Please turn with me again to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4. It's on page 977 of the Bibles provided for you. We're going to read Ephesians 4 verses 1-16 again. We're going to be looking at verses 11-16 more closely. And I'll tell you that this is one of my favorite passages in the whole Bible. And it's one of the reasons that I wanted to preach through Ephesians, and it's one of the reasons that I wanted to become a pastor in the first place. And that's because this passage gives us a picture of how the church is supposed to work. It gives us Jesus' plan for how the church is supposed to function, and how we fit together as different people and with different gifts. And so as we get to verses 11-16, listen for how we fit together, how the different parts interact in the church according to Jesus' plan. Ephesians 4, verses 1-16. This is the perfect Word of God. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. 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 far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 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, 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, 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. We'll end the reading of God's Holy Word here at this point. This week I saw an ad for pastors and this is what it said. Hey Pastor, in nearly every moment somewhere in your mind the thought happens, how can I grow my church? You'll try everything from equipping the members of your congregation to passing out flyers at your local farmer's market. But what if I told you there was a better way? What if we could prove that this way works? What if one church made this switch and in only three short weeks saw 150 new people walk through their door for the first time? Today, we're here to offer you a guide. In this guide, we'll see step-by-step instructions that will revolutionize the way you reach and engage the people in your community. Now, I'm not opposed to thinking creatively about how we reach the community around us, and I do think we need to think carefully about how the lost people around us can be reached. But did you notice how this ad was worded? It said, you'll try equipping the members of your congregation. What if I told you there was a better way? Sadly, this wording, equipping the members of your congregation, comes from this passage in Ephesians chapter 4. And this ad claims to have a better way of doing things. So this brings up the question, if we want our church to mature and grow, where should we be looking for strategies? Where do we go for our plan of action? Do we look to the corporate world? Do we look to the marketing and the corporate structures that have worked so well in the business world? Do we look to other religions that have grown quickly to see how they're doing things? Maybe we should look at non-profits and these charities that have brought so many people in and so much money in. Or is there a better way? God has given us instructions on how the church is designed to work and grow. He has a plan for church growth. Jesus has a plan for how the church is supposed to work. So as you think about our church, as you think about how we should mature, how we should grow, follow Jesus' plan for church growth. Follow Jesus' plan for church growth. The first element of Jesus' plan that we see here is that you need God-given leaders. For the church to grow, to follow Jesus' plan for church growth, you need God-given leaders. Verse 11, Paul says that Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So who are these people that are listed here? These apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers? Well, the first two roles we know were limited to the early church, because the apostles had to be eyewitnesses to Jesus. We don't have eyewitnesses to Jesus anymore, so we don't have apostles in the church anymore. And they had prophets at this time who were being given direct new revelations from God, because the New Testament wasn't completed yet. They didn't have the whole Word of God, and so they were receiving new revelations during that time. But we don't have those offices anymore. Evangelists is a tougher one to know about. Philip is called an evangelist in Acts 21, verse 8. It may be that there's still a use for having official evangelists in the church, but this was especially important in these early days when the gospel was going out to these brand new areas at a rapid pace. They needed these officially designated evangelists. So that leaves us with pastors and teachers. And the way that these words are put in the text here, it may actually be referring to one person who does both things, to a pastor-teacher. Because the way that the words are divided up, there's a word missing between these two that makes it seem like it may actually be referring to one person, pastor-teachers. And this word for pastor is actually the word for shepherd. It's the word that was used for people who actually worked with sheep at this time. And so this is a group that we know more about from the New Testament. These are your elders in the church. Paul and Peter both command the elders in the church to shepherd the flock, to shepherd the saints. And so these pastor-teachers, these leaders of the church are the elders of the church that have been commanded to shepherd the flock. Now, it's important to note exactly what's being said here. Notice that it doesn't say, Christ gave pastors and teachers to the church to do the work of ministry and to build up the body of Christ. It says, Christ gave them to equip the saints to do the work of ministry and to build up the body of Christ. Jesus' plan is not that the officers of the church do all the work. I'm very glad for this fact. Jesus' plan is not that everything falls to the elders of the church to do all of the work of ministry. His design is that we are equipping, and certainly as members of the church and as elders, we're doing the ministry ourselves, but we're also equipping all of you, every member, to build up the body, to do the work of ministry. Now, it's usually a good idea to be wary of someone who tells you that they're God's gift to you. But we can't change what the text says here. That the elders of this congregation have been given to you as a gift from Jesus Christ. That they have been put here to help you, to equip you, to help you to grow. This is His plan. This is how He's designed the church to work. were given