God’s Church Growth Plan (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Introduction

How do you grow a church? If you ask AI that question, you’ll get a wide variety of answers. Among them might be these: Have a clear mission and vision statement. Engage the community through personal relationships and digital platforms. Make everyone perfectly comfortable. Deliver engaging sermons and high-quality music. Use technology and social media, including streamed services, an active social media presence, and digital marketing strategies. This pretty well summarizes how many churches approach growing the church. Advertise yourself. Put on a show. Make people happy, comfortable, and entertained, and then watch them flock to your services.

Now, of course we don’t want to discount the good here. We of course want to worship the Lord well through good music. We make use of some digital marketing. We’re not against using social media to connect with people. We certainly don’t want to go out of our way to make people uncomfortable or deliver boring, lifeless, dry, simply academic sermons. Yet at the same time, this approach to church growth simply misses the point. That is because it assumes that a church is successful when it attracts a crowd. And, of course, the reasoning goes, Christ is more glorified with more voices and bigger buildings and budgets and louder music, right? So it doesn’t matter what we have to do to get them in the door—as long as they come and stay we will give them whatever they want. That road always leads to compromise.

But the Bible is not anti-church-growth. The Bible wants the church to grow. Even in our text, look at how it describes church growth. He gives leaders “to equip the saints,” to “build up the body of Christ,” we are to attain “mature manhood…the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” We are not to be “children.” We are to (4:15) “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” It’s not that the Bible is against church growth. It’s that it’s for a particular kind of church growth that happens in a particular way. And that is this way: God’s plan for growing the church is that of spiritual growth through the unified, mutual ministry of its members to one another.

Now, remember that this whole section is about walking in unity. The works that God has saved us to do (2:10) begin with walking in unity as we enact the spiritual unity we have in Christ in our daily church relationships. And the insight we add to unity this morning is that unity materializes only in the context of mutual member ministry. In fact, the whole point of the unity of our diverse personalities and giftedness is for the sake of growing each and all of us into maturity in Christ.

Unity is preserved not simply when we don’t fight with each other, but when we actively serve one another to build one another up into spiritual maturity. In other words, we are not really or meaningfully unified until we are moving one another toward Christlikeness. Unity is not static. It is dynamic. It’s not a settled, unmoving state. Rather, it is a constant, ongoing service. The unity of the church is constantly being realized through our mutual, sacrificial service to one another. A church that is actively serving is a church that is moving toward unity. A church in which the members do not serve one another is disunified, even if they don’t fight. And that is because it is the connections, the active well-doing, the use of our gifts in service to one another that most aptly expresses and preserves our unity in Christ.

To see this mostly clearly, turn briefly to 1 Corinthians 12:24-25: “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” Notice the contrast. God has composed the body by giving a measure of giftedness to each member so that there may be no division. But the opposite of division is not just an even-keel, no feathers ruffled, we put up with each other well enough kind of situation. Rather, the opposite of division is active care.

And that is also the central point in our text this morning. Ephesians 4:1-16 is all about unity. But that unity is not just the smooth sailing of getting along. Rather, it is the active service of the saints. The leaders equip. The saints serve. That service edifies. We all grow into maturity and unity. And then it becomes a self-sustaining upcycle where each member grows and strengthens, which then supports the other members so that the church grows into a glorious unity which expresses itself in effective and transformative service.

If we were to summarize these verses, we might be able to say it in brief like this: Ministry in our spiritual gifts builds the church into maturity, which keeps us from instability and promotes spiritual health. To see that in more detail, let’s notice 4 aspects of ministry which promote the unity and maturity of the body.

