Gifts for the Church

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Scripture: Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Devotion:

            We continue in Chapter 4 of the Ephesians today. Here we see Paul encouraging members of that church, and by extension us, to be involved in the day-to-day life of whatever Christian fellowship we belong to. One temptation in our Christian walk is to leave everything up to paid staff members and just sit back and enjoy the show. Christian living is never just bread and circuses. Our leaders need people to wash the dishes and bake the bread. Otherwise, we run the risk of burning our leaders out.

             Paul lists several job titles in addition to pastor in verse 11. There is disagreement whether some of these offices continue into the current age. No matter where you stand on this, we can all agree that a pastor cannot run a church without help. We may or may not have apostles and prophets today, but we still need people who will remind the church of her first love for Jesus and exhort the church to live faithfully in the world every day. All of us are responsible for seeing the church built up and growing.

            If we all do our part the church will function more smoothly and be a greater force for good in the communities where she is planted. Our churches can only be united in a common purpose if every person is doing the work that Christ has called us to. We are each given some gift to use for the common good. Whether that is public or behind the scenes. If we all can be faithful and do the things, we are able to do for the church then as Paul says above, “we all reach unity in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God”

            Let us, therefore, strive to do our best so that the church will survive through what culturally looks like very rough times for those who seek to live out faith in Jesus Christ. Let us pray to the Lord for courage, strength, and passion to walk with Christ day by day.

Prayer:

            Heavenly Father, glorify your name through your church. Lead us all in the way of Jesus our Lord. We ask for courage to live in discouraging times. We pray for strength to overcome the spiritual powers of darkness that seek to nullify our faith. Ignite in us a passion to spread the gospel of our Lord everywhere we go. Let us support those who have been given charge over us as pastors. Let us magnify the Lord giving Him the glory for all that we have been called to do for Jesus. Amen. 


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