Address—C. Hendricks
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Ephesians chapter 4, beginning at verse one. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation, wherewith you are called, with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing 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 you're called in one hope of your calling.
One Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one 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 slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into 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 supplier, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself.
In love.
The first three chapters in Ephesians give us the doctrinal part of the epistle, starting with chapter 4 and the verses through verse 16 that we've read together. We have our collective responsibility.
Our walk in connection with the truth of the one body.
As being members one of another and of Christ the glorified man on high and then from verse 18, excuse me, verse 17 of chapter 4 of through chapter 5.
Verse 20 we have our walk more out in the world. I walk more in connection with those roundabouts.
And then starting with.
Verse 21 and 22 especially we have.
Wives, husbands, and going on into chapter six, children and father and mother, the parents and then the special word to the fathers. And then in verse five you have the servants in the household, and verse we have masters.
A little bit farther down, verse 9, ye masters. So we have the household, and then the end of the epistle we get the Christian warfare.
So the practical part has to do with our assembly life.
Are functioning together as members of the one body and then our relationship with those roundabouts in the world and how we are to manifest the character of Christ in that regard. And then the family, family relationships, husband, wife, children, parents, masters, servants and then the end is the warfare.
Well, I'd like to talk a little this afternoon.
Briefly on Christian ministry. What is Christian ministry?
Let's just quickly look at these verses we read, have no intention of going into them in detail, but to concentrate on the subject of Christian ministry.
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He exhorts them in the first verse to walk worthy of the calling, the vocation wherewith you're called. Now that goes back to the second chapter because chapter 3 is a parentheses and it goes back to true two truths that are brought out in that second chapter, and that is that we're called to be members of the one body and we're also called to be the habitation of God by the Spirit.
These true these two wonderful truths.
Call to be members of the body of Christ. Now he says that here in verse four there is one body. He had already developed its formation in the second chapter and of what it is composed. It's composed of Jew and Gentile.
Brought into one Newman reconciled in one body by the Cross.
All the enmity and all the distance existing between these two classes of peoples on the word in the world removed by the cross. The cross is the great leveler, removes all that would give me distinction from another down here in this world. It's the great leveler.
And then the formation of the one body by the one Spirit, and he also forms the the assembly becomes the habitation, the dwelling place of God by the Spirit. And he exhorts the Christians to walk worthy of that calling. We are responsible to walk.
Worthy of being members of the body of Christ and to walk. Worthy of being the habitation of God by the Spirit. That's our collective responsibility. We can no longer, as Christians, be merely individuals.
At chapter 417 to 521 or so, we have more responsibility out in the world as individuals and the testimony that we render to those roundabouts.
And then we have a responsibility in the in the family. But here in these verses we have the assembly functioning and viewed, I should say, in its in its universal character as composed of all believers forming that one body.
Now we're to walk worthy of that and the practical, and I don't want to get into that in great detail, the practical.
Truth that flows from that is that that eliminates independency.
It establishes the the the wonderful truth that all Christians are one, and that means that all local expressions, every local assembly is a local expression of that one universal church.
Which is, which is referred to here as one body. Every local assembly is an expression of that. So there's no such thought in Scripture as independency, and also the the assembly viewed in its universal character viewed as forming.
As composed of every believer in the Lord Jesus, everyone a member of that one body. You cannot be a believer in Christ sealed by the Spirit and not a member of the body of Christ. This is not a privilege.
For certain, a certain few. Every believer in the Lord Jesus who has eternal life and the indwelling of the Spirit, is a member of that one body of which Christ is the head in heaven. So we have corporate responsibilities. This morning when we broke bread, we looked at that loaf on the table and it told us it. It speaks to us not only of the body in which our blessed Lord Jesus suffered and bore our sins, but it also.
Picture in its undivided form of the assembly, the body of Christ. Now ye are the body of Christ, and it's a picture of that. And so when we break bread, we cannot just say, well, I just break bread for myself as an individual and I'm not concerned with those round about me.
No, the truth of the one body is that when we break bread, we give expression and expressive fellowship. The fellowship of the body of Christ from first Corinthians 10.