I.              Unity Requires Equipped Saints (4:11-12)

If we are to “preserve the unity of the Spirit,” then we must be equipped to serve one another. Now, we’ve already established that we’ve all been given a gift. Each one of us has a spiritual gift which we are to use for the edification of the other members of our church. Those gifts are the spoils of Christ’s conquest of the old world, they have been given for the sake of serving one another and building one another up. But, as is the case with anything, getting a tool with no training often causes more harm than good. If I hand my son a hammer and don’t instruct him on how to use it, he will destroy my house, hurt himself, and hurt others. So, I need to equip him—teach him—how to use that hammer to build rather than to destroy. In the same way, we have received gifts, but we also must be trained in the proper use of those gifts. They must be guided by sound doctrine, informed by the virtues of love, patience, gentleness, and humility. They must be joined with humility and sober-minded self-evaluation. Simply because we’ve all received a gift doesn’t mean we’re immediately adept at wielding that gift for the good of others.

Who does that equipping? Leadership. Paul mentions five gifts here. These are men given to the church, who are equipped with the gifts necessary to excel in these areas of leadership. The “Apostles and prophets” are the foundational leadership office of the church. They were mentioned back in 2:20 and in 3:5. Apostles are the authority over all the churches, speaking authoritatively on behalf of the risen Christ as his authorized representatives. They are primarily responsible for the production of the inspired Scriptures. Prophets were more local. Until the time when the NT would be completed, there may have to be some information filled in the gaps. The prophets did this. We believe that both apostolic and prophetic offices are no longer operational today precisely because they were foundational and not ongoing. Evangelists are those who through the local church emphasizes the preaching of the gospel and the winning of new souls to Christ. They equip the saints because they bring them into the body.

Paul then mentions two others: the “pastors and teachers.” The way the original language puts it indicates that these gifts are connected in a unique way. Namely, they are the ongoing, ordinary gifts to the church today. They are not foundational, they are operational. The leading office of the church is that of Pastor, or elder. Pastors are also called shepherds (it’s the same word in the original). They shepherd the flock, lead the flock, into God’s purposes for the church. And the teachers, while not necessarily having a leading role, focus less on moving the flock into God’s purposes, but accurately describing and teaching what those purposes are. In other words, teachers teach to inform while pastors teach to mobilize.

All these work together to equip the saints for the work of ministry. You must be equipped to serve one another. And so Apostles and Prophets lay the foundation of the church in the Scriptures. Evangelists go out and bring people into the church. And Pastors and Teachers take the inspired Scriptures and teach them to the saints so that the saints are equipped to serve one another effectively.

Now, mark this: Pastors are a gift to you. You cannot be the Christian you are supposed to be without Pastors. Pastors are a token of Christ’s love for you and demonstrate his desire that you be unified with one another as they teach the word of God to you. It is to your benefit to receive the shepherding care of pastors. And it is to the whole church’s benefit to receive the care of pastors because doing so will lead the church into greater levels of maturity and unity.

And, additionally, mark this: that the measure of a Pastor’s ministry, then, is both the clarity of his teaching and the effectiveness in using his gift to foster unity in the church. A pastor who divides the church is no gift to the church. That’s not to say that every church division is because of the pastor. But it is to say that there’s a certain kind of man who, in his teaching, equips the church for disunity rather than unity. That kind of man is a danger to the church. That is why pastors must not only be bold and have strong convictions about the truth and teach without compromise, but also must be gentle, yielding, patient, not given to anger or fighting, and willing to bend to the will of others.

Unity begins with the proper functioning of leadership. When the leadership do what they’re supposed to do, the church flourishes. When there is no leadership, or when the leadership is weak and spineless, or when the leadership is authoritarian or domineering, the church falters and divides. Much of the time, a myopic focus of church leadership on the task they have been assigned solves many problems in churches. Which means that leaders need to take their job seriously, and those they lead must let them do their job.

What is that job? It is, fundamentally, to shepherd the flock of God through the teaching of the word of God. Sometimes that’s publicly in front of the whole church. Sometimes in small groups. Sometimes individually. But it is all shepherding through teaching. That is why the only gifting which an elder must possess is that of being apt to teach—possessing the skills and natural desire and disposition to teach and equip others.

