The Mission of the Church Part 3 Ecclesiology The Mission of the Church Part 3

Edifying the Body in Ephesians Four Edification An edifice is a building; hence, edification is a building _________. Churches can exist without building. They did for centuries. Churches cannot exist without ______________ believers. The need to build the body by building ______________ within the body is apparent. It is much easier to be a _________ than to be an edifier. The church was never commanded to __________ its members; it is commanded to build the believers. Edifying the Body in Ephesians Four Verses 1-7 base edification upon the ________ of the body. Verses 8-11 describe the process whereby God endowed the body with the _______________ necessary for the edification of the body. Verses 9-16 define the _______ to be achieved in the edification of the body. Verses 17-32 describe the ___________ needed required to prosper the edification of the body.

What then is the process of edification What then is the process of edification? It is the perfecting of the saints (verse 12). Perfecting does not so much means making perfect as it means bringing to ____________. Mature believers are ____________ to do the work of the ministry and thereby build up the body (church) as a whole (verse 12). The church as a whole is made mature (a perfect man) becoming increasingly like ________ in all His fullness (verse 13). This necessitates the understanding and application of ___________ (verse 14), development of our relationship with Christ as the head of the church (verse 15), and ___________ within the body which results in the increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love (verse 16). Purification A critical issue for every church is the matter of _______________ in testimony. Many have misunderstood the Biblical concept of ______________. Some believe that the church must relevant to the culture and are willing to accommodate the demands of contemporary culture in order to achieve the _____________ relevance. Others think that separation is the ________ of spirituality. Frankly, both are in error. While in the world we are not “of” the world.

Separation is indeed a biblical mandate for the church Separation is indeed a biblical mandate for the church. _____________ with the world is unacceptable to God! Our Lord emphasized the fact that believers are saved out from the world. (John 17:11-16) We have just as much responsibility to be ____________ from the world as was our Lord. Further compromise militates against being relevant because the __________ becomes obscured by the accouterments of the world. Christ did not die to leave believers to be perpetually __________ from the world. He did not establish the church to be compromised with the world. (Eph. 5:25-27) The effective functionality of the church is absolutely dependent upon it __________. (John 15:1-3) Believers are admonished to recognize and act upon a ____________ separation from all that would compromise the testimony of the church. (1 Cor. 11:28-31; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 John 3:1-3; 2 Cor. 6:14-18) Perhaps of greater consequence is the failure of modern churches, even conservatives one, in exercising church ____________. When churches tolerate open and flagrant sin, they __________ the message of the gospel. The classic example is the church at Corinth. (1 Cor. 5:1-13) The Bible ___________ church discipline (Mat. 18:17; Rom. 16:7; 2 Th. 3:6, 14; Tit. 3:10, 11, 2 John 10). Maintaining the purity of the church is critical to the __________ of the church!