Are the 5-Fold Ministry Gifts Valid For Today?

We have an interesting topic to discuss today. In this video I want to look at an overview of the 5-fold ministry gifts that Paul wrote about to the Church of Ephesus. If you’ll turn with me to chapter 4 of the book of Ephesians, I will be reading verses 4-16, so let’s look at those verses together: 

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

But to each one of us grace was given according to

the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”
(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:4-10) 

This is an interesting subject to look at for another time, but here’s the part I want to get to for this study. Beginning with verse 11…

“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; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16) 

Okay…so let’s break it down. In verses 4-6 Paul is telling the Church at Ephesus that we are to be unified by the same body, same Spirit, same hope, same Lord, same faith, same baptism, and same God the Father and it is THAT Father that is to be our ALL in ALL! We understand that. Paul is calling for the Church to be unified. 

On the night of His betrayal, Jesus prayed in the upper room—not only for His disciples, but also for all who would come to believe through their message. He prayed that we too, would be united. Let’s take a look at that part of His heartfelt prayer. 

In John 17, verses 20-23, Jesus prayed:

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23) 

And so, we see through these verses that it is God’s desire that The Church be unified…that we should pray for one another, we should love one another, we should encourage one another and we should work together for the increase of the Kingdom of God. That is well understood. 

But then in verses 7-8, Paul changes direction in his letter, for there he wrote, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Ephesians 4:7-8) 

Okay the portion about leading captivity captive is for a different video message and would also include verses 9 & 10, and it will be an AMAZING message, but for this video, I am going to skip over that portion, because what I want to talk about now is the part that says “And gave gifts to men.” 

In verse 11, Paul begins to expound on those gifts by naming them. He said, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” 

Verse 7 specifically tells us whose gifts these are…they are Christ’s gifts. They belong to Christ…but HE has chosen to entrust them to “men” or mankind. Then he names them…apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. 

First, I want you to notice something about this scripture…the list that is given is NOT capitalized. None of these gifts are Titles…they are simply gifts or functions that we are given to use so that we can perform our duties to benefit The Church. These “gifts” are not given to be carried around as some kind of badge of honor as many people use them today. They are NOT Pastor so and so, or Evangelist so and so, or Apostle so and so! These “gifts” are given as functions that are to be used for a specific purpose. 

Friends, I want you to see this! God does not give us anything to puff us up or make us think we are superior to other members of the Body of Christ. Remember…a “gift” is given to EACH member of the Body of Christ. They are to be used for a purpose…and in verse 12, Paul explains why they are given. Christ gives us gifts “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”.   

Some people in our congregations need to understand this today. The gifts are NOT for self-promotion…they are NOT for self-exaltation…they are for the BENEFIT of the Body of Christ. Hear me today Friends, you are not called to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor or a teacher to make you look like you are something special. These “gifts” are not a badge of honor…they are for the benefit of equipping the saints and helping them to learn to do the work of the ministry and to edify or build up the Body of Christ! 

So, we need to stop calling ourselves by them as a Title and begin to think of them for the purpose they were given. If you have been given the gift of apostleship, then you should be functioning in that gift for the purpose of adding to The Church. Same with prophet, same with evangelist, same with pastor and teacher. We ALL have a job to do, and we need to take our gifts seriously and we need to use them for the purpose they were intended. And then Paul goes on to explain how we are to help God’s people to grow up and mature in the things of God. 

Friends, can I tell you something here? I have been in ministry for a very long time, and my ministry gift is as a teacher. I have taught people of all age groups in many different settings, but one thing that really breaks my heart is that I have seen many people who have been in church for 20, 30, 40 and more years, and most of them are very weak in their faith, very ill-equipped in the Word of God, and many of them have NEVER…I want you to hear me here…NEVER,  shared their faith in Christ with ANYONE! And that tells me one thing…that tells me that church leaders…apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors and teachers…are failing in their responsibility to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry”!

That scripture does not tell us that it’s the pastor’s job to do the ministry. No…his job is to equip the saints to do it! It does not say that it’s the job of the evangelist to do the ministry…No…his job is to equip the saints to do it. But because the church leaders are not equipping the saints, we have multitudes of people sitting in our churches every week who have no idea how to minister to the people around them at all. 

I had a 70-year-old woman in a Bible Study class I was teaching at one time…and Friends…that woman had been in church for many years. But a tragic thing happened when her 15-year-old grandson began asking her questions about her faith, obviously ready to place his faith in Christ…and that woman had no idea how to share the Gospel with him! She let that boy leave her home without a clear explanation of how he could be born again. And I have no idea what ever became of him. But I can tell you one thing for certain...two weeks later, we had a Bible Study directed specifically at how to share the Gospel with our unsaved friends and loved ones.

I want you to see something. Paul was called to be an apostle, and his job was to plant churches in areas where the Gospel had never been proclaimed before. So Paul went into these areas, found a place where he could preach the Gospel and as he did that, many people came to Christ, and he planted a church in that city, stayed with them for a while, sometimes a couple of years, and he would train up leaders in that church and he would seek the Lord for a person he could ordain as the overseer, or pastor of that group of people, and he would help them to establish leadership for that church, he would teach them and counsel them and when he felt the time was right, he would leave that city and go and do the same thing some place else. That is what an apostle does. 

You never heard of Paul calling himself Apostle Paul. No…he called himself “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God”. Being an apostle was his function…what he was called by God to do…not a title. And he actually did the work of all those functions. He would grow each new church he founded by prophecy, by evangelism, by overseeing the church for a time as pastor, and by teaching them the Word and will of God. Everything he did was to edify and build up the body of Christ. And that is the job of each and every born-again Believer in the Lord Jesus…to build up The Church! 

Now there are many who say that the function of the apostle, and the prophet died when the last of the original apostles and Paul died. But I will be honest, I find NOTHING in scripture that verifies that belief. If the office or function of the apostle and the prophet has died, then it would also follow that the offices of the evangelist, the pastor and the teacher would have also died, but we know that is not true. So, I would encourage you to examine the scriptures more closely for yourselves to validate what you believe, because most of the reasons that are given are simply speculation…not scriptural. 

And so, I hope this message today has encouraged you and helped you to re-evaluate your own calling, and let’s stop using our gifts from Christ as a means of exalting ourselves, and let’s get busy doing the work that God has called us to do. Each gift has with it certain functions that we need to be performing within the Body of Christ. 

I would like to pray with you if I may. If you would bow your heads with me please: 

Father, In the Mighty and Powerful Name of Jesus, we want to thank you for Your Word. And we want to thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. In the book of Hebrews we read, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) And we thank you for the portion of scripture that we looked at today about the 5-fold ministry gifts, so that we can learn to be the servants that you have called us to be. Help us Father, to walk according to your Word, and to teach those that you have given us responsibility for, according to your word, and help us to grow and mature so that we can help others to grow up in Christ, so that all the work of the ministry will get done. We want to glorify you in our lives, and we want to bring an increase to the Body of Christ. Thank You Lord, We give you praise today…in Jesus’ Name. Amen…and amen.