Body Life at Its Best, Part 2

The body that's important and the cells that function are all spiritual in nature. Today, Chuck Swindoll points to a biblical metaphor that depicts the family of God. And when they function, we equip one another.

There is no revolt, there is no resistance, there is no mutiny, there is no disease. When the functions of the body are going on, health pervades and the wonderful thing is people get built up, they get equipped. Today's church has many expressions. We have small churches, mega churches, and even online churches. But according to the Apostle Paul, the best way to picture a church is to think of a physical body in which all of the parts work together in perfect coordination. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll helps us understand the metaphor Paul used in Ephesians 4 so we can apply these principles to our times.

If you were unable to join us for Friday's program, we'll begin with a helpful summary. Chuck titled this message, Body Life at its Best. We easily forget that the church is a body. We have tried to operate the church as an institution, a corporation, a business, but the reality Paul wants us to grasp in Ephesians is that the church is a body made up of cells, and the cells are individual believers.

You and me and other brothers and sisters in Christ, each cell has a unique role to play in keeping the entire body healthy. No section of scripture addresses this clearer than Ephesians 4 11 to 16. It is beyond me why churches all around the world aren't serious students of and models of Ephesians 4 11 to 16.

It is beyond me. If and when that becomes a reality in our midst as a church, we will be blown away at how healthy we stay, how the cults, though they may come knocking, will not get a foothold in our lives, and how we will care for each other like the body cells care for one another. What you witness in church splits, church arguments, and church battles, and church fights is nothing more than cells in revolt, and the body isn't functioning. Look again at Ephesians 4 and be reminded of Paul's words as he starts the chapter, I'm a prisoner of the Lord. Remember he's in Rome, he's under house arrest, he's literally bound to a Roman soldier for an undetermined period of time.

During that while he writes four letters that have come to be known as the prison letters. Ephesians is one of them. And so he really is a prisoner because of his commitment to the Lord, and he implores the reader in Ephesus to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which he has been called. Please note the words in the verse that follow, with humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance, and love. Those are not corporate terms, those are not institutional guidelines, those are body functions. When the body of Christ, the church, is at its healthiest stage, you will witness before your eyes, and so will the world at large, to their amazement, the outworking of humility, the absence of pride, gentleness, the absence of force, patience, the absence of impatience and rage and anger, tolerance, the absence of legalism and restrictive thinking, and love, the absence of ignoring others and fighting with one another.

How is that done? Verse 3 tells us by preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And with that he launches into a great treatise on unity.

If you haven't marked it already, look at the frequent repetition of the word one. There is one body, one spirit, just as you were called, in one hope of your calling. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. There is one God, Father of all, who is over all, through all, in all. He couldn't be much clearer, there is one, one, one, one.

In fact, there is one God over all who is overthrew and in all, and in it all is the sovereign hand of God, superseding, overshadowing, guiding under the direction of the head of the church, Christ, the body of Christ. But, verse 7 begins, always notice why there is a connective particle that contrasts the context. But, now up till now it's been unity, unity, one, one, all, all, but to each one of you, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

What does that mean? Well, initially it means you were given the gift of salvation through faith in the Savior. Through faith in Christ, you received forgiveness and the hope of eternal life. You came to the cross by faith, like those sitting around you in the family of God, and you submitted yourself to Christ, acknowledging that you're lost.

You turned away from that lifestyle and you turned toward Christ, repentance. You accepted the gift of eternal life and you received grace to live it. It not only means salvation at conversion, it means a spiritual gift. You were given at least one spiritual gift. If you do not have a gift, you are not a Christian. If you are a Christian, you have at least one, probably more than one, spiritual gift. Grace was given you, each one of you.

Stedman continues, each one of us is gifted. It doesn't matter whether we are old, young, rich, poor, talented, awkward, articulate, quiet, handsome, plain, popular, unknown, you have a spiritual gift. If you do not have a spiritual gift, you are not a Christian. If you know and exercise your gift, you contribute to the vitality and ministry of the church. If not, listen to this, you rob the church of a measure of the impact and influence God intended his church to have in the world.

Now that's a new way to look at it. If you have the gift of showing mercy but you don't show mercy, part of the body is hurting because you don't. Part of a need in the body goes unmet. If you have a gift of organization and that is your joy, that is your spirit empowered gift and you don't exercise it, the church hurts because of that. If you have a gift of teaching and you're not engaged in teaching in God's time, as he opens the door for you to teach, then part of the group of God's people that could be taught by you is going to remain untaught and the truth will remain unsaid because you are not exercising your gift. You have abilities that God has given you to use in the body of Christ and it will be different from the other person.

It'll be different from people in your family. But God designs the body so that we carry out his giftedness to the body. Look at verse 11. He gave some as apostles. He gave some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastor teachers. He gave those gifts in the body.

I had an artist friend of mine do a little rendering of the body and I'm prepared to show it to you. Okay, here we are. Problem is there are no children in it, but you can put them there because they are omnipresent. If you will notice, there you are. There's your picture. See yourself. Find yourself.

