Scripture:
Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
[11] And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, [13] till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; [14] that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, [15] but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— [16] from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Observation:
There is a lot of great information in the book of Ephesians. It’s where we learn about the battle we are in and the armor that has been provided to fight that battle. Not to mention how to put that armor on. However, this morning we find ourselves in an interesting place. As far as the book of Ephesians goes. Chapter 4 has a verse that helped me to understand what repentance looks like. But just before that, the callings of the ministry are explained along with their purpose. Long-time bible reading followers of Christ would call it the 5-fold ministry. Verse 11 explains how you obtain one of these positions. It’s not something you apply for it’s something GOD calls you to. So whether you want to be involved in ministry or not, honestly, it doesn’t matter. If GOD has called you to a ministry position. Your only choice is to step into it or run from GOD, and speaking from experience, you can’t run fast enough or hide under a big enough rock to get away from GOD’S calling on your life. Ok, so let’s take a look at what these positions are and their intended purpose. The first one listed is an apostle. Now, before we turn this into some strange unobtainable position. Let’s look at what the word means. It’s pretty simple. It means one who is sent. That’s a lot easier than a lot of people make it out to be. Now, the calling of a prophet. Again, the world makes this an unobtainable position due to a lack of knowledge of what the word means. They take it to mean a fortune teller or something crazy like that, but it simply means one inspired by GOD to speak the truth. We only have 3 more to go, so bear with me. The Calling of an Evangelist is someone who seeks to convert others to the Christian faith. The last 2 are pretty simple, and we see them in operation a lot today and have not made them to be unobtainable. A pastor is an overseer of a church of flock given by GOD, and a teacher is simple. It’s someone who teaches the word of GOD to others. Now, the reason I went through all of them is because they all work together, and they are all still in effect today whether we want to admit it or not. In any church that is effectively furthering the kingdom, you will find all 5 of these offices in operation. Their purpose is to speak the truth in love and not distort the gospel. I wanted to bring this all out because the bible says to know those who labor among you, and I know that I have been called into the ministry. I believe that is pretty clear. The job of these 5 positions is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Through the truth spoken in love. Verses 13 and 14 are very important to pay attention to unity in the body of Christ, which is what makes it effective, and right now, there is a lot of division through denominational lines. Because the gospel has been distorted and/or reduced to something, it’s not, and the church is being blown around by every wind of doctrine.
Application:
The purpose of the ministry and the 5 callings involved is to prepare those in the body to go out and make disciples. These 5 offices spoken about today are given by GOD and not something you can learn. It’s something that drives you. Deep down inside you, there is a GOD-given drive to tell people about Jesus, or there isn’t that you can’t force it. But as you practice it, the Holy Spirit will bring it to life. Honestly, I have felt the call to ministry for over 30 years, but the responsibility of it scared the life out of me, and I ran from it. Because of a few different scriptures. One of them is in the book of James found in chapter 3. Where James tells us that not all of us should presume to be teachers because they will be held at a higher level of accountability. I don’t know about you, but that’s a little scary if your life isn’t in some kind of order and you don’t have a proper understanding of the bible. For me, finding out where I fit in these 5 callings was also very difficult because I believe that you can have characteristics from more than one. For example, I have a deep desire to tell others about Jesus and convert them to Christianity. But my driving force is just slightly different than that. I believe the key is being able to identify these 5 callings inside the church and knowing the purpose of them. They are to equip others to do the work of the ministry. I believe I have been operating in my calling for the past 6 or 7 years. My drive is to teach other men, lead people, and oversee a couple of different ministry functions. Puts me in one of 3 of these callings. My point is I have never been able to nail it all the way down which one. I also wanted to bring this out because perhaps you have felt you have been called into the ministry. Before you jump off and say that you have been. I want you to know that it’s not something to enter into lightly. All these callings come with a high level of responsibility and an extreme amount of spiritual attack. The armor is a vital piece of entering into the battle for lost souls, and that’s what commitment to ministry is. So count the cost and choose carefully. No, this as well. You can’t outrun GOD. If HE has called you, HE will relentlessly pursue you under every rock and in every trap house. HE makes no mistakes about it. It’s been my experience that most who are called run from it. Through disobedience and defiance. If you are called, you probably know it and have been running. My suggestion SURRENDER.
Prayer:
Father, you know exactly what you have called us to, but no matter what, you have not called us to just sit in a church and listen. We know there is work to be done, and the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. I pray for the workers to rise up and set their sickles to the field. I thank you for the calling that you have given me, and I pray that you can show me how to fully embrace it. I’m sorry for running for so long, and I thank you for not giving up on me. My prayer this morning is that those whom you have called can clearly identify what you have called them to and embrace it as well. Show us how to operate in that calling. We want your kingdom here on earth as well as in the life that comes after this one. The harvest is plenty, so send the workers. It’s in the mighty name of Jesus I pray amen.