SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: We come and we stand before you, declaring our great and wonderful praise of what you've done for us.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, ensure that no one leaves here today without knowing with all their heart that you have paid their ransom.
SPEAKER_01: Receive our praise and our offerings and our prayers this morning as a sweet smelling sacrifice of those who love you.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it wonderful to have a scripture-saturated service?
SPEAKER_01: That's just wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: I have the privilege of being in two services back to back, and it's always the second service, the second time sitting through things like that.
SPEAKER_01: It just really begins to impact you.
SPEAKER_01: So if you ever want to come and sit through two services and really be impacted, I encourage you to do it.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
SPEAKER_01: We're glad to have you worshiping with us this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We are working our way as a fellowship through Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a Bible or if you use a device, I encourage you to make your way to the New Testament letter of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_01: A few weeks ago, we skimmed our way through the first six verses of this book, and I had intended to do a little bit more in-depth study of that, but the Lord has moved me on to cover verses 7 through 12 of this chapter this morning.
SPEAKER_01: As we work our way through trying to get a perspective on what God has designed for us as a fellowship of believers.
SPEAKER_01: What is his blueprint for the church?
SPEAKER_01: And I would like you to imagine with me as we work our way through this the amazing and immensely developed social structure found in honeybees.
SPEAKER_01: Honeybees are amazing.
SPEAKER_01: They are one of the most astounding creatures in all of God's creation.
SPEAKER_01: At the heart of the hive, and a single hive may hold as many as 80,000 bees.
SPEAKER_01: Just process that for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine all of the residents of Grand Forks here, in here, crammed together.
SPEAKER_01: There's more than that of bees in a single hive, potentially.
SPEAKER_01: An amazing mass of creatures.
SPEAKER_01: And at the heart of the hive is the queen bee.
SPEAKER_01: Without her, the colony has no future, has no hope.
SPEAKER_01: But those 80,000 bees don't just sit around watching the queen.
SPEAKER_01: Each bee has a specialized function.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are forager bees.
SPEAKER_01: They leave the hive and they go out and encounter the perils of the outside world in order to collect food.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are guard bees that protect the hive from outside intruders.
SPEAKER_01: There are even more specialized functions.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that some bees, honeybees, serve as undertakers?
SPEAKER_01: They do.
SPEAKER_01: There are some bees that have a specialized function of taking dead bees and removing them from the hive.
SPEAKER_01: Others collect water, and they bring water into the hive to regulate the humidity within the hive.
SPEAKER_01: There are plasterers who make a special kind of cement that is used in repairing the hive.
SPEAKER_01: There are scent fanners that are stationed at the entrance to the hive to push the scent of the hive out into the air so that those bees that are lost or disoriented can know where to come.
SPEAKER_01: There are scouts that go out into the world that keep the hive alerted to the opportunities and the dangers in the outside world.
SPEAKER_01: The variety and the specialization in honey bees is extraordinary.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it seems endless.
SPEAKER_01: And yet at the same time, amazingly, they all function together in harmony.
SPEAKER_01: They work together for the good of the hive, building the hive, growing the hive, growing their numbers, growing their home and their safety.
SPEAKER_01: And that, I would submit to you this morning, is what the church should be like.
SPEAKER_01: It's what should be true of Christ's church.
SPEAKER_01: We are each placed into the body of Christ in a specific place with specific gifts to function in individual ways, yet in harmony with the whole.
SPEAKER_01: That is God's blueprint for us as individuals brought together.
SPEAKER_01: Sadly, as too many of us know and have experienced, churches often fail to function as they were created to, don't they?
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Why is it that God has created us, like those bees, to come and function together well, in harmony, for the glory of God and the good of his kingdom, and yet we fail?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's very simple, actually, it's because we become rogue bees.
SPEAKER_01: We become rogue bees who come into the hive and we bring our own selfishness, our own self-centeredness into it, and we begin to function independently.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps you've heard the story of four people in the church.
SPEAKER_01: This is the story of everybody, somebody, anybody, and nobody.
SPEAKER_01: There was an important job that was to be done in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And everybody was sure that somebody would do it.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody could have done it, but nobody did.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody got angry because it was everybody's job.
