EPHESIANS 4 vv11-16

The unity of the faith expressed in the corporate effort of the church     (11-16)

We are to guard the unity of the Spirit, which already exists;   now we are to strive towards the unity of the faith. that is the level of unity which expresses the beauty of Christ in the diversity of our divinely bestowed gifts.   God is not in the business of mass-producing clones, we are as different as our faces, and He has equipped us all to participate in this glorious and most powerful unity.   The outworking of this is nothing short of breath taking genius.   He ascended on high leaving a defeated enemy behind;   He took His rightful place on the throne of heaven, the highest authority in all the universe;   He received gifts, the spoils of war, then through the Holy Spirit which He sent to earth He shared those gifts with all His people to empower them for the task ahead.   First of all He gave specially gifted men to the church.   They were not to be seen as an end in themselves, but a means to an end, to assist all the spiritually gifted people of God to perform their own particular ministry, the end being the edifying of the body of Christ, as stated at the end of verses 12&16.   It is clear from these verses that that every believer is contributing to the whole, and there is no thought in the mind of God of a clergy/laity system in which the greater number are passive in the church.   The picture to the contrary is of the active participation of every member in accordance with the measure of the gift of Christ.   Here is how it should work, and in the church of God there is nothing left to our own imagination.

The context is therefore the EXALTATION OF CHRIST to the highest place in heaven.   Then we have:

• The ENABLING OF THE SPECIAL GIFTS       These are the leaders of the church in all generations.   He lists four major gifts to the church:

Apostles     literally "one who is sent on a specific mission."   The usage of the word is of a naval expedition, or an ambassador sent to a foreign land.   The two main ideas are representation, and devolved authority;   the fact that those sent carry all the authority of the sender.   There were twelve apostles plus Paul plus many others.   The key feature was that they were directly appointed by God, their message was by revelation, and they all enjoyed the recognition of the early church.   Their work and their words are laid down as foundational to the church which we are to follow as being from the Lord( Ephesians2 v20 and 1 Corinthians3 v10.)  

                                                                                                                

Prophets    There being no new testament scriptures in the early church for about 30-60 years, prophets were required to expound the mind of God in different situations, and they did so in close harmony with the apostles, since they are linked with them as the foundation of the church in Ephesians chapter3 v20.   Being foundational gifts, there is no need for them ongoing.   We are all building  on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

 Evangelists       Specially gifted men who can persuade people of their need of a Saviour by proclaiming the scripture based gospel.   Although this is the task especially to these men, we are all enjoined to do the work of evangelism, as the early believers clearly did.   The work of evangelism is external to the church.   The pattern of the early church seems to be mainly that of going out, rather than asking the unbeliever to come in.   The example of the great evangelist Himself is made clear in the gospel of the perfect servant, the gospel of Mark;   "by the sea" chapter1 v16;   "in the synagogue" chapter1 v21;   "in the house" chapter1 v29;   "at the door" chapter1 v33;   "on the mountain" chapter3 v13;   Wherever people were, He was, to bring the message to the people.  He made Himself accessible to all      

Pastor-teachers    This, I believe, to be one gift, and the idea is that the one so gifted should be ministering to both the head and the heart of the flock of God.   This work is internal to the church, and should be of a didactical and a pastoral nature.   In a modern setting, this gift will fall to elders whose position in the church is not official, but that of overseership of the spiritual needs of the people.   Teaching is an integral part of pastoring, and pastoring, the care of saints, must be the aim of teaching.   Lording it over the saints is not envisaged, rather the sound teaching coupled with fine example for all to follow.

