Spiritual Gift vs the Peter Principle

Ephesians 4:11-12

King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ¹² For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Call him Olaf. He retired recently from being an accountant who worked in various organizations of the church his entire career. When Olaf and I had several hours together, I had the opportunity to hear him tell about his rich and varied experiences.

Olaf had the financial talent to go to an institution that was in financial difficulties and over the period of two or three years turn the institution around and place it on a sound fiscal footing. Businesses that had reached the point of not trading with it would now smile and gladly do business with it again. People who had sincerely doubted that the institution could even be Christian because they didn’t pay their bills now began to get renewed confidence in the work of Christ. Those who had come to mock Christ because of His followers’ unfaithfulness now were willing to grant that now there indeed might be some good in the Christian community.

Of course, with that kind of talent, as soon as the institution was on its feet and going forward strongly again, Olaf would be asked to move to another institution in the red. So Olaf gained experience working in schools, conferences, and union conference offices.

He told me that he had wanted to be a pastor, but when he was in college he realized that he was very shy. Furthermore, he had a very difficult time speaking publically. He did enjoy numbers and realized that accountants could stay in their offices and still do their work and make a good impact all around. So he had devoted this gift to the advancement of the work of Christ.

One conference office where he was working came under the leadership of a new president, Pieter. The president came in with a vigorous new policy of his own devising. He told all of the conference workers that each of them had to spend several months a year conducting public evangelistic meetings. Anyone who didn’t start such a meeting was very quickly demeaned and belittled in the organization. They were discriminated against in any way possible.

Olaf, of course, didn’t tell me this, but it is very obvious to me that Pieter’s zeal was not purely the advancement of the body of Christ; it was even more importantly for the advancement of Pieter in that organization. The church had only two measures of success: the number of baptisms and the amount of tithe brought into the coffers. Pieter appeared to be aiming to gain success in the former at all costs, ignoring Paul’s statement to the Ephesians that different people in the church have different gifts.

Lord, grant me the wisdom and determination to recognize and use the gift you have given me despite the urgings of some narrow-minded zealots.