The Gifted Body Of Christ (Ephesians 4:7-16)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.839 If you're able to remain standing, please do so and turn your attention now 2 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:16.949 to Ephesians and one of Paul's letters in the New Testament. A tonight we're 3 00:00:16.989 --> 00:00:27.100 reading from Ephesians, Chapter Four, verses seven through sixteen. Let's give our 4 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:33.060 attention to the reading of God's word. But grace was given to each one 5 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:38.570 of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says when 6 00:00:38.609 --> 00:00:43.329 he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts 7 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:48.609 to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he 8 00:00:48.689 --> 00:00:54.600 had also descended into the lower regions the earth? He who descended is the 9 00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:59.119 one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all 10 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:03.829 things. And he gave the Apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the 11 00:01:03.989 --> 00:01:08.310 shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of Ministry, for the 12 00:01:08.390 --> 00:01:12.790 building up of the body of Christ, until we all attained to the unity 13 00:01:12.829 --> 00:01:17.670 of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to mature 14 00:01:17.829 --> 00:01:22.459 manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so 15 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:26.340 that we may no longer beat children tossed to and fro by the waves and 16 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:33.010 carried about by every wind of doctrine and by human cunning, by craftiness and 17 00:01:33.090 --> 00:01:37.930 deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth and love. We are to grow up 18 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:42.489 in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom 19 00:01:42.530 --> 00:01:46.849 the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is 20 00:01:46.930 --> 00:01:52.799 equipped with, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so 21 00:01:52.920 --> 00:02:02.829 that it builds itself up in love. You may be seated well the book 22 00:02:02.870 --> 00:02:08.710 of Ephesians. It's very much about what God is doing in this world in 23 00:02:08.870 --> 00:02:15.710 relation to the world that is to come, the way in which the age 24 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:22.259 to come, the Kingdom of God, is breaking into the world, and 25 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:27.020 he's talked about this in a number of ways already. One you remember was 26 00:02:27.419 --> 00:02:30.930 in regards the temple. Back at the end of chapter two, he described 27 00:02:31.090 --> 00:02:39.169 the church as a temple. We are being built up on the foundation of 28 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:44.520 the Apostles and prophets, with Christ, Jesus himself, being the cornerstone, 29 00:02:45.360 --> 00:02:53.719 built up into a place in which God dwells. Now he's using another analogy, 30 00:02:53.800 --> 00:03:00.310 another metaphor, and that is the body of Christ. He says that 31 00:03:00.469 --> 00:03:05.069 we, as the church, in accordance with the things that God has done, 32 00:03:05.110 --> 00:03:09.870 are being brought together as a body and there is, as we focused 33 00:03:09.909 --> 00:03:15.979 on last time, a great unity to that. Do you remember, if 34 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:22.060 you look back at verse for well, that whole, for all those verses 35 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:27.569 one through six, but verse four, there is one body and one spirit, 36 00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:30.569 just as you were called to, the one hope that belongs to your 37 00:03:30.689 --> 00:03:35.129 call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father 38 00:03:35.289 --> 00:03:40.009 of all, who is overall and through all and in all. But this 39 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:46.000 unity, he goes on to describe in more detail, is not expressed in 40 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:53.599 an exact sameness from person to person to person. We have this unity in 41 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:59.189 Christ, but we don't lose our individuality, we don't lose the ways in 42 00:03:59.310 --> 00:04:02.669 which God has made us. On the one hand, we remain who we 43 00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:09.550 are. We are, we become. God uses us and according to the 44 00:04:09.590 --> 00:04:13.659 gifts he is given to us. As he says in Verse Seven, grace 45 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:16.660 was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts. 46 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:21.459 He talks about that again later at the end of this passage. Our unity 47 00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:27.370 is not an all becoming the exact same person, but being brought together, 48 00:04:27.410 --> 00:04:32.089 as in in to one body. So an