Thursday, August 16, 2007

Philippians Study (part 6) - 'with' (Salutation concluded)

"Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:" (Phil. 1:1)

There is a work for all Christians to do particularly members of the church along with their pastors and deacons. Some think that ministry is exclusively the work of the pastor. The Bible teaches us that we should come along side God's man and labor together with him. This takes both unity and humility (which I believe is the central theme of Philippians). I am sure there are men who creep into the ministry who have no business being in it. They aren't qualified to begin with, or they have been disqualified according to the Scriptures. But there are also men of God, who are laborers in the Word, who lead and feed the flock of God, who basically can make more money had they been in the 'secular field' but because they put God's call first, their very ambition is happily laid aside. Godly pastors are capable men, they aren't loosers. We have a responsibility to work 'with' our pastors and deacons.

No comments: