Christ's People

Introduction

We'll continue our worship this morning, looking at Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 16 together as a church. Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 16 is where we'll be this morning. As you turn there, I'll pray once more and ask the Lord to help us as we understand his word.

Lord, we come to your word this morning, and as always, we ask that you would humble us before it. And therefore, that your Spirit would work in our hearts to bring it to bear on our lives. Instruct us in truth this morning, Lord. Show us your vast wisdom. And help us to live in wisdom from it. Gladly, joyfully, without any begrudging, obeying your word. That it might take root in our lives and produce much fruit. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Review of Previous Sermons

The last two weeks, we've been together, looking at Scripture and thinking together about the church. Two weeks ago, on the 12th, we looked at Matthew 16, verses 13 to 20. We saw the nature of the church, that it is built on Christ, that it is built by Christ, "I will build my church," and that it's gathered around Christ, and authorized by Christ to carry out his plan and his purposes on earth. Christ's church is an unstoppable church. The most glorious institution on earth.

Last week, we looked at Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, what is often called the Great Commission, and thought about Christ's mission that he gives the church to make disciples. That this is a mission for us as a church. This is a mission that the church fulfills on earth. That this mission is to make disciples, that is, in short, to help others follow Christ. That includes that beginning part that Jesus talks about of baptism, preaching the gospel to unbelievers, going to the nations as he says, and recognizing them as Christians, baptizing them with the authority that Christ gives us, and teaching them to observe all that he has commanded.

Not just making disciples, the Great Commission is not just the beginning of the Christian walk and something we do only to unbelievers, but making disciples is something we do together as a church week in and week out, helping believers to be mature in Christ. This is a mission that we accomplish with Christ. He told us in Matthew 28 that he has all authority, and therefore he gives us this command to make disciples, and he is with us always, even to the end of the age. We have Christ with us on this mission.

Christ's People: Ephesians 4:1-16

And now we come to a third and final week of this short series, thinking about the church. And we're thinking this morning about Christ's people. Christ's people. We've understood, hopefully, in broad strokes what the church is and what the church should be about. Jesus has instituted the church and he's given us clear commands, clear marching orders. But the what and the why of our mission is just a big picture reality. We want to know the specific, at least in part. Probably not every specific, but some specific reality as to how you and I live together in the church together. What does Christ want of his people, the local church?

What's it going to look like to help each other obey all that Christ has commanded? What kind of culture would be established in that church that obeys Christ? What will the local body be marked by? How do we practically accomplish this mission in each other's lives?

We won't be getting into every specific, but looking at Ephesians 4, we're going to get into some specifics. And we'll see five characteristics that should mark every local church that is following Christ. Look down in Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 16 with me now. If you do not have a Bible, we have some right in the entryway. If you want to go grab one on that white table, if you don't have a Bible you'd like to keep it, that's our gift to you.

Ephesians 4, starting in verse 1 through 16 says this, "I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, 'When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.' In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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, 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 and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, 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."

This is God's word for us this morning. And if you would, turn back a page if your Bible is like mine. Look down at verse 1. Verse 1 contains an important word, a word that we've highlighted elsewhere as we were going through the book of James this past year. Paul says, "I, therefore," prisoner for the Lord, "urge you to walk in a manner worthy." Therefore. The instructions that we are about to get are in light of a context, which is the context of all of Ephesians 1 through 3. If you want to think about the book of Ephesians as a whole, you can think of it as Ephesians 1 through 3 being the plan of God described. The plan of God in redemption from eternity past to save sinners through the present to work in his church and unite them, and to proclaim his glorious wisdom to the watching world and the cosmos for his glory. This is the plan of God in redemption, and verses 4 through 6 show us how that plan works out in the people of God. Chapters 4 through 6, the people of God.

So we arrive here at verse 1 after God's redemption has been displayed, after his power has been proclaimed, after his grace, which is immeasurably lavished upon us, has been talked about, after his glory has been expounded. We learn that there's practical ways that these realities show up in the church and are seen tangibly. We're to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.

