:
You're listening to audio from Faith Church Indy.  This fall we're studying the book of Ephesians,  learning about the new life that we find in Christ.  Now here's the teaching. to be here with all of you. uh Some of you, I know, know the story of Peter,  not the Peter from the Bible,  but Peter who was the nerdy high school student who kind of got picked on and he was overlooked and bullied a lot until one day a spider bites him in the lab. And all of sudden weird things start happening to him. He gains super strength. He  can jump and run faster than everyone.  And he also discovers there's a world that he didn't know existed before, where evil forces are endangering the people around him. And they're trying to destroy everything good and decent. He didn't choose this, but he sees that his powers are exactly what is needed. And if he doesn't step up, People that he cares about will suffer. Peter Parker becomes Spider-Man.  Do you guys love superhero stories? Anyone else? Okay,  a mixture. uh Part of what I love about them is this kind of, they all have a similar kind of movement in them. A person rises up to do amazing things, right?  They live above sort of the level of ordinary, everyday life. They're willing to face dangers that other people can't or won't and take on burdens. They  put themselves in harm's way to defend the innocent and to fight evil. They have a moral code that guides them. and they keep on  fighting in this battle as long as there is evil and injustice in the world.  And one of things that I love about superheroes is that most of them are just ordinary people like us, right? But something extraordinary happens to them.  It kind of gives us hope that maybe we could be a superhero, maybe we could be like them in some way. The only thing it takes is, you know,  a... a mutant spider biting us or, you know, gamma rays or a special green ring given by some alien power. But there's a need that is out there. And it feels like, you know, maybe, maybe it could, I could step into that. There are stories that are not meant to just entertain us, but to inspire us in a kind of way, right? They call us to live beyond ourselves for the sake of others. And in the passage that we're looking at today, we're to see how God calls us to a life beyond the ordinary, how he empowers us to live for a higher purpose.  If you haven't already, you can turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter four. If you have your scripture journals, we're on page 18. As we get into our passage this morning, remember that  in the first half of Ephesians chapters one to three,  Paul gives us this  grand vision of Jesus and God's eternal work and  who the church is and how we have new life in Christ, a new identity and new  purpose and new  power. And starting in Ephesians chapter 4, now Paul is shifting a little from that kind of  big theological vision to practical matters of everyday life. Paul explores the... the character traits, the habits, the relationships, the morality that define living as God's new people, as God's new community. That's what it means to be  a Christian, right? Paul wants followers of Jesus to live  out what God has done for them and what he's declared about us. We're not just ordinary citizens of Indianapolis going about our everyday lives. our lives have an eternal significance and an eternal purpose. And now in verses seven to 16,  Paul is explaining the purpose, the role that each of us has in this community of new people. It's a word for every one of us here this morning. And I think what Paul is getting at is this, that you, you  are God's plan to grow his church. You people. m here, all of us, you are God's plan to grow His church. And as we go through the passage, this is what we want to look at. What has God given to His church? How has He given it and why has He given it? What has He given? How has He given and why has He given it? So let's dive into this together starting in verse seven. Paul explains what God has given to grow His church. Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  Your translation might read as  Christ apportioned it. Paul is saying every one of us, if we belong to Christ, you have been given grace, you have been gifted, you have been empowered to do everything that God has created and called you to do. uh Paul kind of echoes a similar idea in Romans 5 when he says  we have differing gifts. according to the grace given to us. So the first thing we need to understand here is just clear from the text,  every one of us, every one of you has been given  some kind of gift, some kind of special endowment ability for ministry. Everyone. No exceptions. As I look over the church this morning and I see your faces, I see people who are gifted by God to do the work that He's created for you to do. That's the first thing. God, what does God give? God gives His church spiritual power. God gives His church spiritual power.  