What Is Our Purpose?
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Good morning and welcome to Dishman Baptist Church. Whether you are joining us in person or online I am truly grateful that you would spend your time with us this morning. Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4.
We’ve jumped back into this book following the Advent season and we’ve thus far looked at what Paul has begun to teach regarding the conduct of church. At the beginning of chapter 4 we saw what the church is to look like on the micro level as Paul instructs them on the conduct of interpersonal relationships admonishing the Ephesians to walk worthy of their calling with humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love - what a marvelous change would be wrought in our lives if we simply abided by these words in our daily relationships as well as those in the church.
Then Paul looks at unity on a macro level as he tells them that they are not individuals but a part of something greater, something that shares one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and all of this is through the grace of the one God and Father. Then he tells them about the gifts that have been given by our magnanimous King who took us captive rescuing us from captivity and bestows upon us gifts for service in His Kingdom.
I’ve repeatedly said that Paul is teaching a sort of Church 2.0 - an upgraded version of church that we should be following. But this morning I’d like to retract that statement - this isn’t an improvement on church, rather this is the way that church is supposed to be. We’re the ones who are guilty of seeking to improve on church and to achieve a sort of church 2.0. The church in the 21st century - and really its been going on for longer than that but this is where we are and so we must deal with today - is in a bit of an identity crisis. We don’t know who we are and we don’t really know what we’re supposed to be doing.
In an article entitle “The Rise of Paganism” in the New York Times in December 2018, columnist Ross Douthat writes these words about the church “perhaps instead of secularization it makes sense to talk about the fragmentation and personalization of Christianity - to describe America as a nation of Christian heretics, if you will, in which traditional churches have been supplanted by self-help gurus and spiritual-political entrepreneurs. These figures cobble together pieces of the old orthodoxies, take out the inconvenient bits and pitch them to mass audiences that want part of the old-time religion but nothing too unsettling or challenging or ascetic. The result is a nation where Protestant awakenings have given way to post-Protestant wokeness, where Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield have ceded pulpits to Joel Osteen and Oprah Winfrey, where the prosperity gospel and Christian nationalism rule the right and a social gospel denuded of theological content rules the left.”
And in places where this hasn’t happened its quite possible that something worse has. We’ve been lured into a life of consumerism where the goal is entertainment or cultural attendance because it is what we’ve always done. How many of you know someone who, if asked why they attend a particular church will answer “because their youth group is so fun and my kids really love it. The teaching isn’t much here but my kids just love the youth group.” The greatest secret in the church is that we have become a church of observers rather than participants. We have pew warmers rather than prayer warriors.
All across the nation - well in some places - there are people who are getting ready to attend or are already in attendance at a football game - worshipping at the altar of commercial sporting enterprises. Without getting too far down that rabbit hole - in each of those stadiums there are 92 players who started with their respective teams back in September with a goal in mind. To reach the Super Bowl. Those players every effort has been to reach that pinnacle achievement.
What is it that the church is seeking to accomplish? That is the question that Paul will pose for us this morning as he tells us the purpose of the church - and the question is how are we doing at accomplishing our mission? Do we have a purpose for what we’re doing here?
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.
Specific Gifts
Specific Gifts
The first two categories have been superceded by the second two. Despite what some modern movements would have us believe there are no modern day apostles or prophets.
After Christ setting the cornerstone, the apostles are the foundation of all that we believe. They were charged as Christ’s representatives with laying that foundation through planting churches, receiving revelation from the Spirit leading to the written Word of God and were attested to their validity through the performance of signs and wonders. One requirement for these men was that they had been with Jesus - after Judas died when they sought to replace him one of the requirements was that the man had been with Jesus from the very beginning
“Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—
beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us—from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
But after the cannon had been established the need for the Apostles diminished and they passed from the scene of church history. One example that I read was that of a constitutional convention - once the purposes of the convention have been completed then the delegates are no longer needed. This is the case with apostles and is the reason why we don’t have apostles in the church today.
Prophets
Prophets in the New Testament were to work alongside the apostles to interpret and teach the mystery of Christ’s coming and the salvation that was subsequently offered through His death and resurrection. Paul told us earlier in Ephesians this was the purpose of the prophets
This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
The prophets were found in local churches whereas the apostles were sent to the church at large. The prophets would often interpret the apostles teaching for the local congregation not necessarily impart a direct message from God. In this way the prophets and the apostles worked hand in hand to deliver the foundation of the faith - the apostles message was doctrinal and general whereas the prophets message was more personal and practical - taking the truths taught by the apostles and applying them to their specific context and situation.
