The
Personality of The Five-Fold Ministry
The Bible gives many specific
guidelines as to the personality of the members of the Five-Fold ministry. They
should be: zealous, able to give good stewardship, have enthusiasm, and be a
faithful servant.
First lets look at the Hebrew word for
zealousXnaqa qanna, kan-naw jealous. To win the heart, acquired a reputation,
gained him, her, myself a name. Settled permanently; took a stand. The Greek
equivalent to it is zeµloáoµ, dzay-loá´-o or
zeµleáuoµ dzay-loo´-o; to have warmth of feeling for or against:—
affect, covet (earnestly), (have) desire, (move with) envy, be jealous over,
(be) zealous (-ly affect).
In the Book on
Numbers we see an illustration of the zealousness of the High Priest Phinehas,
who took a stand for the covenant of Yahweh. He ran his lance, through the
Yisraelites who were in the act of Fornicating with the Moabite woman. Numbers
25:10 Then YAHVEH spoke to Moses,
saying: 11“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,
has turned back My wrath from the children of Yisrael, because he was zealous
with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Yisrael in
My zeal. 12“Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him My covenant of
peace; 13‘and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a
covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his YAHVEH,
and made atonement for the children of Yisrael. Notice that he and his descendants
were later rewarded with an everlasting priesthood, because of his zealousness.
Other
examples of zeal in scripture are as follows: II King 10:15 Now
when he departed from there, he met Jehonadab the son of Rechab, coming to meet
him; and he greeted him and said to him, “Is your heart right, as my heart is
toward your heart?” And Jehonadab answered, “It is.” Jehu said, “If it is, give
me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the
chariot. 16Then he said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for
YAHVEH.” So they had him ride in his chariot. 17And when he came to Samaria , he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria
Zeal
in the life of Yahushua John 2:13 Now the
Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Yahushua went up to Jerusalem
Psalms
119: 137 Righteous are You, O Lord, And upright are Your
judgments. 138 Your testimonies, which You have commanded, Are
righteous and very faithful. 139 My zeal has consumed me, Because my
enemies have forgotten Your words. 140 Your word is very
pure; Therefore Your servant loves it. As the fat of the bull is set apart from
the communion sacrifice, so was David chosen out of his brothers. He played
with lions as if were a lambs. He slew the giant as a boy in zeal for his
country and people pride. He called on YAHVEH of Hosts who gave him strength.
David destroyed the enemy of Yisrael on every front, totally annihilated them.
In all of his triumph he gave all the glory to the Holy One in words of Psalms,
and music. He gave the feasts of Yisrael their splendor, the festivals their
solemn pomp, causing Yahweh’s holy name to be praised for generations. Yahweh
took away his sins, and made him stronger, and gave him a royal covenant, and
an everlasting throne in Yisrael.
Isaiah 9:7
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government
will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty YAHVEH, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the
increase of His government and peace There will be
no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and
establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of YAHVEH of hosts will perform this. Because of the Zeal of David he
became one of the forefathers of our Messiyah.
Acts 21:18 On the
following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were
present. 19 When he had greeted them, he told in detail those
things, which YAHVEH had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20And
when they heard it, they glorified YAHVEH. And they said to him, “You
see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they
are all zealous for the law. These Jews were already looking for the Messiyah; it
was on the day of Pentecost, the time when most Jews would gather to see the
fulfillment of the Festive season. Due to their zealousness for the Torah, they
were in Jerusalem
I Corinthians 14:12 Even so you, since you are
zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the
edification of the church that you seek to excel. Spiritual gifts
have been a rare commodity in today’s churches, some where along the way we
have lost the importance of these gifts. These should be essential gifts in the
Redeemed community, they should be the standard by which a minister is chosen
for ministry.
II Corinthians 9:1 Now
concerning the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to
you; 2 for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to
the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up
the majority. As a leader in the church, our only boasting should be in the development
of the saints, not in how big our church and offering is.
Titus 2:11 For
the grace of YAHVEH that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching
us that, denying unYAHVEHliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and YAHVEHly in the present age, 13 looking for the
blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great YAHVEH and Savior Yahushua The
Messiyah, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from
every lawless deed and purify for Himself, His own special people, zealous
for good works. 15 Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all
authority.
