Gifts, Services, and Workings
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the beginning of Paul’s teaching about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14:
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7 ESV)
In this passage, Paul says that there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of services (the word is plural), and different kinds of workings (activities). My gifting may be different from yours. Even if we have the same gifting, the way God desires for us to serve may be different. Even if we have the same gifting and even if we should serve in the same way, God may work differently through each of us.
If we keep reading, we find that each of us is important – even necessary – for the church. No one is more important and no one is less important. (Except, of course, for those who seem less important. God actually considers them more important, probably because humans tend to ignore or de-emphasize them.)
Thus, it is important and necessary for the church (according to Ephesians, for the growth and maturity of the church) for each of us to work according to the way that God has gifted us, according to the opportunities and abilities he has given us to serve, and according to the way that he works through us. Our differences are important and necessary.
As an elder (and this is true for other leaders and mature believers in the church as well), I must be very careful not to expect others to have the same giftings, services, or workings as me. When someone seeks my advice about how they should serve others, it is easy for me to point them in the direction that God is pointing me. Why? Because that is natural for me (or super-natural, depending on how you look at it). But, natural (super-natural) for me is not necessarily (and probably isn’t) natural (super-natural) for them.
I think that as I help people serve others within the opportunities that God has given them, they will find that they are serving in their gifting, service, and working. If, instead, I try to find a “job” for them, they may (and will probably) end up doing something for which they are not gifted, in a way in which they are not supposed to serve, and in a manner that God is not working through them.
As we recognize the differences in giftings, services, and workings, we can also recognize the commonality involved. While we are different, our differences come from a common source – God. And while we are different, our differences are given for a common purpose – the benefit of one another. (While our giftings can benefit us individually – see 1 Cor 14:4,28 – the main purpose of our giftings is building up others – see 1 Cor 14:26.) In a way, carrying out the purpose reveals the source. Our serving one another (and the world) demonstrates our connection to God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (In fact, Peter says that our serving one another brings glory to God – see 1 Peter 4:10-11.)
Putting this all together, as we serve in different ways through our different gifts in the different ways that God works through us but for the common good, we demonstrate our connection to God through his Son empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we bring glory to him.
Differences in giftings, services, and workings should be welcome, expected, and encouraged in the church.
Running and Maturity in the Church
Last Summer, my wife Margaret and I decided to walk together in the mornings. I learned alot about community during our walks together (see my post “Walking Together“).
This Summer, we tried to walk together again. For some reason, we were having a difficult time remaining motivated. Some friends decided that they were going to start training for a marathon in February. I’m not ready to commit to a marathon, but I decided to start training for a 5k in October. (You probably know this already if you follow me on Twitter or read my Facebook status updates.)
So, last week, Margaret and I began training for the 5k. The difference between our 5k training and our walking last summer is that we have to run some for our 5k training. Eventually, we will only run. But, of course, we’re not ready for that yet.
When I was in middle school (we called it junior high school) and high school, I could run long distances. But, years and years of sitting behind a computer screen has taken a toll on my body. I need this exercise and I need to get back in shape, so I’m excited about the prospects. Plus, I’m more motivated now that I have a specific goal: the 5k in only a few weeks, and perhaps a 1/2 marathon in February if everything goes well.
But, I’ve learned something about the body over the last few days that I think is applicable to the church as the body of Christ. When I started running, I realized that my body is not in shape to do what it needs to do. However, it wasn’t every part of my body that was holding me back.
My arms were working just fine, and if I left it up to my arms, I could run for long distances. Similarly, my eyes and ears and nose were very happy to keep running long after I had to stop.
Surprisingly, even my legs and feet were able to carry be farther than I expected. Yes, my legs – especially my calves – would be tired after running. However, if I left everything up to my legs, I could have kept running longer.
But, my lungs would not allow me to run any longer. My breathing is not where it needs to be to be able to run long distances. Therefore, right now, I’m training my lungs and breathing as much as – and perhaps more than – I’m training my legs.
It is very interesting to me that my lungs are hidden from sight. I can’t see them, and they don’t appear to be very important from an outward perspective. But, unless my breathing capacity increases, I won’t be able to run for long distances.
