If you want to turn to my text
this morning, you'll find it in Ephesians, the book of Ephesians. While you're turning there, I
do want to make just one announcement. It's in the bulletin that Brother
Cody Gruber, our missionary down in Mexico, will be with us the
6th. That will be the 6th of next
month, Tuesday night. at 6.30. We usually have our
midweek service at 6.30 on Wednesday. Brother Cody will be here on
that night, Tuesday, that week, Tuesday. So mark that on your
calendar and don't forget that. If you've not met Cody, I hope
you take this opportunity to come out and meet him. Now our
text in Ephesians chapter 4, and let's go ahead and begin
in verse 1. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
1. The title of my message this morning is found here in verse
4. There is one body. There is one body. And that's
mainly what I want to look at this morning. But let's read
this together. In verse 1, I therefore the prisoner
of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith you were called. You are called. With all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. There is one body and one Spirit,
even as we are called in one hope of our calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above
all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us
is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what
is it 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
or fulfill all things. And he gave some apostles, and
some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and some teachers,
for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
and 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 statue 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. And this is mainly our subject
this morning. from whom the whole body fitly
joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
Now that's a complicated statement. That's just like the Apostle
Paul. Sometimes you go back and think, as you're reading his
writings, I want to start at the beginning of where He began
a statement, and you can't find a period. And you go back a verse
and a verse and then almost a chapter sometime before you can find
a place. He made such complicated statements sometime, but He's
speaking here concerning the oneness. He mentioned it there
through verses 4 and through verse 6, the oneness of everything. The oneness. Endeavoring to keep
the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace. There's one body,
one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God. The oneness is what he's going
to speak of here in these verses. If there was many bodies, we
could understand why we wouldn't have unity. There'd be division. But he said here there's one
Spirit and one body, one Lord, and one faith, one baptism. So that eliminates all divisions,
doesn't it? That eliminates disunity. How can you have disunity when
there's one? When He pleads that there's only
one, that gives us good grounds for unity. When the Lord Jesus
Christ saves us and puts us into His church, His body, We are
one with that body. And our hearts are united in
love. We're united in peace one with
another. And we don't do anything to acquire
that peace and that love. We don't do anything to acquire
unity. We have unity by virtue of being
in Jesus Christ. By being in this body, we automatically
have unity because there's one body. When the Lord saves us,
and you've noticed this in your own experience I bet, when the
Lord saves you, you had peace with His people. You had unity
with His church. And He says here, He doesn't
say labor to have this unity. Strive and work to have this
unity. He says you already have it.
Just endeavor now to maintain that unity, this unity of love
and this unity of peace, one with another. Be careful, he
says, to maintain this unity. Why does he even have to warn
us to endeavor to keep this unity? Well, we have an adversary, don't
we? We have an enemy. We have the
God of this world, and He is the God of disunity. He's the
God of of disorder and confusion. God is not that way, but He is. And He's always looking for a
crack door that He can get into to cause chaos and disunity. And I tell you, we have corrupt
hearts, don't we? We have corrupt hearts. We have
sometimes these thoughts get in our mind. And we have to be
careful. That's why He tells us here to
endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And it helps us if we'll think
just like this. The body is made up of many members,
but it is only one body. And listen, think like this.
Are you in Christ this morning? Think like this. I am one member
of that body. I am one member of that body.
