Given By Jesus Himself

Exodus 25:34-35 - "On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower. And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand."

On the center shaft of the lampstand, there were another four golden almond blossoms. Three almond blossoms were positioned directly under the three pairs of branches, supporting them as they branched off from the center. A fourth blossom was above the branches, and directly below the center lamp.

Pay attention to these details:

1 - The first eighteen blossoms are found among the branches, throughout the congregation. But these four are positioned on the center shaft of the lampstand. This means that, whatever they are, they come directly from Jesus Himself. (Remember, "I am the vine, you are the branches.")

2 - Three of these blossoms are positioned to support the branches. This implies that three of these things are designed to strengthen and support the congregation.

3 - The fourth of these blossoms is positioned in a way that it is actually above the branches. This implies that it is supported by the congregation as a whole; while at the same time, it's supporting the center light of the lampstand. 

With the eighteen blossoms on the branches, we were able to find one-for-one matches in the New Testament - nine fruit of the Spirit, and nine gifts of the Spirit. So what about these four? Do these details match up with any four things in the New Testament?

Yes they do...but only if you're willing to let the Bible re-teach something that you thought you knew already.

Four, Not Five

Ephesians 4:11 - "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers..."

Look at the way this is worded, do you notice anything? Some were given to be apostles. Some were given to be prophets. Some were given to be evangelists. Some were given to be pastors and teachers. This same type of wording is also found in the Greek, where we see the Granville-Sharp rule in effect.

This rule of Greek grammar teaches that when two nouns are identified by a single article, and joined by the word "and" - they are describing a single thing. Look at a couple of examples of this:
Acts 3:14 - "You disowned the [article] Holy and Righteous One." (Holy and Righteous One are the same)
Titus 2:13 - "...the glory of our [article] great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." (Great God and Savior are one and the same)
Every time the Granville-Sharp rule is applied in the New Testament, it always holds true.

Now that we know how this works, look back at the end of Ephesians 4:11 - "...and some [article] pastors and teachers." These two words describe one and the same gift! There are not some called to be only pastors while others are only teachers - this is a single gift of pastors who teach. These people are teaching shepherds. Grammatically, this is absolutely correct - and it is revolutionary to our understanding of this passage.

I grew up hearing about the "five-fold" ministry gifts. It was taught as if some church elders can be pastors, but they don't really teach. At the same time, we were told about teaching elders who didn't actually pastor. But now we can see that is not an accurate understanding of this Ephesians 4 gifting. The reality of this ministry gift is this: The pastors mainly shepherd the flock through what they teach. 

The ministry gifts that Jesus gave to the church are the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, and the pastoring teacher.

Have Never Passed Away

There is obviously so much more that we can write about the Ephesians 4 gifts, but let's start with the truth that they're still active today! These are not gifted people, but people who are gifts. Jesus gave them to the church. And if He gave them to us, why wouldn't we receive them?

So much of the church today has disposed of the apostle and prophet ministry; claiming that they passed away once the book of Revelation was written. It's claimed that the last of these gifts died off with the apostle John - along with all other supernatural things like healing, miracles, and tongues.

But that's NOT what the Bible says. Ephesians 4:11-13 tells us how long these ministry offices will be active in the Body of Christ - check it out:
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 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..."

According to this passage, these gifts will continue working until:
 - We all unite around the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ
 - We come to be perfect and mature, united as one man
 - We measure up to Christ, in all His fullness
This hasn't happened yet...which means these four gifts are still here!

Three INSIDE, One OUTSIDE

1 Corinthians 12:27-28 - "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues."

This passage shows us that three of gifts were given to operate within the church: the apostle, the prophet, and the pastor-teacher. I believe that these are the three almond blossoms that support the branches.

Apostle

These are men and women that are designated and sent out to start a new congregation, lay down the foundation of that congregation, and work to keep that congregation grounded upon that foundation. They lay out the vision; and back that vision up with things like "This is what we believe", "This is how we behave ourselves", and "This is how we talk."

The word "apostle" means "sent one" - but it so much more than a person who was sent on an errand. In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, an apostle was the leader of a colony mission. They had the responsibility (and the resources) to take the culture they're coming from, and plant it in a foreign location.

This is a perfect analogy of the work of an apostle. They are sent out (both by God, and by their own leadership) to establish a new outpost - if you will. They lead a smaller group of believers into an area and "plant" them there. Then they start laying the groundwork for this congregation, and continue to bring the culture of Heaven into the community around them. 

As the new church becomes more established, the apostle will appoint leadership in that congregation, such as overseers and deacons. At the same time, the new church will naturally begin reaching out around them and drawing other people into the Kingdom. Soon enough; it becomes a strong, well-established church that is able to raise up other apostles and send them out to continue the process in another location.

Prophet

In the book of Acts, you won't see apostles traveling by themselves. Every time you see them at work, they're part of an apostle/prophet team. Essentially, prophets partner together with apostles, and have three basic aspects to their ministry.

