The Key to Flourishing: How Christ Builds His Church Through You

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning everyone.
[00:00:05] Let me invite us to open in our Bibles to the book of Ephesians.
[00:00:11] Ephesians chapter 4.
[00:00:15] We'll read verses 4 to 10.
[00:00:24] Ephesians 4, 4 to 10.
[00:00:29] You can find that on page 977, 977 of the Pew Bibles.
[00:00:42] Ephesians 4, 4 to 10.
[00:00:50] There is one body and one spirit.
[00:00:54] Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
[00:00:59] One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
[00:01:12] But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
[00:01:18] Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
[00:01:28] In saying, He ascended, what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?
[00:01:36] He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
[00:01:47] Let us pray.
[00:01:52] Lord, we come to this moment with an eager expectation of Your blessing and help
[00:01:58] We rejoice in the fact that your word is able to equip us with everything good for doing your will.
[00:02:07] We rejoice in the fact that you are able to instruct and rebuke and correct and train in righteousness.
[00:02:14] We want to abound in good works by your grace and for your glory.
[00:02:19] So we pray that you would draw near and help us to that end.
[00:02:24] Use your word this morning to that end.
[00:02:27] What a
[00:02:28] wonderful thing what an awesome glorious thing that your word works in those who believe so unleash it now with its power cut into dividing soul and spirit bone and marrow lay bare thoughts and intents of the heart and take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ and unleash us to so live and so work that when we see you face to face
[00:02:56] We will hear that most consequential of all commendations.
[00:03:01] Well done, good and faithful servant.
[00:03:04] In Jesus' name, Amen.
[00:03:11] One key to flourishing as a Christian is to learn the things that make a church flourish.
[00:03:23] And not only that,
[00:03:25] But also to intentionally give yourself to those things that make a church flourish.
[00:03:35] So we should all be asking this question.
[00:03:38] What is God's design for how a church flourishes and what is my role in that design?
[00:03:48] Asking and answering that question with our minds and with our lives, I'm saying will unlock a door to flourishing for you as a believer.
[00:04:03] So again, one key to flourishing in the Christian life, to thriving as a believer in Jesus Christ is to learn the things that make a church flourish and give yourself to the things that make a church flourish.
[00:04:17] Now why is that?
[00:04:18] Why is it the case that learning and giving yourself to the things that make a church flourish
[00:04:25] Result in your own flourishing.
[00:04:28] It's a key to your own flourishing.
[00:04:31] The answer is simple.
[00:04:32] It's because in the flourishing of your church, you will find your own flourishing.
[00:04:39] It's a very simple principle.
[00:04:41] If you have a pond in which you grow fish, like you let fish grow in that pond, if the pond is healthy, the fish will be healthy.
[00:04:54] You go to a country that is doing well, the citizens of that country will do well.
[00:05:00] When God sent Judah into exile in Babylon, He said to them in Jeremiah 29 11, Seek the welfare of the city where I send you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare will be your welfare.
[00:05:17] Now that's true for a Christian and their church at a very profound level.
[00:05:25] If the church you are a member of is flourishing spiritually, you will be flourishing spiritually.
[00:05:32] That's why it's often said it's very rare to see that God revives one Christian all by himself.
[00:05:39] It's usually a community project that God brings about.
[00:05:44] And furthermore, if by the power of God you are self-consciously, joyfully, intentionally giving yourself for the good of a church, the church for whom Christ Jesus laid down his life, it's impossible that you can live and not be under the benediction of the God of heaven.
[00:06:02] What Jesus gave his life for is so precious to him that when you labor for the good of that by his power, he blesses you.
[00:06:12] Proverbs 11.25, One who waters will himself be watered.
[00:06:16] Isaiah 58.10, If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noon day.
[00:06:30] So I want to invite us to spend the first two Sundays of this new year reminding ourselves of the way God has planned for a church, for a local church to flourish and build itself up.
[00:06:46] And my goal is two-fold.
[00:06:49] I hope to encourage those who are currently intentionally giving themselves to the flourishing of this church.
[00:06:58] Laboring to see God's grace be mediated more and more to the members of this church.
[00:07:03] Laboring to see God's people built up in their faith.
[00:07:06] Laboring to see people follow Jesus more closely.
[00:07:09] Laboring to see people be more faithful disciples of Jesus.
[00:07:12] I hope that the sermon this week
[00:07:15] So this morning and next Sunday morning will be an encouragement to you, will remind you, you are not wasting your time, you are not wasting your energy and resources and whatever you are investing.