Don't tell anybody, but find yourself there. All different sizes, all different ages. I started to say all different sexes.

Both sexes, you will see all of it right there in the body and we are all made up of all different sizes and shapes and we therefore have all different things to contribute to the body. The question is why? Why has the Lord gifted the body with these spiritual gifts? I mean, couldn't he have done it? Sure, he could have done it. He can do it all. He's God. Well, couldn't angels have done it? Absolutely. All he's got to do is say, go to it, and they're all over us.

Man, they're everywhere. But he didn't do that. He said, I want the body to function within itself. I want the cells within my body to serve the body itself.

And so all the way through the writings of Paul, not all the way, but in many places, Paul talks about the body functioning in health and the analogy is the church as the body. Now why does he do that? I want you to look at verse 12 because it is the answer to that question.

Why? There's an immediate reason, there's an intermediate reason, progressive reason, and there is an ultimate reason. The immediate reason is for the equipping of the Saints. The intermediate reason is for the work of service. The ultimate reason is for the building up of the body of Christ.

Look at the verse. He gave some as, and he names all these gifts here, and the reason he did that was to begin with for the equipping of the Saints. Your gift when it is exercised equips Saints. My gift when it is exercised equips Saints. Your gift may not be as visible as another person's gift.

It's not important. The Lord looks at the heart, not at the outward appearance. All we saw in that little artist's rendering is the bodies, but what we really should have seen is the gifts that are going on within the bodies. You know, it occurred to me when I was preparing this that I've never seen anybody carry a picture of an x-ray of one of their organs. Nobody's ever said, let me show you my kidney. You will never believe it.

It makes us laugh. Look at my stomach. Look at that. Have you ever seen a stomach? I mean this stomach, not the other one. Or here's my heart. Look, have you ever seen?

We don't do that. We carry pictures of our persons, the externals. The Lord sees us through x-ray eyes, and the body he sees is not a body that's heavyset or thin or six feet two or five feet three or male or female. That's not the body that's important to him. The body that's important and the cells that function are all spiritual in nature.

And when they function, we equip one another. There is no revolt. There is no resistance. There is no mutiny. There is no disease. When the functions of the body are going on, health pervades and the wonderful thing is people get built up.

They get equipped. One of the reasons God gives us pastor teachers, you'll see that listed last in the list of verse 11, is that you might be equipped. I'll put my neck on the line. If you leave a church service following any meeting we have where I am a teacher and you weren't equipped better to live the life, you got ripped off. I did not do my job. Mark it down.

Or if I did my job, you may not have listened and taken it in. The point is there is equipping going on even now. The primary purpose of the gifts, unless it is the gift of evangelism, is not to evangelize the lost. It is to equip the saints. And then the saints evangelize the lost.

The church hasn't gotten that message and the result is starving congregations the world over because they're not being equipped. This word equip is the Greek term katartizo. K-a-t-a-r-t-i-z-o. Katartizo is an interesting word. It means to add what is lacking so the original purpose is fulfilled. It's used for a net that's torn and when the net is patched, sewn back together, it is katartizoed.

It's prepared so that its original purpose is fulfilled. If you pull up, if something happens to your arm and you get it pulled out a joint and somebody resets the joint so it's in place, they have katartizoed the joint. If you break a bone and the physician sets the bone and puts it in the cast so that it heals and it's not healthy again, he has katartizoed the bone.

If there is an army going into battle and you equip the army with the weapons and ammunition or whatever, that army has been katartizoed. Now, this is not about ships or armies or bones or joints or nets, this is about the body of Christ. The purpose of your time in the body of Christ, initially thanks to these gifts, is to be built up or equipped so that you function in ways that you otherwise would not know to function.

Look at the next thing. For the work of servants. Isn't that great? The purpose of the gifts is to equip the saints so that the saints take up the work of ministry. Traditionally, people hire staff so the staff will do the work of ministry and we sit back, arms folded, and if something needs to get done, we hire more and we hire more. If that isn't getting done, hire somebody else. Nothing is said about volunteerism, it's just hire somebody else. Nothing wrong with staff, but the purpose of the staff isn't to do the work of ministry, it's to train others to do the work of ministry.

It's an eye-opening thought, isn't it? One of my more colorful mentors used to say, the church is too much like a football game. Fifty thousand people in the stands desperately in need of exercise, watching 22 people on the field definitely and desperately in need of rest.

Howie Hendricks gets credit for that. We are not to be a group of spectators watching a few people do the work of ministry. We participate. We are engaged in meeting the needs of the flock, you with the other, her with him, he with him, her with her, me with you, you with me.

It is a give-and-take, it's like the cells working together. And when they work together, it's remarkable what a health pervades. And we take up the work of service. The word service, by the way, is the word deacon. We deacon, we learn the work of serving one another. And ultimately, please observe to the building up of the body of Christ. Think of this as a strong body. Why are you laughing?

Really strong muscles, you know, pumping iron, really able to stand firm, climb mountains, go around the world in a boat. Doesn't matter whatever happens, you're not gonna, you're not gonna give up. You're gonna go after it. Why? Because you've been built up. You've been prepared. You've been equipped. You've been caught or tizzled.

