Did Jesus Choose a Chief Apostle?

When God wants a great work done, He chooses one man to pioneer and lead. It is not difficult to find examples in the bible or in history. 

It is easy to conclude that God’s operating principle is always to appoint a hierarchy and a clear chain of command. Most of our churches operate this way.

But when we read the New Testament, we encounter something new and strange. Jesus selected twelve apostles, and He favoured three above the others, Peter, James and John. But there is something about the story which is so weird, that it is like something from another planet.

Jesus did NOT appoint one successor. Abraham appointed Isaac; Moses appointed Joshua; Elijah appointed Elisha and David appointed Solomon, but Jesus did not appoint a supreme leader to take over after He returned to Heaven.

The Bible tells us a lot about the sins and faults of the Apostles, and preachers love to make sermons about them.

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 

Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 

And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. Mt 23:8–10 NKJV

What were the Apostles disputing? Was each of the twelve claiming to be number one? That would be absurdly childish. I have never heard a group of men or boys being so silly.

What most preachers fail to notice is this. Jesus had not conformed to the perfectly reasonable expectation of any group of leaders. Jesus had not appointed a single successor to be supreme leader after His departure.

• Peter was an obvious candidate, but he could be impulsive and make mistakes.

• John was especially favoured and loved, but he was the youngest.

• James was also a serious candidate.

But who was the chosen one? Since Jesus had not told them, they did what any group of men would do. They tried to work it out themselves.

After Jesus returned to heaven, Peter seemed to take the lead in Acts chapters 1 to 3. Nevertheless, the writer of Acts emphasises the collective leadership of “The Apostles.” In Acts 2, Peter preached the first sermon, but the main emphasis is on the inspired and inspiring unity of all the disciples.

All this is not because of any neglect or forgetfulness of Jesus or the Father in Heaven.
Jesus declared a whole new approach to leadership in Matthew 23.

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.
Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.
And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. Mt 23:8–10 NKJV

This is so radical, that most Christians and most Christian leaders have not even begun to understand it. I have been a member of Pentecostal churches for 35 years and I have never heard any preacher, any teacher or any pastor seriously attempt to explain this vitally important text.

Christian Fellowshp and Networking

 I just listened to a discussion between American women who are in ministry as pastors and leaders. They have to put up with a lot of criticism and unfair judgement from people who believe only men should be leaders and teachers. 

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Ga 3:28 NKJV 

 It is essential for them to network and encourage each other to keep going.

I reflected that most pastors and church leaders are men. They also have problems and often suffer criticism and discouragement. They also experience many personal weaknesses and failures, but these are often not exposed until they suffer severe burnout, fall into serious sin or are involved in church splits and various scandals. Sadly, this happens all too often.

Women in leadership endure opposition from people with patriarchal doctrines, and they need support, but men are theoretically supposed to be strong leaders on some kind of pedestal. If women suffer from discrimination, men suffer from absurd expectations of superior strength and wisdom.

Gender based hierarchy damages both men and women. Women who are treated as subordinates can become legalistic, critical and gossipy. Men have to keep up the appearance of superiority, which is a crippling burden to bear.

Jesus understood the importance of partnership and teamwork. He sent out his disciples two by two.

Paul planted churches everywhere he went, except for one important city, Athens. What happened in Athens? Paul was there alone, without a missionary partner or assistant. Everywhere else he travelled with Silas, Barnabas, Timothy or Luke.

If a man has to sit alone on a throne as family priest or senior pastor, he finds it difficult to confess faults or weaknesses, difficult to ask for help. 

Of course a patriarchal leader can ask or tell people to do things, like a manager assigning tasks in a business, but this is not the same as asking a partner for help to deal with his personal weaknesses or problems.

James tells Christians to confess their faults to one another. This is not the same as subordinates confessing sins to a pastor.

Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Jas 5:16 NIV

Every pastor, whether man or woman, needs good trustworthy Christian friends, people to go to for personal help and encouragement.

Every Christian needs the same kind of help. I have never been an ordained pastor. On occasions, a Christian man or woman has confided personal weaknesses or failures to me. They could not go to their pastor for fear of exposure or being suspended from their ministry.

I was able to give priestly encouragement, and I trust that helped them to deal with their problem.

We are called to be a community of priests and give priestly help to each other in a way which often does not work well in a strictly hierarchical system.

I would encourage every Christian to have trusted Christian friends who are not necessarily members of the same church.

I also believe marriages work better when husband and wife love and respect each other as equal partners with equal status and authority. This is the best way for deep trusting friendship to flourish.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Eph 5:21 NIV

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Php 2:3 NKJV

WHERE DID CHURCH HIERARCHY COME FROM?

In New Testament times, local churches were led by teams of elders, and there was no one man in charge. 

The words PRESBYTER (elder) EPISCOPOS (overseer) and SHEPHERD (Pastor) were used interchangeably. 

The ministry of Pastor is mentioned only once in the entire New Testament.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the SHEPHERDS and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV) 

• There is no New Testament text indicating that one preacher dominated the ministry of a local church. 

