God’s Plan for His Church Today

Transcript

GRM 1226
09/22/2019
God's Plan for His Church Today
Ephesians 4:1-16
Gil Rugh


I want to review a passage with you today since we are talking about 50 years and our time as a church. I thought it would be a good time just to review what has been basic and foundational to our church. It is a passage that I've done many times, even recently, but I want to take you to Ephesians 4. Really talks about what we call our philosophy of ministry or our theology of ministry, our views on the church and what the church ought to be. And it seems they fluctuate and every so often we come up with a new set of ideas that everybody ought to incorporate. Sometimes we are told we live in a different culture, different time so the church has to adjust to its culture, and it not only impacts the church in our country but often has an impact on the church and missions in different places in the world. I think we need to remind ourselves that the church is God's plan for today and He has not left it to the devices of men to come up with ideas of what the church ought to be and how it ought to function. It is set forth in the word of God. So this is a passage that we've come to often and that I come to often. Seems we are in the book of Ephesians again, we were there in our previous study, we talked about the warfare of the believer in chapter 6. We are going to talk about the church and its function in ministering together in the special way with gifts in chapter 4.

I reminded you in our previous study, and since we were in Ephesians, that, consistent with Paul's letter, the first three chapters lay out what we call the doctrine, the basic theological foundation that we have to have. And then chapters 4-6 do the application of that, how that ought to impact our lives. In other words, we don't learn more about God, the truth concerning Him, just so we'll have a lot of knowledge. But that knowledge is to be taken into our life and absorbed and become a controlling factor in how we live. And that's the distinction between laying the doctrinal or teaching foundation and then applying that.

It was interesting, one commentator on Ephesians made the note that there are 41 imperatives in the book of Ephesians. Imperatives are commands that are given. In the first three chapters there is one imperative or command, in the last three chapters there are forty. So you see when he is teaching the doctrine it is something to be learned. But when you get to the application, these are things now you must do, otherwise you are in rebellion against God. God's people will not only learn the truth about God, what He has revealed, but they will put it into practice. And two problems, and they are related. You can study the word of God like it is just a school and we're taking in information. And we go out and we live our life and often we are in conflict with the doctrine. We have to have a thorough understanding of the teaching of the truth, but you cannot leave it there. Sometimes we learn the truth, learn the truth, something comes up and it seems like we didn't learn anything. We understand there are things we must do, even under pressure, to be faithful to the Lord.

Just a little bit of review. In Ephesians 1, part of that doctrinal section, he had a great summary statement of the gospel, the salvation that comes to us when we believe the gospel. Look at verse 13, “In Him,” referring to Christ from the previous verse, “you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” You see what happens, you listen to the truth, the gospel message, the truth of salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin. You heard that, you believed it, that's the second step. And then as a result of believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. That identified you, you belong to God for time and eternity. And the Holy Spirit, verse 14, assures that all that God has promised will become a reality for us. Verse 14, the Holy Spirit “is given as a pledge,” as a down payment, something guaranteeing the outcome, “as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.” In other words you have to hear the gospel message, but hearing it will not save you. You can hear it again and again and again and not be saved. You must believe what you hear, and these Ephesians had heard it, had believed it and had been sealed with the Holy Spirit. There is no doubt that every single believer in Jesus Christ will someday experience the fullness of their redemption, culmination of being glorified in the glory of God's presence.

So he is laying that doctrinal foundation and God having authored our salvation and brought it about. He further elaborated that in chapter 2. And then you come down to verse 11, and from verse 11 and down into chapter 3 he is going to talk about the unique work God is doing in this day in building the church, putting the church together. And I want us to understand how unique what God is doing in this day so we can appreciate what our philosophy of ministry is and is to be as a church. But something is uniquely happening. Verse 13, “Now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace,” Christ, “who brought both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.” The purpose at the end of verse 15, “so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.” He is talking about the unique and new thing God is doing, He is creating the church and the church is made up of Jews and Gentiles. Now in the previous working of God through Old Testament history God was working His work of salvation in and through the nation Israel. And you became a child of God by converting to the God of Israel, in effect you became a Jewish convert. God's work of salvation centered in the nation Israel and it was a division between the Jews and all the other nations. And if you are familiar with the Old Testament you are well familiar with that. Now what God is doing, He is reconciling both of these groups, the Gentiles and the Jews, verse 16, “in one body to God through the cross.” It's a new work that had not been done before.

