Comments on: Teaching in the ekklesia?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:45:04 +0000

I posted my thoughts on this topic and linked your post. I hope you’ll read it so you can understand where I’m coming from. I didn’t want to hijack your comment section.

I truly appreciate your perspective. It’s fresh air to me.

By: Thoughts on Teaching and Relational Christianity « One Truth

Thoughts on Teaching and Relational Christianity « One Truth — Fri, 18 May 2007 17:30:46 +0000

[...] May 18th, 2007 by biblicalchristian Mike at Thin Edge of the Wedge has expressed views about what ‘church’ really is that have touched my heart as my family heads back to my rather large, sorta seeker friendly SBC in Oklahoma. Read his post: Teaching in the ekklesia . [...]

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:30:08 +0000

Amen.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 17 May 2007 21:21:13 +0000

I think we have lots of freedom in our gatherings for full expression of the various gifts God gives the body of Christ. Paul even gives guidelines for those occasions when two or three prophets have something to say to the body: it should be done in an orderly fashion that respects the gifts and contributions of others. And I certainly wouldn’t mind, if I were hosting the meeting in my home, if someone shared a passage of Scripture that God had been using in their life. Unfortunately most church services today are so highly scripted that only a few elite people get to exercise their gifts: a great loss to the entire body of Christ and very stifling to the work of the Holy Spirit in the rest of the saints, IMO.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Thu, 17 May 2007 20:00:50 +0000

My little Reformed church’s sermons are ‘expository’ and I am ever so grateful. But I’m a researching bookworm noodle, so when my pastor starts pulling out the Greek lexicon and telling me what the Word REALLY says, I’m salivating. A proper understanding has most definitely ushered in proper worship. By proper worship I mean as I more deeply understand the character of God, I more deeply love and adore him. I am learning to ‘rightly divide the Word of truth’. To say my experience at this church has been life-changing would be an understatement.

And the people in this church live what they learn. They are truly Christ’s body in action reaching out and ministering to each other. The fellowship is rich and robust. I have stood amazed by this body of believers.

I think your modern paraphrase of 1Timothy 4 is an accurate portrayal of the bulk of today’s pastors. They have taken the gift of teaching and turned it into a pragmatic church growth tool. And by not accurately preaching and teaching the Word they are, in the spirit of Spurgeon, ushering people to hell. I personally would rather see pastors/teachers read more from the word of God and let Scripture comment on Scripture than have their commentaries. Jesus repeatedly referenced Scripture (although, being God incarnate, he didn’t need to qualify anything he said…) and so did the apostles. It was the framework for everything they taught whether in large groups or one on one. All too often today, pastors get a topic and then try to find scriptures that will support what they are trying to get across. Many times this leads to God’s Word being grossly mishandled. And the people (sitting in their neat rows), all too often, take what the pastor says and runs with it as gospel.

IMO more reading of the Word and less commentary is always best. It sounds dry, stuffy, and impersonal but that really hasn’t been the case for our family in our present church. The Sunday morning and evening services are where the expository preaching is done, and the small groups that meet in homes look very much like what Tom describes in his comment above.

This church sounds almost too good to be true, I know. God knew what we needed during our temporary stay in the Seattle area. His grace has abounded to us and we are constantly thanking him for it. It’s also important to note that since we are here only temporarily, we haven’t gotten the ‘privilege’ of seeing the warts and conflicts, which I’m sure exist, in this little gem of a church.

This thing called teaching is two-fold: First is the imparting of knowledge; Second is the application. Isn’t the application of what we are taught where the rubber really hits the road in ministry?

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:49:42 +0000

Question, is it okay if the teaching gifts are used as the church gathers together as it is encouraged to do in Heb 10:25? Even if we gather for a meal, is it okay if someone reads the scripture “publicly”? I can’t think of a better way to fellowship than around the reading, encouragement, and exhortation that come from scripture. That is not to say that this is all we do. I’m not even saying that we should read the scriptures while sitting in nice rows of chairs or pews. I’d be very happy if there were a mulititude of homes where people met and shared “real” fellowship, with ALL the gifts being employed… even teaching.