Sermon Transcript

If you’ve been following along, you’ve already got your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 4. I am going to preach a sermon right now, to one person. And that person is seated right over there. As a matter of fact, Enrique, stand up right now. There is Enrique Novelo, and his family is down there as well, seated next to him. For the next forty minutes or so, I’m going to preach a message to Enrique. Do you feel like you’re off the hook? Well, I’m going to preach to Enrique and everybody else who believes God is not finished building His church.

Enrique is going to plant the next Harvest Bible Chapel in the Central American country of Belize, and for the past five months, we have been sharing everything we know about church with him. He is like a Coke bottle that we have been shaking for five months. He’s about to explode! This is his last weekend with us, and we’re going to be sending him off to Belize; we’re going to be supporting him and praying for him.

You’ll hear updates. At the end of the service, I’m going to invite Enrique up on the platform with me. You’re going to hear a little bit of his heart and some ways that you can pray for him; there’s a little bookmark in your bulletin with their family and some prayer requests. You’re going to hear his heart at the end.

This is going to be the commissioning service for Enrique, and it’s going to be an opportunity for you to understand, “What makes a church worthy of the calling to which it has been called?” We’re going to talk about four measures of a church that walks worthy.

 

Last week, we kind of got into this. We introduced the new series, Walk Worthy: A Deeper Conviction. I attempted to preach a two-point message. Never got to Point 2! We talked about a deeper conviction about unity. Do you remember those five ingredients that make unity in a church? Time to look at the Scripture, here. They’re in Ephesians 4:2: “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another [we called that “forbearance”] in love.”

            So there are those five ingredients that create this unity. When you talk about unity in the church, a lot of people are afraid that if you make bold, declarative statements, it creates division. A lot of people think that doctrine is divisive. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There’s an organization in our community that I drive by every now and then; it’s just been curious to me. I went online to see, “What is this thing called the Unitarian Universalist Association?” They used to call it “Church;” they don’t anymore. “What is going on in there, on Sundays, and what is that all about?”

This is the statement that I found, that kind of defines what they’re all about –straight off of their website: “Unitarian Universalism is a theologically diverse religion that encourages people to seek their own spiritual path.” Jesus wants you to seek His spiritual path; it’s the only one that leads to life! But, they go on to say this: “Our faith draws on many religions. We are a movement that calls you to put more faith in yourself, your community and your beliefs. Simply put, we are a guided path towards a better you and a better world.”

Now, that’s an organization that thinks if you make some strong statements that are true, and true universally–true for everybody at all times in all places. You’re never going to get people to agree together about all that stuff. And so, it’s impossible to have unity.

Well, what we’re learning from the book of Ephesians is that Paul had some things to say about unity. What we’re going to discover in the first measure of a church that walks worthy is this: There is a measure of unity, but the way you create unity is to draw people under some objective truths.

Paul lists seven objective truths under which we unify. I’ll read all seven of them to you: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism…” Is anybody picking up a theme? There’s one, and only one, way to create unity. He goes on and says in verse 6, “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Do you understand what Paul’s saying?

There’s only one way to be unified, and that is to submit ourselves to these seven one-statements that are universally true for everyone; that’s what creates unity in a church.

 

1. Unity (v. 4-6)

• We belong to one body.

 

The first one–if you’re going to be unified in this particular body, you have to understand. We all belong to one body.

Do you know what threatens unity in a church? What threatens the unity is a spirit of autonomy, that says: “What is true for me may not be true for you—and we all get to kind of define our own doctrine.” Now, that’s what creates division. But when we unify under Christ, we all come together and we realize, He’s the one putting the body together.

It’s a spirit of autonomy that says, “I don’t need anybody!” And God says, you need His body, you need this body, and you need to be connected to this body. People who don’t think highly of church membership, because somehow they got burned in a church in the past, and they just kind of put walls around themselves and protect themselves–what they’re saying is, “I don’t want to be unified with anybody!” But God says there is one body.

Not only that, but:

 

• We are led by one Spirit.

 

Unity is threatened in a church by the human spirit, and evil spirits, which try to elevate subjective impressions and personal revelations and experiences that can’t be verified objectively in Scripture.

There are a lot of people who think they have heard some things from God, and yet it doesn’t align with Scripture. It doesn’t fall under the authority of the pastors and the leadership in the church. That’s what creates division in a church.

Not only is there one Spirit, there is one hope, and as a church:

 

• We are confident in one hope.

