The Church and the Gifts Given

Transcript

GR1947
04/03/2016
The Church and the Gifts Given
I Peter 4:11
Gil Rugh

We have been studying Peter’s letter, the first letter of Peter, so if you would turn there is your Bibles, way back toward the back of your Bible, almost to the book of Revelation; just a few small books between 1st and 2nd Peter and the book of Revelation. As you do I want to read you the article I have referred to on other occasions including earlier today because it ties to what we are going to be looking at. In fact I had stuck this article into this section of my notes on I Peter so I thought I would share it with you again.

We are going to be talking about the church and how it is to function with gifts given and their purpose. The title of this article which appeared just before Easter – “Omaha churches tout community aid.” “Thirty five Omaha area churches have teamed up for the faith based campaign aimed at helping the public understand their community service efforts. The “everybody wins” campaign started last week and included billboards and other advertising along with social media promotion. One of the campaign leaders (a pastor of an evangelical church in Omaha, they mention him and the church) said he thinks local churches need to do a better job spreading the word about their community efforts including organizing after-school programs, running food pantries and volunteering with the homeless or refugee populations.” There’s nothing necessarily wrong with any of those works; it just a question whether that is what the church is called to focus on as its ministry. He said, “The campaigns churches hoped to change the minds of some people who see organized religion as extreme, irrelevant or judgmental. We would like people to see that the church is one of the best things that happens for our culture” he said and “to help people see churches for what we are for, not for what we are against. The campaign was timed to begin near Easter when church attendance surges” he said.

Another pastor in Omaha said, “The campaign isn’t about attendance numbers but about making churches community service efforts stronger by getting people involved. He hopes that people will discover or revive their faith by participating. It is about enabling more people to experience the love God has for them” he said. “The coalition is composed of a variety of Christian denominations including Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, non-denominational, large churches, small churches” and so on. “We can really accomplish so much more together” said the pastor of another evangelical church. “We want to elevate our ability to make a difference in the city.” And the concern there is the departure from what God says the church is to be, what its ministry is.

Let’s do what the community and the city will appreciate. Let’s show them that we make a difference in the community. We don’t want to be known as judgmental. This was planned to coincide with Easter but nothing said about wanting them to know about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The thing that concerns me is that some of these churches involved claim to be evangelical, at least a couple of them mentioned there, I’ve known in the past as evangelical churches. How do we get caught up in this is what we really need to do? Let’s put up billboards and do advertising to tell them that we have after-school programs and run food pantries. Again, nothing wrong with that but the world can do that. What is unique about the church? We just want to become something that the world will appreciate and accept and welcome. We talked some about that in our earlier study today.

Moving into where we are in I Peter chapter 4. Peter is talking about the matter of spiritual gifts and these are essential to understanding how the church functions, how the church grows spiritually, what God’s purpose for the church is. I fail to understand what it means that by people getting involved in these community efforts they will discover or revive their faith by participating. Have we totally lost any conception of how a person comes to saving faith by participating in a food pantry, by helping in an after school program, by working with the homeless? The Gospel is the power of God but there is no reference to the importance of having a clear message of the Gospel to the lost and needy of our city.

Well what Peter wants them to be clear is to understand what God has established for the church for its growth and development. This is founded on what he has already talked about earlier in his letter. Back in chapter 1, verse 18 he said, “Knowing you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile empty way of life inherited from your forefathers but with precious blood , as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” Down in verse 22: “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.” Verse 23: “For you have born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God.”

So as we come over into chapter 4 he has talked about conduct and behavior, persistence and faithfulness through trials and difficulty. He talked about our love for one another. Now he is talking about spiritual gifts.

What happens when a person hears the Gospel and by God’s grace believes the Gospel that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture? He was buried and raised on the third day. He was seen by witnesses who testified to the reality of the resurrection.” Salvation occurs and a miracle occurs, a miracle of the power of God that cleanses from sin that makes a person new and it causes the person to be born again into the family of God.

