EPHESIANS 4 I WILL KEEP WALKING TOWARD UNITY2019 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 4 I Will Keep Walking Toward Unity

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. All right, well, this evening we are here in Ephesians chapter 4, continuing to consider the foundations for Christian living.

Here in the book of Ephesians, we've been focused on the identity that we have in Christ, and we've gone through that pretty extensively, understanding the doctrine and what that means for us, all that Christ has done for us. Now we're in chapter four, which is the application portion of this. And now that I understand who I am in Christ, what does that mean? And how does that impact the way that I live? And so...

We began looking at that last week in the first few verses of Ephesians chapter 4, and now we're going to pick it up in verse 7 and continue on through verse 16. So let's read through that together, and then we'll dive into the message that God has for us. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 7 says, But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore he says,

Verse 14. Verse 14.

may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Here as we continue on in Ephesians chapter four, we have another incredible passage. I think I probably say that about every passage that we come across in the book of Ephesians, right? Sometimes you come across a passage and it's just like,

You know, you struggle to, you know, hear some things from the Lord in it. But Ephesians is not like that. There is just so much. And what Paul writes here is just dense with so much insight, so much truth. And there's a great deal that we're not going to talk about this evening, even as we look at this passage.

But continuing with where we began last week in Ephesians chapter four, verses one through six, we saw that Paul is now starting to talk about how we are to walk. Now that we know who we are,

Now that we know who God declares us to be and all that we have in him and all that we are in him, he then calls us to walk worthy of that calling. The Lord has called you into fellowship with him, into fellowship with one another to be part of the body of Christ. And you've responded to that by believing in Jesus. And now you have this new identity. You have all these things that God has done for you. And so now he calls you with all the resources that he provides for

to walk worthy. And as we began to consider what that means to walk worthy last week, we focused primarily on this concept, this idea of humility and unity.

that the thing that the the Lord was calling us to was unity as Paul has been illustrating and declaring the the unity that exists between Jews and Gentiles in Christ that now they are to live that out in real life and to have fellowship with one another and to really have that that friendship and that that coordination and that working together with one another as Jews and Gentiles and

While we can think about that as Jews and Gentiles today, but we can extend that also towards any believers that we are to walk together, work together, worship together as part of our walking worthy of the calling.

And so I titled the message this evening, I will keep walking toward unity. It goes back to verse three of chapter four here, where Paul says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. As we are walking worthy, we understand that God has established a united spirit.

right? The one man, the new man in Christ, Jews and Gentiles, whatever background, whatever, you know, nationality you want to consider and lump into that. We all come to the father by faith in Jesus Christ. And so we are united as one, as the body of Christ, no matter where our background is or where we come from. That is the reality, but that's not always demonstrated in our actual life.

And so what Paul is calling us to do then is to endeavor to keep the unity. And it's ongoing. It's in the present tense that we need to keep on keeping the unity, to keep walking towards unity, to keep making sure that what we live and the way that we relate to one another reflects the reality of who we actually are in Christ. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way.

He says, And this speaks to something that we talked about and addressed last week with the subject of unity. And that is that in order for there to be unity, well, somebody is going to have to lay down their will.

God's desire for us as believers, as the body of Christ, is for us to be united, but that can only happen when one of us, some of us, lay down our will and lay down our enforcing of our own ways and submit to the direction and the instruction of the Lord and those that he has placed in authority. We are one in Christ. That's the spiritual reality, but we don't always live in

expressing that unity with our behavior and with our relationships with one another. And it becomes a useful tool of the enemy when we will not walk worthy of the calling and not walk in the humility that God has called us to have to work together and to fellowship together, to be united with God.

those around us in the body of Christ. And so we need to learn to keep walking towards unity. There's going to be broken fellowship. It's going to happen. We're going to sin. We're going to fail each other. We're going to hurt each other's feelings. We're going to, you know, wrong each other. All of that's going to happen. But what we need to do, we can't prevent that and we can't stop that. But what we need to do is to purpose. I will keep walking toward unity.

When that fellowship is broken and when things happen and this or that, then from there, I will then make my way back towards unity. I'll keep making an effort to endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. This is what the Lord is calling us to as he calls us to walk worthy.

Now, as we go on here in verses 7 through 16, we're going to see some of the ways that we can endeavor to keep unity. We can work towards unity as Paul lays out for us some insights here in verses 7 through 16. And we're going to look at four points. Maybe it's five points. I forget now, but we'll see when we get to the end. Here's point number one in verse 7. I will exercise my gift of grace.

