I was recently asked what the word Apostle meant. Turns out it means “one who is sent forth.” That makes sense with what the apostles did but how is that unique among the different “professions” of God?
Ephesians 4:11-12 - It was he [Jesus] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
How is an apostle different from a prophet or an evangelist or pastor or teacher? Hmm... well what did the apostles do?
They went around telling people about Jesus, especially those who didn’t believe. That sounds a lot like an evangelist though.
Paul teaches a lot through his letters but then why distinguish that from a teacher?
Paul goes and starts churches, looking over them and guiding the people of that city-church toward God. But that’s the general role of a pastor, to shepherd the flock, give them guidance.
The apostles gave messages from God but he wasn’t so much a messenger from God. A prophet is a mediator between God and the people. They spoke for God, were His messengers.
So while the apostles did many of those things, they are still given a separate title and Paul lists apostleship as a unique from the others. What’s left?
1 Corinthians 1:17a - For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel
1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.
Paul wasn’t sent forth (an apostle) to baptize but to preach! Paul planted seeds in people! Paul only stayed a little while (a few years at best?) in each place. He constantly has people travelling with Him. Sometimes he will leave one of those people behind to watch over the church (Timothy).
Paul wasn’t as interested in mirco things, he didn’t spend his time making one particular thing perfect. He started something off in the right direction, gave it a good foundation and then found someone to take that over while he moved on to the next deal. Like Jesus, Paul didn’t stay in one place, devoting all his energies to those particular people. Instead, like Jesus, he leaves a place once he’s just begun to make a mark, when the seed is just starting to reach maturity.
Paul prepared a group to follow God. He also trained up individuals to lead those groups in his place. Paul replaced himself in each city so he could move on. Paul trains Timothy to be a pastor over the church in Ephesus.
Perhaps the role of an apostle is to get things moving, to build something up, give it a good foundation, and set it in capable hands to take it over.
I think the need for apostles is still alive today. It’s easy to think of places like China, the inner city, etc as needing apostles to come in and build a Godly community, but I think there’s even a need around us. What about apartment complexes and neighborhoods? Why not get crazy: schools, support groups, traditionally anti-Christian groups, atheist groups! The house church movement seems to live through apostolic initiative.
I see the apostle exhibiting a part of each of the other “professions,” a bit of prophecy, some evangelism, teaching, and pasturing. The apostle has to be fairly adept at each of them because he or she must train other people to be better at those things than the apostle.
The idea of apostleship is intriguing to me. A life of training others to be God’s man or woman in the area they are called to be. It’s always new, and can get pretty intense. How crazy would it be to go to an atheist church (yes they exist) and start a house church there?!? To invade “enemy” territory (Note: “enemy” is used from effect, atheists are not our enemy, more on that in a future blog entry) and train Godly people from within! That’s a twofold return, not only are they not against God anymore (1) but they are for Him (2)!