult, something is wrong. Something is wrong with that. If they need to be cared for and comforted every time they go through a difficulty or a trial, something is wrong.
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My baby daughter, Saiyah, is beautiful, but we fully hope in a year or so that she will develop more self—control and start sleeping consistently at night. We expect one day she will be able to feed herself, start helping around the house, start serving the church, start making an income, and even have a family of her own.
See, most of the church never gets out of the infant stage. They do not grow into maturity. They are not disciplined with getting into the Word of God and prayer. This is one of the jobs of a minister. The minister sees all the potential in a young Christian, no matter how long they have been saved.
They see the calling that God has on their lives and the things God wants them to do through them. And, they begin to invest in them so that they start to mature in the Word of God; they start to do the works of service they were called to do. This is what every minister of God does: Listen to the stages of the Christian life according to the apostle John. He says in 1 John 2: I write to you, fathers , because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men , because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, dear children , because you have known the Father.
I write to you, young men , because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. They have known God. They have a young and vibrant relationship with God, but they lack much else. They are strong in the Word of God and are now conquering the devil because of it. They are breaking strongholds of lust, depression in their own lives, and are also starting to help others. They are the front line of the church. They are out of the pews and now helping people to walk as God has called them to.
They have a history with God.
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God has carried them through trials, worked greatly in their lives, and like most good fathers they are always sharing their story with others. They help others through the testimony that God has developed in their lives. Another characteristic of the father is that they are giving birth. They have spiritual children in the Lord and they are given to mentorship. This is the pathway that God has for every Christian. Sadly, we have infants who stay infants for twenty years. They are in the pew and not going anywhere.
They are not helping anyone.
In fact, if the leadership of the church does not labor in maturing these young Christians, the church will eventually have many problems. Listen to how Paul described the church of Corinth:. Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? In describing the Corinthian church as infants, he said they could not eat solid food yet.
They were living on basic doctrines of Scripture. They were doing much of the same things as the world and probably at many of the same places. This immaturity led to jealousy and quarreling. Immaturity often leads to church division, church fights, and church splits. Paul said he proclaimed him, referring to Christ, in order to mature the congregation. He also said this to the Corinthians. This no doubt refers to preaching the gospel and leading people to Christ. But, it also refers to the continual proclaiming of Christ to believers as the model of our faith. We must continually point people to Christ and his example.
He is the example of how to handle persecutions. He is our example of how to pray. He is our example of how to live a life of faith and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are to help people mature, we must continually point them to the example and teachings of Christ. This is often the very area at which ministers fail in seeking to develop mature saints. Admonishment and warnings are needed. Look at what God told Isaiah to do: Raise your voice like a trumpet. He called Isaiah to shout it aloud and to not hold back.
He was supposed to declare to Israel their sins. This is difficult because confronting other believers about sin can mean making them angry, causing them to hate us, or even result in persecution. But this is necessary in order for all of us to grow.
It should be said that the manner in which we admonish and confront sin is very important. Paul said this in Ephesians 4: By speaking the truth in love, the church grows up and is made mature. We must tell our brothers in love:. These things must be said in order for the church to become mature. We must be friends who really care and not enemies who multiply kisses. True ministers practice admonishment.
Paul said he taught everyone with all wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. Effective ministers must apply the Bible to depression, lust, decision—making, dating, marriage, etc. Listen to 2 Timothy 3: By doing this, the minister helps the church become mature. What are the consequences of this? Listen to how Paul described his ministry: Did he rely on grace? Certainly, it was this grace that enabled him to work hard. Listen to Philippians 2: Effective ministers work hard even as God works in them. Listen to this commentary about the work ethic of great saints from the past:.
Martin Luther worked so hard that many days, according to his biographers, he fell into bed. We will never have an authentic, apostolic ministry unless we are willing to work to the point of exhaustion. But we do not have to be an apostle or a reformer or a preacher to do it. Some years ago a woman in Africa became a Christian.
Being filled with gratitude, she decided to do something for Christ.
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