Process – Part 1

There is a lot in Ephesians 4:11 – 16 (here at Bible Gateway).  The illustration I lead with yesterday was one simple attempt to summarize the application of this passage in the Body.  I have used the illustration more times than I can count over the past 16 plus years. 

The idea is that we engage believers in the Word, we establish them so they can stand on their own (which, by the way is the meaning behind the Greek word we translate establish), then we equip them to engage others.  It is simple.  As I have thought through it over the past few years, I came to realize that it was too simple.  Thus, the revised, unpopulated illustration above.

The biggest challenge with the original version is it was focused on believers.  The assumption behind the illustration is that the starting point was a group of believers that wanted or needed to grow in their walk with God or their understanding and application of the Bible.  While that is still an important challenge, it leaves out one of our primary tasks as believers, sharing the great news of salvation by grace through the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and ongoing intercession for us of Jesus Christ.

So, the first change is to start with the word “Expose” as one of the starting points of the illustration.  

As believers, followers of Christ, we are to embrace and carry out the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18 – 20 (here at Bible Gateway).  The imperative in that passage is “make disciples,” or another way to think about it is to make learners, people who would become those who give their lives to learn about and follow Jesus.  

Note that it is the job of the leadership of the Church, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints, each individual in the Body to do the work of service.  That work of service includes and starts with exposing people to both the gospel and the Body of Christ.

We share the gospel, but we also share ourselves and our community.  Why, because of John 13:34 – 35 (here at Bible Gateway).  There is much more to say about this in Ephesians 4, that we will deal with in a later post, but at this point the message is that the love expressed in the body for one another, is validation of the truth of the gospel to which we expose people.

I am struggling not to share more here, but I need to stop.  We will cover this all in more detail as we progress.  If any of this raises questions for you, please let me know in the comments, and I will either answer them there or make sure we cover it in subsequent posts.