ear is not a finger, 49 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:34.769 is not a toe, is not a tongue, is not an elbow, 50 00:04:35.810 --> 00:04:44.720 but yet all together they are one body and function a together. We're going 51 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:48.519 to think about this along the lines that Paul gives to us here in chapter 52 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:54.069 four, but before he gets to that point, he wants to remind us 53 00:04:54.629 --> 00:05:00.350 why that is, how it is that we are functioning together, how it 54 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:05.189 is all brought together and why it is all brought together. And this is 55 00:05:05.709 --> 00:05:10.699 important for a number of reasons. One is that, as we think about 56 00:05:10.740 --> 00:05:14.980 who we are as a church, why do you come to church every sundated 57 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.420 worship God with this particular group of people? Why do we do the things 58 00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:23.050 we do? Why do we do them in the way we do them? 59 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:30.129 Well, they're not random, they're not accidental, they're relying on the very 60 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:35.759 promises and acts of God as we read here. So let's consider it. 61 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:41.680 Let's consider who we are and as a church and how that relates to the 62 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:47.800 work of God in the world. What he says in Verse Seven is that 63 00:05:48.040 --> 00:05:53.750 grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts 64 00:05:53.829 --> 00:06:00.870 or Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, 65 00:06:00.990 --> 00:06:05.779 he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. And then 66 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:11.980 there's a parenthetical comment on that, sort of arguing that point in verses nine 67 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:15.100 and ten, which will come to in a second. So what's The apostle 68 00:06:15.139 --> 00:06:19.209 saying here? Well, the first thing to note is that he is quoting 69 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:26.689 from Psalm Sixty eight, psalm sixty eight, verse eighteen in particular, and 70 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:30.410 in that Psalm you will read as you read, the whole context of the 71 00:06:30.449 --> 00:06:35.399 Psalm is this great victory song. It's all about the Lord going out into 72 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:43.439 battle and just decimating his enemies, conquering in power and in my and then 73 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:47.829 ascending up to victory. You'd have. I won't read it tonight for the 74 00:06:47.949 --> 00:06:51.790 sake of time, but I would encourage you to do that. All kinds 75 00:06:51.829 --> 00:06:56.750 of ways in which that is expressed. They are the great victory of the 76 00:06:56.910 --> 00:07:01.660 Lord ascending on high and leading a host of captives. But there's an interesting 77 00:07:01.699 --> 00:07:08.819 thing that happens in the psalm. It says and he receives gifts, whereas 78 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:15.300 Paul says here and he gave gifts. There's another interesting thing that happens is 79 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:19.610 Paul quotes this text that I'll draw your attention to, and that's the word 80 00:07:19.649 --> 00:07:26.610 at the beginning of Verse Eight. Therefore, now maybe you scratch your Chin 81 00:07:26.810 --> 00:07:31.519 at that a little bit and as you as you read that, because Psalm 82 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:38.360 Sixty eight, as you know, was written well before Paul's letter of the 83 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:46.230 Ephesians. So why would Paul say? Jesus Christ, God gave in Jesus 84 00:07:46.269 --> 00:07:53.069 Christ these gifts to you. Therefore, it says back here in Psalm Sixty 85 00:07:53.149 --> 00:07:58.269 eight, when he ascended on high, he led hosts, a host of 86 00:07:58.389 --> 00:08:05.740 captives. Now commentators struggle with this in all sorts of ways and try to 87 00:08:05.779 --> 00:08:09.139 figure out why does he do it? Most people simply ignore the fact that 88 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:15.689 it says therefore. But what we have in fact is Paul doing something that 89 00:08:15.850 --> 00:08:22.850 we read throughout the New Testament, and that is this that the Old Testament 90 00:08:22.129 --> 00:08:24.850 was not written, though it was, I should put it this way, 91 00:08:24.850 --> 00:08:30.240 though, was written before the New Testament, it was written in the light 92 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:35.600 of the New Testament. Now that would, of course, be impossible if 93 00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:39.159 it were not for the fact that God is the author of both. But 94 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:46.190 the things planned in the old were anticipating the things in the new in such 95 00:08:46.230 --> 00:08:50.669 a way that they were speaking of things to come. If you would, 