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In the first part of chapter four, because he was an apostle who had spiritual authority, and because he was suffering on their behalf, Rabbi Paul asked the Messianic Jews and Christians in Ephesus to live a life different from a fallen world made up of sinful human beings who are divided and unrighteous.

They were to life a life worthy of their high calling as the honorable sons and daughter of the holy and eternal God. Humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity were emphasized – especially unity. They were to make every effort to maintain their wonderful God-given, God-supplied unity, based on profound spiritual realities:

There is only one community of all true Christians and Messianic Jews, and our one community that we are all part of unites us.

There is one Spirit who lives in us all, uniting us to Himself and to the Father and the Son, and to one another; this Spirit living in us all, teaching us all, transforming us all, empowering us all, directing us all, unites us.

There is one hope which we are all invited to experience – eternal life in the New Heavens, New Earth and New Jerusalem as the glorious and eternal sons and daughters of God, and this shared hope unites us.

There is one great Lord whom we all serve, and the lordship of Yeshua – organizing us and ruling over us and helping us, unites us.

There is one faith, one core set of basic beliefs that we all adhere to, and our shared faith unites us.

There is one baptism, one initiation rite into the eternal Community of Salvation, and that common initiation rite unites us.

There is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all, and the supremely authoritative and all-pervasive and beneficial fatherhood of God unites.

We have a profound and multi-faceted unity. But, within our unity, we are graced with a diversity of gifts that our victorious Lord gives to His people to build up His Community. Paul mentions five leadership gifts: So Messiah Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers.

Apostles are those who are sent by Messiah to represent Him and His interests. When the New Testament uses the word apostle, it primarily means the 12 originally chosen by Yeshua, with Judas later replaced by Matthias, along with the addition of Paul. The qualifications to be an apostle were that a man (never a woman) followed the Lord and was an eye-witness of the resurrected Messiah.

Since he was sent by the Son of God to represent the Son of God, who represents God the Father, an apostle carried great spiritual authority.

He was able to testify to Yeshua’s reality, and His miracles and His teachings, and to His death, burial and resurrection. Often miracles accompanied an apostle’s witness. Tradition tells us that some of the apostles went out from Israel and testified to the realty of Messiah to other nations, some as far away as India.

The apostles were able to integrate the teachings of the Tenach with the teachings of Yeshua.

The apostles, or their direct assistants, wrote the New Testament.

The apostles established Messiah’s Community and led the Community. The apostles raised up other leaders to lead the Community.

Are there apostles and super-apostles today who have the same level of authority as those in the First Century? No. Someone today who does something similar to the apostles in the First Century, but doesn’t have the same degree of spiritual authority, would be a missionary who goes to an area and pioneers a group of churches and establishes leaders for those congregations.

Prophets: A prophet is someone who hears from God in a unique way, and then communicates what the Lord wants communicated to those to whom the Lord wants those things communicated. Prophets are close to God. They may wield great spiritual authority. There were prophets in first century, in the earliest New Covenant Community. Are there prophets today? While we should be open to the possibility that there are (and there definitely will be prophets in the Last Days), I don’t know of any. Those who I have heard of who claim to be prophets – I doubt are true prophets.

While we should be open to God speaking in a special way to men and women, we are specifically told that in the Last Days there will be many false prophets who will deceive many, so we need to be very cautious when it comes to those who claim to be hearing from God in a special way and claim to be great spiritual authorities.

Evangelists: While everyone in Messiah’s Community is to bring the Good News to those outside the Community, the evangelist is someone who has a passion for and is good at evangelism. His gift is used to build up the Community by declaring the truth about Messiah to those who are not yet believers, and bringing non-believers into the Community of Salvation. He may help build up the Community by teaching others how to do evangelism.

Pastors: This is a man who is equipped to lead the community. Synonyms for pastor are elder, bishop and overseer, and in our case, Rabbi. Often the apostles placed multiple elders in charge of a community they established. I like what Charles Ryrie tells us: the elder is the principle official in a local church, was called by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28), recognized by other elders (1 Timothy 4:14), and qualified according to the standards found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. His duties include leading (1 Timothy 5:17), pastoring or shepherding the flock (Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:2); guarding the truth (Titus 1:9); and general oversight of the work, including the finances (Acts 11:30).

All elders need to know the Word of God, but some are better teachers than others. Some are less gifted as teachers and more gifted at being leaders.

It is a position that is reserved for men. God created an order among human beings. The man is the head of his family, even if his wife is smarter than he is. God’s Word, not our talent, is the determinative factor in family leadership or spiritual leadership. Being the leader of a congregation is similar to being the leader of a family. A congregation is like an extended family. Just as the head of the home is the man, so the head of the congregation is reserved for male leadership. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?) (1 Timothy 3). The pastor needs to be able to lead, having proven his leadership by doing a good job leading his family.

All of us need a pastor, a shepherd, a rabbi to know and to be known by, to be connected to, to be accountable to. Hebrew 13:17 is very clear: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Spiritual “Lone Rangers” are defying the will of God. Messianic Jews and Christians will not become spiritually mature without being part of a local community and a God-ordained local shepherd. And don’t waste my time by telling me that your pastor is some guy on TV and that is your church.

Teachers: A pastor needs to be able to teach, but a teacher is not necessarily a pastor. A teacher is someone who has an ability to understand the Word of God and be able to clearly explain it. He may give his teaching orally or he may write it down. Commentaries are the works of teachers who write their teaching down. If they are truly gifted teachers, their commentaries are a gift from the Lord to us. Do not dismiss or make fun of “commentaries.”

What is the purpose of Messiah’s gifts of spiritual leadership to His Community? Spiritual leaders are to equip the rest of the community to serve – to reach out to those outside the community of salvation and bring them into the community; and to equip the community so that it grows in knowledge, in unity and in maturity. Messiah Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Messiah may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah.

