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Grace Was Given to Each of Us Eph 4:7-32 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Here's what we call Ephesians chapters 4 through 6, where God's exhortation to a worthy or balanced walk. The last time we met two weeks ago, Alex explained the covenant idea as applied to the book of Ephesians. That the covenant provisions of chapters 1 through 3 serve as a backdrop for the covenant stipulation given in verse 1. Where the Apostle Paul says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy.
• 0:27
  Which will be followed eventually, chapters 4, 5, and 6, beginning tonight, by the covenant blessings or curses, depending on the believer's adherence. And as was discussed in our very first evening together in January.
• 0:38
  We read doctrine in chapters one through three. As Alex said yesterday, there is a major turning point with that one word in chapter four in verse one, the word therefore. And he encouraged us, as we've heard before, anytime we see therefore to ask what it's there for. And the point is that the apostle, the author's subject matter is going to change based on everything from chapters one through three. The doctrine that we now know, how should we then live? And Alex said something that was startling to me. I had never heard.
• 1:07
  before two weeks ago when he said that the number of commands in chapters one through three are almost minuscule, almost nil, right? Really one command in the first three chapters, one command and it's chapter two in verse 11 where he just says, remember, remember, it's not even necessarily a command so much as it is a call to remembrance. Chapters one through three, one command. Chapters four through six. Does anybody remember how many? 54.
• 1:41
  Fifty-four direct commands, fifty-four imperatives in the last three chapters. So you can tell the first three chapters are didactic, they're teaching. The last three chapters are practice in light of our position in heaven, knowing that all of that is true, that we have heaven to look forward to. How should we then live? As I've worded it there in your notes, chapters one through three, regarding the position of the believer in heaven while on earth.
• 2:09
  While we read a practice in chapters four through six regarding the life of the believer on earth in light of heaven, because we have that to look forward to. How should we live now? Well, the essence of the passage this morning, this evening before us this evening is a celebration, a celebration, but not of what mankind has done for God, which is most of the time what we celebrate.
• 2:36
  We celebrate our spiritual heroes. We celebrate our own accomplishments. And there's nothing wrong with doing that. But sometimes I feel like we over-celebrate what we have done for God and at times neglect what God has done for us. We talk about leaving our mark. We talk about leaving a legacy.
• 2:59
  We name schools and buildings and structures after one another like these would be the ultimate accomplishments that can be endowed to mankind. But rather, Ephesians chapter 4 celebrates what God has done for those who have trusted his son. Tonight's passage will challenge us to ask, who cares what we have done? And says instead, look at and rejoice over what God has done.
• 3:28
  If you guys have your Bibles open, we'll begin in verse 7. And I've titled verses 7 through 13, The Giving of Grace. And it's pretty obvious why I've titled it that, based on the first verse. Notice verse 7. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. The grace described here by Paul is not grace unto salvation, but instead grace for ministry.
• 3:55
  That worthy walk of two weeks ago is carried out through the ministry of the gift this week. So he issues a call in chapter four in verse one, and he gives us the means to accomplish that call in chapter four, verse seven. He calls us to ministry in verse one and then says, and I will empower you for the call.
• 4:16
  In verse 7, Paul uses almost identical language to chapter 3 in verse 8 when he describes the grace given to him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. The apostle Paul, as you recall, called himself even minister or missionary to the Gentiles. He was called to the Gentiles the way that the apostle Peter and others were called to the Jews.
• 4:35
  And he says, not only did I receive a call from God, but I was also empowered to go and accomplish that call. You see, God will never call you to do that which he does not prepare you to do and provide for you to do. Very simply put, where God guides, he provides. Where God guides, he provides. And I know that most of the time we apply that to financial things, and it is true, but it is not restricted entirely to financial things.
• 5:05
  In every area of ministry, if God has called you to evangelism, guess what he's going to do? He's going to give you the means to go and do it. If God has called you to teach, he will give you the means. If God has called you to serve, if God has called you to sacrifice for the sake of your spouse in order to have a healthy and godly marriage, guess what he will do? He will give you the means to accomplish that call. Here in verse 7 described as grace.
• 5:30
  Well, verses 7 and 8 describe grace being given as individuals. Each one of us, verse 7 says, according to the measure of Christ's gift. Each one of us. Now this is, that's weird. This word, but, is even a weird way to start. Because as you guys will recall from two weeks ago, the whole point of verses 1 through 6 was to issue this call.
