Every number in scripture is significant to the time, person, place, and purpose it mentions. While no numbers are mentioned in the scriptures to define doctrine, every number is significant to the Season, Time, and Purpose of its disclosure.

 

The significance of any number is identified by the prominence of its disclosure by repetition. This is to say that when numbers appear more than twice representing the same thing, therein lies the significance of its disclosure. For example, the number 30 is mentioned in scripture to describe the significance of transition, new beginnings, maturity, and completion.

 

For Joseph in Genesis 41:46, it marked a time of transition in his life when he became second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt. For Saul in 1 Samuel 13:1, it marked his ascension to the throne as the first king of Israel. For David, in 2 Samuel 5:4, it marked a transition period when he succeeded Saul as the second king of Israel. For Levites in Numbers 4:3, the number thirty marked the age of maturity wherein they were viewed as responsible enough to serve in the priesthood. In Ezekiel 1:1, the number thirty marked the year he entered his prophetical calling. For Jesus our Savior, High Priest, and Lord in Luke 3:23, the number thirty marked the age of His significant transition into the commencement of His earthly Ministry.  The commencement of His earthly Ministry would commission a course defined by the Faith of every believer upon hearing the Message of the Gospel. (Romans 10:17)

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This Faith, born out of every believer's allegiance to live by,

shapes a perpetual celebration of Victory.

 

According to 1 John 5:4, it is the Victory we maintain over the universe of this world. As we commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of our bond as the pastor and people of the Marlboro church,

I am reminded of how it all began.

 

I was thirty years old at that time, and it marked an unexpected and unintentional transition in my life under the inspiration of Faith.

 

It was also a time of unique transition for the church, which was still bearing the traumatic sensations stemming from the earthly transition of her first pastor. She was being challenged to engage a future with multiple uncertainties under the inspiration of the fruit of her growth and maturity by Faith. Still torn by the trauma of her first pastor’s transition to Glory, it took prayer inspired by Faith for her to abandon a formal process designed to search for a pastor to receive the one God had already purposely ordained to give her after His heart. (Jeremiah 3:15)

 

It was also a time of transition for me as a young man who had no aspirations to serve any church as a pastor but to serve the Lord in any way He would use me in the work of Ministry. I would learn the growth and maturity of my Faith through the Lord by derailing a four-year obligation to the military by two years, resulting in my honorable release to serve as the second pastor of the Marlboro Church.

 

To be certain, this release was not without the revelation of Truth directing the course of my Faith. The Truth revealed to me was housed in a Vision disclosing the church as the continuation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Truth disclosing this Vision directed the course of my Faith to engage the path set before me with every intention of shepherding the flock belonging to God as a conduit of His heart. It disclosed the Faith measured to me as the primary vehicle that would facilitate my assignment to promote and prosper the work of the Ministry assigned to the Marlboro Church as a local extension of the universal Body of Christ.

 

In light of the above, our thirtieth celebration as Pastor and People is meant to emphasize our commitment to honoring the Lord for the Faith that has fueled our victorious journey. More than just actions and experiences over time, Faith is a continuous journey that involves growth and maturity. Growth and maturity rely on the Foundation of Truth. Truth determines the fruit of one’s life by their resolve to adhere to its revelatory insight.

 

I could not be more honored to know that each of us is essential to the edification and unification the Lord has destined for the universal Body of Christ. As members of such a unique local assembly of the universal Body, our Faith is destined for fruit that leads to our holistic embrace of the fullness of Christ.

 

“We've come this far by Faith.” We lean on the Lord and trust in His Holy Word, and He's never failed because He is Faithful. He has been and remains Faithful, having poured into our lives the seeds of the fruit of previous and present generations whose lives continue to inspire, instruct, and direct the course of our Faith. Many of these are included in the progressive process sovereignly sustained by God to equip and build up the Body of Christ. Some have and continue to participate in the work of the apostles, while others have done and continue laboring as prophetical prognosticators and evangelists. Others have and continue to labor as pastors and teachers, while the saints who have been equipped have and continue to undergird the progressive work of Ministry assigned to all of the above.