[00:07:29] But I do also hope that it will be an invitation and a challenge and an encouragement for those who are not currently doing so intentionally to begin to do so intentionally, to begin to seek to invest in the flourishing of us as a community, in the encouragement of the faith of others, in the building up of others in the faith as well.
[00:07:54] And here's the question I want us to consider this morning.
[00:07:57] What provision has God made to enable every local church to thrive?
[00:08:05] What is it that God has put in place to enable every true church of Jesus Christ to thrive and flourish?
[00:08:14] And I think in Ephesians 4 verses 4 to 10 we see at least two things that God has provided
[00:08:24] And made provision for to enable churches to thrive and flourish.
[00:08:29] And here's the first.
[00:08:32] The foundation for unity.
[00:08:35] The foundation for unity.
[00:08:39] God has provided a rock solid foundation for unity in the church.
[00:08:45] And when a local church intentionally and consistently guards and preserves and protects and maintains that unity, they flourish as a church.
[00:08:58] Furthermore, when as a member of the church you give yourself to things that guard and maintain and preserve that unity in your particular local church and in the wider flock of Jesus Christ, you also flourish as a Christian.
[00:09:15] Look with me at verse 4 of the passage we read, Ephesians 4.4.
[00:09:20] There is one body and one spirit.
[00:09:23] 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.
[00:09:38] That is the theological foundation for unity in any true local church, any true church of Jesus Christ.
[00:09:46] That's what God has provided to establish and assure and guarantee unity in the church.
[00:09:54] Now you have to remember that before these wonderful statements in verses 4 to 6, Paul has said something to the believers in Ephesus.
[00:10:01] He has said to them that Christians, believers, should be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[00:10:12] In other words, the unity already exists.
[00:10:16] Unity in the church is not something we produce by our wit and wisdom.
[00:10:22] Unity in the church is not something we turn to the government to create for us.
[00:10:27] It is not something we turn to a program or some other body or some scheme to try to create in the church.
[00:10:34] It is already there.
[00:10:37] Ours is to maintain that unity.
[00:10:39] That's what Paul commanded.
[00:10:43] So we already have it.
[00:10:45] And we know we already have it because of this wonderful series of declaratory statements, proclamatory statements that Paul makes about the unity.
[00:10:55] They highlight the firmness of the unity.
[00:10:57] Read again verse 4.
[00:10:58] There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to 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.
[00:11:15] Do you catch the sevenfold use of the word one in those few verses?
[00:11:22] One body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God.
[00:11:30] In other words, what Jesus prayed for in John 17 repeatedly, when you read John 17 at least four times,
[00:11:39] In an urgent prayer to the Father, God the Son is asking that we may be one as they in the Godhead are one.
[00:11:49] That they may all be one just as you Father are in me.
[00:11:54] That they may be one even as we are one.
[00:11:59] So in other words, what was an urgent prayer on this side of the cross has become a reality on this side of the cross.
[00:12:06] By and through the power of the cross.
[00:12:09] There is a guaranteed foundation for oneness in the church because of the cross of Jesus Christ.
[00:12:16] And I'm saying when a local church self-consciously gives itself to protecting and preserving and guarding and maintaining that unity, they flourish as a church.
[00:12:29] We cannot flourish in the midst of divisions and factions and quarreling.
[00:12:34] and it's not only the church as a corporate body when individual members of the church give themselves to doing things that maintain and guard and protect and preserve that unity they flourish spiritually as individual believers as well let's look briefly at each one of those seven aspects of that secure foundation of unity in the church first Paul says there is one body
[00:13:02] So this oneness of the body is not necessarily visible at the organizational level.
[00:13:08] If you're looking at different denominations of the world and so forth and so on, you can go away with the conception that, oh, the church is so fragmented.
[00:13:14] In fact, some other religions tend to accuse Christianity of being a very...
[00:13:21] sectarian kind of religion which breaks itself up into different pieces but there is a real unity and oneness it is the fellowship of all true believers who share the holy spirit it doesn't matter whether they are worshiping in one room every single sunday or not there is a real oneness and unity among those who share the holy spirit back in ephesians 2 16
[00:13:45] Paul had declared that one of the purposes of Christ's work was so that he might reconcile us both to God in one body, Jews and Gentiles alike.
[00:13:58] This is the church.
[00:14:00] Christ's body which is made up of every true believer from every tribe and tongue and nation.
