“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
Recall from yesterday’s post that everything God has is given to us as an inheritance. All of his spiritual victories are passed on to us, and he loves to give good gifts to his children. God’s kinds of gifts are eternally valuable, and in this passage Paul describes how Jesus has given the church special people to help advance the Gospel.
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers have a unique role and calling to build up the church. Far beyond helping people pray a simple prayer of confession, these leaders help train, equip, and disciple believers. Most likely your spiritual life has been deepened by some godly leaders just like this. However, some of you may have experienced abuse or been misled, and this can happen as Satan tries to drag us down. You can tell a good leader by how they speak the truth: with love or with condemnation. Only one of those is anything like God.
Here’s your freedom for today: God gives us good leaders to bring life and health. As a counselor, I have heard a lot of stories about broken relationships and pain caused by humans to other humans. God’s work has a unique marker: health. Some leaders inspire us, engage us, and bring out the best versions of ourselves. They are imitating Jesus because everything they do is with genuine love. I have seen leaders who claim to do this, but they have a strong emphasis on “tough love.” A good leader who is gifted by God makes you feel important even when you need to be corrected. Real love is not tough, but gentle, just like God. Who do you know that brings you life and health? How can you spend more time with them this week?