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God Appoints Leaders to EquipEphesians 4:1-16 describes both God‘s purpose for his church and the means to accomplish it. In addition to teaching that every member has a call-ing and a spiritual gift, the passage says that Christ endowed the church with certain persons whose duty is to equip the saints. "These were His gifts: some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip God‘s people for work in his service, to the building up the body of Christ". (Eph. 4:11-12). The Greek word translated "equip" or "perfect" in verse 12, means to "mend". It can mean to mend a net, to set a broken bone, to put a person in a right place or condition, or to restore. It can also mean to educate, to train, to guide, or to enable a person fully to do a task. The equipper‘s task is to perfect the saints so that they can do the work of the ministry and build up the body of Christ. It is not meant to be only the work of the equippers alone, but also the saints who are to do the work of the ministry. The primary purpose of the equippers is to enable the saints to minister. Each equipper functions in the area of ministry that God has appointed. However, his ultimate goal of building up the church depends on his equipping the saints to minister in that particular area.What are they to equip the saints to do? First, to walk worthy of their calling (Eph. 4:1). The word "vocation" in this verse is a translation of the word "calling". The equippers implement God‘s call to the saints by helping them live worthy lives of humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, and unity (Eph. 1:18; 4:1-6). Second, they equip the saints for ministry. They help them understand their gifts (Eph.4:7) and prepare them for service and witness. Third, they equip the saints to build up the body of Christ. The word trans-lated ?build up? means to construct a building. A building should be built with quality materials and should be large enough to accommodate the purposes of the owner. The saints, as well as the equippers, build up both the size and the quality of the body of Christ. So who are the soldiers? Can you imagine generals attacking the enemy by themselves while the troops only cheer them on and supply ammunition? Can you imagine the coach playing against another soccer team while the players lead the spectators in cheers? It is just as absurd for us to expect the equippers alone to defeat Satan and the world. The analogy of the equipper as a coach is misunderstood often because most of us picture the coach on the sidelines urging his team and directing their play. But the coach‘s primary job is training his players during the week. He gets on the practice field with them and shows them how to pass, set up an offensive attack on a soccer field ,and how to defend against their offensive strategy. He praises them when they do well and corrects their mistakes. He loves them and the game. The players seek to follow his example and his instructions. Now compare our modern practice with the biblical teaching. Modern church practice has reduced all the equipping ministers to one – the Pastor. A few exceptional pastors may be able to fulfill these roles as a performer, but one pastor cannot adequately equip all members of the body. The New Testament teaches a plurality of elders (pastors) in a local church (Acts 4:23; 15:2; 20:17; 1 Thess. 1:5; Jas. 5:14) We demand that pastors do the jobs of several men. In addition, we require them to perform the ministry of the entire church. Furthermore, we add other biblical duties that have grown out of our culture. Something must be done; we are placing the entire burden on one individual. The Gospel will never be heard by every person if we must depend only on a specialized, paid ministry to evangelize them. Those we do support must equip the rest to minister. Those we cannot support must minister because they were appointed by Christ, even though they may have to make tents for a living. We can return to the biblical pattern by upholding the biblical ideal rather than an ecclesiastical one inherited from other churches or organizations. We can affirm that not all equippers must be supported financially by a local church but may receive their support from a number of churches or other jobs. A pastor can recognize which of the equipping ministries he has been given by Christ and major on them. Then he does what God has called him to do – namely, teach, which in turn will exhort those in the church to answer their call as he continues to equip them towards their particular calling. Pastors must make equipping the saints their first priority. We, in the work in India, have reached our next graduating class. Men and women, who have answered the call and persevered through their training, are now ready to be sent out. The ones who have already been sent out every day act as a reminder of how precious this gift of "equipping" is, and how privileged we are to receive it. We believe we have equipped them for the call on their lives, and now as we "SEND THEM" we pray for a mighty harvest. Leaders must do their part, and the people of God must accept their role as ministers who need to be equipped, and then be willing to step out in faith to minister. When the question is asked – How many of you in this room are missionaries? – it‘s sad to see how few hands are raised; again because we have lost perspective of the biblical model. My prayer is that this small article would penetrate your heart and you would respond by faith to step out, get equipped, and begin to serve in the call that God has for you — whether it‘s going to India and teaching students and pastors to lay down ceramic tiles, teach carpentry, desktop publishing, plumbing, electrical, fixing cars, repairing engines, medical missions, and/or teaching the Word of God. This is what "equipping" is! I pray your only response to this is: Lord, "send me". In His Service, Pastor Ben |
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