Part One, The Big Picture — Colossians 1

0:00 I think that was embarrassing. I think the only thing you should remember is I married up and let me just give you a quick summary. So we're down to three children at home, 19, 15 and 10 and that you could tell we're getting tired towards the end and my father-in-law lives with us. There's six of us and he is 88, just had a stroke in November, he has recovered well. We were in the guest bedroom for about two months while he was on the Main Floor with us in therapy every day, that kind of thing.

0:39 So while that was all going on, last month I took a trip to Africa. I wasn't sure if I should. I asked the Lord if he would kind of confirm that and I think he did. So we went, we taught, it an assembly just like here, it was just really vibrant, enjoyable and I got Omicron. So I was supposed to be there for eight days, I stayed there sixteen days and what I learned was that it's extremely frustrating to go the day before, get your test, wait twelve hours and it's positive and we did that like three times and so you're changing flights over and over and over and it's not very, it's kind of expensive to do that and so we had to stay in this kind of flat where we were our COVID prison and there was about five of us.

1:32 Was one of us was able to go right away the other four of us stayed. I was with three young men keeping them calm. Actually, they were keeping me calm and and so we we I prayed. I said, lord, I surrender to you. But if you could get me home for Christmas, I'd really like that.

1:52 I can't say there was voices or lights or sirens or angels in the sky, although there probably was, but I felt like the Lord said, I'll get you home for Christmas. You know, this one of those premonitions in prayer. You you're not sure if it's your own, you know, psychology or was it really the spirit of god but I just kind of hid it in my heart kind of like what Mary did and I walked into my home Christmas morning, eleven: 3zero am. Yeah. And as against a tremendous trial, right?

2:22 I I I needed a negative COVID test and suddenly, I and I got it at 8AM. It was sort of like a drug deal. The guy met me in the car. He shoved it in my nose and pulled it out and and he ran off and ran it and it normally takes twelve hours. It came back in four and it was negative and all of a sudden, I realized, I gotta buy my ticket.

2:40 It's Christmas Eve. I'm going, this, I can't get it. Go to Ethiopian Airlines website, well not only did they have tickets, they had a whole row. So I slept on the way home and then not only that, I get back to Chicago at six a. M.

2:54 And I had a flight that could go at nine and I'm oh lord there's no way I'm going to be able to get through customs Christmas day blah blah blah. I literally walked through customs and all they did was say have a nice day, that was it. I'm two hours waiting at the next place and my brother says, hey you know all these flights are being cancelled. I'm close and my airlines they all show up and say, okay ready to go, we got in early. I thought the Lord had a sense of humor.

3:26 Don't that get you home? Anyway, that's our recent saga while my father-in-law was getting better and Janet had to man everything and so this has been sort of a busy time for us. So that gives you a little window into our family. She says hello, she greets you and she wants you to know that she's been praying for you also. I consider it a high honor and privilege to be with you.

3:53 We wanted to do this before, think in December, but I'm glad we didn't because it wouldn't have worked. So while we begin to talk about things today, I'm going to begin in two ways today. Oh and thank you for the dinner last night. The first way we're we're going to give sort of a bigger picture because when you talk about body life, it turns out it's kind of important to know where we're going and have you ever had gotten in the car with the children and you know, they ask you within ten minutes, where are we going? Are we almost there?

4:27 Right? And you just want to show them the map and say now when we hit this city and this city, right? And you just wish we didn't have those 20 questions. My standard answer is it'll be twenty more minutes. I don't care how, it's a ten hour trip, twenty more minutes, twenty minutes.

4:43 Now, we need to see that because when you talk about the body working together we sort of need to know the end goal and what we're going do is we're going to take just a mid level look at that end goal and begin to filter it down so that when the the body works together for evangelism, you'll know it's just not an activity. It's a real purpose. It has a target value in mind that is according to the will of god and that makes the body have engagement and focus and and interest because we're dealing not with somebody's idea just to keep everybody busy so that we don't wander away but that we're really accomplishing the work of god and that's why we have to think about local body life. That what we're doing as a group is is again not festivities so that we have programs so that you'll be attracted but that we're doing the will of god and you know, one thing that's really clear, if it's the will of god to walk away from that is a big deal and so we want to make sure that what we're thinking about is the will of god.

5:49 I hope that makes sense to you. So, I'm going to begin with the old fashioned technique of just using the Bible. Imagine that. That's really impressive to use the Bible like that. So, I want you to turn to Colossians chapter one.

6:27 But when our assembly was struggling, somebody asked us, they said, what is the vision, our mission, and vision of the church? Now, that's a corporate term. Those are corporate terminology and business. What's your vision or what's your mission? What's your vision?