In verse 7, Paul goes on to say, Now notice the starting word there. But to each one of us, grace was given. And so Paul here is in the train of thought where he was, where we ended last week. And he's saying,

He was talking about one, one, one, one, all, all, all, all. Remember that in verses four, five, and six? Maybe we should go back and read it for just a second, okay? So verse four, Paul says, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.

And so it's one, one, one, one, all the stressing the unity that we have and the oneness that we are in Christ, God over all and through all and in us all. So all encompassing, you know, the Father, we are one in him. He is over us all. But along with that thought, Paul now talks about each one. So he's talking about the unity that we have, but now he's also talking about the diversity that we have.

And it's an important part, it's an important thing to grasp and to understand that we are one, this is our spiritual reality, we are one in Christ and one body is the illustration that Paul will be using over and over and over again here. And part of that is the unity and the way that we work together and the way that we fellowship together, but that's not at the expense of diversity, that there is also a uniqueness to us.

And so it's one spirit, one Lord, one Father, over all, in all, through us all, but to each one, also to us individually, grace is given. And it's one of the reasons that the Lord uses this illustration of a body, because our body is exactly that. It's united physically.

And yet at the same time, there's great diversity in all the members. There's all these different components, all these different elements, all these different members of the body that work together cooperatively, cohesively, together as one unit. And this is the way that God calls us to be. And so to each one, even though we are united, there is also that diversity, that individuality

Not in the sense of, you know, I'm a rogue and I go out on my own. Not in that kind of independence, but at the same time, there's this uniqueness. It was such a blessing this past weekend to have my family down in the area, and so we got to spend some time together.

with them and primarily, you know, with the nephews, the twins. They're just crazy fun to spend time with. They were over at the house and man, our front yard, it's never seen so much laughter. It's never seen so much joy as the boys just rolled around and we were just having a great time, right? But it's interesting. So they're twins, right? But there's great similarities between them. And yet at the same time, they're each unique and individual, right?

Just a silly, simple example. One of the things you do with kids, right, when you're playing it out in the front yard is you lift them up. And maybe if you're really brave, you kind of throw them up in the air a little bit, right? Angus, he loves this. He'll run to me with his arms out, right? And he's coming down the hill and he's running, he's running, he's running. And then, you know, we have our routine. And so then I swoop him up and I kind of throw him just a tiny bit. I just throw him a little bit, but I got him, you know, and then I bring him down. He's laughing and

having a great time. And Argyle will see this. And he's just laughing. He just like thinks this is such a great idea. So he starts running. And he'll be running, running, running. But he doesn't like it the same way that Angus likes. He likes the idea of it. It looks really fun. But

But if I give him the same kind of treatment that I give to Ingus, our guy will have a fit. He will flip out. He will not be able to handle it. And you can tell because when I pick him up, even before I get kind of high, he's gripping my arms like this. Like he's running to me. He wants it, but he also kind of hates it. You know, it's like...

It's like, no, no, no, I'm too scared. I don't want it, but I want to go. It looks so fun when he does it, you know? And so you see this conflict within him, right? And so there's this distinctness between them, even though they're so similar, so unique and they're twins and all of that, right? But, oh, but their personalities are different. There's different aspects to who they are. And it's,

Not, you know, at the detriment of one or the other, right? I mean, it's part of what makes each one unique and valuable. And as Paul here talks about to each one of us grace was given, he's making sure we understand your position, your role, your part in this whole united thing is not some diminished, minuscule, unimportant role.

No, in fact, the illustration of the body reminds us of the importance and value of every member of the body. And Paul stresses that point in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And so to each one, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. God has poured out his grace to each and every one of us as a part of us fulfilling our role in the body of Christ.

Paul talks about this for himself in Ephesians chapter 3, verse 2. He says, Talking about his role in ministering to the Gentiles, he describes it as a dispensation of the grace of God, a pouring out of the grace of God upon Paul for the Gentiles. In the same way, God has poured out his grace upon you and to each one.

To every believer in Jesus, God's grace has been poured out. Paul is not talking specifically about the grace for salvation. That's what we dealt with, right, in great detail in Galatians, right? Grace for salvation, that's what we need. We can't be saved apart from the grace of God. But

But this is going beyond just that conversion experience to the grace of God being poured out to, well, to be part of that united creation that we are in Christ, the body of Christ. And so here Paul is alluding to what we often refer to as spiritual gifts.

