Building the Church Christ Intended

Introduction

This morning we are returning to the fourth chapter of Ephesians. We are studying today one of my favorite passages that describes the incredible work of the Church. Before we get into it, I want to read you a poem called “The Choice.”

"I watched some men tearing a building down,

a group of men in my home town.

With a heave and a ho and a mighty yell,

They swung the ball and a side wall fell.

And I said to the foreman, "Are these men skilled,

the type you’d hire if you want to build?"

And he smiled, then laughed and said, "No indeed,

common laborer is all I need.

For we can tear down in a day or two,

what it took a builder years to do."

As I turned, I shook my head,

I knew there was truth in what he said.

And I thought to myself as I walked away,

which of these roles am I going to play?

Am I a builder as I work with care,

measuring life by the rule and square?

Am I shaping my deeds to a well-laid plan,

carefully doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker as I walk the town,

content with the labor of tearing down?

We are celebrating 1 year since we started our Wednesday night meetings and became a new church plant. It was during that time that the Lord really impressed upon us the importance of being a healthy, biblically sound church. We felt and still feel the urgency of the need for biblical literacy in the church. When God called us to be what would become Crossway Christian Fellowship, he was directing us to go beyond the standards of our day and be strong in His Word in all aspects of our existence.

This passage speaks to me about who we are and what we are about; who am I and my role is as pastor. So, as we study this, you should be challenged in your understanding church leadership. May we let the Word of God take precedence over tradition and let us seek to uphold its teaching. This passage in particular is going to be definitive as to who we are and what we’re going to be about. If we can perfect the biblical model of church unity and leadership - despite what all the other secular models demand - we are going to continue growing in a God honoring direction.

Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV

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.

Now Jeff and Mark took us through the first part of this chapter the last couple of weeks. Paul is transitioning from unveiling the indescribable blessings of God in Christ to applying the richness of these blessings in our lives. What we are studying today is a continuation of the “therefore” in Ephesians 4:1:

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Paul is saying, “Because of the power of the mystery of the Gospel being revealed to both the Jews and Gentiles; because God has (Ephesians 1:3) “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” Therefore: 1.) Our walk as believers matters. 2.) We are to be unified under the banner of Christ. 3.) Some are called to special leadership in the church.

Unity is of the highest importance to our Lord in His church and to us. In John 17, Jesus prayed that we would be one; spiritually AND manifestly one because it the love that we have for each other marked our relationships in this world. We are to be “diligent,” according to verse 3 to “preserve the unity.” ‘

1 Corinthians 1:10 ESV

10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

There’s a pathway to this kind of unity in verse 7, “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” The unity of the church, the unity of the body of Christ, is produced by diversity of gifts all given to believers for the function of the ministry of the church.

The Lord gives ever believer in the church spiritual gifts so they can minister to each other and build up the body, and gifted men whose responsibility it is to aid in their spiritual growth and development by perfecting the saints. Anything short of this is to fail to understand what ministry in the church is about.

We the church are to be on a continual path of spiritual growth. Further, it is our job to see to this is happening universally within our body of believers:

Hebrews 6:1 ESV

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Philippians 3:12 ESV

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

My point is the church must be equally concerned about building the spiritual maturity of the believers as we are about salvations; it is our biblical mandate. It’s not an individualistic exercise. It is the work of the body and our responsibility to each other. One of the marks of spiritual maturity occurs when we "take off the bib and put on an apron." All too often we approach our church relationship with the idea of what we’re going to get out of it.

All of this is for a very specific and important purpose. It is not self-serving, but verse 12 shows us the central mandate of the function of the church and this is what I want us as a church to embody and emulate in how we function.

Ephesians 4:11–12 ESV

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,

These are four offices that the Lord established in the church for the church to be built: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor/Teacher. Notice that it is Christ who assigns these offices to people. These are not self-appointed titles. These are callings by Christ to people he choses.

The apostles were those whom Jesus chose to establish the church. The original 12, minus Judas They were basically called to do three things: to preach, to attack the kingdom of Satan, and lastly they were the foundation of the church with Christ being the cornerstone. This was a small group of people, and no one ever succeeded them.

Now what about the prophets? Prophets don’t give doctrine, but they do receive revelation from God on a practical level, like Agabus, who got a word from the Lord about what was going to happen to Paul when he got to Jerusalem, in the book of Acts. They are preachers, who are involved with practical, pastoral, church ministry, where the apostles were like ambassadors and missionaries traveling with the gospel.

Evangelists are those who are uniquely equipped to sow the seed of the harvest. We may think of someone who goes around and itinerates his ministry, preaching revivals. That’s a partial definition, but really they are gifted at explaining the truth of the gospel to people. They have a passion to see the lost come to Christ. Philip was identified in the book of Acts 21:8 as an evangelist and Paul told his protege Timothy to do do the work of an evangelist (1 Timothy 4:12).

Pastor-Teachers are probably the most common office in the church today. Pastor literally means “shepherd.” The language here in Ephesians has Pastor and Teacher as one role. The better translation might be “Teaching Shepherds” This is the one who feeds the flock, feeds the flock. “The most powerful part of a sermon is the man behind it.”

