Christ's Body

A few years ago, maybe my first year, the phone rang in the office, and I usually don't answer the phone when it rings in the office. But today, this particular day, I did, and on the other side of the line was a man inviting me to a Christian fellowship, a parachurch ministry. And his final pitch to try to get me to come to this particular event, this particular meeting, You know what's great about this group? Unlike the church, when you're here, you know you're sitting next to a believer who loves Jesus. Well, I got off the phone as abruptly as possible, as usual, and probably quicker, because it made me sad. Sad for this man's church that it's a kind of group where you don't know if the person next to you is a believer. Maybe sad for him that he's part of the church, that you don't know who's next to you. The church is where you should feel the most secure about who is next to you. The most united group of believers trusting and that they're like-minded. Sadly, this man's experience is very common. It's too common. It reveals something about the church and that many churches, if not most churches, have lost their vision for what Christ has called them to. The church is not who she is supposed to be. We're called to be Christ's body. united as a body of believers. All believers seeking Christ, denying themselves, following him, united with one another in this purpose. The church's worship, this is supposed to be the primary focus, according to God's design. Sadly, I see why so many leave the church for other kinds of fellowships. It actually makes sense. The church is where Christ says, I will display my glory. The church is where Christ says, I will display my glory. And there's one person who hates Christ's glory. Satan. Just as Satan went after Adam and Eve because they were the ones in all of creation that imaged God's glory. That's who he attacked. To attack God, he attacked the image of God. So too, Satan, he attacks the church. Because we are supposed to be the image of Christ. The church stopped being watchful. The church started letting false teachers, false professors influence and infect. So eventually, churches stopped being churches. A church is supposed to be a gathering of God's people. Now, Jefferson Park Baptist Church, I want to warn you. Do not think about other churches. This is for us. This is for us to think about how we have not been watchful. This is for us to be challenged. How have we not been holding up God's holy and high standards? He calls us all to walk worthy of the great calling of Christ, and that is being a member of a church. We too often settle for cheap imitations. We must hear a correction for us today. I get it. I didn't always love the church. When I first became a Christian, I felt called to ministry and the first thing on my list in terms of how I thought I fulfilled that call was to be an evangelist living in an RV. What a life. You drive around across country, you hop in a church, you give them a well-rehearsed sermon, they all think you're great, you leave so the other guy has to really deal with the problems. That's great. I married my wife, she didn't like the RV, decided that wasn't God's calling. Then my professor started encouraging me. I thought, all right, great, I'll be a professor. I'll have to deal with some problems throughout the semester, but still, it's not a long time with these young people. They're eager to hear. We'll teach them lots of things, and they'll be on their way for somebody else to deal with their real problems. I realized early on, a pastor, to have to run off false teachers, to have to tend the sheep who love and have learned to have an appetite because of these false teachers, to love those who bite. I wasn't ready for that. Who signs up for that? That changed when I saw the glory of Christ is in his church. This glorious institution, Christ the head, calling out members, equipping each member. He died for her. He calls us to be the church. Because Christ died for us, she is worth fighting for. More so, I realized that when I was actually part of a healthy church, how different the growth is in walk. At one point, I thought, you know, the church, they'll slow me down. I wanna sprint, they're gonna slow me down, these other people. Until you're actually part of other members who walk with you. and they actually help you learn how to walk more efficiently. I also get it in that I do not always love the church. Regularly frustrated by her, regularly in sorrow for her, regularly and continuously hurt by her, always disappointed. It's because the reality is the church is full of sinners. But Christ always says this, Keith, I did not call you to love her because she's lovely. I called you to love her because I love her. The church is to be loved because Christ loves her. This is the church. It is the most important institution in all of creation. This is the most important gathering of people in all of creation because this is the heart of the new creation. This is the body of Christ, the beloved bride purchased by the blood of God. It's the family of God adopted by the Father and the Son. If you're not a Christian this morning, we're gonna be talking a lot about the church. And I want you to hear something. The church has historically misrepresented her head. Do not deny Christ because his body has so misrepresented him. Realize. that all those misrepresentations are because we're sinners still longing for that full glory that Christ's going to bring when He returns. Realize the most important thing you need to hear this morning is that you're a sinner who will be judged for that sin unless you believe in Jesus who died for sinners just like all of us. Yes, we still act in our sin, but we are no longer counted