The Unity of the Body of Christ — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Lord, we find our heart in the words of this song this morning.

Thank you, Father. Thank you for giving us such beautiful, rich songs, Lord, that we can find the depths of our heart crying out to you in the very song. Lord, from the end of the earth, in Pennsylvania, we cry to you this morning, Lord.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Have mercy upon us and make thy face to shine upon us, Lord, that thy saving health might be known among all the nations of the world. In Jesus Christ's name I ask it. Amen.

You may be seated. I was looking for that, I guess it's not here anymore, that little tin cup with a little change in it. Remember that? That's how I feel this morning, so I was looking for the cup. Last Sunday morning, I was in Wyoming, and a young man had the opening there, 19 years old.

And he got up behind the pulpit, and he just kind of stood there, trembling. And he reached for his papers, you know, and it's like this. He tried to open his mouth and talk, and he just started to cry.

And I looked at him, and I said, thank you, Lord, for the reminder. Though I've been standing up for 30 years, may I never get away from how that young man feels who stood up this morning. It always blesses me to see the young or the inexperienced stand up behind this pulpit.

It will make you tremble, amen? It will make you tremble. But I want you to know, it's not just the young and the inexperienced who tremble. So I greet you in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus Christ, this morning, God bless you, everyone, for coming. It's a joy to have you here, worshiping with us. The Lord has led me to bring a message this morning that he dropped on me last Sunday night in Wyoming.

So, I didn't have much time to prepare it on Sunday night in Wyoming. I had a half a page of notes, but I have taken time to pray and prepare it here this morning. The title of the message is, True Unity in the Body of Christ.

The Church at Ephesus and the Body of Christ

True Unity in the Body of Christ. We're going to read just a few verses in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And then we're going to be in Ephesians chapter 4. I feel the Lord leading us to look at Ephesians chapter 4, just verse by verse.

Right down the line, I don't know, verse 1 through 16. But before we read these verses here in Corinthians, I just want to give you a little history, a little history lesson. We're going to be reading out of the book of Ephesians.

And that means we're talking about the church at Ephesus. And some of the instruction that the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. I believe, several years after he was there and the church was born.

We can see the beautiful way that the church at Ephesus was born by reading in Acts chapter 19. It was glorious, it was beautiful, it was powerful. It started with 12 men who were disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who had been baptized by the baptism of John, which was a baptism of repentance. And then Paul came and explained unto them the way of God more perfectly. Or the way to come to God more perfectly. Or the way that God makes man righteous through our Lord Jesus Christ.

They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Paul laid his hands upon them and they were all filled, baptized with the Holy Ghost that day. And began to speak with tongues as the Spirit of God gave them utterance.

And from that day forward, a beautiful church began to spring up in Ephesus. That's the church at Ephesus. Paul wrote in the epistle to the Ephesians. One of the most beautiful, the most heavenly, glorious, most maturing words that he wrote to any of the churches that he started.

And Ephesus became a mature body in Christ. History says, and I'd like to do some more history study on the church at Ephesus. But history tells us that at one time in Ephesus, in its glory, there were 100 ,000 church members in the city of Ephesus.

Now, they didn't all meet in one place. Back in those days, there was only one church. There was 100 ,000 church members. People who loved the Lord with all their heart in the city of Ephesus. And the church at Ephesus planted many, many churches.

You can find six of them there in the book of Revelation chapter 2 and 3. But that is the history of the church at Ephesus just briefly. Now, let's turn to 1 Corinthians and read. Chapter 12, verse 12 through 14.

For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. Or, so also is the Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.

Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bound or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. Drop down to verse 24. There's much we could read here in 1 Corinthians, but I don't want to be distracted from Ephesians this morning.

Read verse 24 through 27. For our comely parts have no need, but God hath tempered the body, or balanced the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. Why? That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another.

And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. Paul uses the analogy of the human body here to illustrate what the church of Christ is supposed to be.

Now I want to quickly clarify. There are two revelations of the church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. One is the church local, that's what we are right here. And the other one is the church universal.