And as I mentioned, we're not going to get into a lot of things tonight, so I'm not going to go into great detail here. But if you want to refresh your memory and refresh yourself on some of the different aspects of the spiritual gifts, you can look at three passages. Romans chapter 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and then here where we are in Ephesians chapter 4.

But God has given to each one of us a spiritual gift as a part of his grace and as members of the body of Christ, as we saw our identity in Christ, it includes this gifting from the Lord. The apostle Peter puts it this way, 1 Peter 4.10, "'As each one has received a gift, "'minister it to one another as good stewards "'of the manifold grace of God.'"

Notice the similarities between what Peter says here and what Paul is saying. They both talk about each one, each and every individual believer. It's every believer has received a gift, Peter says, and we're to minister to it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. So we've all received the grace of God. And as good stewards, we are to put that grace aside.

To work, to exercise that grace manifested in the gifting of God in our lives and exercising that for the benefit of the body of Christ.

In another passage, Romans chapter 12, Paul says this, having then different gifts or gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. And then he goes on to give various examples. But the same point, right? There's gifts that are differing according to the grace that is given to us. So each one has been given grace and they're all different. The way that God has given us grace is

It's different for each one of us. And don't think of that in the sense of amounts. Like, oh, Richard gets, you know, much more grace than the rest of us. Don't think of that as amounts. I'm not talking about different amounts of grace. We're just talking about different ways that God is working in our lives, in different ways that God reveals himself and that God blesses us with different gifts, right?

Different ways he blesses us with his grace. It just takes different shapes. It's not different amounts. And so each one, there's a diversity. We are united. There's a unity, one, one, one, all, all, all. But to each one, to each one, grace has been given. And according to the grace that has been given to you, Paul says, exercise those gifts, put them to work.

Be utilizing what God has given to you. Again, in the first three chapters, we learned so much about all that we have in Christ. And now Paul is saying, now put that to work. Now use the resource that God has given to you. So when we talk about working towards unity or walking towards unity, there's a contribution that we have made.

To make. There's a contribution, a part that we have to play, and that is the putting of the grace of God to work. And we'll expand upon this a little bit more later.

when we get to the last point. But here, I will exercise my gift of grace. Here's how I will keep walking toward unity. I will put the grace of God that he's poured out to me. It's individual. It's unique to me. And I need to then put it to work. And I need to exercise that grace and that gift that God has given to me. Well, moving on to verses 8 through 11, we get point number two. And that is, I will receive the leaders that Jesus gives.

I will receive the leaders that Jesus gives. In order for me to walk towards unity, there is going to be a need for me to receive the leadership that Jesus places within the body of Christ. Now, this passage is, well, it's primarily what I was talking about when I said there's a lot of stuff here that we're not going to get into, right? So I'm going to kind of label it this way. Here in this passage, verses 8 through 11, we have a quotation here.

We have a side note, and then we have Paul's main point. Okay, so I'll briefly mention the quotation and the side note, and then we'll get into the main point of what Paul is saying. Here's the quotation in verse 8. Therefore he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. Remember what Paul said in verse 7. To each one, grace has been given.

Remember Jesus said, it's to your advantage that I go away. Because if I go away, then I will send the Holy Spirit. John chapter 16, I think verse 7.

So he gave gifts as a part of his ascension, as a part of his returning to the Father. He gave gifts. That is the gift of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, the grace of God being poured out upon each one of us. Now, one of the things that can be a little bit perplexing and worth considering perhaps is this quotation that Paul uses is from Psalm 68, 18. But

The wording, as Paul says it here in Ephesians chapter 4, is a little bit different than what we find in Psalm chapter 68. And not in a way that you need to be concerned about, you know, the authority of the scriptures or anything like that. But it is something that brings up discussion. Now, I don't want to get into that because I don't want to distract from the main point. And so if you want to dig into that,

I encourage you to do so. There's great things that you can consider and you can have some time with the Lord wrestling with the way that Paul uses that scripture and what that might mean. Now, along with that, he goes now into a side note in verse 9 and 10. And you can kind of see that illustrated by the translators with the parentheses beginning in verse 9 and ending in verse 10. So here's what it says.

Now this, he ascended, what does it mean? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. And this is a passage that is greatly discussed and lots of different perspectives and ideas about what exactly Paul is saying here.

