Ephesians 4:11-14 Unity of the Faith (3)

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Where Are We Going (3)

The Unity of the Faith

Ephesians 4:11-14

Introduction: This text quickly brings up a number of questions. Most questions would have to do with how is this to be accomplished? 

• How often and how long do we need to meet together in order to accomplish these goals? This text will help us answer these questions.
• Why do we have Bible classes?
• In what ways should our Bible classes be changed or adjusted in order to come to the unity of the faith and maturity? Again, this text will help us evaluate whether our Bible classes are pursuing God’s goal. 
• How should this affect the kind of sermons that are delivered?
• How are we to handle our individual relationships? In other words, how should the church function outside of general assemblies?

As mentioned in previous lessons, the careful examination and applications needed from this text has been severely neglected.

1. Getting a Grasp of Our Purpose
   1. Notice in the ESV, “to equip…” then “for” and “for.”  If you were reading the ASV, you would get a more literal rendering: “for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.” Therefore, we can break it down this way:
      1. The reason for God sending the gifts of A, P, E, S & T, was so the saints could be perfected/equipped.
      2. The reason the saints are to be perfected or equipped is so the saints can do the work of ministering or serving.
      3. The reason the saints are to do the work of ministering is for the purpose of building up the body. Therefore, the end goal is building up the body. Who does it? Who builds up the body? The equipped saints. It is not directly the A, P, E, S, & T. 
      4. This is even more evident by looking at the end of verse 16: “As each one does its part, the body builds itself up in love” (NET).
      5. But what do we often see? We see the evangelists, shepherds and teachers who are expected to do the work of ministering or serving. What has often been created is an “audience” type church or a “consumer” church where we evaluate how well the leaders of the church will “minister” to us. I even heard an elder say, “We need to hire a preacher who will minister to all of us.” As you can see, this text states that we all are to be equipped/perfected to do the work of “ministering,” which changes the whole make up of how a church is designed and how each member is to see their function.
   2. What is meant by “building up the body?” This is also evident in the text when we look at verses 13-16. There are two primary goals to attain for the body to be built up. The first is “unity of the faith” and the second is “mature manhood.” Let’s first discuss unity of the faith.
      1. Notice first how this unity compares to verses 2-3. We start with diligence in keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. Why is that an important starting place?
      2. Look at verse 13: “until we all attain…” Therefore, we have not yet attained! Oh that is such an important point! How many people have you seen in your life who get all frustrated and upset, and leave because they have a disagreement. Talk about frustrating. Paul tells us plainly that unity of the faith has not been attained, and therefore Christians are to be equipped to serve one another in order to attain that unity!
      3. Now notice the connection between the work of ministry in building up the body (12), the unity of the faith (13), and then speaking the truth in love (15). Once you see that, you can answer the question of what is involved in the work of ministering. Obviously, it’s not just serving one another in physical needs. That is important, but it isn’t Paul’s primary point in this text. The ministering in this text has to do with bringing us to the unity of the faith.
      4. Therefore, imagine a church where a large percentage of members have attained to verse 15, able to speak the truth in love instead of being tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine. These members will be working with & studying with other members who are vulnerable to being tossed here and there.
      5. Please be aware that in all NT letters, there is an assumption of bringing the gospel to the lost. Where Paul shows his concern is members neglecting the work of bringing each other to the unity of the faith and to maturity. This is the equipped ministering! 
   3. The second goal in building up the body is maturity. Obviously, maturity is closely connected to a good knowledge of God’s word, but maturity goes beyond biblical knowledge. Maturity is truly looking and acting like Christ. Seeing the words in verse 13: to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. 
2. Practical Ways of Ministering for the Building Up of the Body
   1. Hebrews 3:12-13 maintaining an awareness of each other’s spiritual condition. Maintaining connections. If you are not doing this, then you are missing the point of everything in this text.
   2. Especially highlighting those who could be vulnerable. Do you know who they are?
   3. One on one Bible studies or small studies of 3 or 4. All that is needed is to read together and discuss. No one needs to be “brilliant” here, but doing this will grow you! Consider Hebrews 5:11-14. I’m always glad to help you when you get stuck (that’s equipping!).
   4. Hebrews 10:24-26 we all need to be “stirred up” to do the work of ministry in “love and good works.” There is always a danger of someone falling into a pattern of deliberately continuing in sin. It is these connections that go a long way in keeping that from happening.
3. Contrasting Danger of an Assembly-Centered Church
   1. The above texts expose some of the ways churches and Christians have lost their way, which has led to the spiritual death of local churches and of individual Christians. Spiritually dying churches have forgotten the reason for Bible studies, assemblies, and equipping Christians to do the work of ministry, and instead are primarily are about “holding worship services.” These types of churches will eventually become irrelevant. Reasons?
      1. It becomes an “audience” mentality. We will approach worship with the thought of, what is the “show” going to be like today? 
      2. The emphasis is on the “assembly” – thus the emphasis on hounding people to attend. From this, attendance becomes the primary standard of faithfulness because there is little else going on upon which faithfulness can be determined.
      3. Worship assemblies are incredibly important because of the encouragement, camaraderie, collective focus on the Lord, and biblical exhortation. But for most, they do not represent a large investment in the Lord’s cause. Without a significant investment there is no corresponding payoff and thus a low commitment level.
      4. When worship assemblies are the primary focus, then it is as if assemblies are the goal.
      5. This is also the reason churches began to practice a social gospel approach. They lost sight of the goal and began to think that “togetherness” is what it is all about. Thus the social connections between members become the primary priority.
      6. When the assembly is the goal, it will be judged on whether it fulfills my personal needs. If it doesn’t fulfill my needs, then I will find another assembly. It is not uncommon to hear someone say, “I come to get encouraged.” This is said in the context of, this is the primary reason I come and if I don’t get encouraged (their personal definition), then somebody here messed up!” 
      7. General assemblies of the church do not create close connections, the kind of connections spoken of in Heb. 3:12-13. Small group Bible classes do a much better job, and joint activities outside the building that are focused on the Lord’s work do even more. Here is the key: people drop out when they feel disconnected and assemblies alone do not create a strong connection.

Conclusion: “Until we all attain the unity of the faith.” – 

• If you have ever wondered why there is an emphasis on us coming together for our times of Bible study, you can see from this text that it is not about checking a box. It is the only way we can all attain the unity of the faith together. This reason this is critical:
  • Otherwise we won’t have God’s definition of unity!
  • We will be useless for our purpose of bringing the gospel to the world since we will not have a unified message.
  • We will have reason for Bible classes.

Berry Kercheville