[00:14:09] It is the heavenly gathering assembled around Christ in which believers participate and that body is by definition one, they aren't two of them.
[00:14:19] Each congregation like ours, like this local church, is a local manifestation of that heavenly body.
[00:14:26] We are not just part of it, we are a manifestation of a heavenly reality right here in this space and time where we exist.
[00:14:35] So even though the Apostle Paul is talking about things that are true of this heavenly body, he is saying things that are also true of us because we are a local manifestation of that heavenly body.
[00:14:49] And beloved, it's because of this oneness, this unity that marks the church of Jesus Christ
[00:14:56] That quarreling and divisions in the church are such a scandalous reality.
[00:15:03] Quarreling and divisions in the church are so scandalous in the eyes of the New Testament because it denies this oneness, quarreling and divisions.
[00:15:14] They deny this oneness and they deny a truth about God.
[00:15:17] Do you remember how Paul responded to divisions in the church in Corinth?
[00:15:22] He said, I hear that there are divisions among you.
[00:15:24] You should be of one mind.
[00:15:26] When he found out that Corinthian Christians were dragging others to court, I mean, remember what he says, 1 Corinthians 6, When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare to go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saint?
[00:15:41] Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?
[00:15:44] And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
[00:15:49] Do you not know that we are to judge angels?
[00:15:52] How much more than matters pertaining to this life?
[00:15:56] So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?
[00:16:02] I say this to your shame.
[00:16:04] Can it be there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers?
[00:16:11] But brother goes to law against brother and that before unbelievers.
[00:16:16] To have lawsuit at all with one another is already a defeat for you, Paul says.
[00:16:22] So he's addressing a question of divisions and quarreling and being unable to get along in the church.
[00:16:31] When he talks about how there were divisions marking the way they practiced the Lord's Supper he says in the following instructions I do not commend you because when you come together it's not for the better but for the worse for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear that there are divisions among you and I believe it in part.
[00:16:49] Why is Paul so shocked and scandalized by those divisions?
[00:16:54] It's because quarreling and divisions are particularly undermining
[00:16:59] To the reality that there is one body.
[00:17:04] The body of true believers.
[00:17:06] As far back as the 300s, the church started to confess and say in the Nicene Creed, I believe in one holy Catholic, which means universal, an apostolic church.
[00:17:21] Believers of all ages have always known those who are shared in the Holy Spirit belong together.
[00:17:28] And that's because of passages like this.
[00:17:30] There is one body.
[00:17:32] And let's look at the second thing Paul says.
[00:17:34] One Spirit.
[00:17:37] The oneness of the body is owing to the oneness of the spirit.
[00:17:41] We don't come in different spirits.
[00:17:43] It's one spirit we are made to drink of and we'll see it a little more clearly in a moment.
[00:17:48] And Paul has said earlier in Ephesians that we were given access to God through one spirit.
[00:17:54] So there's one spirit.
[00:17:56] When you believe, you are filled with the Holy Spirit as a member of the new covenant community of God.
[00:18:02] And Paul says in Ephesians 1.13, And him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of your inheritance to come.
[00:18:16] So that's another aspect of the firmness of the foundation that we stand on.
[00:18:22] Next, Paul says, one hope.
[00:18:24] So this is the hope that involves the fact that presently we know God has saved us.
[00:18:30] It's not just wishful thinking that we are entering into.
[00:18:34] We know that God has saved us.
[00:18:36] But beyond that, we have an important assured expectation that we will inherit the kingdom of God.
[00:18:44] That we are heirs to the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
[00:18:48] And we know also that God will ultimately bring all the parts of his rebellious creation under the headship of Christ.
[00:18:56] who will rule over the new heavens and the new earth in explicit ways and we will be co-heirs with Christ to that throne that's the hope that Paul is talking about and this is so stupendous so glorious so good we need God to help us to appreciate it
[00:19:14] That's why he prays earlier on in chapter 1 verse 18 and says, I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which you have been called.
[00:19:24] We need God to help us to know how pricelessly precious the hope he has called us to is.
[00:19:33] And the next element of this foundation for unity is one Lord.
[00:19:39] That's glorious.
[00:19:40] Paul confesses that Jesus Christ is the Lord.
[00:19:46] That's earth-shaking.
[00:19:47] I mean, when you have been coming to church every week and been with church people most of your life, if you have been a believer for a long time, it doesn't feel as earth-shaking to say Jesus is Lord.
