Concerning Spiritual Things
Gtcotr/ws030304
As you may know, Sunday mornings our church is designed to bring the Word of God to the masses of humanity, many of which do not know God or are unfamiliar with the scriptures and kingdom matters.
However, Wednesday evenings are considered to be our prime time in which to offer a more in-depth study of the word of God. We take the scriptures and get into their original intent and explore how they practically apply to us in our day.
Presently we are continuing our study of Spiritual Things. You can order the previous lessons and notes at our information desk or from our web site www.cotr.com. Let’s turn now to 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, where I will be reading from the NKJV.
Here the Apostle Paul is writing to correct and to instruct the church on spiritual matters.
1 Corinthians 12
1 ¶ Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
You will notice that the word gifts in verse 1 is italicized in the KJV & NKJV. This indicates that is was not original to the text but added by translators to guide the reader’s understanding.
Even if the Apostle Paul was talking only about gifts here, we would still be ignorant unless we understood what types of gifts he was referring to.
Let me expound on this matter for a moment … for I, too, do not wish any of us to be ignorant of the Word of God and its meaning.
For the sake of simplicity and ease of use, lets refer to the Strong’s Concordance and look at the word ‘Gift’.
In the New Testament, specifically the King James Version, the word gift is found 33 times. When combined with the plural form, gifts, it shows up 56 times.
In English the word gift is fairly simple. It means something given, without respect to who gives it or why it is given or if it is just on loan or permanently bestowed.
However, the New Testament was not originally written in English but primarily in Greek which was the common language of that day.
If we took the word gift and researched the bible to find out what Greek word it was translated from we would learn that there are several shades of meanings being lost in this simple translation.
For example:
* Here are 9 Greek words translated into the one word ‘gift’.
> 1390 doma - Philippians 4:17; Ephesians 4:8
* giving or thing given like a medical dose
> 1434 dorema - James 1:17 (the second gift)
* a present from a benefactor
> 1431 dorea - John 4:10; Acts 2:38; 8:20; 10:45; 11:17
* a gratuity; a gift of a Sovereign
> 1435 doron - Matthew 2:11
* offered in expression of honor or reward
> 5486 charisma - Romans 1:11; 6:23
* a gift which gives joy (found 17 times)
> 3311 merismos - Hebrews 2:4
* something divided out and distributed
> 1394 dosis - James 1:17 (the first gift)
* what God gives as possessor of heaven and earth
> 334 anathema - Luke 21:5
* consecrated and laid up as devoted to God
> 5485 charis - 2 Corinthians 8:4
* grace
However, even though we understand what all of the meanings of the word gift may be, not one of them is found here in verse one. This word gift was not translated but merely added by the translators. This does not in itself make the verse in error, but we should nonetheless broaden it to its original meaning in order to incorporate all of the things of the spirit.
Young’s Literal Translation of the bible gives a more accurate rendering of this verse. It simply says:
1 ¶ And concerning the spiritual things, brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant; (YLT)
The Apostle Paul is telling the Christians who are members of the Church in Corinth that it is easy to be deceived and led astray by spiritual things.
In the following verses the Apostle begins to teach the saints about spiritual things. He begins by making an outline of spiritual things and continues by describing some of them in more detail.
The first category of spiritual things he speaks of is:
v.4 Diversities of gifts
Which we covered in earlier sessions.
The second category of spiritual things is:
v.5 Differences of ministries
We have concluded that these ministries, or places of service in the church, include Deacons, Elders, Bishops or Overseers and the Five Fold Ministry Arm of Jesus, The Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher. All of these, according to 1 Corinthians 12:28, fit into either the ministry of services or administrations.
Tonight we pick up with the ministry of the Elder.
I. The Elder
Greek: Presbuteros - Of age; rank; or office (relief)
A. Old Testament References To Elders
1. Exodus 3 Moses sent to elders of Israel in Egypt
2. Exodus 12 Elders instructed to kill Passover lambs for their congregation
3. Exodus 18:12-26 Jethro’s instruction for appointed secondary leadership to take responsibility for the congregation.
4. Numbers 11:14-30 Moses, “I am unable to bear ... alone ...”
* Gather 70 elders (only 68 showed up)
* Same spirit on Moses on elders that were ordained
* God anointed whomever Moses appointed
* The other two were anointed and prophesied in the congregation -- Moses said, “I wish that all Israel were prophets”
5. Throughout the journeys, elders were a witness between the leader of God and the people of God concerning God’s work & will.
6. Joshua 1
* Officers (those elders in the position of oversight) committed to Joshua
10 ¶ So Joshua ordered the officers, of the people:
(Hebrew: shoter sho-tare’ - overseer)
* they took orders from Joshua and gave orders to congregation.
* Eldership is a ministry of give and take
* Its mid management - supervisory - leading from the middle of the pack type of position. The most trusted support role.
11 "Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.’"
16 ¶ Then they answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.
17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.
The passage gives us some insight into the position and ministry of the Elder as an appointed & anointed Overseer. The next verse:
Joshua 1:18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!"
Make no mistake, the elders took their responsibilities seriously. They were there to bridge the gap between the man God had chosen to lead the congregation and the congregation itself. They lent Joshua their credibility and influence and pledged to deal swiftly and harshly with dissention and rebellion and not allow it to take root and spread in the congregation.
We can easily see that the Elders served God by requiring the congregation of the Lord follow God’s chosen leader, and not just influencers.
Four potential cliques in every congregation
Let’s Go Over Group
Let’s Take Over Faction
I’ve Been Over Circle
It’s Over Gang
B. New Testament Perspective On Eldership
1. Acts 15:6 ¶ The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
* The church elders exercised great voice of counsel in the early NT church in Jerusalem
2. Titus 1:5-11
Please read this passage later, and when you read it you will find that it says this:
Titus, I left you there to straighten up and finish up by appointing Elders, providing you could find any Elders who meet qualifications for ordination. For as you know those who are given a position of oversight must meet certain criteria.
Let me read through these qualifications quickly:
5 … appoint elders …
6 ¶ An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
One wife, not just one wife at a time without regard as to how you got there. You do not have to be married, but can be and more than just once. If your wife passed away or if your divorce was sanctioned by God through the scriptures, then you are not under any other legal bondage in such cases and do qualify for leadership and ministry in the Body of Christ even though married more than just once. However, you cannot have more than one wife at a time and still meet the qualifications to be ordained as an overseer in the church.
The scripture does not say , “who has been”, but, “who is …”, to this most scholars, through all ages of the church, agree.
7 Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
8 Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
10 For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.
11 They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
* Elders who meet the qualifications can become appointed and ordained overseers.
* It is one responsibility of an ordained elder appointed to an oversight position to be examples and to silence opposition to sound doctrine and put down dishonest gain … to keep the wolves from the sheepfold.
