I'm going to read verses 7 through 16. But to
each one of us, grace was given according to
the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says,
when he ascended on high, he led captive a host
of captives, and he gave gifts to men. Now this
expression, Paul says parenthetically, he ascended,
what does it mean except that he also had descended
into the lower parts of the earth? which probably
refers to his incarnation, his coming down to
the earth. He who descended is himself also he
who ascended far above all the heavens that he
might fill all things. Now he goes on to say,
and he gave some as apostles and some as prophets
and some as evangelists and some as pastor 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 by
every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men,
by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking
the truth in love, we are to grow up in him,
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.
All of us like to receive gifts, don't we? You
and I who know the Lord Jesus Christ are on the
receiving end of things when it comes to our
relationship with our benevolent Heavenly Father.
He is the great giver. There is none who can
out -give God. None who can out -give God. In
the first place, it is God who gives us the very
breath that we have. He gives us life. He gives
us existence. It says in Acts 17, verses 25 and
27, In Him we live and move and exist. He gives
to all life and breath and all things. He gives
us as well our daily sustenance. In Psalm 136,
verse 25, He gives food to all flesh. In God's
providential care of His creation, He gives daily
sustenance to all of it. And then our Lord gives
strength. The Lord will give strength to His
people. Psalm 29, verse 11. The Lord is the giver
of understanding. In Psalm 119, verse 130, It
says that he gives us his word, which gives understanding
to the simple. You say, well, who's simple? We
are. Those of us who humble ourselves and come
to God and say, Lord, teach me. That's the simple
person in mind there. And he gives understanding
to the simple, those who humble themselves. Then
he gives sleep. So he gives his beloved sleep.
Psalm 127, verse 2. You might not think that's
too important. But if you've ever suffered from
insomnia, you will think it's important. It's
a terrible thing not to be able to sleep. But
the Lord gives sleep to his people. Not during
church. The devil gives it then. The devil gives
it then, but the Lord gives it other times. And
then the Lord gives us all things. As it says
in 1 Timothy 6, 17, He gives us all things lavishly,
richly to enjoy. That's why God has given us
this beautiful creation around us, that we might
enjoy it and use it for His glory. Of course,
He is the giver of salvation, Romans 6, 23. The
wages of sin is death, but the what? The gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. By grace ye are saved, through faith, and
that not of yourselves. It's the what? The gift
of God. Not by works, lest any man should boast.
And so he is the giver of salvation. All that
we do in salvation is receive by faith what God
offers us. We don't earn it. We don't work for
it. Then he is the giver of grace to the humble.
1 Peter 5, 5 says that God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. And then in our
text today, we see another aspect of our giving
Lord. It says in verse 7 that he gives grace
according to his measure to each one of us. The
Lord Jesus Christ is concerned about the church
maturing. Its maturation, its growing up is His
work, and He has provided for it. He has provided
in the first place individual spiritual gifts
for His people. That means if you are a Christian
today, God has measured out to you some ability.
that He alone can give and which you can employ
in ministering to other people. That is a spiritual
gift. Every Christian has them. To each one of
us, grace was given, says the Word of God. If
you say you have no spiritual gift, then you
are a contradiction to what God has said. Because
to each one of us, grace has been given. measured
out by the gift of Christ so that we might serve
him, be an active part of his body. God hasn't
just saved us so that we can sit here and someday
go to heaven. He has saved us to serve. He has
saved us to be a part of the body. We have a
job to do. We have a function to fulfill. And
he has enabled us to do it. He's given us gifts.
But working together with those individual spiritual
gifts are individuals who are gifts in themselves,
according to verse 11. For it says that he also
gave some as apostles and some as prophets. We
saw last week that those were part of the foundation
of the church. In those early years after our
Lord went back to heaven, the apostles who had
been personally appointed by the resurrected
Lord delivered his revelation. to his people.
Many of them wrote down the words that we study
today in the Bible. In addition to them and working
with them were the prophets, those people who
received direct revelation from God and delivered
it to individuals and congregations. The prophets
were to keep track of one another to be sure
that they were delivering the word of the Lord,
but they had an important function of delivering
God's revelation in that day. And we said last
week, and we maintain that The prophets and the
apostles are no longer with us. Their purpose
expired, particularly with the receiving of the
Bible, God's written revelation. God has nothing
more to say than that which he has said, and
it's in his word. But he also gives evangelists.
Evangelists began in that day, and they continue
right on through because evangelists are those
who declare the evangel, the good news. They
are involved primarily in planting churches.
I suppose missionaries are about as close to
an evangelist biblically as we could illustrate
it today. Those who go out planting churches
where the gospel has not been preached. But then
coming on their heels are these who are last
in the list, and there seems to be some progression
chronologically. as well as in other ways. And
the last and maybe the least on the list are
those who are pastor -teachers, those who come
along to build up the saints, to minister in
the churches that have been planted by the evangelists,
the pastor -teachers. One office is in view here,
so the grammar seems to indicate at the end of
verse 11. Pastor -teachers, those who are teaching
shepherds, those who feed. and lead and protect
the flock of God. There are some men who are
more gifted at teaching than they are at shepherding.
