The work of the ministry of..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. You're about to hear God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit our website at cornerstonerbc.com.

That's cornerstonerbc.com. Ephesians chapter 3 verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knee before the Father, from whom the whole family or every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, might have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far abundantly, more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen. I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men. In saying He ascended, what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.

Verse 12. To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the whole body of Christ until we all attain the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed and thrown by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Amen, what a beautiful Scripture it is and so powerful. My dear brother and sister, throughout these weeks, one of the main things that I have tried to say to you is that one of the evidences that a person is a genuine Christian, that a person is a genuine believer is that that person loves the brothers and sisters.

Having preached through 1 John, we have concluded that this is perhaps one of the most important signs of a genuine believer. If you want to see a genuine Christian brother and sister, then you see that person loving the brothers and sisters. 1 John 3, verse 10, it says that this is the evidence that distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil. Righteousness and loving the brothers and sisters. Righteousness, the life of righteousness that is manifested in that we love the brothers and sisters.

This is what distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil. Love to the brethren. And what is most beautiful about that commandment of loving the brothers and sisters is not so much what is explicitly contained in it, which is namely to love the brothers and sisters, but rather that which is implicitly assumed in that commandment. And that is the church. For how can a person love a brother and sister if they are not within the context of the brothers and sisters?

In order for a genuine Christian to manifest the fruit of God in the life of that person, then that person is supposed to be in the context of the church with the brothers and sisters. That commandment assumes that the Christian, when providentially allowed and when the decree of the Lord allows that, then that person is going to be within the context of the body of the Lord, namely the church. And then the person will be able to manifest externally the love that God has bestowed upon that person, making them a child of God, now them loving the brothers and sisters. Because the person who says, I love God, when they do not love the brothers and sisters, is a spiritual liar. For how can someone say that I love God, whom they have not seen, when they do not love the brothers and sisters, whom they are next to him or her?

This is the glories of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can see in the gospel of Christ, brothers and sisters, how important it is for God, the church, because Jesus Christ came to this world to die for the church, Ephesians chapter 5. He came to this world to die for his bride. brothers and sisters from different places, they have come together by the grace of the Lord to form the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the plan of God.

This is the mission of God. It is to extend His kingdom through the gospel of Jesus Christ in the hearts of brothers and sisters, namely the Church. Because the church is not this building or that building. It's not this chair or those chairs. The church is not a physical entity that you touch and see.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ are you, brethren. Those who by grace through faith have been united to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the mission of God is that this church will grow in conformity to Jesus Christ. That these people that have been taken from different places and different backgrounds, that they will grow in conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what the Lord has done in his marvelous plans?

He has given us that task to the saints that with the work of our ministry, each one of us will contribute to the growth of the church in conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what we have there in those verses in chapter 4 in verse 12. It says, "...to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." The Lord gave his only, God the Father gave his only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross to rescue a group of people, that is the church.

And the goal of this church is to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And while God could have just simply brought into instant image this group of people into conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, he has decided to make us participants of that work of conformity of people that come from different places so that through the ministry and the work of the saints, a group of people that are called the church will be conformed to the image of the Son of God, that is the radiance of the glory of God, the beloved of the Father, the one that is righteous and the one that is perfect, the one that is the one who sustains all things by the power of His mouth." Oh, brethren, that is an incredible... thing and you know sometimes we are confused with the word ministry because we think that ministry means pastor or shepherd or those people that have or are in the ministry but what the apostle tells us there in verse 13 is that the saints have this work of ministry verse 12 to keep the saints for the work of ministry is that every single christian is called to be and participate in this work of the ministry of the church. And I'll actually argue from what I'm going to try to say today is that it's the Christian, the body, each one of the members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, the means by which the whole body is conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is that how biblical we are as a church, how healthy we are as a church, how close we are as a group of people to the will of God, it is not contingent upon one person, it is not contingent upon a building, it is not contingent upon a name, but depends upon the grace of God working in each one of us, brethren. And sometimes I'm a little bit, you know, let's just say frustrated with the way that the Western perception of the church is in which there's a certain level of passivity or activity. And there's a person or a group of people that take a preeminent role. And then there will be a certain level of passivity in the rest of the church. And that allows for churches to grow into thousands and thousands or hundreds and thousands of people because the model allows for someone to be active and the rest to be passive and we call that church.

