Ephesians 4.1-16
Today, we'll continue on with the theme that we've been looking at for the last several weeks, piety. Let me remind you of our working definition. Piety is knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. For the past two weeks we've been looking at the tools that the Spirit uses to develop piety in us. The two we've considered were prayer and the Bible. I hope that you can see what we've been doing as we looked at these two tools. All we've done is step back a bit so that we can see these two in the context of the bigger picture. I doubt that I've told you anything radically new over the last weeks. That wasn't my goal. What I've wanted to do is to talk about these things in a slightly different way than what you're used to. I've done this in the hope that you would be able to see the familiar in a fresh way so that you could enjoy the Gospel a bit more. Today, we'll be looking at another tool that the Spirit uses. Today, we'll be looking at the Church. And again I'll try to help you to step back and see it from a slightly different point of view.
Our text doesn't use the words 'piety' or 'church', but it's clear that the Spirit is talking about the church and its relation to the development of piety. So, at the beginning of our text Paul talks about walking worthy of our calling, the eagerness that we are to have to maintain the unity of the Spirit, and such things. What are these but different expressions of piety, knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. And then, at the end of our text we find Paul telling us that there is one body, the body of Christ, which is just another way of talking about the Church. So, our text, at beginning and end, is dealing with the Church and its relation to piety. So, what do we find in the middle? Paul, there, tells us that Jesus gave gifts and quotes a Psalm as a proof text. But the gifts of this passage are different from those, say, in 1 Corinthians, where Paul talks about tongues, the ability to heal and the like. These are Jesus' gifts given to individuals. In our text, the gifts of Jesus are gifts that He gives to the Church as a group. 'And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers...' These are Jesus' gifts to the Church so that we might develop piety. These are tools that the Spirit uses in the life of His Church, in your life.
As you noticed, I'm on that list. As pastor of Faith Reformed, I am a tool that the Spirit uses to develop piety in your life. As I thought about that it led me to this question: How am I supposed to be this tool for your good? What does that look like? What does it mean that I'm your pastor? I debated how personal to make this. I could have simply talked about how the office of pastor relates to the life of a church. Saying it this way has some advantages. For one thing, it sounds more humble. But it's just a fact that when it comes to your experience of being a church there is no 'office of pastor'. In your experience there is me. And so it seemed good to set aside the vague and theoretical and make this personal. 'How am I supposed to be this tool for your good?' It sounds less humble, but it's much more practical and, hopefully much more helpful. So, that's how I'll approach today's topic; not in sterile, academic terms, though that would be safer for me, but in personal terms which hopefully will be better for you.
So, where do we start? Let's start with the label that Paul uses: pastor. It's funny what a little study will turn up. Every other place in the New Testament where this word translated 'pastor' pops up, it's never translated 'pastor'. In every other place, it's always translated 'shepherd'. Sometimes it's referring to literal shepherds, like those terrified and ecstatic men that the angels sang to when Jesus was born. Other times it's used figuratively as in when Jesus says, 'I am the good shepherd.' I think that we would be helped in answering our question if we read this word in our text as 'shepherd'. I am your shepherd. In fact, the newest edition of the English Standard Version, which I use, does in fact translate it in this way. 'And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers...' I am called to be your shepherd.
That helps. And it helps because it naturally leads to this next question: 'What do shepherds do?' That's a question that the Bible answers. So, to start, let's consider parts of John 10, where Jesus describes a true shepherd. This is where He says, 'I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me...' And then there's this. 'But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.' A good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows them by name. He knows each one as an individual and not merely a member in good standing of the group. He knows what makes this sheep different from that one. He knows the sheep. This kind of knowledge is important because a shepherd cannot care for his sheep if he does not know them. How can the shepherd meet their needs if he does not know what they are? A good shepherd knows his sheep.
Jesus also makes a contrast. 'He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.' The hired hand doesn't really care. It's just a job with a paycheck. At some point he will decide that the paycheck isn't good enough, and so he abandons the sheep. A real shepherd will not do such a thing. In fact, as Jesus says, a real shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Being a shepherd costs. But a true shepherd pays the price. And he does that because he cares.
