BIBLE STUDY : ONLY FIVE PIECES OF ADVICE FOR THOSE WHO TAKE CARE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. Josimar Salum
I Timothy 3:1-5 NKJV
“1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;
3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence
5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);”
The word bishop, overseer - Greek "episcopos" here is not a title, it is not a position, it is not an office, nor does it denote an exclusive function of a single man. It's simply a function, a work, a task!
Who are the bishops, the overseers ?
Acts 20:17, 25, 28 NIV
"17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders (presbyters) of the church.
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.
28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (bishops). Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood."
1 Peter 5:4 NIV
"And when the High Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."
High Shepherd = Greek “archipoimen” . Greek “poimen” = pastor
Among many that I could list here, I have chosen only five pieces of advice for those who should care for God's Church.
1 - MAKE SURE YOU ARE BORN AGAIN
It seems absurd to have to name the new birth being such an obvious thing. But this is sorely necessary. Many who pastor the Church are not born again. The man of God to care for, to shepherd the flock of God must first be of God.
1 John 3:9-10 NIV
9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister."
Jude 1:4, 10-13 NIV
4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead.
13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever."
2 - FOLLOW ONLY JESUS. HE WILL WALK WITH YOU AND YOU WITH OTHER DISCIPLES
Following only Jesus is not the same as following Him by yourself or alone.
Many pastors are isolated and have no fellowship or relationship with other pastors of God. You are not a street lamp nor is your community an island.
Matthew 4:18-20 NIV
18 "As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.
19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
20 At once they left their nets and followed him."
Luke 9:23-24 NIV
23 "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it."
Luke 14:26-27, 33 NIV
26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples."
Mark 10:29-30 NIV
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life."
3 - LEARN FROM JESUS AND NOT ABOUT JESUS
While it's important to study hard, many preachers become parrots repeating what others have said and preachers from the books they read, even preaching the results of Google searches.
And we have to admit that on our journey we have learnt things that we have never checked with Jesus, but we accept them as something sacred and unquestionable.
Repentance is transformation of the mind and changing of thoughts. Even today we need to repent beliefs, doctrines, sophistries and thoughts that were never taught by Jesus.
The greatest spiritual warfare that most affects our lives, family and church is the one that takes place within us.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete."
Isaiah 55:7-11
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
Being taught by Jesus will take many, many years on an endless journey and having a relationship with the Holy Spirit will take all the time of your life. It is necessary to learn constant communion with the Lord all the time that goes beyond your devotional moments and your worship services’ schedule.
John 14:26
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
It will remind you of what Jesus said. Firsthand, then, you need to hear what Jesus said.
Matthew 28:19-20 NIV
19 “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,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””
Jeremiah 23:18, 21-22, 25-29 NIV
18 But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?
21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.
25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’
26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?
27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal worship.
28 Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the Lord.
29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"
4 - PREACH AND TEACH ONLY WHAT YOU LIVE. IF YOU DON'T LIVE IT, DON'T PREACH OR TEACH IT
Someone might say, "Then I won't preach or teach much." But that's right: Just preach and teach what you live and obey.” It is better to preach 10 minutes of what you live than an hour of hypocrisy.
If you don't have a message from God, read the Bible to the people, any text, but don't open your mouth to preach what you don't live. Do not introduce a spirit of hypocrisy into the church.
The false prophet is not one who simply preaches or prophesies lies. For Jesus, the false prophet is someone who does not live what he preaches.
Matthew 7:15-20
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
And in an era in which churches have become laboratories of experiences, where the Gospel has been exchanged for coaching and preaching has become motivational, a generation of prophets of God is urged to have the fire of the Spirit burning their bones to proclaim only the God's Word.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
1 "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:
2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."
5 - LOVE JESUS ABOVE ALL, YOUR FAMILY AND THE CHURCH AND YOUR HEART WILL NOT BE UNFAITHFUL TO JESUS OR THE CHURCH OR FAMILY
In fact, the advice should be: LOVE JESUS ONLY. This will be visible through love for your wife, children, relatives, friends, brothers, neighbors, for the nations and enemies!
For Jesus, the one who came to kill, steal and destroy is not the devil. He is the mercenary leader who doesn't love the flock.
John 10:1-2, 6-8, 10-13
1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.
2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.
Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.
13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep."
1 Peter 5:1-4
1 To the elders (presbyters) among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed:
2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve;
3 not Lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away."
1 Peter 3:7
"Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers."
CONCLUSION
John 21:15-17 NIV
15 "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep."
#ASONE
