The church is presented as the one body of Christ, into which believers are placed by the Holy Spirit upon salvation, not as a matter of joining. This body is comprised of individual members, each with unique spiritual gifts given by the Spirit to fulfill their specific function within the church. The sermon emphasizes that these gifts are not natural talents but divine endowments, essential for the proper functioning and edification of the body. It further clarifies the roles of elders (bishops) and deacons within the local church, highlighting that elders are overseers chosen for their maturity and character, responsible for leading and caring for the flock, and that criticism of these leaders is a serious offense against God.
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and I believe it's pleasing to the Lord too. We're looking at Ephesians chapter four, verse four. Ephesians four, verse four. There is one body and one spirit, even as you have called and one hope of your calling. Last night we were looking at this sentence and we were focusing on just one word in it which one of you young people tell me what that one word was that we kept emphasizing in Ephesians four verse four just one word that we emphasized the whole thrust of it of what we studied I see some of these oh, Phogist, and Garein to tell me the answer, but I'll let some of them have a chance.
What was the word with... Sir? Amen. That word, one. There is one button, and the local church is supposed to express the truth of the church, and so it should be The fellowship should be based on that very fact that we are one, all believers, and that's the basis of our fellowship with others. Tonight we want to look at that same verse and look at the word body, focusing on that word body. Let's read about it in First Corinthians chapter twelve and verse twenty-seven.
It's mentioned in Romans twelve, and it's this matter of the body and gifts in Romans twelve, in First Corinthians twelve and fourteen, and in Ephesians four, verse eleven. Here in First Corinthians twelve, we read in verse twenty-seven. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. This is not something that you join the body of Christ, no.
If you are in it, when you're saved, the Holy Spirit puts you into that one body, the church. And therefore, he doesn't say you ought to be one body. He doesn't say you will be. He says you are, and he's addressing all believers, as we noticed when we were quoting First Corinthians one, ten, with all that in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours. To these people, he's saying, you are the body of Christ. That's really an amazing thing.
You know, we're so inclined to just think of my salvation. what I get out of Christ and His work. And the scriptures show that we are together and that God has in mind something more than just my little salvation. But He wants me to know that He has put me into this one body of all believers. And then the responsibility that flows out of that should grip my heart and my mind, and I should devote myself to whatever God has for me to do in relation to the church.
And that's what he's telling us here. You are the body of Christ and members in particular, that is individually. Each one is a member, a living member of that body. Look at Romans twelve again. We'll come back to first Corinthians twelve. But Romans twelve, I wonder if you did like I did for so many years. I read those first two verses in Romans twelve, and I never realized the connection with the verses that follow, verses three through eight. In Romans twelve, verse one, he's beseeching us in view of what God has done for us, that we, just by reflex action of our hearts, being overwhelmed with what God has done for us, then we ought to present our bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God.
This certainly is a plateau on which every Christian should live. And that is absolute total surrender to the Lord Jesus, to God the Father, and that we might fulfill his will in our lives. That being our primary reason for living. And yet we haven't finished the story when we stop at verse two. We must go on to verse three through verse eight. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as he has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Now he's not talking about our ego and what I think I am and can do and all. He's talking about spiritual ability here. as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. And then he says, For as we have many members in one body, speaking of the human body, we have many members in the one body, and all members have not the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another. So what he's doing is saying the way to to carry out this total surrender to the Lord is to fulfill our place in the body of Christ.
That's all I can get when I read those verses together. And so the grand purpose of surrendering to him, to be a living sacrifice to him, we fulfill that by what we do in relation to the church. The body of Christ and the local church is the only way in which we can, most of us can accomplish it because we stay in one place. We don't travel a lot and we're in this local assembly. And so we fulfill that surrender by doing God's will in relation to the body of Christ.
