I invite you to take your Bibles and open up to Ephesians chapter 4 for our time in God's Word this morning. Ephesians 4:11-16 is what we'll be looking at today. It's a real honor for me to be here to open up God's Word with you. Pastor Bobby has taken a little time off from work, on some other projects. And so, I'm glad to be here with you this morning. And this passage has meant a lot to me, throughout my Christian life just in helping me to understand the church and the Lord's plan for the church. And I think it'll be a profitable time for us to look at this together here this morning. So, if you're there in Ephesians 4, let's stand in honor of God's Word, as I read it for us. Ephesians 4:11-16. Apostle Paul writing, and he says -- and he’s referring to Christ:
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
Amen. That's God's Word, you may be seated. All around our campus here, our church campus, you can see evidence of the physical church being built. In this building, if you were to walk around, you'd see rooms that have been upgraded. And you'd certainly notice the playground right across the hall. You could go over to what some people still call the new building. But now we can officially call it the Revival Circle building, because we got our street name change to Revival Circle. And we had a great time Monday night, rejoicing in all that the Lord has done for us. And the most recent evidence is that right across the parking lot, in that part of the building there, a new spacious Auditorium is being prepared for us with new, comfortable chairs. Yeah, yeah. Praise the Lord. He is good. And all that work is based on a blueprint with a plan and a goal in mind. And it doesn't happen, though, if the construction crew shows up whenever they want to, and everybody does whatever they want to do, and they do it however they want to do it. It's not going to happen that way, they'll never reach the goal that way. And that approach doesn't work in the church either.
So, in this passage, we have the biblical blueprint on how to build the church, the real church, which is the people, the believers, the followers of Jesus Christ, buildings are just there to provide the space where we can do the ministry and serve the people, the church, the real church. And as we come to this passage, you got to understand it's not just dropped in here, there's a context. And that context would be the whole letter to the Ephesians. And the first three chapters are all about all that a Christian has in Christ. And I just want to remind you of some of those things that a person has in Christ. For example, Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ, with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” How many blessings, and how many Christians have those blessings? Why, you guys are catching on faster than the other groups. This is the Super Bowl of the services right here. Those were just the playoffs. This is the Super Bowl right here. Yeah, all Christians have all the blessings in Christ. Ephesians 1:19 talks about the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. So, you’ve got all the blessings in the heavenly places, and you've got the immeasurable greatness of God's power at work in you. Ephesians 2:6 reminds us that we've been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places, that we are already citizens of heaven. That's our real residence. Ephesians 3:8 talks about the unsearchable riches of Christ that now are all made available to us. Ephesians 3:12 says that we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. We can come to God anytime, anywhere, for any reason, because we've been given access in Christ to God. And Ephesians 3:20 wraps it up. Says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.”
So, all of that is what a person has, what a Christian has, by virtue of being in Christ. Now Chapter 4 is going to turn the page and tell us now how to live that all out. And it starts off in verse Ephesians 4:1 with a call “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling which you have received.” So, you've been given all of this, like you have all of this, live it all out in Christ. And then it talks, starting in Ephesians 4:2-16, about the unity; walking in unity in Christ. Ephesians 4: 2 or 3 talks about the graces of unity. Ephesians 4:2 talks about “humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love.” These are things that we have in Christ, the ability, the fruit of the Spirit, to walk in gentleness and patience, and love one another. That helps preserve the unity that we have in Christ. The grounds of our unity is given in Ephesians 4:4-6. You'll see all the ones that are listed there: There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” And we're all united together. Ephesians 4:7-11, talking about the gifts that he gives to the church, gifts of unity, gifts that help us to function in a united way. And then Ephesians 4:12-16 talks about the growth of unity. And that's what we want to look at in our time here this morning.
