FBC Morning Worship Service

Lord's Day Greetings and Announcements

Oh, good morning. Good to see you on this Lord's Day. Saw someone when they came in and Kyle, his wife, is enjoying some balmy weather down south in Florida. And I thought maybe he had gone too today.

He said, no, no, I get to stay here. So I think there may be some, because of the connection with his wife in Florida and him here, that the Lord had mercy on him and sent him some Floridian-like weather.

So we're going to bask in it today. Hope you're enjoying the weekend and that the Lord has been blessing you this past week. Have you seen some answers to prayer? Have you experienced the Lord's provision in some way?

Have you appreciated his providential working? Have you been challenged by it? All of those things are good for us to consider on the Lord's Day, the day he's given us, set aside to think on and meditate on the works of our Lord.

Well, just some announcements before we begin our worship service. One of them, in your bulletin today, there is this insert book summary or book review by this book, Rejoice and Tremble. Appreciate Tom Knapp writing that for us.

It's one of the things I asked him to do as a ministry is to kind of do some reviews and maybe once a month, maybe put in a book review. These are books that would be available in our library or on the bookshelf and something just to introduce you to some of these titles.

But in your bulletin this evening, got a completely new and different kind of situation going on, service, ministry, opportunity, however you want to look at it. We're beginning this young marriage slash single adult ministry and launching that this evening at the Foreman's House in Dixon.

Got the address and everything in the bulletin for you. And that group will meet at 5 .30, having a light supper time. And also in that time together, there's a devotional I've prepared. It's a video devotional.

It'll be available on the church website. When it goes live, quote unquote, it'll be at six o 'clock. So, you know, if you had everything set, your browser set at six o 'clock with the church website, you know, you got that little box that shows the video thing saying it's about to begin.

Six o 'clock is when that will go live. That doesn't mean you can't see it any other time. You actually can. So if you're gathering together with somebody and I'm encouraging you to do that, I hope you have someone either that you're, where you're going to visit or have someone visiting your place.

I hope you'll take some time to watch that video. It's really gonna kind of dovetail with this morning's message. And if you can't do it right at six o 'clock, don't worry about it. You know, go to the website at 6 .30 or 6 .45 or midnight tonight, whenever is most convenient for you.

And you'll be able to watch it anytime after six o 'clock. So we'll be doing that this evening. And I do hope that this ministry time for the young married and the single adults, as well as everyone else who participates in gathering together this evening in your homes, that this will be an opportunity to really encourage some biblical fellowship.

And that's one of the things I'll be talking about in that devotional tonight. So what's involved in that biblical fellowship? I wanna share that with us tonight and encourage that to happen. So that'll happen this evening at 5 .30 at the Foreman's.

Most of you who are able to attend, you've already contacted Chris or them about that. If it's the last minute thing that has come up, we'll throw Deb into a tizzy here and see. And if you say, well, I didn't think I could come, but now I can, just see her, let her know, and we'll have another chair or two available for you.

Then I also wanna point out that Saturday morning, we'll have a work time at the church. This is church-wide, anybody can come to help out. Weather permitting, we'll have some outdoor projects. And then we'll have some indoor things to finish up, to work on.

One of the things we're gonna be doing for some men or anybody who really wants to get up on a roof is replacing the roofing on the garage, tearing off the shingles and putting on some new steel roofing.

So if you can help out, Saturday morning, be here at eight o 'clock. We'll have some light breakfast-type refreshments available through the morning. And we'll work until we're done. Hopefully that we'll get done with most of those projects by around noon.

And then regarding that YMSA, Young Married Single Adult Ministry, the next meeting will be on Wednesday night, May 19th. And just simply point that out because there's a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board for an evening meal.

So at six o 'clock on that Wednesday night, we'll have a supper available. If you can attend that, please sign up and let us know. All right, we've gathered together today to worship the Lord. And part of our worship is going to be to commemorate the Lord's table.

Those of you who are able and eligible to partake of the Lord's table, I hope you picked up one of the little cups when you came in. If not, feel free to slip out during this first hymn and get one of those so you can participate in just a little bit.

But we'll worship together our Lord and begin with Psalm 92, verses one and two, which says, it is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your lovingkindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night.

It's good to sing praises to your name. So let's do just that with our opening hymn as Jim comes and leads us.

Jim.

That's on page number 20 in your hymnals, page 20. Let's all stand together, please, and sing all three verses together. Praise Him, praise Him. He suffered and bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal salvation.

Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus, the crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus, who bore our sorrows. Long unfounded, wonderful, deep, and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song.

Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with hosannas ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet and priest and King. Christ is coming, unto the Lord belong.

