The Work of Pastors Is To Build Up the Church

The work of the ministry is to build up the body of Christ.  It is the business of the ministers to build up the Church, not to build up themselves!  Alas! they have far too often built up themselves, and we read of princes of the Church living in positions of great wealth and pomp.  What an utter travesty that is of Paul’s teaching!  Let us note also that ministers are called to build up; not to please and to entertain.  The way in which they are to do this is summed up perfectly in that most lyrical passage in Acts 20.  The Apostle Paul was bidding farewell to the elders of the church at Ephesus, at the seaside, and this is what he said: “And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified” (v.32).

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16,” pg.202