Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 11, hear now the word of God. And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers 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. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceit and scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. May God add his blessing to his word this morning. Let's pray. This morning, if you have your insert, there's the outline of the new series for today's message, but the new series that we are embarking on for this summer, Growing in Biblical Community, growing in biblical community. I'm excited about this series. It's been in my heart for time and what God desires to do with Pleasant View Bible Church. Growing in biblical community, we're going to be looking at four areas this summer. We're going to first look at what does it mean to grow in biblical community in our own individual life? What does that look like as we look at what God desires to do in our hearts as he challenges us in various ways? What does it mean to grow in Christ? Then we'll move into family and what does it mean to grow in biblical community as a family? And some of you are single and maybe don't have family at home. What does that look like with other family or what does that look like with some of your closest friends? What does it look like to grow in biblical community as a family? And then we want to move it to what does it look like in the church? As we grow in biblical community, what impact does that have as we're growing individually, as we're growing as families? What impact does that have on the church? And the church here at Pleasant View. And then we're gonna have the challenge. What does that look like in our neighborhood? What does that look like in our neighborhood And you're probably sitting there thinking, whew, I can check that one off right now for about six weeks. I don't have to worry about my neighbors yet. We want to see, what does that look like in our neighborhoods? What comes to mind? You know, back in the 80s, early 90s, I remember getting a lot of mail from organizations that talk about church growth, methods for church growth, and implementing this program or this method or this series for church growth. And what comes to mind when you hear the term church growth? Is it the numbers increase that the pews begin to fill up? That's one aspect of church growth. Is that the aspect that we're looking at? Many of these things that I got in the mail back then were how to increase your numbers. There are different types of ploys that are out there that can increase the crowd. Is that really what we're going after? What does it mean to grow in biblical community and church growth? Maybe what we need to do is begin to ask the questions. Why do we do what we do on a Sunday morning here at Pleasant View? Why does our Sunday mornings look like they do? Why does our worship look like it does? Why does our Sunday school look like it looks like? Why do we do that? Is there different people or different things that we're trying to impress maybe other than God? It's interesting because just last week after speaking at a place, Carrie got into the car with me and I don't even think I got the car started. And she said, she looked at me and she said, why did you say this? And she made the statement and immediately I was convicted in my own heart. And I said because I wanted the approval of men. I said it because I wanted the approval of men. Whose approval are we going after as a church? Sometimes I believe we do things the way we do and we keep doing them because that's the way they've always been done. Right? And because that's the way they've always been done, Really deep down in we don't want to rock the boat and cause some turmoil by changing it. Right? This is what we've always done. This is what we've always believed. What if what we have always done and what we have always believed is not right or true? Do we keep doing them? What if there is Things that we can do better to accomplish what God wants to accomplish in our lives as a church. Should we do them? Here's another tough question. Is can I be objective enough to look at God's word and be vulnerable to allow His word to speak to whatever issue He wants to speak in my life or in the church life? Can we be objective? Am I still teachable? And right away in my own heart, I just began to think, Bob, you think you're perfect, then why are you still here? Because perfection doesn't happen here, it happens in heaven. We're beginning this new series this summer, Growing in Biblical Community. And I can tell you right now, we're gonna be challenged. We're gonna be challenged as we look at God's word. We're gonna be challenged as we look at it and to determine what it looks like for me personally. What is it that God wants to do in my life personally? What is it that God needs to change in my life? What is it that I am not teachable in? What is it that God wants to reveal? Am I willing to pray the prayer, Lord, like David prayed, Lord, search my heart. See if there will be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting. God, whatever it takes for me to become more like Christ, to grow in biblical community as I commune with you. God, do it. Are you willing to risk that? Are you willing to be honest with yourself? As we look at the scriptures, what it is to grow. and communion with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. I think we're gonna be challenged as we see what does this look like in my family? How does this change the way I react to my children? How does this change the way I react to my parents? How does this work in my own family? And then we're gonna look at the church. And so if all these things are beginning to happen, and that's where it needs to begin to happen, you know, for revival to happen, it begins in my own heart, begins in my own life for revival to begin to take place. And so if God wants us growing in biblical community as a church, and there's just many things that are going on within this body of