SERMON BRIEF
Date Written: May 21, 2015
Date Preached: May 24, 2015
Church: OPBC (AM) Sunday
FOUNDATIONAL ELEMENTS
Series: Spiritual Growth
Text: Ephesians 4:11-16 (ESV)
Title: Now That You Know…Moving Forward
Focus Question: Now that I have my foundation, what is it for?
Introduction:
Memorial Day is tomorrow when we remember those who have fought and died for our freedoms! These men and women were willing to set aside their own desires and dreams to serve this country, and they were willing to give everything for her!
The soldier who gives his life for our freedom should be respected and remembered! We should never take what they have done for granted!
I saw something this past week that really hit home with me, it said…
There are 2 people who made the choice to die for you…
The solider who died for your freedom, and
The Savior who died for your redemption!
To that I add this… we remember and respect the solider who died for us, and we Worship and give praise to the Savior who redeemed us!
Our freedom that we enjoy is a gift from many who gave their lives so that we could enjoy a free life. Today I want us to remember them and their families prayerfully and thank God we live in a country where men and women are willing to die for our freedoms!
These men and women did this because they knew if they didn’t… these freedoms could be lost and taken away. They set aside themselves for their country! They willingly submitted themselves for training to serve where they were placed. They rec’d instruction and then went out and did what they were trained to do…
Over the past several weeks, we have been looking at how we must ‘train’ as a believer! The 1st sermon in this series was that we need to stop ‘trying’ and start ‘TRAINING’!
This entire series has focused on the discipline of growing in Christ! Our focus has been on 2 foundational disciplines that every believer must establish: a solid Bible study and a vibrant prayer life.
This is because Bible study and prayer undergird all other actions of the Christian servant! These spiritual disciplines give us the foundation for anything we are called to do in the kingdom of Christ!
I pray that you have started applying these two foundational discipline into your life! That you have a grounded Bible study and that you have a vibrant prayer life! If you are not willing to establish these 2 foundations in your walk with Christ, you cannot grow as a believer!
AND…if you are not growing as a believer, God will not use you in His kingdom! He wants to use you and knowing this, as your pastor, it is my spiritual duty and responsibility to see that you are learning and growing in Christ!
However, I want us to all understand I don’t do this out of a sense of superiority or with any thought I am somehow better or above anyone… I do this out of obedience to Christ!
Over the past few weeks we learned about growing as a believer…This morning I want us to take a step BACK. I want us to look at a broader picture.
I want us to look at God’s plan for the church! As we look at this overall plan from God we must keep in mind everything we learned so far because it is vital to the overall picture!
Let’s look at God’s overall plan for the church. Turn with me to Ephesians 4:11-16 [read entire passage here]
11And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ. 16From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.
Now Jesus sets forth a plan in theses verses, but I want us to 1st look at WHO is to lead in this plan…look at v11
11And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
Jesus is the He in this verse… His gifts given thru the H.S. are given to the leadership within the church.
The leadership is described here by Paul as:
Apostles - are unique based on having witnessed the resurrection, but also on having been commissioned and empowered by the resurrected Lord to proclaim the gospel to all nations.
Prophets – One called out by God to deliver a particular message such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Jonah and various other OT prophets. Prophets can exist today, but we must be like the Bereans in this aspect in that we must test what they say against what Scripture says because the Bible says there will be MANY false prophets to come…
Evangelists – One uniquely gifted by God to take the message of the Gospel to the world around them. Usually a person who dedicates their life for this purpose.
Pastor– This word gives a picture of a shepherd and God calls men to shepherd a flock of believers. Jesus referred to Himself as the Great Shepherd… A shepherd is focused on leading his sheep to nourishment and keep them protected.
Teachers – The term teacher focuses on the teaching of God’s Word. Thru a sermon, or SS lesson. The emphasis is that a teacher is one willing to take others under his/her wing to relate biblical truth and knowledge to others.
Now we have to understand that here God is setting aside roles and positions he considered church leadership. Paul drives this home in v11 when he used the personal pronoun “He” is referring to Jesus… God set this up, NOT Paul
God appoints the leaders of the church by calling them into ministry for His kingdom. Therefore, none of these positions are something we simply decide to take up, but it is a definite calling from Jesus Himself.
Jesus calls these people to serve Him. ALL of their service is focus on one particular task, look what v12 share with us:
12for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,
That mission Jesus sets forth here is elegantly simple. To equip the saints (the body), for the work of the ministry (Great Commission/Commandment) for the building up of the body of Christ (growing the Kingdom)…The leaders Jesus calls are to train and equip the body to do the work of growing the kingdom.
What does this mean? Well, this means that my MAIN job is NOT to grow the church! This means that my MAIN job is to PREACH the word! My main job is to TEACH the Word. I must equip believers for the ministry of the Gospel…
Any leader within our fellowship must have the same focus: To teach God’s word to the fellowship! Teaching His Word will allow them to be equipped for what God has in store for them…but WHO are the leaders called to equip?
We are called to equip “The saints”… or to put it more directly, all whom Christ has forgiven…the body of believers!
