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Unity in Diversity for Maturity
18 Plays20 days ago
Eph. 4:1-16
Recommended
Transcript
Responsibilities in Relationships and Marriage
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Charles Spurgeon said the following.
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He said, relationship mandates responsibility.
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Relationship mandates responsibility. Meaning, when you're in a relationship with someone, you have a responsibility toward that person. If you're married, husbands, you have a responsibility to your wives.
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And wives, you have a responsibility to your husbands. That responsibility means you can't just act however you want to act. There's a certain way you act in that relationship.
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If you're married, that means you no longer can act like you're single anymore.
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For some newly married people, that's hard to do. Because they've been single for so long, they don't know how to act as a married couple. That new relationship...
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involves a new responsibility. The same goes for those of you who are employed, whether you're a teacher or a welder or a pilot like our two young folks back there.
Christian Responsibilities and Spiritual Growth
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Or if you're an administrator, in that employee and employer relationship, you have certain responsibilities. You can't go around acting like you did when you were unemployed.
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Meaning you can't just take off whenever you want. That new relationship involves a new responsibility. And friends, the same goes for you and I as Christ followers.
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Because we're in a relationship with Christ, we have a responsibility towards Christ. And that responsibility involves walking or living in a manner worthy of that relationship.
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If you've been in church for any amount of time, you've heard that before. You've heard that term, Christian walk. you know, the really old school devout Baptist would ask you, how's that Christian walk of yours going?
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What does that even mean these days, young people? What does it mean to walk in a worthy manner a manner worthy of a relationship with Christ?
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Well, my goal in the next few minutes is to show you from God's word from our passage, from Ephesians chapter 4, that it involves a life that is committed to you and me, giving sacrificially here at the church through our spiritual gifts.
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And when we do that, we can experience unity in the church, and we can experience spiritual growth to Outward signs, if you will, of a strong relationship with Christ is a church that displays unity and spiritual growth.
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Two things you might want to write down right off the bat. By the way, if you're new here, you may see people scribbling on notes. and Hopefully you got an outline when you came in. It's a great spot to write down as we teach and learn from God's Word today.
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Turn with me, if you will, to Ephesians chapter 4. ah You'll notice... We've made it through three chapters so far. And if you're smart, you're flipping through your Bible and you'll see, well, there's only six chapters.
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So we're already halfway through, and I'm a little bit sad. I love Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 4, if you'll look at the very first word, says therefore. and Anytime we study our Bible and we get to the word therefore, we always ask ou ourselves, what is therefore? Therefore.
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Therefore. right meaning the author has placed that word there as a connector. It's either pointing back to something that was already written or pointing forward to something that the author wants to let us know.
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Ephesians 4, verse 1 starts, therefore, and it points back to what we learned last week in last week's sermon.
Unity in the Church and Spiritual Gifts
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And so I thought, what a better way. I'm just going to reteach last week's sermon.
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I'm joking. joking. He's saying, therefore, because God is glorified in the church that we learned we learned last week, right? Because you and I are in Christ, because we are united together, because we are this united church, God is glorified. And because he's glorified, we are to walk in a worthy manner to which that which we have been called.
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If you're somebody who writes notes, you just want to write the word worthy out to the side and you're going to want to write the word called We're going to see these two words often here. Chapter 4, verse 1 following says, Therefore I, this is Paul, a prisoner for serving the Lord, I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
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Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other. Make an allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
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for there were For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.
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For ever, he has given each one of us ah special gift through the generosity of Christ. This is why the scriptures say, when he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and he gave gifts to his people.
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Notice that it says he ascended. This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.
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Now pay attention, verse 11. These are the gifts Christ gave the church. He gave them the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the pastor teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do the work and to build up the church, the body of Christ.
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This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and our knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
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Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever that they sound like the truth.
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Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly.
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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. Friends, it's a picture of a healthy church. That's what but Paul is starting here. It's a it's a passage.