Let's move on to Psalm 23 to see more of what it means to be a shepherd. The shepherd leads his sheep. He leads them to green pastures, beside still waters, into paths of right living. In this way he meets the needs of the sheep so that they shall not be in want. The shepherd guides and protects the sheep with his rod and staff. With the one he keeps the wolves away, and with the other he keeps the flock together on the right path. There are other places where the Bible talks about the calling of a shepherd, but this will do for now.
I've given you a thumbnail sketch of what Jesus has called me to do. But there is one more aspect that I need to add. All of what I do with you is tied to the Gospel. My caring for you and caring about you, my leading you, my protecting you, all that I do is tied to the Gospel. As your shepherd, I am called to bring the Gospel to bear on your lives. And I do that basically in two ways. First, I teach you the Gospel. I do that in sermons, in Bible studies, in one on one discipleship, formal counseling, and by chatting with you here and there. In these different ways I work to relate the riches of the Gospel to the different aspects of your life. Just as an unbeliever cannot be converted without a basic knowledge of the Gospel, a Christian cannot develop piety without a growing knowledge of the Gospel. I need to work at getting the truths of the Gospel into your minds so that the Spirit can get them into your hearts and thus change your lives.
That leads to the second way that I am called to bring the Gospel to bear on your lives. I once said that I thought it would have been better if God had chosen angels to be the shepherds of the flock. At the time it made a lot of sense to me. I have, from time to time, reflected on my calling to be a shepherd. As I have done that, I have reviewed my years here at Faith Reformed. Whenever I do that, one word almost always makes its presence felt: 'failure'. I recall the times when what I have done or have failed to do not just resulted in missed opportunities to do good, but, worse, it hurt the people I was called to care for. I am in the process of learning how to deal with that, to see this as part of the process of growth. But the harmful effects of what I did remain. So, it made sense for me to think of angels. God's angels do not fail. But, oddly enough, I've changed my mind, and that because my understanding of my calling has deepened. It's not enough for me to tell you the Gospel. I also need to show it to you. The Gospel does not touch angels. To be sure, they are interested in it, but only as observers. Angels are not saved by the Gospel. But shepherds are. A shepherd's interest in the Gospel is nothing like that of a mere observer. So, along with teaching the Gospel, a shepherd needs to show the Gospel. He needs to show his own wrestling with sin and repentance of it, his own growing wonder at what God does in his soul, his own longing to get to the end of the story so that the best part of the story can begin. Or to translate some of that from church words: a shepherd needs to show the Gospel by how he deals with his own failures by believing that Jesus will accept him anyway, and in the hope that one day there will be no more failures. Angels can't do that. Only redeemed sinners can do that. So, that is also something that I need to do. And as I work to fulfill my calling - this calling to be your shepherd - the Spirit will do what He does so well. He will surprise us all by how He will develop piety in you and in me.
So, what do we do now? Where do we go from here? One of my goals for today's sermon is to help you step back and look at this thing 'Church' from a bit of a different perspective. For that goal to be achieved you will have to digest what I've said. One way or other, that will result in a call for adjustments in how you live. That's true of any sermon. So, here's one thing to digest. Every aspect of what I am called to do presupposes something about you. You have needs to be met by what I am called to do. Do you see that? Will you let me help you? Will you let the Spirit use me to meet those needs?
Also, if this is going to work, I need to get to know you and you need to get to know me. As I thought about this during the week, one thing became clear. I am a very private person. My walls are pretty high. I am an introvert which means that I focus on what's happening on the inside more than what's happening on the outside. And it also means that I am reluctant to let you know what's happening on the inside. I have walls. And you have walls too. That's not good. We need to get to know each other. How can I be a faithful shepherd to you if there are walls between us? I'm going to work at lower my walls. I'm asking you to do the same.
Making changes in these areas is not just hard. It's beyond us. We cannot change our hearts. But the Spirit can. So, we need to ask Him to do just that. If we are going to do better at being what a church is called to be, if we are going to grow in piety, it will only come about because of what the Spirit will do. So, let's ask him to work on us, to fill us with His power and love and wisdom. Our God loves to answer prayer. I know that He will answer this one.
