Missions: Defining Terms | Paul Washer

you are a faithful God your mercies are enduring your kindness is are higher than the heavens your faithfulness broader than the breadth of the earth please Lord for the sake of your dear son whom you love help us to carry out his mission help us give us grace that we might be poured out but poured out wisely according to your word in Jesus name Amen the person that I'm have most on my heart tonight is the the person who is thinking about becoming a missionary talking to you and talking to the pastors who may be involved in in sending someone to the mission field you need to understand something it is all about Sola scriptura it is all about the power of the Holy Spirit it is all about prayer everything that we are called to do everything were called to do is absolutely impossible every time we go out into the mission field every time we preach we are a zekiel can these bones live I will not doubt you Lord and say no I will not presume upon you Lord and say yes they most certainly will but I will preach I will preach whenever I'm talking about missions I always it's always please do not trust in the arm of the flesh please give yourself wholly to the study of Scripture and the practice of Scripture in the proclamation of Scripture please please learn to pray learn to tarry in the night watches learn to grab ahold of the horns of the altar and say I will not let thee go for Jericho is tightly shut up no one came out and no one came in only God can make walls like that fall and when I look around me today and I see so many silly men developing so many impotent and silly strategies of missions I have to believe that all those strategies together are not as powerful as one Saint praying as one Saint preaching the more you trust in the arm of the flesh the less you will see of the power of Almighty God I want us to look I'm going to go all over tonight and I'm just going to answer certain things that I see to be great problems in missions first of all I want to talk about Sola scriptura and I want you to turn to 2nd Timothy 416 and you say why there we all know that text will have you read the book of James it's one thing to know a text it's another thing to obey it all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training and righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work now I've got several texts tonight I can't do an exposition on all of them properly I don't have the time or we'd be here for three days this is what I want to point out when someone comes to me and says that they believe in the inspiration and the inerrancy and the infallibility of the scriptures this is what it means to me absolutely nothing absolutely nothing if you're not going to take one more step and that is that the Scriptures are sufficient they are sufficient for everything the Christian everything the man of God everything the church needs they are sufficient and if you won't take that next step if you won't take that next step all your words really don't matter you're just speaking vanities in the air and some of you need to do this some of you need to go home and really look at this text and really ask yourself this question is my life my practice personal life in the church in missions in evangelism is it all conform to the scriptures can I find what I'm doing in the scriptures without manipulating the text now I want us to go back to 1st Timothy chapter 3 verse 13 first Timothy chapter 3 verse 13 for those who have served well as deacons obtained for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus I am writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long but in case I am delayed I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the Church of the Living God and the pillar and the support of the truth look at verse 14 how can you know that you are conducting yourself with regard to Christ's bride how can you know that you are conducting yourself properly only through what is written only through what is written and there's something very important in this text I want you to look at how the church is described the household of God if you came into my house and you started commanding my wife and my children when you woke up this is what you would hear from me my house my rules my house my rules and that's what God is saying to us here my house not yours Stuart my house my rules and if you think I'm being a little bit harsh with this then go on to the next description the Church of the Living God now go back even in English and look up the word living and see how many times in the Old Testament it is placed before God and when God says he's the Living God it is usually because he's speaking in a quite serious manner and is demanding a response that if he does not get discipline will come to his people and judgment to the nation's when we're sitting around almost every Tuesday we have a staff wide prayer meeting and the men could testify to the fact that one the first petitions that always comes out of my mouth is this Lord increase our fear of thee the more you know God the more you will fear God and the more you fear God the more you will study his words so that you are absolutely sure that you are taking care of his bride in a way that he desires now I want you now and some of you great expositors are almost going to die I'm going to move around so much I want you to go to second Corinthians our first Corinthians I'm sorry 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and I want all of you who are thinking about the ministry to look at this text 1st Corinthians 3:11 through 15 for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man builds on that foundation with gold silver and precious stones wood hay straw each man's work will become evident for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's works if any man's works which he has built on it remains he will receive a reward if any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved yet so as through fire if you truly believe this text you will