Well, brethren, a biblical church is for everyone to be active in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we all bring to each other to the Lord Jesus Christ and are conformed to the image of the Savior. I want us to see the importance of the duty that each one of us has to contribute to the local body. And what I'm going to say, brethren, I'm not saying that we are not there. Certainly we are not there, but I'm very thankful for what the Lord is doing and continues to do among us, bringing us to the Lord Jesus Christ and bringing us closer to each other and how we have grown in love and in fellowship and all of these things. I'm thankful to the Lord for everything that the Lord is doing and will continue to do.

But at the same time, my dear brother and sister, we are to look to Christ so that he will continue to purify his church and making us advance in conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. And for that, for that, this church, this local church and every other church needs that every saint will understand the great calling that we have for the work of the ministry of the saints. That each one of us here present is important in the work of the church and that each one of us as a member of the body of Christ contributes to the spiritual growth of the church in conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer has been called to ministry, brethren. Every believer, by virtue of the grace of God that has saved us and forgiven us, has a ministry and that is the ministry of the church.

Many people in the world say that when a person does not have purpose, and does not understand where they are going, then that person is going to be going from one place to another, wasting their time and their resources because simply they do not know where they are going. They have all plans and all intentions and all of their resources are just wasted and spent in different things because they don't have a point of destination. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has already given us a point of focus and a point of destination. And that is that He came, He died upon the cross to save us and to redeem us. And our mission is to glorify Him in all things in the context of the church.

And our lives are hidden in the hands of God in Christ Jesus. And where we are headed, it is already secured and safe for us. That is the purpose of the life of the Christian. And let me submit to you that the purpose of the life of the individual Christian is only lived and seen in the context of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. three things that I want us to do from this text.

The first one is that I want to show you the importance and the seriousness of the individual calling that each one of us has to this work of the ministry of the church. I want us to see the importance of it. I want you to see that your role as a member, part of the congregation is of importance for the growth, the spiritual growth of the church. And I want to see importance from the context of this text. Second, the second thing that I want us to do is to see what is that work of the ministry of the Saints?

What is it? We're going to see that from verse 12 and onwards. And then finally, I will just simply briefly speak about how to do that work. of the ministry. First, I want to focus on the importance of it.

Second, on what is that work of the ministry that each one of the saints have? Because perhaps when someone looks at me and they say, well, you're a pastor, then that is your ministry. But then how do we know what the apostle refers and is talking about here for the saints? I want us to consider what is that work of the ministry for the saints. And then thirdly, I want us to consider how to do the work of the ministry.

So let us start with the importance. Let me tell you and submit to you, my dear brother and sister, that your work of the ministry in the context of the local church brings glory to God. Pay attention to what the apostle says in verse 20 in chapter three, verse 20 and 21. He says, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, Pay attention. According to the power at work within us.

Pay attention to 21. To him be glory. Where? In the church. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever.

Amen. The unbeliever is unable to give glory to God. The only person that can give glory to God is the one who has been begotten again by the work of the Spirit. Romans chapter 8 tells us that the one that is not in Christ cannot please God, because God is only pleased, Hebrews chapter 11, by faith. God is only pleased by faith, and faith is only given to those who are the people of God, namely the church.

The church is the only one that can bring glory to the Lord. And the way that the church brings glory to the Lord, it is with the work of the ministry of each one of the members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. When his church is operating as the Lord intends the church to do, then this brings glory to the Lord. And let me submit to you that the glory that the church brings to the Lord is not only a temporal glory, but this is an eternal glory. The Apostle tells us that this glory that is given to the Lord in the Church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations forever and ever.

We are the only ones, the Christians, those who by grace through faith have been saved and are part of the Church, the ones that can give glory to the Lord in the context of the Church. When you operate as you have been called to operate within the context of the Church, You're bringing glory and honor to the one who saved you and the one to redeem to you. This is the purpose of men, to bring glory to God and to enjoy him forever. And the only one who can do that is the one who has been inserted into the context of the church. So if a person is not operating in the context of the church, as we have been called to do, then that person is not bringing the glory to God that God deserves in the context of the church.

Each one of us gives glory to the Lord by doing and acting as we are supposed in the context of the church. Second, in verse 1 of chapter 4, this work of the ministry, my dear brother and sister, is our calling. It says in chapter 4, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Many people ask themselves the question there in verse one. What is that calling that Paul is referring to in verse one of chapter four?

