The Body of Christ part 1

Ben Trigsted

Biblical Church Leadership • Sermon • Submitted 9 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

Ephesians 4:1–16

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Introduction

This morning we are going to begin a seven part series on the topic of leadership.

As an expository preacher I rarely focus on a single topic throughout a series…however, occasionally I will set out to present a topical study preached expositionally, like this one.

Why a sermon series on biblical church leadership?

First, because a growing number of people within our society today see authority as always bad (unless, of course, they are the authorities!)

This is understandable as we’ve seen a multitude of examples of the dangers of authoritarianism and, rightly, want to fight against it’s effects on our lives.

Many of our leaders today are self-centered, and therefore are not worthy of the authority they’ve been given.

The since at least the 1960’s the anti-authoritarian rebel is often seen as a hero.

However, the Bible is very clear that, as believers, we are under authority. First, the authority of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Likewise, we are under the authority of God’s Word. We are a people, like it or not, who are under the governing authorities of our society.

Romans 13:1 ESV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Additionally, the Bible commands believers to put themselves under the authority of the church and church leaders when it comes to faith and practice.

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Thus, it’s absolutely vital that we have a clear understanding of biblical Christian leadership, otherwise this verse can be misused by people who are not biblical leaders.

Second, this fall we are going to begin the process of calling some of the men to be deacons for the first time in a long time in the life of our church.

This is a vitally important role within the church, as we shall see. One that we don’t take lightly and we most certainly want to spend ample time understanding what the calling is all about.

But, before we jump into the two biblical leadership callings (overseers and deacons), we are going to take a broader view of the church.

We are doing this because the the major premise we will be exploring throughout this series is this:

Biblical church leaders are responsible to God to build up the body of Christ to maturity in faith and practice.

Before we can fully grasp the role of overseers and deacons, we need to understand how the body of Christ is built up to maturity in faith and practice.

So that will be the focus of our first three sermons.

Body: Ephesians 4:1-16

Ephesians 4:1-6 - The Body is unified in Christ

Paul’s challenge is to walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received.

In the first 3 chapters of the book of Ephesians Paul lays out the doctrine behind the Christian life.

Now he is challenging followers of Christ to walk or live that life.

Earlier in Eph. 2:10 Paul says:

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Now he is going to explain what that looks like and how it benefits the church.

“If faith is the candle, then works are the flame.”

So Paul’s first example of a worthy walk is unity within the church.

As we will see this is the unity of the Spirit.

This is important because it’s the Spirit who creates unity within the church.

This is good new for us, because it suggests that man cannot completely destroy this unity because its origin is from the Holy Spirit.

However, we can miss the benefits of this unity of the Spirit when we don’t set out daily to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which we have been called.

So Paul lists some attitudes that the believer must have to maintain the benefits of unity within the church:

Humility

Recognizes that God’s position deserves much higher esteem than ours, and allows us to love others correctly. The opposite of arrogance and self-centeredness.

Humility within the church recognizes that my needs are no more important than my brother’s.

Gentleness

Submits to God’s dealings without rebellion and to man’s unkindness without retaliation.

Gentleness in the church means that we don’t seek to get back at others.

Patience

Patience in the church means that we recognize that God’s timing and ours is often different and other people’s timing is almost always different!

Bearing with one another in love

Do people ever frustrate you?

Scott Hinckley!

Eagerness to maintain the unity and peace

“The visible unity of believers in spite of diversity is still God’s pre-eminent method of evangelism.”

Maintaining unity within the church can be hard, because we are different people, with different viewpoints and perspectives.

In Paul’s day you have Jews and Gentiles coming together…

Paul’s encouragement is to focus attention on seven positive realities which form the basis for Christian unity:

One body

One Spirit

One hope

One Lord

One faith

One baptism

One God and Father, who has supremacy over all the earth.

The basic message here is what brings us together, is greater than anything that tears us apart.

That’s so important to grasp, because Paul is now going to talk about the diversity of giftedness within the church.

The church in Corinth was an example of a body of believers that allowed the diversity of gifts to damage the unity of the church. Paul doesn’t want to see that happen in other places, like Ephesus.

Thus, the church must understand first that, as the body of Christ, we are unified by the Spirit.

Ephesians 4:7-11 - The Body is gifted by Christ

Now that Paul has laid out how vital unity within the church is, it’s time to talk about why we are different.

Each person has been given a gift to benefit the church.

The source of these gifts is the ascended Christ, Jesus himself.

And each one has a role to play within the church.

Then five special gifts are mentioned.

First, it’s important to understand that these special gifts are different from the gifts given to everyone individually.

In a few weeks we’ll talk about some individual gifts and begin considering how each of us have been gifted. We will see that these are natural endowments or talents that are to be used for God’s work.