Look at this  image that Paul uses here in verses 8 to 10. Therefore, it says, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men. In saying He ascended, what does it mean? But that He also descended to the lower regions, the earth. He who descended is the one who also  ascended, far above all the heavens that He might fill  all things. Now, what is that? What is Paul getting at? He's  borrowing from Psalm 68. It's this picture  of God leading His people out of Egypt in triumph,  in victory, into freedom, in the Exodus. The earth shakes under His feet. The kings and nations tremble before him. And God, the conquering hero,  ascends to Mount Sinai, the place of his ruling power, leading captives in his train and receiving tributes or gifts  from people. It's a picture of a  triumph, a triumphal parade that would have been common in the ancient world, right? And God, the conqueror, leads... captives and receives gifts from them. It's demonstrating God's  absolute power and authority to accomplish everything that He intends. It  reassures us that everything God means for His church to do, for you to do, He has the power to enable you to do it. Now interestingly, Paul changes something here. He changes,  he received gifts from men in Psalm 68 to say,  He gave gifts  to men. And there's no comment from Paul about why he makes this change, but it's not really a contradiction. Because if you think about it, when the victor takes  spoils from the enemy, he gives them out as gifts to his people, right?  But Paul also shifts the focus from the Exodus to the incarnation. Do you see what he's picturing here? The idea is that as Jesus takes on human nature, he lowers himself. He humbles himself to become human. And then he  lowers himself even further to be born as a baby in a barn and to serve the creation that he had made. And then he humbles himself even deeper and takes our sin on himself on the cross. And then he  goes down to the deepest depth in the grave. One time  at a lake when I was a teenager, my  brother and I noticed a mom near us  suddenly became really upset.  It turns out a bracelet, an important bracelet had fallen off her wrist, but she had a little toddler with her and a floatie, and so she couldn't go look for this bracelet, so  I sort of stayed with her and tried to calm her down. My brother dove down into the lake to try and find this bracelet. Now, this is dark,  murky lake water. Right? You can't see anything. You just have to feel around. And I'm standing up there,  know, chest-high water on the surface with this lady. you know, the bubbles are coming up every so often. But my brother keeps, he's down there and he keeps staying down there and he keeps staying down there. And then his lungs must have been ready to burst. But then finally he shoots up out of the water. And he has this treasure, this gift that he was looking for, that he gives back to this woman. That's kind of a picture of what Paul is giving for us here. That Jesus went down as  deep as he could go into the dark murky depths of the grave. But then he rises up gloriously  in his resurrection and  in his ascension. Jesus gives  gifts to his church. That's the picture that Paul wants you to have in mind. That Jesus is a glorious conquering king,  joyfully, generously giving out peo- giving out gifts lavishly to his people. And I have sort of a small version of that here. I have some gifts to give out to you all this morning. So here's some gifts, all right.  Gifts for the people of God.  There we go, here we go, over here.  Yeah, come help distribute these gifts. I've got more gifts, no, okay. More gifts.  All right, I tried to pick the soft ones.  Oh, look at that.  All right, you guys gotta come up and grab them. Gifts for the people of God. Now look, what has God given to his church? What has God... sugar, yes, sugar to power us through the sermon, exactly. He's given us  graces, He's given us grace. Look in  verse 11. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to  grace His church.  We saw, remember back in... chapters two and three how the Old Testament prophets, the New Testament apostles are the foundation for their church, that their ministry was to bring revelation from God, particularly about Jesus, right? But those were unique offices, and I don't think continue today because if there still were  apostles and prophets like Paul and Isaiah, right, we would need extra blank pages in our Bible to keep adding to God's authoritative revelation. But when the apostolic age ended, that era of the inspired writing of scripture was completed. But God is still speaking to his church. He's given others to explain and to pass on and to teach the truth that the prophets and the apostles gave.  Look, he gives evangelists, people who make the gospel clear and pass on the truth that  the apostles and prophets gave to equip us to be able to share that news with  creativity and boldness. And then there are pastors and teachers or pastor teachers.  You can read it either way. And pastor literally just means shepherd. He's given shepherds, people who  guide and encourage and instruct, people who step in front of the flock to protect them from wolves. And as you look at those gifts of prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors, teachers, what do they have in common? What do they have in common? It's the ministry of the Word, right? What they have to give to God's people is an understanding of who God is and what He's done. That's the focus of their ministry. And the way that we have apostles and prophets minister to us today is to listen to God's Word, right? The evangelists and the pastor teachers take this apostolic revelation and they instruct and they apply to build  up the body. And it's important to recognize that because the power is not in the people. It's in the word. It's in the living word of God. Right? In our culture, you may tend to either  worship ministers or have nothing to do with them, right? Maybe you find some... pastor or teacher that you really like and you idolize them, you hang on their every word, you think no one could ever be as good as this person, they have such a unique thing, or you go off and you do your own thing and you just decide, well I don't need the church, I don't need to sit under anyone, I'm not connected to anybody, I'm under no particular leaders. And Paul is saying those are both errors, dangers to avoid. We need to be putting ourself in places where a variety of ministers can be speaking God's Word into our lives. That's what God intends. Are you doing that? What is the input of God's Word into your life? And you come to it with a posture of learning and humility and trust and submitting to it and  letting it challenge you and change you and encourage you and  grow you. What does God give? He gives  spiritual power through gifted teachers to explain God's Word. But notice in verse 12 what these leaders do. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. The New Testament writers talk a lot about the church and who we are and what we're to do, what to avoid, how to live. But I'm gonna tell you, I think this is probably the single most profound and important verse that talks about the church. This is what church is. This is what we do. God gifts leaders to equip God's people for ministry. In other words, you,  you are God's plan to grow the church, to spread the message of Jesus. See, this obliterates the picture, you know, if church is like a pyramid with  the pastor at the top is kind of like the boss who... who's above all the other people underneath. It does away with the model of  the pastor being the CEO or the guy driving the church where he thinks it ought to go. It gets rid of the idea of  his pastor is an entertainer who has to have the  newest, hottest, flashiest thing to grab people's attention. Evangelist, pastors, teachers equip the body of Christ for your ministry. Look again. Think about that image that he uses in verse 12 for building up the body of Christ. Church is pictured as a body, just like our physical bodies. that is taught and cared for and equipped to do all the various works of ministry. And so I think we can put it this way. How does God build up the church? Some equip so all will serve. Some equip so that all serve. I don't think we can even list all the ways that people have been equipped and they're serving here at Faith Church. We train people to share our faith in gracious and engaging ways through life to life. Dozens serve in faith kids ministry and student ministries, passing on faith to rising generations. Dozens more serve at summer kids camp. There are people who lead grow classes in small groups and every week people show up to help immigrant neighbors learn English. People minister with care and encouragement to the hurting, the grieving, the confused, the lonely. Other people serve in worship, in the kitchen, in  technical support. Deacons work behind the scenes to make sure that everyone who is serving has everything they need to serve. I'm not suggesting that we've realized the goal of this text, but we have at least recognized it.  This is what we're supposed to be. This is what church is. that we are here one another to equip each other for  the ministry that God has called you  to. bottom line for everyone here today is that you are called to minister. You are a minister of Jesus Christ. There are no exceptions. If you're a believer, you are part of the body of Christ. I mean, think about that imagery. We don't have extra parts. We don't have spare parts. And if you're a part of the body and a part of the body just stops working, then the body becomes ill. If you're not serving, something has gone wrong. You're not what you're supposed to be and then the body won't be what it's supposed to be. It won't be healthy because you're needed. It's tempting to look at other Christians, you know, sometimes and think, oh man, I wish I had that ministry, I wish I had her gifts, I wish I got to do what they're doing. Some of you got little gifts earlier. Some of you didn't. You may think you got cheated. You may think someone else got a better gift. You may want to trade. You may want to say,  I want what they got, or I don't like what I was given.  And you wouldn't be wrong, okay, because I just gave out the gifts randomly, of course. and I didn't give them to everyone, and there was no purpose in it, no plan in mind. But we've heard the worship team this morning, right? The people who are leading us into worship of God. And uh Ingrid Mail, who leads our bell choir in the first hour,  gave this image,  whether it's bell choir or vocal choir or orchestra or worship team. If an instrument, if one person in the worship team decides they want to sing a different song, right, there's chaos. Like, that doesn't work. If one person...  plays  the part assigned to someone else's role, then there's just, you know, noise and disharmony.  If  all the people choose what key they want to play in, it's just chaos, right? You can't even make any sense of it.  If one person on the team takes over a part that's assigned to another person, then the work becomes inefficient and you've got some people doing something they're not supposed to be doing and you've got... Two people playing drums and nobody singing, right? Like, that doesn't work.  And if  we have people who aren't using their gifts, who should be up here serving in some way, then the sound is weak and anemic. If  everyone's playing their right part, but they each choose their own tempo, the speed they want to go at, right? It's  dis-coordinated. It's uncoordinated.  If  one person tries to play more than their part, like if one of the persons playing guitar and trying to do keyboards and singing  and playing drums at the same time, right, like they're gonna get exhausted  and it's not gonna work very well either. When everyone is playing their part, when everyone is using their gifts, the sound is beautiful.  