Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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:

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.”

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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:

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.

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.

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.