SPEAKER_00: If you have a copy of God's word, go ahead and grab it.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4 is where we will be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We are starting the second half of the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: If you have been here over the last few weeks, you'll have heard me say that the first half of the book of Ephesians is Paul going through all that we have received in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have received spiritual life in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And through those things, those blessings that we've received, we've seen that we have been redeemed, we have been reconciled, and we have been joined into one body.
SPEAKER_00: Question now becomes what's next?
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at Ephesians chapter 4, starting in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're able and willing, would you stand with me in the honor of reading God's word?
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I've therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all love, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_00: There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that 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.
SPEAKER_00: But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men.
SPEAKER_00: And saying he ascended, what does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: But that he had also descended to the lower regions, the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He who has descended is the one who has also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 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, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into 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.
SPEAKER_00: May God add his blessings to the reading of his word.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we pray right now that you would, through the work of your Holy Spirit, speak to us through your word, which you gave to us through the Holy Spirit, that we might continue to be edified or built up, we may be sanctified, and that we may grow in our knowledge of you.
SPEAKER_00: Father, may you equip us this morning and show us this morning all that you have called us to.
SPEAKER_00: Father, would we see all we are called to do in response to what we have received in you?
SPEAKER_00: Father, may we not be lazy of hearing, but may we be attentive this morning.
SPEAKER_00: May we see what you have called us to.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you would give me the words to say, that it would be your words and not mine.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray as as we leave here today, God, that we would all be further challenged and encouraged to join in the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this all in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: I get asked a lot of questions.
SPEAKER_00: A lot more than I was prepared for.
SPEAKER_00: A lot more than I thought.
SPEAKER_00: And typically the questions that I get asked are a wide-ranging uh in variety.
SPEAKER_00: It's either why why are the stars in the sky?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this happening?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this person and and that I see over here sad?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this person happy?
SPEAKER_00: But one of the questions that I can almost guarantee will happen every single morning is from my oldest who will come into my room and sit down and say, Daddy, what are we doing today?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say, Well, buddy, you're gonna get dressed and you're gonna go to school, or you're gonna go over here.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be like, Okay, then what?
SPEAKER_00: Well, buddy, then you're gonna come back here and then you're gonna eat lunch, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Then what?
SPEAKER_00: Then you're gonna have quiet time, or you're gonna play in your room and you're you're gonna have time to just kind of you know relax a little bit, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Then what?
SPEAKER_00: And and and that is the question until I answer fully from the time he opens his eyes to the time he finally gives in and closes his eyes to go to sleep.
SPEAKER_00: These are the questions that he asks every single morning.
SPEAKER_00: Then what?
SPEAKER_00: If you're reading this book when it comes to the church in Ephesus, you're probably hearing that all that God has done in Christ Jesus, all that he has established his church in his work and what he has done, and then you probably would be left with this question: okay, so what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: And what do we do from here?
SPEAKER_00: Then what?
SPEAKER_00: And Paul, like a good shepherd, like a good teacher, is anticipating these questions, and so he will go ahead and begin to answer them with what he has just spoken on.
SPEAKER_00: If you remember, what Paul has just spent the last one and a half chapters focusing on is how Christ's work in our lives individually has joined us together corporately as his children.
SPEAKER_00: Remember in Ephesians chapter 2, the Bible says that we are individual stones that make up this holy temple that is the universal church of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then this is a mystery that this wall of hostility has been cut, and we have been brought into this universal body because that means there's no longer Jew or Gentile, nor slave, nor free man, as Paul would say in Colossians chapter 3, but we are all in Christ because Christ is all in all.
SPEAKER_00: This is the great mystery, but this is why we continue to seek after the Lord, because he made this mystery known to us in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And our knowledge of this mystery and our knowledge of him continues to grow, and our appetite for that knowledge should continue to grow so that we may, as Paul has already said, and he already prayed, as we saw last week, we may be filled with the full knowledge of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna say that again this week, but he's he's going to lead us into the now what while still focusing on the context of the end of his previous section, and that is the church.
SPEAKER_00: So, what does this mean for us as individuals, specifically when it comes to the church?
SPEAKER_00: But because while all of us are unified in calling, the church is much more than that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you might have been taught that the purpose of the church is just for gathering of believers on Sunday morning, so they have a place to worship, and then they leave during the week and then they come back later.
