Ephesians 4:11-13
Ps Paul Cheng
“…ought to have his greatest fear and sadness…”
~6 min read
Dear Bethelites,
A continuation of last week’s pastoral chat.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4:11).
Evangelists — The evangelist is a person who moved from city to city, focusing on the gospel of salvation. When souls are saved, the new believers would be directed to the local church and the evangelist would move on to another place or city. The greatest difficulty that the evangelist would face is that “no place is home and at the same time everywhere is home.” Often, he would have to bring his family along and consideration would have to be given to his children’s education as they may always be on the move. His family would need to adjust to the living environment and one can imagine the amount of difficulties he would have to face. But if God has called one to be an evangelist, He will also give him the grace, strength and ability to perform his duties faithfully. One good example of an evangelist is John Sung and God used him to bring revival to the places he visited. Many of the people who were ministered by him, went on to establish churches and one of them was the late Rev Timothy Tow. Rev Timothy Tow was not an evangelist; he was a pastor.
Pastors and teachers — Most theologians would see these two spiritual gifts as one office of leadership in the church because of the word and. Pastors are also elders and the two primary functions of being a pastor are teaching and shepherding (cf. 2 Timothy 2:24; 1 Timothy 5:17). Unlike the evangelist, the pastor is a person who basically stays with a particular church to shepherd the same congregation. Often, he would be shepherding, preaching and teaching the same people, perhaps even for the rest of his life. It is not an easy task ministering to the same congregation for a substantial period of time, and if he is not regularly equipping himself, soon he would be repeating himself. The only way the pastor can persevere in such a ministry is that he must be a good student of the Word of God, and he has to constantly equip himself so that he may preach, teach and edify his people continuously (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15).
God’s purpose of giving gifts to such men is For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (v.12).
For the perfecting of the saints — The word perfecting can mean to put in order or to make complete. The work of the evangelist is to bring men and women to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and these new believers would then be part of the local church. The responsibility of the pastor and teacher is to provide leadership and spiritual resources so that these believers may be complete. The Bible is God’s perfect standard and the church leaders are to teach and guide the believers so that they may live their lives according to God’s truth.
For the work of the ministry — The believers are trained, equipped and prepared for the work of the ministry, in other words, to perform Christian service. No pastor can do everything a church needs to do. No matter how gifted, talented and devoted a pastor may be, the work of the ministry will always exceed his time and abilities. The pastor’s responsibility in God’s plan is not to try to meet all those needs himself but to prepare others to meet those needs. When the pastor has been faithfully teaching, equipping and motivating the people to do the work of the ministry, God will raise up elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, facilitators and every other kind of workers needed for the church to be productive.
For the edifying of the body of Christ — The body of Christ is a reference to the body of believers or the church, and the word edifying means building up. In every physical building, the external façade may look very nice but what is important is the foundation or the internal structure. Likewise, the emphasis of the church is always on what is internal. The church may look well-organized on the outside with all the programmes and activities but what is truly important is that the believers are built up spiritually through the Word of God.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith (v.13) — This unity of the faith is within the church and the word faith here is not a reference to the act of believing but it refers to the body of Christian truth or doctrine. Why do you think so many churches are disunited? Often, disunity in the church comes from doctrinal ignorance and spiritual immaturity. The church’s unity in fellowship is impossible unless it is built on the foundation of the truth. There can be no unity in the church apart from doctrinal integrity.
The knowledge of the Son of God — As long as the leaders continuously teach the Word of truth, and the people are constantly taught and faithfully doing the work of the ministry, God will bless the church with the unity of the faith and the people will attain the knowledge of the Son of God. Here, the Apostle Paul is not talking about salvation knowledge but about the deep and accurate knowledge through a relationship with Jesus Christ that comes only from prayer, and a faithful study and obedience to God’s Word.
Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ — A Christian who is growing in his knowledge of Christ will mature spiritually. The words unto and measure tell us by implication that it is a growing process and it may be just a portion of the fulness of Christ. Obviously, the believer is not perfect and he cannot perfectly attain the fulness of Christ. But he must and he can reach a certain degree of spiritual maturity that pleases and glorifies the Lord. Every good father would want his son to grow spiritually, physically and emotionally, how much more our heavenly Father? It is God’s great desire that every believer who is a child of God will become more and more Christ-like, manifesting the character of Christ (cf. Romans 8:28).
In every church, there would be believers of various degrees of spiritual maturity. How do you gauge spiritual maturity? Some people would gauge spiritual maturity by ascertaining how much the person knows the Bible, or how prayerful he is, or how well he is serving. While all these spiritual activities are good but the best answer is to measure one’s life against the life of Christ. As 1 John 2:6 says, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. While Christ was on this earth, He lived in complete fellowship with the Father. It is a life of prayer and obedience to God’s Word. Is that pattern a reflection of your life?
God has sovereignly provided evangelists, pastors and teachers for the church. Every minister blessed by God with spiritual gifts ought to have his greatest fear and sadness. His greatest fear is to be disapproved by God. His greatest sadness is to know that the people whom he has ministered to, would be disapproved by God. Every believer blessed by God with spiritual resources ought to have his or her greatest fear and sadness as well. Perhaps, you have been a member of the church for many years now; attending worship service regularly, listening to the messages, participating in Bible study classes, etc. Then you must be growing spiritually, serving God enthusiastically and living a life that is worthy of your calling as Christian. But are you? Are you not concerned about being disapproved of by God?
In His service,
Pastor Paul
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