Shouldering our Responsibility as Pastors

Tony Howeth

1.           The place of the local church

a.  The church is central in every teaching of the New Testament.

                                    i.     The word churchor churches is found in 114 verses in the New Testament.

                                   ii.     The book of Acts iswritten about God’s working in the church.

                                 iii.     Romans through IIThessalonians are 9 letters written to churches.

                                 iv.     I Timothy, II Timothyand Titus are letters written to church leaders.

b.  Jesus founded the church.

                                    i.     The first mention of theword church in the Bible is in Matthew 16:18 where Jesus is saying thatHe will build His church.

                                   ii.     The only other gospelmentioning of the church is Matthew 18:17 and there they get instructions onchurch discipline.

                                 iii.     Whether you believe thatthe church was founded under His actual ministry or on the day of Pentecost, Ibelieve you must acknowledge that it is His church.

c.   He placed great value on the church.

d.  He empowered and authorized the church to do His work.

                                    i.     Wait on the Holy Spiritto be endued with His power

                                   ii.     After that the HolyGhost is come upon you 

e.  He commanded the church to fulfill a certain ministry.

                                    i.     I believe that He gavethe Great Commission to His church. Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15, Luke24:46-48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8

                                   ii.     "People who don't believe inmissions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus saidthe field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East,West, North and South."-- J. Howard Edington

f.    Failure on our part to lead our churches to do the best we can in theministry He left is a shameful failure.

2.           The dilemma of pastoring a church and worldevangelism

a.  Faith Promise takes money out of the church and its ministries.

b.  Missions robs our churches of our best workers.

c.   Training men takes away from my time pastoring my people.

d.  Biblically I tell them to follow Christ and not me because I am not surethat I am or should be who they follow.

e.  If I talk too much about the world then people forget theirresponsibility here.

f.    No one man or church can possibly impact the world—I either focus on oneor the other.

g.  God called me to pastor not to be a missionary.

3.            Let’s place the responsibility where it belongs—on thelocal church and then men that God will call out and train in and through thelocal church.

a.   Quotes and thoughts

                                     i.     Peoplewho say it can’t be done are usually passed up by people who are doing it.

                                   ii.     Learnfrom the mistakes of others you can’t live long enough to make them allyourself.

                                  iii.     "There is nothing in the world orthe Church, except the church's disobedience, to render the evangelization ofthe world in this generation an impossibility. -- Robert Speer, leader in StudentVolunteer

                                  iv.     "The Great Commission is not anoption to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed." -- Hudson Taylor

                                   v.     “Christ’s last command should be ourfirst concern.”

                                  vi.     "If you found a cure for cancer,wouldn't it be inconceivable to hide it from the rest of mankind? How much moreinconceivable to keep silent the cure from the eternal wages of death."-- Dave Davidson

                                 vii.     AveryT. Willis, Jr. sums it up in the following manner: “The unfinished task is toevangelize all individuals, to proclaim the gospel to all peoples in all thegeographical regions of the world and to disciple them.”

b.   The Great Commission

                                     i.     Mark16:15.  We are to take the gospelto Every Creature.  Thatmeans that we will have to reach more than 6,600,000,000 people with the gospelmessage.

                                   ii.     Luke24:46-49.  We are to take thegospel (repentance and remission of sins in His name) to All Nations.  Nations refers to people groups and notentire countries.  We have theCherokee nation in the nation of the USA. There are approximately 12,862 peoples groups according to Avery T.Willis, Jr. in his article “The Unfinished Task” found in Missiology, AnIntroduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions.

                                  iii.     Matthew28:19-20.  Teaching allnations.  Since we already have thecommand to go to all nations let us consider these words teach, baptize,teaching.  The word teachor teaching means (according to Webster’s New Twentieth CenturyDictionary Unabridged Second Addition, 1976) “to show how to do something, togive instructions to, to train, give lessons to (a student or pupil), to guidethe study of, to instruct, to hold classes in, to provide with knowledge,insight.”  Synonyms: impart,direct, instruct, informer, counsel, admonish, educate, inculcate, enlighten,advise, indoctrinate, and train. The word teach makes it clear that I must disciple or trainall nations.  It is not enoughto get them to pray a prayer.  Theymust be taught enough to be saved, then baptized, then trained to live thegospel.

                                  iv.     Acts1:8  gives us the geographicalcontext.  We are to go to the uttermost.  Every country is to hear the gospel.

                                    v.     John20:21.  We are sent as Hewas sent.  This is the incarnation.  This is becoming one of them to reachthem in the context of where they live and the language they speak.

c.    The Great Concern

                                     i.     "And people who do not know theLord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget thatthey too are expending their lives…and when the bubble has burst they will havenothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."-- Nate Saint

                                   ii.     Theyare condemned already.  John3:18

1.   The Creation leaves them withoutexcuse, because it shows them that God does exist. Romans 1:20

2.   Their Conscience shows them that theyneed this God.  Romans 2:15

3.   The Church fulfilling its Great Commissionwill show them how to get to know this God.  II Corinthians 5:18-20.

a.   hath given to us the ministry ofreconciliation

b.   hath committed unto us the word ofreconciliation

d.   Our conviction should be that we are responsiblebefore God to get the gospel to all the world.

                                     i.     Ezekiel33:6.  The blood of the uninformedis required at the hand of the watchmen. Bloody Hands.

                                   ii.     Acts20:26.  Paul felt thatresponsibility because he said that he was free from the blood of all men.

                                  iii.     ICorinthians 15:34.  It is our shameif there is someone in the world that doesn’t have the knowledge of God.

                                  iv.     Revelation21:4.  Tears will be wipedaway after having seen the horrible Great White Throne judgment.

1.   I Thessalonians 4:17

2.   Luke 22:61-62

e.   The continual sorrow that we shouldfeel

                                     i.     Romans10:1-3

                                   ii.     Romans9:1-3

f.     The horrible condition of man

                                     i.     TheGreat White Throne Revelation 20:11-15

                                   ii.     Deceivedby religion Matthew 7:21-23

                                  iii.     Deadin Sin Ephesians 2:1

                                  iv.     Aliteral burning eternal hell Luke 16:19-31

                                    v.     Blindedand deafened 

g.    Thecompassion of God, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, II Peter 3:9, I Timothy 2:3-6,Hebrews 2:9, I John 2:2, John 10:11-18

                                     i.     "The spirit of Christ is thespirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary webecome."--Henry Martyn, missonary to India and Persia

                                   ii.     "As long as there are millionsdestitute of the Word of God and knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will beimpossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both."-- J. L. Ewen

h.    Thechurch must realize that it is personally responsible for the world.  It must then pass this burden on to itspeople so that all will feel responsible to get the gospel to the world.

i.     "The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but itssending capacity."  Mike Stachura

• To gather in to Christ the souls He died to save is the one object for which the church exists.
• Whatever be the cause, here is the solemn fact- a church, purchased by the blood of the son of God to be His messenger to a dying world, for the greater part has failed entirely to understand and fulfill her calling.
• How certainly and speedily the evangelization of the world could be accomplished if it were not for the failure of the church in doing the part that has been assigned her by God.  Andrew Murray

4.            ThePastor’s Responsibilities

A.            Everything falls on the pastor.  If we arelocal church people and believe that God has ordained the local church toevangelize the world then we must realize the great role the pastor has to playin world evangelism.

B.            The home church is the standard for the field.  The missionary will reproduce what he knows as a church.  The pastor must build themodel the missionary will follow. (model of tabernacle in heaven)