Latest / Doxa Student Ministry Sermon Files / The Church in Action - Ephesians 4:1-16 - 11/1/26

Transcript

The Church in Action - Ephesians 4:1-16 - 11/1/26 · Doxa Student Ministry Sermon Files

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You to turn neither your Bible or your journal if you have your Ephesians journal to Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1 through 16.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And as you're turning there in tonight's episode of What's Gabe drinking out of, it is a white cup that says mama.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, I'll just leave that there.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um all right, guys.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Get turning to pit to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 16.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, we're halfway through the book of Ephesians.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've done it.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: We've gotten to the halfway mark.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so proud of us.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: I am so proud of us.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: While you guys are turning there to Ephesians 4, and if you're having trouble finding it, go ahead and uh ask a neighbor, I'm sure they'll be able to help.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you've ever done a group project at school.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your hand raised if you like group projects at school.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: All right, a little bit, yeah.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I figured I'd be kind of split, 50-50, right?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: For the 50% of you that didn't raise your hand, I'm guessing the reason you don't like doing a group project is because you're thinking, I can do it better, I can do it quicker if I could just do it by myself.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need these three or four other people.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the other 50%, you're like, this is great.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: The more work someone else can do, the better.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I will gladly give other people more work than me.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, when it comes to group projects, again, for those of us that don't like group projects, I was one of those people, full disclosure, I I didn't want to entrust part of my grade to someone else.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: I did not want my GPA to live and die by the failures of those around me in my school.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because they didn't care like I cared.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't want my future, like I wanted my future.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why why do I need to do a group project?
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, looking back, I see that group projects were helpful for me because even if they weren't as efficient, even if I maybe didn't get the grade I wanted, it wasn't about the grade I was getting.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually about how it helped me learn how to work together with other people.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, as we turn to Ephesians chapter 4, we're gonna see that God has given us as Christians a group project, and it lasts for a lifetime.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And whether you like a group project or not, if you're following Jesus, you're a part of the team.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: You are a part of the group.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so that gets us to Ephesians 4 right now.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And just to remind you all, uh, these first three chapters, Paul did quite a few things, right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: He was saying some big words, all right.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was teaching us.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: He was using words like election, predestination, holiness, redemption, forgiveness, talking about all these big things.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: And just to summarize Ephesians 1 through 3 for us to catch our brains up, it's simply this that our salvation is first to last a work of God, so that he might get all of the glory, and that we would have no reason to boast.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so that we would live in unity with one another, disregarding all of our differences we may have.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Paul was defending his uh right to apostleship.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if you guys remember, there were also two prayers.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we have Paul teaching, we have Paul praying, and Wes uh faithfully for us last week unpacked for us that last prayer where Paul is praying for the church in Ephesus that they would have strength in their spirits to know the love of God in Christ for them.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had Paul teaching, we have Paul praying, and he's just spelling out what the gospel is.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And now, guys, as we turn to chapter four, we're gonna go from teaching and praying to exhorting, to encouraging.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now that Paul has helped us reflect on all that God has done for us, he's gonna look at the Ephesians, he's gonna look at us and say, What are you gonna do with this?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do with such a great redemption?
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: How are you going to respond to the love God has so freely given you in Jesus?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what he's after.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: That is his interest tonight.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you guys are in Ephesians 4, say, let's go.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, there you go.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still working on my trademark.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna keep stealing from Joe.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you, Ephesians, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: In saying he ascended, what does it mean, but that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: 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 counting, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: 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.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God for us tonight, friends, and it should be believed and received as such.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, Lord, it's a long passage tonight.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the next few weeks are gonna be long passages, and I know even as I'm reading that out loud, I'm sure some of the students here are already starting to drone off a little bit.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Seventeen verses we're reading tonight.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna understand it?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: But Lord, you are faithful.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: You are faithful to us.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: You will you have given us your spirit to help us know what you're trying to communicate to us.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray for the students tonight that they would catch a vision for what your church is and what your church does.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: And how, if they've already professed faith in Christ, they have become a part of that church.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And would you set a fire in them tonight to be eager to do the work together?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's in your son Jesus' name that we pray.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, guys, so my goal is to move through this.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I know we got 16 verses here, but my my goal is just to point out the main things that are happening.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Get us to some application and get us into our group so we can unpack it some more.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound good?
