Episode Transcript
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Be Seated. Well, as I
mentioned earlier, Carly and I love coming
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here. You know that it's UH. It's a privilege to bring God's words
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you this morning from e Fesians,
chapter four versus one through sixteen. So
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please take up your bibles and turn
there. We'll stand in just a moment.
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I want to say a few words
first, though. This morning I'm
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going to preach on the importance of
the Church of Jesus, Christ, being
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a united community, a community living
together in the bond of peace. You
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know, in Paul's letter to the
Church in Ephesus, from which I take
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my text this morning, it's been
a it's been a major concern of his
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to explore how it is that the
good news about Jesus transform human lives and
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brings people, diverse people, some
cases desperate people, individuals who otherwise might
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have no earthly reason to be together, to enjoy a profound spiritual unity with
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one another. How does that happen? Well, God is in the business
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of building a new community, the
church, and that that's the major focus,
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I'm sure you know. It's the
focus of the book of Ephesians and
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this morning, as we explore these
opening sixteen verses of Chapter Four. What
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we're doing is we're moving on from
Paul's theological exploration of that theme, the
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doctrinal foundations for the new community that
God is building. Actually, that's chapters
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one through three of Ephesians and now, as we begin chapter four, Paul
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Turns to tease out some of the
practical implications of these truths that he's laid
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out for us in these first three
chapters of Ephesians. Now, if you
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look at verse one of Chapter Four, you'll see it begins with an exhortation
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that really could function almost like the
heading for the remaining three sections of Ephesians.
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Here's what Paul's trying to do in
light of what he's been saying in
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the first three chapters of Ephesians.
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord,
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urge you to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling to what you've
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been called. I therefore, a
prisoner for the Lord, urge you to
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walk in a manner worthy of the
calling to what you've been called. That's
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Paul's concern here. That's what he's
gonna try to explain and apply in our
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church life, in our home life, in our professional lives. In the
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context of our experience of spiritual warfare, and that's what he does in chapters
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four or five and six. What
does it mean to walk worthy of the
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calling into which we have been called? You know, Paul's already used that
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little phrase to walk back in chapter
two, verse two, that before we
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were converted, what what happened?
We once walked in trespasses and sins.
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That was the course, that was
the direction, that was our habit,
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that was the trajectory of our life
before we were Christians. But Chapter two,
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verse ten, when we were made
alive together with Christ, we were
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created in Christ Jesus for good works
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk
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in them. And so chapters four
through sixth of Ephesians are about explaining what
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that should look like for us.
What is it mean to walk worthy of
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the calling that we've have received?
You and I have been called into union
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with Christ. Now Paul is going
to explore for us the implications of that
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new life in union with him.
And, as we're gonna see here in
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verses one through sixteen of Chapter Four, they're focused on unity. You know,
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the first thing Paul wants us to
understand about how to walk worthy of
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the calling with which we've been called, is Christian unity and the unity of
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the Church under the Lordship of Christ. So, before I read these verses
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and we see how that's so,
let's pray that God would help us understand
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his holy word. Please stand with
me, if you would. Let's let's
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pray our father, as your word
is read and preached, we you,
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please work by your spirit that by
your words mighty power, we might grow
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up into Christ, who is the
head, and attained to the measure of
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full maturity to what you have called
us. Would you so work in our
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hearts, by the Gospel, that, as a congregation of your church,
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we might become a visible demonstration to
the world of the loving unity of the
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people of God, that by our
love for one another, all might know
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that we are Christ's disciples before we
ask it, in Jesus name. Amen.
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So epasians, Chapter Four, reading
verses one through sixteen, I therefore,
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a prisoner for the Lord, urge
you to walk in a manner worthy
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of the calling to which you have
been called, with all humility and gentleness,
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with patience, bearing with one another
in love, eager to eager to
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maintain the unity of the spirit it
in the bond of peace. There is
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one body and one spirit, just
as you were called to the one hope
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that belongs to your call, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism,
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one God and father of all,
who is over all and through all and
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in all. But grace was given
to each one of us according to the
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measure of Christ's gift. Therefore,
it says when he ascended on high,
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he led a host of captives.
