I have a bit of confidence in
your pastor anymore. He don't have any more sense
than the one who sat under me. Bless his heart. He's a kind
man, Danny. He's a kind man. Do I have to
turn this on? I don't have to turn this on, does it? I have to turn
it on? Okay. All right. It's good to be here. I appreciate
this privilege to see everybody. First of all, if I could just
come by and see everybody. See the pretty faces. It's the
same crowd. I told somebody, the same crowd
on Wednesday night, I think, for the most part. But you look
better on a Sunday than on Wednesday. Is it the clothes? You look so
good. I have two texts of scriptures
I want you to turn with me in Colossians chapter 2. If you
want to turn to that and hold that and mark it some way if
you like to, because I want to come back to it. And then Ephesians
chapter 4, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 19. The Colossians have leaning toward
ceremonies, the holy days and Sabbath days. Some have gotten
so far off track they have worshipped angels, professed to see visions
no doubt they hadn't seen. And Paul tells them their whole
trouble in verse 19. Here is your trouble, You are
not holding the head. You are not holding Christ, holding
him in your heart, in the arms of faith. You don't see him as
the scriptures reveal him. You don't know him. You are not
holding Christ. From whom all the body, by joints
and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together,
compacted together. increases with the increase of
God. Now, my text is over in Ephesians
chapter 4, and I'm just a little excited about this, but I'm somewhat
apprehensive because this is the most difficult text that
I've ever dealt with in my life. I've thought about this for probably
a month or six weeks, and I've read all the comment I can find
on it, and this is the most difficult verse that I've ever looked at.
So I may well fall flat on my face, but among some folks who
love me, and you'll be gracious to me, you'll hug my neck and
tell me what a good job I did. But this is the most difficult
scripture. But one thing that I found out about expository
teaching and preaching, we run into these verses that are very
difficult. And we have to put in some time, we have to put
in some labor. But once the Lord gives us some
light on these verses, they seem to be such a blessing. So I would
encourage everyone this evening, just like I do there at the church,
don't be discouraged if you run into a lot of these passages
that you just don't understand. Pray about them and read them
and re-read them. And sometimes you may well get
some light on that the pastor himself doesn't have. Now, let
me read this passage to you, and you probably, if you're familiar
with it, you probably say, I've had trouble with that verse myself.
And this is the way the Apostle Paul says this. Verse 16 of Ephesians
chapter 4, From whom the whole body fitly framed together, and
compacted by that which every joint supplier, according to
the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
Now, isn't that an amazing statement? John would have never wrote that
statement. Peter would have never wrote that statement. But this
man wrote that statement. And you look at it and you're
amazed at it. You're overwhelmed with it. But
let's look at it this evening together to see if we can sort
of take it apart, and the Lord will bless it to our hearts.
Now, you know the context of what the Apostle Paul has been
talking about here in this chapter is unity. He makes that very
clear in verse 4, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bonds of peace. He doesn't say we've established
unity. He doesn't say, if you'll throw
out some truth that you'll believe, I'll throw out some truth that
I believe, and we'll find the point where we can have some
unity. What he tells them is, unity has already been established. Now just maintain, just keep
the unity that's already been established for you. And the
unity that's been established is this, that we are one in Christ. Look what he says in chapter
2. Look back there with me. In chapter 2. Here is unity. If you have two, you have to
have division. But there cannot be division
if there is only one. And if we are in Christ, we are
one in him. We are one with him, and we are
one with another. Look what he says in chapter
2, verse 12. At that time, you were without
Christ. You were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. You
were strangers from the covenants of promise. You had no hope without
God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were a for-all are made nigh by the blood of
Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both Jew and Gentiles
one." He's broken down the middle wall of petition between us,
having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of the
commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of one
new man, of two, one new man, so making peace." To make in
himself of two, one new man, and so making peace. If you are in Christ, the minute
you are in Christ, you have unity. You are one with Christ, and
you are one with all of those who are in Christ. We don't establish
anything endeavoring to keep the unity and the bonds of peace. Paul, in this entire book, He
looks at Christ and his Church under many analogies of many
things. In chapter 5, you remember, he
looks at the Church. He looks at Christ and his Church
under the analogy of the marriage. And he says, Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ loved the Church. And he went on to say,
The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head
of the Church. And these two shall be one flesh. This is a mystery, but I speak
concerning Christ and the Church under the analogy of the marriage.
And then in chapter 4, here in verse 4, he speaks of Christ
and his Church under the analogy of the body. Look in verse 4.
There is one body, just one body. And look in verse 25 of chapter
4. Put in a weight line, speak every man truth with his neighbor,
for we are members one of another." See that? In marriage, just as
the husband and wife are one, Christ and his church are one.
