Christ's Bodybuilding Program - [Ephesians 4:7-16]

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It was nearly half a century ago, the year was 1971, when
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Martin Lloyd -Jones' book, Preaching and Preachers, was first published. And in it he made some astounding, penetrating and insightful commentary on the spiritual condition of the church in his day.
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And as you listen to his words, you will see there's a familiar ring to it of the spiritual condition of the church in our day.
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He says, and I quote, One of the advantages of being old is that you have experience, so when something new comes up and you see people getting very excited about it, you happen to be in the position of being able to remember a similar excitement, perhaps 40 years ago.
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And so one has seen fashions and vogues and stunts coming one after another in the church.
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Each one creates great excitement and enthusiasm and is loudly advertised as the thing that is going to fill the churches, the thing that will solve the problem.
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They have said that about every single one of them, but in a few years they have forgotten all about it.
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And another stunt comes along or another new idea. Somebody has hit upon the one thing needful, or he has a psychological understanding of modern man.
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Here is the thing and everybody rushes after it.
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But soon it wanes and disappears and something else takes its place.
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Close quote. Spiritual condition of the church in 1971 and also in 2017.
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We have seen the fads come and go, have we not? Do you remember WWJD? No one is wearing their bracelets this morning?
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What would Jesus do? The Bible talks about what Jesus did.
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Or how about the prayer of Jabez? Do you remember that phenomenon? First Chronicles, everything, all the bracelets and knickknacks that were out and about.
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Or how about 40 days of purpose? BBC never did 40 days of purpose?
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I remember when my wife and I first moved from New York in 2001 to church plant, I used to meet once a month with other pastors, other church planting pastors.
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And they would ask me, sir, are you doing PDC for your church plant? Rick Warren's purpose -driven church.
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And when I'd answer no, they'd look at me like I had three heads. What do you mean? All churches ought to be doing purpose -driven church.
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MacArthur writes in his book, Ashamed of the Gospel, this current phenomenon. And he says, quote,
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If you are a pastor and your church isn't up to date and on board with the newest trend, if you are just one stage behind, like those who are still caught praying the prayer of Jabez, when everyone else had moved to the 40 days of purpose, you will very quickly be written off as hopelessly uncool, and the inveterate fat chasers in your congregation will move to a church that's more hip.
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Close quote. I've always wondered how the church growth experts in me, masters of the market -driven church, read scripture sometime.
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For example, I think maybe when they read the book of Acts, say, for example, Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, after Peter preached the gospel, what were the results?
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I think these guys read the text this way, Acts 2, 41. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3 ,000 consumers.
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And they devoted themselves to the apostles' market -driven programs. Maybe that's the ones they read the scripture with.
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The Lord Jesus Christ, the head of his church, is not up in heaven wondering, What is going on down there?
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They've messed up my plan for the church. He is not, let me assure you.
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On the heels of Peter's confession, when Christ asked the disciples, Who do you say that I am?
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And Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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Jesus said to him, I will build my church.
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And brothers and sisters, let me assure you, Jesus Christ, the head of his church, is building his church.
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I, the one whom Peter confessed as the Christ, the Son of the living God, he didn't say,
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I hope to build my church, or I may build my church, I will build my church. And how do
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I know that he is building his church? Because he said it. And it's his church.
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He said, I will build my church. He is sovereign, and he is doing it. That's his statement, that he will build his church.
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But the question I want us to address this morning is, how does Jesus build his church? And for that,
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I ask you to turn in your Bibles to the New Testament epistle of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians, chapter 4.
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In Matthew 16, Christ gave the declarative statement, I will build my church.
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And this morning, I want us to look at, how does Christ build his church? Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 7 to 16.
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And you will notice, if you will, as I read through this text, in verse 12 and 16, that the thrust of this passage is about Jesus Christ building his church.
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So that's why I've entitled it Christ's Body Building Program. The head,
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Jesus, building his body, the church. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
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Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
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In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth.
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He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
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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.
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Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
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Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
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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.
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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.
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This is a seminal passage for ecclesiology. If you want to know about the church, this is one of the passages you need to go to,
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Ephesians chapter 4. And this is Paul outlining for us, as we will see, how Jesus Christ, the head, builds his church.
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Now, if you love Christ, you will love the church.
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Why? Because, after all, Jesus himself loved the church and gave himself up for her.
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But let me take it a step further. If you love the church, you will eagerly seek and desire to be involved in Christ's bodybuilding program.