This last section here really gives the blueprint for building up the church. And so, as we examine that blueprint here this morning, I want to give you three exhortations to help you understand your role in that building process. So put your hard hat on. We're going in, we're going into the construction zone, and it begins with you committing to the plan. You need to commit to the plan. That's number one, on your handout, commit to the plan. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[c] and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” That's the plan, and it's a clear plan. Ephesians 4:11 tells us that Christ gave certain men to the church, and the apostles and prophets laid the foundation for the church. Ephesians 2:20, tells us that they laid the foundation. They're the ones that started the church, establish the church, and give us the Scriptures. And then there are evangelists. Today, we might think of them more as like missionaries, people who go where Christ is not known. They proclaim the gospel and establish churches. And then within those churches, there are shepherds and teachers, are pastors and teachers. And actually, it could be translated there with a hyphen, like Pastor-Teacher, because you'll notice even in your translation, there's no love before the teachers. So, it's likely that those two words go together, the Pastor-Teacher. And here at Compass, Huntington Beach, we have five pastors here at the church. And according to the plan, what are those pastors supposed to do? Well, Ephesians 4:12 tells us that they are supposed to equip the saints, and you need to think about what that word “saints” means. It's not talking about guys who play football in New Orleans. It's talking about every Christian. In fact, Ephesians 1:1 says that the letter is addressed to the “saints” at Ephesus. A saint is somebody who has been set apart. And that's what a Christian has been done. Christians have been set apart from their sin and set apart to God in Christ. They're a saint. And the Pastor-Teachers equip the saints, and they do that through the ministry of the Word of God. They are teachers. That's a main function that they have in the church. They build people up. They equip people through the ministry of the word.
A couple of verses that might be familiar to you. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that “all scripture is breathed out by God.” These aren't just the words of men. Men wrote them down, but they are breathed out from God; they come from God. These are the very words of God that we have in the Scripture. And they are profitable. They are profitable for “teaching” to show you the way, they are profitable for “reproof,” to show you when you've gotten off of the way, they are profitable for a “correction,” to help you get back on the way, and they are profitable for “training in righteousness,” to help you stay on the way. And it's also that “the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” That's the idea. So as the Pastors minister the Word, people get equipped through the Word. And to equip means to be prepared, or to be established, to be instructed, to be trained. When you come to church, you should come thinking among other things, that you're coming to get equipped. Because that's what it says we're supposed to be doing. You should think I'm coming to get equipped. Now, you might think of other things as you're coming to church. You might think I've come in to worship, and that's legit. I'm coming to learn from God's Word. That's legit. I'm coming to fellowship with other believers. That's legit. I'm coming for coffee and doughnuts. Totally legit. But did you think I'm coming to get equipped, because that's what we're supposed to be all about. That's the plan, that the Pastors are to equip the saints. And you're being equipped, as it says there in Ephesians 4:12, to do the work of the ministry. Every believer needs to be equipped, because every believer needs to be involved in doing the work of the ministry. We're all to be actively serving, ministering to one another. You need to think of everyone in the church as a Minister. And really that word that just means a servant. Everybody's here to serve. And as those equipped saints do the work, we're told that that's how the church gets built up.
And that is an architectural term there to be built up. And it goes back to Ephesians 2:20-21. And what he says there about the church where he talks about it as being “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God, by the Spirit. There's all this building that's going on. And it's done as the Pastors equip the people, and the people, the saints, do the work of the ministry. That's the plan. That is the plan. It's not the work of the Pastors to do the ministry all by themselves. They are there to equip you. You should expect to come and learn so that you're better equipped to serve others, especially that you might pass on what you're learning.