But I am in that one body. And therefore I should never
do anything to hinder the affection, hinder the peace or love and
proper function of that body. Nothing. Why? Because there is
just one body and I am in it. Paul often looks at Christ and
His church under different analogies. And you've read this. You're
familiar with all of this. He looks at the church in Christ
under the analogy of marriage, doesn't he? Look over here in
this very same book. Look in chapter 5. Under the
analogy of a marriage, a husband and a wife. And look what he
says about that in verse 22. Chapter 5, verse 22. Wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husband as unto the Lord. For 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. Therefore, as the
church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their
own husbands in everything." Husbands, love your wives. even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by
the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish, so ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but he nourisheth it, and he cherisheth it, even
as the Lord of the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh." This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and His church. The marriage, the
holy bonds of joining a man and a woman as husband and wife,
that's just a beautiful picture of Christ and His church. Look back over here to your left
just a little bit in chapter 2 of this book. Paul gives us
another analogy. Look in chapter 2 and look here
in verse 19. He gives us the analogy of being
citizens. in a heavenly country. Look what
he said in verse 19. Now therefore you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the same. We Gentiles were strangers, weren't
we? We were aliens. We weren't in
the family of God. But now we belong to this heavenly
country. We're citizens of the heavenly
country. And look at this. He gives us
another analogy of a household. and of the household of God. In verse 20, now he's going to
give another. He's given all these analogies. Look in verse
20. Here's the church under the analogy of a building. And you're
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth into an unholy temple in the Lord,
in whom ye also are built together for an inhabitation of God through
the Spirit." We're built. The church is the wife. Christ
is the husband. She's citizens in a heavenly
country. And she's a temple. that God dwells in. She's a building
that God dwells in. Our Lord Jesus gave this same
analogy. Remember, Shannon started to
read in Matthew chapter 7. He likens the kingdom of heaven,
the man that doeth the will of God to him that dug down deep
and built his house upon a rock. And the winds came and the rains
came and beat against that house and it didn't fall. Why? Because
it was built upon The Lord Jesus gives us the same analogy of
His church. He gives us another analogy of
His church in John chapter 15 as a vine and the branches. Listen to this. I am the vine
and ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him bringeth forth much fruit. See all these analogies? And
He gives us these things that you and I might understand Christ
and His church. But there is one central theme
as you go through all of these analogies, and we have seen it
over and over and over again, and it is this. The Lord Jesus
Christ always has the chief place. In all of these analogies, He
has the chief place. The church is the wife, who is
the husband? Christ. The church is the building,
Christ is the foundation upon which he rests. The church is
the branches, Christ is the vine, the trunk. He provides all the
nourishment. The church is the citizens of
the kingdom, and Christ is the King. He always takes the preeminence,
doesn't He? When we look at these analyses.
Now let's look back at my text and look in verse 16. Verses
15 and verse 16 tells us that Christ is the Head. And let's
just take this verse 16 apart, okay? Let's just take it apart
for a few minutes and learn something from it. He's speaking of the
Head, which is the Head, even Christ, from whom the whole body
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies. First thing we learn is this,
from whom the whole body is joined together. From whom? From whom? That is the first thing we see. What is the first thing we see
about the church of Jesus Christ? It has its origin from Him. Did you notice that? From whom? It came from Him. From whom? The whole body. And
let's see three things in this quickly. Christ is not only the
head of His church, but He is the origin of that church from
Him. As God, He chose these members. The body is made up of members
just like your body. These members of Christ's mystical
body were chosen of the Lord long before there was ever a
church. Now you hold verse 16 and quickly
turn over to Psalms chapter 139 with me. Look over in Psalms
chapter 139 and look in verse 13. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ
and He is speaking to God His Father. That is amazing, isn't
it? God speaking to God. But you
often see this. Look what He says here in verse
13. For thou hast possessed My reign
Psalms 139 and 13. Thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. Now you can associate that with
David and that's true. You can associate that with the
person of Jesus Christ when He was in His mother's womb. But
you can also associate this with the mystical body of Christ.
All the members that were likened to be in the mother's womb before
it had its being. I will praise Thee, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Thy works, and
that my soul loatheth right well. My substance was not hid from
Thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance,
yet being unperfect." And look at this, "...and in Thy books
All my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them." Back before the foundation
of the world, the church, all its members of the body of Christ,
all that was to make up His body were put in a book. There is where she had her beginning.
