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Acts 14.23
December 4th 2016
Milk
Okay, so we left off last week at verse 22 of Acts 14. Paul and Barnabas had gone back and encouraged all those who had become disciples in the cities they had visited and been kicked out of – Antioch Pisidia, Lystra, Derbe and Iconium – and they encouraged the believers there – actually the Greek might be better read that they “re-encouraged them,” and we read they they explained that now that they had embraced the faith that they would enter the Kingdom through much tribulation. And we talked about what that meant.
Let’s continue reading at verse 23:
23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Okay let’s go back to verse 23:
23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Now, honestly, and not because I have a predisposition to Christian anarchy, but from a strictly biblical stance, we have to approach this contents of verse 23 systematically as a means to understand application of the passage today.
I say this because people read the passage in a vacuum and say, okay, there needs to be elders in every church of Jesus who are ordained – and from this myopic stance, thousands of churches have attempted to apply this model to their brick and mortar church governance.
You may not realize this but we are taking our time through every book of the New Testament as a means to contextually understand how the information contained herein ought to be applied without paying any attention to what has happened in the past – through tradition.
The first element that plays just the most vital role in our assessment of the information before us is to understand who it was too, why it was to them, what was the setting or context of the instructions given.
Jesus came, He instructed His apostles to go into all Judea and share the Good News. He told them that they would be lead of the Holy Spirit and whatever they established on earth would have validation in heaven.
And all of the chosen apostles went forward and did as they were told – with all of them who wrote telling all whom they taught that He was coming back to save them from pending destruction.
I won’t take the time to prove this but the evidence is so overwhelming that our world’s best New Testament scholars all admit that the apostles fully believed – rightfully or wrongfully – that Jesus was returning in their day to pour judgment on those who rejected Him and to rescue – take up – those who received Him.
So the first point to consider, being this is Milk, is Jesus’ return. If He did not return as the apostles maintained He would in that day, then what we read happening here in Acts – the electing and choosing Elders to lead the church -ought to still have a very present place in His earthly brick and mortar church . . . because this leadership would be essential to watching over the direction of the body He is coming back to rescue from this world.
But if He has already come and taken His physical church then this practice implemented here in Acts would have been for them in that day and age and would have zero application to His world wide body that is truly governed by the Spirit.
Let me explain why here – and the explanation begins with the chosen and elected apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If Jesus has not returned then it seems to me that the apostolic church ought to continue – even out to today. Why? They were empowered by Christ to organize, lead, and direct the affairs of His brick and mortar religious institution.
They were the ones – who in harmony with the will of the people – oversaw the election of elders. They were the ones (as we will see in the next chapter) who settled doctrinal disputes, and they were the ones who were gifted with powers to heal and even raise the dead.
In a materially based church, one whose very survival relied on their “God-given- by-the-Spirit” abilities to keep the institution together until He came to rescue the flock, this leadership was essential.
This is proven by the fact that Jesus Himself left twelve apostles there to do what I just described!
But we note that as things got hotter and hotter for the members of His flock, the apostles were dying off – and NOT being replaced. Paul was not electing a successor to His calling. This is because they were special witnesses called to go out to all of Judea and gather in as many as they could – before He came with judgment and reward.
Without specially equipped and trained of the Lord apostles who would do the electing of elders and leaders in the faith? Evangelicals claim that the elected elders would continue to elect other elders – but this claim (and its very practice) proved VERY quickly to be a complete fail – and the Christian churches post the destruction of Jerusalem fell into a thousand different sects going a thousand different directions with not one of them – but the Catholics – maintaining a viable brick and mortar religion since.
Being in Utah most of us are familiar with one man’s attempts to rectify this problem presented to us by the fact that Jesus has not returned and so therefore there is still a need for living apostles to direct His brick and mortar church – his name was Joseph Smith, Junior.
Amidst all of his faults and non-biblical imaginations the man did have a point.
Here in chapter fourteen of Acts we see living empowered apostles leading and directing Jesus church as a means to watch over it in this fallen world of enemies seeking to wipe it out.
Jesus called twelve so it is obvious that this was VERY important to the survival of His church – at least until He comes back to save it. And SINCE he has NOT come back to save His church YET . . . why, then, there ought to be living apostles on earth today!
Go downtown and sit outside the LDS church office building and you will at some point see “one of the Twelve,” who refer to themselves as special witnesses of Christ called to preach the Gospel to the World.
The LDS print a pamphlet called “The Seventeen Points of the True Church,” which reads:
“The True Church must have a foundation of Prophets and Apostles.”
Like with most things LDS there are truths here and falsehoods.
The truth being a foundation of apostles and prophets and lie being the idea that there is a true church.
