Sermon Transcript January 15, Empowered To Serve The Wonder of the Church Ephesians 4:1-16

Transcription

1 Sermon Transcript January 15, 2017 Empowered To Serve The Wonder of the Church Ephesians 4:1-16 This message from the Bible was addressed originally to the people of Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church on January 15, 2017 at 511 Maple Street, Wethersfield, CT, by Dr. Scott W. Solberg. This is a transcription that bears the strength and weaknesses of oral delivery. It is not meant to be a polished essay. An audio copy of the sermon on CD is available by request at (860) An audio version of this sermon may also be found on the church website at 1

2 Sermon Text Ephesians 4: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ s gift. 8 Therefore it says, When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. 9 (In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 he who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure and the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and for by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 2

3 Introduction Last week I asked you to consider the wonder of the Trinity. The hymn says it this way, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. The blessed truth that emerges from the eternal Triune God: One God, made up of three persons God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; is that at the heart of who God is, God is love. For all of eternity, God existed in perfect loving community. Michael Reeves tells of a young monk by the name of Richard, who sometime in the 1150 s entered the Abbey of St. Victor, just outside the walls of Paris on the bank of the Seine. He dedicated himself to contemplating God and was soon known as one of the most influential authors of his day. Richard argued that if God were just one person, he could not be intrinsically loving, since for all eternity he would have had nobody to love. If there were two persons, he went on, God might be loving, but in an excluding, ungenerous way. After all, when two persons love each other, they can be so infatuated with each other that they simply ignore everyone else and a God like that would be very far from good news. But when the love between two persons is happy, healthy and secure, they rejoice to share it. Just so it is with God, said Richard. Being perfectly loving, from all eternity the Father and the Son have delighted to share their joy with and through the Holy Spirit. Is it not, then, that God becomes sharing; being triune. God is a sharing God, a God who loves to include. Indeed, that is why God will go on to create. His love is not for keeping but for spreading. 1 We saw the spreading nature of God s love last week with this image of a waterfall of love graciously cascading from the Father to the Son. And then, that love cascades out from the Son down to the church. Michael Reeves says, As the Father is the lover and the head of the Son, so the Son goes out to be the lover and the head of the church. 2 Jesus said in John 15:9, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Do you see it? The love that the Father gives to the Son, spills out from the Son to the church. Now here is the big question. How does that waterfall of love spill out from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the church? It is through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. At the baptism of Jesus, when Jesus comes out of the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is sent upon him from the Father and the voice of the Father says, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. The way the Father makes known his love for Jesus is through giving him the Holy Spirit. Michael Reeves says, It is all deeply personal: the Spirit stirs up the delight of the Father in the Son and the delight of the Son in the Father and so binding them together in the 3

4 fellowship of the Spirit. 3 That was our benediction last Sunday from 2 Corinthians 13:14. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. You see this work of the Holy Spirit in the relationship between the Father and the Son in Luke 10:21 where it says of Jesus, At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, I praise you, Father Lord of heaven and earth. Here is the next question. How does the love of the Father cascade from the Son to the church? It is through the giving of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 5:5 we read, God s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. As a result of this cascading love from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the church, through the Holy Spirit, we can cry out affectionately to the Father like Jesus, Abba! Father! In other words, Paul says in Romans 8:15 that the love of God has spread to us through the giving of the Holy Spirit and so now we are adopted sons and children of God and heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. This morning we want to move from the wonder of the Trinity to the wonder of the church. I am curious where you are at this morning when you think of the church. Are you filled with wonder for the church or do you wonder about the church? I think in our culture there is not too much wonder for the church and more wondering about the church. It gets to the question, what is the church? Is it merely a religious institution promoting religious values? Consequently, the church often finds itself at odds with the culture causing many to wonder about the relevance of the church in this progressive culture. Even for Christians, what has the church become? Has it been reduced down to a weekly worship service, a place of ritual some feel obligated to observe for one reason of another? Is the church merely a building where religious activity takes place, but is somewhat segregated and compartmentalized from the rest of life? And so many are left to wonder about the church. What s up with the church? But when Paul writes about the church in his letter to the Ephesians, he is filled with wonder for the church. In Ephesians 2:22 Paul ends this chapter with this concluding thought about the church. In him (he is referring to Jesus) you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God (he is referring to the Father) by the Spirit. It is a Trinitarian statement. The wonder of the church is that in the church the love of the Triune God cascades into the hearts of those who have been born of the Holy Spirit. I like what Donald MacNair says about the church. Very simply, he says that the church is the presence of Christ on earth. 4 We are the body of Christ. Therefore, the love of the Father for the Son and the love of the Son for the church, through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit spreads from us to each other and to the world. This causes me to be 4