Tell of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever in joyful song. Please remain standing for prayer. Kevin, would you please?

Let us pray. Thank you, Lord, again, that we can meet in your house. Think of all the things that are going around this world, but Lord, we just praise you and thank you that we can stand on your rock.

So Lord, I pray that through your word today, through your song, praises and glory would go to you. Draw us closer to you in our walk, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You may be seated.

The Cross of Christ and the Lord's Table

Normally at this time we would have a psalm reading, but this morning, to prepare our hearts for the Lord's table, I wanna read in Luke chapter 23, verses 33 to 46, encourage you to follow along in your copy of scripture as I read.

Then Jim will come lead us in another hymn, and then we'll share the elements together as we reflect on our Lord's work on the cross. Luke chapter 23, begin reading in verse 33. It says, when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And they divided his garments and cast lots. And the people stood looking on, but even the rulers with them sneered, saying, he saved others, let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God.

The soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. And an inscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, Latin and Hebrew, this is the king of the Jews.

Then one of the criminals who were hanged, blasphemed him saying, if you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him saying, do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?

And we indeed justly for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

Having said this, he breathed his last. Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word, Jim.

I take your blue books, your song books, it's My Jesus Fair, number 44, in the blue supplements. I'm gonna sing verses one, three, and four. One, three, and four of number 44. By thoughtless praise that God should die For men with joyful dream I lift my praise And soaring on my sin, adoring only him

My Jesus kind was torn by nails, by nails of cruel sin And to his cross all prayer failed, God pinned my wretched sin O love divine, O matchless grace, that God should die for men With joyful grief I lift my praise And soaring on my sin, adoring only him My Jesus pure was crushed by God, by God in judgment just The father grieved, yet turned his rod on Christ, made sin for us O love divine, O matchless grace, that God should die for men With joyful grief I lift my praise And soaring on my sin, adoring only him

At him we just sang, reminds us that Jesus gave his body to be torn, his body to be broken. He gave his blood to be shed on that cruel cross. And those who stood around and those who even were there on that cross, on crosses next to him, had no clue really what this was all about.

They didn't understand. They just saw a man who was suffering horribly and some contributed to it. Some laughed at him, mocked him. Some thought it'd be a good idea if he tried to prove his deity by coming down from that cross.

But in reality, he was proving his deity by remaining on that cross. It was necessary, as the hymn we just sang said, for God, the God-man, to die for our sin. We wanna remember that today. We wanna reflect upon what Christ has done for us.

The elements that we have in these little cups are woefully inferior to adequately reflect the person of Christ and his work, his human body that was broken, that blood that was shed. And yet, they do remind us, do they not?

Because in that evening before his crucifixion, they're reclining at the table with the disciples. He took a loaf of bread, common, ordinary piece of bread, and he broke it, and he said, as he took that bread, he said, this is my body which is broken for you.

And then he told them, and he tells us, take and eat. We don't know how long of an interval there was between the time they took a bite of that bread. Let them think on it. What does he mean? This is my body, take and eat.

And as they pondered that, he then took the cup, full, enough for each of those around that table to partake. And he says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, the new covenant in my blood. What does he mean by that?

And then he says to them, as he says to all of us ever since, if we're going to be redeemed, we need to drink of his blood literally, but even figuratively, to rest in that work of Christ on the cross.

So he tells them, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. All of you drink from it. And so, Lord, our God, and Lord Jesus, our savior, our intercessor, our great high priest, it is on one hand with great sobriety that we ponder this morning what you did on that cross in our behalf.

It is a sobering thing to think on because we realize it is my sin that put him there. It is my sin that drove those nails in his hands and his feet. It is my sin that pierced his side. It is my sin that put him there.

I am responsible. I am guilty. I am needful. It's also a sobering thing to realize, to think of what man did to the God man and to treat him as we did, to despise him, to belittle him, to mock him, and yet he knew it was coming and he did it nevertheless.

So this is an amazing thing for us to ponder and to reflect upon that God became man so that he might endure all of the ridicule, the mocking, the pain of the affliction and the infliction of wounds, mortal wounds, and even more so, the agony of being forsaken by the Father as he became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of Christ.

Oh, Father, what a sobering thing. But we also come to this meal this morning with joy, rejoicing that he was willing, that he was not only willing, but he was obedient, even to the point of death, across death.

We rejoice today in our salvation that is in that work on the cross. So it is with sober joy that we reflect on that work today. And our Father, we also come before you today interceding in behalf of your people.

We think of those who are hurting physically today and especially our hearts are drawn to Jody and her plight and we pray that by your grace, you would give some healing, some measure of encouragement even today.

