The Gifts to the Church
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (Ephesian 4:11).
In verse 7 Paul explains that every Christian has a gift given by Christ. It is essential to see that a gift is just that: something which is given. The gifts are for the benefit of all the people of God. They should be used with humility and in dependence upon the One who gives them. Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 in verse 8 to describe Christ’s victorious death, His power in resurrection and His return in glory to heaven. After battles, victorious kings gave gifts to their servants. Christ has given gifts to His people. These are given to equip the saints for the ministry of building up the body of Christ. There are three main passages in the New Testament which teach us about spiritual gifts. In Romans 12:3-8 the gifts are outlined in relation to the service of God. In 1 Corinthians 12 the gifts are to be used under the direction and power of the Spirit of God. Here, in Ephesians 4, the gifts are linked with the Lord Jesus building up His church, the body of Christ.
The apostles and prophets were chosen and gifted to undertake the foundational work described in Ephesians 2:19-20. The church continues to be built up from this foundation. A foundation is laid once. No one has the right to come along today claiming to be an apostle or prophet with fresh revelation. The Bible is the complete record of God’s revelation and all that we need for faith and practice. And Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8).
An evangelist is not merely a preacher, but someone gifted by God to lead people to Christ. Interestingly, there is only one man in the New Testament called an evangelist. This was “Philip the evangelist” (Acts 21:8). In Acts 8 we read about his evangelism and are given a pattern for the evangelist, one who finds people to preach to; he is proactive. There are two ways to evangelise, publicly and personally. We need gifted evangelists to do this work. The Lord Jesus encourages us to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38). We should never lose sight of the importance of the evangelist. Even if we do not possess this gift we can still “do the work of an evangelist”, which Paul encouraged his young friend to do in 2 Timothy 4:5.
A pastor is a shepherd who builds up and protects the flock. If a sheep gets lost, the shepherd finds it. The shepherd ensures the sheep get the right kind of food and that they are protected from danger. You can see what a powerful illustration the shepherd is of all the work involved in looking after “the flock of God”. The pastor has to be self-sacrificing and an example to the Lord’s people (1 Peter 5:2-4).
The teacher communicates the word of God to the people of God under the direction of the Holy Spirit. The effect is that the listeners grow in their own understanding of, and obedience to, the truth. A teacher is expected to demonstrate the reality of what he teaches in his own life. He is a person who never stops learning from the Lord Jesus, who is our Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd and Teacher.
