Building Up The Body

Well, we've come now to what I think is the quintessential text on healthy, authentic,

and maybe even we would say organic church growth.

It would be difficult to point to another passage in the Bible, actually, that more

helpfully summarizes God's plan for building up his people.

In fact, Paul actually uses that type of terminology here in the verses that we just read.

That the things that he is teaching, the things that he is conveying from God's plan to the

people in Ephesus is actually God's plan for building his church, for building up his people.

And in a sense, these verses, especially verses 11 through 16, kind of serve as the heart of

this particular series of studies that we're going through.

It's not the whole of it, certainly not the sum of it, but it is perhaps the heart of

what I'm trying to get to in maybe we would say even casting a vision for what I believe

the Lord would desire for our church to be.

And I genuinely do believe that God will bless and will establish our church for the long term

only as we grasp and endeavor to obey the truths that are represented here in this particular

text.

There are a plethora of church growth experts that have developed all kinds of strategies

to help pastors, quote, build churches.

And most of them are rooted in business culture where an emphasis on hard work, cultural sensitivities,

and commitment to process is what produces profitable results.

Now, those things aren't bad.

Certainly hard work and being mindful of your cultural context and being committed to certain

processes and administration, those things aren't bad things.

But they've made that the whole of it, where if you'll just follow this strategy, it will surely

produce success.

And then ministry success and church health are measured by the same criteria as a secular business,

which would then be organizational growth, brand awareness, profitability.

Do you see?

It's not difficult to see this in the Christian realm, is it?

It's very easy to see that we would gauge by nature, maybe even most of the time,

but we would naturally gauge the success or the health of a ministry based on whether or not

it is growing in breadth, whether staff is being added, whether the income and the giving is

actually going up rather than going down.

Are they developing more ministries?

Is there more happening?

You know what I mean?

And sometimes we can mistake that.

And certainly when the Lord does a unique work in a church, things like that happen.

I understand that.

I'm not saying that that's not true.

But when we gauge the success and the health of a church by those criterias, we actually

go quite wrong.

Pastors end up being lured into lectures that are geared toward topics titled something like

the next 100, how to get the next 100 people into your church, or ways to increase giving

by 60% in the new year.

Those are real lectures, real titles that are often pushed in front of pastors, because that

ultimately would seem to be the goal for many of them.

That the value of who I am and what my church is, is not really based on faithfulness, though

they would care about that.

It's actually based on these tangible things that we can measure.

I'm not saying it's bad to desire that type of growth in your church.

It certainly is good.

If you didn't have a desire for your church to grow, it means that you probably don't have

much of a desire for people to come to Christ or for people to be faithful to the Lord or

for the Lord to do unique works in and through the ministry to which you belong.

Those things are not bad in and of themselves.

But this is just a small sampling and example of what the mindset of the Christian culture

has devolved into when it comes to ideas of church growth and church health.

They just define it in a way that's unhelpful, and I really actually think ungodly.

Where pastors are measured by effectiveness rather than faithfulness.

Ministries are evaluated by creativity rather than fruitfulness.

Services are built on a consumer experience rather than genuine worship.

But that's a problem.

That's not the definition I'm working with when I use the phrase church growth or church

health this morning.

I actually wanted to turn our eyes to actually what the scriptures have to say for us here

about this.

Because when the New Testament speaks of church growth, it does so in terms of maturity, not

metrics.

The apostles weren't concerned primarily with a congregation's size, but its faithfulness to

the Bible and its fruitfulness in the Spirit.

And rather than viewing the local church as an organization that needs to be built, they

saw it more like an organism, living, breathing, growing in the power of God and His Spirit.

And the bottom line is that people, humans, can build successful organizations.

We can do that.

Only God can build healthy churches.

You see, that's the difference.

It's actually God's work to build this church.

And He's actually given us a plan to follow, a plan that He uses, His design, to actually

see this work move forward.

Like I said, verses 11 to 16 is where we're really going to find this process laid out.

But before we get there, let's just walk through verses 1 through 10 quickly.

Let me just point out two kind of categorical things here that are worth noting.

The first thing is our calling, our calling.

Now remember in chapter 2 a few weeks ago, we saw that we are united together on account

of our union with Christ.

