We own an exercise bicycle. It’s in my storage building/workshop. All of its parts are intact. They’re all there and none are broken. It should work fine. I do use it. I hang an extension cord on the handlebars. It sits close to my table saw and sometimes I balance a board on it while I cut the board. One of our neighbors saw it and told me she has one exactly like it. It’s in her living room. She exercises on it. Which one does what it was built for – mine or my neighbor’s? Hers, of course.
Moving into chapter 4 of Ephesians, Paul points out the same thing for followers of Jesus. He says, “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called…” Live in a way that fits God’s call for you to have new and abundant life in Christ – which is what the first three chapters are all about. Do what you were built for.
The first thing to deal with is being the church as the body of Christ. The church is the body through which Christ reveals himself. Jesus shows what he’s like and what he’s all about by being present and active in his people. The church is the body through which Christ continues his mission on the Earth. Jesus works through his people to bring grace and truth, redemption and restoration to the world.
As we’ll soon see, there is one body of Christ. Only one. So a specific local congregation is not THE body of Christ. It’s not even A body of Christ. Jesus does not have a gazillion bodies located all over the world. He has one body – all of his followers, his people. Each local congregation is a PART of the body of Christ. All the individual churches together constitute THE body of Christ. All individual Jesus-followers together make up THE body of Christ.
Now, to make the will of God really workable, we have local congregations called churches. We understand and apply these teachings on the level of the individual church (although it would be beneficial sometime to apply these teachings to the worldwide church). What is true for THE church – THE body of Christ – is also true for A church – part of the body of Christ. So, in this study, when I say “the church” or “the body” I’m referring to a local, individual congregation.
As a church, Paul writes, walk in a manner worthy of the calling, do what you were built for. In verses 2-16, we are challenged to make sure the body of Christ operates with two critical characteristics.
The first is unity. Unfortunately, there are some extreme cases of disunity in the body of Christ. For example, a Baptist church in Massachusetts once called a new pastor. Saying that he needed to get to know the congregation, he began uncovering the secrets of the people: things like drinking problems and prison terms. Within a few months he was able to use this knowledge for control, such as: “Frank, I would think that a man who has made mistakes – especially marital ones – would be more compassionate. I think I can keep the secrets I know about you, Frank, especially if you could find a way to be more cooperative when it comes to church business.” The pastor could easily manipulate people to get his own way, and soon some of the members believed it was time to get rid of him. It wasn’t easy. It came to a head one Sunday morning when one of the deacons tried to announce a special meeting to deal with the pastor. But the pianist and organist drowned him out with their loud playing. Then somebody pulled the organ plug and someone else shut the piano lid. A fight broke out between the pastor and a deacon. Several others jumped in. A hymnal flew through the air, then a flower arrangement. The police came and ended the fight. The pastor and the deacons appeared in court. The judge ended the hearing by telling them, “No charges will be pressed at this point, but I urge you to work this out within your church. Your Jesus Christ may allow this sort of thing in his followers, but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will not permit fist fights as a regular order of church service!”
Jesus doesn’t allow disunity in his followers. Ephesians 4:1-6:
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
There are seven “ones” in verses 4, 5, and 6 – one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. When you add those together, you don’t get 7; you come up with 1 – all Christians united as one. Hence, the reason I say there is only one body of Christ.
The essence of Christianity is spiritual unity, togetherness, cohesiveness. We have been born of the Spirit by faith in Christ into the family of God. Division or disharmony of any kind in a church contradicts what it means to be the body of Christ. We are called into deep spiritual fellowship.
We have to diligently work at spiritual unity. It doesn’t come easily. With humility and gentleness, we overcome our self-centeredness and pride. With patience and tolerance, we overcome short tempers and hurt feelings. With genuine love – understanding, acceptance, sacrifice – we pull together into a strong fellowship. With all our differences – age, sex, ethnicity, personality, background – Christ calls us to put our lives together in spiritual unity. He doesn’t homogenize us so we’re all the same. He joins us together as his body with many parts.
