Hemet Conference: 1998, Members of the One Body (4:1-16)
Address—C. Hendricks
Turn to Ephesians 4 please. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. Beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. With all lowliness and meekness, With longsuffering for bearing one another in love. Endeavoring to keep. The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit. Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord. One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all. And in you all. But unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up, far above all heavens. That he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. 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 fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth. According to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself. In love. These last three chapters of Ephesians we have the. The doctrine taught in the first 3 and now we have the. The walk flowing from that. Doctrine taught what we've read. These verses that we read has to do with there's three spheres that are in these last four, three chapters. There's the assembly sphere, and that's what we have in these verses that we've read. We have the sphere of the world in which we move every day. And then we have the family sphere. And at the end of the epistle there is armor to be put on to equip us to. Stand against the the enemy of our souls in these three spheres. The assembly, the world and the family. And I'm just concerned this afternoon with the assembly sphere. Notice that the 4th chapter begins very similar to the third chapter, The 3rd chapter for this 'cause I, Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles. And this chapter starts, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you. So he picks up where he began in chapter 3. And so chapter 3, verses 2 to the end are is a parenthesis. And there we have the mystery unfolded in the fullest way we have in the stairs. So when he speaks here in Chapter 4, he says, I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation or the calling wherewith ye are called. What is that calling? Well, you have to go back to Chapter 2 to see what that calling is. There's three things that are brought out there in Chapter 2, starting with 11. Where he speaks of our. Our portion now.
He says. In verse 15. Having abolished in His flesh Chapter 215. The enmity of and the law of commandments. Contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain of Jew and Gentile, 1 Newman making peace that new man. Has a body composed of Jew and Gentile, and a head in heaven. The Lord himself, that's that one, Newman. And we what we get here is a very solid Christian truth. And that he might reconcile both both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross. That's the foundation of it. Having slain the enmity thereby, the enmity between Jew and Gentile has been dealt with and slain there at the cross. And he came and preached peace to you, which were afar off. That would be the Gentiles dispensationally afar off, and. That were nigh the Jews. They were dispensationally near. But in verse 13, backing up a moment, we get something more than just dispensational distance and dispensational nearness. We get what is vitally so for both Jew and Gentile. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, that's the Gentiles. Are made nigh by the blood of Christ. That's the vital nearness, isn't it? The Gentiles were dispensationally afar off in the Old Testament and the Jews were near. But now he talks about a nearness that is by the blood of Christ, which is for both in that verse especially encompassing the Gentiles. Then verse 14 For He is our peace. He is the one that has not only made peace with God for us by His work, but peace. Among. Jew and Gentile who were at issue with each other. He hath made both one. Notice He is our peace. Verse 14. Who hath made both? You and Gentile 1 So I think the peace, the thought of the peace there is to remove the enmity that existed between Jew and Gentile, and made them one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to making himself of Twain one new man, so making peace. Wonderful to see that in Christianity there is no Jew nor Gentile, but one new man, members of the body of which Christ himself is the head in heaven. It really is sad to think of all the divisions that the enemy has brought in in the Christian profession, and how he has succeeded in dividing those who are members. Of one body. Who are one in Christ? Here he does away with the. You might say insuperable difficulty of the enmity that existed between Jews and Gentiles. It wasn't. It wasn't. Allowed for a Jew to even eat with the Gentiles according to the law. Peter was taken to task when he went in and did that with Cornelius until he told them the vision that he had and how that God was going to bring the Gentiles into this new order of blessing. That began on the Day of Pentecost. Well, that he might verse 16 again, that he might reconcile both. Unto God in one body, by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. All that existed of old, the enmity between Jew and Gentile. Since the cross has done away with the first man, whether he's a Jew or a Gentile. And crucified him, for we are crucified with Christ, Paul says. He says it in the singular in Galatians. I am crucified with Christ. And that's true of every believer. We can say that the cross is the end of the history of the first man. Whether he's a Jew or a Gentile, and he's made now one new thing. 1 Newman, Christ and his church here. So to persecute the church.