not be able to sleep at night even as a Christian unless in your conscience you know by the grace of God you are studying God's Word as though your life depended on it because it does you are carrying out his ministry according to his word how can we know if we're conducting ourselves properly only through his word and that is why all these silly little boys with their silly little prophecies are doing so much damage to the church don't give me a man who mutters and whispers if he speaks not according to this word it's because he has no dawn those mutters and those whispers will give me no consolation no strength in the night watch when I think about the fact that one day I will stand before God and my entire ministry will be judged and it will be oh how a man needs to fear God that that man might cling to his word cling to his word I want you to go jump over real quick to the book of Hebrews I want to show you something particularly important for pastors and for missionaries church planters Hebrews eight five listen to what it says who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle see he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain God is saying Moses you better listen to me I don't need your cleverness your wisdom your pragmatism your inventions I didn't ask you to draw up these plans with me I did this apart from you in my own eternal counsel with my son you make sure you follow the pattern precisely now let me ask you a question what's more important in the economy of God a stone turret of a cloth and fur tabernacle or his church that he is building if God would warn a man about a building how much more does God warn us about caring for his bride imagine a king he has a bride that he loves with all his heart all his heart she's precious to him oh he makes her eloquent makes her beautiful dresses her in the finest purest widest linen he loves her he spends his day admiring her but he has to go on a long a long journey so he calls you in as a Stewart he calls you in as a Stewart he grants you the privilege to care for his wife and he carefully constructs a document before you this is what I want you to do with my wife this is what I want you to do with my wife this is what I want you to do with my wife but then what happens the King goes on a long journey and he stays gone for a while and you noticed that the people are becoming disloyal to the king you notice that they're no longer really attracted to the Queen she's so I don't know well she's just not modern she's not she's not what the people want today so you get a great idea you strip her of her white linens you paint her face and dress her like a prostitute and you preview parade her before carnal men in order to draw them back into loyalty with the king when the King returns what will he do with you he will kill you and that's exactly what many pastors are doing today that's exactly what many church planters are doing today they're dressing up the church so that she will be pleasing not to godly folk but to carnal folk in hopes of bringing them back into the kingdom that King never gave you such a decree never she belongs to him she's precious to him and we are to be jealous for her to the point of fighting jealous for her Sola scriptura is more than a doctrine it is the very thing that may or may not save your life depending on how you deal with it how you respond to it my greatest prayer for us with missions is that we learn to fear the Lord and you say but brother Paul you all you're doing is talking about church precisely that's my what my point is missions is this one biblical church sending out elder qualified men to plant another biblical church and those elders that send those men out do so with fear and trembling and the one who goes out deals with the Bride of Christ with fear and trembling if just this one thing was believed in seminaries and in missiology departments it would transform everything everything now I want to switch gears a bit we all want to go to the mission field we all want to go to the mission field we all talked about having an influence upon the world but let me ask you a question what part of everything you are should be exported and what part of everything you are should be quarantined let's ask ourselves some questions your doctrine is your doctor and worth exporting or should it be quarantined I want you to know you can be a cup of blessing you can be a cup of Hemlock by and large in the recent decades our doctrine has been like a cup of Hemlock to the nation's here's some questions for you have you been diligent to present yourself up prove to God is workman who do not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth have you do you look at doctrine this way pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching persevere in these things for as you do this you will ensure invitations to a very large conference on exposition that's not what it says look at this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you do you see this well I don't want any of that doctrine stuff well then you you have to go to hell what we believe will determine our eternal destiny the doctrine the teaching that we hold to why do we study doctrine our life depends upon it why as ministers should we devote ourselves to doctrine the life of those who hear us depend upon it depend upon it let's go on your personal godliness should it be exported or quarantined before you head off to the mission field to be light are you light not many conferences on personal godliness holiness are you disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness now just where you're seated right now ask yourself that question are you disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness if you answer yes then just in your own mind just repeat the regiment that you have what is your regimen what do you do every day in order to discipline yourself in godliness you know there's a reason why Paul uses the Olympic athlete that someone from the time they're 5 years old until the time they