Ephesians 4:11b
Bodybuilding
When it comes to bodybuilding Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most famous and one of the most successful in history. At age 20 he won the Mr. Universe contest. Then, at the record-setting age of 23, he would win the Mr Olympia contest, the most prestigious competition in bodybuilding. He would go on to win Mr. Olympia six more times in his career. He bench-pressed 440lbs and squatted 470lbs. We may know him as the Governator more recently, but, in his bodybuilding days he was called the Austrian Oak. The Austrian Oak knew what it took to build a Mr. Olympia Body. He said, “Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach."
While none of us here are in training for Mr. Olympia, Jesus Christ has made each of us body-builders. And it is not our own bodies we are building - we don’t get a membership to Curves or the S.L. Aquatic Center when you become part of the Church. The body we are building is the body of Jesus Christ. It is a spiritual body, a body of people who are spiritually born again and joined to Jesus Christ. And it is this body that is to be built up. Paul says in Ephesians 4:12 that the reason Jesus Christ gave Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists and Pastor-Teachers was to “prepare God’s people (that’s all of us, not just some) for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”.
He wants to make sure to get the point across so he says it again in verse 16, “From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Each of us has a role to play in this spiritual bodybuilding that’s going on. The reason Arnold Schwarzenegger had big legs and could squat 470lbs was because other parts of his body. The weight would rest on his shoulders, his back would keep him from falling over, and his hands would balance the weight on his shoulders. The point is that in order for all the body to be built up, all the body needs to be functioning. If one part of the body is malfunctioning, it impedes the whole body. Just look at someone who has a broken leg.
We need to see that we have an important role to play in the Body of Christ. This whole Church thing is set up in such a way that we are dependent on each other. Like it or not, we are expected to grow and in order to grow we need each other. That’s the setup. There is no such thing as growing apart from consistent, regular, fellowship and service with each other. God works through people to build people.
Now, before Paul gets too far into all that he lists some men who play an important role in this spiritual bodybuilding that’s going on. Jesus said in Matthew 16, “I will build my Church”, and the way he does that is through people. God works through people to build people.
These men are like trainers, coaches, gym instructors, dieticians, nutritionists, physical therapists. They play an important role in building up the Body.
Who did Christ give to the Church? (v11)
Last time we saw that Jesus gave Apostles to the Church. Let us take today to consider that last 3 offices given to the Church.
Prophets
Secondly we see Paul lists prophets as gifts from Christ to the Church. These are NT prophets, not OT prophets. One reason we know that is because how often they are mentioned along with Apostles. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:28 it says specifically that “in the Church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, …” And we know from Ephesians 2:20 that the foundation of the Church is the Apostles and Prophets. In Ephesians 3:5 God revealed the mystery of Christ to the Apostles and Prophets. Since the OT prophets didn’t know what the mystery of Christ was, or what the Church was, it really seems safe to say that NT prophets are in view.
We also know Paul is referring to NT prophets because we find people are called prophets in the early Church. We find men like Judas and Silas in Acts 15. In Acts 21 it says that Philip had 4 unmarried daughters who would prophecy.
But there is one prophet I want to introduce to us. His name is Agabus. He is mentioned twice in Acts. The reason he is interesting is because 2 of his predictions are recorded. The first one is found in Acts 11 where we find him going to the city of Antioch with a posse of other prophets. Antioch was the first mega-church. It was the first church established outside of Jerusalem and it was exploding. It was also the first multi-cultural church. While the Christians in Jerusalem were all Jewish, Antioch was the first church with a huge influx of Gentiles. Well at one point in the middle of this fast-growing ministry, Agabus stood up and predicted a famine would come across the whole Roman Empire. And it happened. We learn from this that prophets would predict large-scale events with global effects.
And while a prediction like a famine was near future when the Agabus spoke it, there are many far-off future events predicted by prophets in the NT as well. The Apostle Paul was a prophet because he spoke about the end times – especially in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. The Apostle John also was a prophet since God showed him the ultimate future in the book of Revelation.
But prophets also would predict things for individuals on a personal level. For example, in Acts 21 Agabus shows up again. In a dramatic way he takes Paul’s belt, ties himself up, and says that when Paul arrives to Jerusalem he will be tied up by the Jews and handed over to the Gentiles. And it happened. So prophets would predict large-scale events effecting whole nations and they would predict personal events for individuals.
These were important men in the early Church. According to 1 Corinthians 12 they were appointed by God to be prophets for the Church. The word “prophecy” means – to “speak forth”, or “forth-tell” – in other words “to speak for someone”. This makes a prophet a spokesman for God. Sometimes a prophet would receive direct revelation from the Spirit and deliver the message to the believers. That’s why it says in Acts 11 that Agabus predicted the famine “through the Holy Spirit”. Other times their ministry would be simply to speak-forth God’s word, meaning to speak to the congregation about things from God’s word that was already revealed. This may have been more common for a prophet to do. It seems from reading the NT that rather than travelling around, most of the time prophets would be camped in a local church. This might be why it says in 1 Corinthians 14 it says that people with the gift of prophecy would speak for the edification, instruction, comfort, and encouragement of the whole body. This is why some people will call a preacher a prophet. He is not predicting the future, or hearing directly from God, but, explaining and expounding and declaring what God has already said.
