STAND STRONG
STAND STRONG
8.9 - Growing Up Together
As Paul continues to emphasize unity in Ephesians 4, he reminds his readers that the goal of each member of the body is to help "the body grow... in love."
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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/
Well, welcome back to the Stand Strong podcast. We are here again in Ephesians chapter four because last week we only made it through verse six, but that's I think for the better. This is such a rich chapter, a rich section of this letter to the Ephesians, and I'm here with Paul so that we can dive into verses seven and following. Just. Coming off of the heels of, of everything that we talked about last week, Paul's instructions or admonitions regarding unity and how that is connected to walking worthy of our calling and our hope in that calling. Such a delightful discussion last week and I'm really looking forward to here as we get into verse seven and, and kind of following. But I will say that these first couple verses that we're gonna cover, seven and eight, nine, at first, they kind of feel a little bit outta place. Yeah. But I, but they're very important to what we're talking about.
Paul:Yes. I mean to, to each one of us. Verse seven, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. And then he, therefore he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive. He gave gifts to men. That's an interesting word, gifts there. Don Mata. This, these are not spiritual gifts like we would think that the point he's will press in this context is he, he gave certain. Roles like the evangelists and pastors and teachers to function
mm-hmm.
Paul:In a certain way. And so that connects to verse 11. He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Verse four. Four. So again, the, it just, there's a, there's a good progression and flow of. Thought to what he has already been saying with regards to walking worthy of the calling endeavoring to keep a uni spirit in the bond of peace and the seven oneness passages in four, five, and six. Now he's gonna make sure that we understand how to continue to maintain what the spirit has already given to us in this oneness. Yeah, by this harmony in the various relationships that function in the appropriate way to bring about what the equipping and the edification and the spiritual growth of the body.
Noah:Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a great summary of how Howard transitioning here and it stays, you know, we said last week. This is a God thing, and as soon as we try to make it an us thing, that's when we start getting into the problems. Well, that's part of Paul's emphasis here when he's talking about the, these gifts that, the roles, as you put it, that, that Christ gave, he does it in the context of talking about how his, his descending and ascending. But notice in verse 10, he says he who ascended is the one who ascended, who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. Very, very reminiscent language of verse five or verse six, when he's finishing off the list of ones one. God and Father of all who is overall and through all and in all. Paul's making sure the focus is where it needs to be. This is what Christ has accomplished, this is what God has done. This is a God thing, not a you thing. Here are these gifts, these roles that he has given to help maintain the unity that we have in the spirit. And where that really drives us to, in, in, in my opinion when we're reading this text is. We, we read these roles in verse 11, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, verse 12, to equip the saints for the work of ministry or the work of service for the building up the body of Christ until we all attain the unity. So there's there's kind of three layers to that after the, the roles, and we can dig into the roles a little bit more, but notice from the get go that the point of these roles, the point of these you know, functions in the body is equipping. For building up and for attaining unity. If we can keep that in mind, a lot of the, a lot of the distractions and rabbit trails that we might be tempted to go down, we can kind of go, oh, nope, wait. Remember, the purpose of what we're talking about here is for service and building up the body and attaining unity. So I think that's an important place for us to start when we're talking about these.
Paul:Yeah, I do. I do too. And, and he gave some, he didn't give all. So God's wisdom is made known. Paul talked about that back in chapter three. God's Wisdom, multifaceted, wisdom made known through the church. Okay, so this is a God thing, and this is God's wisdom. God's intent, Paul is saying is this, this, and this. And so we, we need to trust God. God knew what he was doing.
Mm-hmm. He
Paul:has, he has fully equipped the church. In its local sense to operate and function in the way that he intended it for, for it to operate and function. When we start tinkering with that,
mm-hmm.
Paul:Then we get outside of our lane and we start usurping authority that doesn't belong to us. We can get critical. We can become complaining and say, yeah, but it shouldn't be this way, or I could do it better.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:No, no, no, no, no. God says, look, I have made sure that my church is fully organized. To function in a way I intend for it to function. And so he gave some. Now for our purposes in this discussion, Noah I would, I would only deal with the evangelist and the pastors and teachers or maybe pastoring teachers, right. Depending on that. Yeah. But, but so the evangelist, not everybody's the evangelist.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:But in a sense, everybody is to be a seeker of the lost. Right. Not everybody is a shepherd. Who is to serve in that role, but everybody is to serve in some capacity,
right?