Unity in the church is not an end in itself, just as fellowship with God is not an end in itself. It doesn’t stop with having good friends and good times together. That’s just being a social club. Unity is not just keeping to ourselves and keeping the big bad world out. That’s what cults do. The reason for togetherness leads us to the second characteristic of the body of Christ – strategy. God has a specific plan for the church in the world. Let’s read verses 7-16:
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says,
“When He ascended on high,
He led captive a host of captives,
And He gave gifts to men.”
(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to 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 a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
God’s strategy for the church is to put it together so it can do the work of God in the world.
Just as a conquering warrior divided the spoils of war with his own people, the victorious Christ has distributed gifts of his grace. He has given his people the abilities and assignments and power to do his work in the world.
Four leaders of the church are named in verse 11. The apostles were the select group of men who were witnesses of the resurrection and assigned to lead the church at the beginning; there are no more apostles. Prophets declare messages from God to his people; today we call them preachers. Evangelists have the ability to announce the gospel and draw people to faith in Christ. The pastors and teachers – which is one position – have the abilities to interpret and apply the Word, to care for the church and to lead the church to fulfill God’s mission. God calls and assigns whom he chooses to be those leaders.
These leaders have been given, verse 12 says, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service.” “Saint” doesn’t mean someone more holy and spiritual than everyone else. It’s another word for anyone who belongs to Christ. Each Christian. The leaders equip – train, guide, lead, prepare – all Christians “for the work of service.” All believers serve in God’s mission to the world. The body of Christ is to be doing the work of Christ in the world.
A church is a team. A group of people who are focused on a specific mission. A cohesive unit trained, dedicated, led and working to get something done. With each team member functioning the way God assigns.
The result of all our functions is “the building up of the body of Christ.” When the leaders do their work and the members do their work, the people of God grows to maturity. Together we develop a deeper faith in Christ and a fuller experience of him in our lives. Together we build a solid foundation in our lives with the truth of God. Together we increase our love for Jesus and all people. Together we learn how to live an abundant life.
We grow to maturity by working together in ministry that carries out God’s mission to the world. A church that does not do works of service, does not do ministry, is not a mature church, not a grown up church. It’s like a baby that just does everything for himself, and it’s like a bottle getting tossed around on the ocean. Like the joints of the body are fitted and held together, Christians should be connected to each other in Christ’s body, working in harmony to carry out God’s mission to the world.
Go back to verse 7: “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” This is talking about the Holy Spirit given to each believer and the power that the Spirit intends to put to work in each of us through spiritual gifts and ministries.
Jesus was given the Spirit without measure (John 3:34). There was no limitation on the Spirit’s power in Jesus while he was on the earth in a physical body. That’s how he was able to do what he did – proclaim the Kingdom, love all people, do miracles. Jesus operated in the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit.
Do we have the Spirit without measure? Not each one of us. But the church, the body of Christ, does. There’s no limitation from God on the power of the Spirit working in his church. Each believer has been given a measure of the Spirit’s gifts and power. Each Christian has a limited portion of the unlimited power of God. We put our portions together and we have all of it. For Christ’s body to “grow up in all aspects” (v15) each one of us must be joined together and working together and supplying our portions. Then the body will be healthy and strong.
The purpose for growing healthy and strong is contained in verse 10: “He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.”
Jesus descended from Heaven to Earth. He descended into death for our redemption. Then he ascended to Heaven; he has been exalted as King – “that He might fill all things.” Jesus has taken his place as Lord of the universe so he can infuse himself and his love and power into everything and make everything complete. The church is his body assigned to make that actually happen in the world. When Jesus ascended from Earth to Heaven, he gave the Holy Spirit to his church to have the ability to be his witnesses, his ambassadors, his priests, the agents of his Kingdom throughout the world.
The church has the power of the exalted, reigning Lord Jesus Christ. The power to infuse Christ’s presence into everything. The power to bring light into the darkness. The power to take redemption to sinners. The power to heal broken lives. The power to help solve problems and needs. The power to care for strugglers. The power to reveal truth where there is deceit. The power to bless where there is curse. The power to destroy the works of the devil. The church has the power to change the world.
God’s strategy is for the church to be the body of Christ – believing in and following Christ – united, cohesive, together, teamed up – empowered by the Holy Spirit – spreading his love and truth by witness and ministry.
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