Healthy, Growing Churches (7)

… the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies…Ephesians 4.16

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Ephesians 5.18-21

Homily on Ephesians 11.4.15-16
John Chrysostom (344-407)
“Paul has not explained himself clearly due to his desire to say everything at once. But what he is saying is based on this metaphor: Just as the spirit comes down from the brain, passes through the nerves and communicates with the senses, so it makes sense of the whole body. Its communication is not to all the members equally but according to the capacity of each member to receive. It gives more to that member more able to receive and less to that member able to receive only so much. So it is with Christ. The spirit is like a root. The souls of persons depend upon Christ as members. Each member depends on his providential distribution of gifts. The supply of spiritual gifts occurs according to a due proportion, as each member effects the increase of the body.”

In healthy, growing churches, every member takes a hand in building-up the body of Christ. When Paul says, “every joint supplies,” Chrysostom’s observation is what he has in mind: The Spirit conveys gifts and bestows callings and power on every member of the church, and each puts those gifts to work, submitting to one another, bearing the fruit of the Spirit and witness for Christ, flowing the rivers of living water to the people around them. In most churches, 20% of the people do the work that keeps the church going, while 80% choose from the options of how they will be ministered to. This may describe a very active church, but not a healthy one. Healthy churches, growing on the foundation of unity, exercising discernment and speaking the truth in love, equip and enlist every member of the church into works of ministry that build and strengthen the congregation as a whole. This is how the Spirit works to build Christ’s Church, following His agenda and plan.

Would you describe your church as a Spirit-filled community? Why or why not?

T. M. Moore

Healthy, Growing Churches
Our assessment tool, Twelve Questions that Could Change Your Church, can help you discover the extent to which you are building the Lord’s church as He intends. Use this tool with your church leaders to discern the health of your church, then to plan the next phase of your growth as the Body of Christ. You can download Twelve Questions for free by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.