SPEAKER_00: But but the purpose of the church is that each person, though unified in calling, has an individual task to serve the church.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to say that again because this is a very hard thing for us to actually move forward in.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing that Paul tells us when it comes to our next foot forward is what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_00: And a lot of times this specific calling is circumvented to really focus on what we see in the later half of this book or this chapter, or in the later half of the previous chapter.
SPEAKER_00: But but there is something that all of us are called to do within the body of Christ, and that is specifically put here.
SPEAKER_00: So, are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: First thing I want you to see is this we are all united in calling.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I therefore, because of this mystery that I've received, that I now preach to you, because our God is able to do far more and abundantly than we could ever ask or think, all to the glory of Christ, and he will be glorified in Christ, in his church forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All of that, because of that, I, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
SPEAKER_00: With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, either to maintain, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_00: There is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that 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.
SPEAKER_00: This is our united calling.
SPEAKER_00: Every single person that is trusted in Christ Jesus for spiritual life and salvation are called to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that you have received.
SPEAKER_00: So let's go through that.
SPEAKER_00: Worthy.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean for us?
SPEAKER_00: That the calling that we have received, which is from Christ Jesus, which is to repent, believe, and follow him.
SPEAKER_00: That's our calling.
SPEAKER_00: If you ever wanted to know, well, what's the calling of the Christian life?
SPEAKER_00: Um, to repent and believe in Christ Jesus and to follow after him.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_00: Every single person in Christ has been called to do that.
SPEAKER_00: The walking in that is this following after.
SPEAKER_00: I'm to believe in Christ Jesus and I'm to follow or walk after him.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, but to walk in a manner that is worthy.
SPEAKER_00: That is that is a proper response to the gift that you have received.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, we're especially within the Bible belt of the South in Christianity, is we focus on the belief element, but we miss out on the walking in a manner that is worthy.
SPEAKER_00: Christ Jesus has saved you from your sin and given you spiritual life.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody else could do that for you, and there's no other place where you can find it outside of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And what he calls you to is to walk in response to that, to that, in a manner that that sees that for what it is, how great it is, and that your desire would be equal to walk in what he has called you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Your response individually in salvation is to see what God has done for you in Christ Jesus and to walk in a way that honors him to the fullness for what you have received in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It would be very hard for a life to say that I love the Lord that does not walk in a manner that is a worshipful response to what the Lord does, but goes back to doing whatever that life was doing before they heard this good news of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: As we said, dead men can't do anything.
SPEAKER_00: And why would anyone who has been made alive want to go back to being dead?
SPEAKER_00: We are to walk in a manner that is worthy of this calling.
SPEAKER_00: And that is what we are all called to corporately.
SPEAKER_00: You're called to do that pub in your public life.
SPEAKER_00: How you act here and how you act at work should not be different, and the language you use here and the language you use at work should not be different.
SPEAKER_00: A life that is seeking to honor the Lord because of the salvation that they have received desires to walk in a manner that is a worshipful response to what the Lord has done.
SPEAKER_00: To seek to honor Him and to worship Him because of the weight of how He has blessed you in His grace through salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Our walk should not be different depending on the circumstances that you find yourself in or the setting that you find yourself in.
SPEAKER_00: In public, in private.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the most humbling thing that I know, and I stand before you as a sinful man.
SPEAKER_00: There is nobody in this room that knows me better than me.
SPEAKER_00: There's nobody in this room that knows me better than me.
SPEAKER_00: And the second person that knows me better than me is the one that sees me in private more than anybody else, and that's my wife.
SPEAKER_00: And she's got stories.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's spouse in here has stories of us.
SPEAKER_00: I'm called to walk in a manner that is worthy of the Lord, and that is in public and that is in private.
SPEAKER_00: To honor him with my life in every single element.
SPEAKER_00: With your families, with your children, your children should see a walk that is worthy of the calling.
SPEAKER_00: As flawed as it may be, as much you stumble and fall, this is what they're called to see.
SPEAKER_00: Your coworkers, your your neighbors should see someone that's seeking to follow the Lord and to walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling that they received.
SPEAKER_00: But the third aspect that we see this is within the church.
SPEAKER_00: Now, oftentimes we get this backwards.
SPEAKER_00: The church oftentimes is like your family, meaning this: everybody outside the church gets all of your grace and mercy, and everybody inside of the church gets all your nastiness.
SPEAKER_00: But what we are called to do is walk in this manner as a body of believers united in this walk.
SPEAKER_00: So what that means is arm in arm, you and I are called to walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling because we've received those gifts.
