Every Member in Building Christ's Body

I'd like to turn to Ephesians chapter 4 in verse 15 and 16. Ephesians 4 verse 15 and 16 is speaking about the responsibility that each of us have to build up the church. That is the big difference between what we preach in our church.

One of the differences between what we preach and most other churches preach where in many other churches the work is done by say one pastor, a few elders, and the others are just listeners. They come, it could be a church of 10,000 people, they listen and they select some church where they can listen to good messages on Sunday. But that's not really the church.

If you see here, it says here, speaking, it speaks first of all in verse 12 of the whole body being built up, building up of the body of Christ which is a number of people and it says here speaking verse 15 Ephesians 4 15 speaking the truth in love we are to grow up unto the head which is even Christ from whom the whole body is fitted and joined together and this is what I want you to listen to. According listen to this expression in the middle of verse 16 according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love and when the Holy Spirit has used the picture of the human body as a picture of the church is there any part of your body that has no function to fulfill? I remember many years people used to say the appendix is something which is useless. Well I'd say man is to say we haven't yet discovered the cause of it.

That's another humbler way to admit it. There is no part of the body which God created in this human body which is part of fulfills no function. Every part is important and if that is the picture that the Bible uses about the church, which is the most insignificant part of your body that's important.

I often think of the nails very small but when you feel itchy somewhere there's no other part of the body that can help you. It's only your nails. There's no part of the body which is unimportant.

So if you feel that you have no function in this church then you may not be a part of this body at all. Every part of this body, even the ones that are hidden, see there are many brothers here who never come to the sisters and never come to the pulpit. We can say there are a lot of hidden members in this body whom you never some of you don't even know their names but those are like the hidden members in our body too.

We have a liver, kidney and so many other internal organs you know that which nobody ever sees but they fulfill a much more important function than the parts that we can see. So don't think that the brothers who get up here and speak or even the ones who can stand up during the sharing time and say some powerful things in one or two minutes, they are not the only ones who fulfill the building up of the body of Christ. It says here the proper, please remember this phrase all your life, in the middle of verse 16, the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body to build up itself in love which means there is no part, nobody sitting here, even the children, they have a part in fulfilling once they are born again and they become a part of the body of Christ.

However young they are, you don't have to know the Bible, you don't have to be able to preach. Most members in the body of Christ cannot preach. There are very very few people in the church who can preach.

I've often thought about that Lord, if preaching is such an important requirement, why didn't you give the gift to everybody? I know when I was a Christian, when I became a Christian, I could not speak at all. I never took part in public speaking in my school days or college days or any such thing but when God anointed me, I got an ability which I didn't have naturally. God could have given that to anybody.

Why didn't he give it to everybody? Because I discovered that preaching is not the only thing. There are a lot of people who pray. They are like the hidden parts of the body.

You don't see them but they fulfill a function. Sometimes we don't think it accomplishes anything because it's just a few words. It's not the words.

If you pray without a burden in your heart, I say it's worthless. It's words. I can pray to fulfill an obligation.

Okay, they told us in the church that we should pray for the church. Okay Lord, I'm praying for the NCCA. Please build it up.

Okay, what's the next thing on the agenda? That's not prayer. That's fulfilling a ritual. You just ease your conscience.

It's a waste of time. A real prayer comes from a burden and you may never stand in the pulpit but you'll discover when the Lord comes that people have accomplished a lot for the church are those who had a hidden burden. I believe one of the pictures of a burden is a mother carrying a baby in her womb.

That's a burden. It's a burden, a burden, a burden. She's never a moment that she doesn't realize that and then when she delivers, that baby is delivered.

That is the way true prayer comes. It doesn't come out of a burden. It's just hot air.

There's no baby there. Just fooling yourself. So I believe that every single person in this church, young or old, if you're born again and you have no public gift, you should pray that God will give you a burden in your heart just like God creates a baby in a mother's womb.

Say, Lord, give me a burden that I can pray for something. Maybe one particular thing, maybe one particular person, something that Lord puts in your heart. If you don't pray, think of the way a women who've been married a long time and have no children, how they pray.

Numerous sisters like that I've seen in India who prayed and prayed and then God gave them children. So, but sometimes they prayed for 10 years. Be like those childless women who long to have a child.

