Ephesians 4:11-13

Rachel Workman: ¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

I like unity. Seems like a refreshing change of pace from what the world is practicing now. Wow, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. I can't even imagine this honestly. I know I don't measure up.

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Pat Bell:  I will forever be striving to measure up! I am grateful.

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Mike Grimm:  ¹¹So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up our oneness in Christ does not destroy our individuality. The Holy Spirit has given each Christian special gifts for building up the church. Now that we have these gifts, it is crucial to use them. Am I spiritually mature, exercising the gifts God has given me? Not by a long shot. If we know what our gifts are, we need to look for opportunities to serve. If we don't know, we need to ask God to show us. Perhaps with the help of a church group, volunteer service, or a good Christian friend. ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

God has given His church an enormous responsibility -- to make disciple in every nation. This involves preaching, teaching, healing, nurturing, giving, administering, building, and many other tasks. This is something we could never do alone as individuals. It would be impossible. But God calls us as members of His body. Together we can obey God more fully than any of us could alone. As the body of Christ, we can accomplish more together than we would dream possible working by ourselves. Working together, the church can express the fullness of Christ.

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John Burnett:  ¹⁰ He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds^[c] and teachers,^[d] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,^[e] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Unity of the faith and knowledge of Christ, can only be attained by born again believers who have been given the Holy Spirit.  Without the Holy Spirit, people will fall for false doctrines and listen to false teachers.  All you have to do is turn on the TV or look at their bank accounts and you will see who they are.

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Tomorrow’s reading for Ephesians 4:14-16

¹⁴ 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 they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. 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.