96 00:08:50.789 --> 00:08:58.740 you could turn to turn back to Galatians for an important expression of this principle, 97 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:05.580 and glacians chapter three, verse eight. We read this. I'll give 98 00:09:05.580 --> 00:09:15.049 you a second to turn there, glaciers three, verse eight. Paul writes 99 00:09:15.129 --> 00:09:22.529 this, and the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles by faith, 100 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:28.960 preached the Gospel Beforehand to Abraham, saying in you shall all the nations 101 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:35.919 be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, 102 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:41.990 the man of faith. Isn't that interesting? Scripture is personified here as 103 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:48.149 foreseeing something that would happen in the future and therefore speaks in this way. 104 00:09:50.149 --> 00:09:56.139 Paul says that what you read in Genesis is preaching the Gospel of Christ. 105 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:01.980 The author of Hebrews says this a number of ways as well. One example 106 00:10:01.059 --> 00:10:07.019 is when we read about Moses, who gave up the treasures and knowledge of 107 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:13.250 Egypt for the sake of Christ, for the sake of our savior. Many 108 00:10:13.330 --> 00:10:18.809 times and throughout the passages of scripture of the New Testament, you read this 109 00:10:18.409 --> 00:10:24.320 a kind of looking back that sees the way in which, at that time, 110 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:30.200 not just sort of reading something back into the Bible. That's not what 111 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:35.110 it says, but at that time scripture for saw the things to come and 112 00:10:35.590 --> 00:10:43.590 therefore preached the Gospel. Well, Paul is operating on that principle here, 113 00:10:43.429 --> 00:10:48.429 and that's why he talks in the way that he does, because of this 114 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:54.899 thing Christ did. Now, therefore, back then, the Bible says this. 115 00:10:54.980 --> 00:11:00.419 Is that amazing and it reminds us how we ought to all be reading 116 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:07.049 our bibles. Paul is not doing some kind of funky exegesis that only belongs 117 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:13.090 to apostles. He's doing apostolic exegesis that we all should do all the time, 118 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:24.320 and in that then he is free to paraphrase the scripture that he quotes, 119 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:30.720 and that's why he feels free to a change of these words. Instead 120 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:37.070 of saying he receives gifts, I'm he gave gifts to men. Right. 121 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:41.950 Instead of saying it he receives gifts, he says, therefore, it says 122 00:11:41.990 --> 00:11:45.190 when he ascended on high and let a host of captives, he gave gifts 123 00:11:45.230 --> 00:11:50.460 to men. Now, when we quote things in our day and age, 124 00:11:50.019 --> 00:11:56.700 we are often very, very finicky about how we do this. At least 125 00:11:56.740 --> 00:12:01.450 at least on paper, but, as anyone will tell you who studied a 126 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:05.450 little bit of copyright law and things like that, it's it's really confusing and 127 00:12:05.529 --> 00:12:09.370 it's not all quite as black and white as you would hope. In addition 128 00:12:09.450 --> 00:12:13.490 to that, there's a lot of instances where it would seem to you would 129 00:12:13.490 --> 00:12:18.399 be able to quote something fairly and and yet there are a various obstacles and 130 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:26.120 difficulties. Well, Paul here is not merely quoting the exact words, he's 131 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:30.149 quoting it in light of the New Testament. That's what he's doing here, 132 00:12:30.909 --> 00:12:33.750 and you see various examples of this throughout a scripture. I won't read it 133 00:12:33.870 --> 00:12:37.190 now, but you can write down, if you like, Hebrews ten, 134 00:12:37.350 --> 00:12:41.429 four through five as an example of that. Wells we come to all of 135 00:12:41.509 --> 00:12:45.700 this, then, the main point is this, is that Paul is interpreting 136 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:50.259 the Old Testament in light of the new and Paul is not only interpreting it 137 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:54.860 that way, he's saying that this is what was intended from the very beginning. 