Now, the leaders are to teach the word to equip the saints for the work of ministry. That means the work of service belongs to the saints. You are the primary servants of the church. The ministry does not belong to the pastors. Pastors are not supposed to do everything in the church. In fact, the Pastors are to focus of prayer and the teaching of Scripture. Thus, in Acts 6:2, the Apostles, acting as pastors of the first church, say, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” Rod and my job in this church is to preach the word of God and to pray, and we work really hard to ensure that other things do not encroach on those responsibilities. Sometimes that means that other, more administrative things get overlooked; but that’s ok.

But the ministry is yours. And what is that ministry? It is the ministry of our spiritual gifts to “build up the body of Christ.” That is to “edify.” This concept of edification is one of the most important and profound concepts of church life in the NT. And it means to “build up.” To construct. Now, remember, God is constructing a building in which he intends to dwell. 2:20-22: there is a cornerstone, a foundation, and then a structure built on that foundation, and we are “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” God does that building of the body through the ministry of your spiritual gifts! The elders are to equip you to edify one another. As we serve one another through our speaking and serving gifts, we build each other up.

But here’s the crucial insight from the context: edification is what brings unity. Edification is the catalyst for the unity of the church. A unified church is not one which simply doesn’t fight. It is one which serves each other. The greatest demonstration of unity is not when we simply all agree: it’s when we disagree and still look across the table or the room at the person who thinks differently then us and remember that they prayed for us, visited us in the hospital, taught the word of God to us, helped us with our children or house, and so on. Selfless service does far more to unify the church than signing a doctrinal statement. We need to think of unity less in terms of all agreeing on every jot and tittle of every decision we make, and think of it more in terms of how can I build up my brothers and sisters? We should always be asking that question. That is the work of ministry, and that promotes the unity of the church.

II.           Unity Proceeds from the Saints’ Service (4:13)

Once the saints are equipped, we need to know, what are we aiming at? Where are we going with that equipped ministry? Paul now tells us in verse 13. Four elements to notice

First, we are aiming at unity in doctrine. This unity happens “until we attain the unity of the faith.” The faith refers to the objective side of faith, the revealed body of truth which we have been given through the ministry of the Apostles and Prophets. It is the same faith as what Jude calls, “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” It is the gospel and all its implications handed down to us in the Bible.

A church cannot be truly unified if it does not agree on what the Bible teaches. Now, the ideal is what we will have in heaven. Perfect agreement on everything. But we also know that, due to the effects of sin, that will be unattainable in this life. But that doesn’t mean we don’t strive after oneness in doctrine. But even if the church will not agree on everything in this life, that is not to say that we shouldn’t care about or strive to teach sound doctrine. Which is why we emphasize teaching in our church. A 45-minute sermon might seem like a lot for people, but if we don’t take time to teach you, how are we ever going to arrive at the unity of the faith? It’s also why we have Bible Classes and other small groups.

Second, we are aiming at knowing Jesus. If the unity of the faith is the intellectual side, then this is the relational side. We strive to understand the faith in order to know Jesus. This is the same kind of knowledge that we discussed in 3:14–19. It is the experimental, experiential, relational knowledge. When we know Christ in this way, it strengthens us for unity in the church.

If we are all moving toward Jesus, then the closer we get to Jesus, the closer we are to each other. If we are all learning about Jesus in “the faith,” then we all come to know and love the same Jesus, and that fosters a great sense of unity. We come and sing and pray and teach and serve the same Jesus that we all know and love.

Third, we are aiming at corporate maturity. When we are unified around the faith and when we come to know the Son of God, what occurs is maturity. But notice, it is not just individual maturity. It is corporate maturity. While each one of us is maturing individually, there is also a sense in which the whole church is maturing together. It is not that we must be “mature men,” but “a mature man.” It is through the corporate maturity of the body that we fully express our unity.