Is to persecute Christ. Remember when Saul of Tarsus met the Lord on the road to Damascus? The Lord didn't say Saul. Saul, why do you persecute my brethren? Why do you persecute my brethren? He doesn't say that, he says. Why are you persecuting me? It's true that we are his brethren, but. Persecuting himself because he is one with us. I've often thought that's a very good verse to refute the ultra dispensationalist that say there's a Kingdom church that Peter preached and then the Pauline church that Paul preached. When Saul of Tarsus met the Lord, he said you are persecuting me when you're persecuting. My disciples, those who are my followers, they are one with me. That's the truth of the assembly now. The truth of it wasn't out yet, but it existed before. The vessel that was going to explain the truth of the assembly was converted, and it was, and it was stated to that very vessel Saul saw why persecuted thou made persecute. The assembly is to persecute Christ, because we are one with Him. We cannot be closer to him than we are as members of his body. There is nothing closer to me than every member of my body. It's all 1. And so it is in Christianity. And this is what makes the divisions that exist among Christians so such a tragedy, and it's such a sorrow, and we ought to feel it very keenly. Verse 16 and that he might reconcile. Remove the enmity, remove the alienation. That he might reconcile both unto God in one body. By the cross having slain the enmity thereby that. That 16th verse is just rich with meaning. Reconcile both Jew and Gentile unto God in one body by the cross. Having slain the enmity thereby, the enmity is gone, and so there ought to be no enmity existing between Christians, those who are members of that one body. And he came and preached peace to you which were afar off the Gentiles, and to you that were nigh. The Jews both needed to be brought into a new position. That only. Is true now that we have a man in the glory and the Spirit of God down here to unite us to that glorified man. For through him. This is a verse I missed last night, speaking on the Trinity or the night before. This is the Trinity in here, for through him Jesus, the Lord Jesus, we both have access. By 1 Spirit unto the Father. That's Christian position, Christian truth. Christian access wasn't true. Before the cross, it wasn't true. Before the resurrection and his ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Now we're brought into the fullness of it. Now the conclusion of what he's been saying is now, therefore you are no more strangers as we the Gentiles once were, and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints. And of the household of God, that's the first thing that he talks about. The household of God, he says. You Gentiles are brought into that. You're part of God's household along with the Jews. No distinction, no difference. You have the same privileges, the same blessedness, the the same position and relationship as any Jew has that believes. I love it the way Peter pronounces in Acts 10. He says we believe we Jews believe that we. Shall be saved even as they he doesn't say they should be saved even as we you would expected you to say that. Because they always considered themselves the standard. But he says we Jews shall be saved, even as they Gentiles. How are they saved? By pure sovereign grace. And he had come to recognize that. That's the way the Jews are brought in as well. No more strangers and foreigners, fellow citizens, with the Saints and of the household of God.
