Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 243

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Living In Christ – 4

GIFTS FROM ABOVE

Ephesians 4:11-12 (MKJV)
(11)  And truly He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
(12)  for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-12 (GNB)
(11)  It was he who "gave gifts to people"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers.
(12)  He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ.

God’s best gifts are people who help us to become like Jesus. 

This life is about becoming saved, then becoming holy and being made into the image of Jesus Christ. All our experiences are for our perfection in grace. Therefore the greatest gift we can be given is someone who helps us to become the person that God designed us to be.

The primary function of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors is to assist us in our journey towards Jesus. 

Paul continues:
Ephesians 4:13-15
(13)  And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.
(14)  Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent.
(15)  Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head.

Thus our spiritual gifts do not determine our place in a spiritual hierarchy or organization, rather they determine how we can best help others become like Jesus.

Those who claim ministry gifts should do so not to domineer others, or to attain status, but rather they should speak the truth in love so that believers become saints.

Spiritual gifts must be exercised with great respect for God’s design and destiny for individual people.  The teacher or prophet or pastor should minister in ways that help each person to fully be the person God has called them to be in Christ.

What Paul meant by these five roles is not at all clear. Little is known about what is meant by “evangelist” or “pastor” in the New Testament. Ephesians 4:11 is the only reference to the word “pastor” and it is not explained or defined, just mentioned. Evangelist is only mentioned three times (Acts 21:8, Ephesians 4:11, 2Timothy 4:5) and may just be a term for a catechist. By contrast “apostle” is mentioned 80 times in the NT, prophet 157 and teacher 42. 

If the New Testament is any guide the best defined and most mentioned and expected ministry roles are apostle, prophet and teacher. These seem to move around a network of house churches in a given city, which in turn are led by a team of elders and deacons.

In fact there is almost no justification at all for the current practice of a having a “pastor” as a church officer. There are clear NT criteria for elders and deacons as church officers but none for “pastors” and outside this verse “pastors” are never mentioned again, nor is there any sign of them being appointed to church leadership. Timothy, who is frequently called a pastor in sermons – is in fact only described as an “evangelist”.

Do we need to return to the NT pattern or is the current system “just fine”?  I think we are moving towards the NT pattern without knowing it! Cell groups, home groups and house churches are springing up everywhere, itinerant ministries and the Internet are networking people together, people like Ed Silvoso are popularizing “the church in the city” and helping to organize city-wide meetings of Christian leaders, and there is also a slow recognition of the apostolic and prophetic. We are “getting there” and it may be wise to move cautiously because quite a few of those claiming to be apostles and prophets need further evaluation.

We are also slowly but surely moving towards “every-member-ministry” and Christian leaders seeing their job as equipping the saints rather than doing everything for them. I think the trends are in the right direction. With loving debate and wise discernment we may soon rearrange the old less functional ministry patterns and reproduce some of the dynamism of the NT with its networked, plural leadership of equipped saints who do the work of the ministry.

Well then, what about the apostles and prophets? That is a tough question. I believe in Spirit-led, apostolic and prophetic leadership helping a network of churches to remain true to the gospel and extending the geographical boundaries of the Kingdom. However I have many reservations about some of those who loudly claim to be apostles and prophets. I think we need to accept the existence of these functions and to do our homework and come up with biblical criteria and ways of acting with discernment regarding apostles and prophets.

For more on apostles go to: http://www.aibi.ph/aibi/apostle.htm
For more on prophets go to: http://www.aibi.ph/aibi/prophecy.htm
And for my ebook called Beyond Denominations: The Networked Church go to: http://www.aibi.ph/bd/index.htm

Finally, let me repeat that gifts are not about position in a hierarchy but service to the saints. Ministry gifts are to help people grow up in all aspects into Christ and apostles are “set forth as last of all”. ( 1 Corinthians 4:9-13)

Blessings,

John Edmiston johned@aibi.ph

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