[00:19:59] But you have to remember, Paul is living in a world just like ours where there are all kinds of claims to lordship.
[00:20:07] There are all kinds of purported lords.
[00:20:10] There are all kinds of pretender lords.
[00:20:12] And Paul is saying, there is one Lord, Jesus Christ.
[00:20:18] Remember what he says in 1 Corinthians 8, 5?
[00:20:21] For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many, there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist.
[00:20:38] and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
[00:20:46] He's declaring there is one Lord and that's why he could say to the Corinthians what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
[00:21:00] He would say to the Romans, I received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among the nations for his namesake.
[00:21:09] It's one name for whom Paul labored because there is one Lord.
[00:21:16] It's quite remarkable when Paul says there's one Lord, that language echoes the most essential theological confession, the most essential confession of faith that the Jews knew of.
[00:21:30] Deuteronomy 6.4
[00:21:31] Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.
[00:21:36] So when Paul is saying there is one Lord, referring to Jesus Christ, he's saying this one Lord I'm talking about has the same status like Yahweh that we read of in Deuteronomy 6, 4.
[00:21:50] Again, over and against all the lords, all the claims to lordship in the first century world that Paul lived in, Paul declared there is one Lord, Jesus Christ.
[00:22:04] And if I may just pause here and say, if you are an unbeliever here this morning, I want you to know you are not an accident of chemical processes and the passage of time.
[00:22:14] There is a real God who made you in His image and He made you to worship Him and to glorify Him and to give thanks to Him.
[00:22:25] But tragically, like every other human being, you have failed abysmally in fulfilling that purpose for which you were created.
[00:22:31] You have not lived up to that purpose.
[00:22:33] But in the most stunning display of mercy, this God who made you has sent His only begotten Son to live the life you did not and could not live, and to die the death you deserve to die.
[00:22:46] and if you will with your mouth confess that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
[00:22:56] That's God's word.
[00:22:57] He cannot take it back and the reason you will be saved from all your sin eternally is because there is no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved except the name of the one Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:23:12] So come to him in repentance and faith today.
[00:23:16] So Paul is speaking to us as believers about the one unshakable foundation of unity in the church.
[00:23:24] The other element of it is one faith.
[00:23:27] Now when Paul uses the word faith, he's often referring to the act of believing.
[00:23:33] But that's not what he means here by faith.
[00:23:35] What he means here by faith is the body of teaching that believers hold onto.
[00:23:42] It's the body of the content of our faith.
[00:23:45] He uses the word in that same way in verse 13.
[00:23:47] Or if you're more familiar with the letter of Jude, the Apostle Jude, Jude says,
[00:23:53] I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
[00:24:00] He means the body of teaching bequeathed to the church as the source of their life.
[00:24:07] So the Bible calls us as believers
[00:24:11] To be united.
[00:24:13] But there is a certain unity the Bible calls us never to pursue.
[00:24:16] The unity that compromises the gospel.
[00:24:19] The unity that compromises the truths of scripture.
[00:24:23] If you're going to be in agreement with somebody as a fellow believer and they want you to throw out, to abandon clear, explicit gospel teachings of the Bible, that's the kind of unity Jesus says not to pursue.
[00:24:37] Because there is one and only one faith.
[00:24:41] Then Paul adds there is one baptism.
[00:24:45] The New Testament teaches that everyone in Christ has been baptized.
[00:24:52] Every believer in Jesus Christ has been baptized.
[00:24:54] And this is fundamentally a reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[00:25:00] Do you remember 1 Corinthians 12 verse 13?
[00:25:02] 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.
[00:25:15] And of course, we remember John the Baptist said and Jesus confirmed that it is Jesus and Jesus alone who administers the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
[00:25:24] It is He who immerses people into the Spirit and brings them into membership in His church, in His body, the church.
[00:25:33] And when somebody is thus baptized and gives a credible profession of faith, then an assembly of believers like we here at GRBC can immerse them in water as a way of saying, yes, we are echoing what the Lord Jesus, the Lord of the church has done in bringing this individual, this brother, this sister, to be one of his.
[00:25:55] And Paul teaches that by that baptism that the church practices, we symbolize the identification of the sinner with the Savior.
[00:26:05] He has been brought to himself.
[00:26:06] She has been brought.
[00:26:07] He has been brought to Christ.
[00:26:09] She has been brought to Christ.
[00:26:10] And that is shown in them going underwater and coming back up as we saw gloriously this past Sunday night.
[00:26:19] Here's the last element of that firm foundation that God's provided.