Verse 19 talked about “you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone.” We'll be talking about the apostles and the prophets in a little bit. But those men were the foundation, and as we have seen as we come into chapter 3, the truth revealed to them is what is basic and foundational to the church. And Christ Jesus is the cornerstone, and the cornerstone in those days was the first stone laid. And all the rest of the building was aligned according to that cornerstone. And that's what gave the building its proper orientation and so on. And we are now being built and fitted together into a holy temple, verse 22, “in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” God dwelling in us, in His church. Not just in us individually, which He does, but in the church. We are part of that building.

He is going to use several metaphors. Sometimes he talks about a plant and firmly rooted like a plant. Another time he'll talk about the building and we are being constructed. Then he'll talk about us like a body being fitted together, that picture. Then amazingly he comes into chapter 3 and he says, “Do you know what? This truth about the church and the Jews and the Gentiles being joined together in one body is something that had not been ever known before, not by the angels in heaven and not by anybody on earth. It was truth that God had kept secret to Himself.” Look in Ephesians 3, just pick up a couple of verses. Paul says he wants them to know it was “by revelation,” Ephesians 3:3, “there was made known to me the mystery.” The end of verse 4, this will help you “understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.” Now what does a mystery mean? Look at verse 5, “which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men.” A mystery in the Bible is not something complicated or takes extra knowledge to know. A mystery is something that there was no way to know, it was not revealed but now it is being revealed. So it is something that takes supernatural revelation from God and that's when it is known. So God now is revealing something that He did not make known before. “It has now been revealed,” the end of verse 5, “to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit,” or by the Spirit. Remember the apostles and prophets in Ephesians 2:20? They are mentioned here now as those to whom this truth is being revealed. That's why they are the foundation, it is the truth that God is revealing to them that is now being taught, part of which is Paul writing to the Ephesians to teach them and explain this to them. This is new material from God.

What is it? Verse 6, “That the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” That's amazing! It was hard for the Jews to come to get their arms around and appreciate, that the dirty, filthy, polluted Gentiles (they wouldn't even eat with Gentiles) now are accepted along with Jews into one spiritual relationship in God's salvation. What an amazing truth!

You come down here. Paul is one of those apostles to whom this truth is being revealed. It's not just him because he uses the plural, it has been revealed by His holy apostles and prophets, plural, of which Paul was one. Peter was another, John was another. What we have as our New Testament is the revelation and truth revealed to these men regarding the church.

And so you come down to verse 9, “to bring to light,” this is what was revealed, the light is being made known. “to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery,” in other words the oversight, the managing, the administration of this new material and the new entity, the church. And note this, “Which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.” Now some people say, “You are saying that God had to change His plan so He started the church.” No, read the Scripture. This is the problem when people don't really have a thorough knowledge of scripture, they come up with all kinds of mistaken ideas. We're not saying God has to come up with some kind of alternative plan. This has been hidden in God who created all things. Back when He did the creation this was part of His plan. But He didn't reveal everything in His plan at that time, nor did He reveal it down through the ages. You understand God is sovereign, we don't tell Him He has to reveal everything. And this is one thing He did not reveal. You can search the Old Testament, there is no mention of the church, there is no prophecy of the church. It is hidden in God, so there is no way to find it out.

In fact look at verse 10, it is now being brought to light, the revelation, God is making it known, “so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known,” note this, “through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies.” Do you know what he is talking about, rulers and authorities? Angels. Do you know what? God hadn't revealed to the angels, Gabriel didn't know it, Michael didn't know it, because God hadn't revealed it, they are created beings. They are now learning about it through the church. The revelation being given to the apostles and prophets, and the church as it is being established and built and developed by God, the angels are looking. That's why 1 Peter 1 talks about the revelation given in the Old Testament. There are things they couldn't put together. There was the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, there is the rule and reigning in glory that we are told these are things angels wanted to look into. Because there is a big gap there, not in God's plan but in the revelation of God's plan. God was going to put the church from Acts 2 down to the rapture in there, between the first coming of Christ and the second coming. And all of a sudden even the angels didn't know about that.