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Just these first six verses, 16 verses, that can easily be broken up into two parts. One through six is all about unity, general unity. And seven through 16 speaks about unity and diversity. Meaning all the diverseness that you and I have, we are still unified in the church.
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And if we're in a relationship with Christ and we have a responsibility to live in unity with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and we accomplish that by using our spiritual gifts, Paul tells us that the origin of those gifts is found in Christ, the head of the body.
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Now, if you're studious and you remember back Ephesians, we talked at the very beginning of Ephesians, chapter 1. We said it was God who gave Christ to the church, right? and the Christ is the head over the church. He's the head over all things. And now, here in chapter 4, verse 7, it tells us, it is Christ who has given certain gifts to the church.
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These are unique, I put in my Bible, grace-given gifts. These are gifts that you don't earn. These are gifts that you're born with, that God gives you.
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tells us here in verse 7, look me. tells us that your translation may read, given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. I like the New Living Translation, which I read out of. It says a it's a special gift through the generosity of Christ.
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but It is by the very grace of Christ that he has given us these unique gifts, each one of us, a unique gift. Not because you've done something special, but because you are special.
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These gifts, these spiritual gifts, I want you to think of them this way. um Think of them like if you've ever been to a fabric store and you've gone into the really expensive fabric in the back, you know, when you get the s silk and the the the foreign or the oriental of expensive cloth, right?
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He's not saying here that God has given some of you a lot more silk than others. That's not what he's saying. He's saying he's given each one of us a uniquely tailored suit that fits just you.
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That's what Paul's saying here. He's saying God in his grace and his mercy has crafted or formed or tailor fit a special gift that fits just you.
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My suit won't fit some of you tall men. It's uniquely made just for me. The same is going for the spiritual gifts.
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Verse 13, look with me, verse 13, it says, the church grows into the measure. We'll see this word couple times. You saw it in verse 7, you'll see it in verse 13, you'll see it in verse 16.
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The church grows into the measure of Christ's stature. 16 says, it's according to the working measure of each part of the body
Using Spiritual Gifts for Church Growth
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that grows. In other words, Because we're in a relationship with Christ, we have this responsibility in that relationship to act a certain way. And he's gifted us with these unique God-given spiritual gifts measured out just for you and just for me.
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And as we exercise those gifts within the church, the church grows spiritually. I had a couple of illustrations that came to my mind. And I and i thought,
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as As the week progressed, I thought, first I'm going to use one, and then I thought, um no, that might not relate. I'm going to use a different one. And then this morning, I thought, why even choose? I'm going to give you both of them.
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Have you ever been to the Cameron Gym? Those of you who've been to the Cameron Gym, shake your head. I know who you are. I can tell you're fit.
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If you think about it and you go in that gym, there's all those unique pieces of equipment. And you sit there and you start working out.
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Right? but But it takes commitment. You simply can't just show up to the gym and sign in your name and leave and expect to be right you you have to You have to work it out. Each individual muscle that you work out all functions together. Have you ever seen some of these guys and ladies? You can laugh at this.
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All they spend is all their time working on their biceps and there are in their and their chest. But then they got these little bitty chicken legs. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Okay, so we all laughing. all are getting this illustration.
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You've got to work all the parts so that it all looks right and fits together well. Illustration number two for your enjoyment.
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Think about the stove oven that you have at your house. All the intricate, unique parts that are on that stove. The stove top, the burners, the buttons.
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You open up the drawer down there, there's all sorts of mechanical things in there. Burners, stuff I don't even know. Stuff John Peaves knows all about.
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And when all those things are working well, that oven is fantastic. But friends, it takes one little thing not working right. and it drives you crazy.
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I just simply put as a note to myself when that happens I want to say Houston we have a problem.
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Friends sometimes in the church in my office behind closed doors where Cindy can't hear me my prayer begins with Houston we have a problem. right Because there's not unity in the church sometimes.
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There's disunity.