I'm really thankful that early in my Christian life, it was impressed upon me that the things you're learning you need to find somebody and pass it on. You are involved. If you're a believer, and you're in the church, you are involved in building up the church. That's a great privilege. If you go to London, you'll see a building, the St. Paul's Cathedral, massive church structure right there in London, you may have seen pictures of it. It's the work of architects. Sir Christopher Wren took 35 years to build that church. We're opening our auditorium comes a little faster than that 1675 to 1710. And one day, a man went down to the construction site, and he was interviewing different workers there. And he went up to one man and said, what are you doing? And he said, well, I'm putting this brick on top of the other bricks, isn't it obvious? Okay. And he went and found another man and asked him, well, what are you doing here? And he said, I'm here to make a living. The pay I get for doing this job is how I take care of my family. Okay. And he went to a third man and said, tell me what you're doing here. And he said, I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build St. Paul's Cathedral. And that's the way we need to think. You need to think if somebody asks you, what are you doing, I am helping the Lord Jesus Christ build his church. That's the plan. And you’ve got to commit to the plan, the Lord's plan, because it's too easy to slip into what we call the sit, soak, and sour syndrome, where you just sit, you soak it all in, but then you don't do anything with it. And so, you’re just sour. You're like the Dead Sea. Dead Sea is on the border of Israel in Jordan, and it's fed by the Jordan River. the Jordan River comes down, bringing plenty of nice fresh water into the Dead Sea, but there's no outlets. And so, it dies. And, in fact, the salt content of the Dead Sea is ten times what you find in the ocean out here. And there's nothing living in the Dead Sea. That's probably why somebody had the brilliant idea, hey, let's just call it the Dead Sea. There's nothing because there's no outlet to it.
And that's like a lot of Christians in the church. They're taking it in. But they're not giving it out. They're kind of like the guy on this team who's sitting at the end of the bench. He's not in the game, but he feels free to criticize everybody who is in the game. You know, he sits there on the end of the bench, this guy's got a lot of knowledge, he understands the game, he just never applied it enough to be able to actually play in the game. But he's sitting there criticizing everybody, how he could do it better than all of them. And he's way smarter than the coach. I mean, just ask him, he'll tell you. And that's what happens. A lot of times in the church, there are people who sit around, and they're really not doing anything, but they're criticizing everybody who is. You should be thankful for everybody who's serving in the church and helping to build up the church. But there needs to be the wholehearted participation of every single saint. And that's the plan. And I want to tell you, that there are some things you can do better than a Pastor can do it. Every part is important, and every part is unique, and you have a part to play, and you can do it better than a Pastor can do it.
You know, it's interesting, we're looking at Titus 2 in our men's and women's events this year, and talking about what a mature believer looks like. And as Paul writes to Titus, he breaks the church down into different groups, like there's older men, older women, younger women and younger men. And he's telling Titus what to say to each one of those groups, except he doesn't tell Titus to say anything to those younger women. He tells the older women to train the younger women, implied in that is, hey, Titus, these older women can do that better than you can. And that's the way it is. At my previous church, I taught lots of parenting classes, helping parents to understand what the Bible says about parenting and how to put that into practice. And I'd always tell some of the guys that would be there, someday you're going to be teaching these classes. And you're going to do it better than me. Because people look at Pastors like some kind of anomaly, like, you know, we don't have real jobs. So, we don't understand what it's like for them, you know. When the Shekinah glory kind of hovers over our house, so we don't have the normal problems that everybody else has, we don't have the challenges, you know, and so they can kind of write that Pastor guy off. But if they have somebody there that they see as a peer, teaching it to him, and he's been modeling it in his own parenting, I don't have a bigger impact. And the good news is that now some of those guys are teaching those classes. And I'm sure they're doing better than me.
You need to understand that you have a part to play in the plan. So, you should take in all the equipping, that you can, all the sermons, Bible class, Scripture of the Day, Partners, fellowship group men's and women's events. You should be equipping yourself every which way you can, and then put that into work by serving one another. You’ve got to commit to the plan.
