Ephesians 4:11-16
INTRO : Growing up can often be painful & embarrassing
-
A) Most of us can remember - stupid things that we did or said as kids that caused
us a great deal of pain or embarrassment
B) I remember the time that I
experimented w/ riding my bike w/ my eyes closed - did good
until I hit a parked truck .
1) I was 4 yrs old this bike that looked like a
motorcycle - Brilliant
idea how far can I get eyes Closed -
Trucked Jacked up Underneath
C) We all have stories like that of things we did that we were
embarrassed about
D) When my son Aaron was going into 3rd
grade he asked me
1) Dad when you were in the 2nd grade did you
ever do or say stupid things or
embarrassing things
E) I said sure
- in fact I still do & say stupid things now
.
1) Then he said - I cant believe some of the things I did in
the 2nd grade.
Like there
was this sudden jump in maturity the summer between 2nd & 3rd
Then there are those times when kids are younger that they
want to grow up faster or appear more grown up than they really are.
A) I remember back when my
Daughter Amanda turned 2 we celebrated her 2nd birthday
B) Next day I found her in our
bathroom - standing in front of the closet mirror
putting on Denises Mascara:
1) Wand in one
hand / bottle in the other very careful Actually did a good Job but
she so much wanted to be a grown up
C) She is the youngest and still her greatest
frustration. FACT : No one grows up over night Process / takes time
1) Comes to Maturity time, experience and learning
all part of the Process
SAME IS TRUE SPIRITUALLY Spiritually no one grows up
overnight No short cuts to spiritual growth { Individually
of for a Church
A) We have been camped out here in Eph 4 considering
the Purpose of the Church UNITY 1-6 / DIVERSITY 7-10/ MINISTRY 11-12 / MATURITY
11 And He Himself gave some to be
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, { GIFTED MEN are given to the Church for this reason:12 for the
equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, { TALKED ABOUT
LAST TIME } AND
for the edifying of the body of Christ,
B) The word Edify = to Build up so God gives gifted
men to the Church so that the Body can be Build up
1) So it can
Grow / so it can MATURE so it can function Properly
C) In the
remaining verses Paul shows us what the Maturity
is supposed to look Like
1)He gives us an idea of what
the grown up believer & Church is to look like
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.
D) That Maturity is seen
in 3 things / 1st That we would become more like Christ - 2nd More stable in our walks more Grounded - less Childish
1) 3rd
That we would be functioning as a unit and fulfilling our role w/ in the body
of Christ. A Godly Cooperation
E) So that is what we want to consider today Marks
of Maturity
The 1st mark of maturity That we would become
more like Christ - or as Paul puts it
in v.15 may grow up in all things into Him who is the head;
Christ;
A) Christ is the head of the Church We are the
Body the Lords goal for us is that we would be Growing into Christ the Head
B) Now Paul mentions 2 things in v. 13 that are
essential for measuring that growth
C) 1st
- Growing in our Knowledge of Christ till
we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
Paul is not talking about a salvation knowledge but about
the deep knowledge, epignosis a full knowledge / DEEP KNOWING /Intimacy
A) That Knowledge comes only from spending time in
prayer and faithful study of and obedience to God's Word.
B) I find it interesting that After many years of
devoted apostleship Paul still could say, Phil 3:8-10,12 "I count all
things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but
rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him .... that I
may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
sufferings .... Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become
perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I
was laid hold of by Christ Jesus" .
D) Wrote after 30 yrs Know Him { Know the Purpose
why Christ Apprehended Paul - Ask Paul
after 30 yrs dont you know Him?
1) Answer - { SO much to Know} We must Never forget
that
E) Jesus said in the volume of the book written of
me!!!!!
You could take what Paul is saying there in Phil & simplify it in this way: it is a knowing of
Christ that - translates into a longing to be more like Him !
A) Which is the 2nd aspect of growing into the head
that Paul mentions in the latter part of v. 13 to a perfect man, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ;
B) The word Perfect = Complete:
Gods desire for each one of us is that we would day
by day week by week month
year ..year
1) That we would be growing more Complete Complete
Christians
C) How is that Completeness MEASURED To the degree
that we are becoming more like Jesus :
1) That is what is meant by the Phrase to the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ;
D) What Paul is pointing out that Christ is the
measuring stick of our maturity !
1) In other words:
The Measuring stick of our Christian maturity is going to be seen in how
like Christ are we becoming!
Often times though not always people who have a good
marriage after they have been married for a while can start to look &
act alike.
A) They start having the same kinds of expressions
on their faces. They start to think a like / talk alike / act a like / similar
passions & interest.
B) Have you ever considered
why that happens? Well, that's because as they have abided with one another, and they begin to
be like one another.
1) It's the same way abiding with Christ. We become
more Christ like.
C) We begin to take on the characteristics of Christ
as we abide in him.
1) You see
that transformation take place in the life of the DISCIPLES
as
you
read the NT.
D) That truly is the measuring stick of our
Christianity The mark of MATURITY IS How much like
Christ are we becoming?
