The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God gives grace to every member of the Body of Christ. The grace includes gifts and ministries. In Ephesians, five ministries are listed, the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher (or pastor-teacher, making four instead of five ministries).

The five (or four) ministries listed are not set forth as such anywhere else in the New Testament, and are placed by Paul in the same category as the gifts.

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (I Corinthians 12:28)

Therefore we view the gifts and ministries as examples of the grace given to the believers so they may perform the work of the ministry, without distinguishing between gifts and five majestic ministries.

The Old Testament reveals the ultimate purpose of the gifts and ministries.

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. (Psalms 68:18)

The purpose of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit is to prepare a dwelling place for God.

But it is Christ who is the only dwelling place of God.

Therefore, the purpose of the gifts and ministries must be to build up Christ.

This is exactly what we find.

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12,13)

God has given to each believer one or more gifts and a ministry so that he or she may be equipped to accomplish the purpose of God, which is to provide a dwelling place for Himself. Since the dwelling place of God is Christ, then the goal of every gift and ministry given by the Holy Spirit is to bring each believer to a perfect man, to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.

In God's great house there are many rooms. The chief Cornerstone of the house of God is Jesus Christ. You and I are living stones in that house so that the whole is one dwelling place of the Father.

However, the Father will dwell only in Christ. If we are to be the dwelling place of God, Christ must be formed in us. The purpose of the gifts and ministries given to the believers is to form Christ in each member of the Body of Christ.

We can easily see from this how important each member of the Body is. The ascended Christ has imparted grace to each one of us. Each member of the Body of Christ has an important role to play in building up the Body.

To be continued.