Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 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:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
To begin, let’s take a close look at verse 13 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:
The word “Till” could be read as until with the thought, “So that.” It is part of a purpose statement. It is something that is progressively happening, but only moves forward when certain things are done and it is something that will always be a process until Jesus Comes for His church.
The words “unto a perfect man,” mean “unto a mature person,” thus, this is God’s goal for His church, a church full of mature believers.
Attitudes tell a lot about maturity. Maturity is characterized by selflessness, the giving up of self-centeredness. Childishness is characterized by selfishness.
And notice verse 15, But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
So God’s goal for each believer is spiritual maturity.
It is God’s intention that you and I, and every believer, have our proper places of service in His church. In other words, God wants each one to fulfill his/her God-given role in the body of Christ. From verses 13 and 15, we see it is God’s plan for the church to:
Become Mature, verse 13.
And maturity is Growing up in Christ, verse 15.
The purpose of spiritual maturity, as taught in this passage, should be happening in each of us so we can take our place in the ministry of the body of Christ and perform those ministries with excellence and effectiveness, which is living a life of spiritual significance.
The first thing we must work to do is to discover what each one’s role in the body is. God has gifted each one is specific ways.
God used apostles; & prophets to deliver His Word to us. Thus, evangelists and pastors are to serve in doing God’s Work, which is fulfilling His will laid out in His Word. There are two gifted positions of service whereby God uses in certain way as He matures His church. They are evangelist and/or pastor-teacher.
May I be open with you? What I understand in this passage frightens me. 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
It frightens me because there are some very real obstacles to becoming mature in Christ and doing the ministry He has planned for us.
This passage and the other passages that tell me what I am to do and what I am to teach to you that you are to do, I find there are some different things involved in that, than just rolling with the flow.
We see it is the pastor’s commission and responsibility to be one of the catalysts in spiritual growth in every member of the church he serves and that by being a faithful pastor-teacher of God’s Word.
But that is not what many in the church want the pastor to be. Many today want a “show.” They want to be entertained and that without confrontation of God and His Word.
Being a faithful pastor-teacher is not popular in many church circles.
It is God’s intention that you and I give full, thus, primary attention to our God-assigned roles in His church, because we are members of Christ’s body.
There is a very real misconception in many churches as to what the pastor is supposed to be and do. A lot churches think the pastor is there to do the ministries of the church.
And, they have come by this because so often we pastors have failed to fulfil our roles, thus, the church is often left without clear understanding of our roles, one of which is to teach these trues.
In many churches, the pastors have not done the best job to instill in the church members that God intends for the members to do the work of the ministry.
God touches lives through people- individuals. Just like various body parts serve the whole in distinct ways, so is each of us to have roles of ministry in Christ’s body, the church.
Most churches want the pastor and staff to do the ministry of the body for them. Teaching and equipping the members are not on the top of the lists of many in the church.
How many of you think it is primarily my responsibility to visit the absentees, disgruntles, prospects, sick and anyone else who needs ministry? It is my job just like it is your job. It is my job because I am a Christian, a member of Christ’s body, not because I am the pastor-teacher.
Doing the ministries of the church is all of our responsibility.
And, it is easier to do church the way we are accustomed to do it, which is expecting the pastors to do so much of the ministries. Yet, masses of persons are fall through the cracks for various reasons. Some fall away because they were not given a functioning place in the body when they came into the church or they were not ministered to by the body as they could have been.
However, I know some will not endure. Jesus lost many because the costs of following Him was just too high for them. Yet, some very genuine believers do not mature and fill their places in ministry because pastors are expected to do the ministries for the members.
I want us to get a grip on two things in this message.
I. GOD'S DESIRE FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
II. GOD'S DESIGN FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
I. GOD'S DESIRE FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
We see that God’s desires for each one to grow spiritually.
13 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:
15, But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Now, here is a good question at this point, “How can we know if we are maturing?” Or, “How can we tell how spiritually mature we are as a church?”
We can know we are on the path to spiritual maturity if our goals, organization, plans, and structure are aimed at equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry of the church, and then we are doing so.
Are we involving the members in the ministries of the church to the point that they do the ministries?
We can tell how spiritually mature we are by the selfless dedication to Jesus we are, which is revealed by the degree of ministries the we work to fulfill in response to the teaching of His Word.