Well, I don't want to get into that too deeply because I do want to touch upon the Christian ministry. Let's go down a little bit. It says in verse 3, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Spirit of God coming down on the day of Pentecost formed those 120 individual believers into something entirely new that had never existed before he baptized them into.
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Body.
And something existed from that point in time onward that had never existed in this world before. It's called the Church or the assembly. And the Spirit of God formed that unity.
We're not told to keep the unity of the body. That would mean we'd have to walk in fellowship with every believer on the face of the earth, which is an impossibility in view of all the divisions round about us. But we're told to keep the unity of the Spirit. And he is a he's the Holy Spirit of God, so we are to keep that unity.
Which he has formed, which he himself maintains, and.
To keep it in the uniting bond of peace. Now that requires endeavouring, and so on. And He establishes there is one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. Notice the emphasis on the Word 1 all the way through here. 1 Lord, 1 Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all.
And in you all, if one would come from some part of the world that had never heard of Christianity before, and we toured this country with that person and then we read those verses to him. There is one body and one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling. They would have to say, I don't see that.
I can't relate what I'm reading here in the Word of God to what I see out there in Christendom.
Because I see many bodies, I seem to see many spirits. There seem to be.
Various and many views of the of the Lords coming. It's not, it's not a unified thought throughout the ranks of Christians, but the Word of God talks about one hope of your calling, one body, one spirit that has formed that one body.
And there's one Lord. Well, at least we can be thankful that all those that profess the name of Christ do own the one Lord, Lord Jesus Christ.
There's one faith and one baptism, and that baptism identifies us with the Lord Jesus in his death, and one God and Father of all. Now, as I said, if we would look at the actual state of the church today, the professing church, it would be hard for one to relate that to what we read here.
It's a day of ruin, a day of departure.
And yet the exhortation to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we are called, we're called to be members of the one body. Sometimes, you know, we're tempted, as we see the ruin and the worldly state of things, and sometimes the low state of our local assembly, to throw our hands up in the air and say, I'm just going to stay home and go it alone.
Well, God hasn't given us that option. We're to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we're called, and we're called to be members of the one body.
We are called into a unity which the Spirit of God Himself has formed, and we're in to use diligence to keep it in the uniting bond of peace. So the option of independency is ruled out, and the option of individual.
An individual path without any regard to my corporate responsibilities in the member in the body of Christ are those are ruled out. God has not given us that option in the word of God. So we're to walk worthy of that calling. We're called to be members of that one body. We must walk with our brethren, others who are fellow members of the body of Christ.
How can it be done while it can only be done with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering?
Forbearing one another in love.
And then we're called to be the habitation of God by the Spirit, to own the sovereign action and presidency and supremacy of the Spirit of God in our midst, whenever we come together for praise, prayer, worship, remembrance of Himself.
Ministry of the Word, that the Spirit of God may be left free to use whomsoever He will, within the limits that its Scripture itself lays down, to use whomsoever He will for the edification of all.
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It says in verse 7.
But under every one of us notice that unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Christ has measured out a certain gift to each one of the members in that body and.
To everyone of us, sometimes you hear it said, Well, I don't have any gift and.
My presence in the meeting or not doesn't make any difference. The truth of the one body.
If we understand it, if it has weight in my soul, I can never say it doesn't matter if I'm there or not. That would be like saying it doesn't matter whether they have this little finger or not, doesn't matter. Whether I have my left leg or not doesn't matter. If one of those members were cut off and non functioning, yes it does matter.
Because to every one of us.
Is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. There is not one of us brothers and sisters who does not have grace given to him or to her to function. For the blessing and the good and the health of the entire body, the very figure of the human body is used.
To relay to our minds what the what the church is the assembly. It's the body of Christ.
We were hearing about bones this morning and.
We are of his flesh and of his bones, Scripture says who are part of himself, and he is the head, and he is the one that tells what, tells every member what to do. He is the one who has equipped each member in the body.
With that needed grace to function in a way which is for the help and the blessing of all in the body.
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, when the Lord Jesus ascended upon high, having defeated Satan on the cross.
Having gone through the stronghold of His power and come out in mighty triumph in resurrection, He ascended up on high. He took all the power of the enemy captivity, that power Satan, which had held us captives, which had held us in ******* He led that power captive.
