Ministry Gifts

We have done quite a bit in manifestation gifts in the Holy Spirit series. And we are today, going to take a sweeping overview of ministry gifts. So, let me start by saying that the word “ministry” is the same word that we get our word “deacon” from. It is the Greek word DIAKONIA. It means, literally, “to serve.” Very simple – to serve.

Strong’s number one definition in Strong’s Lexicon for the word DIAKONIA, which we get ministry, or servant, from has this definition. “Those who execute the commands of another.” That is the definition of a minister or a servant. It is a great definition because that “another” in the definition is God himself. And so, if we understand that as ministers, all we do is execute God’s commands, then we understand what our role is as ministers.

My entire purpose for today (and we’ll be moving pretty fast) is to show you that there can be no ministry DIAKONIA, no executing the commands of another, if that another is God, without the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is the gifts and the enabling of the Holy Spirit that allow any ministry to take place. Period. There is no supernatural ministry or service from God without the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. And so, I pray as we go through a little bit of a whirlwind overview that you’ll see that it is the Holy Spirit that is the power, is the source, is the orchestrator of the ministry.

So, we have two spiritual gift lists today; there are primarily four in scripture. And many, many ministry gifts that are not in the lists but that we see in scripture. But just to give us a little bit of context, we’re going to use Ephesians 4 and Romans 12. In Ephesians 4 verse 11, we see five ministry gifts here.

Ephesians 4:11 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

We start with apostles. Are there apostles today? Some say yes, some say no. Those that say no, say no because of the most literal definition of the word Apostle. That most literal definition of the word Apostle is “one who was personally commissioned or commissioned in person by Jesus Christ.” And so, we say, well, there are twelve. Mathias is thirteen; Paul is fourteen. The problem is that the word apostle is APOSTOLOS, and it means, literally, “sent one” or

And so, there are some say, dozens of times that this word APOSTOLOS or sent one is used in the Bible. But we know for sure that Barnabas and Timothy are both referred to with this word, APOSTOLOS or sent one or messenger. And so, if we were to use this word today, we would say that this gift is “one who is sent.” A sent one. A messenger. And so, do we have APOSTOLOS, sent ones, today? Do we have ones that are going out with the message of God today? Yes. What do we normally call them? Missionaries. Missionaries are sent ones. We would call them APOSTOLOS – sent one or messenger.

We have a number of them in this Body – we have a whole team of sent ones who are commissioned; they are driven, compelled by God to go. They are driven to share the gospel. They are driven to serve the Lord outside of their areas. And so, in that sense, as a “sent one,” yes, there are Apostolos or apostles today. However, we are careful with the word because of that more stringent and specific definition.

The problem is that we cannot just take out apostles and say, “Well, there are no apostles, but there is everything else.” Just like you can’t say, well, there are no tongues, but there are everything else. Why? Why don’t you just go through the Word of God, pick out the words you don’t like, and throw them out? That started with the Gnostics in Alexandria in about 300 AD. I would love to talk to you about that more, but they just cut the words out of the Bible they didn’t like. And so, we try our best not to do that. So, if the Bible says that the Holy Spirit has placed apostles in the Church, then we say, “okay, they are sent ones.”

Second, prophet, from the list in Ephesians 4 verse 11. Someone asked the same question. Are there prophets today? Because they imagine the prophets of the Old Testament, Elijah, Elisha, all of the huge men of God that we see as prophets in the Old Testament. Well, those prophets were men who were used by God to guide and direct the people of God. Israel means “governed by God,” and prophets were men of God who used the Word of God to guide and direct the people of God.

Do we have that role today in the Church? Absolutely we do. Even if you were to say, “Well, the prophets were used for the Kings to guide and direct Israel at the highest level of leadership.” If you understand how much access a man like Billy Graham has had to the Presidents of this nation, then you can see that the Word of God is being at least given to the kings of this nation to guide and direct them through men like Billy Graham.

