Apostles — Anton Bosch

Ephesians 4 and the Ministries of the Church

Turn with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, and we continue to deal with a series on the church, and we're dealing with the various ministries right now and unfortunately tonight is going to be fairly technical, in fact very technical.

And I trust that you'll be able to bear with us because this is very important that we deal with this because there are many errors that are in the church today, and probably the two biggest areas of ministry that is taught in error today is that of apostles and prophets.

We live in a time in the charismatic movement, we live in the time of the apostles and the prophets, and they have all sorts of fancy teachings saying that this is the time of the apostles and the prophets, and so it's important that we understand what an apostle is and how he functions and what a prophet is and how he functions.

Every second guy in Africa calls himself apostle so and so. This is, I suppose next to Bishop, this is probably the most popular title amongst many preachers and probably half of the preachers in the world today all want to be apostles.

So let's read from Ephesians chapter 4 and we'll read from 7 through 16. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore he says when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.

Now this he ascended, what does it mean? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

Verse 11 and he gave he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effect of working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Errors About Apostleship and Restorationism

Now before we speak about the apostles we need to just highlight some of the errors that are propagated or preached or taught today. The first is what we call cessationism, cessationism from the word cease saying that the apostles have ceased that there are no more apostles after the twelve and Paul and so according to these people and this is a very very popular view it is held by the Baptists we are very very big in America and many many other groups most reformed churches ignore or don't believe that there are apostles today.

Then there are those who see apostles as being the top of the pyramid and so you have all of the other ministries and right at the peak is the apostles and they effectively are the highest form of ministry that is an error.

Paul says God has made us the apostles or set us last. They are not the top they are in fact the bottom according to Paul. The other problem is that of restorationism and that's what I referred to earlier.

People are saying that the ministries of apostles were lost for 2000 years there was no functioning of these ministries and God is now restoring apostles and prophets in these last days in anticipation of his return.

Now these ministries never ceased they were always there they were there for when the church was established and they have continued to be in the church and functioning and operating right up to today and so the idea that they disappeared and that God is restoring them there is no there is no biblical basis for that.

And then apostolic succession and we'll go into these in a little bit more detail apostolic succession means that when one apostle dies another one succeeds him takes his place. This is the this is most evident in the Roman system where the pope is the apostle and he is in a line of apostles from Peter, Peter being the first apostle and pope and then each apostle came after that and so when one dies another one has to take his place.

Again that is a you know there's just no Bible for that but we'll we'll speak about that. All right the other error is that apostles run denominations. Some churches have a president at the head of the denomination and other other churches have a general superintendent or a general overseer and other churches have apostles that run the denomination.

Again the Bible has no provision for that that's just not a biblical idea. All right what does apostle mean? It's simple it means somebody who is sent somebody who is sent that is what the word means.

It's important to understand the meaning of the word because that will help us to understand how the ministry is to function. It is not called a it's it's not it's apostle is not Greek for or an English translation for a Greek term meaning big cheese or or big chief.

It simply means somebody who is sent. Now immediately you can see there's a difference between the way apostles are viewed today where people think the word means big chief. No it doesn't mean it means somebody who is sent a messenger a gopher in that sense.

Now literally in the church the deacons are the gophers but here in the in the meaning of the word it is somebody who goes for somebody else and and Thayer says that it is a delegate a messenger once sent forth with orders once sent out or sent forth with orders.

That is the meaning of the word you can see that it has nothing to do with controlling with authority with structure. It has to do with going out very very important as we speak about that. All right let's go right back to the beginning and let's just we just need to understand because we have to clarify some of the details in order to understand what where some of these wrong teachings are coming from.

Christ, the Twelve, and the Replacement of Judas

If we go right back the first apostle was who Mary Magdalene Peter Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1 consider the apostle and high priest of our calling. And so Jesus was the first apostle. Was he sent out?

Yes he was sent from heaven to come to us to represent God and to come and to establish the church. He was the first apostle and so we need to learn from him. Who were the next apostles? The twelve the twelve apostles the twelve disciples whom Jesus called and he taught them for three years and then he sent them out.

And they are specifically called apostles. Now those twelve and this is very important those twelve were unique. There will never ever be another group another other apostles like those twelve. We cannot look at them and this is one of the problems is people look at those twelve and they say well apostles today have to be like Peter and John.

They have to perform miracles like they did. They have to speak with authority that when they speak they speak the word of God like John did and Paul did and Peter did. No those twelve were unique and they were a closed number.