That's body life. When the body functions as it is to function, the life begins to flow, needs get met, and we no longer live like little children. Look, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, mark the word unity, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, mark the word knowledge, to a mature man, mark the word mature. If you wonder what that standard is, it is to the measure of the state of the stature of which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

He is our standard. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but truthing it, mark the word truth in love. We are to grow up. Now, I challenged us to grow up several days ago.

Some of you remember being a little stunned when I used those words, grow up. And there they are, right there in the scriptures. Verse 15, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ.

This is body life at its best. We grow up. We are not adults living like children, we are adults handling ourselves in an adult manner.

Now, let's be careful here. There's nothing wrong with children. I love children. In fact, often they don't have a clue.

That's what's so cute about being with them. The other day I was with Austin, our five-year-old grandson, and he was in the pickup with me and we were riding along one of these streets here in Frisco and turned a corner and there's a brand new fire station on the right. And I said, Austin, look, fire station, like that new white fire truck. Look at that.

I was more excited than he was. Look at that fire truck. He goes, I know it, Bob. He says, firemen are good people. They're important, but I'm going to be a train man.

I said, really? When are you going to be a train man? He says, when I am grown up.

I said, when are you going to be grown up? When I am 600. 600. Then he starts to count by tens to 600.

So I'm wading through that as he, 10, 20, 30, 40. He had just learned that in school and so he was practicing on me. So he learned 600. It's as far as he could go.

So he's going to be 600. He's going to be grown. I said, I know it.

I'm kidding. He said, when I'm 13, I'm leaving home to go to train school. So now it's 13.

He's going to be 13. I said, let me ask you a question, Austin. Do you like to eat? He said, yes, sir.

It's my favorite thing. I said, don't leave home at age 13, son. A lot of hunger out there.

Stay there as long as they pump food in you and then shove off, you know. He said, I know that. He says, I'm going to be grown up when I'm 42.

Where does he get that? He doesn't have a clue when he's going to be grown up. Isn't that fun?

We laughed at more fun in the front seat there in my pickup, laughing together. And all of a sudden I came that afternoon to this passage and I thought, but when adults act like that, it's tragic. It's tragic. Nothing cuter than little children being clueless.

Few things more tragic than adults living clueless lives. And along comes some slick, capable spokesman for the cult. And he opens the door of his car and says, get in. And we slide right in. And we buy that whole message because we have been deceived by the trickery and craftiness of deceitful scheming.

I haven't grown up. When you are properly equipped doctrinally, when you are properly equipped physically and spiritually, you don't give in to the cults. You stand against it. You can sniff it out. You can smell this is wrong. And you have the courage to say, no thank you. In fact, let me explain to you the truth.

And on your own, without a pastor nearby, you can open the scriptures and show them the way. That's adult. While I'm on the subject, let me add, when you hear of splits in a church and church fights, church arguments, what you're hearing is children at play in adult bodies. That's what you're seeing.

That's what you're hearing. That's why it's so tragic. Few things are more tragic than a child in an adult body.

Because you have the permission, but you haven't the wisdom to handle the role. The exercise of the gifts, the equipping of the saints, prepare you for hard times. And you grow up in all aspects. You know, one of the great things about being adult is you're no longer selfish.

What is it we remember and love so much about our mothers is that whether it was day or night, weekends or weekdays when we were sick, they were there. It's because we know they gave up this so that we might have that. It's called unselfish. It's called maturity. And maturity is the end goal. These steps prescribed by Paul lead us into spiritual adulthood. You're listening to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of pastor and author Chuck Swindoll. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org.

In a week when the eyes of the world are focused on an important national election, we're intent on placing our confidence on the one who taught us. We are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. Instead, as Paul said, we're to grow up in all respects into him who is the head, even Christ. With this in mind, I'd like to point you to a helpful resource designed to stimulate your spiritual maturity. It's a daily devotional Chuck has written called Good Morning Lord, Can We Talk? As the title implies, Chuck's book is intended for morning reading times in Scripture, followed by candid conversation with your Lord. And if you're looking for a devotional to guide you through the uncertainties of 2021, we highly recommend securing a copy of Good Morning Lord.

You can do that right now by going to insight.org slash store or by calling us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. You know, a ministry the scope and size of Insight for Living can't be sustained on the sale of resources alone. Instead, this global outreach is fueled by the voluntary gifts of listeners like you. We're especially grateful for our monthly companions.

In recent years, they become a driving force to help us deliver Insight for Living all around the world through Vision 195. To become a monthly companion right now or to give a one-time donation, call 1-800-772-8888. Thank you for understanding the need for your support, especially in this unsettling season in our country when listeners are craving a touch of God's grace. To give a one-time donation, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. You can also give online by going to insight.org. I'm Dave Spiker. Tomorrow, Chuck Swindoll continues to describe body life at its best.

Be listening Tuesday for Insight for Living. The preceding message, Body Life at its Best, was copyrighted in 2000, 2001, and 2009. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2009 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.