1. Holiness

And what does Christ want for us? Number one, he wants holiness. "Therefore, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called." Christ is calling us to live lives that do not just assent to the gospel and agree to the gospel, but live out gospel power day by day, that display the redeeming and transformative power of Christ's work in us. That's what he means when he says, "worthy of the calling to which you have been called." Of the call to Christ himself, of the call to eternal redemption that has been secured in him, of the immeasurable riches that you have been given and have verse 8, chapter 1, been lavished upon you in wisdom, of the grace that God has made known to you and has worked in your life to take a dead sinner, says Ephesians 2, and brought you to life. Of the gospel at work in you that now unifies Christians of every stripe and color together.

This gospel that proclaims Ephesians 2:10 that we are Christ's workmanship, new creatures, and we've been created in Christ Jesus for good works. In light of the gospel, we walk worthily. The gospel is good news of an objective reality that Christ saves us, that Christ justifies us and we're declared righteous before him. That beautiful reality of Romans 8:1, "there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And yet, that objective reality does play out in our lives. It does carry with it an expectation that the gospel seed planted within us bears fruit and we walk worthily. In short, we want to be faithful to Christ. We want to look to him in whatever he says, follow. We want our lives to be shaped more by the word of God and be worthy in that sense than by the world or any other distraction, or anything that might tell us what's good for us in life.

To walk worthily is to follow the clear command from Leviticus 19 on, "Be holy as your Father in heaven is holy," and as Jesus says, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," in Matthew 5:48. Think about the reality that you're supposed to walk worthily in this way. Many of you have worked for different companies, or agencies, or individuals over your life. The best of companies are marked by a type of culture that they want to define them, that describes who they are. And so, so often when you go to work somewhere, you get some orientation. They tell you who they are, what they're about, and what it means to work for them. And what the expectation is to work for this kind of company. It's why Chick-fil-A employees always say, "My pleasure," even sometimes through gritted teeth if you're a begrudging customer.

The gospel saves us, forms a culture in the church that is a gospel culture, a culture of grace, a culture of God's grace at work in us that doesn't lie dormant. Our faith is active, not dead. And so as a church, we want to be shaped by the gospel, we want to together be marked by holiness. As Augustine has said, "A Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ helps." Christ at work in us, we walk worthily. Everything else flows out of that general reality. That's the big picture of sanctification and God's work in you, in the church, and day to day.

2. Unity

Number two, what does Christ want for his church? This might be the most obvious reality in these opening verses, and it's unity. Christ wants unity for his church. He first tells us this, Paul does, by telling us that in walking worthily, we walk with humility, and gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another in love. Four key ingredients to unity. There's no way we're going to be unified if we're not humble. If we're marked by pride and we seek our own glory, and our own ends, and our own good, and our desires, mine over yours, the church will not be unified. We must follow the example of Christ and have the same mind among us. We must be marked by humility. This is why he says, "Be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Humility is a key ingredient. Humility is not self-degradation, but counting others more important than yourself. Not saying, "I have nothing, I'm not interesting, there's nothing to contribute," but being self-forgetful and recognizing others. And being honest about the reality around you, another's giftedness and the way the Lord is using them. Humility doesn't necessarily stamp you down, but it elevates others in the work of God in their life. Paul also tells us that if we're going to walk worthily and we're going to pursue unity in the Spirit, that we need to be gentle. That's a demeanor and a tenor which we ought to treat one another with. Not harsh, not begrudging, not impatient, not frustrated, but gentle. Like a sweet and tender mother to her child.

He also says, "Have patience." That reminds us of James 1, verses 19 through 21, that we should be slow to speak and slow to anger, we should be quick to listen, that we should be quick to love, perhaps before we'd even other cast judgment on each other falsely and partiality. And he says also to walk worthily and pursue unity, that we are to bear with one another in love. As we know elsewhere, "Love covers a multitude of sins." Bearing with one another, being patient with one another in love, being long-suffering with one another in love. Right here is the reality baked in that the church is not perfect. Why patience, why humility, why gentleness, why bearing with one another in love? Friends, because you and I are all in process. None of us have arrived yet. We need this kind of patience and kindness and forbearance from each other, don't we? And as Christ continually extends grace to us and works in us, we should expect that he is working by his grace in others. So we're patient as God does his work. Not just in our lives, but in everybody else's as well.

