The Church 1
The Goal of the Church
(Ephesians 3.8-10, 4.1-16)
Jason Procopio
I know you might have hoped we’d go back to Romans today…but not quite yet. A lot has been going on in the church recently, touching on many different aspects of our life here: questions popping up over things as varied as discipleship, unity, discipline, accountability, and finances. We usually take a break before the summer holidays to address whatever the church happened to be going through this year—but this year we decided it couldn’t wait. The announcement I made earlier concerning the church’s finances is just one example of the reasons why.
So we’re going to spend the next few weeks simply looking at the church, by asking three separate questions:
1) What is the goal of the church? (That’s today.)
2) What is our responsibility toward one another in the church?
3) How do we practically serve the church?
So I’ll invite you to get a Bible and to turn to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, in chapter 3. (We’re going to camp out in chapters 3 and 4 today.)
Today we’re going to lay a foundation, by looking at why the church exists—what is the goal of the church?
And then we’re going to look at how God plans to achieve that goal.
Why the Church Exists (Ephesians 3.8-10)
Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians to encourage them in their work for the gospel. This was a church Paul knew well, because it was a church that he planted; he lived and worked in this church for many years. When we get to about the middle of Ephesians 3, Paul’s been talking about the fact that though God had first addressed the Jews as his people, now Gentiles have also been brought in to that grace. He says in v. 6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
So after laying this foundation to explain his ministry, he pulls back, going into a wide drone’s-eye-view of what the point of all of this is.
Let’s read starting at Ephesians 3.8:
8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things…
Real quickly: this “mystery” he’s talking about is what he’s spent the first two chapters of the letter explaining. The mystery that is revealed now is God’s plan to save his people by sending his Son to be the sacrifice for their sins. It’s a mystery, not because God’s never spoken about it (he revealed a lot of this plan through the prophets), but because he fully revealed his plan in the person of Jesus Christ.
So why did he do it?
10 …so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
Paul talks about rulers and authorities in the heavenly places—what that means is, basically, angels and demons. He says it this way because occult practices were a big deal in Ephesus at the time, so he knew that image would be particularly pertinent for them.
But that image is a stand-in to talk about not just our world, but every world in every galaxy, in every realm of existence.
To put it simply: God’s goal is to teach the universe who he is. He wants the universe to see his wisdom, and his power.
And his plan for making that happen that sounds absolutely insane to me.
He plans to do teach the universe about his wisdom and power through the church.
What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
If you have spent any time in church, you can see why that sounds nuts. The church is, and has always been, messed up. People don’t agree on things, they use religion as a means for abusing others, they get focused on really unimportant matters and all the while forget to do simple things like loving one another.
The church, on its own, is no better than any other group of people who get together for a common goal. I’ve had multiple conversations with people in recent weeks who have been disillusioned by the church, because the church is so messed up.
And that’s kind of the point.
God’s plan is to take a group of very imperfect people, who have the same struggles and problems as everyone else, and to transform them together into something better.
God’s plan for the church is to take these imperfect people we are and transform us together, as a family, into something better.
Now before we get into what that looks like, think about the reasons why people typically come to church. We want to maintain a certain tradition, or avoid conflict in the family, or have an “experience” with God…
On our own, we almost always come to church for reasons that are centered around ourselves.
But coming to church will never make sense if we’re doing it mainly for ourselves. In the Bible, you cannot separate your individual faith from the collective body of the church.
You cannot live your Christian faith in isolation from the community of the church.
How God Displays His Wisdom (Ephesians 4.1-12)
So after praying for the Ephesians on the basis of this monumental plan God has, Paul goes on in chapter 4 to talk about how God plans to do it: how he plans to display his wisdom to the universe, in the context of the local church.
We’re going to skip ahead to the next chapter, Ephesians 4, starting at v. 1:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
In case it’s not clear for you, Christianity is not remotely individualistic.
I don’t mean that Christ didn’t save us individually. Christ didn’t just save a faceless mass of people—he saved me. I am an individual human being, I can’t be anything else. And Christ saved me. He knows my name. He knows my face. He knows my fears and desires and tendencies. He died for me.