He took captivity, Satan and all his hosts captive. He led captivity captive. And then what did he do? He liberated us. He delivered us from Satans *******.
Who through death delivered them? Who delivered him? Who through death?
Destroyed him that had the power of death and delivered them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******.
So he has defeated the enemy. The proof of it is Christ going on high.
The vanquishing the enemy, leading captivity captive, taking captive the very power that had held us captive, and then equipping us, we who were once under the power of Satan, deluded by the enemy.
Servants to the enemy, He has now given grace to me, to you, to each of us.
None of us excluded and that's what's so important and that's the message. I I have a burden on my heart to get across. I go bout and I see there are many that do not attend midweek meetings. You, you have to go on a Lords Day morning in order to see them. Some I have not seen in local assemblies because I haven't gone there on a weekend.
That is, that is not.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace that is not walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we're called. We're called into one body, and the only way that can function properly is that every member of that one body in a locality is there and functioning.
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It may only be in the way of prayer.
It may only be in the spirit. Have you ever walked into a meeting and you immediately sense I've. I've done it many times. I've sensed it. Peace.
That's what Jerusalem means. It means a dwelling in peace. You, you, you, you come into a meeting and there's a there's a sense of peace there. You can feel it. The brethren are at peace with one another. And other times, sad to say.
I've gone into a meeting and the atmosphere is highly charged.
There are divisions, there are parties.
Opinions of men which have divided the Saints. Have you ever noticed in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, where the apostle addresses.
Many, many ills. The the the immorality.
Which was not even named among the Gentiles is not even addressed until the 5th chapter.
They're going to law one with another is not addressed until chapter 6. What is the first thing that he addresses in the very first chapter?
It's been reported to me by them of the House of Chloe that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it because some say I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided?
Well, if every member in the body of Christ were functioning, you know it's not nice to preach to empty seats.
It's it's not very encouraging for the one who travels about to visit the assemblies.
To preach.
To nothing.
We know God can bless the Word to the few, and He does.
But all.
What a responsibility we have as being members of the one Body. Each one of us has received a gift, grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
And what is characteristic of that wicked servant Luke chapter 12, is that he he didn't use the gift. Matthew 25, Luke 19, he wrapped the gift up in a napkin, laid it by itself.
Maybe he did that under the false excuse that I don't have a gift.
Well, the word of God says we all do.
And so we're all needed every.
Everyone of us is needed there, and when our seat is empty, there's a hole, there's a void, there's an emptiness there in the assembly when it comes together, which which brings a sort of a dead weight upon the meeting.
Is it important that we be there?
Is it important that we function in a God-given way?
May only be in silent prayer for some.
And for others, in a more active way. Our brother was just referring us to the the lack of participation that he sometimes has felt at the remembrance of the Lord.
A heart should be filled, our baskets full.
To praise, to worship, to adore that Blessed One.
Well, he goes on to say, now he that ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth, He went to the very bottom.
He that descended is the same also that S ended up far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things well, He set us free. We were once serving Satan. He set us free and then he's gifted us. He says now I want to use you to minister to the needs and the blessing of others.
Could have used the angelic hosts. No, he says. I'm going to use you. He gave gifts unto men.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Now the gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 are persons, apostles and prophets, the foundation gifts.
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He's referred to that in chapter 2, verse 20. You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
The foundation of the apostles and prophets. Paul says I have laid the foundation, Others build upon it. So we had those foundation gifts and then the evangelist, the pastors and teachers. An evangelist is one that goes out. One is like a compass, one leg in the assembly and the rest sweeping out to the world to bring them in to the place where they can be taught.
A pastor is one who deals with souls.
And a teacher is one who deals with the Word and explains the Word of God and what it means to us so that we can be properly fed.
It used to be said, well, brethren have many teachers.
And what we need is pastors, and I agree with that, but I also agree we need sound, solid scriptural teaching.
That's been the that's been the the strength of the gathered Saints is that they are taught of God.
The Lord says to Philadelphia, Thou hast kept my word.
That's impossible without teaching, without being taught in the word.
And studying it and pondering it.
