Let the Church be the Church Ephesians 4:11-16

“When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men” (Ephesians 4:8).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve.

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

“shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness” (I Peter 5:2).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. A. The “ministers” are regular church members! - “For the equipping of the saints for the work of service.”

“who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14).

“The ultimate description of ministry in the NT is not the actions of men we call ministers, but what a group of people do. As I said before, Ministry is not everyone going out to do his/her own thing – because they can't get along with anyone else. God has placed in His Church ministers, created by gifts bestowed by the Holy Ghost. The business of such ministers is that of the equipping of the saints, in order that the Church may fulfill its ministry in the city” (G. Campbell Morgan).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. A. The “ministers” are regular church members! B. Ministers nourish “to the building up of the body of Christ” “from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. A. The “ministers” are regular church members! B. Ministers nourish. C. Ministers specialize in words – “speaking the truth in love.” 15 “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”

“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 in deceitful scheming” (4:15).

37 As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting: "BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But Jesus answered, "I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!“ (Luke 19).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth.

12 “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 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 in deceitful scheming;

15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory.

“it may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad” (from Mere Christianity, 9).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory. B. Ministry is the doorway to growth. 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (NIV).

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:17 NIV).

“Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matthew 10:1).

“And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give” (Matt. 10:7-8).

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner." 25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!“ (John 9).

“Now concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies” (I Corinthians 8:1).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory. B. Ministry is the doorway to growth. C. There is a destination – “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (13).

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory. B. Ministry is the doorway to growth. C. There is a destination – 1. Unity of the faith!

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory. B. Ministry is the doorway to growth. C. There is a destination – 1. Unity of the faith! 2. Adulthood!

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory. B. Ministry is the doorway to growth. C. There is a destination – 1. Unity of the faith! 2. Adulthood! 3. The fullness of Christ!

I. Ministry – Rock Creek should be a place to serve. II. MATURITY – Rock Creek should be the home for growth. A. Growth is mandatory. B. Ministry is the doorway to growth. C. There is a destination – D. Growth comes jointly – “until we all reach”

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life” (Alfred D. Souza).

“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).