“People often come to me and ask me to pray for them, that they would discover God’s will for their life. I already know God’s will for their life – heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, cleanse lepers. They say, ‘Yes, but I need to know if I should be a schoolteacher or a missionary.’ I say, ‘Well, just pick one, and then heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, cleanse lepers.”
― Bill Johnson
In the 4th chapter of the letter of Paul to the church at Ephesus Paul writes“… 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,…” Eph 4:11-15;
Everywhere I go these days in the church I hear people talking about the five fold ministry and the majority of the time the conversation ends up going in the direction of everyone trying to figure out which one of the five they are.
A blog article is hardly the place to tackle such a subject with comprehensive study but we can definitely begin a dialogue on the topic to help get us started. Let’s begin by looking at verses 12-13 above and as we do we can see that Paul outlines four main roles these gifts have in the church:
To equip the members of the church for the work of the ministry.
For the building up of the members of the church.
To bring unity of faith and knowledge to the church.
To bring maturity to the church so that each member can bear and express the full resemblance of Christ.
When I read through Pauls instructions through the Holy Spirit to the Church I very quickly see the parallels to the expectations that Jesus expressed as His desire for His followers “…In the same way the Father has sent Me I am sending you…” John 20:21; When I read Pauls words I can understand that the clear role that God has given to the APEST (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd (Pastor), or Teacher) gifts is to teach and instruct the disciples of Christ to “grow up” into Christ.
Considering this perspective, we can logically conclude that the ultimate goal that God has for His sons and daughters is for them to become like Jesus not to become an Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd (Pastor), or Teacher. These gifts are simply nothing more than a role that Christ has given to an individual son or daughter to teach, instruct and model the ministry of Jesus to His church until each member of His Body can fully represent Him in the work of the Ministry which is to bring the world into an Encounter with the person of Jesus and to make them disciples.
There is much more to say on this topic and we could spend a few days in a classroom fleshing out this passage of scripture as well as others to support this understanding but for now a couple parting points to ponder:
God’s goal isn’t to create amazing Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds & Teachers. His ultimate goal is that they would utilize the gifts that He gave to them to work together with Holy Spirit to form Christ within the His church by growing the sons and daughters of God up into the fullness of the image of Christ.
- He’s growing sons & daughters not professional ministers to carry a title.
The ultimate achievement in your life from God’s perspective is that you would grow more and more like Jesus everyday until you reach the point that when someone encounters you they’ll know that they’ve met Jesus both in you and through you.
- As we choose to position ourselves as He leads us under the instruction of faithful men and women of God carrying and skillfully employing Christ’s gifts we will grow each day to be more like Jesus both in thought and in deed..
Take Action:
Purpose to take time each day even 5 mins to start to set aside time and ask Father God what He wants to teach you through His instructors today.
If you don’t have all 5 of these gifts working in and through your local church be intentional about finding a few good resources like a podcast or YouTube channel where you can receive teaching from any gift you may be lacking in your local church body. Attend an equipping conference where different gifts of the 5 fold are represented and teaching.
Find and connect with a good local church where you can be in community and practice the things that God is teaching you.
- Mike Sitko