guilty. If you believe in Jesus, He forgives you. Please not leave without talking to somebody else about that today. I know someone will be asking, well, isn't marriage the most important institution? It actually preceded the church. But as Ephesians 5 tells us, a little later than the passage we're looking at, marriage is a shadow, the church and Christ are the substance. This is a temporal union, that husband and wife that we get to enjoin together. The church is the eternal beloved bride of Christ. It is where he says, I have placed my glory. Now, I've used the word church a lot. That word really needs defined, doesn't it? That word needs defined. It's one of these words we so misuse, it's become meaningless. There's a church universal that's an invisible, that's all the saints at all times that Christ has purchased. There's a church local, that's the different gatherings of that universal church. We're here, a local gathering. We just prayed for Fishersville Baptist, a local gathering. There's numerous, praise God, local gatherings throughout Charlottesville. I wanna thank you about it. What do you think of when you hear the word church? Write it down quickly. What do you think of? What do you picture? What defines church? Is it a? building with a little steeple, and inside are all the people. It's a charismatic church. Maybe you picture a pews and a pulpit. Maybe you picture a choir or a praise band. Maybe you picture a pastor who wears a suit. Maybe he should have a soul patch. My goal is to disappoint everybody who pictures either one of those. There's a number of things we add that have nothing to do with the church, but that's what we picture. A church has been assigned to things that are activities of the church, but are not the church. Here's a bad way I've heard people talk. They say we just had church after they went to a Christian concert. They say we just had church after they go to a Christian conference. They say they just had church after they went on a hike in the woods. Now let me think about those first two. A Christian concert and a Christian conference, they're not having church, they're doing church-like activities. This is what it means to have church. This is what it means to actively be doing the work of the church. You love one another. You sing to one another. You serve one another. You exhort one another. You encourage one another. You correct one another. You forgive one another. You submit to one another. You're humble before one another. You bear with one another. You weep with one another. You rejoice with one another. You love one another in a way that all are so knit together. You build one another up into maturity, the head of Christ. That is the glorious picture that Christ has given us for his church. A gathering of believers that live with one another in a way that builds them all up together to his head. And let me be very honest, Jefferson Park Baptist Church, I'm not sure we've ever had that experience. I'm not sure we are having church regularly if that's what Christ says having church is. There's nothing I long for more than to experience what Christ has said is supposed to be his church. Because there, he said, you'll see my glory. Every member committed to submitting to all the other members because they're submitted to Christ. Every member submitting to love all the other members because they love Christ. Every member serving all the other members because they love Christ. That's a glorious and high calling and that's what I long for us to be, because that's what I believe Christ has called us to be. It doesn't happen because we do not deny ourselves and follow him. We're in Ephesians. You can turn to page 977. If you need a Bible, there should be one in front of you. If there's not, tap the person in front of you, and so on, until you get a Bible in your hand. And if you're using a Pew Bible, page 977. We're doing a series on the church. We'll be looking at 1 Corinthians 11, Christ's meal. Colossians 3, Christ's song. Today we're in Ephesians 4, Christ's body. We'll be looking at Philippians 2, Christ's model, the humility. This is a big picture vision of the church, and I wanna show you something about Ephesians. Picking up in chapter four, he's now emphasizing what he's been saying all along. When we look at Ephesians, it breaks up very nicely for us. Chapters one through three, we would consider that the doctrine, right? Paul is teaching the truths that we must believe. Chapter four, notice that word therefore. He's going to transition into what that actually means for us now. He tells us all the truths that matter, and then he tells us how to live those truths out. Something else I want us to see in Ephesians. This is not about me as an individual, and it's not about you as an individual. If we read Ephesians as if it's about the individual, we're reading it wrong. And that's the rule for actually all of scripture. This book, this letter, it's written to the church in Ephesus, or the churches. It's a circular letter. And this particular letter is unusual for the other letters. The other letters usually are correcting a major problem. Although the letters are dealing with a problem, Ephesians seems to be not focusing on a particular problem, but simply edifying the saints in the most basic truths that define them as a church. It's not about me, it's about us. So first, we'll go to our call to worship. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us. in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He chose us, He adopted us, He redeemed us, He forgave us. He's done everything for us. He sealed us with His Holy Spirit. He has done so much for the church. Look at chapter one, verse 22 and 23. Notice how he brings it back to focus on the church. And he put all things under his feet. Speaking of Christ's feet, that's an authority language. And he gave him as head over all things. He gave him, the father gave the son who has all authority to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. The church is supposed to be that which is glorifying him in all places at all times. Christ has all authority. He's been given over to the church by the Father. Look at chapter two. After he talks about how we were dead and then alive and we're supposed to be one in Christ, listen to 19 through 22. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Again, the application that he brings us to at the end of chapter two. It's the church being built together as a holy temple where the Holy Spirit is supposed to be growing us into this glorious building. Fellow citizens, a household. Look at chapter three. Verse nine, and to bring to light everyone who is in the plan, what is the plan of the mystery, hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities and the heavenly places. It is through the church that God has said, my wisdom will be revealed. This is just like Deuteronomy four, for those who are with us. All the nations are supposed to come to see the nation of Israel and see what kind of God is with this people. Look how wise they are. When people come to the church, they're supposed to see the wisdom of God in what we say, what we do, how we relate to one another. Look further, chapter three, verse 20. Again, he keeps coming down to application before we get into the major application. Chapter three, verse 20. And to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. The wisdom of God is supposed to be manifest to the church. The glory of God is supposed to be with his people. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise you that you are able to do more than we could ever imagine. How could we have possibly conceived that God the Father would send his son, the innocent, perfectly righteous human being the most obedient, perfect son, how could we imagine that you would send him to die for us, the rebels? Your love is more than we could imagine. Your power is greater than we could possibly fathom. Lord, we thank you that you will do more than we can imagine. We come this morning and we ask that this vision of the church, you would do it among us. Your spirit will be active, convicting us. Help us know how we can be more faithful to be your people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So already in the first three chapters, we see that the church matters. Now let's come to our passage, chapter four. Look at verse one. I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. Everybody look up. How would you finish out that calling if you were just to write it down on your piece of paper right now? What does it look like to walk worthy of the calling? Paul just gave us three glorious chapters of all the blessings you have from God. He just gave us that glorious declaration. You were dead, but God made you alive. You were far off, but God brought you near. This is the glorious calling. How do you think he's then going to flesh out what that worthy walk looks like? What do you think you're gonna emphasize? How would you finish it? This is what Paul says. There's two things. You bear with one another. You eagerly maintain the unity. Look, verse two. All humility, gentleness, and patience. Now those are great Christian words that we wish everybody else had. But notice the controlling verb for humility, gentleness, and patience. Bearing with one another. We're supposed to be with one another in such a way that we're bearing with one another. With humility, with patience, with gentleness, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit. To walk worthy requires the church, because you can't walk worthy without others that you're bearing with. You can't walk worthy unless you have some group of people you're trying to eagerly maintain unity with. It's impossible to walk worthy of the call of Christ without his body, according to Paul. If you want to fulfill this most basic command, these two things with which he qualifies walking worthy, you have to have a body. You have to have other believers that are committed to this same call. To walk worthy requires the church. This is our first point. Walking worthy of Christ requires the church. Walking worthy of Christ requires the church. That call, I purchased you with my precious blood. I purchased y'all with my precious blood. He purchased a people for himself that are supposed to then be a demonstration to all the world. of what the new creation is supposed to look like. He called us out of the vein of darkness into his kingdom of light. We're supposed to be light together to this world. He purified us and washed us to be his bride together as a church. Now if we're to follow him, we have to deny ourselves. This is that first application. To walk worthy, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling, that main verb, Bearing with one another. Now, everybody listen, because this is actually pretty good. To bear with one another means to put up with. The great thing about God's Word is it doesn't gloss over the bad things. We're supposed to put up with one another. Now, I find that humorous, because people are really difficult. I recently heard on the radio that the list of happiest vocations, they were all computer jobs. None of them were in customer service. People are difficult. We're supposed to bear with one another. To bear implies it's difficult to undergo something that's troubling, something you have to endure, something you have to intentionally set your mind to do because you're not gonna wanna do it. It's difficult, why? Because the church is