How do you measure the maturity of a church? It isn’t by how long its been around. It isn’t by how by the budget is. It isn’t by the average age of the church’s members. It isn’t by how dense and thick its doctrinal statement is or how many programs it has. It is by the character of its members, by its unity. A mature church is led by men who teach the word of God. It is full of saints equipped for use in their spiritual gifts. It is a church actively engaged in the edification of its members. It is a church unified around sound doctrine. It is a church which together presses into the knowledge of God. What that means is that a church of 30 could be more mature than a church of 300 or 3000.

Fourth, we are aiming to live up to the fullness of Christ. Now, to understand what Paul is talking about here, we need to make a few connections. First, “measure” has been used before in 4:7: “Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” That referred to the measure of giftedness which Christ gives to each one of us. And it will be used again in 4:16, which might be literally translated: “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, according to the activity by the measure of each and every member…” But the idea is that Christ has given gifts to his body, he has measured them out, and the measure of each one of our gifts accumulates into a body in which each member when it works according to its measure makes the body grow. So, when 4:13 talks about the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” he is talking about the full engagement of every part of the body such that the entire picture of Christ is displayed through the church.

Do you remember 4:10? “He who descended [to the earth] is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens [in victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil], that he might fill all things.” Christ fills all things. And the body 1:23 is the “fullness of him who fills all in all.” And what 4:13 is saying is this: our service to one another in unity around sound doctrine, in our knowledge of the Son of God unto maturity is what makes us live up to that fullness. We are the fullness of the presence of Christ, and Christ’s body is in its fullest operation, presenting the clearest picture of Christ, when every part is engaged in the ministry. To mature as a man is to live up to your full height, to grow into your shoulders and your feet, to not be awkwardly proportioned so that we stumble whenever we walk up the stairs. And the body of Christ is the same way. As the leaders teach the word to equip the saints, and as the saints do the work of the ministry, that ministry brings us closer and closer to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, and to corporate maturity so that we fill out our stature. We become properly proportioned, every part strong and working properly. In terms of being a baby, we grow into our own head.

III.        Unity Protects Us from Instability (4:14)

So we have equipped saints who do the work of ministry in order to bring us into maturity. What should this cause in us? It should initially protect us from instability. A mature church is a unified church, and a unified church is a stable church. In other words, it very well may be the case that a church needs to grow up. Some congregations are beset with perennial childishness.

How do you recognize a childish church? It is a church that is “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” “Tossed to and fro” is a word that means a succession of waves. One wave after another after another such that the little ship is tossed about in the open sea. Such a boat is “carried about”—it is borne along on the waves against its own will but carried about by the will of another.

Sometimes this instability is caused by circumstances. Bad things happen and some people veritably lose their minds and can’t deal with it. Providence blows these little ones around. They become unstable when life gets hard. That’s a sign of immaturity, and it’s a sign that they need the ministry of the body of Christ. A strong culture of unity is one of the best protections from the assaults of the devil from the world and the difficult days of hard providences. When we go through trials, we need the ministry of the body to come along side us and say, “Don’t fear. God is faithful. You can’t see it now but he’s doing something. Trust him. Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart.”

But specifically, Paul says that these storms are caused by “every wind of doctrine,” every teaching which comes across the church. Sadly, there are people who will believe just about anything. YouTube and social media has not helped this in the slightest. Sometimes it discourages me to hear that someone is listening to some random preacher on youtube when they have pastors who know and love them. There is a kind of trust that you can put in the pastors of your local church not only because they know you and you know them, but because they’ve gone through the proper channels. That’s not saying you can only listen to your own pastors, but it is to say that there are a lot of teachings out there that are simply false. If we wander into the world without caution, we will be hoodwinked.