And you notice he is showing that we're not only separate members, And each one has a separate function, but he also shows that we are members one of another. And so what we do should be to bless all the other saints. And we have a responsibility to fill our place in the local church. Does that mean something to you? Has that affected your life? Is it real serious business with you? define your place in the church of God and your function there and to fulfill it for the good of all the other saints.
That to me points up the importance of our seeing this truth, the church and our place in it. There is one body and we are in it and we individually members Now that has a corollary with it, and that is that a member has to have an ability. If you have an eye, it has to have the ability to see, to fulfill its function in the body. And he's likening that in each of these passages. The human body, a picture of the church and our place in it.
So we not only, when we were saved, not only were we born of the Spirit and also put into the body of Christ by the Spirit, but we were also given an ability, an ability that the Spirit of God imports. Not a natural talent, though our gifts certainly would correspond with our natural talents. You wouldn't expect a person to do something when they're totally unable to do it physically or mentally. But our gifts will correspond many times with our natural talents.
But it is, in the final analysis, it is a spiritual gift, not just a talent. Let's notice that in chapter twelve of first Corinthians, he starts it this way. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. And he uses here just simply the word spiritual. It's plural, and though it is referring to gifts, as the rest of the chapter shows, However, it simply emphasizes this word spiritual, which is indicating that the Holy Spirit gives it.
It's not just a natural ability that we use for the Lord. The same is the case. The other place where he calls these gifts spirituals is in chapter fourteen, verse one. And those are the only two places. in Romans and first Corinthians in Ephesians he uses different words entirely there but in these two verses the one we just read first Corinthians twelve it's not the word ordinarily used for a spiritual gift in the other uses here for instance verse four of first Corinthians first Corinthians twelve four There are diversities of gifts.
There he doesn't use the word spirituals. He uses the word charisma from which we get charismatic, but not the perverted type of charismatic. It has to do its grace, a gift of grace. And so that's looking at this spiritual ability that we're given by the Holy Spirit, looking at it as the grace of God. Peter speaks of it. Look at First Peter, chapter four, verse ten. And he emphasizes this, that it's a gift of grace. First Peter, chapter four.
And verse ten. As every man has received the gift, and there it's tarasma, the gift, And it's a gift of grace. It's from the Greek word charis, meaning grace. As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. I wonder how much I know about this. How much do I really appreciate it and make good of it in my own life this grace of God shown me now in this way in giving me an ability to function in relation to other believers to build them up to encourage them to serve them in whatever gift he has imparted to me the other I mentioned there were two times that that word spirituals was used describing these gifts.
And that's chapter fourteen, verse one. Follow after love and desire, spirituals. If you translated it just as it's written. Well, as I said in the beginning, this is emphasizing the fact that it's an ability of the Holy Spirit. He gives it to us. This is the house of God we saw in first Corinthians three and the spirit of God indwells this house and he leads in this house of God the church of the living God and he does it in this way by having made us separate members and in giving us an enabling to fulfill our place in the body of Christ You need to meditate on it, don't you?
You need to pray about it. Talk to the Lord about it and ask him to really reveal it to your heart until it really grips you and causes you to live and to serve according to these verses that we've read. The gifts are different, just as the members are different. And now I'd like for us to go on to the matter of the structure or the organization or the, what shall I call it, without getting in trouble. The church and its government, how does it operate?
Let's look at Philippians one and verse one, please. Philippians one, verse one. There's a complete church. Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. There's a complete local church. You remember in the Revelation, those lampstands were not one lampstand, as in Israel.
the lampstand was in the tabernacle in the temple, but they are individual lampstands. He says the seven lampstands are the seven churches. So each lampstand stands on its own base independently of the others. There might be fellowship among churches, but they are autonomous. Each one is individual and responsible directly to the Lord. They are autonomous. They are responsible directly to the Lord Jesus.
And here is the complete setup of a local church, the saints, he said. So it includes all the believers in the church. to form, were the bishops and deacons. Now this word bishop, I think the translators of our King James, though we thank God for what they accomplished and for this lovely translation, but they did have certain leanings being the clergy, many of them in a church patterned after Rome, not having the Pope, but all the same sort of hierarchy.