• 5:52
  of a worthy walk, but not only that, it also, verses 4 through 6, talked about oneness, oneness, oneness, one spirit, one baptism, one Lord of all, Jesus Christ, right? One, one, one, one, one. Seven times, I think, in three verses. Seven times. Unity, unity, unity, unity, unity, unity, unity. And then he says in verse 7, but, like, well, wait a minute, but. You don't contradict yourself. There's a unity. How can there be a but to unity? The word for but is the same word as on the other hand.
• 6:22
  On the other hand, how can there be an on the other hand? This verse 7 is actually really startling. It's unexpected. Because what the Bible teaches is that we are unified, yes, because we serve one Lord, but that we are actually gifted individually very differently. Don't think that because we're called to unity that we are all the same.
• 6:48
  That we are gifted the same. That our call is the same. That our commissioning is the same. That the Lord's expectations on each of us is the same. Because it's not. God exercises his ability to magnify unity through diversity. And that is the beauty of the church. The beauty of the church is that every single one of us has a radically different testimony. And yet all of our testimonies are the same.
• 7:17
  The beauty of the church is that every single one of us has a radically different calling in the church. And yet all of us serve the same Lord in the same body. Unity through diversity. Verse 7 says, Peter O'Brien says it this way. But the diversity contributes to the unity of the body. Since Christ giving, giving different gifts to each is for the purpose of enriching the whole. So that all are prepared for full maturity when they meet their Lord.
• 7:47
  It is of vital importance for us to understand that this grace in which we stand, Romans chapter 5 verse 2 says, not only saves but also enables. That's first, the giving of grace individually. Now verses 8 through 10 are kind of an aside here. And as he has done frequently throughout the book, there's kind of a parenthetical thought. Notice verses 8 through 10. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts.
• 8:16
  So when he ascended, right, the Holy Spirit came. When the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts chapter 1, he sent the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2, and spiritual gifts were given to the church. And then in verse 9, it's as if he's saying, now when I talk about him ascending, don't forget that he also descended. Look at verse 9. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended.
• 8:51
  These two verses, specifically verses 9 and 10, form a parenthetical thought teaching on one of the basic doctrines, although I think not an essential doctrine of Christ. No one argues about what the ascension of Christ means. After being resurrected from the dead, Acts chapter 1 verse 9 says that Christ was taken to heaven.
• 9:16
  But the descension is more difficult to interpret. I think it's probably making reference, although I would hold this loosely, probably making reference to the fact that he descended into hell. Descended into hell when his body was laying in the tomb. The possibility is that his spirit was actually in hell preaching a message of victory, I believe. 1 Peter 3 and verse 19, I think, corroborates that.
• 9:45
  But I think that's probably what it's talking about. Descending into hell and then resurrecting and ascending into heaven. So that's first. Grace given to individuals through diversity of gifts. But notice second. The grace of God is given to the church corporately as a whole, as a body. Notice verses 11 to 13. It says, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.
• 10:16
  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. Do you ever consider the fact that more than likely your testimony is linked directly to the influence of another believer?
• 10:43
  Almost every one of us, unless there was some miraculous revelation for you and your testimony differs greatly from others, almost every one of us came to Christ through the direct contact with some other believer at some point in our lives. I had a very good friend who did not consider himself to be an evangelist who said, and he heard this I think through...
• 11:06
  Billy Graham's ministry but that on average the average believer hears the gospel distinctly seven different times before they believe seven different times
• 11:17
  You can imagine the Lord putting people in our lives strategically over and over and over. Many of us, our parents, our family and friends, some of us complete strangers, right? Door to door evangelists or missionaries from a far off land. And they've come and they will share the gospel with us over and over. And the Lord weaving that tapestry of the gospel together so that we would eventually come to faith in Christ. What he's saying here in verses 11 to 13.
• 11:44
  is that other people play an integral role in our development and maturity spiritually. Not only did we come to Christ through the influence of others, but we actually grow in our sanctification through the influence of others as well. It wasn't people that just called us to Christ, and now suddenly we're on our own. But the Lord gives...
• 12:06
  Specific offices, and I believe today through the church, but specific offices whose job is to lead you and call you to Christ. And notice he calls them apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers in verse 11. Let's look at the first one, apostles and prophets. Apostles and prophets. Now Paul's statement above teaches not only the divine gifting of each of these individuals.