would compete in the games maybe when they're a mature man or woman at 2022 their entire life the way they eat their social relationships everything is geared towards one thing winning a gold medal that will perish and for the most part isn't gold and we are called to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness give me a holy man any day over an academic who's not holy now I would prefer to have both but without holiness no are you disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness here's another one 2nd Corinthians 7:1 are you cleansing yourself from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord I had the privilege of sitting under many times an old Methodist preacher by the name of Leonard Ravenhill going up asking questions and one time he sent me a tract and it said this others can but you cannot and what the track was basically saying is that yes within Christianity there are certain liberties that others can take but those things can be very very dangerous do you want to be used of God others can you cannot there are certain things you cannot do if you want God's anointing resting upon you if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not grieving the Holy Spirit if you want to be a sharp instrument there are things others can do that you cannot and you say well that's rough it's the same way with the Olympian it's the same way with the athlete the reason why they're there why because others can do things that they cannot because of their devotion to this one thing those of you are called to preach should you devote yourself to to learning Greek and Hebrew and in all church history and systematic theology and all these things absolutely but none of it will be mattering anything if you're not guarding your heart guarding your eyes separating yourself from the world and being a holy instrument unto God another question are you progressing in sanctification without which no one will see the Lord these are all important questions you see there was a time when missionaries came as candidates and these were the questions that they were given your doctrine and appreciation of the local church should it be exported or quarantined here's a question are you a faithful and committed member of a specific local church that actually has a name well you better because if you're not then don't tell me you go to church because I'm gonna ask you the name and the pastor's name and everybody's name and you're gonna look like a fool have you spent a great deal of time studying the scriptures to determine what a biblical church looks like the nature and authority of a local church have you studied the nature and authority of an elder in the elders qualifications Deacons in a deacons qualification the type of preaching that should be in a biblical church the type of Prayer meetings that should be in a biblical church have you studied government ordinances ordination discipline and so many other things you say no no no I haven't done that then please do not go to the mission field because missions is about planting biblical churches there's another question will you go out with the latest church growth fads to build a church that is tailor-made to a culture or will you go out and absolute dependence upon what is written the power of prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit those are questions that we need to ask ourselves now I want us to talk a bit about defining terms this is very important I would love to sit with you just sit with you and go through each one of the great Commission's that are found in the synoptic Gospels and John in acts but we don't have time so I'm going to have to just say a few things give you a brief statement and then a brief introduction then a brief definition and then explain a few things first of all the Great Commission is primarily a theological doctrinal and didactic endeavor didactic means teaching now you say well it's more than that I would agree but it's not less than that it's not less than that if I take you through the book of Acts what are you going to see preaching teaching preaching teaching preaching teaching preaching teaching preaching teaching it is more than that but it's not less than that now I'm gonna give you just a definition that I tried to put together for a working definition it is going into all the world in the power of the Holy Spirit preaching or heralding the gospel of Jesus Christ calling upon men to repent and believe in instructing men in the full counsel of God his character works will promises that they may render true devotion to God through Jesus Christ as individuals and as a local assembly if I hear some young guy tell me one more time it's all about the gospel and I realize he's just saying that because he's wanting to communicate something else it's all about the gospel and it's not about anything else in the scriptures I'm so tired of hearing beautiful truths turned into cliches oh it's all about the gospel I don't have to worry about anything else it's all about the gospel I love the gospel I breathe the gospel I dream the gospel I sleep the gospel and one day hopefully I'll die for the gospel but it's all about the entire book it's all about the full counsel of God because you can't understand the gospel apart from the rest it's teaching the Bible some of you have such wrong ideas about what's really going on out there on the mission field there will be countless missionaries that will hear what I'm preaching and you know who you are and you will scoff at it you will say I'm just a bible thumping fundamentalist who doesn't understand all the cultural nuances that you understand that makes you so effective well you're wrong you're just wrong let's go to the book of Acts it's on my side let's go to the epistles they're on my side let's go to the Gospels they're on my side now listen to me very carefully especially especially you you young men and women who are thinking about the mission field the Great Commission is a doctrinal endeavor to dumb down our