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Paul's saying here, friends, that you and I have been gifted in such a way that when we exercise those spiritual gifts, when we're all doing what we're supposed to be doing, when we're all firing on all cylinders, that we're unified, that we feel this unity.
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It's experience. And he says that as a bonus to that, the church is built up. It's strengthened. It's like the bodybuilder. We're maturing. And I just put as a, just a side note, because quite often many of you are very gracious in letting me know how great things used to be here at the church.
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In turn, as your pastor, I would like to remind you that in not so distant past, there was great disunity in this church well before I got here.
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There was infighting among the members. There was infighting among the members and the pastors.
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And it caused some people to leave.
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what a What tragedy.
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We are to be seen internally in the church within these walls as a people who get along, who are unified, who don't talk about each other behind our backs, who don't gossip, but who walk in a manner worthy of the relationship we have with Christ, seeking to live in unity.
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And I simply put, for many of you, that means holding your tongue when you don't want to. It means for some of you, you might have to realize there's more than one way to accomplish something.
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And oftentimes it's not your way. Or it's not my way. There are many ways to accomplish things here in the body. We, internal, in these walls, have to be unified.
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Because the outside world is looking at you. And they're looking at me. And they're looking at First Baptist Cameron.
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Those guys can't even get it together. They can't even like each other. I don't want to be part of that. That's that's what the world saying. Why would I want to come and worship there? They can't even get along.
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Paul's making a point, and I think it's a point worth you and I thinking about. He's laying this argument out saying, you're going to be with these people for all eternity.
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Because you're in Christ. And when you pass, you're going be in heaven and you're going to live with these people. Look to your left and look to your right. You better start getting along now.
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You're going to be with these people forever. Some of you are shaking your head, I can't believe it.
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The sign of a mature Christian church is is a church that is unified.
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Second, He goes on, verse 11, look at me in verse 11. He says, now these are the gifts, these special gifts. He's not talking the spiritual gifts here. He's saying these are a set of special gifted people that have been given to the church, to you guys. And he lists four here.
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The apostles and the prophets. Those are two separate. The evangelists and then the pastor-teachers. I group pastor-teachers because that's the way that verse is supposed to be read.
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I'll explain that here in just a second. We've talked about the apostles and the prophets. We talked about them a couple weeks ago, right? That they were foundational to the church. And just like the foundation at your house, it's only poured once.
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You don't keep re-pouring the foundation. So the apostles and the prophets have have passed when the last prophets and the apostles have died off. There's no new apostles and prophets.
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just It's just not happening. He's saying right now that those people were gifted for a time for the church. And you've also been gifted with the evangelist.
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And the evangelist is probably the better term for today is what we use for missionary. It's the person that their job is to go out and spread the gospel.
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Well, you say, but pastor, my job is to spread the gospel. you You're right, it is. But certain people are gifted in such a way that they're gifted to the church just as evangelists.
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And he says the same thing is for the pastor-teachers. Those two words are grouped together. They've been given a unique gifting, a unique skill set to to teach.
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And you've heard this before, all pastors should be teachers. But not all teachers are pastors, if you think about that. I had a loving gentleman probably my third or fourth week when I started here at this church.
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And I'm going to hold my tongue right now and I'm go practice exactly what I just preached. This gentleman said, you're not a preacher. As far as I'm concerned, you're a teacher. And I said, thank you for that.
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And I think I caught him off guard because I think he meant it as something, as ah as a zinger to me. Right? I said, thank you for that. Because I pride myself on being a teacher of God's word.
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I want to teach you well so that it's not me up here who has all the knowledge. It's me giving that knowledge to you so that you can then grow and give that knowledge to others.
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Certain people, Paul tells us here, have been gifted in this certain way. And what are they to do? What is their job? Well, it says right here. Look with me.
Roles of Church Leaders and Teachers
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Verse 11, says, they are to equip. If you're somebody who highlights or underlines in your Bible, would you underline the word equip?
