Life in the Father's House #4 - "A Culture of Biblical Equipping" Pt. 1 (Ephesians 4:11-14)

Ephesians 4 and the Call to Walk Worthy

So Ephesians chapter four, reading from verse one through to verse 16. If you've got one of the red Bibles that we give away, that's on page 1037. Starts on page 1037 and flips over to 1038. Ephesians chapter four, beginning in verse one, page 1037.

If you're able to do so, can I invite you to stand with me out of reverence for God's word. Ephesians chapter four and beginning in verse one. Brothers and sisters, these are God's very words to us this afternoon.

God's word says, therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you will call to one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. Now, grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

For it says, when he ascended on high, he took the captives captive, he gave gifts to men. But what does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? I'll pause there just to say that's a reference to the incarnation.

Verse 10, the one who descended is also the one who ascended up far above all the heavens to fill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness.

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ.

From him, the whole body fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding of it.

Let's pray, ask for the spirit's help and we will launch into God's word. Let's pray together. Well, Heavenly Father, we ask that as we open up your word now that you would speak to us on a level that our hearts can understand, that your spirit would be taking the word that he inspired and would be pressing it into all of our hearts and souls even now.

Pray that as we think about a topic that isn't often thought about but is critically important, we pray that your spirit would be at work using this message to make us more like you, not just individually, but as a body as well.

Father, we take a moment to pray for our friends at Rogue Valley Christian Church. We thank you for their faithful gospel witness over there. Pray for Pastor Darren and Pastor Alton and the staff and elders there.

Pray that they would know your blessing. Pray for Darren as he is preaching through the book of Acts at the moment. May Jesus be made much of, may lives be changed, may people be transformed as they hear your word.

And may that be the case even now as we hear your word here. We ask all these things in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen.

Please be seated. I've tagged our message for this afternoon, really what's gonna be the first of two messages that are connected, a culture of biblical equipping, a culture of biblical equipping. Well, as I said a few moments ago, we're making a transition this afternoon in our series, looking at life in the Father's house as we come to Ephesians chapter four.

So far, everything that we've considered has been more on the relational side if you've been following this series. It's been more on the personal side of church life, and rightfully so, because what we've identified even in the name of this series is that church life is really life in the Father's house.

This is a family that we have become part of as God's people. And families are personal and relational. So a lot of what we've talked about up to this point has really focused very heavily on the personal and the relational.

But with these last two messages, as we think about life in the Father's house and the kind of, you remember this from the first message, I said that really we're thinking together about the kind of culture that we would love to see here at Redeemer Bible Fellowship.

Well, as we think about the culture and we think about what this looks like as God's people, I want to consider a topic this afternoon that might be assumed by some. Some of you might hear why I have to say this in next week and kind of say, okay, that was great.

I don't really see what the point of that was. And there may be some still who are like, I don't really get what he's getting at, in which case please come talk to me because I do think this is critically important.

In a sense, if I could boil down what I'm going to say this week and next week, as we bring this series to a landing, as it were, if I could sum everything I'm going to say up, really it could be summed up in one question.

It's a real short question, it's only three words, but I think it's a critical question. One question, who does ministry? Who does ministry? Now, I'm not going to wait till the end to tell you what my answer is.

Let me just tell you up front what I believe the Bible answer is. Some of you might not be surprised I'm about to say this, but you might be. My answer is everyone does ministry. That's just not my take.

Some of you remember in the summer, we read a book together as a church called The Trellis and the Vine. And you may remember this from that book, quote, simply by virtue of being a disciple of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit of the new covenant, all Christians have the privilege, joy, and responsibility of being involved in the work God is doing in our world, what the Bible calls the work of the Lord.

But if they're right, and I happen to think they are, and if I'm presumptuous enough to say, I think I'm right in answering the question that everyone does ministry. If that's right, if all Christians, as they've just said, have the privilege, the joy, the responsibility of being involved in the Lord's work, if that is true, well, think back to your own church experience.