It's harmony and it's encouraging and building us up. You have been  gifted with grace to serve. You have a part to play. The question is, are you playing your part? And it would take more time than we could spend here today to talk about, you know, how we figure that out, how we discern that. One of the,  I'll just say quickly, one of the best ways to do that is just get in and start serving somewhere. Or ask people who know you, what do you see me being good at?  What do you see, what gifts do you think God has given me? If we're all doing our part, we will have no shortage of people to do everything that God has called us to do.  If you're not serving, something's gone wrong because you are God's plan to build up the church. But it's not even ministry, it's not even service that Paul emphasizes here. Did you notice that? It's the kind of community that we're becoming  as we serve. Why does God gift his church? Why? Look at what Paul says in verses 15 and 16. Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it's equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. God gifts his church to show the glory of Jesus. That's why God gives us gifts. God gifts his church so that we would show the glory of Jesus.  Verse 15  starts off with this image of speaking the truth in love. And both halves of that are important, right? Because we...  Not only love truth and being honest, but it's a speech that is controlled by the impelling motivation of love. It's a picture of people who are deeply formed by both conviction and compassion. It's not one or the other. It's not truth against love. It's truth in love. That does not happen in our own power. That is not natural to us, right? Probably any of us will tend towards one or the other. And it can't happen just by being here on Sunday mornings or even Wednesday evenings for a few hours.  It happens as you invest yourself in other people, as you get to know them and they get to know you so you can speak the truth and love into each other's lives in order to help each other grow. You see, that's exactly what Paul is saying, right? And when it all comes together, you have Some who have been gifted to equip everyone else  so that all are serving and using their gifts. And what's the goal? What's the result of it all? Look in verses 13 and 14. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the  measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so there will no longer be children. tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes. When our kids were small,  we would sometimes take them to Baskin-Robbins for a treat. What is Baskin-Robbins known for? Thirty-one flavors, exactly. You go in Baskin-Robbins with several young children, and what happens when they're presented with 31 flavors? Can't, right? Like, I want this one, I want, what about, what about, and they're trying to figure out, they're going back and forth, and oh, but I want that one, but, and of course, you know, we can't afford to buy them each 31 scoops, so you have to choose,  and then they, you know, they gotta decide, well, I think I want these two, but which one's gonna go on top, and which one's on bottom, and, because the order you eat them in matters, and then finally you get it all sorted out, and they all get their orders and their cones, and inevitably, one would sit down and say, I want what she got. Oh man, I should have gotten that, right? Immature people  have their minds shaped by the latest thing. They're unstable, whatever comes along that seems newer or better or more exciting,  the best seller, the hot new preacher, the latest fad, what they have, where God seems to be working in their lives. Mature people,  is saying, are focused. They're intentional, they're able to stay on mission. They don't get dragged off into pointless controversies. They don't actually help us build one another up in love. They don't run from church to church chasing the next thing that looks more cool or exciting. Paul pictures a family of believers where everyone is under the word. They're all working together and helping each other reach towards maturity and unity in the faith. so that we all  attain the full measure of the stature of Christ. Is that true of you? Is God's Word making an impact in your life? Are you less proud than you were five years ago? Less impatient, less envious, more kind, more gentle, more trusting of Jesus and the challenges that come up. Who are the people that are helping you grow into Christlikeness? Because that's what God creates us to be for each other. And who are the people that you are helping to grow into Christlikeness? That's what we are. That's who we are. You are God's plan to grow the church.  There's kind of a uh corporate growth and  elevation here, right? Like it's like when you're, okay, I know we've all been in terrible study groups in high school or college, right? Where you might have been the person doing 80 % of the work and you know, but if you've ever been in a good study group, like we're at a good working team or a good sports team where... Everyone had a part and they knew what they were doing and they were contributing and they were all working towards the same goal.  You practice together, you encourage one another, there's high expectations and you accomplish more together because of it. Right? It improves you.  