A Healthy Church

Introduction

Recap Series; Summarize the first three chapters

Chapter 1 - God’s plan all along has been the gospel, we have been chosen by the father, redeemed by the son and assured by the spirit

Chapter 2 - Specifically how the plan of God’s gospel played out, both individually and corporately.

You were dead, chasing after the inclinations of your heart, following the ways of the world and the ruler of this world. BUT GOD… because of his great love for us, being rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ.

You were a foreign people, not a part of the people of God. Then again, But God, took two people and made them one people of God

Chapter 3 - Paul begins a prayer in verse 1, only to digress about the grace of God. That is gives us what we need and fulfills his purposes, then he finishes his prayer beginning in v14 that we would know exactly who it is that has come to dwell inside of the believer. That we would know the love of God intimately and be ever changed by it.

A Healthy Church

Over the last year, Covid-19, has left a lot of churches reeling. I commented to our Elders a couple of weeks ago, that churches have seem to gone to extremes. They have either declined or grown through this.

the thought by a lot of the people in the know, those who write the books and talk on the Pastor Podcasts and things, is that the churches that were healthy going in, are growing coming out. Those churches who were not healthy going in, are declining or closing coming out.

There may be some truth to that, but I am not so certain anymore. The reason being, I think that we will measure the health of a church based on worldly standards, not God’s

worldly standards being, how many people are coming, can you pay the bills, how many people have stopped coming.

we can fool ourselves into thinking we are spiritually healthy personally and corporately by looking at the wrong metrics.

I think that is where Paul is taking us in chapter 4

chapter 4 is a transition from the first three chapters

chapters 1-3 are about the gospel and how we are saved

we will see in the rest of the book, how we are to live now that we are saved

Ephesians 4:1–16 CSB

1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people. 9 But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things. 11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

A spiritually healthy church is united in their love for God and each other.

PRAY!

A Healthy Church Is Marked by Spiritual Unity (4:1-6)

There is a big difference between spiritual unity and unity.

Unity means that we are united and it can be about anything

Spiritual Unity means that we are united around the Lord

Ephesians 4:1–6 CSB

1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

United by a divine calling (v1)

Similar to Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you brothers and sisters...

Here, Therefore I, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you

it is important to know the therefore, which means because of this

because of the salvation that we share… chapters 1-3

that is the calling that we have received, to be the people of God

we are to walk worthy of that calling

remember 2:10 Ephesians 2:10 (CSB)

Ephesians 2:10 CSB

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

workmanship - something that is created to point people to the Lord.

this is not for certain people who feel a calling on their life

this is all believers, you are his workmanship!

we are all to walk, or live in a way that points others to Him.

what does that look like…

United by a Christlike conduct (v2-3)

There are certain characteristics that Paul lists that are to be of the believers if they are to remained unified

Humility - this is not that we simply lower ourselves

humbling ourselves is not that we elevate others and put our needs last

Tim Keller said, “The essence of gospel-humility is not that we think more of myself or less of myself, it thinking of myself less.

are we truly about serving others, lifting each other up, or are we here for selfish reasons

gospel humility is not ranking yourself in a proper place, but putting the needs of others above your own

gentleness - this is not a mild timid spirit, but one of self control

some translations use the word meekness here

meekness means strength under control

we cannot do this without the gospel humility coming first, because when our needs are seen as more important, we begin to be short with people, frustrated with people

patience - this is the one we love to pick on

these are very similar to the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22

this is the one we joke about as often as we joke about Peter and the things he says

how are you doing with patience

Lord give me patience and hurry up

I know that it has been said, do not pray for patience or you will have the opportunity to be patient

the truth is that you always have the opportunity to be patient if you are living this out

they run together, putting others before you, being gentle, you will have to be patient with them

a lack of patience reveals a lack of humility and love for others

there are opportunities to be patient everywhere. I have begun to pray that God would grant me the grace to be a patient person and I have seen him working in that area of my life

I still fail… but it has not gone unnoticed by some around me.

bearing with one another in love

1 Peter 4:8 CSB

8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.

have you ever tried to live with you… Heather and I have been married for almost 25 years.

when I think back of the things that she has had to put up with, it is amazing that she is still with me

but Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is patient

this was not just for our marriage, but for all of our relationships

United by gospel confession (v4-6)

Unity doesn’t happen because we change the way that we behave towards each other

it is because we share in the same gospel confessions

there is one God, one Christ and one Spirit

this is what unites us, above all other things

we may waver on different things, especially about this world, but this is what unites us

notice once again the trinity coming out in what Paul is writing

There is One Spirit that leads to One Body

There is One Lord (The Son) creating one hope, faith and baptism

There is One God (The Father) creating one people

This is what unites us, and the trinitarian speech that Paul uses gives us the example of what true unity looks like

One always pointing to the other

The Father saying, “Behold, my Son!”

Jesus saying, “Just wait until the Holy Spirit comes, it is better that I go so he can come.”