But, if you’ll remember when we talked about the manifestation gift of prophecy, which is different than the ministry role of prophet, (manifestation is something that can happen just once, it’s given for a specific instance, specific time, and maybe not again. The role of prophet is a place in the Body that someone is fit.) If you remember, in the manifestation gift, we said that prophecy is the forthtelling of the Word of God, speaking forth the Word of God.

And so, certainly, we have those in the Body who are called to speak forth the Word of God. Pastors, preachers, and it might surprise you, but I see this gift mostly in counselors, in Biblical counselors. Because a Biblical counselor – it’s very easy for me to stand up here and speak to a group of people, and say what the Word of God says – when you’re in a Biblical counseling situation, you’re one on two or so, and this counselor looks right in your eyes and says, “This is what the Word of God says. Obey it.” And often, it is the gift of prophet, the role of prophet, that places somebody in a Biblical counseling role because they’re speaking forth the Word of God. Why? To guide and direct the people of God. Counseling. So, yes, there are prophets. Yes, there is a role of prophet.

Number three in this verse is evangelist. This is a little easier one. Obviously, there are evangelists in the Body of Christ. Who are they? They are those who must always share the gospel. They are driven to share the gospel. One of my very good friends, Gary Griffith, is an evangelist, and the only reason he gets up in the morning is to look for the person that he is going to share the gospel with that day. There is no other purpose putting on his pants and going to work – he’s always looking for someone to share the gospel with.

I remember very, very well, my wife and I in a very, very difficult time in our lives, meeting Pastor John Rutherford for the first time. It was in marriage counseling. And we weren’t counseling him – he was counseling us. And I said, well, I’m an elder at a church, and I started a church, and I’m this and that, I’m in leadership, and I teach Bible studies, and this and that. He spent twenty minutes telling me the gospel and making sure I was saved. I wanted to say, didn’t I just tell you I have all this, and that I’ve done all this and that? He said, let’s talk about Jesus. Let’s make sure you know Jesus as your Lord. He wants to hear you say, “Jesus is my Lord.” He doesn’t care if you’ve pastored ten churches; he’s going to ask you, “Is Jesus your Lord?” He is an evangelist.

There are evangelists that are pastors, there are combination gifts, obviously. Greg Laurie is a perfect example. Mike MacIntosh is another very good example. No matter what these men teach, they end up with a salvation message. It just doesn’t matter because you should be able to open the Bible to any page and get a salvation message. And so, these men do this all the time. No matter what they’re teaching, the last ten minutes of their message is a salvation message because they are gifted evangelists. That is the role that they’ve been called to in the Body. Now, we’ve all been called to “Go and make disciples.” We’re all called to share the gospel, but some of us have a special burning, a special passion to see the lost saved.

Number four, is pastor in the Ephesians 4 verse 11 list. The word for pastor in Ephesians 4:11 is POIMEN. It literally means “shepherd or feed.” It’s translated both. The definition of POIMEN is a very good definition: “to oversee, to guide, and to feed the flock.” In the famous breakfast by the sea conversation between Jesus and the Apostle Peter in John 21, the second time Jesus says do you love me, Peter says you know I love you, Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.” That word there is the verb of POIMEN. It is POIMAINO. It is the verb meaning “go shepherd my people. Go.” It’s an action word. Go shepherd, go oversee, go guide them, go feed them. If you love me, get to work, is what Jesus was saying to Peter.

The words elder and pastor are almost interchangeable in the New Testament. Both are overseers, and both are shepherds. This position in the Body has the strictest requirements in scripture. It has the heaviest responsibilities in scripture. And it is not a position that you should desire unless there is nothing else you can do. It is not a position to be desired; it is only a position to be accepted upon the compelling of God. And as every good pastor will tell you, if you can survive doing anything else, go do it. God compels pastors; he compels shepherds. There is a role in the Body. And when God makes someone a pastor or elder, and overseer, a shepherd, they will oversee the flock. They will guide the flock. And they will feed the flock. And if they are in that position from God, then they will do it without regard to their own well-being. Period.