Now, talking about him ascending, we're talking about the ascension into heaven. That's, you know, pretty much universally agreed upon. But what does it mean that he descended? What Paul is saying is the fact that he ascended means that he had to first descend because he has always existed in glory with the Father. So for him to ascend to the Father means

That means that there had to be a dissension, right? There had to be something changed because he was with the father for all eternity in glory. And then he returned to the father in glory. So, you know, something happened in between. Now this, he ascended, what does it mean? But he also first descended, right? So, so he's saying there's, there's this piece here, this dissension that, that took place. And, you know, that had to happen in order for him to ascend back to the father, right?

But what exactly Paul means by the idea of Jesus descending into the lower parts of the earth, that has room for a lot of questions and speculation and ideas. So let me just give you a couple brief perspectives. One perspective is descending into the lower parts of the earth is just talking about Jesus being God, became man, and came to earth.

That it's just, you know, the fact that he came and walked on this earth, the fact that he became a man, perhaps kind of parallel to what Paul is talking about in Philippians chapter two, how he emptied himself, humbled himself and became, you know, a man became obedient to the point of death that that might be what Paul is addressing when he talks about him descending into the lower parts of the earth.

Others talk about not just his humility in becoming a man, but then it's talking about his death. And so specifically the crucifixion,

the humiliating way that that would take place and the actual death that took place, that that might be what Paul is alluding to. So some say it's the earth, some say it's his death. And then thirdly, some would look at this and say, this is describing Hades. This is describing that place of the dead, Sheol, you might say, and talking about, looking back at Luke chapter 16,

as you have the rich man and Lazarus and Lazarus after, you know, they've both died, Lazarus dies.

is with Abraham and he sees the rich man across the chasm and in pain and torment. Actually, Lazarus doesn't see him. It's the other way around. But the rich man sees him. He's in pain. He's in torment. He asks Abraham to send him over with a drop of water or to send him back to witness to his family. And so there is this shield, this division between the righteous dead and the unrighteous dead and that Jesus descended at his death to preach the gospel to those there and then led them

Those captives, you know, led them out from that into heaven. And there's some, you know, corresponding scriptures in 1 Peter 3, the resurrection of the dead in the book of Acts when Jesus resurrected and so on and so forth. So there's a few different perspectives, a few different ways of looking at it. And it's maybe worth considering a little bit because

I don't know if you've kind of picked up on it, but there has been kind of a change in the recent years. The traditional Calvary teaching was, you know, this was referring to Jesus, you know, descending into Sheol, preaching the gospel, leading the captives, captivity captive, captive, you know, you know what I mean? Setting the captives free. But more recently, you know,

And you might hear this on K-Wave and Pastor's Perspective and other places as well. There's kind of a, no, we don't really think that. That's not really what this passage is talking about. And it's more a Philippians chapter two, a humbling of himself and that kind of thing. Now, it doesn't negate the other scriptures like 1 Peter chapter three. So to me, you can wrestle with it. You can play around with it. You can, you know, think through it all you want. Great, no problem.

It's not a denying of essential doctrine to go either route. And so that's why I say it's a side note. It's kind of a, okay, we can dwell on that or let's get to the main point. The bottom line, what Paul is trying to say, whatever he means by descended, we can debate that. But whatever that means is not really the main point. The main point is that he ascended and he gave gifts to men. And what are those gifts? Well, he goes on to talk about them in verse 11. And he himself gave some to be apostles.

And so here's the main point of what Paul is saying here in these verses, that there are these gifts that the Lord has given, which are, I would describe them as positions of leadership or roles of leadership. It's a different kind of spiritual gift than we might immediately think with the term spiritual gift. But it's a different kind of spiritual gift than we might immediately think with the term spiritual gift.

I think there's three different types really of spiritual gifts in the way that we would talk about them outlined for us in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 4-6.

Where Paul says, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. And if you've been around for a little bit, you're going to recognize this slide and these concepts. Here's my perspective as an overview of spiritual gifts. There is different kind of spiritual gifts given to the church today

by, well, the triune nature of God. So you have the Holy Spirit who gives spiritual gifts. And I would describe these as tools. These are tools that the Holy Spirit can give to any believer at any time that he chooses. And you can see them kind of listed and described a little bit in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 7 through 11. Then you have the Son, Jesus. Jesus gives you leaders, and that's what we're looking at here in Ephesians 4.

And so what he gives to the body of Christ is leadership roles, leadership positions, different ministries, different roles, but it's the same Lord who gives these positions and these authorities within the body of Christ. And then you have the Father.

