I want to thank John Helmberger for his help
up here, too, on the platform and leading the
music. Oh, it's fun to be back with you. I just
enjoy coming here to worship with you. You're
so full of life and enthusiasm most of the time.
I think I could make a habit out of it if I tried.
I almost do it every week. Would you open your
Bible, please, to Ephesians chapter 4. What is
the church, anyway? We've been talking about
it for several weeks, studying the various metaphors
or pictures of the church found in the New Testament.
In response to the question, what is the church,
John MacArthur has written some interesting lines.
He says it is not an organization made up of
programs, systems, and methods. dedicated to
attracting money and members to itself. It is
a living organism, a body with personality, which
is alive and breathing and feeling and acting
and, yes, suffering and sorrowing and bleeding
and in constant need of healing and restoration,
both individually and corporately, local and
worldwide. He continues, it is not... Buildings
and offices, departments and programs, or hierarchies
and positions dedicated to earthly display and
self -glorification for the purpose of being
accepted by the world. It is people living and
loving, learning and laboring, leading and following
together for the glory of Christ. It is not,
he says, another worldly institution dedicated
to applying a balm of humanistic principles and
solutions to man's personal and social needs.
It is an agitating force, a pricking conscience,
a sword of opposition, and a stinging salt solution
of conviction with the purpose of causing men
and women... caught up in Satan's world system
to be aware of their sin and their need for a
Savior. I especially like what he says, the church
is a living organism, a body with personality.
I think of all of the pictures of the church
found in the New Testament. This one of the church
as the body of Christ is the most meaningful
and complete. Complete, that is, in describing
who we are and what we are to be about. Just
as a healthy physical body naturally matures,
so a healthy spiritual body, a church, supernaturally
matures. And that is the theme that we're following
here in Ephesians chapter 4. The maturing of
the body of Christ. I'm going to begin reading
in verse 7. But to each one of us, grace was
given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore it says, and here he quotes from Psalm
68, When he ascended on high, he led captive
a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
Now this expression, says the apostle, he ascended,
what does it mean except that he also had descended
into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended
is himself also he who ascended far above all
the heavens that he might fill all things. And
he gave some as apostles and some as prophets
and some as evangelists and some as pastors and
teachers for the equipping of the saints. for
the work of service, to the building up of the
body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God to a mature man, to the measure of the
stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
As a result, we are no longer to be children
tossed here and there by waves and carried about
with every wind of doctrine. by the trickery
of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.
But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow
up in all aspects into him who is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted
and held together by that which every joint supplies
according to the proper working of each individual
part, causes the growth... of the body for the
building up of itself in love we are members
of a maturing body we who belong to jesus christ
we are members of a maturing church or body and
we have a part in that maturing process Now there
are several aspects of this that I want to talk
about this morning. I'm going to do something
I do very rarely, and that is change my outline.
So what you see there, you can kind of cross
out and mark some other things in. Instead of
three points, we're going to have five, and instead
of one message, two. How's that? We just couldn't
stop grinding it out. So, the first aspect of
this maturity we're going to talk about, actually,
is the work of maturity. The work of maturity.
And the thing that I want you to get a hold of
is this, that the one who is most concerned about
the maturing of the church is Jesus Christ himself.
After all, he is the head of this body. And the
head is concerned about the rest of the body.
The head of the church is not a pope or a bishop
or a pastor or a board of elders or deacons.
But the head of the church is one, and that is
Jesus Christ. He is the head of Grace Church
Roseville, just as he is the head of the Universal
Church, all true believers in this age. And he
is vitally involved in the work of maturing the
body. You see, he has provided for us so that
that maturing can take place. Jesus Christ is
himself the source of the church. He died to
bring us into existence. He purchased us, it
says in Acts chapter 20, with his blood. He is
the source of the church. He is the source of
what we are. He is the source of what we do.
And our objective as the body is to express his
life in the world. The world around us cannot
see Jesus Christ, except as they see him in us.
We are his hands, his feet. his eyes, his ears.
The world around us will be touched by Jesus
Christ only as they are touched by his body,
you and me. We are to glorify him in doing this.