Ephesians 4:11-12 does not define a pastor as an office holder who governs a congregation or dominates its teaching and preaching ministry.
The Apostles were missionaries, evangelists, teachers and church planters. When the Apostle Paul planted a church, he stayed for a while and then moved on without appointing office holders or official leaders. Later he would return and appoint elders. These pioneer churches were small networks of house churches. 

• No text tells us that Paul put one man in charge. 

When Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, he addressed serious problems of sin and disorder but he did not address his letter to a leader or leadership group. 

1 Corinthians 1:1-2 (ESV) Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, 

• To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 

Paul addressed his letter to the whole community of believers. 

It was up to the community of believers to work out how to make decisions, who should be delegated to exercise leadership, how to manage their affairs. 

• Paul was very conscious of his spiritual authority but he was clearly against authoritarian hierarchy and micro management. 

Some years later, some preachers had set themselves up as religious rulers over the Corinthian church. The Corinthian believers submitted to the domination of these leaders and Paul was not happy at all.

2 Corinthians 11:19-21 (NIV) You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! 

• In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps you in the face. 

• To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! ....

Paul calls dominating preachers FOOLS and he sharply criticises the Corinthians for submitting to them.

Paul’s approach to leadership was very different and he ironically calls his own leadership “WEAK”. 

• But today we see many churches ruled by a rigid patriarchal hierarchy. Many leaders are like the FOOLS and BULLIES described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 11.

Where and when did the church abandon the free brotherhood and sisterhood of Paul’s time? 

Between 100 AD and 250 AD, bishops became the absolute rulers of the churches. They claimed to inherit the absolute authority of the first Apostles but unlike Paul, they practised extreme authoritarian micro management. 

• Only a bishop or an ordained priest was allowed to celebrate the Lord’s supper or baptism. 

Cyprian was Bishop of Carthage from around 248 to 258 AD.

• “He taught that a bishop had no superior but God. He was accountable to God alone. Anyone who separated himself from the bishop, separated himself from God.” (Pagan Christianity. Viola and Barna p.114)

But Jesus said to the first Apostles.

• "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 

• And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 

• Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. Matthew 23:8-10 (NIV) 

In Paul’s farewell address to the church leaders in Ephesus, he gave this warning:

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30 (NIV) 

Are all senior pastors wolves or dictators? Far from it. Many are wonderful men or women of God and some lay down their lives as the first apostles did.

Nevertheless, a good pastor must remember he may be a leader but he is above all a fellow disciple, a brother or sister in the Church.

HOW TO ACCESS GOD'S WISDOM

Jn 9:1-2 (NKJV)  Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

The disciples expected Jesus to explain why the man was blind but Jesus did not directly answer the question or give the explanation they expected.

Jn 9:3 (NKJV)  Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

God teaches us many things but if we expect Him to explain everything, we will be disappointed. 

• It is good to want to understand more but God’s thoughts are often very different from ours.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)   "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

In spite of this we often expect our pastors to understand and explain everything. How foolish, when we consider that even God does not explain everything on the spot.

Pastors are often tempted to appear that they know everything. I love this story from a well known preacher.

A pastor answers a difficult question. Then the Heavenly Father turns to Jesus and says: “It was very interesting what that pastor just said. I never thought of that. Jesus, did you tell him that?”

In many churches, pastors claim to teach divine truth but in reality the people are being fed with human ideas.

That is very dangerous if a Bible believing pastor has excellent Bible knowledge and gives the impression that he understands everything, so he must always be right.

In Pentecostal churches, many preachers may have good Bible knowledge and also prophetic gifts. The people may be tempted to expect him to always have a word directly from God. 

God often gives a word of revelation but not always. 

• If the prophetic preacher makes a mistake and the people do not know how to seek God for discernment and confirmation, they can be misled. 

• Even a true word of prophecy can be unhelpful if people to not learn how to hear from God themselves and seek wisdom from God to apply his revealed truth.

We need to hear from prophetic people, but we also need to hear from God ourselves.

Jesus understood these dangers very well. 

Many Jewish Rabbis were looked up to as infallible sources of divine truth but Jesus warned against this.

Matthew 23:8-10 (NKJV)  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 

• Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

• And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.

This still applies to us now. It make no difference whether the preacher is called “Rabbi” or “Pastor.”

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was WITH the Jewish people. He spoke to the people through the written Word and also through prophets, priests and kings, who had more direct access to God.

But when Jesus died, rose from the dead and then poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers, everything changed.

James 1:5 (NIV)  If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Now every believer has direct access to the wisdom of God to guide him in his life. Wisdom comes through faith in God Himself. 

We should not despise preachers and leaders and there are times when it is good to seek wise counsel from others, not necessarily from pastors. 

But the most important source of wisdom is God Himself.

Isaiah 55:6-7 (NKJV) Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

• Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

The two key essentials for growing in wisdom are faith in God and a willingness to obey Him.