That there is a supernatural unifying work that takes place when Christ through His blood

redeems us and reconciles us to God.

And in doing that, He actually reconciles us to one another.

Not that He just brings people from different cultures together with this amalgamation and

mixed context.

It's not that.

He's creating a new people.

His new kingdom people.

It's something that we are called to be in the gospel.

Something that we are called to reflect as we move forward in the gospel as well.

And here, the theological truth of Ephesians 2 is actually coming through in Paul's words

as practical instruction.

Look at verse 1.

I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, listen to the verbs here.

I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called.

What's that calling?

That calling.

Chapter 2 tells us that calling is the unity that the Holy Spirit has brought together in

the kingdom people of God, in the church.

We have been called as a people together.

And Paul is saying there is practical instruction in this.

Yes, the Spirit is what brings us together through the gospel of Jesus.

But I am urging you, Ephesians.

I'm urging you.

I'm challenging you.

I'm instructing you to walk worthy of that call.

That the way that you live and move and behave and work with the people of God in the local

church should reflect a life that is worthy meeting the standards of the call that God

has actually put on your life as the church.

And then he tells us how.

With humility and gentleness.

With patience.

Bearing with one another in love.

Those are very difficult things.

Because in the context of the Ephesian church, you actually have real enemies.

Cultural enemies.

And the Jews and the Gentiles coming together.

And then there's all the subsets of problems relationally and socially and culturally that

come from extensions of even that type of enemy.

And we have that in our own churches, right?

We're all very different people.

We come from very different places.

We have very different personalities.

And it requires that if we're going to walk worthy of the call that God has put in our lives as a church,

it's going to require that each of us do that with some humility.

That we develop in our lives.

Some gentleness with one another.

Some patience.

Bearing with one another.

Now, it's really interesting that this is what Paul goes to.

He assumes that in the local church, you're going to have problems with people.

He assumes here that there are going to be people in every church that get on everybody else's nerves.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have to say, bearing with one another.

Right?

Do you see that here?

And his answer is not, when this church really gets on your nerves,

go to one that gets on your nerves a little less.

No, his answer is actually, no, get over yourself and walk in a way that's worthy of the call that God has put on your life.

Learn humility and patience and gentleness.

Bearing with one another in love.

And then he says, being eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

In other words, it is the spirit that brings us together.

But then God calls us to eagerly pursue this unity together.

That we're not looking for ways to be a part.

We're actually looking for ways to diminish our disagreements and our differences

in order that we can pursue the unity that the Holy Spirit is actually establishing in the gospel.

This is what we're called to be.

It's what we're called to do.

And then he makes it even better.

There's one body.

There's one spirit.

You're called to one hope.

It belongs to your call.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all,

who is over all and through all and in all.

What a unity that is in the gospel.

And he says, pursue that.

Live as a church in a way that is worthy of that.

So we see our calling.

But then we see our gifting is the next thing.

Our gifting.

So Christ, as Lord, aids us in this calling.

Because let's be honest.

Let's be honest.

If we were all just to sit down at the end of the service and say, all right.

I know a lot of people aren't here today.

If we were to huddle up and say, all right, we're going to do this thing.

We're going to be humble and gentle and patient.

And we're going to bear with one another.

It's not going to take very long for us to fail, right?

Because we can't actually do that.

It's not actually in our power in and of ourselves to live in a way that's like that.

And so Christ, our Lord, who calls us to that in the gospel,

actually begins to aid us in his power through the spirit to do it.

And that's what these verses tell us.

Verse seven.

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts.

In other words, Christ is gifting each one of us.

Though we are all called into one body, each individual has a particular gift

that Christ has enabled to help us pursue this calling that he's given.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives,

and he gave men gifts.

And then there's this parenthetical, Paul never wastes an opportunity to work in his Christology.

And he says, by ascending, that means that he must have descended,

which goes back to Philippians chapter two.

Jesus was in the form of God, and he thought equality with God a thing not to be grasped,

but he humbled himself and became obedient unto death.

He took on the form of a servant.

He descended to the earth.

And then after his resurrection, he ascended back to the exalted place where he reigns as Lord,

which means that this is his call, but it's also his gift to help us and aid us in pursuing this call.

