God Won’t Do It Without You: Discovering Your Irreplaceable Role - Ephesians 4:11-16 Series

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God’s Purpose Statement for Your Church

If you were asked to draft a purpose statement for your church, what would you write? More importantly – what would Jesus write? He would say exactly what He already said in Ephesians 4:11-16.[1] In the Greek it is one, long, complex sentence, and yet it can be summed up in a single word: maturity.

Notice the first two verses:

Ephesians 4:11-12 It was he who gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up[2] 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.[3] 14 Then we will no longer be infants…

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up…

God’s purpose for the Church is repeated in every verse.

12 built up

13 mature,

14 no longer infants

15 grow up

16 grows and builds itself up

No doubt about it – God’s purpose statement for your church is maturity. And the reward for reaching maturity is staggering – “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”! What could be more important than receiving a great measure of all that Christ has to offer?

This is not to say maturity is the only goal. The Church is also called to function as God’s Temple, as Christ’s Bride, as God’s Household, as a holy priesthood, etc. But the priority is always maturity because it is when only when the Church is mature that we will succeed in all those other roles. Reaching maturity, then, is the central objective of the Church.

How to Reach Maturity

The question of how to attain maturity is answered in verse 16.

Ephesians 4:16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

God won’t do it without you

Physical growth takes place only when the lungs bring in oxygen and the heart pumps blood and the nerves send their signals and all the various parts of the body carry out their roles. Each Christian is a unique organ of the body of Christ (Ro.12:5), and so the body cannot grow to maturity unless each part is functioning. But what if someone opts out? What if one member decides to worship God on his own and chooses not to get involved with the functioning of the body? Will God just bypass him and see to it that his part gets done another way? Can the growth of the body happen just through the primary cause (which is God), even in the absence of a secondary cause (which is the individual part of the body supplying the rest of the body)? No. A word-for-word translation of verse 16 makes that clear.

Ephesians 4:16 From whom the whole body,

joined together and held together through every ligament of supply

according to working in measure each individual part,[4]

makes the growth of the body toward upbuilding itself in love.[5]

The phrase, “according to working in measure” points to proportion. The whole process takes place only in proportion to the working of each individual part. So if the individual part does not do its work, God will not override that. He will allow the body to be diseased and disabled in the whole area surrounding that dormant body part. God will not allow the body to grow except in proportion to the functioning of the various connective parts. That is why verse 16 says the body builds itself up. God will not do it without you.

Most Christians would give a hearty “Amen” to Psalm 141:4.

Psalm 141:4 Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.

We all want victory in our fight against sin. But how many of us say “Amen” to the next verse?

Psalm 141:5 Let a righteous man strike me–it is a kindness; let him rebuke me–it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.

The psalmist knew that the answer to his prayer in verse 4 would come in large measure through the one-another ministry – through the reproof and admonition of some other righteous man.

The Work of Ministry: Joints of supply

What comes to your mind when you think of the work of the ministry? Singing on the worship team? Running the sound board? Serving in the nursery? Cleaning the building? All those support the work of the ministry and are therefore important, however they are not the primary kind of ministry that Paul has in mind here. In verse 16 we get a picture of what the upbuilding ministry looks like.