Qualified Spiritual Leaders
To lead people to become
mature disciples of Jesus Christ,
we must select and appoint
qualified spiritual leaders in every local church.
Here's Dr. Gene Getz:
We're going to see this Principle
illustrated in a beautiful way
when Paul and Barnabas were
on their return phase
of the first missionary journey.
And I would like to just establish
the geographical context first of all,
in terms of the journey,
so you can pick up the continuity.
And you remember the first journey
began at Antioch in Syria.
Boarded ship in Seleucia, went to Cyprus.
Across Cyprus and then continued the journey
all the way to Perga.
And they're about ready to go up
over the mountains about 150 miles.
And they're going to another Antioch.
This is [Pisidia]--Pisidian Antioch.
And that's where they planted a church.
They continued on to Iconium.
And then on to Lystra. And then on to Derbe.
Now at this point in time,
they have established churches
in all of those locations,
but now they're going to return.
And that's where we pick up
what I've called "evangelism and edification."
You'll find this in Acts chapter 14,
verses 21, continuing:
After they...
That is Paul and Barnabas:
...After they had preached the gospel
[in Derby and now notice]
made many disciples, they returned
to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch,
strengthening the disciples
by encouraging them to continue in the faith...
Now this is the return to the cities
where they had made disciples--
where they had established churches.
But what I want you to notice
is a very significant correlation
between what Luke has recorded here
and what Jesus said on that mountain in Galilee
when He gave the Great Commission--
primarily to the apostles
but certainly with application to all of us.
Even 2,000 years later.
We do call this the Great Commission.
And Jesus said:
Go, therefore, and [What?]
make disciples of all nations...
What were Paul and Barnabas doing
on this first journey?
They made disciples.
They're carrying out the Great Commission.
And a disciple, basically in its
most simple definition, is a believer--
producing followers of Jesus Christ.
Remember Jesus said in the upper room
that all people will know
that you are My disciples
if you have love for one another.
So believers were called disciples
once they became a follower of Jesus.
So Jesus said:
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...
But notice, Jesus continued
to what we call "edification:"
...teaching them to observe everything
I have commanded you.
And remember, I am with you always,
to the end of the age.
Basically, here we see the Great Commission:
Go make disciples and then teach those disciples.
And what we see here in Acts,
as Luke recorded it, is that they made disciples.
And then they went back to these cities
and encouraged them. Built them up.
These are very strong words
that are really synonyms
to the concept of teaching.
And so basically, Paul and Barnabas
are carrying out the Great Commission.
It's a very specific illustration
of doing what Jesus said should happen.
Now notice next that once they
returned to the churches
in these particular cities,
it says they appointed qualified leaders.
And that really is the focus of the Principle
that we want to look at
that grows out of this particular
passage of Scripture. We read:
When they had appointed elders for them
in every church and prayed with fasting,
they committed them to the Lord
in whom they had believed.
Now here we have a reference
to what the Bible calls "elders."
And that particular word "presbuteroi"
is the plural in the Greek text,
really is a reference to those
who are spiritual leaders, spiritual fathers.
Those who are to lead the church
at the highest level.
And it's interesting that Paul and Barnabas
particularly used the word "elders"
when they were ministering to Christians
who had a strong background in Judaism.
Because they would understand the word "elders."
That comes from Judaism,
way back to the time of Moses and the elders.
But they gave the meaning--or gave the word,
I should say--a new meaning.
In this case it was the spiritual leaders.
Not of a nation but of a body of believers.
Now later we'll see
when they get into the Gentile world,
primarily the Gentile world,
there's another word that was used.
It's a synonym.
And it's "episcopoi," which basically
is translated "overseers" or "bishops."
But it refers to the same
particular position in the church--
those who are spiritual leaders in the church.
Now the question [that] comes is:
Where did Paul and Barnabas
discover qualified leaders?
I mean, they were a year and a half probably,
making disciples in these cities.
And then the next year and a half probably,
returning and appointing elders in these churches.
Well basically I think I have an answer
to that question.
Because if you go back to the book of Acts
and look at where they first ministered
in all of those cities, they went into the synagogues.