You want to know the beginning of the church? Go all the way
back before time. And the Lord Jesus said to the
Father, there is my body. There's all my members. They're
written in the book. That's where she had her origin,
from Him. And then secondly, Christ as
the God-man, not only chose His members, but as the God-man,
He redeemed His member. He redeemed them. Verse Peter 1.19 says, You were
redeemed, not by corruptible things as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ as of the Lamb. Listen to Isaiah
43.1, But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob,
and he that farmed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Per redemption. is from the Lord. He redeemed her. And thirdly
this, Christ as the Holy Spirit puts each member of His body
in that body. He chose the members, He redeemed
the members, and now He puts those members in the body of
Christ. By one Spirit Or we all baptized
into one body. And listen to this passage of
Scripture. But now hath God set the members, every one of them,
in the body, as it has pleased Him. He set them there. He puts them in the church. So
He chose them. He redeemed them. He puts them
in the church. The church has her origin in
Him, doesn't she? When he's speaking of the church
under the analogy of the building, Christ said this, upon this rock
I will build my church. It has its origin from Him. Is
this not the carpenter, they say? Yes, it is. This is the
carpenter, the son of Mary. But I tell you what, he's a greater
carpenter than just building these kind of buildings, ain't
he? He made all things by the Word of His power. And He's building
His church. He's building it. Christ likens
His church sometime to a forest. And when He does, He says this,
He calls them trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that
He may be glorified. They're a forest of His planting.
And you know what He said? Every tree that my Father's not
planted is going to be rooted up. When Christ likens His church
to a temple, here is what He said, Behold the man whose name
is the branch, he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall
build the temple of the Lord. It is from Him. And when Christ
likens His church to a vineyard, He says, I will rejoice over
them to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. saith
the Lord." So the origin of the church, where is it from? It's
from Him. He chose her. He redeemed her.
And He's put her in this body. All the lively stones, all the
plants, all the trees, all the citizens, they all have their
origin from Him. I've got nothing at all against
church membership. Nothing at all. Pretty soon we'll
be busting these walls out and maybe we'll have to keep a book
with all the members in it, have to widen the parking lot out
here. I've got nothing against church
membership. We may have to go to it someday. But one of the
things I've noticed about some, not all, but some, they're more
concerned with their church members than they are with the church
itself. And you don't get into the church by putting your name
on a book, do you? There's but one way to get into
this church. You have to be put in it by the
Lord. The Lord added to the church
such as should be saved. That's His. And you know, we
keep coming back to this. Whatever subject we study on,
we keep coming back to this. That the Lord has to do for us. what we cannot do for ourselves. And getting in the church, in
this mystical body of Christ, the Lord has to do it. He has
to do it. It's for chosen sinners, redeemed
sinners, and believing sinners. The Lord does that. And you know
when I think of that, I tell you it's such a privilege. Is
it not such an honor? Is it not a glory to be in this
body? Oh, what a glory it is, not just
in the local body, but when you think that you're in a universal
body, universal body of Jesus Christ. And the Lord has done
it. It's from Him. That's the first
thing we see. Her being is from the Lord. And then back to our text again
right quickly, back in Ephesians chapter 3 or 4 and verse 16. Ephesians chapter 4 and 16, from
whom the whole body fitly joined together. Just look at that just
for a minute. All the way to understand these
things, just take them apart. From whom the whole body fitly
joined together. This word means to put in the
proper and most appropriate place. Fitly joined together. The Lord Jesus puts every member
of His body in its proper and most affected place. Isn't it amazing how the Lord
made our bodies? Back in the beginning, He made our bodies.