Now verse 12 for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, that is these gifts, these persons. And in in Romans 12 we have the gifts mentioned as spiritual powers. In first Corinthians 12 we have the gifts mentioned as spiritual powers. Romans 12. It's more the gifts in connection with the general good and blessing of all. And in first Corinthians 12.
Those gifts are mentioned which have to do with the functioning mostly in the local assembly.
One of the gifts mentioned in one of those lists is Helps helps.
We don't generally think of that as a gift. Faith is another one, and we know we all have faith when we believe. But that's a special gift to do a work something like, well, George Mueller did with his orphan homes. A work that requires counting upon God. Extraordinary faith to count upon God when there are no resources.
In our hands.
And there are many other gifts mentioned.
But there their spiritual powers here they are the individuals in whom those spiritual powers are operating, apostles, prophets, foundation gifts and then evangelists, those that go out to the world and bring souls to Christ. And then having been brought to Christ, the the shepherd care. The word pastor is shepherd, the shepherd care that is so needed. The shepherd deals with souls.
Never was there a day more needed for shepherds and the teacher deals with the word of God gives the sense gives the sense of the word of God explains it rightly divides the word of truth all how important that is. Paul says thou hast known my doctrine. That's number one. His teaching, my manner of life and so on.
In his sufferings, the outlines, but the first thing he mentions is the doctrine.
The teaching. If our teaching is not sound, and many of the groups round about us in Christendom, their teaching is not sound. How can their walk be according to the mind of God when they are not taught the mind of God when the word of God is not rightly divided?
But these gifts have been given for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. There are three fours in that verse in our King James translation, but the the preposition in the original language is not the same. And if you have a new translation by Mr. Darby, you'll notice that he translates the first four different from the last two.
The first four gives the primary reason for the gifts.
The perfecting of the Saints, that's number one. That's the primary thought for the gifts being given. And then secondary to that and following and flowing from it is the work of the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ. Now I want to dwell on this a little bit so that we understand the force of what I've just said.
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The perfecting of the Saints that's viewing us now individually as individual Saints. The perfecting of the Saints. Gifts have been given for the perfecting of the Saints that we might be mature, full grown Christians understanding the will of the Lord.
That we be no more children tossed to and fro, Verse 14, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness.
Whereby they lie in wait to deceive. There are legions of false doctrines floating around in Christian circles today, and many not being established, not being full grown, not being perfected as an individual Christian.
Has been misled.
Into wrong collective experiences.
Wrong collective fellowship.
If we are taught of God individually and brought to that state of maturity and full understanding.
Then we are ready to function in our corporate responsibilities.
The ministry and the edifying of the body. Both of those last two thoughts have to do with collective things. The first one is individual. I read a letter from Mr. Darby once he was up in Canada ministering the word said. I've been three months here and I've never yet touched on church truth.
Now what did he mean? They needed to be established in the truth of the gospel. They needed to be established in the Epistle to the Romans and the Galatians and these epistles which firmly established the soul in the faith of the gospel, in the person of Christ, in the work of Christ.
And once that's accomplished and the soul knows where he is and that he is saved and eternally saved, and there's no question is mine, there's no doubting as to whether he's saved or lost. Can you imagine someone that denies or doubts, I should say, his eternal security functioning for the help of other fellow members in the body of Christ? He wouldn't be a help, He'd be a hindrance.
He's not even sure himself that he's eternally saved. He may even lose his salvation if he slips and falls. And the Lord should come at that moment. He would perish. That's the teaching of many in Christendom. Bad teaching, very bad teaching. Well, so these gifts are given.
For the perfecting of the Saints, that we might individually, first of all understand.
Who we are as Christians, A heavenly people.
Not of this world united to Christ the man in the glory. Many truths are individual truths that we have to be established in the first chapter of Ephesians deals with that.
Deals with individual truth.
Where elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that's an individual truth.
He is predestinated, each one of us to be placed before himself as sons. We can cry. ABBA Father, by the Holy Spirit. Each one of us is sealed of the Holy Ghost. Each one of us has the hope of glory before his soul. That's the hope.
These are individual truths, and to apprehend these and to know that I'm eternally saved, I have eternal life, and I can never lose that, Then I'm in a state of soul to help others. And so the secondary thoughts after the primary one for the perfecting of the Saints is for the work of the ministry now that a soul has been matured and fully grown.
