Be Equipped and Growing into Ministry

Scene 1/ When you aim for nothing, you will achieve it every time; sadly this is a picture of much of the churches activity. 4:14

A famous American author by the rather unique name of Zig Ziglar once said;

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time!”

It’s true isn’t it?

Anything of worth that is ever achieved is because people set out to achieve it.

They had an outcome in mind and they worked to see it achieved.

Lawrence J. Peter said, “If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”

And that is the problem that churches around the world often face.

People lose sight of the purpose of the church and they end up just doing what they are familiar with.

Many of here today have lived the experience of being part of a church which lost its way.

I have seen a few examples where the purpose of the church which was written on paper didn’t reflect the purpose of the church int he hearts of the peope who were in control.

A new Pastor get’s called and sets about trying to achieve what he was told, only to immediately run into opposition.

I have also seen churches which just drift along.

The people can sometimes even give you the rigth answer as to why the church is there, but you know they don’t own that and most decisions are made about convenience.

I have also seen chruches simply loose their way when a founding leader departs.

And sadly in many cases the church declines and eventually is no longer viable.

When Toni and I planted the Woodford church I was determined to not repeat the mistakes of others.

I knew that I would make plenty of my own mistakes, but I was determined that the church would know what it was there for and would align everything around that purpose.

Some who joined us needed to be constantly reminded of that purpose but overall people got it and it worked.

The church must always know what it is there for, where it is going and how it is going to get there.

Otherwise it will choose convenience and comfort and that is an absolute betrayal of Christ’s sacrifice.

Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14 talks of infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of false teaching and the cunning and craftiness of men.

That is how it is for so many people.

They are confused about faith.

They fall into traps set by people who are false teachers, or they are wiped out by questions.

They come to the conclusion that it doesn’t work so they throw out Christ as their God when they throw out the church.

The problem is that most churches don’t do anything to equip their people to live out that dynamic living relationship so that it is a witness to the people around them.

As I look back on many of the people I went to school & church & Youth group with, so few of them are actively involved in Christianity today.

I found the faith I was given was unproven and unsustainable in the real world.

As a 16-year-old apprentice away from home & church I did not know what to say when another apprentice, a university dropout, told me that Jesus was a child of illegitimate birth.

Of course he didn’t quite put it so nicely!

I didn’t know what to say when another person told me the Bible said you should murder people.

My response was. “No it doesn’t”!

Their response was to show me an Old Testament passage.

A passage where God commands Israel to wipe out their enemies.

Have you ever seen what happens when someone gets a fancy new smart phone?

Many people just learn the basics.

Make and receive calls, send text messages, take photos.

But most of the capacity of the device is wasted.

It can navigate, you don’t need a separate in car navigator if you have a smart phone.

It can browse the web, it can send and receive emails, it can store and play music.

It can be used to write documents and open spreadsheets and databases, just like a computer.

It can send and receive all sorts of information and find things for you and even pay for things as you walk past a scanner.

Most phones can even control most other electronic devices in your home.

But how often do most people use their smart phone to its full capacity?

Because we haven’t been shown how, we waste most of the capacity of the device.

Ephesians 4:7-16 gives us a model by which we can make sure we don’t waste the capacity of the saints.

Scene 2/ But when you know what the goal is you can turn in the right direction; in the case of the church this means looking for maturity and growth. 4:15-16 (illustration of healthy ministry)

The church exists to glorify God through the fulfilment of Christ’s commandment and Christ’s commission; these can only be achieved Christ’s way!

This is the only thing we can focus on!

It is the purpose God has given us!

And it can only be achieved when we follow God’s plan of ministry.

There is strength and growth in unity.

There is resistance to those who would lead astray and cause division.

And most importantly there is Christ-likeness.

Have a look at verses 14 to 16 of Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4:15–16 NLT

Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Beginning at verse 14 we see the result of the gifts of the Spirit being used to build up the body to serve the Lord and others.

When there is unity and maturity there is strength.

There is a holding onto good healthy doctrine.

There is protection.

When there is not unity and maturity people are like little children, easily confused and scared by conflicting ideas or the latest fad.

They never grow

Instead they are always distracted, chasing after the latest short cut to spiritual maturity and the power of God.

But notice verse 15, speaking the truth in love.

That is the mature, honest motivated by love for Christ and the other person approach.

This approach brings growth into Christ, the head of the church.

Here there is unity, there is maturity; instead of being a joke to non-Christians there is a life that honours God.

You see unity and maturity in Christ result in the church doing what it should.

People grow, the community is served and loved and God’s name is glorified.

The church grows as people respond to the positive message of Christ.

People’s lives are transformed for good.

Scene 3/ When you know where it is that God want you to be, it becomes easier to see how he wants you to get there. 4:11-13 (illustration of discipleship experiences)

My calling, my absolute conviction that I should be in “The Ministry”, is wrapped up in my belief that people can come to have a real and vital relationship with God and they don’t have to stumble across it by chance.

I believe there is a far better way, a right way for people to experience God and to gain ownership of their own faith.

My purpose in life is set out in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 to 13.

It is to prepare God’s people for works of service.

That is to equip them and train them to do the work of ministry.