SPEAKER_00: We've received what Christ Jesus has given us into salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And that call is to serve one Lord, of one faith in Christ Jesus alone, one baptism from death to life, one God and Father who is over all and through all and in all.
SPEAKER_00: So I walk, I walk in a manner that is humble.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we see here in verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: With all humility and gentleness.
SPEAKER_00: There's that word, there's that tough word and patience.
SPEAKER_00: Bearing with one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: All of us are called to this.
SPEAKER_00: All of us are united in this call.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it means to be a body of believers gathered together, is that we're all united and we've all said that we desire to seek after the Lord to live a life that's worthy of the calling with which we have received.
SPEAKER_00: That's why when you come to be a member of this church, that you go through discover first, and we say that the members of this church are made up of people who have been saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to honor the Lord and their life both publicly, privately, and within the confines of the church.
SPEAKER_00: We are united in call.
SPEAKER_00: But there's more than that here.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see that.
SPEAKER_00: See that here.
SPEAKER_00: And that is that we are individually gifted in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: United in call.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us are called to live this life.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us are called to live a life that's worthy, worthy of the calling that we have received in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we are to exemplify that in our public, private, and personal lives within the church.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul goes even a step further.
SPEAKER_00: He says, let's talk about the church again.
SPEAKER_00: Unified in calling, we are one body now.
SPEAKER_00: But but one body doesn't mean that we have all been stripped of what our individual responsibilities are within that body, and that is individually gifted in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have received the same faith, we have not received the same giftedness in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: What does Paul mean in that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's really really quick.
SPEAKER_00: But grace was given to each of us.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop there.
SPEAKER_00: But there's the transition word, right?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: While we all have corporately grace, but grace has been specifically given to each one of us.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not salvific grace.
SPEAKER_00: This is a means of which God has given us his grace and how he's to bless his church.
SPEAKER_00: And how God desires to bless his church is through how he individually, by his grace, blesses the people that make up his church.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_00: God desires to grow, bless, and increase his church through the gifts that he has graciously given to the individuals that make up his church.
SPEAKER_00: You have, upon salvation, received a gift of God through the Holy Spirit that has been that has been specifically earmarked for you to use to his honor and glory and to grow his church.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is where we kind of either start to tune out or we start to look at me like like I have eight ears.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're like, hang on a second.
SPEAKER_00: So so what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That means exactly what you think it means.
SPEAKER_00: You have been given a gift by God to serve within the church.
SPEAKER_00: There's no question about that.
SPEAKER_00: There's no, well, some people are more gifted at that, some some people that's what God's called them to.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have a calling to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, while at the same time, all of us have been given individual gifts to serve within the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men.
SPEAKER_00: And saying he ascended, what he does, um what does it mean?
SPEAKER_00: But that he also descended to their lower regions, the earth.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 68 is what this is quoting.
SPEAKER_00: Simply what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Christ came down, he lived, he lived on this earth.
SPEAKER_00: When he ascended, he went back up into heaven, and he gave gifts through the sending of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: He gave gifts to every one of his children to be used for his glory and honor and for the church.
SPEAKER_00: Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
SPEAKER_00: He has given us all gifts.
SPEAKER_00: We have an equal calling.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody is above this calling, nobody is above the calling to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we have received in Christ Jesus, and none of us are above what Paul has said here, and that is that each one of us has been given a specific gift for the purpose of edifying and building up brothers and sisters within the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Turn very quickly with me to Romans chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, starting in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: This passage has a sister passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and you'll see the similarities between this.
SPEAKER_00: This is why.
SPEAKER_00: Paul talks about this in most of his letters, verse 4 of Romans chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
SPEAKER_00: So we are unified in calling as one body, but the members of that body are many, not just one person.
SPEAKER_00: If the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make any less, make it any less a part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: If the whole body were an eye, where would its sense of hearing?
SPEAKER_00: If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
SPEAKER_00: But as it is, God has arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose.
SPEAKER_00: If all were a single member, where would the body be?
SPEAKER_00: As it is that are there are many parts, yet one body.
SPEAKER_00: In that.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have been given by Christ specific ways in which we served.
SPEAKER_00: Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
SPEAKER_00: If prophecy, Romans chapter 12, verse 6, in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in his generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have been given gifts because the body is not just made up of one person, but individuals.
SPEAKER_00: And all of us have different gifts that are that are seen individually, not all together.
