Every one of us is called to equip and build up the body of Christ. But most of us struggle with seeing ourselves the way God does. Some of us think too highly of ourselves and some of us think too lowly of ourselves. We are either highly arrogant or highly insecure. Sometimes we think, feel and behave like we are indispensible. Sometimes we think, feel and behave like we are useless. But the gospel teaches us that we are all, valuable and useful and gifted and are called to equip and build up the body of Christ.

In Ephesians 4:7 – 16 Paul says…

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers, 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.

We are called to equip one another for the work of ministry and build up the body of Christ. But the problem is that we all struggle with feeling either indispensable or useless. Which one do you lean towards? Both of these pendulum swings are selfishly prideful. We are either pridefully arrogant or pridefully insecure.

And the opening verse of our text demolishes both sides of this pendulum swing when we read that, “grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift”. (7) Every one of us has been spiritually graced (talented, gifted and enabled) by Jesus to be a valuable working part of the body of Christ. Regardless of your background and regardless of your current circumstances you have been uniquely wired by Jesus to serve other people with your God-given talents, gifts and abilities.

And yet, every one of us struggles with the power of Satan, sin and the world. Satan lies to us and accuses us. Sin tempts us and enslaves us. The world calls out to us and distracts us. And the consequences of following this unholy trinity (Satan, sin and the world) can be spiritually devastating on individuals, families and churches. But the good news is that Jesus beat Satan, sin and the world with two sticks and three nails.

Jesus beat our enemies at the cross. Paul says that, “when he (Jesus) ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men”. (8) He took Satan, sin and the world into captivity and then he seated himself on the throne of Heaven. And as he sat down in victory over our enemies he gave gifts to every person in his Kingdom. Whether you struggle with sexual sin or inappropriate relationships or greed or secrecy or depression or physical sickness, Jesus offers you true freedom. He offers you freedom from your slave-masters and he gives you gifts, talents and abilities to serve other people with.

The bottom line is that God gave his Son Jesus at the cross so that by his shed blood and by his broken body you could be free from the power of Satan, sin and the world. Jesus has served you in his work at the cross. And if you’ve trusted in him then you are a new creation. You are a son or daughter of the King. He paid an infinite price for you at the cross of Calvary and your new name is priceless not worthless. You are priceless not useless.

And as his priceless son or daughter he has a new purpose for your life. Your old purpose was to serve Satan, sin and the world. Your old purpose was to serve yourself. But your new purpose is to bring glory and honor and attention to God. You and I are called to know Jesus intimately and to make him known universally.

This purpose or this job is what we commonly refer to as the ministry. Ministry is not relegated to the seminary graduate or the extremely gifted or the paid staff person. Every person who follows Jesus is a minister with a unique set of talents, gifts and abilities. This is why Paul says that when each of us “is working properly (we) make the body grow so that it builds itself up in love”. (16) Your talents, your gifts and your abilities were given to you so that the body of Christ could become a growing and thriving representation of Jesus in the world.

But what does it look like for the body of Christ to grow and thrive? What does it look like for us to be a spiritually growing family of Christians? Paul says that God gave spiritual gifts to each of us and then he gave each of us to one another so that we might help each other grow. But what does that look like? What are we called to do? Paul says that we are called to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (12) There are two words in these verses that I want to hone in on for a few minutes. Equip and building.

1: We are called to equip each other for the work of ministry…

The word “equip” simply means, “to furnish or to fit completely”. Imagine moving into a home that didn’t have furnishings. No couch or chairs or dishwasher or refrigerator. This home would not serve the purpose it was created for. It’s the same with us. We were created with a purpose. To love God and to love people. And if we are not equipped, furnished or fitted completely we will do a poor job at walking out this calling.

Recently I was in Colorado with my wife for a retreat. We took one of my motorcycles with us on a trailer and enjoyed taking rides through the mountains while were there. On our return trip a tire on the trailer went flat so we pulled off the interstate to get the tire repaired. But to our horror we found that both the trailer and the vehicle we were driving were not equipped with a jack or a tire iron.

The result of the lack of equipment or the lack of furnishing meant that we spent 4 extra hours hunting down a new jack and tire iron, locating a tire repair shop and then retrieving the trailer and bike out of the impound yard after it got towed away. This all cost us not only extra time but also extra money.

The moral of these stories is that when something is ill equipped it costs us time, effort and money not to mention the frustrating emotions. It’s the same in the church. The call to equip others for the work of ministry doesn’t just fall on the paid pastor or paid staff members. The church wasn’t designed to have one employee that does all the work for its customers or shareholders.

The church was designed to be a family that faithfully equips each other for the work of ministry. But how do we do this work of equipping one another? In 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 Paul says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So the primary way we equip one another is by getting each other into the Word of God. This is why studying the Bible together is so important in the life of the church.

When we study the Bible individually and in community we are literally equipping each other to love God and love people. Our authority doesn’t rest in human intelligence or human logic. Our authority rests in the written Word of God. The Word of God is perfect and true and it is the only objective trustworthy source for teaching one another, rebuking one another, correcting one another and training one another in Godliness.

If our teaching, rebuking, correcting and training one another isn’t rooted in the authority of the Bible then we will be incomplete or ill equipped for any good work. Hebrews 13:20 – 21 says “may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will.” The Bible always points us back to obedience in the gospel.

