Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Do not settle for less when it comes to the intake of the word of God.
You must listen to what the Spirit has to say to the church as Rev 2 and 3 teaches so it is not biblical to have a pastor-teacher who is no longer alive.
1. Verse 3, Peter says that there are individual who are allotted or assigned to the pastor-teacher who is in charge.
2. Verse 28, the Holy Spirit has assigned a pastor-teacher called the overseer over certain members of the Church of God.
You have been assigned to a pastor-teacher, 1PE 5:3; and a pastor-teacher has been assigned to you, ACT 20:28.
No believer can attain spiritual maturity and become an invisible hero or glorify God apart from PMA of Bible doctrine.
The Bible is our textbook, but the gift of pastor-teacher is designed to communicate the specifics of the mystery doctrine that cause spiritual growth. EPH 4:11-16.
No believer can read the Bible daily for himself and discover and learn the mystery doctrine for the Church Age, and understand the mechanics of the PPOG.
Since every believer is a royal priest and represents himself before God, it is necessary for him to understand the system of delegated authority whereby he receives his spiritual nourishment and which causes momentum in the PPOG.
The believer’s attitude toward the mystery doctrine as taught by his right pastor, whomever he is, becomes the major issue in the preservation of the client nation.
The pastor-teacher is a spiritual gift provided by God the Holy Spirit at salvation for certain male believers only, 1TI 2:11-14.
POIMEN or “pastor” means no one can teach Bible doctrine without the authority related to the spiritual gift.
DIDASKALOS or “teacher” indicates his function. DIDASKALOS means to teach a group.
(a) When they are born. (b) When they are born-again by learning God’s plan. (c) When they are married.
The noun DIDASKALOS means teaching under two traditional principles: face-to-face teaching inside the local church and non-face-to-face teaching outside of the local church.
Paul’s epistle to the Colossians was non-face-to-face teaching of those believers the apostle had never met.
EPISKOPOS means guardian of the flock, overseer, supervisor, superintendent, and policy maker.
Through faithful communication of the mystery doctrine pertaining to the great power experiment of the Church Age, the pastor becomes the guardian of the congregation in the sense that he is the chief policy maker for the local church.
EPISKOPOS means patron, protector. In fifth century B.C. Athens, it meant a state official. It means rulership, authority, and establishing authority through doctrine, through truth.
DIAKONOS means minister, servant, or waiter. The translation is minister; the transliteration is deacon. 1CO 3:5; EPH 3:7; COL 1:7.
This should not be confused with DIAKONIA, translated deacon, referring to those who administer in the local church.
PRESBUTEROS means “the old man” in the sense of being in the highest authority, commander, commanding officer, elder; it refers to the authority of the pastor. 1TI 5:17,19; TIT 1:5. 1PE 5:1.
In Acts 20:28, Paul told pastors:
Spirit has made you guardian [EPISKOPOS] to shepherd [POIMAINO] the church of God which He purchased with his own blood.”
HEB 13:7, This was FontPitch 2,12 – On.”Remember those who rule over you, who communicate the Word from God to you; carefully consider the issue of their way of life; imitate their doctrine.”
HEB 13:17, This was FontPitch 2,12 – On.”Keep obeying those [pastors] who themselves are ruling over you, and submit to their authority, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will render an account. Keep obeying them, in order that they may do this [accounting] with happiness and not with groaning, for this is unprofitable for you.”
ISA 54:17, This was FontPitch 2,12 – On.”`No weapon that is formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment, you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me,’ declares the Lord.”
1PE 5:2, This was FontPitch 2,12 – On.”Feed the flock of God among you, not from compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God.”
2TI 4:2, This was FontPitch 2,12 – On.”Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort [when warranted by context], and do this with all patience and teaching.” and 1TI 4:10, 2,12 – On.”For because of this [communication of doctrine], we work hard to the point of exhaustion, and we hang in there tough because we have confidence in the living God who is the Savior of all men.”
1. There are some problems with face-to-face teaching.
a. There is the problem of concentration.
b. Privacy must exist. There must not be a one-on-one situation. Privacy is necessary so that you can receive the teaching of the Word of God as from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
c. The distraction of Christian fellowship results in people emphasis taking precedence over God emphasis. This is a very serious problem in churches.
d. The pastor’s authority is often an issue.
e. Familiarity with the pastor.
2. There are problems with Non-face-to-face teaching.
a. There is the problem of making Bible doctrine a matter of convenience, rather than a matter of meeting a schedule.
b. There is the problem of making Bible doctrine #1 priority and being consistent. You must have the self-discipline and organized life to be consistent.
c. There is the problem of concentration and academic discipline.
d. There is the problem of authority as well.
a. Epaphras was the founder and pastor of a local church at Colossae, according to COL 1:7 and 4:12.
Phile 1:23, Epaphras was serving with Paul in Rome during Paul’s first imprisonment. This resulted in Paul ministering to the Colossian Church through non-face-to-face written messages during Ephaphras’ absence.
b. Epaphroditus may or may not have been the pastor at Philippi, but when he carried the Philippian epistle from Paul to that group of believers, he carried a series of non-face-to-face messages.
c. While the apostle John was teaching face-to-face in Ephesus, he was at the same time teaching at least two other groups in a non-face-to-face manner.
One such group was centered around an elect lady in 2 John; another group was centered around a man named Gaius in 3 John.
Both these groups were probably in the Lycus Valley.
When John was banished to the Island of Patmos by Nero, he penned the book of Revelation, which is a series of non-face-to-face messages delivered to seven churches on a regular basis; i.e., to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
The point is that face-to-face versus non-face-to-face teaching is really a false issue.
The real issue is the presentation of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age so that believers can execute the will, plan, and purpose of God.
1CO 15:34 Become sober‑minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
The command to stop sinning is not a reference to sinless perfection but a reference to the fact that when believers lack knowledge it is a shame and sinful.
2TI 2:15 “Study to present yourself approved by God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed [at the Judgment seat of Christ], handling accurately the word of truth.”
The importance of fellowship with God in time to avoid shame at the judgment seat of Christ is brought out in 1JO 2:28 “And now my children, keep abiding in Him, that if He should appear [Rapture], we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame in His presence [Judgment seat of Christ].
The issue that everyone of us must face is whether or not we are you going to be rich or poor in time and whether or not we are going to be rich or poor in eternity.
1SA 2:7 “The Lord makes poor and rich”
PRO 10:22 “It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich.”
2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
There will be perfect happiness in heaven, there will be perfect contentment, but there will also be millions of believers who suffered loss of rewards.
The loss of rewards will be a sign that you were a “loser in time.”
Because of your eternal poverty, and I mean “poverty compared to the winners, you will lack the richness that God elected you to have.”
Spiritual blessings in time go to the rich and poor.
As far as the eternal state is concerned, it is a disgrace for any believer to be poor in his resurrected body.
That same grace that saved him is the same grace that could have made him great.
2PE 1:11 for in this way an abundance shall be supplied to you at the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.