“Body Building” - Part Two
Ephesians 4:11-13
OPEN: We are looking at Ephesians chapter four concerning the issue of Body Building. Understanding the church. Ecclesiology = Church Jesus’ way. We are really dealing with: What is Needed to Build the Body?
But before we get to this let me ask a more basic question: Do we still need the local church? In a culture that is saturated with media and technology, is the local church even necessary? There are a great many people today that say, “No, we don’t.” We’ve got television – so instead of taking the trip into the local church and spending time with other believers in fellowship and worship – why not just click to the speaker that says the things that you want to hear – and by the way you actually can limit him/her to the amount of time you want to allot for spiritual purposes. “I can that long-winded pastor off any time I want, and not have him intrude on my recreational time.” And hey let’s face it - most media preachers are more engaging than those who speak in our own church, and on top of that you can watch them in your pajamas. Massive church meetings on television are so vivacious and musically stimulating that many simply lose their appetite for the “same ol' same ol” of the regular assembly. The local church can’t compete with talent or the budget of what we see in the media. We’ve got radio – instead of actually carving some specific time for worship and fellowship – why not just take advantage of the time you have as you are traveling from one place to another in your car – and call that worship? My Toyota can be my private little sanctuary – right? So why do a need a local church? We live busy lives today – So with the technology we have available to us - why is necessary to even come to a gathering? We can sneak in while we are driving, right? And then there’s also the internet. There are more messages on the internet than I can work through in 100 lifetimes. There are complete worship services – so why do I need the local church today? Add to that the reality that we live in a culture where so many Christians are extremely reluctant to even commit to a local church - is the local church even necessary?
Has our culture provided a substitute for the local church?
This is not a meaningless question. Millions have written off church life as irrelevant. But some benefits are to be found in the local church that not even the best media experience can offer, such as . . .
Actual relationships rather than imaginary ones. Weak as some churches are, they are still made up of living people who come together. The media-engrossed Christian isolates himself from other believers while imagining relationships that are actually not there. This is not living life, but skipping life. I am often saddened by the isolated person who misses out on people. There is no true fellowship except among believers. Once you know it, you will not be satisfied without it. How can the “one-anothers” of Scripture come about without the local church. Email? Instant messaging? Texting? The “one-anothers” of Scripture require face time not face book. Real relationship happens in the context of intimacy, not instant messaging. You can tweet all you want– but God still calls you to meet.
Compassionate care rather than mere talk of concern. The media pastors talk about their love for their audience, but they will not be there when your child experiments with drugs, or your spouse dies, or your business goes down the drain. Those in the media audience will not sit at your bedside when you are dying. Radio preachers say they pray for you, but they really don't know you at all. When you loose your job, the media preacher isn’t going to show up with a check or a bag of groceries when you need it.
Real accountability rather than unchecked liberty. It may not seem immediately desirable, but accountability is a precious gift. In the local church, if you stray from God, someone is there to bring you back, or even to lovingly discipline you. If you are alone, you may stray deeper and deeper into sin even though you have periodic religious media fixes. Rather, you must subject yourself to the answerability that comes from engaging with real people. If you understand the deceitfulness of sin, you know you need that.
Organized local ministry efforts rather than disconnected service We are called by called to reach the mission field that surrounds us. Our Jerusalem has to be reached first. Jesus designed his church to work together. A disconnected member is an anomaly and can’t accomplish by himself what can be done if we work together. We have to aim at something before you hit it.
Do we still need the local church? Yes! But we had better major on what makes it irreplaceable—
becoming the loving, caring, worshipping, responsible fellowship it was meant to be. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25) The Church is about real relationships – not virtual ones. The Church is about intimate relationship – not instant messaging. Jesus designed the Church to have face time – not face book.
Jesus designed His church to meet in an environment of togetherness. Notice that Scripture says that the closer “The Day” comes – the more important is the local assembly. Why? Because the pressure against the faithful will only incrementally increase. Being a faithful follower will only become more difficult – not easier.
They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, (Acts 2:42-46) The very first word that describes the first church is what? Devoted. To what were they devoted? Teaching, fellowship, (koinonia) breaking of bread, and to prayer. Where did they meet? It says – they were together. They met in the temple courts – corporately. And they met in their homes – privately. There was a large group experience and there was a small group experience. None of it was by accident – there was no “either-or” choice. It was both. This was all by design setting an example for us to follow.
Notice what is being addressed in chapter four of Ephesians. Four great objectives Jesus has for His Church – four ways in which Christ is building His Church. He’s building a United Church. He’s building a Victorious Church. He’s building a Serving Church. And He’s building a Mature Church.
