2020-03-05 | Ephesians 4:11-16 | The Edifying of the Body of Christ
Alright well we’re there in the book of Ephesians and we are back in our Wednesday night Bible study. And we’re making our way through the book of Ephesians, just going verse by verse, phrase by phrase, chapter by chapter. I think this is the tenth sermon in the book of Ephesians. It’s the third sermon in this chapter and there will be one more sermon in this chapter before we move on. And there’s just a lot in this book and there’s no need to rush through it. We can take our time and make sure we dissect it and learn it. And I hope you’re learning. And we haven’t been in Ephesians in a little bit so it’s nice to be back.
If you remember the last time that we were in the book of Ephesians, we went through verses 7 through 10 of Ephesians chapter 4. Tonight we’re going to go through verses 11 through 16 and we’re going to go ahead and just break it down and dissect it for you. But before we do that, I’d like to just show you a theme in this short passage in Ephesians 4 verses 11 through 16 just so you understand what it is that the Apostle Paul is talking about and writing about.
If you notice there in verse 11, the Bible says this “11 And he gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,”. I want you to notice these words because this is kind of the theme of this short passage. He says “for the edifying of the body of Christ:”. And the word edify means to build up. And he says that there is the edifying that needs to happen, the building up of the body of Christ. And of course we know the body of Christ is the church. He says “13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,”. And then notice again the emphasis “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”. And what he’s referring to is about building up, spiritual growth, physical growth for the church as well.
Verse 14 “14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love,”. Notice again the emphasis “may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,” Notice again the theme “maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”.
And in these several verses that we’re looking at tonight, there is this theme. And there’s really two themes there. One theme is that of spiritual leadership. And again if you look at verse 11, he gives a list of positions of spiritual leaders. But he’s specifically talking about how spiritual leadership plays a role in the building up and in the growing and in the edifying of the local church. Sometimes when you talk about growth in the local church, people assume you’re talking about growing physically. And we’re obviously all for that and fine with that and reaching people with the gospel and soul winning. But he’s more than that talking about growing spiritually, how it is the spiritual leader’s job to help you grow spiritually. And that’s the theme. And I want you to understand that as we take the time to kind of break these things down.
And we have 3 points tonight. The first one is this and the first thing we see, if you’d like to write it down. We see the position of spiritual leadership. And today there are actually those who teach that there is no spiritual leadership, that there really are no positions, that churches shouldn’t have anybody who’s ruling or in charge, there should be no Pastors or deacons, it should just be everybody’s equal. Obviously, we’re all equal in the sense that we’re all sinners and we’re all saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. But they teach we should just kind of have the same authority and there should be nobody leading. But this is not what the New Testament teaches. And in fact, the first thing that the Apostle Paul emphasizes is the fact that there are different positions that have existed through time and even exists now in regards to the leadership of the local church. So we see the position of spiritual leadership and he gives us five different positions here in Ephesians.
Ephesians 4:11, the Bible says “11 And he gave some, Apostles;”. That’s number one. “and some, Prophets;”. That’s number two. “and some, Evangelists;”. That’s number three. “and some, Pastors”. That’s number four. “and Teachers;”. That’s number five. We’re going to take all five of these and we’re going to go through it and explain it to you. But he emphasizes leadership. And really, he emphasizes leadership for a couple of reasons. First of all because of the fact that everything rises and falls on leadership. If a church is going to succeed, if a church is going to grow spiritually or numerically, it’s going to be as a result of the leadership and those who are put into those positions of leadership. And that’s not just the church, it’s any area where a leader exists. Everything rises and falls on leadership. If you’ve got a business and it’s succeeding, it’s succeeding because of the person who’s running that business. And if your business is failing, it’s failing because of leadership. It’s not because of Jesus. It’s the spiritual leadership failing.
So we understand that everything rises and falls on leadership. Now the other reason that I believe the Apostle Paul emphasizes this idea of spiritual leadership in regards to spiritual growth is because of the fact that spiritual leaders, Pastors and deacons which are not mentioned in this list but are mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament, they are there to help you go further faster. Spiritual leadership is there to help you grow in the Lord and to grow faster. Obviously, you can read the Bible, you can learn the Bible, you can study the Bible on your own and you should. But we are here to help, not to take place of that but to be part of that. You need to be reading the Bible and understanding and learning on your own. And then you come to church three times a week and we teach you and explain scripture to you and we’re just helping you grow in the Lord faster. But let me just break down some of these positions here for you to understand. The first one is Apostles.