full of people who still have the presence of sin. The church is still full of people who are sinners. Even though their identity is new in Christ, we still sin. So in essence, this is what the passage says. Put up with those other filthy sinners in love. That's not actually what it says, is it? Put up with one another. Good news, the Bible commands other believers to put up with you. That's the good news. And I like to remind people of this. I think it's helpful. You have to put up with me. I realize I'm difficult. I realize I'm a sinner. I know you do too. It's good news that people have to put up with you. The bad news, the difficult news, is it's a command for one another. It means you have to bear others as well. The more you see your sinfulness, the more willing you are to endure with others. The more you see your own sinfulness, the more you're willing to endure others' sin. If no one is worthy of your fellowship and friendship, you have no idea how sinful you are. You have a self-righteous self-deception. For this is why that Christian concert and that Christian conference, they're not church. Because you go to that conference and your mind's blown by the great speakers. You go to that Christian concert and you can't hear anymore afterwards. You enjoyed the music, but you had a lot of excitement with a group of people that you never have to walk with again. That's why it's a church-like activity, but it's not the church because the church is something much more deep and thorough. It's much more deep and thorough than you coming here and speaking and singing together. It's actually walking together in such a way that you're bearing, you're enduring as a family, serving, loving, seeking, forgiving, exhorting, correcting, loving. It requires time. It requires being with one another. That's why the worship of the church is so much more glorious, because we have to come and we have to sing with people that we spend enough time with and know you're not so great. You have to come and say, I'm gonna forgive you. I'm gonna love you, regardless of what you said or done. Again, it's a command. It assumes it's difficult. The church, is essential to walk worthy of the call because you need to know who are these brothers and sisters, these other members I'm going to endure with patience, humility, and gentleness. How to walk worthy? By bearing one another in love. Thankfully, Paul gives us three ways. Humility, as we'll hear from Philippians 2, that's considering others more important than yourself. It's considering others' interests more important than your own. It's bearing with another in a way that you see that Christ is worthy. Humility requires us to see others the way Christ sees them. Pride keeps us from bearing with one another. Gentleness, make sure the truth is spoken in love. Being gentle doesn't mean you don't speak words of correction. It means you realize sinners are fragile in the way they hear it. Here's a real difference. I realized this recently. When I'm angry, I've realized it's because somebody trampled in on my kingdom. When I'm angry, I realize someone's trampled on my kingdom. When I, as a pastor, as a church member, am sorrowful because someone's trampling on God's kingdom, it's different. I'm not angry, I'm saddened. I'm grieved. Are we angry at our believers or are we grieved at the way they're walking away from Christ, away from his church? Anger leads to harshness. Grieving leads to gentleness. Anger leads to harshness. Sorrow and grief lead to gentleness. Are we worried about how people are gonna fit in our kingdom? Are we worried about his kingdom? Patience. Man, I really wish some people would hurry up and get fixed. I really love when people call me to tell me to fix somebody. If I had that power, I would be out of a job. You can't fix people. You can trust God, you can apply the word to their lives, but it requires patient waiting, patience. God's timing is better than ours. If you wanna think more about what this looks like, Galatians 6 says, this is the law of Christ, to bear one another's burdens. Do you know what those burdens are? Transgressions. He makes it very clear in the context. When someone has transgressed against the law of Christ, bear with them. Be gentle with them. The exact same language. This is the law of Christ. We need to eagerly seek to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which we have received. Something that's most basic, and I wanna make sure it's clear because this is the most basic. The number one step to get to this point is to recognize we are sinners. That's the beauty of the gospel. It gives you courage to say I'm a sinner. It gives you courage to say I'm difficult. It gives us courage to be able to come together and say we are all sinners together because that's the only way we're saved. The problem is if we don't get to the point where we say we're sinners who sin against one another, we stop being the church and we're hypocrites. Because we're sinners who sin against one another. We have to recognize our sin before we can really commit to bearing these burdens with one another. The bond, we need the church to walk with one another in unity as well. Notice what he says next. Verse three, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Notice whose unity it is. It's the Spirit's unity. Later on, we'll see that Jesus is actually the one who's keeping us and knitting us together. The unity is something God gives to us. We're the ones that destroy it. We're called to maintain that which the Spirit is creating. We must be aligned with the Spirit in order to maintain His unity. Let me say it a different way. If you are not eagerly maintaining the unity, you are not aligned with the Spirit. If you're not eagerly maintaining the unity, you cannot be aligned with the spirit because it's his unity we're supposed to be maintaining. If you're causing division, if you're grumbling, if you're complaining, that's not maintaining the unity of the spirit. Therefore, you're not aligned with the spirit. