Christ’s Gifts to His Church
Winter 2024
Two things walk hand in hand in the Word of God and they are never separated: faith and practice. Doctrine (what you believe) will reveal itself in how you live (your practice of what you believe). That’s why Paul, after setting forth those great doctrines of the gospel in the first three chapters of Ephesians, turns his attention to what effect those doctrines will have on the life of the church if they are truly believed. The expression of this faith that he stresses in chapter four is the unity of the Church. This is the whole point of declaring that there is one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father” (1:4–6). With such oneness, we completely understand why he would exhort them to “[endeavor] to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v. 3).
That’s a tall order. To walk diligently and constantly “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” is a daunting challenge. But the Lord never gives a command to His people for which He will not provide the grace to keep it. His grace really is sufficient. What that grace looks like in the church’s endeavor to guard her unity is on display in this chapter.
The focus of this article is on one of the primary ways in which the Lord does this in His church. Not only has Christ purchased the gift of the Spirit who unites believers to Christ and to each other, but He has given the church another gift by which He guards and grows that unity. Paul writes that when Christ arose from the dead and “ascended up on high…he gave gifts unto men” (v. 8). These gifts were given for the benefit of the church and, in the immediate context, to protect and promote the unity of the church. In verse eleven he specifically states that Christ gave to the church the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists and—to the point of this article— “pastors and teachers.” Paul is clearly stating that when the pastors of the church fulfill their God-given calling, the church will enjoy the protection and promotion of the unity of the Spirit. How does this work? Let’s look at this as it touches upon those in the pulpit and then upon those in the pew.
First, the peace and prosperity of the church is guarded when the pastor faithfully carries out what the Lord called him to do: shepherd His flock. Christ gave to His church pastors and teachers. Without going into Greek grammar, this is not a reference to two separate offices, but to one office with a dual function. The Greek word translated “pastor(s)” is translated in every other place in the New Testament by the word “shepherd(s).” It is only fitting that the Holy Spirit would use this term to describe the role and responsibilities of a pastor since it’s a term often used to describe the Lord Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd and the Shepherd and Bishop of [our] souls.
The minister shepherds the flock of Christ by teaching. The chief responsibility of any pastor is to “feed the flock of God” (1 Peter 5:2) and “feed the church of God” (Acts 20:28). Christ told Peter on the seashore that morning, “feed my sheep” (John 21:10). In all of these cases, the word “feed” is the verb form of the word “shepherd.” Harmony and happiness are promoted in a church when the minister faithfully opens the Scriptures and feeds his congregation week by week with sound doctrine that enlightens the understanding and thrills the heart. His main goal must be to keep setting Christ before them. Every true minister of the gospel knows well from his own experience that nothing so establishes the heart and walk of the believer than being firmly grounded in the great truths of the gospel of God’s grace. The sheep that are well-watered and well-fed are the most contented, the most protected, and the most peaceful.
The pastor also guards and advances the unity of the church by exercising oversight of the flock entrusted to his care. “Feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof” (1 Peter 5:2). Christ has given to your minister and elders the responsibility of overseeing your congregation. While this fact certainly underscores that Christ has placed them in a position of authority, it deals fundamentally with caring for the Lord’s people; looking out for their welfare; ensuring as best as they can that the Lord’s sheep are healthy and walking with God. If they find otherwise, then the Lord expects the shepherds to take whatever necessary steps to bring the sheep back into a place of strength and safety.
Turning to those in the pew, unity is guarded and nurtured as the congregation views its pastor as a gift from Christ. A faithful minister is Christ’s gift to your church and, as such, the Lord has given him the gifts necessary to carry out his responsibilities as your pastor. It cannot be denied that Christ has gifted some men more than others in various aspects of the ministry, but that fact doesn’t diminish the congregation’s obligation, not only to submit to their minister, but to regularly thank the Lord for him, to pray for him, always viewing him as the Lord’s gift to bring you into closer communion with Christ. This heart attitude goes a long way in guarding the unity of the church.
Paul goes on to point out in Ephesians 4 that as the pastor shepherds the flock of God, it will result in “the perfecting of the saints” which leads to “the edifying of the body Christ” which brings the church into “the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
What pastor, what congregation wouldn’t like to enjoy that experience? When ministers shepherd the sheep as Christ has taught them and the sheep receive and follow the teaching of their shepherd, that church will enjoy the harmony, the blessing, and the safety that is promised by Christ “the good Shepherd.”