And perfected, he can now function in the ministry.
I used to puzzle over this expression. What is meant by the work of the ministry?
The common thought is the clergy, those that wear the stiff clerical collar and long flowing robes and who have reverend at the end of their name, That's the Ministry. Or maybe amongst us, we would think of those that take the platform, such as right now is happening and minister from the platform. Is that what's meant by the ministry?
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It's part of it, but a very small part of it.
And as one travels around.
From meeting to meeting.
Sometimes I feel.
What little good can I do?
To help those feeble ones there in that assembly.
I'm only there for a few days.
And I'm sure other brethren that visit assemblies have felt the same.
What can we do?
And sometimes I was at a place recently.
And I was told to go there, they need, they really need church truth.
So I gave them church truth.
But unfortunately, most of the chairs were empty.
And very few heard the needed ministry. And I know it was needed because those that were there and heard it told me so oh, how we need this. And I said, but where are the others? Well, what little good we can do whatever it is. That's the point I want to get across, even though you think your contribution is so small.
And I have felt that so many times and so insignificant.
Don't cease to make that contribution.
Whatever gift he has given you, use it. But that's the problem. You say I don't know what my gift is. I'll give you a a beautiful formula for discerning what your gift is.
It's.
It's a word that the Lord's mother gave us. It's found in John two very simple instructions that she gave to the servants at the marriage feast.
And she said, whatsoever he saith to you, do it.
And if you'll just follow that out, he'll never tell you to do anything that he hasn't qualified you to do. He'll never assign you a task that you're not gifted, given grace to perform from himself. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Just do it where you see a need. If he produces an exercise in your heart and you see a need, whatever it might be, it might be just getting to the meeting room a little bit on ahead of time.
So that when the Saints arrive, it's not blistering hot or freezing cold, but it's at a temperature that they can sit comfortably and enjoy the word of God. That's just a simple illustration of a help, a help or setting the chairs up or.
There's 1000 things that you can think of that we can perform and sisters are certainly a part of that ministry. Oh, and it's not just when we're together in assembly character that we're talking about. We're talking about visiting in homes we're talking about.
The older sisters teaching the younger sisters, that's what Scripture says. That's godly order. It's the older sisters. They're the ones who are to teach the younger sisters how to do in the home, how to raise their children, how to love their husbands, and so on. Read it in Titus chapter 2.
It's not going to.
Some some meeting to learn these things, but the older brothers should take in hand the younger brothers and instruct them and help them and the older sisters with the younger.
How to raise children I don't believe it's in place for an older sister to to get a meeting together with other sisters and say, well, we're going to study the we're going to study the revelation and we'll take it up a chapter a week and, and she is the teacher there. I believe that's a brother's function. But there are teachings that a sister can perform with her younger sisters that.
Have to do with the domestic circle.
And how they are to get on.
Sometimes we'll find a family doesn't know how to manage their money.
That know how to handle money. They need help.
They need help from their older brothers or older sisters in the assembly.
How to take care of the tidiness in the home?
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How to prepare a meal?
Sometimes a young brother and sister get married and the sister doesn't know how to cook.
She's never cooked at home.
She may need a little help.
This is all part of the ministry that takes place because we're members, one of another and none of us can say I have no need of you. We all need one another and we need to function together. And so there's the work of the ministry. The work of the ministry is every member in that body functioning and using the grace that's been given to him or to her.
For their health and the building up and the blessing of the body. For the edifying of the body of Christ.
The first thing is that we must be brought to a state of perfection individually. Perfection in understanding full growth, maturity, adulthood, if you will. To send one out into the work where he has to do with the corporate responsibilities when he's not fully established in the truth himself is a dreadful mistake.
If you haven't reached that point where you are mature in Christ.
Get better.
Sit at the feet of those that know more than you and be brought into that state of maturity and then he can use you.
What is being done today? Soul gets saved and he knows next to nothing and he's immediately thrust into Christian work. That doesn't seem to be the order here.