So that's what we are told, that this manifold wisdom of God in this new work of creating a new body comprised of Jew and Gentile might be known through the church to the angelic beings in the heavens. Amazing to think about it, the special, unique work of God that He kept hidden to Himself until He brought it about, and Christ was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven in Acts 1. In Acts 2 the church begins, the Spirit is sent to come in a special way to begin a new work, the establishing of the church, and angels look and see what God is doing. This is something new, unique, we didn't know the importance of the church.

Verse 11 tells you, “This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So be careful, some people say with your dispensations that believe in the uniqueness of the church as distinct from Israel, you think God had to change His plan because Israel rejected Christ and so God had to come up with the church. No, He didn't have to come up with the church. He had planned that back in the eternal ages when He created but He did not reveal it. Remember the revealed things belong to us, the hidden things belong to God, Deuteronomy 29:29. This was one of the hidden things. And we would never have known about it if God had not revealed it and He chose not to reveal it until it was time to do it. The kingdom that He has promised and prophesied, He has revealed about in Old Testament scriptures, and in the book of Revelation we talked about it. But He didn't reveal anything about the church in the Old Testament.

So our unique time and what we are and what God is doing. We have a low view of the church in our day, even evangelical believers. It is treated something like, you join a fitness club and it is just sort of on that level. And it is sort of an optional thing and you ought to be involved in one as a believer and the attachment is loose and I take it or leave it. And when I am unhappy I leave it and then maybe I come back to it or another. I don't like it infringing on my time and less is better. And all these things show what God is doing. It is something of an amazement to the angels and we are a part of it, down to this day.

You come down, Paul is praying for them, to the end of Ephesians 3, verse 14 when he says, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” and he is praying, verse 16, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” Important, because this is moving now toward how you live out this truth. You have “to be strengthened with His power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Now they already have faith in Christ. That word to dwell means to be firmly fixed, to be established. A mixed metaphor, to be rooted in there, and that this faith we have in Christ now is to become a crucial established part of our lives, our inner being, our hearts. “That you being rooted and grounded in love,” love becomes a key governing factor in all of this, the love we have for one another. And that is based on what? That you “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ.” So we are to be rooted and grounded in love as our faith is firmly fixed in Christ and we are growing and developing in that faith and in that love. And His love is a love that surpasses knowledge. So my love is to be a reflection of His love. Remember love is a fruit of the Spirit, what God is producing in my life, something of His character. I don't run out of love, this is the love that will give itself, whatever the price, for the good of the other. It “surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” I mean, there is nothing that even compares to the importance of what God is doing in the church, “to be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

There is something similar to that in the Old Testament, God told His people, “You be holy for I am holy.” That's the standard -- God. I'm a child of God. It's like when I was a kid I told my dad, he had expectations of me, and I told him my friends don't do that. He said, “I'm not your friends' father, this is the standard for our house, for you.” “Oh, I think I forgot.” This is the standard, you are “filled up to all the fullness of God.” We don't become deity, but His character permeates me, my life is controlled by this, everything I do is rooted in this relationship to Him.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,” this is God's work in us, “according to the power that works within us.” This is not you getting your power worked up, it's God's power being unleashed, if we can say, in you. “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.” I can't disassociate myself from you, from this relationship. “To Him be the glory in the church.” This is not my church, it is not your church. There is a sense this is the church we belong to, but it doesn't belong to us, it belongs to Him, it is for His glory. “To Him be the glory in the church.” It has to be done His way, it is His church, it is His body.

