Ephesians 4
The fivefold ministry is what church leaders have named a group of people given gifts for the body of Jesus. The are a foundation to teach the body Unity.
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers.
Each gift is used for a different purpose, and many people given these gifts can have from one to all the gifts operating in them.
I will add more teachings on the entire chapter 4 of Ephesians, but I want to start with the reason God gave us the fivefold.
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We start with Ephesians 4:1 using the (NASB95) Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
What is the calling that we have been called? The ministry of reconciliation. We must balance this teaching as a whole, and V:12 is the purpose of the Fivefold, and that is to equipt the saints for the work of service to build the body of Christ.
Notice the Greek says the work of service to build the body of Christ. The work of service builds us up like food. There is no AND between the work of service – to build the body of Christ. Teaching the body the work of service will build the body.
Work:
Work is the Greek word ἔργον érgon; to work. Work, generally of the work which Jesus was sent to fulfill on earth the work of the Father which He gave Christ to do, and that is found in John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work, and that is to share what and why God sent His son. Adam and Eve broke relashionship and Jesus restored it.
Jesus said “My Food” the Greek word βρῶμα brṓma. It denotes sustenance, nourishment by which one lives. You can’t live without food, Jesus even told us that we can do nothing without Him (The Food).
Service:
Service is the Greek word διακονία diakonía – deacon. The office of ministering in divine things as a servant.
Matthew 20:28 (NASB95) Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
What we find is Lógos, the Word, and érgon, work, stand in contrast, but word and work like in Luke 24:19 work together in unity. “And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in work and word in the sight of God and all the people.” By implication James 1:25 says, a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, a doer of the word (Lógos) or the work (érgon).
Jesus was mighty in work and word. It was food that nourished Him and brought Unity to many that heard it.
Jesus was a doer of what He saw His Father do. People, Jesus will never tell you to do something that He wouldn’t do nor something that He has not done, and that is the ministry of reconciliation.
This is the calling with which you have been called.
2 Corinthians 5:17–18 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
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Paul Kuiper Ministry 