• 7:17
  unknown: Yes.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: All right, awesome.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, big idea.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Big idea is simply this, friends.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: We must live in light of the unity of the gospel with the gifts God has given us to build each other up in love.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's a long one, but we'll hit each part of that big idea tonight together.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we must live in light of the unity of the gospel with the gifts God has given us to build each other up in love.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say it one more time.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: We must live in light of the unity of the gospel, with the gifts God has given us to build each other up in love.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, you'll see at the top of your notes that I've titled the sermon, The Church in Action.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: We've been given a group, a project, and this big idea is the blueprint for how we work together as a team.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know it's a little bit of a longer of a big idea.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have it uh finished, I'm gonna buy you a little bit more time.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, guys, this 16 verses is split up into three parts.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is trying to get this big idea through to us in three different parts.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: He has a call to unity, he has the basis for unity in the local church, and then he tells us what the goal of this unity is in the life of the church.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so, guys, let's start in verses one through three, the call that Paul gives us to unity.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what we'll see here, friends, in verses one through three, you'll catch it from the big idea, is that we must live in light of the gospel.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: We must live in light of the gospel.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Paul transitions from his prayer that the church be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he transitions and he says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Why does Paul remind them that he's a prisoner of the Lord again?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Remember in chapter three, he already spelled out that he was a prisoner of the Lord.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why is he doing it again?
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because Paul's trying to get through to him.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I'm not asking you to do anything I haven't already done.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I've got skin in the game just like you do too.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel has literally led me to a prison cell.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just asking you to live with the example that I've set for you.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so he says, I, Paul, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you, he's calling them what?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: To walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we've been called.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And now, guys, that word walk in the original language, it just has the idea of life.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I urge you to live.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: That could be another way to say it.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I'm asking you, Ephesians, to live in such a manner that's worthy of the calling.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now, guys, what is the calling Paul is referring to here?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, the call that Paul is referring to here is all the way back in Ephesians 1.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: The hope to which he has called us that we've been redeemed.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: We've been reconciled to our God.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: All of chapters 1 through 3.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's the therefore, and that's the call that Paul is referring to for the Ephesians.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so what he's saying for them is, friends, here is one side of the wait scale.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Here is everything that God has done for you in Christ.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's redeemed you to him, he's redeemed you to all the other people who have called on him to be saved, he's given you life eternal, he's given you redemption, he's secured your faith, he's given you the Holy Spirit to live inside you.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: All of these riches are here on one side of the scale.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul's going to the other side of the scale and saying, Over here, your life.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Does it measure up to everything that Christ has done for you?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: When you put it on the scale, do the scales level out?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or does it just lean on one side and it's unequal?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's telling them this gospel that you've believed, it should change you.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it should change the way you live.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then he goes on to say how they should live.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: They should live with all humility and gentleness.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, humility is simply this it's not thinking less of yourself, and it's not thinking more of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: When we're called to live in light of the gospel, the gospel should lead us to humility.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: The gospel, right, friends, go back to Ephesians 2, verse 8.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have no reason to boast because our salvation is not our own.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we forget ourselves.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: We forget ourselves because we're so caught up thinking about how great this God is that we serve.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we forget ourselves because we think of how great a gift it is to care for the person sitting to the right and left of you.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have humility, but we also have gentleness.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, this verb, this word also refers to the idea of meekness.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what is gentleness and meekness?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it'd be helpful to think about what the opposite of it is.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: The opposite of meekness and gentleness is violence.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: And by violence, I don't just mean you're like going around murdering people.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: By violence, I mean you don't have control over your emotions.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you are prone to lash out, if you're prone to anger or despair or to sadness, or as soon as something bad happens or unexpected happens, you can't handle it.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, that's not living in light of the sure, steadfast anchor of hope we have in the gospel.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're called to live in humility and gentleness or meekness.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, friends, meekness isn't weakness.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, as a as a Christian rapper Shylin once said, he said, meek isn't weak.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Try being meek for a week.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's a bar.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Write it down.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's a bar right there, friends.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know it is.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're shaking your head, but you know, meek isn't weak, try being meek for a week.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: You do not, you guys don't understand, meekness is this idea of having control over your heart and your emotions and your will.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's not losing your temper, it's not losing your brain every time something wrong happens or something doesn't go the way you'd like.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: We are humble and we're gentle.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Not only that, but we're patient.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what are we patient with?