Come back to Ephesians 1. He talked about the work of Christ in providing our redemption and in verse 19 we want to know “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe,” the doctrinal foundation. He is going to lead into how we live this out, we do it in His power. Note what he says, it's the same power, as we have noted in our previous study, that brought about Christ in His resurrection from the dead, “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,” the angelic powers. We are learning something of the redemption Christ provided for sinful men but never for sinful angels.

“And He put all things,” verse 22, “in subjection under His feet, gave Him as head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” What a glorious place the church is to be. It's the people that God has redeemed for Himself, in whom He has placed His Spirit, now brought together with all their diversity to be one body in that place as the universal church, comprised of all believers everywhere during the time of the church. But the local church is the manifestation of the church where people can see believers brought together, Jews and Gentiles in all their diversity. It is His body. What a place we have in the world in this day. The angels observe in the outworking of God's wonder of redemption, bringing people together into one body to bring glory to Himself. We treat it lightly. There is nothing more serious, nothing more important. Not just meeting in this building, but who we are as the body of Christ. “We are His workmanship,” down in Ephesians 2:10, “created in Christ Jesus for good works,” that's where he is going with the application eventually.

Come over to Ephesians 4:1, you see the therefore. So he has done the teaching, the instruction so that you understand who we are, what we are to be. “Therefore,” now we are going to begin, now we'll have 40 commands given in these last three chapters. These are not options. Remember you are no longer your own, you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. And that's true now for every individual believer brought together in the church, this is to be for His glory. Paul writes as the prisoner of the Lord (I love the connections) and Paul sees no contradiction.

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord.” He talks about God's power working in us, the God of creation. And here he is in a prison, a prisoner of the Lord. He realizes the sovereignty of God, working His purposes. And as he wrote to the Philippians, “My being in prison has given me an opportunity for people who would not have heard otherwise to hear the gospel.” So “I the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” That's why it's important we go back… I listened to a sermon this week, sometimes we pastors just slide into giving good advice, taking the verse but then using it to talk about things people might be interested in. He is building on, “therefore… walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” What does calling mean? You have to go back to the first three chapters and study it and take it in, grasp it. It's not just for one or two, it's for the body, each of us is individually responsible to know that, to understand it. Walk in a manner worthy of your calling, that was the first three chapters. What would that involve? You walk “with all humility, gentleness, patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.” Remember the love we saw at the end of chapter 3 as he has led into this? And the surpassing love of Christ which is to be the kind of love produced in us, that agape love which is always functioning for the good of the other person. When you are doing that, you function with humility, gentleness, patience. And you can put up with other people, showing tolerance, there are going to be things you have to put up with, but you do it because you love them. You put up with a lot when you are raising your kids, don't you? Just part of what you do. You get back at them, you get old and they have to show tolerance to you. There is justice.

We are to be diligent, it's a word that means earnestness, spoudazo, zeal. “Being diligent,” being earnest, “to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” That would fit with verse 2 in the showing tolerance. You have to apply yourself because we can get on each other's nerves. Sometimes we have a conflict, sometimes we don't get along. Our family again, you say that's your brother, you will get along with him; that's your sister, you will get along with her. It's not an option. Why? Because we're family, that's what he is saying. So you note, you don't create unity. We have all these ideas that come to the church and this is what you could do to produce unity in your church. God hasn't called me, hasn't called you, hasn't called us to produce unity. He is requiring us to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The church is not a social club that just brings people together who have common interest -- fitness or food or whatever this social organization is about. This is a spiritually joined group brought together by the Holy Spirit of God and He has produced the unity. We have one Savior, this is where he is going, we have one God so we have to preserve that unity. One of the tragedies of the church and its testimony is the battles and this is not new. Paul had to deal with it in his churches, it's a constant. But there has to be the root of unity here, the relationship with Christ, the truth that He has revealed. That keeps us from wandering off into our different opinions. This is how I feel about it, this is what I think. As my mother used to tell me, “Nobody cares,” and if I kept going she said, “Nobody is listening.” That was good. This is how I feel about it, this is what I think we ought to do. Nobody cares, there is only one opinion that matters -- God's. Because it is His church, it's His body, Christ is the head. So we come to His Word, what sayeth the Scriptures? That's what we are doing now.

