Speaking Gifts to Build Up the Body

Transcript

GR 151
9/28/1975
Speaking Gifts to Build Up the Body
Ephesians 4:11-13
Gil Rugh

Ephesians Chapter 4 again in your Bibles we have looked at the first portion of this chapter about the first third of it down through verse 10 and noted that the stress here in developing on the unity of the body of Jesus Christ. It is oneness in those who are believers in Christ, the oneness that’s produced by the Spirit, verse 3 talks about being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So the unity is a reality, our responsibility is to be submissive to the Spirit so that the unity is manifest in our relationships and activities together as believers. We talked last week about verses 7 to 10 where Paul begins to talk about the area of the gifts.

So he starts off by stressing the oneness in the unity, then he begins to talk about the diversity within the unity, we will see when we move down through this section all the way through verse 16 that the diversity is for the purpose of promoting the unity that there are different functions and different responsibilities and gifts within the body but they all serve the purpose of producing the unity making it more evident and manifest as the body functions. This is similar, the area we are discussing in the human development, a baby is born and that is the baby, it’s a human being, but obviously as you watch that baby all the parts are not yet coordinated and does not function as a nice coordinated unit.

There are certain functions and activities of that body that yet are not under the control of the head. That baby does not control for instance the activity of its arms and hands. Sometimes they are amusing to watch as they put their hands up to their face, they don’t hit their mouth, they hit their eye, you cut their finger nails so that they don’t scratch themselves because they don’t yet have the coordination of all the various parts, but they are still a body, a oneness there. And it’s that way within the Body of Christ. There is that basic oneness that’s been produced by the spirit, but now there is a maturity and the development being produced so that all the parts within this body function coordinated together, so that the body will function as a unit and thus testify to the glory of the one who is the head and to whom the body is supposed to function.

So we look at verses 11, 12 and 13. We are like come out of verses 7 and 8 where we read but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it’s says "When he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." The discussion was started there that grace was given, grace manifested itself in the gifts that were provided and it was the ascended Christ to provide a gifts for his body, an analogy of him being the victor the one who has conquered the enemy, Satan and his hosts and now sharing the spoils of his victory with those who are his followers. And the gifts are the spoils with the fruits of his victory. The gifts are that which is provided for you and I to more fully enjoy and take advantage of the victory that he is accomplished for us. As we exercise our gifts and function together as a body and a unit then we come to the fuller enjoyment and appreciation of the victory the Christ accomplished in his death and resurrection in ultimate ascension to the father.

As you leave verse eight, where he gave gifts to men you pick up with verse 11. What were the gifts? Well he gave some as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Verses 9 and 10 simply talking about that his victory is inseparably tied with death, burial and then resurrection. The ascension would not be meaningful to us if he had not died for us. Because in his death he was my substitute and # devil and death which have the power over me, and thus I share in the victory that he has.

Verses each breakdown we are going to look at just these three verses although the whole unit goes down through versus 16 we will look at the last three verses next three. First, verse 11 will be talking about the gifts that were given. Then verse 12 the purpose of the giving of them. Then verse 13 the duration of the gifts. How long will they function and will be accomplished during this time.

Verse 11 beginning with the gifts that he gave. It starts out with an emphasis again on Christ and he gave and there’s a stress here as it was written on Christ. He himself, he and no other is one that we have been talking about that defeated the devil and his hosts that ascended to the father. He is the one who gave these. So we look at the ultimate source it is in God, God the son. The identity of the gifts is broken down here; there are four gifts in reality mentioned apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor teachers.

Now obviously this is not a complete list of all the gifts that Christ gave to his Church. We know that one when we read Romans Chapter 12 versus Corinthians Chapter 12 and so on. There, there are many other gifts that are enumerated for us. But here are just four particular gifts that Paul brings to our attention. And I take it he does at this way because this is one major division of the gifts. We touched on this last week.

Turn open your Bibles the First Peter Chapter 4 where here Peter breaks down all the gifts into two basic areas. Verse 10 “As each one has received a special gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks let him speak as it were the utterances of God. Whoever serves let him do so as by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Christ Jesus to who belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever Amen”.