And then, secondly, you need to keep your eye on the goal. Keep your eye on the goal. But back at the text Ephesians 4:13-15, it says, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” That's the goal. And just a quick glance of reading those verses, you would see that the goal is that we’re to be mature, not children, but grown up. And the measure of that maturity is Christ himself. The mature grown-up church radiates Christ's likeness. As the Pastor has equipped the saints, and the saints to the ministry, the church is built up. And they experience that unity of faith that he talks about there in verse 13, the oneness that we share in Christ, that gets strengthened, and we're fed by a growing knowledge of the Son of God. And the end result is that we would all become more like Christ. This is a mature church. God's goal is for the church to be full grown. And that gives real direction to all the ministry that you might do. Whatever you do, however you're doing it, the goal is that to see people mature in Christ; I want to serve other people so that they grow closer to Christ. And as that happens on the individual level, then the whole church starts to come into conformity to Christ. That's what we're aiming for. That's the goal given to us in the blueprint. The measure of a church is not how big it is. Although we obviously want more people to get saved and come into the church, but that's not the measure of the church. And it's not how much money the church has or how good the facilities are, or how many programs they have. The measure, or the standard, for the church is Christ-likeness. That's what we're aiming for. And as we seek this maturity and grow towards that maturity, one result will be seen in Ephesians 4:14, “so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” No. Children will believe anything. I'm pretty sure I can get just about any kid to believe anything. And in fact, my wife has to remind me not to do that with my grandchildren. Children, they're gullible. They're not discerning. Mature people aren't tricked. They're not buying it.
Turn with me to 1 John chapter 2, where we see John talked about maturity. And he thinks about people in the church as either children, young men, or fathers, and those are marks of their maturing. Everybody starts off as a child, but the goal is to see them become young men and then eventually fathers. John 2:12, he says, I'm writing to your little children because your sins are forgiven for his namesake. That's where we all start. We hear about Christ, we hear the Gospel, we're convicted of our sin. We put our trust in Christ and all of our sins are forgiven. He says that John 2:13, I'm writing to you fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. These people have gone beyond just the Word of God to the God of the Word and gotten to know him. In a deep level, I'm writing to you young men, because you have overcome the evil one. Keep that in mind. He's going to come back to that. I write to you children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men, because you're strong. And the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. See, that's the idea. You grow strong in the Word of God. It abides in you. It's now directing your thoughts and your actions, and so you're not fooled by the devil anymore. You're not falling for his tricks anymore. A growing knowledge of Christ and a growing walk with Christ keeps us from being led astray. By the smooth tucked in manipulating scheming, lying false teachers. The mature church is going to stand strong.
Go back to Ephesians 4. Rather than being tossed here and there by every new thing that comes along, Ephesians 4:15 says, “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” So, rather than being tossed to and fro and being confused by what we really believe, no, now we're able to speak the truth from God's Word because we know God's Word. We're able to speak the truth and the way we're to minister it is in love for one another. Truth and love are the two pillars of ministry. You need to know the Word of God, and you need to love the people that you're serving. Truth of that love is brutality. Love, without truth, is hypocrisy, and little children, they don't know how to blend truth and love. But we, as we mature, we need to learn how to do this. And we need to be what we call intentionally intrusive in one another's lives. I mean, we're to serve one another, were to be involved with one another, we need to get to know one another. And we're to be lovingly intrusive because we care for one another. Not obnoxiously intrusive, not judged mentally intrusive, but lovingly, and intentionally. We want to help each other grow in the truth. You know, some people take the truth, like it's a club, and they just hit you over the head with it. And their whole point is to win the argument or show you that they know more than you know. Others think it's loving to withhold the truth, because the truth is going to hurt. That happens a lot. I'm not going to bring this up because I don't want to deal with the fallout. That's a big mistake to make.
In a previous ministry, there was a lady who had been involved, and she sent out a middle-of-the-night email to a handful of people, kind of an SOS confessing her anger and the way she displays that anger towards her family. And so, one by one, the people who got this email, went to go see this woman, and they all hugged her and patted her on the back and said, hey, we all struggle. And I show up, because I got the email. And I hugged her and patted her on the back and said, we all struggle. And then I said, you know, the Bible talks a lot about anger. Can we get together and look at what the Bible says, and see the Lord bring about a change in your life? When all of a sudden, I was the bad guy, because I loved her enough to want to tell her the truth, help her see the truth about that. You can't do that. And that case, there was a tragic ending, that woman wound up walking away from her husband, walking away from the church and walking away from Christ. And her oldest daughter, who felt the weight of her anger, is now identifying as a boy. You just think of some people along the way before she sends out this SOS had been involved in her life, and helping her to think about it, I think about Hebrews 3:12-14, which says, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”
We can't take anything for granted. We can assume that just because the people are showing up at our fellowship group, everything's fine and dandy. We need to be involved with one another. And we need to love one another enough to speak the truth and to speak it in a loving way. Like we really want to help, and we care. Mature believers have learned how to blend truth and love. I think Proverbs 27:6 that says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend profuse or the kisses of an enemy.” What that is saying is that there are some cases, many cases, where it's better to be wounded than to be kissed by people who've learned how to speak the truth to one another in love; they are that faithful friend. They are that faithful friend. And we're to do this. We're to speak the truth in love with a goal of seeing people advance towards Christ’s likeness.