Another analogy to be used is to become part of the body of Christ. Come back to I Corinthians chapter 12 and this is the most extensive section of the New Testament as you are aware on spiritual gifts. It is in this context that the analogy of the body is developed and used. In chapter 12 it talks about the work of the Spirit in gifting each person and then he uses the analogy in verse 12 of chapter 12 of I Corinthians: “Even as the body is one and yet has many members,” many parts, talks about our physical body. It is one body but has a variety of parts, fingers, arms, ears, legs, feet, every part but it is still one body. “All the members of the body, though they are many, are one body.” Now we develop the analogy and bring it to its comparison. “So also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.” It goes on to develop the foot can’t say that it doesn’t need another part. The ear can’t say that and on it goes. It’s such a basic foundational picture. We understand when the Spirit puts us into the body of Christ, makes us part of God’s family, makes us part of Christ’s body He enables us by gifting us to contribute in a special way. That is the picture that is portrayed here. Those who are not part of the body do not fit. They can attend a church meeting but they have no spiritual connection to the body. Only the Spirit can produce that. That is the baptism of the Spirit. That is a spiritual identification made by the Spirit of God connecting us to Jesus Christ and identifying us with Him and His death, burial and resurrection so that we become spiritually united with Him.

Come over to Ephesians chapter 1 and we come to the end of this extensive section on again what God has accomplished for us in Christ. Verse 22: “And He put all things in subjection under His feet” referring to Christ; “Gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” This is in a condensed way God’s plan for the functioning of the church. There is no reason for misunderstanding it. When a physical baby is over the process you help them appreciate their fingers and their little hands and how they work and everything. Every part has its place. It’s not just birth has taken place. Well what do you have? Well we have a pile of parts on the table. No, all the parts are already there. Now there is a developing process of that physical baby learning to function with all the parts making its contribution. It is a certain natural process that God has built in. So it is spiritually.

Come back to I Peter, chapter 4. We have looked at verse 10. This is a section, verses 7-11 talking about reminding them as we have sung, “The end of all things is near, be alert, be aware, be demonstrating love toward one another, being hospitable to one another as each one, (verse 10) has received a special gift.” And you have that word special italicized. It is not in the text but in a way it is because the word for gift is charisma and you know the word for grace is charis, charisma. So you could translate this “Everyone has received a grace gift.” In that sense it is a special gift. “As each one has,” and we talked about the fact that the gift is a display of God’s grace. It is a grace gift. It is not earned or merited. It is not now that you are a Christian here is the list of gifts, pick out the one you would like to have.

It is a matter, if you will, of discovery. I am a new believer, I am part of the body, I don’t know what particular role God has gifted me for and so we function in a variety of ways. It is the learning process. That is not bad. It doesn’t mean now I am a Christian and I should know what my gift is. Well, that depends. You discover your gift, if you will, by functioning and that is true to a certain extent. No analogy is perfect but the new born baby over time develops the use of the parts properly but it is a grace gift, not earned or merited. To be used in serving others. “Employ it in serving one another.” It is a gift to enable you to be an effective part of the body making a contribution by serving others and every part of the physical body does that in its own way.

My feet may not like being walked on every day. I wish they were an eye. I wish it was an eye or well they serve their place. They serve the body by doing what they should, what they could, what God has prepared and planned. It is for serving. They are not selfish, not primarily for my growth but I will grow while I am exercising my gift in the context of others but I am not looking at my gift primarily as an opportunity for me to grow. It is primarily an opportunity to contribute to the growth of others. That fits with our love for one another.

So we use our gifts. We have people in the nursery now. Not because it is necessarily more enjoyable to be in the nursery but that’s a way that they found that God uses them to enable the body to function more effectively. They are not just changing diapers and giving babies proper care but they are enabling us to be free from distraction to focus and concentrate our attention on the study of the Word. So they make a major contribution to the development and maturing of the body. And that is true in every gift. We often don’t appreciate it until something is missing.