6:43 What do you do now and what do you want to be? I had no clue. I absolutely had no clue. I said, I, first of I don't know what we are and secondly, I don't know where we're supposed to be. I mean, that's great leadership, isn't it?

6:55 That was really terrible leadership and so I read the entire New Testament and I asked the lord the question, what is what is what are we are and what should we be in that order? Can you show me? And the lord led me to two passages. This one, the first one he led me to is in Ephesians and the only reason why I was led to that is because I was reading Bill McDonald and he said something I thought, well, that's really smart. It turns out he's a pretty smart guy and and and then the lord led me to Colossians which became my own text which became very life changing for us.

7:24 So, I want to read it with you and it's Colossians chapter one. I'm going to begin reading in verse 24. Oh, oh, I forgot to share the screen. I forgot, oh, forgive me. Forgive me.

7:34 I'm having a blast up here and you are not. There we go. Alright. Now, I rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ. Now, that's a very interesting statement.

7:48 In order for Paul to say that, he is saying, the way I see things is that Christ is the head and we are his extremities and his torso and his digits and his ears and his eyes and his nose and his mouth and he is not physically on the planet if you will like he walked on the Earth before his ascension and therefore, we assume that sort of aspect of his body. So, we become the physicality of the spiritual body of Christ and so, that spiritual, that physicality of the body of Christ may not be able to do this particular work in in in specifically Paul saying because Christ is not physically here, he was not be able to do. So, I'm filling in, right? I I'm I'm I'm acting on his behalf is the idea. Now, that's a good way we should think.

8:44 We are the body of Christ. We are acting on his behalf. That means everything we do, say, think, and analyze has to have the perspective of the head because the body is intended to do the actions of the head. Have you ever seen a body paralyzed? It's agony.

9:03 It's agony. Strokes are agony and to see that, we don't want to be a paralyzed or a a stroke victim to the body to the to to our head, do we? And so he says, no, I'm acting in conjunction with the head. Filling up a lacking afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church of which. Now, this is Paul's personal philosophy.

9:27 His philosophy of ministry of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from god. Notice a couple of things. Paul sees that what he's been given to do comes from god himself. Now, that galvanizes you, right? That sticks your feet in the ground and puts it in cement.

9:47 I got this from god and if I were to depart, it means I in essence depart from god and that's very true. In Paul's case, walking down the road of Damascus. He said, I've I've I have things for you to do. Well, he has things for us to do as a church. Paul is engaging in this philosophy of ministry.

10:05 Notice number two, he considers it a stewardship. What does that mean? I don't own you. I don't own you. Somebody else owns you and I work for him and as a body, we have to think that way, don't we?

10:21 We have to think that what we've been given as a ministry, as an outreach, as a as a caring for one another is not something that I own. Not only do the elders need to think that but you need to think that. You are custodians of someone else's property. That's key. Do you ever borrow a car?

10:44 Think about it. Do ever borrow a friend's car? Kids get in the car. No drinks, no food. It's not my car.

10:51 Do you ever do that? I mean, in my own car, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, ketchup, mustard, no problem. We'll clean it up later but when you borrow somebody else's stuff, it's like you're on this this hyperdrive steroid. I better take care of it.

11:07 Why aren't we that way with the body of Christ? Why do we think that? Because we perhaps have slipped in our understanding of stewardship. We we we've dumbed it down to the level that we think, well, we own it. We'll fix it someday.

11:26 No, no, no, no, no. It's not like that. This demands a greater heightened sense of responsibility and care. That's what he's saying. I'm a steward from god which was given to me.

11:39 Notice the third observation for you. Paul's philosophy and ministry was never intended to make Paul who Paul became. Paul's philosophy of ministry was always intended to benefit fully, maximally the other person. Now, that attitude is I think should permeate us as a family individually because we exist not for ourselves, do we? That's what he says.

12:09 If you're going to come and follow me, you're going to have to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me. In other words, it's never, will never, how, it will never ever be about you. Now that's a pretty large statement but it is a statement that has to set the footing of our entire existence as a body. We are not here to, you're not here to make a name for yourself, You're either individually or corporately. You're not here to have Westlake Christian Fellowship, our Bible Fellowship known across all of Cleveland as a great Bible teaching church, a great place where families come or whatever cliche you want to put it.

12:50 That is not what you're about. You are about the other person and having them matured in Christ. I'll show you that in a minute. It's an attitude of outwardness. All of Christianity is others oriented.

13:02 I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life a ransom for many. It's always others oriented. So this little, these little details of Paul's philosophy of ministry, that's what we should adopt. Now, that's personal too. Now, look at what it says.

13:52 It's intended to be exposed. Now, that comes to you from Ephesians chapter three. You'll understand that this mystery was given and what is this great mystery? That that there would be one body that the Jew and Gentile, the two ethnicities of the ancient world would actually come together to be one unified, if you will, spiritual race. That's my goal.