SPEAKER_01: But everybody thought that somebody would do it.
SPEAKER_01: But nobody asked anybody.
SPEAKER_01: So it ended up that the job wasn't done, and somebody blamed everybody when actually nobody asked anybody.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that how it works so often?
SPEAKER_01: But that's not how God intended it.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord Jesus is building his church.
SPEAKER_01: It will happen.
SPEAKER_01: It will be completed.
SPEAKER_01: He said that not even the gates of Hades will prevail against it.
SPEAKER_01: But it's through us gathered together that the Lord accomplishes his work.
SPEAKER_01: So that, just like thousands of bees, as we come together as individuals, we serve in harmony with one another, working for the good of the king and his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't all move or work in the same way at the same times or even at the same pace.
SPEAKER_01: But we've all been given specialized places within the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And we see that clearly in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 7 through 12.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bible, I'd like to read those verses.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to follow along.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, I'm going to read through verse 13, although we won't cover it primarily this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
SPEAKER_01: In saying he ascended, what does it mean?
SPEAKER_01: But that he had also descended into the lower regions, that is, the earth.
SPEAKER_01: He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.
SPEAKER_01: 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 of the body of Christ, 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 of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: As we work our way through these verses, we're going to see together God's gracious distribution of gifts to each one of us.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to see Christ's glorious triumph, the gracious groundwork that has been laid, and the gracious purpose for that groundwork.
SPEAKER_01: So let's begin this morning by looking at the gracious distribution.
SPEAKER_01: What is that distribution?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it is the act of God's grace by which Jesus Himself dispenses a gift to each and every believer in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want you to notice here that grace drives this section.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7, but grace was given.
SPEAKER_01: All that we see here is as a result of God's grace in Christ being given to us.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we know that grace is that divine favor that is bestowed on God's people.
SPEAKER_01: That God gives to us, even when we did not deserve it.
SPEAKER_01: That's the theme of these verses.
SPEAKER_01: But that is displayed specifically in Christ giving gifts to each one of his people.
SPEAKER_01: And in his grace, he gives it all according to the appropriate measure.
SPEAKER_01: We've not all received the same measure of gifts from God, have we?
SPEAKER_01: We are very adept as human beings at comparing ourselves with one another.
SPEAKER_01: We look at somebody else, we say, well, I don't have the kind of gift that they have.
SPEAKER_01: I can't play the guitar like Webb has, like Webb can, or the drums like Nick can, or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: We compare ourselves, and when we begin to compare ourselves with other people, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: We automatically begin to feel less, then, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: We always compare ourselves to those who have more of something.
SPEAKER_01: And it makes us feel less.
SPEAKER_01: I was sharing with the Primetimers group this week about Moses arguing with God in Exodus chapter 3 and 4 about how inadequate he was for leading Israel.
SPEAKER_01: God came to this shepherd that'd been wandering in the desert with sheep for 40 years and he said, I want you.
SPEAKER_01: Moses, leave the sheep, go back to Egypt and lead my people.
SPEAKER_01: And how did Moses respond?
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, God, you got the wrong guy.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do it for this reason, this reason, this reason, this reason, this reason.
SPEAKER_01: And when he ran out of excuses, he said, No to God.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that what we do?
SPEAKER_01: We think that I don't have the ability.
SPEAKER_01: I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: I am less than.
SPEAKER_01: That's our common reaction.
SPEAKER_01: Bulava, don't let your own thoughts and your own feelings make you feel useless or less than important in God's service.
SPEAKER_01: You have received a gracious gift of his grace to do what he has called you to do in his service.
SPEAKER_01: You have been gifted to serve.
SPEAKER_01: And you have been given the appropriate measure of that gift from the one who sovereignly knows exactly what is needed.
SPEAKER_01: You have what you need to perform your part in the body, just like bees have what they need to perform their part in the hive.
SPEAKER_01: Because your Lord has been gracious to you.
SPEAKER_01: It is his grace as part of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this gift is not the gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: You might be familiar with Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what this gift is.
SPEAKER_01: In Romans 6, we're talking about the gift of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: This is not that gift.
SPEAKER_01: This is a gift that enables people to serve.