The Bible always reminds us that without Christ we are ill equipped. Without Christ we are incomplete. Without Christ we are not furnished. But with Christ all things are possible through his work at the cross. God left the tomb empty and Jesus is our great shepherd. The blood of Christ spilled at the cross equips us to live obediently to God’s Word as we do the work of ministry.

And the work of ministry is namely the work of getting one another into the Bible which “is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Heb. 4:12 – 13) We are called to equip each other for the work of ministry through the regular study of God’s Word. The Christian should be equipped with ink stains on his or her nose from studying the Bible constantly.

2. We are called to build up the body of Christ…

I am about one and a half years old in building my physical health. For most of my previous thirty-eight and half years I lived in ways that were destructive to my physical health. My diet was out of control. Physical exercise was non-existent and proper rest was foreign to me.

But roughly two years ago my doctor rebuked me, warned me and challenged me to get on top of my physical health so that my wife and my children could enjoy many years with me on this Earth. You could say I had a coming to Jesus moment that day in the doctor’s office. What he basically said is stop living destructively and start living constructively. Stop tearing yourself down and start building yourself up.

This is essentially what happens when we begin to follow Jesus and become part of a church family. Once we become part of the church family we are called to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (12) We are called to stop living destructively as we trust in Christ. We are called to live constructively as we follow Christ.

Being a part of the family of God means that we have new lives, new hopes and new dreams. Part of that newness is that we stop tearing down the kingdom of God through the pursuit of self-infatuation and we begin building up the Kingdom of God through Christ exaltation. Every time we invest our time, our talent and our treasure in the church we engage the discipline of generously giving ourselves away for the purpose of building up the church.

When we identify our unique gifts, talents and passions and then direct our energy towards serving out of those we effectively begin building up the church. And let’s not forget that the church isn’t a building or an address or a name. The church is a family of people. So every facet of the churches ministry is focused on serving people practically and spiritually so that more and more people hear the gospel, trust in Jesus and begin living their lives in ways that love Jesus and love other people.

Earlier in Ephesians Paul prayed that we would be “rooted and established in the love of Christ”. (3:17) He also tells the Colossians that Jesus is the one “we proclaim, warning everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me.” (Col. 1:28 – 29) Then he reminds the Colossians that “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” (Col. 2:6 – 7) He tells the Philippians to “let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ… join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. (Phil. 1:27; 3:17)

We are called to build up the body of Christ instead of tearing it down. We build up the body of Christ by becoming saturated in the love of Christ. Proclaiming the gospel. Warning one another against living foolishly. Receiving Christ and living like Christ just as we have been taught. Building our lives in a way that is worthy of the gospel. Imitating other faithful followers of Jesus. So the question we have to ask ourselves is: am I actively tearing down or building up the body of Christ? And what do I need to do to be a more faithful part of building up the body of Christ?

In Conclusion…

In Philippians 4:9 Paul says, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” God calls us to equip one another for the work of ministry and to build up the body of Christ as we learn the Word of God, receive the Word of God, hear the Word of God, observe the Word of God and practice obedience to the Word of God.

Learn. Receive. Hear. Observe. Practice. I believe these five words are a key to equipping one another and building up the body of Christ. Are you learning the Word of God? Are you receiving the Word of God? Are you hearing the Word of God? Are you observing the Word of God in action? Are you practicing obedience to the Word of God?

If you answer is no to any of those questions then what barrier is standing in the way of your spiritual growth? I know a man named Jesus. And he came and did what you and I cannot do on our own and then he died in our place on the cross. And then he left the tomb empty on the third day. He did all of this so that pridefully arrogant and pridefully insecure people could be set free from Satan, sin and the world. Think about those three barriers for a moment…

Barrier #1: Satan

Maybe the barrier for you is the influence of Satan. All you can hear is his lies and accusations of guilt and shame and so you hide from God because you think he is disappointed in you. The truth is, because of the cross of Christ, God is not disappointed in you. God is delighted in you. You need to preach this to yourself every time you hear Satan accusing you and lying to you.

Barrier #2: Sin

Maybe the barrier for you is the temptation and bondage of sin. All you can think about is the sin you are probably going to engage in this afternoon or the sin you engaged in last night and you feel helpless and powerless. The truth is, if you’ve trusted in Christ then you have the Spirit of God inside of you. All the power of the empty tomb is living inside of you. Your flesh may be weak but the Spirit of God and the victory of the cross is right at your fingertips. You need to practice confession of sin and confession of faith on a regular basis.

Barrier #3: The World

Maybe the barrier for you is the influence of the world you live in. You’ve lived your life straddling the fence. Neither hot nor cold. Trying to live in the pleasures and desires of the world while getting just a little bit of Jesus to make you feel a little better every week. You’ve grown indifferent and shallow and you feel like a fake.

God is calling you into the deep waters of relationship with him. He’s calling you to walk away from the shallow waters of the world and run into the deep waters of his presence. You might need to walk away from a seemingly good relationship or the pursuit of a good goal or even just plain old complacency and indifference. Either way, God is calling you to get on your face before him daily and seek his presence as you resist and reject the lure of the world around you. Whatever God is calling you away from it’s probably a small cross to bear in comparison with the cross that Jesus bore for you.

So… God is calling you to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (12)

He is calling you to equip yourself with the Word of God, equip others with the Word of God and build up the body of Christ with the Word of God. He is calling you to learn the Word, receive the Word, hear the Word, observe the Word and practice obedience to the Word. Amen.