That calling is the Christian calling. The apostle has been writing this letter to Gentiles, primarily the Ephesians. And one of the things that he's telling them in chapter two is that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came, he destroyed the wall of hostility that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles. And now the Jews and the Gentiles have been united into one man. They have been made one because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone and the foundation, the apostles and the prophets. Then the apostle is going to tell them in chapter 3 that this is the calling that the Gentiles have, that in other ages had been hidden from the people, but now has been made public or has been revealed by the prophets and by the apostles. This is the mystery of the calling of the Gentiles. That in the Old Testament, they were apart from the people of God, but now when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, now they have this calling of salvation for the Gentiles. This is the mystery that the Gentiles are saved.

This is the calling of every single Christian, that we are called to be part of the people of God. But what I want you to pay attention is not so much. This is our calling, our Christian calling, but rather the purpose of the calling to the Christian life, which the apostle is going to tell us there in verse two. The purpose of the calling of the Christian life in this case for the Gentiles is that we will make use of the spirit of God in us to preserve the unity of the body. It says in verse two, with all humility and gentleness and with patience bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and one father of all who is over all and through all and in all. We have been called, and in this case the Gentiles, by the Spirit of God to preserve the unity that Jesus Christ brought between the Jews and the Gentiles. In the early church, the Jews and the Gentiles had conflict among them and there were many divisions and separation in the context of the church. This fleshliness of humanity represented in the Jews and the Gentiles of the early church continues to be in the flesh of Christians throughout the ages. So the apostle and the principle applies to us, that is that we have been called to be in the context of the church.

and to operate in such a way that our activity, our ministry, our operations in the context of the church are eager to maintain the unity for which the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world to die and to make us one people. The Lord is glorified with the unity of his body. He came to unify the Jews and the Gentiles. He came to make them one man, grafted into the people of God. He wants and desires that the calling of the Christian will be one, that by the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians chapter 5, Christians will be eager to maintain the unity of love among the people of God because they are the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your work of ministry does not only bring glory to the Lord in the context of the church, but it's also important for the spiritual unity of the body. for the togetherness of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. When a member of the body is not living according to that vocation, according to that calling, is not living according to that mission of eagerness to maintain the unity, then that body is not unified because one of the members or some of the members are disconnected from the body. If my hand is away from my body, then my body suffers. If my leg is disconnected from my body, then my body suffers.

It is the intention of the Lord that there will be unity in the context of the body. But also, your calling and your ministry is very important, verse 7, because the Lord has given you a special grace to each one of us that equips us for that particular calling. Verse 7, it says, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. The Apostle has spoken about the unity of the body from verse 1 to verse 6. He wants to emphasize that we are all together one body.

But at the same point, the Apostle wants to acknowledge and recognize that even though we are one body, we are not all the same and we have not all the same grace from the Lord. Each one of us has received a grace according to the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. So in the unity of the body, there's also variety, there's also plurality, there's diversity in the unity of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And each one of us is not only a member of the whole, but also unique. And because we are unique in the context of this body, then the body needs each one of the members that belong to that body.

Because there's a grace that has been given to you that has not been given to me. There's a grace that has been given to me that has not been given to you. And by virtue of being together and being the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, we need each other's graces, brethren. It is God's will that these little deposits of portions of grace that He has given to these people, when they come together, they minister to each other and they help each other. So what a terrible thing would be for Christians to try to be like their pastor.

What a terrible thing would be for Christians to try to be like each other. What a terrible thing would be for Christians to look to the person seated next to them and say, I wish I was like them. Brethren, God's sovereignty and providence for your life, it is for your life. And the grace that He gives to you is for you. Yes, in the context of the body, but it is for you.

And you're to be thankful for the work of the Lord, because he will not forsake that work of the Lord that he has started in your life as part of the body. Yes, united as a body, brothers and sisters, diverse. And I think that the more diverse a church is, more beautiful than our churches, that the more accents that we have, the more places from which we come from, and the more different backgrounds that we have, brethren, that represents the gospel of Jesus Christ. Imagine if everyone was Colombian here, if everyone was Argentinian, or Australian, or Croatian. Imagine if everyone was exactly the same.

I'm not saying that we should not have churches like that, because I imagine that in Colombia, there might be churches only with Colombians. But brethren, This is the beauty of the diversity of the body of Jesus Christ. And that means that when I see my brother and sister, that's no matter how broken they are. If they are by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, he has given them certain grace that is beneficial to me. He has given them certain grace that is beneficial for the body.

