Ephesians 4:11-12
Topic: Boldly Building the Body of Christ
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are somebody special in the body of Christ. It does not matter if you are young or old; if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are somebody special in the body of Christ. It does not matter if you are a male or female; it does not matter if you are black or white, Asian or Hispanic; it does not matter if you are tall or short; it does not matter if you are rich or poor; it does not matter if you are educated or not; it does not matter if you are married, single or divorced; it does not matter if you live in Las Vegas, or New York; it doesn’t matter if you go to Second Baptist or Pentecostal Temple; it does not matter if you been saved for 1 day or for 40 years; if you are a believer in Christ, you are somebody special in the body of Christ.
You see, the bible tells us in I Peter 2:9 that we as believers in Christ are a “ chosen generation, royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people”, that is we as believers in Christ are called to be a “special kind of people unto the Lord.” Just knowing the fact that God loves you; just knowing the fact that God cares for you; and just knowing the fact that God has blessed you with every spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that should let you know you are a special person unto the Lord. And if you are a believer in Christ, you are somebody special in the body of Christ.
Now a question is being asked, and the question is, “What is the body of Christ?”
The body of Christ is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The body of Christ, the Church, is made of people who have confess and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. You see, according to Colossians 1:18, Jesus Christ is the head of the church, the body of Christ, and we who have received Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior is a part or a member of the body of Christ, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And every person who has received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior is somebody special in the body of Christ.
Now another question is being asked, and that question is, “What make us believers in Christ special in the body of Christ?
Now there are at least 3 reasons why all of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord is a special individual in the body of Christ is because:
1.The first reason why you as a believer in Christ are a special person in the body of Christ is because when you had received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The moment when you received Christ into your life, the Holy Spirit baptized you. That is, when the Holy Spirit baptized you, you were placed or immersed into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
I Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been made to drink into one Spirit.”
2.The second reason why you as a believer are a special person in the body of Christ is because when you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The moment you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and takes residence in your life. That is, the moment you received the Lord Jesus Christ into your life, the Holy Spirit comes and lives and dwells in your heart.
I Corinthians 3:16 says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”
I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “What? Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
3.The third reason why you as a believer are a special person in the body of Christ is because when you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you were given a spiritual gift by the Holy Spirit to be used for the edification of the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit has gifted every believer in Christ with a special spiritual gift to be used to help build up the body of Christ, which is the church.
Romans 12:6-8 says, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teaches, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”
I Corinthians 12:4-11 says, “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another diver kinds of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues; But all these wortketh that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”
I Peter 4:10-11 says, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And he gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers; For the perfecting(for the training, for the teaching, for the equipping) of the saints, for the work of the ministry( the work of the ministry of the church is to go into all the world, and spread the good news of Jesus Christ), for the edifying( for the building up) of the body of Christ.”
From these passages of scriptures, we learn that God has given every believer in Christ a spiritual gift to be used to help build up the body of Christ, which is the church. And if you are a believer in Christ Jesus, you got a gift to be used in the body of Christ. And what ever gift God has given you, it is for you, and what ever gift God has given me, it is for me.
You see, you may not be able to preach and teach like Paul, but if you are believer in Christ, you have a gift from the Lord, and you are still somebody special in the body of Christ.
You may not be able to sing angles, but if you are a believer in Christ, you have a gift from the Lord, and you are still somebody special in the body of Christ.
You may not be able to pray a prayer like King David, but if you are a believer in Christ, you have gift from the Lord, and you are still somebody special in the body of Christ.
You may not be able to lead a large group of people like Moses, but if you are a believer in Christ, you have a gift from the Lord, and you are still somebody special in the body of Christ.
And because all of us who are believers in Christ are given gifts to be used to help build up the body of Christ, all of us is special in the body of Christ. And because all of us are special in the body of Christ, we all need each other. No one person can do the ministry of the church by himself. It takes a collective, cooperative group of believers in Christ to do the work and ministry of the church. Now I have to admit that I am a Los Angeles Lakers fan. I truly believe that one day the Lakers are going to win the championship again. But the Lakers can’t win it all if they depend on only one person to win it all. They need to work together, and play together if they want to win the championship this year. Likewise, in the body of Christ, you cannot depend on one person to do the ministry of the church by him/herself because if one person tried to do the work or the ministry of the church by him or herself, they will go crazy and wear themselves out. So therefore, we as believers in Christ must work together to do the ministry of the church. You see, in the body of Christ, there should be no Big “I” and little “you” because all of us as believers in Christ is special unto the Lord and has a special ministry to be done in the body of Christ.
Now in order for us to boldly build up the body of Christ, we need to be:
1.We all need to be rooted and built up in Jesus Christ ourselves. That is, to be able to build up the body of Christ, we personally first must be rooted and built up in Christ ourselves.
Colossians 2:6-7 says, “As ye therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
2. We all need to be prayed up. That is, we need to be in constant prayer everyday for ourselves, for our families, for our church family, for our neighbor, and for our enemies.
Phillipians 4:6 says, “Be careful(anxious) for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God.”
3. We all need to clean up. Everyday as we strive to be more like Jesus Christ, sometimes we all fall, and sin. But thanks be to God that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin when we repent, confess our sins and ask God forgiveness.
I John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
4. We all need to listen up. That is, we all need to be attentive and hear the Word of God being taught and preached. We need to be attentive and hear what God is saying to us in his Word, and then applying His Word to our lives.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 says, “Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not what they do is evil.”
Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
5. We all need to study up. That is we all need to study God’s word so we can know the will of God for our lives.
Ephesians 5:17 says, “Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing grace in your hearts to the Lord.
2nd Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
6. We all need to dress up. That is, we all need to dress up by putting on the whole armour of God so we can stand against the wiles of the devil.
Ephesians 6:10-11 says, “Finally my brethern, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
7. We all need to be filled up. That is, we all need to be filled with the Holy Spirit if we are going to be able to boldly build up the body of Christ.
Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.”
8. We all must not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To be able to boldly build the body of Christ, we can’t let fear of other folk or be ashamed to testify and to be a testimony of Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jews first and then also to the Greek.”
Once we are rooted and built up in Christ by his Word, once we are prayed up, once we are cleaned up, once we start listening up to God’s Word, and applying to our lives, once studied upon God’s Word, once we dress up by putting on the whole armour of God, once we are filled up with the Holy Spirit, then we can lift up the name of Jesus together in unity by boldy building each other up in love in the body of Christ.
And since that is the case, in the body of Christ, we should not be jealous of one another.
In the body of Christ, we should not be envious of one another.
In the body of Christ, we should not backbite one another.
In the body of Christ, we should not hate one another.
In the body of Christ, we should not tear each other down.
In the body of Christ, we should not be bitter towards each other.
In the body of Christ, we should not to be fussing and fighting with one another.
But rather in the body of Christ, we need to love one another.
In the body of Christ, we need be at peace with one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to build each other up another in the Lord.
In the body of Christ, we need be in harmony with one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to help one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to accept one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to serve one one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to submit to one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to stop passing judgment on one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to honor one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to greet one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to instruct, teach, and admonish one another in love.
In the body of Christ we need to speak to one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to agree with each other in the Lord.
In the body of Christ, we need to be patient with one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to encourage one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to bear with one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to build each other up.
In the body of Christ, we need to be kind and compassionate with one another.
In the body of Christ, we need to be hospitable with one another.
In the body of Christ, we should forgive one another.
In other words, in the body of Christ, we need to be in unity.
Ephesians 4:3-6 says, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
