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Good Friday morning to you my “walking with Jesus” friends,
Today we are continuing a very important look at Ephesians 4:11-16 which we began yesterday. If you missed yesterday, you might want to go back and take a look or listen, because Paul gives a short-list of God gifted people desperately needed as Jesus builds His church.
Today let’s pick it up in verse 12, as Paul explains WHY these gifted people are so important as Jesus builds His church. . .
“…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ might be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature…”
Do you see what Paul wrote? God works through these gifted people to prepare the people of Jesus’ Church, to do the works of service God has prepared for them, (Eph. 2:10) and so the people of God will be built up, nourished, strengthened, so that we reach unity in our faith in Christ and grow in our knowledge of Jesus and become mature Christians.
So I have a question for all of us my friends…what does this look like in your local church? Are people being nourished spiritually? Are they being equipped and are they reaching unity in the faith, and are they accomplishing the works God has for your church in your community and around the world? Is your church healthy and vibrant by these Ephesians 4:12,13 standards?
And then do you see what Paul wrote in vs. 14-16? This kind of healthy, vibrant, dynamic, growing Church of Jesus is strong, stable. It is not “tossed back and forth…blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”
We live in a world, especially here in North America and in Europe, where opinion is often more valued than truth, especially popular opinion. That’s dangerous my friends…for a person, a family, a business, a University, a medical center, a community or church or nation. Do you agree?
But here Paul challenges us. If we are part of a healthy, Jesus led church, we should be growing in truth so we can stand strong in the headwinds of contrary public opinion. That could be a conversation with friends in a restaurant, or just watching the evening news with clear thinking. This my friends is one of the great challenges facing our society today. Because God’s people are too often overlooked by media and leaders in almost every segment of our society, the ‘cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming’, as Paul says it, are the overwhelming voices of our day in every form of communication. The general public, therefore, rarely hears God’s truth on any issue!
It’s the headlines on the newspaper or news magazine. It’s the big cover stories on internet news. It’s the talk show and cable news channels. Only very rarely will you hear Gods’ truth being spoken in the face of the noise of the public conversation. So, my friends, how is your church equipping you to think about any issue in the public conversation with the ‘mind of Christ’ or God’s truth? I’ve recommended Dr. Albert Mohler to you before and his daily podcast called “The Briefing”. I know of no other person who is more clearly speaking Biblical truth into the public conversation than him. I urge you to listen to it often!
Here’s a link: https://albertmohler.
Paul continues in vs. 15:“Instead,speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”(Eph. 4:14-16)
It’s a magnificent picture, isn’t it? This is an Olympic year and soon we’ll be watching the best athletes in the world showing remarkable athletic skill and ability, their minds and bodies well trained. And they’ll be rewarded with Olympic medals, when every part of their healthy body works in harmony, to deliver maximum performance. And it’s the same in the church, the body of God’s people, my friends, when we each are using our God given gifts to the maximum.
When we are all connected with each other in God’s love, working together in our God given giftedness, it’s a beautiful, wonderful, amazing thing to see and be part of, isn’t it? God is greatly glorified, lives are changed, people are healed from their brokenness, and fractured relationships are restored when Ephesians 4:11-16 is working well in any local church anywhere in the world! You’ll find wonderful pictures of it in Isaiah 61:1-3 and Acts 2:42-47. Go ahead…read them both and consider how your church compares. What is God showing us my friends?
Ephesians 4:11-16 is hugely significant in the life of any church, anywhere in the world, any generation, any denomination. I hope you find it encouraging that what Paul was writing is a wonderful reflection of what you see in your church! I’d urge you spend some time thanking God and maybe even send your pastor a note of appreciation if you find your church reflected in those words.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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