Fully Equipped    Eph 4:7-16 https://youtu.be/daAplZwk4HQ

Introduction

In the last three weeks we have been working through the riches of what Ephesians teaches us about the Church, we are the recipients of eternal blessing in Christ (Eph 1), we are a Spirit-inhabited temple whose dimensions cannot be measured (Eph 2) and we are being filled with all the fullness of God’s love in Jesus (Eph 3). In Ephesians 4, Paul outlines how the Church as a community becomes the mature presence of Christ in the world. In a way that only makes sense within the framework of the humanity of God in Jesus, God uses other people to make us more like himself in ways we could never achieve without their help.

Exposition

Ephesians 4:7-16 has become increasingly important as the primary source of teaching on the so called, “5-fold ministry” or ascension-gift ministries”. I prefer the latter description for several reasons. Firstly, because it is dangerous to focus on gifted men and women rather than the gift of God who is Christ (John 4:10; 2 Cor 9:15). Second, because the ascension of Jesus is the pre-requisite to his giving of the Spirit and the gifts he imparts[1]

v.7 “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

Every believer without exception has been given a spiritual gift from Christ. Whilst some gifts are more obvious or spectacular than others[2], it would be a serious mistake to rank people in terms of their gifts. All God’s gifts come to us from Jesus, are for his glory and were purchased by the sacrifice of his life. as such they are of immeasurable value.

v.8 “Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?[3] 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” Paul starts with a quote from Psalm 69, which is about God as a warrior defeating his earthly enemies and ascending to heaven in triumph. Lots of people don’t like conflict, if you are someone who avoids conflict because it is uncomfortable you will never be able to exercise a deeply effective ministry[4]. The ascended Lord “took a host of captives”. This definitely includes the evil “rulers and authorities” in the heavenly places (Col 2:15), but human beings as well. I am one of Christ’s captives (2 Cor 2:14)[5] and I hope you are too.

Since Paul is quite emphatic that the ministry gifts were given by Jesus after he ascended to heaven, they are not the same as the apostolic gifts in the Gospels (e.g. Matt 10:5-8). Since they were given by Christ in his glorified state (John 17:5) they must involve greater works than he did on earth[6]. Greater works doesn’t mean more spectacular or numerically greater works than Christ did. I think any ministry done in the name of Jesus today according to his leading accomplishes something what no one could do before his ascension, if you are blessed and filled with the Spirit and the limitless love of God you can impart something of the now glorified life of Jesus to others. The fruit of this work is the greatest fruit because it is eternal.

Paul teaches us that Jesus ascended “in order that he might fill…each of us? the Church? No, that he might “fill all things” (cf. Eph 1:23). The marvel is that through the Church the Lord of heaven and earth[7] is unfolding a plan[8] that moves towards him being manifested as the ruler of all created reality (Eph 1:10). Jesus was crucified on the charge of being King (John 19:12, 15) at the time when the Roman emperor was the ruler of the world (cf. Acts 17:7).[9] That he was the “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) seemed just as stupid and ridiculous then as it does today. In the wise plan of God, the call of the Church is to demonstrate to all people everywhere that Christ is the ruling King. The way to bringing people to accept this plan is what Paul is about to expound.

v. 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Before speaking of the nature of the gifts we should note that that the gifts are people. An evangelist doesn’t just have a gift, he/she is a gift, and so on. Jesus continues to send[10] mean and women[11] to pioneer churches, speak his prophetic word (Acts 11:28; 21:10-11; 1 Cor 12-14), preach the gospel and bring unbelievers to himself (Acts 21:8) and nurture, educate and build up the local flock of God. What has in large degree kept the traditional churches[12] undernourished is the teaching that apostles and prophets are no longer the living foundation to Christ’s ongoing building of the Church[13]. Such a stripping out of the authority and scope of ministries essential to the maturing of the Body of Christ (4:13) has been one of the devil’s most successful strategies to slowing down the disciplining of all nations (Matt 28:18-20) and the Return of Jesus[14].

In “5-fold” ministries Jesus gives have one goal achieved in diverse ways. To v.12 “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Leaving aside simplistic and non-biblical performance indicators, like numbers[15], How well is this being done, in St Mark’s Bassendean, in the Anglican diocese of Perth and in the Church of Perth as a whole?   Here are the indicators Paul lays out (vv.13-15).