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And then say it out loud. Equip. My job as your pastor is to equip. Your Bible study teacher's job is to, repeat after me, equip.
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In the margin, on your notes, or in your Bible, I just want you to write these words because I wrote it myself many years ago. You simply put on the side, equip does not equal do.
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and I'm going to explain that. a Equip that does't does not equal do.
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The job of the pastor teacher is to equip you to go out and do ministry. It's not to do ministry.
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What's the difference you say? Well, a ton. Because while you may pay me, and you really should be paying your Bible study teachers for all the effort that they do, our job is not to do ministry for you. It is to teach you or equip you to do ministry.
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I love going and seeing people before they go in the hospital. I've done it for first several of you here. right Just to simply pray for you before you go under.
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I love preparing the word, although it's very cumbersome and burdensome sometimes. I really enjoy doing this. but But my job, and I've heard from somebody else before,
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In a loving manner, they said, you know, your job really is to show up at the hospital. That's part of your job as pastor. And I said, really, can you show me where that is in and the Bible?
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Thou shalt show up to temple, Baylor Scott and White. And I said to this person in a loving way, I said, oh, that's you're right, but you know what, it's your job too.
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I'd love to go to the hospital with you. And then they completely changed their demeanor. Because what they wanted is they wanted me to go to the hospital and do ministry. My job is to equip you so that you can go out and do ministry.
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What does that look like for you ah today? Bible study teachers, I'm going to pick on you for just a second. Because you have been gifted in such a way, there is a certain level of responsibility that falls on your shoulders to get it right.
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and And that's why you know i'm i'm ah quite often sitting in your class or I'm listening or I'm hearing feedback from other people because I want to make sure we're doing it right, that we're we're staying real close to God's word.
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And I'm here to report to you today, um'm I'm quite pleased, teachers. Because you spend the time dissecting and studying and discerning God's word.
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And you cook it up, if I can use that term, so that you can let... So that they can eat it up.
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But friends, there's a time when you stop eating it up in the class. And you start figuring out, hey, how do i make that meal?
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Boy, that meal that Wes delivered up was delicious. You should have been there Wednesday night. He had knives out. Scared me half to death. knife was like an inch from his face and he was just sharpening.
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said, Lord, please don't let him slip. He spent a lot of time and he wrapped it all together. was so pretty at the very end It was like this bow on it. People were just, you know, they wanted to stand and applaud and they should have because it was fantastic.
00:23:25
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What they should have been saying is, want to teach like that someday. I have been called to teach like that someday. You guys have been called to grow up and to mature spiritually. Paul is telling us here. The sign of a well-oiled church where everybody is functioning and everybody is using their spiritual gift is one of unity and one of spiritual maturity. means you can't stay a baby Christian forever.
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and just because as you're old in years or you have a few gray hairs doesn't mean you're grown. I've known many 50-year-olds who are baby Christians. They're still trying to figure it out.
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Our job is to grow spiritually. We do that by teaching God's Word and studying God's Word and taking notes. So that hopefully one day you stop just attending Bible study class you start thinking, how do I teach a Bible study class?
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Okay, enough of that. Some are like, ooh, he's so hot today. so on fire. He's so angry today.
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And I know God has uniquely given you each a special gift and I just can't wait for you to use it. And I can't wait to see what this church does.
00:24:55
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If the job of God is to be the head and the ruler, and he's the source who gives the spiritual gift, and one of those gifts is the leader to the church, and the leader does what they're supposed to do, what are you guys supposed to do out there?
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That's where we're we're going next. Look at verse 12 with me.
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Their responsibility is to quit God's people to do the work. Your job is to do the work.
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And your job is to build up the church. Two things that you guys are supposed to do. As you are spiritually matured, as you're being fed, as you're consuming and growing stronger, your job is to, as somebody said the other day, iron sharpens iron.
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Your job is to go out and sharpen your brother and sister in Christ. You're supposed to pour into them. supposed to build up the church. And as we do that, we build each other up.