believers, many things that are exciting to see that God is doing. And we're on the cusp of something. And I don't think this series is coming along at a coincidental time. I think it's a providential time. Because I think God wants to challenge us in our own individual lives. He wants to challenge us. Because He wants to challenge our families and He wants to challenge our church. And then the tough one. What does this look like in my neighborhood? What does this look like with my neighbors? Scripture is very clear about your neighbors. And sometimes we can say, like the Pharisee, Lord, who is our neighbor, right? And then he gives the parable of the man taken by robbers and the Levite and the priest walked by on the other side is so not to defile themselves. And the Samaritan comes along and he takes care of him, doesn't know the man, but he's his neighbor at that point. We find that out to be true because at the end of the story, Jesus asked the Pharisee, which one of the three was a neighbor? It was the one who cared for him. So what does it mean? to be the church, to grow in biblical community. Today we're going to look at this passage in Ephesians chapter 4, 11 through 16. And in this passage, what we're going to see is God's plan, God's purpose, and God's power. Do you notice something right away? All three of them are in God's camp. It's His plan, it's not mine. It's His purpose, it's not mine. And it's His power. So you know what that means? If that all belongs to Him, then what's left for me? Submission. That's tough, isn't it? Submission. Am I willing to submit to God's plan, His purpose, and His power in my life, in my family, in my church, in my neighborhood? It begins in verse 11, God's plan. This is a great passage of Scripture coming from Ephesians chapter 4, Paul's writing, speaking about the unity of the Spirit. Now with all humility, verse two, and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There's this picture of this unity of the spirit. Then notice what he says, for there is one body, one spirit, just as also you were called to one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. Do you get the picture? God's plan is one thing. God's plan revolves around one thing. It revolves around Him. And as it revolves around Him, and we buy in, and we sell out, and we submit ourselves, then it brings us in unity, not only with the triune God, but it begins to bring us in unity with one another. What it means to be the The community of Christ. The community of believers. Each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. There, I believe he's speaking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. That when you come to faith in Jesus Christ, that you, by the grace of God, are given a gift. It's not a talent. It's not something that you do in and of your own ability. It is a grace-given gift that can only be done by the grace of God. in your life. And we find those gifts in Romans chapter 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and 14 you begin to see those gifts. But notice what he goes on to say here. Therefore it says when he ascended on high he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. He's talking about I believe something different here when it says that he gave gifts to men. I believe what he's talking about is this group of men is the body of believers. He gave gifts to his church. Notice what he goes on to say, now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean? Except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things. And then notice what it says, here he's coming back to these gifts. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers. This is different. This isn't the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are the gifts that Jesus is giving his church, right? Jesus in Matthew 16 says, right, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, right? Jesus says he's building his church, and now here before his ascension, Paul said Jesus gave four specific gifts to the church in order for the church to be built. And what he did was he gave them apostles first. And we saw that. We read about the apostles. We read about the twelve and then Judas betrays him and Matthew is put in his place. And the apostles and Jesus turning the things over to the apostles and then Saul becomes an apostle in Acts chapter 9. Saul sees a vision of Christ, Christ coming down. He sees Christ himself. In fact, Saul is even taken up into heaven. You notice when Saul is taken up into heaven and when he talks about it, Saul doesn't come back and begin to try to sell books or movies or do all those types of things. He doesn't brag on it or anything else unlike those that you see written today. In fact, Saul, the Apostle Paul said he was giving a thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. because he had gone into the upper realms of heaven. The apostles. Those who were specifically sent out by Jesus himself personally. We don't have apostles today. The apostles aren't needed today because the apostles accomplished the work that Jesus sent them out to accomplish and part of that was the Word of God that the Holy Spirit would give them the words to say and we have the scriptures concerning The words that the Holy Spirit reminded us in the teaching. And then he said he gave prophets. Not only Old Testament prophets, but he also gave New Testament prophets. And the word prophet here really speaks of new revelation. And as the scriptures are still being written, there is new revelation that was still needed. But see, we do not need brand new revelation. We have the book of Revelation that goes all the way to the end of time until Jesus comes back and the new heavens and the new earth is built. We don't need new revelation. We have it all right here. And so I don't believe that there are prophets. I believe that there is the gift of prophecy still available that reveals the truth of God's word. It's not brand new revelation, but it's a revealing of truth of God's word. and he gives some to be evangelists, and