We know that there is the church of Jesus Christ in China and many other places in the world. And if you read in the book of Hebrews, you'll even find the church of the firstborn in heaven. But we're speaking here this morning because we are a church local.

We're addressing the revelation of the church local in the New Testament. And Paul uses the analogy of the human body to illustrate this unity and this beautiful functioning body called the Christ in the New Testament.

Now my body is in true unity this morning. It is a fully functioning body. All the members of my body function for the good of the whole. This head, that is my brain, can use this body to do thousands of different things.

My body is functioning in unity. Just last weekend we were ministering to a little boy out there in Wyoming who had brain surgery just a couple of days before. And he was taking radiation treatments in the area where he had a tumor in his brain.

His body was not responding to all the impulses that his brain was sending it. For a while he couldn't hear out of this ear. He was getting sick even though he had nothing in his stomach. Many things were not functioning right.

His head and his body was not in unity. But this morning, I am a unity. I am a human being functioning in a mature way. I can run. I can jump. Maybe not as high as I used to, but I can still jump. I can move my hands.

I can read. And whatever I want to do up here, I can do. Everything my body wants me to do, I can do. I am a unified body this morning. And Paul uses that as an illustration to grab the heart of the church at Ephesus and also the heart of the church at Corinthians to help them to see what God wants of them.

May we also learn from that this morning. My body is in true, mature unity. Now Paul says to us here in Corinthians, Ye are the body of Christ. And I would say that that is what God's goal is for us. The same thing, that we would be a mature body.

All the messages from the head going down into actions in this body. All the members of the body functioning for the good of the whole. And yea, this head, Jesus Christ, being able to use this body, charity Christian fellowship, in thousands of different ways.

That's God's heart. Now let's look at a definition of the word unity here this morning. The word unity means to be joined together so as to form a single unit. To be joined together so as to form a single unit.

That's what unity is. There is no other definition for unity than that. To be joined together so as to form a single unit. I believe it was Oswald Chambers who gave this definition of unity. I have it written in my Bible, but I didn't write who wrote it.

So if I'm wrong on that, forgive me. But listen to his, and this is so much like Oswald Chambers, listen to this deep, profound comment on unity. He says, There is no possibility of oneness or unity except there be two or more.

There must be separation and a willingness to come together or oneness means nothing. That's a good definition, isn't it? There must be separation and a willingness to come together or oneness means nothing at all.

Just the word up there. Unity is to be joined together so as to form a single unit. Now in the Scripture we have the fact of unity, and we also have the issues of the reality of unity, and many times the fact and the reality do not come together.

God doesn't know the fact, but it only helps us to realize what God really wants. He wants the reality of unity in the body of Christ. It's not enough for us to know the fact of unity, although that's greatly encouraging.

But God is after the reality of unity in the body of Christ. And the result? A beautiful, mature, functioning body. Now let's look at Ephesians chapter 4, and we're just going to start in verse 1, and go down through these verses.

The Calling That Promotes Unity

Paul begins with a little bit of introduction of his own testimony of his own life. And I love that about Paul. He speaks out of his own life. He speaks about where he's at, and he begins by saying, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.

That's no little statement that he's making, and we could just easily say, oh, he's speaking about the fact that he's in Rome and he's in prison. And it is true that he is in Rome and he's in prison. But I want you to notice that he didn't just say, I therefore the prisoner.

He said, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. Now that changes the whole thing. That changes what the cell looks like. That changes what reality is like. That changes what his whole life is like. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.

And other places Paul would have used the phrase, I the bond slave of Jesus Christ. And I believe that Paul, though yea, he may have been in a cell looking through bars when he wrote this epistle, he was also the prisoner of the Lord in his heart, in reality, all the time.

He was a bond slave of Jesus Christ. And he was one, not because he had to be, he was one who was so caught up and so captivated by the reality of who Christ was, that he was a bond slave of Jesus Christ, delighting, joyously delighting in being Christ's slave.

I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you, I beg you to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Now I'd like to focus here just for a minute on the word vocation. The word vocation and that leads me to the first point here.