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So let me give you four points, four truths, as to how Jesus Christ builds his church.
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And I'll repeat them because they are full sentences, in case you are taking notes. How does
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Jesus Christ, the head, build his church? Number one, in Christ's bodybuilding program, the triumphant Christ gives gifts to his church.
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In Christ's bodybuilding program, the triumphant Christ gives gifts to his church.
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Again, I can't highlight enough, this is not man's building of the church. I remember last week, my wife and I were driving to,
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I was preaching at another church, Isabella and I were driving, there was, I don't know, in the last stretch of a mile and a half, 15 church buildings.
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And she commented to me, Dad, there's so many churches just on this road. I said, that's true, but the real question is, are they good churches?
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Long gone are the days when we can refer somebody to a solid local body, unfortunately. Many churches are out there, but they're man's bodybuilding program of the church.
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Paul here is highlighting Christ's bodybuilding of the church. And in it, number one, the triumphant Christ gives gifts to his church.
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Notice in verse 7, he begins with the word, but. Typically a term of contrast.
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For instance, Romans 6 .23, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life.
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Or even earlier in this epistle, Paul, in Ephesians chapter 2, he says that we are dead in transgression, but God, divine intervention.
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But that's not how Paul is using the term here. We have to look at the context. Look with me earlier in verses 3.
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And notice as I read these verses, you will notice the term one mentioned no less than seven times from verses 3 to 6, which show us why
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Paul begins with the term, but in verse 7, verse 3, eager to maintain what?
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The unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So he's talking about unity here. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.
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One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
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God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all unity.
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Paul is calling for in the body of Christ because of these seven ones that we see here.
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So he begins verse 7 with this term normally used as a contrast, but not here, but it can be translated.
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Paul is saying, I want you to pursue unity in the body because verses 4 to 6, there's one of all these things, one body, one baptism, one
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Lord, one spirit, one God, verse 7. And on the other hand, there's diversity.
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This is what Paul is highlighting here. He's talking about Christ giving spiritual gifts to the body.
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And on one hand, there is unity versus 3 to 6. But that unity is found within diversity.
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Aren't you glad we're not all the same? You are unique in God's body building and Christ's body building program.
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You know, we thought we were going to escape this winter with no snow. But those of us who grew up in New England know better than that.
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And last week, as I was shoveling the snow, I was looking at the flakes and I thought not one of these flakes is exactly the same.
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We are saved all in the same manner by God's sovereign grace. But when he puts us into his body, we are unique in his gifting of us.
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And that is what Paul is highlighting here in verse 7. There is unity, but on the other hand, the unity happens within diversity.
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And how do we know that? Look, even in the verses I just read, the Trinity is highlighted, right? Verse 4, one spirit.
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Verse 5, one Lord. And verse 6, one God and Father of all.
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In the Trinity, there is unity in diversity. Father, Son, and all
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Holy Spirit. All thrice holy, all gracious, all faithful, all sovereign.
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But yet, in their function, they are unique. He opens this epistle in Ephesians 1, distinguishing the functions of the
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Trinity. The Father chose, the
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Son redeems, and the Holy Spirit seals. So Paul is saying, just as in the
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Trinity, there is unity in diversity, so in the body, the unity comes from our diversity.
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But notice next what he says in verse 7. Grace was given to whom?
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To a select few. To some. To the committed.
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No, grace was given to each one. In the Greek, the term ekastos is emphatic.
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It means, literally, grace was given to each and every one. Not grace for salvation, as we will see as we go through this passage, but grace in Christ giving us gifts.
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And how does he give those gifts? Verse 7 continues, according to how we each desire?
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No, according to the measure of Christ's gifts. Christ is the head decides how those gifts are to be extended.
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It's right for us to think of the sovereignty of God in salvation, and Paul again highlights in chapter 1,
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God's sovereignty in our salvation, that he chose us before the foundation of the world, because in and of ourselves, we would never choose him.
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But God's sovereignty and Christ's sovereignty does not end there. It continues in his body, as he sovereignly chooses who gets what gifts.
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And therefore, we see the unity of the body amongst diversity. And then,
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Paul, in order to explain why Christ is able to do that, to give gifts to his church, which is the first part of his program, he goes and quotes from the
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Old Testament, verse 8, therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men.
