Recognizing the inherent value of every member within the body of Christ is crucial, and today we're diving deep into that very concept. Far too often, we tend to pigeonhole ministry as a role reserved for the select few—primarily the preachers and church staff—while the rest of us sit back, popcorn in hand, as passive spectators. However, as we explore Ephesians 4, we'll discover a radically different perspective: every individual, including those often overlooked, plays an integral role in this living organism that is the body of Christ. Just like a finely tuned orchestra, if one section falls silent, the whole symphony suffers. So, let’s challenge the notion that there’s a janitor in the body; rather, we’re all vital contributors to the spiritual life of our community. Join us as we unpack this transformative idea and equip ourselves for the essential work of ministry that awaits each of us.

Takeaways:

1. The body of Christ is not a spectator sport; every member has a vital role to play in ministry and service.
2. Equipping the saints is not just a task for a few; it’s a collective responsibility that involves everyone actively participating.
3. When we neglect our roles in the body of Christ, we risk rendering the whole body ineffective and weak, much like a football team with only coaches on the field.
4. Understanding that we are all equipped for service transforms our mindset from passive spectators to active participants in the spiritual community.
5. The church is designed as a living organism where all members contribute to its growth and vitality, rather than a mere organization with a hierarchy.
6. Every believer is called to be on the battlefield of faith, ready to serve and contribute to the edification of the body, rather than sitting idle.

And good day to you, and welcome to our studies.

We have been and will continue to be focusing our attention on the theme presented in Romans 12, the renewing, the transformation and the renewing of the mind that we may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God.

Today I want to talk with you about equipping the saints.

And I'm especially interested in the focus on Ephesians 4, where we find those exact phrases.

What comes to mind when you hear someone talk about the ministry?

I hear people saying a lot about they've gone into the ministry or someone's in the ministry, or he's a minister.

And for most people, it's the preacher that we're talking about, right?

Or at least some church staff member.

They think ministry is something professional, something that professionals do.

The rest of us, we have our own profession, our own job, and they have theirs.

And since they serve the church members, we just pretty much just watch.

We go where we can be served and participate.

But they're the ones that are in the front lines.

They're the ones doing the work, and we're taking the benefits, receiving the benefits from their work.

But that's really not what the Bible Sundays.

In Ephesians 4, Paul gives us a completely different picture than that.

He says that Christ gave to the Ecclesia, this class of people known as the, called out the body of Christ, made up of individual saints, that these gifts that Christ gave were these gifted men, and he names them apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

And so these men were given by our Lord in the first century for a specific purpose.

They weren't there to do all the work.

Now, keep that in mind, please.

If you look carefully, they were there to equip the saints for that work.

And that means if we're all saints, we're all members of the body, ideally, then just as much as it was for them, it is true for us today, if we are part of the body, that every member of that body has a function to perform.

And so equipping the saints for work means you and I.

And every saint of the first century was benefited by these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip them for the work, for the service, to equip them for the work of ministry.

If we don't get that, we're just kind of reading through it and putting our own interpretation on it real quickly.

But look at that very carefully and you will see that their purpose, it wasn't an end in itself.

It was a means to an End their work was to provide or equip saints for service.

In other words, they were to be equipped for their functioning in the body of Christ.

Sometimes I think we think in terms of these men being the ones doing all the work.

And that's typically how it's perceived today in churches.

There are several things that is obvious to me as we try to compare scriptures and we miss the very design that God has for his people.

And that is, when you refer to the body of Christ, you're talking about a functioning unit made up of individual members.

In the first century, they were all very interdependent on one another because they all had their own gifts that contributed to the overall benefit and building up or edifying of the body.

And so if we miss this, we miss the very design of God for his people.

And so let me read this passage very carefully to you.

Ephesians 4, verse 11.

And he gave some as apostles and some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, or if you please, service for building up the body of Christ.

That's the end result.

Now let's pause here now and notice first of all, Christ himself gave these gifted men, these men as gifts to his body.

Why?

What was their purpose?

Equipping?

Obviously it wasn't for entertainment.

And I think we would recognize that Christ did not establish some organization called the church, and people would just flock into it as attendees, into an audience or an auditorium, or they could sit as passive listeners and be entertained or, you know, just be spectators.

