Today’s post is actually from notes and meditation on today’s sermon. The sermon mainly focused on Ephesians 4:11-16 but several observations were made from the beginning of the chapter 4 through verse 16:
Ephesians 4:1-16 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, (2) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, (3) eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (4) There is one body and one Spirit–just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call– (5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, (6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (7) But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (8) Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (9) (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? (10) He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) (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.
The speaker was ultimately giving a talk about Biblical Counseling. However he noted that Biblical Counseling is not primary, it is not an end in itself. Counseling, is a tool, among others, that we have for speaking the truth in love to one another.
Our speaker then went on to talk about work of ministry within the Church body. Here are two observations:
1. Christ is the cause of growth in the body.
2. Christ’s body, the Church, cases growth in itself by sharing Christ’s truth and sharing Christ’s love.
So we have a positive paradox which is self-reinforcing: Christ causes growth and we as the Church cause growth.
Notice that Christ calls us but he also gives. We are to “walk in manner worthy of the calling to which [we] have been called” (verse 1), but it is also Christ’s calling that equips us. Look at verse 7: ”But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gifts. Christ has given to each of us the full measure of his grace. Believe this promise. We are all as Christians called to the work of ministry and Christ has given us everything we need to fulfill our ministry. Not only has He given us the full measure of His grace but he has also given ”the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers” (verse 11). So we know Christ calls and we see several examples of His equipping the Body through what He has given. Likewise, just as Christ has equipped us, we then equip the saints for the work of ministry.
How does this play out? Though the building up of the body. Building up means growing up. The metaphor we see here is growing up from vulnerable children into mature manhood. We know that children are vulnerable in that they can be easily swayed and influenced because they are very impressionable. We are all in danger of such vulnerability from the world (which constantly tries to persuade us love worldly things above Christ), from Satan and his demons, and from our very own sin nature.
In building up the Body, we are growing up into “mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (verse 13). And we see that the result of growing up is that we are no longer “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (verse 14).
How then as the Body do we cause this growth? By sharing Christ’s truth and sharing Christ’s love. In other words, speaking the truth in love.
When we think of speaking the truth in love we often think of the manner in which we speak. We know sometimes the truth is difficult to accept so when we think of speaking the truth in love, we think of speaking in a way that is loving and not harsh. But there is a greater application here to speaking the truth in love. When we are talking about equipping the saints from ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, we mean speaking the gospel to one another. In other words, we speak the truth in love as we share with one another how the truth of the gospel applies to the specifics of our lives. It is coming to Christ through his Word, and encouraging and exhorting each other what the gospel of Jesus Christ would call us to do as we face all the various situations we encounter in this life.
And so as we do this, each one of us having been called and equipped by Christ we cause each other to grow up into Christ, “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” (verse 16).
So you can see this reinforcing relationship: Christ causing growth in the body, the body causing growth in itself, by speaking the truth in love, and the body being built up in love as each part of the body is working properly which is joined and held together by Christ. It is the natural outworking of the unity of love expressed in gospel community with Christ and the body; with Christ being the first cause through the full measure of his grace, his gifts to the body, and his equipping us to equip the saints for ministry.
As Christians, every one of us can do this because Christ has called us and not only called us, but given us the grace we need to do it.
Isn’t it amazing how God works, especially through his children, though we are weak and sinful, to accomplish his purposes and bring glory to Himself?
Bobby
July 24, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Micah,
this is absolutely beautiful! As individuals we tend to sway in one direction or another and get bogged down in a myriad of different areas. As a corporate body of spiritually equipped members we build one another up into Him, into Christ. It is this corporate expression that leads to the fullness of Christ. Without it we are left with our own individual doctrinal preferences which ebb and flow and are tossed about endlessly like waves on the shore.
It is the fullness, the depths of Christ that we long for and His depths cannot be accessed from the surface or from the shallow shores where the waves are.