Has that always been the case in every church you've been a part of? Is that always the case in every church? Is there always a reckoning with the reality that all of us have a role to play ministry-wise?

As you know, if you've been here a while, I'm a pastor's kid, I grew up in church, been around enough churches of different sizes, different ages, this is church plot number one, two, three for me in my life, been around enough churches to know that not everybody gets this.

This is not always the case. But then the question becomes, oh, why is that not always the case? Why is it that in some of our churches you have that age-old problem, what's it, 5 of people doing 95 of the work?

Why is this the case? Or better yet, why is it not the case that every believer understands that they have a role to play in ministry? And more importantly than why is it the case, really the question we have to ask is how do we make it the case?

I mean, in one sense, we really can't talk about life in the Father's house and not talk about this. Look, I'll acknowledge up front, this might not be the most fun message or couple of messages I'll preach, it may not be a fan favorite, but I do think it's critical to the health and survival of any local church, not just ours, any local church.

This issue of what we've tagged biblical equipping I think cannot be ignored. And so for the next two weeks, we wanna give ourselves intentionally to thinking about this. Because here's what we need to understand from this and next week, Christ, the Lord of the church, the Lord Jesus who gave his life for us and died so that we could be his people, the Lord Jesus has a plan for the equipping of his church.

If his design is that every Christian does ministry, not only does he design for that to be the case, but I'm gonna argue that the Lord Jesus Christ gives the tools and the personnel to make that happen.

That he gives both the raw materials and the people to apply those raw materials to make that a reality. But if that's the case, well, I guess our big question this afternoon is, how does Christ give his church the tools and the personnel that it needs to advance his mission and to minister to his people?

Okay, Kofi, it's great to say that Christ has his plan for the church and not only does he have a plan, he gives the tools and the personnel, great. How does that actually happen? That's what I want to think with you about this afternoon and Lord willing next week.

Here's my big idea for this message. If you are visiting with us, I try to boil down every message into one short sentence that summarizes what we're gonna talk about. Here's my big idea for this week.

The church is equipped for mission through the faithful ministry of God's word by gifted men. The church is equipped for mission through the faithful ministry of God's word by gifted men. One more time.

The church is equipped for mission through the faithful ministry of God's word by gifted men. If you remember that, you remember pretty much everything I'm trying to say in this message this afternoon.

That the church that Jesus shed his blood for and gave his life for, that church is equipped for mission for what Paul's gonna describe in this passage as the works of service, that we are equipped for that mission through the ministry, the faithful ministry of the word of God by gifted men.

For the rest of our time, I want to consider three features of God's equipping plan. Three features of God's plan for equipping his church so that we can serve him and fulfill his, that's a typo, it should be fulfill his mission.

So three features of God's plan for equipping his church so that we can serve him and fulfill his mission. So three features, I'm going to move somewhat quickly because I have a lot to say and I don't wanna spend too long saying it.

So three features of God's equipping plan from this passage. Let's jump straight in. Point number one, consider with me God's provision. God's provision in verse 11, God's provision. What has God given to the church to ensure that the church is equipped for his mission?

Well, that's what we're gonna see in verse 11. So verse 11 says, and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. The very first word of this verse, and, it connects us to everything that's been said before.

That's why I had us read from verse one into our passage. The most immediate context that we need here is verses seven to 10. So for a moment, I want you to consider with me the background to this provision, the background to this provision.

Paul makes two very basic points in verses seven to 10, which connects with our passage, which we need to have something of that background. Before we can launch into God's provision. So consider first of all, as we think about the background of this provision, that God's grace that is given to us in Christ, God's grace includes the gift of service.

God's grace includes the gift of service. So look up at verse seven with me, Ephesians chapter four and verse seven. Look what Paul says there. Paul says, now grace was given to each one according to the measure of Christ's gift.

In the context, he's been speaking verses one through six about the fact that there is a unity that the spirit brings about in the bond of peace that we are called not to create because the spirit has created it, but we are called to maintain it.