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no office of grumbler in the church. There's only those who commit to his work. It is a bond of peace. Christ has taken down that barrier of hostility, taken down that barrier that put us against one another and against God. We're now called to maintain unity. If you are building barriers of hostility, you are acting like an antichrist. Think about it. The Spirit's unity is the unity of Christ. If we're building barriers of hostility, if we're putting up barriers of hostility, we're working against the head. So I ask you, church, are we eagerly maintaining the peace? Are we letting love cover a multitude of sins? Are we holding on to grudges? Are we withholding love and forgiveness? Are we withholding our gifts, our time, our friendship, our love, and our energy? These are things that we must do to maintain the unity of the spirit. To walk worthy of the calling of Christ calls us to be part of the church. Every member knit together. If a limb is disconnected, he's disconnected from the nervous system. If a limb is disconnected from the nervous system, he's not aligned with the commands to bear one another and maintain the unity. If a limb is disconnected from the body, he's disconnected from the heart. The blood supply, the compassion, the great commission. You cannot be a healthy Christian in isolation. Are we walking worthy? So then our next section, verses two through five. Walking worthy results in unity. Walking worthy results in unity. Eager, verse three through five. Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. Notice the ones here, notice the unity that Paul is declaring is reality. There is one body and one spirit, just as you are 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. 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 hosts of captives and he gave gifts to men. It's amazing how God called us to be with others. Go back to Genesis 11 today. One of those amazing stories in scripture. All humanity had decided that they were gonna rebel against God, and they decided they were gonna do it together. Every single human being set themselves to the same purpose, to build a tower up to heaven. They had gotten so far along that God, well it's still irony, he had to come down to see it, that is irony. He had to come down and he said, I'm gonna confuse their language. Because he says this, this is only the beginning of what they will do, and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. When humans come together, God has designed it in such a way that we are in relation to one another. When we come together, nothing is impossible. God created us with amazing power and potential, together. Individuals do not maintain and possess this power and potential fully. It's when we come together. When men unite together in their sin, we have war, abuse, and ungodliness. When Christians unite together, we see the glory of Christ as the kingdom of God grows. A united church is a glorious church. Jesus prays for our unity. Let them be one, Father, as you and I are one. That's a high bar of unity. How can we possibly have that kind of unity? How can we possibly have unity like the Father and Son? How can we all agree? It's this, we deny ourselves, we stop seeking our glory, and we commit to only pursuing His. That's the only way the church can have the unity that Christ prays for. We will only be one when we all submit to Christ's will together. Now, here's the problem. We usually think, I don't see anybody else doing it, so I'm not gonna do it. That church, it's so corrupt, I'm not gonna submit to that church because nobody else is submitting to Christ, well, why would I do it? If we all decide we're waiting for everyone else, then we'll never do it, and the only church you'll ever really ever submit to is when you die. There is no lovely church until you die. That's why we're called to love her even when she's unlovely. As we read verses two through five, we see two things. We see a universal and a local church. Well, we can apply these things to the universal and the local church. The universal church, that's all saints at all times. We also see there's little manifestations. You can't bear with one another in the universal church. The bearing with one another is something the local church has to be called to. There are different ways in which churches become different churches. There's a universal church, and there's reasons why we have different little churches. One is this, location or growth. These are technical things. First Baptist Church decided that the Fry Springs area, they needed a church, so they planted us. Sometimes a church grows too big, so they'll plant another church. Those are technical reasons. A theological reason to have different churches is the ordinances. Baptism, the Lord's Supper, how these things will be practiced, how they'll be observed. These are good reasons to have two different churches. Three, how we're going to decide to make disciples. This is a reason to divide and have different kinds of churches. Four, this is the one that really is the most pressing. It's the question of does a church have authority and if so, where does it lie? Christ said all authority is his and he is with the church. Christ gave the keys of the kingdom over to the church. Paul tells the church that it has authority when they gather in 1 Corinthians 5 and Matthew 18. Who has authority? The church, the elders, one person. These are reasons churches