THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS THE APOSTLE

In John 17, Jesus is praying to His Father and in verse 4 says, “I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work You have given Me to do.” What work is Jesus referring to? In John 19:30 Jesus said, “It is finished! And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” We all agree that in John 19 Jesus is referring to the redemptive work that He could only effect and complete by dying on the cross. However Jesus is speaking in John 17 in the context of the Passover meal before He went to the Garden of Gethsemane. He is clearly not referring to His redemptive work, which is the work of the High Priest, but He is referring to His apostolic work which was to raise the twelve apostles.

 

In Heb.3:1 the Scripture says, “Therefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” When God sent Jesus to the earth, He sent Him to fulfil two major ministries: that of the ‘apostle’ and that of the ‘high priest’. The major ministry work of Jesus as High Priest was to offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, upon the cross. It is the apostolic ministry of Jesus that has been neglected in church history but in our day God is restoring apostles to His church and through them is highlighting again Jesus as the Apostle. The major work of the apostle is to build the house of God [the church] and the way that God has chosen to build His house is through the ministry of apostles. We note that Jesus did not choose twelve prophets or twelve pastors to be the foundation ministry of His church and to be responsible for the building of the church, finally leading the church in its growth to perfection, but He raised up a new ministry: the ministry of apostles.

 

I have manifested Your name

Jesus is clearly saying in John 17:6-19, that the work that He had finished was the training of the twelve to be apostles. The first major thing that Jesus reports to His Father in the training of the twelve is in v.6 “I have manifested [revealed] Your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept your word.” What does this mean? In the Gospels Jesus refers to God as Father or addresses God as Father over 170 times. Is ‘Father’ the name that Jesus has manifested to His disciples? Is ‘Father’ a name? Normally ‘father’ is the title give to that one who is our father and it is the same with God. Jesus is not telling us that the name of God is Father but rather He is introducing us to God as our Father. So what is the name that He manifested to His disciples?

 

When God called Moses in Ex.3 and commissioned him to go to Egypt, Moses said “and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” v.13. God answered and said, “I AM WHO I AM. Thus you shall say to the children of Israel ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” v.14 This revealed name of God is translated ‘Yahweh’ or ‘Jehovah’ but mostly in the English Bible this difficult to pronounce Hebrew name of God is rendered ‘LORD’. This is the revealed name of God in the Old Testament. Jesus said, “I have manifested Your name to the men You have given Me”.  

So what is the revealed name of God in the New Testament? When the angel announced to Mary that God was bringing forth His Son through her, he said you “shall call His name Jesus.” Lu.1:31 Jesus is the shorter form of Yehoshua which means ‘Yahweh is Salvation’ or ‘the LORD Saves’; from this we get the name ‘Saviour’. Many times in the gospels Jesus refers to His own name: “in My name”. Prayers will be answered in His name; demons are cast out in His name; the sick are healed in His name. Peter declared in Acts 3:16 that the lame man was made strong “through faith in His name”. The name of Jesus is “the name which is above every name” Phil.2:9-11. Power and authority is in the name of JESUS! When Jesus commanded the apostles to baptise “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matt.28:19, notice He said ‘name’ not ‘names’. When we realise this we can then understand why Peter in Acts 2:38 commanded the ones who were believing the gospel to be baptised “in the name of Jesus Christ” and Paul in Acts 19:5 also baptised “in the name of the Lord Jesus”. The first step that we are to take in making disciples is to baptise those who have believed in the Name. In other words we are to make manifest to the young disciples the name of the Lord.

 

I have given them the words

The second thing Jesus said to the Father that He had done in training the apostles is in Jn.17:8 “For I have given to them the words which you have given Me; and they have received them and know surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.” The second step in making disciples is to “teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you” Matt.28:20. Jesus taught the apostles and imparted to them the words that God had given Him. This is so awesome! Jesus is simply saying that He successfully discipled the apostles by manifesting God’s name to them and giving them God’s word.