And the father gives each member of the body of Christ a role in the body of Christ. Each believer, each person who believes in Jesus Christ, the father says, all right, I've been waiting for you. I have a perfect spot for you. You know, here you are, you're the elbow, you know, or you're this piece, you're this part, you're this role. And the father gives you this place within the body. And you can find those referred to in Romans chapter 12, verses four through eight.

Now, not everybody has the same exact perspective on these things, so you can wrestle with those things a little bit more if you want to as well. But again, that's not what we're here for. We're not going to get into those details. Here, just going back to the main point, Jesus gives as a gift to the body of Christ these roles, these positions of leadership. And there's four of them listed.

apostle, prophet, evangelist, and then the combination pastor-teacher. It's one role, but it's a combination of two parts. And so the apostle, what is that? Well, the word apostle simply means someone who is sent, someone who is sent with authority, maybe like an ambassador, you might think of it. And we know as Jesus, you know, walked this earth in his ministry, he had many disciples and

Remember at one time he sent out the 72, right? But then later on he called out 12 and he named them apostles. And so they had a different and unique and distinct role in the ministry of Jesus separate from the disciples. And their role was to establish the church and write the New Testament. And they fulfilled that work and they accomplished that. And so you had these 12 apostles that Jesus called. Now,

It is possible and likely that the idea of apostle, though, is not limited to just those initial 12 and then the Apostle Paul kind of an addendum, you know, tagged on, but

Barnabas is also referred to as an apostle in Acts chapter 14. James, the Lord's brother, is referred to as an apostle in Galatians chapter 1. So there's that role, that idea of an apostle might not just be those limited, you know, 12 people, but that it's really a role that extends beyond that. Well, then you have the prophet. And the prophet is someone who speaks on behalf of the Lord. Now,

In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul talks about the foundation of the apostles and the prophets that the church is built upon, the body of Christ is built upon. And so he's referring back to these foundational elements, foundational aspects of the body of Christ that were established. And if you think about the New Testament, right? So the apostle, whether or not it's a position or role that exists today, or if it's just the original 12, right?

They still fulfill their role. They're still around to provide us the foundation through the scriptures that we have, through the New Testament that we have. And so we have that gift from the Lord in that sense that we are built upon what they taught and recorded for us that we might be able to walk with the Lord in the way that he's called us to. And so you have the apostles and the prophets. That's what the scriptures are filled with. The speaking forth on behalf of God and those who are with the Lord in that way.

But then he goes on to list evangelist. And that one's not real mysterious for us, right? That's someone who is uniquely gifted by God to reach the lost with the gospel message and bring people to salvation in Jesus Christ. And then you have the pastor and teacher, right?

Now, this is a combination. It's, you know, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors, and not some teachers, but some pastors and teachers. These are combined together.

And it speaks of this role of pastor who is responsible primarily for teaching. And so we get this idea, this role of pastor teacher. Now I've kind of summarized these different positions in this way. Again, this isn't meant to be the definitive only true definition of these things, but just to kind of give us a sense of a framework for us to be able to think through these things. So

So apostles, I say the office of apostle is fulfilled by those who have spiritual authority beyond the local church. And so for me personally, I would look at apostle and I would say, yes, you have those 12 apostles and there is nobody who fills that role like those original 12.

On the other hand, though, I would go on to say that there are those who have a role that extends beyond a local church. And I think, you know, we can easily look to Pastor Chuck as an example of that. That he became, you know, something that was a pastor to pastors, right? A pastor to others and began, you know, became a huge part of this movement. Now, he's not the first, he's not the last. And there's been many who have had this kind of role in the body of Christ, right?

And so I would look at that and I would describe that as, you know, the role of an apostle. Now, you know, probably those who are apostles would not voice it, you know, like Paul in every one of his letters, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, right? So, you know, Pastor Chuck is an apostle, like he's not gonna proclaim and, you know, announce. I think we have also Pastor Tom is a great example of that as well. Like he has that kind of role, that kind of where the Lord, you know, establishes churches through him and,

And he has that kind of influence. And so, you know, that's another good example of that. But if he starts calling himself Apostle Tom, you know, then we have a problem. By the way, today is his birthday. So send him a message and say happy birthday. I encourage you to do that.