To maintain that unity, Christ gives grace to each one of us and the grace that he gives is in line with the gracious gift of salvation that he's already given us in him. The grace that's referred to here in verse seven says grace is given to each one is the grace of service to one another in Christ's name.

Some refer to this as the spiritual gifts that God gives. I'm not always crazy about that language. In this week's study guide, I recommend a sermon I preached a few, well, almost a couple of years ago now on the subject of spiritual gifts.

I think there's a lot of confusion, but I think we can all agree that service is a gift that God gives to his people. Christ gifts the opportunity to serve one another to each and every one of us. That's gonna be important as we move through this next couple of messages.

So God's grace includes the gift of service, but also God's grace of service is an extension of Christ's kingship. God's grace of service is an extension of Christ's kingship. So look with me at Ephesians 4, eight to 10.

So verse four, excuse me, chapter four, verse eight. For it is written, when he ascended on high, he took the captives captive, he gave gifts to people. But what does it mean? But what does he ascended mean?

Except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth. The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. In verse eight, Paul is quoting from Psalm 68, verse 18.

For those of you taking notes, Psalm 68, verse 18. That's where he's quoting. But when he quotes the passage here, he does something really interesting. He kind of adapts the language and commentators go all kinds of ways as to why he does that.

But what we do know is this, as he quotes this passage, he points to the fact that this Psalm, Psalm 68, refers us to Christ's victory that he achieved in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection.

And that as a result of that victory, we, his people who are united to him, we share in the benefits of his reign as he gives gifts to the church. And so whatever area of service that Christ gives and that he gives us the ability to serve in, those areas are an extension of Christ's rule and reign among his people.

And then we come to the passage that we're gonna focus on. As we come to verse 11, he zeroes in on what these gifts that Christ gives, what these particular gifts are. So we've laid a background when we think about God's provision.

We can finally talk about the actual nature of it, the nature of God's provision. So when we say that Christ has given gifts to the church, that he's provided for the church's equipping, what does that mean?

Well, I wanna know just four thoughts with you on this. First of all, God's provision is a personal provision. God's provision is a personal provision. The text highlights the personal nature of God's giving gifts to his church.

And it does it in a very interesting way. As you know, I try to keep Greek out of the pulp as much as I can, not because I don't think it's valuable, but because I like to keep my sermons as simple as possible.

But I need to do a little bit of grammar for just five seconds. Bear with me, I'll make this as quick and painless as possible. In the way that Greek works, you can look at a verb and tell, is it first person, second person, third person?

You can tell if it's perfect, if it's present. You can tell lots of things just by looking at it. The verb gave here by itself makes the point that it's somebody giving it. But Paul does something very interesting here.

He adds the word himself here. A number of translations don't translate that word. I don't know why they don't. It's the word autos in Greek is where we get the word automatic, self. Paul adds the word he himself.

That's why the Christian Standard Bible has it. Those of you who have access to the new Legacy Standard Bible, it has that. The NIV, which I know lots of people don't like, I personally think it's okay.

But the NIV actually adds the word himself here because that's what's there. It's emphatic. This provision that God makes in Christ is personal. It's coming directly from Christ. The one who gave his life for us, who shed his blood to make us his.

Whatever we think about this provision, first and foremost, it's personal. This is not a bureaucratic appointment. So it's a personal provision, but it's also a sovereign provision. It's also a sovereign provision.

As we said, based on that quotation from Psalm 68, these gifts are an extension of Christ's authority and kingship. And if that is true, then we can't pretend that these aren't important or worthwhile or think that, well, that's great.

Can we talk about something else? No, this actually becomes really important. In the words of John Calvin in his commentary on these verses, he says, in short, the government of the church by the ministry of the word is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God.

It's a personal provision. It's a sovereign provision. It's also a particular provision. It's a particular provision. Now we get to the verse itself in full. So verse 11, and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

Again, I don't wanna get too technical with this, but a couple of notes that you need to bear in mind. First of all, these four, and I'll explain why I say four and not five in just a moment. These four offices, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, they actually form two pairs.

