By Scott Guffin
Associate Professor and Executive Director of Christian Ministry, Samford University
GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS CHURCH
Ephesians 4:11–16, 25–29
As a lifelong Southern Baptist, I often joke that I started attending church nine months before I was born. Indeed, growing up in my home church — Gardendale First Baptist Church — is a significant part of my story because it was there that others communicated God’s truth to me, encouraged me to put my faith in Christ, recognized my spiritual gifts, gave me opportunities to serve and later licensed and ordained me for ministry.
It was also in my home church that I preached my first sermon on a Sunday night, after which a woman I’d known all my life said to me, “I think you’re more of a teacher than a preacher.” Today, I serve as a professor of Christian ministry at Samford University in Birmingham doing the very thing this older sister in Christ recognized in me years ago. This moment in my life is one of many examples of how God spoke to me through the people of His Church.
God speaks through our spiritual leaders. (11–14)
In this passage, Paul explains that God has put into place a variety of leaders in the Church whose assignment is to equip the saints. A significant part of equipping involves preaching and teaching, which Paul highlights in 1 Timothy 5:17, noting that “double honor” should be offered to church leaders engaged in such work. If you’ve been exposed to much biblical preaching and teaching, you’ve likely had those moments of feeling that God is speaking directly to you through the leader — sometimes to bring encouragement and sometimes to bring challenge or even confrontation.
Regardless of the content or intent of the message, it’s vital in times like these that we have ears to hear.
God speaks through the body of believers — His Church. (15–16)
God will also speak to us in a variety of ways through fellow believers. Of course, the words we hope to hear the most are those that communicate positive things to us, spoken with the warmth of brotherly affection. At times, however, we need something a little more direct. In Colossians 3:16, we are told to admonish one another.
To admonish means “to warn, scold or reprimand someone firmly but usually with good intentions to correct their behavior,” and there are moments in our lives when such correction is exactly what God intends. Ultimately, we are to speak “the truth in love” (v. 15). We need both truth and love from our brothers and sisters to help move us forward in our spiritual maturity.
God speaks through us to others in the Church. (25–29)
As members of the body of Christ, however, we are not just spoken to by others. We are also spoken through to others! This is one reason we should be careful in what we say. Our speech should be characterized by honesty and integrity, and we should always seek to build up others, both to their faces and behind their backs.
To accomplish this, it is imperative that we remove all ungodly motivations (bitterness, anger, wrath, slander, malice) and that we operate instead from a place of godly virtues like kindness, compassion and forgiveness, dealing with others as God has dealt with us.
As we consider the truth that God will speak to us through His Church, let us seek to develop humility and an openness to listening to what our brothers and sisters have to say to us. Let us also seek to ensure that we are fit vessels for God to communicate through to others.
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