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Bearing with one another and love.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: You see, guys, this Christian life has a very natural horizontal angle to it.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're to be humble, we're to be gentle, and we're to be patient in regards to what?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Bearing with one another and love.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: You are to not think about yourself more than you think about the person to your right or left.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: You are not to lash out at the person to your right and your left, you are to maintain composure.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: When your friend to the right and left of you here inevitably sin against you.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you're to be patient with them, bearing with them in love.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the gospel.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Was Christ not humble in leaving glory and taking on human flesh?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Was he not gentle and not going straight to judging you the first time you sinned?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Was he not patient, bearing with you?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And is he not still patient and bearing with you?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're still wrestling with sin.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so, friends, in the same way, we're to bear with one another in love.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: What does this look like?
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like when that person in small group tonight gives the answer to the question, but it doesn't really answer the question.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: They go off on a tangent and they say something really weird.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: It means you don't giggle with your friends next to you and put them down.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: It means you just nod along, say, yes.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I hear you.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you're here.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for answering that question.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you step to them in love and you get to know them instead of just putting them down.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: It means when the person here that you're really close with, that's best friends with you, when they fail you, it means you're way more quick to forgive than you are to hold a grudge against them.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Notice how he goes forward, how Paul goes forward.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: He says we're to be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, we are bound together in peace because of what God has done, and we're to be eager to do this.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're to be eager to deal with one another's flaws and idiosyncrasies and differences.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: That idea of eager has the idea of when you wake up, this is like what you can't wait to do.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: When you wake up on Sunday, you're like, I can't wait to get in a room with all these other sinners that love Jesus and love them and point them towards Him.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It means when you come back here on Sunday night, you're like, I can't wait to be here.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you here, I know you come here just because your parents made you.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I was in middle school, so I'm not looking down on you for that.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to see the gospel calls you to something radically different.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than showing up here just because your parents made you, what if you showed up here because this is your chance to obey this command of Jesus and to give him glory?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: To be eager to come here.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: To display the power of the Spirit and to live out the bond of peace that we have together.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, Paul can't give us commands without simply going back to promises that God has given us to help us obey these commands.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: So he goes on teaching them.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the call to unity.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, if you know me, those first three verses are not something we're naturally prone to do.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so he gives us the basis or the bedrock or the way by which we can live out this unity together.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Namely, the first point I want us to see is that God creates our unity.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: In verses one or verses four through six, Paul uses the term one seven times.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting about the number seven, if you guys don't know this in the scripture, is that the number seven actually represents the number of completion or perfection.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't think Paul is uh, you know, just playing around or just kind of laxidasically throwing out these seven different one statements.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's saying God has so saved us in such a way, and he has made us one in these seven different ways to represent that his work is complete and perfect in us.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna live it out together.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: He says that we have one body, which is the church.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: We have one spirit, the Holy Spirit.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have one hope, the hope of eternal life with God.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: We have one Lord, Jesus.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have one faith, meaning there's only one way to be saved, which is Jesus.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have one baptism.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: I want to camp out there for a second.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is actually saying that baptism, what we do here on Sundays, we actually have one coming up on November 15th, that is part of how we experience the unity of the people of God.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so I this is just an aside right now, this isn't a main point, but I want to say if there are any of you in here today that say you profess faith in Christ, and you have not taken that step of obedience and following the Lord's command to be baptized, you're missing out on a very important means that God gives us to enjoy unity in the life of his church that we would not receive other ways if we had not been baptized.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: So if you haven't been baptized, that's my plug.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: November 15th, this coming Sunday.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have questions about more of what baptism means, talk to your adult leader tonight.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let it go.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Don't wait, don't delay.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you know Jesus, come to the water.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus' easiest command to obey is to get a little wet.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll leave it there.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every other command is way harder after that, trust me.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll leave that there.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: But we have one God who's the Father, who's over all and through all and in all.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And so God has created our unity in this way.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: We have one Spirit living in us, we have one Son, Jesus, one Lord who's died for us.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have one Father who's ordained everything and lives in all things.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: We have all this, and that's what creates our unity.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: But going on, God also gives us the means for unity.