That's the first thing God has a household, those that are in relationship with himself as his children. And all who believe the gospel, whether they are Jews or Gentiles, makes no difference. There is no Jew, no Gentile. In the household of God we are all one in Christ and are built upon the found. Now he's talking about a building here. First he talks about a household, now he talks about a building where you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. This foundation of the assembly is found in the Scriptures. We don't have the apostles and prophets here, but we have their writings, and so we can read their writings and understand the truth of the assembly. The foundation of the apostles and prophets every time the prophets follow the apostles. In the New Testament here it's New Testament prophets, New Testament apostles. He's not talking about the prophets of the Old Testament. They knew nothing of the church. In spite of the fact that our King James translators placed headings over some of the Psalms and some of the prophetic books, the Church does this and that. The Church did not exist. We had that in our young peoples last night. Why do we need as we do? The Church didn't even exist in the Old Testament, didn't exist when the Lord was here on earth, didn't exist during His 40 days as a risen man. Down here, and not until you ascended to heaven and sent down the Holy Spirit. That formed the assembly and united all those 120 believers into one body. That's when the church began. It was the birthday of the Assembly, the day of Pentecost. Wonderful day that was indeed. You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. In home, in him, all the building fitly framed together. Groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. The end result of this building that is being built. Is a holy temple in the Lord. It is growing every soul that is saved. Is an added stone in that building, and it's built upon the foundation that it was laid. By the apostles and prophets of the New Testament. And then he says, In whom ye also are builded together. You also right now. Verse 21 looks on to the future when the completed building will be a holy temple in the Lord. But right now ye are builded together. Verse 22 for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. God the Spirit dwells among the church. In the church. And this is the characteristic truth of Christianity. You remember when the Spirit of God came in Acts 2, it says the first effect of His coming was it filled all the house where they were sitting. I think that's a picture that was literally the house where they were. I know that. But I think it's a picture of the assembly here as presented as the House of God, where the Spirit of God dwells. He dwells. Among his people. And we have no claim on that. Over and above any other Christian, the Spirit of God indwells each one of his own, and he dwells among them as well. If that were not so, if the Spirit of God was not present to lead and guide among Christians that are not with us, then you couldn't fault them for setting up a one man ministry or an arrangement of their own because the Spirit isn't there. But he is there. And that's what makes their ignoring his presence there and setting up a man made arrangement to be sinful because he is there and he ought to be relied upon to lead and guide in all functions of his people who are God's household. And who are God's building? He is there, He's there, and he's there to be relied upon and counted upon. And he can be quenched and he can be grieved. And I believe that many Christians do both. And we're guilty of that too, at times. Quenching him or greeting him. Well, he is there among his people, His redeemed people.
It doesn't. His presence there does not depend on our faithfulness. It's founded upon the perfection of the work of Christ and His person. So it says, in whom you also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. That's true of all the Saints wherever they are found. That's a different truth. Than the presence of the Lord in the midst, as gathered to His name. That's a different truth. Talking about the presence of the Spirit of God among the Saints everywhere and when the rapture takes place, He will go with the Saints in the character that he's presented to us here as forming the assembly. So really in this chapter 2 we have 3 truths. We have the truth of the one body, the 1 Newman. All united to one another and to Christ as head in heaven. We have the truth that the Christians are the household of God, and that they are the House of God. The building of God, growing to a holy temple, the habitation of God by the Spirit, the dwelling place of God. It's a wonderful truth that God has ever thought of dwelling among his redeemed people. He did it of old with Israel, and now he does it in the most vital and intimate and effective way by himself, coming the Holy Spirit and dwelling among his redeemed people, making each making the local assembly, or making, I shouldn't say the local assembly, making the church universal. The habitation of God through the Spirit, because that's the view. That's given to us in Ephesians. Corinthians gives us the local assembly, but here we have that which is true. Of all. Now going to the 4th chapter where we began. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation or the calling wherewith ye are called. What have we been called to? We've been called to the membership of the body of Christ. And by the way, that is the only membership that Scripture knows about. It does not know about or speak about membership of a local church. And when one joins something, we are never told in scripture to join anything. But the Spirit of God, when he comes upon us and dwells in us, He joins us to this one body which he formed on the day of Pentecost. He joins us and He makes us to be members of the one body. And that membership applies to all Christians. We have no special. Privileges than any other company. Do not have. As far as this truth is concerned, we are all members. Of the one body. Well then, we're exhorted to walk worthy of that calling, to walk worthy of the one body. There's two ways that we can deny the truth of the one body. We can have a fellowship, that is. Than the truth of the one body, and that is. Sectarianism we can set up. Requirements for reception amongst us that is narrower than the one body. I'm not talking about cases where discipline is in in order. I'm not talking about. I'm talking about. Those that are going on, well, the one body, we can have a fellowship that is larger than the one body. Take the Episcopal Church, the Church of England. If you're an Englishman, you can be a member of the Church of England whether you're saved or not, whether you're a member of the body of Christ or not. Now that's a fellowship which is broader than the one body and it denies it or you can have. Conditions of fellowship amongst your group. Whatever it might be that are narrower than the one body, you have to subscribe to this doctrine or to that or the other. And again, I'm not talking about fundamental truths here that all of course, must hold to, such as the Trinity and the deity of Christ in his.
