Ephesians 4:11-16 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [a]edifying of the body of Christ, 13 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;
This one thing is for sure, as believers, we all have our work cut out for us. For those who are in what we have called the fivefold ministry, they have the task of training the saints for the work of ministry. We look at those in the fivefold and conclude that they are the ones in full time ministry and we have also believed that they are the ones who should do the works of ministry because the work for the church “full time” right?
The saints are to be equipped for the works of ministry meaning that all of us are in “fulltime” ministry. However, sometimes I wonder whether we know the works of ministry that we should be doing? Do those in the fivefold know the kind of equipping that they should give the saints to prepare them for the works of ministry?
If the master has left us work to do then it means when He comes back He will expect it to be done and as the word says our work will be tested by fire.
1 Corinthians 3:12-14 (NKJV)
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
Every Sunday and the other days we meet as a congregation, we are being equipped to go out there and do the works of ministry wherever God has planted us. Usually when we think ministry we think of church and ushering or serving in the worship team but it goes way beyond that. Our works of ministry should be evident in our homes, our neighborhoods and communities, our places of work and our schools and campuses because that is where we are most of the week these are the places where we do life and the field we are equipped and prepared to serve in.
Are you doing the works of ministry?