divide. Here's bad reasons to divide. Race. This is the most segregated hour in all of America right now. Another bad reason, style of music. That's an age segregation. Four, four through six, there is one body. Every local church should be a microcosm of that eternal church. We're supposed to be reflecting the glorious church that Christ has saved. It also reminds us there's one church. We're all equal here. Every member called to do their own particular responsibility, but we're only here because of Christ. There's one church, there's one spirit, there's one life-giving spirit that unites us together. There's one Lord, one master, one savior, one faith. Only one truth that saves and unites us. One baptism. There is only one salvation. We're all supposed to be eagerly maintaining the unity that the Spirit gives us. It requires us to deny ourselves. Third, our third point, walking worthy of Christ requires diversity. It requires diversity, verse seven. 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. And saying he ascended, what does it mean that he had also descended to the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens. that he might fill all things. There we see the supremacy of Christ. He fills all things, he has all authority. Notice what he does. He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ. Everyone is supposed to have a particular role. Every member is given some gift, some role, so that the whole church is knit and dependent upon one another. Here's the problem with most churches. They rely upon one man who speaks and a handful of women who do everything else. That's just describing how most churches function. There's one guy who speaks and then there's a handful of women who do all the work. That's not the way it's supposed to be. And what keeps everybody from serving is pride. Because you're not bearing with one another with humility, patience, and gentleness. He designed this church to have every member so working together that they're always serving one another. He gifts each member so the church is supposed to need each member. Everyone is called to invest, commit, and build. No one's here to spectate. If you're a member, we knit together so that we make up, we're made up of all these parts. Now what are the gifts? Some of these gifts we believe are for that particular age. The apostles, the apostles have given us their teaching. There are those that have been called to equip the body. We believe there are two offices in scripture that continue on to this day. There are elders and there are deacons. I ask you, if you have been asked to consider being an elder or a deacon, And if Christ says this is the most important institution on the earth, what is keeping you from serving the most important institution where God's glory is most clearly seen, where his wisdom is supposed to be most manifest, what's keeping you from committing to serving Christ's body? What is more important? We don't have enough elders. We don't have enough deacons. I believe Christ never leaves a body incomplete. Something's wrong. If you wanna know what your gifts are, here's the one clear way to know. It's how other members encourage. If the church sees you doing something and they say you are a great blessing when you do this, there's your gift. It's not a personality test. My personality, my strength is this, micromanaging people. I'm really good at that. Just naturally, I'm a naturally born micromanager. That is not a spiritual gift. It's actually pretty amazing. Apparently, my spiritual gift is speaking. Before I was saved, I was not so eloquent. I could barely murmur out complete sentences. The fact that God uses me is still amazing to me every day. The fact that you keep coming to listen is the only reason I keep getting up here. There's a difference in those practical, natural abilities and gifts. Let's not confuse those two things. How do you know what your gifts are? Serve in every way possible until someone starts saying you're a great blessing in that service. There's a way we can all serve with a gift. It's to our children. There's a number of problems in using our gifts. One, we're not present enough to serve one another with our gifts and therefore not present enough to exercise them and let them be recognized. Two, we're too busy using our time and gifts and energy in ways that's not the church so that God's body is not being built up. Third, we are rarely satisfied with what the church asks us to do because those aren't the gifts we want to exercise. Full confession, I'm always really wishing I had musical gifts. I would love to be able to do music. That's what I want. It's not what God wants. I know it. He doesn't want it because I would probably just want to go be a rock star. But we have to look and say, all right, you gifted him with that gift, not me. You're wise, be satisfied with God's wisdom and how he has given gifts for his church. I want to challenge our older members. We need you. Don't retire from serving the church. The scripture actually commands us very clearly and directly. Older men are supposed to invest in younger men. Older women are supposed to invest in younger women because that's what we need. Long to run the race to the end, to put yourself out. Do not retire. Invest in the next generation. Do you trust Christ is going to keep building his church? Invest in that next generation so it'll be better than yours. When I was a young man, around 10 or 11, our church had a royal ambassador. Some of you will know what that is. Kind of a Baptist Boy Scouts. We had a track meet with other churches. And I was the only boy in my age group. So I was a decathlete that day. I did it all. Broad jump, high jump, shot put, sprint. And then came the awkward moment