14:15 Now, this is a theme with god. This is so important. I'm explaining this not because you don't know it but because it sets the tone for our body life and and what he says is, I gotta put this down. What he says is this, at the Tower Of Babel, the sin of mankind split us up. Sin separates.

14:35 Sin divides and so god's going to come up with this really really cool idea that will take every ethnicity that was born out of sin at the Tower Of Babel and bring them together and weave them together so that I can go to Africa with a bunch of brothers and sisters who sing differently, who think differently, and we are remembering the lord the same. I love that. That was really cool. Now he's saying I want you to translate that here. I want you to think this way.

15:06 Thus when I say there should, when god says there should be unity, it's part of the bigger universal idea that I'm going to gather all of the people together as one. That's what makes the the day of Pentecost so special. When sin was there, it divided. When god is there, he brings all of the division back together. I don't understand.

15:30 I can under, I can hear you and understand you, Peter, in my own language. How is that? That's the miracle of God. He wants to take that theme and make it move through the ages, through his church, both universal and local, so that we become the mouthpiece of this great mystery. So that it doesn't stay mysterious.

15:53 It becomes popular. It becomes normal. That's our job, isn't it? Part of Paul's philosophy. Now, let's look at it again.

16:01 It says this, alright? Him we preach. See that? Him we preach. Warning every man.

16:10 Now, what does that sound like to you? Well, Drew's dude, it sounds like Paul preaches and he warns. Good. Good. Very good.

16:17 Very good. Very good. But that to me sounds like, are you ready? The gospel. Doesn't it?

16:26 Preaching is a term used to herald, right? And what do you herald heralding? You know, yelling out, going to town crier kind of guy? That's the evangelist. He is saying, what I've specifically been doing is to be, is to see souls saved.

16:45 Then it says this, and teaching every man in all wisdom. What's that? Teaching, didact us. What is that? Well, that's discipleship, isn't it?

16:57 That word that gets thrown around and kind of sounds like we don't know what it means anymore but it means the following. I make you a follower of Christ by teaching and baptizing as I go and bring our lives together. I, life transfer mine to you so that the life you get from me is Christ's life. That's what he means. I should write that down.

17:16 It's too long to remember. The point is simply this, Paul saying, I got this custodianship. I got this stewardship from god himself and it's to take something that used to be hidden to no longer be hidden and the practicality of it all is that souls will be saved, souls will be discipled and souls will be sent out and that's exactly what the Lord showed us and our little research and my personal little research this year comes it's it's lifted right from the great commission. So, when you talk about body life and you need the big 20, zero foot view and you say, what are we going to be about? A lot of times, we default and say, apostles doctrine, prayer, fellowship, breaking, don't get me wrong, they have their place but I'm thinking that it's soul saved so that souls are discipled and what is I, what do I mean by discipled?

18:05 They become followers of Christ and I would add to that that we become true worshipers. Do you know why I say true worshipers? Because there's this little clause, this little phrase in John chapter four and it says, the the those who worship the father must worship him in spirit and in truth for such the father searches for these. Do you know what that word searches means? It's the same word in Luke where the lady in the parable loses her coin, You know, she had 10 coins, she loses one and she cleans the whole house, searches for them.

18:41 So I like to change that in my world of paraphrase and Steve's standard version due out later this fall and it goes like this, and the lady lost her cell phone. You ever lose your cell phone? I mean, I got nine kids, that means I got nine people searching for my cell phone. You should see it. We we are like the FBI.

19:01 We're ripping apart cut things and taking apart beds. I'm looking for my cell phone and of course it was in my But you know what that is, it's like when you lose your keys but today we lose our cell phone because it got your credit cards, it's got your phone, it's got you, it's your whole existence in a box. And you are looking and you are sweating it out, trying to figure it out where it is. This is what god said. He's looking that with that intensity for true worshipers.

19:29 Wow. I'd like him to find that with us, don't you? I don't want him to look too hard. I want to make it easy and so when we say soul save souls disciple, I would add this idea of true worshipers so that souls are sent out. You know what we call that?

19:43 We call that the life cycle of the body of Christ And this is how it works. In the generation that's older, saw souls saved, they disciple, those souls get sent out and we repeat it and we repeat it. And you know what we find? Satisfaction. Joy.

20:01 Incredible contentment. You should say, Steve, is it that simple? Actually, yes. Not because I made it up, but because the Lord wrote it. Now, that's a beautiful thing, I think, in a local assembly.