And they were used to having, seeing a pastor over each church here and there, a pastor, and then a bishop who was over those pastors in those churches, a certain area, diocese, as they would call it. And then over that bishop, each of these bishops had his own area and churches and pastors under him. And then over those bishops was the archbishop, still higher on the totem pole. And then finally, of course, with the Church of Rome, it was the Pope, but not in the Church of England.
And these translators had this background, and they used these words. which confuse us. This word bishops, for instance. It's confusing. We don't understand it. And they certainly misunderstood it when they translated it, thinking they were higher up over pastors and so forth. And then you have the word deacons. So there's the complete church, the saints, the bishops, and the deacons. So let's look. We know what the saints are. We know that we are the saints. All right?
Then let's look at this bishop. Let's go back to Acts chapter twenty. Acts twenty. verse seventeen Acts twenty seventeen and from my leaders he Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church notice who's coming there to be the elders of the church And then speaking to them, he says, beginning at verse eighty, and when they would come to him, he said unto them, You know, from the first day that I came unto Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mine, and with many tears and trials, which befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews, and how I kept nothing
back from you that was profitable. but have shown you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. And to save reading those other verses for time's sake, let's go on to verse twenty-seven. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God, take ye therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. The word for overseers here is the Greek word episcopas.
And it's the same word that was translated bishop in Philippians one, one. And then where else you find the word bishop? It's this word, episcopas. It's the same word letter for letter. So, remember, he's addressing the elders of the church in Ephesus, from Ephesus. And he speaks to these elders, and he calls them something else. He says, the flock of God, a flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
The word means... to exercise looking after, literally looking over upon something. In other words, this was their work, was overseeing the flock of God, looking and seeing the needs of the saints and ministering to them as needed. So this is the word. translated bishop. It's simply the word overseers. And who are the overseers? They're not a separate cast that are above everybody else. These overseers are the elders of the church.
The elder speaks of his maturity in the things of the Lord and in experience as a Christian. And therefore, the saints look up to them with respect. just naturally because of their knowledge and experience and their care. That's an elder. But at the same time, his work is emphasized by what he does. He looks after the flock, and that's what he's telling them to do. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the flock the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood so what does where do those elders fit in in the complete church we were talking about in Philippians one one well they are overseers that's the men he's referring to elder speaking of age maturity in the things of God
and overseer describing their work so the two are really speaking of the same person or persons elders overseers now these elders I wanted to make sure these elders were so often appointed in Paul's day. He would send Titus or he would send Timothy or some trusted servant of the Lord back to ordain elders.
Paul did it likewise. In Titus I, verses five through seven, he says, and ordain elders in every city. And again, this shows us. Let's turn to that because we can see it. And I think it penetrates our minds better if we look at it. Titus one, verses five through seven. This might have elders being the same as the overseers. Titus one, verses five through seven. For this cause left I be increased, that thou should set in order the things that are wanting or lacking, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee.
If anyone, he blames this, and he's giving them, he's giving some of the qualifications of an elder. Now remember he said, elders. Now verse seven, for a bishop. This certainly nails it down again that elder and bishop of the same person must some other high up on the totem pole here. For a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God. So this, again, that's the word episcopal, the bishop, and it's simply an overseer.
And it's the work that the elders do. Now, there are certain requirements for elders, and we won't be able to cover them one by one. It would take too much time. But First Timothy three, let's look there and see what the qualifications of an elder are and touch on them at least. This is the true saying.
If a man desires, and I hate to even read it like it appears there, desires the office. There's no office to it. There's no such thing as the office of an elder. If any man desires oversight or to exercise oversight using that same word, another form of it, the episcopal, overseer. If a man desire to exercise oversight, he desires a good work. Notice it's not an office, it's a work.