Paul:Not everybody is a teacher. Yep. But all are in some ways responsible for teaching.
I. Right.
Paul:Somebody says, what do you mean? Well think about when we sing teaching in E. Yeah. So
Noah:that's exactly where my mind went. That's the low hanging
Paul:fruit. But the, the point I'm trying to make here is, again, again, in God's wisdom, he's, the, the context is Paul's not changing subjects here. He's trying to make sure that the Ephesian church understood and that we also, and, and, and. 2025 understand how the local church is to function in God's wisdom and arrangement. And we need to look at the role of the evangelist and we need to look at the role of the shepherds, those who feed and pastor and oversee. I. That they're set there to equip mm-hmm. To feed, yeah. To nurture. Yeah. To care for, to teach, to instruct.
Noah:Yeah. You know, we probably have often heard the phrase, something along the lines of unity doesn't mean uniformity.
Paul:Yes.
Noah:And I think a lot of times we talk about that in the context of, well. For instance, that doesn't mean we're all going to be completely unanimous on every little nuance of belief, or we're not all going to come from the same backgrounds, or we might not all look the same or sound the same, et cetera. And I think that's true. Unity doesn't mean uniformity in those ways, but in this context, the, the concept is more. Unity does not mean uniformity in our function in the body. And that I think sometimes is a little bit of a harder pill to swallow because sometimes we tend to look at the function of somebody else in the body and say, I want to, I want that function, and it might not be our function, our role in the body of Christ. We, we sometimes we talk about it in skills. But it's more than just what skills that we have. It's more than the opportunities that we're given. It's also the responsibilities that come with the function that we play in the body, and there are different responsibilities that come. You mentioned some that we all have. We all have the responsibility to serve. We all in some way have the responsibility to, to seek the lost and to to teach the lost. Yeah. But not everyone shares the same burden of responsibility in every area of the body. No. And to, to try to argue otherwise, like you mentioned just a moment ago, is to, to speak against the wisdom of God. Yeah. And that's a dangerous place to find ourselves.
Paul:Yeah. I mean, keep, keep in context what they would've already heard in this letter being read. He says, okay, walk worthy of the calling. I'm pressing here unity. I'm pressing harmony in this spiritual relationship called the church, the one body. And he had already talked about this being completely humble, being gentle, being patient. Bearing with one another, putting up with one another. Love, make every effort. Mm-hmm. Make every effort. Okay. So suppose in that local church where you have an evangelist and you have pastor's plural, you have shepherd's, plural, who function in particular roles, not everybody has to function in that role. So let's suppose in the local church, man, the, the evangelists. Man. Not that great. Not that great. He's failing over here. He's failing. They're failing. Pretty weak in this area. Pretty weak in this area. Let's say that. That is true. I. Let, let's say that that is extremely accurate. I'm not saying it can never be, I would, I would offer this. Sometimes perception is not reality.
Yeah.
Paul:But let's suppose through the pair of glasses that you're wearing, you are accurate at this moment, the evangelist or the evangelist, they're failing or they're very weak in this area. Okay. Someone else's failure or weakness can never become my excuse.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:For getting outside of my lane and saying, well, let me function in that role.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Or being less than what he has already said concerning the walk. Walk worthy. Be what you are. Somebody else's weakness or failure should never allow me or be an excuse for me to become arrogant, filled with pride, less than gentle, impatient, unloving, unkind. Fill in the blank.
Yeah.
Paul:And there's a reason why Paul said to, we said, I'm urging this in you. What? What does God know? Even the church imperfect people.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:The evangelist, imperfect, the shepherds imperfect. Mm-hmm. Now, are there character flaws or are, is there sin there that needs, yeah. Scripture will tell us how to deal with certain things. Right. I. But what he's pressing here is when Christ ascended, he said, this is how I want my people to function. And I've given some to be this, to be this for the expressed purpose of, so it's, it's the evangelists and the pastors shepherds were, we've gotta be equipping.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:We've got to be teaching, we've gotta be serving, we've gotta be leading. We've gotta be out front.
Yeah.
Paul:Building up the body so that Right. The various members of the body want to serve and, and want to, to operate in a way that will grow that church.
