“Ministers, Members, and Ministry”
(Ephesians 4:11-13)
Series: Disciples Who Make Disciples (7 of 7)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
Take your Bibles and join me in Ephesians, chapter 4 (page 788; YV).
While you are finding that, I want to share with you that next Sunday morning we will be blessed with a special speaker in our morning worship services. Brad Rhoads, from Grace Marriage, will be with us in all three services next Sunday. Brad is going to be preaching the Word and helping our church family begin a new marriage wellness ministry.
We’ve been wanting something like this here at Henderson’s First Baptist for several years—a means by which good marriages may get even better and where our own members can be involved in marriage coaching to sustain the ministry. So whether you are married, are not married, were married, or hope to be married—this ministry will be a blessing. I am really looking forward to hearing Brad Rhoads next week!
Today we finish our 7-week study on discipleship. And while the series ends, the teaching continues, because if we are disciples of Jesus Christ, we are learners and followers of Jesus Christ. We are always about the business of running with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We are disciples who make disciples of others.
Discipleship is not merely a class or course you take, it’s a course you run. It’s a process of living out our lives following Jesus and inviting others to join us in the journey.
This morning we are returning to a passage we studied previously, but looking at it with different points of application, revisiting this passage that we may re-enforce its teachings and cement its truth in our hearts and minds. One of the wonderful aspects of the Bible is that we never exhaust a passage. There are always new insights, new implications, and new points of application. This passage in Ephesians 4 is one of the most critical passages that teaches the role of ministers and members in the local church. So we look at it afresh, studying it with a renewed interest in its teachings.
Let’s stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Pray.
One of the coolest things about being a follower of Christ is that we live for a purpose greater than ourselves. I mean, once we understand that our sense of value, worth, and identity is bound up in our relationship in Christ, that God accepts us—goofed up as we are—because He accepts us in His perfect Son, that we are always and forever hidden in Christ, His righteousness covering us like a big overcoat, we are always okay. We are always loved and accepted more than we ever could have imagined. He’s got us. He’ll never let us go. We are secure in Him.
This brings to us a sense of life as nothing else can. We are fully and authentically human, but we are changing as the days go by. We are becoming more like Jesus and therefore more aware of His presence in our lives and more joyful knowing that He walks with us sojourn through this world. One of the ways we become more like Jesus and therefore “more alive” is not just by reading the Bible, and praying, and going to worship services, but by serving our Lord and inviting others to come along with us on the journey of faith.
Discipleship involves both inviting and investing. We invite others to Christ and we invest in them, making disciples.
Our Lord Jesus has tasked every single one of us—if we are His followers—He has entrusted us with this mission that He believes we each can accomplish no matter how long we have been on the journey. He has entrusted us with what is called the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20, making disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all things that He has commanded us. Jesus has given that assignment to every single disciple, every single learner and follower of Jesus.
This commission is embedded in our church’s vision statement. “We exist to develop generations of God-glorifying Disciples Who Make Disciples from the community to the continents.” Let’s read it together:
Our Vision:
“We exist to develop generations of God-glorifying Disciples Who Make Disciples from the community to the continents.”
So whether we are a brand new disciple or whether we have been on the journey of faith for many years, we are always inviting others to “come follow us as we follow Him,” and discipling others in our home—our children and grandchildren, our workplace—co-workers, friends in our school, in our neighborhood, becoming more like Jesus in the process, and experiencing more of the life-giving power and presence of Christ as we grow. We become more “fully alive” because we are investing in others. It’s more rewarding than anything else could ever give!
This passage is a reminder of that great work as it plays out in the local church. This passage teaches how ministry happens in a church that is striving to be biblical. As Henderson’s First Baptist Church, we don’t want to follow other church models just because they’re out there, right? I mean, we want, ultimately, to go to the Bible and model our church after the teachings of Scripture. So let’s study this passage with a view towards our being and becoming a biblical church, okay? All in favor of being biblical?!
**How Ministry Happens in the Biblical Church:
There is a progression in this passage, a movement from one verse to the next, a building upon each verse, verse 11 leading to verse 12, and verse 12 to verse 13—and then from verse 13 to the end of the passage—which really goes to verse 16. For the sake of simplicity we’ll take our points from each of the three verses. So three movements here, three steps of progression here. Here’s how ministry happens in a church that wants to be biblical. First, number one:
I. Ministers Pour into Members (11)
Ministers “pour into” and “prepare” its members for ministry. That’s what the church’s ministers are supposed to be doing, pouring into the church body through gospel teaching and doctrine so that the members are equipped to do ministry, to serve, both to be discipled and to make disciples of others. Disciples who make disciples.