The Lord Jesus Christ has purposed to bring his
body to maturity. We see this, for example, in
another book in the New Testament, 1 Peter chapter
5. I remind you of how Peter concludes this book,
writing to a suffering people. And you know when
we suffer, there are times when we wonder, what
is all of this accomplishing? And we may say,
Lord, what in the world are you up to? Why am
I going through this tough experience? God has
a purpose in it, and it says in 1 Peter 5, 10,
after you have suffered for a little while. I
especially like that little phrase there, for
a little while. Suffering is not forever. The
Lord leads us into suffering. There's always
a way out of suffering. Sometimes we forget that
in the middle of it, don't we? He says, after
you have suffered for a little while, the God
of all grace, You see, while we are in suffering,
he's the God of grace who supplies our needs
while we're there. He doesn't leave us alone.
We never go through the time of suffering by
ourselves. The God of grace is there. He says,
who called you to his eternal glory. That's what's
going to follow our suffering. Indeed, we learn
in the word of God that as we suffer for him
here, it works for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. He's talking here about
reward. As we suffer here, as we labor here,
as we are faithful here, it works glory for us
later on. It's a marvelous thing. It's a ratio
that God has established. So as we suffer a little
here, we get a lot of reward, of glory later.
You say, well, that shouldn't be our motive for
suffering faithfully. Perhaps not, but nonetheless,
God says that's the result. It's not wrong for
us to keep that in focus. God himself puts it
into focus here. He says he's called you to his
eternal glory in contrast to our little while
suffering in Christ. Now he says this God will
himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish
you. Four wonderful verbs. And that first one,
perfect, is the one that ties together beautifully
with Ephesians chapter 4 because it means to
mend the nets. Or a chiropractor would use it
to adjust the joints. Have you ever gone to a
chiropractor? Many of you have. I haven't very
often. But I can remember as a teenager, I lifted
some things improperly on the farm and had to
go to the chiropractor. And he put me on this
weird -looking table, and he began to push my
back and to rub it. and do all kinds of strange
things, it seemed to me. And he got to this certain
point when I was just beginning to relax and
feel good, and he went pow, like that, and snapped
the whole table underneath me. There were springs
sprung, and my back went whoop. And something
in there got aligned again. See, he brought me
into shape. He perfected me. That's the meaning
of this word right here. He perfected me. He
adjusted me. He gave me an adjustment. Now listen,
God is doing that for us. He's adjusting us,
he says. He goes on to say he's confirming us.
That means to make stable so that we're not like
water at 211 degrees or some Christians that
way. Just always on the point of instability.
God intends to keep us confirmed and stable,
and he wants to strengthen us. And then he uses
the word established. It means to lay a foundation.
God is in the business of laying a foundation
under our lives, a permanent foundation. I'm
glad for that. Well, you see, God is concerned
about our growing up, our maturing, our being
perfected, our being adjusted. He has purposed
that the church will be mature. There is no question
about that. The only question is how quickly.
And that's where we come into play. Someday the
whole church, every saved person, will be mature.
The question is, am I cooperating as God seeks
to mature me? And is our church working in such
a way that we as a church corporately together
are maturing like God intends us to? You see,
that's the real question. That we will be mature
someday is no question. But the point that we
want to talk about in this message is, how are
we cooperating with God in this process of our
maturity? And so the first aspect of it we want
to see is the work of maturity. It is the work
of Jesus Christ. It is his work in the body.
He will accomplish it. There's no question about
it. Now the second aspect we want to look at
is the means of maturity. That word should look
familiar there in your outline. The means of
maturity. Ephesians chapter 4 tells us that the
Lord Jesus Christ has provided two interworking
means by which maturity is achieved. A lot hangs
on these two things. But I think these are the
two... basic means by which maturity is achieved
in the church as a body. He mentions in verse
7, to each one of us, grace was given according
to the measure of Christ's gift. He is talking
here about the first means, and that is individual
spiritual gifts. That's means number one. Each
one of us has received, past tense, Grace from
the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the measure
of his gift. He has measured out certain gifts,
spirit -given abilities to us. Those were given
to us at the moment of our salvation. We did
not acquire them later than that. We do not seek
them after we are saved. But at the moment of
our salvation, each one of us received those
spiritual gifts. We're going to talk about that
more in the coming weeks, so I'm not going to
say a lot about it now, except for you to notice
that when he talks about Christ's gift, that
clicks something in his mind, and the Holy Spirit
causes him to go back to Psalm 68, verse 18,
and to quote, he says, when he ascended on high,
he led captive, a host of captives, and he gave
gifts to men. If you go back and look at that
psalm, it's describing there a warrior who has
been victorious and triumphant in his battle.