[00:26:24] One God.
[00:26:26] So Paul ends the series of seven with a declaration of belief in one God.
[00:26:32] And he describes the Father in a unique way.
[00:26:35] He emphasizes the transcendent greatness of God and His imminent nearness.
[00:26:41] He is so...
[00:26:42] far above creation he's not part of this creation and at the same time he is so involved with this creation he's not far removed so that he has lost control of creation and he's not trapped in the midst of it he is both transcendent and involved with and ruling over his creation and leading his church hear what he says one god and father of all who is over all and through all and in all that's the god
[00:27:13] That is part of the firm foundation on which we stand.
[00:27:16] So what is one thing you and I should give ourselves to?
[00:27:22] We should give ourselves to maintaining the unity of the church because God has provided the most stable and secure and solid foundation for unity in the church.
[00:27:33] And if we give ourselves to such a thing, we will flourish as Christians.
[00:27:38] We will flourish as believers.
[00:27:40] Just hear what Joel Beakey says in his systematic theology about this.
[00:27:45] The unity of the church is a human manifestation and analogy to the unity of the Trinity.
[00:27:53] It is not just one Christ that unites us but also one Father and one Spirit.
[00:27:59] The three persons who together are one God.
[00:28:03] Church unity shows our total dedication to monotheism for if we serve many gods then we might form different cults.
[00:28:14] That's why I said
[00:28:15] Quarreling and divisions in the church are such a scandalous thing because they deny not only the truth that there is one body, they also deny the truth that there is one God.
[00:28:25] Because the oneness of the body is supposed to preach the oneness of God.
[00:28:32] So again, what is one thing God has provided to ensure the flourishing of the church?
[00:28:38] Answer, He has provided a rock solid foundation for unity and your role and my role in it all is that you and I should be eliminating from our lives things that threaten that unity and we should be adding to our lives things that uphold and maintain that unity.
[00:28:58] that's that's exactly what Paul says in the first three verses he says I therefore a prisoner of the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness that will maintain unity with patience that will maintain unity bearing with one another in love that will maintain unity eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace so God's provided
[00:29:26] The most firm, solid, unshakable foundation for unity in the church.
[00:29:30] But there's a second thing in the text.
[00:29:33] Grace to every believer.
[00:29:36] God in Jesus Christ has given grace to every believer.
[00:29:40] Look at verse 7.
[00:29:43] But grace was given to each one of us.
[00:29:48] Now notice something small but significant in that passage.
[00:29:52] The verse begins with the little word, but.
[00:29:56] Why is that?
[00:29:58] It is because verse 7 opens up a new angle in Paul's teaching.
[00:30:04] It begins a discussion on how we who are absolutely united in the non-negotiables of verses 4 to 6 differ from one another.
[00:30:13] Paul speaks in verses 4 to 6 of the oneness that marks the church.
[00:30:17] One body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, all of that makes us one.
[00:30:24] But then Paul transitions to speaking about the church in terms of the diversity that marks the church.
[00:30:31] In other words, on the foundation of the glorious unity that Paul has talked about, God has built a glorious diversity.
[00:30:41] God has built a glorious, diverse edifice on that foundation.
[00:30:46] So yes, there is one body and one spirit and one hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God.
[00:30:53] But that does not mean that we all are like each other.
[00:30:57] As some have said, this unity does not mean uniformity.
[00:31:02] It doesn't mean we look exactly like everyone.
[00:31:05] So how are we different from each other?
[00:31:07] Verse 7, But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gifts.
[00:31:13] So this is not diversity like DEI.
[00:31:17] Diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[00:31:19] This has nothing whatsoever.
[00:31:21] In the context to do with various ethnicities and backgrounds and natural talents of the individual members of the church.
[00:31:30] It speaks of the fact that believers have different spiritual gifts bestowed on them by Jesus Christ the Lord of the church for service in the church.
[00:31:41] That's how we differ from one another.
[00:31:42] He has given us gifts that differ from each other's gifts so that we might contribute individually to the common good of the church.
[00:31:50] That's how we differ from one another.
[00:31:51] So on the glorious foundation of unity, God has built a diversity of gifts in the body so that we serve one another like that.
[00:32:03] You know, Paul uses the word grace to speak about that.
[00:32:07] And when we hear the word grace, what comes to mind is unmerited favor.
[00:32:11] We are thinking of saving grace, sanctifying grace.
[00:32:16] But that's not what Paul is talking about here.