The relay race. There were two churches that could field a whole team of four. I decided I was gonna run it by myself. So here we are, attract me to the relay race. You have a quarter mile, it's broken up into four legs. I carried the baton just for the significance of it. So there's two other teams, they each have four. I'm on the outside, by myself. Now I'm actually winning through the second leg. When I hit the third leg, the first team starts beating me. By the time I get to the fourth leg, I feel I'm just dying because I've sprinted for three legs here. And the other team's anchor just blew by me. And halfway down that fourth leg, I just ran out of steam and I veered off the track and I put my hands on my knees and I just tried to get some water. I was exhausted. I couldn't move anymore. Well, after I finally composed myself, I went to the tent where the trophies were handed out. And my mom is the judge. She's the one standing there. And I explained to her what happened. Mom, you should have seen it. I ran the race by myself. Told her the story. And I said, well, can I get my ribbon? I got third place. She said, no. You didn't cross the line. You didn't finish the race. Friends, will Christ say that? We want to long to hear, well done, good and faithful servant, you ran the race. If you don't finish the cross, the finish line, if you don't cross the line, does He say that? Do you receive the crown? Do not retire from serving Christ and His body. Young folks, Be humble. We need to have the humility to listen and to learn. And let me tell you this, if you're too busy to prioritize the church now, you never will. If you're not prioritizing the church now, you will never prioritize it. Whatever is more important will continue to be more important. Finally, let's look to the verses 13 through 16. I want you to look at that first word, until. Until. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith. We're supposed to be about this business until every member can be presented mature in Christ and we're one mature body under Christ. Until that happens, we're to bear with one another, labor for one another, eagerly maintain unity with one another, exercise in the ministry for one another, building up the body together. Do not stop until that happens. That means we will labor to the end. Until we all maintain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, notice that our unity is in knowledge, Doctrine is what unifies a church, not divides it. Doctrine is what's supposed to unify the church, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We're supposed to be seeking maturity so that we represent Christ. This means a church will be full of members who come to serve rather than to be served. We'll be constantly investing in one another and caring for one another. We'll be submitting to God's word together. We'll be loving one another and laying down our lives for one another because that's the maturity and measure of Christ. Notice the why. Verse 14, so that we will 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. I told you before, the reason I think most people are fleeing the church for other kinds of fellowship, it's deceitful schemes. It's Satan filling the church with false teachers, false prophets. This is the work of the devil to keep us like children being tossed to and fro, not built on the solid foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ the cornerstone, our sure foundation. To be childish is to constantly go back and forth to what God has said. To be a mature believer, the measure of Christ is to be sure of what he has said and that it is good. Do not be childish. A pastor friend of mine, he changes his sermon series about every other month. because he reads a new book and he says, this is the new thing that I need to teach my body so that they'll be the next new church. Every month, every two months, he's changing the direction of his church because he read the newest book. We don't need what's new. We need what's tried and tested and true, what God says to us in his word. We need to stop being childish. Finally, let's look at our last verse. 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 which is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Notice that. When each part, raise your hand for your part, When each part is working properly, it makes the body grow. Are we working properly? The picture is that every single person is dependent upon all the other people and that we're interdependent. Are other people dependent upon you in this body? Are you dependent upon others? My prayer is that we would labor to ask, am I working properly? The test. If I'm working properly, it means the body's growing in love. Friends, it's hard to love the church. It's full of hypocrites, liars, angry people, back biters, slanders, grumbles. It's hard. It's hard to love the church. But we're never called to love her because of her health. We're called to love her because Christ loves her. Christ loves us, and Christ calls us to love her. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have saved a people from the darkness, from rebellion, from hating you. I pray that we would be a church that stops these things, that would be a church that forgives one another quickly, that we would let love cover a multitude of sins, that we would be a body knit together, working properly, so that that body is growing up into that glorious vision. Maturity to the measure of Christ. Let us not compare ourselves to other churches to think we're great or little. Help us to measure ourselves according to Christ and what he has said and to long and to labor to be his body for his glory so that his wisdom is manifest throughout all the world. In Jesus' glorious name we pray, amen.