Along with the Apostles the ministry of the prophetic office terminated with the completion of the NT canon. Their role was also to help the Apostles lay the foundation of the Church. Once that was accomplished, the prophetic office discontinued.
Evangelists
Paul says Christ gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists…” If we’re going to talk about evangelists we have to talk about Philip the Evangelist (Acts 21). He was one of the original 7 Deacons according to Acts 6 and he was described as being full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. In Acts 8 he led an Ethiopian royal official to Christ by explaining Isaiah 53. Philip was effective in doing the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5). He was always getting tracts in people’s hands, always praying for lost people, always leading conversations to the Gospel. He was on the street corners, he was at the fairs and the carnivals and the markets and all the public events for the purpose of getting the Gospel out.
And that is what Evangelists do. Their primary work is to preach, proclaim, reason and explain the gospel of Jesus Christ so that lost people can understand clearly the way to be saved. Their audience is almost always non-believers. They do not necessarily preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. Rather, their sermons center strongly on the presentation of the Gospel to lead people to salvation. Timothy was charged by Paul to “do the work of an evangelist”. Paul told Philemon that he prayed he would be active in sharing his faith. And we too are to be actively doing the work of an evangelist and sharing the faith.
A word needs to be added here. Evangelism requires words. With the growing “missional” church movement we are finding more people confusing social justice with evangelism. People subscribe to St. Francis of Assissi’s definition of evangelism when he says, “Preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words.” While we can admire the call for living a good life, it isn’t exactly right in regards to evangelism and preaching the Gospel. Godly living is not evangelism. Godly living gives you credibility when you do evangelism, but, it is not what evangelism is. Evangelism requires words. Romans 10 says, “Faith comes by hearing”, not seeing. Blessed are all those who have not seen me, yet have believed Jesus told Thomas.
Evangelism is a conversation where we explain the way of salvation to someone. It is verbal….it requires words. That means telling them the reality that God sees them in their sin and that is why they are in need of a Savior. God gave them a Savior, His Son, Jesus Christ. By putting their faith in Jesus Christ alone and what He did for them on the cross, God will give them forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.
Evangelists are so important. We might say they help primarily by bringing people into the Church by faith in Jesus Christ. Our next group of people primarily pick up the baton from there. That is where Pastor-Teachers come in. Evangelists bring em in and Pastor-Teachers build ‘em up.
Bodybuilding
When it comes to bodybuilding Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most famous and one of the most successful in history. At age 20 he won the Mr. Universe contest. Then, at the record-setting age of 23, he would win the Mr Olympia contest, the most prestigious competition in bodybuilding. He would go on to win Mr. Olympia six more times in his career. He bench-pressed 440lbs and squatted 470lbs. We may know him as the Governator more recently, but, in his bodybuilding days he was called the Austrian Oak. The Austrian Oak knew what it took to build a Mr. Olympia Body. He said, “Bodybuilding is much like any other sport. To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100% to your training, diet and mental approach."
While none of us here are in training for Mr. Olympia, Jesus Christ has made each of us body-builders. And it is not our own bodies we are building - we don’t get a membership to Curves or the S.L. Aquatic Center when you become part of the Church. The body we are building is the body of Jesus Christ. It is a spiritual body, a body of people who are spiritually born again and joined to Jesus Christ. And it is this body that is to be built up. Paul says in Ephesians 4:12 that the reason Jesus Christ gave Apostles and Prophets and Evangelists and Pastor-Teachers was to “prepare God’s people (that’s all of us, not just some) for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up”.
He wants to make sure to get the point across so he says it again in verse 16, “From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
Each of us has a role to play in this spiritual bodybuilding that’s going on. The reason Arnold Schwarzenegger had big legs and could squat 470lbs was because other parts of his body. The weight would rest on his shoulders, his back would keep him from falling over, and his hands would balance the weight on his shoulders. The point is that in order for all the body to be built up, all the body needs to be functioning. If one part of the body is malfunctioning, it impedes the whole body. Just look at someone who has a broken leg.
We need to see that we have an important role to play in the Body of Christ. This whole Church thing is set up in such a way that we are dependent on each other. Like it or not, we are expected to grow and in order to grow we need each other. That’s the setup. There is no such thing as growing apart from consistent, regular, fellowship and service with each other. God works through people to build people.
Now, before Paul gets too far into all that he lists some men who play an important role in this spiritual bodybuilding that’s going on. Jesus said in Matthew 16, “I will build my Church”, and the way he does that is through people. God works through people to build people.
These men are like trainers, coaches, gym instructors, dieticians, nutritionists, physical therapists. They play an important role in building up the Body.
Who did Christ give to the Church? (v11)
Last time we saw that Jesus gave Apostles to the Church. Let us take today to consider that last 3 offices given to the Church.