Our bodies, if we had nothing else but our bodies, doesn't
that teach us that God created these things? Where He put the
need. If He hadn't put the need where
it is, You couldn't bow. I tell you what, try sometime
to step on your knees and tie your shoe. You can't do it, can
you? You can't sit down. Your elbow,
what if he hadn't put the elbow where he did? You couldn't scratch
your head. You couldn't feed yourself. You
couldn't hug your wife. It's essential that all of these
parts of the body be where they are. Isn't it the most appropriate
place that your eye be here in these sockets? What if they're
on your kneecaps? Wouldn't that be something? What
if your ears were on the bottom of your feet? You couldn't hear
anything, could you? What if your heart was on your
backside? Every time you sat down, you'd have a heart attack,
wouldn't you? Isn't the Lord wise that He puts the body, all
its members, in the most appropriate place? And you know the same
wisdom. is supplied when He's fitting
these spiritual members into His body. He puts every member
in the most appropriate place for His own glory and for their
eternal good. He has set the members in the
body as it has pleased Him. It's a blessed thing for Believer
to know and remember that the Lord has not only saved them
and added them to this body, but He's put them in the best
place they could be in that body. You may be a little toe. You
just may be a little toe. But you know a little toe is
very important, isn't it? They tell us it's very critical
to have a perfect balance to have a little toe. How important
that is then? If you don't have a little toe,
you may not notice it, but you want to have the balance. Little
toes are important. You may be a strong leg that
helps carry the load. You may be a hand that's always
involved in the work. You may be an eye that's always
watching and an ear that's always hearing. Thank God for those
dear people, those dear children of God, that know their place
in the body. And they're content just to abide
there. Isn't that wonderful? It's a
sad thing when the foot tries to take the place of the hand,
ain't it? You get a body all out of shape
and out of whack when that happens. That happens sometimes. What
a blessed thing it is when someone bows before the Lord and says,
Lord, show me my place. Show me where you want me to
be. And you're lowly about it, and you're meek about it, and
submissive about it. to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bonds of peace. The Lord set the members in the
body as it pleased Him. And this doesn't promote pride,
but it promotes humility and appreciation when we remember,
when we remember this. And I hope everybody gets hold
of this this morning. My presence in this body is needed. My fellowship in this body is
needed. My work in this body is needed. Why? Because the Lord put me
in this body as a member. And every member serves a purpose,
doesn't it? It serves a purpose. Or God wouldn't
have put it there. He wouldn't have put it there.
The Lord Himself has joined it, fitted it, fitted it together.
Here's the third thing, the body's not only fitly joined together,
but it's compacted. It's knitted together, he said,
by that which every joint supplieth. That's what he said. From whom
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted. That word means
it's knitted together. By that which every joint supplieth. Joint here is not like, you'll
now understand a knee joint or elbow joint. or knuckle or something
like that. This joint here means anything
that binds or fastens or holds together different parts of the
body. We used to have an old health
book years ago. I'm glad Joanne's not in here to hear me talk about
this or she'd be sitting back there shaking her head probably
or give me a book to read up on the analogy of the body. But we used to have an old health
book and you turned it over to the skeleton, the human skeleton,
and that's all that was there, the human skeleton. And you turn
another page, it was a clear page, but it had all the muscles.
And you could see where each muscle fit on the skeleton. And
you turn another clear page and it had all these cords and these
fibers, the ligaments and tendons. running, showing the holding
the muscles to the muscles and the muscles to the bones and
all that. You turn another page and have all of the nerves system. Another page had all the blood
vessels coming through the heart. And then another page had all
the different layers of skin. And all of these are there in
the body. These cords, these bands to hold
the body together. The Lord put them there. If you
had just a skeleton and the skeleton was alive, as soon as the skeleton
stood up, you know what happened? His knees would go out sideways.
It collapsed. These bands, what the Scriptures
call joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, all of these fibers
and cords running through the body, that holds the body together. And that's what the Apostle Paul
is talking about here. I want you to look over here
in another place. He's talking about the same thing. Look over
here in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 18. He's talking about
the very, very same thing. Look what he says in chapter
2 and verse 18. He tells us something here about
these bands and joints that hold the body together. Look what
he says in verse 18. Colossians 2. That no man should
beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility in worshiping
of angels. intruding into those things which
ye have not seen, vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind, and not
holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands,
ligaments, having nourishment ministered, and knit together,
increases with the increase of God." See what he is saying there?
The body is knit together by these joints, these ligaments,
these bands, and these Now just as there's all these cords, these
muscles and ligaments and tendons and so on that runs all through
our body, it's the same way with the mystical body of Christ.
It has these cords that bind the mystical body together, that
hold us together. Let me show you a couple of them.