Sinless humanity and so on. We wouldn't receive any that are not that I'm talking about those that are going on and holding the truth as to the fundamentals. So the the the one body can be denied. We say we are the principle of gathering is the one body. We're gathered on the principle of the one body. That's the ground of gathering. Well, that means that if one is a member of that body and there's no scriptural reason to exclude them. That they have a place at the table and it's open to them. We make it narrower than that. If we say you have to be of us before you can break bread, we're nothing but another sect in Christendom. Did you hear that? If we make reception to the table narrower than membership in the body of Christ, when there is no other scriptural reason to exclude them, we make ourselves a sect. Then we are all part of the family of God, the household of God. And we're to walk worthy of that. Were all part of the building the house? Collectively viewed where the Spirit is present and if we set up. Rules and arrangements in our assemblies, in our meetings, and when I say our I'm talking about the whole church. I'm not talking about us as a company. I'm talking about Christians wherever they are, if we set up. That kind of thing where the Spirit of God is not relied on, counted on, and he's not there to lead and guide, but we appoint one man, say, to do it all that is quenching the Holy Spirit, really setting him aside. It's a gross dishonor to his being there. There are some that even still pray for the Holy Spirit to come. He's been here for nearly 2000 years now. And it's a, it's a. Not to know that he is here. And it's a sad thing that he has been ignored in many cases. Oh, I know they talk about them, many do. They talk about him and so on. But they have a, an arrangement of things which ties his hands, so to speak, so that he can only use certain vessels. He cannot use whomsoever he will. And this is what we gather from. Walking worthy of the vocation, the calling wherewith we are called. We are to walk consistently with the truth of His presence in the House, and consistently with the truth that we are members of the one body. With all other believers. How can we do this? How is it possible with all our differences of views and our differences of dispositions and? Nationalities and the way we've been raised and trained and differently one from another, how can we? Do this with all loneliness. And meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another. In love. It's the only way it can be carried out. We have to set our own wills aside. And then the next verse comes to that, endeavoring using diligence to keep, not to make. We can't, this truth. What is the unity of the Spirit? It is the unity which the Spirit of God formed on the day of Pentecost when He came, uniting all believers. Into one body. Into one body. It says the Lord says in Acts One that they were to tarry in Jerusalem and in a short time they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is to bring us into the one Body, and the baptism of the Spirit in First Corinthians 12 encompasses Jew and Gentile.
