Building the Body of Christ

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the 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 a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:12–16) The past decade or so has witnessed the development of what is called the church growth movement. Seminars, conferences, books, programs, and even special organizations are devoted exclusively to teaching and discussing principles and methods for church growth. Many of the efforts are helpful, but only to the extent they are consistent with the principles Paul teaches in Ephesians 4:12–16. Here in its most condense form is God’s plan by which Christ produces church growth. Since the Lord said, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18), it is obvious that the building must be according to His plan. Attempting to build the church by human means only competes with the work of Christ. In the previous verses, God’s spiritual gifts to His church include both the individual gifting of every believer as well as the gifted men called apostles and prophets (foundation), who were given strictly for New Testament times and were followed by the gifted men called evangelists and pastor–teachers, who are given for continuing ministry to the church (Eph. 4:11). It is God’s plan for the last two groups of gifted men—the evangelists and pastor–teachers—to equip, build up, and develop His church by the general operational procedure set forth in verses 12–16. In this passage we are shown the progression, the purpose, and the power of God’s divine pattern for the building and function of His church. The Progression of God’s Pattern for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; (4:12) In the simplest possible terms Paul here sets forth God’s progressive plan for His church: equipping to service to building up. Equipping The first task within God’s design is for the evangelists and pastor–teachers to be properly equipping the saints (a title used for all those set apart to God by salvation; cf. 1 Cor. 1:2). The evangelist’s work is to bring men and women to understanding of the gospel of salvation, to lead them to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and thereby become children in His spiritual family and citizens of His divine kingdom. In the early years the objective was to establish a local church. This begins the equipping. The pastor–teacher’s subsequent work, then, is to provide the leadership and spiritual resources to cause believers to be taking on the likeness of their Lord and Savior through continual obedience to His Word and to provide a pattern, or example, of godliness (1 Thess. 1:2–7; 1 Pet. 5:3). Katartismos (equipping) basically refers to that which is fit, is restored to its original condition, or is made complete. The word was often used as a medical term for the setting of bones. Paul used the verb form in his closing admonition to the Corinthian believers: “Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete” (2 Cor. 13:11). The writer of Hebrews used the term in his closing prayer: “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight” (Heb. 13:20–21). Not only is the matter of individual equipping implied in these texts but also the collective equipping expressed in 1 Corinthians 1:10—“Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete (from katartizō) in the same mind and in the same judgment”. The equipping of each believer results in the unity of all. God has given four basic tools, as it were, for the spiritual equipping of the saints. These are spiritual means, because the flesh cannot make anyone perfect (Gal. 3:3). The first and most important is His Word, the Bible. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Jesus said, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). The first purpose of the pastor–teacher, therefore, is to feed himself, to feed his people, and to lead them to feed themselves on the Word of God. The example of the apostles, who gave themselves continually to teaching the Word and to prayer (Acts 6:4) indicates that a second tool of equipping is prayer, and the pastor–teacher is responsible to prepare himself and to lead his people to prepare themselves in prayer. Epaphras was committed to this spiritual means for building up believers. Paul characterized the ministry of Epaphras by saying that he is “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a deep concern for you” (Col. 4:12–13). It is essential to note that this equipping, completing, or perfecting of the saints is attainable here on earth, because Paul uses katartizō (the verb form of equipping) to refer to what spiritually strong believers are to do for fellow believers who have fallen into sin. The text strongly teaches that the ministry of equipping is the work of leading Christians from sin to obedience. A third tool of equipping is testing and a fourth is suffering. These are primary, purging experiences by which the believer is refined to greater holiness. James tells us to “consider it all joy … when [we] encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of [our] faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result,” he goes on to say, “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4). When we respond to God’s testing in trust and continued obedience, spiritual muscles are strengthened and effective service for Him is broadened. Suffering is also a means of spiritual equipping. Peter uses this word near the close of his first letter: “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10). Knowing and following Christ in the deepest sense not only involves being raised with Him but also sharing in “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). Paul rejoiced in his sufferings for Christ’s sake. God “comforts us in all our affliction,” he says, “so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ” (2 Cor. 1:4–5). The sending of tests and suffering are entirely God’s operation, and He gives them to His saints according to His loving and sovereign will. But the other two agents of spiritual equipping—prayer and knowledge of Scripture—are the tasks of the gifted men. Like the apostles in Jerusalem, the pastor–teacher is to devote himself above all else “to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Like Paul, he should be able to say that his supreme effort is given to “admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Col. 1:28). As Paul said of Epaphras, it