5 filled with wonder for the church because the church is where God s love spills out to a broken and hurting world. Lets not forget. The Triune God is a sharing God. God s love is meant to include. His love is not meant for keeping but for spreading. It is through the church God s incredible love is on display. Our passage this morning is Ephesians 4:1-16. It is an important passage because it tells us how we are to live as the body of Christ in this world. It tells us how God s love is demonstrated through the church. Let s face it. Many can give testimony to an experience where the church has not been the demonstration of God s love. And so we must learn to live in this grand reality of the nature of the church. MacNair says, Let this reality command center stage in your thoughts! With so grand an identity, how can we allow our focus to wander to petty differences and matters of personal comfort or pride? The glory of God His presence matters so much more. 5 And so Paul gives us three things to pay attention to as we seek to live out our calling as God s presence in this world and as we desire God s love to spread through us. Maintain Unity of the Spirit Paul begins by saying in verses 1-3, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I am struck by the phrase in verse 3, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The assumption of this verse is that through the work of the Holy Spirit, the church is already one in Christ. We don t create unity. The church is not like some other club you might be part of in the community. We are not just a group of individuals who try get along with each other, creating our own unity, if you will. Instead, the church is a living organism with a dynamic and mystical relationship with the Triune God. The Spirit of God has not just grouped us together, rather he has knit us together. We are one. Paul doesn t tell us in verse 3 to simply maintain unity. Very specifically he tells us to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Our unity is a unity formed and created by the Holy Spirit. We have already seen it called the fellowship of the Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who makes us one. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks, slaves or free and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Our coming to faith in Christ is a work of the Holy Spirit and when 5

6 we come to faith in Christ, we are immediately brought into the oneness that is the body of Christ, the church. I love how Paul says this oneness through the baptism of the Spirit transcends race and social status. Jew and Gentile are made one through this work of the Holy Spirit. Rich and poor are made one through this work of the Holy Spirit. I pray for a growing diversity in the body of Christ here at WEFC. When the church reflects a diversity in race and in social status and in age categories; we give a demonstration to the sheer wonder of the church. In fact, Paul says something rather majestic about the church in Ephesians 3:10. He says through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. In other words, as the angels peek in and see what God is doing by the Holy Spirit through the church, they marvel at the wisdom of God. That is the point of Ephesians 2. Through the cross of Jesus, we are reconciled to God and so in the church, God has torn down the dividing wall of hostility wherever those walls are erected in our culture. And so Paul says in Ephesians 2:18, For through him (Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. It is by the Spirit we are built together into a dwelling place for God. Therefore, we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Last week I suggested to you that the church is a good illustration for the Trinity. Just as there is one God made up of three persons, the church is one body made up of many members. God is both a unity, that is God is one; and a diversity in persons and in roles. So it is with the church. We are one body with many members. And isn t it interesting that after Paul calls us to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit that in verses 4-6 we have a mingling of the oneness of the Trinity and the oneness of the church. In these three verses, each member of the Trinity is mentioned. You find the Holy Spirit in verse 4, Jesus is represented with the familiar title Lord in verse 5 and of course, we have God the Father in verse 6. In this statement about the Trinity and the church it is the unity and the oneness that is being emphasized. Seven times you find the word one used to make much of our common unity. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Seven is the number of perfection, and I can t help but wonder if the number one is used seven times on purpose to emphasize the perfection of God. I do find it curious, that when Paul mentions each person of the Trinity you have this cadence of three s: one body, one Spirit, one hope... one Lord one faith, one baptism... then speaking of God the Father, over all, through all and in all. I believe that these literary patterns are purposeful and they drive home the point of the perfection of unity that exists between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. But the main point is this. Through the Holy Spirit, that 6