 

Unity is threatened, in a church, by putting your hope in anything other than Jesus Christ. Whether it is a president, or whether it is your bank account, or whether it’s your education or putting your hope in science, or putting your hope in any human substitute to try to fix what is broken in this world or in your life—that’s not gonna work! We have one hope.

And what allows us to sleep at night is to understand that, no matter what is falling apart, God is completely in control. And it’s all going to end well if you’re on the right team. And so, we have this one hope, that Christ is victorious.

 

• We are led by one Lord.

We’re following one Lord. Now, unity is threatened in a church by the idea that I can have Jesus as a Friend, as a personal life coach, as a Savior, without submitting to Him as Lord. You see, if you will not submit to Him as Lord, He will refuse to be your Savior!

And so, if somehow you have this idea that, “Jesus is taking me to Heaven, but I haven’t quite submitted to Him as Lord…” No! If He is not Lord, He is not Savior. What creates unity is people who put themselves under His Lordship.

 

• We are convinced of one faith.

 

When it says “one faith,” it’s not just talking about some general beliefs that you might hold. It’s talking about a whole body of doctrine that we affirm: things about the doctrine of justification; the doctrine of sanctification; the doctrine of atonement; the doctrine of creation; the doctrine of the end times. All of these things that we talk about regularly. It is our unity around those things that we believe in Scripture that creates our unity.

Not only one faith, but:

 

• We profess our faith through one baptism.

What threatens unity is the fear of being baptized. If you have come to faith in Jesus Christ—you’ve repented of sin, you’ve trusted His work on the cross to save you—and you have not yet made that public, then I would invite you to be baptized at your next opportunity. Baptism is the biblical way that we profess our faith in Christ. I mean, we raise our hand, we sign a card, we pray a prayer. . .yes, but the biblical way is to make yourself a candidate for baptism.

There are a lot of different beliefs about the modes of baptism; what we’re concerned about around here is that you are baptized biblically. And for us, that means you are baptized on the right side of your salvation. If you were baptized as a baby, before you even knew your mother’s name—before you even knew Jesus’ Name—before you even understood the gospel. . .do you understand, that is not biblical baptism?

If you have come to faith in Christ, if you’ve been born again—you’ve repented of sin, you have eternal life because of the work of Jesus Christ—then you need to let the world know it through baptism. We profess our faith through one baptism. Somebody’s who’s a scaredy-cat and won’t get in the baptistery, or maybe you’re afraid that you can’t walk it out, so you’re waiting until you straighten up your life…“I don’t want to be a hypocrite like all those other people at church, so I’m going to kind of clean myself up here before I go on record that I’m a Christian.” Listen! That’s not the way it works.

Our baptism is the way we run our “Jesus flag” to the top of the pole and we say, “We are going public with our faith!” If you’ve not yet done that, at the end of this service, the pastors will be here. Why don’t come and say, “You know what? I think I need to be baptized, to declare that Christ is Lord of my life.” Our next baptism opportunity is on March 5th, so you’ve got about a month to go through the process and declare your faith through baptism.

And, there’s one more. He says:

 

• We worship one God.

 

He says we worship “one God and Father of all.” It’s interesting that Paul talks about the fatherhood of God creating unity, because that’s exactly what Jesus prayed would happen in the church, when He prayed to His Father in John 17:21. He said this, “That they may all be one…” Who is He talking about? He’s praying for us. He’s praying for the church – “…just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

            Do you know that Jesus has prayed that everybody in this room would be one? And in doing so, we would show the measure of a church that walks worthy of the calling to which we’ve been called. So, that’s the first measure.

Here’s the second measure. Not only unity, but:

 

2. Diversity (v. 7)

 

Look here in Ephesians 4:7. Paul says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Now, this is great, because for six verses he’s been talking to us about what creates unity. And he tells us that God has given us seven “ones.” Remember those? We just went through them. And that’s what creates unity.

But in verse 7, he tells us God gives unique gifts to each one, and that’s what creates diversity. Diversity means that every individual in this room is unlike every other individual in this room. There is nobody else like you. And nobody has the gifts that God has given you.

God has given you a gift—that’s what the word “grace” means. “Charis”—it means “gift.” God, by nature, is a Giver. He’s a benevolent giver. He gives good things to people who don’t deserve them. But, not only has God given you a gift; God makes you a gift! Those gifts that He’s given you are not to be consumed on yourself. Those gifts that He’s given you are for the purpose of the third measure of a church that walks worthy.