The members of the body were many, but were one body, and
Christ is the head. Now look here in chapter 2 again,
and look here in verse 19. Paul loved these analogies. Here
he is speaking of the church under the analogy of citizens. Look what he says in verse 19.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints. We are fellow citizens of a heavenly
kingdom, of a heavenly country. Ain't it a blessing to be a citizen
of this great country in which we live? I love, I love to be
an American. I love my country and all my
fellow countrymen. I love this nation and pray for
it. What a privilege it is to be
a citizen of Christ's kingdom, a citizen of that heavenly country.
We're fellow citizens of one country. And then he goes on
there in that same verse and look here how he says it. And
of the household of God. all uses all these analogies.
Now he goes to a household. We are members of a household,
of one family. Who is my brother? Who is my
sister? Who is my mother? All of those
who do the will of my Father which is in heaven. But he doesn't
stop there. He goes in verse 20, look at
this. He looks at the church under the analogy of a building.
We are built upon the foundation of the apostles, the teaching
of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ is that cornerstone
which binds the foundation together. And this is the foundation, he
says, upon which the Church is built. The building is built,
the Church is built upon this one foundation. You have one
building, the household of God, built upon one foundation. And Jesus Christ is the cornerstone
that binds it all together. And then in verse 21, "...in
whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord." So here Paul, with these analogies, he's
showing us that we're one. We're just one. And that's why
we have this unity. No matter what analogy you look
under Christ and his church, we're one. But one of the things,
and you noticed this probably as I read that, and maybe you've
noticed it before, the theme in all of these analogies that
Paul uses, Christ is the vital part. Did you notice that? In
marriage, he's the husband. The wife is under him. The church is the wife. If you
go to the analogy of the body, what is the church? She's the
members. Christ is the head. Under the
analogy of a building, Christ is the foundation upon which
the building rests. The Lord Jesus told us, he loved
analogies himself. Remember when he told us about
the church built upon a rock? I'll show you a wise man, he
said, and that's the man who dug deep. He went down below
the sand and got on the rock and he built his church upon
that rock. And the rains came and the floods
and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it fell not because
it was founded upon a rock. The rock. And then he told us
the analogy about the vine and the branches. I am the vine,
you're the branches. But in all of these analogies,
he's the foundation upon which we build. We rest upon him. Where does the branch get its
life? From the vine. It has no nourishment,
it has no life, it's not fruitful without the vine. And then Paul
comes back here in the fourth chapter to my text, and he speaks
of this union of Christ and his church. on the analogy of this
body. And notice here what he says,
first of all, in verse 16. From whom? From Christ our Lord
and Savior. From whom the whole body fitly
joined together. The body is joined together by
Christ. Now, what's he saying? Christ
is the origin of the church. The Church is fitted together,
it is brought and fitted together by Christ, its head. Christ as God chose her, Christ
as the Son of God redeemed her, and Christ the Holy Spirit put
each member in the body. The Church has its origin in
all its parts, all its members, from the Lord Jesus Christ. I
want you to turn to Zechariah with me, chapter 6. You remember when the Lord Jesus
told Peter, Zechariah chapter 6, the Lord Jesus told Peter, upon this rock, I will build
my church. I will build my church. He has
a church and the church has its origin from him. Zechariah chapter
6. Look here in verse 12. This is
speaking of our Lord, and he says here in verse 12, And speaking to him, saying,
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose
name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his and he shall
build the temple of the Lord, and he shall build, even he shall
build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory,
and sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon
his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."
How does a man get into the body of Christ? Christ puts him there. The origin of the church, the
putting together, the bringing together of all the members of
the body is of the Lord Jesus Christ. He puts them there. Upon
this rock I will build my church. Do you remember what Peter said
that was said of Peter that day after he preached that great
message at Pentecost? And it says that they heard what
he said and they received The preaching, and they believed
the preaching, and they continued steadfastly in those apostles'
doctrines. And this statement was made, what I'm saying right
here. The Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. From him, the body is put together. It's framed together. You know,
the more you and I consider a subject, it don't matter what subject
we consider. If we begin to consider any of these subjects close enough,
we come back to this truth that we're utterly dependent upon
the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. How does a man get into the body
of Christ? And this is one of the reasons,
and it doesn't bother me to have church membership. If somebody
wants a book and everybody wants to put their name on it, that's
fine. That may be well and good, as long as we remember that that
has nothing to do with the mystical body of Jesus Christ. That's
not the way we get into the church. Christ puts us in his church. I don't care what analogy you
consider it. If you consider it as the body,
he's put every member in the body as it has pleased him. If
you consider the church on the analogy of the building, he puts
every stone in its place, and he'll lay the final shing along.