So then we can minister and help each other in the things of the Lord, the work of the ministry of the saints. And brethren, it is such an important matter that the cost of those gifts that the Lord has given us according to His grace was that the Lord Jesus Christ will come and die. and ascended. Pay attention to verse 6 or verse 7. It says, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

This is the gift of Christ to his church. Then the apostle is going to tell us the cost of that gift that Christ has given us. And he says in verse 8, Therefore, it says when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men in saying he ascended. What does he mean? But he has also descended into the lower regions of the earth.

He who descended is the one also who ascended far above the heavens. that he might feel all things. Putting aside the controversial part of that verse that descended into the lower part of the earth, the main point of the Apostle is not so much what is that lower part of the earth, which we are not going to answer here. The most important aspect or the most important idea that the Apostle has in mind is that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended, that he ascended And brethren, for him to ascend, to give us gifts to his church, he had to come in the likeness of our flesh. He had to submit himself not only to the law, but to the requirements that the Father had given him before the foundation of the world.

He had to die by the hands of sinners. He was resurrected, and then he was ascended, and he seated at the right hand of the Father. And all of this to give to the church, Gifts. Thank you so much, brother. Thank you.

To give to this church. I hope that my sweat is not distracting, brother. It's not? A little bit? Okay.

The main thing is that He ascended, brother. And when He ascended, He gave us gifts. You know, remember the main gift that He gave us. You know what the main gift that He gave us is? The Holy Spirit that came upon the church, remember?

It is necessary that I will go because if I go, I will send you another comforter and this comforter will point you to the truth and this comforter will point you to me. The Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven to bestow upon His people all these gifts that are necessary for the church to continue to grow in conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, I don't know if this is for you, but certainly it is for me. I think that this is amazing. God who created the heavens and the earth, He can just simply speak something into existence.

He can just speak the church into being what He wants the church to be. Yet He decided that people will be on this planet and during this time, by the power of His Spirit, ministering to each other, living with each other and using their service and the work of their ministry to bring conformity, not to an image of a statue that man has made, but to bring conformity to the image of the Son of God. that He uses the gift given to you and to me so that when we come together, we produce in each other the Son of God. Oh, brethren, that is incredible. This is the glorious work of the gospel and this is the beauty of the church and the cost of that, brethren, was that he came, he died, and now he's ascended and he continues to minister to his church seated at the right hand of the Father.

What I'm trying to do here, brethren, is to show you the seriousness of the work of the ministry of each one of you. Yes, I'm preaching and I'm the one that is speaking here and you're seated there, but brethren, this church is not one or some. This church is every single person and for us to advance in greater manifestations of Christ among us, in greatest holiness. And that the Lord will work among us. We need each other as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And having ascended the Lord Jesus Christ does not only give gifts to the saints, but he also provides to the church what the church needs. And that's given to us in verse 11. He says, and he gave this is the gift. This is the gift. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers.

What is the purpose of the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers? The purpose is to equip who? The saints, that is all of us Christians, For what? For the work of the ministry. What is the purpose?

For the building up of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle is saying just simply this. Jesus Christ came to this world to die upon the cross and his death was not only for the purpose of forgiving us of our sins and our trespasses and guaranteeing that we're going to make it into heaven. The purpose of his death and then his resurrection and his ascension was so that by sending the Holy Spirit into the church, now the church will start to operate. And the operations of the church, based on the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the shepherds and the teachers, which are ministries of the word of God, all of them ministries of truth.

The apostles have the authority of the word. The prophets have the revelation of the word of God. The evangelists have the proclamation of the gospel. Shepherds and teachers, they teach the word of the Lord. So that through the proclamation of the truth, Saints will be equipped so that they can do what I intend to do with my people.

And then these people that are sinners, broken, that come from different backgrounds and different places, that many times do not trust me, that many times forget about my commandments, that many times are distracted by the things of the world, that eventually by the coming together of these people, they will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. glorious. That is glorious, brethren. This is the work of our Savior. This is glorious.

Because you understand that just by virtue of being Christians and being brothers, there's something that connects us that is deeper than the relationship that any of you can have with your unbelieving brother or sister or cousin or something, that there is something deeper that connects us, that makes us want something that is deeper. And that is not in us. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ. How would we not love each other, brethren, right? How we will not help each other?