Lord, as the family waits for a transfer to another hospital, I pray for your purposes to be accomplished in all of that delay. We know not what that purpose would be, but we trust in you for it. We pray for Bob, that you would encourage him today.

I pray that you would give him hope and just encourage his faith in Christ, his faith in you and in your work. And I pray for Rebecca and Hannah and the rest of the family is, again, very concerned about mom's condition.

Well, by your grace, give peace of mind that only you can give in times of great anxiety and unrest in the spirit. Bless them, I pray, meet their needs today. Father, we also pray for Chuck Kempf and Ruby today.

Thank you for his faithfulness through these many, many years of proclaiming the word. Use him and I pray that meetings would open up for him again. Pray for Ruby and her health condition and ask for your sustaining grace for her.

And I pray that you would meet the needs of this couple who have given their lives to serve Christ. Bless Chuck and Ruby, we pray. Father, we pray for those of our congregation who cannot get out and attend in-person services.

I pray that you would bless them today and meet their needs. We think particularly of Sue Cherry and Jeannie Ludwick in the nursing homes and in a place where they're not allowed visitors, not allowed to leave pretty much any time.

Encourage them. I pray for Dean Kinnaman and Jed Hunsberger today and I just pray that you would meet their needs. And Lord, others who cannot be here today and are watching by live stream, I pray that you would use your word to bless the hearts of each.

Teach us, challenge us, encourage us, convict us. Lord, we need your word. We need your spirit to do his work. I pray that he would do it today. And we ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake. All right, Jim will come and lead us in yet another hymn.

Jim.

Pastor, and that's again in your blue book, your blue supplement, song books. Number eight, number eight, blessed be the tide that binds. Let's all stand together, please, and sing all verses together.

The Church as the Body of Christ

Our scripture reading this morning, I want to turn to Ephesians chapter four. It's four, scripture reading for the message today. Ephesians four in verses seven through 16. Been working through a series of messages on the church.

It's been interrupted a few times along the way, but continuing that series today. Ephesians four, beginning in verse seven, and we'll read down through verse 16. Apostle Paul writing to the local church in the city of Ephesus, he says, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. Now this, he ascended, what does it mean, but that he also first descended to the lower parts of the earth.

He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things unto him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Our Father and our God, I pray, help us to get an understanding of the church as a body. We pray in Jesus' name. Well, the New Testament paints pictures for us to help us get an idea of what the church is supposed to be like.

And we've looked at a couple of these pictures, and this morning we'll look at a third. So the New Testament presents the church as the bride of Christ. And each of these pictures emphasizes a different set of relationships and also emphasizes a different role that Christ plays in relationship to his church.

So the church is the bride of Christ. We looked at this for a couple of weeks, a month or two ago, the bride of Christ. And that picture emphasizes our relationship to Christ. As his bride. And Christ, in that picture, is the bridegroom, the loving, sacrificial bridegroom.

Turn a page in your Bible to chapter five and you read about that exhortation to husbands to love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might present her to himself as a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle and so forth.

The church is the bride of Christ. Then another picture that we looked at a few weeks ago is that of a building. The church, and in each of these pictures, there is a aspect of it being a universal aspect that covers the whole church from beginning to end, but there's also a local aspect of these pictures.

The local church is the building of Christ. And this picture, I think, emphasizes our relationship to the world. And in that relationship and in that picture, Christ is the foundational cornerstone. We are living stones pulled out, called out from the world, taken out from the world, and placed into this building of Christ.

And then the third picture that we want to focus on this morning is that the church is the body of Christ. And this picture emphasizes our relationship to one another. Christ, in this picture, is the functional head of the church.

Not in the sense of, not in the sense of like the husband is the head of the wife, but like in a body, the head of a body, Christ is the functional head of the body of Christ. Now, in the course of today and probably next Lord's Day, we'll look at three different passages that refer to the church as the body of Christ.

And each, again, each one has its different emphases. In Romans 12, verses three through eight, Paul emphasizes in that passage, the body of Christ in its various functions, those that are in that body each have different functions.

And he talks about those different functions within the body. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul, once again, takes up this imagery of the church as the body of Christ. And in verses 12 through 28, he addresses the interdependence of the different body parts.

Remember, that's the passage where he talks about the eye and the ear and so on and so forth, and how the eye can't say to the hand, I don't need you and so on. So in that passage, he's emphasizing the interdependence of the different parts of the body as they relate to one another.

But then in this passage, here in Ephesians 4, verses seven through 16, Paul seems to take up that imagery of the body again and emphasize the strength, the strength of the unified body of Christ, the strength of the unified body.