It was only twelve and they appear again in the book of Revelation. Remember that the twelve layers of the foundations of the New Jerusalem are named after the apostles. They have a special place in heaven and so there you cannot compare other apostles with those apostles.

They were very very special and in fact that they were they were sent out by Jesus during his ministry but in fact after the ascension the apostles those twelve did not function in the true apostolic sense of being sent out.

Remember when the church was scattered from Jerusalem what happened to the twelve? No they remained in Jerusalem. Occasionally they would go from here and there but they primarily operated from Jerusalem.

They were unique they were you cannot use them as a as a model to understand how other apostles are to function. Now you remember one of the twelve was Judas. Judas fell away. He had to be replaced and in Acts chapter 1 we have the story of how in fact let's let's turn there because this is very important as to the replacement of of Judas and during the time the ten days between Jesus' ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus ascended 40 days after he rose and then there was another 10 days before the day of Pentecost. Pente meaning five or 50 and so on the 50th day the day of Pentecost came. In these 10 days they were they were waiting in the upper room as he had instructed them.

During this time they were searching the scriptures and as they went through the scriptures they discovered a verse that said that Judas would fall away and that another was to take his place and they did what we ought to do.

They were obedient to the scriptures. Sometimes we read it and we say oh that's interesting. Let's debate this. Let's discuss it. No they read the scripture that said that his place was to be taken by another and they said we better be obedient.

We must do this because we're not to be 11 we should be 12. And so they it says in verse 15 Acts 1 15 and in those days Peter stood in the midst of the disciples all together the number of names was about 120.

So the 120 and of which the 12 were there. Men brethren this scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry. Now this man Judas obviously purchased a field with the wages of iniquity and falling headlong. He burst open in the middle of all and all his entrails gushed out.

For those young people who want all the blood and guts it's right here. And obviously we know what happened he tried to hang himself and the rope broke or the branch broke and he fell down. Verse 19. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem as the field is called in their language Akel Damah which is field of blood.

For it is written in the book of Psalms let his dwelling place be desolate and let no one live in it and let another take his office. Therefore of these men who have accompanied us. Now look at this here is the qualifications for the replacement.

This is very very important. Therefore of all these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us from the beginning from the baptism of John to the day when he was taken up from us.

One of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. And they proposed to Joseph called Barthabas who was surnamed Justice and Matthias. And they prayed and said you Lord have made and we know that the lot fell on Matthias.

Now I'm going to come back to that let me just complete this. Now some say that Matthias was the wrong decision and that Paul should have taken Matthias' place. Now you'll see that it says in verse 26 they crossed their lots and the lot fell on Matthias and he was numbered with the 11 apostles.

When the day of Pentecost had fully come they were all in one accord in one place and what happened the Holy Spirit came. Do you think if they had made such a serious mistake that the scripture would immediately follow was saying that God blessed us with the power outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

I don't believe so. And from here on you'll see that he is numbered with it says that on the day of Pentecost Peter stood with the 11. In other words Peter plus the other 11 he is counted with them he is reckoned as one of them there is nothing anywhere in the scripture to suggest that Matthias was not the man who was supposed to take that place.

Now as far as the question as to whether Judas should have taken whether Paul should have taken Judas' place or whether Matthias should have in fact been Paul. Paul does not qualify and this is important.

The reason why people say that Paul should have been the 12th apostle is because in 1 Corinthians 15 he proves that he saw the resurrected Christ and they say that this fulfills the requirement of Act 1 of having seen the risen Christ and that's why Paul proves the fact that he saw the risen Christ because it proves his apostleship.

Now that's that and there are very learned people who propose this argument. It's a stupid argument because look at the requirements the conditions verse 22 beginning with a baptism of John to the day when he was taken I promise one of these must be become witness with us of his resurrection.

What was the requirement to have been there all the time from the baptism of John to the resurrection. Paul does not meet that requirement. In fact Paul was Paul was not even there at the ascension. Paul was never there at any of the stage.

He may have been an outside observer certainly he may have heard of Jesus he may even have seen Jesus preach but he was not with Jesus. He was not one of his disciples he was an opponent he was an enemy of Christ at that stage.

So there is no way Paul can qualify according to these requirements. The requirement is not that he should have witnessed the resurrection that he should have seen the resurrection. That is not the requirement.

Notice what it says verse 22. One of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection. In other words one of these must go with us and preach to people and tell people that Christ is risen the resurrection or having seen the risen Christ is not a requirement for the apostle.