And as a result of that, in Psalm 68, it says
that he received gifts from men, gifts of gratitude
and gifts of praise because of his successful
battle. But notice that the Holy Spirit causes
the word to be changed as he brings it into the
New Testament. Here the Holy Spirit has the apostle
write, and he gave gifts to men, not that he
received them. He gave gifts to men. Now, is
he talking about Jesus here? Well, in verses
9 and 10, the apostle inserts a parenthetical
expression clarifying the fact, yes, underscoring
the fact, yes, he is talking about Jesus. Now
he says this expression, he ascended. What does
it mean? Well, it says, first of all, of course,
he descended to what he calls here the lower
parts of the earth. Now there are several ways
to take that. There are some who understand that
to refer to Christ going into Hades after his
death. I do not mean into the fiery hell, for
he suffered hell on the cross. But Jesus' spirit,
the immaterial part of him, went to the place
of departed spirits called in the Old Testament
Hades. And some see here in this phrase, the
lower parts of the earth, that meaning, that
that's where he descended after his death on
the cross before he was resurrected. It seems,
however, to me to take it in a different way
is a better way to take it. I think what he's
talking about here is the incarnation. And he's
saying that the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son,
descended in humility to the earth. Perhaps in
this way we would say it, he descended to the
lower parts, even the earth. To the lower parts
of the universe, he came down as one of us. And
then having accomplished his work, he ascended
again back to heaven where he is at the right
hand of God the Father. But whichever way you
take it, there's no question that he's talking
here about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one
who descended and then ascended on high and in
so doing he gave gifts to men. Now when did those
gifts arrive here? The answer is on the day of
Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came, he brought
the gifts to the church. He began on that day
to indwell believers and to do a new work not
done in the Old Testament under that economy.
The Holy Spirit began on that day to indwell
believers and to equip believers to serve their
master. He brings the gifts to us. Now, at the
moment of our salvation, when He enters us, when
we trust the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him.
And so, the first means by which the Lord is
working maturity in the church is by individual
spiritual gifts. You have a part to play, I have
a part to play. And we're going to come back
to that next week, the Lord willing, as we talk
about the end of this text. Let's move ahead
now to the second means. Now these two work together,
remember. They're not completely separate. The
second means by which our Lord is maturing the
church is by individuals who are themselves gifts
to the body. Now first we said individual spiritual
gifts, which we all possess. But now the Lord
tells us that he also gives individuals, people,
who are themselves gifts to the body in order
that the body might grow up, be matured. And
it says in verse 11 that he gave some as apostles
and others, on the other hand, as prophets, then
some as evangelists, and some as pastor -teachers.
You will notice a certain chronological order
that is involved here. He mentions first apostles.
The apostles were a small group of men back in
the beginning of the church who were personally
chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ to be witnesses
of his suffering and of his resurrection. Men
who would see him in his glory as we today have
not seen him. Apostles were unique in the first
century. There were twelve of them originally,
Judas losing his place because of his betrayal,
and another being appointed among the twelve
whose name was Matthias. Following that, there
was another apostle appointed by the Lord Jesus
Christ, one who is called the apostle of the
church, the apostle to the Gentiles, and that
is whom? Right, Paul, the Apostle Paul. And so
in this limited sense, the apostles numbered
the twelve plus the Apostle Paul. Now there are
others who are called apostles. Silas, Barnabas,
Junius, Adrenicus. They are apostles in a secondary
sense. That is, they are sent ones by the local
churches of that day. But the word in its technical
primary sense refers to a very small group of
men chosen directly by the Lord Jesus Christ
who saw him in his resurrection glory and who
had a very important function, which we'll see
in a moment. He gave some as apostles. There
are not apostles today. I'm sorry to disappoint
some people in the United States who call themselves
apostles. A friend of mine who graduated from
the same Bible school I did lives... in another
state far from here, but he calls himself an
apostle. He is an error on that. He is not an
apostle. Apostles were in the first century because
people today simply cannot meet the qualifications
of an apostle. They had to have walked with the
Lord Jesus Christ or at least have seen him in
his resurrection glory and been appointed by
him personally to that office. The apostles,
of course, died out by the end of the first century.