You know, we're not measured by other churches. Other churches are not the standard. A lot of times we talk about, yeah, you hear what that church is doing, that we're not. We're not being measured by other churches. The measure is Christ’s likeness. And we have to keep that goal in mind. You know, there's a plan for building the new auditorium across the way, and we have an architect's rendering of what it's supposed to look like, when it's all done. And everybody in that picture is smiling in their happy new auditorium. So, we have a picture of what it looks like, the picture for the church looks like Christ. Because as it says at the end of Ephesians 4:15, he's the head of the church. He's the head of the church. So that's the plan. Christ has given certain men to the church. Those men equip the saints. Those saints do the work of the ministry. The church is built up. And then the goal is that the church would become more and more like Jesus Christ. That's it. And you are on the construction crew. You all are on the construction crew.
And so that leads to the third point, the third exhortation: You need to fulfill your part. Fulfill your part. Ephesians 4:16, “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Your involvement has been hinted at all the way along here. But now, here's a clear call for everybody to be all in. You have to see yourself on a mission, and you have to understand you have a vital part in the building up of the church. And you don't have to have any kind of a title. You don't have to have any kind of official position; you don't have to have a nametag around your neck to serve in the church. In fact, you've already been given a title. You're a saint. You're a saint, and you serve on Christ's construction crew. I don't know, when I think of it that way, I think I just got a serious job upgrade right there. My title is saint and I'm on Jesus's construction crew. That has to be good enough. And every one of us can love and serve one another. And notice how it's a call for everybody to be involved. It talks about the whole body, and every joint and each part. We need everybody all in all, all systems go. And you know, you need to think about these things. We call this the service, the worship service. And we understand what we mean by that. But this is not the service. The service starts when we end here. This is a time of equipping. And now you go out to serve with what you've been equipped with. Clearly the Lord is saying that every part has to be working; you see that they're each part working properly. That Word working is the Word we get energy from. You need to bring the energy, you need to make every effort in serving one another within the church. And 1 Corinthians 15:58 says that very strongly. It says, “Therefore, my beloved brothers be steadfast, immovable.” And so that's the maturing church that's not tricked by Satan anymore. There's their steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that you're in the Lord; “your labor is not in vain.” You're never wasting your time “abounding in the work of the Lord.” Of that word “abounding,” the idea there is doing more than enough. More than enough. You know, before I went into ministry, I worked in a bank, and sometimes, you know, we would do a job and we'd say, well, that's good enough for government work. Good enough, well, that's not going to cut it in the church, you need to be doing more than enough. That's the way we need to think about it. So that's the way you need to think about your fellowship group. I'm putting out every effort I can, I'm working as hard as I can to be involved with the build up, to strengthen, to encourage the people in my fellowship group. And even if not in a fellowship group, I need to be showing love to other believers and encouraging them, praying for them, showing hospitality to them. I need to be involved and I need to be working, helping people to grow in their walk with Christ. You’ve got to be working and you’ve got to be working properly. You need to be doing what you've been equipped and you're able to do. And we talked about how in Ephesians 4:7-11, he talks about people in the church being gifted. Christ is ascended back to heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gives you a gift to serve within the church. And you need to think about your gift and how you can serve.