And no elder certainly would want to be just be officially recognized as an elder. He would want to do the work of an elder. And the first requirement is he should desire that word. He doesn't be so humble as to say, well, I don't think I'm worthy of the job and all that. But he's got a burning love for the saints. And he proves it. He demonstrates it. And he really cares about them. And he does the work. And so the assembly recognizes him as an elder, an overseer.
in the flock of God. The first requirement then is that he be desirous of the work. And then the other requirements of qualifications of an elder are given in this chapter, as well as in Titus. verse two a bishop an overseer then must be blameless that is nothing can no charge can be laid against him as far as characters concerned a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife and i don't think this means he has to be a married man but if he is married then he should have only one wife Now, that may sound strange to us, but back there, you see, they were still practicing polygamy.
And though God allowed it, he didn't come out and condemn it, yet the ideal from the very first, from the Garden of Eden, and to this day, especially in this age of the church, God's ideal and his purpose is one man, one woman. And so he's, to me, he's saying that he shouldn't be a polygamist. Now, when we were in Africa, you know, they practiced polygamy. And to my amazement, I found out, as I traveled out in the bush, that some of the men that were the greatest help to the local assembly were men that had more than one wife.
So they couldn't be recognized as elders. Obviously, it just plainly says so here. But they still were able to minister to the saints and do a wonderful work. And the Christians there were very much indebted to some of those men. They had grown up with that, and they didn't just throw their wives out. They went on and took care of them. One of the most delightful times I've had in Africa was when they would have the far at night out in the yard. And here was each wife's house, quite in separate, each one around, and the husband was in the center of that circle.
And he would come out and all the wives and all the children, and they'd just have a ball out there around the bonfire. It was amazing to see it. Of course, I know that under the cover of all that, there must be all kinds of strife, friction with a man having more than one wife. But that was interesting to me to see that a man could be still spiritual and beneficial to the church, even though he practiced polygamy. Now, certainly we know better than that, and we don't have any excuse. We know that God intends one man, one woman.
And that's the reason I think he said here that an overseer or an elder should be the husband of one woman. Temperate, self-controlled, sober-minded. In other words, he's serious about things. takes a very careful view and wisdom in matters of good behavior, given to hospitality. The word for hospitality is love of strangers. The same form of word is covetous, or he'll say that not a greedy, a filthy lucre.
It's lover of silver. But here it's a lover of strangers, inviting people in and being a blessing to them. There's no place like around the table, you know, you just get to know people and you get to talk about things that matter to people. It's a wonderful trait, and an elder must have that. Of course, we know there are exceptions. God has common sense. and God is gracious. And sometimes in some homes it's just impossible because of physical condition or whatever that a person can't entertain.
But if we can, our homes ought to be dedicated to God, to minister to others, to be a blessing to others, to serve others. given to hospitality, apt to teach. This wouldn't indicate that that's the primary thing that an elder does, but he's able to. He would have to be able to. It's nice when he really has the ability to teach. And it's such a blessing that way. But in this way, this is written, it would seem he's saying that if the case is necessary, he's able to do it.
He's able to advise people and counsel with them and show them the scriptures and take the weak brother and minister to him. He's apt to teach. If some false thing comes up, then they're able to deal with. That's what an elder has to be able to do, not given to wine. It's a strong expression here of what we would call just simply a wine bivor. to the point of great excess, not given to wine, not violent. I think some say not a striker, not violent, not greedy or filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler or covetous, one that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Yes, there's order in the church of God, just as there is in home, in the home. And if one doesn't fill his place in his family, then how can he fill that same place among the saints of God? By the way, every time you see that word rule, speaking of elders, It never the strong word rule. It's the word to lead, to lead or to guide. I remember our brother, Lehman Strauss's son, Richard Strauss, wrote a nice pamphlet, and he entitled it the husband's headship in the home, and he entirely loving leadership.