Unity practically is formed by those who understand that we are not the most important person in the room, that we prefer others and love one another well with patience. In verse 3, in describing this, unity says, "We're to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit." Eager. We're going to see here in a moment that the unity that we possess is an objective reality and we're to live out that practically. By way of illustration, think about the child who sees a present under the tree even weeks before Christmas if you're that kind of family. The tree is up, the presents are out. Not all of us order gifts for our children that quickly. But think of that. They know it has their name on it. They've seen it. They looked at how big or how small it was. While mom and dad weren't looking, they might have felt it, they might have poked their finger in the wrapping, they shook it a little to figure out what it might be, and with eager expectation, they say, "I cannot wait until it's mine. I'm eager to have this gift."

Unity is something objective that Christ has accomplished in his church, and it's our job to take that gift of Christ, unified in him, and live it out and we're to be eager for it. It's a good and glorious and wonderful gift that Christ has given us. We should receive it as such. Be happy for it and long for it. This objective unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is explained in verses 4 and 5. And here, we have one word repeated seven times over, one, one, one, one, one, one, one.

Unity is this objective reality that we are, look verse 4, one body. Christ has united to himself a gathering of wayward sinners. Nothing special in us except that we have been saved by Christ and he has gathered us to himself. We are his body, one of the sweetest metaphors that we receive in Scripture of Christ's bride, a body, the church. And there is one Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit who indwells and seals us all. Who is in us all permanently. This is the same Spirit that prays for us when we don't know what to pray. This is the Spirit who is the Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead and now enlivens our mortal bodies. That powerful Spirit is in each one of us. Not a different Spirit in one of you and then in me, but the same Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, God Almighty, has taken up residence within us.

One call. Ephesians describes the glorious reality of salvation and God's predestining and electing work, calling sinners to himself, and the one call of the Lord unto salvation. Every Christian has heard and heeded as God has opened our dead hearts to the truth of his word and the glory of Christ and his salvation. One body, one Spirit, one call, one hope that we are called. Think of 1 Peter 1. A living hope of the gospel. A living hope of future glory. A hope that goes beyond the present and into the eternal. Your future in heaven is the sweetest hope that you have, and you share it with every brother and sister in Christ in this room. And every Christian who has ever lived and put their faith in Christ, the church universal has shared this hope with you.

We have one Lord who is Christ, the Lord whom we follow and obey and learn from. Christ, who we are disciples of. We have one faith in Christ. Faith being a gift, Ephesians 2 would tell us, from God. And one of the sweetest gifts, that instrument that God uses in us to justify us. Faith in Christ. Here it says also that we have one baptism. Not here referring to our physical baptism, but the fact that we are united to Christ. Baptism at times can signify the entire reality of salvation, and here baptism is signifying our union with Christ. The most fundamental reality about you as a Christian is that you are in Christ. You peel back every layer of what someone might know about you, and at the center is in Christ, joined to Christ and all of his glorious work of salvation and redemption on your behalf. That is true of you and every Christian. And we share that.

Then it says, "one God and Father of all, over all, through all, and in all." Every believer has God as their Father. There are many passages then that go to speak about our adoption as sons, brothers and sisters in Christ. A true spiritual family. This statement of God being Father of all, through all, and in all is not a statement about everybody in the world, or all of creation. This is a statement in context about Christians. And it's meant to further and bolster our unity because all of this is an objective reality. One hope, one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all and in all and through all. That's the reality. That kind of oneness is what you and I possess. We have it. Are we living it out? Are we eager to display that objective unity to each other in love and patience and humility and to watching world?

Jesus in John 17 prays his high priestly prayer. And the crux of his prayer, the center of his prayer is, "May they be one, Father, as you and I are one." As we have shared glory from all eternity past, unify them, make them one. That's Christ's prayer for his people. That's his heart for us, that we would be unified.