And Paul is assuming when we get to chapter four, you've heard everything he's had to say already because he's brought these pairs up already. The first two, apostles and prophets, refer to the foundation of the church.

So again, because of time, I won't read the verses, but Ephesians chapter two and verse 20 says that we are members of God's household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Ephesians 3 .5, so Ephesians 2 .20, and then Ephesians 3 .5 says that the mystery of God having a united people in Christ was being revealed in Paul's day by the spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.

So I argue from scripture that those gifts were not meant to be continuing in the life of the church, that the gifts of apostles and prophets were given for the foundation of the church. So that's your first pair.

The second pair, evangelists and pastor teachers, they are given, or pastors who teach, they are given for the ongoing mission of the church. So you've got apostles and prophets, they form a foundation, they are there to get the thing started.

Once it was started, evangelists and pastor teachers are given. Now, I've said pastor teachers. You may think, oh, Nkofi, there are five there. Why do you bunch the last two together? Again, I try to not do too much grammar, but in that little listing there, pastors and teachers are connected together in a way that the other ones aren't.

So some debate how you translate that. Some say pastors who are teachers, others say pastor teachers. Either way, the two offices are really two sides of one thing. These are men who are also known in the Bible as elders, also known as overseers, to emphasize varying aspects of their work.

And so you've got a second pair with pastor teachers and evangelists. Evangelists, those who were commissioned to preach the gospel and to plant churches, and pastor teachers, those who shepherd and teach those gathered into local bodies called local churches.

Paul says that Christ gives both of those groups to the church for its ongoing mission. What's interesting is what unites all four of them, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor teachers, what unites them is that, catch this, all four of them involve speaking in some way.

All four of them are, if you want to use this phrase,.

Speaking gifts.

As one commentator puts it, those listed are ministers of the word through whom the gospel is revealed, declared, and taught. Those listed are ministers of the word through whom the gospel is revealed, declared, and taught.

Okay, Kofi, where are you going with this? Simple, really. Christ's plan for equipping the church, catch this, is to give the church men who have his word and are able to deploy his word among his people in faithfulness to him.

Let me say that again. Christ's plan for equipping the church is to give the church men who have his word and are able to deploy his word among God's people in faithfulness to Christ. That's why when you read the New Testament, the New Testament seems to emphasize that vocational ministry, because again, all of us are in ministry, but not all of us are in the same ministry.

That vocational ministry constantly is tied first and foremost to the word. Allow me to read some verses from the New Testament that make this point. So 1 Timothy 1 .5, you don't need to turn to all of these, I'll just read them to you.

1 Timothy 1 .5, Paul says, now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Paul described his ministry as one of instruction. 1 Timothy 4 .16, verse that I come back to constantly is probably one of my favorite verses as I think about my own ministry.

1 Timothy 4 .16, pay close attention to your life and your teaching, persevere in these things, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and your hearers. The next chapter, 1 Timothy 5 .17, Paul says the elders who are good leaders are to be considered worthy of double honor.

What defines a good leader according to Paul? Especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. I skipped one, 1 Timothy chapter three in the qualifications for an elder. If you read those qualifications, it's interesting, the rest of them are character, only one of them is a competency.

Which is the ability to teach. 2 Timothy 2 .15, Peter, not Peter, Paul says, be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

In Titus 1, where he gives other, well, not different qualifications, but he reiterates the qualifications for an elder. In Titus 1, Paul says that an elder needs to be, holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.

Time and time and time and time again, when the New Testament wants us to understand the role and function of gifted men in the church, it ties their giftedness to the ministry of the word. The implications of this I think are massive, but allow me to limit myself to just two.

Well, first of all, if at the heart of Christ's plans is not even the gifted men, but it's his word through the instruments of gifted men, then doesn't that mean that we should make this word the primary focus of our life together as the people of God?