How would we just simply spend ourselves on something else that is not the people of God? And brethren, this work of the ministry, verse 12, this work of the ministry, verse 12, is for all the saints. Pay attention to verse 12. To equip the saints. Pay attention to what it does not say.

It does not say to equip some of the saints. It does not say that. Verse 12, it does not say to equip most of the saints. It does not say that. It says to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

No escape to the glorious responsibility that each one of us have to each other in the context of the local church. It does not matter what your past is. It does not matter how broken you are. It does not matter that you think that you don't know. It does not matter that you think that you can't.

If the grace of the Lord has made you a child of God, he has already given you what is enough and sufficient for you to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord for the building up of the body. If a person has been saved, then that person needs to understand the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can be a person safe if they don't understand the gospel? That person cannot be safe. If a person is genuinely safe, at least that person understands the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And brethren, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. The one who understands that He came to die upon the cross for their sins and that is by grace through faith alone has sufficient grace in themselves to be instruments of encouragement and edification to any soul. Because even those people who know a lot of things about the Bible and theology, when they're broken, brethren, they need the easiest and the simplest of the most simple statements about the gospel. I'm telling you, you can learn whatever when it comes to theology, you can learn anything, as deep as you want. But when you're broken and when you're in a dark place, the only thing that many times you need is look to Christ.

And that can save any brother and sister that is in the context of the church of brethren. Do not allow your own flesh or the temptations of that which is outside of you just to simply Give up to the work of the ministry for which we have been called. Because when that happens in the context of the church, you're not the only one that is affected. You know who it is affected also? Who?

You tell me. The body. The body is affected. So 35 minutes. Not very good.

What is what is the work of that ministry? What is the work of that ministry? Please pay attention to this. I've tried up to this point to show you the importance and the seriousness of what it is, your individual ministry in the context of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is this work of the ministry?

Let me just simply put it in simple words, and then I will show you from the context of chapter four and five. I will just simply say this, practical truth, practical truth. And I'm not very good at coming up with names. Hence, I will explain what I mean. This practical truth, what the apostle has in mind here, it is a battle between truth and lies.

And what the puzzle says is that real truth that is given to the Christians is a truth that is going to be manifested in actions. Why? Because those who do not have the truth of God in his mind the Gentiles, spiritually speaking, they live according to the lies, not according to the truth. So the point of the puzzle is this. Jesus Christ has given to the church the most important thing.

And the most important thing that Jesus Christ has given to the church, apart, of course, from salvation and eternal life for the work of the ministry, is the truth. And the price of that truth is that he came and died upon the cross, and now he's ascended. And when he's ascended, he gave gifts to the church. What are those gifts to the church? Apostles and prophets and evangelists and shepherds and teachers.

All of these are ministries of truth. The apostles, the prophets, the shepherds, the teachers, the evangelists. All of these are instruments of the word of God. As I said before, the authority of the word of God with the apostles, the revelation of the word of God with the prophets, the proclamation of the gospel with evangelists and the teaching of the word of God with the teachers and the shepherds. All of these, he will call them then in verse 16, are the joints of the body.

that keeps the body together. Are the joints more important than the parts of the body? Of course, no. It is only that the mission of these apostles and prophets and evangelists and shepherds and teachers is that through the truth that they have, they keep the body united. Pay attention to verse 16 so that you will see what I'm saying here.

From whom, it says, Christ, verse 16, from whom the whole body Verse 16, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint, every joint with which it is equipped. When each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up. These joints are the ones that equip each one of the parts. If you return to verse 12, he has told us that the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists and the shepherds and the teachers, what is the purpose of them? Verse 12.

to equip. These are the joints that keep the body together. I'm saying this is practical truth. The greatest gift that Jesus Christ has given us as his people in our mission on this earth is not a lux, is not the money that we have, is not the building in which we meet. The greatest gift that he has given us is truth.

The truth, but not a truth that abides here, brother. A truth that is a practical truth, something that the apostle will say later, is speaking the truth in love. In his mind, he's comparing those who do not have the understanding or the truth, then they live in unrighteousness. And those who have the truth of God, they are supposed to live in the righteousness of Christ. Pay attention to this in chapter four, verse 17.

Listen to this. Now, this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. Now, the Gentiles, he's referring to spiritual Gentiles, those who are not in Christ. in the futility of their minds, they are darkening their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of the heart, that is, that they do not have the truth or the understanding, they are ignorant of the things of God, hence they do unrighteousness. He makes it more clear in verse 25 of the same chapter, chapter four.