to equip you." And this word for equip is used in a more literal sense when the disciples are mending their nets. It's used to mean to mend. The Jesus disciples are fixing literal, physical fishing nets at one point, and it uses the same word to describe that mending process. And it's dangerous to pull meaning from one context to a very different context, but I think it's actually helpful here to think about the work of the elders like mending a fishing net. So if you imagine all the members of the church like a net, all connected together, all different pieces, different parts of this bigger net that functions together, it's the job of the elders to mend that net, to watch for the weak points, to know the whole net, to mend where it's broken, to strengthen where it's weak. Because then the net works very well when it's mended well. Think about it. A fisherman on his own is not nearly as effective as a fisherman with a whole net. In the same way, if you leave all of the work of the ministry to just a few elders or just to your pastor, the church is not nearly as effective as when the whole church is working together, like a fishing net, doing so much more than a fisherman can do on his own. Jesus knows that we need leaders to equip us, to mend us, because we will all be weak. We will all be broken at times and need to be pushed, need to be encouraged and built up to do this work. That's how He's designed the church to work. So how can we do this better in Sterling, Kansas? Well, first, to my fellow elders, What are you doing to equip the saints? How are you mending the net right now? We need to ask ourselves as a session, do we know where this church needs to grow? Do we know where this church needs strengthening, needs to be encouraged and pushed? How are we as elders coming alongside people and showing them what's true and showing them how to be faithful? We should be giving every member of this congregation practical help. How to share the gospel with someone. How to lead a Bible study. How to understand a difficult theological issue. How to discipline your children well. How to keep each other accountable. And I want to challenge us as a session, that as we go through the rest of this book of Ephesians with all of the practical suggestions here, all of the commands to parents and employers and employees and as a church, that as we hear all of these practical commands, that we would look at those and think about how our church needs to be equipped to do these things. Because that is our job as the shepherds, as the pastor-teachers of this church. Now to the congregation as a whole, including the elders, including all of us together, how are you using your God-given leaders? How are you making use of this gift that has been given to you? If you have questions about something, have you ever asked an elder about it? If you're struggling with something, maybe it's a moral question, or a theological question, Or a question about how you fit into the church or how you could be serving better or be used better in this church. It is our responsibility as the elders to equip you, but it sure helps when you come to us with questions or when you ask us for help. So here's a very practical question. Do you know that our church is divided up into shepherding groups? that every member of this congregation has been assigned to a different elder. And we all have the responsibility to look out for the whole congregation, but if you're a member of this congregation, there's an elder who's been given the task of specifically looking out for you. And so if you don't know who your elder is, ask one of us. Find out and get to know that elder and build a relationship with your leaders so that we can equip you and we can help you where you need it. Jesus has given you these elders to help you mature and grow. To grow and be more mature in your faith. And that's where Paul goes next. So secondly, to follow Jesus' plan for church growth, you need God-given maturity. You need God-given maturity. Paul says here that the goal of being equipped by your elders personal maturity, that you personally would grow and be strengthened to be more mature than you used to be. Look at verses 13 to 14. What we're working toward here is what's described as mature manhood, living up to the measure of the stature of Christ, so that we may no longer be children of The idea is that we start our faith with not a whole lot of knowledge often, and not much maturity, but that we should be growing. We should be becoming more mature. And that's one of the Elder's goals in equipping you, is that you would personally grow and mature. Because in the Church, godly leaders should not be about the business of leading ignorant masses who are dependent on us to know all the answers. We're not trying to keep you in the dark so that you have to come to us as the experts so that we can give you our great wisdom. Godly leaders should want a mature and informed congregation. A congregation that will spot errors when they come up. That will know false teaching when they see it. Because notice why you need maturity in verse 14. The goal is that we would not be easily swayed by false teaching. that when a crafty teaching, as he puts it, is craftiness and scheming, that when this crafty new teaching pops up, that it wouldn't just be the leaders of the church that know that it's false, but that the whole church would know. That everyone would see, no, that's not true. Because you're mature in your faith and you understand God and His Word. Because Paul assumes here that false teaching is going to come up. And Jesus tells us this in Matthew 24 verse 11. He says, many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. There have always been false teachers. And so Paul doesn't say, you know, if some false teaching happens to arise, then you'll be mature enough to handle it. It's you are going to be knocked around by false teaching. And if you aren't mature in your faith, then you're going to be tossed around by it. You're going to be driven around by it, not knowing how to handle the teaching that comes to you. There are all kinds of false teaching around us, and people are deceived. We see extreme cases like cults, where you sometimes wonder, how could people possibly believe these crazy things they're being taught? But people are deceived. People who are immature in their understanding are deceived by these things. There are more subtle false teachings. We see a