SPEAKER_00: That's why not all of us can can be the evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: Not all of us can be the one who is merciful.
SPEAKER_00: None of us can be that, but that's the point of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Not all of us are an ear, not all of us are a foot, or that body would not be effective.
SPEAKER_00: But but just as the body has many parts, so the church has many parts, every single one of them useful and necessary for the body to function properly as a whole.
SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: So if we know that, then what's next?
SPEAKER_00: That means that upon salvation, you have been given a specific gift to use to grow and strengthen the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Pastor John said this earlier in our meeting, and I'll quote him.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think we have a problem understanding what our gifts are.
SPEAKER_00: I think many people would know what they're gifted in.
SPEAKER_00: Most of you in this room would know what you're gifted in.
SPEAKER_00: Most of you know that you can sing.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you make a joyful sound.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are very good with stewardship and generosity, and so you you know where you fit within here.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are very good and very merciful, and so compassion ministry is where you fit.
SPEAKER_00: You know your gift that God has given you.
SPEAKER_00: The problem with that is we do not ask the question, what's next, because we know what's next, and we refuse to do it, is actually using those gifts within the church to build her up.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see this morning that a lack of using your gift that God has given you to build up the church hurts the body.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't plateau the body.
SPEAKER_00: Because oftentimes that's how we feel.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if I'm not using it, then the church just stays where she is.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: She is slowly declining in that deficiency because of the unwillingness of some of us to actually step out and say, What God has called me to, I'm gonna walk in.
SPEAKER_00: And so we we love to simplify and sit and say, Church is this, I just get to come in and I get to leave.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God desires of me.
SPEAKER_00: Wrong.
SPEAKER_00: You got a half-truth.
SPEAKER_00: God not only does desires for you to join in with the body, but spiritually, but he desires you to join in the work of the body, which is to be about the the upbuilding of his church, the solidifying of his church.
SPEAKER_00: All of us have a job to do, and every saint is a minister to the body of Christ, whether you see yourself as that or not.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us in here maybe don't serve because we sit back and we go, Well, what could they what could I even do?
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's so many people that can do this better.
SPEAKER_00: What's the point of me doing it?
SPEAKER_00: The point of you doing it is because God's called you to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And God didn't only call the ones that stand out, he called the ones that that are just faithful.
SPEAKER_00: The one that desired to continue to work within the body.
SPEAKER_00: How God has gifted you is how he desires you to serve his church.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's look at verses 11 to 12 because I want you to see something here really quick.
SPEAKER_00: And that word's specific there.
SPEAKER_00: Not only has he has he called everybody individually to serve within the church, but he has taken an extra layer, an extra step to this.
SPEAKER_00: There is an extra work that is done within the church that God has specifically established.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave, he gave who?
SPEAKER_00: He gave the church, he gave the body, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's the third thing that I want us to see this morning within this passage.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of church leadership.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't say that up here for any other reason, other for than you to see the gift that's specifically for those that God has put in to specific positions.
SPEAKER_00: And that is not to build that person up, that that is not to be anything that makes them uh more special to stand out.
SPEAKER_00: This is gifts that God has given specifically as leadership to his church, and there is an emphasis in that within scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us have been called to serve God within the church, but there are some in this room that God has specifically called them to an even greater service, not because they are greater, but because of what he desires them to do.
SPEAKER_00: And that is to give leadership and serve the church.
SPEAKER_00: The resurrected Christ, as one commentator would say, has bestowed his grace on every member of his body, but he has especially gifted certain individuals within the community to establish churches, minister the word of God, and equip others for service in the church.
SPEAKER_00: Christ gives these gifted leaders to the church, not to do the ministry for various members of the body while they passively receive, but to help prepare each one of them to actively serve in the way he has gifted them.
SPEAKER_00: Leadership within the church has been given to the church to encourage and equip the saints to serve within the church.
SPEAKER_00: Now, he gives a list of these.
SPEAKER_00: The first two, I would argue, and and most commentators would argue, is these first two are the initial ones that have helped establish the church, and we see that all the way back to the first century.
SPEAKER_00: Apostles and prophets helped build up and establish the church in her beginning, but but those offices ended when the apostles died.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at what Paul says in Corinthians about apostles, they're the ones that have seen Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That saw Christ, that that was the the characteristic of an apostle.
SPEAKER_00: Well, when the apostles died, then with them the office of an apostle died.