He'll begin it, and he'll finish it. He'll finish it. Look back over here again at
our text. from whom the whole body is joined together. It's joined together. Well, there's only one way to
get out of this kingdom of darkness that we're born in, that binds
us and holds us, the kingdom of Satan, and get into the kingdom
of Christ, to get into his church's body. And that's for him to take
us out of that kingdom and put us into his body. But one way,
he has to do it. He has to do it. We may be raised
in church, may be taught proper doctrine, that's fine, that's
well and good. But the Lord Jesus Christ still
must put us in his body. Look at this, something else
the Apostle Paul says about this. Not only does the Lord Jesus
Christ join the body together, from whom the whole body is joined
together. But look what else he says, from
whom the whole body is fitly joined together. In other words,
when the Lord Jesus Christ joins a member to his body, he puts
him in his rightful and appropriate place, fitly sticks him in there. That's amazing. You know, if
you and I will consider the body, the physical body, and how it's
It's amazing. Our body is absolutely amazing.
And I think if we just consider our bodies and how fearfully
and wonderfully God made our body to begin with, it helps
us understand the mystery and the wisdom he has used in putting
his spiritual body together. Just consider, I was considering
the other day, if I didn't have and if you didn't have a knee If our bone was just a solid
bone from our hip to our ankle, can you imagine how difficult
it would be to get around? Have you ever tried to tie your
shoe without bending your knee? Try that sometime, especially
if you're over 50. And try to sit down without bending your
knee. And try to get up without bending your knee. And your arm?
Wasn't it the wisdom of God to put a joint right there? We couldn't
shave. You ladies couldn't brush your
pretty hair? We couldn't scratch our heads? We couldn't eat? What could we do if the Lord
in his wisdom had not set a joint here? Think of our eyes. He put our eyes here in these
sockets, but he put them on top of the body where we could see.
Ain't it amazing that our brain is where it is? What if it was
in our stomach? Somebody would knock the breath
out of you and you would have brain injury? It's just the wisdom
of God in creating our body. No wonder David said, I am fearfully
and wonderfully made. And the same one that created
these physical bodies in such a wonderful and appropriate way,
setting each member in his appropriate place, does the same thing in
his spiritual body. We just can't see it, you see.
Isn't it a wonderful blessing just to think Not only that the
Lord has saved you, but he's put you in the appropriate place
in his body. That's amazing, isn't it? You
know, it used to be years ago that some of our old-timers,
they took the local church so serious, the place where the
Lord saved them, because they believed that the Lord had put
them in the body of Christ. And when trouble came, they just
hung in there. They got their way, worked their
way through it, and they prayed their way through it. They just
didn't up and leave. They counted it a great joy and
a blessing and a privilege to be with God's people because
they believed, The Lord has put me here. Now, this doesn't promote
pride when I say this. But you should count it a great
privilege. And you are worth so much. to this congregation,
brothers and sisters, as I look out over you, each member, each
one here this evening that is in Christ, you are worth so much
to this congregation. Your presence here, your fellowship
one with another, just to know that the Lord Jesus Christ has
put you in the body. And you may just be a little
tall, but you are so important. And you're important for this
reason, because Christ put you there. And just to have the desire to
come to the understanding of where my place is in the body
of Christ, he's put me here. It's just a little toe to help
give balance to the body. Or if it's a strong hand to do
many things, whatever it is, Lord, just teach me and grant
me grace to be content and full of admiration for you and appreciation
that you have actually put me where you want me in your body.
Ain't that an amazing thing just to think about? You may just
be a giant, but all giants are important. Giants are critical. He has joined us, is what Paul
is telling us. He has joined us right where
we should be joined, in what God has joined together. Let
not man put us under. You may seem like you are nothing,
and we all do, but you are right where he put you. And what a
wonderful thought that is. He says here, and I want you
to turn back to Colossians chapter 2 and verse 19. And Paul says it in Ephesians
chapter 4 and 16, but he doesn't say it as plain as he does here
in Colossians 2 and verse 19. So I want to use verse 19 to
interpret the text over in Ephesians 4. He's saying the very same
thing. The body is not only fitly joined together and put in its
proper and best place, but he says here in this verse
again, not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints
and bands, having nourishment ministered and knitted together,
increases with the increase of God. Here he says something else. He tells us here that Christ
is the head. Then he says, "...from whom all
the body by joints and bands have in nourishment ministered,
and are knit together." He tells us two things here about these
bands and joints. Let me give them to you in this
order. It's right in reverse of what he gives, but he tells
us two things about these bands and joints, and this is such
a blessing. First of all, he says the body is held together.
