Here we go:
| 4:11 | καὶ αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους, τοὺς δὲ προφήτας, τοὺς δὲ εὐαγγελιστάς, τοὺς δὲ ποιμένας καὶ διδασκάλους, |
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, |
Purpose Purpose Purpose Purpose |
He works through the gifts of His people therefore we must put value on the gifts of the people and engage in equipping them to gain the benefit He intends from those gifts.
| 4:12 | πρὸς τὸν καταρτισμὸν τῶν ἁγίων εἰς ἔργον διακονίας, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, | for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body |
Purpose Substantiation Purpose Substantiation Purpose; Building up the body: 4:12, 4:16f |
The purpose of the gifts given by Christ is to equip the saints. The saints are the members of the community. The saints are to be equipped to do the work of service.
Part of the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18 – 20 (here @ BibleGateway), is that part of making disciples is to teach those that are led to Christ all that He taught. That would seem to include all of these points. We expose people to the idea of following Christ through the presentation of the gospel which would be supplemented by exposure to the community. They would be able to experience the love and unity of the body through that exposure.
The next step would be to engage them in some facet of the community, a small investigative Bible study, a small group, or in a church setting some form of service or project that increases their exposure to the community. Behind the scenes the community is praying for their salvation.
Should they trust Christ the next step would be to establish them through the process of follow up. The Seven topics would be appropriate here, these should be done one on one. After one is established, which would entail some level of consistent personal input of the Word and growth in prayer. By the way, the idea behind Establish is that the individual would be able to stand on their own in their walk with Christ. This does not suggest that they are independent of the body but that they have developed personal habits and disciplines that will help them sustain a personal walk with Christ. We should then begin to Equip these individuals.
The purpose of the equipping is to enable them to serve the Body of Christ, in this case their local community and beyond. This would entail helping them to discover and develop in their gifts. 1 Timothy 4:14 – 16 (here @ BibleGateway) seems to indicate this type of effort. This equipping would necessarily include significant time in the Bible, engagement with a group of men as well as man to man. There should be sufficient opportunity for both ministry opportunities as well as observation of the individual engaged in the ministry. There should be training in each of these opportunities consisting of instruction, observation, and critique.
It will be the case that not all of those who are established will be equipped. That will be because of several reasons some due to the choice of the individual and others due to the choice of the one who will be doing the training.
The importance of following this type of model, in some form, cannot be over emphasized. To not do this ignores both the command of Christ and the engagement of the Holy Spirit in the lives of these individuals. To do so also diminishes the effectiveness of the gifts that the Lord has, by His grace given to the Body. To not equip those to use their gifts robs the body of the impact of those gifts utilized.
The last step in this process is to entrust the ministry to those who have been equipped. Entrusting implies that they are focused on serving others and exposing others to the riches of a relationship with Christ and His community.
Stay Tuned - More tomorrow...
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