And so, a couple of passages that will help us with that. Turn with me to 1 Peter 4:10-11. As you think about working, each part working properly, each part doing what you can do, what you're able to do, recognizing that we all can serve in different ways. 1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.” Each one has received a gift, every saint has a gift that's given to you by the Spirit of God, and you're to use it in serving one another. And this gift has been given to you, you have a responsibility. Now you're a steward of God, and you're going to be accountable for what you did with what he gave you. And then the next verse kind of breaks down to two broad categories that we serve. In whoever speaks so some people speak more, that's more of their area, where they're able, as one who speaks oracles of God, they're to speak the word of God. And people within that category... There are people that there's all kinds of ways that that gets manifested. We have people right now, teaching children, and they're good at that. Some people are not good at that. Some people are good one on one, some people are good in a small group. Some people can speak to large groups, there are many ways that that can be manifested. Others it says, “whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies.” There are lots of ways you can serve around a church, and you're doing it by the strength that God gives you to do it. And the whole purpose is given there at the end, “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” That's the whole overriding purpose that God would get the glory.
Another passage to look at is 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Let's look at that together. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Again, it talks about the church as a body, and how a body functions, and how the church is the function like a body. 1 Corinthians 12:14 says, “for the body does not consist of one member, but of many, if the foot should say, because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body.” There's the foot, they're having a little pity party, I'm just a foot. What? You know, what can I do, I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body. That would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the IRS should say, because I'm not an eye, I guess I don't belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. Doesn't matter what you think about yourself or your position within the church. You are in the church, you're a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? All the parts are necessary is what it's saying there. But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body, so that's true for us physically. It's one body we got many parts in our body. And so, it is in the church. It's one church, one body, but lots of parts and all the parts need to work together. I'm sure you appreciate it in your physical body when all the hearts are working like they should. Amen. I mean, when you get to my age, it's like all the parts are trying to pull off a mutiny. Like, yeah, we're not doing that, we're not doing that today. That's not good. And we need to appreciate every part of 1 Corinthians 12:21, that I cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker, are indispensable. And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which are more presentable parts do not require, but God is so composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it. You know, there are certain parts of the body that are more presentable, that we see, that we use more, that we think about more than we give more attention to; for example, my hands, I think about my hands, I appreciate my hands, and I use my hands, I tried to take care of them, and all of that. But the reality is, I could live without my hands. But I got other parts that I can't see that I don't think about like my lungs. I can't live without my lungs. And so just because you're not visible, a visible part of the body doesn't make you any less important. In fact, it might make you more important. And that's the way we need to think about it. All the parts are important, 1 Corinthians 12:25, “that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. We're all one body, got different parts, we all are important. We all need to be serving. That's what makes the body grow.
And go back to Ephesians 4. And I just want you to notice, it says there at the end of verse 16 That would have built were to be built up in love. Built up in love. And love is an important part of this whole process. We talked about speaking the truth in love. And now we build ourselves up in love, love is important. In fact, you could say in the body of Christ love is the circulatory system. We need to function within an atmosphere of love for one another. Things like selfishness and envy, criticisms and divisiveness that just cuts off the circulation. We're here to serve one another in love because we love and care for one another. Every part needs to be working. And we must be serving one another in love. If the church is going to be built up, every part matters. Every part matters. And when I think about every part in the body and how it matters, I think about Dizzy Dean. I don't know who you think about or what you think about Dizzy Dean, you're saying Dizzy, who? Dizzy Dean was a baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1930s. Phenomenal pitcher, incredible talent. He won 30 games one season; his team won a World Series. This guy Dizzy Dean, he was an incredible pitcher. But in 1937, while he was pitching in the All Star game, he got hit in the foot by a line drive. And it broke his big toe. And Dizzy Dean was kind of stubborn. He tried to come back sooner than he should have. And so, he had to alter his pitching motion in order to favor his toe. And that ruined his arm and ended his career. Every part matters. Every part matters. You might think well I don't matter. I'm just a toe. Think Dizzy Dean.