Peter here breaks down the gifts that were given and they are many. He talks about the manifold grace of God at the end of verse 10 multi-faceted grace of God, and the various gifts provided are just evidences of the manifold grace of God. Peter breaks them down then in verse 11 into two areas. “Whoever speaks as it were the utterances of God, whoever serves as by the strength which god provides?” So he breaks the gifts down really into two basic areas, the speaking gifts and the serving gifts. And realizing that whatever area your gifts fall in, God is the ultimate source and thus the glory is to come back to him.

If your gift is in the area of speaking, then God gives the credit because you are speaking from him and so for the glory of himself. If you are serving it’s through the strength that he provides. I think all the gifts really fall down under one of these two areas could be classed under here either a speaking gift, which would involve the teaching and communication of the word verbally or a serving gift, that which enables the body to function more effectively which enables the teaching and speaking, preaching and so on to be carried on. These two supplement one another as we’ll see as we move through the passage.

So what Paul has done in Ephesians Chapter 4 is simply bring up first four gifts into one area the speaking gifts. The apostles, the prophets the evangelist, the pastor teachers all have one thing in common, their gifts were exercised through speaking and teaching verbal instruction and communication. He just selected this one area and as he enumerates in First Corinthians 12 these are a prime importance, most important gift was apostle and then down the list is prophets and so on. The communication of the word of God being key in these areas.

So we come back then to Ephesians 4, we saw he gave some as apostles and some as prophets. These first two areas we have talked about somewhat already over in connection with Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 20 where we are told that we have been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, key in the ministry of the apostles and prophets is these men receive direct revelation from God.

Obviously in the area of the apostles Paul has made a point of that in Chapter 3 that he was the recipient of direct revelation from God regarding the Church and its makeup. And you analyze the ministry of the prophets not in the Old Testament primarily here although it’s true there, but in the New Testament you go to the Book of Acts and so on you find prophets men received direct revelation from God. Then like Agabus, who comes and tells Paul what God has said. Key element in their ministry was direct revelation because the scripture had not been put down in written form yet. So these men had the gift from God of direct revelation.

As we talked about earlier, when we talked about them I think their gift is no longer present because the foundation no longer needs to be laid. We are being built upon the foundation of the apostles and Prophets. The foundation is been laid in Jesus Christ and in the Revelation giving concerning him. Paul is laying the foundation when in Chapter 3 he talks about the mystery that has been communicated to him. Now there’s longer to go back and re-communicate that mystery as new material, it’s already been given. We just build up on what was already given through Paul. So those are two gifts, two prime gifts because of the important nature of the laying the foundation of the Church.

He then moves on to evangelists and the word that’s quite familiar to us, quite prominent. Some evangelists and their ministry we usually think of that prominent type of the evangelist. Interestingly, in the New Testament this word is only used two other times, men who would function of evangelism. In Second Timothy Chapter 4 verse 5, Paul says that Timothy do the work of an evangelists, do the work of the evangelist.

In Acts Chapter 21 verse 8, Philip is called Philip the evangelist. He is the one who had four daughters who were prophetesses. They give some indication of what an evangelist did from the life of Philip. Back in Acts Chapter 8 we read that Philip who incidentally was also a deacon, we find him carrying the gospel to new areas, Samaria. He takes the claims of Jesus Christ and the work that Christ has done and communicated to them, also to regions of Caesarea. And they indicated that prime element in the gift of an evangelist is carrying the gospel to people who have not yet heard or not yet responded. I think that it may or may not be an item of our ministry that is a secondary issue.

Many evangelists would have travelled in light of the nature of their gift. I think they are very close to the gift of an evangelist in many who would have the evangelist or should would be missionaries who in fact function as evangelist, carrying the gospel to people who have not heard or have not yet responded. Or within a local congregation of believers there are those who have the gift of evangelist, a particular responsibility and ability given by the spirit to effectively communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to the unsaved and they usually have the great privilege of seeing people respond in faith as Philip did in Acts Chapter 8.

The word is simply they are gospelisers, the gospel. Evangelists are those who carry the gospel and I take then these would be those who function in this prime capacity, carrying the gospel. We will see I think this is part of, an essential part of the building up of the body. And I believe that we can carry this over into saying this is simply instruction about evangelism within the body otherwise it just becomes a gift of teaching. All teachers communicate the truth about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ the gospel as a responsibility of a teacher. But evangelist goes beyond that in carrying that message to the unsaved now naturally would be true as well, an evangelist who train other people in sharing the gospel.