20:16 And I think that's one of your goals. You've gone through the process of eldership, you've gone through the process of working that through and what you found is that the Lord answered your prayers. You got together regularly, you fasted, you prayed, the Lord dealt with you, there was no flesh involved. From everything that's happened in your assembly, you are one of the rarest assemblies that I have been with since I started doing this full time. I don't know if you know the kind of gift God has given you, but you did something so difficult and no one left.

20:58 Zero. Do you know how, do know how precious that is? I have horror stories from multiple assemblies that tried to do the same thing and every and and and 50% checked out. You had zero loss rate. How does that happen?

21:30 And this is what I think you want to start thinking about, the 20,000 foot view. Let's go down a little lower, let's go to the mid level view, okay? Now this comes to you from Ephesians chapter four and it's in the treatise of course on Paul's sort of explaining where we are in Christ. If you recall Ephesians chapter one, it's a long paragraph. It's kind of like one long long run on sentence.

21:56 I feel like he was Paul probably was a friend of Darby. You ever read Darby? He does not know the punctuation period. Seriously. I'm serious and I like him and Anthony Norskow same thing like and who was the other writer back then?

22:12 Oh you'll remember him but you know they don't put periods in sentence. That was Paul! And I'm going oh please Paul just tell me when it's, I'm supposed to stop reading. It's like verse 14. One, one, that's one sentence and he tells us all of the blessings in heavenly places and he describes them and how god has actually selected you in him for specific for specific end goals and purposes and and one of those is to the praise of the glory of his grace which is almost like a thematic refrain on a hymn that comes up over and over in the in the paragraph and and you get the idea that wow, we've just entered into the throne room of greatness and all we see is gold.

22:53 And so we move over to chapter two and Paul says, now don't get me wrong, you didn't start out gold, you started out filthy and you were running to the precipice of destruction with Satan and anybody else that agreed with you and Satan and you were about to fall off the cliff, you went in an angry way, you went in a debauched way, you went in a way that was going to cast you into utter utter suffering and torment and the mercy of god shows up like a rainbow right out of the right out of the sky. Because of his great love with which he loved you. And then he moves us in and he tells us how he not only saved us by grace through Christ, but he made us his workmanship. He made us his project. He made us his carpentry masterpiece.

23:42 And when he comes along and he says, the masterpiece is to actually bring two opposing groups that had no connection, no desire. One was pagan, one was not and they came together so that of all things, the angelic host would go, I can't believe god did this. That god would actually bring the human race together that that was in his original goal but ever since the fall of sin, the human race has been splitting apart and splitting apart. That's why we cannot fight each other because we add to that original satanic goal. So, he he brings us through that and he tells us this is a magnificent thing.

24:24 It was a mystery. Now we get to chapter four and I want you to read it with me now. Chapter four. And he says, I therefore prisoner of the lord. Do you notice Paul's disposition?

24:42 He is not an arrogant man. Joshua said this, what would you have your servant do? The prisoner of the lord beseech you, I beg you, that word means beg. You to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called saints. We are required to walk in a manner, right?

24:58 That's what we're talking about. Mid level view. Notice the attitudes that are all laced at the very beginning. They're the foundation. Humility, gentleness.

25:06 So that that would be humility and meekness. That means that you may have a lot of things to say and you may be very right but you hold and check the strength of your rationale, your logic, and your communication so that you can let the lord use his own power in the moment. That's what that's what meekness means. With long suffering, that means bearing through in the most difficult of circumstances in particular, bearing one bearing with one another in love. We're going to talk about this again in a second but bearing together in love, the glue that holds you together is love.

25:40 I'm gonna talk later on about connective tissue in the body and we'll refer back to this, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. You've been given peace between you and God, I want you to extend that peace to one another. What's amazing me amazed me about your fellowship as I prayed for you as we labored together in ministry is what I saw especially with those meetings with those brothers, they labored to maintain their peace. Sometimes, they had to lay down their pride. Sometimes, they had to lay down their their agenda.

26:17 Sometimes, they just had to back off and just listen to the other person But I watched it. It was a phenomenon that's rare and I'd like to see this phenomenon be normal. And that's what we're after. You notice the words that speak of unity in this passage. One Lord, one body, one spirit.

26:47 My primary goal for the body is your unity. That's what he's saying, unity. It's my template. I want you at all cost to aim towards unity. Now don't get me wrong, unity will require sometimes dealing with tough issues like discipline.

27:08 It says admonish the unruly, it says, it talks about dealing with those who are not providing, they're being lazy in their life. Those that is actually part of unity because unity is not necessarily I agree on every fact but it's a commitment to the holiness of Jesus Christ. That's what it is. And that's where we need to be. So, as you go forward, as you say, well, what what should we look at?

27:34 What should we be? You should be holy. That's what you should be and you should be rallying around that. Now, I didn't say legalistic. I said, holy.