Every Shepherd has 3 critical functions in the church: guide, guard, feed. 1 Peter 5:2 “2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;” That’s what teaching shepherds do. The means of how a Pastor is to shepherd the flock is of the highest importance and it is lost in the church today. How the pastor guides, guards, and feeds is by the Word of God. The good pastor is hard at work guiding the flock to the green pastures of Scripture, guarding against the wolves of false doctrine, and feeding his flock the substance his flock needs.

We do this by preaching and teaching. Preaching is proclamation and teaching is more didactic. A church can have several pastors but a church should have many teachers. But even more importantly, a church should produce teachers of the Word of God. That’s what I pray we as a church become great at doing building others up to teach and preach the Word. That we continually draw, attract, train people who teach the Word of God. That must be our priority as we train and equip others to do the work of ministry and I sincerely want to see in 20 years a legacy of people who have come through our doors and we’ve trained them up to go back out into the world as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries.

Let me add one more thing about pastors. It is a difficult calling on multiple levels. I would never personally incline to be a pastor except under the calling of Christ himself. The constant stress, spiritual attacks, and work is not a life to be desired. But additionally, a pastor is highly accountable to God.

James 3:1 ESV

1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

2 Timothy 4:1 ESV

1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

Now all of these offices have important functions, but what is the ends of all of these? Look at Eph 4:12 “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” These roles are not status symbols. They are offices of servants. The job of the pastor is not to do the work of ministry, but to equip the church to do the work of ministry. My job is to equip you (by guiding, guarding, and feeding you) so that you will go and do the work of ministry.

Equipping means “to put right.” The Greek word was used to describe setting broken bones or mending nets. In other words, the primary purpose of the Church isn’t to convert sinners to Christianity, but to perfect the saints for the ministry who will share the gospel with sinners. (Smith) The pulpit sets the work for that and builds the body to perfection.

Ephesians 4:13–16 ESV

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.

Finally, Paul says that we should recognize the differing gifts are intended for Christ’s purposes (Eph. 4:12–15). The reasons for the Lord’s authority and generosity in dispensing his gifts become evident in the purposes of the gifts. Paul says that Christ gives the gifts so that leaders may be able to equip others for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12a). What happens in the church so often is you get lay spectators and sort of professional preachers, and that’s far from the Lord’s design.

Christ does not want us to spend his gifts upon ourselves, nor let them lie dormant; we are to use them to build up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12b). Spirit-gifted leaders are themselves equipped to embody God’s gifts to the church. (Ryken) What is the purpose? Christlikeness. The unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God. It’s not possible to perfect the saints unless they’re growing in the knowledge of the Son of God and he is found from cover to cover in this book. It needs to be taught in fellowship groups, in Sunday School classes, in home Bible studies. And when the church begins to look like Christ, it begins to think like Him and to act like Him.

Two things are a result of this perfection - and this is key. First is protection. Eph 4:14 “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.” There are plenty of false teachers; they’re everywhere. But the church that has the deep knowledge of the Son of God comes to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ is mature enough to be protected.

The second is proclamation. Eph 4:15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” And when you do that, you have reached the apex of the church’s purpose in the world, right? Why are we here? To go into all the world and—do what?—preach the gospel, to live godly lives, lives marked by love that makes the gospel attractive. Look, to put it bluntly, we are not friends of the world, we are at war with the world and all it’s deceptions, but we are also gentle to those coming to know the Lord Jesus. We show them love, but we never budge from the truth we are delivering to them.

So, we speak the truth in love, and as we do, we “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” Paul kind of goes back, at that point in the middle of verse 15, and picks up sort of a summary: OK, the end of this progress is we’re now “speaking the truth in love.” “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart.” We are “speaking the truth in love”—that’s the reputation. That’s what people see. That’s what can only be explained supernaturally by the power of Christ.

All of these things we talked about today are to strengthen the unity. We are all uniquely put together by God. Eph 4:16 “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.” God put you together with a very special set of gifts and he put this church together - all of us -in a special way to reach the world with the gospel. It starts by building each other up in the faith - growing in the Word and becoming biblically literate.

You will never be at peace in the church until you recognize that God has brought different kinds of people (with different gifts and levels of maturity) into the church not only to sanctify you, but to build up his church in the ways that he knows are best.

Mr. Holland’s Opus is a movie about a dedicated music teacher who dreams of becoming a famous composer. He does not have those gifts and, instead, makes an impact he does not fully appreciate in the lives of a generation of students in his high school music program. Mr. Holland never writes the musical opus that will make him famous but pours himself into the young people before him: a redheaded girl with pigtails who struggles to play the clarinet, a football player who cannot keep rhythm but needs a band credit to keep his game eligibility, a street kid who is mad at the world but who discovers the beauty of his own soul in music.

As the movie concludes, Mr. Holland is fighting budget cuts for the survival of the high school’s music program. He loses. And he retires. The last day of school he cleans out his desk and, with shoulders slumped down, walks the school hall for the last time. He is a picture of dejection, reminding us of a life spent without a dream fulfilled. But as Mr. Holland walks, he hears noise in the auditorium. He goes in to see what is happening and faces a packed auditorium of students and alumni thundering an ovation and chanting his name. The little girl with pigtails is now the governor of the state, and she addresses Mr. Holland from the podium. “Mr. Holland, we know that you never became the famous composer you dreamed of being. But don’t you see it today? Your great composition is what you did with us, your students. Mr. Holland, look around you. We are your great opus. We are the music of your life.”

Each of us is the music—the great opus—of those who have used their gifts to equip us and we must do the same to equip others.