And there are some who are more gifted in shepherding
than they are at teaching. All pastor -teachers
are different. They have different gifts according
to God's program for them, God's function for
them in the body. Not all pastors are alike.
I think it's a mark of maturity and growth in
a church when they learn how to appreciate differences
in pastors, in their shepherds, their teachers,
and to not compare them for critical purposes,
at least, because the Lord gifts His servants
differently. When we invite someone else to come
to this pulpit, we expect them to be different
than I am. We don't need another me around. Juan's
all we can handle. Enough trouble with this one.
When we bring someone else in to preach, he's
going to say it differently. He's going to have
a different style. And we understand that. I
hope you understand that and that you appreciate
that variety of gifts. God does it that way.
We need to realize, too, that men who are called
of God to be pastor -teachers grow and mature
in that assignment of the Lord in his body. We
have young men who are on our staff who will
be in this pulpit occasionally. They will be
here by my invitation because they have something
to say to us that's important for us to hear.
And they may not say it as well as someone who's
had more experience. but that's all right. They
have to get experience some way. We can learn
from anyone if we'll just listen and have our
hearts open to the Spirit of God. I'm thankful
that Pastor Wiersbe, back at Calvary Baptist
Church in Covington, Kentucky, gave me the opportunity
to be in the pulpit occasionally. When he was
out of town, usually, is when I preached. I remember
when I was interviewed there that he told me,
you're going to preach on Sunday morning, September,
I think it was 25th. And he said, that night
Stephen Olford is going to preach. Well, I had
never preached before 1 ,100, 1 ,200 people before,
and to think that I was going to have to preach
from the same pulpit that Stephen Olford would
preach at later in the day, I'm telling you,
that was scary to me. And I still think back
on it and get scared if I think too hard. Stephen
Olford is a powerful Bible teacher and greatly
used of God all over the United States and the
world. I was surely glad I didn't have to preach
after him, I'll tell you that. I was glad I was
in the morning, he was at night. But you see,
the church there was gracious, and they understood
that I was just out of college. I was just learning
how to do this thing called preaching. I look
back on my sermons at that time, and I'm embarrassed
that I ever preached them. They were crude, to
say the least. About all I knew to do was to
take outlines from my theology class and preach
them. And the people were kind, and they listened,
and they said they learned something. But those
were years of my growing. And now we have young
men here, and this is how they're going to learn
to do it. And so I appreciate the fact that you're
willing to come and to hear them and to listen,
to encourage them. That's important. We need
to mature other men along the way as they accept
the assignment of becoming pastors in the Lord's
church. There are some men who are gifted at
really shepherding and loving God's people. They're
not too terrific in the pulpit. I've had that
kind of pastor before as I was growing up. They
were not astounding Bible teachers. I didn't
learn great new truths under them, but oh, the
heart of love that they had for their flock and
how they ministered to us as a people and encouraged
us and comforted us. On the other hand, I've
been under men who... knew how to teach, knew
were superb, and who every time they opened their
mouth seemed to say something profound, and yet
who were not greatly skilled at shepherding God's
people. They really weren't comfortable with
people. They were more reclusive. I don't condemn
the one and justify the other. They are both
the servants of the Lord, and we appreciate the
emphasis that God puts in each ministry. Each
one is unique. designed by God to be placed in
a church for a period of time and then often
to be removed and sent on to another assignment
and someone else comes in to fill in. This is
not an announcement of my resignation. But that
happens, doesn't it? And we've all been through
that. And it hurts. You know, it's painful. It's
a growing experience for both church and people
when that kind of separation takes place. But
that's part of God's process in all of this.
And so he gives some as pastor teachers, and
their purpose, it says, is to equip the saints.
Verse 12, and that brings us to the process of
maturity. There's a certain sequence that's involved
here in verse 12. It says that the purpose of
these people gifts in the church is that they
might equip the saints. And the idea behind the
word equip is to complete or to mend. It was
used in that day of mending nets, fishing nets
that were torn, or to unite political parties,
or to furnish a home. It's a widely used word.
The idea is that the purpose of the pastor is
to dynamically condition the members of the body,
the local body, to fulfill their God -given function.
How is it that those who are the pastor -teachers
of this church accomplish that rather awesome
duty to equip the saints? Well, the answer is
that we must do that the way God has provided,
and that is by teaching the Word of God. The
Word of God is breathed by Him. It is inspired
by Him so that we might be equipped and perfected
as His people unto every good work. And so it
is by the teaching of the Word of God that we
accomplish that. We trust will always be the
emphasis in Grace Church, the teaching of the
Word of God. That was the emphasis in the Apostle
Paul's ministry. Would you turn to Colossians
chapter 1? Just look at his heart for a moment.
We can't spend a long time here. But look at
verse 28, where the Apostle says, And we proclaim
Him, Jesus Christ, admonishing every man and
teaching every man. with all wisdom, that we
may present every man complete in Christ. The
word complete there means mature, grown up, and
it ties together with the thought of Ephesians
chapter 4. So the apostle says, what I am involved
in doing is admonishing people. That means correcting
them. It can mean rebuking. It's the idea of
telling people what's wrong and what to do right,
admonishing them, he says, and teaching them,
instructing them. Why? So that we might present
every man mature. You see, and God has impressed
this just in the last couple of days afresh in
my heart. You see, someday I'm going to have
to stand before the head of our church, Jesus
Christ. and give an account for the years of
ministry that I've had in this place. Now, if
you want to know the truth, that terrifies me.
