Okay, last week in 2 Corinthians
5, as we considered the priority of the church, we looked at how
God raises up a testimony of himself within the members of
his church individually. How he unites them with himself
in Christ, purging our vessels and fitting us for the ministry
of reconciliation, the ministry of his gospel. We saw how a great
God retrieves his lost sheep throughout the world, and he
does it through that same witness. Drawing them with love and kindness,
restoring them to that eternal union that they lost in the fall,
revealing himself in them, confirming their salvation in Christ, and creating yet another testimony
of himself, another set of those rivers of living water from John
7, and doing it in them. We also finished last week looking
at the unity of the church with our triune God in Christ, and
that continued testimony of his gospel now within the church
itself. We finished with 2 Corinthians
6, verses one and two, that says, we then as workers with him,
that's workers with God, beseech you also that you receive not
the grace of God in vain. He's speaking to the church there.
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the
day of salvation I have succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted
time, and behold, now is the day of salvation. Brothers and sisters, we need
God's grace every moment of our life, because in our flesh, we're
constantly gravitating away from Him. We do it naturally. We need continual saving from
ourselves, from the world we live in, and from the influences
around us. Today is always the day of salvation. Hebrews 4. Every day, in every
moment, and in every single circumstance, Believers desperately need the
grace of God, which is why the faithful declaration of the gospel
is the priority and the mission of the church, not only in this
world, though, but also within the church itself. So this week,
Lord willing, we'll take a closer look at how our God then continues
his work within his church collectively. And he does it through that same
gospel ministry. So I thought for context sake,
we might just read through verses 1 to 16 and I'll make some comments
as we go. But what I do wanna do is concentrate
a little on verses 11 to 13. I'll just read them again for
you. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man. unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So in here,
in these three verses, we have this beautiful explanation of
the internal mission of the church, of how our gospel declarations
to each other continue to bring forth fruit unto God. Here we see one who supplies
these attributes, We see two, the purpose of them
in the church and we see three, the ultimate objective of this
ministry of God amongst his people. So we'll just begin at verse
one and please try and keep these three verses in mind. I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord. It's a statement of authority
actually. Remember we just read as workers together. as if God
is beseeching you. I therefore a prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that you walk worthy, walk faithfully of the
vocation wherewith you are called. That's a gospel ministry we talked
about last week that God raises up in each of his people, the
church priority. Verse two, with all lowliness
and meekness. With humility before each other.
Putting each other, making each other our priorities, not ourselves. With long-suffering, forbearing
with one another. See, it's a heart motion. Forbearing
with one another in love, it's a heart motion. It's a work of
the Holy Spirit within us, bringing that out, that new creature within
us. But love always costs, doesn't
it? Forbearing with one another, forgiving one another. And what's
our goal in all this care of one another? Verse three, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The gospel brings union, and
it brings union with God in Christ on the base of peace with God. And ultimately when he works
in the church, it's his love in us, loving our brethren through
us. And there's lots more you can
read about it in 1 John, but it's his work in the midst of
the body of the church. So in verses four to six, Paul
elaborates on this unity of the spirit and this bond of peace.
He says, there's one body and one spirit, even as you call
him, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and father of all, who is above all and through all
and in you all. Again, the unity is in God. We saw that last week, but there's
a oneness with him in the ministry of reconciliation, isn't there? There's a oneness in our gospel
witness. It's a singularity of purpose
for the church of God. And yet it's also given with
such amazing and intricate diversity. Look at verse seven. But unto
everyone, that's every believer, every one of us is given grace
according to the measure of the gift of Christ. So there's a
particular measure. Again, this is the Spirit's work.