He gave gifts to men. In saying
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he ascended, what does it mean
but that he had also descended into the
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lower parts of the earth? He
who descended is the one who also ascended
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far above all the heavens, that
he might fill all things. And he
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gave the Apostles, the prophets,
the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
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to equip the saints for the work
of Ministry, FOR BUILDING UP The body
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of Christ us, until we all
attain to the unity of the faith and
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of the knowledge of the son of
God, to mature manhood, to the
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measure of the stature of the fullness
of Christ, so that we may no
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longer be children tossed to and fro
by the waves and carried about by every
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wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes, rather
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speaking the truth and love. We
are to grow up in every way into
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him who is the head, into
Christ, from whom the whole body,
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joined and held together by every joint
with which it is equipped, when every
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part is working properly, makes the
body grow up so that it builds itself
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up and love every one's this is
the inherent word of God. Please be
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seated. You know, I think
we understand that unity is vital to the
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well being of the church. It's
basic. Our Savior, you will remember
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in his uh great high priestly prayer, he asked his father that the disciples
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maybe one, and he and the
father are one. When we recited that
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the apostles creed. We confess together, don't we, that we believe in
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one holy Catholic, universal and Apostolic
Church. The unity of the Church,
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the unity of Christians, is an
article of faith. And yet the long
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history of the church, you know, not to mention the painful personal experience
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perhaps of many of us, teaches
us that our unity is in fact very
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fragile. It's easily shattered. You
know, we're supposed to be one,
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we ought to be one, but
the truth is sometimes we hold grudges,
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don't we? You know, the
truth is, sometimes we speak hartily to
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each other, sometimes we fight,
sometimes we even divide. How, then,
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shall we live together? How can
we begin to see answered? You
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know, even in in this fellowship
covenant, O Pc, our saviors great
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prayer for Christian unity. And answering
that question, I think, is the
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burden of these sixteen verses, and
I want us to consider this its message
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under three headings. The first of
them, in in verses one through six,
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is the call to unity. The
call to unity in verse two,
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I think Paul is as a straightforward, clear exhortation to practice five core virtues.
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Five, I think, five building
blocks of unity. We're to walk
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worthy of our calling, how with
all humility and gentleness, with patience,
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forbearance and love, five building blocks
of unity. You know, humility here
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means that we're to thank others better
than ourselves. I think humility means modesty.
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It's the opposite of self esteem,
self conceit and pride. You know,
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if we're saved by grace, through
faith, not by works, so
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that no one can boast. It
follows that Christians cannot be proud. Gentleness
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means to restrain and sometimes, I
think, even to deploy our strength for
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the nurture and welfare of others,
I think, particularly the weak and defenseless,
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such as the unborn. Patience means
that were to quietly wait on God's
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timing, God's agenda, ahead of
our own, I think, in any
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given circumstance. I think another valid
translation of patience is long suffering. That's
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what God does with us. He
suffers long with us. If he didn't,
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everybody no Christianity. Forbearance means to
cut other people the same slack that
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we hope that they'll cut us.
And I think love is the sum and
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crown of all the others combined here. You know, it's a compelling picture,
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isn't it, of a community marked
by humility and gentleness and patience and
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forbearance and love. Now, who
wouldn't want to belong to a community,
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to a church like that? But, as attractive as it is, I
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hope you see, and I know
you do, how profoundly challenging Paul's list
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is. Here now, how are
we going to live these things out?
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Humility, gentleness, patience forbearings and
love. That's hard. I think none
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of us find it easy. How
will we begin to obey the exhortation?
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Well, I think there's some help
here in verse three. Look there.
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Be Eager to maintain the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace.
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Do you see Paul's wonderful balance here? On the one hand, unity is
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our call, it's our obligation,
it's our duty, it's our responsibility.
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We must eagerly pursue it, seek
to maintain it, were to guard it,
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to hold it fast, to preserve
it, the unity of the spirit
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in the bond of peace. And
yet ultimately, our unity is sourced in,
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it's enabled by and it's created by
the Holy Spirit himself. It's his
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work, his great project to make
us of us, one new community.
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And there's help there, you know, as we hear Paul's ex exhortation to
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these lofty virtues, humility and love, patience and gentleness and forbearance, the
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Holy Spirit is it work in us. He's killing our sin, he's dissolving
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our prejudices, evaporate reading and eradicating
our intolerance for one another, teaching US
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patience, helping us love and I
think there's still more help. If you
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look down in verses four through six, note carefully there how Paul interweaves his
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doctrine of the trinity with his understanding
of Christian experience. It's wonderful. It's
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as if he wants us to understand
how every aspect of our Christian lives is
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encompassed by and encircled by the three
persons of the blessed God him. Look
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at the text versus four through six, which, by the way, it's
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interesting, is just one sentence.
