Don’t Worry About Titles
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12). From our theme verse, it’s clear that it’s God who appoints or calls people into these ministry offices.
You don’t just look at yourself and say, “What gift do I have?” and then apportion a name for yourself. It doesn’t work like that.
Back then, as we were growing up as spiritual adolescents, there were those who thought they had a ministry. I remember some who were called prophets, and some apostles; they distributed among themselves one office or the other. But some of those people today aren’t even Christians anymore; they left the faith years ago.
What they needed to understand was, there’s a growth to this thing. Even Paul who was called to be an apostle didn’t start out as an apostle. The Bible says there were certain prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch, and Paul (who was also called Saul) was named as one of them (Acts 13:1). He wasn’t yet called an apostle, even though he was called into the apostolic ministry.
The callings are at different levels. At a certain level of your life, it’s being formed, but don’t go faster than the Lord would want you to. The Bible says, “And no man taketh this honour unto himself…” (Hebrews 5:4).
Don’t take the honour upon yourself. After all, does it matter if people don’t call you by the title you love? Isn’t it better to just do the work? It makes more sense, because if they call you by the title and then you don’t fulfil it, that’s not a good thing.
It’s not right to be respected for something you’re not. Never let such things bother you. What matters to God is the state of your heart; not the title by which you’re addressed. Greatness isn’t in your title or in the recognition you enjoy from men; it’s in the quality of your personality; who you are with God.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be loved and called by you. I fulfil my calling in the Gospel without reproach, motivated by your will and vision of salvation of souls and dissemination of the truth. Therefore, I joyfully take up the great commission to reach out with the light of the Gospel to those living in darkness, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY:
1 Peter 5:6; Matthew 20:26-28; Hebrews 5:4 AMPC
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: 1 Peter 1:1-21 Ezekiel 27-28
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: John 13:31-38 1 Chronicles 22
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