That is gloriously true, and we don’t want to take away from that.
But the problem is that in our highly individualistic society, we’re taught, “Whatever I want is what’s good. Whatever I need is what’s most important. Whatever I feel is what is most true about me.”
So naturally, we take that highly individualistic mindset, and we transplant that into our faith. If I come to Christ, I come for me. I come for what he can do for me.
But there is one body. One Spirit. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Or to put it another way, any time I spend time thinking about my faith in Christ, I should be thinking about our faith in Christ.
V. 7:
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Verses 8-10 are sort of a weird aside, and depending on the translation you’re reading, they may even be in parentheses, because many people will read those verses as being a bit off topic. But in fact, it’s not off-topic at all.
In v. 8-10, he’s talking about the incarnation and the ascension. Christ became a man—he descended to earth and was incarnated in a human body—and in that body, he fulfilled his ministry. And having completed his ministry, he ascended back to the right hand of his Father, where he now holds all power and authority over the earth he created. And because he has that authority, he establishes specific people in specific roles of responsibility in his church.
V. 11:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers…
Stop there for a minute.
That’s not an exhaustive list of everything that could be called a ministry. He gives this list as a kind of representative list—these are the main ministries we see in the New Testament, standing in for all the others.
And they all have the same goal. They don’t use the same means to get there, but they all have the same goal.
What’s the goal? V. 11 again:
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…
Now I’ve said this a million times here, but in case you’re new I’ll say it again.
Paul says that these ministries exist to equip the saints—ordinary Christians—for the work of ministry, and so that these ordinary Christians might build up the church.
In case that’s not clear: the apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors are not the ones who build up the church—or at least, we don’t do it alone. My job as a pastor is not to do the work of ministry. My job as a CHRISTIAN is to do the work of ministry, because that’s what all Christians are called to do. But that’s not my job as a pastor.
My job as a pastor is to train you to do that.
I am not responsible for building up the church: WE, the saints, are responsible for building up the church.
Think about how this reality changes the way we think about what happens when we come to church.
What do we do when we come to church?
We pray. We sing some songs. We listen to a sermon. We try not to fall asleep during that sermon. We take communion.
When service is over, we hang out a while, have some pleasant conversations, have some lunch, and then leave.
The simplicity of what I just described would be totally shaken up if we realized that every time we come together, we are engaging in the work of ministry—we are not just “coming to church.”
Think what that would change, simply in the conversations we have together.
If when we gather together we are not coming merely for ourselves, but to engage in the work of ministry, in every conversation we have, we’re not just thinking about the next ten or fifteen minutes. We’re not just thinking about the end of this discussion.
We’re thinking about the rest of this brother or sister’s life.
It’s no secret—just look around—that our church is filled with people who are mostly aged 20-30. One great thing about pastoring a church full of young people is that they are so enthusiastic, and so energetic, that it’s easy to get them motivated.
But every time I get up to preach, I’m not trying to get you motivated. That’s not what I’m thinking about. I’m thinking about giving you what you’ll need to stay motivated, when you aren’t young anymore.
This is often hard for young people to grasp, so you’ll just have to trust me: you’re going to get old. Your friends are going to get old. And you’re going to suffer along the way. That’s just life.
And—please hear this—if you’re getting through your Christian life on youthful enthusiasm alone, then you will almost definitely crash and burn somewhere between age 30 and age 50.
So when you speak with anyone—believer or not—if you know the goal is building up the body of Christ, you’re not just thinking about the next few minutes. You’re thinking about what needs to happen in this person’s life to not just bring them to faith, but to keep them faithful over the long haul.
And the Bible’s means of keeping us faithful is the church.
So what does that look like? What does it look like to build up the body of Christ?
Or to put it differently, when we gather together as a body for worship, or when we spend time with other Christians, what are we working toward?
Building Up the Body (v. 12-16)
Paul tells us in v. 13-16.
…he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God...