We preserve the unity. Do you want to know about the unity? Look what he says. “There is one body… one Spirit.” The one body, that would be the church, it would be comprised everywhere of all believers. But every local church is to be a microcosm of the church, the church in that place. In the seven churches of Revelation 2-3 Christ addresses them individually, each one as a church, accountable and responsible to Him as their head, as their judge. So we just blur this out. No, it's the local church that is the manifestation. There is one body, the body of Christ, and one Spirit. Are we part of the body of Christ or aren't we? If not, you're not saved; if we are, one body. One Spirit, only one Holy Spirit. He has placed us into the body, He indwells us personally and He indwells the church as the church. “You were called in one hope of your calling,” the promises of God that He has given to us with the ultimate redemption of the body in glorification. That's our goal, there is only one goal, there are only two possible destinies -- heaven and hell. For the believer in the church, the glory of God's presence with the redemption of the body.

“One Lord,” “one Lord.” Remember Jesus said why do you call me Lord, Lord and don't do what I tell you? That's the section we are in. If we don't care enough about His truth to learn the doctrine, how are we going to put into practice what He taught us? Remember we are to make disciples of all the nations and we are to teach them. I don't go to church to have to concentrate and … Church has become an entertainment center, as long as the pastor tells some interesting stories and uses some Bible verses we are good to go. I don't know that I want to sit down and concentrate. It says teach them everything that I told you. Well, I'm not that interested in that portion of the Word. I don't think everything is applicable. Because it all goes into building me, nurturing me. Like our kids, I don't see any reason to that. I remember telling, I was old enough to have known better, but I told my English teacher, I don't see why I have to study English, I know how to talk. He ought to have smacked me in the back of the head. Eventually I had to learn English so I could learn Greek. I didn't know what a participle was. So the immature don't know but we ought to know.

“One Lord, one faith,” our faith in Jesus Christ. We are people of faith, but there is only one faith that saves. I know, there are all kinds of faiths in the world, like there are all kinds of gods, but for us there is only one God. There is only one faith, the faith in Jesus Christ. “One baptism.” I take this as Spirit baptism because he has been talking about how we become part of the one body. And that's where we are identified by the Spirit with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, Romans 6, called the baptism of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. For by one Spirit you are all placed in one body. How did you get in there to be identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection incorporated into the spiritual body? “One baptism.”

“One God and Father,” note this, “of all who is over all, through all and in all.” So we get the point -- one. You preserve that unity at all costs. You take love beyond ourselves. And there is diversity, “to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.” Grace, he's talking about the gift, something undeserved or unmerited. When God placed you into the body of Christ He just didn't throw a lot of parts together and see how they come out. He told the Corinthian church in chapter 1, you have all the gifts necessary. So when He put this church together, He puts the gifts necessary, each one of us.

So we have talked about the unity, the one, but now we talk about the diversity. Here we are, all different people, all different, all put into the body of Christ. And each one of us has been given a place. “Grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.” He measured it out, He portioned it out, what gift you would get, the measure or degree of that gift. I may have the gift of teaching, but someone else might have a greater gift of teaching than me. Someone else may have a lesser gift. I have to exercise my gift to the best of my ability in the place that God has placed me.

I had a pastor of a large church in another city, we were at the same conference years ago. He is in a resort-kind of city with millions of people and had thousands of people in his church. He said Gil, “Why do you stay in Lincoln, Nebraska? I said, “I can't for the life of me figure it out, either, must be something in the air.” I said, I called him by name, we knew each other, “Its where God put me. I wouldn't want to be any other place. It's where I have the privilege of being used of God.” I don't have to compare myself, if I were in his city … God has measured out to me the gift He has given me and the place to exercise that gift. That is true for you. What are you doing here? It's where God put you, He measured the gift for you. It's not, what are we going to do? We have these people, we don't know what to do with them. They all have a part to play, a piece in the puzzle, so to speak. A part of the body, just like our body, all these parts, I have ten fingers. Do you know what? I like to keep them all, each one serves a purpose. And when all the parts function as they should, and with the impact of sin, obviously we feel the impact of that, and some of you know that and are experiencing more problems with parts of the body. But we recognize He has gifted us, and He did that after His ascension. We won't go into the details here now. He descended to the earth and then He ascended to heaven and then He gave gifts to men, that's with the coming of the Spirit. With the coming of the Spirit, the starting of the church in Acts 2, there is also the giving of the gifts, because the body has to be able to function.