In this very same book, look back in the first part of chapter
2 of Colossians, Back in this same book, he's talking about some of these cords that binds
us together. And here's one of them. Look
in chapter 2 and look in verse 1. I would that ye knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and
for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their
hearts might be comforted being knit together, that word means
united, bound together, in love. What's one of the cords that
holds the body of Jesus Christ together? It's love, isn't it? A band. Love. Well, the Bible's got a lot to
say about love, doesn't it? Love is being a band. You know
the head is bound to the body by love? Christ is bound to His
body by love. Listen to this. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? The head loves the body. And
you can't separate Christ from His body because He's bound to
her eternally. By what? Love's strong cord. You can't separate her from the
body. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore with
loving kindness have I drawn Love binds the church to Christ
her Head. We love Him because He first
loved us. Some of you here this morning,
and the only reason you're here, it wasn't easy to get here. You
had to struggle to get here. But why are you here? Because
you love Jesus Christ. Some of you, when you don't feel
like it and don't get very much good out of it, you open up the
Bible and you read it with interest and prayerfully. Why? Because
it's the words of Christ. And sometimes you get in dark
valleys and you're climbing up steep hills, but you follow the
Shepherd. Why? Because you love Him. You
love Him. Why don't you just throw up your
hands and quit? You're bound to Him by love. His love constrains
you. You know what that word constrains
means? The love of Christ constrains you. That means it's binding.
It binds you. You're bound by the love of Christ.
That's these cords that bind you to Him. Christ can't leave
you because He loves you. He's knit to you. And you can't
leave Him because you love Him. And it's the same way with the
church. What holds the church together? Look in chapter 2 and verse 12
of this same epistle. Look in chapter 3, verse 12. Look at this. Put on therefore,
beloved, elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love, and forgiving one another, if any man have
a quarrel against any, Even as Christ forgave you, so also do
you. And above all these things, put
on love, which is the bond of perfectness. I tell you, love
is strong as death, ain't it? Nothing can break the bonds of
love. That binds us together, love. And while we're there, look at
verse 15. Here's another bond. And let the peace of God Rule
in your heart to the which also you are called in one body, and
be thankful." He goes back to that bond of peace, doesn't he?
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. Peace ties our hearts together,
doesn't it? Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. And listen to this, when you
do that, The God of peace, or the peace of God, shall rule
in your hearts. That peace which facts of all
understanding, it rules there in your heart. Boy, sometimes
I tell you what, nothing can be going on in our life, but
our minds are in a turmoil. And other times everything is
out of control seemingly, but we have peace. And what is the
difference? The peace of God ruling in our
hearts. It's a bond, isn't it? It binds
us just like these ligaments and muscles binds our body. My peace I leave with you, my
peace I give unto you, let not your hearts be troubled. How
good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together
in unity. And I tell you, boy, when these
binds, when these things that bind us, These cords of love
and cords of peace, when they seemingly break in our own apprehension,
what happens? Well, the body seems to come
apart, doesn't it? It seems to come apart in our own apprehension. These graces, these graces of
the Spirit of God are cords to bind us together. And lastly,
let's see this. Let's go back to chapter 2 of
Colossians, verse 19. Let's just look while we're here.
Let's look at that. The last point. Let's look at this. This
is almost word for word what he said in our text in Ephesians.
Not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands,
having nourishment ministered. Having nourishment ministered. And what Paul is saying here,
nourishment is ministered to this body from the head. Isn't that what he's saying?
The church not only has her origin from her head, and he puts all
the members in that body, but the head nourishes the body. How critical is our head to our
body? We may have losing some members. You see people all the time.
They've lost an arm or they've lost a leg. Louisa, Oregon, you can live
without certain members. But I'm telling you, you can't
live without the head. I'm telling you, the body's dead.
The body's lifeless without the head. The head's essential. And
that's what he's saying. And here he's saying the body
is nourished by the head. And these verses are teaching
us this plain and simple truth that we know over and over. The
life of the church and the nourishment of the church, her ability to
properly function in a spiritual manner in this world, all comes
from her head, Jesus Christ. Without Him, she's nothing. Without Him, she knows nothing.
Without Him, she can do nothing. She is utterly dependent upon
her head. Just as the branches have no
life in themselves, they have no ability to produce fruit in
themselves but what they receive from the vine. So the growth
of the church, her fruit-bearing comes from Her simply abiding
in Jesus Christ. Abide in me and me in you as
the vine cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the
vine. The branch must abide in the
vine. There's where we're nourished,
isn't it? In Jesus Christ. He feeds us. He nourishes us.
