The Church was made to Do More! (Ephesians 4:1-16)

The human body is amazing

Let’s all snap our fingers. One, two, three. Snap. Did you know that in snapping your finger, you are doing something absolutely unique? Last year there was a study published by scientists in England showed that a finger snap is the fastest movement of our bodies. The finger snap is 20 times quicker than the blink of any eye. The research group set up high speed cameras and sensors and found that the speed of a finger snap is ridiculous. The funny thing about the study is that the whole point of the exercise was to determine whether or not the big bad movie villain Thanos could have wiped out half the universe life with a snap of the fingers, which led to “just how fast is a snap of the finger?” The human body is amazing.

The church body is amazing

Christ designed our bodies so that they would exist in community. And that community itself is called a body. One of Paul’s favorite ways to talk about the church is to talk about the church as a body. We read it just seconds ago in Paul’s letter to the gathering of Jesus followers in the city of Ephesus. The church is a unified, living organism meant to be, to do, and to move. Just as God breathed life into the very first person, Adam, at creation, so too God has breathed life in to his community of followers through the Spirit. And this body is amazing. Jesus designed the church body to be his presence on earth. He designed this body to be his hands and his feet on earth.

We began a study of who the church is and what the church does from the book of Ephesians. The church was made for more. This is meant to help us think differently about the church. In some ways, The Table is already doing many of these things because as an infant church, from the very beginning we do and think differently about church. So, in some sense, this is a reminder, but also a challenge for us to keep moving in the direction that we have been moving.

Quick overview of Made for More

So, here’s a refresher for where we have been the past 3 weeks:

1. More Jesus

Truth 1 - It is through the church that Jesus and his fullness is going to fill every corner of society: where we live, learn, work, and play

Shift 1 - From more effort to more Jesus

2. Made to BE More

a. Truth 2 - Every follower of Jesus is a unique masterpiece work of God

b. Shift 2 - From more volunteers to more masterpieces

3. Made to Love More

a. Truth 3 - The primary motivation for filling Jesus into all areas of society is love

b. Shift 3 - From more guilt to more love

4. Made to Do More

a. Truth 4 - Jesus gives organizing systems to His body for fullness, for more impact, and for the mobilization of EVERY member

b. Shift 4 - From more hierarchy to more missionaries

Mythbusting Ephesians 4:11

The Table as More… the Table is already primed to be More in Los Fresnos. One of the fundamental myths that we are tackling today is a myth that develops over time. In some instances this myth is expressly stated. In most instances, it is simply a habit that is reinforced by the way we do church. And that myth is that only the pastor is the evangelist, only the pastor is the teacher, only the pastor is on mission for Jesus and his church. Regardless of how it happens, whether it is by design or by accident, what we are going to see this morning is that this simply is not the way the Bible understands church or the roles in the church. The church is made to DO more!

Now that doesn’t mean more programs and more staff but more everyday missionaries! As kids, we went to summer church camp one year and there was a song we learned from the new camp director, a song that is actually pretty old, but it was new to us. It was a catchy little ditty. Be a missionary every day. Tell the world that Jesus is the way. There are more lines, but you get the point. Be a missionary every day. All of you. All of us. Over the years, I’ve heard that song attacked quite forcefully. We’re dumbing down the word “missionary”, if everybody is a missionary, then we’ve cheapened what it means to go to the jungles with the good news of Jesus. And then there’s the outright denial that all of us are on mission… only the pastor is or only those who are specifically called to the task of mission work, especially overseas. More than once i’ve heard someone say, not all of us are missionaries. That’s the pastor’s job. That’s the missionary’s job when they are in the jungle or in a foreign city speaking a language not their own.

No. What we’re looking at today from the book of Ephesians, and it’s true in the rest of the New Testament, is that the song had it right. Be a missionary ever day. Tell the world that Jesus is the way. Jesus has designed the church, the entire church to be on mission. Mission is in the DNA of what it means to be a gathering of Jesus followers. We’ve defined the church in this series as

a gathering of Jesus followers where the Word is preached and the Sacraments are provided.

We don’t need a building. We don’t need a committee. We don’t need any programs. All we need is a space and a time for a gathering where the Word is preached and the Sacraments are provided. Period. That’s the biblical definition of church. We gather. We confess Jesus as Lord. We hear his Word of forgiveness and grace. We receive His Word of forgiveness and grace in his broken body and his shed blood. That’s church. And this kind of church is moving. It is not static. It moves toward others who are not yet part of the gathering. The entire church body is organic and has legs and arms, and it moves in compassion and it moves toward those who are without the Word and Sacrament so that they too can participate.

The church was made to DO more!

When we say that the church was made to DO more, we need to remind ourselves that “doing” is not the gospel. “Doing” is the product of the gospel. “Doing” is not Good News. Only Jesus and His salvation of us is the Good News. However, the church has been given the task of working in this world and this work is for our neighbor. All of us are perfectly positioned to make an eternal difference where we live, work, learn, and play. We have the privilege and calling. thanks to our baptism, to get to be everyday ambassadors of Jesus. We get to join the ranks of common, everyday, ordinary people who have gone before us who have been called by Jesus to continue his ongoing work in this world.

111 Hours

We have 111 hours for more Jesus in all of life

That work involves the 168 hours that all of us have every week. If we get the recommended 8 hours of sleep each night, that equates to 56 sleeping hours each week which leaves 112 awake hours. One of those 112 hours of being awake is spent in our weekly worship service (give or take a few). That leaves 111 hours. 111 hours for living, learning, working, and playing.