And that is this:

 

 

3. Ministry (v. 8-12)

 

I want to read verses 8-10, and when I read these, if you pay attention—at the end of them, you will be scratching your head, asking, “What in the world is he talking about?” Let me just read them here.

Now, before I read them, let me ask. How many of you, in your Bible, it’s somehow bracketed—somehow set apart, indented? Anytime you see that in your Bible, did you know, that’s supposed to be a clue for you? This is a quotation from another part of the Bible. This is actually Psalm 68.

And so, the apostle Paul has been reading the psalms, and he takes the psalms, and he uses this to support his argument that God gives good gifts. And so, Paul says this is in verse 8: “Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’”

            Then he goes into the commentary on it, and he says: “In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into 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.” That was the part that you were supposed to say, “What in the world is he talking about?”

Now, listen, commentators and theologians—they’ll debate all day about what in the world that was about, and why he felt the need to put it in there. But, let me just make it real simple for you: Ministry is modeled by Jesus.

If you were to read all 35 verses of Psalm 68, it’s the story of a conquering king who came down a hill and invaded another king’s territory, where there were prisoners of war. And he won the battle. And the conquering king took all of the prisoners of war and set them free—these captives—and he ascended this victorious hill. And that is the story of Psalm 68.

But the question is, who is he talking about? And Paul tells us; the hero of the story, the conquering king, is who? Jesus! And Jesus descended from the throne room of Heaven. He came from Heaven to the lower parts of the earth; He came to where you and I were prisoners of war.

You and I, by our sin, had been shackled and had become slaves of sin. We’re slaves to our appetite. We have lost all freedom to follow the Lord, all freedom to obey the Lord, all freedom to even desire the Lord. We were shackled, because we had bowed the knee to King Self. Therefore, we were captives who had no hope—until the conquering king descended from where He was and came to where I am, and on the cross and through His resurrection, He has now set the captives free! And you and I are now victorious with King Jesus!

And so, Paul talks about this descent led to an ascent. Jesus descended to where I was so that I could ascend to where He would want me to be with Him forever in eternity—following Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That’s what that is all about. And, do you know what that is a picture of? That is a picture of ministry.

Warren Wiersbe, years ago, wrote a book called On Being a Servant. I read that book, and I was so impacted by a definition of ministry he gave in that book. It really changed my view of, actually, what it is that I’m doing. Here’s the definition that he uses: “Ministry is taking the resources of Heaven to meet human need through loving channels, for the glory of God.”

Did you get the four components? It’s taking 1) the resources of Heaven 2) to meet human need 3) through loving channels, 4) for the glory of God. And isn’t that exactly what Jesus did? He took the resources of Heaven – love and mercy and grace – and He came to my need! I was enslaved to sin. I was without hope and without God in this world. And He was the loving channel, for the glory of God, through which all those resources flowed!

Now, if Jesus did that, and He has now given gifts to the church, do you know what you now are? You are a minister. And the prerequisite for ministry is that you would be willing to descend from where you are to where people in need are. To leave your world and enter their world, so you could take them as a captive set free–to His world. Captives can’t go to His world until He—and we—leave our world and go to their world, so that we can take them to His world.

If you’re a parent, I just also gave you the definition of parenting. You leave your world. If you’ve got toddlers, what do you do? You get off of your feet and you get down and you crawl down and you start playing with them on the floor, because that’s their world. They can’t come to your world. You’ve got to go to their world. You have to descend so that they can ascend. That’s what Jesus did. He is the model of ministry, and that’s the prerequisite for you as a gifted minister, with diverse gifts to be used for the work of the ministry.

Now, we left off in verse 10. Look at verse 11: “And he gave…” Now, Paul is about to tell us, there are these five gifts…and depending on how you divide them, it could be four or five. He lists them, and He gave these five gifts to the church. Enrique, are you listening? Are you following along?

Okay, let’s see if we can find you in verse 11 here: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers [verse 12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” And so, ministry is modeled by Jesus, and ministry is a gift. God doesn’t want to just give you a gift. He wants to make you a gift! Do you know what you are, Enrique? You’re a gift. Turn to Claudia right now and say, “I’m a gift!” That’s right.

 

Enrique is a gift to the budding church in Belize! Do you believe that? That’s great! Are you excited about him being a gift? We believe that! But here’s the thing. So are you! You’re a gift to the church to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry for the building up of the body. If you are in Christ, you are a minister, and you are just as much a minister as Enrique, or me, or any staff member or pastor in this church.