Luke 6:12, the Bible says this “12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples:” Now Jesus had hundreds and even at times thousands of people that were following him that were his disciples. He called the disciples and out of that big group of disciples, the Bible says “and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles;”. So I want you to notice that when the original twelve Apostles became Apostles, the way that they became Apostles is by the fact that they were chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus chose the Apostles.
Now go to the book of Acts if you would. Now in the beginning the book of Acts, you have Peter and the Apostles trying to replace Judas who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. And they gave all these qualifications to finding a guy. They must do this and have this and I think their heart was in the right place. I don’t think anybody knows dogmatically for sure but you know I believe their heart was in the right place. But I think they were wrong in those qualifications. I think they were right in the sense they were trying to do right and they wanted to make sure they didn’t just put anybody into that position. But the problem with those qualifications set forth by Peter and the Apostles there is that Paul doesn’t meet those qualifications. Paul wasn’t at the baptism. He wasn’t baptized by John the Baptist. He hadn’t been with Jesus from the beginning. And the Bible is clear super clear that Jesus considered Paul an Apostle. So we need to realize when we read the book of Acts, and really when you read any narrative in the Bible, just because you read about an event about things that people did, that doesn’t necessarily make it right. It’s correct in the sense that that’s what they actually did but it doesn’t necessarily mean that what they did was the correct thing or the right thing. And that’s what I believe we are seeing there.
In Acts 9 we have Jesus calling Paul into the ministry and just kind of wakening him up. The Bible says this in verse 3. And remember that Saul is on a journey to bring persecution upon believers. “3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him,” And this is Jesus speaking of course. And if you have a Red-Letter Edition Bible then these words will be in red. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord?”. And remember at this time Paul is persecuting the believers of this man named Jesus. And now Paul is on Damascus Road and he sees this light and he begins to talk to this individual who appears to him. He says “Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Now if you keep reading you realize that Paul did not get saved on Damascus Road. He got saved three days later when a soul-winner brought him the gospel. And we preached about that and taught that before. But I want you to notice that Paul did have Jesus appear to him. He said “I am Jesus” and he appeared to the Apostle Paul.
Go to 1st Corinthians 9. And I want you to notice that Paul kind of gives us his credentials for being an Apostle because a lot of people doubted Paul’s Apostleship. You might have noticed that theme as you read the New Testament. He’s constantly defending his position as an Apostle. I think that he probably had to do that because of the earlier qualification list of Peter and the other Apostles that they gave in Acts 1. Notice what he says in 1st Corinthians 9:1. He says, “Am I am not an apostle? am I not free?”. And then he gives this as his qualification. “have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?”. So I want you to notice that in the Bible, if you just look at the people that actually became Apostles….And let me go ahead and say this as well, in the Bible we’re told that that there were actually 70 Apostles, not just 12. We’re also told that there are chief Apostles or the twelve. Sometimes they’re just referred to as the twelve. And you’ve got the twelve that are going to sit on twelve Thrones ruling the twelve tribes of Israel during the millennial reign. I believe Paul’s going to be one of those 12. Now you might think it’s Matthias or whoever. But you know I think it’s clear who Jesus chose to replace Judas. It was Paul. And Paul didn’t meet those qualifications. But here’s what Paul did meet, he had seen Jesus and he was chosen by Jesus. And when you look at the Apostles, the original 12 in Luke 6, isn’t that basically how they became Apostles? They were with Jesus, they’ve seen Jesus, and then they were chosen by Jesus.
You might ask, what does it take to become an Apostle? Because today you have these religions like Pentecostal or Charismatic churches. They’ve got guys that get up there and they call themselves Apostles. Well how do you become an Apostle according to the Bible? Well I believe according to the Bible, and I think it’s clear, to be an Apostle you have to have seen Jesus. You have to have seen the resurrected Christ and you have to been chosen Jesus. Because look, these Apostles, this was a special position. They were given powers to be able to do miracles which Paul did by the way. They were instrumental for the launch and the success of the local New Testament church. Now I believe that the office of the Apostle has been done away with.