[00:32:17] He's talking about ministry grace here.
[00:32:21] So we must always remember when we read our Bibles, context is king.
[00:32:26] We can't import the meaning of a word from one context into another.
[00:32:31] We must let the author set the terms for how we understand the words that he is using.
[00:32:36] Earlier on in Ephesians, Paul has begun by referring to his own commission to take the gospel to the Gentiles as grace was given to me.
[00:32:46] Now he's speaking of all believers and saying grace has been given to each one of us.
[00:32:54] That is a reference to spiritual gift bestowed on believers for the common good.
[00:33:00] And I've already been saying it.
[00:33:03] This grace is given to each one of us.
[00:33:06] No one is left out and I'm not making that up.
[00:33:08] Just look at verse 7 again.
[00:33:09] But grace was given to each one of us.
[00:33:14] So there is a comprehensiveness in God's grace in giving gifts to the members of the church, in giving abilities to minister, to serve to each of the members of the church.
[00:33:27] And Paul, in fact, he includes himself in it.
[00:33:30] Grace has been given to each one of us.
[00:33:34] He doesn't stand out as different.
[00:33:36] There's a sense in which he is different but he's different in the midst of the similarity of the fact that it is grace that has been given to each one of us.
[00:33:47] So here's the wondrous news, beloved.
[00:33:50] You have a gift.
[00:33:51] from Jesus the head of the church tailor-made to your person tailor-made to the good works that he prepared before time began that you should walk in he has given you an equipping that will free you and empower you and equip you to walk in the good works that he prepared so that you may walk in in other words God did not save you and bring you into the church to be a spectator
[00:34:19] He has designed your life to count for the good of His church.
[00:34:22] What could be more glorious?
[00:34:24] You have a part to play in this one entity that will never pass away.
[00:34:29] That which the gates of hell cannot prevail against, you are a small a actor in it.
[00:34:36] By God's grace.
[00:34:40] What a privilege that is.
[00:34:42] What a blessing, what an amazing reality that you have a part to play in something that angels long to be a part of by the grace of Jesus Christ.
[00:34:54] You are a small actor in this drama that God is orchestrating.
[00:34:59] So you are a minister.
[00:35:00] Every Christian is a full-time minister of the gospel.
[00:35:06] We only differ from each other in the particulars of the outworking of that vocation.
[00:35:13] And that is a glorious thing.
[00:35:16] Now if you're a young Christian, the question that comes to mind may be, so what's my gift?
[00:35:23] So what's God given me?
[00:35:25] What do I have to put to use in the midst of the body?
[00:35:30] And the answer is simple.
[00:35:31] Just start serving.
[00:35:34] Just start doing something.
[00:35:36] In the midst of the body with the goal and aim to bless God's people and glorify Christ.
[00:35:42] And you will figure that out.
[00:35:44] Many people assume that you have to go through kind of an inventory and check boxes and do this and then out of the psalm and see which gift helps or which gift you have.
[00:35:56] I'm not entirely against inventories like that.
[00:36:00] But I will say I'm confident that at Ephesus, at Corinth, at Galatia, there were no inventories.
[00:36:07] But people still discovered and used their spiritual gifts just fine.
[00:36:12] So just start serving.
[00:36:14] Just become a church man.
[00:36:15] Just become a church woman.
[00:36:17] And be there with God's people when they are there.
[00:36:19] And just ask, how can my presence minister grace to someone else?
[00:36:25] Over time, you will find something that when it happens through you, people are blessed, people are encouraged, people are built up, and you feel a sense of fulfillment and joy and thankfulness to God.
[00:36:37] That's going to help.
[00:36:39] Help you determine where God has gifted you.
[00:36:43] From Christ's perspective, from the Bible's perspective, there is no spectator in the church.
[00:36:50] I mean, think about the human body.
[00:36:52] What part of your body is a spectator in your body?
[00:36:56] All the parts do something for the common good of your whole body.
[00:36:59] That's the same way with the church.
[00:37:03] Now, notice that
[00:37:06] Jesus exercises sovereignty in who gets what gift did you see verse 7 but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift so yes we each receive grace but we don't dictate what we receive
[00:37:26] No one else dictates what we receive.
[00:37:29] We receive what we receive according to the measure of Christ's gift.
[00:37:35] He decrees what you get.
[00:37:38] So spiritual gifts are not things we do to ourselves.
[00:37:40] They are given us by Christ.
[00:37:41] I mean, notice the verb in that sentence is a passive.
