Designer Church

God is calling you to unleash your full potential in Christ. What could happen if you took the lid off—off the things holding you back in ministry and service? off obstacles preventing you from growing deeper in God? off the disappointments and failures of the past that cloud your thinking and attack your faith? What could happen if you took the lid off?

It's a new year. It's a new time. Let's get ready for God to do big things in us!

I'd like for us each to grasp the significance of God's call. We tend to get caught up in the routine, the mundane, the ordinary. Our lives become drained by shoveling snow, paying bills, washing clothes, making supper, shopping. We can spend day after day doing stuff—and when we're done, have nothing of lasting value to show for our efforts.

And yet, the Bible says we are created in the image of God! We are part of his plan—a grand and glorious plan! Read Ephesians, chapter one, and look for words like "chosen...predestined...the purpose of his will..."

There is a reason why God has you here! We have been called by God to be part of his plan. So why do we allow our lives to become consumed by mundane, ordinary tasks like taking out the garbage or organizing the garage? I know, we have to do those things! But we must guard against being consumed by those things!

And even if you've risen above the ordinary and done something significant for others or something important in the kingdom of God, there's still more God has in store for you. We're not done yet.

Now—this is where we can stretch a little bit more. It's not just that God wants us take the lid off the way we live our lives. It's not just that God wants us to live above the ordinary routine. The thing is, God wants us to take the lid off our church! the way we do church, the way we connect with each other, the way we serve each other, the way we function as a body—as a community of saints, followers of Christ.

For five messages, starting today, we're going to examine some of the key characteristics of the church—drawn primarily from the NT letter written by the Apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus during the first century.

This was shortly after Jesus had returned to heaven, when the church was still trying to figure things out. They were still trying to grasp what it all meant to be a church.

• Some were struggling with God's plan, trying to figure out how it all fit together. It was a mystery to some how the OT history and religious law could lead to a message of grace through Jesus Christ.

• It was hard for some to see how Gentiles could now be part of God's chosen people.

• And this whole idea of "church" was a bit ambiguous, as well. What do you mean, "the body of Christ"? What do you mean, "equipped for service"?

But Paul brings all this together, because God wanted them to live up to their full potential in Christ and use their gifts more in keeping with God's ultimate design—to serve his kingdom purposes.

So we're going to start by exploring what God's design is for his church. What did God have in mind for the church—for our church? And where does he want to take us in 2009?

Ephesians 4:11-16
¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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. ¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

1. The church is a body (v. 15-16).

Notice how Ephesians compares the body of Christ to a physical body:

1. A body is "joined and held together." You don't have an arm over there and a leg over here and a torso in the next room. That would be an unhealthy body. A healthy body is joined and held together.

2. A body relies on "supporting ligaments." For a body to function, it has to have some structure—where ligaments support the body as it moves around. It's the ligaments that connect the foot bone to the ankle bone and the ankle bone to the shin bone and the shin bone to the leg bone... Without the ligaments supporting the body, all you have is a bag of bones.

3. A body "grows...builds itself up." A healthy body is a growing body. The digestive system takes in food so the whole body can grow. It absorbs protein and energy so old cells can be sloughed off and replaced. The immune system has antibodies to fight off infection. Coagulants help bleeding injuries to clot and stop the bleeding so wounds can heal.

4. A body needs "each part [doing] its work." Organs must function properly. It does no good for the circulatory system to work well if the respiratory system isn't doing its job. All the body parts have to work together, each doing its own work. And the systems must cooperate. You don't want your stomach taking in food—and not sharing it with the rest of your body.

All of these are pictures of what God wants for our church—to grow...to be healthy...to function fully...to be the body of Christ.

2. The church is a living body.

It's a living organism—the body of Christ must be alive and vital and Spirit-filled.

You don't want to be part of a dead church. You don't want to belong to a dead institution, where there is no life or breath or soul. One of the great tragedies of church history is that revivals begin with life and energy and then, over the years, cool down to become dead organizations.

It's not good enough for the church to be a good "organization." You can find good organizations all over—schools, businesses, unions, country clubs, boy scouts. As a church, our goal should not be to be a good "organization." Our goal should be to be an "organism"—the body of Christ.