I could spend hours exercising my legs and arms, my chest and abs, but unless I exercise my lungs, I will not be able to do what I need to do.
This reminded me to two specific passages in Scripture dealing with the church. First, consider this passage from 1 Corinthians:
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 Corinthians 12:18-27 ESV)
It is obvious that every part of the body of Christ is important – even those parts that may be less noticeable and may seem less important. In fact, according to Paul, these parts are even more important than we think because God has given those parts greater honor.
Second, consider this passage from Ephesians 4:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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. 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 4:11-16 ESV)
According to this passage, the body grows (matures) when every part of the body is allowed to do its own work – when every part of the body is allowed to do what it is designed to do. We are not the same, but we need each other. From the negative perspective, if one part of the body is not “working properly”, then the body will not mature.
In my illustration from running, if I exercise my legs, arms, chest, etc. then those parts of my body will get stronger, but my body as a whole will not. The church is to be concerned with the maturity of the whole body, not just with their own maturity.
There are times when I need to stop exercising before my legs or arms are completely tired in order to allow my lungs to grow in capacity. There are times when those “more presentable” parts of the church should allow the “less presentable” to work, even if the “more presentable” could “do a better job”. Why? Because by allowing the “less presentable” parts to work, then the whole body is allowed to grow in maturity.
By the way, I’ve also found that when I allow my lungs to dictate how much I can run, my legs actually get a good workout. Those of us in the church who are more “noticeable” may (ummm… will) find that even we grow and learn when we allow the “less noticeable” to do the work. In fact, it is worth it to our own growth and the growth of the body for us to shut up occasionally and to encourage others to speak or serve instead – as long as we’re willing to listen and learn from them.
Teaching and the responsibility of elders
In this series, I’m examining the relationships between leaders (elders) and teaching. Primarily, I hope to answer the following questions, “Does Scripture say that an elder’s primary responsibility is teaching?” and “Does Scripture say that the primary corporate teacher in the church is an elder (elders)?”
In one of my previous posts (“Teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching“), I concluded that there is a difference between teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching, just as there is a difference between giving and the spiritual gift of giving and just as there is a different between exhortation and the spiritual gift of exhortation. In the next post, (“Teaching and the responsibility of all believers“) I concluded that all believers have the responsibility of teaching. In the final post, I will examine teaching and the responsibility of elders.
First, if we agree that elders are believers and followers of Jesus Christ, then they already have the responsibility of teaching, per my previous post. Several questions remain however: 1) Do elders have more scriptural responsibility to teach? 2) Is the primary function of elders to teach? 3) Is the elder (elders) the primary teacher of the church according to Scripture?
Next, let’s look at the scriptural connections between elders and teaching. 1 Timothy 3:2 is one of the most direct connections between Christian leaders and teaching (here the leader is called a bishop or overseer or caretaker). In this passage, Paul says that the elder should be “able to teach”. The description does not mean that the elder has to have the gift of teaching, or that the elder primarily teaches. Instead, assuming that all believers have the responsibility to teach, the elder has shown that he can and does carry out that responsibility.
In a similar passage in Titus, Paul does not say that elders should be able to teach, but are those who are faithful to what they have been taught (Titus 1:9). In this case, Paul does not emphasize that the elder teaches, but that the elder faithfully lives according to what he has been taught. If faithfulness includes teaching (which I believe it does), then this means that the elder also teaches.
In 1 Timothy 5:17, Paul exhorts his readers (through Timothy) to doubly honor those elders who lead well and work hard in the word and in teaching. Thus, we should honor those elders who lead and teach well, as we should honor anyone who leads and teaches well (for example, see 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 where Paul says to highly esteem anyone who works hard, leads, and admonishes – elders are not mentioned in this passage, though they would certainly be included if they are doing those things).
In this passages, Paul does not command elders to teach, nor does he say that teaching is the primary function of elders, nor does he say that elders are the primary teachers of the church. Instead, elders are to teach (as are other believers), elders who teach should be honored (as should others who teach).
Notice, however, that these passage are not directed at elders. Instead, they are directed at others in order to help them recognize who should be elders.