[00:37:45] Grace was given.
[00:37:48] The giver of the grace is the Lord of the church, Jesus Christ.
[00:37:52] And he exercises absolute unimpeachable sovereignty in what you get as a gift.
[00:37:59] So there is no room for pride, beloved.
[00:38:02] There's no room for self-pity.
[00:38:04] There's no room for despising the gift that you have received.
[00:38:07] You do not know the role that you can play in the church better than Jesus does.
[00:38:11] He knows which gift will be best for you and He gave you that gift and therefore you can't pride yourself of having one gift and not the other.
[00:38:19] You can't despise yourself for having one gift and not the other.
[00:38:23] Jesus knows better the church and how you fit into the church better than you do.
[00:38:27] No one got the gift that should have come to you.
[00:38:32] You didn't get the gift that should have gone to someone else.
[00:38:35] Jesus saw to it that you receive the gift that is most fitting for you and your person and your circumstances and the good works that he prepared for you to walk in.
[00:38:48] And in verses eight to 10, Paul gives scriptural grounding
[00:38:53] For the declaration that we have each received a grace from Christ for the common good.
[00:39:01] And he goes back to Psalm 68 verse 18 and proves, argues from Psalm 68 that what Yahweh did in defeating his enemies and the enemies of his people and ascending to his holy mountain that has ultimately fulfilled itself in Jesus Christ coming in the flesh
[00:39:22] defeating the enemies of his people ascending back to heaven and all of that setting the stage for him to pour out grace upon grace on every one of his people for the good of the church beloved the mark of a healthy church one mark of a healthy church
[00:39:44] is one in which every member is aware of the grace of God upon their lives and are actively and intentionally and consistently deploying that grace for the common good.
[00:39:59] In other words, they are strategizing and thinking about how they can employ, maximize the grace that they know to have been given them by God for the common good.
[00:40:10] Isn't that what the author of Hebrews means?
[00:40:13] He says, consider how you might provoke each other to love and good works.
[00:40:17] That's a mark of health.
[00:40:19] In a Christian, that's a mark of health.
[00:40:21] In a church, people are thinking there is an awareness.
[00:40:24] God has given me this stewardship.
[00:40:27] How can I most maximize it for His glory and the good of His people here in this church?
[00:40:33] And I praise God.
[00:40:35] That's one of the pastors of this church that so many of you are doing that.
[00:40:39] I can just tell, I mean, you see all the labors that go on in this church to mediate grace in all kinds of forms to the people who worship here.
[00:40:51] You know
[00:40:52] There is a self-consciousness, a sense of stewardship on many of you.
[00:40:57] You go to bed praying and thinking about how can I most efficiently and effectively maximize and deploy this grace that I know to be mine from the Lord for the good of His people.
[00:41:07] Praise God for that.
[00:41:10] It's also true though that there are many of you who need to start doing that.
[00:41:15] There are many of you who need to start thinking like, how can I maximize this grace, this stewardship that God has given me for the common good of God's people in the church where God has put me?
[00:41:30] Like I said, every church is designed by God to be a beehive of Christian ministry.
[00:41:37] A place where every member is playing their own part.
[00:41:42] And the entertainment industry
[00:41:45] And the culture around us presses us in a very different direction.
[00:41:49] We are catechized by the culture and entertainment to want a situation where someone else performs and we just watch.
[00:41:59] Someone else does and we just receive.
[00:42:02] If I like the service, I stick with it.
[00:42:04] If I like the product, I stick with it.
[00:42:05] If I like the church, I stick with it.
[00:42:09] But beloved, that's not God's design for the church.
[00:42:13] Just hear these words from one author.
[00:42:14] The body of Christ is not a place to sit and soak, but to serve.
[00:42:20] We have all been called into full-time Christian ministry.
[00:42:23] Giftings may be different, roles may vary, but being a Christian means being a minister.
[00:42:31] Serving.
[00:42:33] How could you possibly be a follower of the one who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and not be a servant yourself?
[00:42:43] That would be a contradiction in terms.
[00:42:46] Again,
[00:42:47] We are always going to be in different places as individuals.
[00:42:51] Factors like energy levels, personal capacity, marital status, work schedule, school schedule, caring for young children, caring for aged parents, being cared for as an aged parent, and a host of other factors will always impact the way that we invest ourselves in the church where we happen to be.
[00:43:12] But the question is not how you are doing it, it is are you doing it?