And that is the calling that promotes unity. We're going to follow a little bit of an outline here. The calling that promotes unity, the attitudes that promote unity and all the way down through this text.

But I want us to notice the calling that promotes unity. Because when Paul is speaking about vocation, he's not speaking about the fact that you're a farmer or that you're a mechanic or that you're a housewife.

He's talking about a higher vocation than that. He's referencing back to chapter 1 and chapter 2 and chapter 3, where he brings out the revelation of the body of Jesus Christ. And by the way, the apostle Paul is the apostle, the special messenger of the revelation of the body of Christ.

Paul is that apostle, the special messenger who revealed by revelation, by the spirit of revelation, that Jesus Christ, though now sitting in heaven at the right hand of the Father, has a body on this earth.

Paul is the one who brought that revelation to the church. And we thank God for that apostle. Amen? Who laid such beautiful foundations for us that we can learn from. But Paul is saying to them that we should walk worthy of this vocation, the fact, the calling that we are the body of Christ.

Now, I believe what Paul is saying there is he's longing for the reality of that to settle down upon us. See? Just like any other vocation settles down upon us. I am a mother. That is a vocation. And when that vocation settles down upon you, sisters, it causes you to walk in such a way that you are a mother.

I am a father. And when that vocation settles down upon us as fathers, it causes us to function in such a way that you can look upon us and say, there is a father. And Paul says, I beseech you, I beg you that you walk worthy of the vocation for which you are called.

That is the body of Christ. Now, ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. Paul's encouragement to us is that we have a calling that promotes unity. We are the body of Christ. God has called us out of the world and together.

We are the ekklesia, the called out and called together ones in Jesus Christ our Lord. This vocation requires us that we walk in such a way that brings proper honor to the body of Jesus Christ and Christ our head.

Let us walk worthy. This is who we are. How we are to walk worthy, this becomes a reality as we go down through these verses. So that leads us to the second one. Attitudes that promote unity in verse 2 and 3.

Attitudes That Promote Unity

Paul goes on to say, walk worthy with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. So here we have attitudes that promote unity.

Since we are the body of Christ, let us have the attitudes in our midst, among ourselves, with ourselves, in all of our relationships which promote a unifying of this body. A reality of this body of Christ that matches the fact of who we are.

Seven beautiful attitudes we find here. The first one is the attitude of loneliness, which is just another way of saying humility. In fact, if you look it up in the Vines Expository Dictionary, the two words are together.

Lowliness. Humility. See humility. You go to humility. Humility. See lowliness. And God says, oh, let's have in our midst, in our relationships, one with another, a heart attitude of humility, a lowliness of mind.

More lowly mindedness brings more like mindedness. Amen? More lowly mindedness brings more like mindedness in the body of Christ. And we need like mindedness. The Scripture would also speak about being high minded.

That's the opposite of lowly minded. To be high minded, to be high minded is to think, oh, I'm something special. When in reality, no, I'm a needy man who needs the Lord Jesus Christ every minute of every day.

Or I'm not going to do it right. Amen? Oh, God help us to have that kind of a mind. A mind that esteems others as more important than me. The second one is meekness. And that word meekness simply means a gentle yieldedness to God and to others.

Oh, isn't that beautiful when you look at it in the light of the body of Christ? A gentle yieldedness to God. Yes, God, whatever you want me to do. And to others, those that are around me. A gentle yieldedness to God and others.

And then he follows with that one the word longsuffering. And longsuffering simply means to suffer long. And I know it may be a little bit hard to grasp here this morning, because we're in the body of Christ and we have pretty high expectations about what we in the body of Christ are supposed to be.

But Paul is addressing this issue of our relationships, one with another, and he tells us to suffer long. Now, if you're going to suffer long, that means you're going to suffer. And how can it be that I'm going to suffer in the body of Christ?

Because you're my brothers and my sisters. But in reality, the truth of the matter is that we do suffer sometimes from one another. And Paul says, have the attitude in your heart that says, I'm willing to suffer long.