He would be the most effective in sharing with others how they might effectively communicate the gospel. Just because there is a gift that does not of course cancel out our responsibility. Everyone has the responsibility to share the gospel. Not everybody has the gift of being an evangelist. Many of us just saw in sharing the gospel, an evangelist usually is in more to reaping. Again it can be someone like Billy Graham or Billy Sunday or Dwight L. Moody that we often think of in the context to be evangelist, but that is not the only kind of evangelist. You don’t have to rent an auditorium and have a mass meeting to be an evangelist.

As I said I believe missionaries would fall in this category, many of them and also within the local congregation of believers there are those who have this particular gift. We have it within this body of believers in Indian Hills. And many of you have come to know Christ through their particular ministry.

All right, the fourth area is the area of Pastor Teachers. As I mentioned this is really one group, the rule is Granville Sharp's Rule of grammar, some of you would have studied somewhat in this area the Granville Sharp’s Rule is what applies and grammatical construction indicates that there is only one group being talked about here. Teacher further elaborates and reveals what a pastor is. And you can see that in the Bible’s you have some pastors and teachers. The word some is not repeated before teachers indicating there’s just one group in view here pastors who are teachers.

Now word pastors means shepherd. Here is the only place in the New Testament the men that we would call pastors are called pastors as having a particular responsibility or position as pastor. It means to be a shepherd. Christ, for instance in John Chapter 10 is identified as the good shepherd. In Hebrews Chapter 13 verse 20 he is called the great shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. And in John Chapter 10 the basic Idea of the word shepherd is to protect. Basic responsibility of the shepherd is the care and protection of the sheep. Peter talks about Christ as the Shepherd and guardian of our souls. We look at this Idea of being a Shepherd there is some indication in the New Testament of who carries out this function and some of the details.

Over in Acts Chapter 20 Paul in his travels wants to talk to elders from Ephesus. In verse 17 “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the Church”. In verse 28 what he says to these elders “Be on guard for yourself and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood.” You know the responsibility of the elders of the church was and is to shepherd and thus they would be pastors. The pastors of the flock are those who do the shepherding. You can see here a key element in their shepherding is the protection because of the wolves and so on that will come into attack the flock. They are to guard the flock.

Over in First Peter Chapter 5 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you.” So I take it from the indication of the New Testament the pastors are the elders, are the overseers, are the shepherds and the key element in their responsibility of shepherding is feeding. So as you come back to Ephesians Chapter 4 that we see these pastors are those who are teachers. Because the key element in the protection of the sheep is seeing that they are fed.

This especially true in the spiritual context as was clear in Acts Chapter 20 verse 28 that is through the feeding of the sheep that they are protected because well-nourished Christians, well versed in the scriptures will be well prepared and defended against false doctrine and false teaching or we will develop this more extensively in the following verses, that it is those believers who are not well versed and well-grounded in the scriptures will become prime candidates and targets for false teaching for deception and for the work of false shepherds that will led us astray. So you must have a shepherd who feeds the sheep. And as you read in First Timothy Chapter 3 verse 2 that elders must be able to teach. This idea is developed in Titus Chapter 1 as well.

So at Indian Hills we have a board of elders and if you follow this all the way through The New Testament elders, bishops, overseers, pastors are all the same people. We’ve noted down now when we think of one or two people whatever, but a limited number of full-time people who are staff and they are the pastors, but that’s not the case. At Indian Hills we have a board of pastors. Each of these men functions as elders or Pastors for the responsibility of oversight and particularly with the responsibility for the teaching of the sheep, the people. I get paid full-time so that I might devote more time to study the word and thus to teach more, but that’s the distinction.

It’s hard for us to get away from it. Some of you know it’s like you call up and you want to see the pastor. I say well, would you like to talk to so and so; no, no, no, no, no, no I want to talk to the pastor. Fine, what about so and so? No, no, no. And we get in our mind that if he doesn’t get a check he’s not the pastor, that’s not involved he doesn’t even say anything about that here although praise the word for the checks but that’s not essential element in the elder he is one who is -- or a pastor -- he is one who is to be a teacher.

