Discipleship Essentials*
Saturday, October 16, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, As I come to the close of a week of study on your design for the church—how each of us can grow up into the full stature of Your Son, Jesus, I thank You for recording the plan! I thank You for sharing Your word—the Bible—with me and with Christians down through the ages. I pray that You will write these truths on my heart that I may live them each and every day. Use me today, to encourage other believers. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that my life will be a blessing to others. Speak Your truth in love through me with whomever I meet. These things I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God’s Word Today
Ephesians 4:11-16
11He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, 13until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. 15Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Background on the Text – Who Wrote It? Why Was It Written? Who Was the Audience?
As we have taken Ephesians 4:11-16 and looked at it verse by verse throughout the week, we can see that each part of it is vitally important in the bigger picture of Jesus’ strategy for how the church would truly become like Him! As we look at the text as a whole today, consider how it moves from the general to the specific and then back again to the general---first we have the whole church being given gifts by Jesus and the body being built up. Then we see how the individual parts of the body are unique and important, and how each must work together for the desired result. In the end when this happens—when the church is under the control of Jesus—when the body is under the control of its head---what is produced is amazing: a “body’ that is “healthy and growing and full of love.” That is the end goal of the church—of every local congregation, and of the universal body of believers in Jesus Christ.
Observation – What Does the Text Say?
Interpretation – What Does the Text Mean?
Application – How Can I Respond to the Text’s Insights and Teachings?
Each Week’s Check List.
After reading and studying this text, reflect on the following discipleship growth points:
Growth Point |
How |
Encouraged and strengthened me by |
|
Fallen short areas |
|
What will I do with these insights? |
|
What did God say to me today? |
|
Share insights and growth points |
|
Changed/transformed how? |
|
Thoughts...Healthy, Growing and Full of Love!
Wow! What an image of the church! Imagine being part of a body of believers that is healthy, growing and full of love! Right now we are at a crucial time in the life of New Life Christian Ministries. Many folks are healthy and growing and full of love individually, but as a whole our congregation is on something of a plateau. We have seen new quests join us for worship nearly every Sunday, but a lot of them haven’t decided to become part of our fellowship. We could say that it’s because we don’t have our own building—but the early church didn’t have any buildings and it exploded with growth! We could say it’s because we don’t have the right programs, but the early church didn’t have any programs and it exploded with growth. The reality is churches are growing and healthy and full of love when the people in it are growing and healthy and full of love—because the church IS people! The more we invest ourselves in doing the special work that Jesus designed only us to do; the more that we speak the truth in love; the more that we build up and encourage one another the sooner we will see the external signs of health, growth and love among us—more people in worship, more ministry and mission being fulfilled. That vision, or preferred future, rests in each of our hands—as we grow and gain health and fill ourselves with the love of Jesus—the vision will become a reality! Amen!