And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds 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. Ephesians 4:11-14
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. John 10:16
There is ‘one’ flock and only ‘One’ shepherd. It is HIS and no other’s. There is only ONE shepherd and that is Jesus. He ‘owns’ the flock, it belongs to no one else! So then when considering the current model of the institutional Church — if there are those who are His and have His life in that group — they are Jesus’ and NOT that denomination’s, or parish, or pastor’s sheep. I’m afraid most of the system of the this world has infiltrated the way the business of the Church is done. It is NOT the spiritual Ekklesia that Jesus talks about.
So what are these ‘gifts’ given to the Ekklesia then? These five positions are SHEEP given to be ‘under shepherds’ to ALWAYS be pointing EVERY sheep to the ONE shepherd JESUS! These under shepherds play slightly different roles in the equipping of the sheep, but always their first duty is to point sheep / people to Jesus in EVERYTHING. The REAL Teacher of the sheep is the Spirit of Jesus / Holy Spirit — NOT them. These under shepherds are to be humble models in service to Jesus and then to the sheep following every command the Holy Spirit gives them and ONLY those commands and NOT their own ideas or vision. The flock they see are NOT theirs. Unfortunately most Pastors today are hirelings, working only for the pay, position, and for themselves (or denomination), but NOT for Jesus the ONE True Shepherd.
The teacher gift to the sheep should not be teaching anything to the sheep but the revelation given to them by the Spirit of God / Holy Spirit. But often the sheep get their own ideas and try to put on a fleshly display of their prowess of spiritual or scriptural knowledge. The under shepherd teacher should be teaching LIFE in Christ and in His Spirit. They have to decide whether they will teach out of their heads or out of their spirits. Is it going to be head knowledge or will it be about imparting Spirit given revelation? The first is a dead thing while the second is Life for the Body.
The shepherd / pastor gift is a sheep that is to watch over the sheep and love and protect them, and encourage them at every opportunity. Their job is to point each sheep to the Shepherd Jesus at every opportunity. The Lord Jesus did not tell Peter and gather together some sheep and elect Peter as their shepherd. Jesus told Peter three times to “feed MY lambs!” Whose lambs? Certainly not Peter’s lambs. The equipping is always about JESUS! None of these callings are about money in ANYWAY.
The evangelist gift is to bring the Good News. And that Good News is a Person / Jesus! The evangelist is ALL about bringing EVERYONE to the person of Jesus and introducing that person to Life in Jesus. IS bringing a sheep to Christ a single event? Or do we need to be brought to Jesus over and over throughout our lives? Do we need to be brought to the Holy Spirit for instructions only once? The real evangelist gift does this wherever and whenever to evangelist goes throughout their day. Usually it is a one-on-one type of setting. If you need a big stage and bright lights and special music— then you probably aren’t an evangelist.
How does the prophet gift approach ministry? They realize that the testimony of Jesus is the inspiration of ALL prophetic utterance. So the prophet will be someone who knows the Lord through many seasons of breaking down and building up; the Testimony of Jesus will not only be in their mouth, but in their PERSON. The prophet does not just bring a message, they ARE the message, and that message is Christ centric.
The apostolic gift to the Ekklesia is a ‘sent one’ to the flock of Christ. They are sent as a ‘witness’ to the revelation of Jesus Christ. A ‘witness’ is one who has seen something ‘first hand’, and they testify to what they have seen and heard. The apostle gift can be like all the other gifts rolled into one. They apostle does more than begin groups — they build up the Body of Christ. Their work is to the entire Body of Christ, so they often never settle down in one place, but keep moving. If they are restricted to a jail — then they write the Body of Christ His Revelation. True apostles can’t be silenced. Their messages of Jesus ring through time.
The Ekklesia is a spiritual thing. Remember we are spiritual ‘living stones’ and Jesus is building HIS Ekklesia which will remain forever with Him. Anything that is physical will pass away and thus CANNOT be the real Church.
So are you ‘going’ to ‘a’ Church? Or are you part of the real eternal spiritual Ekklesia? How big are these ‘meetings’ groups of the Ekklesia supposed to be?
For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them. Matthew 18:20
Not two or three hundred or two or three thousand, but “two or three”. These groups can begin anywhere at anytime.
ANY OF THESE ‘GIFTS’ (Under shepherds) who point to themselves OR take ANY credit for the flock (or Church) in ANYWAY are NOT doing their job for Jesus. They are hirelings.