The Greek word translated as prepare or equip in verse 12 carries the meaning, “for the perfecting or equipping, ‘mending’ or ‘preparing’, to ‘restore’ for proper use.

My job is to prepare others for ministry.

You see I have discovered that when People get involved in living out their faith they actually end up owning their own faith.

They are no longer tossed back and forth.

They stick with it and it is real.

When people see that what you say you believe is real and has an impact on your life they tend to sit up and take notice.

What I am talking about here is a deliberate ongoing discipleship, often called mentoring.

Spending time with people answering their questions and getting them involved in ministry.

To be the authentic witness or practical example of Christ’s love that people are calling out for.

Instead of assuming that just because they have made some sort of commitment, raised their hand or walked forward at some sort of rally, they have accepted Christ and everything will be all right.

When Jesus was recruiting disciples to lead his church he had the same three priorities:

Prayer, teaching (by modelling and instruction), and training for ministry.

It's amazing how much Jesus delegated, very early, to his disciples.

The key role of Pastors & teachers is equipping (Ephesians 4:12), empowering others for ministry, not doing it all themselves as paid 'professional employees' of the Church.

Now in a Church Planting situation such as this one the Pastor usually ends up doing a lot of things themselves.

But this should not be the situation for long.

Jesus very quickly gave his disciples jobs to do.

Ministries to be responsible for.

Jesus, Paul & every other significant New Testament figure had someone with them learning as they went.

Building a team ministry doesn’t happen overnight but if we want something to happen we need to do it and keep on doing it.

"There are two things we cannot do alone," said Paul Tournier. "One is to be married and the other is to be a Christian."

And we can’t be a growing church until we learn to practice and value teamwork.

Ephesians Chapter 4 verses 1 to 16 sets out the basic values of teamwork.

Scene 4/ And verse 8 reminds us that when you know how God wants you to get to where he wants you to be, you have to honour his Lordship and humbly rely on him giving you the gifts required. 4:7-10 (illustration of sovereignty in gifting and discipleship)

Ephesians 4 verse 8 is a quotation of Psalm 68:18

Ephesians 4:7–10 NLT

7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

And the use of this quotation is very significant.

The Jewish teachers originally associated Psalm 68 verse 18 with the giving of the law to the people of Israel on Mt Sinai.

Their idea was that Moses had been to heaven to receive the law from God[1]

In Jesus’ time on earth Psalm 68:18 was associated with the feast of Pentecost.

A feast associated with the giving of the law as a gift to Israel.

A feast which God gave a new meaning to when he gave the gift of his Holy Spirit to the church.

When the Apostle Paul wrote chapter 4 of Ephesians and quoted this Psalm he must have had in mind the day of Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit came upon the church with power.

The day when the gifts of the Holy Spirit, many of which are mentioned in this passage, were given to the church.

Christ has not given us obedience to the Old Testament law as a means of pleasing God.

He has given us the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a means of equipping the church to grow in maturity and faith.

So that his church can achieve it’s mission of proclaiming the gospel of the resurrected Christ to the world; just as it did on the day of Pentecost.[2]

Scene 5/ Conclusion; We will see people come to Christ when we honour his Lordship by being equipped for his ministry v 7-13

If we are to reach the goal that has been set before us we need to live as Christ intended and that includes embracing the gifts that God has given us in order to build up the body in unity and maturity

All that we have spoken about so far today is possible.

It comes about by accepting God gifts so that we may be built up and equipped.

The Christian life is not the result of our own effort, although we are certainly meant to work with God in order to be transformed into who he wants us to be.

The Christian life is the result of God’s grace working within our lives, transforming us.

And as verse 7 tells us; to each one of us God has apportioned grace.

A gift of his Spirit.

Now some of those gifts as listed here are very public out workings of God’s grace.

The gifts that are designed to equip people to do the work of ministry.

Notice again verse 12 It is the role of the public gifts of the Spirit to equip the people for ministry, not to do all the ministry themselves.

There are many other gifts as well that God has given to people.

Gifts designed to help us do the work of ministry.

Those with the gifts of speaking, teaching and proclaiming God’s word cannot do the work alone.

We need those with the gifts of administration, so things are done properly.

Those with the gifts of the creativity, otherwise everything gets very boring.

Those with the gifts of helps, getting in and doing the jobs that need doing for the place to run.

We need those with the gifts of hospitality, so that people are welcome and loved.

We need those with the gifts of discernment and prophecy to know when things aren’t quite right, or when we should move in a certain direction.

We need those with the gift of intercession so that the real battle, the spiritual battles are won.

And we need those with the gifts of healing and faith so that we live lives touched by God’s miraculous power.

Let’s not become comfortable.

For that is the path to staleness.

Instead let’s always remember that we have been blessed with a unity of purpose.

A unity which is noticeable.

Christ has given us the gifts of the Spirit in order to build the body up to do his ministry and bring all to maturity in him.

So let’s take up the challenge.

For this is what brings glory to Christ.

[1] Lincoln, A. T. (1990). Ephesians (Vol. 42, p. 243). Dallas: Word, Incorporated. [2] Lincoln, A. T. (1990). Ephesians (Vol. 42, p. 244). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.