It's a fact which may be important in
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itself. It's a unity, Paul
says here. There's one body, that's
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the church, and it's the creation
in the dwelling place of one spirit,
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the Holy Spirit. We have one
calling and one hope of our calling.
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But that calling is the work and
Ministry of the Holy Spirit by which we're
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incorporated together into the body of Christ, and there's no division in that body.
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If one member suffers, all the
members suffer. One member is honored.
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I think all the members rejoice in
that. You know, we have,
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Paul says, not many lords but
just one Lord, the Lord Jesus
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Christ, who we are told is
the object of our one faith, and
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the great sign of our union with
him, with our common Lord, is
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our one baptism. You know,
it's interesting that Paul would include baptism in
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his list of unities, because opinions
about baptism have certainly divided churches in the
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past. But Paul is not concerned
here with modes of baptism. Modes of
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baptism divide. He's concerned primarily with
what baptism signifies. Baptism signifies identification with
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Christ, and that's what brings unity
in the church. We have, Paul,
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says, one God who is the
father of all believers, making us
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one family adopted into his household,
one spirit, one Lord, Jesus,
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one father underpinning giving shape to the
unity of the church and our shared Christian
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experience. One or our unity,
in other words, is founded upon and
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reflects God's unity. In the church. Were United, were one in a
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way that is designed to mirror the
way that God is one. He's three
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yet one. We are many yet
one in Christ. Well, how do
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you live out of Christian unity when, and let's just be honest for a
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moment, how do you live out
Christian unity when sometimes living together is really
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hard? Work Right. How do
you become more humble and gentle and patient
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and forbearing and loving? Well,
I think actually Paul is telling us here
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that the answers of that to that
question is profoundly theological. The answer he
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tells us has to do with God. And I think here's how that works.
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Paul's calling us, in verses four
through six, to a god centered
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life, to see the Christian life
surrounded by, in habited with, the
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work of all three persons of the
godhead. And a God centered life like
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this is a life that will find
the glory of God more valuable than self,
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so that self promotion begins to shrivel. And what happens? In we
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begin to learn humility. A God
centered life rests more and more in the
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infinite power of God's grace and is
therefore more and more set free from the
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need to assert its own power.
So what happens? We learned patience.
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A God centered life drinks in the
wonder of forgiveness, and the need therefore
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to be right all the time crumbles. And what happens? We learn forbearance.
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A God centered life is captured by
the love of God, demonstrated for
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us in this that while we were
yet centers. Christ died for us.
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And think as we see his love
for us in Christ our Self, love
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starts to look ugly and we begin
to love others the way Christ had first
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loved us, dear ones, the
flowers of humility and gentleness and patience and
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forbearance and love they bloom best,
and the fertile soil, soil of a
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heart absorbed with knowing the Tribune God, one spirit, one Lord, Jesus
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Christ, one father of us all, and to the degree, I think,
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that we know him and the unity
of his being and the glory of
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his three persons, to that same
degree, we will love and serve one
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another in unity, celebrating our difference, celebrating our diversity in the way that
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mirrors and reflects the God that we
love. So I think that's Paul's call
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to unity. And I think secondly, if you look there at versus seven
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through twelve, gifts for unity,
you know it's not enough that we're called
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to practice humility and gentleness and patience
and forbearance and love. Christ also supplies
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the resources to help us get there, to help us live it out.
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Notice Verse Seven. Grace was given
to each one of us according to the
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measure of Christ gift. Paul wants
us to understand that the unity is thinking
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about here isn't some sort of flat, sterile sameness. It's not. It's
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not some drab generic uniformity, but
it's the unity of a human organic body.
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It's a body containing diverse but essential
and contributing parts. We've been given
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gifts, grace, gifts, it
says, to use in the service of
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the unity of the whole. Without
the things all Christians share the common experience
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of their being joined to Christ through
the work of the Holy Spirit, there
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is no church at all. Without
a diversity of gifts, the church is
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not healthy. We can't function completely, any more than a human body can
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function completely without certain body parts.
And I think to back up his point,
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in Verse Eight, Paul Quotes Psalm
Sixty eight, verse eighteen, and
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then he explains how he understands these
verses. In Verses Nine and ten,
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just look there at a moment.
