Horizontal or Vertical – Spiritual gifts are horizontal in importance, not vertical. The body of Christ needs every person’s gift to operate at full capacity.

…AND GAVE GIFTS UNTO MEN

Horizontal or Vertical

… and Gave Gifts Unto Men

IF THE EAR SHALL SAY BECAUSE I AM NOT THE EYE

Because of some teachings, most of us think of the gifts of Ephesians 4:11 (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher) in a vertical order of importance. This teaching places the apostle as being the most important. Next in importance would be the prophet, followed by the evangelist, then pastor, and the teacher. All the gifts are placed in a vertical fashion.

1. Apostle

2. Prophet

3. Evangelist

4. Pastor

5. Teacher

This schema (way of thinking) plants the thought within us how there are people in the kingdom of God who are more important and more necessary than others. I ask you, is this true? Are some people more important than others in the kingdom? Is the vertical positioning correct?

For example, in the previous illustration, the apostle would be far more important than the teacher. If a vertical order is the meaning, then this teaching would be true. Some people would be more important than others in the kingdom of God. However, if a vertical order of importance is not the context, then a horizontal order of importance is what the Lord intended. This horizontal context would mean we are all equally important and necessary and would also help us understand the absolute importance of each member of the body of Christ. This thinking would look more like this:

Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher

The Godhead

To help us recognize the truth in the horizontal intention of the gifts, let’s look at another example of erroneous thinking. The example is the Godhead. If the Godhead is in a vertical order of importance meaning God the Father is the most important, the Son Jesus Christ would be the next in importance, and finally, the Holy Spirit would align in His importance.

1. Father

2. Son

3. Holy Spirit

We know a vertical order is the way they have taught us to perceive the Godhead but is this accurate? Is one part of the Godhead more important than another or are all necessary to form the Godhead? The answer is all are necessary to form the Godhead. The proper alignment is not vertical. Instead, the proper way we should see the Godhead is horizontal as shown below.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit

All the gift ministries of Ephesians 4:11 are equally important and horizontal. The apostle is necessary for our growth, but not more necessary than the teacher.

When asked which ministry is the most necessary, most believers would answer the apostle is the most important. Most would also say the teacher is the least important. As we will see, the apostle is foundational and desires to get people established in Christ. However, it is the teacher who will then teach and build the believer in understanding and knowledge in Christ. One is as necessary as another showing us the alignment is horizontal.

Continuing this thought concerning the individual gifts such as prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing, leadership, and mercy, as found in Romans 12:3-8, we note no one gift is more important than others. All the gifts are equally important and horizontal in their need. Paul wrote,

Romans 12:3-6 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us… (NIV)

The warning is a person should not think more than they ought because they have a specific gift. Paul said as each of us has a body with many members, so is it in Christ. Each member belongs to all the others. Paul taught how we should not think one person was more necessary than another person.

1 Corinthians 12:15-18 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

We please God when we operate our gift. Paul said to make an entire body, the foot must be the foot. The ear must be the ear. We need the eye, but we all cannot be the eye. Someone must be the nose. The body of Christ is beautiful when understood in this capacity. It is in this capacity of operation we please God, for this is how He has set us. We are horizontal in our positioning in the body of Christ, not vertical.

As the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all necessary and important, so are the ministry gifts.

A Stone In The Altar

The Lord instructed Moses to build an altar on which the priests would offer sacrifices. Following are the verses.

Exodus 20:24-26 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

Moses was not to have the altar made of hewn stone (stones cut and formed by man). They were to be natural. The Lord did not want the stones chiseled to look the way a man wanted. The Lord said to make the altar of stones fashioned naturally. When a man tried to chisel the stones, according to the Lord, the stones became polluted. Also, there were to be no steps going up to the altar. The Lord wanted no one elevated and exposed.

Looking at this from the perspective of spiritual gifts and members in the church, we note two thoughts. First, God gave the gifts, and man does not form them. The gifts must be natural and not polluted by man’s hand. As each stone was different, so are the gifts different. We are lively stones (1Pe 2:5) placed together, but different. Though cemented together, we are not vertical in need. We are horizontal when it comes to importance. Even when different individuals minister the same gift they minister differently. People do not minister the same way. Man’s job is to place the gift into the building. No stone is more important than another. All the stones are important if the altar is to function.

We also note there were no steps.

All the priests stood at the same level. All the worshipers stood at the same level. The priests were to assist the ones who gave offerings but were not more important than the ones who the offering. They were not to think more of themselves than they ought. What good would a priest be without worshipers? The Lord wants us to see each other as equally important and horizontal in necessity.

Our point in this section is we are all equally important – horizontal. The gifts the Holy Spirit gave you are as important as the gifts He gave me. What we are to do is discover the gift we possess and become efficient in using our gift.

The Lost Coin In The House

Jesus told three parables in Luke chapter fifteen. These were the parables about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. The sheep wondered away from the flock and became lost. The prodigal made a conscious decision to leave the house and became lost. However, the woman lost the coin within the house (Luk 15:8), so the woman lit a candle and swept the house until she found the lost coin.

In some dimension, many people find themselves lost in the house today, but not lost in we have lost our salvation. Instead, lost in we are in the house, but we don’t know where we are in relation to the body of Christ. We ask, “How and where do I fit?” We think, “I’m must not be important.” No. When we realize we are all horizontal in how we are needed, we see ourselves the way we should.

In our study, we are trying to light a candle (Word of God) and do sweep (Holy Spirit). Our desire is not only to locate your gift. We also desire to cause us all to know the gifts and to function with the other precious coins in a needed horizontal way.