Prayer: Father, Your instruction manual is the scriptures. May we seek direction from the ultimate instruction manual for life! It is our source for life, for it is Your word. Amen.
Reading: Leviticus 21 key: vs. 8
8 Therefore you are to sanctify him, because he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, Adonai, who sanctifies you, am holy.
Attention: Can we agree that the code or requirements (expectations, moral code) was higher and stricter than for those who were not of the priestly, Levitical family? In the Old Testament, the priestly line flowed through the tribe of Levi. Not all Levites were priests, but all priests were Levites. Can we also agree that with the new advent of Yeshua faith followers, He became our High Priest and the priestly line was fulfilled and transitioned through Messiah?
What was instituted was a new spiritual leadership gifting which we find in Ephesians 4:11-12, “He (Messiah) Himself gave some to be emissaries (many times called apostles in other translations), some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News (what we have come to call Evangelists), and some as shepherds and teachers—to equip the kedoshim for the work of service, for building up the body of Messiah.”
There is much that could be said of this passage of scripture. Just by observation, emissaries or apostles are mentioned first. I believe this was not an alphabetical exercise, but that emissaries had a higher calling. Many of the original apostles were martyred for their faith. I’ll leave that as the primary high calling of an apostle. Secondly, prophets are listed because of the uniqueness of their calling. Apostles are the fewest appointed and are the governing body of the body of faith. Could it be that because we have forsaken this structure and order to the body of faith, we have also forfeited unity of the body? We do not see a denominational structure in the scriptures.
Then we see the proclaimers of the Good News. We are growing in size and structure with every new office. I believe we are all to be a proclaimer of the Good News. The giftings were not professionally structured. Few were educated in schools of higher education. But all were educated or mentored by the Holy Spirit.
Next, we see shepherds. The church culture has elevated the gifting of shepherding to the equivalency of the Pastor or pastoral ministry. Notice that the scriptural reference in Ephesians says, “shepherds and teachers.” I have been a church attender for most of my life. I have heard great expository preaching and I have experienced good shepherding, rarely in combination. It is a rare gifting for a man or woman to have both.
In conclusion, many denominations do not recognize the ongoing office of apostle and prophet for today. Perhaps forsaking the instruction given to us by the Holy Spirit has caused the current shaking the church is experiencing today. Maybe we need to reinstate the gifting offices which the Holy Spirit declared through Paul.
Action: I choose to embrace the biblical structure which the Holy Spirit instituted in Ephesians 4.
Yield: I to the Holy Spirit’s instruction.
Engage: I choose to engage with the structure instituted by the Holy Spirit.
Relationship: I choose to lock step with the Holy Spirit and scripture.
Prayer: Father, life goes so much better when I agree with You. Help us to look to You and Your Word for the answers to life and a lifestyle which is pleasing to You.
Memory Verse: Ephesians 4:11-12
11 He Himself gave some to be emissaries, some as prophets, some as proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers— 12 to equip the kedoshim for the work of service, for building up the body of Messiah.
Music Video: David Crowder Band—How He Loves Us https://youtu.be/GzfPHnoT0-0
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”