So, as you think about the plan, you think about the goal. You think about your part. You have to ask yourself are you all in? Are you all in with building up Christ's Church? Will you serve or will you be selfish? Because those are your two options. Serve or be selfish? Will you work or will you be lazy? Or, for some of you, you might even be on the outside looking in at this point. You came to church here today, and we're here talking about the church and everybody's part in the church. And you're not even sure you're a part of the church, you're not sure you're a Christian, you're not sure if your sins have been forgiven, if you have eternal life. We would love to talk to you about that. In fact, we have a tent outside, the Compass Connect tent, there are people out there that would love to talk to you, and explain to you what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and how you can have all of your sins forgiven and become a part of his church. But you need to understand that the church is not an organization you join. It's an organism and you're part of it. It's not an organization where you just pay your fee, and then the organization does stuff for you. No. It's a living organism, and you're a part of that. Because we're all in Christ, we all live in Christ.
Now, one measure of a church is not how many Pastors it has, or how famous their Pastors are. What matters is how many ministers does that church have? How many saints who are actively working to build up the church? That's what matters. That might sound like a daunting task to a lot of us. But let me remind you of Christ's involvement in this whole process. It's not like he said, Okay, here's the plan. I'll check in with you 2000 years from now. He's totally involved in the whole process himself. Let me just remind you of some things we saw in this passage and Ephesians 4:11. He's the one who gives the gifted men to the church. He's the one who's providing leadership for the church. He is actively involved in that. And he's the one that's providing the model for us as to what it looks like for his church to be fully functioning. As it says at the end of Ephesians 4:15, where to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. And he provides the ultimate model for us as we think about living the Christian life. And what do we want our church to look like? And I came across this quote from a Pastor Chris Mueller. Some of you might be reading his books, Let the Men Be Men, Let the Women Be Women. He said this about this verse, verse 15. He said, “as a church, we are to grow as truthful as Christ, as gracious as Christ, as compassionate as Christ, as pointed as Christ, as simple as Christ, loving children, like Christ, be made holy, like Christ hating sin, like Christ, loving good deeds, like Christ, to serve like Christ, to minister to the undeserving like Christ, and to proclaim the gospel to the last, like Christ.” We are to be in all aspects like Christ, and a church, where the Pastors are equipping the saints and the saints are doing the work of the ministry, and the church is being built up and becoming like Christ, that church starts to manifest all the fullness of Christ to the world. That's what we're going for. And Ephesians 4:16 even tells us that he's the one who causes the growth because it's from him. It starts off from whom? Well, that's Christ. Christ is the one who's providing all the power. And you know, to think about that you're serving at Christ Church, that you have an important necessary part in the building up of Christ Church, you’ve got to realize that's not something you've got to do. That's something you get to do.
Christ is building his church, and his people are involved in the construction of it. You need to commit to the plan, you need to keep your eye on the goal and you need to fulfill your part, recognizing that he's providing everything we need to do that. So when people ask you, what are you doing, you can say, I'm helping the Lord Jesus Christ build his church. Amen. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for the church. We thank you for all that you have done for the church. We recognize our Savior shed his own blood to purchase the church for himself. And he loves the church. He watches over the church, he provides for the church, he cares for the church. Lord, we thank you that you are totally involved and totally committed to your church. I pray that the end result of today is that we would all say the same thing, that we are committed to your church. We understand the plan, we’ve got the goal, we just need to fulfill our part. And so, Lord, I pray that we would see that as the greatest privilege, we get to serve you to be on your construction crew, to be a part of the team that's building your church, and to be encouraged by the fact that not only are you empowering us to do that, but every single part is important. Whatever it is, I get to do, it matters. And, and so, we thank you for the encouragement and the strength that you give to us through your work. Lord, our desire for our church here is to keep growing, and primarily to grow in Christ's likeness, that we might manifest him and all of his fullness before the world, believing that that's what this world needs more than anything else. And so, Father, we pray that you'll encourage us and motivate us to be a part of that crew. And Lord, I pray that in all of us, we would keep our eyes on you. And we wouldn't be distracted by the things of this world. We would be wholeheartedly following you. And I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.