The purpose of serving in the church

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–13)

The thing that grabbed me when I read this was that the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers all have a single, greater purpose: to equip the people, so the body of Christ can be built up. What does that even mean? Think of building up a wall: it means making it bigger and stronger.

At the start of chapter 4 Paul talks about “living a life worthy of the calling.” It’s far too easy to forget that our ultimate goal is to tell people of the hope we have in Christ, who saved our lives from destruction. That’s what’s going to make the wall bigger and stronger.