1 Peter 5:2-3 (NKJV)
2 Shepherd (Poimen) the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;
3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

I just want to remind you what I am doing this for is to tell you there are people in the Body that God forces into each of these roles. He drives them, he gifts them, he creates them, and then he places them in the Body. We’ll get to why at the end.

Fifth ministry gift described is teacher. Some put pastor/teacher together. Many in the Calvary Chapel Movement put pastor/teacher together. I believe they can be both a combination gift and they can be separate gifts because I have seen people have the teaching gift without the pastoral gift. I have questioned myself during certain dark times if I have both of these or just one.

The supernatural gift of teaching is just that. It is supernatural. What does it look like? “It is the supernatural ability for someone to make the Word of God understandable.” Because the Word of God is only revealed spiritually. And so, when someone has the gift to take the Word of God, which is a spiritual mystery (meaning something that is yet to be revealed), and reveal it to you so that you can understand it, that is the supernatural gift of teaching. It is only done by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is a very impossible thing to learn. You can certainly study, and refine, and grow the craft of teaching, but if it doesn’t start with the supernatural gift, then no one is ever going to understand what you’re saying.

The gift of teaching, and not necessarily the gift of preaching, preaching is more exhorting, exhortation. It’s used mainly for unbelievers – evangelists use preaching. Pastor/teachers use teaching; their teaching is directed more at believers for the growth of the Body of Christ.

So, in Matthew 28, the Great Commission, Jesus says go make disciples and teach them the things I have commanded you. Fifty-eight times in the gospels, Jesus Christ is called “Teacher.” Fifty-eight times. He spent the large majority of his time teaching those who believed. Fifty-eight times he was addressed as “Master” or “Rabbi,” which means teacher. He is our only example of how to teach.

So, we’ve done five gifts and finished the Ephesians 4 list. Except for one critical reminder – before you leave there, let’s read verses 11-16. The whole question is why? If we understand that we don’t choose, God chooses, that God sovereignly builds us the way he wants us and then places us in the Body where wants us, then the question is, why? Why has he placed us there? The answer, partly, is in the following verses.

Ephesians 4:11-16 (NKJV)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (why?),
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying (the shoring up, the building up) 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 (mature) man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (being conformed into his image);
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but (instead), speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—(in all things God desires for us to grow)
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies (God created the body, he designed it, he created each joint, and then he joined and knit them together), according to the effective working by which every part does its share (its share that God has sovereignly given it to do, not that one has chosen to do), causes growth of the body for the edifying (the shoring up, the building up, the strengthening of itself) of itself in love.

That’s the purpose of the ministry gifts, to strengthen, and to shore up, to build up the Body of Christ. It is the only purpose – to build up the Body of Christ in love.

The second and primary list of ministry gifts are in Romans 12.

Romans 12:6-8 (NKJV)
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Another set of gifts here; let’s go through them quickly.

The first one listed is prophecy. We’ve already done “prophet,” so we are going to move to number two.

It is the gift of ministry. It is the most overall needed gift in the Church. Also called “helps.” Here it’s called ministry, 1 Corinthians 12:28 (NKJV) it is called helps. Of all the gifts, it is the one that pastors are most grateful that God has given. This gift is sometimes broken into two gifts (as in pastor/teacher). Sometimes people say the gift of ministry is seeing a person in need and meeting that need. And in the gift of helps is seeing a thing that needs to be done (an intangible thing), and meeting that need.

It’s really, in my opinion, the same gift. And here is the definition. “Seeing something that needs to be done and doing it.” That’s it. It doesn’t get any more complex than that. If somebody is down, this person will minister to them. If a chair needs to be picked up, this person will pick the chair up. Their eyes are open to what needs to be done. And when they see something that needs to be done, they don’t say, “Boy – that really needs to be done, why don’t we call the pastor and have him come pick that chair up?” They don’t do that. They say, “Look. There’s something that needs to be done. I’ll do it.” There’s someone who needs a meal; let’s not call someone and spend six hours arranging some type of a process. Let’s go get some KFC and take it to them.” And no one will ever know.