Go to 1st Corinthians 15. We have the well-known resurrection chapter, right? And the chapter begins with this treatise on the resurrection of Christ. And Paul begins by giving us a list of everyone who had seen the resurrected Christ. We’re not going to go into all that but I want you to notice what he says in verse number 8. 1 Corinthians 15:8 “8 And last of all” Talking about Jesus. “he was seen of me also,”. Now remember, if in order to be an Apostle you have to have number one see the resurrected Christ and number two be chosen by Christ, and here all these people see the resurrected Christ but then Paul says “8 And last of all he was seen of me also,”. If he’s saying look, I’m the last person who saw the resurrected Christ, Jesus made a special appearance after his ascension to Paul, Paul is saying he is the last one. Do you know what that would make Paul? The last Apostle. There’s no more Apostles.
So all Apostles had to have been chosen by Jesus, had to have seen the resurrected Christ. And Paul said I’m the last person who saw the resurrected Christ. And the next time anybody sees Jesus, they’re either lying to you or they saw a devil. Because the next time anyone sees Jesus, we will all see Jesus. The Bible says that every eye shall behold him when he comes.
The next thing listed in Ephesians is “Prophets”. Go to 1st Corinthians 14. I think people don’t really understand this and it’s good for you to get this now. I’ll teach it to you the way it was taught to me when I was a young person in church. And it’s this, some prophecy, and in fact usually when we think of prophecy, we are talking about foretelling the future, it’s predicting the future. You don’t have to turn there, I’ll just read to you one verse. Usually when we think of prophecy, we think of like the book of Revelation. But sometimes in the Bible, prophecy is just telling the truth. It’s just preaching the truth. And I’ll give you an example of that and then there’s several examples we could show you, I’ll just give you one.
Proverbs 31, this is the famous virtuous woman passage. Proverbs 31:1 “The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.”. I mean there’s nothing that’s telling you like this is going to happen in the future, yet it’s referred to as a prophecy. Why? And when you get married, this is what you ought to be looking for. And a good way to think of it is as preaching. Acts 8:5 “5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”. So notice he’s going down to the city of Samaria. And he preached Christ unto them. And notice verse 12 in the same chapter. “12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”. So, notice he’s preaching, he’s baptizing, he’s getting people saved. Verse 26 in the same Chapter “26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the Prophet.”. This is what Philip is known for in the Bible. I mean it’s pretty awesome. I think if you’re going to be known for something in the Bible, this is a great thing to be known for.
“35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”. I mean every time you’re seeing Philip in the book of Acts, he’s just preaching the gospel, reaching people with the gospel. Notice verse 40, this is Philip at the end of that story, he’s caught away of despair and he goes to Caesarea. Acts 8:40 “40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.”. And then we meet him back in Acts 21 in Caesarea and he’s called Philip the Evangelist. So notice, what’s an Evangelist? An Evangelist is someone who brings the gospel. I mean he went to Samaria and he preached the gospel to that city. You know on Saturday we had a hundred and sixty-six Evangelists in San Francisco, California. 166 people who went down there for the purpose of preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
One should understand this. There’s the position and then there are those who act in that position. Here’s what I mean by that. In 2nd Timothy 4:5, and I’d like you to go there if you would. I believe that there’s actually a position of an Evangelist which is why Paul mentions them in Ephesians chapter 4. Now here’s what I think. I think that what the Bible refers to as an Evangelist is what you and I would call a missionary. Someone who has basically given their life to go and to preach the gospel in different locations, get people saved, baptized, and of course establish local churches. There maybe even someone who’s not necessarily a Pastor but someone who has given their life to that position. But notice, there’s also just like the Prophets, there’s a position of the Prophet which is done. But then in the New Testament you’ve got Prophets still that are prophesying. And Paul’s talking about it just like the Apostles. It’s a position. It’s done.
Notice 2 Timothy 4:5 “5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions,”. Notice what he says. He’s talking to Pastors in this passage. He says “do the work of an Evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”. So, Paul tells Timothy (who’s a Pastor) to do the work of an Evangelist. I know you’re not an Evangelist, I know you’re a Pastor, but in that position, you still need to do the work of an Evangelist which is obviously soul-winning, which is obviously church planting. You know I’m a Pastor of a Church. I’m the Pastor of Verity Baptist Church but yet while I’m Pastoring this church, this church has led soul winning events and missions’ trips and soul-winning marathons. We planted several other churches. You know that’s us, that’s me, doing the work of an Evangelist. Now am I a missionary on the foreign field? No. I’m a Pastor. But the Bible tells us that the Pastor is to do the work of Evangelist.