John was the last one of them alive. The apostles
had their ministry accompanied by certain special
gifts, according to Hebrews chapter 2, verse
4. There were signs, wonders, and miracles which
accompanied their ministry. Not necessarily the
ministry of others, but the apostles. They were
the signs of the apostles, it says. And those,
too, ended when the apostles left the scene.
Their ministry was completed. Now, on the other
hand, he gave some as prophets. These are not
Old Testament prophets like Isaiah or even John
the Baptist, who was an Old Testament prophet.
But he's talking here about New Testament church
prophets. Again, this is a group of people who
lived primarily in the first century. The prophets
were ones who received direct revelation from
the Lord. You see, they had no New Testament.
It was being written in those days. There was
a need for churches to know the mind of God,
the Word of God, and so God delivered that revelation
to the church through prophets. According to
1 Corinthians 14, these prophets were to keep
check on one another. to make sure that they
weren't getting out of bounds and saying things
that were wrong. They were to check their prophecies
to make sure that the prophecies were in fact
of God and not of themselves, or even worse,
of the devil. These were the prophets. They ended
their ministry with the completion of the New
Testament. They were no longer needed to give
revelation from God. God had His revelation.
written down in black and white. There was no
need for people to receive direct revelation
from God. And this would probably disappoint
some people today who also claim to be prophets
and who claim to have revelations from God or
ramas from God. And however sincere they may
be, what they are saying is in contradiction
with what the Word of God says. Whereas the New
Testament was concluded with the writing of the
book of Revelation, There was a seal put upon
that book in the last chapter saying that no
one was to take away from or to add to what God
had delivered in that revelation. Revelation
ceased 2 ,000 years ago. God is not giving revelation
today. God is giving us understanding of this
revelation. We receive new insights, but actually
the truth has been there all along. The revelation
stopped. God said everything he wanted to say
through those men who were chosen of God to write
these words and used of the Holy Spirit to put
it onto paper. So those were the prophets. Both
of these were temporary. And both of them, and
here's the key thing, both of them were foundational.
Back in chapter 2 of this very book, in fact,
in verse 20, it says regarding the church that
we are built upon the foundation. of the apostles
and prophets. And he says Christ Jesus is the
cornerstone. He's the key piece to it all, but
he says the apostles and the prophets are part
of the foundation that was laid. I don't have
to tell you that once you lay the foundation
of a building, you don't lay it again. You don't
repeat it. The apostles and prophets fulfilled
their God -given ministry, In the early part
of the church, they laid the foundation to the
structure we are built upon them today. We do
not have to lay any more foundation. There are
no more apostles and prophets to lay foundation.
We no longer need apostles and prophets anymore
than we need to go back to Calvary and for Jesus
to die again or for the Holy Spirit to come again
as He did on Pentecost. Their work was completed.
The foundation was laid. And today we build upon
that foundation of the apostles and the prophets.
And so you see there is a certain chronological
order here. The apostles and the prophets were
individuals given by the Lord Jesus Christ to
bring the church to maturity. But he goes on
to say, and he gave some as evangelists. Now
we usually use that term today in the sense of
a person who travels from church to church preaching
that people might get saved. That may well be
a ministry God calls some men to. I have known
some very fine evangelists. But we should not
limit this term just to those kinds of people.
What he has in mind here primarily, actually,
in the sense of the New Testament, were men who
were... called of God to go into areas where
the gospel had never been preached. And there
they would proclaim the gospel, and people would
come to Christ, and they would plant churches,
fellowships of God's people. So perhaps a better
term here would be church planters. We just a
few weeks ago said goodbye to Steve and Mary
Linetti. who, like several others of our missionaries,
are involved in very difficult places in the
world where the gospel has never been preached.
And there they are seeking to win these people
to faith in the true God and in Jesus Christ,
His Son, and then to establish a church. They
are actually very close to what is meant here,
and He gave some evangelists. evangelists, those
who proclaim the evangel, the good news, the
gospel, church planters. But then it says, and
he gave some as pastors and teachers. Actually,
I believe that there should be a hyphen between
these words, pastor, teachers. I don't think
he's talking about two offices here. The grammar
would seem to indicate that at least. He gave
some as pastor -teachers. It could be translated
this way, teaching shepherds or teaching pastors.
The word pastor means shepherds, shepherd. These
shepherds are to feed the people of God, to protect
them, to lead them as the flock of the Lord.
