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 ESV)
There is little doubt that there are some in leadership positions in the visible church that are there because of their natural abilities rather than the fact that God has gifted them to lead His people. If the latter were the case, they would not be leading their followers into apostasy as the passage I placed at the top of this post clearly states. Those gifted by God to be true leaders in His Church have the role and responsibility to do what? They are 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 Got, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Why?read on here...
4 comments:
I was going to comment over at Mike's site, but they were closed:
He said:
"Scott, all believers are commanded to share the hope that they have. That is not the same thing as what the one who has the gift of evangelism does though. We are not all called to be George Whitfefield are we? No, but we we are commanded to be evangelical where God has us. Yes, I am sure you knew that answer"
I agree here. I think some like the Way of the Master guys have that gift to go out and confront strangers, but are we all supposed to be doing that? I've been thinking about that...
Hello Ma,
I agree with Mike, we do not all have the 'gift' to street evangelize. However, we are commanded to share the hope we have with whomever God leads us to share. We do not all have the same gifts, thus, the body of Christ is diverse. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, " that would not make it any less a part of the body." -1 Cor. 12:15...thus, the diversity of the body.
Being commanded to do something and being gifted to do something are two entirely different things. I know I am not gifted to street evangelize, however, I do share the Gospel with family, friends and co-workers as the Spirit leads. This is a no-brainer; I know those around me are dead in sin and on their way to hell, and I am almost in a panic mode over that. I MUST tell them the truth, not because I am gifted to do so, but because I am commanded to do so, and also because of my love for them.
In agreement there. We have shared the gospel to our unsaved family, and I pray for the courage to be bolder!
Amen Ma!!
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