• 12:33
  but also, I think, suggests their chronological significance. Apostles and prophets came first, then the evangelists, although that spills over today, and then shepherds and teachers, I believe, making reference to pastoral ministry in the church. Apostles and prophets, the first category, were given three basic tasks. First, to lay the foundation of the church. Hold your finger where we are and just go to the left a page.
• 13:04
  In Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 20, it says that the church, the members of the household of God, are being built upon the foundation of who? The apostles and prophets. Do you see that? That category, apostles in the New Testament, prophets in the Old Testament, existed in order to build the foundation for the church, Christ Jesus himself, this says, being the chief cornerstone. That was their first job.
• 13:34
  to build the foundation of the church. Second, apostles and prophets were to receive and to preach God's word. In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 5, it says, verse 4 says, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations, as it has now been revealed to who? To his apostles and prophets.
• 14:05
  By the Spirit. Is this not working? No. Interesting. No, it's going. Green. I'm sorry, you guys. We're having all kinds of problems. Let's use this. Entire thing. Well, we survived the Genesis Cyclone Thunderbomb. Hit hard reset. I apologize. I don't know what's going on. The second primary task of the apostles and prophets was to receive and preach God's Word. If you look at Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 5. The mystery of Christ.
• 14:40
  verse 5 picks up, was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets. So the second job of an apostle and prophet was to receive the word of God and also to preach the word of God. The third job of the apostles and the prophets was specifically to confirm the word of God through miraculous signs. To confirm the word of God through miraculous signs. 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
• 15:09
  And verse 12 says this. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. Now, it is my opinion, and I would hold that it is the clear teaching of Scripture that the offices of apostles and prophets were needed only as long as the Scriptures were being completed. So I don't believe that the Scripture teaches that the office...
• 15:38
  of apostle or the office of prophet exists today. Once the canon was complete, the gift of these offices became obsolete. The apostles and prophets are no longer distributed. Now, that's what I said. What did I not say? That God no longer does miracles. You didn't hear me say that. I do not believe.
• 16:10
  You can read this book and only this book and come away with the conclusion that God has stopped doing the miraculous. That makes no sense to me at all. Unless you're reading somebody's commentary to help you color and filter your understanding of this book, I don't believe so at all. I believe that God still does the miraculous. And you say, well, how does that work? Now, I'm going to have to tell you a joke in order to illustrate. You guys laugh at the appropriate time.
• 16:39
  Three churches, a Baptist church, a Methodist church, and a Presbyterian church, decided they were going to work together to sponsor a community-wide revival. They decided they would do a community work day as outreach. And so they decided they were going to clean up their town. They were going to mend and paint fences. They were going to help people weed their gardens. They were going to help people fix their roofs. And after the revival had concluded,
• 17:03
  The three pastors of those three churches, the Methodist, the Baptist, and the Presbyterian, were discussing the results with one another. The Methodist pastor said, the revival worked out great for us. We got four new families. The Presbyterian pastor said, that's nothing. We did even better. We gained six new families. The Baptist pastor said, well, I can beat all of you.
• 17:31
  We got rid of 10 of our biggest troublemakers. So as I talk about miraculous signs and giftings and all of that, just understand that if you disagree with me on this one, I can recommend a nice Methodist church down the street. Honestly, you guys know me. This is not the biggest deal in the world to me. Honestly, I don't care.
• 17:59
  Cessationism, apostolic, Pentecostal, does not matter. I don't care. What do you believe about Jesus Christ? That's what the big thing hits in the Bible. What do you believe about the atonement? What do you believe about the blood of Jesus? What do you believe about life after death? What do you believe about his return to claim his bride? I mean, that's what matters in the book. But now, all of that being said, let me explain why I think miraculous gifts exist today, even with the...
• 18:29
  I was going to say cessation, but that is not a good word to use in this context. The stopping of the gifting of apostles and prophets. I believe that if you look at the history of mankind, you'll notice, and through biblical history, that there have been periods in which the Lord has worked miraculously in greater ways than in other ways.
• 18:47
  Right? The time of Moses. I mean, great Red Sea parts and, you know, manna and all of that stuff. I mean, it just doesn't happen like that anymore, it seems. The time of Elijah and Elisha. I mean, there were prophets all through the Old Testament, but not like those guys. There was something special about them. Daniel and the period around him. I mean, there's these massive miracles happening, unprecedented seemingly, right? Obviously, the time of Jesus.