Noah:Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, and I think that's a good time to drive into, again, Paul has one of these really long, kind of drawn out, multilayered sentences here, but. He says that he, that Jesus gave these roles, these functions to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We, we mention that for the building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. And then he just keeps going 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 win of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, he just keeps going, 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 up, builds itself up in love. The reason I think it's important to read all of that is that is conceptually, those are all connected. This is, I, I think I mentioned last episode, there's kind of a momentum, a trajectory. Mm-hmm. This really lays it out. Why do we have different functions in different roles? What is our purpose as part of the body? Here it is. Mm-hmm. In being united in Christ, we are to be building one another up and so thereby building the body of Christ in love. So there's this idea of helping one another. And it's not just in the sense that we are to be kind to one another, though that is good. Specifically, we're supposed to be helping each other. Grow and mature so that we're no longer blown about. And all of that happens as we are equipped to work, equipped to serve as, as the body is built up and we, we continue to maintain and pursue this unity in the spirit. So. We can double back. It's almost like a snake eating itself. You can get to the end and go back to the beginning. Mm-hmm. And it, it, you see this kind of momentum, this trajectory that Paul is putting us on. And really, it's not Paul that's putting us on it. He's saying this is the trajectory that God has put his church on. He has, he has pushed it in this direction and. He expects us to join him in that work to maintain the unity and the spirit. And that's challenging, obviously, but it is, it is less challenging when we recognize that we have a part to play in it. I mean, in one sense that's more challenging, but what I mean by that is. It is less overwhelming when we recognize that this is something we get to part, partake in and join in together. Yeah.
Paul:You know, back in chapter two talk about he referenced the household of God. That's, we're dealing with the church here. I. You know, the household of God having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, now, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple of the Lord and whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So the foundation has already been laid.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone. But the foundation of the apostles and prophecy is what the apostles and prophets taught. So we are, we're no longer in need of the apostles and prophets. We've got that foundation that has been laid, and so you've got evangelists and pastors or pastoring teachers as they equip the body through teaching. Mm-hmm. What they're doing is feeding the church, what the apostles and prophets have set forth by the Holy Spirit. Right. This is how the church is to be fed. If the church is poorly fed, the church is gonna. Function poorly. Let's just be clear about that. Right.
Noah:Just like a body. So
Paul:yes. So again, that would be on the evangelists and the pastoring teachers.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:Now, but the, the, the sum operating in this specific role to function this way is to make sure that they're equipping the saints. Feeding the saints so that the saints are growing in their desire and in their understanding of how they can now not only serve the Lord, that's a given, but in the church, how they can serve in a particular capacity that benefits that local church. So that church is built up. And it grows in love, and that's where everybody fits. Mm-hmm. That's, that's the, each joint, every member supplying everybody functioning as as, as they should function in that relationship.
Noah:Yes. Yeah. And in addition to the, the theme that, that we're, what we're working towards is Unity, which is there from the beginning of the chapter. The, the picture that we get is. As we fill these functions of service toward one another and therefore build up the body of Christ that we are helping one another individually, but also as a group to grow more and more into the, into the image of Christ, or as he puts it. In verse 13, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are on a constant journey of growth. We ought to be. And the teaching is important for that, but the service is also important for that. I think sometimes when we think of spiritual growth, we think of it in terms of knowledge alone and therefore we put an emphasis on the teaching. Well, teachings are very important and understanding knowledge, very important, but growth is not limited to that. Growth also takes place through service to one another, and that's. And the part of the equation that we also cannot afford to neglect in this context.
Paul:Okay. Alright. Wow. Okay. I just have to tell y'all, if you're listening to Noah had no clue what I had in my notes to make sure in this podcast, and he set me up on a tee beautifully. Listen, you're welcome. Listen to what Paul says in verse 15, but speaking the truth in love.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:If we get to a point to where we think. That knowledge is the end all be all. We're gonna have some serious problems in the local church.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:What has he already been pressing there? The functionality of that family? To where the various ones that make up that family, that local church say, Hey, I want to find out where I can be plugged in. I want to see where I fit. How can I serve others in the body so that the body gets stronger and the body grows in love. So the speaking, the truth in love, the truthing in love is not simply a knowledge thing.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:It's a service thing. Now, why am I bringing this up? Because God deliver us from brethren who have, who have gotten this out of Ephesians four 15, speaking the truth in love and thought that that, that they were the spiritual police in the local church. I. To make sure everybody saw this passage or this moral principle the way they do. Mm. And they're gonna go up to them and they're gonna say, we need to talk about this, and I want to confront you about this. And I, I, it's, it's me loving you enough to tell you the truth. Look. I'm not saying ignore sin, and I'm not saying that knowledge is unimportant, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't be. Trying to make sure that people are not continually being immature and acting like children and believing and buying into everything that is wrong. I. I'm simply saying, the truthing in love is not just simply a knowledge thing. It's a service thing.