Look, you should do the work of an Evangelist. We should all be doing the work of an Evangelist which is just being a soul winner and reaching people with the gospel. But there is a position of an Evangelist, an ordained position. An example of that is brother Matthew Stucky. He’s not a Pastor. He’s an Evangelist. He’s been ordained into that position which is why he baptizes, which is why he is able to lead those churches even though he’s not necessarily acting as a Pastor. He’s acting in a position as an Evangelist. So we have the Apostles and the Prophets and the Evangelists. Then we have the Pastors. I’ve got to hurry this thing up. Go back to 1st Timothy 5.
1st Timothy 5:17 “17 Let the Elders”. Now I don’t have time to prove this to you, you can study this out on your own. These three terms of Elder, Pastor, Bishop; they’re used interchangeably in Scripture. They’re all talking about the same position. The Pastor of a church or the ruler of a church, the Bible calls them the spiritual leader, the main leader of the church. “17 Let the Elders that rule well”. They’re called to rule and be in charge. The word Bishop means overseer or those who take the oversight. “17 Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.”. So, notice that a Pastor or an Elder or a Bishop, those are all the same different terms for the same position. And I believe that those three, and I’ll preach about this one day, but I believe that those 3 positions really teach us 3 different aspects of the position of a Pastor. The idea of being an Elder, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be an old person. Because Paul was calling Timothy an Elder. And then Paul told Timothy “Let no man despise thy youth”. So, Timothy is obviously a young man that people could have despised. The word Elder is referring to the fact that you’re spiritually mature, that you spiritually grown in the Lord.
Then the word Bishop means overseer or administrator. That’s the ruling aspect. That’s the system, that’s the organization, that’s the calendar, that’s the soul-winning maps that we gave you. All the things that we do as far as organization around here, that’s the Bishop aspect. And then the Pastor is the personal aspect. That’s the counseling, that’s the visits to the hospital, that’s the having people over in your house, that’s the aspect of spending time with people and Pastoring them and being with them. So, you’ve got these three different titles that are used interchangeably but they emphasize different focuses of the ministry. And they’re called rulers. They are the spiritual leader. So you’ve got the Pastor. Then you have the Teachers.
With the Teacher, I believe this position would basically encompass all the ordained positions. So there are three ordained positions in the Church. You’ve got the Pastor who’s an ordained leader. You’ve got the Deacon who’s an ordained leader. And he talks about that in the New Testament as well. And then you also have the Evangelists. That’s an ordained leader. And you know I believe that all of those serve as a Teacher. But not only that, I believe that even just men in the local assembly can serve as a Teacher and as a Preacher. Because remember in first Corinthians, 14 he’s giving instructions for a men’s preaching night. He’s expecting that there are other men in the congregation that are going to be able to stand up and preach. And by the way, I’m thankful that at Verity Baptist Church, we’ve got some guys that can stand up and preach. And I’m able to go to Fresno and do different things from time to time and have the guys step in and preach. And they do a great job. I mean our guys who aren’t in full-time ministry, they can out preach some of the average Pastors in this country. And I’m thankful for that. So a Teacher can be anyone who’s teaching the Word of God in the local church. It could be an ordained position or it could just be just a regular guy who has a gift to teach or preach or do those things.
1st Corinthians 12:28 “28 And God hath set some in the church,”. Notice the positions first. “first apostles,”. Does this sound like Ephesians 4? “secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,”. And again I think that’s referring to Pastors, Deacons, Evangelists, guys in the church that can preach. And then “after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”. And of course I preached the entire sermon on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and what’s been done away with and what hasn’t and proven all that. Look at verse 29. “29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?”. So, you’ve got these different positions. You’ve got the positions of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers. And I believe Teachers includes Pastors, Evangelists, Deacons, and just regular guys that are able to stand up and preach the Word of God in church.