• The EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS      The leadership gifts, as above, are to a very definite end, that of equipping all the saints in their service for God.   That is the meaning of the word "perfecting".   It is used elsewhere for the mending of fishing nets and also for the setting of broken bones.   These two usages describe adequately what the function of leadership gifts are.   Mended nets catch fish, set bones enable a person to function.   This is the role of the special gifts to bring the saints to the point of positive service for the Lord.   The word "ministry" should be thought of as service, not any position of importance as is sometimes perceived.    Special gifts assisting the saints to perform their own work of ministry, this is the pattern.   He will develop the practicalities of this shortly, but we must see that specially gifted men are a means to an end, which end we will now discuss.
• The EDIFYING OF THE BODY OF CHRIST     This is the aim of all the gifts of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ;   not for self glorification, but for the benefit of the body, the whole body, not just a select part of it.   Paul underlines this in 1 Corinthians14 a number of times;   verse3 "..he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification...";   verse5 "..that the church may receive edifying.";   verse12 "..seek that ye might excel to the edifying of the church.";   verse26 "Let all things be done unto edifying."    The edifying of the church is paramount in the mind of God and requires the contribution of all as we shall see.
• The EXCELLENCE FOR WHICH WE ARE TO STRIVE      Notice what he says "..till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:"   In short, this programme will never end this side of eternity!!   The Amplified version puts it like this "..until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God; that we might arrive at really mature manhood--the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection--the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and the completeness found in Him."   Note the detail.......until we all....not some;   He gave some special gifts, but their function was for all.   This mirrors chapter3 v18 "..that ye...may be able to comprehend with all the saints.....".    The things of God are for all the saints, not for a select few.   We are to arrive at or attain to this high level, this suggests a journey, a process, and a life-long one, this will go on while life lasts.   The attainment is Christian maturity and the level is Christ, the standard of true excellency.   We are to aim for the unity of the faith.   That is the point where we are all of the same mind in regard to the body of truth that has been delivered to the saints.   Paul says to the disunited Corinthians in chapter1 v10 "..that ye all speak the same thing.....but that ye may be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."   No loose cannons, no mavericks, no fancy interpretations, all striving together with one aim, the perfection of Christ working in us and through us.   He says "and of the knowledge of the Son of God..."  The introduction of the title "Son of God" here is significant.   In an epistle where he entitles Christ as "Christ" 25 times, as "Christ Jesus" 6 times, as "Lord" 13 times, as "Lord Jesus Christ" 8 times, as "Jesus Christ" 4 times, as "Jesus" once, and as "Master" once, he introduces this most important title of "Son of God".   The term son of God or sons of God always relates to character, and points to those who are in character as their Father.   The title Son of God refers to Jesus Christ who on earth displayed perfectly the fullness of His Father in every way......this is the standard!!   Excellence becomes our God, and excellence becomes all His saints, and so measured by that standard we have a mountain yet to climb.
• The ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ENTIRE BODY OF CHRIST       The church of Christ on earth can be a major spiritual force for good, if we all decide to grow together in Him....."no more children((infants)".....but "growing up into Him which is the head, even Christ."   No longer "tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine", like a ship on a stormy sea(see Luke8 vv23-24.)   Activity doesn't always mean spiritual growth, it can be a cover for the lack of it.   In the world there are endless alternative doctrines blowing about.   Satan is the master of the winds of doctrine, we are to stand for the faith just as He did by countering them with "it is written" and "it is written again."   These doctrines come in the shape of men masquerading as the appointed servants of Christ.   Their method is trickery, "by the sleight of men whereby they lie in wait to deceive."   Let there be no doubt that what Paul is referring to here is a SYSTEMATIC ATTACK ON THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST by introducing systematic error that sometimes looks and sounds like the real thing but is in fact spiritual deceit in a concerted attempt to de-stabilise the people of God.   The only safe guard against it is the establishment of systematic declaration of the truth, re-iterated regularly in the church, the "ekklesia" the blood bought people of God.   The same word that brought us to salvation, is the only means whereby we can truly grow in Christ.   This is the Divinely appointed way to deflect and defeat the enemy of souls and to honour our glorious head.   It may be we have become complacent in this matter and we need to give attention to it.
• The EXERCISE OF EVERY MEMBER       For this to work effectively, it will require each one of us to play our part, just as every cell in our human bodies play a vital and active part for the health of the whole.   There is no concept in the church of God of a caste system of members.   There are members and there are members, all privileged to be part of this great unity, all suitably gifted to perform a task, all expected to be contributing as the Lord enables.   From Him the whole body is fitted....the foundation of the apostles and prophets has been laid...on that the evangelist is to build up the numbers, the pastor-teacher is to build up the saints, the saints are to serve in the capacity fitted by the Lord.   No passengers, no part-timers, no encroaching on another's work, but all functioning for the good of the whole, that is the concept of genius from our blessed God, that is the pattern, that is the recipe for success for the local and the global aspect of the church.   As ungodly people in our sins, serving only our self interest, we could not do this, but now in Christ we can and we must.   Note the unmistakeable power at our disposal....."fitly joined together"..."compacted by that which every joint supplieth";   the first refers to the suitable placing of each member, the second is the power which drives us together, namely the powerful driving forces uniting us through the word of God which describes the wonder of the cause, and exposes the intent of the enemy.   There is nothing like a bit of adversity to bring people together, and the incentive to unity is very strong.   The requirement is for the effectual working in the measure of every part.   Whether we think of a local setting or the church as a whole, it will only grow by the dedicated effort of everyone functioning in their rightful place.   The Lord spoke of 30%, 60%, and 100% believers.   He predicted that is the reality of what would happen.   Ideally He wants us all to be at 100%....are we?   We should be, we could be....but are we?   The late John F Kennedy famously said, and we could apply it to a church situation today, "Ask not what your country can do for you...ask rather what can you do for your country."

We have the repetition of the word "love" in the midst of all this and it is so important to observe.   Verse 15 We are "to speak the truth in love" and verse 16 it is "unto the edifying of itself in love."    Love is not what God does, love is what God is, and the things of God must be handled in this demeanour, thus truly representing Him.