doctrine to put doctrine aside so that we can carry out a doctrinal endeavor is intellectual and spiritual suicide but that's exactly what's been done for years in evangelicalism let's build all our unity around what missions you can't do that you cannot do that you build your unity around the truth of God's Word and then you go out and do missions now I'm gonna read to you something it's lengthy but it's important it's from a marvelous book called today's Gospel authentic or synthetic by Walter Chantry and I want you to listen listen very very carefully those who believe in God's Word have been grasping at the same superficial solutions that liberalism has adopted relevance respectability whether intellectual or social and especially unity have become the aims of God's people with the hope that these will revitalize a weakened church if only all bible-believing people join together the world will set up and listen thinks the church let's merge our mission boards to pool our funds and our personnel let's join giant evangelistic projects if every evangelical joins in a common organization we can have greater depth of evangelism thus organizational unity becomes the aim of gospel churches having accepted the theory that unity is all-important for world evangelism both the church and the individual must lower their estimate of the value of truth in a large Congress on evangelism we could not insist on a truth of God's Word that would offend any brother evangelical thus we must find the Comus the lowest common denominator to which all born-again Christians hold the rest of the Bible will be labeled una' seneschal for missions after all unity is more essential than doctrinal preciseness it is just for this reason that mission societies have been unwilling carefully to examine the root problem in preaching mission boards are hesitant to answer the question what is the gospel thoroughly to answer that would condemn what many of their own missionaries preached it would destroy the mission society which is the federation of churches who have differing answers to that question to adopt the position of one church would be to lose the support of five others the whole system built on unity and generality would crumble the local church may not get too specific about truth either it may affect its harmony with the domination or Association to define the gospel carefully will bring conflict with the organizations working with teenagers it will prompt irritating problems with Mission Board it's an embarrassing disagreement with missionaries supported for years it may condemn the whole sunday-school program giving too much attention to the content of the gospel will mean friction with other evangelicals and unity is the key to success brothers this could not be more true this could not be more true and more necessary for our time I want the entire world to hear the gospel in my generation I want every person on this planet to be saved I want I want this to work more than anything else but it will not work through pragmatism and some of you need to hear this through politics we need men who won't just talk about the truth but will say I'm going to live it and my church is going to live it and we're going to actually do what this book says because until then you're just a little boy playing Reformation now who or what is the epicenter of the Great Commission I mean who's the who's the big guy who is the go-to I mean who is I mean you talk about World Missions and the Great Commission who is that one outstanding entity well here it is it's the local church it's the local church now before you draw any wrong conclusions I am NOT against churches working together in cooperation not at all 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 I am NOT against other groups helping aiding the church but do not let the tail wag the dog God has one one entity the church ever his bride and everybody else exists to serve her everybody now at the beginning of his earthly ministry Jesus appointed twelve to be with him and to go out and it is through this twelve that he laid the foundation for the church ephesians 2:20 and it is through these twelve and their associates that he also gave us the only inspired infallible inerrant revelation of his will but there's something very very interesting that i I don't have time to go through the whole text there's something very interesting in the book of Acts as each page is turned on the book of Acts and years passed by we begin to see something at first we see apostles apostles apostles apostles then we see Apostles elders apostles apostles elders elders elders now I believe with the greatest conviction that there are no apostles today no not in any shape form or fashion there are no people receiving divine inspiration so what does that leave us with the church and elders I have spent the last two years studying quite a bit about the church do you know why elders have those qualifications why they must have those qualifications because they are so extremely important in everything that has to do with the church and everything that has to do with the great commission I was so confused about what to preach on here why because I'm kind of a guy that says well if I'm gonna preach on this but yeah they won't understand this unless they understand this but they won't understand this unless they understand this so I didn't know what to preach on because in order to plant a biblical church you must have a biblical church and in order to have a biblical church you must have biblical elders biblical elders you see the church is the epicenter of everything everything now I want us to look look for just a moment at Acts chapter 15 one through four some men came down from Judea and began teaching the Brethren unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved and when Paul and Barnabas had a great discussion and debate with them the Brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and elders concerning this issue therefore being sent on their way by the church