in the chapter 4, verses 4, 5, and 6. You look there. Paul listed seven elements that unite all true believers. Seven elements that speak of the mutual relation of all believers in Christ. There's one body, one spirit. We were all called in one hope of our calling. There's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And one God and Father who's over all, who's through all, and who's in all. We don't get to have our own faith, our own spirit, our own Jesus, our own Father. There's one. One body, one spirit. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of us all. You look at verse 8 of chapter 4, drawing on Psalm 68, verse 18, we saw that Paul wrote that, having accomplished his redemptive mission and returning to heaven in victory, in great triumph, now seated at the right hand of the Father. Christ entered into a sovereign rule over all the universe, over every being in both the natural and the spiritual realms. And as such, having established His church on earth before He left, He began distributing gifts to His church, gifts among His people. And all of the gifts that Christ gives to His church and its members are intended for the common good, for the benefit of the whole body. There's no gift that's given that's not intended for the benefit of the whole body. Christ gives these gifts, we see here in chapter 4, for the building up of His church, to equip the saints for the work of service. So verse 11, we saw Paul listed five gifts that Christ has bestowed on His church. They're teaching gifts. Some of which He still bestows on His church. Gave some as apostles. Some as prophets. Some as evangelists. Some as pastors and teachers. Again, all offices which deal with the proclaiming, preaching, and teaching of the Word of God. Two of these offices, apostles and prophets, received revelation from God. And they communicated that to the people in the first century. And these laid the foundation of the church. And we've seen that as we've looked at those offices. And we've also noted that, as some may disagree, those two gifts ceased by the end of the first century, once the Scripture, the canon of Scripture, was completed. But all of these offices Christ has given to the church to guard her in the truth. To guard her against being misled into error and even heresy. And heresies were great. And error was great, especially in the first two or three centuries. And these offices were given to the church to foster growth toward conformity to Christ. Both in the individuals and in the body as a whole. We've also noted that the fact that men receive these gifts or offices does not elevate them above others in the body. But they do come with the authority to teach. Paul's not establishing a church hierarchy. These are offices of service, as are all the gifts he gives. They're not offices of status. No man should boast of having these gifts. Now we've seen throughout this letter that there are several very long sentences. And verses 11 through 16 are one sentence in the Greek. Just as chapter 1, verses 3 through 14 were one sentence. Chapter 1, verses 15 through 23 were one sentence. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 7 were one sentence. As was chapter 3, verses 2 through 13. And again, verses 14 through 19. In chapter 4 here, verses 1 through 6, we're one sentence. Really very few sentences from Paul in this letter. Now, in verses 12 and 13, our passage for tonight, Paul explains the purpose for which Christ gave these gifts, gave these men as gifts to His church. So here's our text. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, All of the gifts that Christ gives to His body are given to foster unity and harmony in the body. To help it grow as a body until it reaches its ultimate goal. And the ultimate goal is set by Christ. And that is the spiritual maturity of each member. And what Paul's talking about here, the spiritual maturity of the whole body as a body. So verse 12, I'm just going to try to break this down a little bit, and then we'll begin to look at each little clause. Verse 12, Paul states in two parts that the gifts of verse 11 are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. He got two aspects there. And then in verse 13, we see the ultimate objective. Which Paul breaks down into, you may count it as three parts. You may count it as four. You may count it as two. Until we had all attained to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. And that last part is the goal. It's the objective. To attain to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Remember who Christ is. He is he in whom the fullness of deity dwells in human flesh. So that's the goal. Spiritual perfection of the body. And the giving of these gifts first, Paul says, is for the equipping or the preparation of the saints for the work of service. Some translate for the work of ministry. Certainly all five of these gifts in verse 11 contribute to some aspect of what leads to the ultimate goal. The gifted persons, teachers, serve as gifts given by Christ for the imparting of the gospel and then for the purpose to also serve, including the sharing of the gospel. Paul teaches us here that every believer is called to service in the church. No exceptions. The work of service or the work of ministry, it promotes the idea of what? Activity. activity, doing something, conveys the idea of serving the Lord by ministering to one another and even going outside the body with the gospel. Or with the kind of kindnesses that Jesus spoke of to visit the sick, those in prison, widows, orphans. And again, it's the call of pastors, teachers, and elders to equip the saints to perform this ministry. William Henriksen says this in his commentary in respect to this little section. He says, what