• 19:16
  and then the first century apostles. There was an outpouring of miraculous gifts, unlike other times, it seems, in history. Now, that is not to say that God does not continue to do miracles or perform miracles at other times. But I do believe that Scripture teaches that the signed gifts were disseminated primarily, and that word is the key word, primarily for the purpose of legitimizing the ministry of the Scripture writers of the first century.
• 19:44
  So when we talk about the signs of the apostle, what we mean by that is a special outpouring of grace, miraculous grace, on those who would pin and then have to prove the New Testament writings. Right? In a degree, in a way that has never happened since. So the question becomes, if the miraculous sign gifts were disseminated primarily for the purpose of legitimizing the ministry of the scripture writers of the first century,
• 20:18
  then are there places on earth where the church is still stuck in the first century? Does that make sense? I don't know that I've ever read this anywhere, which might mean it's heresy. No, I'm just kidding. I've got this idea that there is still the Spirit of God going out to the furthest ends of the earth.
• 20:43
  That's what the book of Acts says. It is going to continue to go out to the furthest ends of the earth. Now, the church was begun in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and then to the furthest ends of the world. And the church is still taking the gospel to the furthest ends of the earth. There are places on earth where the gospel hasn't even reached yet. Does that make sense? In essence, they're still in the first century, right? What we understand as the first century in Jerusalem, they're still in. The gospel is still making its way.
• 21:12
  And I do believe that there is a possibility, and I think that evidence even suggests that in places like these, especially in third world countries or many places in Asia and Africa where you have tribes that haven't even been reached yet, there is a possibility that God is pouring out miraculous grace the way that he did 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem.
• 21:36
  But today, in places like the Philippines, and places like China, and places like Indonesia, and places like Africa, where you hear about these stories of people who are experiencing radical miraculous signs. Not like I had a headache once, and I got, you know, touched on the forehead, but I also took an Advil, and now my headache is gone. It's a miracle.
• 21:58
  You know, I'm not talking about that stuff. I'm not talking about unverifiable miracles, okay? I'm talking about, man, this guy didn't have an arm and an arm grew back. This lady was on her deathbed and the elders prayed for her and she was raised. I mean, that stuff, you hear reports about this happening. And you guys, there is a possibility, I believe, that the Holy Spirit works tangibly in those ways. And oh, you say, well, why not here? Why not here?
• 22:28
  Why can't we see that here? Why not Denver, Colorado? You guys, I don't hear reports like that in Denver, Colorado. Not like that. I'm not saying people don't get healed. I'm not saying that, I mean, miracles, they're happening. But why not like that? What would be the answer? Because we what? Because we've got the Bible. I think that there is a tendency in modern American churches to beg for the miraculous while we neglect the written word.
• 22:59
  We want more, we want the extra credit, but we don't want to do our homework. Right? And I believe that God first and foremost, primarily the primary and normative means that God has used to reveal himself to us has been the written word of God revealing the Son of God. Gotta be questions. How many toes did I step on there? You guys good? You with me? What do you guys think? We're allowed to do this on Wednesdays. Sundays we don't.
• 23:41
  We do. We do. We have resources unlike in other places in the world. But nevertheless, James chapter 5 says that if any one of you is sick, he should call together the elders of the church. They should come anoint him with oil and pray. And I've been asked, Pastor Danny, what does that do? Answer, I have no idea. I don't know. The Bible says to do it.
• 23:59
  If you're sick, call the elders of the church together. Have them anoint you with oil and pray. Did you guys know I have a little vial of oil? I have it in my office. If people call and we say, all right, we're going to put together the elders of the church. We're going to anoint their head with oil and we're going to pray because that's what the Bible says to do. And then we're going to encourage them to seek medical professional help. All right. But you guys, yeah, of course. Why would God stop? Why would God stop healing? It doesn't. Yeah. What do you guys think?
• 24:29
  We're allowed to talk about this. What's that? Yeah, Isaiah has talked to us. Isaiah de Lorenzo, our missionary in Peru, has talked to us about some of these same, he gives testimony to some of these same evidences. The miraculous outpouring of God's grace in a place where people don't necessarily have the written word of God. Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:57
  You guys know I meet with several guys in my office on Tuesday mornings. I invited Alex to come yesterday, and we actually got into this topic a little bit, right? Have you ever seen the miraculous where you are? And it seems to be that there is a more radical outpouring there than here. And I think, and you guys understand I'm careful when I say these things. I'm not drawing hard lines, and I'm not saying you've got to believe like this. I think that the Scripture would support that.