In verse 11, the Apostle Paul lists a number of different local church ministers at Ephesus. And Paul says—in the greater context of how the Lord has gifted different persons in the church—Paul says in verse 11:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
These are differing ministerial roles in the church at Ephesus. We won’t go through through each of these in verse 11 as we did before. You can go to the sermon online if you wish to review the New Testament roles of apostles, prophets, and so on. The point is that the Lord gave to the church a number of different ministerial roles for the primary mission of ministering the Word of God to the people of God.
Today’s equivalent are the full-time vocational ministers who serve in the church; a ministerial church staff, a church of pastors or ministers whose primary responsibility is ministry of the Word of God to the local church body.
So ministers pour into members for the purpose of their being discipled, taught, educated, edified, built up, that they too may disciple, teach, educate, build up others.
Mark Dever has written a helpful little book on discipling. On this passage in Ephesians 4 Dever states: “One of [the ministers’] goals in teaching is to equip the church for works of ministry so that the church can build itself up in love (Ephesians 4:11-16).” Dever adds: “[The ministers] disciple members so that members can disciple.”—Discipling (59-60).
So ministers pour into and prepare members so they can do ministry, so they can serve the church and use their gifts as they disciple others.
That’s the second point of this passage. First, verse 11, ministers pour into members then, verse 12, members participate in ministry. That’s the second movement or progression in the text. Ministers pour into members then, secondly:
II. Members Participate in Ministry (12)
Note the tie from verse 11 to verse 12:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Ministers pour into members and members so that members are, “equipped,” see that in verse 12? “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.” Christians are equipped by ministers to participate in ministry, “for the work of ministry.”
It is unfortunate that the King James Version—the version used nearly universally by the church for over 300 years, it’s unfortunate that the King James Version places a comma right after the word “saints” there in verse 12, which would give the impression that Christians don’t do the work of ministry, but that the minsters do it all! As though Paul were to say, “The Ministers are to equip the saints—like teach them—and the ministers are to do all “the work of ministry.”
Clearly that is not what is being taught and that is why all the modern translations don’t have a comma there. The original Greek text contains no punctuation. Punctuation marks were added by the translators. The King James translators put a comma there and, Robby Gallaty humorously notes, this became “the comma that put the church in a coma” for over 300 years as the church failed to understand its proper role of every-member ministry. Every member is a minister.
Contextually, we know that every member is involved in ministry. Paul teaches this elsewhere in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14.
And right here in this very passage, Paul goes on to say in verse 16 that the whole body is “joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, [and] causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
So ministers pour into members and members participate in ministry.
Verse 12 teaches that the saints, or Christians, are equipped to do ministry, the saints do, “the work of ministry.” It is a word that means to serve. Every Christian is a minister who saves in and through the church.
One of the means by which we serve is by using our spiritual gifts that God has given us. We all have unique gifts and talents that come from God and are to be used in the church to minister to one another and to build up the body of Christ, as this passage ends in verse 16, that the church may grow, “for the edifying of itself in love.”
You use your gifts and talents in and through the church and the church is built up, and grows in love and unity. Some of you have gifts for teaching, for encouraging, giving, helping, singing, playing a musical instrument, greeting, number-crunching, serving, are you using your gift in and through the church?
Are you then, also, discipling others even as you yourself are being discipled? It’s one of the most joyous things in our lives when we begin pouring into others as we ourselves have been poured into!
This takes us to the third and final step of the ladder. Verse 11: Ministers pour into members, verse 12: Members participate in ministry, verse 13: Ministry is the pathway to maturity.
III. Ministry is the Pathway to Maturity (13)
Note again the progression that leads from ministers, to members, to maturity in verses 11 and following:
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man (a mature Christian), to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Ministry is the pathway to maturity, so we mature by serving the Lord in and through the church, and by making disciples of others.
Listen again to Robby Gallaty:
“This was the emphasis of the Protestant reformation. At a time when the trained, unconnected clergy performed the duties of the ministry, the reformers championed the cause of the priesthood of all believers. Any age, any race, any status, any education, and any gender had the ability to approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ.” He adds, “I believe discipleship is the Reformation of the 21st century.”
We don’t need to go out and find people to take the gospel to our neighborhoods and nations. We already have them. We see them every week. They come to our Sunday school classes, and sing in our choirs, and sit in our pews. We already have the gospel workers. We just need to equip and train them for service.
So if ministry is the pathway to maturity, then every Christian is right now in a position to disciple someone else. Remember a couple weeks ago when we looked at that passage where Jesus called the first disciples? One of the points of application was that you don’t have to be a scholar—Jesus poured into men who didn’t have an esteemed education; they were blue collar, hand-calloused, fishermen.
There’s a disciple-maker deep down inside every one of us. You can do it. You can raise up others, discipling them, empowering them, and releasing them to ministry.
Sunday school teachers: how many new teachers have you raised up? How many new Sunday school classes have you started by raising up teachers in your class, giving them an opportunity to teach, empowering them, and then releasing them to start a new work?
