The Bible is open, Ephesians chapter 4 is our passage today. Verses 1 through 8, and then verses 11 through 16. I therefore, a prisoner of 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 and the bond of peace, There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who was 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. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and 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 was 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. This is the word of the Lord. Amen, you may be seated. Let's pray together, shall we? Our Father, as we come into your presence, we're so thankful that you are a faithful God. A God that we can count on 24-7, 365 days a year for all eternity. Father, your Word tells us that you have given us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness. And you did this through giving us your Word. The Bible tells us also that your Word is able to make us wise unto salvation and is also able to make us fully mature followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, Father, we pray now that the Spirit of God that inspired this Word would now illuminate it and that we would leave here and we'd have a good understanding of this passage and a better understanding, our Father, of what it means being a part of the body of Christ. And so, Father, you work as only you can. We're thankful for the promise your word will not return void. And so, Father, use it to change us and make us more like Jesus, we pray in his name. Amen. Well, last week, I asked, what does God intend to happen when we come together on Sunday morning? And the answer was, we speak to God God speaks to us, or we hear from God. And then thirdly, we impart God's grace to each other. Now today, I want to ask the same question, but with a different subject. And here's the question. What does God intend to happen in the church? Now, I'm trying to make a distinction. You understand we don't come to church. We are the church, right? It's not the building, alright? The church is the body of Christ. So in the church then, God intends there to be a purposeful joining together of many parts to reflect His glory and to accomplish His purposes. And that's what being a part of the body means. The joining of many parts to make something larger and more beautiful, this body. So what is this purpose? Well, all these individual parts coming together to become the body. And this is done so we can reflect the glory of God and accomplish His purposes. So the question we have to ask then is how do we as a body reflect His glory? And I want to pick up on an image later that's found in Ephesians chapter 5. So if your Bibles are open, turn with me, if you would, to verse 25, please. Ephesians 5, 25. Anybody that's ever counseled with me, they know this passage of Scripture well. Ephesians 5, 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." Now, ladies and gentlemen, is what the Bible teaches, is that the church is the very bride of Christ. It's the bride of Christ. And it's God's intention that someday, this bride will be presented this way. In splendor, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, so she might be holy, and without blemish. So what that tells us then is that Christ is at work in the bride moving her to that time when He will present that church in perfect splendor. Now what do we call that? Well, we call that sanctification, right? We like to say here in the church, moving people to the right. We're always desiring that they continue to grow and change and become more like the Lord Jesus Christ. But the question then is, is how? Well, one of the major tools that God uses is the members within the body of Christ, or the one another's. And each one contributes to gradual beautification of the church. And so what I'm saying is, is that each one of us, no matter what part of the body we are, the fingers, the ear, the knee, the side, we have a responsibility to help Jesus present His church with splendor and glory. You say, well, pastor, where do you get this? All right, well, let me show you how I come to that position. If you would, you're still in Ephesians, so turn with me to Ephesians chapter 3 in verse 7. Ephesians chapter three and verse seven. Now in this passage of scripture, the apostle Paul is telling us what his ministry is, and he's reminding the church at Ephesus the ministry he had with them. And here's what he says. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power, To me, though I am very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone, that is, the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he had realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And so he says, that's my job, all right? I've come to preach the gospel because that's what God wants me to do. But then I want you to notice how that chapter ends. And so if you would, just move down with me to verse 20 and 21. There the scripture says, now to him who was able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think according to the power at work within us, now listen closely, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. To him be glory. It says, in the church. The church is the place where God's glory is to be put on display. Now, notice how Ephesians 4 begins. Look again at verse 1. I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Do you notice the logic? Since we're the body of Christ, therefore, you need to walk in a certain way. Specifically, to enhance the beauty of the bride, and by so doing, to reflect God's glory in the church. And that's how it happens. Now thankfully, our beauty as a church is something that Christ will accomplish. because he is the one that's doing the washing, the cleansing, and the sanctifying. But God uses means, does he not? And we must never forget that. Now, oftentimes we use words up here in the pulpit, and we speak in Christianese, and you hear a word, and you say, well, what does that exactly mean? When I say God uses means, what am I saying? Well, let