138 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:01.450 Something that we see and clearly perceive now that yes, the Yah way 139 00:13:01.610 --> 00:13:05.929 receives these gifts to men, but his giving is receiving as also a giving 140 00:13:07.649 --> 00:13:11.690 and that's what we have here in Christ. Now we go on to versus 141 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:18.080 nine and ten. Now, in verses nine and ten we have the basis 142 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:20.039 for saying why he says what he says. It's a little bit of an 143 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:26.159 argument. In other words, he's saying that when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, 144 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:31.830 just like yeah way did and and in Psalm Sixty eight, and then 145 00:13:31.230 --> 00:13:35.269 and and and, there was this sort of train of glory and victory and 146 00:13:35.389 --> 00:13:41.580 establishing of a kingdom as a result of that victory. Same thing is happening 147 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:45.779 here. How do you know that? Well, he makes kind of this 148 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:52.580 common sense argument in verses nine and ten in saying he ascended, what does 149 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:56.769 it mean but that he also descended? In other words, it's impossible for 150 00:13:56.850 --> 00:14:01.809 God to go up unless he's already come down. That's what he's saying here. 151 00:14:03.529 --> 00:14:05.529 That's what he says, for example, in verse ten. He who 152 00:14:05.690 --> 00:14:11.240 descended is the same one, the same one. He who descended is the 153 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:18.120 same one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all 154 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:26.190 things. Now, there are some other tricky things here to interpret in this 155 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:30.110 passage. One is this question about what does it mean that he had descended 156 00:14:30.190 --> 00:14:35.070 into the lower regions of the earth. I won't get into the details of 157 00:14:35.110 --> 00:14:37.779 it now, but I think the best interpretation of it is to talk is 158 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:46.659 that it's a reference to death, the Lord's intercarnation ultimately leading to his death. 159 00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:52.289 This death that he went into was ultimately, we read, the victory 160 00:14:52.409 --> 00:14:58.730 that he achieved, a victory was that that was then vindicated as he ascended 161 00:14:58.970 --> 00:15:03.929 into the heavenly places. So if we can take all that together, then 162 00:15:05.049 --> 00:15:11.039 Paul is essentially saying, beloved, this thing has happened in history. God 163 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:15.639 has come into the world. He has come into the world, he has 164 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.200 descended into the lower regions of the earth, even to death itself. He 165 00:15:20.279 --> 00:15:24.750 has accomplished something great. He is now ascended on too high and in those 166 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:30.269 same terms of psalm sixty eight, he is now victorious. He is a 167 00:15:30.549 --> 00:15:41.899 stablishing a kingdom. Now where do we go from here? What is the 168 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:48.659 effect this has? What is it that Jesus does as he continues his work 169 00:15:48.299 --> 00:15:56.330 in the world? Well, he pours out gifts. He's like a king 170 00:15:56.529 --> 00:16:02.850 who, having gone into battle, having now been victorious, gives out gifts 171 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:07.440 to those who accompanied him on that way. Only it's a little bit different 172 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.720 with Jesus, isn't it? Because we didn't stand alongside him in his victory, 173 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:15.960 fighting for him along the way, and then he rewards us for all 174 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:22.750 of our good battles. No, Jesus ascends alone, but with us in 175 00:16:22.909 --> 00:16:29.830 him, not adding to his work but beer benefiting it, in it by 176 00:16:29.990 --> 00:16:33.700 grace, as he says in Verse Seven, grace was given to each one 177 00:16:33.740 --> 00:16:40.220 of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. He pours out these rewards 178 00:16:40.340 --> 00:16:45.419 of his own victory on us, not because we stood VI valiantly by his 179 00:16:45.620 --> 00:16:51.330 side, but because we were his beloved whom he has chosen to save. 180 00:16:52.610 --> 00:16:56.490 Jesus, Christ didn't descend into the world and raise up into the heavenly places 181 00:16:56.889 --> 00:17:03.519 for himself alone. He did it for us, and the evidence of that 182 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:08.599 is obvious. As he says, he pours out his gifts on us and 183 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:17.190 establishes his kingdom. So what are those gifts? How is the Kingdom of 184 00:17:17.470 --> 00:17:22.829 God established? Well, it is, as we say, or as we 185 00:17:22.910 --> 00:17:27.309 see here, it is established through his word, the servants of his word. 186 00:17:29.990 --> 00:17:36.380 Continuing on in our exposition of this passage, verse eleven. What did 187 00:17:36.420 --> 00:17:44.369 he give? He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the 188 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:52.730 shepherds and the teachers. Again, as with almost every verse in this passage, 189 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:56.930 