This key element in Christ ministry the great shepherd what was he called, teacher. Why? Because as you read through the gospels, what was main emphasis of his life, teaching and instructing. What did he have to say to the disciples as he was leaving them in Mathew Chapter 28 verses 19 and 20. And their responsibility is to be going into the world and to make disciples. It would be baptizing and teaching the disciples everything that he had commanded them. In Ephesians Chapter 4 verse 11 as we think of the gift of pastor teacher there is no distinction as we often make he is a good pastor but he is not a very good teacher.

As like looking at a shepherd and say, he is a wonderful shepherd and you look around it is flock and they are just about starved to death but oh, he is a wonderful shepherd. Just think of all that he does for them, he never gets around to feeding them. But I mean think of the other things that he does. Everything else paves into insignificance. The key element and key responsibility is the feeding of the flock, this is how he provides their protection from their deceases things like that as well when they are fed and nourished properly. So pastor who is not teaching he is not carrying out a pastoral function as the New Testament tells. Now the idea of pasturing includes the idea of oversight and shepherding and directing, but again the key element in that is teaching, and that must be kept in mind.

All right, those are the gifts, something of the purpose of the gifts in verse 12 these were given, he gave some in verse 11, verse 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. Well, there are three steps in the development presented here they are not three equal areas, it’s not -- he gave these gifts for the equipping of the saints one,, number two for the work of service, and number three to the building up of the Body of Christ.

Now they all flow out of the previous one. First, for the equipping of the saints. The reason these gifts were given was for the purpose of equipping the saints, and that’s the prime responsibility and the teaching gifts and the communicating gifts of the word, to equip the saints or that means to render fit or to make complete used in a variety of ways in The New Testament, used in the gospels for instance in Mathew Chapter 4 verse 21 of mending nets, fishing nets rendering them fit for fishing again. Same word used in Galatians Chapter 6 verse 1 where when you see a believer overtaking in a fault you restore such a one, you mend him, you render him fit, you equip him, get him back to what he needs to be.

But it’s not just a negative idea where something needs to be repaired involved. Look over in Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared” that’s our word saying basic word “were prepared by the word of God,” so that what you are seen was not made out of things which are visible, that what is seen not made out of things which are visible. Worlds were prepared what; they were ordered and arranged by God. They were fitted to be what God wanted them to be. They were equipped in effect that idea in equipping carries the idea well, the gifts were given then in Ephesians 4 for the equipping, for the ordering and arranging of the saints, for rendering the saints fit and complete.

Here is a preparatory thing, gifts given, men who are going to instruct in the word in order that the saints might be equipped. Now, what are they equipped for, to enjoy the Christian life, to get more peace and satisfaction out of belonging to Christ. More joyful to be a Christian and so you are equipped to enjoy, that’s not the idea at all. You all know and there’s a different word here, different preposition although it’s translated the same, it’s for equipping of the saints unto the work of service. Different word there, and the unto is a more helpful translation of it, unto the work of service.

Now if you have equipped the saints for a certain purpose you’ve equipped them unto the work of service, in other words they have been fitted to more effectively serve and that’s the purpose of the gifts to fit the believers to serve. And really you can see that all areas of the gifts are brought in here the teaching gifts mentioned in verse 11 which equip the saints to more effectively serve, that would include whatever area of service which goes around again which enables the teaching gifts to more effectively function which it serves that the saints equipped so that they might serve and it goes round and round in the building up of the body.

One word I’d like to draw your attention to because it’s unpleasant, unto the work of service and you are underlining that. Unto the work of service, some believers get disillusioned when they find out that there are responsibilities, when there is effort and toil involved in exercising our responsibility as believers. We think wait a minute, I got enough to do I didn’t sign up for this, it doesn’t matter you’re in it now. It doesn’t matter that when I was born my right hand didn’t know it’s going to have to do all the writing, I don’t like it, too late to bail out now I hope why, it’s part of the body it has a function and a purpose, the work of service. And you know, we are fitted for that work, it’s not well now look here I am, you got a responsibility to do within the body and about the body now in the broad sense of all believers.