they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren when they arrived at Jerusalem they were received by the church and the Apostles and the elders and they reported now here's an apostle reporting and he's reporting to a church about what God had done now look at verse 6 the Apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter look at verse 13 after they had stopped speaking James answered saying brethren listen to me here's James and elder in the Church of Jerusalem and he's telling the Apostles listen to me we go on verse 22 then it seemed good to the Apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas Judas called barsabbas and Silas leading men among the Brethren do you see what's going on where all the decisions being made whose determining what's going to happen in the Great Commission the church the elders now I know I will be anathematized for this so be it I mean I died what more can you do to me I love missions and I really respect many Missy ologist and mission professors but if I had my way the seminary would have a department of ecclesiology and missions would go underneath that and if you say to me which has already been said to me if you do that you'll lose missions in ecclesiology and i say you mean the way we've lost ecclesiology and missions do you see that brethren a lot of things being taught in Missy ology are very very good but we've got to bring it back under the local church look at acts 13 just for a moment verse 1 through 4 well let's just go to verse 2 I'm running out of time while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart from me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them then when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away who did this the church in Antioch now I want you to realize something this is a historic moment in World Missions I mean a historic moment in the Holy Spirit who initiates this and directs it does it in the context of what a local church and then what else do we see we see these men the great Apostle Paul being approved of whom a local church and then has already been pointed out if you go to acts 14 26 and 27 look what happens after Paul and Barnabas return from their missionary journey from there they sailed to Antioch from which they had been commended to the grip to the grace of God for the work that they had accomplished when they had arrived and gathered the church the church together that's what a church is and it's assembly assembly of believers they gathered together that local church they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles they were not as one brother pointed out the other day they were not sitting at Starbucks drinking a lot day and talking about hey how'd things go it was a report it was the asking of questions it was a debriefing it was a extremely serious matter and the Apostle Paul himself has to give a report I want to read something here the purpose in making all these statements is not to deny the viability of churches working together in cooperation or through entities that assist in their cooperation our purpose is to show that the responsibility of the Great Commission belongs to each local assembly or congregation and its elders and they cannot except in disobedience neglect their duty now quickly I want us to run over for just a second to second Timothy this is an extremely important text 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also in the 1970s the multiplication of disciples became all the rage in the church and that's wonderful I applaud that and I don't want to take anything away from that we're one more mature believer disciples another that's fine but I believe the reason why it became such a raid because the pulpit because of liberalism had become so weak that people were not being fed from the pulpit and so they needed this addition now again I am all for members disciples and things such as that please don't get me wrong but that's not what this text is teaching this text is talking about elder qualified men spiritual men praying for and investing their lives into other men who are aspiring to the office of overseer are some office pouring their lives into them that they might become elder qualified and be useful in the ministry it is about listen to me I believe this with all my heart pastors are the highest office they are the most important person now but when I say that realize that I'm saying this pastoring is more than expository preaching it is not less than expository preaching but it is more it's shepherding pastoring guarding visiting hospitals it's taking care of the flock but there's one part of pastoring that has been totally eliminated from the vocabulary of most pastors or elders and what is it the training of men the training of men now let me say something else I love I love what I hear from a lot of a lot of the seminaries there's I so appreciate that ministry I think you know I want young men and I I want people to know Greek and Hebrew and I I want them to have that experience of being challenged academically and learn to think in a non contradictory manner with systematic theology and systematic ethics I most definitely want them studying hermeneutics and most definitely church history I really do but pastor you don't turn your sons in the ministry over to a seminary my son is 17 it's going to be going to college well he's already finished a year and a half at masters but from home and sooner or later he's going to he's going to go probably there when he goes there they will always be his teachers I'm his father I'm gonna be calling him probably almost every night when I go there to visit out to California I'm be talking to his teachers I'm gonna be finding out what he's studying why he is my son he's their student he's my son but here's what happens a young man feels called into the ministry and immediately the pastor relinquish his hold on him and sends him off somewhere and many times doesn't even know if he's gone to a biblical church does it know what he's being taught and then