“Being the Body of Christ” Ephesians 4:11-16

When Jesus was in the Upper Room with His disciples on the night He was betrayed, Jesus makes this statement to the puzzled disciples: “Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things that these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:11-12).

On the face of it, being able to do more than Jesus did seems a bit much, even if Jesus said it. But Jesus did say it, so we then have to ask what He meant. It’s doubtful that Jesus was telling us that Jesus returning to the Father would suddenly empower us to be twice the person Jesus is. And if Jesus did mean that, then we have all fallen well short of Jesus’ declaration for us.

But think of it in another way. By returning to the Father, Jesus was to ask the Father to send help, and that help would be the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit had all sorts of things He would do for us: reminding us of Jesus’ words, empowers us to be able to do God’s will and transforms us into a new creation that is able to relate directly to Jesus through the Spirit.

One of the key ministries of the Holy Spirit is that He is a spirit of unity. That is, one of the duties of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and bring us into a better understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. He works within each one of us to have a Christ-like mind. Towards that end, the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us into a oneness that is reflected in the relationship between the Father and the Son.

The way the Spirit does this, and the way we are able to do greater things than Jesus, is that the Holy Spirit makes us into the body of Christ, the Church. As the body of Christ, we are the presence of Christ in our world, and as the body of Christ, God does great things through us as a body, just as He did through Jesus when He walked in our world.

As the body of Christ, we have responsibilities and abilities that transcend us as individuals. So, let’s take a closer look over the next few weeks about what it means to be the body of Christ.

Background

In Acts 19, we are told of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, including the fact that he stayed there for two years of ministry and church building, both in the city and in the surrounding areas (cf. Acts 19:10). It is reasonable to assume that Paul developed close relationships with some of the people of Ephesus.

It’s a puzzle, then, why the letter we call Ephesians seems to be so impersonal and unfamiliar. The way Paul writes the letter is as if he never had met the recipients. In Ephesians 1:15, Paul writes, “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for the saints.” If the letter was being written specifically for the Ephesians, then Paul would not have heard of their faith; he would have been directly involved in their conversion.

More than likely, then, the letter was written to a different church with a copy also going to Ephesus. The letter was written at the same time as Colossians. Both Colossians and this letter were carried by Tychicus to the respective churches. The purpose of the letter was to encourage the churches to grow in their faith and be true to the Gospel, not falling under the sway of false teachings. It is believed by some New Testament scholars that this letter was originally meant for the church at Laodicea, a town near both Colossae and Ephesus.

Regardless of whether the church was actually written to the Ephesians or not, the book we call Ephesians was a part of the New Testament that God inspired Paul to write. We may not be certain of the actual intended recipients of the letter, but we do know that it is the Word of God intended to teach us and help us to grow in our awareness of Him.

In this particular passage, we are found in the middle of an exhortation Paul begins in 4:1. In vs. 4-6, Paul writes, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Paul then begins to write about God’s grace being given to us as Christ apportioned it. He then leads to an aside about Jesus, then returns to the point that began at the start of the chapter. In this passage, Paul reminds us that we who are the Church are the body of Christ and that we have responsibilities and expectations as that body.

Central Truth: As Christ’s body on earth, the church is to support each other, building itself up in love.

To build up His body, Jesus:

1. Gives us leaders (11-13)

Paul has written in three letters how we are gifted either by the Holy Spirit or Jesus with certain abilities. Each of these abilities is intended to be used to build up the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul goes into detail about the body being made of various parts, and each part has a role to play in making the body function properly. Some parts of the body are more prominent than others, but the body needs even the seemingly insignificant parts to fully function.

In this passage, Paul calls reminds the Ephesians of the roles of leadership in the local church and in the body of Christ in general. He mentions leaders that span many churches (apostles, prophets, evangelists) and leaders that are local (teachers and pastors). In singling out these five gifts, the Bible is not saying that these gifts are to be exalted over the others, only that their calling has a specific task before the church.

When I first started writing this sermon, I intended to state that these five positions are God-called positions, but the passage doesn’t indicate that. I think, in part, that while God does call some to be ministers such as pastors, we need to remember that God calls each of us to follow Him and to use our gifts for His kingdom purpose. With that said, let’s look at these gifts more closely.

The first three—apostles, prophets and evangelists—are people who serve in a multi-church capacity. The role of the apostle was to set the foundation of the message of the Gospel. To be an apostle, one had to have been taught directly by Jesus and to have seen the resurrected Christ personally. Obviously, the position of apostle died out in the early days of the church.

The prophets and evangelists were ones who traveled about as God led them. The role of the prophet was to tell God’s will to the church. His role was important in the early days of the church since we didn’t have the New Testament at that time. As the Scripture became written and largely accepted by the church, the role of the prophet became less important, and it is no longer part of the church (though some denominations and fellowships believe otherwise). The evangelist was called not to proclaim God’s will for the church so much as it was to proclaim the Gospel to the poor, thus bringing new converts into the fellowship of believers. There is still a need for evangelists, both those who are called to a vocation of evangelism on the mission field and as those who simply have a burden to share the Good News with those around him or her.

