Ephesians 4:7, 11-12 “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Today's episode talks about the gifts listed in this verse and what are the purposes of these gifts. I go into a bit more detail explaining each gift. At the end I give two questions you can ask to see which give you have been given. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The Ephesians 4 Gifts
Ephesians 4:7, 11-12 “But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.”
This was something we learned about in my Encounter Ministries class last week, and I wanted to share it with you this morning. We talked about what the nature of these gifts are and who gives them to us. Jesus is the giver of these gifts, and they represent the fullness of His ministry. He had all of these gifts. Jesus was the perfect example of all of these gifts. Let’s first look at what gifts I am talking about and go into a bit more detail on each of them. Then we can talk about the purpose of these gifts.
The verse above says, “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Let’s go through each one of these individually. The first one mentioned is apostles. Some of us are called to be apostles. Apostles are those sent by God and given a major mission to advance the kingdom, God’s kingdom. If you have been given this gift, often you have also been given the grace to break through opposition, as you will definitely encounter opposition to your mission. The enemy does not want us to advance the Kingdom of God. He will put every sort of opposition he can in your way. However, if you have been given the gift of apostles, then you will also be given the grace to break through that opposition.
The second one mentioned above is prophets. Prophets are those given a very strong prophetic anointing and operate at a high level of precision and accuracy. Peter Herbeck is one of our Modern-Day prophets. He has a prophetic gift and is often proved accurate. The Lord is talking to each one of us. We can all hear Him if we take the time to listen. However, that is not the gift of a prophet. A prophet is hearing words not only for himself or herself but they are receiving words to share with others, and those words are often proven accurate.
The third gift is Evangelists. Evangelists are those anointed with the grace to seek out the lost and bring them to salvation in Christ with great effect. I like this definition because it puts evangelization in such a good light. Before taking this Encounter Ministries class I would hide when I would hear the evangelization. The thought of going up to people and talking about God or Jesus would make me so nervous. I would be worried about how they would feel and what if I was bothering them. This is why I love this definition so much. It shows us the real results of evangelization. We are seeking out the lost and bringing them home, bringing them to Salvation in Christ. People with this gift are really good at this. What it means when it says “with great effect” is that when they talk with people to try to bring them to salvation in Christ, a majority of people they talk with do come to Christ.
The fourth one is Pastors. Pastors are those given the grace to disciple and accompany disciples into greater spiritual maturity. Again, we may all have some ability to disciple and accompany people into great spiritual maturity. However, that may not be our primary goal. If your gift is pastor, you will be more successful than most at this.
The fifth one is the Teacher. Teachers are those given a special grace to instruct others in the Word of God and bring a renewal of the mind. These would be people who know the Bible, they know the Word of God and they use it to bring about a renewal of the mind. If we want to be good followers of Jesus, we need a renewal of the mind. This world has us all crazy, and if we watch the news, we aren’t sure what to think these days. However, God is raising up teachers who can instruct us in the Word of God and, therefore, bring about a renewal of the mind.
Now that we have gone over what the gifts are let's talk about the purpose of these gifts. The verse above lists the two purposes of these gifts. We are given these gifts, for the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. The first purpose of these gifts is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. John 14:12 says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.” The 'greater works' here refer to the potential for each of us, through the empowerment of these gifts, to reach more people and have a greater impact than even Jesus did during His earthly ministry. We are all meant to do the work that Jesus did, and even greater works than He did. However, we need people to teach us and disciple us as Jesus did for His followers. This is one reason for the Ephesians 4 gifts.
The second purpose of these gifts is to build up the body of Christ. God wants to see all of His children saved. He wants us to help Him build up the body of Christ. These gifts can help us do that. For instance, a pastor may disciple a new believer, who is then equipped by a teacher to understand the Word of God, and then an evangelist may guide them in sharing their faith with others. These gifts work well together. It is a collaboration of these gifts to help build the kingdom of God. When they were explaining this to us in class, they said the way this works is that God pours out special gifts on some of us, and they equip the rest of us.
As I mentioned earlier, we all may have these gifts to varying degrees. However, the gifts I am talking about today are the gifts that are given to people who are then given the mission to teach them to others. They are given not only the gift, but the desire to help others be fruitful in the gift as well. If you want to know if you have received one or more of these gifts, you can sit with the Lord and ask Him these two questions. First, Is there a mature and demonstrated fruit in one of these areas? Second, Does your heart burn to see the church equipped to do the works of ministry?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless each person listening today. Lord, we ask that you help us discern which gift you have given us and help us steward that gift. Lord, help us grow and be fruitful in any areas that you are calling us into. We want to be your disciples, Lord. We want to be used by you to further the kingdom of God here on earth. Let us be your hands and feet, Lord. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Week 4 of Praise and Worship mentoring is this evening. If you haven’t joined, it is not too late. CLICK HERE to sign up. I look forward to seeing some of you tonight on zoom and meeting the rest of you here tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in December 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group or about these words, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is,“Bring my light and words to others. Do not hesitate to tell them that I am the way, the truth, and the life. In me, there will be no darkness. I am the light. I am their hope.”