When a person is redeemed and is full of
the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Adonai, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding,
The Spirit of Power and Counsel, The Spirit of Knowledge and the fear of
Adonai, becomes apart of them. The zealousness here is from the Spirit of Power
to give counsel or preach to others the good news.
The last four scriptures are a
remarkable indictment of the necessity of zeal for the Five-Fold ministry. I
like most of all the ending of the Titus scripture: Yahushua who gave Himself
for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself,
His own special ministers, zealous for good works. Speak the Gospel, exhort, and rebuke with
all authority. In the vision to John on the Isles of Patmos Yahushua revealed:
Revelations 3:18 “I counsel you to buy from Me
gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you
may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed;
and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19“As many as
I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be
zealous and repent.
Steward
The
subject of stewardship is an important characteristic trait for the Five-Fold
ministry. It comes from the Hebrew root word lklk – kalkal one
who represent. A steward is a man who stands in a living relationship to all that is
YAHVEH, and an equal close relationship to all who look to his Lord for every
bit of their survival. The steward is a very responsible person, who is
responsible for the reputation of his Master’s House.
Whatever
today’s world knows of its Heavenly Master depends largely on the steward. What
the world and the household receives in blessing and maturity, also depend on
the steward (ministry).
The great
Apostle Paul spoke of himself as a steward, having been entrusted with a
stewardship, and it is important to note that he applies the term to the
believers in the Corinthian congregation. Paul said let a man so account of us,
as of ministers of Yahushua, and stewards of the mysteries of YAHVEH. Paul is
elucidating to the fact that those of us who are in the Body of Yahushua,
should be through spiritual maturity that one reaches the position of
stewardship. We as believers cannot evade the issue by saying that ministry is
for selected individuals such as Paul. This clearly applies to everyone in the
Corinthian’s congregation, and the exhortation is that everyone in the Body of
The Messiyah should be able to be regarded, as a steward.
This
speaks of having more than a membership list for believers, but to a place of
specific and definite responsibility on two fronts. One to the Messiyah, and
two to the individual. To YAHVEH by making His business our business, in an
active way, and to the individual in a similar way.
The churches
need to be reminded, that the essence of their responsibility, is never passive
but active. There is a tremendous responsibility resting upon everyone who is
en-graphed into the vine and that is to bear fruit worthy of their calling.
Part of the vine or membership in the family of the household of faith, is but
one of many phases of truth, of the teaching of the Word of YAHVEH, and Ii
carries its own special meaning. The mere fact that a believer is called by a
variety of designations shows that they complement each other. We are all
called to be stewards; this observation leads us to one important
consideration, the qualification for stewardship.
A steward must
qualify for his or her stewardship. A steward minister must be a man of certain
definite characteristics. The fulfillment of that stewardship will demand
experiences; we cannot just step into a true spiritual ministry at will. There
has to be a real preparation process, a real development stage, a real maturing
in the spiritual realm. YAHVEH is aware of our special enablement, special
gifts, special qualifications, and for such equipment he had to go through
special experiences. Stewardship is a mater of training, and intense training
at that.
The Holy
Spirit takes us into many different kinds of experience in order to make us
able stewards. The world does not go
through quite the same kind of experience; there are features about our
experiences that are common to us. The people of the world may go through
certain suffering which may seem like suffering, they may experience the
difficulty of poverty, status, but in reality the experience of the believers
is for a higher calling. Believers have a spiritual factor associated with
their experiences. Believers goes through a great deal more as YAHVEH’s people
which we should never go through if we were not His people. We have to take
into account that as YAHVEH’s people He allows the enemy to try us, in order to
determine our qualification.
We are
aware that what governs YAHVEH in His dealings with us, is our maturity. How do
these things accomplish such an end? A YAHVEH
sent steward would know the needs of every person under his stewardship. He
must know of every need, and the nature of that need to which that need
applies. This steward of YAHVEH is not just a minister; He is not someone who
graduates from Bible
School
YAHVEH
deals with us in order that we might be able to minister effectively to others.
