Sermon - Ephesians 4:1-16 - Littleby Baptist Church - October 21, 2018

Last week we wrapped up the first half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The first 3 chapter are seen as where Paul talks about who God is and what He has done for us and the last 3 are about how we are to apply them to our lives.

From last week we saw that we need to have Christ firmly rooted in our hearts. Which allows us to keep Him front and center of our thoughts and actions. If we can do that the rest will fall in place. Remembering how amazing God’s Love is, how He wipes away our sins day by day taking on more burden as we continue to sin. We need to remember that He loves everyone and our job is to emulate Him and love everyone as He does. Then we need to look at the challenges that seem impossible and know that our God can do so much more than we could ever imagine. If He can part the Red Sea for the Israelites, He can take care of any challenge ahead of us, and in ways that we could never dream of.

Trust in our God who is so much greater than we can ever comprehend.

Ephesians 4:1-3

“4 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles is telling us that based on everything we have covered in the first 3 chapters of this letter, that we need to live our lives worthy of our calling. Everything we have looked at, from praising God in chapter 1, to trusting in His limitless power that wrapped up chapter 3, and everything in between. We need to live the life God has called us to live.

Yes, we are sinners, but we have been saved, cleansed, and redeemed. God has given wisdom, strength, and so much more. His power is limitless and His love has no end. As a new creation we need to live our lives worthy of the gift we have been given. Obviously, that does not mean we will be perfect, but if we are rooted in Christ with Him front and center of our thoughts and actions, we should do our best. Our human nature will want to respond in a self-serving, aggressive, way wanting instant results. As a follower of Jesus living in a way that is worthy of the calling on our lives, we need to respond in humility, gentleness, and patience.

As we walk in humility we understand who we are compared to the Awesome God and that we have a job to do while on this earth. As we walk in gentleness we are to be in control of our emotions. We collect our thoughts and respond as needed, calm and collected, but not afraid to be Zealous for the Lord when needed. As we walk in Patience, we keep our eyes focused on Christ and never give up on what the Lord has laid before us.

As we walk in these virtues we need to remember the love that allows us to be one family. While we will not always agree and all of us will make mistakes, we are to forgive each other and to come along side and help each other. Untied in love and peace that comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:4-6

“⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Body, Spirit, Hope, Lord, Faith, Baptism, and Father… seven things that every believer has part in. We are one body as in the ‘C’ church made up of all who have accepted Jesus as Lord. One Spirit who dwells, comforts, convicts, and empowers all who believe. One Hope or path to an eternity with God. One Lord in Jesus Christ. One faith in that we are untied by believing what the Bible teaches us about Jesus, who He is, and what He did for us. One baptism in which we show the world that we are following in Jesus’ footsteps. One Father that is over all, works through all, and is in all.

We are all united through our faith in our Lord Jesus.  

Ephesians 4:7-8

“⁷ Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people.”

Every follower of Jesus has received the gift of Grace from our Lord. Every follower is to be part of His Church serving according to the gift we have been given.

The heart of the message here is that when Jesus triumphed over death and ascended to heaven He has given gifts to His church. This verse is not referring to Spiritual Gifts like we find listed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it is that each one of us is a gift to the Church. Jesus paid the ultimate price for us and bought and paid for us and in turn has given us to the Body of Christ to serve Him and each other as one united family.

You might recall a few weeks ago we read about how we are marked by God. I said something along the lines of that each one of us is a piece of art that He is proud of and has signed us. Whether you are hanging pictures in your living room, a gallery, or a museum each piece has its place. You, a piece of art created by God and paid for by Jesus, have a place where you belong.

Ephesians 4:9-10

“⁹ But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰ The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.”

In a way Paul is offering commentary on his previous statement but he made it as clear as foggy day in Ireland. Theologians have debated what is meant by the lower parts of the earth, to no avail.

I believe there is no deep theological secret buried in these verses. We know who the ‘he’ is, it is our Lord Jesus. We know that he ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father after He accomplished all that He had planned to accomplish as the Lamb. Jesus came to earth to witness to us and then die as the ultimate sacrifice. He descended into the earth when He was buried in the earthly tomb, as a necessary step leading to His victory over sin so that He could redeem us from our old lives and in turn give us as gifts to the Church.

Jesus bought us from our sinful ways, giving us the gift of Grace, and in turn giving us as a gift to the Body of Christ so that we can Love God and Love Others using the gifts He has in turn given us.

Ephesians 4:11

“And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,”

Some of the gifts given to the church are apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors, and teachers. Not to say this list is all inclusive as every believer, you might remember this verse from a couple of weeks ago.

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

Every person here who has declared Jesus as Lord, is a gift to the Family of God with things we are to accomplish. While we should look forward to when we get to spend eternity with our Lord, our lives on this earth do have a purpose. Some are to fill the roles of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers and some are to fill many of the other important roles that are needed in the Body of Christ. Some have been blessed with the ability to serve in any capacity, some have empathy which is always needed, some have musical ability to lead us in praise, others have finances to support ministries, and the list goes on and on. Jesus bought and paid for each one of us and has given us to the Body of Christ and to Littleby to use the gifts we have.

Ephesians 4:12-13

“¹² equipping the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.”

Apostle, prophets, evangelist, pastors, and teachers are gifted by God to equip the saints. It is the job for these people to train, teach, and guide believers in what it means to follow Jesus and how it should impact our lives. It is the job of the saints, all believers, to build up the body of Christ. There is a mentality in some churches today that it is the job of the pastor to single handedly grow the church. That is not biblical. A pastor is to teach and prepare the flock entrusted to them, so that every single one of them can go out into the community and witness to others. Every believer has been called to be a witness to the world, it is not a job for the few, it is the job for all. As we go about doing God’s business we grow in our faith, maturity, and knowledge of our God.

Ephesians 4:14-16

“¹⁴ Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. ¹⁵ But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.”

When we first started following Jesus, we could hear just about anything that sounded like Christianity and follow it. It is not until we start studying our Bibles and growing in our knowledge of what the Bible really says that we start seeing through some of the false teachings out there. Think of the prosperity gospel for a moment, if you don’t know much of the Bible and someone pulls a verse or two from here or there they can be pretty convincing, especially since they are using the Bible. It is not until we have a broader understanding of scripture that we can see through the deceitfulness of the devil and the false teachings he uses to lead us astray.

The more we learn, as our faith increases, we grow as followers of Jesus. As we grow as individuals, we serve the Body of Christ, which grows. As the Body of Christ grows, more and more people are hearing about the amazing gift of grace given to us by our Lord Jesus.

In verse 16 Paul is painting another picture for us to explain his point. Earlier he painted the picture of the Church being a building with Jesus being the corner stone and each believer being part of the building. Here he is pointing out to us that we are a body that is fitted and knit together by the supporting ligaments. Meaning that each one of us is part of this body and we are all gifted to do different things that bring health and growth to Littleby Baptist and to the larger Body of Christ as a whole.

With this picture Paul is reminding us that it takes all of us for our body to be healthy. Every single person here today, every member of our church, is important if this Body is to attain its full strength. If we are going to accomplish our mission of being witnesses and reaching the lost, it takes all of us.

Here is the challenge. What are you going to do so that we continue to be a healthy church and what are you going to do so that the Body of Christ continues to grow?

Pray about it and then do it.


God Bless,

Robert