me give you a simple illustration. You're at home, and you're hungry. As the commercial says, you're hangry. And you open up the fridge, it's empty. All that's left there is something you don't want to eat. In fact, if you open it up, you might be a little scared, all right? Things are growing on you. You look into the cupboards, and they're pretty much bare. And you're saying, man, I gotta have something to eat. Well, what's the means to get something to eat? Then all of a sudden, you're watching a good football game, and the Detroit Lions is tearing somebody up. And that kid from Highland, man, is catching another pass and getting another first down. And there's a commercial for Domino's. And they say, Domino's delivers. You don't want to miss any of the game. So what's the mean to get something to eat? Domino's. Send me your special, right? But listen, when God wants to change our life, He uses means, alright? So He does it, but He does it through somebody else. And that's exactly what we're seeing here in this passage of Scripture. God is doing the washing, the cleansing, the sanctifying, but He does it through the body, through you and I. That's the means that God helps present His church perfect without splendors. And one of those major means He uses is our interaction in one another's lives. The manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. Look again at your text, chapter 4, verse 2. He says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. not just manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, but exercising the gift of the Spirit that God has given you. Look at verse seven. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift, right? Now, I'm not gonna go back and re-preach my sermon from last time, but we learned from Peter that we all have a gift, and it's all by God's grace, and we're supposed to use it amongst one another. And so we're saying we take the gifts that God has given to us within this body and we minister those gifts to one another. We're having an effect on each other's lives. We're growing, becoming more beautiful. We're doing this individually because people are talking to us and helping us to move forward in our relationship. And ladies and gentlemen, listen, some of the greatest encouragements that we can ever receive are some simple ones. Man, I'm glad you're here. Church ain't the same without you. Or whatever, all right? That blessed my heart. You say, man, I want to go back and do that again. But there's more. This is happening in the church. And as this happens, what happens is we begin to reflect the glory of God. You say, PM, what kind of things? Well, let me show you three things. But let me just say, first of all, this isn't everything. There are some things that within this passage reveal the glory of God. And the first one I want you to notice is the word unity. Listen, it's a beautiful thing when these things happen. Paul wants this to be visible to all those around us that the church is unified, it's walking as one. We're all singing off the same sheet of the music. Look with me again at your text. Go with me to verse 3. It says, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Drop down to verse 13. that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of one..." Oops, I'm sorry, I went two pages instead of one. "...until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness Now folks, I honestly believe that we intuitively want this in our life. Don't we, that unity? I mean in our homes, where we work, those types of things. It's a deep, dire desire from within. It's a deep, dire desire down under. In fact, this seems to be true in the culture in which we live. We really want to be unified, right? Somebody put it like this, can't we just all get along? Now, for you younger people in the congregation, you don't have to listen to this, but for you older people, you know what I'm talking about. You remember several years ago, there was that commercial by the Coca-Cola company? And they had all those people from all over the world on that one hill, And what did they say? I want to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. And you looked at that and you thought, man, wouldn't that be great? Why? Because everybody wants to be unified. Unity, when it exists, is a beautiful thing. And it's supposed to happen. And ladies and gentlemen, listen. when the people outside of us, when our family and friends who wonder what in the world makes those people want to go to church on Sunday? When you could hang on and play with the dog or go fishing or go whatever, right? You say, why do they go? Because then all of a sudden there's a little problem within that family and everybody rallies behind them because they're one, they're unified, right? And you say, man, that is a great thing, you see. Well, not only unity, but I also see maturity in this passage. Look with me at chapter 4 in verse 13. Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, now here we go, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness Hoo! Hoorah! That gets me excited. You know, my prayer always is, is God, give me the heart of Jesus. Let me walk and talk like He would, full of grace and truth. What a combination, huh? Grace, but with truth. Let me not fear man, let me just do what God wants me to do, you see? And He wants us to be mature like Christ. Now, folks, listen. There are nothing more beautiful than full maturity, is there? Over our fireplace, when it's not a season, we have a picture. And it starts with a rosebud, and then it works itself, I think, in four pictures until it's in all its glory, completely. Man, I like that last picture better than the first, the second, and the third. A maple sampling is something, right? I have a little maple tree in my yard. It's finally starting to grow. It's got great promise. But a mature maple tree, whoo, now that's something to look at, isn't it? We want mature. You know, I even think about Mrs. McNutt for a second. You know, when we first got married, I thought I loved her. And I did. But as she's matured and I've matured, there's a better relationship there. And I think of her and I'm like, wow, that maturity's something wonderful. And then there's one more, purity. The passage says, maintain your purity. But here there was no purity to start with, though, was there? Because before we become part of the body of Christ, we were a mess, were we not? In fact, how does the book of Ephesians define that for us? Well, let's go back to chapter 2, verse 1. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and it's not your own doing, it's a gift, not a result of work so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Wow. Purity. God has take us who are guilty, rotten sinners and clothed us in his righteousness and made us like his son. Folks, this is great news, isn't it? And what did it say in chapter 5 and verse 27? It said, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Purity is a wonderful thing. Listen, when you go diamond shopping, what do you want? You want the sparkle, right? The clarity and purity. And then you're going to look at something to put that diamond on, and what do you want? You want gold. You want it to sparkle. You want clarity, purity. You know, I buy these little coins because the silver's going up, and it's been probably a good deal because I got a bunch of them at about $11 a piece, and now they're worth about $32 a piece. But you can buy the ones that are crafted in the United States and they say 0.99% pure. But you get the ones from Canada and it says 0.9999% pure. Guess which one I like? I want the one that's purest, right? And that's what God wants for us. God wants purity of truth and purity of doctrine and purity of conduct. Look again at verses 14 and 15 of chapter 4. He says this, "...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 streams. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is head into Christ." By purposely joining together and ministering to one another in this way, we are contributing to those very things that make the beauty of the bride. Unity, maturity, and purity. My point is, an increasing beautiful bride increasingly reflects the glory Brothers and sisters, listen, the more we're like that passage we read out of Acts chapter 2, the more we present the glory of God. But God also intends there to be a purposeful joining together of many parts to accomplish His purposes as well. And what are those purposes? Well, let's go back to our text and notice what He would, please, verses 11 through 13. There the scripture says, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The work of the body, According to this passage of Scripture is the building up of the body. And you say, well, pastor, how does it happen? Well, Paul suggests two things. First, by addition. That's new members. And then secondly, by strengthening him, or what we could say, discipleship. By addition. Do you know where I get that? Look again at verse 4 and verse 11. It says, and he gave some apostles, What's an apostle? Someone who was sent out with the gospel. My wife and I was having a conversation, because she was showing me a little book that was written for kids, and it reminded me that he also had to live with Christ and see the resurrection as well to be a true apostle. No apostles today, you understand that, right? But then it also says evangelist. And that's our those who proclaim the gospel. In fact, I would really say today the evangelist is more what we would call our missionary. In fact, one of our missionary from Italy will be with us the 22nd of June coming up. But the fruit of their labor is people being added to the church. Let me again remind you of Paul's ministry. Go back to chapter three, verse seven. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. And so Paul again is telling us, my job was to preach Christ where He was not known, especially to the Gentile people. So they would see that the mystery is that the Old Testament was all about Jesus, and then Jesus came, the perfect Lamb of God, to take away the sins of the world. He died, He was buried, He rose again so we might have life in God and be reconciled. So as this happens, people begin to get saved, you see. And then how does that happen? Well, we encourage one another, right? When we share with them the Gospel. Now, I purposely had that passage of Scripture read today in Acts chapter 2 and verse 47. And the next time you read through the Acts, I want you to notice that every once in a while Luke throws in there a little bit of a picture of what the church is like at that moment. But at the end of verse 47 he says, praising God and having favor with all people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. You see? New members. But we also find that in Acts chapter 6 and verse 4 after the deacons are chosen. And what does the passage say there in the book of Acts? Chapter 6 and verse 7, I'm sorry, And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. You see that? A little statement to tell you how well the church is doing. I read that and I think, Is that the statement that would describe the new covenant church? We need to get out there and share the gospel. It was the building up of the church and those who responded to the gospel, that's how the church grows. You know, I come across the phrase a couple days ago, and I can't get it out of my head, And the phrase went like this, you can't give something to someone you don't own. And that's been telling me off. You can't give something to someone, something that you don't own. And my brothers and sisters in Christ, listen, if we are loving and living the gospel, And we own it. Man, it sure is a lot easier to give away, isn't it? I mean, people can tell when you're a phony or not. Well, two things. By addition, but secondly, the body is built up by the strengthening of the parts. By purposely joining us together, we're asking our brothers and sisters then to encourage us and to challenge us. And that's why the church is so important. Why? Because if