So verse 11, and here is where he gave the gifts, and this is our philosophy of ministry. This is why we have come to it over a dozen times and maybe two dozen, I have a list of the times and places. To me this is foundational, key, this is how the church is to function. “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets.” We saw that, they were foundational gifts. Gifts that involve revelation from God, new material with the completion of the New Testament, the writing of the book of Revelation by the Apostle John. We no longer needed prophets because key to their ministry along with apostles was they received new revelation that hadn't been given before. But God is not always doing that. We didn't have apostles and New Testament prophets until the establishing of the church and then new gifts.

So we are studying the book of Ephesians. Why? Part of the basic foundational truth regarding the church, that's what Paul said. We are the foundation, not just because they were great men but because revelation and truth was given for them. That's why we come to study the Word. Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians under the direction and inspiration of the Spirit of God, now we study what he wrote. I study it to teach it. Some of you teach and teach it and so we understand what God intends for us. This just isn't information that you can take or leave. Well, I never have liked to study, I never have liked to read. Well, there are things we have to learn to do. I have to get into the Word.

Apostles, prophets, evangelists. This is a word from the word gospel, good news basically, just a compound word—well or good and news. This is the good message, the good news, the gospel. If we wanted to say evangelists, we might call them gospelizers. We get the word gospel in there, yongalidzo, we get the word angel or messenger connected to the heart of that word. They like to take it, they carry the gospel. It's not mentioned often, this is just one of three times, but it seems by the very nature of the word they would be used in bringing the gospel out in special ways, clear ways. The gospel has to always go, perhaps carrying it to new places to establish new churches. When the apostles were no longer present, Paul as an apostle carried the gospel to new places, he not only received new revelation and carried the gospel, perhaps now that would be, since we are not getting new revelation, the evangelist to carry that gospel. Like we had in the newsletter, the man who came to Lincoln to start a new church was the foundation for our church and gather believers together.

Pastors and teachers, and we're not going to go into the grammar of this. Basically the grammar indicates that probably the best way to view this is all pastors are teachers but not all teachers are pastors. Sometimes you'll have the gift of teaching like in 1 Corinthians 12-14 on teaching, separating out gifts. But a teacher may not be a pastor. A pastor is a shepherd, an overseer, has the responsibility for the oversight. Same word for elder, overseer, pastor. Interchangeable. In fact in Acts 20 when Paul addresses the elders from this church at Ephesus, he uses all three words. He calls them the elders of the church and God has appointed them as overseers. And that's just a Greek word, a compound word to oversee. We talk about scoping out a project. That comes from the Greek word there which is our word scope with the preposition on the front, over or gone. Overseer, oversees the work. And he calls them the pastor, the shepherd of the people. These are men given the responsibility for the oversight of the work. And a major part of their responsibility will be the teaching. There will be others with the gift of teaching who will not be given the gift of overseeing or administering. They are not necessarily together. Some very good teachers would not also be gifted to pastor or oversee, but those who oversee are to be able to teach. That seems to be the emphasis here.

You'll note what brings all these gifts together, they are all involved in the communication of the Word. In fact Peter when he talks about the gifts in 1 Peter, he divides the gifts into two sections—serving gifts and speaking gifts, just a general category. What Paul has included here is speaking gifts that all involve the communicating of God's word. So these gifts based in giving out God's word are so that the saints can be equipped to do the work of serving so the body of Christ can be built up. So here is God's plan. His truth entrusted to men He has gifted to communicate that word in an understandable and clear way to God's people. So they can take it in and be nourished and nurtured as newborn babes longing for the pure, unadulterated milk of God's word. So that they might grow in respect to their salvation, as Peter wrote, so they can exercise their gift in the body. That is God's plan. Christ is the head of the church. 1 Peter 5 says He has appointed elders to shepherd the people and then part of that ministry is they have the people nourished in the Word so that they can be equipped.