When my children were growing up, if one of them had stopped maturing at any point, I would have rushed him/her to a specialist to find out what was wrong. Yet, in the church, I am afraid, we settle for idle church members on one hand and exhausted, over worked members on the other hand.
Do you know what that is like? What if our daughter had stopped eating, but our son said, “Don’t worry Dad and Mom, I’ll eat her food too,” and he would have done so. Would that have taken care of the problem? The problem wasn’t getting the food eaten, it would have been more important than that. It would have been the health and life of our daughter.
God’s desire for Spiritual Growth is a fact. He desires for the church to mature in doing the ministries of the church.
II. GOD'S DESIGN FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
God’s design for spiritual growth is evident by what He did in and through the Apostles and Prophets. The fact that He called them out and endowed them with gifts to deliver His Holy Word to us speaks volumes about how serious He is. Why did God give His Word to us? So we will do what He says.
All we have to do is stop for a moment and consider the Word of God and we see mountains of undeniable evidence of God’s desire and design for the spiritual growth of His body, the church.
Not only do we see God’s design through the Apostles and Prophets, but we see His design for our spiritual growth in the fact that He has called out some to be evangelist and/or pastor-teachers.
Do you know what the primary need of a pastor is so he can fulfill his role in the body?
Contrary to popular, modern opinion, it is not a knowledge of current events and world affairs. It is a knowledge of God and interaction with Him. It is having the mind of Christ working in him.
That is what the apostles gave themselves unto. Are you aware that deacons were put in place because the pastors understood, they must continually give themselves to the Word of God and prayer.
When the church had grown and the needs of the people increased and began to distract the apostles, they took firm action to stay on tract with God’s plan to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Acts 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
Verse 4 has been paraphrased as: However, we will devote ourselves to the ministries of praying and serving in ways to fulfill the Word. Act 6:4
It literal idea is they gave themselves to the ministry of praying over each situation as they worked to apply the Word of God to those situations.
If you go through the New Testament and church history and you will find what God did when His pastors and people prayed and obeyed His Word by applying it to situations. He released His power.
Those pastor-teachers understood that they were in those churches by God’s giftedness and appointment. And it was their responsibility to apply His power in prayer and His Word to the world and in so doing, they were equipping God’s people to do their ministries the same way (saturated with prayerful application of His Word).
Therefore, the preachers were not to be distracted from the ministry of applying prayer and God’s Word.
Like a doctor applying treatments to those in need, the pastor is to apply prayer and the Word of God to every situation or need. He cannot do this effectively unless he first has a personal practice of prayer and the study of the Word.
Someone explained it this way, “Pastors are to fill their personal lives with prayer and God’s Word and the people are blessed by the overflow.”
The people are to learn how to do God’s work by working with pastor-teachers who do the rigorous labor of prayerfully studying God’s Word.
Adrian Rodgers used to say, “You can no more teach what you do not know, than you can come from where you have not been.”
If our pastor-teachers are not prayerfully, studying God’s Word as a lifestyle, then the people will not get it from them.
The Word of God Purifies the Soul, renews the mind, refreshes the spirit and gives light and insight to one’s mind and heart.
The Word of God, transforms the life of the one who prayerfully takes it in and feeds upon it with desire for God.
We who know Christ, were born again by the living Word of God. God tells us everything around us is fading away like grass at the end of summer, but the Word of God is enduring, never fading and never passing away.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
The first pastors knew that true wisdom to lead God’s people to maturity had to come to them as they ministered according to prayer and the Word of God.
No man has enough sense on his own to know the heart and mind of God for each situation in life and ministry.
Each pastor has to spend time with God or he will function out of his own mind and strength and the outcome will always be far less than that which God does through a person who is prayerfully, full of His Word.
God says He has given pastor-teachers to equip the saints, so that, the saints can do the work of the ministry, so that, the body of Christ will be constructed according to His design.
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
The word “edifying” means 3619. . . architecture, i.e. (concretely) a structure; figuratively confirmation:--building, edify (edification, edifying).
God’s desire, design and construction of the church is for the saints to do the work of the ministry, so that the body of Christ rises up in His power and grace to touch the world for His glory.
I do not recall if I used someone's outline and draft in this sermon. If so, I apologize for not noting it. However,I am sure much of the key content is my own writing.
