Equipping the Saints
Ephesians 4:11-13
January 22, 2023
In 1851 Queen Victoria of Great Britain, through the influence of her husband, Albert, opened the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The event was held in Hyde Park in London, and people streamed to the exhibit from England and from around the world.
One of the major influences of the time was steam-driven power; so at the Exhibit there were steam plows, a steam organ, and even a steam canon. But the invention that won the prize for the Exhibit was made of 7000 parts — pulleys, bells, whistles, and gears. “Gears that meshed with other gears that hummed in harmony and whirled in perfect synchronization. It was a sight to behold. Interestingly, it accomplished nothing.” [Swindoll, Rise and Shine.]
When you are building a machine or a house or a business or a church — it’s easy to forget why you are constructing what you are constructing. And when you do that, you will inevitably start doing some wasteful, or even worse, wrong things.
At times, in all the busy-ness in the life of the church, we forget what God’s plan for the church is. We have a plan; we know what we want to do. But is that what God’s plan and purpose is for the church?
One of the core values GBC has is that “we believe in every member ministry.” Every member of the church body is a minister, gifted by God and equipped by the church to serve in the church for the glory of God. And that truth is found in the passage before us this morning, Ephesians 4:11-13. If I can give you the theme of this passage in a few words, it is this —
God’s plan is for all His people to serve His church so all the church becomes mature.
The church is a place where God’s people gather to exercise their gifts towards each other for the benefit of each other. It’s where relationships are built and in the context of those relationships, all the members are trained and then they use their spiritual gifts with each other so that the church body is built and matured. The church is the place where we purposefully equip and prepare people to serve.
This morning we are fleshing out our theme for the year: “Equip the Saints.” What does that mean and what is God’s plan for us to do that?
In this passage, we find six provisions for equipping and being equipped to help the church become mature.
- The Context of Equipping (v. 1)
- The Attitude of Equippers (vv. 2-3)
- The Grace for Equippers (vv. 4-10)
- The Gifts for Equippers (v. 11)
- The Purpose of Equipping (v. 12)
- The Goal of Equipping (v. 13)
Download the rest of this sermon on Ephesians 4:11-13.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.
Words of Grace 