Verse 12, that word equipped means to render something fit, to put it in working order. And we have studied it on other occasions but it is used, for example, in the gospels of mending fishing nets. In other words they go out and being used and all, the nets might break in places. Well, they had to be repaired. This is the word used, they were mending their nets, they were rendering them fit for fishing, preparing the holes, sewing things up and so on. This is it. When the Word is being taught to God's people, they take it in and as they absorb that Word and allow the Spirit to impress it in their hearts and minds, they are maturing so that they are rendered more fit. That's for the saints here, for the work of serving, and it is work. We are sitting in here, there are some who are doing work of serving by caring for the nursery so you can be here in an undistracted way to concentrate on the Word of God. It is work. It's not because they didn't have anything better to do than get up this morning and change dirty diapers and get spit-up on, something I wouldn't be very good at. Why? It's the work of serving, God has gifted them. And every gift that people would serve in ways that don't get recognition like a gift like mine, I get more recognition. But it's all the gifts working together that are important. But it's found in the ministry of the Word.

I am greatly concerned for where the church will be in the coming generation if Christ doesn't come. Churches aren't even interested in the qualification of being a pastor/teacher. As long as a guy seems to have administrative ability and managing techniques and he's a good talker. Wait a minute, where is the church going to be? You're not laying the foundation, you're not nourishing. It's like you have a new baby and you create all this environment and the best nursery and the best crib and all the jingle things that hang over the crib. And in the refrigerator you have this, whatever you do, but you never feed him. The outlook is poor. I look and see, where is the church going? We're not even concerned. We don't want to divide over doctrine, we believe that Jesus is the Savior and we preach that and we let everything else work its way out. It's serious business. Who gave me the authority to change God's plan? How many times does He have to tell me this is His body? He is the head. Now we're the parts of the body, we do what the head tells you. Here are the gifts I have given, here is how you function as the body to build up the body.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Well, He has created the unity but we are to be growing in that unity. It's like we have faith in Christ but we will be growing in that faith. We ought to be getting more unity, and I think we do, but the pressure sifts out and that's not pleasant. But Paul had it. He didn't say we must be doing something wrong, maybe we have too much emphasis on this. He just tells them, straighten up. I tell you what is good to do. What I do sometimes is just go back and examine myself -- am I doing what God says? Lord, I am accountable to you.

So that's what he is doing here. Exercise your gift for the good of the body. It bothers me when so-and-so doesn't tolerate them. Remember verse 2? Humility, gentleness, showing tolerance? I love them. It's hard for me to like them but I love them, I'm going to do what is best for them. We let that distract us. Do you know who I am responsible for? Me, my gift. I want to help with your gift but you have to be building up the body until we attain to the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man. Note, knowledge of the Son of God. We're growing in that and the more we grow in the knowledge of the Son of God the more we can function as we should. To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Doesn't get any higher than that. Remember Paul said, “Imitate me like I imitate Christ; pattern your life after me, mine is patterned after Christ.” That's what he is saying, that's the pattern -- the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's why I am like Him. We talked about humility, gentleness. Christ said He was meek and lowly in Spirit. That's not wimpiness, that's not tolerance of everything. He drove the moneychangers out of the temple, He called the religious leaders of His day whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones. This just isn't the passive niceness, the inclusiveness that our society talks about, which includes everyone but those who disagree with it. We are inclusive of everyone who is submissive to the authority of Jesus Christ and His truth.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. This is not just that openness to everything and everyone, it is the discerning unity. We can sort out the doctrine, from every wind of doctrine, as believers. If you consider so-and-so, I just want to think what he says, he has some good things. Sometimes it takes time. We had battles years ago, one of the men now is in spiritual formation and all that stuff. And I said, “How was it ever an issue?” We don't want to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, the trickery of men. We've seen this, Satan is very crafty, he masquerades as an angel. We can expect there is going to be conflict, we can expect there are going to be differences. We want to be careful we don't generate the problem. Am I functioning biblically? That has to be the test.