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: God doesn't even, God doesn't just create our unity through our shared faith, through baptism, through having the triune God and being in relationship with Him.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: He also gives us the means for unity.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, Paul goes on and says, Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: And by grace there, guys, he doesn't mean saving grace.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: He means grace is in the idea of gift.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: So gifts were given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul does this weird thing where he says, Therefore it says, and now he's quoting scripture.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to write this down, Paul's actually quoting Psalm 68, 18.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in Psalm 68, 18, it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, guys, give me like one minute to nerd out on some Bible stuff because it's important.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Does that sound good?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can you guys give me one minute?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, Psalm 68.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Psalm written by David where God is reflecting on God's work of salvation in the Exodus in Egypt, right?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you all remember Egypt, right?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Israel being in Egypt and the you know the Red Sea moment.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Woo! Oh my gosh, it's split, dry ground, we're going out.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Paul or David is reflecting on that in this psalm.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when he says, when he ascended on high, he's referring to Yahweh, when he leads the people of Israel to Mount Sinai.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And when God goes up to Mount Sinai, he's like a king.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's leading a host of captives that he saved from this war.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: And he's giving gifts to them.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what gifts is this Psalm referring to?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, guys, what's interesting is as the Israelites were leaving Egypt, he actually told them to knock on the Egyptians' door and ask them to give them their treasures.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what's crazy?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: The Israelites knocked on the Egyptians' doors, and the Egyptians just started giving them gold and silver and all this other kind of stuff.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is actually in Psalm 68, if you turn back, it doesn't say he gave gifts to men, but it says he received gifts from men.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: The people of Israel went to Sinai, and as Yahweh was there on the mountain, they laid down all their gold and silver and gave it to him.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: So why is Paul switching it?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of saying he received gifts, he gave gifts.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Well, guys, the reason he's switching it isn't because he's just changing the scripture.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's saying he gave gifts because the idea of receiving gifts as a king means the one.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: The same.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: You see, when kings would go out to war back in the day, they would receive the spoils of the war for all their troopers and their soldiers.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: So Yahweh's being presented as this great warrior king.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then as soon as he receives those gifts from the people, he actually divvies them back up and gives them back to the people to serve him.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what's so interesting, verses 9 and 10, I'm not going to get too far into it, but basically what Paul is saying there in verses 9 and 10 is that Jesus is fulfilling that.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the true king that goes up on the mountain when he ascended back into heaven.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And after he ascended back into heaven, friends, what did he send to us?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Who did he send to us?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the Holy Spirit divvies up all the riches Christ has won for us.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And he's given us gifts from the Holy Spirit so that we, as soldiers of the true victorious King, would employ our gifts to build each other up.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Paul goes on to say what some of those main gifts are.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: He goes on to say the apostles and the prophets.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys remember Ephesians 2, we already talked about Ephesians 2, where it says that the cornerstone of the church is built on the apostles and prophets.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no longer any apostles and prophets, but what they taught, the New Testament scripture that we have, and the Old Testament as well, he gave us them to give us the authoritative teaching of God.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Not only does he give us that, the Spirit gives us evangelists.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: And evangelists are still around today.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: They are those people who are very distinctly and predominantly given this gift of being able to share the gospel with other people in places where it hasn't been shared.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: This idea of evangelist really gives the idea of missionary.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, what's amazing is this thing written 2,000 years ago is still happening.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: God is still sending missionaries to places where the gospel has not yet been reached.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that is a gift God gives the church.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Not only that, he gives the shepherds and teachers.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: And friends, these words are the other words used in the New Testament for elders and pastors.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: God has given us elders and pastors to teach us.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, do you not realize that the unity you're called to do or to protect that God has given us in the gospel?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: The elders and the pastors of this church, that's their task.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's their role.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: They're here to teach you sound doctrine.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're here to pray for you.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: They're here to guide you and care for your souls.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that we start doing that together.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: That we start doing that together.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so, guys, even though God calls us to unity, he doesn't leave us to our own devices.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're not called to do anything that God hasn't already given us the gifts to do it.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so we go from the basis of unity to the goal of unity, which is simply this: the goal of unity.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why is unity in the church so important?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Why is this receiving elders and missionaries and people, why is this so important?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it important to live in light of the gospel, to bear with one another, to maintain the unity of the Spirit?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because the goal is that we build each other up in love.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: We build each other up in love.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so this, we pivot to verse 12.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why did Jesus give us the apostles and the prophets to give us the Old and New Testaments, all of the scripture?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why is He given us missionaries to go out to the ends of the earth to share the gospel?
