According to vv.11-12 of Eph. 4, gifted leaders were given by Christ to the church to equip the saints for their specific ministry, which builds up the body of Christ. This implies that all Christians have a ministry, which does not mean that all need to be on staff at a church, but rather that God wants all believers to have an influence in their church, home, workplace and social network of friends and family. But if God has provided what is necessary for all saints to accomplish their specific ministry unto the building up of the body, why doesn’t it always happen?
There are probably a couple of main reasons—We can be distracted by misguided approaches to ministry and/or by self-centeredness.
With regards to the first distraction, if we think gospel ministry primarily meets physical and emotional needs, then we will not and cannot be faithful to what God has called the church to be. God simply will not work through a false gospel that is completely void of the message of how Jesus solves man’s great problem—their sin, which puts them at enmity with God and earns them judgment from God.
And we must understand that if man’s greatest problem is not sin against a Holy God, then the salvation of Christ will not be that great either. Reason being, he came to take away the penalty and power of sin and to give his righteousness to all the unrighteous who believe in him.
Additionally, just as dangerous as being distracted by contemporary approaches, is being distracted by self-centeredness.
Self-centeredness or selfishness can be expressed in a variety of ways: For one, instead of prioritizing their lives in order to be increasingly equipped by the opportunities the church offers for the purpose of being maximally effective and useful in ministry in service to the body, they spend their lives pursuing personal goals and merely give whatever scraps of time and energy are left over for attempts at growth. Moreover, some people are so wrapped up in their own preferences about how church should be, that they are too consumed with critiquing church decisions and the people in the church, instead of seeking to be a blessing to others. Typically this comes from a self-centered mindset that says—“how can this church and group of people enhance my personal life.” Then when they find out that ministry does not revolve around them and their perceived needs, they get disenchanted and perhaps even bitter, and end up separating themselves from the body and/or bounce around to different churches perpetually seeking to be personally fulfilled. In Acts 11:19-26, we won’t see any misguided or selfish implementations of ministry, and thus the church could be assured that the hand of the Lord was upon them (v.21).
What does faithful gospel ministry look like?
