About this sermon
The ascended Christ gives gifts to his church in apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers. These officers equip the saints for the work of service, so that the body grows in unity and maturity and is no longer tossed about by every wind of doctrine. Every member has a part in the church Christ builds, speaking the truth in love and serving others as Christ has served them.
Sermon transcript
And turn with me this morning to Ephesians chapter 4. Our focus this morning will be on verses 11-16 as we pick up from where we left off last week as we concerned ourselves with the ascension of Jesus Christ and how important that is to our salvation. And how in His exaltation rising from the dead and ascending to be with the Father he in turn gives gifts to the church and we come now to consider those this week and so we will though begin reading in verse one just to remind ourselves of the ground we’ve covered so far but first let’s pray and ask for the Lord’s help.
Our Father, we, as your people, do beseech you to be with us, Lord Jesus, to abide with your church, because we know, apart from your presence and apart from your person and work. There is no church. There is no building of it as we come this morning to consider this. We know how vital Holy Spirit you are to what has gone on with this building and what goes on right now in our midst and this worship service.
We would know the truth. We would hear it. We would walk in it. We would be pointed to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. So we pray that you do not leave us to ourselves. Open our eyes that we may see wonderful things. We pray this in the name of Christ Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
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. 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. 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. in saying He ascended. What does it mean? But that He had also descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
For building up the body of Christ 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 of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. This is the word of God.
There’s a lady I work with who was also a family friend and I think this was a couple years ago now, I was talking to her about a certain task that needed to be completed and she used a phrase I had never heard before at that point, not my circus, not my monkeys, Maybe you’ve never heard that.
Maybe you have. Well, I laughed. I thought it was pretty funny. Basically, the way she was using it was, hey, listen, that’s not my problem. That’s not my responsibility. Well, when I hear these types of things, I like to do some background and look them up and see how did they originate that type of thing. I’m interested in that. Well, it turns out this is a Polish proverb. And we tend to use it in the sense, not my circus, not my monkeys, as that’s not my problem, that’s not my responsibility. Well, actually, it was originally used a little bit differently as if somebody was coming to you for advice about some business endeavor. So if somebody came to Ian and said, Ian, I want to talk to you about this endeavor I want to start.
And he listens and he goes on to give this recommendation. I really don’t think you should do this. I don’t think this is very wise. Ian says, I recommend that you don’t pursue this. And his friend says, well, I’m going to do it anyway. And at that point, he says, after he’s now given this good advice, hey, not my circus, not my monkeys.
If you’re going to make a mess, it’s on you. And then that person may come back after the mess is made and say, hey, I need help. Can you advise me now? I got into this big mess. And he basically says, hey, you made the mess. You clean it up. Not my circus. Not my monkeys. Well, that’s the original way it was used. Sort of similar, but not exactly the same. Not my problem. Not my responsibility.
And there is a tendency in the church, and please hear me well, I’m not calling the church a circus, and I’m not calling you monkeys. But there’s a principle here I want us to hold on to. There’s a tendency within the church among the people of God to basically look at what’s going on in the church and the challenges it faces and the tasks that it’s called to and say, not my problem, not my responsibility. Now, keep in mind there’s some truth to having to make that statement, not my responsibility, because not everybody has the same function in the church, not everybody has the same responsibilities, not everybody is an officer in the church, for example, with some kind of an authority within the context of the church.
But we all have responsibilities. I think we can all agree on that. Now, as I open up this passage here, I know in our own denomination, there’s not complete agreement on what this passage is saying. There are some difficulties here to work through. But this much I can say, There is a certain responsibility that we all have in the Church of Jesus Christ.
For the building up of that church. While the master builder is the one completing the work, and that’s Jesus Christ, according to the promise of Matthew 1618. And so my encouragement this this morning is that we all. Take up. our responsibility, our part in the building up of Christ’s Church. So let’s look at this passage, beginning in verse 11.
And keep in mind what we were discussing last week, and I know some of you were unable to be here then, we were talking about the fact that We focus rightfully so on the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ as it relates to humiliation and exaltation and how important that is to our salvation. There’s a tendency though not to speak a whole lot about the ascension of Christ.