after three years sometimes if not even hardly being in a church he'll go to some organization all of that is it's it's so wrong there's nowhere to even it's wrong on every level if you're a pastor I want you to know this this is my view of seminaries and please again I have the greatest respect for seminaries and I think most seminary professors at least a lot of them would agree with me here a seminary is the place where you not necessarily go to be prepared a seminary is where you go to learn all the tools you need to spend the rest of your life preparing and a seminary was never called by God to be so much an incubator and a guardian of young preachers that is the church's job that is the pastor's job and you don't let go of that boy there used to be a thing in Baptist life that doesn't really exist anymore it was called watch care if a young man went to seminary far away from his church that pastor of that church went on a big investigation to find a biblical church and develop a relationship with those elders at that church and that young man was put under watch care in the sense that those other elders watched over that young man the church is the incubator the church is the nurturer the church is the judge the church is the ordained er the church is the sender the church is the support and the church can even be the discipline er of the missionary the church let's go on what is a missionary you know you put you put ten mission experts in a room and ask them all what a missionary is and you live will get ten different answers I remember when I was in systematic theology I sitting there one day I was in class and the professor walked in and he goes now students all I want you to do is just give me attributes of God divine attributes i'ma ride him on the board so people sitting there and they're giving him divine attributes of God there was holiness righteousness this that omnipotence and I was kind of sit in there and just thinking about something just didn't seem right and so after a while he put up about fifteen or twenty attributes and he goes washer you're being pretty quiet I said yes sir he said what what's what's going on I said well we've said nothing about God nothing and he said he knew he got twinkle in his eye he goes what do you mean we've said nothing about God I said we've said nothing about God sir because that word holiness there there's about 25 students they could have 25 different definitions of what holiness is we haven't said anything about God until we define every one of those terms biblically and that's the way it is you know everyone talks about the love of God no one wants the biblical definition now I want you to think about something for a moment we have the word pastor in the Old Testament Shepherd in the New Testament we have that word and yet if you looked at evangelicalism and even those who consider themselves reformed you would have almost the endless variety of people doing completely different things and yet calling themselves pastor the word missionary is not in the Bible now do you see the difficulty how we define that term a lots going to depend on that and I want to give you three reasons why we need to be specific first of all we cannot have confidence in any ministry unless it is specifically specifically prescribed by the scriptures no matter how noble that ministry may be if it's not prescribed by the Scriptures we're in trouble secondly we need to recognize throughout biblical history and church history if there is one thing that God's people as a whole and individuals are prone to do it is this and everyone did what was right in their own eyes in the absence of inspired inerrant infallible thority man will invent finally why should we define what a missionary is I want to read this something I wrote down so that I would be very clear the state of modern missions proves that our great need is to return to the scriptures contemporary mission work is a float in a labyrinth of contradictory opinions regarding the nature of the Great Commission the definition and duty of a missionary and the methods or strategies that are employed never in the history of the church have there been so many widely divergent views and such radically incompatible strategies such confusion is irrefutable evidence that we are once again guilty of doing what is right in our own eyes what is a missionary the word missionary comes from the latin noun mission adios and the latin verb me tara mission adios was probably first used in the 16th century by the Jesuits who were sent out to proselytize in foreign lands and to thwart the growth of the Reformation and the church here's something that you need to understand the verb matera is the Latin translation of the Greek verb Apostolou the word mission arias is the Latin translation of the Greek noun apostolos or apostle so every time you call someone a missionary you're calling them an apostle now again I want to affirm I want to be very very clear on this the office of apostle has ceased but I just want you to understand the meaning of the term now most of the time when we think of the word apostolos we think of it in greco-roman term you know how was it used in the Greek world in the Roman world and it's very very accurate it refers to someone who's been sent out with the authority of the sender but I want to read you something from one of my favorite people on the planet Sam Waldron in his book to be continued and he's going to quote Ritter boss here and it's it's an excellent excellent thing to hear an apostle is a sent one both in Hebrew and Greek the word for apostle is derived from the verb that means to send among the Jews however hollyhock or sent one had attained a very specific meaning Ritter boast notes recent research has shown that the formal structure of the apostolate is derived from the Jewish legal system in which a person may be given the legal power to represent another the one who has such power of attorney is called shall iakh Apostle the uniqueness of this relationship is pregnant