Title: Healthy Church (Ephesians 4:11-16)...
Contents
Healthy Church (Ephesians 4:11-16) 2002.04.21.
two things of faith
Faith has two branches. One is growth and one is foundation. Faith must grow. You have to keep growing. Also, the most important thing for faith is to have a strong foundation. Some people grow up quickly, but because they do not have a foundation, their faith is shaken when small tests and difficulties come. If the foundation is strong and it grows well, we can become the great timber of faith that God wants.
From the 1970s to the 1980s, the Korean church focused on church growth. Church growth refers to revival, and revival refers to revival in quantity and quality at the same time. However, in a certain way, it was true that in that thread, they worked hard on a quantitative revival. Then, starting in the 1990s, quantitative growth seemed to be entering a stagnation period, so it seemed that they were striving for qualitative growth. At that time, the commonly used word was the word healthy church.
Verse 16 of today's text says, "From him the whole body is connected and joined together by the help of each joint, and as each part works according to the measure of the body, the body grows and builds up itself in love."
'Church' is by no means a building, but rather a congregation of saints. 'Ekklesia' (church) refers to a people called out from the world. In a sense, it means that each of us is a church, and it means that we are an element of this church. The word 'cell' means a single cell, but it is the subject and the whole.
We must be able to respect the differences in our gifts.
Whenever we meet people, we like to evaluate people who are better than us and who are worse than us according to their external conditions. But in order for us to build true community and work as a team, we first need to practice looking at people in a biblical way. It can be said to 'look at people according to their gifts'. In other words, we are aware that we are people who have received different gifts from God. That is why we need the awareness that we are members who need each other. For example, when explaining the nature of the church in the Bible, the most common is the 'parable of the body', which is more important, hands or feet? The fact is that the hands and feet are not comparable parts, but complementary parts that exist for different functions. The moment we respect the different roles of these members, we can be free from comparison with each other. Confessing that we are different but needing each other-this is the beginning of the cell ministry.
In today's text, the Apostle Paul emphasizes first that the church leaders also gave different gifts. What they do what is the role of a church leader? Verses 12 explain it. Reading superficially, it appears that the role of a leader is threefold. That is, 1) perfecting the saints, 2) making them do the work of service, and 3) building up the body. Strictly speaking, in verse 12, by perfecting the saints, the saints do two things: 1) the work of service (misitry/misitry). ministry) 2) We must build up the body of Christ.
You must be able to understand the purpose of the gift.
According to the text, what is the ultimate purpose of our service?--To build up the body of Christ (verse 12). What does it mean to build up the body of Christ? I think the answer is verse 13.--It is, in a word, becoming like the mature person of Jesus Christ who saved us. Building up the body of Christ means helping each and every person in Christ to mature. The change of each Christian is the way to change the world.
The church is more than an organization, it is a community. The essence of the church is people. The church exists to serve people and change people. Therefore, the focus of all our service should be on the person, not the work itself. If we can't build people, we're doing something wrong. This is especially important for work-oriented people--even if we accomplish work, if we have hurt and frustrated those we serve in the process, then we have served incorrectly. Because we are to serve people, not work. Therefore, we must ask how we can benefit our neighbors with the gifts we have been given. That is why we must serve the people we serve so that they love the Lord more and become more like Him.
We must balance the use of our gifts.
What do you remember from a sermon taught by the biographer who wrote the biography of Livingston that changed the African continent? When asked, a chief is said to have given the famous answer: "We cannot remember all what he taught. But we do remember one thing for sure--he loved us."
If we really decide to love our neighbor once, our love will heal our neighbor, and we will see people being healed and the world changing through us. When Martin Luther King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, he concluded his speech: ?쏷he power that still moves the world is love.??Then we must hold hands in order to love. It's like four friends joining hands to heal a paralytic.
As Jesus washed the feet of the 12 disciples--"You shall love one another. By this you will know that you are my disciples." He wanted to see these 12 disciples become a loving community. He did not say that if you love all mankind, you will be my disciples. He said that if you loved even 12 people---the world would change. The practice of love for 12 people in our church--that is the beginning of discipleship training. Among them may be Judas Iscariot, who is difficult to love, but because of him you will pray. You will learn to pray and love your enemies. Only then will the shape of our church reach its perfection. And we will hear the Lord say to us--"You are indeed my disciple! I entrust this world to you."