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why has God given us elders and pastors in local churches?
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 12.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: To equip the saints.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys remember in Ephesians 1, that's you and me.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: You and I are saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, friends, what this is saying is this.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you do weightlifting because you're on a sports team?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people that aren't on the sports team, you're okay, so you'll understand this.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't lift weights or anything like that, that's okay, bear with me.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially, what this is saying is that God has given elders and pastors in this church, and really anyone else in your life in this church that is more mature than you in the faith that's come alongside you to be a personal trainer, to be a weightlifting coach.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: And now, guys, if you know anything about a personal trainer, you know that when you get a personal trainer, the goal isn't for them to do all the work for you.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how silly would it be if, I don't know, you're working out with a personal trainer, they're showing you how to do a lap pull downs, you know, they're showing you perfect form, boom, boom, boom, all that.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then they turn around to you and they say, all right, now watch me do it for three more sets, and then we'll go on to the next thing.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, that would be that would be silly.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what personal trainers do.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're not there to do the work for you, they're there to show you proper form and help you to grow and mature and develop your muscles.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: And friends, it's the same for the elders and the pastors of this church.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's the same for me and the adult leaders in this student ministry.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Friends, we're not here to do the work for you.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're not here to show off how mature we are as Christians and have you guys watch us the whole time.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, guys, we're here to show you guys the proper form, the proper technique and the shape of the Christian life, and then say, hey, you go do it.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're safe, we'll watch you, okay?
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: You got a spotter.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you mess up, we'll come alongside you and let you know.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, that's the goal.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, I'm afraid so often that we grow up in church and we hear words like ministry.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: It says to do the work of the ministry, and we think, ooh, ministry.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's like what professional Christians do, like Gabe.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: Gabe's paid by the church.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: So he does the ministry, and we just receive the good of the ministry.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: But friends, Paul tells us it's us, it's all of us together.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: We do the work of ministry.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: And ministry isn't like you throw on a really cool t-shirt and you wear a lanyard and boom, ministry.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing ministry.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: No shame to that.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know some of you are in the kids' ministry, you got your doxa kids shirt, that's great.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, that's not the vision Paul gives for ministry.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: He says it's our work to do it to, and what is ministry?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Building up the body of Christ.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that we might have faith and knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to measure up to the stature of the fullness of Jesus.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: That is the ministry.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: So for any of you that proclaim Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're on the group project.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I don't come up here Sunday night after Sunday night to teach you the word.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: For you to walk away and say, that was a really nice sermon tonight.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or walk away and say, I just can't believe my parents keep making me come here.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: My goal in being here, and hopefully the other adult leaders' goals in being here with you guys on Sunday nights is to show you how to build each other up into maturity.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: This passage is saying that one of your greatest focuses in your life is seeing to it that the person to you to your right and to your left is looking more like Jesus today than they were yesterday.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're here for.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I spend time praying over throughout the week.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I that's why I spend hours preparing for the sermon.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I try to meet with some of you students throughout the week as time allows.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I spend so much time with these adult leaders to help love them and care for them so that way they're building you up.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you students here remember when it was just like five or six of us?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's a few of you.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: How many of you students?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, the OGs.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you noticed.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've gotten bigger.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, like a lot bigger when you think about it.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right, even from last year.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Last year we were averaging like 35 students.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're averaging like 45 to 60, give or take, any given Sunday.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna care for those new students?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna love them?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Who's gonna see them mature?