7 loving unity is now ours as well in the church. It is the Holy Spirit who calls us into the body of Christ. It is one confession of faith in Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord who died on the cross to cleanse us of our sin and brings us peace with God. And it is one Father, who is the Father of all who confess faith in Jesus. And so the church is wrapped up in the love and the unity that is expressed from the Father to the Son in the fellowship of the Spirit, and is now ours to be displayed both to the seen and the unseen world. To the angels, our love speaks to the wisdom of God. To the world we live in, our love proves that Jesus is the Son of God and there is life in his name. This is why we must be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. I made a discovery this week about Ephesians 4 that I never saw before. The Holy Spirit, like bookends, is found at the beginning and the end of the chapter. In Ephesians 4:3 we are told to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Then in Ephesians 4:30 we are warned to not grieve the Holy Spirit. The difference between maintaining the unity of the Spirit and grieving the Spirit is found in how we treat each other in the body of Christ. Humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love, are a picture of what it looks like to maintain the unity of the Spirit. The exact opposite is what grieves the Holy Spirit. Here you find things like corrupt talk, not building each other up, bitterness, wrath, anger, slander and malice. It is interesting how Paul says we shouldn t grieve the Spirit this way because it is through the Spirit you have been sealed for the day of redemption. The reason we must be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit is because we are the presence of God in this world. This is the wonder of the church. If anything should be said of us, it should be that you can sense the love of God in this place. I can t think of anything better that could be said of a church than that. Donald MacNair says that a good church is one which accurately represents Christ to the world. 6 So yes, that involves a confession of faith that affirms Jesus Christ the Son of God, crucified, buried and risen from the dead. But that confession needs to be made manifest in the love and the unity of the body of Christ, and this is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. When people who are new to our church family speak about sensing the love of God in our fellowship, I am humbled and grateful. I was with our Community Group facilitators at the beginning of the year and I heard testimony after testimony of how God is deepening the relationships in their group and how they are caring for each other. In other words, they are maintaining the unity of the Spirit and they are a reflection of the love that exists in the Triune God. May I remind you that the call to maintain it means that it requires constant vigilance. But in it, we make God known to this world. This is the wonder of the church. 7

8 Raise up Leaders As we think of the wonder of the church and how the church is the presence of God in this world, through the Holy Spirit, God has not left us alone. God has made provision for us to be his presence on earth. Part of the way God has provided for us is through the leaders he raises up for the church. There has not been a generation where God has not provided leaders for his people. What amazes me the most about this work of God s grace is how he has gifted the church with leaders for his people all over the world. The vast majority of these leaders minister in obscurity. To some, God has given wider capacity and a broader scope of ministry. But each one is God s gift to the church to help the church maintain unity, mature and be the presence of God in this world. In Ephesians 4:7, Paul moves from talking about unity to talking about diversity. Just like the Triune God is one and yet three distinct persons with varying roles within the Godhead, so it is with the church. Here Paul says, But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ s gift. Therefore it says, When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. This is an interesting verse because it is quoting Psalm 68:18, but Paul adds a twist to it. In Psalm 68, the Lord is seen ascending to the throne victorious over his enemies and the Lord is the one receiving gifts from men. But in Ephesians, Paul flips it and here the Lord who ascends to the throne is seen giving gifts to men. Think of it this way. On Good Friday, Jesus was crucified to make atonement for our sins. On Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead, declaring that he defeated sin and death and that we can be forgiven of our sin. Forty days later is Ascension Day, when we celebrate that Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father and therefore he has been given all authority, he is Lord. Then on Pentecost Sunday, we are reminded of how the Holy Spirit was sent and the church was born and it continues to this day. Starting in Jerusalem, the church has spread all over the world. For 2,000 years the church has remained. How so? The ascended and victorious Christ has given gifts to the church by the Holy Spirit. This is in keeping with what Jesus said to his disciples when he told them in John 16 that he had to leave so the Holy Spirit could come. And when the Spirit comes, he comes bearing gifts for the church so that the church can be the presence of God in this world. In this passage, the gifts Paul highlights are the leadership gifts given to the church. In Ephesians 4:11 we see that he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. I believe that the apostles and the prophets were gifts given 8