I believe the gift of evangelists are still around. There is the gift of evangelism, and many of the evangelists probably have the gift of evangelism, but they're a little bit different. The gift of evangelism has the opportunity for a person to go out, and somehow God shows favor upon them, and people just reveal their hearts to these people. I've shared the story, I was discipled by an evangelist. And we would go to a door and they would just sometimes be weeping. The person would just spill their heart and their guts and everything out. And they're praying and trusting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And then he says, okay, now it's your turn. And we go to the next door and they slam it in my face. And that's the way it went. And it wasn't until I was discipled by another guy and he said, Bob, you're not Sid. Sid's an evangelist, you're not. And it made sense. Yes, we're all called to evangelism. But there's those that have the gift of evangelism. But this gift that he gave evangelists, I believe these are those that go out and plant churches. These are the ones that are going out and they have the ability to go out and they plant churches. And they begin to grow up these churches for about two to three years and then they bring in a pastor teacher. And that evangelist goes on and does the same thing again. And there can be evangelists within the church. Some are missionaries. Some go out. They're sent out. They're missionaries as they go out and they're evangelists in the planting of the church abroad. And then there's pastor-teacher. I believe that's one office that he's talking about. The shepherd-teacher that Paul talks about. The shepherd that has the duty of preaching and teaching, who's worthy to have his needs met monetarily. Pastor, teacher. These are gifts that God gave the church. He says, why, what was God's plan for the equipping of the saints For the equipping of the saints, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. God's plan. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers for the equipping of the saints. Equipping, it means to be restored to the original condition. It was often used as a medical term of one that resets the bones of a broken bone. They reset it back to its original form. In Hebrews chapter 13, that same word is used. The author of Hebrews in verse 20. Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant even Jesus our Lord equip you, there it is, in every good thing to do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. That we are equipped for every good thing to do His will, to coming back and being able to do His will. That Ezekiel says that we are given a new spirit, that we're given a new heart, that He puts His Holy Spirit in us to be able to cause us to begin to walk how God originally intended us to walk, how God originally intended us to be, back in the garden. And we're not going to be perfect at it, but we now have the ability to be equipped to walk in that manner. And it not only speaks of equipping of the individual, but that individual that is equipped causes the same mind and judgment to come, and the unity of the body to come, 1 Corinthians 1.10. So as one is equipped, then another is equipped, and another, and as all of them begin to become equipped, they begin to unify as they're equipped, being restored back to walking in the will and the manner of God. And this is done, I believe, first and foremost, in a vertical relationship with God. This comes through the word, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, right? All scripture is God-breathed, or inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, complete, equipped for every good work. It's the Word of God that begins to transform and change our lives to equip us, to make us adequately complete, equipped for every good work that He has for us to walk in. In John 17, 17 it says, Father, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. And he does it also through prayer. Turn back just to Ephesians 1, verse 15, Paul praying for the church at Ephesus. For this reason, verse 15, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus, which exists among you, and your love for all the saints, Do not cease giving thanks for You while making mention of You in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of Him. That we would grow up in the knowledge of Him, growing in wisdom and revelation and understanding and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And praying that for the church, praying that for one another. as you pray your page in the directory, praying that for those that you pray for. You know, the early church, the apostles devoted themselves to the Word, to the teaching, to the breaking of bread, to the fellowship, and to prayer. And the purpose is for works of service. The equipping of the saints for work of service. This is the will of God. The will of God is preparing us for the work of service. God could do it. Couldn't He? Right? God could do it if He wanted to. He could do it. He could see to it that evangelism is happening and He could proclaim it Himself. He could do just what He did with Saul. Right? God could do that. But in His will and in His providence, He wants to use us to evangelize. Us to do works of service. Because see, when we begin to serve one another, it helps us to move in unity. Because in order to serve you, I have to sacrifice my own needs, right? That when I serve you, I think of you first. And it begins to change the way we live as we serve to the building up of the body. Building up. literally refers to the building of a house. A long time ago, I used to frame houses. I don't do that anymore. But I remember working for a framer, and what we would do is we'd wait for the foundation to be poured, and after the foundation was dry, we'd go and we'd begin to put the plates down, and I remember him always nervous on whether it was going to be square or not, right? If the foundation isn't square, it makes it pretty difficult to start building the walls. I remember many times