Ephesians 4:11-16
A pastor by the name of Tom Nelson has identified at least four distorted images of the church.
First, some people see the church as a gas station. He says, “the church is a place where you fill up your spiritual gas tank when you’re running low. Get a good sermon, and it will keep you going for the week.”
Second, some people see the church as a movie theater. He says that, “for many people, the church is a place that offers entertainment. Go for an hour of escape, hopefully in comfortable seats. Leave your problems at the door and come out smiling and feeling better than when you entered.”
Third, some people see the church as a drug store. He says that, “for other people, church is the place where you can fill the prescription that will deal with your pain. For many the church is therapeutic.”
Fourth, some people see the church as a big box retailer. He says that, “people see the church as the place that offers the best products in a clean and safe environment for you and your family. The church offers great service at a low price—an all in one stop. For many people, the church is a producer of programs for children and young people.”
The one thing that all of these have in common is that none of them are found in scripture. Pastor Nelson says, “all of them are distortions of the way we’re supposed to be doing church and they all have one thing in common—they’re all about ‘me.’”
He goes on...”Fill me up! Entertain me! Take away my pain! Give me the programs my family and I are looking for! It’s pure consumerism. This isn’t surprising. This mindset is pervasive in our culture.”
Contributing to this type of mindset is how many Christians impose a hard distinction between the clergy and laity. Some believers think the church hires clergy to do the work of the ministry and the laity’s role is primarily to “consume” their ministry. Many church members believe this to be the New Testament model established by Christ, but it isn’t. Actually, its an unbiblical model precisely because it creates the extreme distinction between clergy and laity, as well as turns Christians into “consumers.”
If the church is going to make a difference in our world, we must make some radical changes to the way we approach ministry so that we see every member as a minister of Christ. And, God has given us the pattern to follow to make this happen.
In the opening three chapters of Ephesians, Paul outlined the spiritual benefits of being a child of God. Now (chapters 4-6), he takes those doctrinal concepts and shows how they are practically worked out in daily living. It is precisely because of our position in Christ that we have unity with all other believers that must be preserved, even though there is great diversity among us due to our differing giftedness.
In this opening section of practical application (4:1-16), Paul shows us how using our differing gifts for the overall benefit of the body of Christ work together to preserve “the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (v. 3). It’s in this first section (4:1-16) that we see how God intends His church to operate so that our “oneness” is displayed and His “body” (church) is edified in the process.
In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul gives us one long sentence with several prepositions to show us how the church is supposed to work with a diversity of gifts. We’re not going to look exegetically at each phrase or preposition in this pericope, but there are five things to notice that will help us understand the thrust of what Paul is teaching.
1. There is movement...in this text.
From the beginning to the end of 4:11-16, there is the feeling of consistent/constant movement. People are progressing along a path to spiritual maturity and the church is growing in strength, as well. Every church/Christian should be characterized by movement along the path to usefulness to Christ.
Can you see growth in your spiritual life? Do you approach temporal and spiritual matters any differently today than you did at the beginning of your discipleship journey? What have you learned that has made you more effective in your service for Christ? On the continuum to spiritual maturity, where would you rate your life? Or, has your spiritual life become stagnant?
Illustration: The reason a pond is considered stagnant is because it is cut off from any source and the water is not fresh. The origin of the word “pond” comes from a variant of the English word, “pound,” meaning an “enclosed place.” A pond is typically small, and if there is a lack of movement, it can produce a layer of pond scum where bacteria grow. It’s possible with time that pond scum can completely cover the water, making it barely visible.
In contrast, a flowing stream is constantly fed by a higher water source. This may be a glacier, mountain snowmelt or a lake. Its constant flow ensures the water is fresh, and its movements are dynamic as it navigates through the rapids and times of calm.
God calls us to be like a stream, not a pond, lest we become stagnant and our lives become covered with the bacteria of sin. Spiritual development is about movement, growth and change.
2. There are functions...in this text.
Not everyone has the same role to play within the body of Christ and God is the One that determines your specific role. He gives “gift[s]” (4:7) to each of His children that He intends them to invest for the good of the overall body.