The pastor and leaders are called to teach/preach the word in a manner that equips the saints to grow/mature in their faith/relationship with God.
To give them the tools they need to do the work God calls them to do… Paul addresses this in a general form in the next part of this verse…
He says that the leadership of the church is called to equip the saints, “For the work of ministry.” What is the ‘work of the ministry’… Jesus spelled that out in Matt 28:18-20 when He issued the Great Commission to all believers!
Jesus also spelled it out when He gave the Great Commandment in Matt 22:37-40! With those 2 edicts Jesus laid out the ‘work of the ministry.’
The work of the ministry is grounded in that we love God first and foremost in all we do…
The work of the ministry is to take the Gospel to the world around us:
The work of the ministry is to teach about Jesus and all He taught us:
The work of the ministry is to bring people to Christ (make disciples):
The work of the ministry is to baptize people as a witness of their faith:
The work of the ministry is fleshed out and made plain to the world around us when we love our neighbor with a love like God has for us…
Leadership LEADS in the work of the ministry by equipping the saints to DO the work of the ministry. But there is a definite purpose FOR DOING the work of the ministry and Jesus lays that out here as well… the work of the ministry is done to “build up the body of Christ”
Now I would say that this statement is self-explanatory, but I don’t want to presume anything here this morning. What does he mean by the statement ‘build up the body of Christ’?
We must 1st look at what the ‘body of Christ’ is… The body of Christ is the church. Christ is the head and we are the body. The body of Christ is the people who have been redeemed!
The body of Christ is NOT Oak Park Baptist Church… Oak Park Baptist Church is INCLUDED within the body of Christ but we are NOT the body of Christ. Preacher, what do you mean by that?
Well, this calling by Jesus was so that His church would grow! This statement is about Kingdom growth and not about the growth of an individual fellowship.
The principles still apply, but far too often individual churches lose focus and fall away from obedience when there is no DIRECT growth to THEIR body.
Jesus never said He would grow Oak Park Baptist Church, His promise was that He would grow the church… the body of Christ! Church growth is found in this template provided by Jesus…
So to sum up this verse we can see that the leaders pointed out in v11 are called, by Jesus, to equip the church body to do God’s work to so that His church will grow…
Ok, growing the church is good, but how can we know we are on the right track? Well when the church begins to grow that is ONE sign, but it is not the only sign, in fact it is not even the most important indicator of ‘growth’… let’s look at v13
13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
Here Paul lets us know the main indicator and focus on growth in the eyes of Jesus… UNITY! Look what Paul says, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith…”
Our first goal in growth is NOT numbers people, it is being a unified body of believers! This unity can only come from our love for God and one another (Matt 22:37-40) In John 17 Jesus prayed we would be unified and that the world would see that unity and be drawn to it…
We cannot grow without being unified, but Jesus does not stop there, we are to be unified in the faith, but we are also called to obtain the knowledge of the Son of God. People Jesus is saying here that the body must absorb the teaching of the leaders! You must be WILLING to be equipped!
I used to coach baseball every year and I can remember how wonderful it was when I had players who were eager to learn and know how to play baseball the way it was supposed to be played…
But there were also players that believed they already KNEW everything about the game and that I could not teach them anything. These type of players believed THEIR way was the only way to do something.
I can remember that many of them were extremely talented and could have be valuable members of the team, but because they were not coachable and refused to progress, they were not much use to the team.
I see a lot of that within the church today as well, even here in our fellowship. People with great potential, untapped talent, but simply going nowhere because they are NOT willing to be taught and equipped by leadership. They believe they know it all and don’t need instruction or leading…
This breaks up any semblance of unity within the body and kills any hope of true Kingdom growth…not to mention growing as an individual fellowship.
People we must be in unity with each other and willing to be equipped by those God has called to leadership, but let’s look at the rest of this verse…
… and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness,
The knowledge of the Son of God, what does that have to do with our unity? With our growth? Well besides the obvious that the Son of God IS the central focus of the Gospel and that He is our redeemer and Lord… our knowledge of the Son of God is extremely vital to our unity!
In Phil 2 we learn that the Son of God…JESUS… submitted to the plan of the Father. He was willing to surrender what HE had and who HE was for the will of the Father! If there has ever been anyone who DID already know everything… If there ever was a person who could already DO everything…it was Jesus!
Yet, He submitted Himself… [read Phil 2:6-8]
6who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.
We must come to the knowledge of WHO our Lord is and what He has done and realize He has called us to do the same. To submit and surrender ourselves to HIS work.
Jesus taught that His disciples would deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him. Paul wrote about believers, “…growing into a mature man [believer] with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness …”
The mature believer does not consider his or her desires, but instead lays them aside so they can serve the kingdom and see it grow! We must sacrifice our own selves, as Paul instructs us to become ‘living sacrifices’ so that we can be unified and take the Gospel to the world around us!
Basically, what we can see Paul saying here is that we are to ‘grow up in the faith’ To be unified we must live our lives in the full knowledge of the Son of God and pattern it after Him.