Today, we'll continue on with the theme that we've been looking at for the last several weeks, piety. Let me remind you of our working definition. Piety is knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. For the past two weeks we've been looking at the tools that the Spirit uses to develop piety in us. The two we've considered were prayer and the Bible. I hope that you can see what we've been doing as we looked at these two tools. All we've done is step back a bit so that we can see these two in the context of the bigger picture. I doubt that I've told you anything radically new over the last weeks. That wasn't my goal. What I've wanted to do is to talk about these things in a slightly different way than what you're used to. I've done this in the hope that you would be able to see the familiar in a fresh way so that you could enjoy the Gospel a bit more. Today, we'll be looking at another tool that the Spirit uses. Today, we'll be looking at the Church. And again I'll try to help you to step back and see it from a slightly different point of view.
Our text doesn't use the words 'piety' or 'church', but it's clear that the Spirit is talking about the church and its relation to the development of piety. So, at the beginning of our text Paul talks about walking worthy of our calling, the eagerness that we are to have to maintain the unity of the Spirit, and such things. What are these but different expressions of piety, knowing Jesus and working hard to follow Him. And then, at the end of our text we find Paul telling us that there is one body, the body of Christ, which is just another way of talking about the Church. So, our text, at beginning and end, is dealing with the Church and its relation to piety. So, what do we find in the middle? Paul, there, tells us that Jesus gave gifts and quotes a Psalm as a proof text. But the gifts of this passage are different from those, say, in 1 Corinthians, where Paul talks about tongues, the ability to heal and the like. These are Jesus' gifts given to individuals. In our text, the gifts of Jesus are gifts that He gives to the Church as a group. 'And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers...' These are Jesus' gifts to the Church so that we might develop piety. These are tools that the Spirit uses in the life of His Church, in your life.
As you noticed, I'm on that list. As pastor of Faith Reformed, I am a tool that the Spirit uses to develop piety in your life. As I thought about that it led me to this question: How am I supposed to be this tool for your good? What does that look like? What does it mean that I'm your pastor? I debated how personal to make this. I could have simply talked about how the office of pastor relates to the life of a church. Saying it this way has some advantages. For one thing, it sounds more humble. But it's just a fact that when it comes to your experience of being a church there is no 'office of pastor'. In your experience there is me. And so it seemed good to set aside the vague and theoretical and make this personal. 'How am I supposed to be this tool for your good?' It sounds less humble, but it's much more practical and, hopefully much more helpful. So, that's how I'll approach today's topic; not in sterile, academic terms, though that would be safer for me, but in personal terms which hopefully will be better for you.
So, where do we start? Let's start with the label that Paul uses: pastor. It's funny what a little study will turn up. Every other place in the New Testament where this word translated 'pastor' pops up, it's never translated 'pastor'. In every other place, it's always translated 'shepherd'. Sometimes it's referring to literal shepherds, like those terrified and ecstatic men that the angels sang to when Jesus was born. Other times it's used figuratively as in when Jesus says, 'I am the good shepherd.' I think that we would be helped in answering our question if we read this word in our text as 'shepherd'. I am your shepherd. In fact, the newest edition of the English Standard Version, which I use, does in fact translate it in this way. 'And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers...' I am called to be your shepherd.
That helps. And it helps because it naturally leads to this next question: 'What do shepherds do?' That's a question that the Bible answers. So, to start, let's consider parts of John 10, where Jesus describes a true shepherd. This is where He says, 'I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me...' And then there's this. 'But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.' A good shepherd knows his sheep. He knows them by name. He knows each one as an individual and not merely a member in good standing of the group. He knows what makes this sheep different from that one. He knows the sheep. This kind of knowledge is important because a shepherd cannot care for his sheep if he does not know them. How can the shepherd meet their needs if he does not know what they are? A good shepherd knows his sheep.
Jesus also makes a contrast. 'He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.' The hired hand doesn't really care. It's just a job with a paycheck. At some point he will decide that the paycheck isn't good enough, and so he abandons the sheep. A real shepherd will not do such a thing. In fact, as Jesus says, a real shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Being a shepherd costs. But a true shepherd pays the price. And he does that because he cares.