That is the gift of ministry. It’s seeing a need and then being compelled to meet that need. It is the most overall needed gift in the Church. Why? Because we are called to minister to one another. To edify ourselves. And if you remember back to the role of the pastor, sometimes in our culture, we mis-assume maybe the role of the pastor. And so, if someone calls me and says, “You know what? So and so needs a meal. Is there any way you can go get some KFC and take it over to them?” I’d say, “No. But you could because God laid it on your heart.”

Because the Bible doesn’t call me to run around and do everything. I can’t. I just can’t. It’s physically impossible. But God has raised up ministers, those with the gift of ministry. When they see a need, they meet it. And the pastor is in the dark. He is over there in some little room overseeing, and guiding, and feeding, which is what he is called to do. But those with the gift of ministry are ministering. See how the Body all works together so perfectly? And sometimes people say stuff that doesn’t fit because you guys don’t need me – please hear that. You don’t need me. You don’t need me standing here, you don’t need me bringing you KFC, you just don’t need me – you need Jesus. You need Jesus. You need Jesus. And his face looks like the person sitting next to you. That’s the face of Jesus. When they show up with KFC, that’s Jesus ministering to you. When they share with you, when they encourage you, that’s the Lord.

Let me just say this. In Acts 26:16 (NKJV), Paul is conveying his conversion experience to King Agrippa, in Caesarea by the sea, and when he describes what Jesus told him when he met him on the Road to Damascus, he says that Jesus said to him, I am going to make you a servant. That word servant is critical. It’s critical to understand. The Greek word is HUPERETES. It is a combination of two words. HUPER meaning under, and ERRESO meaning to row. Jesus said to Paul, I am going to make you an under-rower. The person at the very bottom of the ship, who is down there making the ship move that no one ever knows about. An under-rower. And Paul never felt worthy of his calling. May we pray that God would make us under-rowers.

Next in Romans 12, exhortation. The gift of exhortation. Nike used the premise of this gift in an ad campaign for a long time. That ad campaign was, “Just Do It!” That is the definition of the gift of exhortation. These people urge us on to do what we know we should do. Do it.

The next gift is giving. This is in the Romans 12 list. A person with the gift of giving does not own a thing. They are a steward. They are a steward of God’s possessions, and they are always looking for whom God would give his possessions through them. Understand? So, a mugger walks up to a person with the gift of giving, and he says, “Give me all your money.” And the guy with the gift of giving says, “I’m sorry. I only have ten dollars on me, but would you take a check for the rest?” We are all called to give, but you and I know people who just have this gift, this drive to give. It’s not mine; it’s God’s. And they’re just giving, giving, giving.

Guys, there is no ministry I’ve ever seen that has survived without those in the Body who have the gift of giving. Because why? Because God finds a channel that he can use, and then he pours resources into that channel. And those resources are being poured right through that channel into the Body. Because money doesn’t really fall out of heaven. It’s given. But God uses someone with the gift of giving and says, “To this person, I will give the gift of giving, and then I’ll give the resources, and those resources will flow through that person.” They give with simplicity, which is what Romans 12 says. They give without calling attention to themselves, the key role of a giver. They give with joy in their heart, and they give out of love. These are givers. We are all called to give, but these have special gifts. It is what they do in the Body. They are looking for someone to give God’s resources to at all times.

The next gift is leading. The New King James calls this gift leading; the King James version calls it ruling. And again, in 1 Corinthians 12:28 (NKJV), it’s called administration or governing. So, this gift has many names because it has many sides to it. It is leading, ruling, administrating, governing. It is a very unique gift. It is used to orchestrate the operation of the Body. Not so much as a pastor, where I’m called to oversee the spiritual well-being and to guide the spiritual well-being. But the administrator, the ruler, orchestrates the day-to-day actions, the governing of the Church.