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This portion from verses 8 to 10 is a great portion of scripture. It's not necessarily like Hebrews chapter 1, which is a
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Mount Everest of Christological passages, but nonetheless, it's very unique in what
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Paul is saying here. Turn with me to see the quote from the Old Testament, if you will, to Psalm 68, where Paul is quoting from.
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Psalm 68. We're not going to read the entire psalm.
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The psalm is a psalm of victory. And you'll notice a difference from the quote he has in Ephesians to how it's actually read here in verse 18.
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Now, remember, Paul, before I read this verse in verse 18 of Psalm 68, he's ascribing this
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Old Testament passage to whom? To Jesus Christ, he who ascended and he who descended.
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It's typical of the New Testament writers, right? Is it not? Matthew does that. For example, when
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Joseph and Mary had to flee to Egypt, Matthew says in order to fulfill the Old Testament scripture, he quotes
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Hosea, out of Egypt you called my son. But when
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Hosea, the minor prophet, wrote that, it was a direct reference to God delivering his people
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Israel out of Egypt. And Matthew applies that to Christ in Matthew. Paul is doing a similar thing here.
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Look what it says in the original text. Verse 18. You ascended on high.
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You, as we will see, is talking about the Lord, Yahweh, leading a host of captives in your train, in your procession, and receiving gifts among men.
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In the Ephesians passage, he says he gives gifts. But here he says he's receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious that, why?
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The Lord, Yahweh, God, may dwell there. Of course, the liberals will say, well, there you go.
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You can toss Ephesians 4, 8 out, because Paul is not even quoting the Old Testament correctly. Not quite.
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In order to give gifts, you have to receive gifts. And notice the text in Psalm 68 is referring to Yahweh.
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Paul is indirectly saying that Jesus is God. And going back to Ephesians, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.
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The background of Psalm 68, many say it could be referring to the whole psalm of the
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Ark of the Covenant coming up to Mount Zion, the dwelling place of God. But it's also a lot of heavy imagery of kings when they defeated their and conquered their enemies.
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And the opposing kings. David is writing Psalm 68, by the way, who was the king. And as they would come, they would bring the spoils of victory, as it were, in their procession.
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And from the spoils of their victory, they would give back to their people. And that's the illusion that Paul wants to highlight here in Christ giving gifts to men.
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The host of captives were the captives of the enemy that they took with them, but also captives were their own people who were held in captivity that now the conquering king was freeing and bringing back home.
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And then Paul continues in verse 9, in saying he ascended. What does it mean? But that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth.
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Many compare this portion of Scripture to 1 Peter chapter 3. You're familiar with it a little bit,
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I'm sure. For Christ died for sins, one for all, the just for the unjust, in order to bring us to God.
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He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which he went to proclaim to the spirits in prison.
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So many people comparing that passage to this say, well, what it means that he entered into the lower regions of the earth, that he went into the
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Old Testament term Sheol or Hades in the New Testament and proclaim his triumphant victory at the cross.
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But the original audience, Ephesians was written between 60 and 62
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AD. 1 Peter was written three to four years later. The original audience to whom
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Paul was writing in Ephesus was not privy to 1 Peter. And the ESV does a good job here.
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Notice what he says, how it translated. What does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, and it defines the lower regions, the earth.
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It's the language that John the Baptist and Jesus himself used. John the Baptist in John 3.
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He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.
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He who comes from heaven is above all. Or Jesus' words in John 8, for example.
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He said to them, you are from below. I am from above. You are of this world.
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I am not of this world. Christ left heaven, came here to earth, the lower regions.
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Paul's emphasis is the great condensation that Jesus did in leaving his glory in heaven and coming here to earth.
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And then he continues in verse 10. And he who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.
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That's his post -resurrection ascension that Paul is making direct reference to.
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So Paul is saying the reason that Christ is able to give gifts, verse 7, to his church because in the diversity of gifts there is unity, is because he came from heaven, he descended to the lower regions of the earth, and then he ascended again.
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And because he was triumphant, the spoils of his triumph that he gives is the spiritual gifts he gives to his church.
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That's the reason he's able to do it. But notice verse 11, further gifts that he gives to the church.
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Verse 11, in he, the pronoun he in the Greek is emphatic, referring to Christ.
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He himself, which one? The triumphant Christ that I just explained in verses 8 through 10
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Paul is saying. He is the one. And what does he do? Again, he gave.
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He gave. It's an interesting term there because Paul uses it when he writes to the church in Corinth, the problematic, divisive church in Corinth.