And I believe that's what it boils down to. Headship is loving leadership and fulfilling that work. And here, if a man knows not how to lead his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Another qualification. Verse six says he shouldn't be a newborn convert. Otherwise, he would become proud and fall into the trap of the devil, which was pride, you remember. And a new convert just isn't ready for that yet, and immediately falling into a dangerous position, which might cause him to fall in the very judgment of the devil, that is, of pride, because he's ahead of himself.
Moreover, he must have a good report of him that are outside. So the world should speak well of a brother who's recognized as an elder. There are other qualifications, but those set forth the qualities that must be present in an elder. Now, I know that sometimes you feel like an elder has his own failures. and he most certainly does. Who doesn't? We have to realize that elders are human too.
This doesn't mean they're perfect. In fact, you know, I believe what it says about an elder here, every Christian ought to aspire to that. He ought to make it his ambition to be that. But has it been an elder or not in mind? This is a wonderful Christian man. That's what we're talking about when you boil it down. And all of us should seek to be like this. But an elder must be like this. However, he's still human. And so we are inclined to do a very dangerous thing. And that is to criticize our elders.
And to even look down sometimes. on our elders. This is a deadly sin to Christian. Let's look at a case of it in Numbers chapter sixteen. Numbers sixteen. We didn't go into the deacons, but we don't have time. But I would just like to mention that deacons ought to have the same qualifications as the elders. If you look at them, they're pretty much the same, except it doesn't say they're apt to teach. And the deacons look after more of the mundane things, the finances, the physical side of things, and yet they should have the same qualifications as the elders.
Numbers chapter sixteen. Torah led a rebellion of the Israelites against Moses and against Aaron. He had two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly. Notice verse two. Two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly. Notice they weren't nobodies, they were somebodies. Famous in the congregation, men of renown. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, You take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation is holy.
Every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. Those two hundred and fifty princes are accusing Moses and Aaron of taking too much upon them and of taking that place of leadership in the midst of God's people. And so we see God judging that. And he calls those men up to the tabernacle. And two of them and their families had perhaps a good sense and use good sense of not coming up because they knew that God was going to judge them.
So they stayed home. But that didn't save them because God told Moses, if those people and Moses said it to the Israelites, if these people die a natural death, God hasn't called them. But if he does a new thing, and they go alive into Sheol, or Hades, as the New Testament calls, then you'll know God is spoken. And so that's just what God did. And the famines of children even, cattle, everything they had went down and they went alive into Sheol.
That was those that stayed home. But Torah... and his friends had the brass to come up to the tabernacle. And when they came up, they had their censors in their hands, which was what a priest would carry. They were made out of copper, though, whereas the priest in the tabernacle was gold. But they came with their censors. And when they did, a fire came out from God, and he destroyed them. Everything was burned. and God judged them. Except the censors, it did not consume them. And he told Moses to beat those censors into broad plates and put them on the sides of the altar so that it would be a memorial to the children of Israel.
In other words, that they should not go up against their leaders. And to me, this is a great warning to us Christians because Sometimes we get a little knowledge, and maybe this elder is not a man that studies the word. He doesn't even have the time. Maybe he's at a job. And so some sister or some brother who has a lot of time to study gets ahead of him in knowledge and so feels superior to him. What a terrible thing. What a terrible attitude. It's just what was here. I've heard people say, why don't those elders do something?
And little did they know, in one particular case I have in mind, and they said that those elders were meeting into the wee hours of the morning, beseeching a man to complain about his sin, and he would not. And I saw these elders fall on their knees and weep tears as they pled with the Lord to help this brother to get straight. And yet there were some people that didn't know all that and they said, why don't these elders do something? Oh, saints, we need to be so careful. You know, God tells us a few things about our attitude toward elders.
And with that, I'll close. Let's look at the verses that mention that. First Thessalonians chapter five. What should our attitude be to our leaders, our elders? and to the deepens. First Thessalonians