The Spirit causing our hearts to cry out, “Abba Father!”

Just as our God is unified, 3 in 1, a healthy church is marked by spiritual unity

A Healthy Church is Marked by Spiritual Diversity (4:7-12)

Diversity is one of those buzz words in our day and age

So often, when said today, we think diversity means that we have to have a certain amount of something

a certain amount of people of different genders, ethnic groups, a certain amount of sexual orientations

this is what how our government has begun to describe this word

the dictionary now has this as one of the definitions, but the first definition of the word is

the state of being diverse; variety:

God in his wisdom, has set up the church to be the avenue upon which the gospel of Jesus is spread

but this is not done by one person, or a select group of people

this is done by the church, the united body of Christ

Ephesians 4:7–12 CSB

7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people. 9 But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things. 11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

We have diverse gifts (v7-10)

grace was given according to Christ’s gifts

remember grace gives us what we need to accomplish his purposes

you have all of the grace that you need to fulfill the calling that God has placed on your life right now in Christ Jesus.

he speaks of the ascension and descension of Jesus and we can get confused a little on what he is talking about

where did he descend, when did he ascend? what does he mean?

Paul is paraphrasing Psalm 68. It is a victory, or battle Psalm. One that they would sing after a victory

where the king, the victor would give people gifts, part of the spoils from winning the battle.

Paul is saying that this is what has happened, that Jesus has come, won the victory, and has given his people gifts from the spoils!

what are those gifts,

We have diverse responsibilities (v11-12)

he gave some to be Apostles, Prophets Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers

I do not want to get to deep into the weeds of what each of these mean

Apostles - Sent Ones, many believe that this is just the 12

Prophets - Those who proclaim the word of the Lord

Evangelists - Those who have a gifting at sharing the gospel, not those who are to share the gospel as this was something we are all to do

Pastors - Word is shepherd, one who takes care of the body of believers, watches them, teaches them, feeds them and looks out for them

Teachers - Those who teach the word of God

Pastors are called to do this. Pastors are to teach the word, some have a special gifting as teachers, some do not

All pastors teach, but not all teachers pastor

note that he did not call all to these positions, he gave some

and the some have a purpose… that they are to train or equip the saints, the believers in the church body to do ministry

A Healthy church is one where all members of that body are involved in the function of that body

if you are connected to a body and all that you are doing is being fed without serving another purpose in the body, you are being a leech, not a member

A Healthy Church is Marked by Spiritual Diversity, each member having different gifts and using them to further the kingdom of God

A Healthy Church is Marked by Spiritual Maturity (4:13-16)

To what end… That is a question that really we like to have answered before we decide if we want to begin something

what does the end of this look like, when is it completed, how long am I going to be in this position, this activity

Paul just told us that God has gifted us to further his kingdom, each their own gifts and each with a responsibility to use those gifts… to what end

I was recently laughed at when I asked somebody to define temporary, what does that mean, how long is temporary

Paul answers this question of ours before we even get to ask it… Until we are unified in the faith and knowledge of God’s son, growing into maturity measured by Christ’s fullness

Am I completely mature yet… How do I measure up to Christ? I guess we have to keep going then.

Ephesians 4:13–16 CSB

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

Maturity involves Christlikeness (v13)

It is interesting how different people view themselves compared with Christ

The Maturer in the faith, realize how far off they are

not simply say it, Oh, I am nothing compared to Jesus

But the closer you get to Christ, the more sinful you realize that you are

the more sinful you realize that you are, the closer you are getting to Christ

Maturity involves doctrinal stability (v13-14)

There are a lot of people that believe some crazy things about God

They will hear some words that sound pretty good… they will have somebody that appears to know more than them talk to them about it, and through their ignorance, they believe

Watch how this goes down, God gives gifts, people use the gifts to further the kingdom to grow up the church both numerically and spiritually, as we do we grow in maturity and then we become stable in what we believe

we are not tossed about from the latest teaching to the next

we are not persuaded by false doctrines that are taught because we know the truth

but a spiritual mature person does not simply know the truth, or speak the truth they combine that truth with love

Maturity involves truth joined with love (v15-16a)

we are going to grow together as a body when we can speak the truth in love

we will grow the numbers of our body when we speak the truth in love

we will grow the kingdom of God when we as Christians speak the truth in love

I have really be convicted about this lately

to many of us in the Christian community are a bunch of blowhards. Thinking that we are being obedient to Christ by shouting things that are true… but without love, we are wrong

two phrases that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 13 that hit me this week in my own quiet time with the Lord

When he says if I speak without love… I am nothing

When he says if I sacrifice without love… I gain nothing

A great church is solid on what they believe, but if they share that great doctrine without love, there is nothing that will be gained.

Maturity involves contribution (v16b)

Paul says that the whole body is fitted together, each being a part, each having a part doing a part.

this is what a healthy church is, what part are you playing