Now, what's the difference between an organization and an organism? Both have form and shape. Both have structure—smaller parts joined together to make a larger entity. Both organizations and organisms do certain things—they expend energy.

But an organism is a living, breathing thing. It's alive! It's not just an organizational flow chart on the wall—lines and boxes on paper. An organism is alive! It has energy. It has spirit. There is a vitality to it.

Where does this life come from? This life comes from the grace of God given through Jesus Christ. A few verses earlier we read that Jesus "apportioned" grace to each one of us (v. 7). Gr: metron—the root for our word, meter—[NASB: "grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift."]

Notice: Grace is measured into the body. Grace should flow in the body of Christ. Just as blood flows through the arteries, veins, and capillaries of a natural body, the life-giving essence of grace must flow through the body of Christ. If you don't have grace in the church, then it cannot be a living body—any more than a natural body can live if you drain all the blood out.

By the way, some think grace only pertains to salvation. And it's true that we are saved by grace through faith (2:8-9). We can't be saved by good works or by the OT law. We need grace to be saved. But grace doesn't just stop at salvation! Grace is not only for salvation.

Grace also provides the life and energy for us to function together properly in the body of Christ, the church. It's like blood circulating through the body, bringing life to every part. God's grace is God's gift to us so the church can be the living, breathing, vital organism he designed it to be.

Now, get this: Just as we cannot be saved by good works or by human effort or by adherence to the OT law, we cannot function together as a church—in the body of Christ—by good works or human effort or by following man made laws. We need grace to be a living church.

We can try as hard as we can to build a church—but all our efforts to organize and structure and program will be a waste of time and energy without spiritual vitality. We need grace, measured out to each one, so each one can do his or her part in the body of Christ.

3. The church is a working body.

Grace is measured out to each one (v. 7) so each one can do his or her work (v. 16).

Paul gives an overview of how this functions. Jesus gives certain gifts (v. 11)—leaders (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers)—for a well-defined purpose (v. 13-14):

1. First, to prepare God's people for works of service (Gr: diakonia—we took the word "deacon" from this; it means ministry, which is serving). Church leaders are supposed to help you learn to serve and equip you to do ministry.

   Someone says, "Well, I don't want to serve! I'm here because I needed help. My life was a mess; my relationships were going down the tube; I couldn't find any direction. I needed to get back on track. I'm not here to serve; I'm here to be served."

   Well, I'm glad you're here. And I'm glad you're wanting to get your life straightened out. That's a good start! But here's a little secret: You'll never find what you're looking for as long as you stay focused only on yourself. If you want God's grace only for salvation but you don't want grace for service, then you risk missing God's grace entirely.

   You see, you were meant to be part of the body of Christ—a fully functioning, contributing member of the body. And if you're going to act like a abnormal growth—a tumor on the body, always taking but never giving; sucking the life out of the body but never contributing anything to the body—well, that's just not going to fly! You know what doctors do with tumorous growths.

2. Second, when God's people are equipped for ministry, then the body of Christ (the church) can be built up. Church ministry should be edifying—building you up, helping you grow strong and spiritually fit, making you effective in God's kingdom. This is God's plan for a working church.

   Jesus said he would build his church (Matt 16:18). Now think about it. Jesus was a carpenter. He knew a few things about construction. So when he said he would build his church, I'm pretty sure he had something quite specific in mind. He didn't have some vague notion of some sort of a structure. He knew exactly what he had in mind. He had a design in mind—a blueprint.

   If you decide you want to build a house, you don't start working without some kind of design in mind. You don't just call up Menards and say, "Can you deliver some lumber to my place?" How much lumber did you want? "Oh, I don't know. A lot." Well, are you talking 2x4s or fencing or what? "Oh, I don't know. Whatever you got." Well, what are you building? "A house." What kind of house? A tree house? a ranch? split-level? bungalow? 2-story? What is it? "Oh, I don't know. I'll just get started and see what it turns into."

   God didn't just begin to build the church, waiting to see what it would turn into, hoping it would accomplish his goals. He sent his Son into this world to give his life as a sacrifice for sin, to redeem people, to bring them together for his purpose. Jesus gave his body on the cross to build his church. Now we are Christ's body—not on the cross, but in this world—and Jesus still has a plan to build up his church. This plan includes you and me—individual members of the body.