The Jew in Acts 2, the Gentile in Acts 10. So you might say the baptism of the Spirit. Was not completed until the Gentiles were brought in because they were encompassed by it. It it was initiated on the day of Pentecost, and when the Gentiles were brought in, then we have the full complement that is in enveloped in that truth, the unity of the Spirit, He united into one body, both Jew and Gentile. We're told to keep it. Endeavoring using diligence to keep. The unity of the Spirit. We can't break it. He made it. Maintains it. Every believer is a member of the one body. We can't change that. But we can fail to keep it. We can fail to keep it. If we don't walk in company with the Spirit of God, there's three kinds of unity that we have in Christendom today. I remember when I was with. Another group of brethren and they were considering reunion with another group of brethren. And older brothers said to us all, he was very esteemed. He said, we have to agree. To disagree. If you have a different. Opinion or doctrine than I have, we have to agree. To disagree, that is. We're not all going to see everything alike, so our unity will be formed upon union by mutual concession. That's the. That's the ecumenical spirit of the day. Doctrine does not matter much, but we unite under the umbrella of Christian love. That's the union of Ecumenicism. And we see that in many, many movements today. I have a book at home. It's called Evangelicals and Catholics Together. And it's pathetic, pathetically sad. Where evangelical leaders are considering union with the Roman Catholic Church. There is absolutely no way that there can be agreement between those two gospels. The Gospel of Rome is not a gospel. It is. It is a wicked. Gospel a wicked teaching. Not good news. I don't like to use the word gospel for it, but it is the system of works and law. And Paul says. Cursing. Is the one that preaches that gospel or that comes under it? He's pronounced a curse. At the Council of Trent, the Roman Church considered all the recovered truths of the Reformation. One of which is the all sufficiency of the Bible as the rule of faith for the Christian, not the church, but the word of God, wonderful truth. And the other was justification by faith apart from works, and that was recovered, and they considered all those truths, and they pronounced anathema upon them all. Anyone that says that we're justified before God according to the Gospel of Rome, without works anathema upon that person. So the gospel that Paul preached. Anathematized in the gospel which they preach, Paul anathematizes. There is no complicity, there is no agreement between the two. But this union, by mutual concession, I'll concede my point here, you concede your point here, and we'll come together on the principle of compromise. That's the ecumenical movement. That's what characterizes the new Promise Keepers movement. I remember getting a pretty scathing letter. Maybe that's too strong a word. Censoring me because I was passing out some literature to alert the Saints as to the evil of that movement and I was criticized for it. Well, I don't apologize for doing that and I will continue to try to make the Saints aware of what's going on.
In the Christian world. That we don't support something. It's sad to say sometimes you find Saints are even sending money to some of these organizations that are absolutely false to the gospel of Christ. And we don't want to do that. We have to be intelligent in order not to. There's another kind of unity that is in Christendom, and it's the worst of all. It's to agree to agree. Let me give you an example that's Popish Unity. You have to submit to what the Pope says. You don't have a right to have a differing opinion. You have to accept it. The Jehovah's Witnesses has exactly the same thing in principle, though they have no fellowship at all with the Roman Catholic system. But you cannot oppose the Jehovah's Witness hierarchy. You can't oppose that. It's not allowed. You're not allowed to even. Think. Your own thoughts if the hierarchy of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Has pronounced on something. You, being a Jehovah's Witness, have agreed to accept that, to agree with it. Whether you so it takes away all liberty and freedom to judge according to the Word of God. That's the worst ******* there is. There's no worse ******* than that. That's popery. Potpourri. And I'm afraid that we have a form of that. I have heard it amongst us. That when an assembly makes a decision. You must agree with it. That is potpourri. You submit to its authority, but you don't necessarily agree with what was done, and to insist that you agree with it means that you have given up. Your liberty to judge according to the scriptures. No delegated authority is infallible. Every delegated authority is fallible. If the authority was infallible, then of course you'd have to agree with it. God is infallible. He can't make a mistake when he speaks. We agree with that. That's the unity of the Spirit. The unity of the spirit is to bring us all into oneness of mind with the spirits, mind with the mind of God. That's true unity. That's what it is to keep the unity of the spirit. If you and I differ on a point and I say to you, well, I'll concede this and you concede that, I'll meet you halfway. How of us deal with the truth of God? We can't deal that way with the truth of God. If you have the truth and I don't, you don't give in any part of that. You seek to enlighten me as to it. Leave it to the Spirit of God to teach me and bring me up to the only true standard, which is the mind of God. That's true unity. And I'm afraid that the reunions that have taken place among brethren have in large measure, and I'm not entirely, I would give them credit for a lot of sincerity in in many ways, but in large measure it is come about as a result of union by mutual concession. You can see this point. You can see that point. That's agreeing to disagree. But potpourri? Mr. Darby back then in connection with the problem that developed in Plymouth with Mr. Newtons heterodox teaching on the Person of Christ. The position that was taken by those at Plymouth that were under Newton's authority was there is no recourse. You can't disagree with what's been done here. And if they cleared him, then he's cleared. And Mr. Darby says that principle is nothing but potpourri and he resisted it strongly. Thankfully he did. And the Saints, in large measure, got delivered from that kind of thing. So I submit.
