Ephesians 4: Understanding Our Collective Calling

Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now, come along.

Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Well, I did say I'm going to share just a brief devotional with you, but I just saw the rain started pouring, so now I have you captive.

But I will try to do my best to keep my word, to keep this as abbreviated as possible.

But I wanted to speak from a passage of scripture that.

That I feel highlights the truth of what a church should really look like.

And there's a lot of passages of scripture that we could turn to.

We could turn to Acts, chapter two.

We could look at passages in the book of Romans, Romans, chapter 15.

But I think one of the passages that has really helped me understand what a church should look like is Ephesians, chapter 4.

And for the just the next few moments, I'd like to highlight some thoughts from this chapter, because I think that this is going to help us understand why we're doing what we're doing.

Really, what are we doing as a church?

The church is more than just a place that we come once a week.

The church is more than just a place that I come to hear preaching.

The church, as we're going to see here in this passage of scripture, is a family.

Now, there's a lot of analogies that God uses in Scripture.

The Bible says that the church is a family.

The Bible says that the church is a building, but not a physical building, but a spiritual building made up of living stones.

And we know that those stones are built upon one sure foundation, the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that the church is a body, but we know that the body, though having many parts, is attached to the head, which the Bible says the head of the church is Jesus Christ.

And so ultimately, the analogy is this.

It's a bunch of different people from different places and different backgrounds coming together, unified under one Savior, Jesus Christ.

And that's what we see here in Ephesians, chapter four.

It says, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you.

Now, now we know that this is Paul speaking through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

And he says, I am a prisoner of God.

He could have defined himself or described himself in a million different ways, but he says, I'm a prisoner of the Lord.

I'm a Servant of the Lord.

And he says, I beseech you.

That's a fancy way to say that I beg you, I plead with you that you walk worthy of the vocation or the job wherewith you're called.

So we as believers individually are called to a purpose.

And corporately we are called to a purpose.

Now, we could go back and look what that purpose is.

But ultimately it's this.

To glorify God, to please him and to praise Him.

How do we please Him?

By obeying Him.

How do we obey Him?

Follow what he's told us to do.

What has he told us to do?

To go into all the world and make disciples, to teach them how to observe his commandments, to love one another, to love him with everything.

This is what he's called us to do.

And he says, this is how you're supposed to do that.

How?

How are you supposed to do that?

Job, verse 2.

With lowliness and meekness, humility and gentleness.

With longsuffering.

That's patience, forbearing one another in love.

So what does the Bible say here?

The church must deal with one another.

We, we, we've got to interact with each other.

That's the point of church.

If church is just a place that I come and go home and I don't talk to anybody, I'm missing the point.

The point is, is that we need to forbear each other in love, do things for each other.

Verse 3 Endeavoring.

That word, endeavoring means to be challenged, to seek after endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

In John chapter 17, Jesus is giving his high priestly prayer.

He's praying to the Father.

And one of the things that Jesus prays for is unity amongst the believers.

We see in Acts chapter two, there's unity.

They're in one accord when they are healthily walking in the Spirit.

And what Does Ephesians chapter 4 say?

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The church is supposed to be striving after unity and peace, not just assuming that it's going to happen.

Not just allowing peace and unity to happen by default or by accident or whatever.

No, it says that we should be endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Why?

There's one body and one Spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling.

Meaning the same spirit that indwells you is the same Spirit that's indwelling the other believer.

And if we are indwelled by the same spirit.

How can we be at odds with each other?

That's what the Bible's saying.

The spirit doesn't fight against the Spirit.

So the reality is, is that if we are walking in the spirit, we are walking in unity with others.

Now, now, that person might not be walking in the spirit.

And there's passages of scripture that talk about how to deal with that.

But the idea here for us is that we are concerned with our side of this.

There was one body, one spirit, even as you're called, in one hope of your calling.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one.

One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.

So he says, the reason why you have unity is not because everyone agrees with you.

The reason you have unity is not because everything in the church goes the way that you expect it to go.

It says here very clearly, the reason why we have unity is because there is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one Father above all.

So the idea is this.

We have something in common.

Have you ever been somewhere, maybe outside of the country or maybe outside of the area that you live, and you run into somebody who indicates that they know where you're from?

Maybe.