Is unity present in our lives? We can think about this as unity with all Christians, which is a good thing. We want to be unified with the church universal. We want to join ourselves together with all those who rightly profess Christ as Lord, justification by faith, the virgin birth, the reality of the Trinity, a sinless Savior. All true Christians in all time were united together. This is why, like last Sunday, we prayed for another church. We want to see God at work in local churches because the kingdom of God does not stop at the doors of this building.

We also ought to be unified at the most small and particular level of our lives. If you have a Christian spouse, is this objective unity lived out practically, clear and apparent in your marriage? Does it shape our marriages, this unity, more than any differences of personality, or wants, or likes, or dislikes on a day-to-day basis? What about when we have disagreements with other Christians? Are we willing to put on humility? Are we eager to maintain unity? What's our aim when we have a real disagreement with a brother or sister in Christ? Is it unity or is it winning the argument? Is it unity or showing them that they're wrong? It ought to be first and foremost unity. So that, as we'll see in a moment, we speak the truth, not begrudgingly, not domineeringly, but in love.

Christ prayed for unity and he wants unity amongst his followers. It should be obvious in our lives and in our church that Christ has brought us to him, and that is the thing that binds us together.

3. Service

Further, what does Christ want for his church? Yes, he wants holiness. Yes, he wants unity, and third, Christ desires service of each member of his church. Christ's salvation of us, his grace, his mercy, his love, his forgiveness are meted out in full measure to each and every believer at the same level. We're all saved the same way. None of you are more saved than I am, or vice versa. Again, it's an objective reality. But here in verse 7, we read, "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." And here we see not the objective grace, but an empowering grace of Christ. That Christ has gifted you and me in particular ways to serve him and to serve his church. You have been wired in a particular way that the Holy Spirit uses. You have been given practical gifting in specific ways to be used to bless others.

Every Christian, each of us, each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Christ has given you something, and likely more than one gift, to use for the building up of his body. Paul then goes in here to speak of Christ's ascension. He talks about, "He was ascended on high and led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men." Then he talks about his descending into the lower regions, the earth. We're going to summarize these verses really quickly. You might have questions on them later, but verses 8, 9, and 10 are simply telling us, "The one who reigned in heaven, descended in his incarnation. And after he accomplished his work on the cross and resurrecting, 40 days later, he ascended to heaven." And that victorious, risen Christ, who redeems his people in his victory and in his strength and in his power, gives gifts to his children.

Christ has given you a gift. What kind of gifts? In Romans 12, verses 6 through 8, we get this list. The gift of service, the gift of leading, the gift of exhortation, that's like encouragement, the gift of giving, the gift of mercy, the gift of teaching. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, we see the gift of wisdom, the gift of knowledge, of faith, even there in that context and in that day, the gift of healing. In 1 Corinthians 12, verse 28, we see the gift of helps and even the gift of administration. And the list of spiritual gifts in the New Testament are not an exhaustive list. There are many other gifts that Christ gives his church. If you are a particularly hospitable person and you're good at being kind to others, and welcoming them into the church, and welcoming them into your life, and into your home, I would say you have the gift of hospitality. Christ has wired you that way and allowed you to use that gift to bless others. And these gifts are not for us. There, if you have a gift that Christ has given you, and you see some way that Christ has gifted you, and some aptitude that you have that you can use in the lives of others, it's not for you.

What are you called to do in the local church? How has Christ gifted you? I don't know the answer for most of you yet. I'd love to continue to get to know our members more and see where Christ has gifted you so that he could use you, and help you to build up our church. How can you build up the body? Is there a way this afternoon, or on Monday morning, or on Thursday in the middle of the morning that you could use a gift God has given you to build up others? How has God uniquely made you so that you can serve him well?

Look down at verse 16 with me for a moment. Thinking about gifting, and each one of us having a gift according to the measure of Christ's gift. Verse 16 says, "The body is built up and joined together when each part is working properly." This text is really reminiscent of 1 Corinthians 12, where we get that body analogy of Christ. And in that passage, we read that the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you." And the foot can't say to the mouth, "I have no need of you." And to get really specific, the eyelash can't say to the kneecap, "I have no need of you." Paul didn't say that, I said that one. No matter how small of a gift, no matter how small of a contribution you can make, even the greatest contribution. Everybody's needed. Friends, the church needs you. Not in the way you served 20 years ago, not in the way you served last week, but the way that Christ has equipped you and is allowing you and enabling you by his grace to serve today.

