God's Church is Growing Up

A bill collector called a young man about an overdue account: "Your credit card has recently gone over the limit with $1,500 of charges." The young man was devastated, "I rarely use that card." The bill collector noted that his wife had signed the receipts. With a compassionate tone he asked, "Are the two of you still together?" "Well, yes!" the man replied, "at least for the next few minutes."

It could well be that this couple was not "together" at all as far as the family finances. Their goals and strategies for the family were certainly at odds. Certainly, the secrecy surrounding the charges left her character in question. How could he trust her with money in the future? For two people to be together in more than just a physical way, it takes commitment, character, and a great deal of time spent growing closer.

The Church of Jesus Christ is the body of believers around the world who have trusted in the LORD Jesus Christ as their Savior. How can such a diverse, widespread group ever be together on anything? Impossible, from a human point of view. Yet, it is to this we were called in Christ.

Scripture Passage: Ephesians 4:1-16

Main Thought: God has called every believer to grow up together as the Church, the body of Christ, proclaiming a consistent message of truth to the world.

Every believer, as a member of the Church, should live a life worthy of our calling in Christ. (Eph. 4:1)
Every believer should concentrate on a worthy character which will enable God's church to fulfill His plans. (Eph. 4:2-6)
Every believer should strive to use his/her unique gifts in serving Christ so that the Church can reach and teach all possible people (Eph. 4:7-10).
Every believer should strive for maturity in the faith so that the Church will grow strong and remain steadfast in its mission. (Eph. 4:11-16)

1. Every believer, as a member of the Church, should live a life worthy of our calling in Christ.

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called... (Eph 4:1, NKJV)

The Apostle Paul did not just tell us to "be good." How many times when you were growing up did your parents tell you to "be good" when you were obviously not being good? Did it help? Not really, maybe for just a few minutes and then you went back to doing what you wanted to do. Many Bible messages boil down to this principle: "be good." In fact, as we read on in the passage, Paul talks about being humble, gentle, patient, and so on. If that is all he said, we might have a hard time putting it into practice. But he prefaced it all with this first point: walk worthy of your calling in Christ!

Every Christian has been given a calling from the LORD which is worthy-- of extremely high value. The value is set by the price paid for it --the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28, NKJV)

The English word "worthy" translated from the original Greek referred to a set of scales used to weigh something against a standard. So Paul is saying here that we have been called to live a life "worthy" or balanced against our calling in Christ. This includes not just our calling to salvation but also our calling into the one body of Christ (as Paul discussed in chapters 1-3). Our lives should reflect the high value which God placed on our lives. Because of the highly valued calling, we are exhorted to respond with a life of similar value.

A student development program in the State of Georgia is the Governor's Honors Program. In this program, the top 400 high school students in the state are picked to attend college level classes during the summer. A series of referrals from teachers, papers, and personal interviews were used to select the "best of the best" from across the state. These emerging seniors are expected to live on-campus for six weeks. Being away from their parents, many for the first time, the students were expected to live up to a very high standard or be removed from the program. Each student was highly valued academically and personally. Nearly all of the students rose to meet the challenging curriculum, standards, and daily regimen. It seems that each student recognized the special place and program for which they had been chosen.

In Christ, you have been called to the most worthy, highly valued life on the planet! God the Father sacrificed His most precious possession just for you. That is your motivation to strive for a worthy life that will make a difference for time and eternity. Choose today to live your life balanced against the awesome price paid for your life. Like the Apostle Paul, consider yourself a "prisoner of the Lord."

2. Every believer should concentrate on a worthy character which will enable God's church to fulfill His plans.

2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Eph 4:2-6, NKJV)

The life that is worth living is worthy of Christ. It starts with character development -- for good character will eventually produce good conduct. A people of good character will enable God's church to fulfill His plans. What should this character look like?

Humble	This more a state of mind than position of the body. A humble person knows his place and the source of his strength. For the Christian, realize that you are dependent on the grace of God for everything (2 Cor. 12:9-10) and can do nothing without Christ. (John 15:5) The Apostle Paul -- miracle worker, theologian, severely persecuted Christian-- knew his place ["the least of all the saints" (Eph. 3:8, NKJV)] and his strength ["I can do all things through {Christ} who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13, NKJV)]. The humble factor: "The more you grow in faith, the more dependent on God you become."
Gentle	A teachable spirit. From the Greek word used of training wild horses -- the key being to break the will but not the spirit. A wild horse must learn to run like the wind but under the control of the rider. Christians are to run like the wind under the control of the Holy Spirit. One with a teachable spirit will be able to learn from the Master.
Patient	Literally to "suffer long". Bear with one another in love, Paul advises. In marriage, Dr. Dobson advises "Go into marriage with your eyes wide open, then after you're married, with your eyes half closed." In church and in life, bear with the idiosyncrasies, different preferences, and weaknesses of others. Remember, they have to bear with yours also!
Easy-going	"Bearing with one another in love" This means getting along with one another in Christian love. This also means being willing to overlook the minor offenses in love. This also means being quick to forgive major offenses when loving rebuke and repentance have occurred.
Peace-loving	"Unity of the Spirit" includes a common purpose, agreement, peace. Oneness is not the same as homogeneous (all the same) but all unique with a common purpose, agreement, and peace. Christians are like wild horses learning to surrender to the will of God each day -- we are to be united in this purpose. This also means we must submit to one another. (Eph. 5:21) Our prayer each day and with one another must be, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10, KJV).

