Why do we do what we do as a church?

Upon consideration of a philosophy of ministry, it would do well to remember the apostle Paul’s description of his ministry in 1 Corinthians 4:1. He writes, “this is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.” In light of Paul’s apostolic authority and position as foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20), pastors and elders in the church need to be reminded that they are not positioned above the ministry as kings, but rather they serve as ministers and stewards of the apostolic doctrine and the church, both of which belong to Christ as the King and Head of the church. Consequently, a philosophy of ministry begins with the recognition that the ministry belongs to Christ, and the church’s officers and her members serve as stewards of the ministry of the gospel.

A stewardship of the ministry of the gospel grounded upon Inter-trinitarian love – specifically the love of the Father for the Son and the glory of the Father in the Son

Christ, the ground of the Church, is revealed in Scripture to be the covenant minister decreed before the foundation of the world; his administration extends to the end of the world, the New Creation. Let’s look through the lenses of Scripture to glimpse with the eyes of faith the Eternal One transcendent above the universe – the very Creator and Architect of the heavens and earth, the invisible and visible.

God is One God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. The Father, Son, and Spirit are God. This trinitarian formula is grounded upon the Great Commission of Matthew 28: “In the Name of the Father, Son, and Spirit.” One Name, three glorious persons.

The Father, Son, and Spirit are full of eternal love, each person mutually indwelling one another in the union of the Godhead (John 14:11). It is in God’s nature, who is Love, for God is love, to overflow with love. The Father purposed to exhibit the love of the Son; therefore, God decreed to create a world from the Father through the Son by the Spirit to display His love in creation for the glory of the Son. But creation was not the ultimate gift of the Father’s love for the Son. The ultimate gift for the Son would be the creation of a Bride, the elect of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1) whereby the glory of the Son would be declared from generation to generation through His Church (Ephesians 3:20-21).

It is the Son’s pleasure to glorify the Father through His loving-grace lavished upon His Bride, the Church (Ephesians 1:1-14). The glorious Trinity would display God’s majestic love through grace, saving grace in the person and work of Jesus. God’s grace to sinners and rebels who opposed God’s glory and His holy Law would particularly demonstrate the eternal height of God’s love through Jesus’ descension to the eternal low of God’s just wrath.

The Son, very God, came in the flesh through the virgin birth, very man, to live the perfect, righteous life in accordance to God’s Law, pay the penalty for sin, rise from the dead, and ascend as King-Priest to redeem and purchase His Bride, once children of wrath. God is pleased to declare His church righteous through personal faith in Him, forgiven, adopted into the family, and inheritors of the Son’s heavenly glory. The Church is birthed in the New Creation work of the Spirit through the new birth, for she is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), and is sanctified through this life for the New Creation at the Second Coming of Christ, the consummation of the Marriage of Christ and His Bride, the Church.

A stewardship of the ministry of the gospel founded upon the covenant of redemption between Father and Son

To say that the Church belongs to Christ and the Church is a servant of the gospel, it is required that as a steward of Christ, ministers submit to the testimony of the Scriptures regarding Christ’s authority over the church. Upon examination of Scripture, the authority of Christ is bound up in a covenant and decree of redemption transacted before the beginning of the world (2 Timothy 1:8-10; Titus 1:1-3).

In this federal pact, the Father covenanted to the Son a kingdom made up of a spiritual posterity based upon the work of redemption, a work that obligated the Son to become a servant and thereby fulfill the Law’s requirements in both precept and penalty for elect sinners (Isaiah 49:1-10; Isaiah 53; Psalm 22). The payment for the Son’s servanthood obedience, even unto death, concerned the Father’s vindication of the Son’s completion of the covenant accompanied by the reward of resurrection life and ascension to the Father’s right hand.

In His ascension as resurrected King the Father bestowed the Son with all authority in heaven and on earth and the endowment of the Spirit of salvation to be poured out upon His posterity, His family, His Bride, the Church. Christ in turn poured out the gift of His Spirit to His elect children that they might be joined by faith to their King and His family.

By His Spirit and Word Christ executes His authority and power to rule spiritually in the midst of His enemies (Psalm 110:2) through the church (Ephesians 3:7-13; 20-21) until His coming wherein He would judge the world in righteousness and establish the new heavens and new earth. This covenant between Father and Son serves as the basis of authority by which Christ executes his will in and through his church and it is to this covenant a steward of the gospel must look to grasp the immense weight, the eternal purpose and plan for the ministry, and the means by which the ministry of the gospel, the proclamation of redemption, is to be executed in and through the church.

The covenant of redemption is the foundation of the ministry of the gospel while communion of the church with God for the glory of God in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit is its eternal purpose.

A stewardship of the ministry of the gospel administered through the covenant of grace between the Son and church

Jesus made known to his disciples that just as the Father had covenanted to him a kingdom, so he had covenanted to them a kingdom (Luke 22:29). Many theologians throughout the history of the church have called this covenant a Covenant of Grace. Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets spoke of a covenant of mercy (hesed), lovingkindness, or grace in which God would abundantly supply His covenantal blessings by His own hand.

He would regenerate and renew the heart, He would save His people from their sins and forgive them, and He would establish His covenantal king and kingdom. The apostle Paul described this covenant of grace in terms of his stewardship as a servant of the gospel committed to the “revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages” (Romans 16:25-27). The apostle described his stewardship this way: “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me” (Ephesians 3:7). Consequently, this covenant of grace must instruct the pastoral and elder stewardship in the ministry of the gospel.

First, the Covenant of Grace establishes the ministry of the church in the ministry of the gospel. In other words, the ministry of the gospel must be committed first and foremost to the ministry of the gospel. Redundant? Circular? Indeed, for the authority for the ministry is rooted in the gospel, the covenant of grace announced on behalf of the Lord of the covenant, namely, Jesus Christ.

Like the testimony of the Law, rested in the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle and Temple, so it is this Covenant of Grace, the gospel, that rests in the hand of Christ the Lord, seated in the Heavenly Temple.

What does this mean to the philosophy of the ministry of the Church? The conclusions are radical. First, the Covenant of Grace establishes the church itself by securing a spiritual family and body by the work of Christ. By Spirit-wrought faith, poured out upon Christ’s elect by Christ, from His throne in heaven, Jesus gathers sinners into His church through the gracious announcement of the gospel.

The gracious announcement of the gospel is vital, for it is the ordained means for saving sinners and uniting them by the Spirit to Christ and His church. Thus, the Covenant of Grace creates the church, a church of equal-standing in Christ through the preaching of the gospel. This gospel then must stand at the center of the ministry of the gospel.

In part 3, we will look at a few of the features of gospel ministry that are involved in the church’s gospel stewardship. Indeed, what a glorious ministry of grace, for as we have seen, this stewardship reaches back into the will of God before the foundation of the world and forward into God’s eternal plan for the glory of the Lordship of Christ over the New Creation all flowing out of the goodness and love of one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit for His glory and praise and the highest joy and blessing of His Church!