The Purpose of Assembling Together – Part 3
Ephesians 4:11-13
September 21, 2014
As you know, over the last couple of weeks we have been taking a break from our study of Genesis to answer what I believe to be a very important question.
WHY DO WE ASSEMBLE TOGETHER AS A CHURCH?
We are not asking the purpose of the church, that is a completely different question.
We want to know the purpose of our gathering together.
In a day when church attendance is definitely not the norm,
We do good to ask ourselves why we continue to do this.
Furthermore we do good to examine the Scriptures to see if we can
Figure out what sort of things we are to be doing when we do gather.
Otherwise our assembling is absolutely of no value.
And this morning we are going to conclude this small study with our final purpose in gathering together.
We’ve already seen two.
1) EXALTATION – We meet to Praise God
And really there couldn’t be a higher calling for assembling than this.
We serve a God who is worthy of praise,
And who better to give it to Him than those He has redeemed?
Psalms 100 “Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.”
When we enter His courts, it is with praise.
And this is not just an emotional response tucked away in our heart,
The praise God deserves is an outward, vocal response from our mouth.
Hebrews 13:15 “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
We meet for the purpose of EXALTATION
If you then participate in the assembling of God’s people,
But fail to praise God with your mouth,
You have missed the very purpose for why we gather.
2) EXHORTATION – We meet to Encourage One Another
Hebrews 10:24-25 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
We fully understand that we are in fact our brother’s keeper.
We are all in this thing together.
And the fact that most of us are less likely to be obedient on our own,
Requires that we help each other out.
We are to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds”
With our words, our example, and even our discipline
The important thing to realize however is this:
YOU CANNOT DO THAT EFFECTIVELY
IF YOU FAIL TO ASSEMBLE WITH OTHER BELIEVERS.
Don’t get into the habit of not gathering with other believers.
They need your encouragement and you need theirs.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.”
So, not only do we meet to praise God,
But we meet to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ.
This means that if you gather today, but fail to encourage your brother to true Godliness, then you also failed to fulfill your purpose in coming.
So, after two weeks we should all understand better why we meet,
And after we leave this place, God should have been abundantly praised,
And each life in here should have been encouraged to be more like Christ.
Well this morning let me show you the final reason.
And that is EXPOSITION – We come to hear the very Words of God
And for this we are going to examine Ephesians 4:11-13
I always like to give you a little surrounding context to a passage if I can, so let me give you just some brief direction to what is happening here.
Ephesians is a letter often referred to as “Our Spiritual Bank Account”
Paul writes this letter to let them know what is theirs in Christ.
Ephesians 1:18-19 “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
And Paul spent 3 chapters outlining all the blessed realities of being “in Christ Jesus”
But as is common in all of Paul’s letters, he spends a section on doctrine,
And then he spends a section on expectation or application.
And Ephesians 4 is the beginning of the application section.
Paul is now telling the believers what God expects of them
In light of all the blessings he has bestowed upon them.
And chapter 4 deals with this expectation.
God expects His church to be unified
Through a proper understanding of the truth.
And this morning I’m just going to cut the heart out of this chapter
And show it to you, so we’ll look at verses 11-13.
Now there are two main points here, and then we’ll expand them a little more.
#1 GOD’S PROVISION
Ephesians 4:11
This verse is actually one that Paul begin to explain back in verse 7.
Ephesians 4:7-10 “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.” (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.)”
If you read the first 6 verses of the chapter you find that
Paul is calling for the unity of the church.
• In fact in verse 3 we are to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”
• And the means by which God helps us do that is by the fact that “He gave gifts to men.”
Paul quotes Psalms 68:18 as a fulfillment of Christ’s ascension
And subsequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit
Through whom Christ gifted His church with spiritual gifts.
And in case you are not familiar with spiritual gifts,
Let me give you a quick explanation.
A spiritual gift is a unique way in which the Holy Spirit
Chooses to manifest Himself in the life of a believer.
• He uniquely equips a believer with a spiritual ability for the purpose of
building up the body of Christ.
• Every believer gets one, they don’t all get the same one, and the
purpose is always to build the body.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
So as believers we each get a spiritual gift
And it is meant to be used to build up the body.
There are different ones which we won’t go into detail about right now.
Just know that in order to make the church all He intended her to be,
Christ equipped the church with spiritual gifts.
And that is essentially what Paul said in Ephesians 4:7-10
Now, when we get to our text Paul lists several of those gifts specifically.
(This is not all of the gifts, but here Paul lists a specific type)
Each gift Paul lists here has to do with the handling of the word of God.
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,”
Paul actually lists 5 different gifts there,
1) Apostles Apostles REVEAL God’s word.
This was a unique office in the New Testament,
Qualifications: Appointed by Christ
Witness of His resurrected life.
Ability: Speak with Authority
Reveal the Word of God
John 20:21-23 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”
Since they had no New Testament to stand upon.
