“The whole body . . . causes the growth of the body.”

Ephesians 4:1-16 (ESV)
The evident truth: You can not just show up on Sunday and feel like a part of the body of Christ. You have to be engaged in the activity of the family of God and you have to be engaged in the service of the body. You have to try, you have to participate! We have to make it our priority to preserve the unity of the body and enjoy the fellowship of the family of God.
The Maintenance of Unity vs. 1-6
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
“Therefore” marks the transition from doctrine to duty, principle to practice, position to behavior. This is typical of Paul, and what he urges us to do, practically, out of a sense of duty, is to walk - live the progression of our lives - in a manner worthy of our calling, in a way that reflects the nature and character of our calling. So what is our calling?
Our Calling – The Gospel vs. 1
As always in the Epistles, our call refers to the call of God to salvation. It encapsulates the Gospel. We are to walk in a way that honors the objective truth of the Gospel: That there is a God and He is righteous and gracious, holy and loving, merciful and just. Man has rebelled against God and in our pride chosen self over God, and in our arrogance chosen the things of the world over the things of God. In His righteous, holy justice, God must punish our sin, and the payment He has set for sin is death, separation, hell. In His merciful, loving Grace, God chose to forgive our sin and make us righteous by demonstrating His love by the sending of His son, Jesus, the Christ, born without sin, to live a sinless life, giving us His righteousness, and dying an innocent death, paying our sin debt, and raising Him from the grave, purchasing for us and eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God. We are to live in a way that demonstrates the subjective truth of the Gospel in our lives: That we have believed in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, and confessed with our mouths that God raised Him from the grave. That we who have believed in the person and work of Christ, shall not perish but do have everlasting life.
The Gift – Unity vs. 2
In that calling, there is an implied gift. The gift of unity is assumed here. Humility, gentleness, and patience are reflected in a forbearing love for others that is here continuous and unconditional.
Now, here is the key point – “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” In our humble, gentle, and patient lives, that are reflecting the honor, nature and character of the truth of the gospel, we are to be diligently working to preserve the gift of unity – to preserve the gift that is the work of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ – unity!
Unity is not our creation, or our work. We should be eager to maintain the unity we have (the unity of the reality of the presence of God) preserving the gift of unity that we have is our duty and we are to do so in the bond of peace. What is the bond of peace? Love. Colossians 3:14 says, in an exposition of this entire passage, “Beyond all of these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” If you read 1 Corinthians 13, you see why love is a bond of peace, because it is patient, gentle, and humble, it bears all personal things and endures forever! It is that which is demonstrated on the Cross. That is why unity is so precious to God. Yes because the world will know us by our love, but more, they will know the truth of the gospel by our unity in love! Unity is a gospel issue.
The Result – Identity (oneness) vs. 4-6
The result of this bond of peace, this unity, is a singular identity, a oneness that goes to our nature and character, to our capacity to reflect the nature and character of God.
One Body – the Church
One Spirit – the Presence of God
One Hope – the Gospel
One Lord – the Christ
One Faith – the Cross
One Baptism – the Resurrection
One God – the Father, King and sovereign Lord!
So, what is it that the Church is supposed to look like? Paul gives us his vision of the church -
Paul’s Vision of the Church vs. 16
Him who is the head, Christ, from whom 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.
Paul’s inspired vision gives us three aspects of the proper functioning of the church:
The Head, The Body, and The Result.
Christ as Head – The Gospel (vs. 9-10)
This refers to and assumes the headship of Christ. It can do so on the basis of verses 9 & 10.
In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.
Christ, having perfectly fulfilled all prophecies and his divinely-ordained redemptive purposes, took possession of His right to rule the church and, as we will see, give gifts.
Given this context and the picture of the church as a body whose head is Christ, “head” is used in the sense of authoritative leader, not source (as some would prefer) which would require a different picture altogether, since your head is not the source of you, but your controlling member.
The power of the church, then, to produce its intended purpose does not come primarily from the effort of its believing members, but from their Head, who is Christ.
So, in our dependence on Him, what is the role of the Body?
Whole Body – working together properly (Col. 2:19)
A godly, biblical, healthy church comes from every member of the body holding the body together by the love that each individual supplies to it and from every member working together in a manner that is appropriate for each individual member. Colossians 2:18-19 is a helpful parallel verse in showing us this principle in the context of its opposite:
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism(or legalism) and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
There is no spiritual growth for the body apart from union with the head and the proper working of all the parts or members. When the church is submissive to the leadership of Christ (and I might add God’s chosen under-shepherd, the pastor) and walking in the unity of the faith, godly, biblical, healthy church growth happens.
