Cornerstone
Church February 20 / 21 2010
Church – A Team Sport
Ephesians 4:7-16
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
Matt 16:16-18
“…on this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
What an authoritative statement!
Sovereignty and Power!
Promise and Hope!
After Jesus’ resurrection as He was ascending back to His Father (now glorified) He gave this command to His Disciples:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matt 28:19-20 NIV
Not a very complicated Game Plan!
Jesus is going to win!
Proclaim the Good News (the gospel)!
Teach those who become Christians!
Repeat until I return!
It seems these days that the world is winning the war!
It appears the world system is exerting greater influence on the church than the church on the world.
Yet the promise is…
“… the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
…will not have mastery over
…will not prevail
…will not overpower
Important Questions:
Are we spending our time on lesser things?
Are we expending our effort on wrong things?
Jesus wants to see His church prevail in the world!
Jesus wants to see people coming to know Him as Savior!
The verses we looked at were the Cliffs Notes version of the work of the church.
What is necessary for the Church – The Body of Christ
to function properly?
The Answer is found in Ephesians 4:7-16 (page 812)
Outline:
ESSENTIAL FOR GROWTH: GIFTED SERVANTS (Eph. 4:7-11)
MEANS OF GROWTH: DISCIPLESHIP (Eph. 4:12)
THE GOAL OF GROWTH: MATURITY (Eph. 4:12-14)
THE MEDIUM OF GROWTH: TRUTH (Eph. 4:15-16)
Basic Outline taken and modified from Preaching the Word: Ephesians by R. Kent Hughes
ESSENTIAL FOR GROWTH: GIFTED SERVANTS
Eph. 4:7-11
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.”
Eph 4:7-8 NIV
This section begins to reveal the diversity of spiritual gifts that the Lord has given to His church for its equipping and edification.
Each of one of you, upon your conversion to Christ received a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit.
You could not chose this spiritual gift any more than you could have decided the color of hair or eyes you wanted before you were born.
Spiritual gifts are NOT TALENTS! Many people, including unbelievers, exude many talents. Just watch the Olympics!
Spiritual gifts are supernaturally given. They are for the specific purpose and intent to minister to one another in the body.
They are to glorify God!
They are to build each other up!
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Eph 2:10 NIV
“God’s Workmanship” =
God’s “work of art”
God’s Poem
God’s Masterwork
God’s Church is a “You Can” be used by God place!
Used by God to make a difference in another’s life
Used by God to make a difference in your community
Used by God to make a difference in your world
Used by God to make a difference for all eternity
Jesus uses people to accomplish
His Mission in the world!
Jesus wants to take the spiritual gift we were given and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to flow freely through us for His purpose.
God receives all the Glory!
We receive the joy and blessing of yielding our lives to HIM!
There is no place in the Body of Christ for:
“Look at Me!”
“Look at Me!”
Look at Jesus! Bring Glory to Jesus! It is all because of Jesus!
Saved by Grace
Kept by Grace
Spiritual Gift is given by Grace
Spiritual Gift is empowered by Holy Spirit
It was in 1873, in Dublin that D.L. Moody heard British evangelist Henry Varley utter those life changing words:
“The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”
D. L. Moody decided, “I WANT TO BE THAT MAN.”
You become a better athlete by being involved in the game. If you sit on the bench and simply watch others play the game you never develop the same heart and passion.
Illustration: It reminds me of our son deciding to stay on the “C-Team” instead of going to JV Team in Middle School. The JV Team would have meant a lot of bench time. He listened to his coach and stayed on the “C-Team.” There he got a lot of time in the game. It helped him to become a better player.
This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
Eph 4:8-10
Paul uses a portion of Psalm 68:18
It is portrait of a king returning from a foreign war as the victor. When they returned home, it was a time of great celebration. The people of the city would line the streets.
The king and his triumphant army would process before the people.
The freed prisoners of war that had been set free marched with them.
Next would follow the chained prisoners of war from the defeated country that was now in subjection and submission to their new suzerain.
Wagons full of war booty and spoils of war.
Captives in paradise heard Jesus’ victory speech
In Christ’s train, we are found. We gained our freedom through His death, burial and resurrection. Christ as conqueror has chosen to distribute the spoils and trophies of war to His followers as gifts.
Descending and ascending refer to Christ’s condescension and exaltation. Jesus Christ, as God the Son, left His glorious position in heaven and became a man, experiencing: the womb, life on earth, death, burial and resurrection.
DESCENDED TO ASCEND
INCARNATION BEFORE GLORIFICATION
Spiritual Gifts are listed in:
Romans 12:6-8
I Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-31
Ephesians 4:11
I Corinthians 14
CHRIST’S GIFTS:
Administration Interpretation
Apostleship Knowledge
Discernment Leadership
Encouragement Showing mercy
Evangelism Miracles
Faith Shepherding / Pastoring
Giving Prophecy
Healing Teaching
Helping / Serving Tongues
Hospitality Wisdom
GIFTED ONES GIVEN TO THE BODY OF CHRIST:
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some
to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some
to be pastors and teachers,
Eph 4:11 NIV
Apostles and prophets were foundational gifts given to the church for a limited duration. Once their role was complete they ceased to exist. No reference after Acts 16:4
Apostles = one sent on a mission
They were chosen by Christ
They must have witnessed the resurrected Christ
Prophets = proclaimed God’s message (personal/practical)
They ministered in local church expounding on revelation.
Main purpose of Apostles and prophets:
1. Lay the foundation for the church
2. Receive and declare the revelation of God’s Word
3. Confirm / authentic the Word by signs and wonders
Evangelists = the obstetricians of the church
They who proclaim the good news giving birth by the power of God through the simple and understandable proclamation of His Word.