should be said of every pastor–teacher that he labors earnestly in prayer for those given into his care, in order that they “may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12). The devoted pastor–teacher is “a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine,” which he then prescribes, teaches, reads publicly, and exhorts (1 Tim. 4:6, 11, 13). He is called to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:2). Even the most biblical and efficient of church organizations will not produce spiritual maturity without the leadership of God’s gifted ministers who are continually in prayer and in His Word. Administration and structure has its place, but it is far from the heart of spiritual church growth. The great need of the church has always been spiritual maturity rather than organizational restructuring. All the books on leadership, organization, and management offer little help to the dynamics of the church of Jesus Christ. Even less does the church need entertaining. God’s people can use their talents in ways that glorify the Lord and give testimony of His grace, but when testimony turns to vaudeville, as it often does, God is not glorified and His people are not edified. Religious entertainment neither comes from nor leads to spiritual maturity. It comes from self and can only promote self. The study and teaching of God’s Word takes time. The evangelist or pastor–teacher therefore cannot fulfill his God–given responsibility if he is encumbered with the planning and administration of a multitude of programs—no matter how worthy and helpful they are. Again, like the apostles in Jerusalem, he cannot “serve tables” and also be faithful “to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2, 4). The surest road to a church’s spiritual stagnation, to the pastor’s burnout, or to both is for the pastor to become so engulfed in activities and programs that he has too little time for prayer and the Word. And programs that “succeed” can be even more destructive than those that fail if they are done in the flesh and for human satisfaction rather than the Lord’s glory. It is lack of knowledge of God’s Word and obedience to it (Hos. 4:6), not lack of programs and methods, that destroy His people. When they fail it is not because of weak programs but because of weak teaching. The first concern of the leadership of the church should be for the filled seats, not the empty ones. When a young preacher complained to Charles Spurgeon that his own congregation was too small, Spurgeon replied, “Well, maybe it is as large as you’d like to give account for in the day of judgment.” Spiritual growth does not always involve learning something new. Our most important growth often is in regard to truth we have already heard but have not fully applied. Peter wrote, “I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, … that at any time after my departure you may be able to call these things to mind” (2 Pet. 1:12–13, 15). The great truths of the Word of God can never be mastered or overlearned. The battle with our unredeemed flesh necessitates constant reminding. As long as a pastor has breath he should preach those truths, and as long his congregation has breath it should hear them. During the Arab–Israeli war of 1967 an American reporter was flying over the Sinai desert with an Israeli officer, and they spotted some fifty thousand stranded Egyptian soldiers who obviously were dying of thirst. When the situation was reported in the newspapers, a number of world leaders and organizations tried to do something to help. But every time a plan was suggested, some military, diplomatic, or bureaucratic obstacle prevented its being carried out. By the time help came, thousands of the soldiers had died. How equally tragic it is for churches to spin their wheels in programs and committees while thousands around them are desperately in need of the spiritual water of the Word. Service The second aspect of God’s plan for the operation of His church is service. Paul’s language indicates that it is not the gifted men who have the most direct responsibility to do the work of service. No pastor, or even a large group of pastors, can do everything a church needs to do. No matter how gifted, talented, and dedicated a pastor may be, the work to be done where he is called to minister will always vastly exceed his time and abilities. His purpose in God’s plan is not to try to meet all those needs himself but to equip the people given into his care to meet those needs (cf. v. 16, where this idea is emphasized). Obviously, the leaders share in serving, and many of the congregation share in equipping, but God’s basic design for the church is for the equipping to be done so that the saints can serve each other effectively. The entire church is to be aggressively involved in the work of the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; 4:10–11; and contrast 2 Thess. 3:11). When the gifted men are faithful in prayer and in teaching the Word, the people will be properly equipped and rightly motivated to do the work of service. From the saints who are equipped God raises up elders, deacons, teachers, and every other kind of worker needed for the church to be faithful and productive. Spiritual service is the work of every Christian, every saint of God. Attendance is a poor substitute for participation in ministry. Building Up The third element and the immediate goal of God’s plan for the operation of His church is its being built up. Proper equipping by the evangelism and pastor–teachers leading to proper service by the congregation results inevitably in the building up of the body of Christ. Oikodomē (building up) literally refers to the building of a house, and was used figuratively of any sort of construction. It is the spiritual edification and development of the church of which Paul is speaking here. The body is built up externally through evangelism as more believers are added, but the emphasis here is on its being built up internally as all believers are nurtured to fruitful service through the Word. Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesian elders emphasizes this process: “I commend you to God and to the word, … which is able to build you up” (Acts 20:32). The maturation of the church is tied to learning of and obedience to the holy revelation of Scripture. Just as newborn babes desire physical milk, so should believers desire the spiritual nourishment of the Word (1 Pet. 2:2).