Whereas our catechism, when it talks about the exaltation of Christ, as it summarizes the teaching of scripture, makes it very clear that the ascension is a vital part of that, and then Jesus sitting at the right hand of God the Father, as all of his former glory and authority is returned to him. Those that He laid aside voluntarily in coming to this earth, the exercise of them. Not that He was no longer God and He was just a man and that type of thing. But that He is now restored to His former place of glory. that that has a vital part in our salvation as Jesus ascends to the Father with Himself as a sacrifice and the High Priest who offers it that we could be reconciled to God and He there intercedes for us and how vital that is to the practical Christian life that Jesus is performing that ministry in His exalted state. How crucial that is to us that we have access to God through Him.
And we said in this vivid picture that as Paul looks back to Psalm 68, We said, here He is in this triumphal procession. He ascended on high, led a host of captives. We’re the captives. Exodus language, where those who were captives in Egypt are released and are going to the promised land, which is a pointer to what we have in glory in Christ in our eternal life. that Jesus has led in his ascension a triumphal procession of captives, us included. We didn’t go there physically, but we see in this very letter that we are now in Christ with him at the right hand of God. We’re seated with him.
One day that will be fully realized in our resurrection. But as a result of him going forth with this host of captives, he is able to give gifts to men, to the church. And now we start to see those gifts. He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. Now we could spend a whole message on just these. We don’t have the time to do that, but I want to call attention to something here that we make a distinction in the OPC and the PCA does as well, for example, between the offices of the church that are extraordinary and temporary and those that are ordinary and perpetual.
And in this letter, if you’ll just look back real quickly with me to Ephesians chapter 2, you see an image of the church as the church is being called the household of God, like a house being built. built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Ephesians 2.20. So there’s this foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, and when you’re building a house, once the foundation is laid, it’s static. It’s no longer growing. It’s there. It’s holding up the building. It’s essential for the building to take place, but it’s not growing. And once that foundation is laid, we don’t need to add anything to it. It’s there though. And that is the ministry of the apostles and prophets, which we believe, without getting into a big discussion here this morning, we believe has come to an end.
Once God has delivered to us in his revealed word, what we know is the canon or the rule of the scriptures. And so with the finalization of the New Testament came an end for the need for the apostles and prophets. They were extraordinary and temporary. And now there is this ordinary and perpetual need for the gospel ministry that we have in the church. And that’s where we come now with the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. Evangelists, those who preach the gospel, here likely referring to those laying the foundation of churches, or as we know them in our own denomination as church planters. And then the pastors and teachers.
Well, here’s one of those one of those phrases where there isn’t total agreement. And without getting into the details, basically the argument is, or the difference is, is this referring to one person or one group of people in the church, the pastor, pastors and teachers as the pastor teacher? or is it referring to two distinct offices within the church, the pastors and those who exercise oversight over the flock and those who are teachers? Or some argue, well, it’s not necessarily referring to a particular office. There can be pastors in the church as officers and those who are teachers in an unofficial way. What’s the answer? Well, I’ve always tended towards this idea that it’s referring to one group of people within the church who may differ somewhat in terms of function, but it’s speaking about the ordained ministry.
At least we can argue for that. These are gifts to the church. God gave them to the church. He gave them to you, and so you can say of your pastor, Dan Knox, he is a gift to the church. Now we sometimes speak about that, we tend to use those types of words sarcastically. That guy thinks he’s God’s gift to the world.
Well the truth of the matter is, pastors You’re elders. And, you know, that’s another thing that enters into this question. Are they being mentioned here? The elders in the church. They’re gifts for the church. Now comes even some phrases that are even more controversial. The ascended Jesus Christ returned to his former place of glory, has given these gifts to the church. For what? To equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood. On and on.
Okay, here’s the dilemma. are all the phrases referring to the gifts of the evangelists, pastors, and teachers. So in other words, He gave them to equip the saints to build up the body of Christ and these evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They do all these things. They equip the saints, they do the work of the ministry, they build up the body of Christ.
