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, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesian 4:11-16, ESV.
We have looked at gifts God gave the church in Ephesians 4:11: apostles and prophets whose word blesses us in the pages of the New Testament, evangelist-missionaries who take the gospel to new places and start churches, and pastor-teachers who nurture and care for the flock with the Word of God. Today we will consider why God gave these gifts. Paul explains the reason in the next five verses. To summarize, God gives these men to the church so the saints will be equipped to lovingly serve one another and grow together as the body of Christ in a world that will tempt them with ungodly schemes and outright lies. The Word of God nourishes and strengthens and unifies the body for its work. The word of the world is dangerous junk food that leaves the church weak and divided. Since the apostles and prophets have done their part and the evangelist-missionaries are those who start churches, we can conclude that this is the objective of the pastor-teacher’s Word ministry. In fact, led by the pastor-teacher, this should be the primary goal of the church’s teaching and discipleship ministry. A church that is genuinely growing disciples is doing so by teaching the Word of God and providing ministry outlets for what is taught. A church that is united in such a Word-driven ministry will grow strong in the Lord. I pray that you will know the joy of being part of just such a ministry in the church. Fitting with that prayer, I also ask you to join me in praying that we at TBC can resume more of those ministries soon while continuing to give thanks to God for what we have been able to maintain during days of isolation. Pastor Don 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, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesian 4:11-16, ESV.
We have already looked at three gifts God gave the church according to Ephesians 4:11: apostles and prophets whose word blesses us in the pages of the New Testament, and evangelist-missionaries who take the gospel to new places and start churches. Today we look at the fourth gift, that of shepherd-teachers or, in more familiar terms pastor-teachers. Like the evangelist-missionary, the pastor-teacher is an active servant in the church today. The pastor-teacher is one of the two offices in the New Testament church, serving alongside deacons (Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-13). The pastor-teacher’s role combines the work of the shepherd, nurturing and protecting the church, and the teacher, instructing in the church in the Word of God. These two functions blend into one. The pastor-teacher nurtures and cares for the flock with the Word of God. When we put these four gifts together, we find yet another picture of how much God loves the church. He founded His church and provided us with His Word through the inspired proclamation of apostles and prophets. He has gifted and called evangelist-missionaries to expand the reach of the good news and start new churches. He has gifted pastor-teachers to care for the church through the teaching of the Word. The church is lacking nothing she needs to be the people of God, enjoying the presence of God, and serving Him in the world. Let us be thankful! Let us stop searching for cures to what ails the church in the ways of the world—business efficiency models and programs aimed at entertainment and marketing. God has already given the church just the right gifts to be who He wants her to be. I am praying that you will see how truly gracious our God is to His church and find joy in Him today. Pastor Don 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, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesian 4:11-16, ESV.
On Saturday we began to look at what God gave the church according to Ephesians 4:11. We observed that the gifts of the apostle and prophet continue to serve the church not through active officers, but the written New Testament. Today we consider the third gift: the evangelist. When I was a young boy it was quite common for churches, including my church, to hold a ‘revival’ meeting each year. A traveling ‘evangelist’ would preach, and a gifted musician would sing. In one instance, the evangelist’s wife sang and was also a ventriloquist. I still have an album of her singing with her handheld partner! These traveling preachers, singers, and ventriloquists provide a special ministry to the church and have brought forth much fruit for the kingdom of God. However, they are not evangelists in the sense of the word as used in Ephesians 4:11. The word ‘evangelist’ there shares the same root as the word ‘gospel’. Paul is describing men especially gifted to proclaim the good news and start churches. They take the gospel to unreached places. We tend to call them missionaries. Thus, unlike the apostles and prophets whose ministry ceased with the completion of the writing of the New Testament, the evangelist-missionary remains. They go where the gospel has not gone before, leading people to faith in Christ and gathering them together to form churches. We need to pray that God would gift the church with more of these missionary-evangelists. Too much of the world remains unreached with the good news. We should also support those who are called to this work. It costs a good deal of money to take the gospel to a people group in China. We need to pray and give. We also need to go. Perhaps God is calling you or your children or grandchildren to this work! I am praying today that God will gift His church with more and more evangelist-missionary so that the entire world will hear the good news of Jesus. Please join me in this prayer. Pastor Don 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, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesian 4:11-16, ESV.
In Ephesians 4:7-8, we read of how God gave, as a measure of grace, gifts to men. Being familiar with the lists of spiritual gifts found in Romans and 1 Corinthians, we might expect to find a similar list here. But the grace-gifts of Ephesians 4 are different. Here, in Ephesians 4:11, the gifts are people. Specifically, God gives the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers. To understand Ephesians 4:11 and what God gave the church, we must remember Paul’s historical context. He is the great missionary apostle writing to a first-century church to strengthen their faith in Christ and help them understand the implications of God’s grace. He is writing before the close of the canon of Scripture. With that in mind, what did God give the church? God gave apostles. In fact, an apostle is writing this letter! Apostles are those personally commissioned by the risen Christ to go with authority, spread His message, and found His church. These men spoke and wrote new revelation to a church whose only Bible was the Old Testament. Their words are the words of our New Testament. God gave prophets. These New Testament prophets also spoke special revelation to the church in the days before the completion of the New Testament. They spoke of things to come, called the church to obedience, encouraged the church, warned the church, and related the work of Christ to the promises prophesies of the Old Testament. The apostles and prophets were used by Christ to establish His new covenant people on the solid rock of the Word of God before the New Testament was available to them (Ephesians 2:20; 3:5). Their efforts still serve us today through the words of the New Testament. Thus, even though there are no living apostles and prophets, we still benefit from this gift of God to the church. We will continue to look at this passage in the days to come. But already we have good reason to thank God for His gift. Because He gave apostles and prophets, we have the Word of God! We do not need to wait for the next word about Jesus to come from the next inspired prophet or apostle who comes to town—we have it all! The Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Letters, the Apocalypse of John—we have the full revelation of Jesus Christ. It is God’s gift to us! I pray that today you will find time to give thanks to God for the apostles and prophets as you enjoy the fruits of their labor! Pastor Don There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” Ephesians 4:4-8, ESV. There is only one church, filled by the one Spirit of God, called to share one hope of eternal joy in God’s presence, serving one Lord and Master, and believing one gospel. There is only one true God who is the Creator and giver of all life. There is a great unity involved in being the church! One God. One gospel. One hope. While the world around us, even many professing believers, focuses on things that tend to divide us, God’s Word is at work reminding us that we are best described as “one.” Of course, the individuals who make up this unified body are not clones. That was never God’s plan. Instead, He gathers the saints and gifts each of them with gifts for the benefit of the church. However, even these gifts flow from a singular source as part of the overflowing grace of the gospel from the throne of Christ. And they flow from this singular source to the members of a united body. Even as Paul addresses the very practical matter of the gifts given to individual saints, he emphasizes the gospel that unites them. Paul’s stress here is fundamental for our understanding of life in the church. The gifting of individual saints to fulfill God’s call on their lives is a gospel gift given in the context of gospel unity. We are gifted individually that we might be better at being one. I pray that God will bless you today with reminders of the gospel unity of the church. Pastor Don |
From Pastor DonWriting about the Bible and praying that it will be of some good for someone. Archives
June 2021
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