lot of people these days taking parts of the Bible that are unpopular and sort of saying, well, God didn't really say this. Changing the message so that it's more convenient to be a Christian today. Maybe saying, well, everyone's saved. That God loves people so much He couldn't possibly have created a place like hell. He can't possibly judge sin. Well, that's more popular to think today But these are sometimes subtle arguments that you have to know Scripture to be able to tell them that's not true. And so, when these false teachings come up, everyone needs spiritual maturity. It's not enough just to say, well, my pastor says this, so that's what I believe. Or, you know, my church believes this. I want you to be able to say, God's Word says this. And if you don't know, if you're confused about something, that's why we're here to help you understand more about that. But we're here, not so that you can put all your trust in us as your leaders, but so that you can know that God teaches these things, that these things are true from His Word. I think the way that Paul describes the effect of false teachers is so effective here. He talks about being tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. He's using the picture of something just floating in choppy water. You just imagine it just getting tossed back and forth by every wave that comes along. And the wind blows this way for a while and it just gets pushed that way, but then after a while the wind changes direction and it gets pushed back the other way. And maybe you know someone like this. I think it's easier to spot in other people than it is in ourselves. Maybe you know someone who just seems to be changing their mind all the time. Every few months, they come across a new argument for something, and they swing the opposite direction, and they're just getting tossed around by these things. If you're not spiritually mature, if you're not growing in your faith, you're going to be tossed around by these things. And if you have changed your mind a bunch of times, month after month, Recently, I would encourage you that maybe you need more spiritual maturity. Maybe you need to ask for more help to be equipped to understand God's Word better and to grow in these things, to be encouraged by your brothers and sisters in Christ. So how can you mature spiritually? Where do you feel weak? Well, I'm not saying that every member of the church needs to be reading systematic theologies and taking seminary classes. Not everybody needs to be an expert in these things. But the church does need you to be mature. The church needs you to know how to spot false teachings so that we can stand together against it. You need to be able to speak the truth in love. And to speak the truth in love, as he says here, you need to know the truth. So that means reading your Bible, reading your Bible yourself, learning who God is and what he says. If you don't understand something, ask for help. That's what we're here for. Find out how to understand these things. We may not have the answer for you as your elders, but we'll look for it with you and we'll grow together in these things. For those of you who are inclined to study theology, keep doing it. That's a great thing. We need people who are more well-versed in these things, who can spot the more subtle errors, the more crafty false teachings that come up. Ultimately, wherever you are in your understanding of God, in your understanding of the Bible, don't be content to leave knowing about God to other people. Don't be content to think, well, there are other people who are supposed to understand these things, and I can just trust them. It's okay if you don't understand very much. It's okay if you're young in your understanding and in your faith. But don't be content to just stay there. Wherever you are, be growing, be learning, be developing, because that protects the church against false teaching. Because ultimately, your maturity doesn't just affect you, it affects the whole church. And that's where Paul goes next. So thirdly, to follow Jesus' plan for church growth, you need God-given each other. You need God-given each other. Now, I know that's not really very good grammar, it's not really the right way to put that, but my points needed to match, so I'm going to put it that way. But it's also because it's true that God has given us to each other. I'm not just putting those words in there. We have been given to each other by God. We're put together in a body. It's part of His plan for how the church is supposed to grow. We talked about this a lot last week. Each of you has been given a specific measure of grace from Jesus Christ. Specific spiritual gifts that are needed in the church. You have a part to play in this church. You are part of a body. You are like an organ in a body that is essential. Even though it's different from all the other organs, it's essential to how the body functions. I'd like you to think for a moment about how a body grows and compare that to how a building grows, for example. If you want a building to be taller, you take some outside stuff and you stick it on top. And you just put outside material on top. If you want a building to be taller, you just stick some stuff on top. But that's not how a body grows. I can't just put something on my head and say I'm taller. Because a body grows from the inside. A body grows when all of the members are working properly and all of the members are growing. It's an organic process. That's how the church is designed to work. that we're not just sort of adding on, that all of us need to be growing and maturing and functioning well in this body. If you're feeling contrary, you might say, well, now Pastor, earlier in Ephesians, Paul does compare the church to a building. He says that Jesus is adding, fitting together the stones of the building. And that's true, that when he talks about how Jesus builds the church in his sovereignty, it's like a builder putting a building together. But when he talks about our job, when he talks about how we function as members of the church, he talks about a body growing. working together, each having our role, each building a body up together. Now, it's important not to take a metaphor too far, but we can deduct two principles from this idea of the body. First of all, you need your brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about what happens when you take an organ out of a body. You take an organ out of the body, and