Or, is there this idea that these evangelists and pastors and teachers are called to equip the saints? And then the prepositional phrases are dependent upon that one. to equip the saints who do the work of the ministry, and with the evangelists and pastors and teachers, are all involved in the building up of the body of Christ. Do you understand what I’m saying? There’s a difference between, is it the evangelists and pastors and teachers who are responsible for all these things? Equipping the saints? building up the body, doing the work of the ministry? Or is it the pastors and teachers and evangelists who do the work, who equip the saints, who then do the work of the ministry and build up the body of Christ?
There are differences among good men in our denomination and other Reformed denominations. It’s not an easy answer here, but I believe the context actually makes it favorable for us to say that the pastors and teachers and evangelists equip the church to do the work of the ministry. And together the ministers, capital M ministers, and the lowercase m ministers, the people in the church, together are used for the building up of the body of Jesus Christ.
And just real briefly, I say this because of what we read in verse 7, for example, that grace was given to each one of us, Paul says, everybody in the church, according to the measure of Christ’s gift. There’s a sense in which all of you were involved in the giving of gifts to the church. Now, there are different places that have different lists of gifts, like 1 Peter 4, which tends to be sort of a general. There are those who speak in the church and those who serve. and other lists like in Romans 12 and 1st Corinthians 12, here the gifts tend to focus primarily upon the men given.
But yet everybody’s involved in that. And then even further as you read, if it is the case that the ministers equip you or prepare you, the people, to do the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. There’s support for this towards the end of the passage that we read, where we read, as there is reference to Jesus Christ, from whom Christ, the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped The body from Christ is being built up. But listen to what Paul says. Every joint is being prepared, equipped. And then he says this, as he’s referring to all of us. Here’s that body imagery that he uses in 1 Corinthians. We’re all part of the body.
And if the part that you perform your function. If it is working properly, when each part is working properly, all of you together, here’s where this idea of unity, being joined together, oneness of purpose and heart together as the body of Jesus Christ, which is so key. It makes, when each part is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Very simply, each part has a role in the building up or the growth of the body. And so you have that final prepositional phrase in verse 12, for building up the body of Christ. And the implication to me is clear. We’re all a part of that. So, the pastors prepare you to do a work and all of you together are involved in the building up of the body and making it grow. And that’s a wonderful thing.
And that doesn’t take away from the idea that there are officers with authority in the church. Granted, it’s ministerial, we say, and declarative, given from Christ. Your pastor and elders have no right to tell you what to do, but they have every right and every obligation to tell you what Christ wants you to do. We’re not somehow erasing that distinction by saying, hey, listen, you’re called to the work of the ministry.
But to emphasize, we all have a role. We all have a responsibility. Maybe you’ve seen that little story about Everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody. There was this important job to do and everybody was told to do it. Everybody thought somebody would do it. Anybody could do it. But nobody did. Somebody got angry about that because it was everybody’s job. Everybody thought anybody can do this job. Anybody at all. But nobody realized that everybody wouldn’t do it. In the end, everybody blamed somebody for a job nobody did and anybody could have.
That’s a tough one to follow all at one time, but if you read it, you see what’s going on here. Now in sharing that, I’m not saying everybody is called to everything in the church, but I’ve seen this tendency on two different levels. On one level, as it refers, or as it relates to the ministry, there’s a tendency, and I’m not trying to somehow release myself from responsibility. Hey, listen, Westminster, OPC, and Wimber ended up having to dissolve because our numbers got so low and our finances got so low that we couldn’t continue. I’m not trying to release myself from responsibility.
But there was a tendency among some to say the reason the church is not succeeding is because the pastor failed to evangelize the way he should, or whatever it is. As if the responsibility for sharing the gospel and for the growth of the church was solely upon the officers of the church. And they didn’t have that responsibility, which makes the people sort of mere spectators.