Nevertheless, their claim at being the true church does have some validity – as its constructed – if we are still waiting for Jesus to come back and save it.
But let’s move on. In the Ephesians 2:19, it says that “the redeemed are of God’s household, and are built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone.”
It’s important to consider the context of the passage. Speaking to the believers who were once sinful Gentiles, Paul writes:
Ephesians 2:11-20
“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands– that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets?
Certainly!
Read the Old Testament and the Gospels! This is the foundation laid!
And as we learn in construction once a foundation is laid and cured we are ready to then build the house. How often would we go back and re-pour the foundation? NEVER . . . if it was poured right the first time.
How many times does the foundation of a household have to be laid?
Once. It is the foundation!
Of course the building upon the foundation is forever growing. There is NO END to His kingdom. But the foundation remains in place – unless it is faulty and cracked.
Did Jesus lay a faulty foundation? No, He built upon the foundation He Himself laid.
And He laid it with apostles and prophets, with Jesus Himself serving as the chief cornerstone!
That is solid.
But there’s more – we KNOW that once the foundation was laid, it was laid permanently – once and forever, and we know this by looking at the Greek.
The word used here – which is the participle – “epoikodo methentes” in proper syntax is translated “having been built.”
Not continuing now that it was laid. Not being restored. Having been built!
It’s an aorist passive participle, referring to a past action and in this specific case, it is an action that has been fully completed!
It’s been done! Laid, and once laid His church – His body is forever growing UPON it.
Now I know I am taking a long trip here but it is really important to understanding the application of what we are reading in Acts here today.
On the one hand we have Evangelicals trying to play church by trying to continue electing elders without apostles but on the other hand we have the LDS who are attempting to presented to the world unqualified men AS apostles.
Neither works.
“What do you mean, “unqualified men? How could you say such a thing,” LDS defenders say? “Why, our apostles are the most qualified men on earth! They are judges, and surgeons, and prominent life-long faithful members of the church!
Educated! Articulate, and astute in the ways of the world!”
In the first and obvious place, the qualifications of these LDS men who call themselves apostles are NOT anything like the qualifications of the apostles the Lord Jesus chose.
He could have chosen learned successful men of His day. Authorities, religious leaders, scholars, and businessmen.
But He didn’t. Who did Jesus chose for His apostles when He was on earth.
Common fishermen. Hated tax collectors.
I would LOVE to see a truly salty Galilean fisherman sitting around the table with the so-called apostles of the LDS church today.
It was not to their worldly stature or successful lives that qualified them as true apostles. Besides their humility and desire to follow Jesus, it was a number of other factors.
In first Corinthians 9:1 Paul writes:
Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?
There is the first qualifier of being an apostle – being a first-hand eye-witness of Jesus.
When the apostles sought to replace Judas with someone to continue on as a living personal witness – which was prophesied should occur and is in part why they did it – they looked for an individual which (it says in Acts chapter 1):
“had companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”
So Jesus established His Church upon apostles who, as Luke said, “have seen Him,” as “He went in and out”and as Peter said, were “witnesses of His resurrection.”
So the first BIBLICAL rule for being an apostle is they . . .
1. must be first-hand witnesses.
Additionally, 2. Each of the apostles of the Lord received their call to that office by Christ.
Luke 6:13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles
In the calling of Paul, the same was true:
Galatians 1:1
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
Then apostles must be infallibly inspired.
1st Thessalonians 2:13
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
You see, it was essential that these apostles were infallibly inspired. As such, they secured against all error in their public teaching, whether by word or writing.
This is why Jesus gave them in-person training when he established His church. Not some passed down or elected office from man to man who are qualified in the ways of the world!
Finally biblically established qualification for an apostle was, 4. The power of working miracles
Listen to what the word says about the apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven.
Mark 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
Acts 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people
Luke said of Paul in Acts 19:11
Acts 19:11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Speaking of Peter it says in Acts 5:15
“Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
And then what did Paul say in 1st Corinthians 4:9. He said:
“For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”
It is clear from this passage that the office of apostle was a one time situation (that they were appointed last) and that they were “appointed unto death” (meaning they would die for the cause) and that they would be made a spectacle before the world, and angels, and men through this sacrifice to launch the church Jesus established out into the world FOREVER!
Add in the fact that Revelation says that the heavens are supported by twelve pillars representing the Twelve Apostles and we have some real problems with the LDS claim of possessing them today.
As a result of all of these factors, and within the context of scripture, the true apostles of the early church could not any more have had successors than there needed to be a successor to Jesus Himself!
They were the only authoritative teachers of the Christian doctrines and the office of an apostle ceased with its first holders dying off – and right before the last one died – John the Beloved – the Lord came and took His material church which the gates of hell could NOT prevail against BECAUSE of true apostolic direction.