I describe it this way. The office of a prophet is fulfilled by those who speak God's word to nations. And this kind of goes back to, if you think about like Old Testament prophets, right? Isaiah, Jeremiah, like these guys, they spoke, it wasn't primarily to the church. It was to nations. It was people who brought forth God's message to, you know, groups of people. And so I think that we could look at,

people like Billy Graham and others who have had that kind of role in speaking to people on a massive scale like that. You also have evangelists. Again, this one's not as mysterious for us. And a lot of these, you're going to see combinations, right? An apostle might also be an evangelist. An apostle might also be a prophet. A prophet might also be evangelist. These kinds of things are not only this or only that.

But then you have pastor-teacher, and that's the office that's fulfilled by those who minister to a local gathering of believers. And so we see the body of Christ universally, globally. All believers who have ever believed throughout all history are the body of Christ. But then you also have the local and individual bodies of Christ. And Paul refers to that a little bit in 1 Corinthians 12. So...

Looking at these positions of authority, these positions of leadership, there's, you know, various ways that we can kind of work through these different things. But again, you know, that's not Paul's focus so much, right? He's not, okay, let me talk to you for, you know, two sentences or a couple verses about apostles and then prophets, right? He's not really digging into that. He's just declaring, this is the Lord's gift to you, the body of Christ, right?

Because he loves you, he has ascended into heaven and he has given these roles, these positions to the church. And so for you and I this evening, I think the main thing for us to focus on is not so much the precise definition of every detail of all of these things, but to focus on the reality that the Lord has placed people in authority in our lives. He's given people these roles in our lives and while gifts are given,

but they also need to be received. And so point number two here is I will receive the leaders that Jesus gives. Not so much the precise definition. I don't think that's so much what we need to be concerned with and consumed with, but well, am I receiving? Am I receiving the benefit of this gift that the Lord has given to me and participating in the body of Christ in a way that I'm benefiting from these leaders that God has placed in my life and within the body of Christ?

Pastor David Guzik says this, Jesus established these offices. They are the work and appointment of Jesus, not men. Though pretenders may lay claim to them, the offices themselves are a divine institution and not a human invention. You know, there are many times where people are really struggling with and wrestling with this idea of authority, right?

and spiritual authority has been abused, and there has been, you know, bad examples. And yet at the same time, we need to wrestle with the reality that, well, this is what God has established. And just because there are deceivers and those who, you know, lay claim to the office when the Lord hasn't called them there, that doesn't mean we throw out the whole concept altogether. No, but that we come back to the reality that

In order for there to be unity, somebody needs to lay down their own will. And that means that, well, I'm going to have to lay down my will for those leaders, those authorities that God has placed in my life. Now, if you are wishing that your leaders were different, you're not the first one, right? Leaders in our lives are God's gift to us. It's the gift of Jesus to us.

But that doesn't mean that we always appreciate the gift. But I think that's the point. And that's why the point needs to be made. That's why the determination needs to be made. I will receive the leaders that Jesus gives.

And I need to come to that conclusion and that decision because I'm not always going to want the leaders that Jesus gives. I'm not always going to, I'm going to look at other people's leaders and go, man, why, you know, why couldn't I have that leader, that kind of person in my life? And why couldn't I have that kind of authority? And I could easily, you know, wish for different leaders, even godly leaders, not even talking about unrighteous leaders, right? But that's the point. Because God knows me and what I need,

He has placed these leaders in my life in different roles, in different authorities, in different realms, but he's placed these leaders in my life that's for my benefit. And so I need to come to the place where I can say I will receive.

the leaders that Jesus gives. And not everybody who declares that they're my leader is, you know, a leader from Jesus. So there needs to be some discernment about that. There needs to be some seeking the Lord about that. And yet at the same time, there needs to be a submission in our hearts to the Lord reflected in the leadership that he has placed around us.

Well, that thought continues in verses 12 through 15. Here's point number three. I will receive the training my leaders provide. I will receive the training my leaders provide. Here, Paul goes on to describe, okay, here's the roles. He doesn't talk a lot about the specific details about, you know, what each one exactly is, but he goes on to spend some time on what their purpose is for. And here's the purpose of these leadership roles. Verse 12.

For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ. There's a lot there because Paul is...

