Last night was Vespers. We talked about the five roles in the church found in Ephesians 4: apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher. At the end of the discussion, everyone took a survey to discover which one they are. We ended up with 2 teachers, 3 shepherd/teachers, 1 teacher/prophet, 2 teacher/evangelists, 1 apostle, and 1 evangelist. We have quite the group, for sure!
As I think about how I can relate my life and work to Lent today, I keep going back to those roles. We didn't come up with them on our own. We couldn't possibly fulfill them on our own. But God provided those roles for us. He provided us with the capability to fulfill them.
And we threw it back in his face. We weren't interested. We wanted to make up and choose our own roles. We're sinners, after all. We are incapable of even wanting one of the five roles on our own. Therefore, God provided something different for us: a sacrifice, one who perfectly fulfilled each of those roles -- including taking on our sinful role -- and died for us that we might have the chance to believe and fulfill God's plan for us.
We couldn't have the provision without the sacrifice. Without Jesus to connect them, we would be helpless and hopeless without even realizing it. With Jesus's sacrifice that provided for us the opportunity for faith, we can have hope and help others in the role God has given us.
Talking about roles so much reminded me of the amazing rolls from the fellowship retreat at the beginning of February. Therefore, here is a picture of one of those rolls to remind you that YOU have a role, because of what Jesus's sacrifice provided for us.
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