Jesus’ Gifts to the Church

Ephesians 4:1–3 NLT

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Again Paul is pointing us towards unity within the church. He continually addresses it because it is a hard thing. We always have our own preferences and opinions. That is why he continues by explaining why we should be unified.

Ephesians 4:4–7 NLT

For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.

3 is a very important number in the Bible. Numbers play a huge part in reminding us of things. Usually, 3 represents completion and fulfillment. Here we see 3 sets of 3. Technically, 3 3 times. That should catch our attention. Unity is a sign of completion, wholeness. What I love is that we are called to work together, with our differences as strengths. We are shown clearly that we are to work together because the things we have in common far out weigh our differences. In fact, we have unique skills, gifts, talents, and abilities that are necessary for a healthy church to grow.

Ephesians 4:7–10 NLT

However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

When Jesus returned to Heaven after His resurrection, He told His followers to wait for the Helper, the Holy Spirit, to fill them. The Holy Spirit then empowers God’s people to reach those who are still lost in their sin. These gifts are specifically given to the church to help unify and strengthen it.

Ephesians 4:11–12 NLT

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

This passage tells us that the primary purpose Christ gives gifted leaders to the church is to train and equip the saints to do ministry inside and outside the church. SO what does each one do?

Apostles-

This gift today is to plant and pioneer churches and church ministries and to ensure that they are founded on sincere devotion to Jesus and His original message. A lot of times these are missionaries. In the Bible, Apostle was used to refer to those who walked with Jesus and were specifically chosen by Him to spread His message and establish His church.

Prophet-

In the OT prophets gave Holy Spirit inspired messages to encourage the people of God to stay faithful to their covenant. This occasionally involved seeing future events.

In the NT, prophets are Spirit filled interpreters of God’s Word called by God to warn, challenge, encourage, comfort, and build up God’s church. They are called to expose sin, speak about what is right by God’s standard, warn of coming judgement, battle worldliness and spiritual complacency among God’s people. Prophets are usually rejected by those in the church unwilling to hear their message.

The prophets message must always line up with Scripture.

Necessary to keep sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Evangelist

Their purpose is to reach those far from God.

Often mixed with other gifts.

Inspire the church to reach out through their passion for the lost and commitment to pure doctrine.

Pastor

God given ministry is to devote themselves to care for and oversee the spiritual needs of a local church body.

Help believers grow as a body and individuals

Communicate God’s Word through accurate preaching and teaching while coming against false teaching and ideas.

Jesus is the model as the Good Shepard

Chosen not by man but by Holy Spirit’s wisdom given to the local church.

Teachers

Have a special, God given gift to clarify, explain and build up the church

Guard, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the message of truth

Point the church to Biblical revelation and to the original message of Jesus and His Apostles

Preserve and promote truth and produce holy living in the lives of believers

This gift keeps the church from going into false doctrine and being deceived.

These are not simply gifts given to individuals. These gifts are for the building up of the church. Which means they are used best when utilized with the church body. These gifts are to unify and solidify us.

I truly believe this is also why some people get bored or frustrated with church. Especially men. We have these gifts that are God given, yet we either don’t have the opportunity or the desire to use them how God intended. When we come to church on Sunday, sit, sing some praise and hear a message, but don’t actively use the gifts God has given us, of course we are bored.

Dan LaPaglia said something to me the other day that has really stuck with me. “Inspiration without expression leads to depression.” I know in my life, the times I wasn’t able to function in the gifts God has given me were some of the most aggravating and dark seasons. Sometimes I didn’t even realize that’s what it was. But once I stepped back into my gifting, something came alive in me.

These gifts are meant to be used to bring us together, not drive us apart. We must be unified in faith, knowledge, and maturity. How do we measure our maturity? Not against each other or the world. We measure it against Christ Jesus alone.

Without teachers, how would we have knowledge? Without the prophet, how would we be disciplined? Without the pastor, who would care for us? Without evangelists, how would the message be heard? Without apostles, how would the message spread?

Jesus gave us these gifts so that we can do His will. The churches I see die are the ones that have a small percentage doing everything? Why? All of these gifts were given to train and equip the saints to do ministry as well as minister. These gifts are alive and active today, more so I believe. Because they are needed so much more.

What is the gift that God has given you? These are specifically leadership gifts, but are there other gifts that you see in your life? How can they help the body of Christ grow and be healthy?