Just like our physical body. We sometimes take the parts for granted until something happens to one of the parts. All of a sudden we appreciate in a new way how we took for granted the functioning of that part of the body but it is for serving others. So there are means of serving. They are to be used in service as good stewards. We are stewards of the gift. This is very important. We are not owners in that sense because we operate under a master, the head of the household as we mix the metaphors, being a member of the family, being part of the physical body. We have been entrusted with the stewardship. Stewardship was a responsibility for an area of oversight or ministry in a household.

God has gifted us and that means He has given us a responsibility that must be carried out in a way that is pleasing to Him. It is a stewardship. We will be accountable to God for our stewardship and Paul wrote of his stewardship when he wrote to the Corinthians and said, “Above all it is required of a steward that a man be found faithful.” My concern, your concern is to use the gift that God has given me, the gift that God has given you in the way that will demonstrate faithfulness to our master when we give an account to Him of our stewardship and then we are “stewards of the manifold grace of God.”

Our gifts are grace gifts and they display the multi-faceted grace of God. We looked in Corinthians earlier in chapter 12 of I Corinthians. We were there a moment ago but just before that he talked that there are varieties of gifts but one Lord, varieties of ways of serving but one, varieties and one, varieties and one. Then he pulls it together in the analogy of the body. Variety of parts, one body so all our gifts functioning are displays of God’s multi-faceted grace, the diversity of His grace and each of us are stewards of the gift He has given us and as we exercise it together it is amazing. We come from different backgrounds, different interests but the sovereign God when He saves us and placed us in the body placed us there, gifted to contribute.

I think the evidence of Scripture is the gifts function in the context of the local church primarily. That is the manifestation of the body of Christ in the world. There is the universal church and there is the local church. The manifestation of the universal church is the local church meeting in various places and we have looked back in I Corinthians chapter 1 and he said to that local church, “You don’t come behind in any gift.” So God doesn’t just put gifts out there and then they are out there roaming around in what we call the universal church. No, He has planned and ordained and appointed that each one be part of a local body and their gifts so Paul can write to the Corinthian church, that local church and say, “You don’t come behind in any gift. All the gifts necessary for you to function as God intends you to carry out His purpose for you as His church, you have.” There are no extraneous parts. Well I guess there is nothing here for me. Well God has put me here. There is a place for me to fill and it is an obligation that we have.

So he continues this now as he proceeds in verse 11. He is really going to divide the gifts into two categories. We saw in verse 10 that all the gifts are used for serving others in the body but now he is going to divide the gifts into two broad categories: those that are speaking gifts and those that are serving. Now even the speaking gifts are means of serving. My gift as a teacher is a gift of serving. It wasn’t given for me to be able to learn the Word better. It was given so I could communicate the Word to you in a way that would help you understand it better and implement it better but the broad category we can say some gifts focus on communicating God’s truth and others function if you will in supporting the ministry of the Word and enabling the ministry of the Word to be effective in lives and they are all important. They are all essential.

So we come to verse 11 of I Peter 4: “Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God.” The speaking gifts are given for the communication of God’s Word and that expression, “The utterances of God.” In other places it is translated the “oracles of God.” In Romans chapter 3, verse 2 it is used that way. In Hebrews chapter 5, verse 12 the Jews were given the oracles of God, the same expression as we have here as the utterances of God, God’s Word. Those who have speaking gifts, Ephesians 4:11 uses a similar break down. “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers.” All gifts involved in the communicating of God’s Word. Exhortation would be a gift that would also fit in that area. So certain gifts involve communicating the Word of God.

So that ought to be the focus. Those with speaking gifts are to minister God’s truth. I can’t understand. We have changed now. We think pastors ought to be organizers. That is what we have here. So they are trying to develop their church to have a community kind of impact with various programs and organizations. And the pastor of this evangelical church has turned it from a focus on teaching of the Word to be like the church that he came from. It has that kind of emphasis.