Amen? And this attitude promotes true unity in the body of Christ. The next word is the word forbearing. And it means to bear long, to bear long with. And it speaks not necessarily of suffering as if some bad thing comes my way, but rather it has to do with us bearing with one another in all of our infirmities.

And we are who we are, and I am who I am, and we make mistakes, and we have different personalities, and God says to us, you are all part of the body of Jesus Christ. Put up with one another. Put up with my infirmities.

I'll put up with your infirmities. I will bear long with the infirmities of my brothers and my sisters. That's what Paul says. Forbearing. And then he finishes by saying, in love. And I looked at a definition the other day of love which I found to be greatly enlightening to me.

And so I'll give it to you. Love being filled with thoughts and actions of goodwill and kindness. To be filled with thoughts and actions of goodwill and kindness toward my brother and my sisters in the body of Christ.

And the next word I'd like to note in this portion of Scripture is the word endeavoring to keep. To keep. And that has to do with standing guard over the unity that we have. Endeavoring to keep the unity that the Spirit gives.

And as I see this text, Paul is admonishing us that we all have a responsibility to endeavor to keep that unity. There is unity that comes from our lowly attitudes. There is unity that comes from the doctrines that we believe, and we'll see more of that as we go down through here.

But there is also unity that the Spirit of God gives. God's Spirit is the most powerful influence of unity in the body of Christ. Brothers and sisters, the greatest thing that you could do for the unity of the body of Christ is to be filled continually and controlled continually with the Spirit of God.

You come here on Sunday morning with grace flowing in your life and heaven open over your heart and your life, you will be adding to the unity that the Spirit gives to the body of Christ. And Paul says, let us walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.

And that word keep means to stand guard. To stand guard. Oh, I'm jealous over the spirit of unity that is in this local body. Unity. The unity that the Spirit gives. This way and this way. Because you cannot separate them.

Amen? True spiritual fellowship flows this way and it flows this way. And if things are blocked this way, things are automatically blocked this way. Endeavoring to keep the unity that the Spirit of God gives.

And lastly is the word peace. That's the last attitude that promotes unity. And it simply means at one with each other. That it speaks of harmonious relationships. Here Paul is encouraging us. Ye are the body of Christ.

You are Christ's body on the earth. Is there a strain in relationship? Is there a situation where you are not at one with your brother or your sister? The bond of peace is missing. Where there is no at oneness between us.

This is a great hindrance to the true unity of the body of Christ. Brothers and sisters, let us seek God. That He might flow His grace into our hearts and our lives. That these attitudes may be in us through Christ Jesus.

Doctrines That Promote Unity

Let's move on to the next one. Doctrines that promote unity. Verse four through six. So we have a calling that promotes unity. We have attitudes that promote unity. Now we have doctrines that promote unity.

Verse four through six. There is one body and one spirit. Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all. Who is above all. And through all.

And in you all. Now we are skimming each one of these doctrines this morning. Obviously we could spend a whole hour on each one of them. Doctrines that promote unity. I thought about as I was meditating on this little portion of scripture.

I thought about the early church. We are looking at seven oneness doctrines. And I thought about the early church. And how it was in reality there in the book of Acts. Where we can see so beautifully functioning a body of Christ that was in full unity.

Isn't it beautiful how it functioned? Can you see it there in the book of Acts? So one with the head. So much so that grace is flowing from the head down into the body. So one that the head gave commandments through the spirit, Acts 1 says.

To those that were there. Such a beautiful functioning body in the book of Acts. Think how it must have been in these seven oneness doctrines. First one. Ye are one body. Now we've already said that and said it and said it.

And the whole message is on this first point. But I just want us to look at it and see. This is a doctrine in the Bible. And it is one that is meant by God to promote and encourage us to unity. One body.

Not two bodies. One. I know that down through history there have probably been many men who would have wished that there were two bodies. Because of their differences. Their attitudes toward others. They wished there were two or three or four.

But there's just one. One body. Then he goes on to say one spirit. One spirit. Not two. The spirit of God is the all inclusive spirit of God which allows God to be present everywhere at the same time.