Yeah.
Paul:So the ones that are so quick in their pride, remember he started about the humility in verse two? Yeah. Who are so quick in their pride to say, my job is to fix you and to confront you in your behavior in the way that you do this, or don't do this. We're pretty good with the, what we think is the truth or the truthing. Mm-hmm. And not so good with the love.
Noah:Yeah. Un unfortunately that's the case. And unfortunately the, the response to that often becomes to, in an effort to try to correct that we will abandon true love completely by forsaking truth in the name of love and. That's clearly also not what Paul is advocating for here as well. It is only when it's combined in not only the things we say, but how we serve and how we help the body grow. That truth and love are combined into one. They're not at odds with each other. They never have been at odds with each other. And yeah. Excellent, excellent point there.
Paul:Those that tho those that are rocking the boat. Are selling the ones that are rowing the boat tho those that are the ones that are going around trying to make sure that they're the spiritual police and they're gonna fix everybody and change everybody. Typically, those are the ones that haven't served anybody in the church. They don't help people move. They don't bring casseroles, they don't offer rides. They, they're, they're not servants. Mm. But they wanna present themselves as great spiritually minded people concerned about the harmony and purity of that body by making sure they correct curb everybody else's moral problems and failures. I'm just saying there's more to this truth thing in love than just in knowledge thing.
Noah:Yeah. Yes. Well, and, and if you just continue reading, speaking the Truth and love, we are to grow up in every way into him, who is the head. Mm-hmm. Into Christ, he says so. I, I think when we think of it from that standpoint, there is no room. There's, of course, there's room, like you said, just a moment ago, to correct sin or to, to train and to, and to guide and to teach. But there is no room for trying to shape somebody else into our image because that was never the point. The point is to grow up together into the image of Christ. Into him, who is the head from whom the whole body join and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. That is with all of the people and, and functions and roles that he has supplied. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. God has designed the, the body of the church in such a way that when it follows God's design. The result is growth in love. Growth in love. And so when you take that to the idea of unity that's been throughout this entire chapter, in the end, God's people are to be united in Christ and they're to be united in love. And we see that growth in love. Repeated. Yeah,
Paul:I like that. Remember, he's, I, I, I, I'm glad you brought that out. What, what? He's making the focus here in these passages while he's talking about us and the church, he still makes Christ the focus.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:It's this measure of the statue, the fullest of Christ growing up into him who is a head in all things. You know that, that's the standard, right? That's, that's the measure point. It's not me, it's Christ.
Noah:Right? I mean, you've, you've used the the term several times this episode, you know, that we, there's a sense in which we need to stay in our lane. And ultimately the line that we are, the, the lane marker that we're never to cross is to cross over into God's territory and try to take his position. And when we do that we undermine the entire design. Of what he has put in place in the body. And it will only cause trouble and it will only cause division and destruction. And it will, it will never bring about, there's no ends justify the means here. No. If we don't respect God's authority and we don't respect his position as the head of the church, then we will not benefit the church.
Paul:Yeah. Yeah. There's, there is no edification. Until there's first equipping and there's no growth apart from edification. So the reason local churches don't grow is because they're not being built up, and the reason they're not being built up is somebody's not functioning and the role that God intended in Christ intended for them to function to equip the saints.
Mm-hmm.
Paul:There are saints in churches that wanna be equipped. The problem is there's just not equippers.
Yeah.
Paul:But then you have a situation in churches where you've got the equippers. It's just the saints don't wanna be equipped, they just don't wanna serve.
Noah:Yep. Yep. Well, I'm looking at the time and like we said last week, we we're, we're pushing the time on this one because it's just, there's so much here to cover. So we'll have to, we'll have to finish up for, for today. We're in verse 16, and next time we'll plan on picking up in verse 17. Probably be able to finish. Look at me and we're gonna, we're gonna look back at this and go, Noah, why'd you ever say this? We'll probably be able to finish up chapter four in next week's episode verses 17 moving forward. But we have really enjoyed this study. If you're listening, thank you for joining us in this journey through Ephesians. Our prayer is that we can better see the calling to which we have been called and the walk that we are to walk as in Christ, we stand strong.
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