using sledgehammers and things like that, not on the foundation, but to somehow tweak the boards to get them square. And then we'd frame the house. We'd just frame it all the way up and through the roof and just put the plywood on the roof. And then what we would do is we were done and then the heating and air, the electrical and plumbing all came in and they did their work. And then we went to another house and began to frame it. And then we'd come back and we'd back that house out, if I remember the terminology right, where we would get it ready for drywall. And put in fire, well the fire blocks were already put in because the electrical guys had to get in. But then we'd get it ready for drywall. And then we were done. So I don't know what happened after that. But doesn't it make sense? Every part of that is essential for the building of a house. Just like every person is essential for the building of the church. You're essential. You're important. You're a piece of this. And there has to be, is there, that's the question, is there that willingness to be used by God in whatever way, in whatever giftings He's given you, to be a part of the building of the body? Of building this body, and each one is important. They're essential. They're essential to the building up. If you leave one of those things out, I think it would probably be pretty rough after everything is put up and the drywall is put up to come back and do electrical, right Heath? It would be pretty difficult. It would be pretty difficult to put in the heating and air, right Jason? If everything was done and they got all the cabinets in, oh we forgot to do the heating and air. Everything is important. God has purpose. He has a plan. He has a purpose. Verse 13. 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. We'll stop right there. That's a taunt just right there. And he's not done. Purpose. What's God's purpose? First, the unity of the faith. Unity, and notice it's not of, it's in. Unity in the faith. Jesus' high priestly prayer. Turn back to John 17. In Jesus' high priestly prayer, notice what he prays. Verse 9, I ask on their behalf, I do not ask on my behalf, on behalf of the world. Notice, he's not asking on behalf of Aurora. Right now, he's not asking on behalf of Aurora. He's asking on behalf of the church. And I know you can tell me he's talking about the apostles, and you're right, he is. But hold on, because we're gonna get to verse 20 when he talks about us. but of those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them. Are you seeing this? It's the Trinity. Everything that's yours is mine, and everything that's mine is yours. And they are yours, and because they're yours, they're mine, and because they're mine, they're yours, and somehow, in unity, we get wrapped up into the Trinity. Are you catching this? We get wrapped up into the Trinity. You understand why the church is so important? It's a picture of that relationship that God has with himself and with his son that he has with us and us with him. I'm no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name. The name which you have given me, that they may be one as we are. You see that? That they may be one as we are. And yes, he's talking about the apostles. Jump down to verse 20. He says, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who also believe in me through their word. Guess who that is? Us. Now he's praying for you and I specifically. And notice he doesn't beat around the bush, that they may be one. Even as you, Father, are in me, I in you, that they would be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me. Are you catching that? So what the world should be able to do is look at the church, to look at us. and how we function and say, God sent Jesus. He had to have. This couldn't happen any other way. Is that what the world would say about us? I hope so. I hope so. He doesn't end there. He just continues to go on. about His glory and wanting to reveal His glory and us being one and the unity in the faith. And in the faith, it's not our point in time of trusting and repenting and coming to faith in Jesus Christ. He's talking about the faith. He's talking about Christian doctrine. He's talking about the true gospel. And people say, you can't teach doctrine. You can't preach on doctrine because doctrine divides. Well, that's exactly what doctrine's supposed to do. That's what doctrine is supposed to do. It's supposed to divide that which is true from that which is false so that we unify on the truth. And there's some things in doctrine that are not real clear in scripture. And there are other things that are very clear. Unity in the faith and the knowledge of Christ. Staying in John chapter 17, Jesus says this is eternal life. that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Here's what eternal life is. Eternal life doesn't necessarily just mean salvation in heaven. It doesn't mean that we're all going to heaven. That is true. Those that have eternal life, we all have eternal life either in heaven or in hell. Those who have trusted in Christ have eternal life in heaven, but that's not That's not what the goal is. The goal for me is not heaven. The goal for me is to know Christ. That's what I want to know. I want to know Christ. And that's the goal in heaven. I get to see Him face to face and for an eternity get to know Him. It's to know Christ. It's to know Jesus. Philippians chapter 3. Notice what Paul writes. That we would, that God's purpose is that we would, not only in the unity of faith, but also in the knowledge of Christ. Verse eight of chapter three, more than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, and that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Amen. That's a lot there, isn't it? To suffer the loss of all things. I want to suffer the loss of all things that I may attain Christ. That I may know Christ. That Christ and His righteousness is who I am. That when people see me, they see Jesus. That I'm all about Christ. And notice, Here's the difficult words with what we just talked about. Look