1 Important Five Fold Ministry Lesson From The Olympics
Coaches and Athletes
Reflecting on five fold ministry gifts, my mind goes to the Olympics. The Olympics, you ask? Yes, follow my train of thought.
I know am one of the millions of people on the planet who enjoy watching the Olympics. I am sure you are one as well. As one of those millions of people, I am sure that none of you are sitting glued to your television or computer to see Cecile, Laurent Landi, or Lance Brauman.
Who are these, you may ask?
Well, they are the coaches of Simone Biles and Noah Lyles, respectively. We hardly know their names, but their work is expressed in the extraordinary performance of the ones we did come to see, namely Biles and Lyles. (The name choices are for the sake of the analogy, not a plug for any country.) No one comes to see coaches; they are not the stars; we come to see the athletes. This is as it should be.
Now, the athlete is a type of the church. However, in the church, we have reversed this principle. The coaches in the church are the fivefold ministry gifts Jesus gave us, namely, apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. However, unfortunately, they no longer see themselves as coaches who exist to build up the body so that the Body can come to maturity and “break records”. But they now see themselves as “the athletes” and clamour for the limelight, quoting themselves, promoting themselves, gathering among themselves to measure themselves by themselves, and seeing themselves as something separate and distinct from The Body and worthy of attention.
The cloud of witnesses in the eternal stands and, indeed, the Triune God Himself are not in heaven to see coaches, those who serve the Body in the capacity of one of those fivefold gifts, but to see a mature, beautiful athlete, the bride of Christ, running her race without spot, wrinkle or blemish. She is the star and focus, not the coach.
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 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 Christ.
14 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. 15 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, Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-15)
As fivefold ministers, our joy and glory are tied to the church`s growth and maturity. When she runs “sub 10”, we rejoice. When she “clears her hurdles”, we rejoice. We rejoice when she shoots her enemy dead centre with her hand in her pocket with no gear. When she wins, we win; there is no rejoicing nor glory for those who serve the Body in the capacity of their gifting—only in her winning the gold, namely, the well done of Jesus Christ at the end of the age.