 

I am glorified in them

The third thing Jesus said about the preparation of the twelve is in v.10 “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.” Jesus received the twelve that were to be His apostles from the Father. In Lu.6:12-13 Jesus had spent the night in prayer before He named the twelve, choosing them out of many disciples. Now He says, having manifested God’s name to them and imparted God’s word to them, that He is “glorified in them.” The Apostle Paul says that his goal as an apostle is to make known to the saints “the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Jesus had brought the twelve through to the place where He was glorified in them. In other words, these men were now able to carry the glorious presence of the Lord within themselves and represent Him fully to those who would receive their word.

 

Kept through the name

The fourth thing Jesus refers to is to ask the Father to “keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” v.11 In v.12 Jesus said that He had “kept them” in the Father’s name. In other words Jesus had shown them the power of His name and He was confident that after He left they would continue to know ‘the keeping power of God’. Jude says “Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless.” v24

 

My joy fulfilled in them

The fifth thing that Jesus says of the apostles He had raised up, “that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” v13. Jesus acknowledges in v12 that even one of the twelve was lost “that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” A key thing we learn from the Lord’s testimony is that our work is to do “the will of the Father” not our own will. Often in the ministry and in church life we are assailed by motivational speakers, church growth proponents and others who want to give us ‘worldly goals’ and so we come under pressure to try to attract and hold numbers of people in our local church or to have many churches etc, whereas the Father wants us to know His will and to do it. The Son of God said He had completed the work the Father gave Him by successfully raising twelve apostles – remember that Matthias replaced Judas (Acts 1:26). Because the apostles knew ‘the name of the Lord’ and had received ‘the words Jesus gave them from the Father’ and because they now were able ‘to carry the glory of the Lord in themselves’ and knew ‘the keeping power of God’, they were ‘filled with His joy’.

 

Sent as apostles

The result of Jesus having properly trained and prepared the men that God had given Him is that He is now able to send them forth into the world as apostles: “As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” Jn.17:18. This word ‘sent’ is the Greek word ‘apostello’ which is the verb form of apostle. Jesus had completed the work His Father had given Him to do. Likewise we are only called to do the work the Father gives us, that is to bring up the ones to maturity that He gives us.

THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN

The Great Liberation

In the last Morning Star Journal, Rick Joyner wrote an article called ‘The Great Liberation’, in which he said that the full emancipation of women to be able to minister freely in the church in whatever gift or ministry or office the Lord placed them in, was perhaps the last great restoration that the church was to experience before we could inherit the fullness of what God intends to do. [I am not quoting Rick but sharing in my own words] I was very impacted by this article and then a book by Kevin J Conner was brought to my attention. It was actually in our Bookshop for sale. [We stock and highly recommend all of Kevin Conner’s books] This book is called ‘The Ministry of Women’ and was published in 2003. In the introduction Kevin states his position clearly after years of study, research and experience [Kevin is a renowned international teacher of the word]. Whereas previously Kevin had not fully endorsed women in ministry in apostolic and eldership roles, he now unequivocally says that there are no restrictions in the Scripture on the ministry of women and so ‘let God be God’ when it comes to His choosing of women or men to fill specific ministry roles in the church.

 

In the book, Kevin covers very thoroughly 1Cor.14:34-35 and 1Tim.2:11-15. The key to “rightly dividing the word of truth” 1Tim.2:15 is to be faithful to the ‘context principle’ and this principle is five-fold:

1) Any verse of Scripture must be read in the context of the passage it appears in. In the Timothy passage it is interesting to note that Paul is speaking about “a [the] woman” and not once is the reference in the plural. Therefore it is incorrect to say that Paul is making statements about women in general and whether they are allowed to teach or not.

2) Then the passage must be read in the context of the chapter it appears in. The context of 1Tim.2 is that Paul is giving instructions to both men and women as to how to pray in the church meeting.

3) The passage and the chapter must be read in the context of the book; for example, in 1Corinthians 14:34-35 Paul says twice that women should not speak in the church but in chap.11:5 Paul has already said that women will be ‘praying and prophesying’ in the meetings.

4) The book of Scripture must be then examined in the context of the Testament it appears in. Therefore in examining the role of women in the church we must study the Gospels to see how Jesus related to women and specifically ask the question: ‘Were women allowed to speak to Jesus?’ and what about Anna, the prophetess? She was speaking publicly in the temple Lu.2:36-38.