But these gifts Paul shares are roles that people took within the first century church of Paul’s day.

Apostles - first century office…just the apostles of Jesus Christ, many of whom were alive in Paul’s day.

Prophets - NT prophets include Anna, Simeon, John the Baptist, Barnabus, Lucius of Cyrene, Simeon Niger, Judas Barsabbas, Silas, Philip’s four daughters, Agabus, John, and of course, Jesus…I don’t believe modern “prophets” as most seem interested in profit over boldly proclaiming the Word of God to God’s people.

Evangelists - Still many today who are great evangelists.

Pastors - Those who shepherd God’s flock.

Teachers - Those who are gifted to teach God’s Word

Each of these as a clear purpose, shared in v. 12.

Ephesians 4:12 - The Body grows to be like Christ

The purpose of these special roles is to equip the saints so the saints can serve, and then the body will be built up.

This is what it means to be a disciple-making church.

The sad fact is, today, to many have chosen to stand on the sidelines when it comes to the ministry God has called them to.

Vance Havner: “Every Christian is commissioned, for every Christian is a missionary. It has been said that the Gospel is not merely something to come to church to hear but something to go from the church to tell—and we are all appointed to tell it. It has also been said, ‘Christianity began as a company of lay witnesses; it has become a professional pulpitism, financed by lay spectators!’ Nowadays we hire church staff to do ‘full-time Christian work,’ and we sit in church on Sunday to watch them do it. Every Christian is meant to be in full-time Christian service…There is indeed a special ministry of pastors, teachers, and evangelists—but for what? …For the perfecting of the saints for their ministry.”

See, real disciple-making is about getting people to find their area of ministry and releasing them serve Him to build up the church.

Ephesians 4:12-14 - The Body matures through discipleship

Christian maturity is the goal of discipleship.

The church must be a disciple-making entity.

Verse 13 really answers the question, “How long will this growth process continue?”

Answer: When we are fully unified with Christ and fully mature in him.

When will that be?

When he returns!

So, the discipleship process won’t end until the trumpets sound or they put us in the ground!

In verse 14 we see that good discipleship helps the believer to avoid three major dangers:

Immaturity

Believers who don’t become involved in serving others will continue to be spiritual children.

What that means is you will never really grow in your walk with Christ until you serve others.

They are underdeveloped because of lack of exercise.

Americans are fat…34% of all American men are overweight. 27% of women are overweight. 42% of overweight adults are obese and 9% are severely obese.

Why? We eat a lot of fatty foods and we don’t get enough exercise.

Too many churches are filled with obese Christians, physically and spiritually.

That leads to an immature faith.

Instability

The word picture Paul uses here is great!

I went to Mexico after I graduated high school and got really, really sick…but we paid to go Blue Marlin fishing…ugh!

These are people who seem to never be grounded in the truth.

They are wishy-washy.

People who aren’t grounded in God’s Word will become wishy-washy.

Today, it’s the “I’m Okay, You’re Okay” mentality.

Gullibility

This is truly the most tragic of all the dangers!

Today, more than ever before people are vulnerable to false doctrine.

The JW or Mormon visits…

The persuasive views of people on the internet...

The LGBTQ+ movement has become more militant than ever before, and more young people are identifying as such...

Islam…

And the rise of the “nones”...

People who are not grounded in good discipleship will at best compromise their faith, and more likely will get sucked into a cult or walk away from their faith.

As God’s church, we must take this personally and make disciple-making our priority!

Ephesians 4:15-16 - The Body builds itself up in love

You know the best way to combat these dangers?

Speaking the truth in love.

Committed to preaching the Gospel, teaching Christ-likeness and correcting error.

But always out of a spirit of love!

Look at the results of commitment to sound doctrine and discipleship:

The church achieves its ultimate goal: Christ-likeness (v. 15).

The great thing about this is that to be like Christ isn’t only the goal, but he is also the source of this growth!

And when this happens, the body is healthy, so it grows as it ought to.

So What?

Biblical church leaders are responsible to God to build up the body of Christ to maturity in faith and practice.

They do this by: Guiding the church to maintain the unity of the Spirit.

What’s my role in this?

How has God called me to be a leader?

How has God called me to be a follower?

How am I contributing to the unity of the Spirit within my church?

How am I hurting the unity of the Spirit within my church?

What must we as Christ’s church understand about being the body of Christ?

The Body is unified in Christ, the Body is gifted by Christ, the Body grows to be like Christ, the Body matures through discipleship, the Body builds itself up in love.

Take these home and ask yourself throughout the week, how can I see these in my own life, as part of Christ’s body?

If I cannot see them, then what’s standing in the way? Is it worth it?