• 25:26
  That God continues to do the miraculous. And that we can even pray to him for miracles. Absolutely. Absolutely. Liz just said he saved her. And if he can save Liz, that's a miracle. No questions. We'll move on. Second category he mentions there is evangelists. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 4. Evangelists. It says in verse 11, he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists. Evangelists are simply men and women who proclaim the good news. Every person who...
• 25:58
  proclaims the good news of Jesus Christ is an evangelist. They are those who preach Christ where he has not yet been named. Now that can be cross-cultural missionary work in a place where he has never been named. It can also be to the guy who lives next door. You can be an evangelist by going and proclaiming the good news.
• 26:15
  To the man or woman who lives next door to you. Then, Matthew 28 says, after they believe, then you teach them to obey everything that Christ commanded. An evangelist would say then, and then we move on to new territory. Handing them over to the third group of gifted men and women who verse 11 calls pastors and teachers. Now these two words refer, I believe, to the same individual. Shepherds and teachers, I think, is the same office.
• 26:45
  A pastor is also a shepherd. In fact, the words are used interchangeably. In fact, the words are the same. Pastor comes from pasture. It is a shepherd. 1 Peter 5, verses 1 and 2. Say this, So I exhort the elders among you, the elders of the church, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God that is among you. So you'll notice the elders of the church, the word to be,
• 27:16
  Shepherds. Now teaching, I believe, is just the foremost responsibility of a pastor. A pastor's job is to make disciples just like everybody else's job is. But first and foremost, his fastball had better be teaching. Right? The pitch that you rely on most frequently is teaching. That is the job of the pastor. And though teaching can be identified as a ministry on its own,
• 27:45
  Apart from being a pastor, which is why the women of our church teach. That's why. Right? We have more women teaching now than we have ever had before. Apart from being pastors or elders, teaching can be a gift apart from that office, which is why we have so many different women teaching, including my own wife.
• 28:08
  We have, I think, seven different women from our church teaching our women's Bible study this summer, which I'm excited about more teachers being raised up, trained up than ever. In this context, however, teaching refers to the feeding of the sheep by the preaching of the word of God. Those primary offices, apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
• 28:31
  Any questions? That is the grace of God disseminated to individuals through the gifting, diverse gifting, and then to the church through offices. Any questions at all? What can I hit for you? That's first, the giving of grace. Second, I made a little clerical error. I called point two, point three, and I called point three, point two. And so point two is actually growth in grace or growing in grace.
• 28:54
  If you want to change that in your notes, they're growing in grace. Now, verses 14 to 16 deal with the Holy Spirit's purpose behind the giving of those gifts. And notice in verses 14 to 16, there is a progression that will take place both individually and corporately as the Holy Spirit's gifts are employed. And so how do we grow in that grace? Notice beginning in verse 12. In order to...
• 29:19
  So there's a purpose clause here. Why did God give all of these things, all of those offices, all of those spiritual gifts? The purpose behind them in verse 12 is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Equip the saints for the work of ministry. God desires that you be equipped. The Lord is not going to call you to do something you are not capable of doing. This last Sunday, we had our volunteers meeting.
• 29:45
  Right? And one of the things I wanted to make very clear to our volunteers is that we want volunteering at the church to be a joy to you. If you cannot stand kids, then we're not going to put you in the toddler room. Right? I mean, be free from that.
• 30:02
  Don't hesitate to volunteer because you're like, man, they only ever talk about kids ministry and I cannot stand people under four feet tall. I just can't. There's something about it. I mean, I just, I don't know the frequency of their little voices or whatever. I just can't. Guess what? You're liberated. You never have to do it. If you're like, Danny, just put me with the kids. I don't want to touch buttons. We're not going to ask you to run sound.
• 30:26
  I just don't understand it. It's overwhelming to me. There's dials and knobs and all kinds of stuff everywhere. And nobody ever notices you until things go wrong. And that's just not me. That's not for me. Wonderful. We want to put you in a place where you will be equipped to the task for the purpose of ministry. Notice he continues in verse 12. For building up of the body of Christ. God's desire for his church is to be built up.
• 30:53
  Built up to serve that we would each serve one another rather than being served. Man, I love those Chick-fil-A employees. I know it's fake. But they always seem like it really is their pleasure. Right? Every time. Like it's my pleasure. Nah, you little faker. There's 30 high school students in line and you're getting me my iced tea refill. You didn't want to do this. But you know what? Honestly.