You submit. We submit to a decision that is made because by an assembly because it has authority to make that decision. We don't necessarily have to agree with it. If it's a mistaken decision, then the assembly is responsible to rectify it. It is not to be left to stand if the decision is wrong. Or their position is wrong. It is to be rectified. And that's and all believers have a part in that rectification process where needed. And that's how do you, why do you say that? Because there's one body. That's why I say it, the easy way to see that is if the whole Church of God the world over there was a building large enough so we could all fit in that one building, then everyone in that one building would have a part in the decision that was made there. And that's the that's the truth of the one body. And I'm afraid that in, in some areas amongst us, we have fallen into the thought of. Pendant assemblies that make a decision, no one can challenge it. Actually, there's no such thing in Scripture as an independent local assembly. Every assembly locally is merely in miniature, a part of the whole, and every decision that it makes affects the whole. And so others in other assemblies have a right to make their voice heard in that assembly, and that assembly should not. Refuse it. The decision, of course, is theirs to make locally, because the one that's locally there. Is the one they may be dealing with, but there is the right because we're members of one another to make our voice heard. And if you question that. Read volume 2 of the letters, page 198 to 201. It's the most balanced letter. Mr. Darby wrote it, of course. It's the most balanced letter that I have ever read on the subject. We're talking about. And it's beautiful how he brings this point out, and then he brings this point out to balance it. And then he brings this one out to balance that. And the the the truth of God, if it's held properly, is in perfect balance. Who is it that keeps it in perfect balance? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, he inspired it, He gave it to us, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in. In a word, that means to walk in company with the Holy Spirit, a divine person on earth, to walk in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, to be taught of him. Now, if you do that and I do that, and you do that and you do that, we'll all be walking together, won't we? We'll not have just one mind, but we'll have. The same mind, and it'll be the mind of God. And this is what if you read Philippians 3, where if in anything you are otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. There's no thought of concession on the part of the one who has the mind of God to the one that doesn't. And meeting them halfway, it says God will reveal this to you who needs added light from God, and He will do that. But the truth is the truth. It's not relative. And we are to have the truth and to contend for the truth. The Spirit is called the Spirit. Of truth. Spirit of Truth endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. Oh, how wonderful it is when the Saints go on like that. That means I give up my will. I don't have my thoughts, You don't have your thoughts. We don't want our thoughts. We want His thoughts. We want his will. We want his guidance, his mind, and that's the unity that God is seeking to. Promote in the word of God. Agreeing to agree is terrible *******. Agreeing to disagree is just compromise. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body. One spirit, even as ye are called, in one hope of your calling. Someone has beautifully said these are these are three circles.