Lee expressed by the notion and this comes from many rabbinic sources that the sheliak of a man the apostle of a man is as the man himself now in the New Testament the Greek word apostle also possesses a similar technical meaning Jesus Christ was his father's apostle Hebrews 3:1 through 2 thus what Jesus said his father said John 14:6 through 10 in a similar way the twelve are his apostles John 20:21 to receive Christ's apostle is to receive him matthew 10:40 john 13 24 an apostle was one's legal representative having power of attorney now when the word is used in its strict and most proper sense it refers to the twelve to Matthias and then to the Apostle Paul this ministry has feast let me put it this way it has ceased get that in your head this is very very important especially today it's ceased now the Apostles teaching laid the foundation of the church Ephesians 2:20 which can only be laid once no man outside the sphere of the original apostles meets the requirements of a genuine apostle as set forth in the scriptures 2nd Corinthians 12:12 and the Apostle Paul saw himself as the last to be called 1st corinthians 15:8 he said well why bring all this up well you call a missionaries so what does it mean now I want you to look at something else in a broader sense the term apostle is also used in the New Testament to describe those men who were sent out by the churches as their official representatives messengers envoys emissaries delegates are laborers for the expansion and edification of the churches on the mission field they are called for example in the end of new American Standard Bible messengers of the churches in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 23 Paul refers to certain brethren as messengers a postal oi of the churches who had been sent out under the authority of the churches to collect the offering from for the Saints in Jerusalem in Philippians 2:25 Paul refers to app afroditi s' as the messenger apostolos of the church in Philippi who was sent by the church to minister to Paul's needs now let me give you I'm going to read you these two definitions the apostles of Christ the twelve the apostles of Christ were appointed and sent out under the direct authority of Christ himself to take the inspired revelation that was given to them to the ends of the earth the messengers of the churches were appointed and sent out under the authority of a local church or a collection of churches to carry out a specific task delegated by the church in the context of the Great Commission it would denote one who is sent out by the church to take the faith which was once for all handed down to the Saints to the ends of the earth now are you starting to see that using the terminology missionary without it directly involving the local assembly it's just not biblical cuz that's my point that's my point that's my point I'm running out of time I'm not even going to get through half of my notes but that's my point now I want to give you just three things here should we use the term apostle or should we say messengers of the churches or apostles of the churches we should use messengers messengers of the churches emissaries of the churches why the word apostle is so identified with the twelve and their unique ministry that our use of the term would result in misunderstanding and the need to constantly explain ourselves also it is not necessary because the word apostolos not only referred to that type of ministry but to a delicate an envoy and emissary we should secondly we should take the greatest precaution with our use of the term apostle so as not to affirm in any way the claims of the many false apostles who are wrecking havoc on the contemporary church and if something isn't done they're going to be wrecking even more havoc I will continue to use the word missionary but I have to admit I prefer messenger or emissary of the church why because it communicates this biblical relationship between a local assembly of believers and the man that has been nurtured trained ordained and sent out by them that's why now a closer look take let's go to 2nd Corinthians for a moment I'm about ready to think if I can cram all of you in my hotel room tonight at about midnight we'll just go through the rest of this until my plane leaves I want you to look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and you're going to find something very important in verse 16 if you look in verse 23 well let's look in verse 23 first let's read the whole thing but thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus for he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he has gone to you of his own accord we have sent along with him the brother whose fame and the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches and not only this but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift for we have regard for what is honorable not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men we have sent with them our brother whom we have often tested and found diligent and many things but now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you as for Titus he is my partner and fellow worker among you as for our brethren they are messengers in the word there is apostolos a postal oi they are messengers of the churches a glory to Christ therefore openly before the churches show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you now to look at something that's very important first look at verse 16 and you will find an inward call of God that the Apostle Paul refers to as an earnestness he says but thanks be to God who put the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus now think about this because in a moment we're going to talk about the greek verb doki Mazda which is also found in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 with regard to elders and deacons he is an earnestness in his heart he's heard about Corinth he's heard about the need in Jerusalem he's heard about these things and God God has put an earnestness in this man's heart if any man aspires