• 31:24
  What a good example for the church. And I'm not saying that we should be fake. But is it your pleasure to serve? As we serve and work as unto the Lord, shouldn't that be our attitude? Lord, whatever you would call me to do, it's for your body, the building up of your body. It's not for me. It's not so that I can be served. For building up, I love this idea. Man, this is convicting for me. Verse 12, for the building up of the body, I wonder sometimes if people are genuinely excited to see me.
• 31:56
  Because if I'm doing a good job building people up, if people leave my presence feeling built up, then they'll be excited to be in my presence. You want to know if you're a builder or a tearing down? You want to know if you're a joy giver or a joy sucker? Ask yourself that question. Are people genuinely excited to see me? My boys love those little Capri Sun pouches.
• 32:18
  Right? You jam the straw in there if you can ever get it through. You know, it's like starting an IV, man. You know, just poking, poking, poking. You get that thing in there finally. And watching Chase just guzzle those things down. He sucks them dry. You know, and they start full. And you guys have that picture of a completely sucked dry Capri Sun. It's completely flat. You can see the outline of the straw inside. Right? And that is, honestly, that is some people's presence in the church. As much as I hate to say it.
• 32:49
  Some people are joy suckers. Like they're sucking the juice out of a Capri Sun and you leave feeling empty and dry. Some people, on the other hand, are joy givers. And man, you just feel built up. And that is the point of all of this. All of this, all of these gifts are given for the purpose of building up the body corporately, but also individually.
• 33:11
  Verse 13 talks about unity again. Look at verse 13. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, are your words and your actions toward the church and its people cheerful or are they grumbling? Do they unify or do they divide? The book of Proverbs says that a whisperer divides close friends. A whisperer. And I'm always suspect when people want to whisper something to me, especially in the church.
• 33:39
  I'm always suspect. You know, when my son's at home, it's a little bit different. You know, but when it's people here in the church, Pastor Danny, can I talk to you real quick? Everything gets hushed. You're like, why aren't you talking out loud? Sometimes it's appropriate, obviously. But sometimes you're like, you know what? I don't know. This is gossip. This is gossip. This is not for the purpose of unity. This is so that we can divide. I wonder sometimes about our speech regarding one another, even in outside circles, especially outside circles.
• 34:11
  Would others, would non-believers want to be here based on your descriptions of the church or our members? As you describe your church to your friends and family members, non-Christian neighbors and relatives, would they want to be here based on your description of the church? Is it unifying or is it dividing? Verse 13 continues, he says, and it says, of the knowledge of the Son of God. The knowledge of the Son of God.
• 34:42
  His desire is that we would know Christ above all else. Like the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 3 where he says, I count all of these things rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Compared to knowing Christ, everything is garbage. Everything I've accomplished, garbage. Compared to knowing Christ, that's who I want. We shouldn't trick ourselves into thinking that we know him simply because we talk about him a lot. There are people who talk about Jesus all the time but don't actually know him.
• 35:13
  Many, the Bible says, will say to him on that day, didn't I do these miracles? Didn't I preach in your name? Didn't I cast out demons in your name away from me? I never knew you. Continues in verse 13, to the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Maturity. Maturity. That we would grow into adults. That we would stop acting like spiritual children. And last, to sound doctrine.
• 35:46
  Verse 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 and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. To sound doctrine and to authentic love. Sound doctrine. Would you recognize a counterfeit if it were presented to you? Would you recognize a fake? If somebody preached a false gospel, would you even know? I hope that we would.
• 36:15
  To authentic love, I like that he includes that authentic idea, rather speaking the truth, in love, in genuine love, in actual love, non-hypocritical love. We all know when love is fake.
• 36:31
  And so that's growth in Christ. And what I love about this is the context seems to be the building up of the body, the giving of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, the giving of individual gifts to complement the diversity, the unity through diversity idea, seem to be that there is a necessity for one another in our spiritual maturing. This text teaches that in order to become spiritually mature, literally...
• 36:59
  men, manhood, spiritually. You must receive the gifts of God, not only individually, but also corporately. And we shouldn't think that we can walk closely with Christ and grow in maturity alone. This describes it being a social process. We've been given the church, and more specifically pastors and teachers, to help in our maturing. That's second. Growth in grace, or growing in grace, and now notice last, the goal of grace. And this one will go quickly.
