This passage was the inspiration for our Elders prayer meeting. Paul encouraged the church to walk as Christians worthy of our calling. Our church has gone through very difficult times and needs us as elders to be much in prayer for them. We need to set the right example as Godly leaders. We prayed through the passage and was blessed beyond compare. We give thanks to our Lord for His grace and mercy.
MUSTARD
SEED EVANGELICAL CHURCH
Elders
prayer meeting 29th
September 2015
Ephesians 4:1-16English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
Unity in the Body of Christ
I
therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all
humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in
love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit—just
as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one
Lord, one faith,one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over
all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore it says,
“When
he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to
men.”
(In saying, “He ascended”, what does it mean but
that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who
descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens,
that he might fill all things.)
Verses
11-13:
“And he gave
the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and
teachers, to equip
the saints for the work
of ministry, for building up
the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, to mature
manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so
that we may no longer be children,
tossed to and fro by the waves and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by human
cunning, by craftiness
in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking
the truth in love, we are to
grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ,
from whom the whole
body, joined and held together by every
joint with which it is equipped,when
each part is working properly,
makes the body grow
so that it builds itself up in love.”
God's
gift to the church:
- Those who are able to teach (elders today)
The
purpose of the gift:
- To equip the church for the work of ministry.
- For the building up of the body. Body building is a long and arduous task. It cannot be achieved overnight but comes with much training, sweat and toil. We must work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Before the body can grow healthily ALL of the bad needs to be dealt with.
Our
role as elders is to equip the church for acts of service. We are
called to nourish the church with the pure food of the Word of God at
the level which our members are capable of taking. Encouraging them
to become united as one body under the headship of Christ alone. This
can only be accomplished on our behalf by prayer and faithfulness.
Our example is seen by all and so we must love each other as Christ
has loved us. We must love the fellowship and protect all equally.
The
goal:
- Unity of faith.
- Knowledge of the Son of God.
- Maturity in faith. Jesus is our role model.
The
result:
- No longer children.
- No longer blown around by the wind of doctrinal fortune.
- No longer beguiled by those with cunning, crafty and deceptive schemes.
- Truthful, loving and Christlike.
- Belonging to each other as each part of our human body does. Bound together by Christ.
These
are what we must be aiming for recognising that our church is a
hurting group of people who have been through a torrid time. We are
God's appointed men to help them to get from where we are to where we
should be. We need to pray that God by His Spirit will work
wonderfully in our own hearts and that He will work in the hearts of
the whole church building us up into a people who will not only be a
worshipping community but also a shining light for the gospel
wherever we are.
Exodus 28:28-30English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
And they shall bind the breast-piece by its rings to the
rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the
skilfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breast-piece shall not
come loose from the ephod. So Aaron shall
bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breast-piece of judgement
on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to
regular remembrance before the Lord.
And in the breast-piece of judgement
you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they
shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the Lord.
Thus Aaron shall bear the judgement of the people of Israel on his
heart before the Lord regularly.
We
must pray that we have our people on our hearts and pray for their
eternal security.
No comments:
Post a Comment