But in fact the requirements are to have been with Christ from then to then and the purpose is to witness to the resurrection not having been a witness of the resurrection. That is not the question. So the whole argument that Paul took this place it is just a stupid argument in spite of the fact that some very clever people proposed that argument was Paul an apostle.

Most definitely at least three scriptures Galatians Timothy and Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1. Of each one of those books Galatians Ephesians 1 Timothy 1 he introduces himself as Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ.

So he is not ashamed or he is not hesitant to say I am an apostle. He dealing with the Corinthians he goes into great detail to prove his apostleship. So he was an apostle. There is no question that he was an apostle but he was not one of the 12.

So immediately the people you see the reason why people want to force the issue that Paul was one of the 12 is because if he was one of the 12 you can prove that then you could you have a leg to stand on to say there are no other apostles after that.

But if there was the 12 and Paul was also an apostle then the idea that you only have a closed number of 12 apostles falls away. You then have to say if there was a 13th apostle then there can be a 14th one and a 15th one and many others now very clearly the 12 and that is why I have gone to some detail to prove that the 12 were closed.

It was a sealed number. Paul was not one of the 12. Yet Paul was an apostle and we can go to many many scriptures to prove that Paul was an apostle. So now is Paul the same as every other apostle that would come after him.

The answer is no. Paul had a unique ministry and calling. He was not like the 12 and he was not like any other apostle that would come after him as well because to him was given the responsibility to write the doctrine and to write a lot of most of the New Testament.

Paul’s Unique Authority and the Limits of Modern Apostles

Now this is important because modern apostles claim that they speak with the same authority that Paul did and that they can make statements that are outside of the Bible because that is authority that comes with being an apostle.

No that is what God gave to Paul. He did not give that to other apostles. There were other apostles in the New Testament and I'm not going to go through all of them and I can give you a copy of the notes if you wish.

But there was Barnabas, James the Lord's brother, Apollos, Timothy and Silas, Epaphroditus, Andronicus and Junius. Now that makes it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 men that are named other than Paul that were named apostles in the New Testament.

Did any of these men write any of the scriptures. Did they have the revelation. Were they caught up into the third heaven like Paul was. Did they have any of the power and the wisdom and the insight that Paul had.

No. But they were apostles nonetheless. So Paul was unique. You cannot use the 12 as a model for other apostles and you cannot use Paul as a model for other apostles. They are different and they had a specific responsibility to establish the doctrine and to establish the new to write the New Testament and so that's very very important.

So new apostles that exist today are bound by these scriptures. They cannot speak beyond these scriptures. They cannot add to these scriptures. God is not giving them continuing to give them revelation like he gave to Paul the additional revelation whatever revelation was given in addition to the Old Testament.

And we understand that God did give new revelation in addition to the Old Testament that he gave to the 12 and he gave to Paul and that is contained in the scripture. There is no new and ongoing revelation.

All apostles after Paul have to write or have to preach what is in the scriptures. They cannot give additional say God revealed to me whatever all of the nonsense that these guys claim that that God gave and God revealed to them all right.

So another important point is that the difference between the 12 and other ministries. The 12 were called apostles during Jesus's ministry. In Acts chapter 1 verse 8 we read that when he ascended on high he gave gifts to men and he gave some to be apostles.

In other words he gave apostles after he ascended but the 12 were apostles before he ascended. And so from that you can clearly see that there is a difference between the 12 and those. In other words according to Ephesians 4 verse 8 there were no apostles other than the 12 different to the 12 before the ascension there were prophets in the Old Testament but the New Testament prophets only came at the ascension when he ascended on high.

And the same with pastors and teachers and evangelists. All right. Were there. Are there apostles between the New Testament and today. Yes there are. There are many clearly definable apostles. Let me speak about the the work of an apostle and then I'll come back to that issue.

The Apostolic Work of Establishing Local Churches

As to other examples of apostles between then and now. What is the what is the function or the work of an apostle. First of all he goes out. He doesn't sit in a headquarters. He doesn't sit in a local church.

His ministry is to go out and to go and to preach the gospel and to take those that get saved as a result of his preaching the gospel and to establish them into local churches. Once he has done that and once he has put them into local churches he teaches them and having done that he moves on and he goes to new territory.

Paul said I don't preach where others have preached because I'm not going to build on anybody else's foundation. One of the one of the practical realities of apostolic ministry is that they operate in new territory.

Unfortunately today we find that that much of the world particularly in the western world has already been preached and and so there are apostles who are establishing new churches based on existing believers in in cities and in towns.