That wasn't the purpose.

Their purpose, these gifted being, was to equip the saints for their service, for their work.

And that is the work of ministry.

So if you were to ask the question talking about, he entered the ministry biblically, if someone were to say to me, he's in the ministry, I would say, well, aren't we all?

This may be a revolutionary thought to you compared to how many view churches today.

But Paul says, my friends, that ministry is not the job of the few, but it is the responsibility of all in the body.

Think about the word equip.

In the original language, it's a word that was used for setting a bone.

It was also a word that was used for mending a net.

And again, it was also used to describe outfitting a soldier for battle.

So equipping is about making something complete whole, therefore making it useful and ready to be used.

So a doctor would set a bone so, and the application would be so the body can function again.

So he sets the bone for the body to be functional.

A fisherman using this definition would mend a net for the purpose of catching fish.

In other words, he's making it useful.

It wouldn't be very useful unless it was mended.

So it's mended just like the doctor sets a bone.

And a general or someone high up in an army official would outfit a soldier so he can be ready for battle.

So he's not only prepared for battle in the sense of having a defense, but he's also been equipped with certain armor and a weapon and its use in battle.

So he's fully equipped now.

That's what leaders do, and that's what these men were equipped with, equipping the saints for.

They were the ones preparing the saints to function, to serve, to fight, and to be fruitful.

But notice the shift here, my friends.

Paul doesn't say that the leaders do the work, that they enter the ministry.

He says the saints do the work.

And so that means that ministry belongs to the whole body.

Every believer has a role, has a gift, has a function to perform in the body.

And especially is this true in the first century, without full revelation, codified and put together in one unified whole as we have it today, when we can look at God's word as a unit of teaching.

And Paul could write, when he wrote a letter and say, I received this revelation, or what I've written by revelation, God imparted it to me.

I didn't get it from man.

He argues in Galatians 2, and then in chapter 3 of Ephesians howbeit when you read, you can understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.

So Paul's revealing it.

He has an apostle.

He's the one that has received this message from Christ, one sent by Christ, which an apostle is meant with a commission to reveal this message, to impart it unto others, and particularly in Paul's case, to the Gentiles.

And so this was his work.

Well, what was it designed for?

To equip the saints for service.

So every believer is expected to be a part of that service, if you please.

Now imagine picture a football game.

You know, I see coaches that pace down the sidelines, and they're giving instruction and sending players out with the next call.

Or they're giving signs, or maybe they're giving encouragement when a good play has been made.

Or a player really sticks it hard with to a running back and makes a great tackle.

Or he's clapping and cheering them on, encouraging for a job well done.

Or maybe he's on the headphones, talking to someone up in the booth and trying to find the weak spot of the other team and trying to strategize the best play that would be used at the best time.

My friends, all of that's important, but the players are the ones on the field.

Now, imagine if the coach blew the whistle.

Now, there were, incidentally, very few in, I guess you'd say, by comparison to the many who were given these special gifts by our Lord, these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, were all in the role of teaching, either in revelation or imparting what's already been revealed or being an example to others, trying to live out the message that has been taught, as in the case of the shepherds or the elders who were leading and guiding those under his care.

So all of them, though, were in this role of teaching, again, either by instruction or by example.

And yet all of them, of course, were to be examples exemplars of what they taught.

I'm not suggesting that there's a fine distinct line there, but they were all shared this role, yet by comparison, they were few, comparatively speaking, to the many who were saints that were not called in this special chosen way.

So again, you've got a football team with many players and a few coaches on the sideline.

Now, there are more players than there are coaches, and the players are the ones on the field.

But now imagine if the coaches blew the whistle and they began, they ran out on the on the to play the quarterback and the receiver and the defense while the players sat on the bench.

How would that work?

Well, they'd probably lose instantly.

Yet that's how many churches operate today.

A handful of leaders do all the ministry.

They go into the ministry, and the rest, they watch from the pew.

The players who should be out on the field are watching on the pew, thinking that they're going to learn how to be a good football player by watching the coaches on the field.

Well, that's not God's design.

And I don't know if that probably breaks down somewhat.