If you combine all the listings of spiritual gifts, there are approximately 19 different gifts mentioned. At one time in my understanding of scripture I thought that the only gifts God gave were the ones specifically mentioned in the biblical text. But, I’ve come to believe that there may be other gifts not mentioned that He gives, since no list matches the other lists exactly. It is even possible that He gives a mixture of gifts, dependent on the role He intends a person to play within the church and which are unique to that specific person.
Interestingly, in this passage (nor the others) we are not told how to discover our spiritual gifts. Instead, we are instructed to find our place of service. In doing so, we should ultimately be able to discover our gifting from the Lord.
One of the points of this passage is that the body of Christ needs every gift He has given and there are no unimportant gifts (cf. v. 16).
Illustration: Think of the church like the clubs in a golfer’s bag. Every player is allowed to carry a maximum of fourteen clubs without penalty. Each club is slightly different to the others, but each has an important role to play in a round of golf. The absence of even one of those clubs can create considerable pressure on the rest of a golfer’s game and affect his overall score. So it is in the body of Christ. When even one of the members fails to fulfill his role, in means the rest of the body is crippled to some degree. Pressure is placed on other members of the body to function in roles they weren’t designed to fulfill and the overall body is hurt by the absence of that member.
Gary Hale (our missionary to the Dominican Republic) and I were discussing the importance of every member to the body of Christ in an online discussion we were having several months ago. In our interchange, Gary wrote, “We are dynamically connected in the body of Christ in a way not present with a group of sports fans or members of a country club. When we fail to come to church or serve through Christ’s church when we could, we actually fail in our responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not what I can receive or consume, it's about every church member being a vital part of the whole.”
Never underestimate the importance of the role you play in the ministry of God’s church!
3. There is a process...in this text.
God lays out the process by which Christians are to be prepared for service in His body. In fact, He has given specific gifts (4:11) for the purpose of “equipping” the other members of the body for service.
He speaks about “Apostles” who were called to establish the church at its foundation level. “Prophets” built on the foundation established by the apostles. Their ministry of the Word was essential for the developing church, since they didn’t yet have a completed canon of scripture. “Evangelists” were missionaries to the unconverted after the church was established. And, “Pastors and Teachers” were concerned with shepherding and instructing the church on a day to day basis in order to build up the church.
It’s precisely at this point in the text (4:11-12) that so much of the trouble is found in our understanding of the church. For generations many have drawn a hard line of distinction between the clergy and the laity. It’s not uncommon to hear some Christian imply that his church hires professional clergy to do “the work of the ministry.” But, the reality is that the gifted people mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 are given to the church to prepare the rest of the body to be ministers of the church. There are no "clergy-laity" categories in the New Testament. All Christians are called and gifted to be full-time ministers. Not all are called vocationally, but all are called to serve!
In other words, every member is to be a minister of Christ and the pastors/teachers to be administers of Christ.
There are at least three reasons why this concept is vitally important:
- It is thoroughly biblical and we should desire to be biblical in the functioning of the church.
- From a purely practical standpoint, the work of the ministry can be accomplished more effectively when it is being performed by all the members of the body and not by the clergy alone.
- By making the task of ministry the responsibility of every Christian, each person is able to exercise his/her gifts in service for the Lord. This means the church will be blessed by their involvement and the Christian will grow to his/her fullest potential personally as a disciple of Christ.
Notice carefully the primary function of those gifted to administer the church...it is to “equip” the saints for “the work of the ministry.”
The term "equip" literally means to cause something to be ready for its assigned purpose. It is used in different ways in Greek literature:
- To set a broken limb so that it can heal and be made useful again.
- To mend torn fishing nets, making them able to catch fish.
- To fit a ship with ropes and sails so it can go out to sea.
- To mature chicks large enough to take to market.
All of these uses indicate the idea of preparing someone to reach their fullest potential in utilizing their gifts for the Lord. It involves training them in spiritual disciplines so that they can be effective servants in His church, contributing to the overall benefit of the body of Christ. It also means helping them reach a place of spiritual maturity so they can care for their own spiritual lives and not develop a codependency on the leaders of the church.
F. F. Bruce states that "the gifts enumerated in verse 11 do not monopolize the Church's ministry; their function rather is so to help and direct the Church that all the members may perform their several ministries for the good of the whole." (F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians [Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1961], p. 86.)
