11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
The foundation of the Cornerstone, Christ Jesus has been established (EPH 2:20) and upon Him the apostles and prophets. As with any foundation, once its built, there is no need to create another foundation - only one is necessary. So these apostles and prophets, having completed their ministry of building the church and through the Holy Spirit, writing the inspired Scriptures for us, the church is then handed over to evangelists, pastors and teachers.
Notice the order there - evangelists - who bring the Gospel of salvation, then pastors and teachers, who bring the saved, born again individuals into discipleship - just as the Great Commission commands us (MARK 16:15 "preach the Gospel"; MATT 28:19 "teach all nations").
All of this "for the perfecting" or the mature spiritual growth - of the saints. You are saints, if you are born again and a member of the body of Christ. A saint is one who is sanctified - in the Greek "saint" and "sanctify" come from the same root word, where we get the word hagios from. It means to be set apart for special relationship, to be reserved for specific use:
You use a fly swatter only for swatting flies - it's set apart for that special use - sanctified for this function. A spatula is for flipping burgers at the BBQ grill. It's used only for this.
You're not about to use the fly swatter to flip burgers, even though it looks a little like a spatula. To violate the sanctification of the fly swatter and the spatula and use the one for the other is a gross violation.
Almost as gross as a saint, a child of GOD, who is sanctified for the LORD, to have fellowship with the sinful allurements and values of the world!
It's the mission of evangelists, pastors and teachers to grow up ("edifying the body of Christ") the saints to maturity - and for what purpose? "for the work of the ministry".
But I thought it was the job of the evangelists and pastors and teachers to do the work of the ministry?
Actually, we are equippers - in a military analogy, we are weapons makers; we forge and repair weapons for the soldiers, who then take those weapons to the battle.
So these three officers of the church, the evangelist, pastor and teacher are preparing you, the saints, to go out and work in the ministry that each of you are called to. And each of you are called to the ministry!
How long does this process go on for? Let's read on:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
The ultimate completion of the church won't happen until we see Christ (1 JOHN 3:2). However, the prayer of the LORD Jesus Christ for us His sheep was that we would all be one as He and the Father are One (JOHN 17:11). Can you get more unified than that?! How can we ever hope to be so united as one as the Father and the Son are??
Look at what it states in the first few verses of EPH 4:1-6 (read). We don't have to try and create unity among Christians of various denominations - that's ecumenism, and this movement will often lay aside doctrine to achieve unity - wrong!
Our unity comes from the fact that we are born of the Spirit of GOD, all who are truly born again in Christ (JOHN 3:3-5; 1 PET 1:23). We are only called to KEEP the unity of the Spirit, not CREATE it. Dying to self, to sin, to selfishness, and growing in our love of GOD and for each other - this will bring about unity and power in the church!
As we grow in our "knowledge of the Son of GOD" to a spiritually mature believer, and continue to grow "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Wow!) we will find our unity realized in such powerful ways as the church had in the book of ACTS - remember what was said of the church then?
ACTS 4:32
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul:
If you had two workers, one was able bodied and the other had a paralyzed arm, and both were willing to do as much work as they could, which worker would be more effective?
In order for the church to be truly effective, there can be no pew warmers, no spectators, no saint that isn't active in the ministry that they are called to. If you don't know your calling or feel that you don't need to pursue any calling, then you are like that paralyzed arm - the body of Christ can't be as effective as it could be, or should be, because you aren't doing your part! If you don't know what ministry you can contribute to, how about the ministry that's most neglected in most churches today? Intercessory prayer!
Our unity and maturity in Christ is not only for effective ministry, but also keeps us safe from false teachings and false doctrines:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
Our words to other saints, to unredeemed sinners, to false teachers are to be words of truth and words of love; the LORD Jesus knew the perfect balance between grace and truth (JOHN 1:14), and we need to learn that balance as well - not too much grace and not enough truth or vice versa. We need to speak truth out of a motive of love for GOD and for souls that we speak to.
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
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16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Cerebral Palsy is a condition where signals from the brain cannot properly communicate with the body, and as a result the victim has extreme difficulty in moving their body.
The church of the LORD Jesus Christ is suffering a spiritual cerebral palsy today more than ever, because we are not receiving spiritual signals from our Savior - because we are negligent of the studying and applying GOD's Word to our lives, and we are not spending necessary time in prayer and fellowship with the LORD:
Remember this: Prayerlessness brings paralysis to the body of Christ.
So when the enemy comes to cause contention, strife, division in our midst, causing hardness of heart and bitterness and unforgiveness among us, remember that it's the love of GOD that acts as the spiritual cement that keeps us, who Peter refers to as "living stones" (2 PET 2:5) - we are GOD's building! and should be "compacted" together and function as the LORD is pleased to see.
Now, please turn to ACTS 29.
YOU are ACTS 29 - YOU are called of GOD as His saints to carry on what was accomplished in ACTS 1-28!
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