Verse 4 is the inner circle. Composed of all true believers, all who are members of the one Body, brought into that one body by the one Spirit, and who all have that one hope of Our Calling which is to be conformed to the image of His Son. That's the inner circle. All true believers are in that circle. I was in a meeting once and they were having a special meeting. They called a special meeting to consider why we meet as we do, what is the ground of gathering and so on. And to my horror I heard a brother say that verse four. That inner circle was the gathered Saints period. And then the next circle, which is 1 Lord, 1 faith, 1 baptism. That would be Christians outside of us and then. The last circle, one God and Father of all. Well, that's very serious error. The inner circle is composed of all members of the body of Christ. We saw that this morning at the Lord's table, where the one loaf on the table represented the whole Church of God, The whole Church of God. There's that one body, united into it together and to Christ the head. By the one Spirit, and with the one hope of Our Calling to be with them like Christ in glory soon. The next circle, 1 Lord, 1 Faith, one baptism, is the circle that's a little bit larger. It's a circle of profession. The 1St circle is reality. No one is a member of the body of Christ that is not a real Christian. There is no mere professor in that circle, but one Lord, 1 faith, one baptism. There are many that profess him and they're they're of the Christian faith and they've been baptized and so they're in that circle, but they may not be real many in that circle. Of course everyone in the 1St circle is in the 2nd circle, but there are some in the 2nd circle. That's a little bit larger that are not real. And then the 3rd circle is the circle of creation, one God and Father of all, who was above all and through all. And then it goes back to the first circle in you all. So there we have the three circles. They have reality in verse 4, profession in verse 5, creation in verse 6, and then reverting back to that inner circle that is only. Entered into by those that are baptized, that are sealed, I should say by the Holy Spirit. Verse 7 But unto everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. I've heard it said, well I don't have any gift. I don't have any gift. I wish I had the gift of brother so and so, or whatever that verse says. Unto everyone of us is given grace. Gift is grace. According to the measure of the gift of Christ, everyone of us has something that we can contribute. And do in the assembly. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive. That means he led the power that had held us captive, Satan captive. He led the power captivity that had kept us captives to sin and Satan. He led that captive. Through death, Hebrews 2, he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil. And delivered them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. So when he ascended on high, the Lord ascended on high. He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Wonderful that these that he doesn't choose angels to give the gifts to, to minister to the Assembly. ** *** chooses sinners saved by grace. He chooses you and me, He gives us so that we who are once sinners and lost and on the road to hell can now help to rescue others from that and bring them into the place where they can be taught and nurtured and fed and taken care of the Assembly. Now that he ascended verse 9, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? That's of course his death.
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. Now from that place ascended to the glory far above all heavens. Now He gives gifts for the establishing and the ongoing blessing of His assembly. Down here He gave some apostles. From where? From where did He give these these gifts that are mentioned? Verse 11 From the glory remember when He was here on earth, He, he commissioned the apostles, and their Commission was to the lost sheep of the tribes of a tribe of his tribes of Israel. But this is not that many of those that were called by the Lord to minister to Israel and and the initial 12 apostles, many of them now are brought into this apostleship. But this apostleship is different. It's not a Commission. That Commission is entirely different. This is heavenly, comes from a heavenly head in heaven. And he commissions us to now the apostles and prophets as we saw in. To laid the foundation of the assembly and their writings established the truth of the assembly. And then the evangelists, pastors and teachers build on that. Build on that. So it says he gave some apostles. The comma after some is wrong. It shouldn't be there. It shouldn't say he gave to some apostles and to others this and that. It's he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors. And teachers. The apostles and prophets were foundation gifts. They existed in the 1St century for the establishing of the Church. The ongoing gifts evangelists, pastors and teachers. Are still with us today. The evangelist goes out and brings souls in. The pastor or the shepherd, that's what the word means. Takes care of them and the teacher. Teaches the word to them. The teacher is occupied more with the Word, the pastor with the sheep. And the evangelist brings them in, brings them in. Now verse 12 is very important. What are they there for? For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, unfortunately. Our King James translation is faulty here because it uses the preposition for in these three cases. And the preposition is different. The first one for the perfecting of the Saints is the prime. Reason for these gifts that the Lord from Hanhai has given, that the Saints might be perfected, established in the faith individually, that we all individually might understand the truth of the gospel. I remember reading a letter by Mr. Darby once he was in Canada, and he says he's been there. Ministering for three months and he hasn't touched church truth yet. They needed to be established in the truth of the gospel. They needed to get established first in that. I think we do a lot of harm to souls if we bring church truth to bear upon them when they're not even clear as to eternal security or other fundamental gospel truths. We must. Establish them soundly on an individual basis. If they're not sound individually, they can never function collectively. Amongst the Saints for the good and profit, they'll cause confusion. The one does not know that. I talked to one young man, he says, well he's he's a good sound Christian, just has a few problems. He doesn't understand eternal security. Well, he's not a good sound Christian if he doesn't understand eternal security. That's a basic fundamental of the gospel, is it not? You can't help other souls if you're not sure yourself. How could you even worship if you did not know that you had a settled, eternal, unchanging relationship with God? You are His child. You could never be lost no matter what comes until you know that. How can you help another in in the truth if you're uncertain as to a fundamental principle like that?
