Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 3 Study # 7
January 19, 2020
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: The "gift" of "ruling" has to do with the actual "enforcement" of Paul's instructions to the churches.
Introduction: As we have seen in our studies to this point, Paul is concerned with the believers living out the "sacrificial life" that he called for at the beginning of this chapter. In particular, he is concerned that this "life" take on its most fundamental purpose for being: adopting God's concern for His Church, and accepting the fact that He has given to each of us a way to be useful to Him in the expression of that concern. This is no small "subject" in that the Word of God teaches that He is going to hold us accountable in the day of His "settling" of each believer into his/her eternal participation in His Kingdom of Joy. Our "gift", or "gifts" are to be
the focus of our life-pursuits.
This is a very large, and complex, concept that covers "Life" in all of its details. As such, it is far beyond any really comprehensive grasp that any of us will ever achieve. That means that, in the midst of the processes of our living, we simply go to the "roots" that we are given in the Scriptures without too much concern for all of that complexity.
However, we cannot simply dismiss the matter because it is complex beyond measure and shrouded in the fog of living. Rather, we should focus where we can. It is not unclear that Paul has summoned us to "the life of sacrifice" to the mercies of God. This clarity means we can "present ourselves to God" for the renewal of our minds and the subsequent transformation that results. It is also not unclear that the seven "gifts" that Paul has addressed in our text/context have some kind of "comprehensive" character so that the "seven", in some ways, represent "all".
So, in our studies of the "seven", we come to the sixth: the one addressing those who "rule" in the church.
- I. The "Gift" of "Ruling".
- A. This is the second "gift" in the second "group" included in Paul's instruction.
- 1. As we have already seen, the first "group" has to do with those whose "gifts" focus upon the fact that we have "words from God" for the purpose of "living" in this world.
- 2. And, as we saw in our last study, the pattern of the "groups" seems to be that of a kind of parallelism so that the special ability called "ministry" is related specifically to the special ability called "giving" and the special ability called "teaching" is related specifically to the special ability called "ruling" and the special ability called "summoning" is related specifically to the special ability called "showing mercy".
- 3. This means that "having words from God for the purpose of living" (the first group) is further developed by "expressing the reality of those words in living (the second group).
- B. Thus, we are looking at the gift called "ruling" as the second of the second group dealing with "how" the expression of God's words and gifts are to be "seen" in practice.
- 1. "Ministry" is best "seen" by "focused giving": a tangible expression of God's focus upon the needs of His people.
- 2. So also, "ruling" is best "seen" by the "timely exercise of authority" in the church by those with this "gift".
- C. In our look into this "gift" we are concerned to understand what it means to "rule" and how it is to be exercised.
- 1. First, the "gift".
- a. It seems, by a consideration of Paul's use of this term, that what Paul has in mind is the very practical issues of both "who" has the final call in the decisions that must be made for the life of the church, and "how" they are to exercise that authority.
- b. Paul's use of the term translated "rule" (Authorized Version), or "lead" (NASB) is instructive.
- 1) The word is found in eight texts of the New Testament, all written by Paul.
- 2) Six of those texts are found in what we call "the pastoral epistles" written to Timothy and Titus in respect to how those men were to organize the churches for their "behavior" as "the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15) and the other two are found in instruction regarding how the church members are to respond to this "gift" as it functions in its place in the body.
- 3) The bottom line is that "churches" are faced with a plethora of questions about what is to be "done", and someone has to answer those questions.
- a) In Paul's instructions in the "pastorals" the "someone" issue is addressed by the function of "elders/overseers" and "deacons" who are both charged with the prerequisite necessity of having shown skill in "ruling/leading" in their own homes.
- b) In both cases, the implication is that there are multiple men who are to function together in such a way that their decisions for the church come from "several", not just "one".
- c) This strongly implies that "ruling/leading" as a gift has a kind of distinctive, "having been developed over time", character.
- i. The "gift" shows up first in the home.
- ii. Then it is established by a group for the church.
- iii. Though all of the gifts have the character of "being developed over time", this one insists that it not be exercised in the church until it has been developed.
- d) In respect to the earlier parallelism, these "rulers/leaders" have been "developed" by the prior gifts ("having the words from God" -- prophecy; "understanding the meaning and significance of those words" -- teaching; and "responding to that understanding by coming alongside of God" -- summoning).
- e) And in respect to its place as the "sixth", these "rulers/leaders" do have "final authority" in the church (as 1 Thessalonians 5:12 insists).
- 2. Then, the characteristic of this "gift".
- a. Paul narrows the issue of "characteristic" down to one thing: something called "diligence".
- b. This characteristic is revealed by twelve texts/contexts in the New Testament.
- 1) A major element of this characteristic is what I call "quick pursuit" (Mark 6:25 and Luke 1:39).
- 2) This "quick pursuit" issue is particularly set against its "opposite" in all ten of the other texts.
- a) At a minimum its "opposite" is "dragging out the process" overlong.
- b) At a maximum its "opposite" is "procrastinating because of a strong reluctance to do what the words of God require".
- 3) The "point" is that those who exercise this "gift/function" in the church must act when action is called for and the actions must harmonize with God's instructions.
