Ephesians 4:7-32
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Ephesians 4:7-32
Ephesians 4:7-32
Good morning church! Open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter 4. In the first 3 chapters, Paul tells us all of the awesome things God has done for us, and who we are in Christ Jesus. Last week we spent our entire service talking about the topic of unity, which Paul introduced in the first 6 verses of chapter 4. He began chapter 4 with Eph 4:1
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
And we see the second half of this book explaining what that worthy walk looks like. We just need to remember that we walk worthy because of all that He has done, not because we were every worthy before Jesus. I know that is offensive to some, and I was reminded of this last week by someone, but I keep saying it, because giving someone hope of heaven without Jesus is the most unloving thing you could ever do.,
Also, some of those awesome things are that we are forgiven, made clean, adopted as sons and daughters, co-heirs with Jesus. So if you came in here this morning filled with guilt and shame, you don’t need to keep suffering with that. Brother, sister, Jesus loves you. So one of the awesome things is that you can just tell Him you’re sorry.
Even now while I’m up here talking, tell Him that you’re sorry, That you want forgiveness and don’t want to be that person anymore, and be once again set free from that old you, and move on in grace.
In the first part of this chapter Paul calls the church to unity. Oh, while I’m on that point, I need a couple of brave volunteers. I need at least two to come right up here, I need you both to take 1 minute, and just do the best job that you can, draw the church....
In verse 4 we read Eph 4:4
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
One the outside we see the head, neck, torso, and arms and legs, at least in my drawing…but on the inside we have the heart, the lungs, the brain, the pancreas, the gallbladder, veins, capillaries, lymph nodes, trachea, the pineal gland, the medula and the epiglottis. An average adult human body has 206 bones, 650 muscles, and 78 organs, all made up of approximately.....37.2 trillion individual cells. Gang, we need to go out recruiting.
I like this idea of the church being one body and many members, maybe we represent that like this…Paul is going to talk some about that in the rest of chapter 4…but lets not forget his call for unity within our diversity, unity not uniformity, same hair cuts…and even that unity was a gift for us to just maintain. In verse 7 Paul writes, Eph 4:7
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Again, Paul is talking to believers here and he says that every single one of us has received grace to the measure of Christ’s gift, we talked last week about gifts the Holy Spirit gives, but now we are learning about some gifts that Jesus gave to the church, after one of Paul’s bipolar blips, I shouldn’t say that, but, well, I just read it. Eph 4:8-10
8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
Paul here is quoting Psalm 68 , well some would say misquoting as in the Psalm it says, He received gifts, and here He gave gifts. Some explain that aware that Paul was actually quoting an ancient translation of the Psalm called a Targum,
what we do know is that He wrote what He wrote. So he was inspired to do so by the Holy Spirit. I think it helps if we take into consideration that the Psalm was written on one side of the cross and this the other. The Psalm was prophesying what was to come, and Jesus did indeed receive gifts, and in fulfillment of prophecy, one such place being the book of Isaiah that we are reading on Wednesday nights, that he gave gifts at the time of His ascension. These are the gifts, verse 11 Eph 4:11
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
i. Apostles, who are special ambassadors of God’s work, though not in the same authoritative sense of the first century apostles. Those first century apostles were used to provide a foundation (preserved as the New Testament) as described in Ephesians 2:20.
ii. Prophets, who speak forth words from God in complete consistency with the written Word and the Living Word. I’m often a skeptic when it comes to those that claim to be a prophet in the church today. I am not saying they don’t exist. I will say they don’t exist with the same foundational authority of those that wrote the scriptures. But I think if someone is truly a prophet in the church today, we would see it, they don’t need to say it. "3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men." - 1 Corinthians 14:3 NKJV If someone were speaking forth words from God, completely consistent with the Scriptures and Jesus…and their ministry constantly and consistently builds the church up....not just these guys over here, or over here, but their ministry is a blessing to the church and they strongley enourage us to continue on as Paul would say, walking worthy of the calling by which we have been called.
iii. Evangelists, who are specifically gifted to preach the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
iv. Pastors and teachers (or, pastor-teachers; the ancient Greek clearly describes one office with two descriptive titles), who shepherds the flock of God primarily (though not exclusively) through teaching the Word of God.
v. These gifts are given at the discretion of Jesus
4 gifts not 5, not a 5 fold ministry.