SPEAKER_01: Look in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: This is enabling us to do the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: These gifts come through the grace of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: As the head of the body, he gives what is necessary to the parts of the body to function correctly in a way that pleases him.
SPEAKER_01: Just as he gave the honey bee what is needed to be a part of the hive, so too does he give to every person in his church.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, though, what these gifts are not.
SPEAKER_01: These are not the items in verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: He does not give us the gifts of humility, gentleness, patience, and putting up with each other.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we wish he would.
SPEAKER_01: No, those aren't the gifts that he gives us.
SPEAKER_01: Those are the character qualities that are the fruit of the Spirit, aren't they?
SPEAKER_01: Those are the character qualities that God molds within us because of the presence of his spirit working in us.
SPEAKER_01: So those are to be present because he is present.
SPEAKER_01: What we're talking about here is something different.
SPEAKER_01: These are gifts that are given to serve one another and to serve Christ.
SPEAKER_01: More on that in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Until then, let's look at the second item, and that is the glorious triumph.
SPEAKER_01: Christ, God the Son, left the glories of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: No matter how long I think about that, I just can't imagine why in the world he would do that.
SPEAKER_01: He left the glories of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And then he died death on a cross.
SPEAKER_01: But in that, he conquered death and became a victor over death.
SPEAKER_01: And he returned to heaven as that victor.
SPEAKER_01: That's what verses eight and nine are about.
SPEAKER_01: But this is a sticky portion of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: So let's be careful here.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to go through this a little bit to see if we can't clarify some things and make it a little simpler.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8 is a quotation from Psalm 68, 18.
SPEAKER_01: That Psalm is a song of victory.
SPEAKER_01: It's picturing God as the victorious king on the field of battle.
SPEAKER_01: So imagine an ancient battlefield, and a king and his army have subdued another kingdom, and that army.
SPEAKER_01: He's victorious on the field of battle.
SPEAKER_01: He's defeated all of his enemies.
SPEAKER_01: And after that battle, God is pictured as ascending the mountain on which the ancient temple sat.
SPEAKER_01: It was his victory procession, you might say.
SPEAKER_01: Now with that in mind, here's what Psalm 68, 18 says.
SPEAKER_01: You, speaking of God, Christ the King, ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train, and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that is, the conquered ones, so that the Lord God may dwell there in his temple.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's some similarities to Psalm 68.18 and what Paul quotes here in Ephesians 4.8.
SPEAKER_01: We see God ascending, and we see God leading a host of captives.
SPEAKER_01: Those are similarities.
SPEAKER_01: But there are some differences too.
SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 68, he received gifts.
SPEAKER_01: But in Ephesians 4, he gives gifts.
SPEAKER_01: So some have approached this saying, aha, there's a discrepancy.
SPEAKER_01: We have proven that the Bible isn't accurate.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's not overreact too much.
SPEAKER_01: Let's think about it.
SPEAKER_01: Are there ways to understand these differences?
SPEAKER_01: And I would suggest to you that yes, there are at least a couple of ways to understand this.
SPEAKER_01: One is a fairly common way that the New Testament authors treated the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: They pointed to an Old Testament passage in a way that found its complete and perfect fulfillment in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That could be what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament passage of the Old Testament King in Psalm 68 was intended to be in Jesus not receiving gifts, but in giving gifts.
SPEAKER_01: That could be.
SPEAKER_01: Or this could be the second part of a very common practice.
SPEAKER_01: In the ancient world, it was common for the victor to receive gifts from those who were now his subjects, from the defeated peoples.
SPEAKER_01: They would give him gifts to signify their submission to him as their new ruler, way of submitting to his authority.
SPEAKER_01: That may be what Psalms is referring to, but on the other hand, it was also common for a victorious king to gather up the spoils of war, all of the plunder from the battlefield and from the places that he had conquered, and take that plunder and distribute it to whomever he desired among his own subjects.
SPEAKER_01: So it was very normal then for a victorious king to both receive gifts and to give gifts.
SPEAKER_01: One aspect could be highlighted in Psalms and the other here in Ephesians.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that we need to get hung up on an apparent contradiction because I think that explains it.
SPEAKER_01: But either way, what is clear is that a Psalm 68 pictured, and this is the clear intent of where Paul is using this, Jesus is being pictured as the victor.