it dies. It shrivels up. It can't survive on its own. And if you separate yourself from the body of Christ, you will spiritually shrivel up. You need your brothers and sisters in Christ. You need that communion, that fellowship, that nourishment and encouragement that comes from having other Christians in your life. The second principle we can take from this idea of the body is that the body needs you, that your brothers and sisters in Christ need you, that your health, your spiritual health affects the whole body. Because when you take an organ out of a body, it doesn't just affect the organ, it affects the whole body. The whole body suffers when you separate yourself from the church, when you separate yourself from your brothers and sisters in Christ, because we need each other. We need each other because we're designed to build each other up in love. You'll see that Paul uses this phrase, in love, twice in verses 15 and 16. We're to speak the truth in love to each other, and then the body builds itself up in love. Later in chapter 5, verse 2, he says, walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The Church functions as a body when we are showing Christ-like love to each other, sacrificing ourselves for each other. And this is what's so beautiful about the Church, is that, yes, we're called to sacrifice ourselves and give up our interests for the sake of others in the Church, but do you know what happens when everybody does that? It means that your interests aren't just ignored, it means others are looking out for your interests. You don't have to worry about yourself because the rest of the church is worrying about you, is taking care of you and building you up. And it's this mutual self-sacrificial love that helps the body build itself up, building itself up in love. It's such a beautiful picture of how this community is designed to work. We've been given to each other by God to nourish each other and build each other up. We've been put together so we can love each other, forgive each other, tell each other the hard truths, so that we can all grow together. Others in the church will have strengths that make up for your weaknesses. Maybe your brother in Christ struggles with doubts about assurance, doubts about his salvation. But maybe God has given you great confidence in the promises of God. promises that give us assurance. And you've been given to your brother in this church to encourage him in this. Or maybe you struggle with controlling your tongue. But your sister in Christ has been given the grace to be slow to speak and quick to listen. And she can help you with that and give you strategies for times when you should keep your mouth shut and encourage each other and build each other up that way. Maybe you struggle with lust. But your brother in Christ has been equipped with tools and strategies for fighting temptation, for taking these attacks head on. You need your brother in Christ. You need your sister in Christ to encourage you and to help you. Now, for the church to grow in this way, for us to help each other in this way, you have to know each other. You have to be in each other's lives. So think about what time you're getting with your brothers and sisters in Christ. We have the wonderful blessing from God of one day in seven to spend worshiping Him and to spend time with His people. And that's a wonderful thing we have, this worship time together. The time around the tables at lunch is a wonderful blessing, a time to get to know each other, encourage each other. But what other times are you spending with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you spending time as a family together as believers, looking at God's Word, encouraging each other? We have women's Bible studies that are roughly regionally divided up. And so if you haven't already joined in those, if you're a lady in this church, then find an opportunity to get in on one of those if you can. I know it's hard because we're regional and we're spread out. We've just had a men's fellowship get together on Friday night. We're hoping to have more of those kinds of get togethers. And it may not seem as important to you to just go to sort of social gatherings, but we need to know each other. It's like the members of a body communicating well. We have a small group that meets here in Sterling every other week on Wednesday nights. Take opportunities to spend time together because you are God's gift to each other as members of a body. If you want to see the church grow, what should you do? Should you search for the latest methods? Should you look at all the research, all the strategies and statistics in our latest church growth models? Well, there may be some value in those things. We may learn something from those things. But they shouldn't be our starting point. We're always tempted to do things our own way, to come up with a better way than God has designed. But Jesus has given us a plan for the maturity and growth of the Church. He's given the Church leaders, appointed leaders, to equip you for the work of ministry. He's called you to be personally mature, to grow yourself in faith, to be mature so that you can spot false teaching. And He's given us to each other to be involved in each other's lives so that we grow together. Now, we need to think carefully about how to apply these in our local context. But keep Jesus' plan in mind. Follow Jesus' plan. for church growth. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you that you haven't left us without some directions for how to be your people. You've given us a design for your church. You've given elders to equip the saints for ministry. That you have given us to each other as members in a body. And so, Lord, we ask that this part, this one corner of your church here in Sterling, Kansas, here in central Kansas, would be a healthy part of your body. That we would communicate well. That you would help us to grow and mature. That you would continue to raise up godly leaders. That you would make the leaders of this church more godly every day. Lord, we long to glorify you through our work as the church. We want the world to see how great you are through this church. And so we ask that you would cause our work to flourish, that we would mature, that we would grow in numbers, that we would see people come to Christ for the first time. Lord, build this church and use us in the way that you have designed. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.