is emphasized here is the universal priesthood of believers. Church attendance, he says, should mean more than simply going to hear Reverend Day. Unless with a view to service, there's adequate preparation and a desire for association, wholehearted participation, there's bound to be Sabbath desecration. That's within the body. But he also says this. And during the week, too, every member should equip himself to be engaged in a definite ministry. Whether that be imparting comfort to the sick, teaching, neighborhood evangelizing, track distribution, or whatever be the task for which one is equipped by God. It's the task, again, of the officers of the church to equip the members for these tasks. To all this, Hendrickson says, it's important to add that the effectiveness of positive conscious acts of Christian witness depends in a large extent on how we live our lives. Depends on the life of the person giving witness. Our service may be a reflection of Christ or it may be a reflection of something else, of worldliness. So Christ gave gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. He calls each one to service. And the initial purpose here is the building up of the body of Christ. If we share the gospel and the Holy Spirit works in that person's heart and brings them into the body of Christ, we help build up the body of Christ. Remember, the body of Christ is a building that for 2,000 years has been a perpetual state of construction. You ever think about that? You look, who's the body of Christ? And it looks different. 1502 it looked one way. 1312 it looked another way. 1816 it looked another way. And today, it's still under construction. It's a living organism, a growing organism. And it's composed of living believers, of true believers. That's what the body of Christ is. And as each believer functions in the body with whatever gifts and abilities and talents Christ has given him, Christ's body, the church, will be built up. Everything we contribute to the church helps build it up. So that's why Christ gave gifts to his church. To help build it up. That's what he wants to do. He wants us to grow spiritually and he wants us to grow numerically by bringing people in. Another writer, Harold Hohner, says the concept that the ministry belongs only to the clergy is foreign to this context. Because every saint is gifted by Christ, and every saint is involved in the ministry. Work of ministry does not stop with the work of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons. It only begins with those in those offices. And sadly, as we know, this is not a picture of the church today. But it is a picture of what Christ desires for His church. So again, we see here that the gifts that we as individuals receive from Christ and the gifts He bestows on His church are not for our own edification, but for the gathering of the people of God and for the edification and discipling of the body of the believers. And as a building under construction, when does this process end? When Christ returns, the building will be complete. It never ends. New generations of children are born every day, brought into churches. So it's by means not only of those ministers in verse 11, but by all the varieties of service of all of the members that the body of Christ may be built, both in size and in spiritual maturity, which is the particular issue that Paul has in mind here. Those named in verse 11 are called to help and direct the other members of the church so that all may carry out their several ministries for the good of the whole. So we've got Christ giving gifts to the church for the preparation, the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ. How long does this happen? Well, until, verse 13, we all attain, and he's talking about us as a body, to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Until we become Christ-like. Until Christ's body is a reflection of Him. So in verse 13, what's Paul doing here? He's bringing his readers back to the point he emphasized back in verses 3, 4, 5, and 6. You look back there, he's talking about the unity of the Spirit. Here, verse 13, he speaks of the unity of the faith. Both relate to the unity of the whole body. Both speak of a harmony within the body and a single-mindedness in the whole body of glorifying God through Christ. Our purpose and mission. I've said this in different ways many times, but Paul's saying it here. Our purpose and mission as the body of Christ is the building up of the body. That's our mission. The gathering of believers and the discipling of them. It's building it up in numbers. It's building it up in spiritual maturity. And the ultimate goal. It's amazing what Paul says here. The ultimate goal is the spiritual maturity, the spiritual perfection of both the church and its members. that the church would be a perfect reflection of Christ. I know that sounds so far off, but that's what the church is going to be. That's going to happen. The church, the body of Christ, will be a perfect reflection of Him. Now when? Well, we'll talk about that in a second. But Christ is going to continue. He continues to bless His church with all these gifts until the day He returns and gathers His people to Himself. He's not leaving us orphans in this regard either. He's given us His Spirit, and He is giving the church all that she needs to grow to a mature man. So this means that the exercise of all the gifts in the church must be a continuous, ongoing activity. It doesn't stop. It doesn't take breaks. The exercise of each one's gift and the building up of the church are coordinate, ongoing processes. Again, until the final consummation. You notice this verb here, attain. Until we all attain. This word is often used in Acts by Luke to speak of a traveler