There are two passages in Scripture which are directed to elders. In Acts 20, Paul calls for the elders from Ephesus and speaks to them together. He reminds them of how he taught from house to house (20:20). He instructs them:
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. (Acts 20:28 ESV)
So, Paul’s specific instruction to elders here is “to care for the church” (to pastor or shepherd the church). Paul does not include “teaching” in his instruction, although he obviously expects them to follow his example of teaching which he gave in Acts 20:20.
Similarly, in 1 Peter 5:1-3, Peter also directly addresses elders. He also commands them to “shepherd” or “care for” the church (called “the flock of God” by Peter). Following this command, he lists several contrasting descriptions of how elders are to care for the flock (i.e. not by compulsion but willingly). Teaching is not included in Peter’s direct address to elders either.
So, according to Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5, the primary responsibility of elders is to care for (“shepherd”) the church. While it could be argued that shepherding and teaching are the same thing, Ephesians 4:11 seems to distinguish between them, though there may be some relationship between the two. The reason that Paul wants the elders to care for the church is that he knows that others will attempt to lead them away from Christ. Teaching would certainly be necessary to care for the church, but not only teaching. Many other functions are necessary for the type of care that Paul commands.
In Ephesians 4:11, the spiritual gift of teaching (and spiritually-gifted teachers) is included among other gifted individuals (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors). While these could be elders – and while pastors/teachers are sometimes equated with elders – there is nothing in the passage to limit the spiritually gifted pastors/teachers to elders. In fact, the passage indicates that all gifted pastors/teachers (whether they are elders or not) are given by Christ to the church in order to equip the church to do the work of service.
In conclusion, we’ve seen that teaching is distinct from the spiritual gift of teaching. We’ve also seen that all believers are responsible for teaching, even though all believers do not have the spiritual gift of teaching. We’ve seen that elders (being believers and followers of Jesus themselves) should teach, and they should not be recognized as elders until they demonstrate their obedience in carrying out this responsibility (which, by the way, assumes that they are teaching before they are recognized as elders). We’ve also seen that both Paul and Peter command elders to care for (or “shepherd”) the church. While this may include teaching, it is not synonymous with teaching.
So, to answer our questions: 1) Should elders teach? Yes, all followers of Jesus should teach. 2) Is the primary function of elders teaching? No, their primary function is caring for people. 3) Should elders be the primary teachers in the church? That would depend upon whether or not the elders have the spiritual gift of teaching. But, by accepting the responsibility of being recognized as an elder, elders also accept the responsibility of caring for (or “shepherding”) the church (yes, even if they are not spiritually gifted “shepherds”).
Should elders teach? Yes. Should other believers teach? Yes. Aren’t there certain contexts where Scripture says elders should teach? No, Scripture does not make that distinction. Isn’t it okay for only elders to teach? Not if we follow Scripture and allow (and encourage) all believers to teach.
Now, a good follow-up study would be to consider various methods and types of teaching that we see in Scripture. Perhaps it would be encouraging to other believers if we recognize that a 5 minute teaching can be just as important and helpful as a 30-45 minute teaching, or that a discussion can be just as important and helpful as a monologue.
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Short series on teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching:
Teaching and the responsibility of all believers
In this series, I’m examining the relationships between leaders (elders) and teaching. Primarily, I hope to answer the following questions, “Does Scripture say that an elder’s primary responsibility is teaching?” and “Does Scripture say that the primary corporate teacher in the church is an elder (elders)?”
In my previous post (“Teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching“), I concluded that there is a difference between teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching, just as there is a difference between giving and the spiritual gift of giving and just as there is a different between exhortation and the spiritual gift of exhortation. In this post, I will consider the responsibility of all believers towards teaching. In the final post, I will examine teaching and the responsibility of elders.
As I mentioned in the my previous post, teaching takes on a new perspective under the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:34; Matthew 23:8). Primarily, this new perspective is realized because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit now becomes the sole “Teacher” (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10). However, there remains a teaching function among believers under the New Covenant.