Unity has to be more than a pious empty religious phrase that we pay occasion lip service to. It has to be concrete. The biggest threat to the local church is the lack of real biblical unity. There are too many Christians that are defining according to their own definitions. In the Bible, it is oneness – that is expressed by belonging. In the Bible it is oneness expressed through devotion. In the Bible it is oneness expressed by gathering together. It has always been the devil’s scheme to keep a church divided - to undermine unity. A wolf always attempts to keep the sheep scattered.
Last week we looked at the reality that we serve a victorious Lord. Scripture teaches us that Christ ascended leading captives in his train. In His resurrection, He led captivity captive. Like a conquering hero Jesus Christ Jesus leads captives into freedom and gives them the authority to conquer in his name. Christ died on the cross for you to save you. Secondly he died on the cross to enable you to serve him. Everybody gets a grace gift.
Let’s look at the third objective Jesus has for his church as it’s stated in verse 11. This is a central, core passage that is going to help us all to understand why our involvement in a local church is so vitally important to our spiritual life. “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 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.” (Eph. 4:11-13)
OK- so there are two groups of people here: One group is given to equip the church. Another group is given to serve in the church. Let’s take a look at the first group = the equippers
Verse 11 spells out four specific gifts of church leadership, each one of which involves teaching God’s Word. When God gave birth to the church in the First Century, He used apostles and prophets.
* Through the apostles God established doctrine for the church. Through the prophets, God gave the church specific understanding the midst of confusing and difficult circumstances.
* Some to be evangelists – God gifts the church with some people who are called specifically to share the gospel with others who have not yet heard and yielded to the Gospel. Today I think these people are missionaries.
* Some to be pastors and teachers. This is a hyphenated word in the Greek construction. It means teaching-shepherd. It’s not two words, but one. If you’re a shepherd, you’re going to be a teacher. If you are going to teach, you are called to shepherding as well. Now notice it says that Jesus gives these people to the church. Like it or not I’m God’s gift to you. – You might think it’s a gag-gift and I’m sorry about that. But I’m still God’s gift to this church. And so are you.
Now let’s compare God’s job description to the stereotyped “pastor” in our culture who is expected to preach, lead, administrate, visit, marry, bury, care, and counsel. In many people’s minds, he’s supposed to be the superman generalist who “does” all the ministry for the flock, putting out all the fires, oiling the squeaky wheels, and solving all the problems. But that’s all backwards. Ephesians 4:12 makes it very clear that a pastor’s main role is to equip and prepare God’s people to do the work of the ministry. How? By training the members to meet each other’s needs. My primary job is to help you to grow spiritually so you will become willing and able to do the ministry of the church. You pay me to get you to do the work!
Look at the word “prepare” The job of the pastor-teacher is one of preparation – preparing God’s people for works of service.= katartismos refers to that which has been restored to its original condition, is being made fit or being made complete. In ancient literature, this word is used to describe a physician who realigns a dislocated limb in its socket or who sets a broken bone, bringing healing from the pain of injury and putting it back into proper relationship with the rest of the body. Paul uses this word to describe bringing people to wholeness by completing what’s missing for their full spiritual development – it was also used to describe fishermen mending their nets – setting the nets back to what they ought to be. this same word is used to describe James and John as they repaired and prepared their nets for fishing. This involved cleaning the nets of seaweed and sticks, then mending areas of their nets that had been torn or damaged, and then untangling and folding their nets so that they would be quickly useable at a moment’s notice. All of this preparation was so that their nets would be ready to catch more fish. The shepherd-teacher’s primary job is getting you ready to be effective fishers of men.
I like how the KJV words it: KJV says “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” Instead of the word “prepare” KJV uses “perfect – meaning mature ”When the saints are mature, they'll do the work of the ministry. “When they do the work of the ministry, the body will be built up. Then will come the unity of the faith. Then will come the knowledge of the Son of God. Then we will “no longer be children tossed to and fro.” Then verse 15, “we will speak the truth in love. We will grow up into Him,” - this is the whole work – the whole definition of ministry. And a great deal depends upon it. Everything that happens down in verses 14-16 depends upon the gifted leaders doing their job. My responsibility as pastor-teacher is to equip the congregation for works of service and bring the congregation to maturity. The responsibility that I have to you is not to entertain you – it’s not to have a bunch of programs - it really isn’t even to fill the room – but to bring God’s people to a point of maturity and equip them to do what? Works of service. The primary goal of my ministry is to mature saints, to build them up not just to have a group of underdeveloped spiritual babes.
So let’s look at the second group of people in this passage – they are they servers. One group are equippers – the other group are those who serve. Who are they? Let me ask you a few questions: How many here are called to be a missionary? How many people here are called to be a minister? How many people here are called to be a priest? Catch this - the church has been the biggest victim of identity thief in all of history!
