At this point, we are a couple of weeks past Christmas, but I bet you are still trying out some of those good gifts you got. My 12yo son has finally gotten his new compound bow all set up, and he and I both are looking forward to getting him a chance at a deer. My 9yo son has been enjoying flying his new drone. And to be quite honest, so have I. I think I like it almost as much as he does. Both boys got some really cool gifts!

Well, as we are thinking about good gifts, in Ephesians 4, the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul declares that Christ came giving gifts to us. And what were those gifts? In v11, he lists them, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.”

Have you ever thought about those roles being gifts to the church? Those are 4 different gifts in 4 different roles. The apostles are the ones who walked with Jesus and saw the resurrected Jesus, including Paul. They were tasked with founding the church and speaking for God in the New Covenant and through the New Testament.

Prophets are those who spoke for God under the Old Covenant and through the Old Testament.

Now, it’s important to say that the apostles and prophets are no longer with us in person but are forever with us in Holy Scripture.

Evangelists are those who are especially gifted by God to share Jesus with the unsaved and to plant churches. These men are still among us. Some have itinerant preaching ministries, preaching at many different churches and in many different places throughout the year, but other evangelists are what we typically call “missionaries,” taking the gospel cross-culturally and usually internationally.

And finally, there are the shepherd-teachers or pastor-teachers. These aren’t two different roles. To be a shepherd, which is another way of saying “a pastor,” is to be a teacher. You can’t be a pastor without being a teacher. These are the men among us who lead, feed, and watch over a local flock of Christians, which we typically call a church.

All four of these roles–apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd-teachers–are gifts to Christians from Jesus Christ. May you receive them as a gift and let them benefit you to the fullness Christ intended! Does your pastor feel like you think he is a gift to you? Today might be a good day to let him know.

Change begins in you!