Word Up

And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers (Eph 4:11).

All throughout God's Big Story, He places a high priority on getting His Word to His people.  So much so that one of the divinely inspired nicknames for Jesus is the Word.  Just how powerful is God's Word?  Well, He detonated the creation of the universe by simply speaking it into existence (Gen 1:3).  God's Word is capable of performing delicate spiritual surgery (Heb 4:12).  God's Word has the power to save us from ourselves (Rom 1:16; 10:17).  God's Word has the power to radically transform us and correct us (Jn 17:17; 2Tim 3:16-17).  Here Paul lists the starting lineup of people God has given to handle His Word and communicate it to His people.  "And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" (v11).  These dudes had the God-given job of putting top priority on His Word.  Or as the crew from the group Cameo would say, "Word up."

The apostle gets more specific about the gifts He gave to His church (Eph 4:7-8). Turns out that it wasn't what He gave but WHO He gave.  The emphasis is still focused on Jesus and His generosity. He gives. He's a giving God. That's the core of the Gospel. He saves us by showering us with His amazing grace and unmerited favor. God is a Giver. As the old saying goes, you can't out-give God. Jesus is always handing out perks and bennies. He's a Giver.

So let's meet the starting lineup of the folks God gave to communicate through.  God gave each one of them to His people as His handpicked keepers and caretakers of His Word.  "The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers" (v11).  Apostles.  Prophets.  Evangelists.  Shepherds/Teachers.  You might wonder what these folks have to do with each other.  But when we take a closer look, it's obvious that God chose them to be His spokespersons of His truth.  

Word up.

Hitting leadoff in this lineup are the "apostles" (v11).  The Greek word is apostolos, which means a specifically chosen representative who carries are the legal authority of the one sending him.  Back in the Greco-Roman world, the master would select his apostle to represent him when he couldn't be there.  When you spoke to someone's apostle, it was as if you spoke to the person who sent them.  There's even a story about an apostle divorcing his master's wife while he was out of town.  Judges allowed the divorce to stand because he had all the rights and authority of his boss.  An apostle is someone sent with a specific assignment.  An envoy or special messenger.  This is someone who reps their boss.  The original 12 apostles had some serious oomph wherever they went.  They were repping Jesus.  When they spoke, they spoke as Jesus.  

There are no more capital "A" Apostles.  These boys actually saw the resurrected Jesus.  There were 12 of them.  The original 11 plus Paul.  Christ drafted the man from Tarsus as the replacement for Judas Iscariot.  Just as His heavenly Dad sent Him to the world as His divine representative, He sent these 12 on the road as His reps with all rights and authority.  When they spoke it was just as if Jesus spoke.  His apostles planted churches.  His apostles wrote the Bible.  Once they died, there were no more Apostles.  That doesn't mean God doesn't still have lower case "a" apostles.  Think of church planters who plant flags in the wilderness for God’s kingdom and folks willing to push the edge of the envelope for God's truth.  But these are lower case "a" apostles. 

Word up.

Next we meet the "prophets" (v11).  Paul uses the Greek word prophetes.  This is someone who speaks for God.  An interpreter of divine communication.  One who declares to people what has been received through inspiration.  In the OT, God put these folks in charge of all communication (Heb 1:1).  They would keep the king in line by passing along Yahweh’s guidance.  They would also write down God's inspired revelation.  Just as every piece of the NT is written under the authority of an apostle, every book in the OT came from the pen of a prophet.   In many ways, these are two different words for the same office.  OT prophet=NT apostle.  Paul backs up that comparison back in Eph 2:20 and 3:5.  

Lots of VERY smart folks get all hot and bothered over whether prophets still exist.  Were they just limited to the OT?  No.  Luke made it crystal clear that the early church saw its fair share of prophets (Acts 15:32; 21:10).  And Paul told his friends in Corinth how to respectfully deal with folks that God has gifted as prophets (1Cor 12:28-37).  The risen Jesus revealed to His buddy John that there are two more prophets to come as history comes to a close (Rev 11:2, 10).  Some will argue that once that God wrapped up the writing of the Bible, He brought an end to what folks call the "sign gifts," like prophecy.  There's one problem with that.  The Bible.  I'm just not limber enough to do the biblical gymnastics needed to prove that.  Kind of like there are no more capital "A" Apostles, there are no more capital "P" Prophets.  But that doesn't keep God from clueing humans in on His divine truth from time to time.  If He wants to, He will.  BUT since He's pretty blunt that we're absolutely not to add anything to His Word (Rev 22:18-19), any new prophetic message must be measured against Scripture.  Paul provides some VERY specific instructions for how to deal with prophets in 1Cor 14.  The church may be non-profit, but not necessarily non-prophet.

Word up.

The next people God gives are the "evangelists" (v11).  This is the Greek word euangelistes.  It's a compound noun that literally means "good messenger."  It shares the same root word as angel.  While each one of us is to spread the word of salvation, Jesus gives the gift of evangelism to specific people.  Somehow, someway, evangelists have the supernatural ability to pull back the curtain on God's Good News.  Billy Graham is a great example of an evangelist.  God gives these folks a unique skill to let the world know who Jesus is and what He's done.  He's lived the perfect life that we failed to live.  He died the brutal death for our sin that we should have died.  He rose to a glorious new life that we don't deserve.  We place our trust in what He's done for us that we could never do for ourselves.  That's the Good News.  That's the Gospel.  And these evangelists are REALLY good at telling others about it.

Word up.

And batting cleanup in this lineup are the "shepherds and teachers" (v11).  Whoa!  Pump your brakes, big boy.  You might want to take a second look because there are actually TWO words here!  But the grammar of the original text tells us that this is actually one group of people.  Think "shepherds/teachers."  The first word is the Greek term poimen.  Some translations render it as "pastor."  But it really does mean a herdsman or shepherd (Lk 2:8).  The term comes from the idea to protect from harm.  Pete reminds us that Jesus is our "Chief Shepherd" (1Pet 5:4).  But He's also handpicked some folks to protect His flock until He comes back through the power of His Word.

These protectors also play an important role as "teachers" (v11).  Shepherds protect God's people by teaching God's Word.  They remind us what Scripture says about who He is, His unending faithfulness, His tremendous love and His amazing grace.  Teachers let us know that in His all-knowing goodness, God provides us with protection by giving us guardrails from sin.  They remind us of what we're to do to experience the abundant life (Jn 10:10) He has for us.  This all centers around teaching God's Word.

Word up. 

Has God called you as one to teach, communicate and carefully handle His Word?  What a mind-boggling privilege!  What a humbling responsibility!  And how do we as followers of Jesus respect and honor those He's placed as shepherds of Scripture in our lives?  Paul makes it perfectly clear that these people are His gifts to His church.

Word up.