I’ve got a responsible position but you know I am just not equipped to do it, but there’s a break down. This man has gifted you and it is provided the teaching of the word to nourish you so that you would be further equipped and development in the exercising of your gifts for the work of service. That is the goal, and if you don’t like to work then you need to beat your body into subjection as Paul talks about in First Corinthians 9 because the flesh doesn’t like spiritual work.

So he says I beat myself back and blue and bring my body into subjection why, because it doesn’t matter that I don’t feel like it. So were in your body would you find out that you serve when you feel like it. My right hand does what it feels like. No it doesn’t, it does what my head tells it to do and Jesus Christ is the head and we are parts of the body so we do what he tells us to do. And if you doesn’t feel like it so what, it’s relevant, you spend a lot of time, wasted time deciding whether I really feel like it or not.

All right, for the work of service, now note what the ultimate goal in at all is, that’s not the end of it, not just mundane toil all right, so I am going to work and serve, great. And that what is service is translated ministry in the King James and we think of that in the technical sense, it’s just the word service, it’s the word deacon, and every believer is a deacon. Although now every believer is the opposite of beacon because every believer is serving in one capacity or another within the body has some function.

All right, now the ultimate goal to the building up of the body of Christ. This is the great aim and final objective to build the body of Christ and thus he’ll be glorified by that body as you’ll see in a moment. The building up of the body of Christ, so you see the development, Christ provides the gifts necessary, the abilities necessary to equip the saints for the work of service. Now note what the ultimate goal in at all is, that’s not the end of it. Not just mundane toil all right, so I am going to work and serve, great. And that what is service is translated ministry in the King James and we think of that in the technical sense it’s just the word service, it’s the word deacon, and every believer is a deacon. Although now every believer is the opposite of deacon because every believer is serving in one capacity or another within the body has some function.

All right, now the ultimate goal. To the building up of the body of Christ. This is the great aim and final objective to build the body of Christ and thus he’ll be glorified by that body as you’ll see in a moment. The building up of the body of Christ, so you see the development, Christ provides the gifts necessary, the abilities necessary to equip the saints, to effectively serve in order that his body might be developed and built up, talking about the true church, all true believers. So these gifts are given to equip the saints to function for the building up of the body.

Now there are break downs and these happen, although we know what the purpose of God is, his purposes are not frustrated, but you can see how the devil will try to get his foot in the door, how the flesh will try to work. You try not to allow the saints to be exposed to the teaching of the word, so that they’re not as effectively equipped as they could be, so that they cannot do the work of service with the effectiveness that they might, so that the body does not experience the development that it should be. Now again, the purposes of God are not frustrated. But this is written in order that we might realize his purposes, where that we might be giving ourselves to the spirit, where that we might be exercising the discernment, I must be exposed to the word.

A malnutrition Christian is not equipped for effective work. If you don’t eat for two weeks and then go out and try to do strenuous work you know what happens? You can’t do it, can you? And you get weary easily. We have many Christians who get weary in the Christian life, weary in serving the lord because they’re not regularly, consistently being fed and feeding on the word. They are malnutrition, they have no spiritual energy to effectively serve. That’s why the devil is delighted to keep Christians in situation where they are not exposed to the consistent teaching of the word because they are not being equipped.

So the service cannot be as effective as is intended to be, because you know the gifts are the foundation for the body being built up, and if the devil can cut it off after verse 11 you can’t pick up with verse 12. You can’t equip the saints without them being fed on the word of God. So no one can exercise their gifts properly who is not being fed the word, so that they might grow and again that’s the circle. Those who are exercising their gifts of service are enabling the word to be taught this morning and enabling the body to function in the broad context wherever it is.

Okay, now the duration of this, how long will this go on? I mean we’re going to build up the body fine. I think we’ve done a good job now pretty well accomplished that purpose. We are not quite you have to understand what it means to have build up the body. And verse 13 talks about the duration of this building process until, until so you know equipping the saints for the work of the service, to the building up of the body of Christ until, this will go on until we all and underline all, we’re not talking about a select view or initiated group of Christians. Until we all, every believer attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God.