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Charlotte just said me.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm glad you're listening, Charlotte.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's you.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's you.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're the one that's gonna help see that person become meaningfully involved and matured in the stature and fullness of Christ.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, see the stakes that are at hand here.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 14 says we want to do this.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: We want to be in mature manhood, and then see the contrast in verse 14, so that we may no longer be children.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: Paul goes on to say that if we don't get involved, if we don't do the work of the ministry together as a church, as a student ministry, we're going to look like a 30-year-old man that's still living in his basement playing video games.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're gonna look like.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the picture, basically, that Paul is giving us here.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you guys, but I don't want us to look like that two or three years from now.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I think about throughout the week?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Is what kind of man or what kind of woman is gonna walk down that stage and get that diploma?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And what are they gonna look like?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: Are they gonna be more like Jesus than when I first met them?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm longing for, and that's what you should long for for each other.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna speak the truth in love to one another.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: That means when we see one another acting sideways or in sin, we lovingly go up to him and say, brother, don't do that.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sister, don't do that.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's not for you.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what we do here.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: We don't gossip, we don't slander, we don't put each other down, we bear with one another.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, friends, a good example of what this looks like: building each other up in love, doing the work of the ministry.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: It can literally be something as simple as this, and these two people don't even know.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna mention their name right now.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: But uh Zoe the other week, what's up, Zoe, uh asked my wife, Lexi, hey, do you want to like meet with me once a week and study the Bible with me?
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: My sweet wife, who's caring for our sweet little daughter, said yes.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Of course I will.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: And they started meeting last week.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not putting both of them up as like, look, they're amazing.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone follow Lexi and Zoe, be better.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm saying, guys, it's as simple as that.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's what building each other up to maturity looks like.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Have you guys ever considered asking your adult leader to study the Bible with you throughout the week?
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're busy, but I'm sure the worst they can say is no, not yet, no, not yet, or give me some time to work it out in my schedule.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Have you considered that?
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: Or asking someone else in the church who's who's another trusted adult to walk alongside you.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever considered, I don't know, doing like a Zoom call or a FaceTime call with your small group throughout the week to touch point with one another before school and pray with one another.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: When someone shares a sin that they're wrestling with from the week before, do you follow up with them in the week and say, hey, I remember you said this.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: How's that going?
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: We complicate ministry and the Christian life so much, friends, but it's as simple as those examples that I'm giving you.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the vision of the church that Paul gives us, that every one of us is stepping in to work for the maturity of each other's walk with Jesus Christ, that we might attain the fullness he has won for us.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so my question to you is do you have skin in the game?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna get involved?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna step out?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna cut through the awkwardness?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: And are you gonna really get to know and belong to one another?
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen it.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Boys, I saw it at summer camp.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: That one friend of ours shared a very difficult thing going on in his family, and the first thing you guys did was drop everything, gather up around him and pray.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: That should be a weekly thing, that should be a daily thing for you guys.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen you do it.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies in the room, I don't I don't know if you know this, but you know, I get reports from your small with your from your adult leaders, not bad things, but I hear how you guys are doing this and growing in this.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can do it.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: You are not a sub-Christian.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're not a Christian in waiting.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: You're a Christian now.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the role we get to play.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, I'm gonna leave us with that.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray for us and we're gonna get into small groups.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: That sound good?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you that you have not left us without your grace and your mercy and your power to live out this vision you have for the Christian life.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: For life in the church, the church in action.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray for our students tonight in small group that you would help them figure out how to apply these truths, how to walk in light of these truths by your strength and not their own.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, would our student ministry be a place where every single student is working towards this grand vision of seeing us built up together into the maturity of Jesus Christ.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Love Himself.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's in your Son's name that we pray.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right, guys.