Well, he's emphasizing the purpose of these roles, not so much the specific roles themselves, but here's why Jesus has given these gifts to the body of Christ for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And so the truth is that Jesus gave me leaders to equip me and build me up. And I can wrestle with him about whether or not, you know, he provided the right leaders, but,

But that's kind of a foolish thing to do, right? He gave me the leaders that I need. He gave me the leaders that he knows that I need. And it was for the purpose of equipping. We like the idea, the thing, the iron sharpens iron, but we don't always like it, you know, when it's lived out in our lives. And there's actually iron sharpening us, right? And sometimes that can be really uncomfortable and difficult and hard. And we don't understand it and we don't agree and we don't like it and all of these things, right? But coming back to...

walking worthy of the calling with which we've been called means that I recognize that Jesus has given leaders for my benefit. And my job, my role, is to receive from them the training, the equipping, the building up. And I may not have the whole agenda. You know, I think you could probably look at this. There's probably a million examples if you look at, you know, any kind of like coach and athlete relationship, right? I mean,

You guys know me. I don't know these things, but Richard can tell you later, okay? I know there has to be, you know, millions of examples of an athlete saying, I don't get it, you know,

If you want to go really silly, right? You look at Daniel's son and Mr. Miyagi, right? Like, I don't get it. Why am I doing this? I'm doing this. And like, it doesn't make sense. And sometimes the leaders that God places in our lives are like Mr. Miyagi and they're training us in ways that we're like, I don't get it. I don't like it. I don't want it. You know, what is this? And yet at the same time, those are the leaders that the Lord has given to us, to me, the body of Christ. And my job is,

is to receive that training and to allow them to, well, fulfill their course, to implement that training plan, to do that work that the Lord has called them to do. Pastor Thomas Constable says this, the role of these leaders is to minister to the word, minister the word to the saints in the church so the saints can minister the word in the world. All the saints should participate in service, not just the leaders. Every Christian should,

Has a gift or gifts with which he or she can serve. Every one of us, remember the diversity, right? We're all part of the body of Christ. We each have a gift. We each have a role. In order to fulfill that role, I need to receive the training that my leaders provide. And how long is this training? Verse 13. Till we all come to the unity of the faith. It's going to be a long time, guys. I hate to tell you. We...

We're going to need this training. We're going to need these kinds of authorities and leaders in our lives until we all come to the unity of the faith, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In other words, until eternity. Remember, we always love that verse, right? He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it, right? We love that verse. Great promise. Yes, thank you, Jesus. Amen, right? But sometimes that work is not

going forward because we're not receiving the training that my leaders are providing, right? Sometimes we like the concept without thinking through, well, how does that practically work? Well, here's how it practically works. God gives you leaders to help finish that work that he began in you. But it's for our good. He goes on to say in verse 14 that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine.

Without these leaders in our lives, we're in a dangerous place. We'll be tossed to and fro. We need the foundation that these leaders establish, the training that they establish within us. We need this influence in our lives. And if we don't mature and grow and walk in that training program for the equipping of the saints, you know, the edifying, if we're not built up

oh man, we're going to be tricked. We're going to be deceived. We're going to be carried astray. We cannot stand up to the craftiness of men and their influence, the devil, right? We can't see through it. We can't on our own guard against that. The only way that we can be safe from those things is by being equipped, being built up with the leadership that God has placed in our lives.

Now, again, I would include the New Testament, right? The apostles and their foundation, we have that, but there's also men and women in the body of Christ who have been given this kind of role, this kind of authority in our lives for our good to protect us from the things that would sweep us away, that would lead us astray. Verse 15, but speaking the truth in love may grow up into all things into him who is the head, Christ.

The end result of this training is that we are mature. We know how to speak the truth, but we know how to do so in love. That we grow into a relationship with the Lord, that we become more like him, that we become conformed or transformed into his image. I think we all want that. We all want that growth. Again, we want that faithful work to be completed as God promised. But here's how the Lord does that work.

And here's the place I need to bring my heart and my mind. Again, in order for there to be unity, someone needs to lay down their own will. And that's easy to do when my will is your will and your will is my will. It's like, okay, yeah, we agree. So we can go forward. But what about when my will is different than those in authority that God has placed over me? There's not going to be unity if I won't lay down my will with those that God has placed over me in authority. There's never going to be unity that way. The only way there can be unity is for someone to lay down their will.

The only way that we can work together is for someone to lay aside their agenda, their plans, their thoughts, and allow someone else to set the agenda. We always want it to be the other person. But when it comes to that role of authority in our lives, well, we have a part to play. The author of Hebrews puts it this way, Hebrews 13, 17, "'Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief.'"

for that would be unprofitable to you. There is a part that we have to play. It's submissiveness. It's submission. It's listening. It's, well, as I put it in the point, receiving the training that my leaders provide. God has given us these gifts because of his love for us. As part of his ascension into heaven, he has placed these offices, these roles, they're his institutions for our benefit. It's a walking, worthy walking and humility service.