Because of your high calling in Christ to salvation and to this one body of believers, you should strive to embody these faith characteristics. Each of these things contributes to the oneness of the body. Think about it -- what would happen if we pursued the opposites:

Humility -------------------> (arrogance, pride)
Gentleness ----------------> (rude, harsh)
Patient --------------------> (impatient, selfish)
Easy-going ----------------> (demanding)
Peace-loving --------------> (divisive, argumentative)

The one body of Christ will grow as we exercise faith in Christ and pursue these qualities in our relationships. When we move away from these things, it is easy to see that the oneness of the body will be broken quickly. We must work very hard to work together as one body in Christ. We are all unique individuals but we are one in Christ.

Can we achieve this? Most emphatically, YES!

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil 1:6, NKJV)

3. Every believer should strive to use his/her unique gifts in serving Christ so that the Church can reach and teach all possible people.

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) (Eph. 4:7-10, NKJV)

There have been many varied interpretations of this passage of Scripture. But do not miss the main point that the Holy Spirit is making here. Each of us as believers in Christ has been granted a measure of grace.

Certainly, God granted us grace in Christ for salvation -- we see that from earlier in chapter two:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NKJV)

But God did not grant a different measure of grace for salvation to different people -- maybe some people are not as saved as others? Of course not -- God saves completely those who put their trust in Christ. This measure of grace is for service in the kingdom of God, in the church of Jesus Christ.

We are each gifted with a different measure of grace so that we might each contribute our unique gifts to the one body of Christ. In this way, the body of Christ can reach as many people as possible -- and demonstrate the "manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3:10, NKJV) in calling together such a diverse group of weak human beings. Not all are gifted to be preachers or missionaries -- but all of us are gifted and called to be ministers:

18 ... God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20, NKJV)

God accomplishes tremendous ministry on this Earth through His uniquely gifted children. Each of us has different experiences, personalities, ways of thinking, passions, preferences, knowledge, skills, and spiritual gifts. God uses all of who you are to gift you uniquely for service. No one else can do the things you can do. And no one else can reach the people for Christ that you can reach. This is why it is so vital for you to engage in spiritual service for our LORD in and through His church!

4. Every believer should strive for maturity in the faith so that the Church will grow strong and remain steadfast in its mission.

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-- Christ-- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Eph 4:11-16, NKJV)

God's plan for the church boils down to this: grow up! The body of believers around the world past, present, and future constitutes the church, the body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23,5:30). God has raised up leaders with various responsibilities to help the body grow -- to do the work of ministry and to be edified, meaning built up and matured (Eph. 4:11-12). Not all are called to be leaders but "some" are called. The building process is designed to help each believer grow up in these vital areas:

Scripture	Growth Area	Description
Eph. 4:13a	Unity of the Faith	Here, "the faith" refers to the one body of truth. All of us needs to learn to stand together in this body of truth. As disputes, disagreements, issues, and opportunities arise among us --and they will certainly arise -- we must learn to resolve them based on the body of truth we know -- the word of God is the final court of arbitration. We must also defend God's word with a passion for "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3, NKJV)
Eph. 4:13b	Mature in Christ	This involves both knowledge and obedience, devotion and ministry. To become "a perfect man" means to become mature not sinless -- though as you mature in Christ you will undoubtedly not fall into some sins that previously caused you to stumble. The measure of maturity is the "fullness of Christ" which means that this process will continue for a lifetime -- there is always room for growth. A modern day expression for this is "be all that you can be" in Christ!
Eph. 4:14	Firmly Grounded in Truth	As child believers we can be easily led astray but as mature believers we will know more and be much harder to fool. The truth of God's word provides a firm foundation on which to live and love. Once when I was in Florida, I tested out the theory of setting a foundation on shifting sands. Right where the waves crashed against the beach, I sunk my hands and feet deep down into the sand. No matter how hard I tried, no matter how deep I dug in, I could not keep from being moved around by even the gentlest waves. You cannot build a house that endures on shifting sands; you cannot live your life on the ever shifting sand of human reasoning. Our life in Christ can be grounded in only one thing -- the solid ground of God's word. We are to know what God's word teaches about Himself, you, salvation, life in general, specific issues such as anger, contentment, money, power, etc. Each person is expected to continue to develop a firm grasp of God's word.
Eph. 4:15	Speak the Truth in Love	Knowing the truth, we are then to proclaim it boldly. Proclaiming it boldly, we are to apply it to our lives. Learning to apply it to our lives, we then apply it to others. Whoa! Make sure you do it all in love! Guys -- speak the truth to others as you would when correcting your wife. Ladies -- speak the truth to others as you would when correcting your father.
Eph. 4:16	Each Part Does Its Share	Each person in the body of Christ has a function. If you think you're the appendix, I'll have you know that science has determined there is an immune system function carried out by the appendix. So that is no excuse to do nothing. Every person has a share in the gospel ministry of Christ.

God has called every believer to grow up together as the Church, the body of Christ, proclaiming a consistent message of truth to the world. This is His plan for the Church. He will surely accomplish His plan. Are you living in one accord with His plan?

Reflect on YOUR life: It is a daunting task this "growing up". Remember how hard it was as a young teenager trying to act like an "adult". It is a hard thing to do, a long grueling process. Certainly, the road to growth has many potholes in it. God, in His perfect wisdom, has considered this and provided His grace to carry us through this ordeal:

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. (Eph 4:7, NKJV)

Grace is that most marvelous, multifaceted gemstone that sparkles, glitters, and radiates the love of God in our lives. Grace -- the favor of God by which He blesses sinful human beings -- is given according to the measure of Christ's gift (the measure of infinite love for undeserving people). Now with that kind of "fuel" for growth, do you think you can grow and mature into the fullness of Christ? Sure you can!

"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.
The last of life for which the first was made." ¹

End Notes:

Browning, Robert. "Rabbi Ben Ezra." Dramatis Personae (London: Chapman and Hall, 1864). PR 4209 A1 1864 ROBA.