God's Will for Our Church

Well, we're in the middle of a series on prayer, all kinds of prayer for all kinds of people.

It's the Lord's desire that we pray lots for everyone.

And one of the critical questions that we've been challenged to ask as we do that is,

God, what do you want to do in this situation?

What do you desire?

What do you will for this person?

The Lord wants us to pray according to his will.

We probably, hopefully, all pray for ourselves on a regular basis.

We hopefully pray for our families and the people in our families every day.

But this morning we want to talk about our church, one another.

Father, are you praying for each other here in this room and for those who aren't with us this morning regularly?

We do pray every Sunday like we just did for some of the needs in our church.

But I mean throughout the week.

Are you praying for the people in this church?

And if you are and when you do, what do you ask God to do in their lives?

What are you asking God for, for one another?

That's the question that we're going to be focused on this morning.

What should we be asking God for as we pray for each other here in our church?

God, what do you want to do in our church, in this church, in Davidson?

And our answer comes to us from Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

So if you have your Bibles, please open them up to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

We're going to pick it up in verse 7.

Paul writes this.

He says,

But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

And drop down to verse 11.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service,

so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,

attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work.

This whole chapter is full of God's will for our church.

We could go back all the way to right to the beginning of the chapter.

We talked about that last summer a little bit in our One Another series.

God's desire is that we would be a people who love one another.

But we want to bring it in here to verse 7.

Paul sets up a bit of a contrast here.

He's been talking about in verse 4 how there's one body.

There is one people of God in Christ.

And now he sets up a bit of a contrast.

Even though there's one body, there are many parts to this body.

There are many gifts that have been given to the body.

Verse 7.

But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

Paul then supports that with going back into the Old Testament.

And then he has a little bit of a tangent and then comes back in verse 11.

To each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers.

There's lots that we could say about each of those different kinds of people or each of those different roles.

But what strikes me is the language that Paul uses.

I expected him to say, so Christ himself gave the gift of apostleship.

The gift of evangelism.

The gift of teaching.

What is the gift that Christ has given to his church?

It's not just the gift of apostleship.

The gift is the people.

So Christ himself gave what?

The apostles.

The prophets.

The evangelists.

The pastors and the teachers.

They are the gift.

They are part of the gift.

And I don't think this list is meant to be all inclusive.

There could have been other things that he mentioned.

Other roles that he has given.

But each of those is a special gift of grace that God has given to his church.

We could talk about each of those, but we probably don't have time to really get into each one.

And so this morning I'm just going to focus on pastors.

Probably the one that we're most familiar with.

The word pastor here, believe it or not, this is the only place in the whole Bible that you find the word pastor.

And that might come as a surprise to some of you because it seems like every church has a pastor almost.

Why does it only show up once in the whole Bible?

The reason is that this word is actually, it comes from the Latin word for shepherd.

The original word that Paul uses here is actually the word shepherd.

Literally.

He gave shepherds.

It kind of goes a little bit against some of the mindset that we typically have towards pastors today.

But essentially, shepherds, as he refers to them here, is that he's talking about the same role as elder or overseer in the church.

1 Peter 5, verse 1.

1 Peter 5:1

Peter says there,

When Paul was meeting up with the elders from this very church, the elders of Ephesus, he kind of charged them.

He said,

Keep watch over yourselves and over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

And so, the word that we so often use, pastor, really traces back to the idea of shepherd.

And it's really synonymous with the position of elder or overseer in the church.

That's the primary work of a pastor.

And in our North American culture, we've maybe kind of come to this place where we have put the pastor up on a pedestal.

He's the paid professional that does the work, the job description that we've given him to do.

And these elders, well, they're important, but they're kind of second rate, you know.

But that's not the teaching of the New Testament.

What the apostles taught and set out as the pattern is that there is to be a plurality of elders or shepherds in the local church.

I appreciate the respect that people intend when they say to me, Pastor Josh.

But I hope that you know that I'm not the only pastor of this church.

Rob Workington, Byron Dahl, Charles Schmidt, and some of you other men have even served in the past as shepherds in this church.

The Lord's desire is that there be a plurality of shepherds, of pastors, of elders.

Why? Why has he given that to the church?

Hmm. I want to give something special to my people.

But I don't really know what to get them.

So I'll just get them a box of chocolates.

No.

It's not a gift like that.

This is a gift that Christ has thought through.