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You remember their problem, right? I'm of Apollos, but I'm of Cephas. I'm of Paul.
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And in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians 3, Paul calls them out and says, you guys are carnal for thinking that way.
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And he says this in 1 Corinthians 3, 5. What then is Apollos? What is
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Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the
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Lord, and here's the term that he uses here, as the Lord assigned to each, as the
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Lord gave to each. Again, Paul is highlighting the sovereignty of the head over his body.
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Christ is the one, the triumphant Christ, who descended and then ascended in triumphant victory.
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He gives the spoils, the spiritual gifts to each of the saints. But will you notice with me here that he gives something else to his body to build it.
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People. Who are these people? So on the one hand, verse 7, he gives spiritual gifts to each and every one according to his grace.
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But here he gives, the verse says 11, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers.
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Isn't this beautiful? On the one hand, he triumphed over the cross to purchase our salvation, but also to be able to give spiritual gifts to each one.
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But also to give these people to his body in order to build the body up. This is his plan.
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This is his bodybuilding program. Of course, the apostles and prophets, earlier in Ephesians 2, verse 20,
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Paul says, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
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That was the foundation. The foundation has already been built. No apostles, no prophets today.
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Of course, the apostles we know from scripture were hand -selected by Jesus. Luke 6, he went on the mountain to pray.
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He came down and he hand -selected the disciples whom he also named apostles. And we also know from Acts 1, when they sought to replace
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Judas, Peter said it has to be somebody who has been a what? Eyewitness of his resurrection.
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So based on those two criteria, there are no apostles today. A few years ago,
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I was welcoming a new person here at our church, and as we were talking, they were telling me how they were an apostle.
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So I was trying to be gracious, to say the least, they're not back here again.
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So I gave up the welcoming committee to Tom. There are no apostles today.
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I said to the person, so you've seen Jesus in the flesh? He hand -selected you?
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Prophets, a prophet, for example, in Acts 21, Agabus. He went to the apostle
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Paul after Paul met with the Ephesian elders. Here we are in Ephesians. And he says, as you're going to Jerusalem, he took the apostle
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Paul's belt and tied it around himself, Agabus, around himself. And he said, this is how they're going to bind the apostle
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Paul, the one who wears his belt. And they were weeping that this was going to happen to the apostle Paul. Luke says that Agabus was a prophet.
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He's foretelling what's going to happen before the complete canon of Scripture. Paul says, the one who is the author of this
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Scripture, what are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I'm ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the
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Lord Jesus. That's what a prophet did. But no apostles and prophets today.
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Today we have the second grouping, evangelists, like Acts 8.
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Philip, the Ethiopian eunuch, reading from Isaiah 53.
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Do you understand what you're reading? He asked him. How can I, the eunuch says, if nobody guides me?
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And it says, beginning from that Scripture, not just from that Scripture. In Acts 8, Luke says, beginning from that Scripture, Philip preached the good news of Jesus.
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And then finally, the shepherds and teachers. In the Greek sentence structure, it doesn't allow for two separate categories here.
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Shepherds and, fifthly, teachers. It's shepherd -teachers. It's one office. Pastor -teachers.
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So Jesus Christ, in triumph, gives spiritual gifts, as he purposes sovereignly, to each of the saints.
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And he also gives people, evangelists and pastor -teachers, to build up his body.
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Number two. In Christ's bodybuilding program, the work of the ministry belongs not to the pastors, but to each of the saints.
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Remember, years ago, we were studying this passage in Ephesians 4, with a college and career group.
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And I had a little fun quiz with them. And one of them was a true or false question. And this was the question, true or false.
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He, Christ, gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastor -teachers, for the work of the ministry.
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And to a man, each of them wrote, true. And they were all wrong.
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And I thought to myself, who is teaching this group? What does the text say?
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He gave them not for the work of the ministry. Look at verse 12. To equip the saints.
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To equip you for the work of the ministry. The word equip is a great word in the
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Greek. It literally means to put something into its appropriate conditions so that it functions well.
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So that it functions properly. So that it functions as it was meant to function.
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It's used in Matthew chapter 4, when Jesus is calling the first disciples. And he goes and sees the brothers
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James and John with their father Zebedee. Here's a term, mending their nets in the boat.
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Same term, mending. It's to mend for the purpose. They were mending their nets so their proper use of catching fish could be used.
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That's a term that it's using here. So the role of the pastor -teacher is what? To equip.
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To put together in a proper condition so that each member functions as they were called to function within the body of Christ.