Now, a year ago, in February of last year, I preached on this passage as we were going through the book of Ephesians. And when I preached on this passage then, I emphasized this text's focus on, or addressing the idea of a unified diversity.

Unified diversity. I'm sure you don't remember that in the least, but I had to go back and review my notes as well. A unified diversity. What in the world was I talking about? Well, the body of Christ is a unity.

It's a unit. There's a unity in it. So look, for example, in verse three. He says, we are to be endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace. And in verse 13, he speaks of, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

So the local church is to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and the church is to grow into a unified faith and knowledge of Christ. But then there's this idea of diversity as well. And the idea is this.

This unity, unity of this bond of the Spirit in the bond of peace, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and this unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, this unity is accomplished through the employment of a variety of gifts by a variety of people who comprise the church.

So in the church, there is a diversity, but it's a diversity that works toward unity and seeks to maintain that unity. Now, what this text also emphasizes is the foundational basis for this unified diversity.

What is the foundational basis for this unified diversity? It is this that we read in verses 15 and 16, that the church, the local church, is a body. It's a body. Because he says, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things to him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies.

See the idea of diversity there? There's a bunch of joints. There's every joint that supplies to the whole body, and it does so according to the effective working of which every part of that body, diversity again, does its share, causing the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

So the foundational basis for this unified diversity is the fact that the local church is a body. In other words, the local church is to be a tangible, visible expression of the global, universal, timeless body of Christ.

And in this text, Paul challenges the church, the local church of Ephesus, and he challenges the local church of Sterling, Faith Baptist Church. He challenges us to be a healthy, stable, growing body of believers in Jesus, the Son of God.

Now, a couple things by way of note before we look at that in more detail. First is this, that the body exists because of the work of Christ. The body exists because of the work of Christ, the work of God.

Look at verse four, for example. He says, there is one body and one spirit. Now look, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. He's talking here about a work of God calling you to bring you into as a part of this one body.

There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is above all and through all and in you all. This is God's work, this body. It exists because of God's work. And it is he who is wholly responsible for it.

So that's one note by way of passing. The other is this, being part of the body, being part of the body involves some personal responsibility. Look at how this chapter begins. He says, and again, notice the emphasis on a calling.

He says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of this calling wherewith you were called. What calling was that? The calling that placed you into the body of Christ. You and I need to walk worthy.

We're personally responsible to walk worthy of this calling wherewith we were called that placed us into the body of Christ. And then he goes on to talk about what that looks like. That personal responsibility, that worthy walk with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

All right, so it is God who has brought this body into existence and brought you into this body. This is God's work. But being part of that body carries with it personal responsibility. All right, now let's look at this body as Paul develops this picture, this imagery here in our text before us.

Notice in verse 15, first of all, that Christ Jesus is the head of the body. Points that out very clearly. We may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. Christ is the head. In other words, that imagery tells us that Christ is the body's central command.

Christ is the central command of the local church. Just as your brain in your head sends messages to your body to control its members. And it does so, your brain, doesn't it? Does so very, very efficiently.

Some more efficiently than others, to be true, to be sure. But even the most inefficient, it happens very rapidly. So, for example, if you're sitting there very quietly and all of a sudden, I pull out a big, long rubber band.

And this would probably only work for Jim and Linda sitting down here in the front. But if I pulled out this big, long rubber band and I stand here and I pull back this rubber band and they're looking, yeah, see there?

See, his brain just told his body, move over, move over. And if I let go of that rubber band and he saw me let go of that rubber band, he would duck. See, why would he duck? What would make his body respond by going like this?

The command center up there would tell the members of his body how to move, what to do, how to respond, or how to react. Christ is the body's central command, the central command of the local church. But what this also communicates, and our esteemed professor of anatomy and physiology could teach on this far more effectively and profitably, I'm sure, than I.

But what this also communicates is the fact that Christ is the body's lifeline. He is the body's lifeline. And again, we understand this intuitively and very simply, and that is the fact that if the brain ceases to function, life ceases, right?

Life ceases. Now, surely with our machines and all the rest of that, we can keep a body functioning, we can keep a heart pumping and lungs functioning and all the rest of that with no brain activity whatsoever.

But without those machines, without the brain functioning, without the brain sending the lifeline messages to the rest of the body, life ceases to function. Jesus is the body's, the local church's central command, and he is the local church's lifeline.

He's the head. He's the head of the church. And as the head of the church, what Paul brings out in this passage is he provides some vital resources for a healthy body. He, the head, provides vital resources for a healthy body.

What does he provide? Look at verse seven. "'To each one of us grace was given "'according to the measure of Christ's gift.'". The Lord Jesus Christ, as the head of the church, as the central command, and as the lifeline, the lifeline of the body, he gives to each member, each member of that body, he gives grace.