And that's very messy work. It's very hard work. It's much harder than to preach to the gentiles or to the heathen out there because you're having to break down bad foundations before you can build good foundations.

But there are apostles who operate in that in that mode today. But it is it is not the ideal situation. And so apostles go out preach the gospel establish churches. That's the function of apostles. Once those churches have been established they ordain elders.

We dealt with that in the last two weeks. Those elders now become the oversight of that local church. The apostle now moves on he goes to a new place does the same thing there moves on to the next place.

That's that's what Paul did. That's what Barnabas did. That's what each of the apostles that are listed in the New Testament that's how they functioned now. They would go back to the places that they'd established from time to time and they would minister there again.

And if there was problems they would be consulted. But they did not hold immediate. They did not hold control or authority over those local churches. One of the things about modern apostles is that they control all of the churches that they established and others that they did not establish.

And one of the things about that is that when he makes the rules the rules apply to every church. And when people pay tithes all of those tithes a portion of those tithes go to the apostle now even in Paul's ministry that didn't function.

That didn't. Paul didn't demand money from the churches that he had established. He's clear about that. He writes to the Philippians and he and he speaks to to to the Corinthians. And he says you know I've worked with my own hands.

I didn't demand anything from you. And so they the so that's that. That's the function. Basically apostles look out. They're looking for new fields. They they're not very good at sticking to one thing at a time.

They're always wanting to move on. Elders are different. Elders don't really have a vision for out there. Elders have a vision for here. Elders want to keep things together. Apostles want to get people moving and wanted themselves be going out there.

There are two very very different ministries. They have a totally different outlook on life that they're different personalities now the problem today is that the way that we or that that that the create impression that is being created today is that that apostles control.

No apostles don't control. Apostles are wanting just to get out. They want to get rid of their responsibilities as quickly as possible so they can move on to the next place into the next place because that is what God has called them to do.

They are different elders on are very very different. Those who control or look after manage local churches. They have they have in fact it's very hard to get a true elder to agree to release a young person or a young man or a somebody in the church for to go and help some other church because they their job is to keep the chickens together.

That that's what they do. That's the and that's right. There's nothing wrong with that but you can see that they are very different animals they are very different kinds of people. And yet today we all of this gets put into one pot and and so apostles are those who control.

No no apostles are those who are out there who are preaching and who breaking new ground and so other than examples of apostles in the last in the last 2000 years there are many many many apostles that there are men like Augustine there are men like Calvin and like Luther.

These were all apostles for all of them with their faults and so on. But I think that for me two of the of the greatest examples are a man called job Darby John Nelson Darby who when he died and very interesting he and his followers do not believe that that the apostolic ministry continues and yet they write about him and they said that his relationship with his churches was apostolic in nature.

He established 1 ,500 churches 1 ,500 churches all over England and Europe and he's the churches continue today they've gone into error unfortunately and he lived. He was born in 1800 so we're talking 200 years ago and and yet he he started those 1 ,500 churches what just would move into a new territory preach the gospel exactly the way we've described it in my own time and someone well before my time but someone who had a great influence on me.

I knew him as a young boy and as a young man was a man called William Burton went from England to the Congo. The most amazing stories as he traveled and I remember him telling me some of these stories went into the darkest part of Africa where no white man had ever gone before and and just lived there in the in the amongst the wild animals and the diseases.

And in fact on his first journey he had a friend who went in with him and before they even got to the place where they they planned to begin to work from his friend had already died because of of some tropical disease and he went in there and he began to preach the gospel.

God worked with him just like in the New Testament. And at the time when the Congo got independence and the war broke out in the in the Congo a thousand churches had been established. Every one of those churches were autonomous had its own elders and so when he had to withdraw those churches continued and that today those churches counting to thousands and thousands and thousands of churches.

Missionaries, Apostles, and Church Independence

Now what is this. What do we call these men today missionaries. That's all it is. We just change the language and we think I you know missionary is this thing and an apostle is another thing. It's a missionary.

That's all it is. An apostle is a missionary. Now not all missionaries are apostles. Some missionaries are teachers and they teach kids to read and write and others are doctors and others are engineers and and others are cultural tourists.

They just traveled to go and see strange people. A true missionary is an apostle and he doesn't just preach the gospel but he establishes local churches and he puts local elders in charge of those churches so that those churches are independent of the sending church or sending agency.