 

Have you ever considered Faith as the evolutionary means by which every believer comes to receive Christ, grow, and mature into all that God has destined them to be? It is an intimate and intentional course comprising unique encounters and progressive experiences that disclose every believer’s identity in Christ. Faith is an intimate course because it merges the identity of believers into Christ, conforming them to His Image. Faith is an intentional course because its conclusion is directed by its cause. Faith’s cause is the satisfaction of the Pleasure of God by His design for them to embrace the experiential knowledge of His Eternal Purpose. Such can only be realized as they walk and live by Faith throughout their earthly path.

 

Such is not an overnight process but takes place throughout every Season, directed by Time, bringing fulfillment to the Purpose of God. When we examine Ephesians 4:11-13, we are immediately introduced to those gifts the Lord has presented to the church coupled with the purpose and product of the destination of their assignments.

 

THE PRESENTATION OF THE GIFTS

The apostle Paul writes in verse 11, “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,” We should understand that these gifts, while operational in the New Testament church today, are not positioned to prosper the Body of Christ by office or title. They are operating by one Source empowering their Mission by one Spirit.

 

In 1 Corinthians 12:11, we are encouraged to remember this Truth in the words, “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.” This single verse of scripture comprises an all-inclusive Truth that demands universal application for appreciation throughout the Body of Christ.

 

Therefore, as we consider our theme verses, we should note: None of the gifts given by Christ are intended to be exalted above or competed against but commended among one another as they reflect the unified Nature of the Godhead employing their use in the Body of Christ. Every Gift given by Christ and empowered by His Spirit is honorable and is rightly due to be honored. The honor due to these Gifts is warranted by the Faithful devotion and service each one invests in the Mission they unite to accomplish. Romans 13:7 says, “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.”

 

THE PURPOSE OF THE GIFTS

The Purpose of the Presentation of those Gifts is disclosed in verse 12, which says, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;” The Purpose of the Gifts is to prepare, preserve and perfect believers throughout the Body of Christ to meet the holistic needs of the Body. Whether by the works assigned through the Gifts originating in the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, their purpose ensures the completeness of every believer's assignment to the Body of Christ. It is fascinating to note the apostle Paul petitioned the Father for the fulfillment of this in Ephesians 1:18–23. He said, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the Glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

 

These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might, which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

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THE PRODUCT OF THE GIFTS

The Product of the Purpose directed by the Presentation of these Gifts is disclosed to us in verse 13, which says, until we all attain to the unity of the Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

 

These Gifts work together from different lanes to bring to fruition the unification of our Faith.

They work together to ensure the perpetual fruit of our experiential knowledge of Christ, bringing fulfillment to our embrace of every dimension of spiritual maturity in the abundance of Jesus Christ.

 

We should note again this to be the fulfillment of what the apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14–19, which says,  “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

 

Finally, we should note that the Gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 would have no assignment to the Body of Christ without the Saints, and the Saints would have no assignment to the Body in the absence of the Gifts. Faith is responsible for our Life in Christ, our Walk with Christ, and our Work through Christ. It is the reliable means by which each of us will reach its destination as many members comprising one Body in Christ.

 

With the above in mind, the following inspires our practical and liturgical pursuit of our 30th Pastor and People Celebration:

 

Theme:      A Celebration of Our Faith

Text:         Ephesians 4:11-13

Objective:   To celebrate the culmination of our Faith by emphasizing our growth and maturity as the basis for embracing the unity, fruit, and fullness we have in Christ.

Target:      To celebrate the destination of our Faith by highlighting our growth and maturity as the foundation for embracing the unity, fruit, and fullness we have in Christ.

Goal:        To acknowledge the unity of our Faith as we actively progress in our experiential knowledge of what it means to fully know Christ.

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Conclusively, we have come this far by Faith, leaning on the Lord, and trusting in His Holy Word. He will never fail us as we Transition into the next New Beginning of a Season we have never embraced, assuring that our previous Growth leading to our present degree of Maturity will not land short of the fruit and fulfillment of all He has destined for the Victory of our Faith. I encourage each of us to look to higher ground, appreciating the unity of the Faith, attaining the knowledge of the Son of God, and apprehending the measure that belongs to the fullness of Christ Jesus, our Lord!

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Bathed in the Victory of our United Faith,

 Shaun L. Moton, Pastor/Teacher