They were given the authority to reveal God’s truth.
God gifted apostles to first reveal the word of God.
2) Prophets Prophets PROCLAIM God’s word.
In the O.T. you see real quickly that to these guys black is black, and white is white.
They are not fence riders, they do not dabble in uncertainties.
Their only mission in life is to clearly and accurately
Proclaim exactly what God has said.
2 Peter 1:20-21 “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
3) Evangelists Evangelists CARRY God’s word.
These are the men who take the “Good News” to those who have not yet heard.
These are the missionaries, these are the ones who spread the gospel.
Romans 15:20 “And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation;”
4) Pastors Pastors APPLY God’s word.
This is called being an “overseer” or “shepherding” God’s flock.
They take the truth and lead people to live according to it.
1 Peter 5:1-3 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.”
They help others submit to God’s word.
5) Teachers Teachers EXPLAIN God’s word.
2 Tim. 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;”
These are the ones who make the difficult truths seem simple.
They take the mysteries of God, and explain them.
Now, as I said, these are not all of the gifts,
But all that Paul lists here are all distinct to the purpose of
Disseminating the word of God to the church.
And you should probably notice that of all the gifts God gave,
5 of them were reserved for the purpose
Of making sure the church understood what God had to say.
In short God intends for His word to be revealed, proclaimed, shared, applied, and explained to His people.
God has much to say and He made sure that His people would understand it by spiritually gifting men to handle it.
And thus we know that one of the reasons we gather
Is to have God’s word proclaimed and explained and applied to our lives.
• We don’t come to hear sermons from the preacher’s imagination
• We don’t come to hear stories or historical facts or amusing tales
• We don’t come to be enamored with the smoothness of the preacher
We gather to hear what God has to say.
Jeremiah 23:28-29 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”
The public worship gathering has never been a time
For one man to get up and share his thoughts with the people.
It has always been a time when men, gifted by God,
Use their spiritual gift to make sure that
God’s people know what God has to say.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
We are to “preach the word”
God’s word – the Bible
We are not even to fancy into the grandiose land of
“God told me to tell you”.
That may or may not have been from God,
But the Scripture is certainly God’s word,
And this is what is to be proclaimed and explained and applied
In the gathering of the saints.
1 Timothy 4:11-16 “Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
Paul says that the Scripture alone has the power to ensure the salvation So Timothy is to take great pains in making sure the flock understands it.
He is to read it, study it, proclaim it, explain it, take pains with it,
And make sure that everyone understands it.
THIS IS WHY THE CHURCH GATHERS.
They gather to hear the very words of God,
And God has gifted men to be able to help in that purpose.
Now it is important to understand that
The preacher is not the only person responsible for fulfilling this role.
God also equipped teachers for this purpose.
2 Timothy 2:1-2 “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
Titus 2:3-5 “Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”
We also love Sunday School and other gatherings,
But the purpose is still the same.
Take the gathering and make sure that
You are explaining the word of God to the people.
That is why God gifted men with the ability to do it.
When the church gathers together it is intended that
God’s word will be proclaimed, explained, and applied.
2 Timothy 3:14-17 “You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
Timothy was to proclaim the word so that God’s church would be “equipped for every good work.”
And that serves as a good transition to the second point.
We know that the church gathers to have God’s word proclaimed.
WHY?
God’s Provision
#2 GOD’S PLAN
Ephesians 4:12-13
These two verses explain why God intends to have His word
Proclaimed and explained and applied to His people.
1) TO PREPARE THE SAINTS
“for the equipping of the saints for the work of service”
Now I hope to point out something to you in this verse
That you may not have previously realized.
Somewhere along the course of the American church,
People starting assuming that the only duty of the Christian
Was to go to church.
All of that other stuff was really the job of the paid staff.
“We’re busy, but we pay the preacher to do that.”
(Now granted not everyone views it like this, but a fair number do)
But that just isn’t the case.
This may shock you, but “the work of service”
Is not the job of the preacher or pastor.
Every day ministry is not the job of the preacher or pastor.
• Personal evangelism
• Benevolence ministries
• Visitations
• Etc.
Those are not the job of the pastor.
Those are the jobs of the saints.
WELL WHAT IS THE PASTOR’S JOB?
“the equipping of the saints for the work of service”
Now I’m certainly not going to completely absolve myself of all Christian duty,
I want to be a part as well.
But you must understand that where the burden of preaching falls on me, the burden of ministry falls on you.
Adrian Rogers, “It’s not my job to fill the pews, it’s my job to fill the pulpit.”
The ministry of the church is far too big for one person,
It is the job of every Christian.
The job of the pastor is to make sure that you are equipped for that job.
• That you’ll know proper doctrine…
• That you’ll accurately understand the gospel…
• That you’ll know why Jesus is the sole way of salvation…
• That you’ll understand God’s purposes and intentions…
• That you’ll know what God expects of you…
• That you’ll know that God can use you to do it…
This is why I told you at the outset of this study that one of the main purposes of the worship service is not evangelism.