you're not connected, nobody can be of much help to your growth. But when you become part of the body and you become connected, then all of a sudden now everything changes. And this is how it happens, you see. He says it in Ephesians 4, 11 through 16, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up of the body of Christ. until we all attain to the unity of the faith and 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 was 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, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. So we encourage one another. We bear with one another. What does that mean, to bear with one another? The idea behind that is to have patience. Did someone say patience? That's a hard one, isn't it? But when a brother or sister first gets to Christ, do you think they're going to be where you're at overnight? And so you love them and you patiently welcome them to get to that place where you need to be. By that time, hopefully you're a little farther away, too. You move to the right. We speak to one another in love, the truth. We minister to one another. See, all this happens so the body is strengthened and God's purposes are accomplished and His glory is put on display. My point is this, it's all about purposely joining together. And that's why we do membership. Membership is purposely joining together with others. It's a public display. It's taking a step. Now listen, joining the church doesn't save you. No, you're saved by grace alone through faith alone. But God does intend that there be a purposeful joining together of many parts, to be connected, to be linked together, to be knowingly and intentionally the body. Now is the time for a little confession. at one time that I thought I could minister to everybody in the church. And once in a while, I still think that way. But the beauty of the body is while the hands may not be immediately connected to the ear, not a lot of direct contact, they're still a part of the body. And my point is, is that we gotta have one another doing their work, you see. It can't be all done by one. And this is what Paul is getting at in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 16. 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. There are joints, specific places where we're connected together. But we are not all connected in the same way. But when each part does its work, when the joints are perfectly connected, people serving together, people fellowshipping together, all of us ministering to one another, what happens about, it says, the whole body is built up in the church. is fulfilling the purpose that God has for us. Now, let me make some application real quick. I want to address three groups of people. Those who are not yet Christians, you're curious, you're wondering. Listen, we're glad you're here. We want to give you an opportunity to explore the life He offers. This is a matter more important than being joined together than being joined to the church, what's the most important thing is being joined to Christ, the head of the church. Turn from sin, turn from trusting yourself, turn from that and trust in Jesus. Or what Ephesians, or excuse me, Isaiah 45, 22 says, turn to me and be saved all the earth, for I am God and there is no other. Secondly, if you're a believer and you're visiting New Covenant Church, looking for a church, you're welcome here. We want to serve you. And if I can answer any questions, I'm always available. Now, we're not the perfect church. You know that, right? Why? Because we're made up of a bunch of sinners, especially their pastors. But let me just say one more thing to the third group, those who already are purposely joined together. Let's close with this question. Is my participation, my engagement meaningful along these lines? Am I contributing to the beautification of the body? Its unity and its maturity. and its purity. Am I helping to build up the body of Christ here? So let's close with our church action. What is it? God is most happy, and God is most honored, and we are most happy when we worship him, serve one another, and take the gospel to the nations. You say, Pastor, what are you doing talking about the church? I thought we were in Romans. Well, you know, every once in a while, it's good just to go back to the basics again and remember why we're doing what we're doing, right? And I want to do that again next Sunday. And then I want to talk a little bit more about these one another passages. Folks, listen. The church is the apple of God's eye. The church is where it's at. And I love what Charles Spurgeon said to the young pastors in his pastoral class, if God called you to be a pastor, don't stoop and be the king. Why? Because God's church is where God's actions are. And he uses pastors and apostles and evangelists so we might all grow together and mature in Christ and serve one another. And so we can be a glorious light to the community. We could be a reflection of God's glory. And God can accomplish the purposes that he has. Let's pray together. Our Father, once again, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its truth. We thank you, Father, for the simplicity of it. We thank you for the gospel. Father, we read that we were dead in our trespasses and sin. We are living a foolish life. But God, who is rich in mercy and grace, came along and brought us salvation through Christ Jesus, the God. Father, if there be someone here without the gospel and they never trusted in Jesus, help them to get past that trusting in self and then put their eyes to focus on the finished work of Jesus on the cross. But then, Father, we pray for those that know you and love you. We know, Father, that we are the most happy when we're doing what you've called us to do. And you never call us to do something that you don't empower us to do. And so, Father, help us to be a church that reflects your glory and helps with your purposes so we might grow and make disciples. So Father, use your word today now as only you can, and we'll thank you for it in Jesus' name.