Unity
So the first thing we’re working toward is unity.
Apparently, there was a lot of diversity in the church in Ephesus. That’s what we see in chapter 2: he speaks about how we have been united to one another, despite our differences. (This clearly applies to our church, where we have an enormous diversity of backgrounds and nationalities.)
God saved us all the same way (1.1-2.10), and we are all fellow heirs with Christ (2.11-22). We are all one body.
That’s the unity he spoke of earlier, in v. 4; and now, he qualifies that unity. He says that we are united, first, by our common faith. It’s not my faith and your faith—it’s our faith.
How many of us actually take the time to realize that we are united to our brothers and sisters by our common faith in Christ—united in a way that makes our actual blood relationships pale in comparison?
If you are married, you are united to your spouse by marriage, and that’s wonderful. But there is a unity between the two of you that is much greater than the unity of marriage. You will be married until one of you dies; you’ll be brother and sister in Christ forever.
And that unity also exists with every man, woman or child who has come to faith in Christ.
How often does that factor into our thinking when we’re speaking with another Christian? How often do we realize that every conversation we have with another believer is a conversation with someone to whom we will be united for the rest of eternity? What would that change about the way we speak to each other?
As crazy as it seems, we are united, forever, by a common faith, and, secondly, by a common knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ.
We have the same faith in the same Savior. If you don’t know Christ, then you can’t possibly have faith in him. When he saved us, the Holy Spirit essentially opened our eyes to see Jesus clearly. We realized that we were sinners, that we need a Savior, and that Jesus Christ is that Savior. Our faith has a name, and a focus: Jesus Christ.
But Paul doesn’t describe this unity as something that’s finished—as if we could say, “Okay, we’re united, so we can move on to something else now.” He describes it more as a process: until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…
In other words, we need to work at the unity which exists between us. We have to constantly come back to the basis of our unity, until the day when Christ returns, when we can say that we have all arrived to the same measure of faith, to the same knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And that takes time. Time we have to spend working at our faith together, and helping one another discover Christ. Those who know him well help others to know him better. And even those who know him well, as they speak with their younger brothers and sisters about what Christ is doing in their lives, will discover new facets of his person and his work.
So the first thing we are called to work at together is our unity: the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
The second thing we’re called to work at it the maturity of the body of Christ.
Maturity
13c …to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 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 in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 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.
It is an almost universal truth: young people are easily swayed, and easily distracted. When you reach a certain age, even if what you believe is absolute nonsense, at the very least, you are stable in that nonsense. After a certain age, you know what’s important for you, and where you’re going, and how you plan to get there. Maturity in life means stability, even if it’s stability in folly.
And in the same way, spiritual maturity means spiritual stability. When you are spiritually mature, you're not just set in your ways; your ways are built on the solid foundation of the truth we find in Scripture, and we are set in those ways. We won’t be diverted by clever arguments or deceitful rhetoric—we are not tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. We are stable in the truth. We are no longer children.
And not only do we, individually, grow to spiritual maturity, but the whole body, together, grows to maturity as a body.
Our kids are so cute when they’re babies, and I especially love the period when they’re learning to walk. They wobble around on their little bodies—two tiny legs, a great big head. If they stop too fast, they’ll just keel right over: the force of gravity on that head is too great for their body to resist.
But as children grow, their proportions balance out. The body becomes stronger. The legs are able to stay under that head.
That’s the image Paul gives here. Just as our bodies grow, the church grows, and each individual member grows in the body, and each member grows to help stabilize the others.
The question is, how does this growth happen?
V. 15 again: Rather, speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.
Sometimes we’ll have to have hard conversations with people, where we’ll have to tell the truth in a loving way—that’s not what he’s talking about here. He’s talking about the truth that pushes us not just to grow up, but to grow up into him who is the head, into Christ.
The “truth” that does that is the gospel. It is the good news of the finished work of Jesus Christ, who lived our life and died our death and was raised to unite us to God, forever. It is this truth that gives us stability, it is this truth that causes us to grow.