There were a lot of Jews
that were living in those pagan cities.
And there were obviously
God-fearing Grecian Jews, like Barnabas.
You remember, Barnabas
was a God-fearing Grecian Jew
who came from Cyprus.
He's a Cypriot.
And he was in Jerusalem
when the church was founded.
What happened when he discovered
that Jesus was the Messiah?
Now, he was looking forward to the Messiah.
He was dedicated to the law of Moses.
He was a man who had high values
before he became a believer.
When he heard the gospel.
When he heard Peter preach.
Obviously he put his faith in Jesus Christ
and became a Christ follower.
With all of this background
that he was committed to--
the values that he had already--
it just took a very short period of time
for him to grow spiritually.
And here he is already a missionary with Paul.
Serving. Plant churches in these regions.
So basically what Paul and Barnabas
looked for when they went back into these cities,
probably were God-fearing Grecian Jews
who were now believers in Jesus Christ
who matured very quickly.
And became true followers of Christ,
reflecting who He is.
So basically, that Principle that emerges,
regardless of the situation, is this Principle:
To lead people to become
mature disciples of Jesus Christ,
we must select and appoint
qualified spiritual leaders in every local church.
And so consequently, they found
people like Barnabas.
Barnabas found people like himself.
Like he was before he became a believer.
Also found people like the seven men
that were appointed to wait tables.
Remember their qualifications?
They were all God-fearing Grecian Jews.
At least six of them were.
One was a Gentile who was from Antioch.
But he also was like Cornelius
when Cornelius was a Gentile.
But he was worshiping the one true God.
He was giving alms.
He was praying regularly.
And then when Peter went down to preach,
he became a follower of Jesus.
You can imagine the growth
that took place in his life immediately.
So here's the Reflection and Response question:
How does this Principle to Live By
apply in cultures today where new converts
have previously been greatly influenced
by Judeo-Christian values?
Well I've seen this.
I've seen this at my own church-planting experience.
I've seen men and women
who really are committed
to the values of Scripture
but they don't know Jesus.
I'm thinking of one man.
And some of you in this room know him.
His name was Mike. And you know his wife Sharon.
And Mike was an elder in a church
but he didn't know Jesus.
It was a liberal church.
They didn't teach the gospel.
He was a Sunday school teacher
and taught the Bible.
But he didn't really understand the Bible.
And if you asked Mike,
as his secretary did one day:
Mike, if you got to heaven,
what would you say to Jesus to let you come in?
And he said: Well I think my good works
would outweigh my bad works.
And that's what he believed.
And Sharon was a graduate
of a religious course
in a so-called Christian university
but she didn't know Jesus.
But what happened when those two people,
as a couple, came to know Christ
in a Bible study--in a home of someone
from our particular church?
Their growth was immediate.
They weren't pagans.
They weren't idolaters.
They weren't people
who were worshiping false gods.
They just didn't understand the gospel.
And so it was, you see, in these cities
where you have these God-fearing Jews,
Grecian Jews, who had all the background
but they didn't understand the gospel
and the Messiah and who He really was.
So that is a very important principle I think,
in finding people who will grow
immediately and who are qualified.
Now, what if their backgrounds
are purely pagan?
What if they're idolaters?
What if they are living very sinful,
godless lives?
It takes a long time
to become a mature disciple of Jesus Christ.
And that happened
in the New Testament world.
Because once the pagans came to Christ,
many of these men had
more than one woman in their lives,
a prostitute at the local temple,
a slave girl in the back room.
Wife knew all about it.
Wasn't anything she could do about it.
What do you--how long do you think it took
for these men to really get their house
in order and mature in Jesus Christ?
And that's why, later on
when we find the list of qualities
that Paul wrote to Timothy in 1st Timothy--
this happened years later.
And when he wrote to Titus
who was left in Crete--this very pagan island.
That's why you have all these lists of qualities:
to make sure that we have men and women
in leadership who are truly qualified
to lead the church of Jesus Christ.
So here we have the Principle.
Let me just state it one more time.
That grows out of this particular
passage of Scripture:
To lead people to become
mature disciples of Jesus Christ,
we must select and appoint qualified
spiritual leaders in every local church.