And it's only at that point that Paul then begins to describe this process,

that he begins to describe the truth about church growth and about church health.

You see, God's plan for church growth and health is very simple.

It's ordinary, intentional discipling.

Discipling being that process by which Christians help one another faithfully follow Jesus

in the power of the Spirit through the teaching of the Bible.

And that's what Paul goes on to describe here.

It's not flashy.

It's certainly not fast.

It's not typically easy, and it's almost never convenient.

It requires commitment.

It requires labor.

It requires sacrifice.

Most of all, it requires genuine love.

But according to the Bible, this is actually what God's plan is.

So let's look at it together.

Number one, I want you to see God's program.

God's program.

Verse 11, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

Three phrases here that I want to work through.

He gave to equip for the work.

Do you see them there in the text?

He gave to equip for the work.

Well, what did he give?

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, or shepherd teachers.

So God has gifted every believer uniquely to serve the church, but he has gifted the church with certain individuals to lead it in truth.

Now, what's common about or among the categories that Paul mentions here is that they all possess the gift of helpfully and accurately teaching God's word, the Bible.

They have word-based gifts, and Paul says that they are special gifts from Christ to the church, but they each have unique functions in the church.

But Paul says, first off, Christ has given to the church these people.

Well, I've been trying to tell Julie for years that I'm a gift from God, and here Paul gives me some support.

Well, let's work through these categories.

The apostles were men who had witnessed the resurrected Christ.

They were specially commissioned by Jesus to be a witness to the world.

It was an unrepeatable group, endowed with the Spirit's power that on occasion revealed itself through signs and wonders, and God used them as instruments to give us the New Testament scriptures.

So that's actually a category here, the apostles.

That's who they were.

They were a gift to the church, still are.

Not that they are still, it's an unrepeatable group, not that they are still apostles in that sense, but what Christ gifted to the church is still a benefit to us as we come to the scriptures.

That's the apostles.

Next was the prophets.

These men were close associates of the apostles within the churches.

They were gifted by God to communicate and teach God's word prior to the final completion of the New Testament.

So their prophecies didn't consist of fortune-telling.

That's not what this was.

This wasn't future predictions necessarily, except on very rare occasions we see that in the New Testament.

But for the most part, these prophets and their prophecies were not those things.

It was just simply the ability to communicate God's new covenant truth during the apostolic age.

So there's a significance to these first two categories, the apostles and the prophets.

Kent Hughes tells us the apostles and the prophets were given to the church to get her established, but now their role is assumed by the canonical writings of the New Testament.

So we don't look for the gifts of apostles and of prophets any longer.

We simply go to the New Testament scriptures.

That was their purpose in establishing the church and giving us the word of God.

And let me just show you two places in Ephesians that helps us to understand that.

Look back at chapter 2 and verse 20 with your Bibles open there,

that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

The apostles and the prophets, not themselves being the foundation, but what they taught as it related to the gospel of Christ.

That's the foundation of truth established for the church.

Chapter 3 and verse 5,

So there's a unique function here for these two groups.

And what ultimately we have is the fruit of the New Testament.

Now that moves us on to the next three.

Evangelist is the next one.

The evangelists were and still are uniquely gifted to preach the gospel with great clarity and fruitfulness.

Now every Christian is called to do the work of an evangelist, the work of evangelism.

But God does gift some people in the church to do so with tremendous impact.

Kent Hughes refers to them as the obstetricians of the church.

Those gifted at bringing in new births, so to speak.

There are people that are just uniquely gifted by God to helpfully and clearly preach and share the gospel with other people,

especially those who have not heard it.

We see this so often represented in missionary endeavors.

We're not so much thinking of itinerant missionaries.

We're not thinking so much of camp meeting style deals.

That's not really what we're thinking of here.

We're thinking of in the terms of the local church, people uniquely gifted by God with a passion and a clarity to preach the gospel.

And then he says shepherds and teachers or pastors and teachers.

And many believe that shepherds and teachers refer to a single gift and function in the church rather than two.

And the Greek construction here does actually allow for that to be true, but it doesn't demand it.

So I'm going to let you decide where you ultimately land on that.