A very thoughtful gift for a very specific purpose.

To meet a very specific need.

What is that need?

Paul goes on to say,

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers

to equip his people for works of service.

Christ himself has given shepherds and those other roles as gifts to the church.

Why?

To equip his people for works of service.

And this is another place where sometimes in our North American culture,

we maybe have it a little bit backwards.

We maybe see the pastor as being the one that we pay to do the works of service for us.

Or the elders are the ones that we have elected so that they can do the work of the church for us.

But actually it's the opposite.

Christ has given shepherds to equip the rest of us to do the work of service.

To serve one another well.

To serve our community.

And in all of these things, to serve God.

And so God's desire is that each person in his church be working, be serving, be using the gifts that he has given them.

Under the equipping and the coordinating and the guidance and the leadership of these roles.

The shepherds.

Those of you who are shepherds.

God's desire is that you not only serve like the rest of us, but that you equip the rest of us as a church to serve.

That you give us the tools to know how do we serve?

How do we work together as a church to reach this community?

That's a heavy mantle.

And so if you're not currently serving as a shepherd, pray for the shepherds in this church, the elders.

That they would have God's leading as they seek to do that.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless langley.

Amen.

эт decision.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

same way as a church it is critical that we learn to function together in a coordinated manner so

that we can achieve the miracle of standing and walking and serving and blessing

it's only as we work together under the guidance together under the coordination of the shepherds

that we can achieve this paul goes on from here to paint a bit of a picture of what god desires for

the church generally we've talked a little bit about leaders and how they've been given as a gift

but to what to what end so what we're all serving together they're equipping that's great but what

what's the overall big picture where are we going what is christ's desire for his church

what's his will for us here in davidson paul goes on to spell this out a little bit starting in verse 12

he gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors and teachers why to equip his people

for works of service so that the body of christ may be built up and then here it is until we all

reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of god and become mature attaining to the

whole measure of the fullness of christ then will we we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth

by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of

people in their deceitful scheming instead speaking the truth in love we will grow to become in every

respect the mature body of him who is the head that is christ from him the whole body joined and held

together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work

there's a lot in there there's a lot of little details in there and rather than going through

every single one i'm just going to try to hit on a couple different themes what does christ desire

for his people his church twice paul uses the phrase built up that they would be built up god is at work

he is building something with and in his people with and in us here in the davidson community bible church

he has already laid the foundation jesus has come the apostles have carried the teaching

of christ and the witness of christ and now he is building something

there is the theme here of growth from infancy to adulthood it's a very interesting way to describe what

what what he longs to see happen

we're kind of like infants he implies in verse 14 then we will no longer be infants we're like

the seed form that has now sprouted the plant that is just now blossomed

but christ's desire is that as a as a body as a people that we would grow to become the full adult mature

body people that he wants for us to be

what does that maturity look like paul gives a number of uh indicators here

a group of people that's characterized by

a group of people that's characterized by speaking the truth to one another

a group of people that is well coordinated and functions well together like it like an adult body does

we're no longer learning how to walk and how to move we work together we're coordinated

maturity the word mature is used a couple of times

fully developed i love this phrase in verse 13 he says

and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of christ

you can just think of the picture of kind of that the little growth chart that we do for our kids on the wall as they grow up

well eventually there's a line and that's that's it they're fully grown fully adult

that's christ's desire for his people that we reach the full maturity as a group

where the fullness of christ we we match up to to the fullness of christ

we come to share in that measure of his glory that he is going to give us

it's a beautiful picture

there's also a theme here of a ship out at sea paul likes to use his metaphors and he likes to use them

one after the other sometimes

you get this picture of a ship out in the sea the waves are coming and the winds blowing and it's just going

all over the place and he uses this as a metaphor to describe how

some christians probably that he's known and seen some churches even

you know a person rolls into town with a new teaching

that takes them away from the teaching of christ and they just kind of get blown along and go with it

the culture says this sure let's do that the pressures of society of the of local local cities whatever

say you go in this direction so we just okay that sounds great

paul's desire is that we not be like that but that we be anchored in the truth

in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of god he says

so that when those things come they just go under the boat we're not moving

this is our original conviction this is the truth

jesus is the way the truth and the life

and it doesn't matter what anybody else says over here or if somebody else teaches something contrary

we're not going with that flow that wind isn't taking us anywhere we're anchored here