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It's the saints. Or verse 12. Notice with me in this literary unit.
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Verse 7 and verse 16. This is beautiful. Verse 7. But grace was given.
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We highlighted this already. But for the sake of who are the saints of verse 12. But grace was given to each one.
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Each and every one. Verse 16. Look at that. From whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.
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There's a word again. When who? When each part is working properly.
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The saints of verse 12 are the each one of verse 7. Are the each part of verse 6.
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The role of the pastor is to equip the saints because the work of the ministry is theirs.
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1 Peter 4 .10. Peter says the same truth. As each has received the gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards.
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Your involvement in service in the body is an integral part.
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Because Christ the head has placed you in the body. When by God's grace you are saved, there's a lot of things that happen in that transaction.
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From being in Adam to being in Christ. From becoming an old creation to a new creation.
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From having your sins counted against you to having full and free forgiveness of sins. From being dead to being made alive.
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But also, in that transaction, when God saves you, he places you into the body of Christ.
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Into his family. The ministry belongs to each and every believer. And there are a lot of ministries you can be involved in, are there not?
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But across the board. Whether you're teaching a Sunday school class. Whether you're involved with the Juana, helping our young kids memorize the word of God.
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Whether you're serving in any other capacity with the music. But we should all be involved in ministry within the body.
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Part of that ought to involve a ministry of evangelism. Telling the evangel the good news to others.
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Yes, if your friends want to come to our church that God has blessed us with.
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And hear the scriptures, praise God. But God has uniquely and sovereignly placed you in your environment.
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Whether it's at school or at work or in your neighborhood. With your neighbors, your co -workers, your classmates.
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So that you can give the evangel like nobody else. The ministry involves a ministry of discipleship as well.
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Teaching others who will in turn be able to teach others in a ministry of multiplication.
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That's 2 Timothy 2. And the ministry that you belong to that is yours is a ministry of serving.
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The term ministry in and of itself by definition is others focused. If you're self -absorbed and self -focused, you're not going to think
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I need to serve somebody else. This gives us a sense of ownership, does it not?
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The pastors equip for us to do the work of the ministry. Now here's the beauty of it all.
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Step back a little bit with me. This portion of scripture is part of a larger letter, right?
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Ephesians is one letter. You can read it from beginning to end. And in the opening chapters, what does
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Paul do in those great, magnificent and glorious chapters? He talks about how God chose.
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How God adopted. How God sealed. How God made us alive.
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How God saved us. So watch this. Here's the beauty of it. The triumphant Christ who came, descended and ascended in victory.
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He gave as a gift to his church, pastor teachers in order to equip the saints.
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And on the other hand, he gave spiritual gifts to each of the saints to do the work of the ministry.
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Both the pastor teachers and each of the saints have been chosen before the foundation of the world.
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Both have been adopted into God's family. Both have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
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Both have been made alive when dead. And both were saved by the grace of God.
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We're in the same boat because of God's saving grace. But yet he's called us to different functions based upon our giftedness.
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Number three. How does Christ, the head, build his body, the church? In Christ's body -building program, the ultimate purpose is for all, not just for some or a select few, to mature.
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In Christ's body -building program, the ultimate purpose is for all, not just for some or a select few, to mature.
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Notice with me in verse 13. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
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Son of God. To what? To mature manhood. Literally to a full -grown man.
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It's the honor and privilege of everyone. If you have your bulletin with you, take a look at it on the front cover.
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What verse is there? Colossians 1 .28. Paul highlights the same truth there.
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No less than three times. Him we proclaim, Christ that is. Warning whom?
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Everyone. And teaching whom? Everyone. With all wisdom that we may present whom?
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Everyone. Mature in Christ. His purpose is that for all to come to maturity.
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And then in this text, Paul outlines and delineates specifically three characteristics of this maturity.
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What are three characteristics of maturity that Paul highlights in this text? First of all, there is doctrinal purity.
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Doctrinal purity. Notice in verse 13. Until we all attain to the, what?
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Unity of the faith. By the way, as a parenthetical note, there is no ecclesiastical unity apart from doctrinal unity.
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Until we all attain to the unity of the faith. If you're thinking Pastor Pat from two weeks ago, 1
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Timothy 4, you're thinking rightly. The faith. A body of biblical truth.
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A body of divinity, as you will. We attain to the unity of the faith, to doctrinal purity.
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And then he explains specifically what? In his explanatory sentence.
