“Ephesians 4” Call To Equip The Saints For The Work Of Service Through Accountability:
I believe the five fold passions and points of view are in every believer in Jesus Christ since the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ indwells them. So how do we allow the artesian well of the Holy Spirit to surface effectively in all believers to bring maturity and unity to the Body of Christ? That is the calling of the five fold ministry of the Church.
If you allow each of the five fold to arise as a separate entity, you have set yourself up for church splits, theological battles, divisions, and spiritual anarchy in the Church which has been the pattern historically for centuries. How can five passions that are so different and can be so divisive if practiced alone, be so powerful and unifying to the Body of Christ, His Church? The answer is in one word: accountability.
Each of the five must be accountable to the other four through service, through humility, with a spirit of receiving not rejecting, with a spirit of encouragement not criticism, with open accepting arms, not closed ones in opposition. In short, practicing I John 3:16-18, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in the truth.” I am tired of the Church talking about unity, claiming to be one Church under Jesus Christ, but never practicing it. The Church needs to take "actions" in the "truth" of the gospel and start brining maturity to its believers and unity to the Body.
In other words, we can’t “pick up” anything until we “lay it down”. Let’s lay down our lives, lay down our previous mindsets, lay down traditions, lay down previous theologies that have divided the Body of Christ, lay down our defensive critical spirits towards other camps, groups, etc. under the banner of Christianity. Let’s lay them on the altar of as an act of worship. Allow Jesus to do with them as He wills: either burn up and destroy them, or like Daniel’s personal experience in the lion’s den, protect them and allow them to arise with life, or make them totally new and give them back to us. Allow the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ then to teach, implement, and develop in the Church what Jesus’ will is for that which you have been willing to lay down. Jesus had to lay down his life in order to become resurrected. The Cross always precedes resurrection. Let’s lay down horizontally everything in our spiritual and physical lives and allow the supernatural power of God, vertically, to intersect, invade that which we laid down, horizontally, and we have “The Cross”. Only through The Cross whose vertical intersection (John 3:16) of our horizontal relationships with our own brethren (I John 3:16) can bring the humbleness, the brokenness, that which is needed to make five different passionate points of view to “see in unity” in the “Revelation of Jesus Christ”, the Church, as a whole!
The Church has not seen this kind of accountability since its birth centuries ago, for this form of accountability is not through hierarchal leadership but broken servanthood from and to one another, nor is it through power or position but through equality. You not only use your passion to serve others but are freed to develop, grow, and use your passion by being served by other brothers/sisters in the Lord. No one passion or point of view is “the leader” or “the head” under this form of accountability, but is shared jointly and rises to leadership only when called upon by the Holy Spirit. When the spirit of evangelism is needed, the evangelist will arise with the backing of a pastor/shepherd, teacher, prophet, and apostle and will be free to minister in their evangelistic calling. When the spirit of shepherding, of teaching, of prophecy, and the apostolic spirit is needed, they can arise with the backing and support of the other four. Their backs are always covered while being free to do what they do best, their passion to serve Jesus Christ in his gifting to them! What a refreshing, healthy, harmonious way to minister.
Although we do not see it in our current system of leadership and hierarchy in our church structures, the five fold can become a reality when everyone is willing to lay down their lives for each other. That happened in the book of Acts where they freely gave, freely received, freely ministered, and felt freedom and support when the Holy Spirit released them into ministry. Trusting the lead of the Holy Spirit individually and corporately is the key to the effectiveness of this accountability system and the power behind its success.
My prayer is that we, the Church, embrace what already exists in our churches, the evangelistic, pastoral, teaching, prophetic, and apostolic spirits which already exist in its individual believers in Jesus, begin to lay them down on the altar, relinquish control to the Holy Spirit, allowing our Supernatural God to vertically dissect our horizontal world of relationships, The Cross, to produce a powerful resurrected Church. Let's quit talking about it; let's just do it!