There are two type of vessels- those of honor and those of dishonor. The vessels of honor represent and carry the Gospel of Love to supply the Body of Christ in order for the Body to grow in unity and maturity. In opposition, the vessels of dishonor extract resources meant for the Body of Christ in order to fulfill the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 4:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry (service), for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
The word edify means to instruct or improve (someone) morally or intellectually. The purpose of the five-fold ministry is to promote and encourage the Body of Christ to become fully mature in stature and purpose, not keep the Body under submission for an indefinite time. Each of us is called to become fully mature and perfected in our calling supplying the other joints in the body with nourishment as needed. Our primary purpose on this earth is to mature into Divine unconditional Love.
Paul continues:
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Paul describes those vessels of dishonor as being those who use trickery, cunning craftiness, and deceitful plotting. It is clear that we must walk in discernment when encountering those who would pass themselves off as vessels of honor. Trickery is the practice of deception. The word cunning means having or showing skill in achieving one’s ends by deceit or evasion. The word craftiness means: skilled in or marked by underhandedness, deviousness, or deception. Those definitions provide us a good picture of a vessel of dishonor and unfortunately they don’t show up with those labels on their foreheads. Jesus called some of them wolves in sheep’s clothing. In Luke 20, Jesus had to deal with these vessels of dishonor:
20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.
21 Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:
22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me?
24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”
They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
25 And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.
In their cunning and crafty methods, they first spoke Truth and attempted to flatter Jesus by confirming His ministry in verse 21. That was simply an attempt of misdirection to redirect His focus away from the real intent. We must remain vigilant to not allow those vessels to distract us from our purpose and calling. They will attempt to get us to serve their agendas rather than FATHER’S Divine Intent for our lives. In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus provided us a means to identify these wolves:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?
17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
In order that we not be consumed by the ravenous wolves, we must simply become fruit inspectors. There are those who talk the talk but never yield any fruit. They operate in a “deficit” at all times. They never have anything to give but constantly want others to supply them instead. It may take time to find out if there is any fruit but with patience you will get your answer. Don’t let your ministry of service be misdirected and consumed in areas which are destined to failure and destruction.