So do you see the progression? There are those
who are church planters, those who establish
the work, and then God raises up pastor -teachers
who come in behind the church planters in order
to mature the people by teaching them, by feeding
them, by leading them, by protecting them from
the enemies. Pastor -teachers. In Acts chapter
20, if you want to turn back a moment, I'd appreciate
it. The Apostle Paul meets with... the pastor
-teachers or the elders, a synonymous term, of
the church of Ephesus, he opens his heart to
them in a most wonderful way. He calls them elders
or overseers. He calls them, in verse 28, as
those who are to be on guard for yourselves and
for all the flock over which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd or to pastor
the church of God, which he purchased with his
own blood. So you see that there are important
responsibilities for the pastor -teacher. He
is to guard himself. He is to guard the flock.
and he is to shepherd the flock. The idea behind
shepherding is primarily that of feeding the
flock of God. And I think that's why he ties
together those two words in Ephesians chapter
4, pastor, teacher, for the flock is fed through
the teaching of the word of God. Turn back to
1 Peter chapter 5 again, where he addresses elders
once more. And he says in verse 2, Shepherd the
flock of God among you, exercising oversight,
not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according
to the will of God, and not for assorted gain,
but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over
those allotted to your charge, but proving to
be examples to the flock. And when the chief
shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading
crown of glory. And then he commands humility.
These are the teaching pastors, those who shepherd
the flock of God, those who are given an allotted
charge, those who are given sheep for which they
become responsible. These are the pastor teachers.
And so how is it that the Lord matures the church?
What are the means that he has provided as our
head that the church may grow up and be mature?
Individual spiritual gifts, which all of us possess,
and individuals who themselves are gifts to the
church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, church
planters, and pastor -teachers. I have the privilege
of being a pastor teacher in this church, but
I'm not the only one. There are others within
this church who are gifted and called of God
to be pastor, teachers, overseers, shepherds
of God's flock. Now I want us to very quickly
look at a third aspect of this maturity that
the Lord Jesus Christ is producing in His church,
and that is the process of it. And with this,
we will conclude for today. The process of maturity.
You will notice here in Ephesians 4 that there's
a certain sequence given in verse 12. It says
that he gave these people, verse 11, to the church
for the equipping of the saints. That's step
number one in the process. The purpose that the
people have been given to the church is this.
for which the people have been given to the church,
is this, that the people of God, the saints,
might be equipped. Now that word equip is the
word perfect. It refers to something that is
completed, to something that becomes full grown.
It is the Greek word that is used, again, for
mending the nets, as I said before. It is used
by a physician in that day to set a bone. The
bone has been broken. The physician takes the
limb and twists it, does what is necessary in
order for that bone to be set back in its proper
place. This is the word that is used for that.
It is the word that was used in that day for
the uniting of a political party. in bringing
factions together. And it is a word, and I think
this is the best way to picture the word, it
is a word used for furnishing a home. Furnishing
a home. There are some of you young couples who
are concerned about furnishing your apartments
or your homes. And not just young couples, sometimes
it takes several years to do that. You find the
piece you want, you buy it, you bring it into
your home. Then you begin to pay for it. And
over the process of years, you accumulate, you
furnish your home so that it's equipped. And
it's a place where you can live. It's a place
where your life can be expressed. I think that
this pictures very beautifully the equipping
of the saints because what happens in the equipping
of the saints is that we are furnished. We are
furnished so that the Lord Jesus Christ can settle
down here and express His life in us. The idea
behind it is one of dynamic conditioning of the
body members. I like that phrase, dynamic conditioning
of the body members to fulfill their God -given
function. That's what equipping the saints is
all about. My purpose as the pastor teacher of
the church at large and the purpose of our elders
and of the pastor teachers of our small churches
and others who may serve as shepherds in various
capacities, our purpose is to equip the saints,
to furnish the saints, to condition, each of
us, so that we function according to God's gifts
and the role that he has called us to perform.
That's my purpose, to equip you. I believe that
that has to be the primary purpose of every staff
member that we would call here at the church,
on our pastoral staff. There's a sense in which
we have our own ministry, to be sure, but...
