What the Church Should Look Like! - Ephesians 4

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 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.

The bible uses the word "grace" in a couple of different ways.  The first is the "grace of God in Christ Jesus that saves us".  By grace we are saved through faith.  Grace in this sense is God's gift of salvation.  As we sing, "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."  We might call this "saving grace".

Then Paul says, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." Does this mean some people get more saving grace than another?  No. This grace is referring to the gifts Jesus gave to his disciples through the Holy Spirit and by application also to us today.  In this passage, Paul describes the primary leadership gifts in the church.  In 1 Corinthians 12-14 he describes other spiritual gifts given to each believer.  But in this passage he teaches on the primary gifts of leadership that form that facilitate the major functions of the church.  

1. Apostles are special ambassadors of God's work.  Those with the gift of apostleship are gifted to help spread the gospel in unusual and supernatural ways.  This can be in new church plants, missionary work, or other propagations of the gospel.  

2. Prophets speak forth the Word of God consistently and in obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Some of the prophet's words can be predictive, but more often they are words that build up the body of Christ and provide conviction and correction if necessary.

3. Pastors/Teachers are sometimes split apart but they are very similar in the original language.  Shepherds protect the flock by feeding them with God's word and also provide, comfort, healing, and words of encouragement to the believers.  Teaching is an essential to the building up of the body and also for discipleship and growing to maturity in Chris

4. Evangelists have a special gift to preach the gospel with God's anointing in leading people to saving faith in Jesus Christ. They preach the Good News in a winsome way, convicting people of God's love for them in sending Jesus to the whole world.  

Most importantly, and often overlooked by most pastors and churches, the purpose of each of these leaders is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.  In the early church there was no sense in which pastors or other leaders were the paid professionals to do all the work in the church.  In fact their calling is to do the opposite according to Paul's teaching.  

The best churches are the ones in which each person in the body of Christ works together for the good of all and to bring the gospel to the whole world.  Pastors and other leaders need to let others do the work and not be controlling.  They need to let go and let God work through the people of God. Not following these principles has caused much dysfunction and ineffectiveness in the church.  

When the church of God is functioning like God designed it is a beautiful thing.  The result is people coming to know God, growing up to be mature disciples and giving glory to God.  Being a part of a church like this is one's greatest purpose on earth!