A Common Goal
Ephesians: Bringing It All Together • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:30
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· 832 viewsWithout a doubt, the church is the most incredible group in the world. Find out why in this message from Ephesians 4:1-16
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I tell you what, the past few months around here have been nothing short of amazing.
Every week, I am hearing more and more stories of how God is at work in different people’s lives.
This week has been a great example of that.
In one week, we have had folks ministering to people in the hospital while others are ministering to a family who experienced a tragedy. At the same time, several individuals in our church family have been down here most days this week helping keep the building clean and the kids who came for camp fed.
By showing Christ to the students who came for camp, we were able to welcome 345 additional people to the block party we had Thursday, and then saw around 10 of those students make decisions for Christ at the evening service!
It has been amazing to see what God is doing in these days.
Also amazingly, that fits right in with what we have seen God do in our study of Ephesians.
What we are seeing God do is right in line with what we would expect him to do based off what we see in Ephesians.
Do you remember where we left off last week? We were in as we finished up.
One of the points we made as we wrapped up was that the church, the group of people God has saved through Jesus’ death and resurrection, are in a unique position to make him famous unlike any other in history.
We have been learning some incredible truths about how God has saved us and blessed us in Christ.
Now, we are turning to answer the question of, “So what?”
If we possess every spiritual blessing in Christ, if we have the same power working in us that raised Jesus from the dead, and if we are a part of this incredible group of people God is calling to himself from every nation on earth, then how are we supposed to live?
We are going to start answering that question this morning by looking at this amazing group of people we call “the church.”
For all our warts, wrinkles, and problems, the church really is incredible.
Some days, when the church get our eyes off Christ, it doesn’t seem that amazing. Although we shouldn’t, we have days where we fight and we bicker and we hurt each other.
However, when we are following Christ together, this group is unlike any in the world.
In , Paul describes exactly what sets the church apart from any other group in the world.
We can summarize it this way: Our common salvation (1-6) and unique gifts (7-11) enable us to work toward a common goal (12-16).
Although there are a lot of groups with common experiences and common goals, none compare to the body God is building with his people.
Our common salvation (1-6) and unique gifts (7-11) enable us to work towards a common goal (12-16).
Paul kicks things off in verses 1-3 with a transition. Read it with me.
Anytime you see the word “therefore,” you should always look back to see what the therefore is there for!
Here, it is pointing back to what we have already seen in the book.
In light of the incredible salvation we have, in light of all the blessings, in light of the fact that God is bringing everyone who will be saved together into one body in Christ, now live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
In verses 2-3, he sets out many of the themes he is going to discuss in the next three chapters. We will talk a lot about how we are to relate to each other now that we know Jesus and have that common bond.
The last theme he introduces will be the first he picks up, and that brings us to our first point on what makes the church unique:
1) We have a common salvation.
1) We have a common salvation.
Look at verses 4-6...
Every person who puts their faith and trust in Christ is saved exactly the same way!
By the way, this is a good time to answer a question: is this talking about the universal church, which is every Christian around the world, or the local church, which is each expression of that body?
I would argue that this passage deals with both. Every Christian in the world is saved the same way and is all part of the body of Christ, but the goal for which we are striving can only be accomplished as we work together with other believers in a local church, using the unique gifts we have been given.
You need to be a part of a local church family to become fully mature in Christ.
Back to the text, we see that if you are saved today, you are saved into one body of Christ.
This brings us back to that idea that Jesus tore down any dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, and we all have the same experience of salvation.
Not only that, but you have the same Spirit of God living in you that every other Christian has.
Do you get that? You have the same Spirit of God in you that Billy Graham did!
You and I have the same hope: the hope is not that we are good enough to save ourselves, but our hope is the certain assurance that because God is good and Jesus gave himself for me, I am right with God and have an inheritance laid up for me in heaven right now.
Whether you have been saved for a minute or saved for a lifetime, you and I have the same hope!
We have the same Lord, or leader, and that is Jesus.
If you have put your faith in Christ, then you are committed to letting him lead you every step of the way.
That’s the same as any other Christian. It isn’t like you reach some point where you start calling the shots. Every Christian submits themselves to the Lordship of Christ.
We are saved the same way: by placing faith in the finished work of Christ.
There is no other way to be saved!
So those in the church all share the same faith.
Baptism is the picture God gave us that we are to use to show that we are his, and it is the same picture we all use.
That baptism demonstrates that we have died to our old way of living and raised to a new life in Christ.
Finally, we see that we all have access to God the Father.
Every believer, from the youngest to the oldest, has the ability to come before God and seek his help at any time.
There are a lot of great organizations out there, but none share in the gifts we have been given.
Across the world, the church is an eclectic bunch. God is assembling people from every nation and tribe and language to be a part of his body.
Here in Christiansburg, our church should be the same. Whether you are white or a person of color, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are knew to Jesus or have been saved for a long time, whether you like hamburgers or hot dogs, whether you care about sports or not, whatever differences we may have, if you are here today and you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then we have the most important thing in common: our common salvation.
