Ephesians chapter 4. This is
where we've come to in our study. We looked at these verses last
week, beginning in verse 12. And as I said, we have some difficulty
understanding some of the Apostle Paul's writings. And also, some
of the words that our translators interpreted, we have to look
at different dictionaries and use different helps to understand
some of these words. And I want to deal next week
with the necessity of that. Because if we don't understand
the word perfect and perfect in that, we'll certainly get
ourselves in trouble somehow. But I want to read, begin here
in verse 12. The apostle had just mentioned
the Lord Jesus ascended on high and given these gifts to the
church, the gifts of apostles and so on, in verse 11. And then
he gives the reason for that. 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 statute of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth
be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the sly of men and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
from whom all the body fitly joined together, and compacted
by that which every joint supplyeth, according to the effectual working
and the measure of every part." Now, can you understand what
I'm reading? Isn't that amazing? We'll have to go into that deeper,
won't we? "...maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love." Now, I did this last week,
and I want to do this again. I want to paraphrase verse 12
and verse 13. Now, this is just a paraphrase,
but this sounds very good to me in understanding this verse. Read it like this. He gave gifts
for the fully equipping of His saints, His called out ones,
in order that they might do the work of ministering with this
aim and goal of building up the body of Christ, that this body
might be developed until we all come unto the oneness of the
faith and of the heart knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature
man. And how do we measure maturity?
Well, that next phrase tells us. We measure our maturity by
Christ's perfection. by Christ's fullness, by Christ's
completeness, unto the measure of the statue of the fullness
of Christ. Now, if any man thinks that he's
perfect, he's just not measuring by the right measurement. I think
I have a lot of growing to do, and you have a lot of growing
to do, if we measure by the right measurement, which is the perfection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, as I read these verses here,
you can get this mental picture in your mind of a little baby
being born. He's just born into this world,
and what does a baby live off of? Milk. And he begins to mature
living off the milk, and he becomes a young child. He begins to eat
off the table. And then he becomes a young adolescent. He begins to eat meat and stronger
food. He begins to exercise. And he
grows into an adult person, a mature man, a healthy man. That's the
picture that we get from this passage here of the Apostle Paul.
But notice this, and I want you to see this. Paul is speaking
here not so much of the growth of individuals. He talks there
about growing up, growing up. But he's not speaking so much
about individual growth of us believers, but he's talking about
the growth of the whole body, the one church. Of course you
and I are concerned about individuals. If we're not concerned about
ourselves, we're not concerned about anybody else. Spurgeon
said, until a man learns to love his own soul, he can't love somebody
else's soul. So of course, Paul is telling
us here as individuals, as believers in Christ, to grow up. We're
babies, we're young children, and we're to grow up. To grow
up. He's not just speaking of the
local congregation. He's not just telling us as a
local congregation to grow in grace and in knowledge. But he's
speaking here of the church as a whole. He's speaking here of
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here in verse 12 how he
does this. He speaks of individuals, but
then he speaks of them as one body. He says in verse 12, for
the perfecting of the saints. There's individuals. If we're
believers in Christ, we're saints. Call out one. But he goes on
to say, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body. What is it that makes up the
body of Christ? It's saints. And of course, he's interested
in the growth of the saints. But he's speaking about the growth
of the entire body. And look how he does it in verse
13. He does the same thing. He takes
us as individuals until we all, all of us, each of us, come into
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
and look at this, until a perfect man. Not men, but one man. He uses a single body to describe
the church of Jesus Christ. A mature man. That's Paul's aim
for the church. That's what he's telling us about
a church. Until the church grows up and becomes a mature man. Now verse 16, look, he does the
same thing in verse 16. He begins here with the whole
body. Look what he says. From whom from Christ the head,
from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted
by that which every joint supplyeth. The body is made up of joints.
It's made up of members. But it's just one body. Just
one body. Now in scriptures you see this.
especially in Paul's writing, he never refers to the body of
Christ as bodies. The church is never referred
to as bodies. It's always singular, the body. You see multiple places in the
New Testament, the book of Acts and Paul's epistles, it talks
about the churches. They're plural. But all the churches
make up one body. Now, I want you to look at this,
what we've already seen in this. Turn back over to chapter 1.
