Current Blog Series : Biblical Vision Explanation
There is no greater test for a minister’s preaching than
to see if the people are heeding the Word they have heard.
Believers ministering to one another is not contrary to Elders being
about teaching and ministering. The fact of the matter is that every member of
the church is gifted for a particular reason, ministering as a healthy body of
Christ. Often the church expects the pastor(s) to do all the ministering. If you don’t see members ministering to one another, it is lack of
knowledge of God’s Word and obedience to it (Hos.
4:6). When church members fail to minister to one another, it is not because
of weak programs but because of weak teaching.
One of the common aspects that I have seen in healthy Gospel Communities
is gifted preaching, and convicted people. Gospel conviction in a healthy
church is not just conviction from sin, but conviction to the life of Christ. These
healthy gospel communities often ride on the backs of ministering members, who
are led by preaching pastors. I recall my beautiful high school church Istrouma
Baptist. Our church had a little Jewish guy as the preacher, but the people led
and ministered to one another, thus liberating the pastors to preach and minister
in the specific areas that a pastor was needed.
John Calvin said of this passage that, “he could not exalt more highly the ministry of the Word than by attributing to it this effect.” We can take the summation of all commentaries on this verse and say that a healthy church is one filled with people who desire to know the Gospel and to live out the Gospel.