3. Third, when we build each other up, we'll see something else happen—we'll all reach unity. We'll be united in two ways: in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son. Strong believers are those who are joined together—united—in their trust (faith) in the Lord and in experiencing (knowing) Jesus.

   Some people think unity means that we are all clones of each other, in lock-step with each other. They think that unity means we think exactly alike, that we do things exactly the same way, that we never have different opinions or views. This is not what is meant by unity.

   A body with 100 hands but no feet would be freakish. It'd be wrong. You don't want a body that has 1,000 eyes but no ears. God gave feet and ears to the body—and made them different from hands and eyes—so the body would be stronger. Despite our differences, we can be united in the body of Christ.

   We can have different opinions and still be united in our faith in Jesus. We can see the world differently and use different methods and still share the same experience of having a personal relationship with Christ. In fact, God gives the church a variety of gifts and abilities. God wants our differences to help us be stronger as a body.

   ⁴There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. (1 Corinthians 12:4-6)

4. Finally, if the apostles, elders, evangelists, pastors and teachers are doing their job...so God's people are equipped for ministry...and are building each other up to be strong and united in Christ—then we will become mature (reaching "the whole measure of the fullness of Christ"). God wants us to grow up, to stop acting like babies, and to become more and more like Christ.

4. The church is God's plan.

For better or for worse, you and I are God's plan for reaching the world. The church is God's plan for reaching and transforming the world, for offering hope to sinners and rescuing them, for standing up to the evils of society... Look around you—this is God's plan!

We see all the flaws and weaknesses of the church. We see fallible people. We see shortcomings. We see people who are hurt and wounded, crippled emotionally and spiritually. We see people who are self-centered and unmotivated. We see petty differences and disputes. We see major failures and moral collapses. And we say, "God! Couldn't you have come up with a better plan than this?"

But God looks at his church and he sees people whom he has redeemed—

• people rescued by his grace out of their sins and troubles.
• those whom he has entrusted with spirituals gifts.
• fallible human hands holding supernatural resources to do the impossible.
• people with incredible potential to shake things up.
• individuals who can change the world one person at a time.
• believers who can leave this place better than it was when they arrived.

Oh, sure. He knows about the shortcomings and the problems. But he doesn't get discouraged when he sees the raw material he has to work with. He knows that when we come just as we are (with sin and limitations and inadequacies), he comes with grace and love and power.

God helps us reach out to those who are hurting and needing help. Next week, when we receive gifts for a low-key jobs benevolence fund for hurting church people, that will be the church in action.

You say, "Well, that all sounds good. And I'm sure God has a plan for some, but I don't think he has a plan for me. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not skilled or trained enough. There's nothing I can do in the body."

This story comes from a Sunday school ministry in the part of New York City that has been rated the "most likely place to get killed." Pastor Bill Wilson has been stabbed twice, shot at, and had a member of his team killed. He wrote in Charisma (Oct, 1996) about one incident:

A Puerto Rican lady, after getting saved in church, came to him with an urgent request. She didn't speak a word of English, so she told him through an interpreter, "I want to do something for God, please." Well, what could she do? She couldn't even speak English!

"Please, let me do something," she said in Spanish. So Bill said she could ride a bus—a different one each week—and just love the kids on the bus. So every week she rode a different bus and loved the children. She'd find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap, and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: "I love you. Jesus loves you."

After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. "I don't want to change buses anymore. I want to stay on this one bus," she said.

The boy didn't speak. He came to Sunday school every week with his sister and sat on the woman's lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday school and all the way home, "I love you and Jesus loves you."

One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, "I-I love you, too." Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug.

That was 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon. At 6:30 that night, the boy was found dead in a garbage bag under a fire escape. His mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash.

"I love you and Jesus loves you." Those were some of the last words he heard in his short life—from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English.

Bill Wilson writes: "Who among us is qualified to minister? Who among us even knows what to do? Not you; not me. But I ran to an altar once, and I got some fire and just went. So did this woman who couldn't speak English. And so can you."