Day 16

Fathers of the Gospel

Vs. Instructors in Christ

Roger and Eileen Himes

www.ThePracticalGospel.com

I want to cement in your mind the difference between instructors in Christ, and fathers of the gospel (I Cor 4:15). We’ll do this by looking at the ministries of Jesus, and Paul, —and how so many modern ministries present something different! They preach what Paul calls ‘another gospel, which is not the gospel at all.’

This is vital to see if you are walking The Gospel Road. Why? It is so you can more easily recognize different types of seed you are offered — and so you can reject seed that is not gospel seed.

Paul was extremely focused on the gospel. He said he wouldn’t give place to non-gospel affirmations, not even for an hour, so that the gospel would continue with us (Gal 2:5). We saw how first century Christians were totally focused on Paul’s revelation of the gospel. We must be too. We must not give place to non-gospel theologies.

He says many preachers are enemies of the cross (Phil 3:18), and he says any who don’t preach the gospel should be CURSED (Gal 1:8-9). He believes this so strongly he repeats it twice, and says non-gospel preaching is the doctrine of demons (I Tim 4:1). Paul was not polite when confronting non gospel preaching. He said there were 10,000 instructors in Christ to every father of the gospel (I Cor 4:15).

I imagine this is an exaggeration, but Paul did feel alone a lot of the time. So did Elijah. They both felt alone, but they weren’t. God told Elijah, “I still have 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal.”

Let’s compare the ministry of Paul with the ministry of Jesus, and see how similar they were. In referring to New Covenant gospel v. the Old Covenant religious system Jesus says don’t pour new wine into old bottles. Paul says somewhat the same thing, always comparing the Old Covenant against the BETTER New Covenant.

The ministry of Jesus is best described in Luke 4:18:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me:
— to preach the gospel to the poor,
— he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
— to preach deliverance to the captives,
— and the recovery of sight to the blind,
— to set at liberty them who are bruised.”

The ministry of Paul is best described in Acts 26:18:
God sent him to minister to people:
“— to open their eyes,
— to turn them from darkness to light,
— from the power of Satan unto God,
— that they may receive forgiveness of sins,
— and inheritance by being sanctified by faith in God.”

Note that both of them are mainly to God’s people (believers). We know Paul was the minister to the Gentiles, but he was also sent to kings and Christians (Acts 9:15). Now let’s note some things about the ministry of Jesus.

When Jesus speaks of the poor, he means poor in spirit. He is not talking about money. He’s talking about folks who have found out the SELF life, based in principles, doesn’t work.

When he talks of the brokenhearted, he means hearts that are broken trying to achieve impossible things on a religious treadmill. They are broken living under demands they can’t meet.

When he talks about deliverance, he means to those in bondage to principles, laws and rules (as Paul says in Galatians 3:10). When he speaks of recovery of sight, he means spiritual revelation.

When he talks about being bruised, it means buried and crushed under an ever increasing pile of religion. Thus he told the Pharisees they don’t enter the kingdom, and they keep others out due to all their demands and requirements.

This describes a lot of modern preaching I hear. Beware!

Instructors in Christ don’t buy into the ‘simplicity of Christ’ (II Cor 11:3). They don’t buy into Jesus’ words, “My way is easy” (Matt 11:28). They make it complex and hard. Theirs is ‘the ministry of condemnation’ (II Cor 3:6). This makes you need them.

If you look closely, the ministries of Jesus and Paul were identical.

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GOSPEL TRUTH #31

Instructors in Christ are easy to spot. They will always ’instruct’ you in how to live more like God. This is the age-old tactic of Satan in the Garden with Eve: ‘You shall be like God.’ His tactics haven’t changed in 6,000 years — except he uses pulpits instead of snakes. Instructors will give you principles to live by. They will tell you good things to do, and bad things not to do. Their focus is SELF: it’s all about you.

Fathers of the gospel will lead you into God’s presence, and show you who you are in Christ — not because of what you do or don’t do, but due to what he has done. It’s all based on Jesus’ dying declaration: “it is finished!” Their focus is God: it’s all about him.