Think of a football team. Now, I never played organized football, and football's not quite my sport, but I think it's a good analogy. On a football team, you have linebackers, you have safeties, you have a quarterback, you have running backs, you have wide receivers, you even have a kicker, who don't look like football players most of the time. Think of the wide array of the kind of athletes that join together to accomplish one goal, getting a ball across a line. You don't want a center or a linebacker doing the quarterback's job. You usually don't want a kicker doing the running back's job, or a wide receiver doing the kicker's job. They're all necessary though. Even the one that we might discount at times, like, "Oh, there goes the kicker getting paid a million bucks a year to come out a few times and he's probably a soccer player in college." But we all know how necessary a kicker is when he makes that winning field goal, don't we? The smallest, shortest of contributions making a massive difference. Our small faith and our little gifting can be used by Christ like that small mustard seed that grows into a field, that can accomplish more, that can move mountains. Friends, Christ wants to use you in the church.

4. Maturation

How does Christ aim to build us up in our gifting in the local church? Look at verses 11 and 12. It says, "He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, which is the building up of the body of Christ." How is the body built up? How are you equipped to use your gifts for ministry and to do ministry in the local church? Remember, Christ wants service, he wants serving members. Well, here we see in verses 11 and 12 that leaders are given to the church for this express purpose. We have here apostles, prophets, and evangelists. Apostles and prophets being explicitly first century, right after Christ ascended, gifts to Christ's church to establish the church. Apostles had seen the resurrected Christ and were given that office, that role specifically by Christ. You can think of the 12 disciples being the most clear example of the apostles, and Paul, and a few others who joined him, commissioned specifically by Christ for this work of apostles, of writing down Scripture, of establishing church, the church in its infancy with the truth of the gospel, sound doctrine, right living. Your New Testament is a fruit of the apostles' work.

There's also prophets. A New Testament prophet should be understood to be the same as an Old Testament prophet. And again, it's not a gift for you if you would have had it at that time. It's a gift for the church. The gift of prophecy, direct revelation from God spoken by a person for the building up of Christ's body. And then we have evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. These are roles that Christ still gives the church today. In fact, this first role, evangelist, is a really important one. We need those who burn and yearn for lost souls to equip others and show them what it looks like to lead people to Christ, to proclaim the gospel and to have great fervor in doing it. You've all known those individuals and you've all benefited from knowing those individuals. We want those evangelists in our midst.

There's also here the shepherds and teachers, which is really describing one thing in two parts. A shepherd is a pastor. This word shepherd elsewhere is used interchangeably with overseer, which is an elder in the church. Pastors and teachers. This is describing the role of pastor elders in the local church. What do we do? We shepherd God's flock that is among us here, and we teach them to observe all that Christ has commanded. Our job is one of caring for souls, knowing that on the final day we will be held accountable for these souls in our care within the local church, and to teach and herald sound doctrine, and to model by our lives what it looks like to live out sound doctrine. This is the role of shepherding and teaching.

Why today are there leaders? Why does Christ give his church elders, pastors? Verse 12. "To do all the ministry and let everybody sit idly by." That's not what verse 12 says, is it? Some of you were looking down at your Bibles and looked back up. The role of pastors and elders, to stand and talk and let everybody figure it out. No, that's not the role. This is a very small part of the role. What's the role of leaders in the church? Verse 12. "To equip the saints for the work of ministry," which is "the building up of the body of Christ." My job description heading, line one, is "equip the saints for the work of ministry." That's what you should expect of me and any other pastor or elder in this church. That's our job. To equip the saints for the work of ministry.

Which also includes a job description for you. Ministry. You are made, and you are meant to as a Christian, to minister in Christ's church, to serve the body, to do real ministry work, to use God's word in others' lives, to teach, and exhort, and admonish, and care for them. Counseling is not the role only of a pastor. When people meet crisis in their lives, and there's great hardship, the church gets to work. I love it when I've seen it, that there are hurting members going through great trials, and there's about 20 members who've heard about it and stepped in and filled the gap before it even gets to a pastor and has taken about 24 hours. I love it when you show up at the hospital, or a funeral, or a wedding, and a throng of people have already been there and have cared for and ministered God's word to each other.