SPEAKER_01: He triumphed.
SPEAKER_01: Don't miss that.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is triumphant.
SPEAKER_01: He has ascended into heaven in triumphant victory, and in doing so, he has dispensed gifts to his people.
SPEAKER_01: And these are to be displayed as we serve one another.
SPEAKER_01: Now, verse 9 is another part of the difficulty.
SPEAKER_01: Common thought in the past was that it described Jesus descending into hell.
SPEAKER_01: That Jesus came from heaven to earth, and then from earth he descended into hell.
SPEAKER_01: That's a theoretically possible meaning, but I would probably say that it's not most likely.
SPEAKER_01: I think what is most likely here refers to the incarnation.
SPEAKER_01: This is God becoming man, leaving the glories of heaven and coming to the lower parts.
SPEAKER_01: What's the lower parts?
SPEAKER_01: The earth, where we are, to be with us.
SPEAKER_01: The realm of glory is left behind to take on the realm of creation.
SPEAKER_01: And then when his victory over sin and death is completed, he ascends back to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And the ascension is a signal to all that he is victorious.
SPEAKER_01: He's the ultimate victor, and he proved that triumph by conquering death and ascending into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But his work doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_01: He could have ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of God the Father, and said, Okay, I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: But he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: He continues to give gifts to his people so they can do the work he's called them to do.
SPEAKER_01: In his victory possession, he gives gifts to people.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't give to some of them, but to all, in the appropriate measure needed to accomplish his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: You might say that just like honeybees, he has made everything in the church so that it functions and functions well, as we've already sung, to the praise of his glorious grace.
SPEAKER_01: Now he laid a very specific and yet gracious groundwork for that process by giving some gifted people to the church.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we begin to see in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: The picture narrows a bit here, as seen from the words he gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherd teachers.
SPEAKER_01: As opposed to all, he's now focusing on four.
SPEAKER_01: There are four types of gifted people listed here.
SPEAKER_01: And the idea is not one of gifts being given to a special group, but of God's grace giving gifted people to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone has a spiritual gift when they come to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: But not everyone holds an office.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone receives a gift, but not everyone is one of these specific types of gifted people.
SPEAKER_01: These are specially gifted people that God has given to the church to fulfill a specific purpose and duty, just like honeybees might have a very specific purpose and duty.
SPEAKER_01: But some of them are designed to perform very specialized functions so that the hive will be unified and function properly.
SPEAKER_01: That's what these groups of people are.
SPEAKER_01: Apostles, of which Paul was the last.
SPEAKER_01: That's why they do not exist anymore.
SPEAKER_01: A prophet was one who was gifted for the purposes of understanding and communicating the mysteries and the revelation of God to the church.
SPEAKER_01: At times, prophets would predict the future in their prophecy as the Holy Spirit revealed it to them, but mostly they explained the Already revealed God, Word of God, to the church.
SPEAKER_01: They explain the relevance of the truth and the will of God to the church.
SPEAKER_01: And they function together with the apostles as the foundation.
SPEAKER_01: Now there's very little, if any, real evidence that these two types of gifted people are still given to the church today.
SPEAKER_01: The foundation is settled.
SPEAKER_01: Now we're building on top of that.
SPEAKER_01: There are no longer witnesses to the resurrection, so there are no apostles.
SPEAKER_01: And their purpose to confirm the resurrection is complete with God's revelation of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: The foundation of the church is in place, but we still need to build, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: We still need a home on top of the foundation.
SPEAKER_01: So God has given evangelists, those who proclaim the good news of Christ to the world.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that this is a word that is only used three times in the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of surprising.
SPEAKER_01: We think of evangelism and being an evangelist.
SPEAKER_01: This particular word, an evangelist, is only used three times in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Once it's used of Philip in the book of Acts, who was also one of the first deacons.
SPEAKER_01: An evangelist is a kind of ministry labor, though, as well.
SPEAKER_01: It's not just a position, it's something that every single believer in Christ is to fulfill, right?
SPEAKER_01: That's what the end of the book of Matthew tells us: to go into the world and make disciples, or to share the good news, to evangelize.
SPEAKER_01: We may not all be gifted as evangelists, but we are all called to make disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, lastly, we see pastor teachers.