His stewards are to be men of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom, who can
touch the various needs, who can reach into the heart of every person and loose
the spring of living waters. We must be able to hold the hand of the individual
and walk them through the situation as someone who has experienced it. The
steward must be able to understand the individual position, his corporate
position not as one who merely possesses an academic knowledge, but a spiritual
understanding of the situation.
YAHVEH’s way of training His
stewards is to take them through a variety of circumstances such as Job, who is
then better to meet the need than one who has been there and done that, and
seen that before.
The steward has not only to understand the nature of the need to be
met, but he must have an equal knowledge of the resources with which he is to
meet it. He must know the quality of that which he is to meet it. He must know
the quality of that which is at his command, the nature of it, and the values
that are in it. We can never know the values of the things of YAHVEH unless we
have gone through experiences in which we have put them to the test and proved
them. No one really knows the value of Divine things that has not proved their
value in his own life.
The
stewardship of the Gospel is something more than our seeing the Gospel of the
grace of YAHVEH in the New Testament as a system of truth, as something which
embraces in a formula certain matters such as forgiveness of sins,
justification by faith, and all the other elements of the Gospel.
The
Stewardship of the Gospel implies that the Gospel has become wrought into the
very being of the Stewart, and that the Stewart himself is rejoicing in it.
Such a Stewart can come out of the treasure house and meet the household, and
meet those beyond saying, I have something here of tremendous value, I know it,
I am rejoicing, I can also assure you it is not ad hoc. It is something that is
the result of my study, gleaning from the Holy Spirit through the Spirit of
Understanding, so I am always up to date in my personal knowledge in these
matters.
What is
true of the Gospel two thousand years ago is true today. What is true in the
Old Testament is true in the New. You and I must be led into the mysteries of YAHVEH,
into the depths, to discover those secrets, in order that we may come out with
the treasures of darkness, Isaiah 45: 3 will give you the treasures of darkness And
hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, YAHVEH, Who call you by your name, Am
the YAHVEH of Yisrael.
Everything
seems dead, and desolate, poverty and starvation seems to rule, but for one to
come through it with the treasure of darkness, we need a steward. Stewards are The
Mighty Hand of YAHVEH who have been through the darkness and have discovered
the wonderful treasures and have the precious treasure it has to offer.
Faithfulness
As a sheep goes through the many cycles to come to maturity, a sense of
urgency should be developed. As young women reach puberty and beyond a sense of
urgency to reproduce becomes the norm. What is your sense of urgency to
reproduce spiritually; how much have I to offer from my experiences? Are you
sure that you are dispensing what you have experienced?
The Holy Spirit has not dealt with us, in order for us to be a
spiritual hermit, to enjoy our relationship with Him alone. When mature
believers allow this fact to govern them we will see true revival in the
Church. We need to hold fast to the ideal that our trials are the mode by which
we come to maturity if we remain faithful. There are so many who have a
significant spiritual wealth and have not made themselves available to teach or
shepherd others. This is not spiritual maturity! Spiritual maturity is giving
of the Bread of life that had been given to us. This is in essence what
communion is all about. Yahushua gave of the Word, the bread, and the Wine the
Holy Spirit, to His disciples at the last supper, and He told the disciples in
Matthew 23:19 to go and do likewise.
This is not about the doctrine of the Eucharist, but our concept has
been wrong. At the Last supper, Yahushua broke the bread and handed it to the
person next to Him, He in turn broke it and handed it to the next person, and
on and on! So was the wine, He first drank from the cup of the Promises of YAHVEH
in Exodus 6:6 and passed it on to the next. So too is how today’s Gospel is to
be preached! By feeding others from the same cup, and bread, and drinking from
the same well as Abraham, so we will all receive living water, as Yahushua said
to the Lady at the well, the same well dug by Abraham. That is the faithfulness
Yahushua talked about when He said, I will give you water that you will never
thirst again.
We need to ask the Holy Spirit to release us into the ministry with the
Anointing of the Spirit of the Fear of YAHVEH, to help us to be faithful. The
fruit of a faithful steward will remain although that steward may be called
away by the Father, but his stewardship goes on. Faithfulness is always
rewarded beyond our wildest dreams. May faithfulness, one of the fruits of the
Spirit, be manifested in the life of every Shepherd?