Look here in chapter 1, and look in verse 22 and verse 23. Look
what he says here about the body. The Father, in verse 22, He's
put all things under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he's given him to be the head over all things to the church. Now what is the church? It's
his body. His body. The fullness of him. I refer to this history there
in the wedding. One of the most astounding statements. Jesus
Christ as the mediator refuses to be called complete or full
without his church. That's my body, he said. That's
His mystical body. We know the body of Christ is
in heaven. Tommy, you know, we're not the body of Christ in the
real sense. But we're the mystical body of
Jesus Christ. Now look what He says over in
chapter 3. There's one body, and that's the body of Christ.
It's His church. And He says in chapter 3, in
verse 6, look in verse 5. He's talking about the mystery.
About the mystery. He says there, in verse 3, how
that by revelation, the Lord made known to me the mystery.
And then down in verse 5, which in other ages was not made known
to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit. Look in verse 6. Here's the mystery.
That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body,
and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. No matter
what nationality you're in, it doesn't matter where you're from,
what color your skin are, male or female, if you're in Christ,
you're in the same body, there's just one body. But look what
he says over in chapter 4, and look in verse 4. There is one
body. One body. Just as there's one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one spirit, one body. And he
says here in chapter 5, look in chapter 5, about the body. And look in verse 23 and verse
30. The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the
head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body. Verse 30. We are members of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bones. So what the Apostle Paul is saying
over here, that the Lord Jesus gave us these
gifts, apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and
teachers, to equip the church until we all come into the unity
of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and to a perfect
man. until we've matured as a body. Now, let me ask you this question. How do you feel about the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you feel about His body? Am I just concerned with myself? Am I just concerned with this
local congregation? Are you just concerned with yourself?
Are you concerned with the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, as
it is in this world today, outside these four walls? How do you
feel about the body of Christ? That's what the Apostle Paul
is talking about. He's not so much concerned with
individual believers. Of course he's there. And of
course we're concerned about ourselves. But there's something
bigger than us, isn't there? How do we feel about the body
of Christ in this world right now? How do we feel about the
church in Alabama? How does the church in Alabama
feel about us? What about the church in Russia?
What about the church in Mexico and in California? Are we concerned
with the body of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we desire to see the
whole body eating and drinking and being nourished up and growing
up into a mature man? When we look around us today,
do we see the church? Are we concerned about the body
of Christ? The body has feet. How's the
church walking today? The body has hands. What's the
church doing in our time? How's the church seeing? Eyes
are part of the body. What about hearing? Does the
church have its eyes open? What about the vital organs? Is the church in our day breathing
heavenly air? Or is it suffocating on the smoke
of humanism? What condition is the church
in in our day? Do we even care? Are we concerned
about it? That's what the Apostle Paul
is writing. Of course we're concerned about ourselves. Of course we're
concerned about us here. But we ought to be concerned
also about the body of Christ in this world. Is it being fed? Is it being nourished? Is it
maturing? Some people, bless their hearts,
they can't see beyond the local church. They cannot see beyond
the local church. That's all they're concerned
about, just the local church. God help us. God help us. Wherever you find anybody, wherever
you find a group of people, if those people are in Christ, they're
members of the same body that you and I are members of. Are we concerned about that? What can we do about it? If we're
concerned, how can we help the body of the Lord Jesus Christ
in our day mature and be nourished and come to a mature man? And
we'll see next week something about maturity. Can we reach
it? Let me give you two quick things.
One we've already mentioned before, but I want to remind you of this.
You've heard people say, well, the least I can do is pray for
you. That's probably the most we can do one for another, is
pray. It's pray. What can we do for
the body of Christ in our day? Well, look what Paul did. I want
you to turn to these few places here in Ephesians where Paul
prayed. Look in chapter 1, in verse 22
and verse 23. Look at this. Ephesians chapter
1. I thought it was verse 22, but
it's not. It's verse 15. Look in verse 15. Chapter 1, verse 15. Wherefore,
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and love to all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making
mention of you in my prayer, that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, what is the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints." And on and on he goes in verse 19
and verse 20 and 21, and he's praying for the church. He's
praying for the church, the body of Jesus Christ. That's the most
that we can do sometimes for the church. I used to have a
friend of mine. He was back when they used to
request prayer. They used to just worry you out requesting
prayer. But this friend of mine, he was
an old man. And so many times I heard him
request prayer for the church in general. Let's remember the
church in general. And it was a burden upon his
heart, and we used to kid him. We'd ask him where that was.