at verse 11. In order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. People, you follow that? What Paul is saying here is those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, this is what begins to happen in your life. You consider everything else lost. You consider all things to be lost except for gaining Christ. And that's your whole goal in life, is to gain Christ in all things. To know Him. To know His righteousness. If that's not your desire, re-evaluate. Because Paul says, I do this so that I might attain to the resurrection. He wants to know Christ like this so that he can attain to the resurrection. In other words, what he's saying is, if that's not the desire of your heart, and I'm not the judge of this, I'm just going from this passage of scripture, then you're in danger of attaining the resurrection. We have the opportunity to get to know Him, to know the eternal, infinite God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit for all of eternity. Paul's words, verse 13. and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to the mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, that Christ be formed in me, that God works together all things for good, for those who love Him, that called according to His purpose, that we might be conformed to the image of Christ, that Christ would be formed in us, that Christ would be my life, as Colossians chapter three, verse four says. Is Jesus your life? And again he talks about then attaining to the glory when Jesus becomes your life. For the purpose, for the result of, as he continues on, that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine and by every trickery of men with craftiness and deceitful scheming. Every wave. A small boat being moved every which way by the waves. That we would not be that. That we would not be moved by the waves. That we would not be moved by the wind like a feather falling from a tree and the wind taking it and moves it where it wants. He says we're not like that. We're not like that. We're not going to be taken by any wind of doctrine or any wave of doctrine that is not true. We will remain faithful because we are pursuing Jesus in everything. And so we won't be taken by the trickery of men. Speaking of dice, that's the word trickery. It's the word for cube or dice which was often used in a deceitful way. Loaded. The trickery of men. The craftiness. Clever manipulation. That's what craftiness means. It's clever manipulation to make something that looks like it's true. It's like museums of dinosaurs or even those that want to make it look like we came from monkeys and so they find just the jawbone of an animal, of a monkey, and they form the rest of it. That's craft. That's craftiness. They form the rest of it and say, this is what it looks like. They have no idea that that's what it looks like. That's craftiness. Trying to deceive us. And saying this is what it looks like. This is what it came from. Scheming. Used of Satan in chapter 6 verse 11. It's a planned out error. To mislead. To cause you to doubt. To cause you to question God. But see it does not fool us who are spiritually equipped. It does not fool us who are pursuing Christ. And the purpose of this is for authentic relationship, speaking the truth in love. That we begin to grow up, that we can begin to speak the truth in love with one another. That we know we can speak truthfully when it's out of love, when it's out of care, when we love the other person enough to come to them and to encourage them because we see God using them in a mighty way. We see God producing fruit in their life and we come alongside them and we encourage them out of love. Or maybe we see sin in that person's life. Then to speak the truth and love is to come alongside them that you love them so much that you want to see them be reconciled back to their Savior. And so you come alongside. You take the plank out of your eyes as Matthew 7 says so you can remove the speck from your brothers. But it must be done in love. We can speak truth and totally annihilate somebody. But when we speak truth and love It's done to restore that person. It's done to reconcile them. In order that we would grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. That we would grow up like Jesus. That we would walk like Jesus, as John said in 1 John. And then finally, the power. The power, where does it come from? He says, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together. From whom? Who's the whom? Well, you have to go back. Christ. Christ is the home. He's the head. And so from him, from Jesus Christ, we have the power that the whole body is fitted and held together. He's the power that holds us together. He's the power that brings us together. It's because we are individually working in our own relationships with Jesus Christ, and as Jesus is transforming us, what's happening is, is he's taking the transformation of you and me, and he brings us in community into the church, and what he begins to do is he begins to transform the church. Amazing, isn't it? That's what he wants to do. That's what he wants to do. He's the power behind it. It's by his grace that this happens. And we get to be a part of it. To me, it's a scary thing. Let me tell you, it's a scary thing. I'm scared to death. Because of what is God gonna expose in my life? What's he gonna show in my life? What changes need to take place in my life? But you know what? It's a glorious and joyful thing because then and only then do I begin to live how God created me to live. Do you see that? It's not easy. but it's good. It's dangerous, but it's glorious. And God wants to do that with us, because that's how he ends it. so that every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part. We each have a part in what God wants to do. And it's by his power and by his grace. And he will bring the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. We're in for an awesome journey. I'm excited what God wants to do in your life, in my life, in the life of the church, in the life of our neighborhoods.