Prophets
Secondly we see Paul lists prophets as gifts from Christ to the Church. These are NT prophets, not OT prophets. One reason we know that is because how often they are mentioned along with Apostles. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:28 it says specifically that “in the Church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, …” And we know from Ephesians 2:20 that the foundation of the Church is the Apostles and Prophets. In Ephesians 3:5 God revealed the mystery of Christ to the Apostles and Prophets. Since the OT prophets didn’t know what the mystery of Christ was, or what the Church was, it really seems safe to say that NT prophets are in view.
We also know Paul is referring to NT prophets because we find people are called prophets in the early Church. We find men like Judas and Silas in Acts 15. In Acts 21 it says that Philip had 4 unmarried daughters who would prophecy.
But there is one prophet I want to introduce to us. His name is Agabus. He is mentioned twice in Acts. The reason he is interesting is because 2 of his predictions are recorded. The first one is found in Acts 11 where we find him going to the city of Antioch with a posse of other prophets. Antioch was the first mega-church. It was the first church established outside of Jerusalem and it was exploding. It was also the first multi-cultural church. While the Christians in Jerusalem were all Jewish, Antioch was the first church with a huge influx of Gentiles. Well at one point in the middle of this fast-growing ministry, Agabus stood up and predicted a famine would come across the whole Roman Empire. And it happened. We learn from this that prophets would predict large-scale events with global effects.
And while a prediction like a famine was near future when the Agabus spoke it, there are many far-off future events predicted by prophets in the NT as well. The Apostle Paul was a prophet because he spoke about the end times – especially in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. The Apostle John also was a prophet since God showed him the ultimate future in the book of Revelation.
But prophets also would predict things for individuals on a personal level. For example, in Acts 21 Agabus shows up again. In a dramatic way he takes Paul’s belt, ties himself up, and says that when Paul arrives to Jerusalem he will be tied up by the Jews and handed over to the Gentiles. And it happened. So prophets would predict large-scale events effecting whole nations and they would predict personal events for individuals.
These were important men in the early Church. According to 1 Corinthians 12 they were appointed by God to be prophets for the Church. The word “prophecy” means – to “speak forth”, or “forth-tell” – in other words “to speak for someone”. This makes a prophet a spokesman for God. Sometimes a prophet would receive direct revelation from the Spirit and deliver the message to the believers. That’s why it says in Acts 11 that Agabus predicted the famine “through the Holy Spirit”. Other times their ministry would be simply to speak-forth God’s word, meaning to speak to the congregation about things from God’s word that was already revealed. This may have been more common for a prophet to do. It seems from reading the NT that rather than travelling around, most of the time prophets would be camped in a local church. This might be why it says in 1 Corinthians 14 it says that people with the gift of prophecy would speak for the edification, instruction, comfort, and encouragement of the whole body. This is why some people will call a preacher a prophet. He is not predicting the future, or hearing directly from God, but, explaining and expounding and declaring what God has already said.
Along with the Apostles the ministry of the prophetic office terminated with the completion of the NT canon. Their role was also to help the Apostles lay the foundation of the Church. Once that was accomplished, the prophetic office discontinued.
Evangelists
Paul says Christ gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists…” If we’re going to talk about evangelists we have to talk about Philip the Evangelist (Acts 21). He was one of the original 7 Deacons according to Acts 6 and he was described as being full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. In Acts 8 he led an Ethiopian royal official to Christ by explaining Isaiah 53. Philip was effective in doing the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5). He was always getting tracts in people’s hands, always praying for lost people, always leading conversations to the Gospel. He was on the street corners, he was at the fairs and the carnivals and the markets and all the public events for the purpose of getting the Gospel out.
And that is what Evangelists do. Their primary work is to preach, proclaim, reason and explain the gospel of Jesus Christ so that lost people can understand clearly the way to be saved. Their audience is almost always non-believers. They do not necessarily preach the whole counsel of God’s Word. Rather, their sermons center strongly on the presentation of the Gospel to lead people to salvation. Timothy was charged by Paul to “do the work of an evangelist”. Paul told Philemon that he prayed he would be active in sharing his faith. And we too are to be actively doing the work of an evangelist and sharing the faith.
A word needs to be added here. Evangelism requires words. With the growing “missional” church movement we are finding more people confusing social justice with evangelism. People subscribe to St. Francis of Assissi’s definition of evangelism when he says, “Preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words.” While we can admire the call for living a good life, it isn’t exactly right in regards to evangelism and preaching the Gospel. Godly living is not evangelism. Godly living gives you credibility when you do evangelism, but, it is not what evangelism is. Evangelism requires words. Romans 10 says, “Faith comes by hearing”, not seeing. Blessed are all those who have not seen me, yet have believed Jesus told Thomas.
Evangelism is a conversation where we explain the way of salvation to someone. It is verbal….it requires words. That means telling them the reality that God sees them in their sin and that is why they are in need of a Savior. God gave them a Savior, His Son, Jesus Christ. By putting their faith in Jesus Christ alone and what He did for them on the cross, God will give them forgiveness of their sins and eternal life.
Evangelists are so important. We might say they help primarily by bringing people into the Church by faith in Jesus Christ. Our next group of people primarily pick up the baton from there. That is where Pastor-Teachers come in. Evangelists bring em in and Pastor-Teachers build ‘em up.
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