It's His doing. But He personally fits us for
whatever particular need there is in the church. And yet whatever
portion we receive, we need to look back at our text. In the
end, Christ himself is still the gift. And this ultimately is talking
about the outworkings of his cross work. Look at verses eight
to 10. Wherefore, he said, when he ascended
upon high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now
that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first
into the lower parts of the earth, He that descended is the same
also that ascended, up far above all heavens, that he might fill
all things. It means to fulfill, to fulfill
all prophecy. All the scriptures are written
of their Saviour, and all of them speak of him providing righteousness,
and sacrifice for his church, that double for all our sins
in Isaiah 40. So when it speaks of him descending,
it's talking, as Norm talked earlier, about him going to hell
and taking our sins to hell with him, upon him, in him. And then it talks about ascending
up far above all the heavens. See, there's only one who's ever
ascended out of hell, our Lord Jesus Christ. We're talking about
his sacrifice at the cross, aren't we? He was victorious. And when he ascended to far above
all heavens, there was no sin on him. Our sins were gone. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm
68. Just hold your finger there,
but just turn there for a moment, because this is a quote by the
Holy Spirit. So it's well worth us looking
into. Where was such an infinitely satisfactory and eternally secure
provision made and why? We'll just read in Psalm 68 from
verse 15. The hill of God is as the hill
of Bashan, and high hill as the hill of Bashan. It's a fertile
land. It's a place that's elevated
above other places. It's a great pasture, which means
great cattle. It's a place that's blessed of
the Lord. Verse 16, why leap ye ye hills? This is a reference to the other
nations that surround them, the ones that elevate themselves
against God and his church. This is the hill which God desireth
to dwell in. Yea, the Lord will dwell in it
forever. He's talking about his church. Verse 17, the chariots of God
are 20,000. You might remember that from
Matthew 26, where the Lord said he could have called at any time
to save himself, even thousands of angels. And look, the Lord
is amongst them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. There's no sin there, and sin
will be dealt with here. Thou hast Ascended on high. We can read about it in Ephesians
2. Thou hast led captivity captive. Colossians 2 talks about him
triumphing over his enemies. Thou hast received gifts for
men. The spoil of Isaiah 53, 12. Yea for the rebellious also. Don't you love that? That's amazing
grace, isn't it? In Genesis 3, we all rebelled
against our God. Every one of us is a sinner and
a rebel in the eyes of God. But here, some of these sinners
are reconciled in Christ. And what's the purpose of it
all? That the Lord God might dwell among We saw that last week, God purging
our vessels for this very purpose. Do you see, this is speaking
of the cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've seen our God create a ministry
for himself within his church, that hill of Bashan, purging
his church by his presence, making it a fit vessel for his glory,
that he might dwell both in and amongst us. So let's have a quick look at
these Ascension gifts, these gifts for men. and how they work
in the church, verse 11. And he gave some, we gotta stop
there for a moment, but it's God that gives these gifts. We
don't choose them, we don't sort them for ourselves. God, the
Holy Spirit, distributes them. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
Not all, but some. Now the apostles were a select
few, but they're gone now. And yet still they continue to
speak to us today through the scriptures. Do you notice also there's diversity
here? Not all were given the same role
because a body doesn't work that way. You can read about that
in 1 Corinthians 12. Every member of the body is necessary. Every member is vital to the
body. And every member has its own
role to play. It doesn't really matter what
the role is. We saw a good example of it last
week. I had a silly bleed. And we didn't have any tissues
in the pool pit. And yet somehow Ben spotted me and I think it
was Teagan's idea and a tissue came and we kept going. It might
be something that small, but this is what the Lord does amongst
us, in the midst of us, in each of us. But some are given particular
roles and it may only just be for a time. Others, though, will be equipped
to support each other in those roles, and it's all for the sake
of the Church. Each of these roles, including
the apostles in these writings here, each of these roles continue today within the Church. And again, for the sake of God's
internal ministry amongst us. So this course is talking about
the establishment of the New Testament Church, New Jerusalem,
our spiritual foundation. Isaiah 62.6 says, I have set
watchmen upon my walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace, day or night. You that make mention of the
Lord, keep not silent, and give him no rest until he
establish. until you make Jerusalem a praise
in the earth. Anywhere where our God dwells
is a praise in this earth. So most importantly, these individual
roles given to each of us have been both established and sustained
for a much, much greater purpose, the glory of our great God. The question should never be
regarding the nature of the role that God gives us. It should
always be, what's its purpose? Why does God equip his church? And last week we saw how God
works in the members of his body individually. But here we see
him doing that very same thing in his body, but collectively. Here the blessings of the cross
are applied within the New Testament church. For what? Verse 12, for the perfecting
of the saints. There's only one way we can be
perfect and it's in Christ. So we apply gospel peace to each
other. We encourage faith in each other. We remind each other that whatever
our circumstances are, whatever our needs are, we can always
go to our sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. And as God's grace allows,
we restore each other. to our relationship with our
Saviour. And we do it all through our
own personal testimonies of the Gospel. For the work of the ministry,
we continue to promote God's witness in this world. Last week,
we saw how he calls his lost sheep by that same ministry. He does it externally. But now
what we're seeing is how our God continues to feed those lost
sheep through an internal ministry, that same ministry of himself.
And it's for the edifying of the body of Christ. To edify
means to instruct, to enlighten, to cultivate, to build up. We promote spiritual growth amongst
each other, individually and collectively, simply by declaring
the gospel to each other. And as the saints of one in Christ,
we also continue to encourage each other in our union with
our Lord and Saviour. all again as our God brings forth
a testimony of himself in the midst of his church. So how long is this mission?
How long does this mission go on for? Verse 13, till we all,
till the whole church of God come in the unity, the unity
of the faith. See, we have unity through relationship
with our God in Christ. So till the whole church of God,
till every last lost sheep is restored to relationship with
our God, till we all come to that saving faith, which he creates
in us. He does it through his gospel.
