Exercising
your spiritual gifts will bring forth abundant fruit in others and pure joy for
you.
May’s Awakening, Day 10
So
Christ himself gave the apostles,
the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to
equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built
up 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. Ephesians
4:11–13 NIV
[Of the
five spiritual gifts mentioned in this passage, only two are new—the gift of
evangelist and the gift of pastor.]
Evangelist.
The gift of evangelist is the distinctive ability to share the Gospel
of Jesus Christ with nonbelievers in such a way that they become true believers
and members of the body of Christ. The gift empowers the possessor to initiate
and develop relationships with nonbelievers such that they sincerely believe that
they are sinners who need a savior and Jesus Christ is that Savior. Remember
that this gift is an ability over and above the normal responsibility of all
believers to share their faith and personal testimony with others.
Pastor.
The gift of pastor, sometimes called pastor/shepherd, is the distinctive
ability to assume a long-term personal responsibility for the spiritual growth,
welfare, and sense of community for a group of believers through nurturing,
accountability, and by example. A person who possesses the gift of pastor
should also always possess the gift of teaching and/or the gift of exhortation
for true effectiveness. It is important to note that the gift of pastor
certainly does not make you a Pastor nor empower you to necessarily be a
Pastor—you are simply functioning in that capacity when operating within the
sphere of your gifting.
This concludes the study of the
twenty spiritual gifts listed in our four main blocks of Scripture. There are a
few more that are found elsewhere in Scripture that are equally viable as
spiritual gifts as we will see in the days ahead.
The
Ephesians 4:11 Five-Fold Ministries. An important distinction needs to be
made between the spiritual gifts and the office or positions listed in
Ephesians 4:11 (often called the Ephesians 4:11 five-fold ministries). There
are the spiritual gifts potentially possessed by any believer—apostleship,
prophecy, evangelist, pastor, and teaching—in contrast with the actual office
or occupational position of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher.
The office or position is a God-ordained calling and human established position
occupied by individuals anointed of God to do their called work. It would be
assumed that each position would be held by individuals endowed with many spiritual
gifts, including, of course, the spiritual gift of their office. However, it is
interesting that oftentimes the same-named spiritual gift is not their primary
gifting. For instance, the position of Pastor usually shows leadership,
teaching, faith or others as their primary gifting, along with the spiritual
gift of pastor as well, but not necessarily the dominant gift.
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