Go back to Ephesians chapter 4 if you would. So, number one we saw the position of spiritual leadership. And Paul emphasized 5 officers: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers. Then we have the purpose of spiritual leadership. So, he tells us about the position of spiritual leadership then he tells us what’s the purpose of spiritual leadership. Why has God given you spiritual leadership? Because that’s the wording. He says “11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists;”. The people in Manila didn’t get an Apostle or Prophet. They got an Evangelist. Some got Pastors. You all got a Pastor whether you like him or not, you’re stuck with him. He’s the Pastor. And he says that he gave some Teachers. There are some churches where they don’t have a Pastor and maybe they just got men in the church that are able to teach. Obviously, that should be a temporary thing if a Pastor dies or something like that. But he said I’ve given you these positions of leadership.
What’s the purpose of spiritual leadership? Notice verse 12. He says here’s why I gave them to you. “12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”. I gave you spiritual leadership to accomplish these three things in your life. The first one is the perfecting of the saints. Now what is that referring to? Go back to 2nd Timothy if you would. I asked you to keep your place there. Go back to 2nd Timothy chapter 3. The word perfect in the Bible, and I told you this before, it’s not the same word that you and I use today. When we use the word perfect in modern terms, we think of something without error. It’s just right, it’s perfect. There’s nothing wrong with it. In the Bible, and even in modern times, there is a law term “perfecting a lien”. Even in modern days, that term is still used. But the word, it means to complete something, it means to bring something into completion, it means to be complete, lacking no essential detail. That’s what the Bible says here. So when he says that I gave you spiritual leadership for the perfecting of the Saints, he’s saying look, one of the goals of the Pastor is to help Christians become completely equipped for the Christian life. That you’re not lacking anything, that you’ve got everything you need to live out the Christian life.
2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,”. Doctrine is the right thing. “for reproof,” Reproof is to make the wrong thing the right thing. “for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”. Now someone in your life is supposed to be taking all the scripture that God gave you, that God gave us, and using that to teach a doctrine, to reprove you when you need it, to correct you when you need it, to instruct you when you need it. Why? “17 That the man of God may be perfect,”. May be complete. “throughly furnished unto all good works.”. My job as a Pastor is to equip you, to make sure you’ve got all the tools you need. My job is to make sure that you have everything, that you understand everything, that you know everything you need to live out the Christian life. So, that’s why we make all these documentaries. That’s why we have soul-winning seminars. That’s why I preach all these series about winning the race of life and the faithful family and finances and soulwinning. Why do we do that? Why do we have all these sermons with all these different subjects? It’s because my job is to make sure that you’re fully equipped, that you’re complete and perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. But that’s not it. My job is to make sure you’ve got all the tools. And then my job is also to motivate and mobilize you to get to work. Because notice, he said for the perfecting of the Saints. Then he says for the work of the ministry.
Go to 1st Corinthians 15. Understand that the work of the ministry, it’s like no other work. I mean it’s not like volunteering for any other organization. What you do at work Monday through Friday is important but the work of the ministry is greater than that. Because we’re laboring together with God. We’re laboring with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58 “58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable,”. Notice “always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”. And I’m just going to say this and usually every November we have a time where we get people involved and try to get people into the work of ministry. But look, in your Christian life, part of spiritual growth is that you come here, you sit and you get equipped. We teach you, we feed you, we help you, we give you the tools.
We hope that you understand but eventually you ought to serve. And look at the different people that are serving around here to figure out, hey maybe I can help with the cleaning, maybe I can help with the audio-video ministry. We’ve got all sorts of different positions and things that people can do. And why do we do that? Why every November do we have a worker Appreciation Sunday and every November we put out a list with names of individuals that volunteer at church? I mean I don’t know if you’ve noticed but if you’ve been here for any length of time you can see, that list gets bigger and bigger every year. I mean this last year we had I think a hundred names. Our church has 200 people in it and it had a hundred names. You say why would you organize this massive structure of volunteers? Why not just hire someone to clean the building? Why not just hire someone to do this? Part of the reason is because I understand that for you to grow spiritually, I need to involve you in the work of the ministry. Sometimes it might be easier to just pay people to do it. But look, sometimes it’s better to just involve as many people as possible. You know my goal is one day to have 90 percent of our church, 95 percent of our church on that list of volunteers. You say why? Because my job as a Pastor is “for the perfecting of the Saints”, to equip you and make sure you’ve got everything you need for your marriage and for your child-rearing and for your finances and for your health and for your personal life and your emotional life. My job is to equip you and then my job is also put to put you to work in the work of the ministry.