And of the knowledge of the Son of God, that intimate union between
God and his people in Christ. So knowledge means relationship,
and this is a living relationship. And according to John 17 three,
it is eternal life. We come on to a perfect man. There's only ever been one perfect
man, our Lord Jesus Christ. We come to him. So our great
saviour actually reveals himself to his people through our gospel
encouragements of one another. And amazingly, there's even more
than this. We come onto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ. This isn't just talking about
the fulfilling of this gathering of the church together. It's
more than that. It's talking about the transforming
effects of the gospel upon us. both collectively and personally. You can read about it in 2 Corinthians
3.18, the more we look to Christ, the more we look to him, the
more we're transformed into his image by the work of the Holy
Spirit from glory to glory. See, the more we direct each
other to Christ, the more we encourage this transformation. And it's a real transformation,
isn't it? Look there at verse 14. That we henceforth be no more
children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine. By nature, we're spiritually
blind. We're confused. But this is a continued process,
growing us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Growing
us from glory to glory. See, God the Holy Spirit now
teaches and grows us through our gospel testimonies
to each other. It's amazing, isn't it? Who could
have thought of this? And this also protects us, doesn't
it? I mean, where do these deceptions
come from? It talks there about the slight
of men and cunning craftiness and a way that they lie and wait
to deceive, but it's bigger, isn't it? Our unbelief leaves
us vulnerable. And this is spiritual, isn't
it? These men carry Satan's lie, that same lie from Genesis 3. We read about him in the Galatian
false teachers. We can read about super apostles
in 2 Corinthians 1. They exist everywhere and in
all time because it's a counterfeit gospel. It's actually no gospel
at all. But look at this transformation,
in spite of how vulnerable we really are. Verse 15, but speaking the truth
in love. See, it's a singular truth. There's
no other gospel. There's no confusion here now.
It's our gospel testimony, and we do it in clarity. We also
do it in love, it's sincere, it's genuine, it's from that
transformed heart again. And it's that we may grow up
into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. It's
his body, isn't it? We're just members of his body.
Verse 16, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supply. Last week we looked
at the work of the Holy Spirit working in individuals. But now what we see is this work
of the Holy Spirit in the relationships, in the midst of the relationships
between us. Now it's a collective work, isn't
it? Similar, in a sense, to the joints
and marrow of Colossians 2, the body in 1 Corinthians 12. But it all works according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part." He measures the proportions out.
That's the work of the Holy Spirit. We've already said it, isn't
it? He measures it perfectly and he marries it together perfectly
to work for the glory of God. And the purpose is to maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Now Paul will go on in the rest
of this chapter to explain how God transforms his church through
his ministry of his gospel and how he does it amongst us. But
this is talking about the outworkings of our testimonies, isn't it,
within the church. It's yet another reason why Christ
and Him crucified should be our only priority. And this is why it should continue
to be the internal ministry of our church. We need this constantly
in our lives. Turning the Bibles to 2 Corinthians
1 and just a short conclusion, I'll give you two practical illustrations
of this. The first one is from the scriptures
here in 2 Corinthians 1. In verse 10 of 2 Corinthians
1, Paul, who's a pattern of all believers, remember, He speaks
of needing constant deliverance from the trials of his life.
But in verses three and four, he speaks of receiving that gospel
comfort, the gospel comfort of Isaiah 40, from his God in his
trial. And he also speaks of God's purpose
in it all. Reading from verse three, blessed
be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies and the God of all comfort. There is no other comfort. Verse four, who comforteth us
in all or every of our tribulation and the purpose that he may be
able to comfort them which are in any trouble. we ourselves are confident of
God. The same comfort we receive,
the same gospel encouragement that we receive in our trials
is what we share with others. And amazingly, God works in the
midst of all that. The second practical illustration
is a little bit closer to home. It's our own church history.
I'm talking about one of our Ebenezers in a sense. It all
began with God revealing himself in individuals at different times. They were close, but it was all
individual, the way God worked in everyone's heart. And he created
a real faith that depended upon the gospel. that saw provision
in the gospel and God made us trust it. And then in time, he
gathered us together and he united us under the banner of that same
gospel, his gospel. And he continued to provide for
us through that gospel. It was amazing. Every problem
just had a real, real gospel solution. And it made us mindful that the
God of glory was in our midst. Just in this last text, we've
seen the sufficiency of the gospel. This is what we were convinced
of back then. We've seen the sufficiency of
the gospel to one, comfort us, to teach us, to grow us, to strengthen
us, to unite us, to restore us, to shield and protect us, even
to correct us. That's just in this passage.
All this, everything we need for life in this world, and anything
that's necessary for spiritual life comes simply through our
testimony of God amongst us. Brothers and sisters, that's
why declaring the gospel to each other should be our priority. It really is the internal mission
of the church. May God give us the grace to
just believe it. And may He just continue to strengthen
His weakness amongst us. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we do thank You for this miracle of grace. We don't even have
eyes to see it until You open them and we need to continue
to look because it just grows more and more clearer as we go
along. Father, thank you that all things necessary, every single
thing necessary for life here and life in eternity has already
been provided for in your Son. Father, turn our attention to
him. Cause us in our conversations, in our encouragements, to just
turn each other from this world and from its problems and just
guide and direct each other back to where we should be. Sitting
at the feet of our Saviour in our right minds. And Father, as we come to communion
today, please just cause us to know that this is an act of remembrance. Cause us to remember your perfect
work in your Son on our behalf. Cause us to remember receiving
this as you create a testimony in us. calls us to remember the
wonders of her grace in your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we pray all things in his precious name and always, always for the