Work

"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness or deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ - 16 from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which ever part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Ephesians 4:11-16

As a pastor, this passage speaks to my heart on several levels. The first thing that comes to mind, is the consumer mentality that people in the church have adapted to their own lives from the world system. Some people "hop" from church to church, vacating the previous one when it doesn't meet their needs. But they are overlooking one very important fact. The church doesn't exist to meet peoples needs. The church doesn't exist for them. Beloved, as believers, WE are the church. There is no church on the face of this planet which is going to meet all of our needs. In every church, if we looked hard enough, we could find something about it that doesn't meet our needs. It is too easy to just, when we get mad, to "take our ball and go home," meaning, to just leave and go to another church and start over. It takes work to stay put, to stick it out, and to work through differences with people of like faith.

The second thing that resonates with me from this passage, is that Paul is not telling us that the pastor must do all the work at the church on the local level. I can hear you all now. "But he gets paid to do it. He's the professional." I understand that, but the work is too large for just the pastor to be doing it. That is why it is the job of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor/teachers to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. Did you catch that? In v. 11 and 12, Paul gives us the job description of those who lead us. They are to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. That is their job. That is my job. Because when the saints are doing the work of the ministry, the body of Christ is edified.

Thirdly, the work of the ministry, done by the saints, leads to unity. It leads to unity of faith, unity of the knowledge of the Son of God, and to the stature of the fullness of Christ. As believers, the saints, are feeding well on the Scripture, God's Word, and they are getting healthy, then the saints in turn, do the work of the ministry which leads to unity of faith and knowledge of Jesus, which produces growth and maturity in the saints. Because this maturity produces in us a steadfastness, so that, fourthly, we are not immature believers and fall for every fad and wind of (false) doctrine that blows through the church, such as being Driven by Purpose instead of being led of the Spirit, or being experience-based and senses-based, as opposed to being based on the Word of God.

Finally, the whole body is joined together in unity by every part (that's us believers) doing its share. This causes growth in the body, and edification in the body, and love in the body. Beloved, the work of the ministry is just that, work. We must all join hands and hearts and do the work of the ministry together. This promotes an environment, where we can grow in love and unity of faith, and the knowledge of the fullness of Christ. This leads to maturity in the faith so that we are not seduced by fads, fables, and false doctrines, that blow through the church. This edifying to the body, as each one of us does our part. But beloved, it all takes work. Amen.