There is no excuse for misunderstanding. Here is what we are told. Whoever speaks the context of the ministry of the church and the exercising of the gifts is to be speaking the utterances of God, not concerned with, “look at what we do. We have a food pantry. We have this, we have that.” We are here to bring the Word of God to this community, to carry the Gospel to the lost and to nurture and nourish the believers. That is what we are.

Come back to I Timothy 3, a verse that you can probably, many of you, quote because we come to it often. Just a little in front of Peter on the other side of Hebrews going toward the front of your Bible and you will quickly run into the Pastoral Epistles. I Timothy, chapter 3, verse 14: Paul is writing to Timothy who is at Ephesus. He says in verse 14: “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, (I want you to know) I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God.” So there is the picture that this is God’s household and we are stewards in the household with our gifts. In the household of God, God’s family is the church of the living God; the pillar and support of the truth. What excuse do those who claim to be Bible believing Christians have for not understanding what the church is to be about?

The unbelieving world may see us as judgmental and in a certain sense we are announcing judgment. We are not judgmental in the wrong use of that word but we can’t get away from the fact: we come to tell you of a God who is going to bring judgment on sin and sinners. We come to tell you that you are under the wrath of God which has been revealed from the heavens against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. We come to tell you that must repent “for God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness having furnished proof to all men by raising Jesus Christ from the dead.” If you see that as judgmental we have a God who is Judge as we tell you His Word. We are telling you about judgment.

We are not here to try to get you to like us. We want to be, you know, kind people, understanding people but we are here to bring you a message, God’s message. I am not free to alter it. This is not my church. I am a steward like you are a steward, accountable to the One who is the head of the church, the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. If they are going to jump out and be like many other organizations in the city, who is left in that city to be the pillar and support of the truth? The devil, one of his most effective tactics under the guise of being effective is to move the church away from what God has called it to do, to be the pillar and support of the truth and thus we are just like many other secular organizations, here to meet human needs.

We are here to meet spiritual needs. We are here to proclaim truth. That doesn’t mean that individuals may not be involved. We are involved in a variety of ways. Throughout the week we have different jobs, different things we do. We keep the ministry of the church focused and recognize the prime responsibility God has given me as His servant. We are called to do what no one else in this city can do but another believer, what no other group can do but a Bible believing church can do. When we draw the church into doing what everybody else does, the devil accomplishes his purpose. As long as nobody is here proclaiming the truth he is happy. The pillar and support of the truth proclaiming the utterances of God.

He talks about elders here in this context and the ministry that they are to have. Come on over to Titus. We will take it from a different view. Titus chapter 1and we see what elders are to do. God has blessed us with godly elders who have as a prime responsibility to see that the church stays true to its responsibility to fulfill what God has called it to do and he gives the instructions for elders or overseers. In that he says in verse 9: “They must be holding fast the faithful Word which is in accordance with the teaching so that this elder will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict for there are many rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers.” Verse 11: “They must be silenced.” I mean this is not an open setting. As a major part of the elder’s responsibility it is to see that the church stays pure in its doctrine. This is not well, we want to be broad, and we want to be open to different ideas. We see churches advertising they are an open church. They are open to different views, different ideas. We are not. We can’t be faithful to the God who has called us if we are. The elders have a solemn responsibility in this and sometimes they have to silence those who would want to bring in contrary teaching. Not to be mean. Not to be arrogant. Not to be self-centered but to be Biblical.

You understand our church didn’t write this. I didn’t write this. You didn’t write it. This is God’s Word. There are those who must be silenced. They upset whole families because that error gets in among the people. Then they say, “Well you know, they seem like really sincere people and teachers and”… on it goes. And of course the world is flooded with that kind of teaching. So those who are entrusted with this ministry must stand firm.

