The Body of Christ (Part 1)

Sermon

Key Passage

Ephesians 4:11–16 NIV

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Introduction

Today is a little different from most Sundays.

I am leaving for Sabbatical in a few minutes. I left this sermon open on my preaching calendar because I wanted to choose my content and message carefully.

Today, the title of our sermon is “The Body of Christ- Part 1”

I thought it would be fun to start the summer with Part 1, then when I return I have the content for my first sermon and we can reflect on the summer and what God has done.

So in a few months, we will preach “The Body of Christ- Part 2”

I feel that Paul left a very good model for each church he visited and wrote a letter to.

In Paul’s letters, he understood that he was writing to a collection of believers in a geographical vicinity.

In his letters, they were brief reminders of who they are as a church, what they are to be together, and how they accomplish that mission.

Normally, we stay pretty well on task with a passage and follow it’s message all the way through.

We will do that today, but I want to bounce around a little as we get started.

If you are here today and you have never been in church or are very new to the idea of church, this is a great message for you to hear.

We all have preconceived notions about what the church is.

I think even if you are a regular attender to church, at some point, you start thinking wrong definitions because of what we do here.

I want to bring clarity to this topic:

What is the church?

Who are we?

Why did Jesus establish the church?

What are we supposed to do about it?

We have spent so much time talking about the Gospel and how it relates to our lives, that sometimes it is easy to slip into a “me and God” only mentality.

But that is not what God created for us.

Here is where I would like to begin:

Topic

What is the church?

Gospel statement

Jesus Christ is God and became flesh.

He lived a perfect life without sin or blemish.

He was holy in an unholy world.

While he was living as God in the flesh, he had 12 disciples who were following Him.

He would eventually send them out to preach this Gospel to the world.

Matthew 16:13–14 NIV

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

As Jesus is going from place to place with his disciples, he asks them, “Who do people say that I am?”

These guys went to the grocery store, to the gym, to the gas station.

They heard from different people about Jesus.

Jesus asks them who people say he is.

It is a question of identity.

The disciples replied:

Some say you are JTB

But JTB had his head cut off. The fear was that JTB was actually the Messiah and that he had risen from the dead.

We know that isn’t true, but those were some of the rumors floating around at that time.

Some say he is Elijah

This is rooted in the last couple of sentences in the OT

Malachi 4:5–6 NIV

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

The disciples identified that some people thought that Jesus was the return of Elijah who was coming and bringing with him the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

Some say he is Jeremiah or one of the prophets

God spoke during the OT through prophets

He would set aside a person for His purposes and send that person with a message from God.

It was a high calling, so when people saw Jesus, they felt it was prophetic because the words He said seemed to be in line with the Word of God.

I want you to see all of what these people say.

Did anyone say, “He’s a false prophet and a liar?”

No, no one did.

They all knew Jesus was from God, but none of them really knew who He was.

The engaged a religious approach to Jesus. In a way, “We want to continue the religious life we are living and engage Jesus where we see He may fit.”

This is not what Jesus wanted.

This was not His identity.

He was not Elijah.

He was not JTB

He was not a prophet

He was God.

There is a different response when God is in our midst.

Matthew 16:15–16 NIV

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus asks the disciples, “You hear what everyone else says, do you agree? Or do you see something different?”

Peter says, “I see something different. You are the Messiah

That means “Christ or Anointed One”

And He is the Son of God.

In that time, there were two primary purposes for anointing in this fashion.

One- to anoint a king

Two- to anoint a priest

Jesus (as we discover) will serve the function as the one and only last high priest and intercessor between God and man.

He will also serve the function of King.

He is here to save the world from their sins.

Not to simply give a message from God like a prophet.

Rather, he came to do something no other human could do.

Matthew 16:17–18 NIV

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

On the reality that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father, he would be the sacrifice for sin.

And the reality that He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, something would be established.

Those who find Jesus Christ as Savior (priestly) and Lord (kingly) would be the foundation of something new in the world: the church.

What God had created was a means of not simply becoming a singular savior for sinners who are in need of grace.

He also created a means of bringing redeemed people together in unity with one another.

There is a promise that Jesus gives us about this church that is built on the foundation of who He is.

The gates of Hades will not overcome it.

We like to think of this like the church will sit in their bunker and Satan will attack it with fiery darts, but we will not fall.

That is not the picture at all.

The picture here is that the gates of Hades are stationary.

There is a command that Jesus gives his church. The first word of that command is “Go!”

There is a world that is lost and in slavery to sin. We are commanded to go into this lost and dying world.

This doesn’t mean that every single person we will preach to will be saved.

What it does mean is that when we live out the mission of what God has called his church to, we will not be defeated. God will sustain His church.

What is the church?

The church is the Greek word Ecclesia.

