Tapestry of Believers
Ephesians 4:7 - 24
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says:
“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also [d]first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
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 [e]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.
The New Man
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as [f]the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Having Grown up in the church, I have a unique perspective on how the church operates. I have, as a man, been directly involved in 5 churches that all had a slightly different flavor of how they operated behind the scenes and in front of scenes.
However, one thing that stands out more now as I have gotten older is that there is more to being a part of the church than what is often referred to as "The 5-Fold Ministry."
Ok, I am sure I can hear someone out there giving me a verbal "DUH," but in more than 1 of the churches, the 5-Fold Ministry was heralded as the be-all, end-all. "You should be a Pastor, or Prophet, or Evangelist..." Anyone who was anyone must be one of these. Now that gets you thinking, as a young man, that anyone who is NOT those ministries or does not have one of those giftings is not as important.
While one could easily imply that, if you read the scripture again, it says clearly in verse 11 that it was only "some" that met the qualifications. That indicates to me that not everyone will be graced with the gift to be a Apostles, Pastors, Prophets, Teachers, and Evangelists.
With that in mind, I want to highlight a couple of thoughts from this scripture:
The 5-Fold Ministry is set apart to SERVE the body.
One thing that Paul explicitly states is that these giftings and ministries are for the "edification" of the body of Christ. The Oxford English dictionary describes "edification" as "the instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually."
Paul tells us in the book of Romans that we are all one body, but many different parts. (Romans 12:4) He says that Christ, as the head guides and directs the ministers to serve the church "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;" (v.13).
In other words, God gave us the giftings to make us better people and to know Him better. Having one of the Gifts described in this passage is as important Spiritually as being a financier of the Gospel, or someone who cleans the Church building, or feeds the poor.
Having a 5-Fold Gifting is just another part of the body, that's it! It's not better than or worse than execept there's a special grace to minister TO the body instead of to the world.
Another thing to consider with this is that as we grow to the full measure and unity of the faith, we will begin a process of sanctification, or purification, that will last our entire lives. This is what Paul describes as "The New Man" in verses 17-24. He says that we must change our thinking (v. 17) "and be renewed in the Spirit of your mind" (v.23) to attain this.
That means we cannot continue to live the way we have expecting different results. We have to put our faith into action! We have to learn what it means to be a follower of Christ, read the Bible, listen to wholesome things, put wholesome things in so that what comes out can change what we do and who is around us.
We are all a huge tapestry of believers. We all play a part of what God wants to do in this world. The more we renew and change our mind, the more God can work. And that my friends is a beautiful thing.