The Result – causes the growth of the Body
The result of Paul’s vision for the church is that the whole body, working together properly under the headship of Christ, will cause the growth of the body!
How? vs. 7-8, 11-12
How do we hold together in love? How do we know what is appropriate for each individual member? How do we work together properly under the headship of Christ? How can we cause each other to grow spiritually and thus cause the body to grow spiritually and numerically, in a godly, biblical and healthy way?
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men."
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.
In that verse, we need to see two primary blessings of empowerment, by which God equips us for this good work of building the Church by His power!
Grace – The Gospel vs. 7
But to each one, in a way transitioning from the focus on the unity of the body to the uniqueness of the individual believers, because I believe that throughout Scripture, we find both an individual responsibility and accountability before God and a corporate responsibility and accountability before God. We stand before God both as individuals and as a body, and God both disciplines and blesses His children both individually and as a body. That is why I believe church membership is so important. It puts us in position to both be accountable to the body and with the body, and to be blessed by the body and with the body. (heart for new members class)
Grace – is a single word definition of the gospel, and since I think I clearly presented my testimony about the gospel before, I will only say that here it amplifies God as the God who freely gives; His giving has nothing to do with what we have done or deserve, but is unmerited, unearned. The gifts that God gives are gifts of grace!
Gifts - vs. 8, 11-12
1. Freely Given; Again these are gifts of grace, that God gives that we might accomplish His purposes. We do not have to earn them and they are not merit badges! As such , they are not to be areas of pride or religious arrogance. They are to be worn with humility, but not shame, for they are our equipping for the good work God has created and called us to do. Every true believer has at least one spiritual gift that was imparted to them at conversion. We should know what our gift is, and by the power of the Spirit, we should learn to properly exercise that gift for the equipping of the saints and the building up of the body.
2. Specifically Given; Christ possesses authority to assign these gifts. To all He has called into service, he has given specific gifts, given so specifically that they are characterized as specifically gifted persons. We will not go into what each one of these means. For now, I just want us to see the specific nature of our giftedness in that God does not just give the gift of evangelism, Christ gives the gift of the evangelists, people who are specifically gifted to proclaim the good news of the gospel to unbelievers. It is a specific gifting that equips us for our specific calling. How exciting it is to think about a church, who knows and understands their unique gifting and how God intends to use that for the equipping of the saints and the building up of the church!
3. Purposefully Given; That’s right, Jesus not only gives these gifts specifically, but purposefully. It is not enough to know your gift. You must exercise it! We must know how to use that gift to accomplish the purposes of God for which it was given! Every gift must be employed for the two purposes that are given in this text. We are to exercise our gifts for the equipping (to make fit or complete, to give the appropriate spiritual equipment) of the Saints (all who believe in Jesus) for the work of service (serving others, the body as a whole and the kingdom of God). We are to exercise our gifts in the building up of the body of Christ (The spiritual edification, nurturing, and development of the church).
How exciting it is to think about a church, who knows and understands their unique gifting and how God intends to use them for the equipping of the saints and the building up of the church!
Godly, biblical, healthy church growth happens when every member of the body is fully using his spiritual gift, in submission to the head, and in cooperation with all of the other believers. Not only does your growth depend on you using your gift, but the growth of the church and therefore the growth of all the other individual members depends on you using your gifts in a submissive, cooperative, appropriate way for the purpose of equipping the Saints for the work of service, and building up the body of Christ to spiritual maturity.
Result – a picture of real growth vs. 13-15
So, quickly, what is the result? The result of Paul’s vision is summarized in three things: Unity of Faith, Knowledge of the Son, and Spiritual Maturity.
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Unity of Faith vs. 13a
Unity is not an abstraction. Neither is Paul advocating unity for unity’s sake. Unity is fundamentally a product of content. Faith here refers to the body of revealed truth that constitutes orthodox Christian teaching, particularly pertaining to the gospel. True oneness and harmony among believers is only possible when it is built on the foundation of Truth. All other unity is false, vain, and deception. That is why unity is not about superficial preferences. For instance, the Content and Object of Worship must be established as more important than the context and style (or preference). Style of music is merely a vain preference, the content of our words and God as the object of our worship is a point of unity. In the New Testament there is a stunning indifference to place and external form, but an amplified intensity concerning the spiritual how and the theological who.
Knowledge of the Son vs. 13b
That places, knowledge of the Son at the center of Church life! This is not simply salvation knowledge (though it certainly assumes that), but a deep knowledge of Christ that a believer comes to through prayer, faithful study of His word, and obedience to His commands. It is primarily a heart issue because I would venture to say that virtually all falsehood comes from this: a stronger affection for the pleasures of sin than for the Truth of God. So the issue of truth is an issue of the heart before it is an issue of the head.
However, the modern church is largely and increasingly mentally deficient. The idea that the Christian message should be kept pliable and as ambiguous as possible in order to appeal to a emotion driven, self-centered, postmodern culture seems especially attractive believers who are more in tune with culture than with God and love the spirit of this age. However, not knowing what you believe is by definition a kind of unbelief. Every Christian should know and love the truth. As we gain the ability to chew and digest deeper truths, we are supposed to be nourished by the meat of the word. We move from a merely childlike knowledge to a more mature grasp of truth in all its richness, and relationship to other truth. We know God by knowing the truth that he has revealed about Himself.
Spiritual Maturity vs. 13c-15
That leads to the final fruit, or result of every member, under the headship of Christ, unified in the truth of the gospel, using their gifts for the equipping of the saints and the building up of the body, spiritual maturity. I believe we can see here both individual maturity and corporate maturity, as Paul speaks to us corporately.
God wants every believer to manifest the qualities of His Son, who is the standard of spiritual maturity. He wants each of us to have a mature faith, and a mature knowledge. He does not want us to remain as spiritual children, tossed around by every Christian bookstore fad, and carried away by every wind of doctrine. Spiritually immature believers are not grounded in the faith, and knowledge of the Son, and are inclined to uncritically accept every sort of popular doctrine or false interpretation promoted by deceitful, false teachers inside and outside of the church. Babies eat what you give them, but we must learn to discern truth. We must also learn to speak truth. It is not enough to discern it, but our calling is to share the truth of God with a lost and dying world. It is not arrogance to share truth, it is the greatest love.
God’s call on our lives today is to grow up. We are to be completely yielded and obedient to the Lord, submissive to His power and authority, and growing in Christ-likeness in all areas of our lives – loving God and His truth more than any or all the things of the world.

Truth: an issue of the heart and head

I would venture to say that virtually all falsehood comes from this: a stronger affection for the pleasures of sin than for the Truth of God.
So you see that the issue of truth is an issue of the heart before it is an issue of the head. When the heart is in love with self-exaltation and independence and the pleasures of sin, the mind will inevitably distort the truth or suppress the truth in order to protect the idols of the heart. What is needed is not just new ideas or more information, (though I believe they are both needed desperately!) but a new heart. And a new set of passions and desires and pleasures.
Throughout the Bible, we see that people, even believers, develop ungodly lives when they reject the truth of God’s word.
When we deny what God has revealed about himself, we form a wrong view of who God is.
That wrong view of God always leads to faulty worship because we worship some god of our own creation and not the God that has been clearly revealed in Scripture, and we worship in some way that we have devised out of our own pride and creativity instead of the way God has revealed He desires to be worshipped.
That wrong view of God always leads to a defective relationship with God because we are separated from God by our rejection of His truth, and because we are self-deceived in our relationship to our false god.
As a result of our faulty worship and defective relationship, our devotion to God wanes in disillusionment and our reverence is absent because our god is no god at all. This is by definition, ungodliness.
Unrighteousness is the result of ungodliness. Apart from God there is no righteousness. When we develop a wrong view of God and nurture that view through faulty worship, that wrong view of God always leads to either religious legalism, moral relativism or both. There is no conformity of thought, word, or deed to the character of God. When we deny what God has revealed about Himself, our view of Him fails. When our view of Him fails, our worship of Him falters. When our worship falters, there is no reverence, His truth has no authority and we are free to live life any way we choose or see fit. This is the great hope of progressive liberalism and postmodern culture.
The Remedy:
So here is the great lesson to be learned: the reason the mind evades, twists, distorts, manipulates and suppresses the truth of God is not mainly that we are mentally deficient, but because we are morally deficient. We suppress the Light of God's glory and power because we love the darkness of our own independence. We love our sins, our self-determination, and therefore we suppress the Truth that God is God and that we are to depend on him and live for his glory.
And this, Paul says in Romans 1:18, is why the wrath of God is being poured out. This suppression of the truth of his glory and his power and his deity and his goodness, because of our love affair with unrighteousness, makes him furious. And we should tremble.
Secondly, the modern church is largely and increasingly mentally deficient. The idea that the Christian message should be kept pliable and as ambiguous as possible in order to appeal to an emotion driven, self-centered, postmodern culture seems especially attractive to immature believers who are more in tune with culture than with God and love the spirit of this age. However, not knowing what you believe is by definition a kind of unbelief. Every Christian should know and love the truth. As we gain the ability to chew and digest deeper truths, we are supposed to be nourished by the meat of the word. We move from a merely childlike knowledge to a more mature grasp of truth in all its richness and relationship to other truth. We know God by knowing the truth that he has revealed about Himself.