Deception is an ever-present danger. Sin deceives (Romans 7:11). Constantly, Paul is warning the churches, “Do not be deceived!” (1 Corinthians 6:9; 15:33; Gal 6:7). James also (James 1:16). Paul says in 2 Corinthains 11:3, “But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” An 2 Timothy 3:13, “evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” And those deceptions often attempt to infiltrate the church. Galatians 2:4, when talking about the deception of Judaizing, speaks of “false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery.” Some slip into the church to deceive and spy and destroy. Paul even warned the Ephesian elders themselves in Acts 20:30, “from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

2 Peter 2:1-3 says much the same, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep." Read also 2:12-22.

Jude paints the same picture. He commands us, “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (3-4). Jude 12f: “these are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.  Which is why he warns them (Jude 20-21) “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

Now, I go to such lengths to emphasize this because this is what Paul is talking about. False doctrine destabilizes the church when it takes hold in our minds. And that doctrine often comes into the church through legitimate channels, but has stolen into the church through cunning, craftiness, and deceitful schemes. It is Satan’s attempt to destroy our church. And frankly we don’t talk about it much in American evangelicalism because, frankly, it doesn’t sound too nice. But never forget that error has a name and a face. History is filled with them, and they are alive today.

And one of the best inoculations against this kind of false teaching is a thorough and experimental acquaintance with the truth. Which takes us all the way back to 4:11—sit under the teaching of pastors who faithfully teach the doctrine of the Apostles. Be equipped to serve the church using your spiritual gift. Use that gift to build up the body of Christ. Build up the body until we attain unity in sound doctrine, knowledge of Christ, and reach maturity as a body. Then, when false doctrine blows through the church, it won’t be like a boat on the ocean but like a wind on a mountain—howl as it might, we won’t budget. And that comes from unity. If we are disunified, false doctrine will toss us about.

IV.         Unity Promotes Self-Sustaining Growth (4:15-16)

But there is also a positive side to this. Not only does unity and maturity prevent deception. It also promotes a kind of self-sustaining growth. “But,” he contrasts, “we are to grow up.” We are to grow up in every respect into Jesus. We grow into our own head.

When a baby is born, its head is huge. They’re top heavy. But as they grow, they grow into their heads. They fill out the rest of the body to match the proportion of their heads. And so it is with Christ. Christ is the head, we are the body. Rather than being infants and unstable children, we are rather to grow up into our head.

Now, this head is the authority over the body. The head gives the growing instructions for the rest of the body. Any part of the body that is not connected to the head cannot grow because it doesn’t share in the life of the body. But if a part of the body is connected to the head, then it will grow because of that connection. So, Paul says, “from whom the whole body…makes the body grow.” When it is mature, the body grows the body to fit the head.

How do we do that? We “speak the truth in love.” But the original is broader than just speaking. It’s literally, “truthing in love,” living and speaking and feeling and acting and serving truthfully, transparently, with integrity and completeness and wholeness. It is as we live in integrity that we grow up into Christ.

That body is “joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.” The mature, grown up body, is held together. “Joined” is the same word as 2:21, and “held together” is the same idea as Colossians 2:2 where it says we are “knit together.” That happens at our joints—the meeting places of our members. If my joints, ligaments, etc. are not strong, then my body is weak. When a hip joint goes bad, it affects the whole body! Well, in the same way, we are all joined together, connected together in our relationships like ligaments connect the joints in our body. And those ligaments and joints are supposed to support the activities of the body. And that’s the whole point. The growth of our body is dependent on the strength of our relationships. When every connection of support is strong, the church works. If there’s a strong web of relationships among us, then when something goes wrong or there is a need, we can immediately move in to serve that person. Getting to know each other during fellowship is extremely important! That is the very context for our service.

In other words, effective ministry is built on strong friendships. So, look around. Do we consider ourselves to be friends? If something went wrong in my life, who would notice? If the answer is nobody, then perhaps our connections—our joints—are not as strong as they should be.

And this creates self-sustaining, long term growth to maturity. “When each part is working properly,” when every member is strong and engaged and healthy and thriving, then it “makes the body grow.” And the result is more growth and service and edification: “so that it builds itself up in love.”

Conclusion

This is God’s plan for church growth. God’s plan for growing the church is that of spiritual growth through the unified, mutual ministry of its members to one another. When we do this, we grow as a church in the ways that matter most.