So the first primary reason for these gifts? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is for the perfecting the establishing of the Saints individually. Then we get the next two things, and in Darby's translation, it's instead of four, he uses with a view to with a view to once that first objective has been attained and the Saints have brought been brought to maturity and perfection. That's what the thought of perfection is, maturity and understanding. They're standing in Christ, that they are reconciled to God, that they're justified by faith, that their sins are forgiven, that they have eternal life. That they're sealed by the Holy Spirit and they're going to spend eternity and glory with Christ. These are all truths connected with the perfecting of the Saints. That they are children of God, sons of God, sealed by the Spirit, anointed by the Spirit, all these individual. Wonderful truths of the Word of God. Now once that's obtained, then they are, then they can be useful in the ministry. Now the ministry doesn't mean someone standing up here and preaching. It means that the members of the body can function, can minister one to another. Whatever gift he's given you, whatever it might, whatever gift he's given, each one of us can use that gift for the help and blessing of all. Verse 16 describes what what that ministry is. From whom? The whole body. Fitly joined together and come. Impacted by that which every joint supplied. You are a joint, I'm a joint, I'm a member, you're a member and we're all supplying something for the health of the body. Which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part they get increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. So the the ultimate objective is that the body be built up. And that can only be if each member in that body has reached the state of maturity and perfection. Now we know in the human body if you have a member. That is ill, that's sick, that is not functioning properly. The body. Is sick. And that's the picture we have here. First of all, each one has to be brought into the state of mature growth and understanding his standing in Christ. And then he's he functions in the work of the ministry, the service. It simply means the service that each one is given to perform in the body. Doesn't mean public ministry necessarily at all. In fact, most of the ministry that takes place in the church is not public. It's private. It's not for the public eye, so to speak. And then what's the next result when the ministry is working and each member is flowing properly and helping each other member? Then edit. The body is edified for the edification with a view to the edification. The edifying of the body of Christ. What's the end result? Till we all come, till we all arrive at New Translation, till we all arrive at. The unity of the faith. And of the knowledge? Of this God, don't we know who he is? Well, yes. But in one sense, not fully. And in another sense, we'll never know as He, as the Father, knows who he is. But to know him? We're working towards that, the unity of faith. That all believers. Are one or one in Christ, one body and the knowledge of the Son of God? I must confess that some of these expressions are. Beyond me to explain, I don't think I understand them fully myself, because they are. They are so. Wonderful and beyond even my our comprehension. Unto a perfect man, fully mature, full grown man. Unto the. Stature of the fullness of Christ. Well, these gifts have been given to bring us to that and we won't arrive at that point until we're home in the glory. But that's where we're headed. They were given to bring us into a fuller, richer, warmer tour, understanding of all that we have in Him so that we can function together for the good and blessing and the edifying of the Body of Christ. What a wonderful picture.
That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro. And carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. I just have to issue this warning. There's so much out there in the radio waves. And radio and television and so many voices, and there's so much ministry. Some of it's all right. Some of it's very bad. And. Too much. Habitual listening to that, you're going to be confused. We have so much precious ministry. That we know. Good. Why do we dabble with? That which is questionable, I'm not going to the extreme of saying all the ministry is bad and only ours is good. I'm not saying that I've heard some very good ministry from those that are not with us. But I'm just saying and habitual diet of that kind of thing is going to hurt your soul. But speaking or holding. The truth in love. They grow up unto Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. So that's the end that he has in view, and I've already read verse 16.