It could be that Paul was distinguishing pastors who are gifted to teach.

We know that in the pastoral epistles, you can't be a pastor if you can't teach, right?

That's one of the things that are necessary qualifications for a pastor.

So he could be distinguishing that from teachers who are not necessarily called or gifted to be elders in the church.

It could be that he's making that distinction.

Most people look at this and actually see because of the Greek construction that this is actually referring to shepherd teachers or pastor teachers.

I'll leave it to you to study that further if you'd like.

But the point here is that God has gifted the church with individuals specially gifted to teach and shepherd through the Bible.

So from our perspective today, the apostles and prophets are represented by the scriptures.

Why evangelists, pastors, and teachers are church leaders whose primary function is to teach the Bible.

Paul wrote that these individuals are gifts from Jesus to his church.

Now, for what purpose then did Jesus give these gifts to the church?

He gave, here's the purpose, to equip.

Equip what?

Or equip who?

To equip the saints, it says.

The saints is not a special category of Christians, but to all believers.

And equip here, in this sense, carries the idea of preparation or training.

The Greeks used it in a medical way, referring to setting a bone in place.

And Paul's point is that in God's program, he has given the church individuals to prepare and train all the believers

to fulfill their own function in the church.

Now, what is that function?

That's the next part.

He gave to equip for the work.

What's the work?

He tells us.

For the work of ministry, which is building up the body of Christ.

In other words, Paul says, building up the body, what we're calling discipling, is a work to which every single believer is called.

And while the responsibility for church growth and church health, a prize in a unique sense to church leaders,

the work that produces healthy churches, belongs to each one of us.

You see, this is where so many Christians immediately go wrong.

So many view their role in the church as merely providing compensation for the pastor and staff

so that they can carry out the work of the ministry.

They never really think about being responsible themselves for the church's spiritual health.

They have more of a consumer view.

That they pay the guys to do the things so that they can sit back and reap the benefits of the things that they pay the guys to do.

Now, we've all been in churches like this, where there is a disparity, where there's, on one hand, there is the professional ministers,

and on the other hand, there is the members of the church, and the professional ministers do the work of the ministry,

and the people of the church receive the work of the ministry.

But that's not actually the vision that Paul puts forth here.

That's not actually what God's program is like at all.

God's design is such that he gifts men to train and prepare the people to carry out the work of building up the church.

So not only do we belong together, but we're in this thing together.

Do you see that?

And we talked about the belonging a couple weeks ago, and it's going to be a theme every single week as we come to these passages.

We belong together, and we belong together because God has put us together.

It's not because we chose one another.

It's because he chose us, and in choosing us, he has united us together in his gospel.

So you're stuck whether you want to be or not.

That's just how this works now, right?

And not only do we belong together, but this whole idea of Lakeside Bible Church,

and the work that's being accomplished here, and the growth and the health,

that we're actually in this thing together.

And it's not because I want us to be in it together.

It's because it's actually what God has called us to do.

He gifts his church with people who have the unique responsibility to train and prepare the people

so that the people can do the work of the ministry.

And I think this is something that we really need to begin to understand.

John Stott said,

It effectively eliminates the traditional model of the local church as a pyramid,

with the pastor perched precariously on its pinnacle,

like a little pope in his own church,

while the laity are arrayed beneath and serried ranks of inferiority.

It also shoots down the model of a bus, he says,

in which the pastor does all the driving,

while the congregation are the passengers,

slumbering in peaceful security behind.

Notice the commitment here to the local church

that's required in this call.

You see, that's the implication of this text, I think, is often missing.

I don't mean to say that in an accusatory way.

I mean, you're here today.

All of you are involved in some way or another

in doing exactly this in our church.

I hope you don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say,

but in order for this to actually happen,

this discipling culture that's represented in Ephesians 4,

it requires a unique commitment that goes above and beyond,

actually greatly above and beyond simply attending a service on a Sunday

and signing up for the occasional event that comes our way.

This is actually much grander than that.

It's actually much heavier than that.

Much important or important than that.

And I think probably the reason it has become the way that it has in so many churches

is because pastors that aren't willing to share their responsibility,

that's part of it.