there are a whole host of various kind of exegetical questions, a difficult 190 00:17:56.009 --> 00:18:02.440 things that scholars have argued over. If you have any particular questions, come 191 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:07.039 talk to me and I'll do what I can, which will mostly involve me 192 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:11.839 pointing you to smarter people than me, but nevertheless I can tell you a 193 00:18:11.950 --> 00:18:18.230 few things here that I'm certain of. One is that what we have here 194 00:18:18.509 --> 00:18:22.750 is a list of of those that are centered on this, on a word, 195 00:18:22.950 --> 00:18:30.259 based a ministry. Jesus is going to establish his body, he's going 196 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:33.259 to strengthen his body, and how will he do that? He will do 197 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:37.980 that through his word, first through the apostles and prophets that were in that 198 00:18:38.059 --> 00:18:41.930 first generation of the church, as we read, that foundation of the temple, 199 00:18:42.609 --> 00:18:48.490 and then continuing on in the evangelists and these shepherds or, sometimes translated, 200 00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:55.880 pastors and teachers. The evangelists are those like Timothy, who were called 201 00:18:56.079 --> 00:19:00.240 to go out into the world and preach the Gospel and found and established new 202 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:07.559 churches. Shepherds, or those that were called to come in afterwards and serve 203 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:14.950 in these flocks and minister according to God's word, as we read in Scriptures. 204 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:18.549 It was in the scriptures, it was prophesied by it was prophesied by 205 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:22.349 the prophets, the word of the Lord. Quote, and I will give 206 00:19:22.390 --> 00:19:30.140 you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 207 00:19:30.460 --> 00:19:38.170 That's how these shepherds are going to work. That's there the food that they 208 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:42.650 give. That is how they watch over the sheep. And then, finally, 209 00:19:42.809 --> 00:19:49.410 teachers, those that are specially dedicated to studying and learning and expositing God's 210 00:19:49.450 --> 00:19:56.119 word for the benefit of the church. These are our professors in our seminaries 211 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:02.279 and the Oh in the OPC and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, are professors, 212 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:10.029 are called by our presbyteries to be ministers of the Gospel, as these teachers, 213 00:20:10.069 --> 00:20:15.750 or sometimes we call them doctors of the church. That's what's going on 214 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:21.460 here. Now, why, what is God going to do with these gifts 215 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:26.619 that he pours out on his church, these apostles and prophets and evangelists and 216 00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:34.809 shepherds and teachers? Three things to equip the saints for the work of Ministry, 217 00:20:36.609 --> 00:20:42.369 for the building up of the body of Christ. This threefold expression of 218 00:20:42.490 --> 00:20:52.720 their work is again another kind of debated point in in in scholarship on Ephesians. 219 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.319 Here some people want to take want to take it to say this, 220 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:04.589 that he gave these various officers and their offices to equip the saints for the 221 00:21:04.710 --> 00:21:08.710 work of Ministry. In other words, he gives them to equip these saints 222 00:21:08.829 --> 00:21:15.269 in order that the saints might then go do that work of ministry. It's 223 00:21:15.349 --> 00:21:19.140 better, however, to take it as of the thing which the evangelists and 224 00:21:19.259 --> 00:21:25.740 shepherds and teachers are called to do. There's a few reasons for that. 225 00:21:26.180 --> 00:21:32.619 One is that there are these parallels that are going on throughout this passage, 226 00:21:33.049 --> 00:21:37.650 where there are is this rhetorical device called accumulation sizes, not that fancy of 227 00:21:37.690 --> 00:21:44.690 a thing. It's just building up right in which he teases out a particular 228 00:21:44.809 --> 00:21:47.559 truth. So he sort of states it and then says and this, this 229 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:52.920 and this. Another thing that's being used here as a tool, another rhetorical 230 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.599 trul called a Sindoton. It's just a fancy word meaning you take out the 231 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:02.829 conjunctions, no butts and those kinds of things. And so what we have 232 00:22:03.150 --> 00:22:07.549 here is this building up of things. In fact, you see it two 233 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:11.230 other times here in this passage. It's it's easier to see in the Greek 234 00:22:11.269 --> 00:22:14.829 but you can see it here in your