Come back, just turn a page back to II Timothy chapter 4. Look at Timothy. He is exhorted by Paul in this last letter. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God in Christ Jesus who is the Judge, the living and the dead by His appearing in His kingdom. Preach the Word.” You see how serious Paul takes this. He reminds Timothy, one he loves and was so close to that God and Jesus Christ are witnesses to what I am declaring to you today and you will give an account before them. “You must preach the Word in season and out of season.” There are those kinds of times.

You know in the early years of the ministry here, the first five years, I baptized 500 people who professed faith in Christ; amazing, people pouring in the doors to hear the Word. I would say that is in season. Then we get into times that maybe are more out of season and well, I was reading an article I have filed with this section of the Word and a pastor of an evangelical church says, “Well, our times have changed. People aren’t looking for teaching today so we are looking to move our ministry to where we think it will be more effective to the way people are thinking today.” I can’t move the ministry. The elders can’t move the ministry. We as a church can’t move to a different kind of ministry because the proclaiming of the Word is not in season today. Can it get any more serious than this? You know, our responsibility is simple. You preach the Word when people are open to hear it, when they are not open to hear it. You reprove, you rebuke, you exhort. That is what those who have the speaking gifts are to do. It seems sort of negative if you are going to reprove and you are going to rebuke along with exhortation and you recognize the time will come when they will not endure healthy teaching, sound doctrine. They want to have teaching they like.

You know in that sense we have the simplest job to do. Do what you did yesterday, last week, last month, last year, 10 years. The ministry of the church does not change by the changing seasons of the world. God is using today the same Gospel He used that Paul talked about when he wrote to the Romans. “The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Nothing has changed in 2,000 years and we are to “be like new born babies” as we studied in I Peter 2, “longing for the pure, unadulterated milk of God’s Word” in respect to our salvation. Nothing has changed in 2,000 years. The church has always been an anachronism in a sense functioning out of time, out of season. In that sense because the world as a whole has never been open and supportive to the Word. There are seasons when God does greater works. We appreciate that.

So the responsibility. This hasn’t changed from the Old Testament. We won’t go back there for time but in Jeremiah chapter 1 that records God’s call of Jeremiah to be a prophet. You know what He says, “I have put My Words in your mouth.” That’s it. “Now go tell them.” So now God has given us His Word. Now go tell them. Well people don’t find it interesting. We are, you know, we are living the electronic age. They are more into things that are sound bytes.

It drives me crazy to try to watch the news. It’s geared to two year olds. You know, let’s get two people on who argue for 30 seconds and then we will take a commercial break. Then we will come back and have another 30 seconds and then we will say we are out of time we are moving on. And I think well, we have to adapt to that because you know this is the way young people are growing up. They are used to just sound bytes. Well, you have to adjust when you get saved. There are a lot of changes. We adjust from doing it the world’s way to doing it God’s way. I am not saying you can’t use your I-pad for reading Scripture but don’t cheat. But we have to come to the Word. You can’t be a growing Christian without being seriously into the Word of God. It is not a sound byte. The time will come when they will not endure healthy teaching but that doesn’t mean we don’t give it anyway because we are not doing it to fit the age. We are doing it to please the One to whom we are accountable.

Okay, come back to Peter. “So whoever speaks as one who is speaking, the utterances of God.” Proclaiming what God has revealed. “Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies.” So you serve the same way as the one who speaks in that sense. The one who speaks gives forth the Word that God has given. The one who serves does so in the strength that God supplies.

One writer wrote that “There is no work so hard as the work of the Lord done in the energy of the flesh.” It is impossible. It drains you quickly. That doesn’t mean you don’t get tired because we are doing the work of the Lord. It is not fun and games. We are not saying we don’t get tired but we don’t get weary in well doing. God gives us strength. There are times we need a break. We need rest but we serve as one serving by the strength which God supplies. It is His strength, His might and He supplies it and that word ‘supply’ is the word that means supply in abundance, supply lavishly. You know we look and say, boy, they have been serving and giving of themselves for so long and so faithful. That is what has been the strength of our local church, people who have drawn upon God’s strength and they serve. The context of the faithful ministry of the Word and that all goes together to build the body. We are serving. We are serving one another and in doing so we are serving the God who has put us into service.