I think part of it also could be that people just are content

with not really being all that committed.

Paul envisions a people

thoroughly developed in the Word

by gifted teachers

that then enables them

to evangelize,

teach,

and encourage others

through the Word.

This is true discipling.

It's God's program for the local church.

And if we're going to be a healthy church here,

it's got to be woven into the very DNA of who we are.

That's God's program.

Secondly, and quickly, we see God's purpose.

God's purpose.

So if God's program for the church

is to develop a discipling culture,

what is His intended purpose or result for it?

And the answer is that the church will grow

in spiritual maturity.

Now, a healthy church will inevitably,

in most cases,

grow in number.

There will be seasons of harvest.

When the wind of the Spirit will blow,

people will be saved and added to the church.

But notice,

the measure of success in these verses

is not the breadth of the church,

but its depth.

And Paul contrasts for us

in verses 13 and 14.

The spiritually mature church

and the spiritually immature church.

Look at verse 13.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith

and of the knowledge of the Son of God

to mature manhood,

to the measure, the stature,

the fullness of Christ.

So three things happen

when a church follows God's program.

It reaches the unity of faith,

the knowledge of Christ,

and the fullness of Christ.

The faith here doesn't refer to conversion,

but to a united commitment

to the body of Christian truth and doctrine.

MacArthur describes this as

the content of the gospel

in its most complete form.

So the faith then

is when a church

is not simply aware of Bible doctrine,

but is steadfastly united

in its commitment to it.

That's an important distinction here.

That as we follow God's program,

what will inevitably happen

is that our church

will grow deeper in the word

to attain the unity of the faith,

the full body of Christian doctrine.

It won't stay on the surface.

It will actually begin to grow deep

into the word,

into our understanding of it.

The knowledge of the Son of God

is what moves us

from the intellectual

to the relational.

It's that place of spiritual maturity

where a believer

is wholeheartedly devoted

to personally knowing Jesus

through worship, prayer, Bible study.

Remember Paul reflected on this

in his own desire in Philippians 3.

Whatever gain I had,

I counted as loss

for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count all things as loss

because of the surpassing worth

of knowing Christ Jesus,

my Lord, he says.

He goes on to say later,

my goal in this life

is to know Christ,

to know him,

that I may know him,

the power of his resurrection

being made conformable

to his death.

The fullness of Christ

is when that knowledge

produces and transforms

our behavior.

It's when a church

is marked by its conformity

to Christ,

his ways,

and his teaching.

So the measure of a healthy church

then is when it's marked

by a commitment

to Christian doctrine,

intimate love for Jesus,

and a radical conformity

to the image of Christ.

So then Paul contrasts that,

this mature manhood,

he says,

with spiritual infancy

in verse 14.

Read that with me.

So that we may no longer

be children

tossed to and fro

by the waves

and carried about

by every wind of doctrine,

by human cunning

and by craftiness

and deceitful schemes.

The church is not faithful

to God's program

or marked then

by this spiritual immaturity.

Paul says they're like a boat

caught in a storm,

constantly shifting

one set of beliefs

to another.

James described these people

as double-minded,

unstable in all their ways.

And according to Paul,

these churches are then

susceptible to false doctrine,

winsome personalities,

and deceptive methods.

So then when a church

becomes less concerned

about biblical fidelity

than it is about

tangible metrics of success,

it will inevitably accumulate

cunning leaders

who develop deceitful schemes

and fall into false doctrines.

So we've got two pictures here.

We've got God's program

and the church

that follows God's program

represented in steadfastness

and in faith

and in unity.

And then we've got those

who abandon God's program

to follow their own ways

and they end up

finding themselves

with leaders

that probably aren't

actually Christian

who have developed

deceitful schemes

to help push them forward

as an organization

but not actually very deep

as a true church.

And notice how important

doctrine is

in this entire passage.

Everything about these gifts

to the church

involve teaching.

Everything about the reflection

of spiritual maturity

is about knowledge

and what that knowledge

then produces

in practical experience

in our lives.

Knowledge of biblical truth

should be a passion

for God's people

not a drudgery.

That doesn't mean

that we all have to be

Bible eggheads

or that we develop

this persona

or this air

that just seems

to take ourselves

too seriously.