For a moment, Paul says that each
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of us have received gifts from Christ
to use in the promotion of Christian unity
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in the church. When he ascended
on high, he led a host of
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captives. He gave gifts the men
and saying he ascended. What does it
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mean but that he has, he
had also descended into the lower parts of
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the earth. He who descended is
the one who also ascended far above all
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the heavens, that he might fill
all things. Now, Psalm Sixty eight
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is interesting. It's actually a psalm
of triumph. It pictures the Lord God,
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Almighty Yahweh Jehovah, and it's probably
picturing him in the exodus as having
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been victorious over his and Israel's enemies
and of now ascending his throne to receive
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gifts and praise from all men.
It's a marvelous psalm. It's written by
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David and by citing this Davidic Psalm, Paul puts the Lord Jesus Christ into
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that same role. And they're by
he puts Jesus on the Same Level as
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Jehovah God. In other words,
he's affirming Christ's Deity. Here, the
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same God who came down at the
exodus came to us in Jesus Christ,
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actually in a far more glorious way, a far more wonderful way. Says
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here he came all the way down
to the lower regions. That is he
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came to the earth, all the
way down into our humanity, obeying for
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US helpless sinners, dying in our
place and then rising in victory having secured
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our salvation. He reigns at the
right hand of God and like a mighty
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conquering king, he distributes the spoils
of his victory to his people. He
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gives gifts to the church and to
individuals in the church, and those gifts
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are to be used for the unity
of the church. And what are those
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gifts? Well, how does the
Exalted Christ work for Unity Within the body
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of Christ? By giving gifts to
US verse eleven. He gave the apostles,
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the prophets, the evangelists, shepherds
and teachers. Now, the apostles
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and prophets, of course, are
foundational to the Church, given by Christ
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to provide the inherent word of God, so that now that our scripture,
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the Canon of Scriptures, complete,
we no longer need their ministry. Their
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work is done. We no longer
have apostles and prophets, but they still
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witness to US powerfully today through the
pages of scripture. Evangelists. Well,
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there there are only four brief mentions
of the office of evangelists. And the
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New Testament. So we don't know
a lot about them, but it seems
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that an evangelist in the New Testament
was somebody, someone sent into a particular
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church with authority delegated to them to
bring stability and good order in a needy
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situation. Think of Timothy. Timothy
called to do the work of lovangelists.
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He was sent to Ephesus by Paul, the aid in the settlement of that
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church. And then there's shepherd and
teacher. It's two titles for one office.
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They actually should be hyphenated pastor teacher, shepherd teacher. Paul's talking here
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about a minister in a local congregation. He's talking about an elder whose work
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is to Labor in word and doctrine. The shepherd shepherds his flock, he
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keeps the sheep in order, directs
them where to go, where to feed,
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brings them back to the fold,
looks after their safety guards against enemies
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liable to attack them. Now,
I think the key thing to notice about
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all four of these offices, all
four gifts given by the Exalted Christ to
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the Church for our unity, is, after all, word, ministers,
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ministries. They all relate in some
way to the Ministry of teaching to the
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Proclamation of the Gospel. You See, Christ is aiming at our unity,
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and at the heart of his strategy
for accomplishing our unity is deploying men of
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God equipped to preach the word of
God to the people of God, and
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I think verse twelve is critically important
because it helps us understand how that works
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in the life of all churches,
this church. How do these word ministers
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fulfill the goal that Christ has for
them and bringing unity to the Church by
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preaching the word? Look at what
verse twelve tells us they do. Christ
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gave these pastor teacher's gifts to equip
the saints for the work of Ministry,
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for building up the body of Christ. You know one writer on this passage
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named Simon Austin. I think he
identifies a common problem in our churches today.
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He talks about a church as a
bus and he talks about the church
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as an orchestra. Now, in
the church as a bus, analogy,
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the congregation are simply passengers and the
minister is the driver of the bus.
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Now, some of the passengers May, I don't know, occasionally helped clean
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or maintain the bus, and some
always want to sit in the same seats.
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Of course they all appreciate good driving. Some never talked to new passengers.
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Well, there's they're really hoping that
certain passengers get off at the next
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stop. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's a common way to experience life
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in many churches today, but it's
not the biblical picture of what the Church
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should be. No, this writer, I think he rightly says that the
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church should be more like an orchestra. The conductor helps the whole orchestra play
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in tune and in concert, with
each member performing their role well. He
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helps them understand the composer's musical score
correctly. And the score, of course,
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is the Bible. It's the word
of God. Although the conductor is
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the preacher, the whole congregation responds
to the score together, each party engaged
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in ministry, as the conductor,
the pastor teacher interprets Christ's instructions in holy
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scripture, so that the whole orchestra
makes the sound that the heavenly composer intended.