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Let’s look at Galatians 4:17, and see the picture Paul paints of instructors in Christ, and the trap that is created by them when they preach living by instruction, formulas and laws: “They zealously affect you, and win you to them, but for no good. They want to exclude you, so you will become zealous for them.” Now see an eye opening paraphrase of this passage:

“Instructors zealously affect you and impact you, by drawing you in through the ministry of condemnation and guilt. This is not for your good. It actually hurts you. They make you feel excluded and alienated — from God and from other people —by making you feel guilty and unfit as a Christian.

Why do they do this? They do it to make you feel inadequate. When you feel this way, it draws you to them. It makes you think they alone have the answers you need so badly. In reality, they produce the sickness in you, and then offer to help cure you.”

Isn’t this the most vicious cycle possible? And it occurs regularly in many churches. If you see it happening where you attend church, you should run — not walk — to the nearest exit and don’t look back.

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GOSPEL TRUTH #32

This is the very essence of non-gospel religion. It creates religious junkies: addicts in need of a weekly ‘fix.’ They put you in the spotlight, and focus attention on your shortcomings and needs. Instructors keep you constantly striving actively to attain what God has already given you. They urge you to earn what is free. This is unbelief.

We need to face reality: ALL of us are going to die with something in us we know is not Christian — most of us with more than just one ‘something.’ Given this reality, our striving should not be to get rid of everything bad, but hug the cross of Jesus, and trust our loving Father.

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James says we are double-minded, — so much so we don’t know light from darkness. We have so mixed the Old Testament with the New that we can’t tell the difference. Today, the Old is preached as ’sanctification’ which is said to be OUR part in the salvation process. This is a wolf in a sheep suit, but our flesh responds to it. Our flesh wants to be involved. Our flesh wants recognition, praise and glory. We’ll talk about the flesh v. the spirit on a later day.

Fathers will always draw you to God’s grace, not his law. They won’t draw you to living life by principles. They preach the gospel of grace — which is The Gospel Road. So many view grace as just a destination: “I’ve arrived, and I’m living in grace.” This is a misnomer. This is not gospel truth. Grace is The Gospel Road we walk on — it is the means to an end. It is not the destination. Everything is ruled by God’s grace, and his grace is sufficient for everything (II Cor 12:9).

Fathers will also always draw you to the gospel of peace. Yes, we want peace in the world, in our nation, in our churches, in our marriages, and in our families. But this is not the peace the gospel talks about. Jesus said he came to bring a sword, not peace of this nature. This is talking about one thing only: PEACE WITH GOD!

Colossians 1:21 talks about us being ‘enemies in our minds toward God because of our wicked works.’ This is how we see ourselves if we are NOT living in the gospel. We are constantly weighing our good and bad deeds, to see if we are good enough for God. The fact is we will never be good enough for God. Jesus made us good enough for God. Except for him, we all have a one-way ticket to hell! Only the death of Jesus on the cross makes us right with God!

We saw earlier that our beliefs that are far more important to God than our behavior. This is because he knows that correct belief will eventually produce good behavior. But without belief, we cannot reign in Christ. We cannot be overcomers. We cannot be more than conquerors. We cannot live life in abundant passion. When we submit to the gospel, and receive all its good seed, then these fruits are produced in us

— BY THE GOSPEL!

Without belief nothing happens. It’s like a spiritual funeral service.

Jesus tells the story of a Centurion who was IN authority, but also UNDER authority. You can read the story in Matthew 8:5-13. I won’t tell it here. This is an illustration of HOW the gospel works in us. If we are UNDER authority to it, then we are IN authority. You will see this in a very profound way shortly when we talk about spiritual authority.

The gospel puts us IN authority, just like the Centurion was IN authority because of his position. But the Centurion was only in authority because he was under authority to Caesar. Similarly, we are only IN authority if we are under authority to the gospel. When we are under authority, then we are IN authority. There is no way to be IN authority if we are not under authority.

To be under authority to the gospel means to continue in it — to be totally separated to it. It means to be submitted to it. This is shown in Romans 10:3: “For they being ignorant of GOD’S righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not SUBMITTED themselves to the righteousness of God.”

This is a picture of walking The Dirt Road, not The Gospel Road.
This person is ignorant of God’s righteousness, grace,
peace, love, and all his other free gifts.
This is because they are self-focused,
living by principles, and trying to earn
what they have been freely given.

They have not submitted to God’s righteousness.
They are not under authority to it, and separated to it.

Next time we’ll see a series of snapshots of someone living in the gospel, vs. someone living by means of instruction in principles.