The important thing to understand is this is a required gift for all those on the Board of Elders in the Church. Because, as a Board of Elders, we are the ruling or governing body. And when we get together, we always begin in reverence and fear. And I say that fear with emphasis because it is fear acknowledging that in and of ourselves, we cannot govern, we cannot lead, we cannot rule, we cannot administrate. But it is only as God pours out this gift into these roles, these positions, that we have the ability to govern and to lead the Church. And so, I believe our ruling elders (as we call them) must have this gift, and indeed they do. If not, we are quick and fast failures. And God shows us very quickly if we get into this position without this gift. It’s a very scary thing when it happens.

The next gift is mercy. Last but not least, in the Romans 12 list. What an incredible role in the Body! If there were one to pray for, it would be ministry because it is so over-arching, so over-reaching. But what a fabulous role to play in the Body. To be the merciful one. The one who distributes mercy. The gift of mercy is a divine trait. It is a character of God. It is not in your flesh; you weren’t born with it. You don’t have it. It is all from God. The Bible calls us all to show mercy. We are all required to show mercy, but there are those who have that special, abundant gift of mercy. The definition of mercy is “not receiving what you deserve.” Honestly, we deserve hell; we deserve judgment. We don’t deserve to even be in the role that we are in.

It’s God’s mercy giving us what we don’t deserve. And so, he places people in the Body with this gift. And what do they do? They see a person who is in special need of God’s mercy, and they are drawn to that person to pour God’s mercy into that person. You’ll find them telling people, “It’s okay. God loves you. It’s alright. Just surrender to God, confess your sins, he’ll strengthen you. He’ll restore you. He’ll stand you up. He’s going to do great things in you. It’s okay. Hang in there.” That’s a person with the gift of mercy. We might call it encouragement, but encouragement is shallow compared to mercy. Mercy is a person who looks around for people who are agonizing in their heart. And they go to them, and they say, “God is good all the time. He’s going to build you up. And he’s going to strengthen you. And he is going to equip you.” It’s a wonderful gift.

If you have the gift of mercy, you are also usually an instrument of God’s forgiveness, which means that you administer God’s forgiveness. “God loves you. He forgives you. He will restore your life.” There are people that are called in the Body to do that. And they’re not all pastors. In fact, few of them are because the Body is called to edify itself. So, if you have this gift, what will happen is you will see someone hurting, and you’ll want to go tell them that God loves them. That he forgives them. And that he wants to restore them. So, go! Go do it! If it’s your gift, use it – because the body needs it.

Let me do these last two really quick. Intercession and hospitality. Both are key gifts.

Intercession is a fabulous, “you’re in good company” gift because the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us in Romans 8. And Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV) says that Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. So, if God gives you (by the way, the word helper PARAKLETOS in John – when Jesus describes the helper, that word PARAKLETOS means intercessor) this gift, you sacrifice yourself in prayer for someone else. You intercede for them to the point that it is sacrificial. I’d love to talk more about it; it’s a great, great gift.

The other gift is hospitality. It’s very interesting that in 1 Timothy, in the list of required gifts for overseers, for elders, and pastors, they must be hospitable. Lydia, in Acts – the seller of purple – was an example of hospitality. My wife has this gift, and I appreciate God for it all the time because our house is comfortable. It just feels good. And when people come to our house, they feel comfortable there because my wife has the gift of hospitality.

If you turn to 1 Corinthians, let’s look at a stretch of scripture that is so important to hear.

God has built the Body of Christ. He has used the Holy Spirit to severally – that means individually, that means to each individual – give gifts. Why? For the good of the Body, so that the Body edifies itself. So that we are not receivers, we are ministers. This a unique setting, biblically. Biblical churches were functioning Bodies. They were much smaller, they met in homes, and they were always functioning – not receiving, but functioning.

Let’s look at the one overriding purpose for all of the ministry gifts, in fact, all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 (NKJV)
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? (Obviously not.)
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? (Obviously not.)
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable (such as under-rowers), on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty,
24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it,
25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. (Please hear that – for one another. The person who is called to care for you and the person you are called to care for is sitting next to you.)
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.