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See, that's what Paul says in
Verse Twelve. And when it's done
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properly, see the church produces a
beautiful sound, beautiful in God's sight,
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and so useful to him in this
world. WHO DOES MINISTRY IN THE LOCAL
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CHURCH? Not The one with the
title minister. His role is to equip
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the saints. It's the saints who
do the work of ministry. How does
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word ministry help us live in unity? It does it by equipping US and
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encouraging US and moving us to service. See, that's how we're to respond
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to the word of God, you
know, not to be mere consumers of
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it. Rather, the response Paul
is calling us to here is the response
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of service. So I pressed the
question on us to warning. Who are
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you serving? You don't need a
title and an official recognized ministry. That's
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not what he's talking about here.
How are you serving? That's the call
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of Jesus Christ, I think,
to us, and as we begin to
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serve one another, unity is the
great fruit of that service. The call
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to unity, then the gifts Christ
gives the Church for unity. And then
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finally, in verse thirteen to the
end, just notice quickly the contours of
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unity. I think Paul gives us
a wonderful picture of what that unity will
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look like here in verses thirteen through
sixteen. Notice in versus thirteen and fourteen.
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Paul tells us clear, very clearly, that unity and maturity go together.
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We will maintain attain to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge
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of the son of God, to
mature manhood, to the measure of the
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stature of the fullness of Christ.
Unity and maturity are connected. In others,
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Paul says that you haven't grown in
Christian maturity, however your knowledge other
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scriptures may be, however deep your
theological awareness may be, if you're not
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also grown in humility and gentleness and
patience and forbearance and love. You know,
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I heard someone say that the other
day, that uh, he was
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talking about Christians who look as though
they've been baptized in vinegar. And you
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know the type. Surfaces, a
standoff, ease, distance, Sura,
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unmoved, unloving, uncaring Christian,
I think, is at best and infant
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in spiritual things. But, as
verse fourteen exhorts us, we are to
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mature, we are to grow up, no longer children tossed to and fro
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by the waves, carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by human cunning,
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by craftiness and deceitful schemes. So
you know, for Paul, right
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thinking, getting your doctrine right,
what you know, and Christian maturity only
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fit together as cause and effect when
knowledge, understanding, doctrine is married to
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love. And so he says in
Verse Fifteen. Speaking the truth and love,
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the body begins to grow and as
each part is knit together, each
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part does its work, it builds
itself up and love. Well, let
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me conclude, I want to conclude
this morning by him by emphasizing again that
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Paul's vision of our individual Christian maturity, it's not an individualistic vision. In
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fact it's very much a corporate vision. ECCLESIOLOGY, the doctrine of the church,
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is absolutely supreme in Paul's view of
the Christian life. And it's supreme
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in Paul's thought because it's supreme in
Christ thought. Christ said I will build
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my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. He didn't
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say I will build up each individual
believer and let them live for me as
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he or she will. That's the
Bible's viewpoint from start to finish. You
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know, I don't get me wrong, the Bible recognizes the place of the
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individual, to be sure, he
and he furnishes US lots of rich portraits
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of individuals. You No, from
believers, from Noah to Abraham, Moses,
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you know, David, Peter,
Paul, Barnamas, many other individuals.
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But most of the time, most
of the time, when the Lord
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addresses his people in the Bible,
he addresses them together as a unity.
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Let's just Paul does right here in
Ephesians. Look there to Phesians Chapter Two,
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verses eighteen through twenty two. That's
Paul's Marvelous view of the church,
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for through him we both have access
in one spirit to the father. So
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then you are no longer strangers and
aliens, but you are fellow citizens with
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the saints, members of the household
of God, built on the foundation of
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the Apostles and Prophets, Christ,
Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the
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whole structure being joined together, grows
into the Holy Temple in the Lord.
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In Him, you also are being
built together into a dwelling place for God
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by the spirit. To Paul,
it's the church, not the individual Christian,
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who is the bride of Christ.
It's interesting Peter picks up on that
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same theme in his first letter,
Chapter Two, verses four and five.