The work of building the body is to go on until every believer comes to unity and maturity in his relationship to Jesus Christ who is the head. Every believer, we’re not taking, just generalities now, every believer as an individual, every part of the body involved until we all attain and the attaining first the unity of the faith. There is that oneness that is ours by virtue of faith in Jesus Christ. This oneness is to express itself in our experience and action and activity. And divisiveness and lack of unity is always an indication of immaturity. That’s why it is so frustrating to see a Christian with so proud of his knowledge of the word being a divisive element among the body of believers. All he is saying is I have much in the way of facts from the word, I have very little in the way of maturity because the key element in maturity is the expression of the oneness. This is true in the body of Christ, and that is the goal in building the body that we attain until the unity of the faith. It is also the oneness that is true of those who are part of the faith, taking about the faith as the body of doctor and belief that comes out of our faith in Christ. That oneness is to be an experiential reality.

Paul doesn’t have to just talk about this is for us our position, because verse 3 says we already have the position of being one, but that experiential reality of oneness is something that is to be accomplished as the body is to be build up. All of us are to attain to that, that oneness in the faith. Secondly, and of the full knowledge of the son of God, and this is connected to the unity of the faith but separate in one sense and to further development of another. The full knowledge of the son of God, so you know the work of the building of the body is to go on until we all attain to a full knowledge of the son Of God.

Now we’re satisfied to measure ourselves again on this human round, I know more than someone else or I know more than everyone else in this Sunday School Class, or this Bible Study, or this group or whatever. Therefore I have great knowledge, but remember the object in the knowledge is not to know more than someone else, but to have a full knowledge of the son of God. Now you know the object of the knowledge is the full knowledge and that’s the word here having that full knowledge, true knowledge of the son of God we have an infinite goal, an object, we want to know fully the son of God, and it’s amazing how easy it is for us to begin to ease out that we with our puny, finite minds think we pretty well have it in hand.

We have the knowledge; we think we can ease up now, you hear people say well I have been exposed to Bible teaching enough, now I need something else. I have the experience of talking with a preacher along this line and he had taught that his people this summer had been exposed to enough Bible teaching; they need to learn little different emphasis. Well, you’ve been exposed to enough Bible teaching and Bible doctrine when you have a full knowledge of the son of God. And if you think with your finite mind that you’ve arrived there, you really have a problem.

Your concept of the son of God, of God is so limited that you can put him in that little mind on your shoulders and think you’ve boxed them in. So I have never got enough, that growing process will go on and continue to go on. I take it with one for all eternity and reality that I will be increasing in my knowledge of him because I’ll always be a finite creature; he’ll always be the infinite God. And I will be increasing to all eternity in my knowledge and appreciation of him, but that’s the goal of building up the body that every part of the body becoming to a full knowledge of Jesus Christ, the son of God. So you note, again we have that personal emphasis here, that personal aspect. So whatever I do in exercising my gift, it’s so the believers might come to a full knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I don’t function in doing a little mundane job cleaning the carpet or whatever, I do that in order that believers might have opportunity to be exposed to the truth of the word and come to a more full knowledge of Jesus Christ and every believer functions in light of that plan for the development here to a mature man. So you talk about having the oneness of the faith, you talk about the full knowledge of the son of God you are talking about a mature man, a mature individual.

Now again, Paul explains for us what maturity really is by the last statement which really stands in apposition to a mature man, what is a mature man? Well, that’s one who comes to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. And really what he is saying here is, the fullness of Christ, that’s sum of all of his qualities and characteristics and perfections. These are to be manifested through his body the Church. When that is happening then we have arrived as a mature man. So you note again we are talking about maturity always in the relative sense because I never reach that place where I can say now I am fully matured. In my position I am in Christ, in my practice and daily experience I am not, because I have not reached the place individually or we have not as a body where his perfections, his character are being displayed with all their glory and all their fullness. And yet that is the standard of maturity.

Now again, as we carry this to the individual level we like to measure maturity with other people. I am far more mature than so and so. How can that he be so immature after so long, isn’t that disgusting? And we begin to become pretty satisfy with our maturity, but we fail to realize that we have not arrived yet, that I am to be developing and growing because his character, his perfections the infinite God himself is manifesting himself through his body the Church of which I am a part. And so I talk about a mature man and talking about one who is manifesting clearly and in the ultimate sense fully.