Part of the weekly prayer focus in your SS classes today is to pray for our SS teachers as they disciple others through the teaching ministry. Discipleship includes teaching the weekly lesson and also raising up new teachers to teach and to start new classes! It’s really exciting when you think of the potential gathered every week in this big group and every week in every small group Sunday school class.
We have gospel workers everywhere! We just need to equip them and train them for service.
Our church believes in equipping and training. We champion biblical preaching and teaching of the Word here because we want to be a biblical church.
We believe in providing biblical resources and materials that are helpful to all of us in the discipleship journey—our being discipled and our making disciples of others.
For most of the seven weeks of our series we have handed out a resource that is helpful in our being discipled and making disciples.
Some weeks ago we completed a very helpful devotional for people to use no matter what part of the journey they were on. Many people come to our church with a variety of backgrounds and experiences—or inexperiences. Some know nothing about following Jesus, some know something about following Jesus, and some are interested in growing and joining a church.
So we put together a helpful 21-day devotional called First Steps. And this devotional guides people along the disciple’s pathway to maturity. This is a helpful daily devotional for everyone. For you to use and for you to pass along to someone else, someone who is interested in learning more about Jesus and our great church.
You know, we have a quarterly new member class and luncheon for new members. Folks who complete this class become candidates for membership and we vote on new members at our quarterly members’ meetings.
So a person may be interested in becoming a member and they have questions about our church family. This devotional will address most of those questions. And it honors people by giving them time to read through what our church believes so they can come to that one-day class, the new member class, with information and perhaps follow up questions.
By the way, our next New Member Class is in 2 weeks, March 12th! So if you are interested in membership, you can register today. You can register online through our church website or you can call the church office.
So this is a great devotional that gives prospective members something to look at and read through! When a person has worked through the devotion, they simply fill out the last page and turn it in.
We have several of these First Steps devotionals in the pews this morning. Go ahead and get one and pass along to others so that everyone has one. We want you to take these home with you! It’s a gift! No charge!
I invite you to take it home and read through it. Even if you are already a member or have been a member for years, let me encourage you to read through this daily devotional. It only takes about 5 minutes a day—five minutes! And there is a daily reflection and prayer, too. I think you will really like it!
On page 2 it tells folks how to join the church in 3 easy steps. And it walks people through the vision and ministry of our church.
Day 4 is on page 11 and is one of the most important days of the devotional. It is “Understanding the Gospel Message.” And the pictures on pages 12 and following illustrate how a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Isn’t that wonderful?!
And it goes on to talk about your testimony, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Bible reading, prayer, Day 10—Quiet Time. We use our helpful and memorable abbreviation here: “DQ!” Everyone needs a DQ, a time of Daily Quiet. So it talks about how to establish a quiet time.
And it goes on from there to talk about family worship, big group and small group worship, Sunday school, and how our church is structured, what is the role of deacons, committees, and so on. Day 15 is about how to serve the church, discovering your spiritual gifts, then evangelism, missions, giving, our church covenant. This is a great resource! So again, I want to encourage you to take this home and get familiar with it. Read through it. You may wish to go through it in the next 21 days, just reading through it and enjoying it. Use it as you serve. Use it as you disciple others. Someone asks you about our church family or about Jesus, you can give them one of these. Show them how it works.
Members participate in ministry and ministry leads to maturity.
You are never look more like Jesus than when you are serving, when you are making disciples.
We were made for this! You feel God’s closeness when you are following Jesus! You bring Him glory when you follow Him! He is the way! He is the way we can have life, true life.
God made a way for us to know Him and experience Him and joy in Him. The whole point of this passage is to direct us to Jesus Christ, to point to Him, to show us life and maturity, and wholeness, and completeness in Him! Through the power of the Gospel, we “may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Jesus Christ.”
Do you know Christ personally?! Vibrantly?! Authentically?!
The only way you can be saved and have eternal life is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We must believe in Him, trust Him for our righteousness. We must believe He died for our sins. Some of you need to trust Jesus this morning. Do that. Believe. Confess. Repent. Say to Him:
“Lord Jesus Christ, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but, through you, I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you for paying my debt, bearing my punishment and offering forgiveness. I turn from my sin and receive you as Savior.”
If you are a disciple, are you serving Him? Are you using your gifts and talents in and through the church? And are you discipling others, empowering them for ministry?
If you are follower of Jesus, then you are also tasked with inviting others to follow Him. You are in the family business, the disciple-making business.
We’re going to sing our hymn of invitation and response. God is inviting us—every single one of us in the room—God is inviting us to respond to His Word.
Some of you want to join the church, or be baptized, you come during this time and I’ll meet you up front here. Others of you want to come for prayer or you want to follow Jesus and you have questions. Right after we pray, I’m inviting you to come.
Let’s pray.
Now stand and as we sing, you respond however the Lord is leading you.
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