Unlike the first three groups, the teachers and pastors were given a leadership role in the local church. Their task is to instruct and shepherd the local flock. The term “pastor” is taken from the word that is translated “shepherd” and indicates that the pastor’s role was and is to keep the flock together, to defend the flock from danger and to seek the sheep that wander away from the flock to bring them back into the membership.

Regardless of whether this gift was to a person for broad oversight or local ministry, the role of these five gifts is described in v. 12—to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. It was God’s intention that these people gifted with these gifts to correctly and consistently teach His word faithfully according to His will. If a church does not have a strong foundation built upon God’s revelation of Himself to His children and His body, then that church is at risk of straying from God’s will and from dissension and collapse. A church that is where God wants it to be will be focused on building each other up.

And we are built up, according to v. 13, for a couple of reasons, both necessary for the growth of the church as a whole and as individuals. There needs to be a unity in the faith. This does not mean that we all have to agree on every aspect of our doctrine to the letter, but that we have a basic understanding of what we believe and why we believe it. This unity of the faith will enable us to discern false teachings and doctrine and stand firm against those who would seek to mislead us. And this unity will be expressed in the lack of factions within the body.

The knowledge of the Son of God—Jesus—is a growing personal relationship with the One who gave Himself for our sins and enabled us to become children of God, receiving eternal life and becoming a part of His body. The body can only function if the head is communicating effectively with the rest of the body, and the body needs to be able to receive these communications in a timely and accurate manner. It is vital that the church, the body of Christ, continually grows in our knowledge of Him who is the Head of the church.

The end result of this ministry is that we “attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” As we become aware of what we believe and why we believe it, and as we draw closer to the Son of God in our relationship with Him, we discover more and more about Him and His will for us. We become more aware and more obedient, trusting Him more and more each day. In this way, we discover that John 14:11 is really true. We become an instrument through which Christ can do greater things than He could when He walked our world. This is true of both His church and each member of that church.

2. Helps us grow in Him (14-15)

We’ve just completed a political campaign where the lies were flying thick and fast. It all depended on which network we watched or which newspaper we read. The gist of the campaign came down to this: if you didn’t vote for my candidate, then you were voting to destroy the Constitution and usher in the end of democracy in America. What surprised me was that there some undecided voters in this election year. These are the ones who couldn’t make up their minds on which candidate was telling the truth or at least telling the fewer lies.

I think of these undecided voters as I read Paul’s description of spiritual infants. These infants are “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”

Jesus’ intent in sending the teachers and pastors and the others is to build up the body of Christ and help its members to mature in their spiritual growth. This is done by speaking the truth in love. Christians must never be afraid of the truth, but we also must constantly clothe our message with the love of Christ as He demonstrated to us in His earthly ministry. We are not afraid of the truth of God’s word, because we recognize that it is our source for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16bb-17).

As we focus on the truth in love we are assured that we will “in all things” grow up in Christ. We will find ourselves thinking more like Him, becoming more like Him. Those around us will notice the change taking place within us and realize that something more powerful than us is shaping us and making us less worldly and more Christ-like. That should always be our aim, as individuals and as the body of Christ.

In this way, we will do greater things than Jesus did, for the glory of God and the praise of His name.

3. Binds us together (16)

Paul takes us back to the beginning of his point that he began at the start of the chapter: “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” That calling originates in Christ and is fulfilled in our surrender to Him. And that’s what Paul is saying in v. 16. As Paul focuses on the work of Christ in us, he also reminds us that we play a part in the growth of the body.

Having declared to us that the Head of the body is Christ, Paul reminds us that Jesus is our sole source of growth. As the Head, Jesus informs our body, communicating His will to us, and we, responding in obedience to our Lord, build ourselves up in love. Jesus is our source of life and our reason for being; our task is to follow Him in faith, trusting that His way is the best way and the only way. Because Jesus is the Way, it is our calling to follow that Way in our world, letting Him shine through us as we become the salt and the light of the world (cf. Matthew 5:13-16).

Jesus is the One who holds us together, bringing the varieties of our talents and gifts to one single purpose—living a life of surrender, faith and hope in the One who calls us and equips us to do His good will.

Conclusion

Jesus tells us that because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, and because He is returning to the Father, if we will have faith in Him, we can do greater things than He did. He’s not saying we will become better than Him, only that His body will extend its ministry from the small corner of the world that is the Middle East and spread throughout the world. It is done through His body, the Church. As members of that body, we must follow Him in faith, growing in Him through faith, being taught the truth in love. This promise is for you and it is for me. It is part of our inheritance in Christ.

Let us commit this day to embrace our place in the body of Christ.