4:7-16 THE The Believer’ s Walk in Unity (4:7-16) The Means of Unity (4:7-16) Welcome to the Ministry explore it and let the Spirit of the house enlighten you. The Ministry is a place where God works as King and govern His kingdom, in here we have all the ministries that receives orders of what to be done, His plans are revealed here, the main plan to be reached is the perfection, unity, stature and fullness of Christ. The Means of Unity (4:7-16) V.7-10 a) Measure - I. The measure of the gifts of grace. 1. Every believer has an underserved gift, a certain measure of grace. 1.Pet.4:10-11 (either serving or speaking gifts). 2. He descended to obtain the gift, He ascended to give the gifts. Rom.12:4-8; 1.Cor.12:4-11 3. The paraphrase is from Psalms 68:18 4. He led the spiritual evil realm to captivity in a triumphal train. Col.2:15; 2.Cor.2:14 II. The measure of Christ Christ is God and therefore Omnipresent. Eph.1:23; Col.1:16-18; 2:9 V.11 b) Ministry - Some of the gifts to men are described through the 5-fold ministries. 1. Apostles - The architects of the body. They see the whole perspective and know the blueprint, they are the first to begin the job, they are the church builders and godly authorities, they are mending the Church. Characteristic: Authority, power and networking. Matt.10:1-4; 1.Cor.15:8-9; Acts.14:14; Rom.16:7 2. Prophets - The building inspectors of the body. Exhorts if error are spotted and encourage continuing the good work, they sees the unseen and hear the unheard. Characteristic: Vision, confrontation and prophecy. Acts 13:1; 15:32; 21:10-12 3. Evangelists - The employers that finds people for the body. They find the people that want to build and be a part of the kingdom of God, they find the living stones. Characteristic: Declaration, zeal and power. Acts 21:8; 8:6-40; 2.Tim.4:5 4. Pastors - The overseers of the body. They are the overseers and elders that know how the building ought to be like and therefore leads and guides accordingly, they are elders because they have been building in many years and are mature. Characteristic: Oversight, love and maturity. Acts 20:17-38; 1.Tim.3:1-7; Tit.1:5-9; 1.Pet.5:1-3 5. Teachers - The instructors of the body. They are good to instruct in details where things ought to be and look like, they have understanding to distinguish what is false and what is good material, they are the seminary trainers that educate people to be good builders. Characteristic: Depth, understanding and right dividing. Acts 13:1; 1.Tim.2:7 V.12 c) Motivation - I. The 5-fold ministry that were given by Christ were to be used for one reason alone: They should use their gifts to edify and equip believers gifts which Christ also gave to build up His body. II. "Equipping" (Gr. katartismon) means preparing, mending or restoring Gal. 6:1; Matt. 4:21 V.13-15 d) Maturity - The 5-fold ministry are given until the body is mature, probably the same as the gifts of the Spirit. 1.Cor.13:8-11 Maturity of the man is reached when: I. Unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God. II. Perfect manhood. 1.Cor.13:10 III. Measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. IV. Understanding the right doctrine. 1.Cor.13:11; Heb.13:9; 2.Tim.3:13 V. Speaking truth in love. 1.Cor.13:8-9 VI. Growing up to the head. 1.Cor.13:12; Col.1:10 V.16 e) Members - 1. Joined describes each unity. 2. Supply describes each gifts. 3. Working describes each service. 4. Share describes each giving. These causes growth of the body - for where unity is manifested anointing flows (through gifts), where gifts are manifested there is service and where service are manifested there is giving.