SPEAKER_01: Spend much discussion and writing and debating about these two last words.
SPEAKER_01: Do they refer to one group of gifted people or two?
SPEAKER_01: So do we have pastors and teachers, or do we have one group that is a group of pastor teachers?
SPEAKER_01: The prevailing consensus is that they are linked together to refer to a single gift.
SPEAKER_01: And that is because I don't want to go into too much detail and bore you to tears.
SPEAKER_01: There is a special grammatical rule in the Greek language called the Granville Sharp rule that says these two refer to one item.
SPEAKER_01: These are pastors who are teachers.
SPEAKER_01: So in his grace, Jesus gave gifted shepherds to the flock who are able to teach.
SPEAKER_01: These are those who are gifted in a way that they can shepherd the flock and teach the flock.
SPEAKER_01: And as you progress through the New Testament, these are the men later called elders.
SPEAKER_01: They are men who know the sheep, who lead the sheep, who feed the sheep, protect the sheep, instruct the sheep.
SPEAKER_01: So if there is someone who is capable of shepherding in the church, but is not able to teach, they're not one of these people.
SPEAKER_01: If they are able to teach, but they cannot shepherd, they're not one of these gifted people.
SPEAKER_01: This is a shepherd who teaches.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as we know from other passages of Scripture, there are other gifts given to the church as well, multitudes of them.
SPEAKER_01: You can read of them in Romans 12 and in the book of 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't see those lists here, do we?
SPEAKER_01: We don't see him going down and saying, here are all the categories of lists that we want to cover.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's not his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: His purpose is to let us know that you have received a gift of his grace.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is working in you to be a part of the whole.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has provided the continuation of the church, and part of that provision is by giving gifts to all of his people.
SPEAKER_01: And he's given specific gifted people to the church to establish and continue it.
SPEAKER_01: Confusion on this issue has led to a division between clergy and lay people.
SPEAKER_01: We often get the idea that the leaders, the pastors should do all the work, or the staff should do all the work.
SPEAKER_01: We get the idea too that one person's gifts are not as great as someone else's gifts.
SPEAKER_01: But here we see that everyone in Christ's church receives a gift to be used in service to the Lord, and that is his gracious purpose that we see in verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: To equip the saints for the work of service.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the word ministry means.
SPEAKER_01: It means service.
SPEAKER_01: This means that God's gracious giving of gifts to his people in his church will continue until she becomes what God has intended her to be.
SPEAKER_01: He will not stop giving gifts to his people or giving gifted people to his church until she reaches the place of the maturity that God has intended.
SPEAKER_01: Every bee in the hive plays an integral part in the health and the function of the hive.
SPEAKER_01: So too all of you who are in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You play an integral part in the health of this local fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: And it is the express purpose of the evangelists and the shepherd teachers to equip you to fulfill that purpose.
SPEAKER_01: There was a well-known football coach who is said to have been questioned about how much college football contributes to the national physical fitness picture.
SPEAKER_01: His response was very abrupt.
SPEAKER_01: He simply said, nothing.
SPEAKER_01: It does not contribute at all.
SPEAKER_01: The interviewer asked, why not?
SPEAKER_01: He replied, Well, the way I see it, you have 22 men down on the field desperately needing a rest, and 40,000 people in the stands desperately needing some exercise.
SPEAKER_01: See, the purpose of the gifted people in verse 11 is to equip every one of the Lord's people to be involved in the work of service.
SPEAKER_01: Every believer is to be involved in doing the work of ministry, and it is the work of the gifted people in verse 11 to prepare others for the work of ministry.
SPEAKER_01: It's the equivalent, you might say, of the football team having the express purpose of getting all of the spectators in shape to play football.
SPEAKER_01: If I may confuse the issue even more by adding yet another metaphor, if you back up a few pages to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20, it says that the apostles and the prophets are the foundation.
SPEAKER_01: They laid the foundation of the church.
SPEAKER_01: They've leveled the ground.
SPEAKER_01: They dug the footings.
SPEAKER_01: They poured the footings.
SPEAKER_01: They laid out the rebar and they poured the slab.
SPEAKER_01: They perhaps began preparing the walls for construction.