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10) God saved a people for His purpose by His power – sometimes we think of the Gospel in merely individualistic terms. God saved me – I’m going to heaven – I have a personal quiet time – and just me and God – God saved a people for his purpose. A collective group of people – not just this one on one deal – it is true that he saves individuals and he wants us to have a personal relationship with him. – but you need to understand that he saved you to be his people, not merely to be alone in this deal. Peter is speaking to a group of people who are exiles – they understand they are strangers in the land in which they live and Peter as he addresses them in chapter one calls them the elect exiles of the dispersion. He says to them you have been chosen by God to be exiled to the place in which you live for his purposes. You are where you are at because God choose you and sent you there. It is not a mistake that you live where you live – God has an intent for you to be his people – right here is this little corner of Connecticut. He plans is for you to recognize your calling to be ministers – to be priests – to be missionaries.
Christ declares you to be a valuable and needed part of your local church. You are an unrepeatable miracle! Do you realize how long it took God to prepare you? The thousands of things that had to fall into place for you to become you? The hundreds of marriages that took place before you, putting together the right genealogy – experiences and history, - Think of the thousands of details that had to come about to arrange for you to become the person that you are, where you are, in the time you are. God arranges this myriad of details for you to become you. You are a specialized part of the body. No one else can do what you can do as well as you can do it. You cannot be replaced with a substitute part, any more than a surgeon can replace a defective stomach with a pair of lungs. Christ wants you to do in His Body exactly what He’s made you to do because you, as an individual, really do count. Unfortunately, many Christians seem to have lost their sense of identity as to what role they play in the Body of Christ. Like someone suffering from amnesia, they are asking themselves, “Who am I as a Christian, and why am I here? Just how do I fit into the family of God? In the midst of all the people and programs, do I, as an individual, really count?” Some people have the funny idea that when they place their tithes in the offering plate, that they are paying “professional staff” to do the work of the ministry for them. No, that’s not so. My job as staff is to equip you to do your work in the ministry well.
Jesus has four great objectives in his Church – a United Church, A Victorious Church, A Serving Church and lets take a look at the last one - a Mature Church. 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. (Eph 4:13) God’s not satisfied that people just go to church. He’s not satisfied they're decent respectable people. He demands they be full-grown spiritual men, robust, vibrant, strong, that they be the image of Christ, and that the church collectively be the stature of the fullness of Christ. You measure the stature of Christ. You evaluate the fullness of Christ and you'll know what God wants His church to be. Nothing short of that. We are to be just as perfect as Christ. That's God's desire. Church is a place that exists for the purpose of helping people grow and mature from being spiritual babies to being spiritual adults. Now, I’m not knocking babies. I love babies! Babies are always beautiful, even when they’re ugly. Whenever a mother brings a newborn infant into the church for the first time people swarm around to see and to touch and to coo and to beg for permission to hold this little package of joy in their arms. Babies are great. But nobody thinks it’s cute when a person remains a baby for too long. If a small child never learns to walk and talk, never figures out how to feed himself, never outgrows his need for diapers, it’s a sign that something is terribly wrong. If your baby were to ever stop growing up to maturity, you’d call it a tragedy. If your teenagers were still acting just as immature as they did before they turned two, you’d be on the phone looking for professional help. Why? Because although we all love babies, we expect every baby to grow.
Maturity doesn’t happen overnight. Maturity takes time. God can grow a squash in three months, but He’s not interested in growing sanctified squashes. God wants to grow Christian oak trees that are strong and tall, He wants spiritual redwoods that will stand the trials of time. Ill of redwoods in Cal. – hundreds and hundreds of years old. There were burn marks on them for past forest fires – some twisted and had to adapt and grow in a new way. What’s the secret of their survivial – they are connected underneath the soil. Maturity takes time – Making is measured by stuff that is beneath the surface where you can’t see - and it comes about as a result of persevering through trails.
What does maturity look like? It looks like Christ. If we are growing in maturity, our character is becoming shaped to be more and more like Jesus Christ. We’ve already seen that haven’t we? Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearing love, unity. God’s goal is that through our mutual ministry to each other, we will each grow up to become like His first and favorite Son, Jesus Christ. He is the ideal. He is the epitome of perfection. The longing of every soul is to be more like Jesus.
Why do we have to keep growing up spiritually? Why can’t we just stay like we are now? Paul answers that question in verse 14. He contrasts maturity with imaturity by drawing a stark contrast between baby Christians and mature Christians. Look at verse 14 – “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 word picture here is really intense. Imagine an infant on a small raft being tossed about on the water in a powerful storm. Ill of drifting out to sea when I was 7 yr’s old on a floaty. My grandfather swam for an hour to get to me. I didn’t even know how to swim at that point and I had no way of correcting my situation. If the water would have become rough – I would have been done.