Pay attention. Verse 25. It says, therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. He says, put away all that is false. and speak the truth to your neighbor, because we're members of the one body.

This is the idea that the Apostle has, if you return to verse 15, of speaking the truth in love. Verse 15. Rather, speaking the truth in love. The Apostle is not referring that every time that we speak to each other, we're to be just gracious and have nice words, and we speak the truth in a gentle way. Of course, we are to do that.

But the point of the apostle is more practical than that. The point of the apostle is Jesus Christ has given to the church a great gift. And that great gift is that through the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists and the shepherds and the teachers, he has given them the truth. that will equip each one of the saints to bring the growth to the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he says in verse 15, rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head.

And I understand that perhaps when we read chapter 4, it's a little bit difficult to understand. Why? Because it is actually, I don't know if you knew this, one of the most difficult and complex sections of the Scriptures in the entire New Testament. The way that Paul writes there is very, let's say, challenging. But the point of the puzzle is that a practical truth, a practical truth, brethren, that each one of us has that is to be manifested in the work of the ministry for each other, that makes us grow.

But the apostle is not very clear. What is that practical truth, right? What is it? What is that practical truth? The apostle gives us a little bit of a hint when he's speaking about the negative, the opposite side of it.

If you return to verse 25, let me just explain this, and then I will elaborate. Chapter 4, verse 25. The apostle is not very clear, but then he says this. Pay attention, verse 25. He says, speak the truth in love.

Verse 25, Therefore, having put away falsehood, Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. And then from verse 26, he's going to illustrate what it is to put away falsehood and to speak the truth. One would imagine that he's only speaking words, but he's not referring about only speaking words. He's speaking. He's referring to having the truth inside of us.

That's why the way that we put away falsehood and speak the truth, verse 26, is by being practically righteous. So he says, verse 26, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let this go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil and so on and so on and so on. Why am I saying this? Because I just simply want you to get the main point out of this.

The work that you have as a brother and sister in the context of the church is a role of practical truth. God has given us everything that we'll need for life and godliness through his word and the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ ministered to the congregation in different ways. The apostles, the prophets, pastors and shepherds and teachers and evangelists given to the context of the church so that through that truth that we receive of the Lord Jesus Christ, we will speak the truth in love. In other words, we will minister to each other. And when you go through the New Testament, you're going to find many and diverse ways of how to do that.

And I thought that I'd need to give you at least two or three speaking that as your brother and as your pastor, as what we ought to do as a church to speak the truth in love one to another and to give that a little bit of framework. How do we speak the truth in love to each other as part of the work of the ministry that each one of us has? First, brethren. in prayer we are to pray for one another we are to remember one another in prayer we are to intercede for our brothers and sisters and not only in the secret place brethren if someone comes to you and says brother and sister this is going on and this is happening please You know, like remember me in your prayers many times. I don't know if that happens to you.

Certainly happens to me. I said, OK, brother, I will be praying. And sometimes I forget. Thankfully, I have Jasmine that takes notes of everything that we need to pray for and then we pray for it. But sometimes, brother, I forget.

Why don't we just simply pray there, brother? Why don't you simply just come together and we pray for each other when the opportunity is given and the providence of the Lord allows us? Why don't we? praying for each other, and we speak the truth in love. And when someone is broken and in need, instead of just simply saying, I will do it, let me do it, brother.

Let me pour my grace unto you, and let me pray for you, speaking the truth in love as we pray for each other. As we fellowship with each other, my dear brother and sister, as we have time one with the other, and as we see the difficulties of this life, if you have been saved, you know what the gospel is. And as I said before, you already have enough theology to be an encouragement to your brother and sister. Don't think that you have not lived enough. Don't think that you have not done enough.

Do not think that you do not have enough theology or intelligence in your brain. If you know The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you already know to whom you can point your brother and sister, brother, and let us do it. As we do that, we're building up the body. As we pray for each other and as we help each other, we're building up the body. The darkness that is within us is pushed away by the power of the gospel that we pour upon each other by His grace.

And thirdly, by the gift that the Lord has given to you. Because all of us can pray for each other and can speak the word of God to each other. But each one of us also has received a gift. A grace has been given to us and that gift has been bestowed upon us. Make use of your gift, brother and sister.