In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the twelve apostles in pairs in order to proclaim the kingdom. Part of their assignment was to look for people who would “listen to their words” (Matthew 10:14 ESV). Later, according to Luke, Jesus sends out even more followers – seventy or seventy-two (Luke 10:1ff). Again, part of their assignment was to look for people who would accept them and their teaching about the kingdom. This is important because these seventy (or seventy-two) included others besides apostles.
Later, after his resurrection, Jesus commissioned his disciples to make disciples, which included teaching (Matthew 28:19-20). According to Paul, Jesus met with as many as 500 disciples at one time between his resurrection and his ascension. Given the fact that some type of commission is included in each Gospel and in Acts, it is not unreasonable to assume that teaching was included in Jesus’ instructions to those 500 – again, many more than the apostles.
Later, Luke tells us that the 3000 believers following Pentecost “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42 ESV). This phrase “devoted themselves” means much more than “sat and listened to”. Instead, it means that they were “being faithful to” or “continuing or persevering in”. Thus, those 3000 believers were not just listening to the apostles, they were living according to what the apostles were teaching. Did the apostles’ teachings include instructions for others to teach as well? If they apostles were following Jesus’ example and instructions, then, yes, it did.
All of the Epistles (Pauline or otherwise) were written to groups of believers – except for 1&2 Timothy and Titus. In fact, apart of Philippians, none of the epistles were addressed specifically to elders, and Philippians was addressed to the church as well as the elders (bishops) and deacons. Thus, all of the instructions concerning teaching, admonishment, exhortation, etc. were given by Paul, James, John, Peter, etc. to all of the believers in an area (region or city). These instructions are given in the midst of other corporate instructions that all believers are responsible for. For example, consider Colossians 3:16 as one of the most obvious in context:
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:12-17 ESV)
According to Paul, it is the whole church – all of God’s children – “God’s chosen ones” – who are to put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. The whole church is responsible to bear with one another and forgive one another. Every believer is responsible to put on love above all things and to let the peace of Christ rule in his or her heart. Similarly, all of God’s children are to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the middle of these corporate instructions we find Paul’s command for all believers to allow the word of Christ to dwell within them richly, which then leads to “teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom”.
Even within the “pastoral epistles”, we find examples of the corporate responsibility to teach. For example, after Paul instructs Timothy (among other things) in how to be “a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed” (1 Timothy 4:6), Paul then tells him to “command and teach these things” (4:11). Thus, Timothy’s responsibility as a teacher (of sound doctrine) is to help others teach sounds doctrine as well. Similarly, Paul instructs Titus about the importance of the whole church taking part in “what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2).
In these passages, and others, we find that all believers have a responsibility to teach one another. As I said earlier, there are some believers who are spiritually gifted to teach. But, the instructions above are not given only to those people. They are given to all believers (who originally received the letters).
In the next post, I’ll examine the scriptural connections between elders and teaching.
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Short series on teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching:
Teaching and the Spiritual Gift of Teaching
Several days ago, I mentioned that I was working on a post concerning the relationships between leaders (i.e., elders) and teaching. Primarily, this post was triggered by many conversations that I have had with people concerning this topic. The conversations are usually triggered by statements such as, “According to Scripture, an elders’s primary responsibility is teaching”, or “The primary corporate teacher in a church is the pastor (elder) according to Scripture”.
After working on that post for several days, I decided that I should split it up into a few posts – three at this time. So, this post is the first of a series on teaching. In this post, I’m going to talk about the difference between teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching. In the next post, I’m going to talk about teaching and the responsibility of all believers. Finally, in the last post, I’m going to talk about teaching and the responsibility of elders.
To begin with, we should note that teaching is included in several lists of spiritual gifts: Romans 12:7, 1 Corinthians 12:28-29, and Ephesians 4:11. Teaching is not included in the spiritual gift list of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.
So, teaching is one of the gifts of the Spirit, given by and according to the grace of God. Similarly, it is clear from 1 Corinthians 12:29 that only some believers are given the spiritual gift of teaching, just as only some are given the spiritual gift of apostleship, prophecy, etc.