One spirit. Not two. And we are all baptized by the same one and only Holy Spirit into that one body. That's a fact. And brothers and sisters, when we allow those facts to settle down upon us, we realize this encourages and promotes the unity.

Yes, we have the fact of unity. But it encourages and promotes us to move in the direction of the reality of unity. Why? We are all baptized by one spirit into Jesus Christ. Just one. Just one. One hope.

One hope of His calling. I thought about that. The lively, energizing hope that all of us have. And it's the same, isn't it? We all have the same hope of the glory of God to come. We all have the same hope of the resurrection of our bodies.

We all have the same hope of Christ's return. And we all have the same hope of a home in heaven someday. That is unifying doctrine. Isn't it? Oh, because all of this was in my heart as we sat and sang the songs this morning.

So many of the songs we sang, I was just grabbing and seeing how, yes, that song, that one, that one is drawing the body together on this Sunday morning. And that's exactly how it's supposed to be. We sing the songs of our lively hope and it draws our hearts in unity and oneness together.

One Lord. One Lord. Yes, one Lord, Jesus Christ, seated in heaven. He hath God made both Lord and Christ, the anointed one. And that one Lord is the head of this body this morning. We have one Lord, brother and sister.

Not two. One. Oh, to grasp the reality that Jesus is the head of this body. And he loves to send forth grace, wisdom, impulses, impressions, direction down into all the members of this body. He longs to do that.

And he does do it. I'm not saying that he doesn't. He does. But oh, that we could become, in reality, one solid body. Where all are receiving from the head into the body. One Lord. One faith. That's the faith of true Christianity.

That's the faith of the gospel that we believed in. You believed it. You believed it. I believed it. Each one of us, we believed the same beautiful proclamation of the gospel. And every one of us were born again by the Spirit of God.

One faith. One faith. That draws us together. That promotes unity in our hearts. And one baptism. One baptism, I thought about it this morning as I was preparing. If you're a believer, for the most part, as I look out over this crowd this morning, we all went to the baptismal waters, didn't we?

One baptism. Well, I don't know what Paul is saying. I don't know if he's talking about spirit baptism or physical baptism. You know, it seems like they were pretty close together in the book of Acts because of the persecutions.

But nevertheless, it is one baptism. And we all look back to that same experience of being born again. Of being washed in the blood. And sealing our faith in holy baptism. That is a unifying doctrine, brothers and sisters.

A doctrine that promotes unity in this body. And lastly, there is one God and Father. One. One God, our Father. One God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We all have the same Father. We have all been adopted into the same family.

Who is above all. There is God and His sovereignty sitting on His throne. And through all, which means among you all. And in you all. Isn't that beautiful? God has done all of that for us. Why? For us?

No. For the exaltation of His Son upon this earth. And we get some side benefits out of it. Fourthly, let's move ahead here. We want to also notice the personal gifts that promote unity. Verse 7 through 10.

Personal Gifts That Promote Unity

But unto every one of us He has given grace. According to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith. When He ascended up on high. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now He that ascended.

What is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens. That He might fill all things. And this morning as we sit here.

He is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. Filling all things. In this church. Personal gifts that promote unity. Just like God tempers or balances our physical body. So that it will be well balanced.

So that there will be no schisms within this body of ours. But everything is beautifully well balanced. You mean it would look pretty odd if all of a sudden here this morning. This hand decided that it wasn't going to do what the other one did.

And each time this hand went up this hand went behind me. You'd wonder what's wrong with him. Every time his left hand goes up his right hand goes behind him. And you'd think there's something wrong here.

Something isn't right. And there are those poor souls. Who have diseased bodies. That don't always function the way that they're supposed to. The body is not in balance. But God has tempered this body.

So beautifully balanced. That there's no schism or imbalances in the body. So also he places all kinds of different gifts in the body for the same reason. That the body might depend upon itself. All of you have gifts.

If you sitting here this morning have been born again by the Spirit of God. When you by the Spirit were baptized into Christ. Christ gave you gifts. I don't know what they are. But God knows exactly what he gave you.