I'm just trying to illustrate how this doesn't work.

And it wasn't by God's design that leaders are doing all the work.

The leaders are there equipping saints for the work.

Saints are the one to serve.

It's the few for the many.

And in the case of Ephesians 4, 11, 12, that's the few who serve the many for the purpose of equipping the many for their service.

That's by God's design.

Now, everyone has a role to Play in the body.

There's one body yet.

Paul said it at first.

Corinthians 12, but many members.

Now Paul makes this clear even in this text, in chapter four.

Look at verse 16.

We don't have to leave the context far to get this point from him that is Christ.

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.

Did you catch all of that?

The body grows when every part works properly.

Let's put it that way.

If even one part refuses, the whole body suffers.

Now, what does equipping look like in practice?

What does it look like?

Well, equipping is involved in equipping.

It's training.

There's obviously some training, practice, putting things into practice.

Leaders no doubt teach, but they also model.

They prepare believers to serve.

That could mean teaching how to, even so much as to study the Word, or how to counsel with scripture, or how to share the Gospel.

Equipping, secondly means responsibility.

In other words, you're responsible for your own work.

You're not responsible to do for me to do my work.

You can't outsource obedience.

You can't sit back and say, well, that's the preacher's job.

That's what he's hired for.

See, that's why I'm not in favor of hires, salary paid preacher, preachers, you won't find it in the Bible.

And that's why, because the whole body's served.

The idea that that's the preacher's job, he's entered the ministry.

That's his profession, that's not mine.

That is a false teaching that you've believed from somewhere along the way and probably your preacher's.

You see, your calling is unique and no one else can fulfill it for you.

So equipping means taking responsibility for your service, for you doing service.

If you're a member of the Body of Christ.

That's exactly what this means.

But it also means, or at least it promotes and encourages a united body.

The body of Christ is not fractured into professionals and spectators.

Paul says that we are joined together, every part working.

Ephesians 4.

Now please don't jump here and make some application like, well, even the janitor is important.

My friend, there is no janitor in the body of Christ.

Now, I'm not suggesting that there's not people who do menial tasks.

That's not my point.

My point is the Body of Christ is a spirit.

It's not an organization made by man.

It's a spiritual entity, a living organism, not an organization.

Every individual part, that is every member, has a functioning role to play.

And as such, there's no janitor in this relationship any more than there should be a preacher in this relationship.

All of us should be in the same.

You know, think about this passage in Ephesians chapter or Hebrews chapter five, when Paul, he comes down hard on the saints there for having become lazy spiritually and mentally.

They have become, I guess you would call the word listless, not taking responsibility.

He said, you should have grown to the point part.

To the point where you are teachers yourself.

But he said you have need that someone teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God and our need of milk and knowledge, solid food.

And then he describes that those who are mature are those who, by reason of use and exercise, they put it into practice, have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

But my point is, there comes a point of time, the Hebrew writer says, when, for the time, you ought to be teachers.

Is he talking to a group of preachers here or people who went into the ministry and they're not preaching anymore?

Well, no, he's talking to saints, brethren, all of whom are responsible at some point in time to be imparting information and knowledge of Jesus to others.

Now, that clearly does not represent the pattern that's followed today among churches where you have people entering the ministry and.

And others just sort of supporting them with their paycheck and giving into the collection plate or something of that kind, thinking they've met their responsibility.

That's not taught in the Bible.

So my point is that every member of the body of Christ is not fractured because they're all involved in the same work and the same agenda, the same end in mind.

So they joined together.

Every part is working.

And, you know, Barnabas was important in the body of Christ, as was Paul, the great encourager of men, vital to the encouragement and the edification of the body.

But equipping also means and implies a maturing process.

I don't suppose it ever ends, but there's a sense in which one could say that one is maybe a babe in Christ, whereas others may have greater maturity.

But it never ends.

It goes on and on.

And Paul warns in verse 14 of this same opening that without equipping, then we'll remain children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of teaching, every new teaching and trend that comes down the pike.

But with equipping, we can become stable, recognize truth from Error.

We can be strong and able to discern error from truth.

Think of a soldier who goes out to battle, never been trained, not equipped with any kind of weapon.

He's just walking out there in the battlefield, no training, no nothing to fight with.

Now that would look sound of silly, wouldn't it?

But a soldier, he goes through boot camp, he trains, he works hard, he learns, he disciplines himself, he.

He prepares.

And then when the battle is ready, he goes out and he fights the good fight.

The body of Christ is like an army in that sense.

It's not an audience.

He doesn't go out and sit under a tree and call out and yell to his friends out there fighting, go get them, boys.

No, he's got the same weapons in his hands as his friends do.

But too many Christians are sitting on the bleachers or they're watching the few fight on the front lines.

And my friends, that's why so much of the body is weak and tired and ineffective.

Transformation happens when every soldier takes their place on the battlefield.

So I ask you, my friends, if you are in the body of Christ, and that may be the question to really view and study seriously.

But if so, then I would expect you to be on the battlefield.

I would expect you to be on the playing field.

I would expect you to be serving.

When we think about service, the Body of Christ serves in many capacities and ways, but primarily it is for the purpose of edifying and building up the body.

Of course, there are other things included in that.

Walking wisely toward those that are without and trying to be an example to the unbeliever as well as to the believer.

But there's a functioning role.

There's a purpose that is clearly set forth in Scripture, and it has to do with building up the body.

And I'm not talking about growing the church.

A term, by the way, that you'll not find in your Bible.

You don't hear about establishing a church or growing a church any more than you hear about going to church or having church or doing church.

I don't know where those came from, but they didn't come from the Bible.

They came from man.

The body of Christ is not some organization that has been established by man to serve other people and to give them some reason to come back because they feel entertained and pumped up, like going to a pep rally.

That's not its purpose.

Its purpose is for every member of the body to come together as a body, to function as one body united in purpose, doing the same work, encouraging, reminding each other of the task in front of us, warning us of the dangers that are present.

And on and on it goes.

That's the family of God, that's the body of Christ.

It's not a role for one or two where someone does all the work and goes to the church building and everybody comes to be served and built up for the moment and maybe says amen and he raises their hand in the air.

Now that's not the design for the body of Christ.

So friend, let me ask you, are you a spectator or are you equipped for service?

Now obviously if you're not equipped for service, that's probably all that you can do is be a spectator.

But that's not the body.

I mean the body is something very uniquely different than being a spectator.

There is no part of the body that's sitting on the sidelines, not a part of the body and functioning as a member of the body.

You can't just disassemble the arm and set it on the couch and let it watch the rest of the body do the work.

It functions as one unit.

And so I ask again, are you a spectator?

And if you are my friend, you're not in the body.

God's design is clear.

Leaders that God, Christ gave his people, they equip and they have done their work.

Their work is for us.

Today we have the complete revelation of God's mind.

Today his word.

We have everything that we need to equip the man of God, that he might be perfect in the sense, not a flawless perfection, but complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.

Paul tells Timothy.

And so God's design is clear.

He's provided this already for us and now we have everything we need and the body can grow.

The body of Christ is not an organization where a few carry the weight for the many.

It is a body where every part functions.

If this message at all resonates with you, then I hope that you'll make some changes.

It's not easy because we have been, oh, transitioned away from what the Bible teaches on these things.

We've established a man made church organization where we can feel good about what little role we have in religion and we can go as spectators and feel pumped up and give a pat on the back to the preacher and write out a healthy check or give a hundred dollar bill or whatever we give, I don't know, but we feel like we've, we've fulfilled our responsibility by proxy.

Well, we've hired the preacher and that's why we call it, he's our preacher.

We've hired him and he does the work.

That's what he's paid for.

And what do you do, my friends?

Well, I just write out the check.

That's my role.

I just support him.

That's my function.

Well, I want you to find the book, chapter and verse for that, please.

And I think you'll find, my friends, that it isn't in the Bible.

We've created that arrangement, not the Lord.

Well, our time is up for this morning.

I thank you so much for listening.

I trust that you'll tune in with us every Lord's day as we look at the examples, illustrations that we find in the Bible on what kind of transformation takes place when we renew our minds.

This is just part of it as we think about our role in the body of Christ.

Thank you so much.

Have a good day and a pleasant week ahead.