27:44 Holy is not a list of do's and don'ts, it's a character of God, it's a mindset, it's a thinking skill, it's an evaluation lens of life, it's will this either detract or add to the great separate separation from sinners that he is, unblemishedness that he has, will it do that? That's how you ask, that's how you think. This is body life, it's a mid level goal, it's a mid level thing. Now I want you to notice this here, We are called to, this was called to oneness. Now, he's called us to a process.

28:20 Now, we went through this just a little bit in our time when we did our sessions back in this last spring. A year ago, can you believe that? I think it was in January you approached me, right? And then we set it up in in March but this idea of gifting. So, what he did is he gave us gifts, right?

28:38 And I'm going to read verse seven through 10 but to each one of us, grace was given. When he says the word grace, that's indicating a gift to the measure of Christ's gifts. In other words, as Christ gave you himself and redemption, so has he given you gifts. Now, what does that imply? It implies that Christ very generous.

28:57 He held nothing back when he gave and provided redemption. So, it means he's holding nothing back when it comes to giving gifts to his church. Now, this idea is taken from the Old Testament when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men which is a quote I think from Psalm 68. I could be wrong on the reference but in that Psalm, it does not say that exact line. It does not say that he gave gifts to men.

29:22 It says, he received gifts from men which is kind of what happens in a marriage, right? When you get married, you you give a gift usually to your bride and the bride usually gives a gift to the to the bridegroom. It's it's usually a ring. Now, if you notice my ring is is a is a rubber one now because my son threw the football at me in the pool and dislocated my finger right here. Now I actually have put many of those fingers there back.

29:47 So in the pool, I didn't want to look like I was wimpy, I went underwater and I ramboed it back in place. The knuckle swelled so bad that I had to go to a bigger ring. So, there you go. Alright, but normally, that's just, is that me or you? Thought it was me.

30:09 How embarrassing. Okay. So, what happens is you're going to give gifts and and and the New Testament, he changes it. Not, I'm not looking to receive anything. I'm looking to give gifts like to my bride and I and I got lots of gifts I want to give you and some of those gifts are called apostles and prophets and some are evangelists, pastors, and or slash teachers and when I do that, I'm doing so so that there is a design in the body where there's an equipping process and this is a lot of what the leadership has asked me to do.

30:43 I can, by the grace of god, I would consider myself one of those shepherd teacher guys. I definitely can't be an. I'm I hung around Chris Schroeder last week. The guy witnesses to a cereal box. I don't do that.

30:57 I I eat the cereal. He's witnessing to this. I can't believe that, you know. But the flock, now that that's that's big for me, really big. And I think that way and he's given us individuals who fall in this category.

31:16 Now they're not offices, They're gifts. Does it, you see the word offices in the text? I don't. Gifts is the word. As you repeated multiple times and he says, I've given those gifts so that they would they would actually equip the saints.

31:29 Now, I have a little aside here. What time are we supposed to stop? Andy, come on. You're killing me. We started late.

31:42 Where'd you go? We started late. Okay. We're here all day. Yes, we.

31:58 They're intended to equip. That's what I was saying. Now, just a little aside, In first Corinthians and there there's several key things. Now, maybe you should turn there and I'll just read the the verses because they're kind of important. In other in other words, I I don't want you to to get lost too much in the weeds but we gotta smell some of the weeds, okay?

32:20 Here we go. Gifts are superintended by the spirit of god. Now, that's in first Corinthians twelve eleven. Let's read but one and the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he will. In other words, the gifting element of the body is not so much that I get this one and you get that one.

32:39 Oh, isn't this a nice Christmas present? It's not one of those and we don't train them, know. When my kids we fill stockings of candy, know, Mars bars and Snickers, that was my wife's tradition. Prefer we put in there like bananas and apples, she said candy, it's got to be candy. Okay, fine.

32:59 Soon as we all open our little stockings at Christmas, then we have what we call the New York Stock Exchange. I'll give you three of my Mars for four of your snicker. No, no, I don't like that. How about the Kit Kat? And it just, right?

33:13 It's not what this is. This is the spirit of god making legitimate, appropriate, and perfect decisions about the gifting. So you don't have to be upset. You don't have to be jealous. You don't have to be envious.

33:28 You can actually be happy. Imagine that. Happy Christians. It's kind of a phenomenon I hear. Rarely seen in these parts, but you know.

33:37 All right. Verse 18. Look at that. But now God has set the members, each one in the body, just as it pleased him. That's the point.

33:46 This is not about you being pleased. It's about God being pleased. So, have to think that way as a body. When we narrow this scope down a little bit, mid level look and below, we have to recognize that I'm part of a bigger equation that was not my decision nor is it the elder's decision. It's a decision of my God.