Friends, those are the more stressful, dire moments. You minister to each other day in and day out, week by week. I've seen the text threads. What an encouragement to see it, to see brothers and sisters in Christ sending each other Scripture, encouraging each other, continually praying for each other in all of life's circumstances. This is what we do together. Ministry together. Just a small handful of us will probably stand up and teach God's word, or lead in music, or do some obvious acts of service. But the lion's share will be done by the entire congregation together. As we serve each other, as we use our gifts, as we pick up the word and minister, as we pursue unity together in the bond of peace, as we remind each other when we falter and we sin, of the grace of Christ, and his mercy, and we become living embodiments and reminders of it to each other.

We all serve the church. We all do real ministry because all are gifted and all are used by Christ. What is the effect of a church that gets to work and does ministry together? That pursues unity, that walks in a holy manner, worthy of the gospel, that goes ahead and picks up the gauntlet and does ministry day in and day out, side by side. Verse 13 tells us, "We do this together until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We build up the body. The body is strengthened, fortified, made whole. We don't want to see weak churches, we want to see strong churches. And we are used in strengthening Christ's church.

"To we all attain to the unity of the faith." Again, there's Christ's heart for unity in his church. And what is that unity? The unity of the faith that we profess, believing together, trusting Christ together, submitting our lives to him together, and the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God, which is something we continue to attain. We do not know all the riches and treasures of Christ, and so together we come before the Lord's word, and we mind its depths. "Lord, we want to know you. We want more knowledge of Christ. We want more of you, the everlasting fount of joy and love." And so we pursue it together. Until the final day when we truly attain it.

We're built up, attaining the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, aiming, that's corporate and individual, and now simply individualistically, to mature manhood. That's a mouthful. It points us to Christ, and says, "We want to look like Christ as much as possible." Christ, the God man, Christ, our perfect example, the sinless Savior who walked this earth and showed us what it looks like to live a holy life, following his footsteps. "Growing up into him," it says later on, "who is the head." I want to look like Christ when I grow up. This is a picture of we want to grow up into Christ, the ultimate hero. I I don't need to look like somebody else. I don't need to look like Kobe Bryant or some celebrity. I want to grow up in Christ, and I want to help my brothers and sisters get there. We all are looking at the same hero and saying, "I want to be that someday." We're just prodding each other along, pushing each other there, pulling each other when we're faltering, sticking an arm around each other so that we would be like Christ, so that we would be strengthened, mature, and steadfast. So that we would be protected.

Did you know that your ministry in the local church is one of protection, protecting each other? Look at verse 14. "This is so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves." So that no longer would every circumstance in life become an extreme high or an extreme low. So that when hardship comes, we would not abandon our faith, but we would hold steadfastly to Christ. Sometimes you just need a brother or sister to come around you and keep your hand on the anchor of Christ. So that we would not be carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and craftiness and deceitful schemes. There is a warning for us. Friends, there is much false teaching out there. There are many who would lead us astray. There are many even in the world who would aim to garner your attention and tell you how to live contrary to Scripture and subversive ways. One inch off here, another degree there. So the soon the faith you profess wouldn't look like faith at all.

And what's our role to build up the body of Christ, to minister in the local church, to be equipped for ministry? Is to know the truth. So that we can strengthen each other and help each other hold fast to the truth, to Christ. You remember at the end of James, he talked about those who had wandered from the truth, and it's our job to restore them and therefore save their souls. Whether they've wandered from the truth in their profession and they're trusting in a different Christ, or in another gospel, and they're running away wayward, or their lives are subverting their profession of the gospel, and showing that it's not true at all, it's our job to get the lasso out and pull them back in and say, "Remember Christ crucified, remember your Lord, remember what it looks like to be holy." That's our job. That's your job.