It means “The called out ones”

We are called out of slavery by the work of Jesus on the cross.

We are called to a mission of invading the darkness of this world with the light and truth of Jesus Christ.

Understanding this truth, it brings us to our key passage for today.

Ephesians 4:11 NIV

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

Some people get caught up on this passage with all sorts of different teachings.

Paul highlights that the church is built on the foundation of the:

Apostles- those Jesus entrusted the Gospel to

Prophets- those who have already spoken on behalf of God (OT)

We can get all caught up in what each of these roles look like, but that is not the point.

The point is what follows. Why did God give this direction and leadership to the church?

Ephesians 4:12–13 NIV

to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The Body of Christ is designed to work and do things.

Thes will build the body up.

I want you to see the point of all of this.

If you are a part of the church, what is your target?

Unity and maturity

This is how I want to build out the rest of this sermon. Unity and maturity.

Ephesians 4:14 NIV

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

What does it say an infant is?

Tossed back and forth by every teaching and deceitful scheming

I hope this is something we have addressed with great emphasis in our church.

There are false teachers. There are false prophets. There is an enemy that seeks to kill and destroy.

Who is most vulnerable to this?

Infants. Those who are not mature in their faith in Jesus Christ.

This is why unity is so important

Who will disciple immature people to maturity?

Mature believers

How will they do it.

Simply with the Word of God and the love God has given them.

Ephesians 4:15 NIV

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

This is something that is lost in our culture and in our world.

I feel this hits right where we are in this month.

Everything seems to revolve around “Pride month”.

Love is redefined as approval.

If you don’t approve, you don’t love.

But this passage says, “We must speak the truth in love”

We hold to the truth. We can love one another. We are called to love one another.

There is not anyone in this world that we have a Biblical excuse to hate.

But that love is with our eyes on Jesus.

His love is to bring sinners to redemption through His blood.

His love and our love is not to affirm sinners in their sin. This negates the need for Jesus.

I don’t care what your sin is.

There is no affirmation of sin. There is desperation for Christ.

We are called to leave all sin and leave everything behind and follow Jesus on a path of holiness until He calls us home.

But this doesn’t come across as condemnation.

Every sinner is already in condemnation because of their sin.

The bottom line command here is that we all become mature.

Not just mature, rather mature in Christ.

Ephesians 4:16 NIV

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

The whole body of Christ grows in maturity and as it grows in maturity, it grows in unity.

Every part does a part and every part builds up the church.

There is only one role in the church that is greater than any other role.

That is Jesus

Other than that, we are all parts of the body that He has assembled for His glory.

In this, I want to take a few minutes and talk about some points of Spiritual maturity that I want to emphasize as I head out the door.

If Jesus is the head of the body, we must surrender to His leadership.

Surrender to Jesus in every part of our life is what He calls us to.

#1- Maturity is expanding the Kingdom

This is Jesus’ body.

Just because I am gone doesn’t mean that the church doesn’t grow.

If we are surrendered to Jesus and we are a part of the church, then continue growing the Kingdom.

Continue in relationship

Continue intentionally discipling one another

Continue building bridges with the lost

The Gospel will continue to be preached.

Here is a secret. I am not the only one who preaches the Gospel. Other people do too! And we are inviting some of them to preach!

#2- Maturity is building the church through service

We stopped having summer break when we left school. The rest of us are called to full time Christian service all year round.

I try to be pretty thorough.

I’ve left lists, charts, notes and job descriptions for all of the roles I do.

I will forget something

Or something will come up that I didn’t leave a plan for.

This is not the job of our elders to do the tasks in the church.

This is the job of our elders to lead our church in building up our church.

I used this metaphor last week. Grab an oar and get in the game.

I would rather return and have our elders frustrated because so many people want to serve and there are too few places for them to serve.

This isn’t a call for someone to serve. This is a call for you to find you place in this church and serve.

#3- Maturity is trusting God in EVERY area of your life

We are called to surrender every aspect of our life to Jesus.

Not just some. All

There is not a blessing God has given us that He has not given instruction on how to use to glorify Him.

We are stepping into a summer without me.

We are stepping into a summer with a building campaign coming up.

In some ways, my absence is perfect timing and in others, it is the absolute worst.

Attend church and don’t stop attending

We have some great preachers coming in.

Your attendance encourages the body and continues to grow you.

Give, give, give

As we get closer to this building campaign, it is going to be a financial challenge for us.

There will be costs of operating the church and costs needed as we move forward with the church building.

I ask of you, “If this is your church and God has blessed you, trust Him in this area of your life.”

Display your faithfulness by giving.

#4- Maturity is keeping the first things first

We are in a political season.

Don’t get carried away.

If someone goes off the rails, gently bump them back on.

God is in control

The Kingdom of God is greater than this kingdom

Ephesians 3:14–21 NIV

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.