Equippers
September 17, 2008
Here is a devotional from our staff meeting. If you work in a church it might be a good opening discussion at staff meeting, if not see where you are in the process:
Two widely held views:
1. It is that ministers were given their gifts to help other believers (specifically those that are a part of the local church) to become workers of service. It doesn’t end until there is a high level of knowledge about God and maturity in Christ. Essentially, that ministers help people know the Scriptures, experience God and that they can effectively say that they love God with all their being and their neighbor as themselves.
2. The second train of thought (based on grammatical and textual arguments about the preposition “for”) argues that it’s for everyone to participate in this leading and building up of the Saints. It’s supposed that the argument is to avoid clericalism (official clergy) and support a democratic model of the church (nobody in charge).
Paul regularly insists that all believers are equipped with gifts to help the body of Christ (v. 16), so it would silly to choose the second train of thought. Likewise, it would be silly to choose to act like we have chosen the second interpretation.
Equipping (this Greek word isn’t found anywhere else in Scripture) in this context means repairing, preparing, completing, training, discipling. Essentially, the minister’s job is to prepare people for ministry, specifically making people fully qualified to serve the Lord by serving one another.
Critical point: Ministers should/do not get fulfillment in having the position, but only by preparing others to minister. Don’t miss that!!