Protecting one another. Keeping each other safe and out of harm's way. What else does maturity look like in the local church? How else do we minister to each other and what does it produce? It looks like speaking the truth in love. In contrast to false doctrine, human cunning, and craftiness, we speak the truth in love to each other so that we grow up again into Christ. Notice that truth and love, truth and unity, truth and what Christ wants for us, do go hand in hand. Doctrine is not an end in and of itself. Knowledge is not an end in and of itself. Knowledge is not Christian maturity. Knowledge is not ministry in the local church. Knowledge alone will puff up. Doctrine is meant to produce love. This is what Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 1. He says, "The aim of our charge," 1 Timothy 1:6, "is love." It comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience. Truth works to produce love, and unity, and grace, and all the fruits of the gospel in our lives. We want to see it do that.

5. Love

And so, we want to be a church marked by the things that Christ wants us to be marked by. We want to be marked by holiness, we want to be marked by unity, we want to be marked by actively serving each other and growing in our ability to serve, and asking for help in that even. And therefore, as we work together, we want to be maturing into Christ, who is the head. And finally, verse 16, Christ wants his church to be marked by love. This is the end goal here. Verse 16 says, "We want to grow into Christ, from whom the whole body is 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 final marker, perhaps the most necessary, the most clear marker of a faithful church is love.

You'll notice again that this happens when each plays a part. You are needed to establish our church in love. You're a necessary ingredient here. The church, I think you would all agree, is at its best when it loves one another well, through hardship, through thick, through thin. When there's a palpable sense that those of us in the room here enjoy each other and want what is best for each other. That there's real affection because of our unity in Christ. Not wishy-washy love, mind you, but committed love. "I'm with you in all of life." And yet, sometimes we're afraid to be loved, aren't we? To be part of a church that's growing and where we're used to build itself up in love, if it's committed love, means we're known. To be loved but not known is superficial. And so it means that our faults, our inconsistencies, our sins are known. That we confess in to each other and receive grace from each other, forgiveness, as Christ and God has forgiven us.

Loving one another well in every circumstance means we know each other well. And in humility, love each other despite our difficulties, despite our differences, despite even our different personalities and ways that we do the smallest of things that might irk each other. We want to be built up in love. Each doing our part, each walking in humility. Because when we love each other well, and a church is built up in love and has this final outcome, yes, it's a testament to the watching world of the power of the gospel, but it's a testament to each other of God's endless and steadfast love that we read of this morning for us. His eternal love, his never giving up, never stopping unending love. Ian Hamilton has said, "God will never stop loving us because he never started loving us. He's loved us from all eternity." Let's do our part to show that eternal love to each other.

Communion and Benediction

This morning, we're going to join together in unity. This is meant to unify us around the table, the Lord's table, in taking communion. Communion is an ever-present example of Christ's love for us, of God's eternal love for us that has didn't begin, and so it will not end. Shown most magnificently to us in the sacrifice of Christ, his broken body and his shed blood for us. Romans tells us that there's no greater love than this, that one should lay down their life for the friends. And Christ has shown us that love. And so, Aiden's going to come up and play music in the background while the elements are passed. And after you've taken those elements, or received those elements, wait and we'll take them all together once we have them.

As a reminder, here, as we take communion together, we are united as we remember Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. In remembering Christ's sacrifice, communion is only for believers, those who have trusted in Christ for salvation, wholly dependent on his blood to cover them and cleanse them. Those who have been baptized in obedience to Christ. If you are not a Christian, and you are here today, we ask that you would refrain from taking. But we'd love to talk to you afterwards about what it means to follow Christ and trust in him.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 says, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'" Let's partake together.

In the same way also, he took the cup after supper saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."

Would you please join me in a word of prayer? Oh, Lord, we thank you for the glorious picture that communion is of Christ's broken body and shed blood for us. We praise you that it's only through the blood of Christ that we can be cleansed and made new, that we can be forgiven and reconciled to you. Strengthen us this morning as we remember your gospel, and as we're refreshed and remembering the grace and forgiveness of Christ. Lord, build us up into a church that is marked by love, that is unified around Christ, and that proclaims his glorious gospel until you return. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please stand as we close in singing?