in christ that's what he longs to see for us as a church

to summarize i'm just going to quickly read through some of these and just highlight on a few words

what christ wills for his people

is for them to be built up

to reach unity

no divisions

faith filled

knowing the son of god

maturity

steadfastness

ability with to withstand

well coordinated

functioning together

in truthfulness

in love

what a beautiful picture

in a moment we'll

talk about how this should inform our prayers

but before we get there

i just want to say

the thing that hit me the most

this week as i was preparing this message

is simply

isn't it amazing

that

god wants to do this

for us

that he wants to make us part of a people

a body

like this

as undeserving as we are

this whole week i've been without my family

they've been in valley view

enjoying time with

um

jen's parents

and

throughout this whole week i've been thinking

about

how can i be a better husband

how can i be a better father

what can we do together

with them when they come back

i've been tucking away some ideas

making some plans

and then all of a sudden

as i was reading this

it just hit me

the lord

has made some plans

for us

as his

church

and how things are going to be

and he is working to bring us to that

isn't that amazing

that we have a god

who loves us

like that

that he has

come up with this plan

of what we will look like

one day

when we're fully grown

and that he is moving us along towards that

what a gift

what love

that we as sinners

as people who have

shaken our fist against him

rejected him

that he has

desired to save us

and to pull us into this incredible family

of his

to be his people

and so as we pray

for

one another

as a church

of course we pray

for

the typical things

matters of

health

and well-being

but what if we

started to use

this picture

and this isn't the only picture

there's

lots of pictures

throughout

scripture

but what if we started to use

this picture

to inform

how we pray

for one another

I've already mentioned about

how we should pray

for the shepherds

in the church

that they would

equip

and lead well

but we can pray

for one another

that each person

would be valued

by

every other person

in the church

that they would

use their gifts

that they would

serve well

that we would

be a church

characterized

by love

and by truth

pray for our church

that we wouldn't be

tossed

by the storm

but that we would

hold fast

to Christ

pray that you

that each person

in our church

would

understand

how

what kind of

part

they are

what gift

or grace

that God

has given them

and how they

can use that

to serve

because it's only

as each part

does its work

that the body

can be well

coordinated

and well functioning

that's true

of the church

as a whole

and that's true

of our church

here in Davidson

and so

last week

I encouraged you

to

make a bit

of a list

if you need

to

to pray

for your family

this week

I want to

encourage you

to

make a regular

habit

of praying

for one another

in the church

there's a

couple easy

ways to do

that

first of all

we have a new

directory

that's going to

be ready

soon here

that's one

way to do it

you have your list

right there

you can just

work your way

through it

we can do

a few

families each

week

or a family

every day

however you

decide

one of the

things that's

really been

helping me

that I use

I use an app

called

prayer mate

I found this

online

by recommendation

from someone

and you can

just set up

your lists

of different

people in your

life

family

extended family

church

missionaries

and every

time you

open it up

it gives you

a fresh set

of people

drawn from

all of those

lists so that

you can pray

for those

people and

ensure that

you pray

for everyone

and it's

good when

we pray

for everyone

in our

church

by name

that we

take time

to think

about that

person

and what

God wants

for that

person

and so

I encourage

you if

that's

something you

think might

help you

download that

fill it up

with the

names of

the people

in our

church

and as

I have

done this

I found

it to be

very helpful

because it's

easy sometimes

to just get

into the rut

of oh I'm

supposed to be

praying for

so and so

so God

please be

with Charles

and Ellie

bless them

be with them

bless them

and be with

them but

we don't

really get

into thinking

about that

person but

if you set

aside that

I'm praying

for one

family a day

in our church

or something

like that

you begin to

think through

each person

in that

family

have you

been praying

for the

kids in

our church

not just

your kids

but the

other children

there's so

much that

we can

that we can

easily miss

or pass over

and so having

a list

and working

through it

regularly

I'll be

honest

there are days

where I miss

I'm sure we

all do

the day takes

you by surprise

especially when

you have kids

and you

wake up

with them

right there

but

we need to

make this

a habit

God wants

to do amazing

things in our

church

and that

will come

in answer

to our

prayers

when we pray

according to

his will

and so let's

ask God

to do

what he has

shown us

here

he wants

to do

in our

church

for his

glory

amen

for

let's

to

recognize

him

in

and

again

he wants

to

you