Now granted, not everybody has the same gifts. For example, to share the good news of Jesus Christ. And there’s another difference. Not everybody believes it’s the responsibility of everyone in the church to evangelize. That the Great Commission only applies to officers. I don’t agree with that. And I believe the New Testament bears that position out.
For example, in Acts 8, when persecution occurs in the church, and people are spread everywhere, they all went about gospelling. Not gossiping. Gospelling. Evangelizing. The men and the women. Everybody was sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. But it also occurs on another level, this idea of taking away responsibility for myself, the tasks that I’m called to do and thinking somebody else is going to do. Just among the people, sometimes among the mundane tasks that we’re called to do in the church of Jesus Christ.
Somebody else will do it. Anybody can. But I’m not. Somebody else will do it. Yeah, it could be a simple task. You know, in our church we had a schedule. We were a small church. I’m not sure if you do this here. We had a schedule for cleaning the church.
It’s a rather thankless, mundane task. If you do it, nobody notices. If you miss it, they do notice, type of a thing. But in those tasks, it’s often the case that people just assume somebody else will do it. Or somebody’s ill, and the people are asked to make a meal if they can. And many people just assume somebody else will do it. We don’t take our responsibility.
As it refers to the work of the ministry here, you know, what’s Paul talking about? What is the work of the ministry? It has to do with anything. that in some way, even in some small way, contributes to the building up of the body of Jesus Christ. His primary focus is upon the faith or the essential doctrines of the church.
When he says, speaking the truth in love, we tend to look at this phrase as we’re called upon one another not to lie to each other and speak the truth. or to come to somebody and speak the truth about them and love. Brother, you’ve got an issue you need to deal with. Those things are true, but that’s not how Paul is using this here. He’s talking about avoiding false doctrine and being carried away by it. He’s talking about all of us being called to speak this truth. to further it in the congregation.
Maybe that’s through a Sunday school teacher instructing young children. Maybe that’s through the older ladies or the older men in the church giving counsel to the younger men in the church. Or maybe that’s through this idea that we’re a covenant community and we have responsibilities to one another, to each other’s children. Maybe that’s through encouraging somebody who’s going through a very difficult time. We’re emphasizing the truth of Christian doctrine to them constantly, as we’re called to come alongside one another. And that’s supported by the lives we live and the way we treat each other and the concern we show for each other.
You all have different pains and struggles. I’m aware of some of them, but not all of them. But everybody has their challenges. struggles with sin. There are physical health problems that different people have. There are relational issues in marriages and with children.
And when you serve others simply by coming alongside and asking how they’re doing and you pray for one another, you are involved in the work of the ministry in building up the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus promised to build His church in Matthew 16. And that’s taking place through the Spirit. Who, as you see in the book of Acts, is very active, but He uses us. Broken sinners, but redeemed in Jesus Christ. He uses us for this work. He wants to use you. I know this church has faced different struggles. I know, and I’m encouraged by this idea that there is discussion going on about revitalization. How does that work? And what does that look like?
And being able to deliberate among yourselves now, what should we do? What are we called to do? And as you look at the possibility of calling somebody here soon in connection with the work that’s already going on here. I leave you with this question that I encourage you to ask yourselves and truly sit and deliberate about it for yourself. How can I be involved in this revitalization, this work? For this church, by God’s grace, who has brought it here in the first place, for our Savior who builds this church, how can I be involved? In what way can I be involved? so that this work will sustain, be sustained, and will succeed. Ask yourself that.
Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for the church of Jesus Christ. There’s so much that could so much more that can be said in this passage, but we we pray that we will take to heart that which is truth from what we’ve just discussed. That what I’ve said today, Lord Jesus will be involved.
In preparing these people for the work of the ministry, May they take that up. May they see the role they have in the building up of the body of Christ. And may they be used for such here. And beyond this congregation in our denomination, and even beyond the greater body of Christ, as they look to their Savior, who serve them. As they have been served, may they in turn serve others. We pray all of this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Turn with me please to number 282 in your hymnals. fountain of good to own thy love number 282 please as we stand together 282 I’ll tell a flute to hold my love unthankful.
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