The
Mighty Hand of YAHVEH did not lead you through the valley and mountain trials,
through the dark places, the storms, through strange experiences just to have you
sit on it. The Holy Spirit has not dealt with you as He has, in order for you
to shut it up to yourself. He did it so you can be a light in a dark place. If
we will only allow that same principle to govern us in our day-to-day
difficulty, it will help us through.
As
ministers of the Gospel we need to hold fast to the fact and teach others, that
our trials is a means of enrichment for the believers, and an increase of
equipment and qualification for stewardship. There are so many who possess
tremendous spiritual wealth and are not given the opportunity to make it
available for others. They have a knowledge of the process of YAHVEH that comes
through experience and revelation, and if only they would get along side of
others, they too would benefit from their knowledge.
They need
to ask the Holy Spirit to release them into their area of stewardship within
the Five-Fold ministry. Whether we have the resources or not is not important.
We must simply have the mind to minister to the flock, YAHVEH will create living
contacts, Children of YAHVEH may cross your path in dire need, and you may be
the one who possesses the Spiritual Wisdom, Knowledge and Power to help. They
may cross your pat, in a variety of circumstances, and we have failed in our
stewardship. They have not received that for which they have been asking.
The Word
of YAHVEH is required in stewardship, and that a minister be found faithful,
not eloquent, intellectual, strong willed, none of these things. What is YAH’S
mental concept of a steward, is it great spokemanship; no it is to be found
faithful. This is the greatest virtue in the eyes of YAHVEH for the Five-Fold
ministry to be found faithful.
In the abundance of scripture we
see that those who YAHVEH thinks very highly of are those who are zealous, they
are rewarded with special blessing. It is inevitable then for us who are called
to the Five-Fold Ministry, The Mighty Hand of YAHVEH, to develop a zeal for the
covenant of YAHVEH. In the abundance of scripture we see that YAHVEH places a
high value on zealousness from those who represent Him. Without exception, they
all possess this amazing characteristic, and the reward is obvious.
Servant
The term
Servant-hood in the Old Testament is described by the Hebrew word dBxeZ which means slave or servant. The Greek word douloz means
bondservant, a slave, and a hired hand is often used to describe the ministry
position. A person devoted to any service, ministers are called the servant of YAHVEH.
Let’s look at some of the scripture that are used in both The Old and New
Testament to describe this ever-important office.
1 Peter. 2:18 Servants,
be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is
commendable, if because of conscience toward YAHVEH one endures grief,
suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if,
when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do
good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before YAHVEH.
YAHVEH has given us an abundance of
examples of great men and woman some of whom have been illustrated above in
scripture, but there are even more. Some carried the authority of King and were
renowned for their strength. Others were an agent of immense intelligence, who
uttered prophetic sayings.
Others directed the people with
their YAHVEHly advice, and the wise counsel of their words and teachings.
Others composed musical melodies and set down ballads. Others were rich and
powerful; others still were of modest means. They were all honored by their
contemporaries and were the glory of their day.
Enoch life was pleasing to YAHVEH
and as a result he was transported directly to heaven, an example for the
redeemed of all generations. Noah was found perfectly upright in a time of
retribution and he became the heir of an everlasting covenant.
Abraham whom YAHVEH had promised him through an oath to
bless the nations through his descendants. Isaac and Jacob for the sake of
Abraham, was assured the blessing of all humanity, causing the covenant to rest
on the head of Jacob.
YAHVEH gave Moses the commandments face to face, the law of
life and knowledge, to teach the world his ordinances and Yisrael his decrees.
Joshua, mighty in war, which destroy all resistance to make the nation
acknowledge his warlike prowess and that he was waging war on behalf of YAHVEH.
Caleb, for he was a follower of the
Mighty One, who showed his devotion to Moses, He was two out of six hundred
thousand men who made it to the Promised Land. Samuel was the beloved of
YAHVEH, who spoke from the depths of his heart in prophecy, to blot out the
wickedness of the people.
Their descendants stand by the
commandments and thanks to them, so did their children’s children. May YAHVEH
endow our hearts with wisdom to judge his people uprightly, so that the virtues
of our ancestors may never fade, and that their glory may pass to our entire
descendants? The underlying theme here is to do the work, before the
appointed time and at the appointed time YAHVEH will give us our rewards.
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