Don’t Mess With The Master
I use G-Suite to collaborate with my team. It makes it super easy to share files, documents, spreadsheets, etc… The only time things get tricky is if someone messes with a master document. Changing the elements in the master throws things off, sometimes causing confusion and chaos.
This is what has happened with Ephesians 4:1–16 and how it has been obeyed or not for that matter in the church for over 500 years.
Unity in the Body of Christ
Verses 1 through 6 talk about unity. Paul under the guidance of the Spirit is setting the foundation that the church is under the reign of the Godhead — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one body, one faith, with one hope.
Grace Given to Each One of Us
Something significant happens when Paul tells the church at Ephesus and us that according to the measure of Christ’s gift a special grace was given to us all.
That is a major contrast to what we see playing out in churches today with a system of hierarchy as opposed to a unified effort.
A picture is being painted by Paul that Jesus who ascended had also descended so that he could fill all things. The question is how would that manifest itself?
Awww! He, being Jesus, gave gifts to men.
The Gifts Jesus Gave
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,” — Ephesians 4:11
I find it interesting that Jesus gave the church these 5 gifts. Do you notice all of these gifts in operation today? It’s rhetorical… Of course you don’t see them. As a matter of fact, you only see two at most, shepherds and teachers. What happened to apostles, prophets, and evangelists?
Did Jesus set a timeline for apostles, prophets, and evangelists to no longer exist or operate after a certain period? If so, where does it say that in the bible?
Why Did Jesus Give These Gifts?
“to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” Ephesians 4:12
- To equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
- For building up the body of Christ.
Unfortunately, the work of the ministry has been defined as anything within the parameters of the four walls of a building which includes outside if you’re a parking lot attendant or part of the safety team. Greeter, children’s church, worship team member, usher, and the list goes on and on as newly defined work of ministry.
My definition of work of ministry is the fulfillment of the commission Jesus gave us to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything He commanded. (Matthew 28:18–20)
As a military man, an order can only be changed by someone with more rank than the officer who initially gave the order. Who outranks Jesus? More on this later.
How Long do all Five Remain?
“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 4:13–14
Let’s check these off one by one to see if they’re fulfilled:
- We haven’t attained to the unity of the faith ✓
- We haven’t attained the knowledge of the Son of God ✓
- We haven’t attained maturity ✓
- We haven’t attained the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ✓
In cooking terms, we’re not fully cooked.
We still see people acting like children when it comes to their faith. We still see people tossed to and fro carried about by every wind of doctrine, human cunning, and the craftiness of deceitful schemes.
The body of Christ at large isn’t fully mature!
The Purpose for the Five
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:15–16
- Jesus gave all five gifts so that we all would grow up in every way into fullness of who He is.
- Jesus is the one who holds the body together as He is the head.
- As each part of the body is equipped, it becomes a joint that bonds to other members only when each part is working properly.
- The body grows as it lovingly cares for the other parts by speaking truth of God’s word to each other.
The Manifesto
This is the manifesto of the church! Earlier I commented about how orders can be rescinded by officers who have higher rank than the initial ordering officer.
Since Jesus is the one who gave this order, who rescinded it? Again, who outranks the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
I would have to say that this erroneous conclusion stems from cessationism. Cessationism teaches that certain gifts of the Spirit ceased with the apostolic age.
The concern is, who determined when the apostolic age ended? Obviously, someone determined that it ended with the death of John. But where does it say that in the bible?
Since the Master was Messed with
We have veered from the manifesto set in place by Jesus himself. As a result, the church has in some Frankenstein-ish way had its DNA tampered with. The five-fold are an extension of Jesus himself as He alone filled all of those offices within Himself.
Since the DNA has been tampered with, what has resulted is a disjointed church full of hierarchy where only a few participate in ministry while others sit idly by as onlookers.
Sadly, the vast majority in the body have never been equipped to do the work of the ministry.
We Need to Repent!
Repentance is changing our hearts and minds concerning who is in charge of our lives. Obviously all who profess Jesus as Lord would say that He’s in charge, yet as a whole this is not a reality concerning the manifesto of the church.
We need to repent and ask God to forgive us for messing with His master plan set in place by Jesus himself. We need to obediently submit to His wisdom so as to have to outcome that the Godhead intended which is that we would all come to the “measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ.”