Second, we need to recognize that there is a difference between teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching. We can begin to notice the difference from the Old Testament promises concerning the New Covenant:
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34 ESV)
Jesus may have referred to this when he taught his disciples about titles and positions in the kingdom:
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. (Matthew 23:8 ESV)
Thus, there is a new relationship between teaching and teachers and the kingdom of God. At the same time, teaching remains important in the kingdom. Remember that Jesus commanded his followers to “make disciples”, which includes teaching:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)
Similarly, Paul recognizes that believers should mutually teach one another:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16 ESV)
We see a few things related to teaching in these passages: 1) Teaching is different under the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, it is the Spirit who reveals all things, not the teachers (John 14:26; 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 among other passages). 2) Teaching remains important under the New Covenant, although the exact function and nature of teaching is not revealed in Scripture. 3) Teaching is now in the realm of all believers, although the spiritual gift of teaching is only given to some believers.
We should not be surprised at the distinction between teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching. We see this distinction with many other spiritual gifts. Paul specifically says that some are gifted at giving (Rom 12:8), but we also see in Scripture that everyone should give (2 Corinthians 9:7 for example). Similarly, Paul says that there are those who are gifted at exhortation (Rom 12:8), but again there are passages in which all are told to exhort (Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25 for example). Paul says that some have gifts of faith (1 Cor 12:9), but we still say that all should have faith. Paul teaches that only some have the gift of service (Rom 12:7), but we also know that everyone should serve.
We even find this distinction with the more miraculous type gifts. For example, just as with teaching, Paul says that only some are gifted as prophets (Rom 12:6, 1 Cor 12:10, Eph 4:11), and he insinuates that all are not prophets (1 Cor 12:29). Yet, in spite of the fact that only a few are given the spiritual gift of prophecy, Paul also says that all can prophesy (1 Cor 14:31), and he exhorts his readers to “earnestly desire to prophesy” (he doesn’t say to earnestly desire the gift of prophesy here).
So, as we continue to study the relationship between teaching and elders, we should begin by recognizing that there is a distinction between teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching. Next, we will consider the responsibility of all believers towards teaching.
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Short series on teaching and the spiritual gift of teaching:
More on calling and gifting
James at “Idle musings of a bookseller” continues to quote from Kung’s book Why Priests? One of his latest posts is called “A calling is the requirement“. He quotes:
…it must be said that charism in the strict sense, i.e., a calling from God in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, stands by itself and does not flow from the institution. It is a free calling to a free ministry in the Church, which the Church leadership can suppress or even worse extinguish only at its own expense. A thoroughgoing direct or indirect “bureaucratizing” of a charism contradicts the New Testament. As the New Testament shows, a charism has no need at all of prior legitimation by a Church institution. On the contrary, there are in fact institutions and representations of institutions who have nothing charismatic about them: for instance, ordained Church functionaries who carry out their ministry mechanically and show no sign of a genuine calling of of the Spirit of Christ.—Why Priests?, page 87
May those of us who are leaders in the church never find ourselves suppressing or extinguishing the work of the Spirit through another believer. May we never seek to build an institution which has nothing charismatic (of the Spirit) about it.
When teaching is part of the problem
Matthew at “Mt. Tirzah Baptist Church” has written a great article called “Laziness due to Ecclesiology“. His article is a follow-up on my article called “When mutuality is uncomfortable“.
Matthew says that teaching may be part of the problem, and he gives two different aspects to this: 1) when we study Scripture only to teach, and 2) when we exalt teaching as a special activity. Here are some of his comments:
What I’ve seen is that I study the Word of God much more intensely when I have teaching responsibilities than when I do not. This should not be the case. Should I not study just as intensely because the Word of God is always active and living? It is unfortunately a great source of laziness for myself and others when they do not have a teaching responsibility. Why are we not as eager to pick up the Word when we don’t have a teaching engagement?
However, there seems to be a deeper problem than what we first observe. I think the real problem is that we have exalted “teaching†to only that activity that takes place from the pulpit and to only that activity engaged in by a man filling the office of pastor. The problem is that all people in the church are called to teach each other.
Please read the rest of Matthew’s post. Hopefully, we can help one another think about teaching and what role teaching should play in our lives and the church meeting.