Let's move on to Psalm 23 to see more of what it means to be a shepherd. The shepherd leads his sheep. He leads them to green pastures, beside still waters, into paths of right living. In this way he meets the needs of the sheep so that they shall not be in want. The shepherd guides and protects the sheep with his rod and staff. With the one he keeps the wolves away, and with the other he keeps the flock together on the right path. There are other places where the Bible talks about the calling of a shepherd, but this will do for now.
I've given you a thumbnail sketch of what Jesus has called me to do. But there is one more aspect that I need to add. All of what I do with you is tied to the Gospel. My caring for you and caring about you, my leading you, my protecting you, all that I do is tied to the Gospel. As your shepherd, I am called to bring the Gospel to bear on your lives. And I do that basically in two ways. First, I teach you the Gospel. I do that in sermons, in Bible studies, in one on one discipleship, formal counseling, and by chatting with you here and there. In these different ways I work to relate the riches of the Gospel to the different aspects of your life. Just as an unbeliever cannot be converted without a basic knowledge of the Gospel, a Christian cannot develop piety without a growing knowledge of the Gospel. I need to work at getting the truths of the Gospel into your minds so that the Spirit can get them into your hearts and thus change your lives.
That leads to the second way that I am called to bring the Gospel to bear on your lives. I once said that I thought it would have been better if God had chosen angels to be the shepherds of the flock. At the time it made a lot of sense to me. I have, from time to time, reflected on my calling to be a shepherd. As I have done that, I have reviewed my years here at Faith Reformed. Whenever I do that, one word almost always makes its presence felt: 'failure'. I recall the times when what I have done or have failed to do not just resulted in missed opportunities to do good, but, worse, it hurt the people I was called to care for. I am in the process of learning how to deal with that, to see this as part of the process of growth. But the harmful effects of what I did remain. So, it made sense for me to think of angels. God's angels do not fail. But, oddly enough, I've changed my mind, and that because my understanding of my calling has deepened. It's not enough for me to tell you the Gospel. I also need to show it to you. The Gospel does not touch angels. To be sure, they are interested in it, but only as observers. Angels are not saved by the Gospel. But shepherds are. A shepherd's interest in the Gospel is nothing like that of a mere observer. So, along with teaching the Gospel, a shepherd needs to show the Gospel. He needs to show his own wrestling with sin and repentance of it, his own growing wonder at what God does in his soul, his own longing to get to the end of the story so that the best part of the story can begin. Or to translate some of that from church words: a shepherd needs to show the Gospel by how he deals with his own failures by believing that Jesus will accept him anyway, and in the hope that one day there will be no more failures. Angels can't do that. Only redeemed sinners can do that. So, that is also something that I need to do. And as I work to fulfill my calling - this calling to be your shepherd - the Spirit will do what He does so well. He will surprise us all by how He will develop piety in you and in me.
So, what do we do now? Where do we go from here? One of my goals for today's sermon is to help you step back and look at this thing 'Church' from a bit of a different perspective. For that goal to be achieved you will have to digest what I've said. One way or other, that will result in a call for adjustments in how you live. That's true of any sermon. So, here's one thing to digest. Every aspect of what I am called to do presupposes something about you. You have needs to be met by what I am called to do. Do you see that? Will you let me help you? Will you let the Spirit use me to meet those needs?
Also, if this is going to work, I need to get to know you and you need to get to know me. As I thought about this during the week, one thing became clear. I am a very private person. My walls are pretty high. I am an introvert which means that I focus on what's happening on the inside more than what's happening on the outside. And it also means that I am reluctant to let you know what's happening on the inside. I have walls. And you have walls too. That's not good. We need to get to know each other. How can I be a faithful shepherd to you if there are walls between us? I'm going to work at lower my walls. I'm asking you to do the same.
Making changes in these areas is not just hard. It's beyond us. We cannot change our hearts. But the Spirit can. So, we need to ask Him to do just that. If we are going to do better at being what a church is called to be, if we are going to grow in piety, it will only come about because of what the Spirit will do. So, let's ask him to work on us, to fill us with His power and love and wisdom. Our God loves to answer prayer. I know that He will answer this one.
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