English bibles too. So, for 235 00:22:14.950 --> 00:22:19.460 example, can immediately continuing this parallel of three things. In verse thirteen we 236 00:22:19.579 --> 00:22:25.740 have another three, so it says, until we all attain one to the 237 00:22:25.859 --> 00:22:30.690 unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the sun, to to mature 238 00:22:30.849 --> 00:22:33.529 manhood, three, to the measure of the stature, of the fullness of 239 00:22:33.569 --> 00:22:37.809 Christ. Then again in fourteen, the same thing, another set of three, 240 00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:41.289 the third set of three, so that we may no longer be children 241 00:22:41.410 --> 00:22:47.279 tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, 242 00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:53.039 to by human cunning, three by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Paul actually 243 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:56.880 does this in other places throughout Ephesians as well, and we see him doing 244 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:02.349 this very tight and it's very tight spot here. He's building these things up 245 00:23:02.509 --> 00:23:07.630 one after another. And so when we come back to this and ask all 246 00:23:07.630 --> 00:23:11.069 right, what is he saying? Well, this is what he's saying. 247 00:23:11.430 --> 00:23:18.220 He is giving the evangelists and the shepherds and the teachers to equip the saints. 248 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:23.420 That's the the purpose behind it, that's the reason for it, or 249 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:30.170 that's to prepare them. And then the the larger purpose in which this is 250 00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:33.329 under is for the work of ministry and for the building up of the body 251 00:23:33.410 --> 00:23:37.930 of Christ. Now, if you're worried that this might take away the general 252 00:23:38.049 --> 00:23:41.359 office of the believer, that all of a sudden the saints have nothing to 253 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.119 do and it's just a sort of passive receiving of knowledge, don't worry, 254 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:51.920 because Paul obviously doesn't say that. As he goes on, he they are 255 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.470 to equip the saints. Well, there to be equipped for something. Right, 256 00:23:56.549 --> 00:23:59.230 they are to be prepared and he tells us what there to be prepared 257 00:23:59.390 --> 00:24:03.069 for, which will get to a moment. We also read and versus in 258 00:24:03.309 --> 00:24:08.269 fifteen and sixteen, that this whole body is not standing there just having this 259 00:24:08.430 --> 00:24:14.980 sort of brain dump of knowledge, waiting Sunday after Sunday, as they are 260 00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:21.740 being blessed in some way by these shepherds and evangelists and teachers. Know what's 261 00:24:21.819 --> 00:24:27.250 happening. Well, they are growing in every way and to him who is 262 00:24:27.369 --> 00:24:32.369 the head into Christ and in Verse Sixteen, from whom the whole body, 263 00:24:32.529 --> 00:24:37.769 joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. When each 264 00:24:37.890 --> 00:24:44.079 part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up 265 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:48.119 in love. Right, there's lots of activity going on here and, as 266 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:52.559 we thought about earlier today and Sunday school, and as we've thought about other 267 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:56.470 in other places, we are to be an active body, a body that 268 00:24:56.589 --> 00:25:02.430 is serving and loving and strengthening one another. Later he will talk about us 269 00:25:02.430 --> 00:25:08.900 a singing to one another. He talks about a serving, serving one another, 270 00:25:10.180 --> 00:25:15.500 many other, many other things. But in order for that to happen, 271 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:21.650 these evangelists and shepherds and teachers need to be busy at their work. 272 00:25:22.009 --> 00:25:26.170 That's how the church grows, by hearing the word of God. Odd and 273 00:25:26.210 --> 00:25:36.799 here's why there are dangers. We can remain toddlers. You might translate verse 274 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:41.519 fourteen so that with this happens, so that we may no longer be children. 275 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.480 That word child describes someone who is not a nursing infant and yet is 276 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:53.190 still drinking a lot of milk. Okay, so that we aren't toddlers. 