34:05 And if I have a problem, guess who you have a problem with? God. That never goes well, trust me. I've had many problems with God. We went to wrestle and I got my hip dislocated when I wrestled with him.

34:19 Very much like Jacob. Got his hip dislocated. Affected him the rest of his life, walked with a limp. I tell you I've tried to wrestle God like that, he's a great wrestler. He's got moves.

34:31 Okay, now I tell you this because we want to see the superintendence of the spirit of God. Oh, have a pointer. I forgot about that. A superintendence of the spirit of God, the gift expression will not necessarily look the same. Now, read that with me.

34:46 It says, I'll skip down to the part that I'm most most interested. Verse four, there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit. Okay. So, that's how we're unified by the spirit. There are differences of ministries, meaning services but the same lord.

35:01 So, listen, you may be gifted as a mercy or say you two guys are gifted as administrators, but your ministry might not be his and yours might even though you're gifted the same, that's supposed to happen. That's supposed to happen. That's part of our body life and we don't sit back in there and say, well, I use my gift to run the kids program. Well, I use my gift to do the outreach at the park with the kids. You know what we call that?

35:31 Fantastic. That's what we call that because according to the scripture here, it says, there are differences of ministries but the same lord. So, there's leeway. There is latitude in the body of Christ. There are diversities of activities.

35:44 Oh, same idea but the same god who works all in all and the manifestations of the spirit is given to each one for the and this is the last one. For the prophet, the abroad prophet means advantage of all. You see, I know this is basic truth and it's not like you haven't heard it but we're applying it to body life and the body life is designed so that we can be diverse and everybody is benefited from it and yet, we can be one in the spirit of god, in the work of god, in the person of Jesus Christ, and everybody benefits from it. This is that mid level view, this sort of, oh, this is what we're trying to be. This is what we're trying to do.

36:24 Yes. It's exactly what you're trying to be. So, it it requires attitudes like it said in Ephesians of loneliness and gentleness and and and love. It requires all of that and that's more of a summary statement of the fruit of the spirit and so we have to sort of get this in our heads so that we can function in the right way. Now I'm not saying that we we don't, iron doesn't sharpen iron on occasion, but iron doesn't sharpen iron very well if we don't have this as our whetstone do we?

36:59 You know the little thing you sharpen with. That's pretty important I think. Now let's move on because in approximately five minutes I'm supposed to shut up. Okay? Alright, distribution of gifts should be, listen to this one, they provide identity.

37:36 If the foot should say, well, because I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body. It is therefore, is it therefore not of the body? Can you just hear Paul say this? You you almost hear him say, okay, listen up great dumb one. Okay.

37:53 Doesn't work like that. The foot cannot say, well, I'm not the hand so I don't really belong here. Paul's saying, do you hear yourself talking? The foot is every part, everything, every bit part of the body as well as the hand. Scott DeGroff likes to say, it's a good thing we're not all the tongue, we'd have great taste but nothing to look at, right?

38:13 And so what happens is there is an identity that has intrinsic value for the place that you are in the body. Now, you should understand another concept. Each person has a different bowl size of grace. You might have this much mercy. Another person might have this much mercy.

38:31 Guess what? The person with this much gift of mercy is should not be expected to do, serve, and be interact with activities and and and ministry with the guy that has that much mercy. We don't judge each other for that. That was god's decision. We appreciate that.

38:48 It's not about amount of work that's done with your gift, it's about the working to the capacity that God has given you and we apply that through all ages of life. Think about it, when you're when you're older and your body doesn't bend like it used to and you're 95 years old if you will, believe me you should not mount, you should not be out shoveling the snow and if you are we should have a talk, okay? You see, we we expect that. We understand that. We have handicapped spots.

39:20 You can be closer to to Lowe's. Why is that? To make the young people walk farther. No. Because we don't expect you to to have that sort of have that aid, the limitation of age and put yourself at risk.

39:34 Why do we do that in normal life and we can't expect that from one another that my size of bowl of grace is this big and I'm really putting up but it's all I got. You know what? Guys that have the bigger bowl of grace should come and say, keep it up, you encourage me so. You see how that helps body life? And all this is in gift stuff, alright?

39:52 So, the distribution should provide identity, gift allocation is designed for a diversity, identification, and honor. Look at verse 19 through 25. I I did this in paragraphs. It says, and if we're all members, where would the body be? But now indeed, there are many members yet one body the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you nor the hand say to the feet, I have no need of you.

40:17 There's no independence. There's no independence in this setup. So, what do we, how do we apply that? Well, the way we apply that is that as you go forward now going through having the Lord having brought you through the process of leadership and shepherds, is that you look at the body and you have a certain regard for one another and it's a healthy regard. You respect the identity God has given each individual, you respect and honor, that's the key, you honor the each one, it actually talks about is one greater than the other, no, but we honor the lesser, the lesser portions of the body with greater honor, we esteem them.