The leaders of the Community are not to do all the work of the Community. Even though they may be paid, that doesn’t mean that they are responsible to do all the work. No, their responsibility is to equip the rest of the Community to do the work.

The leaders train the rest so that three things happen:

We maintain the unity of the faith: We all believe the same core teachings.

We all have the same understanding of who the Son of God is.

We all become spiritually mature men and women, having Messiah as our example.

Spiritual leaders help us maintain the unity of the faith: The leaders teach us so that we all believe the same core truths – in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and Earth.

We all believe in Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah, the Father’s unique Son, and our Lord. We all believe that Messiah was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; that He descended to the dead and on the third day He rose again; that He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. We all believe in the Holy Spirit, and the one community of all of Messiah’s true followers; the unity of all the sons and daughters of God; the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and eternal life – the life everlasting.

We all believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God; in the divine inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible; that we are saved by grace through faith, and not by human effort. Spiritual leaders equip us so that we can maintain the unity of the faith.

Spiritual leaders equip us so that we all have the same understanding of who the Son of God is – the eternal, uncreated divine Son of God; one in nature with the Father, but distinct from the Father as to His person; the Messiah – the ultimate prophet, priest, king and savior; the Seed of the Woman who can alone reverse the catastrophe of Eden; the one and only savior of fallen mankind; fully god and fully man; Immanuel – God With Us; born of a virgin; the only human being who lived a perfect life; who died an atoning death which alone is able to provide forgiveness of all of our sins and reconcile us to God; the Sinless One who rose from the dead; the risen Messiah and living Lord who ascended to Heaven;

who, right now, is seated at the right hand of His Father; the glorious and all-powerful Lord of Heaven and Earth; the Savior who gives His Spirit to those who become loyal to Him; who continues to help us by His intercession for us; the Living Head of the Community of Jews and people from the nations called out from the world; the coming King who will return to Earth and rule from Jerusalem over Israel and the nations. Spiritual leaders equip us so that we all have the same understanding of who the Son of God is.

Spiritual leaders equip us so that we all become spiritually mature men and women, having Messiah as our example of spiritual maturity. What does spiritual maturity that the Messiah exemplified look like? Serving God, not the world; living for God, not the world; living for God, not for self; living for eternity, not for the present; putting God’s will above our own will; godly character; righteousness, holiness; sacrificial love; knowing and living the Word of God; purpose driven living; living to tells others the truth that alone can save them. Spiritual leaders equip us so that we all become spiritually mature men and women, having Messiah as our example of spiritual maturity.

And what is the result of Messiah’s gifts of spiritual leadership to His Community, so that we are united in what we believe and are knowledgeable about the Son of God, and are spiritually mature? Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

When the spiritual leaders are finished training us so that we are united in what we believe and really know the Son of God and who He is and are spiritually mature, we become wise, discerning, stable, unmovable, reliable, much more able to be used by God to further His plans in this world.

False teachings won’t confuse us. Crafty, cunning men won’t be able to deceive us or misdirect us or take advantage of us. We will no longer be like babies, ignorant and easily manipulated, or like ships at sea, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of false teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

United in what we believe, really knowing the Son of God, spiritually mature, not deceived by false men or false teachings, we will know the truth and speak the truth in love – even if speaking the truth at times hurts. We will be able to speak the truth in love, even if the truth hurts – not speaking out of anger, but speaking in a redemptive way – not with a desire to hurt but to help, to redeem. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Messiah. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

When we speak the truth in love to each other, reminding ourselves about what is true; what is right; what our priorities should be; what is godly, and what our character should be like, and who Messiah is and what He wants us to do, and why sin doesn’t pay, we become a mature and united and strong and growing and attractive Community that is able to work together efficiently and is able to be greatly used by God.

Like a human body in good health and in good shape, functioning efficiently to accomplish many useful and beneficial tasks, each one of us will use the diverse gifts the Lord gives to us to build up the Community. Each one of us works, and we all work together in unity. There’s no jealousy to bring disunity, only love. There’s no false teachers to sap our energy – only good leaders uniting us around the truth.

We need good earthly spiritual leaders, but we also absolutely need our supreme spiritual leader, the Head of the Community, our living Lord who unites us to Himself and to one another, and helps us grow as a community and empowers us to reach out to a dead world around us.

When Messiah’s Community is united in what we believe, really knowing the Son of God, and spiritually mature, in a sense, the Incarnation continues – in us. Messiah becomes increasingly incarnate – in us. We model the life of the Messiah to the world. The Messiah becomes alive and active and visible on Earth – through us. The light continues to shines in the darkness. The world sees us and it sees Him – living in us.

And we even do greater works than He did because while He was on Earth, His ministry was limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel – but His Body, His Community of Messianic Jews and Christians from the nations reaches billions and touches people from every nation and people and language group. Messiah’s great mission of salvation – to rescue men and women in a lost and dying world continues – through us.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Messiah apportioned it. This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people.” (What does “He ascended” mean except that He also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) So Messiah Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Messiah may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Messiah.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Messiah.

From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

May this become more and more true of us in 2014:

May we live a life worthy of the calling we have received.

May we be completely humble and gentle; patient, bearing with one another in love.

May we make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

May we be blessed with good spiritual leaders.

May we maintain the unity of the faith and all believe the same true, core teachings.

May we all have the same understanding of who the wonderful Son of God is.

May we all become spiritually mature men and women, with Messiah as our example of spiritual maturity.

May each one of us use the gifts we have been graced with to serve the Lord and build up His Community and reach the lost with the Good News about Messiah that can save them from Satan and the demons, sin and the sin nature, death and Hell.