In Multiply by Francis Chan, the second section, "Living As The Church", begins with "Life In The Church". That chapter mostly wraps around Paul' description of church in Ephesians 4:1-16. It's a passage well worth some detailed study. Paul puts a ton of stuff in a small amount of space. I'm going to walk through the passage as it broke down for me.
First, there is the call. The call should inspire us to live in humility and enduring patience; essentially a shorter list of the Fruit of the Spirit (i.e. Galatians 5:22-23). But here Paul makes much of 'unity', providing a long list of 'ones'; one body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and Father. This unity is part of the response to the call.
Then Paul contrasts the unity and 'ones' with what we each have. So to each of us was given a gift; and rather than one gift, there are many. He then cites (perhaps incorrectly) Psalm 68:18, inferring that not only did Jesus give us gifts, but also fills all things; therefore has authority over all things. The point Paul makes is that these many gifts come from one Source, and that Source is Supreme.
Paul then lists some of these 'gifts' specific to 'roles' or 'positions of leadership' in a church rather than the typical list of 'Spiritual gifts' he lists elsewhere. These gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. It's not a list of leaders; overseers, elders, and ministers (deacons) are missing and would be expected to be here if this were a list of leadership positions. Instead it's a list of gifted 'roles'.
The work of these many roles is equipping for service and enabling growth as the body of Christ. The goal progresses through unity of faith and knowledge of Jesus into complete maturity of all that Jesus is. What happens then is that outside influences of erroneous teaching and perspectives don't create chaos in the church. Instead, speaking the truths of Scripture, we all grow into that mature submission to Jesus, the One uniting us, holding us together in love.
This is a great picture of how local churches can function. I don't think it happens very often. I know I fail in at a few places along this progression. I'm pretty sure others struggle in the same areas and a few others.
First off, all this stems from living inspired by my call. This is the first place I struggle. I'm not 'inspired' by my call. I know I'm called, and I worship within that call, but my actions aren't driven by it as they should be. In other words, that the Creator of the universe has specifically called my name to relate to Him has little influence in my life. Others around me, just as frail and silly as I am are more inspiring to me. I worry about what they think, what they want, or what they do; rather than being driven by what my Master thinks, what He wants, and what He does. It's totally backward and ludicrous.
The second area this falls apart for me is in the short list of 'fruit'; humility, gentleness, patience, and so on. Those are impossible without the inspiration of my calling. They are also the only way the unity of the Spirit can be maintained, so I'm hung there as well. Because of this progressive failure, when I do teach, even the content of the 'ones', it fails to build and equip because I don't have those other qualities that validate my teaching. Clearly I'm not living out what I teach, so why would others learn from me?
So, my goal is to find that inspiration. The content of my personal study and my corporate worship needs to be full of wonder of this calling, and I need to be focused on the One calling rather than the noise of those around me. This is what will transform me, and with me, my church, and with us, our community. And then the world. I'm in. I'm on it.