Underlying all of that has to be our calling
as pastors to furnish you, to equip you, to complete
you, to condition you so that you can function
as God intends you to function. How is this equipping
done? Well, I believe it's done primarily through
the teaching of the Word of God. Turn to one
more passage with me, and with this one I think
we'll close this morning. 2 Timothy, chapter
3, verse 16. The apostle says, All Scripture
is God -breathed. What that means is that the
Bible is unlike any other book written in the
history of the world. God has produced it. He
has brought it into existence by the work of
His Spirit. When I think of the breath of God
doing this, I think of a sailboat. A sailboat
which stands still in the water until the wind
comes to empower it and move it along. What happened
when the scriptures were written was this, that
there were men chosen of God who were breathed
upon as it were by God, who were empowered by
God, overseen by God, superintended by God, so
that what they wrote were the very words of God.
The Bible is inerrant. It is a totally unique
book. Now, why has God gone to all of this trouble
to produce this book for us? Well, He says that
we might use it for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness. Now,
why is it being used for teaching and rebuking
us and getting us on the right path and disciplining
us? Verse 17, that the man of God may be adequate,
equipped for every good work. This word adequate
means to be sufficient and able to meet all of
the demands. The word equipped here is a different
one than in Ephesians, but here it means to be
completely outfitted or furnished. And the example
of that day would be a rescue boat. They would
thoroughly equip a rescue boat with all that
it needed in order to rescue sailors in trouble.
God seeks to thoroughly equip us. How does He
do that? By the Scriptures. Folks, I believe
that we need to be above everything else a Bible
-teaching church. I want us to be known as that.
There will be times when we may do other things
in a service. For example, have a music concert.
We've done that occasionally. There may be a
rare, very rare occasion when we would show a
film. If it was going to do something, we felt
it would accomplish a good purpose. But by and
large, I want people to know when they come to
Grace Church Roseville that they're going to
hear the Word of God preached and taught from
this pulpit. That is my goal. That's the goal
of our elders, that we be a Bible -teaching church.
I believe that's why you're here today, many
of you, because you want the Word of God. My
function as the pastor -teacher is to teach the
Word of God. Now, there are other things that
I may do. I do some counseling. I do some work
with the staff. I do some visitation. There are
other things I may do, but my primary calling
is to teach the Word of God and thus mature the
body. And I thank God that our leadership here
has that vision of what the pastor -teacher is
all about. There are some pastors who labor in
situations where they are expected themselves
to do everything. Not only are they to study,
and to preach, but they're to visit everybody
in the hospital as well as to see everybody else
in the church in their homes at least once a
year. And they're to print out the bulletin as
well as to write it. They're to sweep the church
out. They're to check the bathrooms to make sure
that they're adequately supplied. And some may
think that's humorous, but there are pastors
who literally are expected to do that by their
churches. Let me tell you something. That is
not the will of God. And those churches are suffering
for it. It's tragic. I thank God that our leadership
here and our people here have what I believe
is the biblical understanding of what the pastor
-teacher is all about. My heart is to teach you
the Word of God. I wish you would pray for me,
that I may be a more holy man of God, that I
may be a better pastor -teacher than I am. that
I may be able by the Spirit of God to communicate
the Word to you in such a way that your lives
truly are built up. That's why I ask your prayers,
that I may fulfill the function that God has
given to me in this body. And I'll tell you this,
I pray for you, that you then may fulfill the
function God has given you in this body. That's
what we're all about as a church. We're a body.
We're growing. We're maturing. It is the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has provided for
it. His purpose is that we might reflect His
likeness, that we might express His life in the
world. I just wonder where we are as a church
in that whole process of maturing. How mature
are we as a body? How much do we as a church
really reflect the likeness? of our head, our
master? How much are you expressing his life?
How much is your life like him? Because you see,
the way that I answer that and the way you answer
it, and all of us together in the sum, answers
the question about the church. For we are the
church, the body of Christ. Let's bow together.
Would you sing with me this chorus? I think you
know it. Oh, to be like Thee Oh, to be like Thee
Blessed Redeemer Pure as Thou art Come in Thy
sweet Lord, you are the head of this body, and
it's our desire that we might express perfectly
your life. We don't. But we pray that you will
continue to equip us, to furnish us, so that
we might function as we ought, and thus be a
wonderful tool in your hands to touch lives of
the lost around us. And Father, wherein we as
individuals are not maturing, if we're stagnant,
or if there's sin in our lives that is hindering
your work, so that we're not like you as we ought
to be, then deal with us today, that we might
repent of that sin and put it out of our lives
and go on growing and walking with you. Thank
you for your word, which equips us and matures
us. In Jesus' name, amen.