And if you don't know what your gift is, let's pray about it and let's discern from the Lord that he will guide us to see what is your gift. But brethren, We are to use the grace that the Lord has given us for the benefit of brothers and sisters. You see how they try to build these big buildings and how they try to go to Mars and then they have the whole thing coming into the right. Wow. Marvelous things.

Brethren, the Lord has given us in his grace a greater building to build. A building that is not seen with the eyes of the flesh. A building that is not put together according to the systems of men. A building that is built up within the inner men. A building that is built up in my brother and sister.

A building that is going to last longer than those buildings that they built. Because there's going to be one day in which fire will come to judge the living and the dead and all of that. Gone. But the work that the Lord does in each one of us with each other, brethren, will endure until eternity. This is the work of the Spirit.

So then the church, brethren, becomes the greatest mission of life to serve one another, to nourish one another, to encourage one another, to help one another. Let me show you the duration of this calling that we have. If you pay attention, this is the duration of our vocation. This is how long it lasts. Some people might say, well, how long do I have to do this?

Perhaps on Sundays, every time that you have to preach, or perhaps for the next two or three years. Pay attention to this. Verse 12, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. Verse 13, until when? until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

I'm sure that this will be by December, right? No, brethren, this is an ongoing task that it will never end. So then the work of the ministry that each one of us has for another brother and sister in the context of the church is until we go. Missionaries, if you want. We have this mission, this work until the day that we go, brethren.

And there is darkness. There's enough darkness in each one of us that needs to be pushed away by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit. And brethren, we have that opportunity to be co-participants of that glorious task. Let us not despair. but rather look to Him, because when we see the work of God among His people, then we will know that it's His work that He used us.

And in that there's much grace, not because we take any name unto us, but rather because He pleased to use broken people for the building up of His body. Let me finish it because it's 49 now. How do we do this? How do we do this? Let me just give you a super hyper practical advice and then a more spiritual one.

Let me just start with a super hyper practical advice. Do it. Simply, we are to do it. Brethren, it's as simple as that. There are things in our lives that we are not supposed to do and that we do.

And then we ask, what should I do about that? Stop it. You simply stop doing it. And there's other things that we should be doing, that we have everything that is necessary for us to do. And then we have thoughts and imaginations and difficulties here, brethren.

We just have to do it. We just have to pray for each other. We have to help one another. We have to be in the Scripture. We have to minister to each other.

Do not wait until Tuesday or next week or the other way. Brethren, we have to do it. Why do we make the Christian life this impossible thing that I need to dissect and I need to have all of these 100 steps ready before I do what I'm called to do? Brethren, Let us just simply, by the grace of the Lord that He has given us and saved us, let us do it. Let us do it because when we do it, brethren, there's glorious things that are happening.

On Friday, we were in the Spanish meeting and we were finishing and then brother Ricardo was praying and then the Spirit of the Lord led him to ask everyone to come and pray for each other. And he said, let us just pray for each other. He just simply did it. And then everyone started to pray for each other. And suddenly we have a room of 30 people in Capos, everyone praying for each other.

And the Spirit of God was among us, brethren. By just simply doing it, we are to minister to each other. We are to love one another. We are to point one another to the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, brethren, Verse 15, Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.

We are to grow up into Him. I don't know if that happens to you, but English is my second language. And when I read that statement there, to grow up into someone, it sounds a little bit strange. I don't know if that happens in your ears. to grow up into someone, to grow up into someone.

It says there we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, to grow up into someone. So then I would then check what is actually what he says there. And the idea of the apostle is that our union and dependence upon Christ will increase because we cannot do it in our own. That is to grow up into the head. If all of these practical things of which I have spoken are done in the flesh, brother, we end up in a mess.

All the love of Christ and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and our personal abiding in the Lord is the one that needs to lead us to all of this work of the ministry that we are to do one for the other. I don't know about you, but certainly, brother, it is my desire and my goal to serve one another, to be spent, and what the Lord Jesus Christ has called us to do, and that is to nourish his bride, to help the one that is broken, to bring the Word of God to the one that is confused, to help the one that needs help, to give encouragement to the one that needs encouragement. And certainly that is not found in us. It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he has given us his spirit.

And his spirit present among us is the one that will lead us into building up the body to the stature and to the measure of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He comes, He will rescue His bride, He will take His people, and He will say, very good, my good and faithful servant, come into the joy and to the rest of your Lord. So, brethren, let us be spent in each other. And may the Lord help us to love one another, to serve one another, to fulfill the work of the ministry that Christ has given to the saints. Amen?

Amen.