He communicates to us. And there's where we grow. And
there's where we bring forth fruit. for His glory. No man
ever yet hated himself, his own flesh, but he nourisheth it and
chursheth it, even as the Lord the Church. Christ nourishes
the Church. And what does He nourish her
with? Well, listen, with Himself. With Himself. He doesn't have
to go and stock the grocery store, at the grocery store and stock
the cupboard. He's got plenty of nourishment
because The nourishment is Christ Himself. It's Christ Himself. He said, My body, didn't He?
My broken body, that's meat indeed. My redeeming blood, that's drink
indeed. He that eateth me shall live
by me. And he that eateth this flesh,
this meat, and drinks this blood, listen, he shall live forever. He's nourishment, isn't He? In
Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In Him
is the fullness of the Godhead body. Everything that you and
I need for nourishment for our souls, as well as our bodies,
comes from our Head, Jesus Christ, from whom the whole body is nourished. Mr. Watts said this in one of
his songs. Hear every bow of our God with
soft compassion rose. Hear peace, pardon, love, and
blood is food for dying souls." Oh, that's a wonderful thought.
Here's food for dying souls, food to sustain you. He led a
whole million or two or three million people through the desert
for 40 years and sustained I tell you, there is a greater miracle
than that. Leading a poor believing sinner through this world of
devils and sustaining him with himself. That's a miracle, isn't
it? The church is nourished from Christ her head. This is a wonderful
thought. You may know yourself to be a
little toe in the body of Christ. But listen to this. That same
life that is in the strong legs and the hands is the same life
that is in you. It's the life of the head, Christ
Jesus. This is why the body cannot die. And the member in the farthest
distance in the body cannot die. Why? Because it's nourished from
its head. And the same life that's in these
strong hands and in these thighs That's the same life that's in
the little toe. It's the life of Jesus Christ,
isn't it? What a wonderful thought. Paul goes on to say in our text
in Ephesians 4, 16, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, all these meanings there, this life and
nourishment, this energy, Christ is working in every member. according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part. Do you ever stick your toe, stub
it on something? Get up in the night and you go
up to the bathroom and you stub it on the bedstead. Do you ever
do that? It hurts, doesn't it? Do you know why it hurts? Because
there's a message they tell us comes from the head all the way
to the toe. And so that hurts. If that message
gets blocked, you wouldn't even know you stubbed your toe. There
are some people that lose members of their body. They were numb
anyway. That member was numb. And what
I'm simply saying, brothers and sisters, is that the head communicates
nourishment and communicates all that's needed to that fatherish
member of the body. And he does it effectually. He
has the power to gain the end desired. We hear a lot about
Christian activity today, don't we? You go by churches all the time,
and while the adults are inside worshiping, you've got teenagers
outside playing ball. We go by a church just on our
way out of here sometime, and a whole field full of teenagers,
probably 40 or 50 of them, playing ball outside. inside the adults
are worshiping. All of this trivia, all of this
game, all of this bingo, all of this activity that's going
on today in the churches, we don't need more of that. You
know what we need? We need the life of Christ in
the body. That's what we need. And when
His life goes through the body, I tell you, it won't be ball
games we're seeking. We'll be praying, we'll be worshiping,
we'll be praising Him, we'll be working for His glory in His
Kingdom. It'll be spiritual service. Isn't
that right? That's right, isn't it? That's right. When His life is
in our body. And we look around us today and
in our local congregations and we may think, The Lord isn't increasing at
all. He's talking about increasing His body. And it may not be in
the local churches. You may not see much of it. But
there's a universal church. And you know what? It's still
increasing. It's still increasing. And you know something? It's
going to go on increasing, filling up the body of Jesus Christ until
the last elect soul comes to the knowledge of Christ. We know
that because that is what the Scripture tells us. For the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ, till we all, all of His elect, come in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God
into a perfect, mature body, into the statue of the fullness
of Christ. There is coming a day when this
body is going to be complete. And then the Lord Jesus is going
to step off of His throne and say, It's finished. And He's
going to come and get His body and take her to be with Him in
glory. The Lord bring that day to pass.
I hope that was a help and a blessing to you. Let us pray.