APEST in Jesus
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Having looked at each of the gifts of service individually, we’ll check them one by one to see if we can find them active in the life of Yahshua (Jesus). Does Jesus himself demonstrate these gifts, and if so how? Let’s also bear in mind that if he worked through these special gifts 2000 years ago, we can be quite confident that he still does today. His character doesn’t change; he is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Each section begins with an Alan Hirsch quote which we then examine in the light of the character and nature of Christ himself. But before we do that, I want you to understand that all these gifts are equally important and equally valuable. There’s no hierarchy here, though there is a sequence. Apostles prepare the ground for prophets, who prepare the ground for evangelists, who prepare the ground for shepherds, who finally prepare the ground for teachers. At this point, the young gathering (or church) will be ready to begin sending out apostles and the cycle repeats.
You’ll find the quotes on Alan’s What is APEST? page. The tests are not expensive and I recommend them for both leaders and anyone with an interest in the topic.
Apostle
APOSTLES extend the gospel. As the “sent ones,” they ensure that the faith is transmitted from one context to another and from one generation to the next. They are always thinking about the future, bridging barriers, establishing the church in new contexts, developing leaders, networking trans-locally. Yes, if you focus solely on initiating new ideas and rapid expansion, you can leave people and organizations wounded. The shepherding and teaching functions are needed to ensure people are cared for rather than simply used.
Is Jesus an Apostle? He did not merely extend the gospel; he originated it! Was he a ‘sent one’? He was and remains the Sent One, bringing faith and truth from the presence of the Father sharing it freely here in the physical realm of Earth. If that is not transmitting faith from one context to another, I don’t know what is! Did he think about the future and bridge barriers? Just think of the old picture of Jesus as a bridge or plank crossing the gap between heaven and earth.
Did he establish the church? (I will build my church). He developed leaders (his disciples) and he networked trans-locally (the Samaritan woman at the well, healing the Centurion’s servant, raising Jairus’ daughter, calling Lazarus out from the tomb, and discussing truth with the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilatus). It would be really hard to argue that Jesus is not apostolic!
Prophet
PROPHETS know God’s will. They are particularly attuned to God and his truth for today. They bring correction and challenge the dominant assumptions we inherit from the culture. They insist that the community obey what God has commanded. They question the status quo. Without the other types of leaders in place, prophets can become belligerent activists or, paradoxically, disengage from the imperfection of reality and become other-worldly.
So, is Jesus also a prophet? Most certainly! Does he know the will of the Father? Way better than anyone else in history (you’d better believe it.) Is he particularly attuned to Yahweh and his truth for today? Most emphatically! Does he bring correction and challenge the dominant assumptions of his culture and of our own? He insisted (and still insists) that we obey what the Father commands. When did he not challenge the status quo? Certainly he does these things fully, wholeheartedly, and tirelessly. Jesus is, indeed, the greatest prophet of all time – by far.
Towards the end of his ministry, Jesus is clear that the temple will be destroyed and he foretells the misery and horror of those days, this done privately, just speaking with the disciples, but when these events unfolded in 70 AD under the Roman commander Titus they would have remembered his description and would have been confirmed and encouraged that he had the same prophetic spirit as the old testament prophets themselves. (Luke 21)
And Jesus had the same upward connection to the mind of the Father as well as the horizontal concerns about justice in the world that the old testament prophets regularly displayed.
Evangelist
EVANGELISTS recruit. These infectious communicators of the gospel message recruit others to the cause. They call for a personal response to God’s redemption in Christ, and also draw believers to engage the wider mission, growing the church. Evangelists can be so focused on reaching those outside the church that maturing and strengthening those inside is neglected.
Jesus is a recruiter par excellence. He called and worked intensely with a small group of close followers, he spoke to multitudes, but closely taught just a few. He is the evangelist, calling for a personal response from many individuals and not merely growing the church, but founding it in every sense worth considering. If you want to know what an evangelist is like, check out Jesus!