Now we have all received grace with Jesus giving these gifts to the church, because they all work toward equipping us. Verse 12 Eph 4:12
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
I know you guys know this, but this is a foreign concept in most churches. The upside down understanding is that it is the pastor’s job to do the work of the ministry. We might invite people to church, but it’s the Pastor’s job to tell them about Jesus. Invite them and I will, but the work of the ministry belongs to all of us. Your most effective mission field is where He has you, your school, community, your job, now I’m not saying to not work and preach all day, I’m saying preach all day by working harder that anyone else, honoring your boss, respecting and serving your co-workers…that preaches louder every time.
When just the pastor is doing the work of the ministry, not only will everything never get done, nothing will get done well, and your pastor will burn out and quit...And then the ministry itself can also become man centered, not God centered. Man centered actually in two ways: First we can begin to put pastors on pedestals…you guys are great at not doing that.
But another way churches can become man centered is when they are all about the show. It’s All about entertaining you. I don’t necessarily mean fluffy sermons, but even the good ones require the pastor to entertain, to keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat, if I lose your attention that’s really your fault, not mine. My job to teach and equip, your job to seek equipping, to pay attention, to study, to take notes.
Now in the next for verses, I think I can kinda see a measuring tool to check us on how we are doing as a church. You guys know that our first service as a church was based on a single verse in the book of Acts, acts 2:42
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
When we read that our gathering here is for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry and the edifying of the body of Christ. We can go to that other extreme from the pastor doing all of the ministry. To turning what we do here into just a classroom for instruction. To make it all academic, to loose the worship aspect the iron sharpening iron from one another, the power of praying with one another, for one another…and uniting with one another through communion as we remember and proclaim the cross of Christ.
See if you can identify the measuring sticks.
First again with verse 12, Eph 4:12-16
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Are we doing things right as a church? Growing in unity… vs. 13
Are we growing in knowledge? vs. 13 knowledge and relationship
Are we growing in love (for each other and for Jesus)? verse 16
Are we growing in service? verse 16.
Next Paul reminds us that we are new creations in Christ, new men and new women…Eph 4:17-19
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Futility =
pointlessness or uselessness.
Money…lottery…covid relief, stimulus
A bigger disaster of how we as the church can walk in the futility of their mind is exactly what Paul says here, continue to walk as the gentiles walk, trying to show them that we aren’t really much different from them, in fact where just like them. You like your music like this, we can do that, we like it that way too. We can use coarse language, I won’t even mention the rest of the moronic, or futile things churches are doing today to convince the world they are just like them. Why would the world want what you have if they already have it, if they are already just like you?
Remember Paul is talking about our walk here. We should no longer be walking like the gentiles, whenever we are walking, unless you’re on a treadmill, you are going from one place to another. When you are walking worthy of the calling in which you were called you are heading in one direction and getting closer to Jesus, when you are walking as the rest of the gentiles walk you are heading and getting closer to something all together different than Jesus.
Just like the unity thing is hard, this is hard if we are trying to do it in our own strength, if we forget the first three chapters and how this is a work that Jesus has done in our lives if we chose to walk in it. In fact, not to get too repetitious, but for the rest of this book, when we come across anything that sound hard for you, I want you to remember this from chapter 3… Eph 3:20
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory is continues, but just when you start to think, man I can’t do this, I can’t keep it up, I’m not that good, amen to that, but He is and it is Him that desires to do the work in you, as He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, so ask Him to do it in you and it will be His power that works in you.
20 But you have not so learned Christ,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
How are we renewed in the spirit of our mind, how do we get out of that mentality, of I just can’t change, I couldn’t help it, it’s just who I am? Romans 12:3
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Our verse in Ephesians says Eph 4:23
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
The only way we can renew our mind is to replace what the world has put there! We are to no longer walk as the gentiles walk, we have been born again, we are a new creation in Christ. We need to fill our minds with the Word of God. One the ways we do that is what we are doing right now, or our men’s study’s and ladies study's, our growth groups, Psalm 119:9-11
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.
Jesus prayed to the Father…John 17:17
17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
We are going to see, that part of walking this new walk, so it’s not all talk, means putting some new things on and putting some old things off. When we put something off, we are putting something new on, to guard us from walking in the wrong direction toward destruction. verse 24. Eph 4:24
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
This is what we are to walk in, not our feelings, but in truth. As the new man, the new woman created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Eph 4:25-27
25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another.
26 “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
27 nor give place to the devil.
Anger makes us easy prey for the devil. Eph 4:28-29
28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
God Bless