Thoughts about apostolic ministry

In recent years, there's been a lot said and written about the ministry of apostles in the church today. The traditional view is that only those who saw the risen Lord Jesus - either in the flesh, or like Paul in a vision - qualify as "apostles". More recently, many Christians have come to accept that there are current-day apostles whose ministry is planting new churches or overseeing existing churches. I have been reflecting recently about the nature of apostolic ministry. It seems to me - looking at the Bible and at what is happening in the churches - that there are several different functions or facets of apostolic ministry. Rarely are all the facets seen in one man - most apostolic men have more than one, but few possess them all. These functions include planting individual churches - some men have the passion, gifting and facility to start one church and then move and plant another, and then move and plant another, and so on. Another function is stirring up vision, energy and faith for mission, whether in the UK or abroad - this is the restless spirit that is always looking to the "regions beyond."  Another function is being a father to church leaders. Another is oversight of existing churches, whether sorting out foundations or identifying areas for growth and progress. Another function is uniting churches into a common goal and purpose, often by travelling among the churches.

 

As I said, a few men have the gifting and capacity to be or do all of these things. The apostle Paul was one. There have been a few others, through the course of church history. But my guess is that there are not many men who can do all these things. Most people that we recognise as "apostolic" will probably only have the measure to do some of them. Which means that we will need apostles working together, and working together across the churches, if we are to get the benefit of the whole gamut of apostolic ministry. And it probably means that any one church will not find all that it needs by being overseen by one "apostle" - rather we will need to be exposed to ministry from several apostolic men if we are to go on to maturity.

Upside-down attitudes

In Luke 14:1-24, Jesus teaches that our attitudes as disciples should be the opposite to the attitudes of this world. In this life, if we put our minds and energy to it, we often can obtain what it is that we want – whether status, the praise of other people, money or security (as far as security is possible in this uncertain world.) Jesus taught his disciples not to live for success and reward in this life, but to aim to be rewarded by our heavenly Father in the life to come. In particular Jesus teaches that a disciple has an upside-down attitude to status (v.7-11), reward (v.12-14), and the value of people (v.15-24).

The parable that Jesus told (v. 15-24) had its immediate application to the Pharisees that Jesus was dining with. The Jews of Jesus’ day often talked about the coming of God’s kingdom, and the Messianic age, in terms of a feast. The great feast is a picture of the age to come. The Jews were God’s chosen people and they had the revelation of God through the law and the prophets. It was to the Jews that the Messiah would come; through the Jews that God would bless the world. So the Jews thought of themselves as those who were invited to the great feast. This was especially true of the Pharisees who were the strictest of the religious groups of the day, who took the Bible very seriously, and who had clear ideas about what sort of behaviour was acceptable as a good Jew.

Jesus came proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand and that he himself was God’s son, the Messiah. However, many of the Jews and especially the Pharisees rejected him. Jesus went to the outcasts – the lepers, the untouchables, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the “sinners”.
Through the parable, Jesus was saying was that those invited to the feast – the Jews and particularly the Pharisees – had refused to come and so the invitation was being extended to the “outsiders”, those the Pharisees looked own upon, and even to Gentile “unbelievers” who would later receive Jesus as their Saviour. (It’s not surprising that the Pharisees plotted to kill him!)

The parable has a secondary, but nevertheless very important, application to everyone today – it shows that Jesus is interested in the outsider and the outcast, and that Jesus is more interested in people who are willing to embrace him and to follow him wholeheartedly than people who are outwardly respectable but unwilling to follow him.

What is a disciple?

There are several words and expressions used by Jesus, the gospel-writers and in the book of Acts to describe what we call “Christians” – believers, disciples, followers of The Way, the people, and Christians (‘Christian’ is in the Bible, but it is only used three times in the original Greek).

By far the most common word used of Christian believers is ‘disciple(s)’. This word is from the same root as the word ‘discipline’ and it means a pupil. The essence of being a disciple is that of being a learner – one who is not yet complete; one who recognises the need to continue to learn or to grow.

The essence of discipleship is the call to change. God calls us to continual change and transformation. Growth is not possible without changing. We are called to change in our attitude to God, to ourselves and to others.

For example, we are called to change our view of ourselves – to accept God’s verdict over us of ‘not guilty’ because our sins are forgiven in Christ. It means seeing ourselves as objects of God’s love, not his judgement. It means bringing our opinion of ourselves in line with God’s opinion – that we are adopted as sons and daughters and inheritors with Christ of his glory.

We are also called to forgive those who do wrong to us. That calls for a change of attitude. It means letting go of hurt, pain and bitterness and giving up the ‘right’ to seek retribution. It means trusting the God who knows everyone’s hearts - that he will deal with those who have hurt us with true justice, combined with appropriate mercy.

It also means a change of attitude towards money, possessions, and where our security lies. It means a change of priorities and motivation – what comes first: our careers, our families, our work, our community involvement, our hobbies, our worship, our church commitments?

When someone has been a Christian for a long time, they are inclined to think that they have done all the changing that they are going to do, that all that remains for them is to stay faithful. There is a temptation for an established Christian, when they read the Bible or hear a sermon, simply to add a new insight to their accumulation of Bible knowledge. Nevertheless, as a disciple, we are called to continual growth and change. I believe that God is challenging us to be ready to change our thinking –to face the fears and insecurities that remain in our minds and emotions, to grow in our experience of God’s love for us, to deal with unbelief, to grow in faith and be more expectant that God will work in miracles of healing and provision.