Iin light of all this, I want to know a few things about the Mormon apostles.
Of the 100 or so self-proclaimed LDS Apostles since Joseph Smith, have ANY of them (let alone all of them) openly admitted eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ and His resurrection?
And in reality, the truer question is HAVE ALL OF THEM LAID CLAIM TO SEEING JESUS PERSONALLY?
Have each and every one of the them received their call to that apostolic office by Christ Himself?
Have all the LDS apostles professions been infallible as to the whole of the Word?
What miracles have been done from the hands of these businessmen become apostles?
Remember – and this is important – as first-hand witnesses, of the Lord Jesus and His resurrection, none of the apostles ever hesitated in proclaiming their special witness.
“We have seen Him. He lives. I testify of this!” And they all – except John the beloved – were martyred for their very open, courageous witness of Him.
And then He came AS ALL OF THOSE APOSTLES (who wrote) said He would.
Paul, however, before this time, wrote in 2nd Corinthians 11:12-15
“But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
So far, I think we have clearly made a case for the following:
One, that the apostles were called and set for that day and age, and that any attempts to try and recreate them in our modern world – either through restoration or church playing would be a fail.
But this still leaves us with a problem – if or since there are no Apostles authorized to do the foundational and protective work that they were called to do here in the New Testament, who or what is protecting the church till Jesus comes?
Again, they and their presence was essential to the well being of the early church – that’s why Jesus called and trained them.
But if the Church is still materially based, and Jesus is still coming back to save it, and it is to stand against “even the gates of hell” (until He comes), who is protecting it, guiding it, correcting it, watching over it, organizing it?
In response to this, believers and leaders of the faith site Ephesians 4:11-16 where Paul, writing to the Church IN THAT DAY, said
“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. “
Now here’s the deal:
First of all, this description was wholly true the day Paul wrote it to those believers, wasn’t it. They had everyone of those parts of the Body functioning there, didn’t they?
They had (and typically in the New Testament when a list of something is given they are listed in accordance to importance) and so the church in that day had:
“apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers”
Do we have them today? We do NOT – as we have already proven – because we lack apostles leading and electing and directing like they were doing when Paul wrote this to the Church IN THAT DAY!
So what are we to say in the face of all of this background information to this single passage that says:
23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
I cannot commend to you more strongly that we say, that we finally come to the only solution to all of this that says:
The apostles He gave were given specifically to them there. And we remember from a few weeks ago what Jesus told them? He said TO THEM? He said:
Matthew 10:22-23 “But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
That He came as promised, to them, as they expected, and that because of the Apostles works and labors the Gates of Hell did NOT prevail against His church and all who endured to the End were saved and rewarded By Him then – and then that economy, that age, all that was established in and through the material nation and the material church ended.
This view, supported by the Bible, then allows us to see and receive the faith through a much different approach than what has long been attempted – It’s an approach that is first spiritual, it is backed by the Word, it is individual (therefore subjective) it is lead and in control of the Spirit, and it thrives through two essential characteristics -faith and love.
Let me show you one more thing from scripture that underscores what I am saying:
In 1st Corinthians chapter 12 Paul has been talking about coming together and the unity and the diversity in the body of Christ. All these things applied to them as well as to us today. And he says:
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”
A great message, right? Good instruction to the believers then and to believers today.
And at this point he returns to the topic of offices within the Church in that day, and he says
“And God has appointed these in the church (again, I maintain that the church was that church in that day waiting to be saved) first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.”
In harmony with the discussion about all being different members in the same Body Paul now says, relating to the offices and gifts just mentioned:
“Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.”
(Long Beat)
And what does he write next? What is the more excellent way then the best of gifts? What is the more excellent way than offices of apostles and prophets and teachers and miracle workers?
(Long beat)
What he writes next, providing us with this more excellent way is . . . Chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians – the chapter on Christian love.
Love is the more excellent way. And in order – listen – in order for love to genuinely exist – in order for Christian love to abide, everything that has the potential to divide and destroy has to fade.
See, there are no apostles to officiate over the Body or church today! And the words they left behind, while great at teaching individuals how to better understand God by the Spirit, more often than not are used as a means to argue and debate and divide with each other instead of to unite in love as one.
The greater, more excellent way beyond all the things established in the apostolic church to protect them from the world . . . is love – as it is described here in chapter 13.
When such love is present and active all the things Paul talked about in chapter 12 become obsolete.
And the only way for love to truly thrive is to remove all the things that cause division – which is almost EVERYTHING material.
Sorry, but I had to explain the difference between what we read that Paul and Barnabas did here in the apostolic church and the application (or non-application) of those things today.
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