Bill Bremer
Senior Member
Joined: 02/29/2016 Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 81
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Posted: 03/02/2016 at 8:42am
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Growing up to work
in the body of Christ is God’s calling for our way of life and
spiritual work. Our goal being to attain mature adulthood and the
full standard of development in Christ. In the first 3 chapters of
Ephesians, Paul tells what God has planned, did and is doing for His
saints in the body of Christ. In the rest of Ephesians, he explains
how.
Paul concludes chapter 3 with this doxology, “Now
to Him who by the power working in us can do far, far more than
anything we ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in
Christ Jesus to all ages forever. Amen” (Eph
3:20-21). He begins chapter 4 by urging us to live worthy
of the way of life with which we have been called.
Live as people whom God has called should live
Since God has called us into His kingdom and glory (1
Th 2:12), we are live in a way that is worthy of the calling to
which we have been called.
So I, a prisoner in the
Lord, urge you to live as people whom God has called should live. Be
humble and gentle in every way, be patient and lovingly bear with one
another. Do your best to keep the oneness of the Spirit by living
together in peace: one body and one Spirit—–even as you have been
called to share one hope—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, who rules over us all, works through us all, and
lives in us all. Ephesians
4:1-7 AAT
God our Father makes it possible for us to be humble and gentle in
every way, to be patient and lovingly bear with one another. Our
heavenly Father created us in Messiah Jesus to thrive in the
harmonious relationships of oneness. The Holy Spirit helps us do that
as we serve Messiah Jesus as Lord. We walk worthy, doing our best to
keep the oneness of the Spirit by living in peace. For, we share
“one hope—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of
all, who rules over us all, works through us all, and lives in us
all.”
Grace works through us all
Paul shares how God’s power works through us all. To empower
each of us to walk worthy of His calling, Christ has given each one
of us grace/charis. “But to each one of us grace has been given
as Christ apportioned it (Eph
4:7 NIV).
But each one of us has been
given the gift measured out by Christ who gave it. So it says: He
went up on high, took prisoners, and gave gifts to people. How what
can “He went up” mean but that He had gone down to thee lower
parts of the earth? He who went down also “went up” above all the
heavens to fill everything. Ephesians
4:7-10 AAT
Grace has two sides to it. The first side is, our being is God’s
doing. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not
of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Eph
2:8). “He has made us what we are, creating us in Christ
Jesus to do good works, in which God long ago planned for us to live”
(Eph
2:10). The second side is, our doing right is God being through
us. “With this in mind we’re always praying for you that our
God will make you worthy of His calling and by His power accomplish
every good thing you decide to do and every work of faith, so as to
glorify the name of our Lord Jesus among you, and you in Him,
according to the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ”
(2
Th 1:11-12 AAT). See Ph 2:13, Ro
12:6-8, 1
Cor 1:4-5, 1
Cor 15:10, 2
Cor 12:9, 2
Tim 2:1,
Christ makes the body grow and builds it up
in love
Christ has gifted some to lead in His body. Their primary purposes
is to equip us to do the work of ministry and to build up the body of
the Messiah until all of us are united in the faith and in the full
knowledge of God’s Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and
the full standard of development in the Messiah. Until we grow up in
all ways in Christ, their work is not completed.
And it is he (the Messiah)
who gifted some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be
evangelists, and still others to be pastors and teachers, to equip
the saints, to do the work of ministry, and to build up the body of
the Messiah until all of us are united in the faith and in the full
knowledge of God’s Son, and until we attain mature adulthood and
the full standard of development in the Messiah. Then we will no
longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every
wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, or by clever strategies
that would lead us astray. Instead, by speaking the truth in love, we
will grow up completely and become one with the head, that is, one
with the Messiah, in whom the whole body is united and held together
by every ligament with which it is supplied. As each individual part
does its job, the body builds itself up in love. Ephesians
4:11-16 ISV
In their equipping mode, our leaders help us grow up in accord
with God’s plan. Both they and we thrive in that mode. They give us
solid food, equipping us for the work of service and urging us to do
it. That way, our senses will be trained by practice and we become
better doers. God has more work for us to do!
Differing opinions and practices can cause much discord in the
Messiah’s body. When discord arises, our leaders are to perfect us
in the truth. Paul recognized the human propensity to fall into
error. That didn’t stop him from equipping the saints for ministry.
In his farewell to the elders in Ephesus, he first pointed to his own
lifestyle of loving service and proclamation of the kingdom, then
warned the elders that they would have to deal with error.
It shouldn’t surprise us to find we are experiencing error in
the body of Christ. Many are brought on by enlightened humanism and
human political power and control structures within the church. Paul
knew even some of the elders he was speaking to would fall into
error. Yet, he didn’t set up hierarchy or rules for their mutual
protection and he didn’t limit ministry to the pulpit or the church
therapy office. Rather, knowing he had told them God’s whole plan,
he entrusted them to God and the Word of His grace. (Acts
20:17-38). See Eph
2:11, 2
Cor 11:13, 2
Co 11:26, 2
Pe 2:1
John exhorted,, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world” (1
Jn 4:1).
We shouldn’t be babies
any longer, tossed and driven by every windy thing that is taught, by
the trickery of men and their clever scheming in error. Let us tell
the truth with love and in every way grow up into Him who is the
Head—Christ. Ephesians
4:14 AAT
Messiah Jesus builds through His body as each
part is working
He makes the whole body fit
together, unites is by every contact with its support, and to the
extent that each part is working He makes the body grow and builds it
up in love. Ephesians
4:14-16 AAT
As we grow up into Him who is the Head—Christ, He fits us
together and to the extent each of us is working, He makes the body
grow and builds it up in love. The amount of growing up we have to do
is shown by how little we see of each other and of ourselves in this
Word. We are just beginning to see that our Messiah has each of us
working in the body of Christ. He provides sustenance to His body
through every part working to fulfill its function. He ministers to
His body and to the world through His body.
We are participating workers in the body of Christ. Whether we
recognize it or not, we do serve the Lord in our one another
relationships. We come to His perfection by doing what He wants us to
do We work as light in society, as we hold converse in our
fellowship, as sharers of Christ’s love in family life and as
people serving the Lord at work. Just recognizing that helps us glow
with the Spirit.
Right now, we do minister to God and one another in society, in
fellowship, in family and at work. Anytime we do anything motivated
by His love; we are doing the work of service He has called us to do.
Let us put more of what God has given us to use for the common good
as we are exhorted in the following Word.
If you can do it, do it
For by the grace given to me I
ask every one of you not to think of yourself more highly than you
should think, rather to think of yourself with sober judgment on the
measure of faith that God has assigned each of you. For we have many
parts in one body, but these parts do not all have the same function.
In the same way, even though we are many people, we are one body in
the Messiah and individual parts connected to each other. We have
different gifts based on the grace that was given to us. So if your
gift is prophecy, use your gift in proportion to your faith. If your
gift is serving, devote yourself to serving others. If it is
teaching, devote yourself to teaching others. If it is encouraging,
devote yourself to encouraging others. If it is sharing, share
generously. If it is leading, lead enthusiastically. If it is
helping, help cheerfully. Romans
12:3-11 ISV Kingdom Relationships
__________________ Bill Bremer Kingdom Relationships http://billbremer.org
billbremer04@yahoo.com
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