40:55 So I'm very grateful that you've asked me to speak and I'm very grateful for that introduction which embarrassed me highly, but I'll you the real servants here are the ladies that made us dinner last night. Now those are the real servants. I'll tell you the real servants here, the servants here that did things that make this place work and nobody knew they did them, but you're sure glad to know they were done, so seamless that you never even thought about it. That's the kind of attitude we have. You you ask me, what should we do now?

41:27 That's what we do. That's exactly what we do. That is a healthy body. Now, let's just see if I can muscle this through. Okay.

41:50 I need like ten minutes, is that okay? Alright. Now let's go back to Ephesians chapter four. Alright, now remember our topic. Our topic is the high level view, the mid level view so that we know what we're going to do.

42:08 And we keep it in mind according to the overall strategy so that we're not just functioning with activities but we are actually functioning with purpose. That's why we're having this discussion. So, he talks about unity. When when the body does its work and the evangelists are evangelizing and the and the shepherds are shepherding and in this case, what the eldership has now asked me to do is to come and equip you so that you can do the work of the ministry. We've lost that idea.

42:37 In our assembly, we were terrible evangelists. We were lousy. We were absolutely pathetic and I was the worst one and so we brought in Bob Brown and he taught us about personal evangelism to this day. That was twenty years ago. I still remember and use everything he taught me.

42:52 Then we brought in Chris Schroeder, which is sort of like an evangelist on steroids, you know, and we learned what he taught us and we went out and went into the open air and we had a season in there where we had young men on the open air every weekend, you know, and so we we we just equipped our body, right? So other assemblies asked me, would you come and equip us on shepherding? Would you help me with help us with that? And so that's what I would do. Chris invites me to come and teach on shepherding up there at Tepsy.

43:20 I go to the DITP program and I and I teach on shepherding. This is... I'm equipping the body and that's a good thing, but the goal is not what you're trying to do. The goal is so that the saints would do the work of the ministry. That's a very easy concept.

43:56 It's making Christ known. And in so doing, there are some outcomes and you can see them, alright? And I put them here. Let's see if I can mark them at as I read them. To be all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of god.

44:08 I mentioned that back and and not only here but also back in in the first paragraph. Notice this, a mature personhood equal to that of Christ. I'll read it. The to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Now, get this picture.

44:22 Christ is a very full, mature person. He with all due respect, we'll say it this way so you get the concept. He lost his baby fat, okay? You know kids, when they're young they look, they got the full cheeks and they look so cute and grandma goes, oh you're such a cute little kid, and then all of sudden they grow up and woah, who are you? Right, remember that, that phenomenon?

44:42 Crisis of Mature Head. Now it is an absolute medical atrocity and anomaly to have a full grown head of a man that's 40 years old, 30 years old and a toddler's body. You would go, you could get in the National Enquirer, right? It just it just doesn't look right. What he's saying here is you as the body need to grow so that your physique, your spiritual physique matches the spiritual physique of a mature head.

45:16 That's our goal. So, whatever it takes to do that, discipleship classes, conferences, meeting like this in a very specialized way to equip the body here. Whatever that takes, prayer meetings, fasting, specific portions of god's word, humbling ourselves. Whatever that takes, that's what we do because our goal is to is to see the bride, the body of Christ here actually grow to the dimension that fits the mature head and when you don't do that, it's a very grotesque picture that the angels see. Alright, number two.

45:53 Or whatever number this is. Stability and recognition of instability. Look at this. Do we all come to the union verse 14? We should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about every wind of doctrine.

46:06 Ephesus was a what? A port city. What does a port city have? Ships. What does ships tell?

46:13 Stories of the sea. What kind of stories of the sea? The bad storms. So, this would like resonate to the entire body and he's saying, you are not supposed to be at the ships that are lost at sea and the waves take the ship ever it wants to and fro. No, you need stability and not only that, the stability recognizes the instability or the trickery of the people around you, the false doctrine.

46:41 Now, this comes out perhaps thirty years later, three decades later, when the lord Jesus is writing them a letter in Revelation chapter two verses one through seven where he says, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and found them to be liars. It's pretty strong language, right? You ever have that kind of, you're a liar. We don't do that in our politically correct society, although it's kind of obvious. Now the point that I'm making is simple, they had a stability of a quality that would actually recognize the ill motives of those who are trying to subvert them, that is huge in the body of Christ.