Maybe you're in a foreign country and you find an American.

You're like, I don't care what that American's like.

I don't know who they.

But, hey, an American.

Yeah, we have something in common.

I. I know that Alicia and I still.

You can hold this against us, but we follow sports from Tampa Bay.

Some of you like, I don't even follow sports anymore.

I understand that, but still, pray for me.

I follow the Tampa Bay sports.

Okay, so we were driving in our neighborhood, and someone was flying a flag of our sports team.

We don't find anyone up here that does that, and we immediately have a friend because they're a friend with you.

So you see, that idea is that we have something in common.

So that brings us a bond.

Well, as Christians, I don't care if that person looks like you or acts like you or comes from the same background or has the same socioeconomic status as you.

If are believers, we have something in common right then and there, if we're truly believers.

And so that's what he's saying here.

So he says, Verse 7.

But unto every one of us is given grace.

So every Christian in the church is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, Meaning everybody's gifted differently, everybody is graced differently.

So that means there's diversity with unity.

Not, not uniformity.

Not everyone the same, but we are unified but diversified.

Meaning that there are people gifted in different ways.

I, I've got to give a shout out to Ms. Donna because, because she really challenged me this week because I said at the beginning of the week, guys, I know that it's going to be tiresome being around all these kids.

I, I get that.

And, and she was like, pastor, I'm, I'm fired up when I'm around children.

I said, well, you, you're gifted that way.

Not everyone's gifted that way.

Not, not, not everyone's able to do certain things.

But the thing is, is this.

I don't get jealous of that person.

I, I, I don't doubt my calling.

The Bible says everyone is called uniquely in the body of believers.

Not everyone's supposed to be a hand.

Not everyone's supposed to be the foot.

If everyone was the foot, where would the hand be?

That's what he says in, in first Corinthians.

So, so he goes on to say later on, he says, and within the church, there's different roles.

In this context, at this time, it says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, meaning there's different leadership levels within the church, within the family of God.

And he says, the purpose of the pastor is not to run the church.

The person, the purpose of the pastor and teacher is not to tell everyone what to do.

What does it say there?

For the perfecting or the maturing of the saints, for the work of the ministry.

So the role of a leader within the church is not to lead with an iron fist and tell everyone what to do.

The purpose of the pastor and teacher, as it says here, is to teach people how to mature in the face so that they can do the work of the ministry.

We all have a job, and Middletown Baptist Church is wonderful with that.

I remember there were times in VBS years ago where, you know, I was teaching and doing things.

And this year was a very unique opportunity for me just to float around and look at everyone serve.

And it was a blessing to see everybody serving.

And the unique aspect of this is, is that there is this purpose of edifying of the body of Christ.

If you remember a little while back, I said, really, every interaction that we have within our lives should be an evangelistic opportunity or an edification opportunity.

I either need to lead someone to Christ or I need to build them up in Christ.

So within the church, our relationship should be to build each other up in Christ.

That's what he says here, to edify till we all come in the unity of faith.

So we don't stop.

Because what is he saying here?

He says we keep doing this.

We keep building each other up until we reach that perfect unity.

Well, the reality is, is that we're never going to reach that perfect unity till we get to heaven.

So we never stop till we all come into the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

The goal, the golden standard, is to be like Christ.

To be unified as he is unified with the Father.

That's what he's saying here.

He says we should all strive to be like Christ.

None of us are going to make it there, here on this side of heaven, but the goal is to go there.

Why?

That we henceforth be no more children.

He says, don't be spiritually immature, toss to and fro and carry it about with every wind of doctrine.

You ever seen someone like that?

They turn on their phone, they get on the Internet and all of a sudden now they believe this and, and now there's a new video.

And now they believe that the Bible says spiritually immature Christians will be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.

So he says, we don't want to be like that.

We want to be.

We want to be, as it says here, solid, foundationally set in the truth of God.

Why?

Because every wind of doctrine will be as it says, by the slight of men.

It's man focused, man centered and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

So in the contrast of that is what?

But speaking the truth in love, may we grow up into all things which is the head, even Christ.

Meaning this, we speak the truth in love and be more like Christ.

Folks, you want your example of how you're supposed to be?

Read the gospels, be like Jesus.

