Clinton Chisholm | Building God’s Church – Part 2

Ephesians 4

NECESSARY LEADERSHIP AMBITIONS

IN OUR last piece, we dealt with necessary lifestyle attributes. Now we treat with necessary leadership ambitions.

Let’s be clear in our minds that a leader is a person who influences people to accomplish a purpose. Effective leadership is purpose-driven, and behind the purpose-driven leader are noble ambitions for self, and concerning the people of God.

What are those ambition?

2.1 FOSTERING UNITY

The word with which verse 3 begins is ‘endeavouring’, and it means ‘doing your utmost’, ‘sparing no effort’.

So, the aim is this, the necessary ambition that every discipler especially, but also every Christian should have is this, ‘doing your utmost to foster spiritual unity in the bond of peace’.

Put differently, the overriding ambition that is so necessary for every church leader and member, and especially urgent for the Church of Jesus Christ everywhere, is a concern for unity through peace. Peace; promote it and pursue it because it is the atmosphere that makes unity possible.

A serious hindrance to peace and unity is the loose tongue. See 1 Peter 3:10.

You will, in the interest of peace and unity, suffer wrong and not take revenge. You will actively go between warring factions in your church and seek to make peace.

Given what I know to be the embarrassing realities in certain circles of Christendom, I would urge you all to cultivate these attributes and be obsessed with this ambition, which I regard as having the power to effect the softening of the Christian heart.

Then verses 4-6 play upon the theme of unity by highlighting the idea of ‘oneness’ in different ways. The importance of a church united and relating well is everywhere in these opening verses.

Then in verse 7, Paul makes a statement about each being gifted by Christ, and Paul quotes Psalm 68:18 with a slight modification. The Psalm says the warrior King receives gifts from individuals. Paul says the victorious Christ gave gifts to individuals and gave those gifted individuals to the Church.

The pictures are quite similar. What was popular in ancient times and pictured here is the story of a general returning from war, leading his conquered prisoners and bearing gifts that he took or got from the conquered territories. As he marches through the home territory, the crowds would flock the streets and cheer, and the general would toss to them some of the gifts that he had brought back from the war.

Christ, having conquered, and being now ascended, shows concern for His Church and gives certain gifts to that Church (verse 11). This is not a comprehensive list, but a key list that provides helpful pointers for our purposes.

Time will not allow us to tarry long on this section of the passage, but I simply wish to mention that there is another necessary ambition for leaders, suggested in this latter portion of our text.

You will appreciate, too, that if unity is to be fostered, then leaders must be marked by confidentiality and impartiality. Confidentiality is the ability to protect people’s secrets with silence. Impartiality is treating everyone with the same standards, without fear or favour.

If verses 3-10 highlight the necessary ambition of fostering unity, then verses 11-16 highlight the necessary ambition of facilitating stability.

2.2 FACILITATING STABILITY

I say this because verses 11-16 can be summed up thus: Christ’s endowment to the Church is for the equipping and edifying of the Church. The passage shows our Lord giving certain human resources to the Church; and the passage also suggests the role of those human resources within the Church.

Just a passing treatment now of the more controversial ministry offices of apostles and prophets. There is a broad sense and a narrow sense to each of these ministry offices.

So, whether you see yourself as pastor-teacher, evangelist, prophet, apostle or whatever, there is a Spirit-prompted ambition that you must have, which arises from verse 12. That ambition is to equip and edify the Church.

In brief compass, let me give you a hint concerning what this means.

The term ‘equipping’ means ‘putting a thing into the condition in which it ought to be, that it might do what it ought’.

The word was used in different contexts in Paul’s time. In surgery (setting a broken limb); in politics (bringing rival parties together that government might go on); in fishing (mending nets, cf Mark 1:19); in discipline (disciplining one in order that he might be fit to resume fellowship in the Church, cf Galatians 6:1).

This means seriously and deliberately organising and training church members. This cannot be done simply by fasting and praying. What personality qualities, skills and giftings do our members bring to the table for ministry?

Edifying means building up, feeding, fortifying through caring but uncompromising teaching-preaching; declaring, not so much what people want to hear, but what they ought to hear.

I deem it necessary to offer a basic understanding of the ministry offices apostles and prophets especially in today’s world, where there is a clamouring for top rank or office in church leadership circles. There is a broad and a narrow sense to each.

Let us not forget that the passage says that the saints are equipped and edified for service (the work of the ministry, diakonia, verse 12).

But notice as well that this ambition to equip and edify is to be outworked until all believers attain a certain level of unity and maturity in Christ.

“Unity of the faith, knowledge of Christ”, no doubt having common conviction about Christ and the doctrines concerning Him.

Maturity and fullness in Christ is also an end product of this equipping and edifying. This maturity suggests that as the disciplers take their work seriously, then the disciples will experience growth in character, conduct, concepts and commitment.

Were we to ponder the implications of this passage, it would become evident that if the necessary attributes about which we have spoken are not evident in the lives of the members of the Church, and thus evident in ministry in the Church, then the result will be disunity and division.

If the necessary ambitions do not characterise the operations of the leaders, especially, and the members as well, then, again, the result will be disunity; but as well, there will be spiritual immaturity, doctrinal ignorance and instability (cf verse 14).

Disciples need solid, systematic teaching if they are to be stable in their faith and in the faith walk.

Fostering stability in an age of attractions and distractions is no easy business, but that’s part of our mandate in discipleship.

Observe carefully the words of verses 15-16

In a nutshell, these verses speak of qualitative spiritual growth as being Christ-centred, and Christ-controlled. Jesus Christ is the source and goal, the means and measure of qualitative spiritual growth.

The other really exciting thing is that the growth and function of each contributes to the growth and function of the whole.

In case you have missed the essence of what I have been trying to say, let me say it in summary.

To build up ourselves in faith and in the faith means doing what it takes to provide evidence among members and leaders of certain necessary lifestyle attributes (humility, gentleness, longsuffering, tolerance) and certain necessary ambitions in leaders (fostering unity and facilitating stability).

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