It was the grace of Christ that brought you into that body. It is the grace of Christ that sustains you in that body. To every one of us, grace is given according to the measure of his gift. But then secondly, as he gives resources, vital resources for a healthy body, he provides gifts for service to every member.

So verse eight says, therefore he says, "'When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive "'and gave gifts to men.'". He gave gifts to men. Every member of Christ's body is a gifted member in some way.

Now I say that and some of you right now will say, well, you know, I don't really have that many gifts. And what we think of is we think of some kind of giftedness, some kind of talent that could be used in a very public way that everybody would say, wow, that person is gifted.

You know, like playing the piano or playing the organ or playing some other kind of musical instrument or singing, being able to sing on key, you know, or something like that. Some very public, some public manifestation of talent where people would say, yeah, he's got a gift.

Well, it is true that Christ gives those, but that's not the limit of what Christ gives. He gives gifts to every member of his body. So much more could be said about that, but we need to hurry on. He not only gives gifts, but some members notice, now remember, we're talking about how Christ the head provides what the vital resources that are necessary for a healthy body.

He gives grace to every member. He gives a gift. He gives giftedness to every member, but some members in his body receive equipping gifts. And this is what Paul is talking about in verses 11 and 12. Says Christ himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.

So not everybody has these equipping gifts. Not everybody has the gift to be able to teach or to pastor, be pastor, pastor, teacher. Not everybody has a gift of evangelism like Chuck Kemp does. These are equipping gifts that God in his grace, Christ as the head of the church and in his purposes gives to different ones in that body.

Now, by the way, that doesn't make those who have equipping gifts superior to other members of the body. It's just they have a different role. They have a different gift to employ and to share within that body.

And by the way, that word equipping here in verse 12 for the equipping of the saints, I think the King James, this is the New King James I'm reading from, I think the King James says for the perfecting of the saints for the work of ministry.

That word is used in, and I pointed this out a year ago, we're talking about the unity and diversity thing, is talk in Matthew's gospel, chapter four, that same word is used of the fishermen who became disciples, mending their nets.

After they were out fishing, you know, they got a snag here, they got a tear there, you know, whatever, and they needed to mend their nets. They need to equip their nets and prepare their nets for the next fishing outing.

In other words, pastor teachers and evangelists, these equipping gifts, they engage in a healing, restorative ministry with the word so that saints can serve with their gifts, all right? So some members receive equipping gifts, but then as the head of the church gives these gifts to every member of the body, of his body, every saint in that body is to use his gift in service of some kind.

Comes out in verse 12. For the equipping of saints for the work of ministry, for the work of ministry. Every member of the body, every member of the body is to use his gift or gifts in service. Now, I'm not going to take the time to expand upon this idea, I just want to throw out this thought to you and we'll probably expand on it at some point in the near future.

To serve, see, as he talks about doing the work of ministry, to do the work of ministry does not demand an official church position. It doesn't demand some kind of public responsibility. It doesn't demand a Sunday ministry.

It doesn't even demand an on the church, the church site job of some kind or another. Just to kind of help explain what I mean here, let me explain it by a negative and then a positive. Negatively, I served for a while on a pastoral staff and I was not the senior pastor, I was an assistant.

And in that church, there was one particular message that the pastor was really upset because he was having a hard time getting people to fill jobs in certain places in the church. Probably the nursery was one of them.

It's just the, it seems to be the perennial ministry place where needs are, but other places as well. And he was having a hard time with that and he was getting pretty frustrated and he finally said this.

He said, if you don't have a ministry in the church where on Sunday morning if you're sick and you can't make it, you have to call somebody to take your place. If you don't have a ministry like that, you don't have a ministry.

You're not really serving the Lord. Now that, that is a bizarre extreme idea and notion and I wanna dismiss that completely. So that's a negative thing. On a positive thing, listen, some of you are young moms and some of you are homeschooling moms and some of you have secular jobs, secular jobs that demand a lot of hours and work out of you.

And in any one of those capacities, you can do the work of ministry, do the work of service. And I'll just leave it at that for right now. Every saint is to use his gifts in service. And what the head of the body intends in all of this provision of these vital resources for a healthy body is brought out at the end of verse 12.

And that is a mature body, a mature body. That's the goal. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ. A spiritually healthy, vital body is what the head of the body desires as he gives these resources to the church.

All right, Christ Jesus is the head of the body and he provides, as the head of the body, he provides vital resources for a healthy body. Then thirdly, as the head, I want us also to see in this passage that Christ establishes the marks of a healthy body.