Jesus calls us to be equipped to do the work of the ministry and we can only do this when we are unified and mature. He does not want immature believers doing the work of the ministry! Look at v14…
14Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.
A child is easily swayed by persuasion… preacher you don’t know my little one… once they get it in their heads they are stubborn! Well that is the other side of it as well… a stubborn hold on what is wrong is also childish, especially when we have knowledge of it being wrong!
What Paul is saying here is that the goal of unity and knowing Christ is so that we do not act like immature believers… so that we don’t project an immature message or live out an immature faith…
Immature believers project an immature message that leads to a incomplete Gospel that does NOT save, but misleads! Paul is telling us that is NOT our calling, but that our calling is to present that matured Gospel that saves COMPLETELY!
In other words, when we are mature in our faith, we are not going to be swayed by doctrines that sound good, or feelings or emotions. We will stay true to the Word of God and not bend to societal pressures!
Let me give you an example that is HOT in our culture right now! Homosexual marriage is being promoted as the ‘right thing to do’ after all marriage is about love and if they love each other who are we to say they cant be married?
Their argument can be persuasive playing on our compassion and our desire to be a ‘good person,’ however, their argument is flawed in that it is outside of God’s Word. God’s word says that marriage is a union of a man and woman. God’s word is very clear about sexual sin and sexual perversions.
Homosexuality falls outside of God’s order and is condemned by God’s Word, just like adultery and any other sexual sin. The point of this verse is that the world will present a position that seems right, but the mature believer will only be led by what God’s word tells them is right.
Right vs Wrong is not relevant to societal pressure… and the mature believer will see this and know how to deal with it… because they have been equipped for it!
Now when we begin to speak the Word against the world and their argument… we will be seen as narrow minded, bigots, homophobes, mean-spirited and many other things… we cannot control how the world reacts to us, but the equipped, mature believer can control how THEY act in the world! Look at this next verse…
15But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head—Christ.
Instead of bashing people over the head with our Bibles, we are to speak the truth (don’t ever dilute the message of Scripture)… but speak the truth in love! We are to loving challenge those in this world, relating that we love them…
Saying that we ‘love’ them does not mean we endorse what they are doing or what they stand for, it reveals that we are mature believers seeing the world through the eyes of Christ!
Christ saw YOU with eyes of compassion and love… he saw YOU in your sin and in your time of rebellion and yet He loved you and wanted you to be saved! We are called to have that same compassion for the world around us!
But Paul says we are to do this in a mature way so as to promote Jesus Christ! Our focus is always to promote the kingdom work of Christ…even if that means it is not going to help our own local fellowship! Our focus must be on the Lordship of Christ and making sure His message is told!
Once again, Paul ties the message of the Gospel to the unity of the fellowship, look at v16
16From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.
This verse is filled with phrases that scream unity and illustrate our focus as believers! Look at this 1st phrase, ‘…from whom the whole body…”
This phrase is speaking of the message of the Gospel and from where God desires it to come… the message of the Gospel must come from the body! The ‘whole’ body, this reflect a unified effort by those in the fellowship!
The leadership equips the body with the message and the body takes that message to the world! Then Paul says, “…fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament …” Do you understand what this means? This means that we ALL have a part to play! We are ALL responsible for unity!
However, Paul does not stop there, he continues that when we are equipped as a fellowship and obedient it, “…promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part …”
In other words, Paul is teaching us that we all have a role to play and our role works in sync with the roles of others so that the body can function in unity and grow as God has designed!
Church! God has called us into His mission! He has equipped some as leaders and we must equip others with the message of the Gospel so that they can do the work of the ministry! He has called others to be the driving force of the Gospel, the army on the battlefield… those who need equipping! You need to be equipped to do His work!
His work is the Great Commission and Great commandment… The work of the ministry is to build up the Kingdom…The work of ministry focuses on Kingdom growth, and is not distracted with individual church growth!
We are to grow in Him, maturing to the point, where the world’s arguments do not affect or persuade us. However, as mature believers we must always speak the truth in love to those who need redemption!
THIS IS OUR MISSION! THIS IS OUR CALLING! The question is where do you fit in? Are you called by God to lead and equip? OR has God called you to submit and follow and do the work of the ministry?
The important thing to remember here is that every single ‘job’ in the Kingdom is important and vital to the growth of the Kingdom, we all have our part to play…we all have our calling to answer! Where are you today? What is your calling from God?
Give invitation…
Believers—you have heard God’s plan and purpose for the church, where do you fit in? Are you rebelling against God’s calling for your life? Today you can repent and surrender to His calling… are you willing to be equipped and do the work of the ministry?
To those who do Not know Christ—you know that there is a tugging at your heart. You know that you have tried to answer that call with many things but NOTHING has satisfied and you still feel it!
Today I am here to tell you that you are being called by God to surrender to Him! It doesn’t matter what you have done… God will meet you where you are! This morning you can repent and surrender to Him and be redeemed by His holy power! The question is, “are you willing?”
As we begin to sing I ask you to come and surrender to Him this morning, would you step out and come as Mrs June leads us in our hymn of invitation!