You see one of the problems of missionary work today is that is let's say Burbank Community Church says we're going to send a missionary to wherever Venezuela and so we support the guy and which is good and quite right.

We say good brother go there preach the gospel. Start churches. He starts churches. What do we do. We say no. These churches must be responsible to the mother church and we make them dependent on us for gifts and for money and for ministries and for everything.

And what happens when trouble breaks out in that country and that missionary is chased out of the country. Those churches die because they are dependent on the mother church. This is not the way it was in the New Testament.

Those churches were independent. They were started they were taught to stand on their own feet not to be dependent on the sending church or the sending agency the mission mission organization for their money or for their ministry or for anything but to be dependent on Christ.

And wherever this has been done correctly as in China and in in the Congo and in many other places when the doors were closed and missionary organizations were kicked out of the country's those churches continued where that was not done properly those churches failed and they closed down because they were they were.

They were not founded on a proper foundation. All right. We can talk for hours about that. Let me let me deal with some very important some of these errors that we spoke about apostolic succession Apostles hand over to the next Apostle.

Elders, False Apostles, and the Rejection of Apostolic Succession

And so when that Apostle dies the next one takes over Acts chapter 20 except at 20 and Paul and I've referred to this before when we spoke about elders. But Paul is now dealing with the Ephesian elders.

He is on his way to Jerusalem and then to Rome. He says in this passage he says you're not gonna see my face any any longer. I'm I'm dead as far as you're concerned you're never gonna see me again now if anybody was ever and I believe that this scripture is given to us on purpose.

If at any stage there was any a hint at an apostolic succession as or for if there was any idea that an Apostle would be replaced by another Apostle then we would find it here in this passage because this is a clear discussion between Paul and the elders and he says I'm gone I'm out of here.

And he does not say to them there is Timothy or Barnabas or Peter or whoever. If you have any problem send them an email or phone them or call them. He makes no provision for that. And in Acts chapter 20 verse 20 let me just cut to the chase.

Verse 28. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock.

Also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

So what does he do. He makes the elders in the local church responsible. He does not provide a successor. He does not provide anyone to take his place. He makes no provision for them. He says you are the final responsibility in this in this church and that alone I don't.

We don't need many other scriptures. That alone proves as far as I'm concerned the fact that Apostles are not succeeded by other Apostles. The second reason why this is true and this is very important is if we go to the book of Corinthians 1 Corinthians chapter 4 now in Corinth how we doing there in Corinth there was an issue concerning Apostles.

Remember the book opens and Paul says there's there's problems in this church. He says because some say we were Paul and others you know no Peter is our man and others you know Apostles our guy. And he says you're carnal because you're you're chasing after men.

But also he was protecting because men were coming in and laying claim to this church. That's one of the things that false Apostles do. And the New Testament warns us about false Apostles. One of the things false Apostles do is that they lay claim to territory.

They want to move into churches and into areas and they want to grab as much as they can because these men are about ego and they're about numbers. I have a hundred churches I have 500 churches whatever under me.

You don't ever see that. But at the same time Paul is very careful to protect and to defend his Apostleship in the local in the church of Corinth. Not because he wanted Corinth as a as a notch on his on his arrows on his bow you know to say you know that there's you know or or pins on the map so you know there's Corinth.

That's one of my churches. That wasn't the issue for Paul. But Paul recognized that these guys who wanted to come in we're going to cause havoc in this church. They were going to cause division and they were going to bring in error.

And for that reason alone he felt the need to protect that church and to claim it in the sense of saying this is my church. Not because he wanted to claim that church for himself but simply for the sake of protecting it.

That was the that's the only motive you see here with Paul. And so Paul says he says I don't like to prove who I am but he says you forced me to do this now because these guys are coming in and they're saying we're Apostles.

Here are our credentials. Here is our proof that we're Apostles. He says. Now what do I have to do. He says you're forcing me to to to explain who I am now in this context. Then in Acts. Sorry. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 14.

I do not write these things to shame you but as my beloved children I warn you now look at this verse 15. For though you might have 10 ,000 instructors in Christ yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

Therefore I urge you imitate me. What does an apostle do. He is a father. He brings people into the new birth. He fathers them the same way as I fathered my daughters and the time came when I had to let them go.

But I'm still their father. If they have an issue they call me. But my relationship has changed the same way as an apostle brings the church into being. Initially he is right there all the time teaching them training them.

He begins to withdraw slowly and eventually they're on their own now. Paul says here there's a difference between a father and an instructor. My daughters have had many instructors. They went to school.