Now, that one hour a week is super important. We need this time together in person because life is hard. We need the Word. We need Jesus to meet us where we are. We have good days and good seasons, but every week we hear the bad news either close to us or not-so-close. We are reminded of all the brokenness around us and in us. The struggles we have at work, the challenges in our families at home, maybe even the fight we had before we came to church, the health issue, the financial burdens and the list goes on. Many weeks we come here and we are empty and thirsty.

But then we see people around us and realize we are not alone in the struggle. In this body of Christ, we hear words of forgiveness spoken over us, we read the word of God, we sing of the marvelous grace of God, we hear a message, we feast at the table of the Lord tasting and see the forgiveness that Jesus has in abundance, we receive the blessing. All in an hour…or so…I try. But then we have 111 more hours to go the rest of the week in which God sends us and empowers us to carry out the callings he has given to us in the places that we live, work, learn and play.

In those 111 hours we are doing the work of ministry and it might not always feel like it because we have grown accustomed to thinking of places like this where ministry happens and professional people carry out the work of ministry. And that is part of it. But not the entirety of it and that gets to our passage from Ephesians the 4th chapter today.

Ephesians 4:11-13 “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 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.”

Now, right up front, I’ll admit that theologians and pastors and students have argued about what Paul means and what he says in verse 11. You can get on the internet and type in Ephesians 4:11 and your brain will be bleeding with all of the opinions and greek and context and theology, good and bad. We’re not going there. I have my own opinions but they are mostly irrelevant for our discussion. The questions people argue over are usually along the lines of: Is Paul talking about offices in the church, is he talking about specific kinds of people, or is he talking about gifts given to certain kinds of people. I’ve had those discussions. But the problem with those discussions is that they tend to miss the bigger point, and maybe we are taking a position on this passage when we say this.

These are, at the very least, gifts Christ has given to the church. That’s the whole point he makes about this being the body of Christ. Christ has a body on earth fulfilling His mission to fill the earth with more Jesus. And to that body, his own body, Jesus has given gifts. Jesus has gifted his church with the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Whether these are offices or certain kinds of men, there are answers to those questions, but what we need to see are the gifts themselves. And in those gifts that have been given to the entire body, entire local body, we find our mission.

Think of it this way just as your physical body has systems like digestive, cardiovascular, nervous, respiratory and the like that work together to keep your body healthy. Jesus gives organizing systems within the Body of Christ for the fullness and greatest impact to accomplish his continual work seen in the mosaic of unique gifts represented in these five gifts. Is this the complete list? No there are others we could add to it as well. But here in Ephesians 4 we see these 5 mentioned with the purpose that they are used for equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. These five gifts encompass the whole church. And among these gifts, all of us will find a place.

APEST

One of the great thinkers about mission of our day is a theologian by the name of Alan Hirsch. I didn’t come up with this ACRONYM. This is Hirsch’s. His book that has become a classic is “The Forgotten Ways”. He calls this set of gifts APEST.

Apostles

Prophets

Evangelists

Shepherds

Teachers

So what are they? Very quickly…

APOSTLES extend the gospel.

As the “sent ones,” Jesus has given to our body, the Table people with the gift of being able to see the big picture and ways to move toward our neighbors with the gospel and multiplying and expanding our ministry here.

PROPHETS are attuned to God and his gospel for today.

These people can be found at the Table, constantly promoting the Good News of Jesus in ways that challenge all of us, including our community.

EVANGELISTS recruit.

These infectious communicators of the gospel message recruit others to the cause. We have these people here who just seem to be infectious with Jesus and constantly pulling people in toward Jesus.

SHEPHERDS nurture and protect.

We have these gifts here at The Table. In fact, we set aside two among us a few weeks ago in recognition of the gifts God has given them and us.

TEACHERS understand and explain.

We also have these here at The Table, those who are constantly pushing us back into the Bible to see what Jesus says about life in the gospel.

Christ’s gifts given to his church include all of us in some capacity. But these gifts again are moving beyond ourselves.

Maturity in Christ

Did you see how Paul talks about what it means to be mature in Christ? I find this fascinating.

Ephesians 4:13 “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.”

We are to be using our gifts for each other and with each “until we all reach unity… growing into maturity measured by Christ’s fullness.” This is the fourth time in this letter Paul brings up Jesus filling all things with the fullness of himself. Last week we looked at how he is filling us with his love so that we love others. And here, this fullness of Jesus is realized in us and through us as we use our gifts. Our gifts bring unity. Our gifts are how Jesus grows us in maturity with his fullness, a fullness that isn’t just for this body but for our community.

All of us are here in this room have been given the responsibility to use our gifts for the good of the body. When we are providing vision for each other, when we are engaging others with the good news, when we are teaching and shepherding each other, we are equipping each other for the work of the ministry and this work of the ministry, Paul says is aimed right at the filling all things with more Jesus. Equipping and building are not simply for this body, but for our community. For those who don’t know Jesus. With those gifts and offices activated carrying out their unique callings both individually and collectively the church is not confined to a location or a time period but is happening every day and every where we live, work, learn, and play.

The Big Picture

Ephesians 4:15-16 “From Jesus 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.”

Our gifts are not all the same, but the Giver of the gifts is the same and when we put them together we accomplish what we could never do on our own! This happens both in the places we scatter to for those 111 hours and when we gather as well. It is why we try to be intentional about the things we do together here.

So the challenge today is to take the next step of better exploring your gifts so that as you go about in the places where you live, work, learn, and play. You might become more aware of the ways that Jesus is working through you as an everyday missionary. Every single area of our lives, whether it’s working, learning, playing, or living becomes a place with an over-abundance of opportunities for being More Jesus with More Love.

Let’s pray.