Firstly, do we all share, “the unity of the faith”. Do we agree on the core doctrines of the faith, that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that Christ is the eternal Son of God who became human died to forgive us and rose to give us eternal life and is coming back to Judge the world? Second, have we come to the “knowledge of the Son of God”. In our hearts do we affirm the Lord is exalted far above all created things and shares the rule and dignity of God the Father (cf. Eph 1:20-21). Such heart belief (Rom 10:9) is essential to spiritually belong to in fact not Christ’s Church (Rom 8:9). Thirdly, have we attained “mature manhood”, are we an adult church. This is more difficult to measure, but here is an example. When we go across to the hall and talk about the affairs of the week do we sense in the Spirit the importance, right then and there, in praying for one another’s needs as an expression of our love for one another in Christ? Paul castigated the Corinthian Christians as “infants in Christ” i.e. baby Christians (1 Cor 3:1 cf. Heb 5:13). New Christians sometimes have more spiritual insight than people who have been in Church for decades. Having said that, why hasn’t the Lord given us new converts? He must have a reason but perhaps we are too embarrassed to ask him! Have we arrived at “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”? This is it; the goal of all ministry gifts is that the Church will look just like Jesus. We are talking about a deep spiritually mature corporate/communal humanity (Col 1:28-29) grounded in the revelation knowledge of the Word of the Lord and prayer. God the Father’s ultimate goal, to which we are called to be moving now, is that when he looks down from heaven he sees the image and likeness of his Son, the Bridegroom, in us, the Bride. And, since this whole passage is about the enforcement of Christ’s triumphant victory, when the demonic powers in the heavenly places see the same and tremble (James 2:19). When people in a community think of a local church, like St Marks, do they think of Jesus and do the hosts of wickedness count us as a threat to their plans? I think the answer to the first part of this question is “No”, and the answer to the second part is “Yes”.

v.14 “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” This is a picture of a group of believers who know what they believe about Christ, and no one can convince them otherwise[16]. Given St Marks has had a history of strong Bible teaching over the last decade I think you are not likely to be easily deceived. v.15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” In lovingly speaking the truths of Jesus to each other we grow together in submission to Jesus as our head and become more and more like him.

You all expect me to speak the things of Jesus to you, but do you believe God has called you to speak gospel truths (Gal 2:5, 14; Eph 1:13; Col 1:5) to me? What people call “every member ministry” implies just that. If this is a true assessment, who has failed? We, the pastoral leaders, have failed to fully equip you to speak God’s word so that the fullness of Christ is expressed through the whole Church. Paul now brings this passage to a fitting climax.

v.16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The passage started with grace given to “each one” and ends with “each part” empowered by God working through the gift of love so that we all become more like Christ. Years ago as I laid hands on an apostle and evangelist here in Perth I had a very interesting image come into my mind. It was a like a pyramid. At the top there were a number of apostles, then under that a larger number of prophets, then below that a higher number of evangelists and so on until we reached the full number of all the people of God. The interesting thing was that every strata of ministry was leading the Church by looking upwards at Jesus! These are the sort of ascension gift ministries we need today.

Application and Conclusion

The people of God are called to be vitally and spiritually alive in Christ with an all-inclusive network of giving and receiving. Have you ever been a part of a Church like this bursting with the life of Jesus energising its membership and taking his presence out into the world? [17] If we are not a community maturely inhabiting the vision Paul presents for the Body of Christ what is our problem and what can we do about it? Let me tell you what is NOT our problem.

If you look to your right or to your left you will see people who we all know could be praying more, reading the Bible more, sharing with other Christians more deeply and evangelising the lost more effectively. Contemplating the limitations of others will not see the Church grow up into maturity. More intimately, you can look inside of yourself and find lots of weaknesses, even sins[18]. This also is not the solution to our need. Let me give you a clue about the way forward. Last week I related how my students used to say, “The answer to all of John’s questions is….Jesus.” Not Jesus limited by space, time, and mortality as in the Gospels, not Jesus as we have experienced him so far, it is Christ who is calling us to be a part of his great plan to fill all things in heaven and earth with his own glorious life. And the agency for him reaching this great goal is us, the Church (Eph 4:10, 13). The fulness of the life of Christ is our purpose for being. We can confidently ask the Father to pour out the Holy Spirit so we are filled to overflowing with Jesus.