But it does mean

that we should take

our calling seriously.

We should take

the Bible seriously.

We should take

our worship

seriously.

And then notice

how long this

God's program

is to be in effect.

He tells us

in verse 13

until all attain.

In other words

it doesn't end

until we're called

to heaven.

Because if the church

is healthy and growing

that means it will

inevitably be evangelizing

which means that

once you disciple

one person

to be united

in the faith

and in the knowledge

of God

and in the fullness

of Christ

there's inevitably

going to be another

person over here

that's just a baby

in Christ.

And they need

your time

and your affection

and your patience

and your gentleness.

They're going to need

you to bear with them.

And you may get

to a point

where you just think

man I'm tired.

Well the job isn't over

until we get to heaven.

Thirdly we see

God's process.

God's process

verse 15

rather

speaking the truth

in love

we are to grow up

in every way

into him

who is the head

into Christ.

Let me

summarize it this way

maybe condensing

the verse down to this

by speaking

the truth in love

will grow up

into Christ.

Speaking the truth

in love

will grow up

into Christ.

This is actually

the process

of how all of this happens.

Now let's break down

this phrase

speaking the truth

in love.

First they're speaking

which means that

even before we get

to the unique giftedness

that Christ has given

to each one of us

we know that all of us

have a word based

ministry to one another.

And this is going to

show itself

in many different ways

based on how God

has gifted you

but at the foundation

of it

is we have a word

based ministry.

We are to know

God's word

and then communicate

God's word

to one another.

It's not all that we do

for one another

but it is the priority

of what we must do.

And once again

the intentional

togetherness

that characterizes

God's people

comes to the surface here.

We are to prioritize

our lives

to regularly gather

with other Christians

to grow together.

We have to speak

which means that

some of us

need to learn to speak.

Some of us need to learn

to let others speak.

I would put myself

in that category probably.

We gotta start

talking to each other

if we're ever gonna do this

it starts with

actually having

a conversation

with somebody

or prioritizing

your time

and your life

in such a way

that you can have

a conversation

with somebody

which I know

comes easier

to some of us

than it comes to other

but it's actually

a responsibility

that each of us have.

Speaking.

The next thing

is the truth.

So we talk

to one another

but then we talk

to one another

about the truth

of God.

So then it's one thing

for faith

for Christians

to faithfully gather

together.

It's another thing

when our conversations

are filled

with the things

of God.

I don't mean

that every conversation

we have

has to be a Bible study.

Sometimes we can fall

into a bit of a trap

with that

where we think

that if we get together

and we don't actually

all pull out our Bibles

and read a text

and actually begin

to break apart

that we haven't actually

done what God

has called us to do.

That's not at all

what I mean.

It's not that every conversation

is a Bible study

but the Bible

should infuse

every conversation

that we have

so that the scriptures

then guide

and confirm

and move forward

our counsel

so that a man

in a difficult place

in his marriage

unhappy with his wife

may go to his unbelieving

friend at work

who might commiserate

with his circumstance

and his counsel

would be

well there's a lot

of fish in the sea

you know

you're young enough

just get out of it

while you can

you'll find somebody else.