So we have individual growth then we have corporate service. Helping Christians serve the Lord in their Christian lives. And then notice the third thing. He says this back in Ephesians 4:12 if you would. “12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”. And here’s what I know, when Christians are growing personally, when there’s individual growth and when they’re serving corporately, the church will be healthy. And when the church is healthy, it will naturally grow. So, he says look, he gave you spiritual leadership for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry. And all that’s going to produce “the edifying of the body of Christ”. Now notice the product of spiritual leadership. And I’ve got 10 minutes, we got to finish this up. We talked about the position of spiritual leadership Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers. We talked about the purpose of spiritual leadership; the perfecting the Saints, the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ. Let’s talk thirdly tonight about the product of spiritual leadership. What does spiritual leadership result in when it’s not failing? Because everything rises and falls on leadership. When spiritual leadership, the Pastor, the staff, those in charge and in positions as leaders, when they are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, what will the result be? What will the product be?
Well I want you to notice that Paul tells us the first thing is you’ll have a united Church. Look at verse 13 “13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith,”. Now look, when you’ve got a hundred people to minister together, you’re going to have friction. It would be easier to have one person playing an instrument. When you have 12 or 15 people playing instruments, you’re going to have friction. Would it be easier to have one guy sitting back there in the sound room or is it easier to involve 6 or 7 guys that rotate those positions? You’re going to have friction. When you just have three guys to take the offering and do all the action then it’s easier than having 8 or 9 guys rotate in and out. You’re going to have friction. Why do we involve so many people if you can just do it with one pianist, with one sound guy, with 3 guys taking the offering, with 1 or 2 cleaners? Why do we have 30 cleaners? Why do we have 2 groups that come in on Monday and rotate them and two groups that come in on Saturday and rotate them and two groups that come in on Sunday and rotate them? Well part of it is so people don’t get burnt out. The other one is because we’re trying to involve as many people in the work of the ministry. But when you do that, you’re going to have friction.
So the Pastor’s job is to make sure that we’re not just working. Because look, a leader can push and push and push and work and work and work and the whole thing can fall apart if he’s also not teaching you. Spending weeks on sermons about burying the hatchet and about not being bitter, if he’s also not teaching you about not gossiping and not backbiting. Because look, we need to have unity. We need to be striving together for the faith of the gospel. So what is the product of spiritual leadership? It is a united church. We need to have unity. And look, by the way, if there’s one thing that I just have no patience for and that I will come down hard on is when people start forming cliques. When you start having this “It’s us 4 and no more”. And you stand on that side of the auditorium. And you try to make Verity Baptist Church into High School Baptist Church. Because we need unity. We can’t have people just fighting with each other and gossiping about each other. And look, that will ruin this church. He says “13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith,”. And then notice “and of the knowledge of the Son of God,”.
So, what is the product of spiritual leadership? Well one is a united Church. But secondly, it’s a doctrinally sound Church. He says “and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”. Someone who’s growing. The idea is that you’ve got a little babe in Christ. And they’re growing, right. Just like physically, some of us stopped growing a little faster than others. But you know, just like physically, you got a baby and they grow and grow and grow. He says look, our job is to take spiritual babies. And something my wife and I joke around about and talk about people having issues in church. And it’s like they are spiritual toddlers. They’re gossiping and fighting. He’s got to help them grow a little bit. There are spiritual teenagers. We got to help them grow, mature a little bit, get a little more mature.
He says “and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”. Notice, “14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine,”. Why? Preaching these doctrinal sermons on Sunday night, it’s my job to make sure you are doctrinally sound. That look, that you’re not carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight. The word sleight means subtle, deceiving. “of men, and cunning”. It means the ability to be sly, the ability to be deceptive. “craftiness,”. Talking about scheming. “whereby they lie in wait to deceive;”. Here’s why the Bible says “try the spirits whether they be of God”. This is why the Bible says search the Scriptures daily whether those things are so. You say how do you know when you’re doing a good job? When we have a church that’s united. We’re not doing a good job if we have a church that’s divided and some are saying I’m of Paul, I’m of Apollos and I’m of Cephas. That’s not good. When we’re not doctrinally sound. And obviously not everybody’s going to agree 100% on everything. Someone said, if you get three Baptists together, you’ll have four opinions. And I’ve found that to be true. But on the main issues, on the major issues, we are on the same page. We believe in the King James Bible, we believe in eternal security, we believe in soul-winning, we believe in separation. We need a doctrinally sound church.