What an amazing group that God has assembled!
When things get tough, we need to stop focusing on what divides and come back to this common salvation we have.
That’s what Paul challenged us to do back in verse 3 - fight to keep that unity.
Here’s what is beautiful, though: unity doesn’t lead us to uniformity.
In some other religions and cults, they begin to demand that everyone look and act and think the same.
Not so in the body of Christ.
Why? Because of the second truth we see that makes the church amazing:
2) We have different gifts.
2) We have different gifts.
Pick up in verse 7...
Here, we have a quick statement: each of us has been uniquely gifted by Christ.
All of us who have been saved have been given salvation (2:8-9), but the way God uses that gift differs in each of us.
Some people are stronger at preaching and teaching. Others are better behind the scenes, helping meet practical needs. Some folks are great at encouraging people to grow in their walk with Christ, others are better at showing them where they got off track. Some people are uniquely generous. Some help the church run with administrative gifts that help organize and connect people with others who can help.
God has uniquely equipped you to serve in the church, which we will see more in a minute.
However, Paul steps to the side for a second to remind us of what Jesus has done for us.
Look at verses 8-10 - Jesus came from heaven to the earth and paid the penalty for our sin. He was raised from the dead to give us life, and now that he has been raised, he has gone back to heaven.
If you were with us earlier in our study, you remember that he was raised from the dead and raised to a position of authority in heaven that exalts him over everything else in creation.
From that exalted position as the victor who overcame sin and death for us, Jesus gives lavish gifts to us.
Look at verses 11-12 - God uniquely equips people for a specific purpose.
In the days when the church was young, he set apart some to be apostles and prophets to lay a foundation for the church in the years to come.
Although every believer is called to share the Gospel with others, he uniquely equips some to make it their life’s work as evangelists. We still have some who do this, and we would probably put missionaries in this category.
Then, you see that Jesus called and equips men to fill the role I have the privilege of serving in - the role of pastor/teacher.
Those two are connected grammatically, so they point to the same position, of those uniquely called to teach and lead the local expression of his body.
Some make the mistake of thinking that if they aren’t in that list, they aren’t really that important to the body of Christ, but look at verse 12.
Why did God give these people to the church? So that every believer would be equipped to do the work of the ministry so that Christ’s body would be built up.
That means that my job is to help you find your gifts, help you develop them, and then let you use those gifts to build up the body of Christ!
My job as pastor isn’t to do everything in the church; it is to help you see how God wants to involve you in what he is doing so that together we can see God work in amazing ways!
That’s what I have rejoiced in seeing this week as God has brought so many people with so many different gifts to help in so many different ways.
I have seen people who are great at administration to help organize ministry and help meet needs.
I have seen people who are uniquely merciful sit and bring comfort in beautiful ways.
I have watched as those equipped to serve have worked behind the scenes so Jesus would be exalted as people are being touched with the love that Christ has shown us.
Others have given financially so we would have the resources to help when they are needed.
I watched people at the block party show love and concern for people they didn’t even know as they struck up conversations and shared Jesus with them.
It is amazing to watch people take the gifts that God has given them and do ministry with them.
We all share a common salvation, but that common salvation works its way out in unique gifts God has given us.
Jesus doesn’t give us these gifts for us to become proud or to build up our own little kingdoms, however.
We see next that what makes the church amazing is...
Each of those gifts, however, is for one common goal.
3) We have a common goal.
3) We have a common goal.
Our goal is that the body of Christ would be built up.
Look at verse 13- We aren’t there yet, are we?
We must keep using our gifts until every person in the church is unified and growing up to be mature in Christ.
Remember Paul’s prayer last week? That’s what we are striving for…for all of us to use our giftedness to help others in the church be filled to all the fullness we can handle of Christ.
As we do, that will keep us from falling into wrong teaching about who God is and what he calls us to do. Look at verse 14.
We will talk more next week about how we watch our words, but verse 15 introduces that idea—we speak truth to each other out of a heart of love for God and for others.
As we learn and as we serve and as we as a church minister to the people God puts in our lives, we grow up in every way to follow Jesus more and more.
Never think that you are insignificant to the body of Christ. Look at verse 16.
I learned the lesson about “every supporting ligament” recently. I was playing in the yard barefoot with the kids the other night, and I turned too quickly and jammed or pulled something in my toe.
For the next two days, I couldn’t walk right. The first night, it even hurt to have the covers laying on my foot.
It was a small part of my body that was injured, but it made everything harder.
Did you see how the church is designed to work? The body grows when each individual part is using the gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given us in love to see Christ exalted.
You may not be a pastor or teacher, but you have the same salvation that the apostles had, with the same Spirit, same Lord, and same access to God the Father.
In fact, although your gift may look different, Jesus has given you a gift that he expects you to use to serve his body.
The church won’t be able to do all God can do through it until you use the gifts God has given you so that his church will be built up.
We need you to be a part of this amazing group.
If you have questions about your giftedness, reach out to me this week and I will be happy to talk with you more.