Our Riches in Christ: Discovering the Believer's Inheritance in Ephesians

Author:Ray Stedman
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-03-20T05:00:00+00:00

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19. Shaping Up the Saints: Ephesians 4:11-16

Saints can be very difficult at times.

Contrary to popular belief, saints are not statuettes made of plaster. Saints are human beings--sinners saved by grace. They are not made of "sugar and spice and everything nice." Fact is, most saints are made of very resistant and even abrasive materials. They can be harder than diamonds, more stubborn than a mule, and slower than Christmas.

God makes saints out of whatever materials he has at hand--even out of stuff like you and me! And sainthood is a never-ending process of being chipped and whittled and sanded and smoothed. God is continually knocking off the rough spots and puttying up the nicks and holes, polishing and finishing--and he is gradually restoring His image in us, the image that was defaced by sin. He is conforming us--slowly and painstakingly--into the image of His Son Jesus Christ.

First result: Prepare us for ministry

In the previous chapter, we took a quick survey of the subject of spiritual gifts. In this chapter, we will discover how God wants to use our gifts to "shape up the saints," to produce two profound results in our lives: (1) prepare us for ministry, and (2) make us mature in Christ. In Ephesians 4: 11-16, Paul writes:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until 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.

Then 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. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From 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.

In verse 12, Paul says that the purpose of the gifts is "to prepare God's people for works of service." That word prepare is rendered equip in some translations. In the original language that verb is katartismon, from which we get our English word artisan--an artist or craftsman, someone who works with his hands and accomplishes good and lasting works. We first find this Greek word in the New Testament in connection with the calling of the disciples. When Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, as related in Matthew 4:21, Jesus "saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets." The word preparing in this place is katartizo. So these men were preparing their nets, getting them ready for service.

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