Call to Action (Part II)

In Part I of Call to Action I talked about the first reason God gave the church (body of Christ) the gift of leaders. In Ephesians 4:11 we read that God gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers. The first reason is to equip the church for the work of the ministry. The church leadership trains up the church body, who in turn goes and does the work of the ministry, which is serving in their community and sphere of influence. Today I want to talk about the second reason God gave us the gifts he did in our church leadership. We see in the latter half of verse 12 church leadership exists to edify the church body. My dictionary defines edify as a verb that means to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually and to lift up.

As a pastor and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I am to edify the body. That is one of the two reasons God has gifted me and called me to be a pastor. I am supposed to instruct and benefit, especially morally and spiritually. I am supposed to lift up the church body. This is not as easy as it sounds. The attitude of Consumer Christianity makes this very one sided. It makes it almost impossible. Imagine being a cheer leader and your team is winning. The crowd in the stands is already excited and full of joy because the team is going well. The cheer leader’s job is simple, keep the energy flowing. What happens when your team is losing though? What happens when winning is beyond reach and you are hoping you don’t lose too badly? Now the cheer leader’s job is difficult. They’ve got to get the crowd energized and motivated. They’ve got to get the crowd on their feet.

I have stood before a crowd speaking at times that was winning. People had responded to the last outreach. Visitors were coming and people were making commitments for Christ. Edifying the body then is a piece of cake. I’ve also stood before congregations who were acting utterly defeated. Everyone remembers the last visitor that came because it was so long ago it was a memorable event. No one comes to Sunday Night service any longer, and the preacher seems a little off his game with his messages. This is a tough crowd to edify or lift up. It’s not all the pastor’s fault.

One of the two main purposes for a pastor in the church is to edify, but it’s also the responsibility of the church to want to be edified. They have to want to be lifted up. They have to want to get engaged and get excited about what God is doing. The pastor isn’t doing the work, God is. God isn’t doing it entirely through the pastor either; He does it mostly through the people of the church as they do the work of the ministry. Church leadership is a gift from God to encourage you. They are there to help you back up to your feet after the world tries to knock you down. As you go out and do the work of the ministry, it wears on you. It’s not easy at all, but it is easier when we know that we can go back to the church, to the fellowship of believers, to rest with fellow followers of Jesus, and know there is a gift from God in a pastor or other church leader who can encourage us. It’s easier when we know others have gone before us and survived and we have church leadership who are called by God and willing to impart the knowledge and wisdom they have received from the Lord to us.

Leaders must also understand this. We must be ready to receive the wounded warriors who are out in the world day in and day out facing all that the devil can throw at them. We need to be out in their world encouraging and lifting them up. We need to be out there cheering them on as they battle the schemes of the devil. We must not only equip them, we must bring them benefit, moral and spiritual benefit. Leaders, it is not about you or your legacy. It is about taking care of the soldiers, the followers of Jesus, the fishers of men who are going out on the front lines and risking everything every day being a witness for Jesus Christ. We need to equip them and we need to edify them.

These are the two reasons that God has given the special call to some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and some teachers. To equip the church body for the work of the ministry, and to edify the church body as they carry out that work. As leaders, we need to do our part, to the best of our ability and with the strength and wisdom of the Lord. As the church body, we need to accept the teaching and leading of those given to us by God and allow them to lift us up. We need to allow them to cheer us on. We need to share our successes and failures so they can equip and edify appropriately.

As the church and church leaders each do their part, the gospel will be lived out in our spheres of influence and we will see this world forever changed.