The point in all of this: “So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” That is what we want. We want to honor the Lord. We want to bring Him glory. He has called us to do what the world would consider great things important things but we are about the most important work that can be done. We are honoring and making known the living God. As we function together we are a testimony of the grace of our God who has saved us and put us together and given us a love for one another that enables us to love and serve one another and we are growing together not so we can be honored but so that God can be glorified because it is His church. It’s the church which He purchased with His own blood as Paul reminded the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians in I Corinthians chapter 10, verse 31 and he said: “Whatever then, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And that is why we function together as a church. That is why people need to understand the importance of the local church. That is the functioning of the body of Christ. It does concern me how easily people let go of their commitment to the church. Less is better. We have done away with certain parts of the churches functioning because we are going to use that for family night. It always surprised me when evangelical churches took that step that Sunday night had to be family night. Why couldn’t Monday night be family night or Tuesday night or Wednesday night or Thursday night or Friday night or Saturday night? Well, we have filled that with other things. We are busy and Christians get pleased with less, less time. Maybe we could move our service to another night and we don’t have to have church on Sunday night but I get concerned about the motivation. If we are doing it because it is an effective time to do it, fine. We could meet on Friday night. The Bible doesn’t require us to meet Sunday morning. It does require us to meet. We are told “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is” as the writer to the Hebrews wrote. Oh well, it will interfere less in my other activities. Now that concerns me. When we begin to view the church and our ministry as the body of Christ as something that interferes with the flow of life and you understand the world moves to try to make it more difficult. You have your kids at athletic activities if they are not going to be there for Sunday morning. You know, the devil just moves. I guess everything gets squeezed out and short is better because we are so busy but what is the most important thing that we are about? Isn’t it to bring glory to God? How do we say we bring glory to Him in functioning together in the exercising of the gifts He has given us so we can grow together? If we are never together is it hard to do that. That doesn’t mean we are not being used of Him when we are in other places but as we come together we minister together, we serve together, we grow together. If we could just get it in in a half hour that you know, would just fit my schedule better. What is going on in lives so important we fill it with other things? They are not necessarily bad. They are not in and of themselves sinful but they become wrong when they push out what should be done. Be careful of that as a church because the world is working on a whole different plan. The devil is satisfied with 10 minutes of false worship. I mean anything works for him except truth.

So we are doing it that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever. And all of us would say that. It has to be more than just an expression of our lips. Well I want to bring God glory with my life. Well then throw yourself into the ministry that He has gifted you to do, the functioning. How could I be used in a greater way? How could I make time for more service for Him? The generation coming up, we have a responsibility to them. What is the priority? Young people learning to arrange their schedules, arrange their lives according to what the world says should be important for them. We want them to understand this is a priority of our lives. This is what God has called us to do. We are out of step with the world.

Come back to Ephesians 4. Just a summary overview from this familiar passage that I quoted from. “After Christ ascended to heaven He sent the Spirit. With the sending of the Spirit special enabling gifts were given to those who were believers in Jesus Christ.” And he mentions some of the speaking gifts in verse 11 that I referred to: “Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These are for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the work of serving.” So you see here the breakdown. He mentions teaching gifts here and that ministry of the Word, “As new born babes long for the pure milk of the Word that you might grow” in respect to your salvation. So that as we grow and become more mature we become more effective in the exercising of the gift that God has given us. So then the body becomes stronger. It becomes more mature.

“It is for the equipping of the saints for the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ.” This is how we mature. This is how we grow. Now if the church doesn’t stay true and faithful to the Word and the ministry of the Word then the saints won’t be nourished and nourished and equipped to function as they should and pretty soon the church is totally removed.

