Ephesians 4:11-16
Tony Martinez
Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsWe're all at different levels of maturity. Love each other at all times. Different gifts are given to all people to share.
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Ephesians 4:11 “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,”
Ephesians 4:12 “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”
Ephesians 4:13 “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 of the stature of the fullness of Christ,”
Ephesians 4:14 “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 in deceitful schemes.”
Ephesians 4:15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”
Ephesians 4:16 “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.”
Unity is a beautiful thing.
Unity is being together or at one with someone or something. It's the opposite of being divided.
Examples...
911, tragic, horrific, but also a time of beauty, coming together, crossing party lines, crossing ethnic lines, crossing all boundries. Becoming one in being human and hurt.
WW2, horrific, lose of life that is uncountable, horrible acts that we can’t even fathom, but also a time of beauty, we come together as a country and a world, countless selfless hours worked, becoming one in one goal of truth. This evil is unacceptable.
What about all the movies about aliens invading? What does that bring ultimutely…unity.
This is where we’re at today in Ephesians...
Unity!
Unity in truth!
Unity in direction!
Unity in purpose!
Unity with Jesus!
Pray,
Before we move forward lets build context by reading some of the earlier verses.
I 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 humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 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.
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Action, a shift in the book. Not just teaching the “why” but how that should be like in our lives.
The first call to action...
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Oness! We are one in Him! No division!
Why? Reread oneness verses. We are one in what....? God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, salvation,
And then verse 7
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
What…? Ok let’s break this down..
Grace…Mercy and Grace
Grace, the gifting of God,
Grace…defination always tie’s back to the mercy defination.
caught stealing anology
the cross anology
Mercy is the act of paying or canceling a debt for someone, be it by forgiveness, or actual payment for something or taking someones place.
Grace, a giving after mercy has been practiced. A gift from God. A giving of life, and being born again anew!
“But our gifting” was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”
But…I want to tell you this…you have individual gifts that are different from each other.
What, I thought we were one, now we’re different. Yes, but for one purpose.
We have been gifted to by Christ for the oneness of Him and each other.
How were we gifted? Was it by the measure of our goodness, our awesomeness?
No but by the measure of Christ’s giving. Some are measured with more of somethings and less of somethings. But all equally important.
We’ll see this in today’s scripture that we’ve been given to study.
Ephesians 4:11-16
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
This is a continuation of the subject of gifting in 4:7.
We see on the 3rd word in “gave”
What are the “gifts” given? People! The gifts are the people!
We are gifts to each other.
Past, present, future, we are part of a living body.
From the past of the apostles & prophets, to today in the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.
We are one in the body of Christ!
Little clarification..Little side note..
Do we have apostles today? If we wanted to go off the techinacal term which means “one who is sent out” we could by that defination. Taking the whole of scripture though to define apostle we see it more clearly as the 12 apostles and Paul. Why? Because, the apostles in biblical context is talking about “ones who were sent out” in building the foundation of the early church. Those that Christ walked with and built His church on.
The foundation is already laid by the Christ and His work through the apostles.
The same thing with prophets. No longer around since the revelation of the book of revelations. We have God’s word in the sense of prophets. We have all we need in the Word of God.
Biblical apostles and prophets are no longer since the revelation of Christ.
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
These gifts of people, what are they for?
The word saint means “consecrated to God, holy, sacred.
Thats us, His Church!
The gifts of these people are to equip us for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
From the gift of God and this teaching to those who gave to teach me this week.
Which by the way I’m very thankful for.
We have giftings for sure in the things we do but without the gifting of God in others we are at a loss.
These teachings shouldn’t go out without return.
Gifts are given all over within the church to equip all of us for ministry.
The highs, the lows, the what if’s, the lack of confidence, the just living life in a fallen broken world. We have gifts in each other for all things.
And through these all things is building of the Body.
Many are out there that we don’t even know about that we’re called to minister too. To share in the truth and love of Jesus!
The building up the body.
Think about where you were at 5, 10 years ago.
From some us to not being part of the body yet to those that were and the thankfulness of both sides.
Salvation, thankfulness for others being brought into the fold. Growth in the Lord and trusting Him.
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,
until we ALL attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
No superstars in the kingdom of God except God himself.
We all as one body are growing in faith and knowledge of the Son of God.
No secrets for just me and my relationship with Christ.
Again if the body is sick or hurting or if the body is feeling and doing great, the whole body knows and prospers or knows and suffers.
We are one…unity together in love for the Body!
We share in what gifts the Lord has given and we share in pains that are dealt.
To take either one of those seperatley or secrectly is against the very teaching in today’s scripture of unity and gifting of each other.
There’s no such thing as only an alone personal relationship with Christ. That’s one of the most selfish things we can say or do. My relationship is just between him and I. These gifts are mine and not yours. Whatever God has given me is mine.
Is this what scripture teaches?
If we say we love Jesus but can’t stand the church, we’re in error!
It’s his body!
Think about it…without the body of Christ His gift in that, how do we have what we have today?
The bible?
The truth?
The gift of the apostles, prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers is real!
You and the ministry God has given you is no different. It’s not meant for just you. Your gifts, you as you, is here for a purpose. That purpose isn’t just for your happiness.
Where would we be without the gifts of God through His body?
Ephesians 4:13 “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 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 in deceitful schemes.
We are to grow together in maturity, not alone.
Not some has made it and others haven’t…again this message is such a message of oneness and unity.
until we ALL attain to the unity!
We come up together, “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 in deceitful schemes.”
We all know the schemes of our flesh and it’s desires for comfort and tempory satisfaction
We all know the schemes of the the world and it’s promises of wealth, health, and happiness all the while the world is such disarray that we don’t even know what or we are anymore.
And lastly we know the schemes of the devil and his misguiding wispers of challenging God on his truths, to who He is to who we are as valueable.
We grow and mature together in Christ.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Rather we come to each other in truth and love. Instead of going off on our own and saying I’m done with people. We love in truth of whats going on.
Two area’s this gets messed up though.
One is we speak truth without much thought to their well being and more of just getting it off our chest.
The other is withholding truth because we don’t like confrotation.
Both is what? Who’s it serving? Ourselves!
I can tell you who your loving in that moment?
Speaking truth in love is first trusting in God and He has this no matter what.
Then you can humble go to the throne of God and seek direction.
Figure out where your heart is…is this a problem with them or me? And humbly go down this road of truth and love for one another.
The other part of this, how are we in receiving truth? Are we instantly offended and say how dare you? Or do we listen, trust in the Lord, and seek His direction?
One is a prideful heart and the other is a humble heart.
Both sides as we can see can both be in the wrong and cause heartburn.
When that happens where should that go?
Mercy and Grace as it has been practiced on us.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
How does the world act? See ya, you can shove off. We should be different.
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
WE should not be divided but unified.
Unified in what? Jesus
“we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”
Jesus washed the feet of filthly sinners like you and I
We are messy, right!? Who washes all the messiness?
That’s when we get divided is when we forget that.
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.
This is such a great anology of oneness and individual gifting!
We all can relate to this.
My hands are a great gift to my body, they are unique to my feet. They can turn nuts and bolts, write, hold my wifes hand, and so much more. But without the rest of the body what can the hands do?
And this list goes on and on in every direction and part of the body. Unique and gifted but one!
This folks is the church, It’s Christ body and it’s valuable, all of it!
It’s not me as your pastor/teacher that is the church.
It’s Christ and His Body that is the church!
You all are important to each and everyone. You, how you are made and the grace that has been bostowed on you is unique and needed in the Body.
Lets pray.
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