The character of God this fits with what Paul has said previously in Ephesians look over in Chapter 1 of the Ephesians verses 22 and 23. Ephesians 1 verse 22 “And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all”. You know the church is the body of Jesus Christ and as his body it is to be his fullness and the expression of his person in character.

We sometimes get hung up on what Jesus looked like and we like the pictures and to so and so new picture from more closer to what Christ looked like, that’s not the Biblical emphasis at all trying to conjure up in our mind a picture of what Jesus looked like. The picture the Bible present the description of him is his manifestation of his character and that comes through his body. I mean I manifest what I am through this human body while he manifests what he is through his body, which is the church. And it’s the fullness of him who fills all in all.

So you note the exalted position that we have individually and then corporately as his body. We are the manifestation of his perfection. Look over in Chapter 3 verse 19 breaking into that discussion or sense of Paul “To know the level of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God”. So again you can see how he is talking individually and now he talks about corporately, and it all fits together of God’s purposes in his body composed of all true believers, it’s the same purpose he is accomplishing in me individually as part of that body.

The purpose is the same, because the purpose he wants to accomplish in me individually, in every other believer individually is the purpose that he is accomplishing in his body overall, and that is to manifest most fully his character and perfections thorough his body that’s what God is doing in us as his children. Over to the end to control the spirit, so that God’s character and qualities will manifest in our life. That’s why as we function together as a body of believers. We are to be manifesting his character the unity that is essential, and the oneness that is ours as belonging to him.

So that is the ultimate goal to produce mature men or a mature man. The individual who is mature and that he is measuring up to the stature of all the fullness of Christ, so I can never give up, I’m never done giving out the word so that Christians can be equipped to be more effectively serve and Christians are never done being equipped to effectively serve to build up the body because we’re building up the body for the purpose of attaining to the unity of the faith, the full knowledge of the son of God to be a mature man, which means to be measuring up to the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ, to be having his perfections and glories and qualities manifested through us individually and corporately.

This process will be most fully realized of course when he comes and takes us into his presence and glorification occurs but then I take it will continue long as we mentioned about the knowledge that we’ll be acquiring for all eternity. So I see myself little individual me, one person among the billions on the earth as an essential, all important element and the work the God is accomplishing in making himself known in the world and bringing glory to himself. And every believer functions in that same way, it’s a wonder we don’t walk around on the cloud we are so important in God’s overall plan and program keeping in mind humility which I am, of course.

But nonetheless the purpose in the program that is nothing mundane at all. The most glorious position, with glorious function, the job I have and earning my money what’s that matter, it’s the position that I have as part of his body, is the work that he is accomplishing in his body to produce his perfections that is all significant. They may be here not to be part of the body; it can’t be built up in the body if you are not part of the body. And if I may do the work of an evangelists this morning I would explain to you what the gospel is in order that you might come to believe in him, in order that the body might be build up by your addition and God could begin to do his work in your life.

You must realize you are a sinner, if you haven’t come to that point in your life then you haven’t begun. God says you are a sinner that makes it so. That’s a revelation of your character, you are a sinner. It’s a revelation of your activity. Jesus Christ is the savior God provided him to die in your place to pay the penalty for your sin. And if you will place your faith in Jesus Christ as the savior who loved you, died for you, rose again because he had accomplished the work of redemption. If you place your faith in him and him alone, for forgiveness of sins, then God will forgive your sins, he will make you part of his body the spirit will take abrasions in your life giving you a special ability to function as part of the body and begin to do his work of building you up as an essential element in glorifying himself by the manifestation of himself through you and believers together.

Let’s pray together. Our father again, we thank you for your glory, # for the work for that you have accomplished and are accomplishing in us for the privilege position that we have in the body of Christ where does those through whom you are manifesting all your glory and perfection we will pray that we might always see ourselves in light of what we are in Christ, in light of what your desires of accomplishing in us, but we’re thankful that we are not left to try to do this in our own strength that Jesus Christ himself has provided the enablement though the gifts given, the spirit who resides within us is the one who is producing your character or that we might simply be submissive to him.

We will pray that every opportunity of exposure to the word might be profitable as we are submissive to him because diligent in feeding upon it, so that we might be further equipped to more effectively serve the ultimate end of brining glory to yourself. We will praise and thank you for it in Jesus’ name, Amen.