67a) The Church Ministering to Itself in Love #1

Driving home: From this it is plain that those who neglect this means, and yet hope to become perfect in Christ, are mad.

Martin quotes Lenski's translation of Ephesians 4:12 ('for the complete outfitting of the saints for ministration work, for upbuilding of the body of Christ') to clarify the purpose of Christ giving gifts.

But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And then some of those diverse gifts are listed, and among them is the gift for public teaching and rule. The ascended Christ gives pastors and teachers for the express purpose of the perfecting of the saints unto a work of service. Lenski's free translation is very helpful.

3:31 - 4:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: From this it is plain that those who neglect this means, and yet hope to become perfect in Christ, are mad.

Martin quotes Jeffrey Wilson's commentary on Ephesians 4:12 to further explain that Christ gave pastors and teachers to equip all God's people for service and building up the body.

I quote from page 89 of his paperback commentary or distillation of reform commentary on the book of Ephesians. Christ gives these pastors, teachers, and other gifts for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ. That is, to equip God's people for work in his service to the building up of the body of Christ. As the New English Bible's omission of the first comma shows, the purpose for which Christ gave these men is that all God's people should be perfectly fitted for the particular service that each is to contribute to the building up...

4:31 - 5:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: From this it is plain that those who neglect this means, and yet hope to become perfect in Christ, are mad.

Martin quotes Calvin, who calls those who neglect the ministry of the word and hope to become perfect 'mad,' emphasizing the necessity of the common ministry of the church.

In other words, Christ has appointed the ministry, the ministry of the word, as the means by which all members of the church are equipped for Christian service in the world. Thus, Christ gave men to be the servants of the word, so that through their ministry his body might be built up. And then a choice quote from Calvin. From this it is plain that those who neglect this means, and yet hope to become perfect in Christ, are mad.

5:15 - 5:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He continues with Hebrews 6:10, showing that ministering to the saints is a paramount mark of genuine grace and perseverance. He then adds 1 Corinthians 16:15, illustrating…

Martin shares personal anecdotes about his first convert and the unique place of a firstborn child to illustrate the special affection Paul would have had for Stephanas as the 'first fruits' of Achaia, highlighting why Paul would underscore their ministry to the saints.

you know the house of Stephanas that it is the first fruits of Achaia now put yourself in the place of this missionary apostle and would not your first converts in the new area of gospel endeavor always have a special place in your heart as long as God gives me memory I will never forget the name the face of the person at least as far as I know of my first fruits in the Lord having just as it were barely come out of the womb and been washed and put in my diapers God was pleased to use me in the conversion of a fellow classmate in my high school and he's been in the ministry for a number of yea...

13:01 - 14:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Constantly inculcate the scriptural concepts of the church (family, body, living temple) through patient, careful exposition and judicious repetition, for the church to make progress in ministering to itself in love.

Martin uses the analogy of a physical body where members lie to the head (e.g., fingers lying about a hot stove) to illustrate how dishonesty and lack of truth-telling among church members (members of Christ's body) would lead to disintegration and destruction.

How incongruous if the touch and the sight and the smell of the body begins to lie to the head and false signals are sent out as to what to do. touches a hot stove and the fingers lie and say the stove is stone cold and a man keeps it there until he smells the acrid smell of his own burning flesh you see what he's saying total I wonder who remembers one of them what would happen in your earthly organism called the body if the members begin to be dishonest in their intercommunication it will result in the disintegration and destruction of the body so will it in the body of Christ and then in 1s...

34:34 - 36:02 Read in full sermon