Eph. 4:11-16
What do these have in common?
astronaut
mountain climber
scuba diver
All must be properly equipped in order to reach his/her destination.
Similarly, the Christian must be properly equipped to reach his/her
destination. Now, before you jump to the wrong conclusion, were
not talking about heaven.
Heaven is for ALL those who have
- realized their sinful
condition
- recognized Christ as
their only hope and
- received the gift of
salvation
No, what were talking about is another destination:
Christlikeness. But well get to that in detail later. The
point I want to make now is that we are not going to reach that
Christlikeness unless we are properly equipped.
In fact, a lack of emphasis on this important teaching of
the Apostle Paul in Eph. 4:11-16 is one of the reasons there
are so many ineffective churches and Christians.
So look with me at this crucial passage...Eph. 4:11-16
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should
no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ;
from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every
part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
Did you notice this was a long sentence? It is not the longest Paul
uses; that's in chapter one.
But also did you notice that Pauls thought seems to
unfold in layers? Paul frequently states an idea or theme and
then elaborates and explains. If we look at it another way we
will more easily see his flow of thought in this passage:
11 And He Himself
gave
some to be apostles,
some
prophets,
some
evangelists, and
some
pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping
of the saints for the work of ministry,
for
the building up of the body of Christ,
13 till
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God,
to
a perfect man,
to
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that
we should no longer be children,
tossed to and fro and carried about
with every wind of doctrine,
by the trickery of men,
in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 BUT speaking
the truth in love, may grow up
in all things
into
Him who is the head; Christ;
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit
together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes
growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Notice the breakdown of Paul's argument:
v. 11 action—giving of gifted leaders to the church
v. 12 purpose of gifted leaders—"to equip the saints
for ministry"
v. 13 goal of "equipping"
v. 14 reason for equipping—negative
v. 15, 16 reason for equipping—positive
From this passage I want to ask four questions:
Who should be Equipped for the Ministry?
What is involved in this Equipping?
What is the purpose of the Equipping?
What is the result of this Equipping?
Look for these studies to be completed in the coming weeks.