And God gave us different gifts. Not the same gifts. Imagine if everyone in this body had the same gift. Imagine if everyone had my gift. Wouldn't you get tired of hearing all the hollering? But it's not that way.

God gives different gifts. To each and every one of us. Why? That the body might be balanced. That the body might be tempered. That the body would need one another. And be encouraged by one another. God did that.

God did it. And brothers and sisters, let me encourage you. God gave you a gift. And God did not give it to you for you. He gave it to you for us. It's our gift, not yours. So don't take it and hide it.

Don't go put it in a napkin and dig a hole and bury it. It's not your gift, it's our gift. Just like it says in 1 Peter, I think it's chapter 4. As good stewards of the manifold grace of God. We are to offer our gifts.

We are to exercise them in the body. Brothers and sisters, let us not be timid and unbelieving. But yea, walk forward in faith and confidence. And when we sense God moving us, move! Whether it is to reach out to somebody who is hurting.

Or to come over and encourage one. Or yea, even maybe to bring a quick rebuke to somebody. Or to lay your hands on somebody who is hurting. Or weep some tears with one who is weeping. Whatever it is that you sense that God is moving you with.

Move! Because God has given you those gifts. For us. Why? To unify this body. To unify it. My body is unified because my body takes care of itself. Number 5. Let's move ahead. God has given gifted leaders that promote unity.

Gifted Leaders Who Equip the Saints

Gifted leaders that promote unity. Verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and some teachers. I added one word there. Functioning differently for the common goal.

And what is the common goal? You see, what God is saying in this scripture is that God gifts leaders also. There is a difference. All of us have gifts. All of us have been given a measure of grace. But God gifts men to be leaders in his body for very specific reasons.

What are those reasons? For the perfecting, the maturing, the equipping of the saints. Because that's who you are. You are the saints. God's consecrated ones. And I trust this morning that you are in fact one of God's consecrated ones.

Because that's what the word saint means. But God has given gifted men to the body for the perfecting, the maturing, the equipping of the saints. It's very important for us to understand how this works.

That the saints might function as a body. Verse 12. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. God has given gifted men whose responsibility is Not just to give you a sermon on Sunday morning.

Or to visit you when you're sick. But to equip you and seek to bring you to maturity so that you can get out there and serve God. That's why God has given you gifted leaders. It's not just for you to feast off of week by week.

But rather that you might come to that place of maturity yourself. So that you can go out. And as I was pondering this flow of verses here. I thought, okay, the work of the ministry, maybe that's saving souls.

And the edifying of the body of Christ, that's discipling souls. Because brothers and sisters, both of those must be taking place in a true body of Christ. The saving of souls and the discipling or the edifying of souls.

Both of those must be taking place in a true unified body of Christ. And who is it that's responsible for that? Oh, the preachers are responsible to save the souls. That's not what the Bible says. We are responsible to bring you to perfection.

To bring you to maturity. To equip you so that you can go out and win them. And draw them aside to you and disciple them into a mature believer. That's what God gives gifted men to the church for. Let's move on from there.

The Vision of a Mature Body

To the vision that promotes unity. What is the vision? What is it that we see? What is it before us that moves us forward? It is a mature man. A true unity in reality in the body of Christ. That is the vision.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's what God's goal is. That's what our responsibility is as leaders.

Reverend, that's our responsibility. Till we all come to the unity of the faith. And I know that never happens because we're always growing and we're always sending. And people are coming in and people are going out.

I know that never fully happens. But at the same time, our goal is to bring to maturity a body of believers. Unto the full stature. A well established body that is filled with Christ's fullness. That's our goal, brethren.

All right, let's look a little further. Let's look, number seven, at the functioning members that promote unity. The functioning members that promote unity. Now we have these leaders who are perfecting, who are equipping the saints.

Functioning Members and the Results of Unity

And as the saints get equipped and as the saints begin to mature, guess what they begin to do? They begin to work toward the same beautiful end. It is my responsibility to help bring this body to maturity.

It is also your responsibility to help bring this body to maturity by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. That is our responsibility. So now we have an equipping of a body that is all working toward the same beautiful end.