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And of the knowledge of whom? The Son of God. And of the knowledge of the
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Son of God. Specifically, the doctrine of Christ. That's usually what's attacked.
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The doctrine of Jesus Christ. The Apostle John faces, did he not? He had to deal with a heresy called
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Gnosticism. And the Gnostic said, you know, spirit is good, flesh is evil.
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So they denied the incarnation. And so John wrote in 1 John chapter 4. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is from God.
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Every spirit that does not confess that truth is not from God. The early church dealt with, that was the humanity of Christ.
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The early church dealt with the attack on the deity of Christ. The heresy of Arianism.
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Arianism said that Christ was a created being. He wasn't God. So Paul is saying that doctrinal purity comes specifically as it relates to the knowledge of the
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Son of God. A second aspect of maturity is
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Christ -like character. Christ -like character. Notice what he continues to say.
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To mature manhood, verse 13, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
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In glory we will be like him because we will see him as he is.
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The whole process of our sanctification is becoming more Christ -like.
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Paul said this to the Galatian church. He said, I'm in the pangs of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.
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Now there's a warning due here. It's easy to get stuck in doctrinal purity.
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Ephesians is a classic Pauline epistle. The first three chapters are doctrine. The last three chapters, the ones we are in now, are duty.
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The first three chapters are orthodoxy. The next three chapters are orthopraxy. And guess how chapter 4, verse 1 begins.
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Classic for Paul. Therefore, based on the truth of this doctrinal purity of who you are in Christ, therefore walk in this manner.
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The danger is to get stuck in chapters 1 to 3 and not continue in the next three chapters.
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Christian maturity means Christ -like character, not just knowledge. And the third attribute of maturity that Paul highlights here,
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I call it biblical discernment. And that's in verse 14. This is ultimately where he's going. You can tell by the purpose clause in verse 14.
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So that what? We may no longer be children. What characterizes children?
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A lack of discernment causes them to do what? To be tossed to and fro by the waves and cared about by every wind of doctrine.
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By human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. A couple of years ago at a
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Ligonier conference, it was Pastor John MacArthur and R .C. Sproul. And they were asked this question.
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What would you men say is the number one thing that is wrong with the
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Church of America? And without batting an eye, Pastor MacArthur said, a lack of biblical discernment.
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The Church basically suffers from spiritual age. It could die of a thousand heresies because its immune system is so totally deficient.
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Because of no biblical discernment in a child, they're easily carried away. Well, there was a verse sprinkled here.
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The name of Jesus is mentioned. So it must be good. Notice the vivid imagery that Paul uses, the language.
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Tossed to and fro by the waves and carried by every wind of doctrine. There's this image of a ship that's at the mercy of the winds and the waves.
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That's a metaphor he uses for not being mature. Being tossed by the winds of doctrine. And how does that happen?
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By human cunning, these false teachers. By craftiness and deceitful schemes.
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These schemes, by the way, is the same word Paul uses of the schemes of the devil in Ephesians 6.
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These are the doctrines of demons, as it were. That is why
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Paul says to Titus about the pastor who is to equip the saints. He says, quote, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.
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So that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine. And also to rebuke those who contradict it.
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These false teachers are nothing more than peddlers of God's word. They're con artists.
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They're predators. Self -seeking all the way. Paul had a passion about this.
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He's writing to the church in Ephesus when he met with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. Listen to his passion about what he said to them back in Acts 20.
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Quote, Paul says to the Ephesian elders. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after them.
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Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease, night or day, to admonish everyone with tears.
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You think Paul was passionate about this? He wanted the flock, the church, to be protected from these savage wolves.
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What are we to do instead, since the whole purpose in Christ's bodybuilding program is for all of us to mature?
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The answer is in verse 15. Rather, a lot of times we take this verse standalone, right, as we do many verses out of context.
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We even tell our children, oh, speak the truth in love. Speak the truth in love, which is a good thing.
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But within the context, verses every wind of doctrine, verses doctrines of demons, verses lies, deceptive lies.
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In contrast to that, speak the truth, speak biblical truth. Speak sound doctrine in love to one another.
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And that's how the church grows. Speaking the truth in love, so important.
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I want to illustrate that. A few years ago, about ten years ago, my best friend lost his brother suddenly in, not a car accident, but he was a mechanic and he just suddenly passed away.
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And I didn't officiate the funeral, but I was asked to speak at his brother's funeral.