00:25:57
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just put a note to myself. we We do this well at the church, I want to encourage you. From the pulpit to the Bible study class, we are teaching the full counsel of God's Word. we don't We don't leave anything out.
00:26:14
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One of my professors in seminary had put this little quip, and I liked it, and so I wrote it down, and I thought I'd share it.
00:26:25
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He said, what Most baby Christians like, and if you just think of yourself as a baby, just think of yourself a little baby, two, three-year-old. They like to eat small little bites, right? You give them a little bite on the spoon.
00:26:39
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Here's a little bit of baby food, right? They take that. That only satiates them for so long, and then they want something more. Then they want a chicken nugget. You give him a chicken nugget, right?
00:26:51
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Then they want the big piece of chicken because they're growing and they're eating. But friends, I'm here to tell you there are many Christians in the church across the United States who are simply eating bite-sized portions of watered-down Christian messages.
00:27:09
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And they go, whew, that's enough for me on Sunday. I'm stuffed. Now i'm going to go back home the rest of the week and live like the world. That's frankly what they're doing because they're not getting fed. You guys are getting fed here.
00:27:24
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Sometimes two and three helpings. What you do with that is up to you. But we're doing our job from the pulpit and from the classroom.
Spiritual Growth and Community Building
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The goal is to build you up so that you can grow in Christ and that you can help your brother and sister grow. And I just put down, how's that going for you today? How are you helping the person to your left and right
00:27:51
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Those of you who are up in years, how are you in your giftedness helping the younger generation here?
00:28:09
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Men, uh-oh, the men are like, no, don't point us out.
00:28:16
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Thank you, by the way, for the men that showed up at the at the men's breakfast Saturday morning. We had good numbers, better numbers, right? And I thought as i carefully crafted that text that I sent out to everybody, how do I convey in such a manner the urgency that I feel as your pastor that you need to be at these events?
00:28:38
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We've narrowed it down to every week to just once a month because I thought maybe it was too much. So I thought and I deleted and I wrote again and I deleted and I came up with what you received.
00:28:51
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I see you here on Sunday as I look around to all you men. I see you here. I should see you Saturday mornings at the men's group. I should see you Tuesday mornings at the men's prayer group. But I'll i'll start with small bite-sized portions.
00:29:08
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I'll take what I can get. The goal that, brothers and sisters, we build each other up. I can't pour into you if you're not here on Saturday morning men's breakfast.
00:29:21
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And you all have these wonderful gifts that I wish you would share with all of us instead of holding on to them.
00:29:31
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Showing off your shiny custom suit to one another. What do we do with this today?
00:29:40
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i don't know on your outline because I changed your outline at the last minute. The very last point, I don't know if I simply put exercise your gifts, but on my notes it says bodybuilders exercise your gifts.
00:29:56
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, you are bodybuilders. You are lifting to become stronger spiritually so that we can grow together and be unified in one people. How do we do that? Well, three quick ways.
00:30:09
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We exercise with love. That's the first. Every spiritual gift that's given to you and I, if we don't exercise them in love, it's worthless. If we don't do it in love, it's it's empty.
00:30:24
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It's hollow, Paul tells. Paul tells the Corinthian church, he says, if you try to use those spiritual gifts without love, you're like ah an empty gong, a noisy gong, an empty clanging cymbal.
00:30:39
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What's our motivation to exercise our spiritual gifts and to get strong? Well, begins with loving one another well. It means I'm going to step out of my comfort zone and I'm going to use my gift for my brother and sister in Christ.
00:30:57
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But I'm going do it with a heart, a motivation of love. That's what I'm going start giving.
00:31:05
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Second, we exercise through service. This is the best part. i love it I just wanted it to be one point. I simply wanted it to say service. But I thought if you've come to church for any good amount of time, you've heard a sermon on spiritual gifts.