God  gives  his church to show the glory of Jesus for all of us together. It's not just mature individuals. There's such a thing as a mature congregation, mature church, because Paul is envisioning a community where people are  serving one another in the supernatural power of God with the goal of building each other up. It's not just an impossible dream, right? It's what God actually intends for us to do. Look again back at verse 15. so that we grow up in every way into Him who is the head into Christ. And the way that it happens is in verse 16. When each part is working properly, Christ makes the body grow so that it builds  itself  up in love. So just a minute here. How does that happen? What does that look like? Paul made this mention back in verse 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Now if we're Christians here we all know the basics of Christian faith right and we all know Jesus is the Son of God. So what is he getting at? How do you grow in that? Well anyone who knows Christians know that we differ about everything really. We disagree about baptism. disagree about miraculous gifts. We disagree about church government. We disagree about politics and social issues and moral issues. so  unity and knowledge cannot mean agreeing on 120 points of doctrine. Right. Because that's just never been the case. I think when he talks about the faith he's talking about that's almost kind of technical language in the New Testament for the core of our faith at the heart of the gospel to grow in the faith. means first of all that you know that you are saved by grace alone through what Jesus has done for you. I think that's why he goes on to say and to grow in the knowledge of the Son of God. To know Jesus in that way increasingly is to know not just that you're not saved by good works but by faith in what Christ has done that that's all true that he's accomplished everything on the cross for you. But you're living from a position that says  My sins have separated me from God, but in His lavish grace, God gave His Son in my place to reconcile me to the Father. And His perfect record has been transferred to my account, and I'm credited as righteous. There's no more shame, there's no more guilt, there's no more fear. And when you  understand that and start to live out of that, right, you become increasingly a person who says, I'm saved and loved by grace alone,  and now I can live a life of grateful joy that says I want others, I want everyone to have what I have received in Christ, right? His love, his forgiveness, his peace, his hope.  I will give my life  to bring other people into that. I'm giving out of my fullness of what God has poured into me and I'm growing increasingly in seeing all the change that that makes in how I think about myself. and I'm growing more and more in recognizing all this stuff that divides us, a lot of it just doesn't matter. What matters is Jesus and what he has done, not just for me, but for all who come to him. And I  so want people to experience that. How do you grow in the fullness of the stature of Christ? You take the gospel and you keep applying it to yourself, constantly reminding yourself of who you are in Christ and what God has done for you.  Your finances are a mess. You haven't had a date in three years. Your job is dull, frustrating. Your boss is difficult. Your family's disappointing. You've known pain and loss and disappointment. This is probably not how you thought your life was gonna turn out. But in Christ you hear God say, I know and I love you. I accept you. I forgive you. You are my beloved child. And I have great things in store for you.  I am your satisfaction, your identity, your hope, your life, your peace, none of that other stuff. And we do that for one another.  That's how we become a community that grows into the full stature of Christ. We keep speaking the gospel into each other's lives and encouraging and reminding one another and spurring one another on to love and treasure and follow Jesus  more and If you're a Christian,  then just like the ordinary  woman or man who becomes a superhero, you've had something amazing and supernatural happen to you. You've been invaded by the power and the presence of the living God. You have a gift and a calling that takes you out of just living ordinary, everyday life. You're part of a new community. You have a new purpose, a new role to play in a battle between forces of good and evil for the sake of others. And now the purpose of my life is to let God use me to serve as Jesus has served me, to speak truth into others' lives  as God has spoken grace and truth into my life, to build one another up in maturity and hope and to help people see and experience the beautiful, transforming grace of Jesus for themselves. That,  that, sisters and brothers, is church, not a building. not a program, a community of God's  supernatural people who live above  the level of ordinary life and the power of his spirit. A community of people who have been called and empowered and gifted who know  you are God's plan to grow the church. into everything he intends it to be. You're a superhero. Play your part. Let me pray for us. Father, this is humbling, amazing reminders. We want to grow into everything that you've called us to be, not just for ourselves, but together. Oh, Father, don't let us be just spectators. We want to be conformed  to the fullness of Jesus Christ together. And we pray for our church that pastors and leaders and teachers would... live out the calling to equip and build up the body so that all together one another we are building each other up, serving in the power of the Spirit, speaking the truth and love, spurring one another on to know you more. God we pray. We pray this not just for ourselves but for our church and for the church. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for engaging with our community by checking out this podcast.  If you would like more information about our Church and ministry, you can find us at faithchurchindeed.com.