You know, we don't know where General is. We'd like to go there
and visit that church in general. And we sort of poked a little
bit of fun at him. But that old man was so concerned
about the body of Christ in other places that he prayed for it. Look here while the Apostle Paul
prayed in chapter Well, if I can find it, I think
it's in chapter 3. Look in chapter 3, in verse 14. Look at this. He prays again.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and in earth is named,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inward man,
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the depth and length and height, and to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might
be filled with all the fullness of God." And he's not just praying
for these saints. He prayed for the church in Corinth,
Colossi, Thessalonica, Look in chapter 6, verse 18. Look at this. Pray in all ways with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit. And watch and learn too with
all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me that
others may be given to me, that I might open my mouth boldly
to make known the mystery of the gospel, praying for all saints."
You know what you and I need as a church. You know what our
churches need. We need pastors that God has
called. We need preachers. Because the
Lord uses preachers to feed His people. to establish them, to
nourish them up. We've lost, we just lost one
precious preacher. We've got another, we never get
to hear him anymore because he can't travel, he's gotten old.
And we feel the loss of him, don't we? And we should pray,
Lord, this church don't have a pastor. Lord, please send your
people a pastor. Raise them up a pastor. How do
we feel, brothers and sisters, about the body of Christ in this
world? Are we concerned about it? Do we want to see it grow? That's the first thing. I want
to turn to two scriptures before I leave this, though. Look in
two scriptures. When you look over in Psalms
chapter 28. Psalms chapter 28 and Jeremiah chapter 31. I think David says this very
well. Here's the way he prays. This
is a psalm of David. And notice here how he prays.
Psalms 28, verse 7. The Lord is my strength. The Lord is my shield. My heart
trusteth in Him. I am helped. Therefore, my heart
greatly rejoices in my song. With my song will I praise Him.
It seems like it's all about David, and that's fine. I want
that for myself. I pray that for myself. But notice
David doesn't stop there. Look what he says in verse 8.
The Lord is their strength. He looks outside himself to the
church, to the body of Christ. He is the saving strength of
His anointing. Save thy people and bless thine
inheritance. Feed them also and lift them
up forever. He's concerned about the body
of Christ. And his heart is poured out to
the Lord for them. Lord, nourish them. Lord, feed
them. Bring them to a mature body in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And look here in this one last
place before we deal with the last thing I wanted to. Jeremiah
chapter 31 and verse 7. I like this because if you find
out how the Lord tells you to pray, then He'll probably answer
a prayer like that. When He tells you how to pray,
you pray like that and He'll probably answer a prayer like
that. And He tells us in Jeremiah chapter 31 in verse 7, For thus saith the Lord, same
with gladness for Jacob. Be glad for the churches. Be
glad for the saved. And shout among the chief of
the nations, Publish ye, praise you, and say, O Lord, save thy
people, the remnant of Israel. That's a good way to pray it.
The Lord has a people. We acknowledge that. He's taught
us that. Then pray to this end, Lord,
save your elect people. Save your sheep. I just hope
he's got some sheep around here, don't you? Tommy, I know you
hope he's got some down there in Alabama. We hope he's got
some here. And we're praying to that end.
Lord, save them. Lord, save them. We preach to
them. Our preaching ain't going to save them if the Lord don't
make it effectual. They ain't going to come. We
plead with them. We cry over them. We reason with
them. They ain't going to come if the Lord don't save them.
And if they're His, He tells us to pray, Lord save them. And
when we pray that way, what happens? Ephesians 4, verse 15. Let's
look at this one right quick. First of all then, if we're concerned
about the church, let's pray. Let's pray for them. Let's pray
one for another. That the Lord would build us
up and feed us and nourish us. But not only us, but His church
everywhere. Here's something else. If we're
concerned about the church, here's something else. And Paul makes
mention of it here in verse 15. But speak in the truth in love. And look what happens when the
truth is spoken. May grow open to him in all things
which is the head, even Christ. What is it that nourishes the
body of Christ? It's truth. It's truth. And truth is spoken. Speaking
the truth. We're not to dress up the truth
any more than we're to cover up the truth. We don't need to
soak the truth in our tears. We don't need to speak the truth
in emotions. Just speak the truth. The simple truth. The unvarnished
truth. What does it mean to speak the
truth? One man said this, and I like this. He said, Truth is
the representation of things as they are. And truth is not
determined by a show of hands, but by the word of truth. Sanctify
them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Truth of what? Truth concerning
God. Speak the truth concerning God. Represent God to us as the
Bible represents Him. Represent Jesus Christ to us
as the Bible represents Him. Don't tell us of another Christ.