SPEAKER_00: Their work receiving and declaring the word of God under direct inspiration of the Spirit, most vital before there was a canon of the New Testament scripture, these apostles and prophets, they continue, they served the church in her beginning.
SPEAKER_00: And while there continue to be prophets, but not with quite the same ministry as those of the church in the first generation.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul says, apostles and prophets, but then he goes and says, Evangelists, shepherds, and teachers.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you notice that, the apostles, the prophet, the evangelist, the shepherd and teachers.
SPEAKER_00: Evangelists is singular, shepherds and teachers, he adds together.
SPEAKER_00: Evangelists, men who proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus to unbelievers.
SPEAKER_00: People who who who are called to evangelism are ones who desire to share the gospel and are called to share the gospel with wherever we go.
SPEAKER_00: We have men in our church that are evangelists.
SPEAKER_00: That is their desire to go and to preach the gospel, to share the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But then you also have pastors and teachers.
SPEAKER_00: And again, when we read this in the group in the Greek, they're identically linked.
SPEAKER_00: The word for pastor is poemin, literally, a person who herds a shepherd can refer to, by extension, to various kinds of leaders, including a church leader who protects members from danger, feeds their souls, and keeps them within the safekeeping of Christ's dominion and reign.
SPEAKER_00: Teachers in general, a person who teaches others in church leadership, a person who teaches the doctrine and the way of the life of a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We have people in this church that are evangelists.
SPEAKER_00: God has given them that gift, they are walking in that gift.
SPEAKER_00: We have people in our church that are teachers.
SPEAKER_00: God has called them to that, raised them up, and they have been given that specific calling.
SPEAKER_00: And then we have those who do all three, those called by God to serve Him as ministers of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And that is in pastors of how we see leadership here.
SPEAKER_00: Elder, pastor, overseer, all of those are describing the same person, just the different offices that they or the different hats that they wear.
SPEAKER_00: We read it in scripture that all of them are linked together.
SPEAKER_00: So we use the term pastor here.
SPEAKER_00: A pastor is someone who is to do the work of the evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, to do the work of an evangelist.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he calls them to do, to shepherd God's flock and to be about that teaching of the word.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gift that God has given the church.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's why I want to give emphasis to this.
SPEAKER_00: Oftentimes, the view of the church is that this is a great gifted office to do all of the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: So every single thing that happens within the church and how the church is to function and how is this has all been thrown onto that office of pastor and said, All right, you guys got it.
SPEAKER_00: Just let us know when we need to be there.
SPEAKER_00: And God has given you specific men within this church that has been called by God to serve in this role that will lead to greater accountability for them.
SPEAKER_00: And then they will have to stand before the Lord and give an account of how they did with what God entrusted them to shepherd his church.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing more humbly, nothing more humbly than to read in the book of Revelation, chapter one, that along with these lampstands that are there that represent the church, there are an equal amount of stars that are in the Lord's hand, representing the leadership that he has put in over those churches.
SPEAKER_00: That is who is accountable for the spiritual growth of what happens here.
SPEAKER_00: That is what God has called those two.
SPEAKER_00: You have some great pastors within this church.
SPEAKER_00: You actually get a blessing, and don't treat it as a curse, you actually get a blessing of having raised up two pastors that serve within your church that also started in your kids' area.
SPEAKER_00: Please don't, please don't think of them still as those little kids.
SPEAKER_00: Because God has called them to much greater than what you see saw them as.
SPEAKER_00: Because why?
SPEAKER_00: Because there are servants within the church, both lay people and Pastor John that's over that ministry, that is pouring into them, that's teaching them, that's discipling them, training them and equipping them to do the work of the ministry, while at the same time, God is calling, raising up, and equipping them for what he desires them to do.
SPEAKER_00: This happens when a church understands that she is not only called collectively to walk in a manner worthy of the calling, but also understands that she is to individually serve the church and to join in with leadership of the church for the training up of the people of God for what purpose?
SPEAKER_00: All for the building up of the body of Christ in love.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 4, it's our closing point this morning.
SPEAKER_00: All that we see here, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, building up the body to serving within the church, it is done to build up that body.
SPEAKER_00: And it is to be done until Christ Jesus calls us home.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, to equip saints for the work of the ministry for building up the body of Christ until we attain the unity of the flesh and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we talked about this last night.
SPEAKER_00: Will I ever get to the point where I understand and come to the knowledge of the fullness of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: No, but I'm to seek after it.