It's knitted together, it's compacted together by these joints and
bands. And number two, he tells us that
through them nourishment is ministered. It's supplied to the body. Now, this is an amazing thing,
and I know some of you know quite a bit, probably, about the anatomy
of the body. I know very little about it.
But I love these charts, and all of us have seen them. Most
of you children have probably seen the charts of the anatomy
of the body, where you know you lay one page down and you have
your skeleton. shows all the bones of the body.
Then you put one on top of that, and that shows all the muscles
throughout the body on the bones. And you put another one on top
of that, and you have your tendons, and you have your ligaments holding
the joints together and holding the muscles to the bones. And
you put another one down, and it shows all the nervous system.
And you put another page down, and it shows all the blood vessels
running all through the body, all the fibers, all kinds of
bands and joints that knit and hold the body together. Well,
Paul reveals something else to us here about this. He says this
body not only has its origin from Christ, and not only does
Christ fitly join it together, but now he tells us something
else, that it's from Christ that this body is held together. He
does it by these bands. The spiritual body is held together
by bands, just like the physical body is. Now, look here in chapter
2 of Colossians. There are some bands in the scriptures,
and I'm just going to read two or three to you, and you can
think of it later and find some bands for yourself. But the body
of Christ is held together by bands. There is something that
holds them, knits them together, compacts them. And here he says
one of them in chapter 2 of Colossians 2. That's your hearts. That's
their hearts. might be knitted together, compacted
together, tied together in what? In love. That's a band, ain't
it? Ain't that a band? That's a ligament
that ties the joints together. That's a tendon that brings muscle
to the bone and won't release, will never stretch, will never
be pulled, will never be severed. I have a big toe that I cut the
tendon in when I was a child, and I still can't move that big
toe. You won't cut this ligament. You won't cut this tendon. This
is love. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. And who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? The body is held to the head
by love. And listen to this, the body
and all its members are held together by love. For he that
loveth God loves his brother also. And Paul said, put on love. This is the bond of perfectness. I tell you what, if you love
one another, it is stronger than the grave. Nothing is going to
separate you. You cannot separate love. And
where God sheds abroad the love of Christ in the heart by his
Holy Spirit, You won't do your neighbor wrong, you won't mistreat
him, you won't do him any ill. Love is a bond. Let me read this
one to you in Ephesians 4.3. I just read it to you a minute
ago. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace. There is a band that holds the
body together, that knits it together. Christ gives peace. Peace runs all through his body.
What's so appealing about this place? What's so appealing about
being with the Lord's children? You're out in the world and everything's
hectic. And you just worry yourself half
sick. And you're so burdened. And you're so uncertain about
everything. You can't hardly trust anybody
on your job. Everybody wants to stab you in
your back. And everything's in an uproar. In your mind, you
just can't stop it. And as soon as you walk through
those doors and come here and sit down, what do you feel in
your heart? Peace. Oh, it's peace. Tranquility. My peace I give
unto you, let not your hearts be troubled. And you take men
that have the peace of Christ and women that have the peace
of Christ, in their hearts, there's something about it. It just binds
you together. You love it, don't you? That's
the band that holds the body together. And there's another,
and you can look it up for yourself. It's over in Philemon, but I
think this is it. Paul wanted to keep this onesimus,
this slave that he'd begotten in the gospel. But he sent him
back to his master. He said, I wish that he could
stay with me, that he may minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel. That's what binds us together,
ain't it? That's why we're here this evening. We're bound by
the gospel of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. This runs
all through the body, doesn't it? And it's him that put it
there, and he holds you with it. Lord, I can't leave you. I can't leave you people. Where
can I go? You have the words of eternal
life. I'm bound to you. I'm bound to your people. The
gospel does that, doesn't it? That is the body of Christ. How good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in love and in peace and in the
bonds of the gospel. I guess these bonds are all the
graces of the Holy Spirit. He binds us together by us. But
Paul not only said here that the body is bound together, it's
knitted together, but he makes another statement here in verse
19, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment
ministered from the head, the body is nourished. Nourishment is ministered to
it. Where does the nourishment come
from? From the body of Christ. It comes from the head. It comes
from the head. You can live without certain
limbs gone. If you cut off your arms, we've
all seen men without arms or legs, and you can live. You can
take your heart out. I was just reading the other
day where the one man, the Jarvis Hart, was that the name of him?
