In the Bible, prophets, priests and kings have always been imperfect saviors of their own flock. Their leadership was always lacking, and the failures always pointed for a need of having a better savior. OT has always pointed to that One Perfect Savior i.e the Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, we see how Christ fulfills the need for a better Savior and protector of His people.
Church Discipline is disciplinary act from the elders of the church to rebuke, correct and restore a person from a sinful lifestyle in order to prevent the soul from further damage. It is a way of bringing back the prodigal into the fellowship of God and believers. In this passage, we learn why and how we need to practice church discipline.
Anyone who has labored in ministry for any period of time knows that a consistent companion accompanies ministry. What is this companion? Discouragement. In this passage, Paul describes what it means to be the true minister of Christ through various discouragements and sufferings faced in the ministry.
Every disciple of Christ is called to evangelize. The New Testament paints a picture in which every disciple of Christ is normally and naturally involved in evangelism as much as in the Bible study, prayer, and corporate worship. From the brand new Christian to the wise old saint, sharing the gospel is necessary and integral to a growing life in Christ. In this passage, we learn how we’re called to approach Christian ministry both in serving the saints and the lost.
The church as an institution is always dependent on its mature and effective leadership committee, or a group of Elders. If there are no godly Christian men who are equipped to handle the Word of God and the saints with integrity and moral uprightness, the church would collapse immediately. In this passage, Paul not just defends his ministry, but also lays out marks of a true Christian leader called by God to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to lead a life that brings glory to God alone.
Jesus Christ commissioned His Apostles to go around the world to preach the gospel and make disciples. It is not just for the Apostles to do this job (obviously because they’re not here), but every Christian is called to witness for Christ and be a disciple maker in some capacity. In this passage, we learn what kind of attitude and motives we are all called to have, in order to stand for Christ and serve His people.
Any church community’s institutional stability and solid spiritual growth is always dependent on its mature and effective leadership committee. If there are no godly Christian men who are equipped to handle the Word of God and the saints, the church would collapse immediately. In this passage, Paul describes what it means to be a Godly Christian leader called by God to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to suffer for His name sake.
We’ve often heard a cliché about the necessity of leaders being ’empathetic’ and ‘humble’ towards people. But how does a leader cultivate such character qualities to serve people well? The Bible says that only the gospel of Jesus Christ enables leaders to have a heart of humility. In this passage, we learn how gospel authenticates and produces genuine humility in a leader through the path of suffering, so that he displays character qualities like Christ did.
Any church community’s institutional stability and solid spiritual growth is always dependent on its mature and effective leadership committee. If there are no godly Christian men who are equipped to handle the Word of God and the saints, the church would collapse immediately. In this passage, Paul explains what it means to be a genuine Christian leader called by God to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and to suffer for His name sake.
In our first part under this topic, we learnt that the Lord has instituted His church with certain organizational structure which includes ‘Church Discipline’, operated through pastors, elders and deacons to counsel, rebuke, correct and guide us towards righteousness. In this passage, we learn how church discipline shouldn’t be practiced, and also what kind of response should we display when the elders, pastors and deacons work to restore our joy in the Lord.