Once the foundations of the church had been laid though the purpose of the apostles and prophets had been fulfilled and they left the stage of church history to be replaced by the evangelists and pastor-teacher.
Evangelists
There are men within the church that have the gift of being an evangelist. These men have the unique ability to explain and preach the Gospel in such a way that people are brought to Christ. James Boyce puts it this way in his commentary “An evangelist is one who possesses a special ability to communicate the gospel of salvation from sin through Jesus Christ.” That doesn’t let any of you off the hook from seeking to share the Gospel with neighbors, coworkers, friends, etc. but it is important to recognize that there are those who are singularly gifted in this area.
This term “evangelist” is used only here in the New Testament and in all of the New Testament only one person is directly referred to as an evangelist - Philip is called an evangelist in Acts 21:8
The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
And his efforts towards evangelism are recounted for us in Acts 8. Timothy is charged in 2 Timothy 4:5 to do the work of an evangelist. We should certainly be seeking to cultivate and develop this gift in men who are capable of going out and speaking the Gospel to the lost and to teach others how to evangelize. We could certainly use someone with those giftings here as we seek to reach Spokane Valley for Christ. This may get me in trouble but I believe this is an office that does not encompass just men the way pastor-teacher does. This is a gift often given to both men and women and can be used by both for the effective equipping of the saints and the growth of the church. One commentator called the evangelists the obstetricians of the church.
This gift has been heavily maligned in recent years because there are many self-styled “evangelists” who use the opportunity to simply scream people down and to try and scare them into the kingdom. There is no other way to bring someone into the Kingdom except to preach the name of Christ and to allow the Spirit to do His work in their hearts - do we tell them of sin? Of course. Do we warn them of Hell? Certainly. But if I only preach the “you don’t want to burn do you? Well then you better get saved!” gospel then I’m not preaching the beauty and gloriousness of Christ - and that is a sad message. Evangelists must seek to proclaim the same message that Paul taught
For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Just as a new born baby has to be passed on from the obstetrician to the pediatrician, so must new believers be passed from the evangelist to the pastor-teacher.
Pastor-teacher
Evangelists may or may not be itinerant. The role of a pastor-teacher is anything but itinerant. There are many opinions as to whether Paul is speaking of two offices here as in pastor and teacher or a combination of both roles in one person. It is true that there is an aspect of teaching in each of the previous three roles named. It is also true that there are those who are capable of teaching that are not called to the pastorate. I think though, that the grammar suggests that Paul has in mind both roles in one person here. That the person charged most with equipping the saints in this new entity called the church must bear the marks of both pastor and teacher.
The word for pastor here is most usually translated shepherd in the New Testament. In fact of the eighteen times it is used in the New Testament, only here is this word translated pastor. Twice the shepherd referred to is Christ himself - in both Hebrews 13:20
Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
and in 1 Peter 2:25
For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
A key text in the Bible for understanding the role of a shepherd in the life of the church is Ezekiel 34 - where God is calling out the poor spiritual leaders of Israel for mistreating His sheep.
The word of the Lord came to me:
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock?
You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock.
You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered.
My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.
What we find here is the primary responsibilities of a shepherd of God’s flock. They must feed the sheep (verse 2), they must care for the sheep (verse 3-4) and they must lead the sheep (verse 5-6). The pastor of a church is not simply a hired hand who is merely to stand here on Sundays and pontificate on a text to you - although that is a significant part of feeding the sheep.
When I was hired I told the committee that they were hiring me as your preacher only time would tell if I was to earn the right to be called your pastor. You will each have to determine for yourselves how I’m doing in that arena - whether you are being fed, adequately led in the ways of Christ and whether or not you are being cared for.
It is in the arena of feeding the sheep that the skill of teacher most comes in to play. It is also critical to understand at this juncture that there are very few teachers who expound on their own material. In fact even those who teach a class based on their own book aren’t really teaching something new - they’re only teaching their understanding of something old. Pastor-Teachers in the church are not to stand up in the pulpit and try and explain or give their own ideas or opinions. No - we have been given the manual it is our role to explain it to the body for the purpose of their edification.