Equipping for what?
In Ephesians 4:11, Paul lists some of the gifted individuals that Jesus Christ gives to the church:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers… (Ephesians 4:11 ESV)
I have argued before that these are a sample of the gifted individuals, and that these are not intended by Paul to be set above any other gifted individual (for example, see “And he gave… (Ephesians 4:11)“). Instead, I see this as a non-exhaustive list of gifted individuals, just as Paul gives other non-exhaustive lists (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12). However, in this post I do not intend to discuss these spiritually gifted individuals. Instead, I want to talk about their purpose.
Why does Jesus give spiritually gifted individuals to the church? Well, the purpose is found in the next part of the sentence that started in Ephesians 4:11:
… to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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… (Ephesians 4:12-13)
Jesus gives gifted individuals (all of us, actually) to the church in order to equip the church… that is, to prepare the church.
But, a question remains: Prepare the church for what? If my son wanted to play football, he would need to be prepared. If he wanted to take a driving course, he would need to be prepared. But, in either case, the preparation would take on different form.
Paul says that gifted individuals prepare the church for “the work of ministry”. What does this mean? It means that we are to prepare one another to work hard at serving other people. That’s what the phrase “the work of ministry” means. The goal of “equipping” or “preparation” is that followers of Jesus are ready and able to serve other people.
I realize that this doesn’t sound very glamorous or particularly religious, but this is exactly what Scripture is telling us. We can teach creeds and confessions and apologetics and belief statements and biblical languages and theology and church history all day long, but if the people are not prepared and ready and willing to serve others, then we are not equipping one another.
Notice what happens (according to Eph 4:12 above) when people are prepared for the hard work of serving others: the body of Christ is continually built up (edified) until we finally reach maturity, which is defined as “the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God”.
Do we want people to be united in their faith and trust in God? Then let’s teach them to and show them how to and prepare them for serving other people. Do we want people to know Jesus Christ? Then let’s teach them to and show them how to and prepare them for serving other people.
Serving is hard work. It’s dirty work. It can’t be done from a platform. The church needs to be prepared to serve others. It is time for God’s people to begin preparing one another for this type of service. Remember that Jesus called leaders to be the greatest servants. If you want to lead, then serve and show others how to serve. Let’s start equipping God’s people for works of service.
Local and Itinerant
In my previous post, I mentioned that I was going to cover two different aspects of the ways in which God uses people to serve the church. I covered the first aspect in yesterday’s post “Speaking and Serving“. Today, I am covering the second aspect “Local and Itinerant”.
It seems, as we study Scripture, that believers offered two types of service to churches: itinerant service and local service.
When I say “itinerant service”, I’m talking about service offered by those believers who travel from place to place, sometimes staying in one place for an extended period, but never with the intention of remaining in one place. Paul and Barnabas would be included in this group (following the events of Acts 13:1-3. Similarly, many of their travelling companions would be included in this group (i.e. John Mark, Silas, Timothy, Titus, Luke).
“Itinerant service” included many types of giftings, and it would be difficult to distinguish some giftings as only itinerant. However, it seems that the apostolic gift was intended as an itinerant gift. Even as an apostle and even with the desire to go where there was no gospel witness and no church, Paul did return to the same areas many times in order to strengthen the churches there. So, “itinerant service” is not limited to travelling to areas where there are no churches.
Several passages of Scripture refer to this type of “itinerant service” to the church. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 9:1-6, Paul seems to point to a group of people who are travelling from place to place. Similarly, we see that Paul did not intend for Timothy and Titus to remain in Ephesus and Crete, respectively. Finally, John commends Gaius for taking care of those brothers who were travelling through his area.
Besides “itinerant service”, there seems to be another type of service offered to the church as well: “local service”. In this case, I’m using the word “local” as an antonym for “itinerant”. Those who offer “local service” intend to remain in one place, serving the church in that place. In fact, this would probably be the predominant type of service recognized in Scripture.
Before Acts 13:1-3, it seems that both Paul and Barnabas intended to remain in whatever place they were in, serving the church there. Similarly, Paul intended for the elders in Ephesus to remain in Ephesus caring for the people there (Acts 20:28). When John writes his third letter, he distinguishes between those brothers who are travelling, and Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius, who apparently remained in the same location.