1) Ask ourselves these type of questions
Is our #1 passion in life like that of Christs to
glorify God the Father in all we do ? Are we focused on the Fathers will, time, heart?
A) Are we
becoming more & more others centered & less
self centered ?
B) Are our lives being marked by a desire to serve others &
to sacrifice for others
1) Are we becoming givers or are we just takers ?
C) Are we
seeing people w/ His eyes - dealing w/ People w/ his
heart ?
When they hear
our voice is it a reflection of His voice
Pastor Mark Thompson of Faribault, Minnesota,
suffered terrible knife wound when someone broke into his home, One of the
consequences of his difficult recovery was being forced to miss watching his
son Chris run in the state cross-country championship meet. So Pastor Thompson asked his brother Merv to go in his stead.
According
to the account in the St. Paul Pioneer Press /
Mark told his brother, "I can't be there to see Chris run. So I want you there at the beginning of the
race. Holler a lot. ... Then at the
end, I want you to really cheer loudly.
And I want you to make your voice sound like mine."
Merv heeded the advice, and Chris ran a strong race,
finishing second. Merv, discerned a
deep theological truth in the process.
"That's what Jesus wants us to do." he thought "Make our
voice sound like HIS."
TONE / HEART
D) Parents when our kids are listening to our voice
how much of what they are hearing for us is reflective
of the voice of Christ ?
1) Husbands when you talk to your wife how much
is your tone like that of Jesus as he talked to his disciples?
Challenging for me to consider Us as a Church How like
Jesus are we in the way that we do things ? We conduct ourselves ?
A) We have all been to the Carnival Headless figure painted on the cardboard of the strong man or the Jail bird or the Cowboy
B) You stand behind it someone snaps a picture
and it is funny because the head and the body just dont go together Just
dont fit ?
C) Question I have pondered recently: If we could put Christ Head
over this body of Believers would the world laugh
because it doesnt fit ?
1) Or would they stand in
awe because the body was so closely
related to the Divine head? INTERESTING THING TO PONDER
I read a story about a missionary, who was involved in a boating accident and was thought to be lost at sea, In reality he washed up on
the edge of a remote native village.
Half-dead from
starvation, exposure, and sea water, he was found by the people of the village and was
nursed back to full health.
Subsequently, he lived among these people for twenty
years.
During the whole of that time he confessed no faith.
He uttered no songs. He preached no sermons. He neither read nor recited any Scripture.
He made no personal faith claim. But when people were
sick, he attended them, sitting long into the night.
When people were hungry, he gave them
food. When
people were lonely, he was a source of company. He taught the ignorant.
He was a source of enlightenment to those who were
more knowledgeable.
He always took the side of those who had been wronged.
There was not a single human condition with which he did not identify.
After twenty years had passed, missionaries came
from the sea to the village and began talking to the people about a man called
Jesus, and after hearing of Jesus, the natives
insisted that he had lived among them for the past twenty years.
"Come, we will introduce you to the
man about whom you have been speaking."
The missionaries were led to a hut, and there they
found their long-lost fellow missionary whom they had thought dead.
I wonder as our Children start to hear about Jesus in
Childrens Church / or youth group
A) Would they
respond in the same fashion Oh that sounds like my Dad or my mom ? That sounds like my uncle / grandpa
B) Now I know
that there is not a person in this room who is going to ever truly reflect
Christ in a perfect way Flawed sinners
1) We fail /
we blow it we mess up often myself included
C) But I think that the Lord
would have us today consider really ponder this reality : That is the goal that is the mark of MATURITY
1) That is how it is measured How like Jesus am I
becoming How have I changed in such a way to reflect him more ?
D) Am I making excuses for my imperfections or do I
recognize that Jesus is wanting to surrender area of myself to him so that he
can Change me
I am a very impatient person: I hate to wait on things / in
traffic / for people/ drives me nuts
A) Now I can
really get upset in situations where I am forced to be patient and wait I can
respond Well
I am just impatient
who I am
B) Wait the
Bible says of Jesus : Love is Patient If I am going to be becoming
more like Him that means I am going to be growing in this area 1) So I have a
choice : I can make excuses or I can understand This is an area of my life He
wants to Change { Surrender / Embrace
C) The Lord has me waiting presently in an area it
has been hard waiting on a persons decision But
I have been growing too
1) Giving that person space and allowing what God is
wanting to do in that persons life to unfold
D) Listening folks growing up is hard it takes
time / But that is the goal that is what we are to give ourselves to> Individuals & as a Church
I will close
with this quote from Charles Spurgeon:
A neighbor near my study persists in practicing on
the flute. He bores my ears as with PLAYING and
renders it almost an impossibility to think. Up and down his scale he
runs mercilessly, until even the calamity of temporary deafness would almost be
welcome to me.
Yet
he teaches me that I must practice if I would be perfect, must exercise myself unto
godliness if I would be skillful, must, in fact, make myself familiar with the
word of God, with holy living, and saintly dying. Such practice, moreover, will
be as charming as my neighbor's flute is intolerable.
C) Not always a pretty process but it is the DIVINE
GOAL!!!!