[00:43:17] because that's God's design for all of us.
[00:43:20] We have the high privilege and equipping to contribute to the common good.
[00:43:27] I remember an unforgettable experience.
[00:43:30] Kind of interesting to put it that way.
[00:43:32] I remember an unforgettable experience that I had as a teenager.
[00:43:38] Just been converted about a couple years prior and a very godly woman at our church
[00:43:45] The church I grew up in fell severely sick.
[00:43:49] And I had a strong inner urging to go visit her.
[00:43:54] And then at the same time, I was making this argument in my head.
[00:43:59] Jones, you don't really have something meaningful and profitable to say to her.
[00:44:05] It's better just not to go, rather than to go there and have nothing to say and embarrass yourself.
[00:44:12] I thought, yeah, that's the safe thing to do.
[00:44:14] But somehow, against all my natural proclivity, I went and entered and sat, and sure enough, I had nothing to say.
[00:44:22] I was just quiet.
[00:44:24] In fact, I was flabbergasted by the degree of her suffering.
[00:44:29] She was so in pain and so in difficulty, every Bible verse I ever knew left my mind.
[00:44:35] I remembered nothing.
[00:44:36] I couldn't muster a word to say to her.
[00:44:40] I was so shocked she saw it on my face.
[00:44:44] But then she turned to me in about two or three sentences, said, opened up to me the good that God brings out of the suffering of his people.
[00:44:58] And this woman knew that I'd just been recently converted, I didn't have biblical categories through which to process suffering and pain in the life of a believer.
[00:45:08] So she just ordered these sentences and I was utterly blown away because I assumed going there that she's very bitter against God for going through the sickness that she was going through and I was assuming that not even knowing the extent of the suffering and when I entered and saw the suffering I said like the bitterness must be through the roof right now but when she spoke to me
[00:45:26] I was blown away that she was thinking in those terms.
[00:45:29] She was thinking in James 1-3 categories, in Romans 5-3 categories.
[00:45:34] She was thinking in terms of the endurance and character and perseverance and hope that suffering produces in a believer.
[00:45:41] And she was lying there, utterly weakened physically, but grace was flowing from this weak woman to this teenager with all of the vigor of a teenager in him.
[00:45:52] it is impossible beloved to tell in which direction grace will flow you just need to be ready to be a conduit and God will amaze you I went to that house a very wobbly disciple of Christ in terms as far as suffering is concerned I came back from that house a much better disciple of Christ because of two three sentences spoken by somebody who understood the purpose of God in suffering
[00:46:18] So beloved as you pray and think about continuing to pour yourself out for those of you who are already doing it for the good of the church or as you think about mobilizing yourself and standing up maybe for the first time to start becoming more strategically intentionally involved in pouring yourself out for the church do not let the lie that says that weakness of yours is going to hinder you to stand in your mind
[00:46:44] because there is no biblical basis to say any given weakness in your life is going to derail God's purpose for you.
[00:46:50] It's not going to happen.
[00:46:53] God delights to put his indomitable power on display through the weaknesses of his people.
[00:46:59] Hear God say to you again and again, my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.
[00:47:09] That's the modus operandi of God.
[00:47:11] His power is made perfect in the weaknesses, in and through the weaknesses of His people.
[00:47:20] God has provided a rock solid foundation for unity for us as his people he has given you and every one of his people a gift tailor-made to you and tailor-made to the good work that he prepared for you so that your life might count for the good of his people and give you the high honor of meeting him on the last day and hearing him say to you well done
[00:47:46] Good and faithful servant.
[00:47:49] And regardless of what weaknesses you know to be true of your person, His grace is sufficient for you.
[00:47:57] His power is and will be made perfect in your weaknesses.
[00:48:04] So beloved, think about that.
[00:48:06] Pray about that.
[00:48:07] Let that encourage you and continue to be the wind in your sails as you serve.
[00:48:11] Let that encourage you and become the wind in your sails as you start serving.
[00:48:16] Let's pray.
[00:48:21] Dear Lord, we praise you, we thank you, we give you glory.
[00:48:24] What a wonder that you would make our broken lives redeemed by your grace to count for your church.
[00:48:32] We praise you for that.
[00:48:34] We pray that as your word says, that we would be stewards who are found faithful.
[00:48:42] Enough that when we see you, we will hear you.
[00:48:46] with that impeccable and perfect and ultimate commendation that calls those who serve in the strength that you supply faithful servants.
[00:48:58] In Jesus' name, Amen.