By the time Jesus teaching was complete and the time came for his death, resurrection, and a return to the Father’s presence, his disciples had understood him clearly and fully enough that the four gospel accounts could be written from what had lodged in their memories. They may not agree in every detail or always have precisely the same sequence, but that makes the four accounts more real and no less believable.
Shepherd
SHEPHERDS nurture and protect. Caregivers of the community, they focus on the protection and spiritual maturity of God’s flock, cultivating a loving and spiritually mature network of relationships, making and developing disciples. Shepherds can value stability to the detriment of the mission. They may also foster an unhealthy dependence between the church and themselves.
In what sense is Jesus a shepherd? He’s rightly described as ‘the great Shepherd of the sheep’. He is strong on nurturing and protecting; that was true as he moved among the people in first century Israel, Galilee and Samaria, healing the sick, feeding hungry crowds with abundant fish and bread from almost nothing (making very little stretch a very, very long way). He cared about wine running short at a wedding. He was the greatest of caregivers for his community.
He protected his followers, shielding them by giving everything he had, even his life. And he taught them to bring them to spiritual maturity so that after he returned to the Father, they’d be able to carry on his work once they had received his Spirit from above.
Jesus had a wide network of followers well beyond the eleven men that he closely trained. There were so many that he touched and discipled amongst Samaritans, Romans, Greeks, even members of the Sanhedrin. He valued stability, but not to the detriment of his mission.
Teacher
TEACHERS understand and explain. Communicators of God’s truth and wisdom, they help others remain biblically grounded to better discern God’s will, guiding others toward wisdom, helping the community remain faithful to Christ’s word, and constructing a transferable doctrine. Without the input of the other functions, teachers can fall into dogmatism or dry intellectualism. They may fail to see the personal or missional aspects of the church’s ministry.
And it’s not just a matter of explaining things more clearly or studying the meaning of Hebrew or Greek terms. It’s much more helping people through those ‘I just don’t get it’ moments until they suddenly cry out, ‘Oh, now I see!’ The teaching gift sparks revelation. It’s very clear in the gospels that his disciples had these moments of revelation, over and over again as Jesus taught them. He understood the truth and he understood their difficulties in grasping it. He communicated truth and wisdom more fully than anyone else could ever do. He is the teacher of teachers – quite literally. He did it by explaining, by asking difficult questions, by highlighting mistakes as they occurred, and by telling good stories. He also taught without words, by setting good examples.
Jesus taught his disciples, but he also taught the crowds. Here too his teaching went way beyond words and ideas, often he’d share a parable like the Good Samaritan that reached directly into minds where words alone failed to penetrate. This kind of teaching gift cuts through misconceptions and breaks into parts of our being that seem to be based somewhere other than the grey matter in our brains. There are facts and there is understanding; they’re two different things. Jesus cared deeply about both.
And when the wealthy, or the Pharisees, or the Temple priests needed a bit more than a word to pitch them over the edge from not comprehending to fully understanding, Jesus would show them what the Father’s heart was like – ‘Don’t stand on street corners praying where everyone can see you, go quietly into your own room where only the Father sees you and pray there.’ And sometimes there’d be a spark of comprehension. It might only be one person amongst a group of proud scoffers, but it’s so worth it when even one person sees the light and understands a previously hidden truth for the first time.
In the round
Since Jesus is the best example of all five APEST gifts, it makes good sense to look to him for guidance in using them. I’d say read the gospels and notice the things he did and the things he said. Pay particular attention to the way people responded and try to work out in each case which of the five gifts were active, sometimes it may be more than one. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes harder to discern.
You’ll see the gifts working (and described) in the New Testament letters as well, look out for them there as well.
See also:
- Alan Hirsch – Website
- Tim Catchim (from 2007) – Blog article
- To know as we are known – ABE Books
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Journeys of Heart and Mind 