5) The final context of any Scripture that must confirm our interpretation is the whole Bible. Therefore we must ask the question ‘Did God make a mistake when He raised up Deborah to be the judge of Israel in Judges 4?’ As judge Deborah was the governing authority in Israel. She was also a prophetess [means a female prophet] v4. Deborah was also “a mother in Israel” 5:7. Deborah was a married woman: it is interesting that Paul’s instructions in 1Cor.14:34-35 are to married women!

Deborah fulfilled three major roles and ministries: as judge she is exercising a kingly ministry; she was the prophet; she was a spiritual mother, which means she was raising spiritual children and provided spiritual motherhood to the whole nation.

The teaching of Scripture is clearly that men and women were created equal but fulfil different roles. The domination of women by men was the result of the fall (Gen.3:16). Through redemption, Jesus Christ has lifted off the human race the judgements brought about by the original sin and so redemptively men and women are equal again in the sight of God and in the kingdom of God there is no discrimination or distinction between male and female (Gal.3:28). Therefore we need to confront our own religious and cultural bias and embrace the clear teaching of holy Scripture, and cease from discriminating against women on gender grounds. The result will be the true liberation of over half the population of the kingdom of God, as in most places there are more women in the church than men.

 

For copies of ‘Women in Ministry’ by Kevin J Conner, please apply to SHILOH Bookshop. Cost $25 posted.

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CALENDAR

Northern Trip:

March 9^th – team will be in Gladstone, Wendy Morris Ph. 49781863

March 10^th - 12^th team will be at Proserpine, Col & Judy Krueger Ph. 49470134

March 13^th – team will be in Biloela, Graeme & Elizabeth Briese Ph. 49921956

 

 

March 19^th & April 2^nd - house church meetings at Wondai 6pm, Marion Relf Ph. 41690444

           

March 19^th – 26^th Paul in Perth, hosted by Rob & Marilyn Waite, Ph. 08 93075552

 

March 31^st – Pastors & leaders gathering at SHILOH 9.30am to 2pm, lunch included. This morning

                     is by invitation only. If you are invited and you wish to bring other leaders please give

                     Paul a ring to book them in. If you are a pastor or a leader and you would like to come

                     please make contact as we would love to invite you.

                     Please note these meetings are not for junior leaders.

 

March 31^st – evening Fellowship Meal at SHILOH, 6.45 for 7pm. Please note that if you are staying

                     over from the pastors meeting for the training day you are especially welcome.

 

April 1^st – TRAINING DAY  at  SHILOH,10.30 – 5pm; come at 10am for morning tea.

                  The training day is for all leaders and believers

 

SHILOH INTERNATIONAL APOSTOLIC SCHOOL OF MINISTRY

April 12^th to June 17^th

this school is open to all.

You are welcome to enrol for the whole school and be trained in ministry or to visit the school for a day or a few days at any time.

We are expecting up to 25 International ministers.

Right now we are seeking the Lord for the granting of visas as many of the applicants are now applying and it is not straightforward.

Praise the Lord one visa for a Nigerian brother has been granted but at least 8 more are currently awaiting answers from the respective embassies.

 

EASTER APOSTOLIC/PROPHETIC CONVENTION – April 13^th to 15^th

Pastor Pat Morgan, well known singer and minister of the word

Samuel January, a prophetic minister from South Africa

Samuel has ministered in churches in the Brisbane area and has an international ministry

& Apostle Paul Galligan

 

 

JUNE 10^TH TO 12^TH APOSTOLIC/PROPHETIC CONFERENCE

at SHILOH as a highlight for the International Delegates at the School.

Leading ministers who will be in the school will be ministering.

 

 

SHILOH mid-year Apostolic Training School – June 19^th to July 1^st

This two-week school will include the International Delegates.

The school will be conducted as a ‘pattern’ training school to

demonstrate to international leaders how to conduct short-term training.

 

 

Ph. 46130633     email: rma@revivalministries.org.au