• 37:30
  Verse 17, sorry, we'll continue in verse 16. From whom the whole body, he says, 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 up itself in love. Builds itself up in love. That is the goal of grace. Now notice verse 17. Now this I say, he says, and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
• 37:59
  And we live in an age and a country where at times it's difficult to tell which are Jesus lovers and which are not, right? You have very moral people who live by very high standards morally who don't claim to know Jesus. And yet there are people who do claim to know Jesus who live promiscuously. And it makes no sense. It's not always easy to see through the hypocrisy on both sides. Jesus, apart from morality, makes no sense. But neither does morality apart from Jesus. It just makes no sense.
• 38:31
  Charles Malick, Minister of Education in Lebanon and defender of the Christian cause during Lebanon's civil war, gave the commencement address dedicating the Billy Graham Center on the Wheaton campus in 1980. And in it, in his address, he said this, and I found this startling. He says, we face two tasks in our evangelism, saving the soul and saving the mind. That is converting people not only spiritually but intellectually as well.
• 38:57
  the church is lagging dangerously behind with respect to this second task. And I must be frank with you. The greatest danger confronting American evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. If I were to, before tonight, have asked you what is the greatest danger facing Christianity today, what would your answer have been? My guess is it would have been one of the many social issues that our churches are being confronted with every day.
• 39:29
  political, social issues, moral issues, abortion and transgender and same-sex marriage and those things. And my guess is those would be some of the biggest ones on our list. But he says here the greatest danger confronting American evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism. In other words, the biggest problem is that churchgoers, Christians, are thinking the wrong way. If they thought the right way, then some of those other things wouldn't be an issue. The arena...
• 39:59
  of creative thinking has been vacated and has been abdicated to the enemy. J. Gresham Machen, who wrote the Greek text that many of us used in seminary probably, said this, God usually exerts his regenerative power in connection with certain prior conditions of the human mind. In other words, he often plows the mind before he plows the heart. Does that make sense? Salvation begins in the mind.
• 40:32
  In fact, Ephesians chapter 6, I don't want to steal my own thunder here. I'm going to. When the Apostle Paul talks about the armor of God. Notice in verse 14, Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all of the flaming darts of the evil one, and take, what's it say?
• 41:06
  The helmet of salvation, that can't be coincidence. Salvation, I believe, begins in the mind. He says, connection with certain prior conditions of the human mind, and he says it should be ours to create, so far as we can, with the help of God, those favorable conditions for the reception of the gospel. In other words, if you want to change people's hearts, begin in their minds. Explain the truth to them. And I've bolded here what I want you guys to point out, what I want you to see. False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. Thinking wrong.
• 41:38
  It's what keeps people from coming to Christ. Now we may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which, by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion. I had a seminary professor who said this, I can win every single argument. I can win every single argument if you'll allow me to define the terms.
• 42:08
  If you allow me to define all of the words that are used, I will win every single argument. And that's what he's saying there. If we will allow the thought of our world to control the hearts of our world, people will never come to Christ. Mark Knoll said it this way, the problem with the modern evangelical church, I'm sorry, the problem with the modern American evangelical mind is that there is not much of it. So what do we do? How do we see the difference?
• 42:39
  According to Ephesians 4, the difference between a genuine believer and a non-believer is the way that they think. Look at verse 17 again. I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. How do the Gentiles walk? In the futility of their minds. They have not renewed their minds, right? And been transformed by it the way that Romans chapter 12 says.
• 43:10
  informed decisions and we see in this text the same theme that began in chapter 4 in verse 1 with a worthy walk but now we see that a worthy walk involves worthy thought it's as if christ is taking the church to school think this way if you want to act like me paul describes here five fundamental characteristics of the old man
• 43:35
  then follows them with three imperatives for the new man. And as we study, ask yourself, would people look at me and say, he may not be the sharpest crayon in the box, but he's been with Jesus. Has Jesus taught you how to think? Ask yourself, have I been to the school of Christ? And so notice there are two categories of people. And with this, we'll be done. For sake of time, two categories of people. First, the unlearned, those who walk in the futility of their minds.
• 44:04
  And then the learned. Look at verses 17 to 19. We'll pick up in verse 18. Describing these Gentiles, the futile thinking Gentiles, they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greed, to practice every kind of impurity.
• 44:27
  In other words, those who are unlearned, those who have refused the gospel, are in a precarious situation. He's saying, I testify in the Lord. He begins like with an urgent pleading, as if he is a loving father appealing to his wayward sons. It'd be like saying, I beg of you, for your own sake, listen to both me and to God. You're in a precarious place. But those who are futile thinkers also are not a people. Alienated from the life of God. Aliens.