If all of you can pray like that, Lord, give me a burden for what to do something for this church. You may never stand in the pulpit. Give me a burden to pray for something, not 25 things, maybe two or three things the Lord will give you a burden for.

That is the proper working of each individual part. Each individual part is never going to stand up here in the pulpit. Then the body will grow in love.

And then he goes on to say in there that in order to pray like this, you have to have a pure heart. So, it says in verse 24, Ephesians 4, 24, put on the new self which is created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. So, in order to pray effectively, we must be free from sin.

That's important. Just like a mother going to have a baby will be very careful she doesn't get infection. Infection can kill the baby.

And so, she's very careful. So, we have to be very careful about sin just like we be careful of getting COVID or pneumonia or anything in our body that would make us sick or cancer. So, we must avoid, we must be clean in order to be able to pray effectively.

And it takes one example here. It says here, first of all, lay aside falsehood. Don't tell lies.

And the other thing it says here in verse 26, when you get angry, don't sin. Anger begins in the heart. There's a verse in Ecclesiastes which says, anger is in the heart of a fool.

Remember that. When you get angry in your heart, the Word of God says you're a fool. Don't get angry with the Word of God.

Don't get angry with me. It's the Bible that says, anger dwells in the heart of a fool. And it says here, make sure it doesn't come out and hurt other people.

Be angry but don't sin. And don't let the sun go down on your anger. I mean that's a quotation from the Old Testament in verse 26.

And later on, it says here in verse 31, put away all anger completely. This quotation from the Old Testament is very interesting in verse 25, sorry, 26. Be angry and don't sin.

Now that's a quotation from Psalm 4. Whenever I see some Old Testament verses, the NASV is always put in capitals. I go back to Psalm 4 in verse 4, the quotation from the Old Testament. How did God tell people to overcome anger in the Old Testament? Before they had the Holy Spirit.

Today we are supposed to overcome anger with the power of the Holy Spirit. How did they overcome anger in the Old Testament? Without the Holy Spirit. Here it is, Psalm 4 verse 4. Be angry but don't sin.

In some translations it doesn't tremble, but if you look at the margin, it says be angry but do not sin. So what should you do? You don't have the Holy Spirit. It's very interesting.

Go and lie down on your bed and keep quiet. Very practical advice. I want to say to all of you who have a problem with anger, when you're tempted to get angry with your wife and shout at your wife or your husband, at least live at the Old Testament level.

You don't have the Holy Spirit. Never mind. Go and lie down on your bed for some time and keep quiet.

Practical advice. That's Old Testament. Pray for the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Then you'll overcome it. You can overcome it without lying down on the bed. Now if you haven't yet got to the place where you can overcome it without lying down in the bed, I would suggest you go and lie down on the bed and follow the Old Testament law.

There'll be peace in your home. Husbands and wives. Because it says here, be angry but don't sin.

And if you do not do that, at least it says in verse 28, before sunset, before you go to bed, please settle matters right. Ask forgiveness and settle it right so that you can start the day with a new, with a clear conscience the next day. It's practical advice.

This has got nothing to do with standing in the pulpit. This is keeping your heart clean so that you can build the body of Christ. And that's why later on it says, for those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, verse 30, Ephesians 4 30, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Here's the standard for those who are really filled with the Holy Spirit. Many of us want to be filled with the Spirit and some think they are filled with the Holy Spirit. Here's the proof that you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

You will put away all bitterness, verse 31, all wrath, all anger, all clamor, slander will be put away from you along with all hatred. Brother, sister, if that is not true in your life, let me tell you in Jesus' name, you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. You can speak in whatever tongues you like.

You're just fooling yourself. If you're filled, it says here, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Verse 30, if you are filled with the Spirit, you won't have to lie down on the bed to overcome anger.

The Holy Spirit will help you to control your tongue that you don't speak back the way you did and that you can be free not only with externally but free from bitterness, wrath, anger in the heart and instead you'll be kind, verse 32, tender-hearted, forgiving each other as God forgave you. If you follow these simple instructions, if you never preach in the pulpit, you can do your part to build the body of Christ here. Amen.