However, just because someone offers “local service”, this doesn’t mean that that person never travels to another location. However, it does mean that the person intends to return to their home location. For example, Epaphroditus brought a gift to Paul from the church in Phillipi, but intended to return. Those who travelled for a short time (to help Paul, for instance) would often serve alongside Paul while with him, but they still intended to return to their home location.
Do you think it is legitimate to distinguish between itinerant service and local service? Do you this distinction is helpful? Why or why not?
Speaking and Serving
Last week, I had several very good conversations with people concerning various ways in which God uses people to serve the church. Some of these discussion were triggered by the “Developing a Biblical Ecclesiology” seminar from several days ago. So, if you talked with me last week, you may see bits and pieces of our conversation here.
I’m going to cover these discussions in two different posts. The first – this post – will cover two fundamental categories of how God uses his people – through speaking and through serving. The next post – tomorrow – will cover how God uses some people in one locality or community, while he uses others across different localities or communities.
Friday night before the seminar, part of our discussion centered around the topic of spiritual gifts. As we know, there are several spiritual gift lists in Scripture (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Ephesians 4:11). As Dave Black pointed out, though, while some are supernaturally gifted to do certain things (i.e. teaching), all followers of Jesus are responsible for doing these same things (i.e. teaching).
Thus, all are responsible for giving, while the Spirit uses some people’s giving in supernatural ways. All are responsible for helping, while the Spirit uses some people’s helping in supernatural ways. All are responsible for teaching, while the Spirit uses some people’s teaching in supernatural ways. Those whom the Spirit normally supernaturally gifts for teaching (for example), we can call “teachers” (or “prophets” or “shepherds” or “encouragers” or “givers” etc). But, this doesn’t remove the responsibility of all to teach (or prophesy or shepherd or encourage or give etc).
Thus, when I think about gifting and serving other people, I like to use the broad categories that we find in 1 Peter 4:10-11:
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV)
In this passage, Peter takes the emphasis off of the individual gifts, and divides all types of work among people into two different categories: speaking and serving. (In this case, since we know that “speaking” is a way to serve, we can understand “serving” as “non-speaking”.) Furthermore, Peter indicates that when we speak or serve from love (4:8-9), as directed and enabled by God, then we bring glory to God.
The reason that I like these broad categories is that I do not have to be concerned about which particular gift I am exercising. In fact, when I speak, I am not supposed to be concerned about which gift I am exercising, because I do not know how the Spirit is going to use my words. Similarly, when I serve someone, I do not know how the Spirit is going to use that either.
My focus should simply be on speaking to or serving one another and allowing the Spirit to choose how to use my words or actions. In this way, we take the focus off of the one doing the speaking or serving and we even take the focus off of the specific “gift” being exercised as if we could choose which “gift” to exercise. No, our focus is on speaking and/or serving as directed by God and allowing the Spirit to use our speaking and/or service as he chooses.
Also, these broad categories remind us that both speaking and serving remain the responsibility to ALL followers of Jesus Christ. If the Spirit normally uses my speaking as teaching, this does not remove my responsibility to serve. If the Spirit normally uses my serving as giving, this does not remove my responsibility to speak.
However, recognizing these broad categories and the responsibility of all believers to speak or to serve does not change the fact that the Spirit does choose to use some people more in one manner than in another manner. Thus, we can recognize “teachers” and “prophets” and “givers” and “helpers” etc. Also, recognizing how God generally chooses to use our own speaking and serving can help us understand how he wishes us to work among the church. Certainly, there can be times that the Spirit chooses to work in different ways, and we should also be ready for that as well.
In this view, we can see how the authors of Scripture recognize that all believers are responsible for teaching, exhorting, serving, giving, prophecy, etc., while they also recognize that some are teachers, some are exhorters, some are givers, some are prophets, etc. While it can be beneficial to both ourselves and the church to know how the Spirit generally uses our speaking/serving, it is also beneficial to recognize that we are all responsible to speak/serve.