SPEAKER_00: But I I am to seek after it, knowing that there is coming a day when Christ Jesus will call his one body to be with him, where we will in fullness before him stand in a full understanding of who God is before his throne for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: But until then, we are to serve in his church, equipping for the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: We're to serve in his church, building up this body.
SPEAKER_00: For this reason, verse 14, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, and deceitful schemes.
SPEAKER_00: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: As I continue to grow in my relationship with Christ, and I continue to serve in the body, then what that does is what we Paul prayed for last, as we saw last week, that continues to root me in Christ, build a deeper foundation where I am stable in him.
SPEAKER_00: Serving within the church and being a part of that body grows me because I am being taught the word.
SPEAKER_00: I am being encouraged to live out the word.
SPEAKER_00: I am being pushed to evangelize, I am being pushed to continue to deepen my desire to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And all of this is rooting me deeper in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in here this morning and you would say, I don't really feel rooted deep in Christ Jesus, there are two places that I would ask you to look at.
SPEAKER_00: Are you faithfully and daily reading his word, desiring to know him more?
SPEAKER_00: And are you actively involved in the church seeking Bible study and learning from the teachers that God has put in this church to grow you spiritually?
SPEAKER_00: If both of those answers are either yes and no, or no to both, we have found the source of our weakness.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just offer things here at First Baptist Church on Wednesday nights because we feel like it.
SPEAKER_00: We don't just offer them because that's what we've always done.
SPEAKER_00: There are men's Bible studies, there are women's Bible studies, there are student ministry events, and there's kids' ministry events or kids' ministry programs, all for the purpose of growing the saints and the knowledge of Christ Jesus and rooting them deeper in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This should be the desire of every single individual within the church, as well as the church corporately here in the local body believers at First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: That we all would continue to seek to know, as we looked at last week, to seek Christ more, to know his fullness, to pursue after him.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing that, it transfers into a desire to, alongside other brothers and sisters, be united in the calling that he's called us to while individually serving the church and being equipped for the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And as we do that work of the ministry, we are training up one another to be deeper in love with Christ Jesus, to be deeper, have a deeper foundation in him, so that when deceitfulness comes, when philosophies pop up, when heresy is repackaged in something pretty and then handed before us, that we have discernment through the work of the Spirit in our lives and through our knowledge of God in Christ Jesus to be able to say, No, that that's wrong.
SPEAKER_00: No, that that's that's not true.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what the word says.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's desire for the church.
SPEAKER_00: This is God's desire for you individually.
SPEAKER_00: God wants every believer to manifest the qualities of his son, and a means of doing that is through the body.
SPEAKER_00: That we may no longer be children tossed to and fro from the rays, but rather speaking the truth in love, we are grown up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us individually, from leadership to all of us serving together, all come under the headship of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What he has established, what Has called us to it is all under him and his authority.
SPEAKER_00: So here is my closing application of this in question to you.
SPEAKER_00: God has gifted you and called you to serve in his church, to be a part of a body of believers and to serve that body of believers.
SPEAKER_00: Will you do it?
SPEAKER_00: The same way that you responded to the calling of salvation in Christ Jesus, in repentance and belief and faith and trusting in him, will you respond to the calling that he has for his children to be a part of and to serve his local body, his church.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you are 16 or you are 96, you have been given by God specifically for a gift to serve the body, and there is nobody who graduates out of that except for when you graduate from this life into the next.
SPEAKER_00: Can't tell you how many people I've heard in churches that I've served at that says, Well, I've served my time.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's time for somebody else to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Until uh I preach your funeral, you still call to serve.
SPEAKER_00: Until God calls you home, he's still calling you to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Will you do it?
SPEAKER_00: Will you serve the church?
SPEAKER_00: God has given you a gift.
SPEAKER_00: Now you might sit there and go, Well, how do I do that?
SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
SPEAKER_00: There is a thing that I tell you every Sunday, and that is after service, I'll be standing right out there.
SPEAKER_00: If there's a place that you feel like God is, a gift that God has given you that you feel like God is calling you to serve within the church, the first place to do is to tell those that are seeking to equip the saints to be able to put you in the position to equip those saints.
SPEAKER_00: Come talk to staff.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to help.
SPEAKER_00: This is the calling that all of us have in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Will you serve?
SPEAKER_00: Will you walk in a calling that is worthy of Christ Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, will you serve his body so that she can continue to be built up and rooted in love so that she can continue to be healthy and strong moving forward to be about the work of the ministry?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.