If the church in the words of Martin Luther is the creature of the word, then anything else than a word centric church is, in my opinion, selling the church short. I think back to my own pastor back in London, Dr. Sondrean, when they were planting the church back in 2011, the church that I came from.

I remember when we would have these open houses as a church plan where we would invite people, we had our own building, thankfully. I remember he would always say it when he was explaining what the church was about and what the church's emphasis were.

He would always say, we are not a charismatic church, we are a Bible-matic church. And it was his kind of funny way, Tom has a very active sense of humor, it was his kind of funny way of saying that we are all about the Bible here.

Anything less than a word centric church is selling the church short because the word is how Christ is building up his people. That might sound like a bold proposition, but I have an even more bold proposition on top of that.

If then, if Christ's plan involves gifted men who have his word, that's what makes the difference here. They have the word of God and they deploy that word so that God's people are equipped for mission.

If that's the case, if the ministry of the word is lacking in a church, then a church shouldn't accept that just because other things are there. I'm not, again, I'm not alone in saying this. There was a professor called, there is a professor called T. David Gordon.

T. David Gordon, excellent man, he's written a couple of really helpful books. In 2007, Dr. Gordon was told he had stage three cancer and he was dying. So what do professors do when they know they're about to die?

They write stuff. So he decided to write a book about something that had bothered him for years and then found out a year later, actually, we can treat this and you're gonna be fine. Still published the book.

The book was called, Why Johnny Can't Preach. I understand in this country, we all have a phrase, why Johnny can't read. Well, he called the book, Why Johnny Can't Preach. Excellent book, I highly recommend it, even if you're not a preacher.

In that book, Dr. Gordon said this, quote, my anecdotal observation about the nature of preaching today and his observation was that most preachers can't preach. It's a very brutal book, because again, he was dying.

Or so he thought. So he's like, you know, I can say whatever I want. I'm gonna be dead anyway. Well, he's still around, but he says he still defends everything he said in the book. My anecdotal observation about the nature of preaching today that most preachers can't preach has also been reinforced perhaps a hundred times by casual conversations I've had with people I meet.

If they are churched, I ask them where they live, where they go to church and whether they're happy with their church. They ordinarily say that they are. But then I ask, well, what do you think of your minister?

As you all know, I'm not crazy, I'm calling pastors ministers, but he's a Presbyterian, so they do that. What do you think of your minister? So most of the time the reply I get is, well, he's not a great preacher, but that is almost everywhere I go.

When I ask people about their church home, they almost universally say that their minister is not a great preacher, which we all know is just a polite way of saying he's a bad preacher.

Ouch.

He goes on, it's a kind and charitable way of saying we don't really benefit from his preaching, but he's a good minister in other ways. Dr. Gordon goes on and says, while I'm delighted to hear that ministers are faithful in visitation, compassionate and caring for the sick, efficient in administration or winsome towards the youth and the lost, I'd be even more delighted to hear someone say, well, he's a little awkward at visitation, but he's outstanding in the pulpit.

And the preaching is so good and so nourishing that we put up with other minor defects in other areas.

End quote.

The reality is Christ did not think about this. And I can say this as someone who's, again, grown up in church, I know a lot of pastors, I've been around a lot of pastors. Christ did not give to the church a social worker.

We love social workers, they do excellent work, I'm not demeaning them. But Christ didn't give to the church social workers. He didn't give to the work case managers, to the church, excuse me, case managers.

Love them, we need them. He didn't give to the church event organizers or community leaders. I believe it was Billy Graham, slightly different theological camp to me, but I love what he said here. He said, God had one son, he made him a preacher.

He gives the church men who take his word seriously. And let's just be honest, if a church thinks that other things are higher on the value charts, or not even a church, if individuals think that other things are higher on the value charts than the presence of the word of God and the life of a church, that doesn't bode well for that church.

