The Work of the Ministry
In Ephesians 4:12 the Apostle Paul says, “For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ.” The four kinds of saints who are endued with a special gift in verse 11 have only one ministry, that is, to minister Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, the church. This is the unique ministry in the New Testament economy (2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12).
The building up of the Body of Christ is the work of the ministry. Whatever the gifted persons do as the work of the ministry must be for the building up of the Body of Christ.
In the excerpts from the ministry that follows, we see the kind of work a worker does in doing the work of the ministry.
He is one who
(1) carries out God’s New Testament ministry;
(2) carries out the work of the church;
(3) works in the Body;
(4) does only the work of the Lord’s recovery; and
(5) builds up the Body of Christ: