Ephesians 4:12-16 Purpose of the Church
Paul made it clear that Jesus, when He returned to His Father, did not leave us empty handed to carry on His ministry. Besides Him giving us the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us, He also lavished on each one of us some supernatural gifts to make each of our outreaches possible. These gifts are critical to the success of the church.
Having revealed that God will continue His ministry through Christians and the church, Paul now goes on the explain what the purpose of the church is. These verses are important as they essentially define the mission of the church. Jesus gave us the Great Commission to follow and now Paul gives each church instruction as to what they are supposed to do. These are complementary not contrary instructions. We will see how the goal of the church is to support and make possible the Great Commission.
Not only do we need to know what is expected of all churches we should regularly review these passages and compare to what our churches are actually doing. If we, as a church, vary or wander away from what Paul is providing, we should prayerfully consider making some serious changes.
12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 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, 14 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. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 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 states that the purpose of us receiving gifts was so that we can equip all believers for works of ministry for the building up the body of Christ. Even though this is a straightforward statement many churchgoers fail to understand. First of all every Christian is in God’s full-time ministry. There are no exceptions to this, some may think they can pay or contribute with others to support someone in the full-time ministry; it just doesn’t work that way. We are all responsible for the building up of the body of Christ. Secondly, these verses point out the need to know and fully understand Scripture and thirdly, the need for working together. Many of these points are often neglected in today’s churches.
The word ‘equip’ means to provide the resources someone needs to do their job or complete their mission. A Christian is to be equipped with the knowledge of Jesus and the Word of God. Without this knowledge would be similar to asking someone to do a job without training or education. Paul says we are to be equipped, “for building up the body of Christ” (see also 1 Corinthians 12:12-20; 27-31 and Colossians 1:24). The phrase, “the body of Christ,” as discussed earlier in Chapter 7, refers to the people of a church. Just like a human body that has many parts, the “body of Christ” has many parts as well, each hopefully doing their part. Not everyone is an eye or an ear, we all have a unique role. Just like a human body that works out to gain strength, the body of Christ is built up, made stronger, through its people being equipped and taught the Word of God.
Paul says we are to continue equipping the saints until; “we all attain the unity of faith,” the process of equipping the saints only stops when “we all” (that would be all Christians) have attained the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Note how Paul qualifies the definition of faith, not some made-up fantasy to believe in, but the truth regarding the knowledge of Jesus. We don’t need many metrics, meters or measuring sticks to figure out that the unity Paul is talking about has not yet occurred, so we are to continue the work of ministry until it does.
Paul once again takes us back to the topic of unity, in this case regarding the unity of the faith. In matters of God and that would include the plan of salvation, there is no room for relativistic thinking (where you have one concept of truth and I have another). The unity of faith that Paul refers to is where we are thinking, teaching and living in alignment with the truth (see Chapter 14). This is not a reference to simply agreeing on something, this is agreeing to what is true (not what we think is right but what God teaches as the truth). It is important for us to be in alignment with God’s Word and direction. If we are not united we will each go in different directions minimizing and ultimately removing any of God’s blessings to us or worse, risking condemnation (by accepting a lie).
The knowledge of the Son of God is in its simplest form is the knowledge of salvation offered freely through Jesus. It is also knowledge of love beyond our comprehension, it is the knowledge of right and wrong, it is the knowledge that explains the meaning of life, it is the truth of so much! The knowledge also brings us to Spiritual maturity.
Paul says we should become mature Christians, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” To become mature is a reminder that the fullness of Christ, the complete filling of God in our lives, is available to all believers. Since the stature of Christ is essentially something we as humans could not possibly attain on our own, we understand that the only way we can possibly be a mature Christian is through Him. The only way we could ever know if we reached Christian maturity would be by analyzing our priorities in life, if your priorities are in alignment with His, then you’re there!
To illustrate maturity Paul uses a horrific illustration to emphasize the need for all Christians to know the Word of God intimately. The Greek word that is translated ‘children’ is a word that refers to infants and small children. Paul says we would be like infants on rapidly changing and turning waves such as being on an ocean blown by winds. An infant would not be able to survive such an ordeal. Without the Word of God Christians would not know what was from God and what was from the world. Perhaps due to their ignorance of the Word of God there are many churches that teach that the Bible is not the Word of God and that it only contains the Word of God. This allows them to pick and chose what they want to believe or select what should be in the Bible. This type of “slippery slope” thinking can only end in complete compromise of the Word of God. If we are ever going to obtain maturity we will need to know the knowledge of the Son of God to the measure of the stature of the fullness (the whole Word of God) of Christ. To compromise here will ultimately lead to failure.
The various winds of doctrine, human cunning and deceitful schemes are essentially anything that effectively causes you to take your eyes off Jesus (see also Ephesians 6:11; Hebrews 13:9; 2 Peter 2:17 and Jude 12). Doctrines can include inaccurate, incomplete or improperly interpreted Biblical teachings, adding elements that do not pertain to Christianity (such as the social or prosperity gospels) and emphasis on things that are not considered essential. Human cunning can include evolution versus creation, uniformitarianism versus catastrophism and science versus religion. Deceitful schemes includes nearly any doctrine, idea, behavior or concept that can intentionally deceive potential believers.
Paul is offering an alternative to being bashed by the waves formed by the various winds of deceitful doctrine, he says we should be mature believers. We can pursue Jesus and grow in Him, allowing us to speak the truth to others in love. No one ever likes hearing someone tell them to, “grow up!” as it implies a lack of maturity. In a sense Paul is saying exactly that to us when he says, “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” He says we are to first grow up! We can’t grow up if we aren’t involved in learning or growing in the Word of God or not participating in church, following Jesus.
This is same ‘body’ that Paul earlier referred to in verse twelve, the body of Christ, namely the church (see also Colossians 2:19). We are to work with others in ministry. The body of Christ is often called the universal church (all churches together, believers on earth).
Many Christians look at Christianity as a spectator sport or church-going much like a service station. Some choose a church based strictly on their comfort, perhaps one with an acceptable style of worship, a place where they can sing a familiar tune, hear short sermons, and “blend in” and not get involved. Essentially they go to the service station to fill up, possibly get directions and then go on their way. If they are equipped, it is most often done with denominational dogma, understanding ritual protocols and history with little to no Scripture or growth in Jesus.
The church is God’s invention, not man’s, it is His choice ‘mechanism’ for bringing the news of His plan of salvation to an otherwise condemned world. It was never meant to be an exclusive club or a secret society. Being a Christian is not about us, it is about Jesus. We are to serve Him, we are to be obedient to Him, it’s all about Him! In order for the church to work the way Jesus intended it to work it requires our participation. Yes, that means we need to apply ourselves and make an effort to do our part (also known as ‘work’).
Our participation is critical. Since God provides gifts based on the needs of the ministry and if we choose to not to participate, we could be hurting the church by not getting involved and doing our part. Also, if someone else is doing the part we were supposed to be doing, while not being gifted in a way to do that function, they could be doing even more harm to the church. The ultimate accomplishment of a local church is the growth of the body as it works together and builds itself up in love. We should never underestimate the importance of love especially if we are going to be Christ’s ambassadors to the world!