Then the third thing that the spiritual leadership will produce if they’re doing their job right is a compassionate Church. Because look, a united church that’s doctrinally sound could be dangerous. A Church that’s united and doctrinally sound, we try your spirit. We’re like the Church of Ephesus. And we “try them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them liars. And hast born and hast patience and for my namesake hast labored and hast not fainted”. But then we lose our compassion just like the Church of Ephesus. And we stop reaching people with the gospel. That’s a dangerous church. In fact remember, they almost lost their candlestick as a result. Notice the compassionate church. Ephesians 4:15 “15 But speaking the truth in love,”. He said look, it’s a church that’s compassionate. We’re not going to stop speaking the truth but we’re going to do it with a broken heart. Look, sometimes the truth hurts. When someone tells you the truth, it is because they love you. Do you understand that? It would be easier to lie to you. It’d be easier to let you go and just keep making mistakes, doing the wrong thing. So the product of a spiritual church is a united Church, a doctrinally sound Church, a compassionate Church.
Then notice verses 15 and 16. We’ll finish up right here. He says “15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up”. That’s the theme, right? “into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”. Now I believe that so far, the context has been about spiritual growth. The members of the church, the Pastor, the staff, we’re all growing spiritually. We’re maturing spiritually. We’re getting better in our Christian walk. But then he says this in verse 16 “16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”. And I believe what he’s saying is this, a church that is united doctrinally and compassionate will be a healthy Church. And a healthy church will grow naturally. He says look, you want the church to grow numerically and spiritually. He says I gave you spiritual leadership that they might equip you for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, for individual growth, so that you guys can work together and have a healthy church that is united, doctrinally sound and compassionate.
He says let me tell you something. When something is healthy, it will grow. I mean isn’t the Bible often referred to as an organism, like a body. When you take a little baby and they’re a healthy baby, you’re feeding them, they’re getting their nutrients, you know they’re just going to naturally grow. Here’s what I’m saying. If you have a yard and you’re trying to grow grass, and you’re putting seed down, you’re putting fertilizer down, you’re making sure it’s watered, you’re making sure there is sun, it’ll grow. If it’s not growing, there’s something wrong. Maybe you’re not getting enough sun. Maybe you haven’t watered in a while. Maybe you need it fertilized. If it’s not growing there’s something wrong. And here’s what he’s saying, the church is the same way. If a church isn’t growing, there’s something wrong. Now you know obviously there are times when you’ve got people freaked out with the coronavirus and you’re going to have low attendance. I get that. Safety is of the Lord by the way.
But the point is this, that generally speaking, if a Pastor and spiritual leadership is doing the right thing and they’re equipping the Saints, they’re perfecting the Saints, they’re doing the work of the ministry, they are doing the edifying of the body of Christ, and the church is united and growing and doctrinally sound and compassionate, the thing will grow naturally. It’s not going to grow like Joel Osteen’s church because that’s unnatural growth like steroids. But naturally speaking, a church will just grow. Naturally it’ll increase in the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Because a healthy church will be a growing church. And then Paul’s whole thing is this, that God gave you spiritual leadership to keep you healthy. Now let me let you in on a little secret, I got to finish up, over the last 10 years of ministry, what I have noticed and what my wife has noticed as we’ve served as a Pastor and Pastor’s wife is that usually when people begin to be unhealthy spiritually, the person they want the least to do with is the Pastor or Pastor’s wife who God gave you to keep you spiritually healthy. So when you’re in sin, when you start getting backslidden, when you start getting bitter, when you start getting angry, when you start getting upset, when you want to start talking crap about the Pastor’s wife or talking crap about the Pastor, realize that’s the person that God gave you to help you. So don’t turn them into an enemy. Because look, the Pastor sometimes is going to correct you. He’s going to tell you things you know for the correcting.
Let’s pray.