When every member sees himself/herself as ministers of Christ, then all of the members are ministering to each other and building up the body.
Illustration: There was a pastor of a large congregation in the supermarket one day and a lady came down the aisle that he could barely see over the top of her groceries. He got somewhat frightened when she seemed to be heading straight for him. She screeched to a halt within a few feet of him, peered over her load, wagged her finger, and said, "I left your church. I left your church."
He responded, "Well, if it’s my church, I think that was a very wise decision. If it’s my church, I think I’m going to leave, too."
She said to him, "Don’t you want to know why I left?"
He responded, "No, not particularly,” though he knew he was about to find out anyway.
Ignoring his response, She said, "You weren’t meeting my needs."
He answered, "I don’t ever recollect seeing you before, let alone talking to you, let alone knowing your needs. Did you ever tell anyone specifically what your needs were?"
She couldn’t recall that she had, so the pastor raised another question. "Can you tell me, if we have 5,000 people sitting in that church, all with your attitude, how are anyone’s needs going to be met? If you reserve the right to have that attitude, then you must give everybody the freedom to have that attitude. And if everybody has that attitude, who on earth is going to do all the need-meeting?"
Standing her ground, she demanded, "Then you tell me who will."
Relieved that she’d asked, he said, "...This is what will work: when people stop sitting in the pew, saying, ’They’re not meeting my needs’ and start saying, ’Whose needs can I meet?’ Then needs will be met. When a servant spirit flourishes in a congregation, then they minister to each other as unto the Lord."
Pastors/Teachers aren’t called to create a product that is purely for the member’s selfish consumption. Their task is to teach and prepare people spiritually and practically so they can do the work of the ministry, which involves meeting other people’s needs.
4. There are outcomes (results of obeying this instruction)...in this text.
When we follow God’s design for the church the right things result:
- There is maturity. (4:13)
“...to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ...”
- There is stability. (4:14)
“...we should no longer be children. tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine...”
- There is conformity. (4:15)
“...grow up in all things into Him...”
“‘...towards Him’ denoting the end or aim of our growth, namely, to the standard of Christ’s full stature...As such, Christ is both the source (v. 7) and the goal (v. 15). (Harold Hoehner, Ephesians, An Exegetical Commentary, p. 566)
- There is unity. (4:16)
“...what every joint supplies...every part does its share...for the edifying of itself...”
I think everyone would agree that all of these things are needed in today’s church. And, when we work together fulfilling the ministry God has given us, amazing things can happen.
Illustration: Consider the foot. It has 26 bones, 19 muscles, and more than 100 (some say...107) ligaments. Walking up stairs requires the cooperation of (about) 300 different muscles. The sense-receptors in your foot let your brain know exactly what kind of surface you’re walking on: rocks, ice, soft sand, and your foot immediately adapts. In the course of your life, you will walk about 100,000 miles. If you walk or jog for exercise, of course, that number will be higher. Although most people don’t often do this, the toes can be used to pick up things. Some people can even write or draw with their feet. All this is done when our body, brain, bones, muscles, and ligaments cooperate together.
5. There is duration...in this text.
This is a process that does not end until “all” (4:13) are equipped and mature in their faith. This effectively means that until Christ comes for His church, our task doesn’t end and the pattern we must continually follow for equipping and maturing saints is the one outlined in this passage.
Illustration: Maybe you feel like there isn’t much you can do in the service of the Master, but consider the following examples of what God can do with people that are willing to let themselves be used. Consider that...
- Moses stuttered.
- David’s armor didn’t fit.
- John Mark was rejected by Paul.
- Timothy had ulcers.
- Hosea’s wife was a prostitute.
- Amos’ only training was in pruning fig trees.
- Jacob was a liar.
- Solomon was too rich.
- Abraham was too old.
- David was too young.
- Peter was afraid of death.
- Lazarus was dead.
- Naomi was a widow.
- Paul was a murderer--So was Moses.
- Jonah ran from God.
- Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
- Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
- Elijah was burned out.
- Martha was a worry-wart.
Application:
- Grow up into being a low maintenance member of His church.
- Develop a teachable spirit that can be instructed in how to do the work of the ministry.
- Remember, Christ’s work can be done outside the gathering of believers, as well as inside.