• 44:55
  The word for Gentiles here is the word ethnos, which is interesting. It's where we get the word ethnic, people groups, family groups. In this context, it's a generic term for all peoples, but the nations of the first century were deemed as godless and unincorporated in the same way that the Jews were made a people when God called Abram. When God calls us to Christ, we are made a people. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9, you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people.
• 45:26
  for his own possession. So they're precariously placed. They're not a people. It says that they're futile thinkers. The word for futile is literally empty. Empty. They don't think at all. It's empty thought. They're darkened, verse 18 says, alienated, ignorant, hard. You can imagine them groping around in the darkness, blinded by their own pride, disowned, unknowing about their lack of knowledge, even...
• 45:51
  Even what truth is sown in their hearts can't penetrate to their soul. No matter how loudly or clearly the truth is proclaimed, the truth teller is doing nothing but speaking to a spiritual corpse. Dead, ignorant, alienated, hard. Verse 19 continues by saying they're given over. Given over to sensuality. Shameless, even past being able to feel, literally past being able to sense. They've lost all feeling. H.C. Mull translates this,
• 46:24
  same phrase by saying they have gotten over the pain. They've gotten over the pain of sin. And so they just give themselves wholly to it because it no longer hurts anymore. That's first the unlearned, but now notice us and the remainder of the passage. And I won't have time for all of it, but the remainder of the passage is the apostles plead to us to walk and think differently. Look at verse 20, but that is not the way you learned Christ. You learned.
• 46:51
  It began in your mind. You began to think differently. You transformed your mind so that you were renewed by it. And your life followed. The pattern of your life followed. Christ's school involves three steps. One preceded by the others. The latter two, which in my opinion are some of the most neglected imperatives in Scripture. He says to put off the old self, to put on the new self by being renewed.
• 47:17
  Not putting on the new self. And I've written there, I think, a list of things that you guys can study on your own. Putting on the new self involves your speech. It involves your temper. It involves, even in verse 27, the ability of the devil to get to you because you've taken up the armor of God. It gives you purpose in verse 28. You go from useless to useful. You become a conduit of blessing, verse 30 says. A Christ-like conduit rather than a stinky, dank, old reservoir.
• 47:47
  He'll begin to control your anger, verse 31 will say, and you'll be forgiving in all things. Faithfully forgiving. My challenge tonight, and I think the challenge from Ephesians chapter 4, is that we are careful not to erect monuments to ourselves. Let's be careful when exalting others or when others seek to exalt us. Let us be careful when seeking to leave a legacy that we don't accidentally exalt ourselves rather than the Lord. Let us be careful to truly celebrate what God has done for us.
• 48:18
  Rather than what we have done for God. I was thinking about headstones today. I know that's kind of a random place to end. But I was thinking about headstones today. Have you ever, do you ever give thought to what your headstone might say? I've heard some pretty funny ones. I don't know if these are real or not. You know, urban legend. I heard that there was a headstone someplace that just simply said, I wish you were here. I saw one. Big block letters. He loved bacon.
• 48:52
  I thought that was pretty funny. Very small, tiny type at the bottom and his wife and kids. This one I thought was funny. Died. Small print at the bottom from not forwarding that email to ten people. As I look at Ephesians chapter 4, this idea of exalting ourselves or exalting the Lord, exalting our work or exalting the Lord's work, exalting our legacy, desiring to leave a legacy for us that people would remember us.
• 49:23
  Rather than giving the credit, glory, and honor to God, I was thinking about what a great headstone if it said, here lies a man or woman of the word. A proclaimer of truth and grace. A worshiper of the one true God. But honestly, we can't really remember his name. Wouldn't that be great? We can't really remember his name. But I do remember the things that were the most important. We pray. God, thank you.
• 49:55
  Thank you for this text in Ephesians chapter 4. And Lord, I pray that we would understand in a fuller way your grace given to each of us through spiritual giftings. I pray, Lord, that we would receive and utilize, that we not take for granted the grace you have given through the church, through pastors and teachers, shepherds for our souls. God, that we would grow in that grace, that the goal of the grace that you've given to us would be mature manhood. I pray that we would seek after that.
• 50:24
  To the full stature of Jesus Christ. That we would look like Him and act like Him and think like Him and be like Him. God, get all the glory for this church. May we steal none for ourselves. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.