Ministry Offices ~ The Fingers of God ~ Introduction

As we have concluded the series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Series, I feel led to add a period to the series.  A final punctuation so to speak relating to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Just as there are nine gifts of the Spirit I reviewed, so too, there are nine ministry gifts aka offices.  I want to talk about those in this post.

The first five ministry offices are according to Ephesians 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.  Also referred to as the fivefold ministry, I liken these callings to the five fingers on the Hand of God.

There are those who hold all five offices and then others, who operate in one major ministry office (or a combination of them).  The office callings are for both male and female.  And they cannot be obtained through asking the Lord for an appointment.  It’s God’s choice and His calling to be fulfilled.

From a teaching on the Holy Spirit by Kenneth Hagin: “It is certainly true that gifts of the Spirit may be manifested through the laity, because the Bible does say, "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given TO EVERY MAN to profit withal" (1Cor. 12:7).  However, there are those in the fivefold ministry who are especially equipped with certain gifts of the Spirit in order to fulfill their office or function in the Body of Christ. We do not call those people spiritual gifts or gifts of the Spirit; they are ministries or ministry gifts that God has set in the Church.”

So, we understand that ministry gifts, offices or ministries (all the same thing) are different than the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the offices of the fivefold ministry are like the five fingers on the Hand of God.  I say this because the Body of Christ aka Christ’s church has to have all five fingers working to create the grip of God.  If one of the fingers is cut off then, the hand does not have sufficient power nor precision to perform the work of our Lord.

The five fingers of God are the five offices on the Hand of God which work together to build unity and maturity in the Body.  All are to work together in a body of believers but if one office does not recognize another office or says they do not exist anymore then the body becomes lopsided.  Would God cut off one of His fingers?  They are all necessary.

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”  (1 Corinthians 12:18-25).

For what reason did God do this?  For the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.  (Ephesians 4:12-13).

There are some in the body of Christ that deny certain offices still exist and they do not allow them to operate publicly.  This is especially true of the apostle and prophet offices.  “Some controversy has arisen in our day about the roles of the apostle and prophet in the Body of Christ. Some believers purport that these offices do not even exist today.”  Hagin, Kenneth E., He Gave Gifts unto Men.

I think if the Lord had removed any ministry office, He would have made it clear in scripture.  But that is not the case and I believe what God’s word says, even today!  I have seen a body put too much emphasis on a couple of ministries (i.e., pastor, teacher) while disregarding the other offices to their determent.  It speaks to me that the leadership is afraid of that office and/or they don’t believe it exists; perhaps even hiding from it and to what end?

Let brotherly love continue.  (Hebrews 13:1).

Do you wonder why we have not reached the fullness of the Body of Christ?  I believe this is part of the reason.  We have cut off members, cut off the fingers of God!

And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  (Ephesians 1:22-23).

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.  (Colossians 1:19-20).

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.  (Colossians 2:9).

I stated at the start that there are nine ministries: Apostles; Prophets; Evangelists; Pastors; Teachers (the fivefold ministry); and then there are Helps; Government; Miracles; and Healing.  I like to think of the remaining four ministry callings as the Helping Hand of God.  Why?  Because they help the fivefold ministry.

Next time, we will look at each ministry office.  I will also include personal stories of people who answered God’s call into a ministry office.  Perhaps, our Lord is calling you into one!