00:31:22
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And if you've done any amount of studying, you're asking yourself, what in the world is my spiritual gift? How many of y'all have asked yourself before? What is my spiritual gift? Yeah.
00:31:33
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yeah It's the natural progression as you grow in your Christian walk. At some point you go, oh, I didn't realize I was gifted with something. Wait, God gave me a special tailor-made suit just for me? wonder what that is.
Discovering and Using Spiritual Gifts
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Well, but what I suggest is you go in you start looking up in your Bible a list of spiritual gifts.
00:31:55
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The better answer to that because I've walked many years in ministry life, is to go to your brother and sister in Christ at the church and go, what do you see in me as my spiritual gift?
00:32:08
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Anybody who's your Bible teacher, I'll almost those guarantee you will be able to tell you right right off the bat. Oh, I can see it in you. You have a spiritual gift of service. Or you have ah the gift of prayer.
00:32:21
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Or you're a giver. Sometimes, brothers and sisters, there's nothing wrong with that. God has gifted some people financially in such a way that their gifting is to give to the church.
00:32:31
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And they enjoy it. they They love going above and beyond. How do I know that? Well, you simply need to look in your
00:32:42
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your bulletin this week. You flip on the back under this section for giving. You'll notice the budget, meaning that's what we need just to keep the lights on and everybody paid and everybody eating, $5,800.
00:32:59
Speaker
The giving last week, how much? $23,000. Whoo! Thank you,
00:33:12
Speaker
Jesus. Why do I make a point of saying that? Is it to pat somebody on the back? Forgiven like that? No. but But what I want you know is, brothers and sisters, some people are gifted that way.
00:33:25
Speaker
That God has purposely gifted them financially so that they can give. They're using that gift. They are serving in that manner. If you don't know what your gift is, ask your Bible teacher.
00:33:36
Speaker
Come and ask me. I'll probably point you to God's Word first and let you kind of sit and think about it because everybody's wired a little bit differently. God's gifted everybody differently.
00:33:47
Speaker
Some people love to sing. You've heard me sing. God didn't gift me that way. I'm glad those of you who've chosen to come up and sing have come up and sing. You really made a big impact here.
00:34:02
Speaker
We exercise Him through service. And when we're all serving together, There's this new sense of unity. There's this new sense of purpose here in the church.
00:34:14
Speaker
And I just put last but not least, we exercise just like you do when you go to the gym with intentionality. Many times, somebody asked us just the other day, Kim and I were working, or were we were walking downtown, and this lady said, oh my gosh, you two are in such great shape.
00:34:32
Speaker
I thought, oh, yeah. for that Are y'all runners? said, oh, no, no, yeah, my wife is the runner. i don't I only run in case I'm being chased.
00:34:44
Speaker
But all exercise takes intentionality. You have to say, I'm going to the gym. You have to get in the car. You have to get dressed in the right gear. You have to make it a point of going and working out.
00:34:56
Speaker
Brothers sisters, the exact same thing happens with our spiritual gifts. We have to be intentional about using We have to say, you know what, I think I'm gifted artistically. And if that's the case, imagine what I could do here at the church.
00:35:11
Speaker
Hey, I'm just really good with a leaf blower. Really? We could use you here. There are lots of leaves around the church.
00:35:22
Speaker
It takes intentionality. Paul told Timothy, you have to fan into flame the gift of God, which and which means, brothers sisters, it takes some effort on our part to use what God has given us.
00:35:38
Speaker
And I'll just end with this.
00:35:42
Speaker
You are my spiritual bodybuilding team here. First Baptist Cameron bodybuilders. How great would that shirt be?
00:35:56
Speaker
I want to be known here within these walls, but more importantly outside these walls, as somebody who exercises our spiritual gift.
00:36:11
Speaker
But I want to be known as a people who are unified.
00:36:16
Speaker
I want to be unified here in the church. I want us to experience unity here in the church. I want us to grow together but I want us to be unified.
00:36:28
Speaker
And all God's people said?