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And his brother did not know the Lord, and he told the pastor who was officiating that his brother did not know the
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Lord. So we wanted to make it a point to address the living who were there, right, and give them the gospel.
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So I got up and shared very briefly, since I wasn't officiating, from Matthew chapter seven. And by the way, the funeral was held at the church
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I grew up at as a kid. So I know this church. And I said, Matthew seven, many will come to Christ on that day and say what?
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Did I not prophesy in your name? Did I not cast out demons in your name? Did I not do miracles in your name?
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Did I not teach Sunday school in your name? And it still sends shivers up my spine, those words of Christ, right?
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Depart from me, you workers of iniquity or lawlessness. I never knew you.
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So I encouraged people with the gospel. Afterwards, ladies, older ladies who were in their 80s and 90s who knew me when
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I was a young kid came up to me and said, my son, what a blessing that was. We needed to hear that. But on the other hand, there were those who called me a medieval prophet.
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Some say I was starting a cult. I thought that's why I'll do well to hook up with Pastor Mike.
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I wrote a letter to the pastor because he allowed a female minister, not because of that reason, to make this guy out to be a saint.
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Rather than addressing the living, she addressed about him. And there was somebody in the audience who said, ha, if he's saved,
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I'm all set. I'm all set. So I called them out on it.
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That didn't sit well. So two of the people of the church wanted to come over to my house and set me straight.
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So my wife and I welcomed them in. They said, you know what? We believe in First Corinthians 13, 13, but now by faith, hope and love, these three.
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But the greatest of these is love. I'm like, great. I believe that, too. But I believe the rest of the chapter also, which says love rejoices with the what?
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Truth. They're like, well, we believe in John 3, 16. I'm like, great. So don't I. God used that verse in my life to open my eyes to the truth of the gospel.
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But I also believe the rest of the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus, which it says in verse 18.
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He who believes does not stand condemned, but he who does not believe in the name of God's one and only son stands condemned already.
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Well, years later, I'm good friends with this pastor. He actually invited me last summer while he was away in Greece to fulfill the fill the pulpit for him.
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But as I thought about that incident, even at that time, I asked them, my friends who came to my house and to confront me.
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I said, was it not loving to speak the truth, to speak to the living about the gospel? Many times when we speak the truth, if we are not receptive to the truth, my point is we automatically say, well, you didn't do it in love.
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And sometimes when it's done in love. It is the truth and the truth is what builds the body of Christ up.
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Well, last but not least, we need to be finishing up. Number four, in Christ's bodybuilding program, spiritual growth does not happen in isolation, but within the context of the local church.
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In Christ's bodybuilding program, spiritual growth does not happen in isolation, but in the context of the local church.
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Well, you know, I have a personal relationship with Jesus. Praise God. Remember, I said when when
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God saves a person and all those transactions happen, which we don't have the time to go over, we can read about him in Ephesians one, all those spiritual blessings in Christ.
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He also places us into the body in that transaction. Growth happens within the context of a local church.
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Look at the last two verses. Speak in the truth and love. I am to grow up. Is that what it says?
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You see, the whole passage is the community of the saints. We are to grow up in every way into him who is the what?
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The head into Christ. The term of Christ's headship never in scripture is used in an individualistic fashion.
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Never. How is it used? Christ is the head. The church is his what? Body. This is what
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Paul highlighted in first Corinthians 12. So growth is done in the communion of saints within the context of the local church.
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And he continues in verse 16 from whom the what? The whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.
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When each part is working properly, makes whom grow, makes the body grow.
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Makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
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In order to grow spiritually, is it important to read your Bible? Yes. Amen. Is it important to have a prior prayer life?
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Yes. Amen. But it cannot happen in isolation policy, not according to Christ.
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The head's bodybuilding program for his church. It must happen within the communion of saints.
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Within those whom you've called to lock arms with and join in gospel ministry. With those whom you're called to serve selflessly.
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With those whom you're called by God who have been called as pastor teaches to equip you for the work of the ministry.
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This is Christ's bodybuilding program for the church. Let's pray.
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Father, we thank you for the truth of your word, for the truth of scripture. May your Holy Spirit, the divine author, imprint these truths on our hearts.
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That we as a body, as Bethlehem Bible Church, would never succumb to any human bodybuilding program for the church.
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But we would always submit to Christ, the head's bodybuilding program for his church. And we stand on the truth that Christ indeed is building his church until he comes again to take us with him.