“And 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.” (Ephesians 4:11-14)
In this week’s reading from Ephesians, the Apostle Paul speaks about the great need we have in the church for proper guidance through the ministry of spiritual gifts. These spiritual gifts are actually persons chosen and equipped by God for this task. Now this may seem odd to some of us. Most churches and church members think and act as if the work of the ministry is the primary and exclusive responsibility of these professionals, the trained staff and the clergy. Paul says that these are those who equip their fellow believers.
Paul tells us that it is we are the saints, we are the ones who are to be equipped by the church’s teachers, pastors, apostles, prophets and evangelists so that we can do the work of ministry. When Paul speaks of the saints, he means all the members of the body of Christ including us. Saints are not special individuals who led exemplary lives and worked miracles. Each believer is called to be a holy one, called out of the world, separated from sin by faith in the sacrifice of Christ, separated from the world to do His work in it, to be His ambassadors.
We need the teachers and shepherds of the church so we may be fed the true Word of God. We need their guidance so we do not fall prey to every wind of doctrine, every teaching or teacher or megachurch pastor that sound good butwho will only lead us away from God to serve the world, to exalt self. We need their guidance because our world is filled with false teachers and false prophets who. We need the guidance of God’s called teachers so that the Body of Christ, that is the church, may be built up and all would come to maturity together. We need proper teaching so that we may use our gifts to preach the gospel by word and by deed, by acts of kindness, compassion, mercy, and love. In this way we show the world who Jesus is so they may turn from sin and unbelief, to repentance and faith in Jesus.