1.26.2026 - James Lee
Monday, January 26, 2026
This week’s devotions are written by Rev. James Lee. Born in Orange County, raised in the San Gabriel Valley, James desperately holds onto his SoCal roots while currently serving on the opposite coast as the lead pastor of Christ Community CRC on Long Island (about 60miles east of NYC). He has also had the privilege to serve in various capacities for the Christian Reformed Church denomination. James is married to his better half Jin-Young and together, they have three beautiful children.
Ephesians 4:11-13
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Regardless of church size, it is a tremendous task to raise new leadership in the church. Studies have shown segregation within churches based on generational, cultural, and theological differences and even ideological differences. So how can a church strive to seek Christian unity?
In the past couple devotionals, there has been a theme of "Christian unity." It is rooted in shared faith, not based on circumstances, situations, agreements or even culture. Shared faith in Jesus transformed each believer in unique ways.
In today's passage, Paul urged believers to live in humility, gentleness, patience and love for the sake of unity in Christ. It is also apparent that Jesus blessed different people with different gifts to become different roles: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. All these gifts were used to equip the church "so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith" (v. 12-13). Our faith should be proactive, not reactive. If we truly desire to experience spiritual growth and maturity and stop being "tossed to and fro" due to false teachings, we need to actively work and grow together as a family of Christ.
Spiritual gifts are never about status to be used to measure worth. These specific gifts and callings that Paul mentioned is to assure that Christian unity is not centered around one pastor. It is not based on an individual's success or failure. Spiritual gifts are used for the church to experience the "whole measure of the fullness of Christ" as the church seeks for Christian unity.
How can the various spiritual gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 be evident in your church and churches across our nation and in our world? How can we continue to be proactive in our growth in faith to experience the fullness of Christ?