We look at that around now. Major denominations demonstrate clearly have departed. They are all about doing things that any unsaved person can do. So we are touting things for the community and the faith community is functioning together whatever empty words they are, faith community. The faith community is an expression for nothingness. Believe what you want. Do you have faith? Of course, I believe in meditation, come help us demonstrate our faith. I believe in Buddah. I believe in … ahhhh……

To build up the body of Christ and we are never done because we are moving toward attaining the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, the mature man, the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. You think we have arrived? We are perfectly conformed to the character of Christ? Not yet. We are still in the process of growing; still battling rough edges. Still seeing some of the immaturity like we see in our kids as they go through different stages and sometimes you look at them and say, “I can’t believe how mature they are.” Later that day you can’t believe how immature they are. We are in the process of growing and as a result of growing we are no longer to be “Children, tossed here and there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But it is by the ministry of truth in love we are growing up in all aspects into Him Who is the head. And it is from Him the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies. Every part contributes. According to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

And he goes on to say we don’t walk like the unbelieving world does. We are different. We are out of step. We bring them a message to rescue them from the world. We are not in love with the world because “we don’t love the world, neither the things that are in the world.” There is nothing in the world that brings honor and glory to God as the world is in rebellion against God. We don’t look for the acclaim and appreciation of the world. We are here to bring a message of rescuing people from a fallen world, bring them the message of hope, the message of life.

So the pattern is there. So the devil moves those who are to be teaching the Word of God away from confident trust in the Word of God.

I get a number of evangelical journals. Anymore, half the time, I don’t even know what they are talking about. They are off in trying to fit into the scholarly world and adapts what unbelieving scholars have found and how we can fit this into truth and what in the world, where have we gone? And these are those who are teaching the coming teachers and if the Word is not being taught how are the people going to be nourished and if they are nourished how are they going to function? If that newborn baby is not nourished with healthy food you are going to have major development problems and he is not going to be able to function as a healthy baby. And though pretty soon in the spiritual context here, verse 14, the church gets carried away by every new teaching that comes down the pike. Well, we live in a different world than our parents and our grandparents and people are different and it is a different culture and we have to learn to adjust or we will become irrelevant. We will never become irrelevant because God is never irrelevant. That is blasphemy. God’s Word is never irrelevant. Unbelievers have always dealt with it that way. Israel in the Old Testament came to that. The prophets had to come and rebuke them for it. The church comes to that.

The idea that God’s Word is not relevant today so we need dynamic leaders that are in touch with what is going on and can keep our church relevant. Where does that come out of Scripture? Well if we want to attract people. Where does that come out of Scripture? We come to declare a message to people. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing from hearing the message concerning Christ.” That is what is relevant to their need. They won’t like us. Well if you want to be loved by the world then you need to evaluate where you are spiritually. We are not to love the world and we are not to have the focus of our life to be loved by the world. If you are of the world the world would love you because the world loves its own. So the more the church becomes like the world we are revealing something of the spiritual decline, deterioration and abysmal condition that is taking place, has been taken over by unbelievers who want to be loved by the world and the world love its own so we have decided we don’t want to be loved by God, we want to be loved by the world.

What a terrible situation. We try to tape it over by saying, “Well, our concern is more effective outreach.” You know what our concern is? To please the One who has called us into His service. May we be faithful!

Let’s pray. Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word, the greatness of Your grace. Lord You have called us sinners, simple, everyday people. Not necessarily towering intellects, people of great importance, Lord You have spoken with the intention that we understand and Lord it is only by Your grace that we turn from our sinful rebellion and place our faith in Christ. Lord we want to be faithful to You every day. We want to be faithful to You as a church. We want to be functioning in a way that pleases You with each part making the contribution that You have prepared them to make, appreciating one another, loving one another, growing together which will be a testimony of Your grace and bring glory to You. May that be true in our lives in all that we do individually and as Your body in this place we pray in Christ’s name amen.