Today’s missionaries and church-planters.
Pastor-teachers = the pediatricians of the church
It is their ministry to shepherd those who were born into the family of God.
Shepherd best describes the role of a pastor. He is to have a tender, caring and nurturing heart as he ministers to the sheep but is also able to show forth strength in his role to guard and protect the sheep.
Their primary role is that of teaching
1Tim. 5:17 NIV The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.
Work = labor to the point of exhaustion preaching and teaching
MEANS OF GROWTH: DISCIPLESHIP
Eph. 4:12
“…to prepare God’s people for works of service,
so that the body of Christ may be built up…”
The Pastor, Pastors and Elders are to work on equipping the saints
EQUIPPING = Setting a broken bone
Putting a joint back into place
Restoring something to the condition it ought to be in
“The Way Things Ought to Be!”
They are to prepare God’s people for works of service. There is no hierarchical flow chart that places the pastor at the top of the pyramid and the people below.
Pastors are not popes!
We are blood bought servants of God
Pastors are not the driver of the bus and everyone is simply along for the ride.
The role of the Christian is not to simply to come to church and sit and to soak in all of God’s teaching. You are also to serve!
We do not come to church!
We are the Church!
We are the Body of Christ!
The pastor, pastoral staff and elders give themselves to developing the saints so that they can utilize their spiritual gifts for works of service.
Mentoring
Encouraging
Training
Equipping
Instructing
We serve like a coach or coaching staff helping to train and equip members of the team to take the field and execute the plays that Christ, who is the Head of the Church, gives to His Team – The Body of Christ.
THE GOAL OF GROWTH: MATURITY
Eph. 4:12-14
“…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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.
The Body of Christ being built up produces a three-fold outcome:
UNITY OF THE FAITH
Faith = The body of Christian Truth and Teaching (Doctrine)
Disunity comes from:
Doctrinally uninformed / illiterate
Spiritual immaturity
Proper teaching and serving bring about a true oneness in spirit.
KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST
Continued growth and understanding of the fullness of Christ. This is something Paul kept pressing on in the development of his faith:
Phil. 3:10 NIV I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
SPIRITUAL MATURITY (The whole measure of Christ)
Day by day we are to become more like the Lord Jesus. God brings about this transformation through His Word, prayer, testing, suffering, serving and relationships in the body of Christ.
1 Cor. 13:12 The Message We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
Eph 3:17b-19 NIV And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
The outcome of Spiritual Health and sound teaching
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”
The Perfect Storm is the result when sound teaching is abandoned.
Solid food (Meat of the Word) has always been found within the confines of a healthy Biblically based local church.
Without the protection of the Body and mature believers utilizing their spiritual gifts for others the spiritually immature are tossed back and forth like a ship on the sea in the midst of a hurricane.
THE MEDIUM OF GROWTH: TRUTH
Eph. 4:15-16
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 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.
Just as our physical body cannot function properly when the individual is brain dead neither can a church function properly when cut off from the leadership of Christ as its head.
The body is a living organism. When each does their part faithfully the body will produce its own growth. It will build itself up in love.
HERE IS TRUE WISDOM FROM GOD WRITTEN BY PAUL:
1 Cor. 12:14-18 NIV Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
THE FOOT SEEMS TO BE HAVING AN IDENTITY CRISIS!
The foot believes the hand is more important than my calling to be a foot!
It admires something about the hand that makes the foot want to become a hand
The foot feels inferior to the hand!
This is what happens when we promote the idea that the more visible and flashy gifts should be sought after instead of being content with what the Lord has given to us!
Common sense tells us that our feet help us to get around!
THE EAR IS HAVING A CRISIS AS WELL!
Now the ear thinks the eye must be more important
I’m not going to serve any more!
Or worse, I’m going to try to minister with a spiritual gift not given to me and without God’s Holy Spirit power enabling me.
It is time for me to pack up my toys and go home or go to another church!
Imagine that! A big giant eye! A Cyclops! We would be great at seeing what is in front of us but have no hearing, smell or way to get around or to touch something!
Next a giant ear! We could hear everything and say nothing!
Key: If the body doesn’t have integrated parts functioning together it is not a living organism. It’s just a part!
Comparison atrophies the whole body!
The body is paralyzed and ineffective!
Eph 4:4-6 NIV There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
EACH PART OF THE BODY OF CHRIST HAS THE:
Same Vision
Same Goal
Same Heart
It is time for everyone to unwrap the spiritual gift (s) that God Himself has given you and use your gift in the Body of Christ at Cornerstone!
Don’t allow your gift to become a present that sits on the shelf!
If you are shy or timid God understands. He has a special gift for you that allows you serve Him within the context of your temperament.
“No other believer can take our place in God’s heart”
“No other believer can take our place in God’s work.”
Dr. John F MacArthur
It is clear we need you serving at Cornerstone!
We are incomplete without your Spiritual Gift being used in the Body!
We need your help!
The gift of teaching is needed
The gift of hospitality (greeting – welcoming people)
The gift of administration and leadership (organizing ministry efforts)
The gift of evangelism
The gift of encouragement
The gifts of helps
Serving at dinners for funerals or church functions
Helping to maintain the grass and gardens
Upkeep of the building
The gift of giving
Remember, God saved you and wants to pour the fullness of His Holy Spirit through you to accomplish something of eternal significance through you for His Kingdom!
He isn’t looking at your age
He isn’t looking at you talents / skills!
He is looking at your heart!
He is looking for your availability!
Serving Him is the place of greatest joy and fulfillment
We serve to bring HIM Glory!
“The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in an (individual) who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”
Decide today,
“I WANT TO BE THAT PERSON.”
Church is not an individual sport like Golf, Tennis or Skiing.
Church is a Team Sport!