As Jonathan Lehman in his excellent book, Word Sent to Church, How Scripture Brings Life and Growth to God's People says, quote, one thing is necessary, Jesus said to Martha, as she bustled away serving the party, unlike Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

Jesus's rebuke of Martha catches us off guard because it seems obvious that acts of service are better than words. Actions speak louder than words, we say, and cheap. Yes, but Christianity begins not with what we do, but with the announcement of what God has done.

It is only words that can challenge our self-rule. Melodies or visual images can inspire us, encourage us, or cause us to grieve. But only words in the design of God can command us to surrender control of our lives and yield them to Christ.

One thing is necessary in our churches, hearing God's word through preaching, reading, singing, and praying. God's provision to his church is ultimately not really about the men. The men are simply conduits.

They are simply glorified microphones to get the word to his people. That's Christ's great provision for the church's equipping, men who have the word of God and are able to deploy it in faithfulness to Christ.

That's God's provision. He gives gifted men with his word for the task of equipping the church. But what's the purpose of this equipping? What's the purpose? Well, that's what I'm gonna consider in point number two,.

The Purpose of Equipping: Ministry and Edification

God's purposes.

God's purposes. If verse 11 spells out for us what God is doing, verse 12 lays out for us the why. Verse 12 lays out for us exactly why it is that God is doing what he's doing. So look with me at verse 12, Ephesians four.

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ. Allow me to break this down.

First of all, God's people are equipped. That's what these men are designed to do. God's purposes are that God's people are equipped. Now I keep using this word equipped, so it might be good for me to actually define what I mean for a moment.

When we talk about equipping someone or equipping something, one of the challenges we hit is this word only appears here in the whole Bible. So I can't look at other passages and help look at them to help me understand this.

You have to now look outside of the Bible to how this word was used in its day. But when you do that, actually it does prove helpful because what this word speaks to is giving a person what was needed for completing a task or assignment.

Giving a person what was needed for completing a given task or assignment. Kind of a preview of next week's message. God's given all of us the basic assignment, of speaking the truth to one another in love so that the body builds itself up.

But to do that requires knowing the word. So God gives men to the church who know the word, who can then teach that word to others so then they know it. I mean, this should make sense for us as people who believe that the Bible is our only standard for faith and practice.

If I can call these men evangelists who are charged with the proclamation of the gospel and pastor teachers who are tasked with the shepherding of the flock, these men, we can call them the word workers, if you will.

These word workers don't just do what they do because they like the sound of their own voice or they went to school for it or they think it's, no, they do this because this is how God's people get the tools they need for, point number two, the fact that they are equipped for service.

This is how they get the tools for service. So again, look at verse 12. Christ gave these people to equip the saints for the work of ministry. The word ministry is where we got our word deacon from,.

The word service.

Again, because we are all different and in the wonderful plan of God, we are all made wonderfully and beautifully different, ministry will look different from person to person. Service will look different from person to person.

But Paul's point is that Christ gives evangelists and pastor teachers to the church so that God's people can do the work of service. It's interesting, this is one of the few times where the Bible talks about the word ministry in this way, where it's not talking about the apostles.

And interesting, Paul doesn't restrict it to just evangelists and pastors. Again, one of the things I've encountered even in my short ministry as a minister of the word is that some people at times have this idea.

They have this idea that pastors exist to do church, like we pay you to do the ministry. So we pay you, you do the ministry, we'll come on Sunday and benefit from it. Great, wonderful, and we'll go our separate ways.

Good job, hope you do it again next week. But in some ways, think back to last week's message, ministry of mutual care, we all have a ministry at the very least to care for one another. And beyond that, as needs arise, there will be specific ways to serve in the body.

But catch this, none of that can happen if there's no foundation in God's word. Allow me to get specific for a moment. So ladies, one of your friends calls you and says that they are struggling in their spiritual life and they start to enumerate and it's very clear they're going through a rough phase in their spiritual journey right now.

What they need right now is the gospel and its promises preached directly to them. I don't mean to put any of you ladies on the spot, I'm asking you to answer this question out loud. But how adequate would you feel in ministering to that person?