“The task of a pastor is to ensure that his congregation is anchored in the Word of God and grounded in the work of Christ.”
One thing Paul is not doing is setting up these offices as the official team that does all the work in the church. He is not listing the directory of those who are meant to accomplish every task and saying - these are the guys you go to when you need something done. He’s saying that Christ has not left you bereft of help in figuring out what gift you have and how to use it - these are the guys who are going to help you do that through the preaching and teaching of the Word - but their purpose is to equip you so that you are capable of using your gift.
Equip for Service
Equip for Service
The first concern of the leadership of the church should be for the filled seats, not the empty ones. So how are we equipped for service? How are we built into this entity called the church that is meant to offer service to our King? The first way is through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God.
Word
I have a watch face on my Apple watch that reminds me of the central tenet of our Christian walk and my calling as a pastor. It is quote from Alistair Begg that says “It is the Word of God that makes men and women of God.” It is a subtle reminder for those days when my pride might interfere with my ministry that I’m really just a bit player in all of this and that really I have very little influence at all - instead it is simply my role to point you to the marching orders and then watch you move as He has directed you. The primary way in which that happens is by pointing you to the Word of God.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,
Now if you’re frustrated by where you are at - that is a good thing. You should be but not to the point of wearing yourself out by how far you have not come. Sanctification my dear friends is a gradual process. So is equipping. No one, or relatively few people, steps into any arena and is a natural born expert or prodigy at a skill. It takes effort and time to gain the ability to excel. J.C. Ryle said it this way
300 Quotations for Preachers from the Modern Church (Gradual Growth Taught in Scripture)
Gradual growth in grace, growth in knowledge, growth in faith, growth in love, growth in holiness, growth in humility, growth in spiritual-mindedness—all this I see clearly taught and urged in Scripture, and clearly exemplified in the lives of many of God’s saints. But sudden, instantaneous leaps from conversion to consecration I fail to see in the Bible.J. C. RYLE
And it is this growth in grace, knowledge, faith, love, holiness, humility, spiritual-mindedness that equips you for using the particular gifting that God gives you. Notice here that Paul doesn’t say that the pastor-teacher or evangelists are experts in all gifts. How then should they be capable of equipping all the variety of giftings that are given upon the church? By instruction in the Word and by the Spirit bringing believers to sanctification. This is also why the early apostles sought to devote themselves to the ministry of prayer and the ministry of the Word.
But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Prayer
I said in the introduction that the modern church has pew warmers rather than prayer warriors. Unfortunately many of those are also found to be in the pulpit and at times even I am guilty of not praying either as much or as fervently as I should. Yet the prayers that are offered are in many ways even more significant than the words that I speak in the pulpit. I could be given a golden tongue the way that Chrysostom had. I could be the prince of preachers the way Spurgeon was. I could have a beautiful logic such as Martyn Lloyd-Jones had, a simplicity like R.C. Sproul, a passion like John Piper and a doctrinal devotion like MacArthur but if my prayers have not previously implored the Spirit to prepare the soil of your hearts my words will fall on ears and hearts harder than the hardest path crossing a field in Galilee. That is not to say that I can cause you to be saved or to receive the words of this sermon simply by the power of my prayers alone - but the Spirit is pleased to inhabit the prayers of His people and to move through those prayers to effect His good purposes
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
Speaking of the role of a pastor in prayer, puritan Richard Baxter said
300 Quotations for Preachers (Prayer as Well as Preaching)
Prayer must carry on our work as well as preaching; he does not preach heartily to his people who will not pray for them. If we do not prevail with God to give them faith and repentance, we are unlikely to prevail with them to believe and repent.RICHARD BAXTER
But prayer for your heart and growth is not solely my responsibility. It is also yours to come with a prayer prepared heart to hear from God, with a prayer strengthened desire to put into practice those areas in which you are convicted and with a prayer supported willingness and ability to work for the kingdom of God.
Two other ways that we are equipped for service are through trials and suffering. These are hopefully not something that is the result of the efforts of the pastor-teacher but instead are orchestrated by the sovereignty of God for our growth and sometimes for our chastening. I mention them here because they are a great opportunity for us to recognize that another way in which we are equipped is through the support of one another. I can equip you very well through Bible teaching that feeds your soul and your spirit but it is through trials and suffering that I am able to most ably demonstrate my care for you. Remember the passage from Ezekiel that we just looked at - You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick or bandaged the wounded.