It includes, I will exercise my gift of grace, but not just on my own, however I want, however I see fit. No, instead I will receive the leaders that Jesus gives and the training that they provide to direct the gifts and the uniqueness that I am and who I am in the way that God desires. And that brings us to verse 16 and the final point for today.

I will do my share in the body of Christ. Verse 16, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Here, Paul is saying, look, here's the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies. So again, the picture is of a whole body, every part important, every part unique, and

Has its own part to play. Every joint, you know, supplies a slightly different function, a slightly different work. But it comes together for an effective working as each part does its share. And that's what causes the growth of the body. And that's not focused on individual growth. That's talking about us collectively. Like we don't grow collectively the way that God desires for us without us walking together.

walking worthy of the calling with which we have been called. And so there's a responsibility that we have to the leaders that God has placed, but also to the exercising of the gift, the grace that has been extended to us. And so here Paul is expressing that in order for us to walk in unity. Now, again, there was a division between Jews and Gentiles, and you can easily imagine a Jew, you know, like, I don't want to serve a Gentile person.

Gentiles, I don't want to serve a Jew. You know, there's all this history. There's all this bad blood. And here Paul is saying, no, no, no. Walk worthy of the calling. You're united in Christ. You're one in Christ. Don't try to live that differently. No, you serve one another and utilize those gifts. And the Lord will make that effective and powerful as you share your part in the body of Christ.

It will be used by God for his glory to accomplish great things. Pastor David Guzik says, some people think of the church as a pyramid with the pastor at the top. Others think of the church as a bus driven by the pastor who takes the passive passengers where they should go. But God wants us to see the church as a body where every part does its share. That's the illustration that God uses over and over and over again for a purpose, for a reason.

shows us the unity. Your body works with unified direction from the head, right? It's coordinated. It's cooperative. All the members are working together. There's great diversity between the members, lots of different parts to your body, but all working together to accomplish the instructions of the head. In a similar way, we are the body. And the head, Jesus, he's sending his instructions. He's given his direction through those people

roles of leadership through those positions that he has established. And we're all unique and different and important and have a valuable part to play. And as we all do our part, the head does its part, those different roles and, you know, nervous systems, you might think of them, right? And so they do their part. And then all of us as the members, we do our part. And as we work together, then it's effective. It's great diversity.

Great uniqueness, great, you know, important roles for us to play. And yet at the same time, united together to accomplish what the head requires, what the head desires. J. Vernon McGee says, we call the pastor of a church a minister. But if you're a Christian, you're as much a minister as he is. The pastor has a special gift of teaching the word of God so that his members might do the work of ministry. I'm afraid we have the church in reverse today.

And, you know, I don't share this as like a, you know, living water, this is for you. But just as a reminder, a refresher, like, let's remember the way that God has established it. And I need to come to this place. Walking toward unity. Hey, there's going to be broken fellowship. There's going to be people I don't want to serve, people I don't want to minister to. But I'm going to come back to you. I will do my share in the body of Christ.

I'm going to do my part. I'm going to endeavor to keep the unity, to walk worthy of the calling, to honor the Lord in the way that I relate to others, exercising my gift of grace, receiving the leaders that the Lord has given to me and receiving the training that they provide, not just, you know, receiving them, okay, fine, you know, you have authority, but receiving it, being open and allowing that kind of influence, that kind of instruction in our lives and upon our hearts.

And then we take all of that. We use it, the resources that God has provided to do my share. I'm equipped, I'm prepared to do what God has called me to do. I will keep walking toward unity. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for us here at Living Water and for us as your body. I pray, God, that there would be great balance.

in applying these truths, Lord, that we would be submitted to you, Lord, that we would be open to what you have to say about these truths, Lord, and I pray that you would lead us by your spirit. Lord, as we consider the subject of spiritual gifts, we recognize this is a work of your grace. We don't earn it, we don't deserve it, but Lord, you desire to work through us in powerful ways. And so, Lord, would you fill us and empower us with your Holy Spirit, Lord, that we might come together as one

as your body to accomplish your purposes. And Lord, may that truth not just be the spiritual reality, which it is, but Lord, may it be shown and demonstrated in the way that we relate to one another, in the way that we work together, in the way that we seek you together, Lord, in the way that we live our lives. Lord, may we walk worthy of the calling with which you've been called. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

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