He lived over a year, almost two years, without artificial
heart. He took his heart out and he lived. Take your head
off and you won't live. The life of the body comes from
the head. Nourishment. Instructions. It takes the head off. All communication
ceases. All life will cease. The body
is ministered from the head, especially when you and I are
speaking in a spiritual sense. Paul says this lie, and I think the whole Church
can say this. This is not just the Apostle Paul, but I think
this is what the Church says. When it speaks of its life, the
Church says this, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I
live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. That's what the Church says.
What does the Church get her nourishment? What does the Church
get her life? From her head. From Christ. Christ who is our life. No man ever hated his own flesh,
but nourishes it, even as Christ nourishes the Church. And what
does he nourish the Church with? Himself. Himself. It's his love. It's his peace. It's his spirit of life that's
within each member of his body. You may be here this evening,
and you may know yourself to be just nothing but a little
toe. I keep saying that. But you never
see a little toe. It seems like it's worth nothing.
But you know the same life that's in the toe is the same life that's
in the strong legs. It's the same life that's in
the strong hands, and it's the same life that's in the head.
Where does the toll get its life? From Christ. Where does the weakest
member get its life and nourishment? From Christ. That's a very confident
thing, brothers and sisters. That's why the Church and any
of its members can never die. The furthest most member from
the head, the most distant member, has the same life in that the
closest member has. And the most distant member cannot
dry up and die because it has the life of Christ in it. For
a member of Christ to die, the head would have to die. And he's
in heaven, and he's eternal life. And the life that's in him is
in each member of his body. And he's the one that ministers
nourishment and puts that life there. You cannot die. You may feel like you're dying, but you'll never die, dear soul,
because you're nourished from eternal life itself. Isn't that
a wonderful thought? What a wonderful thought. Look
back over here with me again one more time at my text in Ephesians
chapter 4. You say, Bruce, you sure about
all the members? Yes, I am, because look what the Apostle Paul goes
on to say. He said, in Colossians, not only does the head minister
nourishment, but look here what he says right in the middle of
this. Compacted together by that which every joint supply according
to the effectual working. Now, who is it that works effectually?
Who is it that sets his hand to do something or desires to
do something and brings it to pass? It's not me and it's not
you. There is only one that can work
effectually, and that is the Lord himself. And here the apostle
Paul said, according to the effectual working in the measure of every
part. And you read over in chapter
4 and verse 7, and you will see there that it is Christ that
gives the measure of grace as he is pleased to. And Christ
works effectually in every member and every part of the body. What
is he working effectually to do? Nourish you. To keep life there. To make you
be free. And make you strong. And make
you gracious and loving. That you may be and be what he
would have you to be in his body. Every part. There is no part
lacking in this body. No part lacking in this body.
I wish I could see that. All we see sometimes is how weak
the body is. Where is the church? Oh, where
is the church in our day? And we see the symptoms of sickness
and everything, and well, there may be, but we know this without
question, that every member of the body of Christ is receiving
nourishment from Christ himself. What a wonderful thought that
is. You know, there's a lot of activity
going on in our day. I don't know how it is down there.
Well, it's the same way down here, I guess. In religious circles,
a lot of activity. But you know, one fellow said,
Boy, that church is alive over there. You ever heard anybody
say that? That church is alive over there. Well, how do you
know? Well, I'll tell you, that parking lot is about full every
night of the week. Well, what are they doing? Well, they have
trivia games, and they have ball leagues, and they build a family
life center. There's a lot of activity. Activity
don't always equal life, does it? I have a dear friend of mine
that has Parkinson's disease. And I called him the other day,
and he'd been shaking violently for two days. And his wife said
the entire bed was just shaking. And they held the phone down
to his ear, and he said, Bruce, I have shucked and shucked and
shucked, and I am totally exhausted. And he can't stop it. But it's not coming from up here
to his members saying, you need to shake, you need to shake.
They're doing that on their own. There's a lot of shaking today.
But how much is coming from the directions of the head? See what
I'm saying? We don't need committees to get
together and figure out more ways the church can be active.
We don't need more activity. What do we need, brothers and
sisters? We know what we need, don't we? We need the life of
Christ in us. That's what we need. We need
to be filled with Christ, the Spirit of life running throughout
His body, and then our Our lives will be as Christ is living in
us. Our worship will be a worship
of life. Our service will be a service
of life. It will be him that is doing
it through us. And then we will edify one another.
It will be so spontaneous. You won't have to plan so many
things. will edify one another in the
life. What a wonderful text. And that's the best I can do
with it. And I hope you got something out of it. If you don't, you'll
hear Pastor Consum and take it some time and do a much better
job. Thank you, Brother Todd. Thank
you, brothers and sisters.