Trials
James writes to count it all joy when you experience various trials. But we don’t really like that do we. What we need to recognize is that trials are brought by God into our lives to mature us and to equip us for greater service. Sometimes trials are brought from external sources - think Job who was faithful to God and had all of his life ripped away - and sometimes from internal sources - think David a man after God’s own heart but who sinned and caused trials to be brought into his life. In each case the trials were meant to draw these men closer to God to develop and build them, to make them fit for greater service.
Sometimes God brings a trial into our lives to get us to move in a direction He wanted us to go - not necessarily because we need chastened for sin but because we have grown complacent and comfortable where we are and we must be challenged to something new.
The role of church leadership - those men that Paul spoke of earlier - is to walk through the trial with you and to help point you to Christ’s work that He desires to accomplish through your trial. We don’t have all the answers but we have access to them in the Word of God. Through such avenues as Biblical Counseling and Bible study together we can work out what God is trying to do in your life - growing your maturity and building the likeness of His Son in your life.
Suffering
It is becoming increasingly likely that the church will experience suffering in the near future - and let me clarify that. The American iteration of the church - our brothers and sisters around the world have been experiencing suffering for years. But it is increasingly being brought to our doorstep.
Charles Spurgeon said “Never did the church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in blood. The ship of the church never sails so gloriously along as when the bloody spray of her martyrs falls on her deck. We must suffer and we must die, if we are ever to conquer this world for Christ.”
Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12
In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
But this should not surprise us that suffering may come - we were promised as much by Christ. The challenge is to remain faithful and steadfast during suffering.
300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon (Generalities Are Useless (2 Thessalonians 3:10–12; 1 John 2:14))
Generalities in religion are always to be avoided, more especially generalities in service. If a man waits upon you for a work situation, and you say to him, “What are you?” if he replies, “I am a painter, or a carpenter,” you can find him work perhaps. But if he says, “I can do anything,” you understand that he can do nothing.So it is with the sort of spiritual jobbers who profess to be able to do anything in the church, but who really do nothing.
But what is our goal - what is all of this to produce?
But what is our goal - what is all of this to produce?
Huge numbers?
International platforms?
We can accomplish that without the help of Christ - there are lots of examples of that today
Paul calls us to some high standards and then to the highest standard.
Unity in the faith
Jude exhorted us to contend for the faith once and for all committed to the saints and that was against false teachers. This is something different. This is patiently working together to come to a correct understanding of the tenets of the faith that result in unity. When we study the Word and teach it correctly, when we are serving in accordance with the giftings that have been given to us and when the body is growing in maturity we can’t help but become more like Christ and unity is the result. And this is the most significant thing the church can gain - we can get along. We can have fellowship all day long but if our foundation is cracked because we can’t agree on the truth then we will accomplish nothing.
In the knowledge of God’s Son
epignosis means experiential knowledge, full and correct knowledge
Growing into maturity - a mature man is the picture here
with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness
We’re not trying to measure up to Grace Community Church or Saddleback.
We’re not trying to measure up to Parkside or Elevation.
Again we could do that on our own - implement this program here and that change there and voila we could be a large church. Dr. MacArthur writes “How tragic it is for churches to spin their wheels in programs and committees while thousands around them are desperately in need of the spiritual water of the Word.”
We’re not even trying to measure up to VRL or VBC.
Oh if only that were the extent of our aspirations as a church - if that’s all we had to do - but our standard is so much higher
We are being measured by the stature of Christ. When you were little did you ever try and measure your hands against your father or mother’s? Did you ever try and walk in your father’s footsteps? I can’t remember where I’ve seen this in a movie but I think of a young child who is jumping from footprint to footprint as he follows his father down the path - we must look to our Savior and truly say the words of this poem “Lead me daddy, I watch every step you take and every decision you make, I follow your footsteps along the way as I grow bigger each and every day, I put my little hand in yours and trust you to open up all the doors, Show me the way you want me to go and tell me all I need to know, If you will lead daddy I will follow.” Who could we say that of more truly than our King Jesus Christ.
We may walk in His path, we may follow in His footsteps but we will never measure up to them even when we are complete in Heaven we will still, although perfect, not measure up to His stature. It is our desire here to challenge you on to greater spiritual maturity as you seek to grow into the stature of our Savior Jesus Christ.
We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
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