277 00:25:55.069 --> 00:25:59.549 That's the that's the sort of state of childhood here, tossed to and fro 278 00:25:59.789 --> 00:26:04.299 by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, 279 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:11.420 by craftiness and deceitful to schemes. Jesus Christ, when he ascends to 280 00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:15.859 the Father in heaven and leaves us in the world, knows that there are 281 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:22.490 dangers here. He is more than aware of that fact. He's not only 282 00:26:22.609 --> 00:26:26.569 aware of it, but that's why he sends these ministers of the Gospel to 283 00:26:26.849 --> 00:26:32.960 equip us, to establish us and strengthen us so that we don't wander along 284 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:38.240 getting pushed around by every big wind that comes our way. But of course, 285 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:45.200 when we don't hear the word or we aren't blessed in receiving it, 286 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.910 Christians sometimes remain a long time in this toddler stage, and it's a sad 287 00:26:53.150 --> 00:26:59.309 thing. How do we grow up, though? How do we come into 288 00:26:59.750 --> 00:27:04.460 maturity, to being strong, to growing up, as he says in Verse 289 00:27:04.579 --> 00:27:11.019 Fifteen, into him who is the head, or verse thirteen, into mature 290 00:27:11.259 --> 00:27:17.130 manhood, the measure of the stature, of the fullness of Christ? Write 291 00:27:17.250 --> 00:27:22.170 this image of Christ standing strong and firm. How do we become like that? 292 00:27:23.450 --> 00:27:29.369 We have to know his word. We have to because that is how 293 00:27:29.450 --> 00:27:33.559 he feeds us. Remember the shepherds will feed us with knowledge and with understanding. 294 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:37.680 This is how we grow up into a hit, into the head, 295 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:44.589 through a Ministry of the word. Now, this is not a bare truth, 296 00:27:44.789 --> 00:27:49.710 this is not angry truth or half truths we read in Verse Fifteen. 297 00:27:49.869 --> 00:27:56.990 It is speaking the truth in love and by speaking that truth and love, 298 00:27:56.589 --> 00:28:00.940 a love that reflects the love of the word of God and is true to 299 00:28:02.180 --> 00:28:06.099 his mission and the things that he says. What does it result in? 300 00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:17.490 It results in a body that builds itself up in love. All of this 301 00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:26.250 is made possible because of our savior. John Thirteen says no one has ascended 302 00:28:26.569 --> 00:28:33.319 into heaven except he who descended from heaven, namely the son of Man, 303 00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:38.720 and Paul's point is the same thing. Without this work of God, we 304 00:28:40.119 --> 00:28:44.150 just be a bunch of people in a room. But with the work of 305 00:28:44.309 --> 00:28:48.309 God, and in the Work of God, he unites us into God, 306 00:28:49.710 --> 00:28:56.299 he unites us into Christ Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, into his body 307 00:28:56.700 --> 00:29:02.140 and he makes us members of him. And as the Ministry of the word 308 00:29:02.299 --> 00:29:07.059 is at work among us, he blesses that, he grows it and makes 309 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:15.250 us stronger and stronger as individuals and as a body. If we were to 310 00:29:15.410 --> 00:29:19.450 just grow as individuals, we would be of this. I don't know. 311 00:29:19.650 --> 00:29:23.559 We're going to be grotesque kind of thing. Right and arm over here getting 312 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:30.839 big and ear over here, flopping around on the ground. God is a 313 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:40.190 god of Wisdom, a god of order and beauty. He desires us to, 314 00:29:40.349 --> 00:29:45.789 as he says, be working properly, to be working together, to 315 00:29:47.029 --> 00:29:51.109 growing, be a growing together, as he says in Colossians, to be 316 00:29:51.509 --> 00:29:56.539 being knit together in the bond of peace and in the bond of love. 317 00:29:57.819 --> 00:30:03.220 So this answers all kinds of questions for us about how we ought to live 318 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:07.099 our life in the church. What ought to be central to the ministry, 319 00:30:07.930 --> 00:30:12.490 that of the Church, what is important and most important in our lives, 320 00:30:14.450 --> 00:30:18.849 who we are to be and how we are to grow. But then it 321 00:30:18.930 --> 00:30:23.119 we also have this wonderful expression of God's love and grace, and we can't 322 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:30.160 forget that here is not, first and foremost an expression of a bunch of 323 00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:36.069 rules abstracted from anything that God has done. Now, all the rules and 324 00:30:36.190 --> 00:30:40.710 the applications of the passage that we have here is flowing from the fact that 325 00:30:41.109 --> 00:30:47.109 God has united us to himself through the death of Christ, through him who 326 00:30:47.150 --> 00:30:53.380 has descended, I'm descended, into this world, being obedient as a servant, 327 00:30:53.420 --> 00:30:59.619 dying even on a cross, so that he might knit us together in 328 00:30:59.740 --> 00:31:07.690 love and raise us up in glory. So, Church Covenant, let us 329 00:31:07.849 --> 00:31:14.210 be built up. Let us build ourselves up, not by ourselves, but 330 00:31:14.450 --> 00:31:19.279 in him and through him and for him. These are the blessings that he 331 00:31:19.319 --> 00:31:25.799 gives to us. Let's receive them by faith. Let us pray