Speaking the truth in love. You'll note we are back to verse 11. What were those gifts involved in? Speaking the truth. So we are picking up that same thing, but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. That's the growth, become more like Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, every connection is the point. Not just a joint like we think of a joint, but all the parts connected together. Every gift, every part, every connection supplies. Everyone has something to contribute. Why? Because Christ has measured a gift out. When you became a believer now in this body how can I contribute? What can I do to be used of the Lord? It's an ongoing thing. Its according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. That's God's plan. That's why we would want to be careful. You know, when I’ve on other occasions, I have been talked to, would you leave. I would never want to leave and find out that the place that God really had for me was where I was. Then I would want to get back. Do I want to say I have a better opportunity, a bigger opportunity, I'll be going there? Then I get there and find out God's blessing for me was really where He had placed me. I want to be careful of my motive for what happens. My feelings get hurt, they don't appreciate me. So what? Who says you are supposed to be there to be appreciated? Who said your feeling were the guiding thing? I have to be concerned about am I contributing the part I have, because it says every part supplies and works properly and the body is built up in love. I don't want to be an obstacle to the developing of the body because I quit functioning. You know how your body is, if a part of the body quits functioning, then you're to the doctor. Maybe he gives you some medicine that helps with that, maybe there is surgery to correct it, maybe it can't be corrected. But the body is affected. I'm out, I'm done, see you. What about your job? We scrambled to fill spots because people just called up and said we won't be coming back. What does it say here? God puts us there, I'm not saying He is not free to move people to other places, He does. But I want to be sure and it's not just me. I get upset easily, I get put out easily. I wake up, I get up Monday morning and I am done, I'm not doing it anymore. Marilyn says, “Poor you, why don't you go back to bed?” It doesn’t matter how I feel. There has to be something to anchor our lives, and if we are not anchored in the Word . . .

That's why this is our philosophy, this is our theology of ministry. I come back here, this is what we do. We teach the truth so people have a firm understanding of what God has said and done so we can take it into our life and absorb it, it becomes part of us. So now we can function as God intends us to function and as each of us does that we get more and more mature, we get stronger, we get more stable, we are able to work through things, we are able to help one another when somebody has a problem, stumbles, has a difficulty. The body is here and we are here for one another. But my concentration is not on what can you do for me, but what can I do for you. How can I be used in their life? What gift has God given me? I'm willing to sacrifice what convenience might be for me, what comfort there might be for me because I am looking out for you. That's our attitude. That's the way you function in your family. This is a family if you are functioning right. Kids are a lot of trouble, lot of bother but you make adjustments. Think of the things you could do and the money you could spend and the places you could go. But you do it and that's the way we do, sometimes it is frustrating. So this is our pattern, this is what our church is about. If I die and go to heaven tonight, don't feel bad for me, but be sure you come to Ephesians 4 and look for the next guy. This is what our church is about. Churches start, the church looks for a pastor but they don't have a clue. I look at churches when I occasionally examine and I say why in the world, what caused them to choose that person? Are you interested in truth? Don't say anything about his teaching.

This is what we are as a church, this is our philosophy of ministry and we don't want to change.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of your word. Lord, there is a beauty and simplicity and clarity. You have revealed yourself, you have chosen to make your will, your plan known. You've given us your Spirit to enlighten us, you've given us teachers to instruct us, you've gifted us to enable us to function. Lord, we have no excuses for getting confused, for being off-track. Lord, we want to preserve the unity of the body so that we might grow. We want each to fulfill our role, to exercise our gift and we have been blessed as a church, and it is your grace that has blessed us. We want our testimony to be strong, we want to grow to greater maturity. May we examine ourselves to see that indeed we are individually where and what we should be so that you can use us more effectively together as a body. Bless this day we pray. In Christ's name, amen.