Acts 15:32 - "Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words."

1 - Exhort
In Greek, this word describes a person coming alongside someone else and encouraging them in their work. It's actually the same Greek word that describes what the Holy Spirit does for us. "Keep going! You're able to do this! God has already given you the power to finish this! He loves you, He's pleased with the good work - keep it up!"

2 - Strengthen
This describes a confirmation process; that is, taking something that's already there, and making it stronger. Working together with the apostle, prophets continue to fortify the work of salvation in the lives of the believers - reinforcing who they are in Christ, and who Christ is in them.

Related to this, prophets will also strengthen the doctrines laid out by the apostle; repeating and expanding on them. Their teachings work to reinforce the things that the people have already heard and strengthen their conviction in them.

3 - Foretell
Acts 11:27-28 - "And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world..."

Acts 21:10-11 - "And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea...and said, 'Thus says the Holy Spirit, "So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles."'"

Like prophets in the Old Testament, true prophets in the church are sometimes used by God to speak of things to come. This didn't happen with every prophet in the book of Acts though, only one or two. I believe that only prophets who are faithful and proven in the first two responsibilities will be trusted to prophesy of future events. 

Here is a word of advice/warning about these kinds of prophesies though: When the Holy Spirit speaks through a true prophet and prophesies that something is going to happen, there will be one of two results. Either what the prophet says will come to pass, or it will be obvious to everyone that something changed to stop it. (i.e. Nineveh wasn't destroyed like Jonah prophesied, because they repented.) True prophecies will never need a quiet, embarrassed explanation of why they didn't happen! 

Pastor-Teacher

These gifts are assigned to work with the apostles and prophets, teaching the people various doctrines and truths from God's Word. If the apostle and the prophet work like foremen in building the house of God, then the pastor-teachers act like contractors. They take the foundation that the apostles and prophets have laid, and then build on it. 

The heart of a pastor-teacher is to see the people grow and become stronger in their faith. They desire to see God's people gathered into the flock, fed from God's Word, and defended from false teachers. They just want their sheep to grow up and reproduce.

Pastor-Teachers aren't called to change the oil on your car, or help you with your rent, or mow your lawn when you're not feeling good. That's NOT the way they shepherd the flock. These people lead you, feed you, and keep you safe...all by teaching the Bible! This is why we most often see them called "teachers" in Scripture - because that's how they shepherd the flock.

Evangelist

I believe that this is the fourth blossom on the center shaft; directly below the lamp and supported by the rest of the lampstand. The evangelist's ministry isn't inside the church. They don't usually lay foundation, teach doctrine, or help people live out their faith. Their entire mission is found in one thing: Teach the lost about Jesus. They are supported by the church, and hold up the light directly.

We see a clear pattern of an evangelist in Philip (who is actually called an evangelist in Acts 21:8). He was appointed by the church to be a deacon - and then later began his ministry as an evangelist. He left Jerusalem and traveled to Samaria, where Acts 8:5 says "he preached Christ to them." And when he preached Christ, he got incredible results - the whole city turned to Jesus!

It's interesting to note that when the Jerusalem church heard about Philip's crusade, and the results that were pouring in, they sent Peter and John as an apostle/prophet team to establish a church. Starting a church wasn't Philip's job - as an evangelist, he just preached Jesus. But once people started converting, they needed a church to connect with!

After there was a strong church set up in Samaria, Philip was called out into the desert. He met the Ethiopian official out there and got his next assignment. Acts 8:35 says that he sat down and "preached Jesus to him." After this man was baptized, the evangelist's job was done, and the Spirit took him to Azotus.

Starting in Azotus, Philip traveled from town to town, preaching Jesus. Finally, he seemed to set up headquarters in Caesarea - but he never stopped preaching the Gospel.

This is the role of the evangelist. Not church government. Not laying biblical and theological foundations. Not starting churches or establishing ministries. Their one responsibility is to shine the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the world. They're sent out from the church to preach Christ to the lost.

Here's something to remember about these four ministry gifts: There are some people who can be called to multiple offices. Peter was called an apostle, but he also called himself a pastor. Paul, Barnabas, and Silas were called both apostles and prophets. John was another apostle who was sometimes used as a prophet; and he also seemed to step into a pastoral role in some of his letters. Just because someone is primarily called to one gift, doesn't mean they won't also be used in others.

Given To Us For A Purpose

I know this was a longer read today, but it's critical information if we want our churches to be built God's way. If they want to grow up, every true local church needs to have these ministry gifts in place. Like each of the other almond blossoms, the local church needs to awaken to the truth of the Ephesians 4 gifts, and then hasten to receive them for what they are!

I will leave you with this: Look at the results of having the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers in place; doing what they're called to do.

Ephesians 4:12-15 - "Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

"Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the church."

I want my home church to look like this, don't you? This is what happens when the four-fold ministry gifts are free to do their jobs!