The perfecting of the Saints comes first and then the work of the ministry, every member functioning in some small way. It doesn't mean that you have to know all the truth. Don't, please don't misunderstand me. I don't mean that. It doesn't mean that you have to be brought to to understand all the truths of Scripture, but the fundamentals. One couldn't be any help in a in a corporate way to others if you didn't even know he was saved himself.
Or wasn't sure of it. Or had doubts about it.
No, he must. There are certain things that we have to be fully established in before we can really be helpful to others. You can't help someone from if he's a doubter, if you're a doubter yourself.
For the edifying of the body of Christ, how does this really work? Verse 16 tells us from whom the whole body.
It says in the end of verse 15. I'll read verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him. Christ in all things, which is the head, even Christ from him from whom? From Christ the head, the whole body. Notice the language fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth.
If this is going to work, beloved, every joint has to be supplying the needed nourishment.
Has to be making the needed contribution in the body. Notice how it's put.
Compacted by that which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. The work of the ministry is the functioning of every member in the body of Christ.
Together as led by the Spirit of God, each one doing his little small part.
And whether you think it's small or large.
If he's given it to you to do whatsoever he saith to you, do it. Hospitality.
Wonderful privilege to have the Saints in your home. Sometimes there's sickness or there's feebleness and it's not one is not able to do what one desires to do, but to do what you can do. She has done what she could.
She hath done what she could. Can that be said of you? Can that be said of me?
The work of the ministry. There's a ministry, It's not those that take the platform only. It's part of it, but it involves all of us, every joint supplying the effectual working in the measure of every part. And when that's functioning according to the mind and thought of God, it makes increase of the body. Under the edifying of itself in love, the body becomes healthy.
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The healthy articulation of the body is only produced.
By every single member, every joint of supply, every part in that body doing its necessary function. You know it works with the human body. If one member gets, if you stub your toe, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored and glorified, all the members rejoice with it.
We're members one of another. We feel the sorrows, we feel the joys. We weep with those that weep. We rejoice with those that rejoice, because we're members one of another.
And so there's a ministry that goes with that. It's the ministry of love, the ministry of care, the ministry of concern, one for another and helping one another. And that results in the building up 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. This is the grand end result, the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man.
Under the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ.
That's why these gifts have been given. But if the gift that has been given to you and to me is not being used by him as he sees fit, it says in First Corinthians 12, God hath set the members in the body as it pleased him.
And everyone of us has something to do. And if you're not in the assembly meetings?
When they're there, when the Saints are together collectively for prayer, the reading of the Word, the remembrance of the Lord, the preaching of the gospel, whatever it is, if you're not there, then you're not performing.
Your function as a member of the body of Christ, you are needed. Everyone of you, everyone of us is needed for the health of the assembly where you reside. And if you've been one that is given to the thoughts. Well, now I have to go home. I'm leaving this conference where we've been under such precious ministry and I have to go home and, and now I go to that dead, lifeless little meeting where I go.
Change that. You can change it. The change has to begin with you. You have to start functioning. You have to be there in all the meetings. You have to be there in an enthusiastic spirit.
Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord just to be there with that kind of an attitude can work wonders.
In the state of the local assembly.
May God encourage us to encourage one another to help one another to function. As I remember in this body of mine has to function for its health. One member goes awry, the whole body suffers.
Become sick and if you happen to be in an assembly which is sickly.
You are responsible.
To function in that assembly. Stop grumbling, stop murmuring. Everything you grumble and murmur about may be absolutely true, but grumbling and murmuring never healed the body.
Start functioning.
In a healthy way.
Let them hear your voice in prayer, young brother.
I don't know anything more more uplifting to those of us who are a little farther on in years to hear a young brother.
Pray in the prayer meeting or give thanks even.
At the Lord's table it's hardly ever heard, but oh how encouraging it is. I remember in our whole meeting a young brother gave thanks 1 Lord's Day morning. It just it was such a joy to hear his voice.
You know what I mean? You've experienced it.
Young people.
Don't sit back.
And make a contribution and fail to make a contribution because you feel you have no gift.
Whatsoever he saith to you, do it.
And the assembly will grow.
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It will grow. The body will be edified as the ministry is performed.
By those who have been brought into a state of maturity in their souls.
Individually.