47:27 Now this comes out in many ways, comes out in some unusual doctrines, some of them was a practice called the Discipleship Making Movement, maybe you've read that book, maybe not and there's some good things in it and there's some really bad things in it and it was starting to shape and actually take over a lot of the Midwest evangelistic practice and I tell you it was a big deal. In the years past it was an emerging church and today it's this idea of mixing up of roles, right? You think this LGBTQ agenda is just about sexual identity? I think it's an affront, I think it's a frontal attack on the whole idea of God's headship. I think that's what it really is.

48:11 We can fix, we can mess up the roles, we can mess with the headship of God who sent his son to be under his authority so he could be crucified, it attacks the plan of salvation. Do you think that's what it's about? The trickery of men. Actually actually it's the trickery of Satan. Now look at the next one.

48:32 Alright, verse 15, but speaking the truth in love, okay, now may grow up in all things into into him who is the head. That's an idea, I have a body that matches the maturity of the head. But I said that love is the connective tissue. So there's a phenomenon, there's not a phenomenon, there's an anatomical feature. Where is Samuel?

48:53 Samuel you'll love this, where are you? Okay, alright, so have you ever de skinned the chicken, have you ever done that? You take the skin off and there's this white stringy stuff that sort of attaches to the meat, you ever see that? I know, oh I know I hate that, I get I throw up every time I do that. Well that same, that white stuff is called connective tissue and it literally is stringy and and and the way that most people see it is if I open your abdomen and we do surgery and we close you up, you get adhesions.

49:21 You ever hear that word adhesions? It's literally like cobwebs when you go back and have to cut it out. Well that sort of white sticky stuff in an orderly fashion adheres your skin to your subcutaneous fat and if you had a laceration, anybody want to volunteer, I'll show you, I will show you that layer and what happens is that layer of connective tissue, connective tissue, what a dumb phrase, what are we going to call it professor? We'll call it connective tissue. Brilliant, know.

49:52 And so connective tissue, it actually goes between every cell of the body so that if you were to microscopically look at every cell under the microscope you would see that white tissue there that shows up on the dye when you look at it under the microscope and it literally holds every cell to every cell, that's the love of God. Born through the spirit of God, hence the spirit of God is our connective tissue adhering us one to another. And he's saying this in this idea, the connective tissue gets propagated. That's good, that's really solid. I call my disciples to love one another.

50:29 By this all men will know that you are my disciples. My disciples are known by loving each other. What do we do? We love each other. Steve, how do we do that?

50:40 We'll talk more about that in a second. Now, look at this one from the last verse. Oh yeah. The last verse and it goes like this, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies. Very important.

50:58 The whole body is a body because every joint is part of the body. Oh, Steve, you are just so smart. No, no, it's important. You see this, that the whole body only stays as a singular unit because every joint considers himself part of the whole. No one.

51:16 This is this is at mid level vision view. No one in this assembly has a lack of value. Everyone has a and you are so intricate. Not just to sit on the shelf and be call, have my number called so I can go into the football game. You are so intricate that you are actually called a joint.

51:35 You know how many times you use your joints in a day? I'm using this one a whole lot right now. That he's using that terminology because joints are meant for motion. Joints are meant for activity. Joints are meant for participation.

51:51 That's what it means. He's saying, you are part of that. Now, notice the next thing. The effecting according to the effective working by which every part does its share. It is not about quantity, it's about participation.

52:09 Now I understand that there are a variety of ministries and diversities and the percentage of participation will vary from saint to saint and that's between you and the Lord and your authority, maybe your husband, maybe your elders, but yet nonetheless it's seen as participation. Don't miss the big issue, every part does its share. What happens when that occurs? Growth. Look at what it says, Christ when he sees that causes growth of the body for the children of itself in the connective tissue of love.

52:51 So, you need that mid mid level view, don't you? You need that mid level view that says, when we have this equipping, we have the stability, we have this unity, we have the stability, and we have this amazing participation which god seems, Christ seems to notice and he uses that to orchestrate actually a growth, an elongation of the bones, a maturation of the muscles so that they're strong and they can carry loads That the eyesight is now able to see. The vision is unified. The hearing is perfect. This is what you are after.

53:27 This is the next step. I was reading a book recently and the book actually used these three words to kind of coin and encapsulate what I'm saying. The church gives itself to witness, makes sense. The church gives itself to worship, which would be the true disciple. And the church gives itself to work and that work usually takes the form of Apostles doctrine, prayer, fellowship and breaking of bread and I might add a whole other host of things.

54:05 So perhaps this will give you that vision of what you're supposed to do next. None of this is new to you, you've probably heard it preached in much more eloquent terms and better presentation than I've ever will ever be able to do, but that's not the point. The point is this is where you are and this is where we need to go. Alright, I'm sure that's caused lots of questions which we'll have to say for another time. We'll pray, it alright if I pray and then we'll come back at the elders discretion.

55:11 The heart and the actions and that can only be done by the guidance and the oversight of your spirit. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.