Tell us the one that the pages of this book reveal. Tell us
the truth of redemption. Tell us the truth of man and
the fall and sin. Tell us the truth of the judgment
and eternity. Speak the truth to us. Because
when the truth is spoken, the church is nourished. The church
grows when the truth is spoken. Speaking the truth in love as
opposed to the lies in verse 14. As opposed to the sly and
trickery and craftiness and deceit of man. How did our lives as Christians
begin? I'll tell you how your life as
a child of God began. You were dead in trespass and
sin. And I can tell you how your life,
your spiritual life began. It began with sharing the truth.
It always does. Listen to what Paul said in chapter
1 verse 13. In whom you also trusted after
you heard the word Truth. That's the way life begins. You
can't have life by hearing a lie. It doesn't matter how many promote
a lie. Life doesn't come by a lie. Life
comes by hearing the truth of His own will, begotten as by
the Word of Truth. And what is that Word? It's the
Gospel. The Gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. I heard
some men arguing the other day. When does a man have life? When
does a man have life? I tell you, a man don't have
life until he's heard the truth. You cannot separate life and
truth, can you? You just can't do it. Look what Paul says here in the
fourth chapter in verse 20. How did we learn the truth? He
said, when you heard the truth, the gospel of your salvation,
You trusted Christ. But how in the world did we learn
the truth? Look in verse 20. But you have not so learned Christ,
if so that you have heard Him and been taught by Him as the
truth is in Jesus. If you know the truth in your
heart, I tell you, He's taught you that truth. Christ has taught
you that truth. That's the only way to learn
it. If you've learned it, He's taught you. And if He's taught
you, you've learned it. Look what he goes on to say in
chapter 5 and verse 9. Look at this. The truth. He's
talking about the truth. Look what he says in verse 9.
The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness
and in truth. What will nourish the church?
Speaking the truth in love may grow up. That will cause the
church to grow up. It will nourish the church. It
will cause it to grow. It will edify the church. It
will cheer the church. It will establish the church.
It will feed the church. Truth will. Truth will. When you and I see someone who
is born of the truth, how does that make you feel? When you
see someone loving the truth, how does that make you feel?
When you see someone walking in the truth, how does that make
you feel? It blesses your heart, doesn't it? It cheers you. It
builds you up. It strengthens you. Listen to
what John said. He spoke this to the church.
He said, I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified
of the truth that is in you. I tell you, just rejoice. You
rejoice. Glenn, I rejoice to see the truth
in you. And then he went on to say this, I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children walk in truth. That's what edifies
the church. Truth. Truth she believes herself
and truth she sees in others. That helps her. What is it that
grieves the church? When men turn away their ears
from the truth. That grieves the church. And
I tell you what hurts the church and breaks the church's heart,
when those who have professed the truth, believe the truth.
They leave and go off to some free will, isn't it, Tommy? That
breaks your heart, doesn't it? Confuses you too. That don't help. The Lord helps
when you love the truth and you walk in the truth. But he said
this, and I'll read what this fellow said about this, and I'll
close, because he said this better than I can. He not only said,
speak in the truth, but he said, speak in the truth in love. In love. That's so important,
to speak the truth in love. This one fellow said this, and
I wrote this down. He said, the truth is spoken
in love. There's really no other way,
he says, to speak the truth. It is sometimes spoken in a harsh,
crappy, sour manner, which does nothing but disgust and offend. When we state truth to others,
it should be with love to their souls, and with a view of God's
glory in Christ, and with a sincere desire to do them good. when
we admonish a brother of his faults. It should not be in a
harsh and unfeeling manner, but it should be said in love. When
a minister pronounces the awful truth of God about depravity
and death and the judgment and future woe, it still should be
in love. It should not be done in a harsh
and repulsive manner. It should not be done as if he
rejoiced that the people were in danger of hell or if he would
lack to pass the final sentence himself. It should not be with
indifference or in a tone of superiority or in lack manner
if we go to convince one who is in error. We should approach
Him in love. If we do not approach Him in
love, if we approach Him in a dogmatic manner and denounce and deal
with Him in cursing, we have already lost the man at the beginning. If we stir up a mere argument
for argument's sake, or because we think we can win an argument,
then we do not speak the truth in love. Love is spoken. For the good of the person and
for the glory of the God of truth. Speaking the truth in love. God help us to love the church.
The last thing the Lord Jesus did before He went to the cross,
Father, I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world.
I'm praying for my people. That they may be one. That they
may be one. They may grow up and mature and
be wise.