SPEAKER_01: The evangelists and the pastor teachers build on that foundation according to the master blueprint, following the designer's plan for making it into a proper building, which we are told is a building for God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: That is what the church is to be doing.
SPEAKER_01: We are to be doing ministry together, all of us, according to the gifts given to us.
SPEAKER_01: And we do it, if you go back to verses 4, 5, and 6, in unity, because there's one faith, there's one body, there's one spirit, there's one Lord, there's one baptism, there's one God and Father of all.
SPEAKER_01: We do this together until we attain the unity of the faith and we all become mature followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Unity is maintained as the body matures.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, a sign of immaturity is the disunity of the body.
SPEAKER_01: You know, often we tend to think of spiritual maturity as an individual thing.
SPEAKER_01: I read my Bible, I'll pray a little bit before going to bed at night.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'll read a devotional book, I'll go to church on Sunday morning, and I'll be good, and the Lord will grow me.
SPEAKER_01: We think of it as something that we do as individuals, but this passage shows us the importance of growing together.
SPEAKER_01: Growth comes as we come together and we serve the Lord Jesus together.
SPEAKER_01: This is part of why being committed to and involved in a local church is so important.
SPEAKER_01: We grow together, not separately.
SPEAKER_01: Being committed to the church is first and foremost being committed to a family, to a group of people, and then to a place.
SPEAKER_01: And in that group of people, we grow together towards maturity as a family.
SPEAKER_01: If we could be in a place where the Spirit could use each and every one of us and the gifts given to us by Christ to the measure intended, we would all be growing up to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We would then be, as verse one says, walking worthy of our calling, seeking to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_01: That is how the Lord builds his church.
SPEAKER_01: By doing it together.
SPEAKER_01: You can smack me later.
SPEAKER_01: Are you a part of that?
SPEAKER_01: First, are you even a part of the family?
SPEAKER_01: Have you come to faith in Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Have you come to understand what we've sung about this morning?
SPEAKER_01: That He has paid the price for our sins, that He is our ransom and placed your faith and trust in Him alone.
SPEAKER_01: Don't leave today without doing that.
SPEAKER_01: If you have trusted in Christ, you are a child of the living God and the recipient of his gracious giving of gifts.
SPEAKER_01: As a recipient of a gracious gift, you are an integral part to this body.
SPEAKER_01: You are essential to the functioning of the hive.
SPEAKER_01: You are needed if we are to grow up to maturity.
SPEAKER_01: If you absent yourself from the hive, you're hurting yourself and the rest of the family.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask, are you a member of this church?
SPEAKER_01: Of this local fellowship?
SPEAKER_01: If not, why not?
SPEAKER_01: What is keeping you from fulfilling Christ's intention and signifying your connection to him by becoming an active part, a dedicated part of this hive?
SPEAKER_01: To say, yes, I want to grow together with these people.
SPEAKER_01: Are you serving?
SPEAKER_01: Are you fulfilling God's blueprint?
SPEAKER_01: Now not all serving looks the same.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't always feel the same.
SPEAKER_01: But if I may be so bold, if you are not serving as part of a local fellowship of believers committed together to grow together and follow Christ, all you're doing is consuming the honeycomb.
SPEAKER_01: You're not working together for the good of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not God's intention for you, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was gracious to you so that you might join with all of us and grow together.
SPEAKER_01: We need to be a unified serving group if we are to grow up into maturity.
SPEAKER_01: And so I invite you to experience the joy of fulfilling your purpose in Christ by doing that together with us.
SPEAKER_01: We're a broken people, yes, but together we will heal as we follow Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the amazing thing Jesus has already provided all we need.
SPEAKER_01: He's provided all the gracious gifts for it.
SPEAKER_01: We need to simply follow him faithfully.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we fail so often.
SPEAKER_01: Forgive us of our failures to follow, of our getting in the way, letting our flesh get in the way, our selfishness, our pride, self-centeredness.
SPEAKER_01: Rule in us.
SPEAKER_01: Cause your spirit to reign in us so that we might be the people that you've called us to be.
SPEAKER_01: Enable us to serve together, united, to display to the watching world what a joy it is to be part of your blood-bought church.
SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray these things.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.