Defining the Five-Fold Equipping Ministry in Ephesians 4:11
January 27, 2019      |     By: Sam McVay, Jr.      |      Category: Sermons      |      Location: El Dorado
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Ephesians 4:11-14 (ESV)
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Multiple lists of gifts in the Church:
1) 1 Corinthians 12 lists 9 manifestation gifts.
   Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretations
2) Romans 12 lists 7 grace gifts.
   Prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, mercy
3) Ephesians 4 lists 5 equipping gifts.
    Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers

The first two are spiritual workings.
The last list is actually people given to the church.
Five gifted/called kinds of people equip the saints.
Saints do the work of the ministry; everyone is called to kingdom ministry.

This equipping and working happens until:
1. The Church reaches the UNITY of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God
2. The Church reaches Maturity: the stature of the fullness of Christ

Who are these “equippers”?
1. Apostle - sent ones equipping unto the revelation of Jesus Christ with order-setting and foundation-building authority that empowers the saints into mission spreading lifestyles.
2. Prophet - seeing ones equipping unto the revelation of Jesus Christ as foundation-empowering the saints into prophetic (Spirit hearing and speaking) ministry.
3. Evangelist - Gospel sharing ones equipping unto the saving revelation of Jesus Christ, empowering the saints to be gospel sharers.
4. Shepherd/Pastor - nurturing ones equipping unto the shepherding revelation of Jesus Christ, empowering the saints to Spirit empowered “one-anothering”.
5. Teacher - scripture explaining ones equipping unto a Christo-centric stewardship of the Word of God, empowering the saints to read and teach the scriptures in a faithful and accurate way.  

No controversy over the last three - Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher.
The controversy is over the first two - Apostle & Prophet.

Apostle
1) Jesus - In one sense, Jesus is the one true apostle, the "sent one" from God the Father (Hebrews 3:1).
2) The Twelve - The original twelve apostles (the eleven plus Matthias [Acts 1:26]) constitute a unique and closed company. They will have the distinct role of judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28) and their names will be inscribed on the twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14).
3) Paul and others - Another group of apostles, equal in authority to the twelve, includes Paul (1 Corinthians 15:9), Barnabas (Acts 14:4,14), James, the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 15:7), and perhaps Silas (1 Thessalonians 2:7), Andronicus (Romans 16:7) and Junias (Romans 16:7). 1 Corinthians 15:7 may be referring to yet more apostles.
4) Messengers and Church Representatives - Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25) and the unnamed brethren of 2 Corinthians 8:23 (possibly including Titus) fall into this category in which the term "apostle" is used in a non-technical, broad sense (35 times in Paul, 80 times in the NT).

It is widely assumed that an essential part of apostleship is the authority to write inspired Scripture. There are three problems with this view:
1) Scripture nowhere asserts that all apostles could write Scripture simply because they were apostles.
2) Several of the apostles did not, in fact, write Scripture. Does this disqualify them from being apostles?
3) People other than apostles did, in fact, write Scripture (Mark, Luke, the author of Hebrews, Jude).

Prophets:
At least four kinds of prophecy in the New Testament.
1) Every Believer Prophesying: All sons and daughters prophesy: Acts 2:17-18
2) Manifestation Gift of Prophesying: 1 Corinthians 12:10
3) Grace Gift of Prophesying: Romans 12:6
4) Equipping Prophet: Ephesians 4:11

Whatever happened to stoning prophets?

The Old Covenant call to stone a prophet whose words do not come about was in the context of:
1. No Bible
2. Specifically speaking of lying, wicked, evil-spirit, inspired speakers resisting the true prophets of the day.
3. It was speaking of insincere deceivers not sincere believes growing in maturity.

Foundation Builders Connecting the Body to Christ the Cornerstone
Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESV)
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We think of the five-fold equippers as “verbs” and not “nouns”, emphasizing their function not title.

Biblically speaking, all of these will function “until” - Christ Centered Unity and Maturity Manifest in the Church.

We need the five-fold because we are still waiting on the fulfillment of Ephesians 4:13.