to the work of an overseer you see there's a desire in his heart there is a desire look at verse 17 for he not only accepted our appeal but being himself very earnest he has gone out to you of his own accord the church made an appeal there's a need here God put in earnestness and tied his heart and he voluntarily accepted the challenge they did not have to manipulate him or force him they would have had to hold him back all right now look at verse 18 he's going to talk about another man who is unnamed but he's given a title that all of us should long for verse 18 we have sent along with him the brother whose fame and the things of the gospel has spread through all the churches look at this man I mean not just in his local assembly but in sister assemblies in sister churches this man's Fame is he knows the gospel he loves the gospel he can communicate the gospel this guy is all about the gospel that's the kind of man we need to send to the field all about the gospel now look at verse 22 we have sent with them our brother whom we have often tested and found diligent in many things now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you he had an earnestness put in his heart by God and these men were tested dokie ma so that word is used with regard to Deacons but the adverb also means that the elders also were tested talk about not testing missionaries most people don't even test elders today they listen to a preaching tape and then invite him to come be their pastor how are you going to determine if this man has the characteristics of an elder according to first Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 through 7 and Titus 1 5 through 9 you see let me give you an example I was in I was in Mia Flores in in Lima Peru preaching and doing things at night one night when the biggest bomb in the history of that war blew up about a block and a half away 2,000 pounds of TNT we were all running for our lives buildings are falling on our head there's blood everywhere and I thought to myself I need to run I need to run I need to run I need to get to those people get to those people they're gonna die they're gonna die they're gonna die I get there and I'm running full-speed and I slip on the blood that's everywhere I grab somebody and I haul him out I go in and grab somebody I haul him out I could do that but I couldn't fix them I was never trained as a doctor held a man dying in my arms years before who'd been shot six times through to heart I grabbed a towel pulled him against me and we hit the floor I could do my best but I wasn't a doctor most guys who are sent to the mission field they're really not missionaries they've got to be able to open this book and not just say I want to do something I want to do something they've got to actually be able to do something open their mouths and proclaim the Word of God and order the church according to the laws of our God not suggestions laws I had a young man come to me one time let me finish the story are you gonna think I'm very cruel he came he calls me up on the phone he says I want to come to Peru I just want to come to Peru I said all right does I want to come to Peru I just want to give my life away I just want to give my life away I said how are you in your study of Scripture well you know it's kind of a weak spot with me I really struggle sometimes I don't even read my Bible I'm just I just want to give my life away how are you an intercessory prayer in the Nightwatch well you know I really struggle in that oh okay evangelism Street evangelism street preaching well look Paul mr. washer I just I just want to give him a life away I said young man there's nobody here in Peru who needs your life they need God and someone who can open up his mouth and tell them about God one of the greatest missionaries alive today is a friend of the elders of my church Anthony friends and myself he's one of the most never met a man like him he's been beat up more times he told his wife a while back honey you're gonna have to stop getting me in fights that my body can't win anymore he's out in a place I can't even mention and this is what he always says if one more floppy top teenager with really cool hiking shoes and a keen backpack comes walking through my mountain range one more time dropping tracks out of his backpack and riding home in code so that all the people go oh and AH he says I think I'm gonna throw up we need men who know their God men who know the Word of God men who love the church not some little cloud of thing called the church not something you can't see in touch men who love the church and are willing to die for the church my friend David Tzadik who is here from a Geffen from from Tel Aviv and his ministries out there I wish you'd go visit it I was talking to him today yesterday about salia hollyrock and I said David is it am i right on this in Hebrew he said yes you are he said but you know about one sent out with the authority of another and then he said this to me he said you know the Israeli government still uses that term I said really how the sheliak are a group of men who are sent out of Israel to go around the world to gather Jews and call them back to the promised land it's a Hebrew word for apostle messenger and that's what we're called to do and I can tell you this I can tell you this if you believe in the sovereignty of God if you believe in the power of the Word of God if you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit and intercessory prayer you can go into the deepest hellhole in the world and you can have the confidence that if you will stand there and preach long enough strong enough and persevere everything they throw at you somebody's coming out of there saved somebody's coming out of there saved that's what missions is about good day

Channel: G3 Ministries

Views: 190,282

Keywords: Missions, Paul Washer, G3, G3 Conference, Christianity, Jesus, G3Ministries, John MacArthur, VoddieBaucham

Id: fJq1xxk1Go0

Length: 71min 24sec (4284 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 18 2019