Discipleship Path - Serve

Discipleship Path Serve - Ephesians 4:11-16 January 25, 2026 If you have your bibles, we'll be in Ephesians 4 today. As a kid, we all eventually have to answer the question, "what do you want to do when you grow up?" To be honest, I never really knew what I wanted to do. As some of you know, I skated through High School, so I wasn't going to get an academic scholarship to college. I didn't really have any skills or talents, so I really had no idea what I was going to do. So, in the latter years of high school, I worked random jobs - some under the table - others seasonally, until finally I ended up getting my first "real" job in hospitality as a 17-year-old High School graduate. In my brain, I knew two things: I needed a job, and I knew how to serve people. I didn't know that that job would turn into a 20-year career. I want to say, that as I climbed the ladder with promotions and transfers to larger and more complex hotels, I kept that service-first mentality. So, even though I took an interesting route to get to where I am today, I do feel that in those 20 years, the Lord was preparing me for what He called me to do today. As you may of guessed, we're talking about service this morning. Or more specifically, our fourth step of our discipleship path - serve. While we will be talking about service this morning, we'll actually be answering another question related to the church - or the gathering of the saints. Let's see what Paul has to say in Ephesians 4, beginning in verse 11. 11 AND HE GAVE THE APOSTLES, THE PROPHETS, THE EVANGELISTS, THE SHEPHERDS AND TEACHERS, 12 TO EQUIP THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, FOR BUILDING UP THE BODY OF CHRIST, 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, 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. 15 RATHER, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, WE ARE TO GROW UP IN EVERY WAY INTO HIM WHO IS THE HEAD, INTO CHRIST, 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. Recall, that the general purpose of our discipleship path is to help you with your faith journey and to develop your spiritual maturity. So, here's the main idea from our passage today: Spiritual maturity results in service. This passage answers a question on what most of us call "church," but for our purposes today, I'll try to use "the gathering of the saints," as it is more appropriate for the context of our passage. As I was studying this week, I thought it would be interesting to see what people thought about the weekly gathering. According to a Pew Research Center poll from 2018 about 81% of people attend church to become closer to God, 69% so that their children will have a good moral foundation, 68% to make themselves a better person, 66% to find comfort in times of trouble or sorrow, 59% for the sermons, 57% to be part of a community, 37% because of family tradition, 31% out of obligation, 19% to meet new people, and 16% because they want to make their family happy. If the people polled were to read this passage, then many have missed the point of the gathering of the saints. So, let's first understand ... THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS First, we must first define ... * The roles within the gathering of the saints. (vv.11-12) o Paul lists 4-5 leadership roles in these local gatherings. Beginning with the ... * Apostles (v.11) * An Apostle (big A) refers to the divinely appointed disciples commissioned for a mission or purpose. * The qualifier in verse 11 indicates that the Apostles were appointed by Jesus Himself. * As you may recall, when Matthias was selected by the "eleven" in Acts 1, they set a criteria for the Apostle, to include that they were to be disciples of Jesus from the beginning, and that they witnessed the Risen Christ. * We've said it before, and we'll say it again, this would mean that there are no active Apostles, as no one can meet these qualifications. * Next, the role of the ... * Prophets (v.11) * The prophet, of course, is one who speaks on behalf of God. * It is commonly accepted that John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. * The Apostle John would be the last of the New Testament prophets, as he was given the last revelation and the canon of Scripture is closed. * Next role is the ... * Evangelists (v.11) * This literally means "the proclaimer of Good News" * In the early church, these were those who travelled and proclaimed the Good News * Next, and likely referring to a combined role, would be the ... * Shepherds and teachers (v.11) * The word translated "teachers" here is actually "Shepherd-teachers," which is why many believe that Paul here is referring to four roles, not five. * Shepherd is the term used to describe the pastor. * The pastor's role is to care for and protect the church. * Now, let's be clear, when you read Romans 12 or 1 Corinthians 12, Paul has several other "lists" of spiritual gifts for the members of the church. For our sake today, we don't need to discuss them all. * What does this list have in common? * They are all roles designated by God to advance God's work through the church. * Or to say it simply, they are to equip the saints. * Which is the other role found in our passage, the role of ... * The saints (v.12) * The word "saint" means "holy," or "set-apart," or "consecrated," which means that he is describing all of those who are disciples of Jesus. * So, we see these very distinct roles, with very distinct purposes, all of which - according to verse 15 - are under Christ as the head. * There's one more question to be answered here, though. o What is the purpose of these roles? (vv.12-14) * First, as noted above, the leaders are to equip. * This equipping is two-fold. First, * To serve. o Obviously, this is the main point of this passage. o We did say earlier in our main idea: Spiritual maturity results in service. o In our Discipleship Path, we say it this way: In Ephesians 4 we find that the role of the church leaders, like the Pastor and Elders, is not to do all of the ministry of the church, but rather to equip each and every member to become a minister who carries out the "work of ministry" o I mentioned 1 Corinthians 12 earlier. In that chapter, Paul likens the church like a body, where every body part has its purpose. o As many of us here know, when something isn't working quite right, tasks are more difficult to complete, things are increasingly more difficult to do, and the like. o So, the goal of the church should be to equip the people gathering each week to serve to do ministry. o Ministry simply refers to providing a service. o So, what kind of service should Christians be involved in? Well, we try to encourage you to be involved in services both inside the church, as well as outside the church. o Many of you are involved in ministries outside of TFC. o Many of you serve on boards for non-profits both regionally and nationally. o Many of you volunteer regularly at your kid's schools o Obviously, there are always places to serve here within the church. o What we try to do here is encourage you to just begin serving. o Maybe you're unsure where you can serve, just see one the elders or deacons, I'm certain we can find a place for you to serve. o Next, the purpose of church is also for us ... * To grow. o Pastor Pat talked about this last week, but Paul does speak about this in detail. o This further illustrates why we've said that each of these steps within the Discipleship Path are all connected and there is a lot of overlap. o To summarize, Paul provides us with four areas of growth for the saints: * Unity (vv.13,15-16) * Unity begins with Christ, then is manifested with His people, then we ought to grow in our ... * Knowledge (v.13) * When we know God, we should draw closer to Him. * We did a short sermon series on this topic back in October and November. * Next ... * Maturity (vv.13-15) * We all require growth, and this includes becoming mature disciples of Jesus. * Finally, the purpose is for the mature saint to practice ... * Discernment (v.14) * Discernment allows the mature disciples to not be fooled by false teachers. * I like how Wiersbe put it: "the maturing Christian is not tossed about by every religious novelty that comes along" Finally, what are the ... IMPLICATIONS FOR ME I'll leave you with two simple implications. First, * Find a place to serve (v.12). First ... o Within the body * You may not even realize that we do have service needs even now. * Here are a few examples: * We can use some more greeters. We've expanded Steve's responsibilities, so I'd like to free him up a little on Sundays. * We can use more people to provide refreshments after the service. * We can use people to be "on-call" for the nursery again. * We may be able to use another teacher for the kids. * We could use people to help with safety and security. o Very recently, there was an incident in Minnesota where about 40 protestors walked into a church during their service. Thank God it did not become violent. o While we have measures in place already, we know we can likely do more. * Let us know if you want to get involved, and we'd love to get you plugged in. * Next, find somewhere to serve ... o Outside the body * If you already are involved outside the church, then of course I'm not suggesting that you add more to your likely already full plate. * But, if you are not, will you pray about it? Will you do some research and see where God can use you in our community? * There are several faith-based organizations here in Tucson that I'm sure can use more volunteers. * I know we didn't spend a lot of time talking about the gifts listed in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, but it is clear there that God gifts each and every one of His followers. * So, may I encourage you to use your God-given gift to serve others? * Lastly, another implication for us is that we must ... * Begin and end with love (v.15) o While Paul is talking about speaking the truth in love in verse 15, we know the biblical principle of love is critical in our service to God and His people. o 1 John reminds us that we love because He first loved us. o When we serve with His love motivating us, we will honor Him in our service. o When we think about His love, let it be a motivator for how we serve Him. So, you see, when we serve God and serve God's people, it's an outward expression of our spiritual maturity. When we gather, like we are here today, we are being equipped to go out into the world to serve, to share, and to glorify God. So, go serve. Go share. Go glorify our Lord. Let's pray. 2