The Body Ministry
Eph 4:11-16
8-18-07

The Body of Christ is a perfect organism, designed by the Lord to function in unity.  If everyone in the body does what he is called to do, the way he is called to do it, according to the right doctrine, the body grows and functions properly.  If, however, people in the body decide to follow the wrong doctrine or to not work in love and faith, the body is not going to work like it is supposed to work.  It is going to be sick as it if it had cancer or some debilitating disease or ailment. 

In order to have a strong, growing body, the body must have:

A Good Head - Christ as the head [15] is the best – Col 1:18; as the head he has the preeminence – today you can see the sickness in the body with the furtherance of modernism.  Jesus Christ does not have the preeminence.  Bro Sowell taught on standing against modern music in our churches.  He cited 2 of the newest Michael W Smith CD’s.  Each has over 1000 words in lyrics (just over 2800 words total).  In all of those words, the name Jesus is not mentioned ONE time.  He doesn’t have the preeminence in the modern movement.

This is Jesus’ church and what he says goes.  He must have the preeminence in all that we do and we must do what we do according to his words and then we will have a good church.

A Good Circulatory System – (they are like the internal organs, supplying the body with oxygen, blood and nutrition while eliminating the toxins) Ministers [11] who teach and preach the words of God effectually to:

            Perfect the saints [12] – their preaching and teaching should supply you so that you are wanting nothing [Jas 1:4] – like Paul ministered to the Ephesians [Acts 20:27, he gave them everything they needed from the word of God]

            Work in the ministry [12] – like Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim 5:17

            Edify the body [12] – their preaching and teaching should cause you to grow spiritually – like Paul preached to the Ephesians that the word of God is able to build you up [Acts 20:32]

Good Conformation [13] – (you expect to see a body that is balanced and properly proportioned) conformity to a:

Unified faith [13] – based upon the words of God [Rom 10:17] – so multiple Bibles are going to cause division [Rom 16:17-18] – different doctrines of faith are going to cause division [Tit 1:9-11] – but when the faith and doctrine are sound there is going to be a grand conformity.

Unified knowledge of the Son of God [13] – same beliefs in the same Jesus Christ (belief in his deity, his virgin birth, his bodily resurrection, his literal, physical, bodily earthly return and rule, etc) – we are being conformed to his image by the Holy Spirit [Rom 8:29] into a perfect man in the fullness of the stature of Christ

A Good Immune System [14] – defenses against the big enemies of the body:

            Unsound doctrine [14] – the best defense is the continual preaching of sound doctrine [2 Tim 4:2-4]

            Deceivers [14] – they use sleight, craftiness and deception to carry you away [2 Tim 3:13] – so it is important to keep nourishing the saints with the words of God [2 Tim 3:14-17]

Good Nourishment [15] – like your natural body needs nutrition to grow – our food is the word of God

            The word spoken in love [15] – [1 Pet 2:2] like Paul did for the Thessalonians in 1 Thes 2:7-13

Good Health [16] – a person can be limited by a missing or injured limb or by a part of the body that is not working properly

Whole body fitly joined together [16] – like thorough core workouts – everybody in the body doing his part (“the effectual working in the measure of every part”) – Gal 6:4

            Every joint supplying needs [16] – everybody in the body supporting each other – Gal 6:2           

Result – the body maketh increase of itself in love [16] – and so you get a growing healthy body – now when any of these things is missing, then the body isn’t going to grow – the growth you see in modern churches today is not growth in the body – most of the people in these movements has a form of godliness, but they are not members of the body (many of them aren’t saved)

 

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