Ephesians 4:7-16
"God's Body Building Program "

Gospelcome BibleGateway

"⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. ⁸Therefore He says:"When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive,And gave gifts to men." ⁹(Now this, "He ascended"--what does it mean but that He also first^[2] descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) ¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."

INTRODUCTION:

A. What is the purpose of the church and of pastor-teachers?

B. How have you been building your spiritual body?

C. Why do we need to be the church and why does the church need us?

D. Body of Christ - Ephesians 1:22; 2:16; 3:6; 4:4: 4:12; 4:16

E. Look up the "one another" verses and reflect on them.

F. A worthy walk is demonstrated by diversity and we do not walk alone.

G. We do have a personal relationship with Jesus but it is not a private relationship

H. Key factor - The "gift" mentioned in Ephesaians 4:7

I. Why has God given each of us a gift? What do we do to God and to others when we do not use our gift?

I. The pattern - God equips the saints by giving them gifts, the saints serve the body, the body is built up.

A. Verses 1-6 discusses unity in the body, but verses 7 changes to the individuality of each one in the body

B. What is the difference between gifts and talents?

1. natural, first birth (gift or talent?)

2. supernatural, second birth, like fingerprints (gift or talent?)

C. We ought to develop our talents and use our gift so that we might interface our talents with our gift.

D. Talent doesn't necessarily mean gift but God might give you a gift to depend solely on God to do a special work. (Moses)

E. What is the purpose of a pastor according to these verses?

F. What is the purpose of the body according to these verse?

G. Verse 9-10 is from Psalm 68 a Psalm of victory over the Jebusites which later became Jerusalem.

1. Conquering Kings would capture those in the kingdom and march them behind their army

2. They were then recaptured

3.They were then set free

H. Talking about the incarnation at Bethlehem and the incarnation(from heaven to earth) NLT - "Notice that it says "he ascended." This means that Christ first came down to the lowly world in which we live,¹⁰The same one who came down is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that his rule might fill the entire universe."

I. 1 Peter 3:18-19 "¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, ¹⁹by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ²¹There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him." (cf. Luke 16)

J.Jesus' pattern

1. We were captured by sin

2. Jesus recaptured us

3.Jesus set us free

K. The gifts

1. Apostles

a. Ttwelve were picked to be with Jesus, witness His resurrection, and perform signs and wonders of an apostle.

b. Therefore there are no more apostles since the time of Christ (strictly speaking).

c. But the are apostles functionally (Barnabas, Timothy,Sylvanus, Adronicus, Junia were all apostles in a functional sense)

d. What does apostle (apostolos) mean? What do they do? (The "Didache" is the teacing of the twelve apostles. In it a missionary is considered an apostle)

2. Prophets

a. What is a prophet?

b. What two types of messages might a prophet give?

3. Evangelist

a.Peter, Phillip

b. What do evangelists do?

4. Pastor-teachers

a. Is this one or two people?

b. One of the qualifications of being a pastor is that he must be a teacher

II. The Purpose - (v 13-14)

A. How does this verse speak to someone who says,"I don't need the church?"

B. Three purposes of the church

1. Unity of the faith and the building up of the body.

a. How does this occur? (Jesus thinks it, the Spirit transmits it , the body does it)

b. Why doesn't the body of Christ function smoothly? (The body doesn't get the message.)

2. Maturity

a. Born again as a newborn through growing up to maturity

c. What are you doing to grown up?

3. Stability

III. The Power (v 15-16) (Love is the circulatory system)

A. What is the relationship between truth and love?

B. Love people enough to speak the truth to them

APPLICATION:

A. What needs to change in your life to have the best spiritual body you can, according to Scripture?

B. Review your life and look at God's pattern in your life.

C. Recognize your gifts and use them

D. Seek community within the body speaking truth in love to strengthen the bonds with OHC.