arriving at a destination. Speaks of reaching a goal. Till we reach this goal. And I want us to understand, all of the saints, all true believers will reach this goal. All true believers will participate in the church reaching this goal. This is an assurance. This is the one hope of our calling. We will reach this goal. And the three phrases that we have here in verse 13, they're not talking about three separate goals. They're talking about three aspects of the same goal. Again, the perfect reflection of Christ in His body. So here are the three phrases. Until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, those two, I believe, go together, to a mature man, the measure which belongs to the fullness of Christ. These are steps to the goal of a mature man. The first aspect has two prongs. Two concepts joined together, which will lead to spiritual maturity. The unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. We have one faith. We have a single view of Christ. We share that same view. These are component parts of spiritual maturity. This should be what we desire above all else. Maybe apart from the salvation of the lost. But this is the ultimate objective of Christ's redemptive work. This is why He died on the cross. This is why He's blessing His body with these gifts. And He's gifted every one of us. until we all attain to the unity of the faiths." What's that mean? Well, we've already read back in chapter 4, verse 5, there's one faith. This refers, again, to the objective body of truth that Paul referred to in chapter 4, verse 5. There's one faith. There is only one objective body of truth. And all else is either error or worse, heresy. This step of a unity of the faith in reaching spiritual maturity is that we all come to believe in the same divinely given truth. That is going to happen. All error will be swept aside. There aren't going to be different views of what the truth is. And in order to arrive at this goal, it's necessary that the church Be of the truth. Be taught the truth. Divine truth is the essence of Christ. He is the Word of God incarnate. He's the Word of God in human flesh. And He said, I am the truth. I'm the truth. That's why you can't have multiple truths. You can't have conflicting truths. He's the truth. There's one Lord, and He's the truth. So if the church is to achieve her God-given mission, the gathering of the people of God into one body in Christ, it must be in the truth. So when he says, attain to a unity of the faith, that's what he's talking about. And obviously, right teaching of the Word of God is absolutely necessary to achieving this goal of a unity of the faith. The next component of spiritual maturity is the knowledge or the clear knowledge of the Son of God. A lot of people have their own Jesus. A lot of people make up their own Jesus these days. Don't tell me about that Bible. Just give me Jesus. Don't tell me about your doctrine. Just let me have Jesus. They want to make up their own Jesus. But Jesus is found in the Word of God. He is the Word of God. This is the only place in Ephesians where Paul refers to Christ as the Son of God. Now, when he talks about a knowledge of the Son of God, he's speaking of a true, clear, and full knowledge of Christ. Not just, yeah, I know who He is. No, I truly know Him. And clearly, sound doctrine, again, is necessary to a true knowledge of Christ. There's a word, gnosis, in Greek, means knowledge. But there's another word, epignosis, which is more than just knowledge, and that's the word that's used here. It's not mere intellectual knowledge, but a true heart knowledge. It's knowing Him the way you know those closest to you. Faith, of course, must be based on what? The knowledge of God. How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And conversely, much true knowledge comes as a result of faith. Faith is the God-given knowledge, evidence of the divine truth that saves us. Hebrews 11. So when Scripture is read in faith, one grows in the knowledge of the Son of God. If you're reading it skeptically, maybe. Yeah, but look what it says here. If you're looking to find contradictions, you're not going to grow in the knowledge of Christ. If you're reading the Scripture in faith, you will grow in the knowledge of Christ. So Paul is saying that this goal is to be sought through the exercise of these gifts. to all of our exercise of our gifts. So the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, a true knowledge of the Son of God, a true heart knowledge of the Son of God, are vital components of spiritual maturity. Can't have spiritual maturity without these. Not for the body anyway. And Paul refers to the church as a whole as a mature man here. He's not speaking of individual mature men. Although that individual spiritual growth is necessary. But here he's talking about the whole body of Christ. Until we attain to a mature man. What's that mean? It means spiritual perfection. It means a reflection, a perfect reflection of the risen and ascended Christ. Now Paul's going to define this term, a mature man, in the next clause. To the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Those are some big words. Those are some really big words. Again, the goal is the spiritual maturity of the body. What does disunity in the body do? What's it a sign of in this regard? Say it. Immaturity. It's a sign of immaturity, spiritual immaturity. Think about that. Disunity in the body is a sign of spiritual immaturity of that body. So while each individual's spiritual growth is important, and it is, the Holy Spirit is also and equally concerned with the spiritual growth of the body as a body. Those who want to just be on their own, apart from the body of Christ, are not acting in accordance with God's will. I got my