9 at the formation of the church. These gifts came with special authority and through these gifts we received the revelation of God, the Scriptures. Their ministry continues to this day through the Scriptures. This letter to the Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul, and yet it benefits us and is for our good today. Paul even says in Ephesians 2:20 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. In addition, God has continued to supply the church with an endless number of evangelists, shepherds (pastors/elders) and teachers, who to this day exercise these leadership gifts to help the church be the presence of God in this world. One of the most strategic things we can do as a church body is identify and develop leaders for the church. In fact, we can enter into this strategic initiative with great confidence knowing that these are gifts that the Spirit of God keeps raising up for the church with each coming generation and in every culture. The developing of church leaders, elders, is one of the first tasks Paul assigned to Timothy and Titus as they were establishing the church in various places. I think we should expect that God has given this body these gifts to identify and develop as well. Our vision is to become a church of disciple-makers multiplying disciples, community groups, leaders and churches throughout the Central Connecticut River Valley. In order to do this, we need to raise up leaders at every level. By 2025 we would like to see 90% of our church in community groups, develop a clear pathway for developing disciple makers and leaders and see 2 to 3 churches planted with the area. All of this is predicated on raising up leaders. At the same time, we can boldly press towards this goal because in the coming of the Holy Spirit, these gifts have been are and will continue to be distributed to the church for the effectual work of God in this world. May God use WEFC to raise up a generation of leaders for the next generation and may these leadership gifts be cultivated, encouraged and developed here. The wonder of the church is seen in how the Holy Spirit continues to provide these gifts for the advancement of the church in the world. Equip the Saints Finally the purpose for giving leaders and leadership gifts to the church is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ. This is the end to which God has given leaders to the church. Leaders are given to equip the body to use their gifts in service to each other. When the body is found serving each other the result is that our unity is strengthened, our faith matures and Christ is demonstrated to the 9

10 Conclusion world through the church. The passage ends in verse 16 by saying, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that is builds itself up in love. We need each part to do its part and in doing so, we become the vital presence of God in this world. Last week I heard of someone who was performing a rather mundane task within the church, when asked why she does it, she said, It is a joy for me to do this. This person has the gift of helps and like many other people does the kind of task that not many people see her doing, but if she didn t do it we would notice it. It contributes to the building up of the body of Christ. One of the things I love about our Community Groups is how it has decentralized ministry. We now have 27 facilitators who are being equipped to form community. But inside each of those groups, ministry and care is taking place as well. Gifts are being used. Through this sermon series we are going to make an online spiritual gift inventory for you to take and we are encouraging community groups to do this together. Not only will it help you discover your gift, but it can be taken as a group to discover that range of gifts in the group and the ways the group is equipped to serve each other. When we use these gifts, the wonder of the church is on display as we serve each other. The tile to this series is Empowered to Serve. Last week I told you that is where we want to land at the end of this series. We want to help you take that step into serving if you haven t yet done so. We would love for you to find meaningful and joyful service in the body of Christ and contribute to the unity of the body and in helping us reflect the presence of God in this world. But again, we do not want to guilt you into serving. Instead, we are asking you to start with a grand vision of the Triune God and a grand vision of the church. The church is the presence of God in this world and we reflect God s presence by maintaining unity in the Spirit, raising leaders in the church and being equipped to serve and do our part to contribute to what God is doing in the church. A good question to prayerfully ponder would be this: What is mind to do? What is God calling you to do as you seek to help us be the presence of God to this community where we worship. May others truly see God in us. 10

11 1 Micahael Reeves Delighting in the Trinity (Downers Grove: IVP, 2012) 30 2 Ibid., 27 3 Ibid., 29 4 Donald J. MacNair The Practices of a Healthy Church (Philipsburg: P & R Publishing, 1999) Kindle Reader, Location Ibid., Kindle Reader, Location Ibid., Kindle Reader, Location 478 by Dr. Scott Solberg - All rights reserved 11

12 Sermon Title: The Wonder of the Church Sermon Text: Ephesians 4:1-16 Sermon Date: January 15, 2017 Getting To Know Me Questions 1. Describe a time when you were in need and someone met that need. What do you remember most about that experience? 2. What are your earliest memories of church? Were they positive memories or negative memories? Describe what you remember. 3. Share one thing that stuck out from the sermon this past Sunday? Diving Into The Word 4. Read Ephesians 2: How would you describe the wonder of the church from this passage? Can you identify the Trinity in verses 18 and 22? How does knowing that the church is a dwelling place for God (vs. 22) impact and deepen your view of the church? 5. Read Ephesians 4:1-6. From this passage, why do you think it is important that we are eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace? 6. Read Ephesians 4:7-11. Through the Holy Spirit, gifts of leadership have been given to the church. Why are these leadership gifts important to a church? 7. Ephesians 4: What happens to a church when the saints are equipped for ministry and each part is working properly? Taking It Home 8. The Vision of WEFC: To become a church of disciple-makers multiplying disciples, community groups, disciple-makers/leaders and churches in the Central Connecticut River Valley. Spend time praying for this vision: for the process of raising up leaders and for WEFC to be a good representation of God to this world. 9. Ponder this question in your involvement in WEFC: What is mine to do? 12