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As we come to him, Peter
says a living stone rejected by men but
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in the sight of God, chosen
and precious. You, yourselves, like
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living stones, are being built up
as a spiritual house, to be a
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holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifice, is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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Now, to be sure, Peter
is describing an individual Christian here,
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but he's describing him as a living
part of an entire household, and what
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he's saying is that, as living
stones, the meaning of our lives is
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determined by our relationship to the whole, to the entire body of believers organized
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into the House of God. Now, notice Peter doesn't, he specifically doesn't
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call US priest he calls us a
priesthood. We're a spiritual house, a
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holy priesthood, and later he says
we're a chosen people, we're a holy
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nation. You know, Peter looks
at us from this vantage point, not
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as individual believers, in our distinctiveness, but in our unity as a priesthood,
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a nation, as the church,
and he views individual believers as stones,
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each of which takes his or her
place in a house, a temple
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that's being built. We're individual stones
being pieced together by Christ. And how
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is how is Christ doing that?
Well, we're chosen and shaped for our
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individual position by God himself, were
placed into position by Jesus Christ himself,
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and all the stones in this temple
are not identical, they're different. The
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stones are chosen, they're shaped,
they're placed not to draw attention to themselves
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but to contribute to a building in
which God dwells, and the placing of
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each stone is only part of a
work begun thousands of years ago and which
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will continue until the end of the
age when Christ returns. Each stone is
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important, you know. Peter isn't
saying that they aren't, but he is
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saying that the purpose of each stone
can only be realized in its union with
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all the other stones. He's saying
that you and I are building blocks how
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to putch together. When properly arranged, a spirit virtual house can be built,
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a church can and will be built
with great impact for Christ. I
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think Peter says here that the Lord
is not as interested in you as a
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priest as he is in you being
part of the priesthood and as a priesthood,
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he looks upon the Church as the
great agent of his work, his
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cause, his kingdom in the world. So I think all of this is
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to say that that's one of the
great themes of the Bible. Paul here
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in Ephesians, Peter, the Bible
sees every Christian as a vital part of
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this spiritual house, contributing to its
life and work and, together in concert
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like an orchestra with all other believers, powerfully and beautifully proclaiming the name and
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the glory of the Living God in
Christ, his son, to a dying
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world. And Paul reminds us here
in this text that our spiritual maturity is
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measured by the extent in which we
come to see our lives precisely in that
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way, in terms not of ourselves
but the life of the body of Christ,
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the Church of God. It's welfare, it's happiness, it's it's fruitfulness,
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it's faithfulness, now becoming the measure
of my life, in your life,
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dear ones, I want to remind
you there is but one institution and
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one family that exists in this world
that will also exist in the world to
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come and forever, and it's not
your biological or your nuclear family, precious
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as that is. It's this family, this family right here, it's the
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Church of Jesus, Christ, his
body, his fullness. You know Jesus.
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Christ may have saved you in your
biological or nuclear family or, contrarily,
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he may have saved you out of
your biological or nuclear family, but
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he saved you for this family.
When you live for this family, when
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you are a faithful son or daughter
of this family, when you employ the
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gifts God gave you for the benefit
of this family and Paul and the Bible
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says, you are a mature Christian. You have grown up into the fullness
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of Christ. When you live for
this family, you are living as Christ
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would have you lived. You are
living the life he shed his blood that
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you would live. When you invest
your life in his body, in this
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family, in God's Household, the
Lord Christ who descended and then ascended,
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looks down on you with a heart
of Thanksgiving and fulfillment and pleasure and with
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his smile because you are more completely
and perfectly a part of himself, his
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body. That's what he lived for, that's what he died for, that
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you should live in it, and
for the unity and the holiness and the
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happiness and the fruitfulness and the harmony
of his people. Dear when this is
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an amazing way the Bible speaks about
us, about US Christians. We are
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still, more and more profoundly,
a part of Jesus Christ himself, a
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member of his body. We're no
longer strangers, were no longer aliens,
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but were fellow citizens with the saints, were members of the household of God.
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May God make it so in all
of our lives and all of our
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churches. Let's pray our father,
we praise you that the Gospel makes enemies
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friends, takes takes outsiders brings them
in, takes centers and makes them saints,
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00:42:15.880 --> 00:42:21.760
Takes Aliens and Strangers and adopts them
into your family, and thank you
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that we have tasted that reality.
Please teach us how to live out,
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to walk worthy of the calling to
which we have been called and to begin
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to practice, between us and among
ourselves, the supernatural gift of love,
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with humility and gentleness and patience and
forbearance. Lord, Build Your Church to
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the praise and glory of your name. Amen.