If all the preacher ever does is evangelize from the pulpit,
Then he is doing a disservice to the saints
Who need to be equipped for the work of service.
• You are to “go into all nations”
• You are to be “salt and light”
• You are to “visit the widows and orphans in their distress”
• You are to be the hands and feet of Christ.
I am to equip you to do that by teaching you the word of God.
So obviously you see another very important reason
Why we gather together as the church.
We assemble so that you can have the word explained.
Does that mean you can’t read it on your own?
No, you certainly can (and should)
But the necessity of gathering is found in the fact that
God specifically gifted some to proclaim it,
And while we certainly learn God’s word on our own,
We do understand the value of those spiritually gifted to explain it.
SO WE GATHER TO HEAR IT
So God’s plan in gifting men to proclaim His word is TO PREPARE THE SAINTS
2) TO PERFECT THE BODY
“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.”
God’s intention is that the church be perfect.
The means by which God does this is the corporate study of His word.
So what does a “Perfect Body” look like?
DOCTRINAL UNITY
“until we all attain to the unity of the faith.”
• If 50 people study a passage on their own, there is a decent chance they’ll all get close to what it means.
• But if 50 people study it together they come out unified in what the Scripture is teaching.
And that is what Paul is referring to here.
Come together to corporately study God’s word
So that you can be unified and perfected.
God doesn’t want a church that is theologically scattered.
• There is “one faith” (vs. 5)
• It is “the faith”
It is not up for debate.
Jude 3 “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.”
We are not looking for a doctrine we can agree on,
We are looking for the very truth of God,
And then we’ll all unify around it.
That is why we must come study together.
A perfect body is a body with doctrinal unity,
Only achieved through corporate study.
INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE
“and of the knowledge of the Son of God”
Again, this is why we study the Scriptures,
Because in the Scriptures Christ is revealed.
• If you want to know Christ
• If you want to see Christ
• If you want to hear Christ
• If you want to meet Christ
• You’ll meet Him in the Scriptures!
And so we don’t just personally go out on our own personal voyages
To find out who Jesus is to me.
We come and study together that we can together
Gain an intimate knowledge of who the Scriptures say Christ is.
We meet to study to obtain doctrinal unity and intimate knowledge
I’ll give you another aspect of a perfect body
SPIRITUAL MATURITY
“to a mature man”
In other words, no longer a child.
What does that mean?
Ephesians 4:14-15 “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 in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,”
A mature body is a body that is no longer easily deceived.
They are not gullible like a child.
They know better than to take the candy being offered by the preacher on ch 27
How did they get so mature?
How did they get so discerning?
Well, they gathered together weekly for the study of God’s word.
And as God’s word was systematically explained by those gifted to do so, they found themselves growing in wisdom and knowledge.
And now they know better than to fall for the smoke and mirrors.
A perfect body has doctrinal unity, intimate knowledge, spiritual maturity
CHRIST LIKENESS
“to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
In short, the perfect body looks more and more like Jesus every day.
How does that happen?
The more you look at Jesus, the more you become like Him.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
That mirror is the word of God, and the more we look into it,
The more we are transformed into the image of Christ.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
God’s word transforms us to be like Christ.
That is why we come together to study it.
And so I hope this is all making sense.
• We gather to praise God
• We gather to encourage one another
• We gather to have the Scripture proclaimed and applied and explained
And as this occurs we grow in unity, we grow in our knowledge of Christ,
We grow in spiritual maturity, and we grow to be more like Jesus.
THAT IS WHY WE MEET!
You should never settle for a congregational gathering
That is void of praise, or void of encouragement,
Or void of preaching that explains the word of God.
That is why we gather.
Now, again, let me take this one step further.
• We gather for EXALTATION – so praise God when you come
• We gather for EXHORTATION – so encourage each other when you come
• We gather for EXPOSITION – so when God’s word is explained to you, DO WHAT IT SAYS!
James 1:22-25 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
This makes sense doesn’t?
• If you are coming for the purpose of praising God then by all means praise Him!
• If you are coming for the purpose of encouraging your brother, then by all means do it!
And if you are coming to hear the word of God explained
That you may be better equipped for the work of service and may grow into a perfect body, then by all means obey what you hear!
If you aren’t going to do what God says in His word,
Then why did you come to hear it?
• If you don’t want to praise Him, why did you come?
• If you don’t want to encourage your brother, why did you come?
• If you don’t want to hear God’s word and obey it, why did you come?
I don’t know why you did come this morning,
But I know why you should have come.
EXALTATION
EXHORTATION
EXPOSITION
From here on out, let’s make sure that
We are real enough to make sure we always cover the basics.
• When we praise, let’s raise the roof!
• When we encourage, let’s stimulate our brother to be like Christ!
• When we sit, let’s proclaim God’s word and do what He says!
That is why the church gathers.