You may have a different gift, and a different measure of gift, according to Christ. That’s why we’re all unique, but you’re a gift! And what you have to understand about ministry—ministry is “equipping.” That means “to furnish;” that means to supply something.

Every time I see that word “equipping,” I think of my father. My father was an auto mechanic, and when he passed away, I got all of his tools. My dad had every piece of equipment that has ever been made in all of the history of mankind! He had things in the toolbox…I had no idea what it was, but I knew it was to equip something!

And you may be a very unique gift that only you can do what you can do—to equip someone else in this church to become mature in the faith. Ministry is equipping. And, ministry is—contrary to popular opinion—ministry is work! How many of you have done and a little ministry, and would like to say “Amen” to that? If you’ve ever kept a kid in the Harvest Kids, if you’ve ever led a Bible study, if you’ve ever gulped real hard and stepped up and said, “I’ll lead a small group,”—it’s work!

And, because ministry is work, sometimes people don’t make it. But do you see what it says in verse 12? “To equip the saints for the work of ministry…” And it’s very important that you understand. One of the things I’m so blessed with—from the very beginning of our church—we have taught, and you have embraced—that the way that ministry works is not by handing ministry up to a few paid professionals, but some of the paid professionals handing ministry down to everyone so that we all share together in what we call, around here, “mutual ministry.”

And do you know, when we do that, what happens is—the ministry is mutual and the ministry is multiplied so that all of the work is not being done by a few paid professionals. It’s the paid professionals who are supposed to be equipping the saints to do the work.

There have a been a lot of people in our church sick lately, and accidents and surgeries. And, even this past week, I’ve gone to visit some people in the hospital. Do you know, I cannot show up at the hospital without somebody else in this church beating me to it? I show up, and there are two or three people there. They’re not on staff—they don’t have any titles by their names—they’re certainly not being paid. But do you know what they’re doing? They are doing the work of the ministry.

Now, in the Scripture we just read; there are five titles here, of some very, very strategically gifted people in the church. I want to take some time to walk through them. They’re listed in verse 11: “He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers…” Let’s unpack that for a few minutes and see if we can understand what those things are, okay?

Now, let me just say at the outset. Let’s talk about apostles. Let’s define it this way: Apostles are pioneers equipped with vision. (Ephesians 2:20-12) As we talk about apostles, please listen very carefully. In all of the history of the world, there were only thirteen apostles.

If you meet someone today, and they come up and they shake your hand, and they say, “Hi, I’m Apostle Trent, ” you can smile and be gracious, but in your heart you just need to know: “I didn’t see you writing any Scripture around the time of the New Testament being put together.” There are no modern-day apostles.

The reason we know is that because of this verse. Ephesians 2:20-21 says the church is: “…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” Do you understand? Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone of this church. There’s only one cornerstone. But there is a foundational work that was done by thirteen men.

Do you remember the disciples of Jesus? How many did He have? Twelve disciples. Now, we don’t count Judas—so now we’re down to eleven. Acts chapter 1 tells us he was replaced by a man a named Matthias, so now we’re at twelve. And then, we have the apostle Paul who Jesus called “in a time out of season”—and now we’re at thirteen.

And do you know what those men did? Those were the men who God used to write the book that you’re holding. They were the ones who received the revelation of God. We believe the revelation of God is full, complete and sufficient. No more Scripture being written. That’s the job of the apostles. And they did pioneering work; they spread the gospel into the known world. And our church is directly related to the work the apostles did in the first century.

Now, having said all of that…how many apostles are there today? Zero. Yet, there is an apostolic type of gift. When you use multisyllabic words in church, it gets weird, okay? So, in saying “apostolic,” don’t think that’s something weird. It simply means you’re a pioneer.

We would use the word “entrepreneurial.” Pioneers, apostles—do you know what they do? They start things; they create things that have yet to be created. They have big vision to go into places where Christ’s Name is not named–to go into places where there are not healthy, vibrant, vertical churches. Like Belize! And so, they start things, and they start movements of things. They are very pioneer-oriented.

And listen, there are some people in this room who are very entrepreneurial. We might say, “apostolic”—with a little “a”—in seeing things that need to be started. There are people who say, “We need to start a church up in St. Joseph!” There are some people who say, “We need to get some small groups over in Elkhart County,” and “We need a Bible study in our public high school!” There are people in our church who have done that, because they see something and they say, “We’re going to get it done in a place where it’s never been done before, or it’s never been done right!” So there’s an apostolic work. Are you thinking of some people in our church? That may be you. I like to think that I’ve got a little bit of this in me.