Say, well I can't be like Jesus.

Well, none of us can be perfect.

But the Bible doesn't say since I can't be perfect, I shouldn't be like Jesus in any way, shape or form.

No, the goal is to be like Christ.

The goal is to die to self and be more like him.

And what?

What did Paul say?

Follow me as I follow Christ.

So the mature Christian is the example to the immature Christian of how to look like Christ.

Now doesn't Paul doesn't say follow me because I'm the man.

Paul says, follow me because I'm following Christ.

He always points people to Christ.

And so ultimately, we're going to end this chapter or this passage here with this.

Be like Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.

That's some fancy way to basically say this.

We're all part of the family of God.

We need to work together so that we can effectively work for what he has called us to do.

Walking worthy, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself and love.

And so the idea is this.

The church is built through fellowship.

The church is built through unity.

The church is built through the truth in the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

The church is built through evangelism.

The church is built through edification.

The church is built through exhortation, challenging one another.

And so forgive me if I seem fervent about this, but the Bible says redeeming the time because the days are evil.

We don't have enough time to play around anymore, okay?

We.

We have to be serious about what the call of God is in our life.

VBS is a tool to bring people to Jesus Christ, to bring young people and parents to Jesus Christ.

Some of you know, we have a softball team.

Softball is to bring people to Jesus Christ.

Soccer is to bring people to Jesus Christ.

Food is to bring people to Jesus Christ.

Music.

You understand?

God has given us all these wonderful things and wonderful gifts, and the list goes on and on and on.

But it's not.

That's not the end.

That.

That's.

That's the means to the end.

And the end is always the gospel and is always the gospel.

If we lose sight of the gospel and the edification of the saints for the work of the ministry, we've missed the point.

We could go back to Ecclesiastes and say, vanity of vanities.

Everything is empty without Christ.

Everything is empty.

But with Christ, we have substance and purpose.

And so, as Middletown Baptist Church pushes forward unapologetically, we are the family of God, and the family of God must be striving.

I want you to think about that verse in verse number three.

Please, with me pray through this verse this week.

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, endeavoring chasing after it.

It's not going to happen naturally.

Our flesh does not go to unity.

Our flesh is the opposite of unity.

But when we see the body now, all of you know what it's like for the body not to be working right?

Some of you say, I Know a lot better than you'll ever know.

Pastor, My body's not working right anymore.

I get that.

And we understand when the arm hurts, the whole body hurts.

And I'm going to tell you that we might be sitting around church going, man, there's just something not.

It could be that someone in our church is hurting.

And instead of looking and going, well, that person's got some problems, hope they figure it out.

Said, let's say, hey, the arm's hurting.

The whole rest of the body come alongside that arm and lift it up.

You know, there's times in our life where this is very difficult.

Well, I don't want to step on any toes, but the truth is really that there's times in my life when I'm at the darkest struggles in my own life.

I'm not looking necessarily for help.

The truth is, is that sometimes we have.

The Bible says walk circumspectly looking for opportunities to help people.

And you don't know.

You don't know.

But the Bible says that all of our speech is seasoned with, with grace.

So if every conversation that I have is edifying, it's building up.

Hopefully, hopefully someone is going to be touched by that edification.

And so I wanted to read through Ephesians chapter four.

I encourage you to read through Ephesians chapter four on a regular basis because that tells us what it looks like to be the body of Christ.

So many times we think that church is something more or something less.

Church is essentially the institution that God has created to further his plan in this world.

His plan is salvation.

His plan is edification.

His plan is sanctification and ultimately glorification.

And so we are.

The Bible says the church is the pillar and ground of truth.

Who else is going to proclaim the truth to the world?

Who else is going to show the love of, of God to the world?

Who else is going to show the love of God to a fellow brother and sister in Christ?

We are the church.

You are the church.

And so I encourage you to think about what that means when we fellowship and, and, and I hope that ultimately you can find lasting relationships within the church.

I, I hope that you can find a place where you can raise your children, where your grandchildren can find hope, and, and where you can find hope.

But at the end of the day, the church is as strong as our reliance on the power of God.

We are weak, but ultimately he is strong.

And so when the church relies on him, we can have that beauty and grace that we are calling for in our life.

Well, I wanted to challenge you with that here this evening.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.