I said this the other night during our community group, and someone asked a very good question. If it’s as simple as that—if helping one another grow comes down to just rehearsing the gospel together, all the time—why don’t we see more growth?
There are two answers to this question, I think, and they’re both deceptively simple.
The first is that a lot of us don’t do it. We’ll talk doctrine and biblical ethics until we’re blue in the face. But how many of us respond to conflict by reminding each other of the gospel? Do we respond to fear—of whatever—by reminding each other of the gospel? Do we respond to loneliness by reminding each other of the gospel?
While I was giving that announcement earlier about the financial situation of the church, I’d be willing to bet a lot of us started brainstorming for possible solutions. But how many of us thought of the gospel? That Christ lived, died and was raised to establish his church, and that he did not do all that to abandon his church now? And that even if he deemed Eglise Connexion no longer necessary, and we had to close our doors, that that wouldn’t in the least stop his work in this world? How many of us thought of the gospel and remembered that no matter what happens, God will be glorified, and his name will be proclaimed, so it’s okay?
We are so used to looking for other solutions to our problems—but the foundation of every effort, the foundation of every reassurance and every help, is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We just don’t think of it, so we don’t grow.
That’s the first answer.
The second answer to the question, “If it’s that simple, why don’t we see more growth?” is an extension of the first: this growth takes a lifetime, and most Christians don’t stick around long enough to see it. Hopefully we’ll see it in ourselves, but it’s easy to despair a lack of growth in the church when we don’t stay in one place long enough to see it.
Christians today—especially in a city like Paris where there are a lot of churches to choose from—have the nasty habit of going to a church they like, staying there until they don’t like it anymore (for whatever reason), and then finding another church they like better.
This isn’t just an exercise in futility—every church will be a church you don’t like so much at one point or another—but it’s depriving us of the joy of seeing growth when it happens.
There are good, legitimate reasons to leave a church; but unless one of those legitimate reasons comes, our intention should be to stay put, because this is the body where God has put us today, and this body needs us to help it grow.
I don’t know where God may call my family in the coming years. But for now, at least, our intention is to stay here until God moves us, or until we die. You have this solid commitment, at least from my family: we will not leave this church because we want to, or because we’ve found something we like better. We will not leave for a bigger house. We will not leave because our friends are somewhere else. We will not leave because we just can’t take these young people anymore!
Unless God moves us, or the church tells us to leave, we’re not going anywhere.
And as a result, we will see the church grow. We will see the gospel bear its fruit in people’s lives, as they repeat the good news to one another in every conceivable situation, to remind each other what the point of all of this is. As we speak the truth in love, we will grow up into Christ, and we will see it.
Conclusion
So to close I’d encourage you to think and pray about two specific things.
Firstly, examine your own implication in your local church. If you come here regularly, examine your own implication in this church.
Do you go to church, or do you belong to your church? Do you know to whom you are accountable? Do you know for whom you are called to care? Are you a part of the body, or do you occasionally visit the body?
Listen, I know it’s hard. I know there are a lot of things fighting for your attention. But you have to realize that you need the body of Christ.
God did not design you to live for him outside of the body. He doesn’t save people, he saves A people.
So give yourself to your church, however big or small it may be; be a member of that local body. And make it your goal, in everything you do, to build up the body of Christ, because that is why Christ saved you.
Secondly, examine the way you think about what you do when you come together to worship on Sunday, or when you spend time with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
What needs to change about the way you interact with one another, the way you come to church, the way you go about a simple meal, when you realize that it is your job to do the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ?
Here’s a challenge for you. (It’ll be impossible to do perfectly, because we’re forgetful, but it deserves our best effort.) Try to never have a conversation with another believer without thinking about, and praying for, the next fifty years. Try to never have an interaction with another Christian without realizing you’ll be seeing that face for all eternity, and that you are committed to that person, in Christ, for the rest of your life.
What is the church to you? And what are you to the church?
These are the questions Paul answers in this text. And if you plan on staying in church—any church—these are the questions you need to ask yourselves. And you need to be ready to give answers.