Here’s another one: the prophets. Prophets are proclaimers equipped with boldness. (1 Corinthians 14:3) This verse tells us there are three things that a prophet does, in the New Testament. It says, “The one who prophesies speaks to people…” So he’s verbal, “…for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”

            Do you know what a prophet does? He takes the Word of God and he applies it to your life, and he’s equipped with boldness. He’s not afraid even to speak some hard things. He’s not afraid to go to some hard places. Maybe you know some people like this. Our church needs to be built with somebody who knows the Word of God—is saturated with the Word of God—and speaks for God into the need, for the upbuilding, the encouragement and the consolation of people who are hurting in our church.

Here’s another one: evangelists. Evangelists are penetrators equipped with the gospel. (2 Timothy 4:5) I think of people in our church. I think of some teenagers in our church! Every time we have a baptism, somebody got converted by Leah Weaver, you know? And I think of Paul File and Kevin Korhorn. Just never afraid to have a conversation with somebody about the reality of sin, the brokenness of humanity, and the solution in Jesus Christ because of His finished work on the cross. That’s an evangelist!

These people—they’re praying for people in their neighborhoods. I think of James Pool down here, and different people who are always encouraging, “Hey, this is the fourth pillar of our church! Why aren’t we talking more about this and how are we going to get strategic about spreading the gospel?”

2 Timothy 4:5 says this, “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering…” If you’re an evangelist, you’re going to have to endure some suffering. “…Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your” what? “…Ministry.”

            Now, some of you are sitting out there saying, “You know, I’ve sat there and listened to the first three: apostle, prophet, evangelist. I don’t think you’ve hit mine yet!” Listen! Yes, I have! Because this verse says, whether it is your gift or whether your responsibility, you are to do the work of an evangelist. You say, “I’m not an evangelist; I guess I don’t have to do the work.” Oh, yes you do!

Do you know somebody outside of Christ? It’s your responsibility. It may not be your gift; it’s your responsibility. You say, “Can’t I just ask Paul File to come with me and do it?” No! Because you might find out, in doing it, that you develop a skill, and you might realize that underneath that skill, there is a gift. And so, do the work of an evangelist. We’ve got to get the gospel out, after we get it right.

And here’s another one. Pastors are shepherds equipped with leadership. (Jeremiah 3:15) Look at this verse: “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart…” Isn’t that an incredible verse? Now, if God’s going to give us shepherds, what’s the implication? You’re a sheep! That is not a compliment in Scripture. And sheep need a shepherd “who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Do you know what a good pastor does? He nurtures, he cares for, he prepares meals, he feeds and he guides and he leads you to spiritual maturity. That’s what a pastor does.

And the last one here is: teacher. Teachers are instructors equipped with clarity. (2 Timothy 4:2) There’s some debate as to whether or not that word should be translated as one word: “teaching pastor” or “pastor/teacher.” We can just kind of break it up here. The verse shows us how you really can’t divide this into categories—it’s just all great gifts.

Paul tells Timothy: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort…” You say, “Oh, he’s talking about preaching.” What’s the difference between preaching and teaching? I don’t know, because then he says “…with complete patience and teaching.” And so—have you ever met somebody who, when they open the Bible, make confusing things really clear? It’s like, “I see that now! I see that!” Well, you just ran into a gifted teacher.

 

Listen, where do you find yourself? If you’ve been sitting on the sideline, waiting for somebody else to do the work of the ministry, maybe you need to be more pioneering. Maybe you need to be more bold. Maybe you need to be more shepherd-oriented. Maybe you to have more clarity, maybe you need to have more leadership. But God has given you a gift—to step into some of the places around here where there is need.

There’s a last measure, and then we’ll be done. It’s:

 

4. Maturity (v13-16)

 

Look at Ephesians 4:13: “Until we all attain to the unity…” Don’t you love the clarity of God’s Word? We started with unity, we finish with 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 that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather…”–here’s what we’re going to do–º“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 is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

            What’s he trying to tell us? Jesus is building His church. And wherever you find a church that embraces those seven statements of unity; wherever you find a church where every member is understanding the responsibility—not only to be gifted, but to be a gift to the church, to do the work of the ministry—do you know what you have? You have a healthy, thriving, growing body, because God has promised to build His church!