Bible, I can stay home. No. Christ is calling us to mature as a body. At the same time, a lack of spiritual growth in its individual members, what's that going to do? Is that going to help the spiritual maturity of the body? Of course not. It's going to inhibit and even hinder the growth of the body if we don't grow as individuals. But conversely, folks, each member, by his own service to the body, and even outside the body in the name of Christ, by the use of His God-given gifts, helps the body toward spiritual maturity. When we exercise and use our gifts, we help the body grow. And Paul defines this as the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. It helps us grow to attain to this fullness, to the fullness of Christ. Now if you don't think that's a big statement, look what Paul's already told us. Back in chapter 1, verse 23, at the end of his prayer, he speaks of Christ, risen and ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father. He speaks of Christ then as He who fills all in all. He fills all in all. He fills all things in every way, I think one translates it. And now the church, the church is portrayed as that whose end goal is the same measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Colossians 119. In Him, the fullness of deity dwells in human flesh. That means that Christ has established His church. to be a perfect reflection of Him. To be a body that would be a perfect reflection of Him. We can't go into heaven as sinners anymore. We can only go in cleansed So we should be as concerned about this as he is. Are we? Are we as concerned that the church grow to be a perfect reflection of Christ? Now one of the things the commentators discuss is whether it's possible for the church to become this mature man attaining to the measure of the stature of Christ in this world. or whether this must await until His return? Paul doesn't answer the question. What do you think? Can we attain to this spiritual perfection before Christ returns? Some say yes, some say no. We have one no. Another no. I tend to lean to no. But what is it that we know about Christ and His Spirit? that would give some support to the idea that even in this age, the church could attain to a mature man. The Bible tells us we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. What else? In this specific regard, what do we know? What do we have? What do we have in our favor toward the growth of spiritual maturity? We're equipped by whom? I'm sorry? We've got the power of God the Holy Spirit. And then somebody is blessing His church with gifts. Who would that be? Well, it's the risen and ascended Christ. Christ is blessing His church with gifts right now. He's not waiting until the end. Now it seems so far beyond possibility. Certainly we've got to be moving toward that goal. Even if we think we can't reach it, we must be moving toward the goal. That's what this passage is about tonight. To be seeking the building up of this body. To be more and more like Christ. One who favors the idea that it's at least possible reminds us that the accomplishment of this goal in this age is not beyond the power of Christ and His Spirit. It really isn't. And the interesting thing about this, if you look at verse 14, at least there Paul's talking about this present age. So whether he's speaking of something that might happen. You know, the post-millennial view that the church will grow and blossom until Christ returns when it's reached its blossoming, tends toward that view. I don't know that I've heard post-millennialists actually express that view. And there's no question we should be seeking this. That's why he's given us these gifts. That's why he's commanded ministers to be equipping people to build up the church to pursue mature manhood, spiritual perfection. And if this goal of spiritual perfection is to be attained in this life, then every single one of us, every single saint, must make the fullest possible use of our Christ-given gifts. I mean, it won't happen if we don't do that. That by definition, if we're not using our gifts to the fullest, then we're not even seeking to reach that point. But using the gifts He's given us will lead us to spiritual growth. It'll lead us to spiritual growth individually, and it will lead to the spiritual growth of the body itself. unity, the knowledge of Christ, and spiritual maturity are all promoted whenever the members are engaged in the affairs of the church. And when, as Hendrickson says, each member eagerly renders that service for which the Lord has equipped him. So in sum, thought is this. To every one of the saints who formed the body of Christ, he has given ministers, for the purpose of providing the necessary equipment and the preparation for everyone to engage in the blessed task of ministering to each other so as to up-build the church with the ultimate goal of spiritual perfection. A true reflection of the risen and ascended Christ. Well, I think we're going to stop there tonight. We're going to turn next week, Paul turns, to some of the dangers that may afflict the church. Primarily that of untruth. So let's take a moment, let this Word of Christ dwell in our hearts, and then we'll close in prayer. Holy Father, You have blessed us so abundantly. You have given us a gift of faith, eyes opened to divine eternal truths. Lord, what a great gift. You've shown us things of the heavens. You've placed in our hearts a trust in what we know to be true, given us an assurance of eternal life and glory with you. And You've given us a mission, Lord, and let me be one to confess we've fallen so short of this mission. Lord, I pray You'd convict us that we would repent and serve You in the way You've called us. For Your kingdom and for Your glory. In Christ's name, Amen.