Oh but then

but then there's

when that man

sits down over coffee

with another believer

who's really spent

a lot of time

in the word

and he says

no well how much time

have you actually spent

loving your wife

the way that Christ

loves the church

and even if she's

the worst woman

you've ever known

in your life

your responsibility

and covenant

has been made to her

your responsibility

to God

is actually

to be faithful to her

to love her

to care for her

you see

you don't have to sit down

and have a bible study

to do that

you just have to know

your bible enough

so that your conversations

are then infused

with the word of God

the devotional life

that you have

in private worship

should regularly

spill over

into conversations

with other believers

when you're together

and you're talking

about things of life

you should routinely

be making a statement

similar to

well let's think about

what the bible says

about this

like does it

does it tell us anything

that might help us

understand this better

or guide our behavior

in this way

that's what should

characterize our speech

so we're speaking

we're speaking the truth

and then there's this

really hard thing

at the very end of it

that we're doing this

actually in love

you know it's amazing

how often the new testament

reminds us

that love

is to characterize

our relationship

with God

and with others

because it's the hardest

thing to do

it's the hardest

thing to do

even when speaking

the truth

about the bible

it's possible

for us

to lack

genuine love

and compassion

for others

and by the way

people are not

blind to this

people know

if you care

people typically

can pick up

on the fact

of whether or not

you're saying

these things

because you just

want to tell them

how to do things

or because you're

genuinely concerned

for their spiritual

health

somebody the other

day was

made a joke

about how

it seems

that so many

people that have

a familiarity

with the bible

their favorite verse

is judge not

lest you be judged

and we laughed

about it

because well

so many times

that just means

don't tell me

what to do

kind of attitude

but let's be honest

here for just a second

I understand why

a lot of baby

christians

love that verse

because a lot

of other christians

are just jerks

we wield the sword

of the spirit

to harm

rather than

to heal

and we'll speak

and we may even

speak a lot

and the things

that we say

are truthful things

and maybe even

biblical things

but the way

that we communicate

is not a way

that is filled

with the grace

and the love

of christ

and there's a big

difference in that

that's why this

is the hardest part

because it gets

from our heads

to our heart

to where we're

not just spilling

out the things

that we know

about god

but we're actually

communicating them

with what we know

to be true

of god's love

for us

and in conformity

to christ

we then respond

to them

in the way

that christ

would respond

to them

paul said

that when we

speak truth

and love

we grow up

into christ

we grow deep

in the word

colin marshall

said this happens

in our gatherings

but it also happens

day by day

as christians

speak the truth

to each other

and exhort one

another to stay

strong

it happens

in our homes

as fathers

bring up their

children

in the discipline

and instruction

of the lord

it happens

in the world

as we proclaim

the excellencies

of christ

before the nations

and engage

in gracious

salty conversations

with others

giving gentle

respectful answers

about the

christian hope

well let's finish

with verse 16

shall we

speaking of christ

from whom

the whole body

joined and held

together by every

joint with which

it is equipped

when each part

is working properly

makes the body

grow

so that it

builds itself

up in love

so paul rounds

out the instruction

here

the joints

with which

the body

is equipped

do you see

that in verse 16

the joints

with which

the body

is equipped

refers to

each believer

in the church

this is not

the same

as the training

and preparation

that is mentioned

earlier in the passage

this is actually

referring to people

we are the

things with which

the church

is equipped

meaning that

christ has gifted

and called each

one of us

to build up

the body

and then there's

this other phrase

when each part

is working properly

the body

builds itself

up

now how

antithetical

to the modern

church is it

when god's

program doesn't

ultimately depend

on professional

ministers

who are paid

to do the work

the only way

a church

will grow

in spiritual

maturity

is when the

congregation

takes responsibility

for itself

when believers

are trained

and prepared

by gifted leaders

to help one

another

faithfully

follow

Jesus

and when

each joint

with which

the body

of the church

is put together

and equipped

when it's all

working properly

the church

grows

not necessarily

in breadth

though that will

probably be the

case over time

but in depth

spiritual maturity

and in likeness

to christ

so many christians

seem content

to live out

their christian life

and experience

as consumers

engaging with

the church

only to the

extent that it's

worthwhile to them

but god actually

calls us all

to be consumers

yes that's a part

of it

but to also

be contributors

it's a responsibility

we have

i think it's a

responsibility

for which

each of us

will be judged

because remember

what paul says

before he gets

to verse 11

this calling

and this gifting

comes from a lord

who has brought

us together

called us

into this work

and one day

he will return

to judge

the work

that we've

actually done

and accomplished

you see

that's where

that's where

the heaviness

of this responsibility

begins to fall

on us

when we see

that this isn't

just what

jared is telling

us to do

this is

this is actually

something that

christ has

commanded us

to do

and it's not

jared that

will stand

before one

day

it's christ

and as paul

said to the

corinthians

when we stand

before christ

we will be

saved

but there's

a good chance

that a lot

of our works

are going to

be burnt

up

if there

are any

to even

be judged

and so paul

says in verse

one

i urge you

ephesians

i urge you

and if i can

just echo

that

to say i

urge you

lakeside bible

church

i urge you

to do

these things