Paul here points out the fact that there are some evil people out there who desire to lead young Christians away from the truth. These people are cunning, crafty and deceitful. Paul warns us to watch out for them so we can avoid falling into their traps. Every new believer begins the Christian life as a born-again baby, and often, it is in that first year or so after salvation that a person is an easy mark to be fooled by false teachers. These are the people who come to your door in pairs and say, “Hi -- we’re from a cult that doesn’t believe in salvation by grace alone, and we deny the Trinity, so we’d like you to listen to us twist the Scriptures in order to pull you out of your church and into ours. May we come in?” That’s not what they say, is it? If only they were that honest! Instead, what they really say is, “We are Christians in your neighborhood talking to people about Jesus Christ, and we’d like to come into your home to study the Bible with you.” Do you see how subtle, how crafty, how deceptive that is? It can cause an undiscerning, naive baby Christian to be led astray by a phony, false teacher on their doorstep, or even sometimes, on Christian TV. Baby Christians are gullible, “blown here and there by every wind of teaching,” whereas mature Christians are more grounded and steady and rooted in the truth. Baby Christians are easily deceived, wavering and vacillating, “tossed back and forth by the waves” led astray “by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming,” whereas mature Christians are discerning and cautious to study the Scriptures for themselves. Do you see that contrast?
That is why it is important that you not remain a baby Christian for very long! That is why you need to cooperate with God’s efforts to help you to grow up! Do you want to grow up? If so, how? How can we keep growing up? What is involved in God’s ongoing plan for our spiritual growth and maturity as children of God? In verses 15-16, Paul lists out three ways that God grows up strong Christians, and every one of these three ways takes place in the context of our being involved in a local church.
We Link Truth With Love In Communication speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. Growing involves linking truth with love as we communicate with one another. It’s not just referring to our speaking, but to all forms of our communication: our body language, the ideas we imply, the things we don’t say. Ill of teenager agreeing with their parent’s instruction and saying “Yes mom” while scrunching up their face” They are agreeing verbally but their face is saying something completely different. If we are to grow spiritually, we must be truthful in love. Truth and love must be merged, fused, woven together. It sounds easy, but it’s not. It means, never let your truth be unloving. And never let your love be untruthful. One of the situations I run into on almost a weekly basis is how to confront people who are very sincere in their walk of faith, but have accepted cultural norms or religious ideas that are different from what the Bible teaches. So as I go through the process of teaching there comes this moment when someone will say something and as a Bible teacher, I say – “Well that’s not what it says in the Bible” I know that’s what you may heard or accepted or practiced – but Scripture models or teaches something different.” And depending upon the person’s personality, temperament, maturity level or sometimes maybe they ate a bad pizza – there can be this moment of decision. “Do I back off on this and give them the impression that their idea actually agrees with Scripture? Do I take a stand and take the chance that they will get offended if I say – Maybe there’s a different way of looking at this – you know – a biblical way?” If you are going to interact with leading others – you will face this over and over again. What do you? You speak the truth in love. You don’t compromise love – and you don’t compromise truth.
There needs to be an environment of growth:
We Stay Closely Connected In Fellowship With Other Members Of The Body. “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love” he’s talking about reconciled relationships within the church. It’s the joints and ligaments that connect us with other parts of the Body as we rub up against each other and lean on each other and cooperate with each other. Let the word picture preach the message. What does a picture of a body with joints and supporting ligaments say? It’s about connectedness, isn’t it? It’s about interdependence. Without it we’d be a sorry mess. Can you imagine a body without good joints? A body without ligaments? We need interconnectedness to grow and function as a healthy church body. God’s position for you in the body might be an elbow. An elbow that isn’t connected serves no function. You might be an Achilles heel - but you’re still called to be connected and in fellowship with other members of the body.
We Remain Willing To Do Your Part of the Ministry. “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Paul decribes the how the Body works – “each part grows and builds itself up in love and does is work” As each part of the local Body of Christ uses his or her spiritual gift to serve in a ministry, the result is that the church grows bigger (in quantity) and it grows stronger (in quality) -- but only as each part does its work.
CLOSE: Some of us need to make that decision to be willing to do our part of the ministry, starting today. Most of you are familiar with Paul comparing the church to parts of a body in 1 Corinthians 12.
Have you ever really thought about what part in the Body you play?
* Tear off – “I want to do my part” Help me a find a place to minister.
Memorize: Eph. 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.
* PowerPoint slides may be available for this message. Some slides I use have copy write restrictions on them - others are slides, which I’ve created. If this sermon has slides I’ve created, I’d be glad to pass them on to you for your use. Please feel free to email me at: timvamosi@charter.net