It terrifies me. And our staff is going to stand
there, and so are all of us. But those of us
who are teachers, who are pastor teachers, in
a special sense are going to stand before him
to give account for the people that we've cared
for. And the thing that's going to be measured
on that day is how mature you are, how complete
you are in Jesus Christ, how grown up you've
become. Now, it's not totally our responsibility,
because you certainly have a responsibility to
respond properly to what we teach. And that'll
be your part of the examination, too. But we
are going to be held accountable to our Lord
who has given us to this body for this period
of time that you might be equipped. And that
is an awesome thought to me. And that is why
I want to be dedicated to the Word of God and
to the teaching of it in this church, that you
might be equipped. Now, why are you equipped?
So that you can appear at the judgment seat and
mature? Yes, in part, but something else is in
view back in our text in Ephesians 4. He tells
us that the purpose of the equipping is that
we might do the work of service. We need to get
rid of this idea that pastors are the hired men
of the church and that they're the ones who do
the ministry. After all, they're in the ministry,
aren't they? Well, yes, they are, but no more
so actually than all the rest of us. We are all
in the ministry. We are all to minister to the
body. That's why we are being equipped. That's
why we are being dynamically conditioned to function
in our God -given capacity in the body. We are
to minister in the work of service, each of us
functioning in a wholesome and healthy way. serving
in the body as God has designed. Those who are
pastors must concentrate on that which God has
called them to do. I talked about this last week.
I'll just mention it this morning. I feel sorry
for those pastors who are expected by their churches
to do everything. Do all the calling, do all
the visitation, print the bulletin, sweep out
the bathrooms, straighten the hymnals, do everything.
And there are men like that. There are men like
that. Sometimes it's because they want to be
that way, and then I know it's because they've
misunderstood what their ministry is supposed
to be. Pastors are to concentrate on the Word
of God and prayer. You say, where do you see
that in the Bible? Turn back to Acts chapter
6 for a moment. We're going to take a look here
briefly at the first ascension that occurred
in the Jerusalem church. There were a few after
this, to say the least. It says in verse 1 of
chapter 6 in Acts, Now at this time, while the
disciples were increasing in number, a complaint
arose. You can almost guarantee that when there
is church growth, there's going to be some complaining
going on. A complaint arose on the part of the
Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because
their widows were being overlooked in the daily
serving of food. That is, in the care of these
widows, giving them something to eat. And the
twelve, these are the leaders now, summoned the
congregation of the disciples and said, It is
not desirable for us to neglect the word of God
in order to serve tables. But select from among
you, brethren, seven men of good reputation,
full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may
put in charge of this task. But we will devote
ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the
word. And the statement found approval with the
whole congregation. What was the problem here?
Were these 12 individuals too good to serve tables?
Was it beneath them to care for the administration
of this important task in the church? And how
did it all? You see, they recognized that there
was a priority in their ministry. And they needed
to allow others to minister, as God would call
them. And so they said, our priority is to pray
and to teach the Word of God. That was the priority
given to them by the Lord. And they said, now
you choose out among yourselves those who can
be qualified in these certain ways to take care
of that administrative need. Now that is simply
an illustration of what takes place in our church
today. When there is a need, we seek to raise
up people in the congregation that that need
may be met. And if people are not raised up,
it is not the job of the staff to do it, but
to pray and to seek people in the church to be
raised up to fill that need. Our priority must
be on the teaching of the Word of God and the
equipping of the saints. so that all of us together
then can do the work of service in various ways.
I thank God for the men on our staff who assist
me in this ministry. And I'm going to ask those
who are present to stand just so that you can
see them. Some of you don't even know who they
are because they're not up here in front like
I am on a regular basis. But they assist me in
important ways in carrying out this ministry.
so that I have more time to study. That's why
they're so critical to me as well as to you,
so that I can spend time in prayer and in study
of the Word of God. The man who's been with us
the longest on the staff, began just three months
after we began as a church, is Dave Sulak. Dave
came as a coach to our staff. He was the co -chair
at Northwestern College, before that a high school
teacher. Dave, would you stand please over there?
On my left, Dave is now the director of our adult
ministries here at the church, such a critical
position and does a lot of other things as well
in terms of administrative help. Thank you, Dave.
Herb McDonald is out preaching this morning.
He's not here, but Herb came on our staff next
and is involved in assisting Dave in the adult
ministries and hospital visitation and in overseeing
our outreach. and doing counseling for us, assisting
in very significant ways. Herb has been a pastor
himself of a number of churches and is now serving
on our staff with us. And then Paul Hubbard is
down here in front. Paul is working with our
high school staff. You can never imagine anything
more disastrous than my working with the high
schoolers. I've done that, and I enjoy it, but
I tell you, I'm too old for it now. I've got
too much arthritis or something, I don't know
what it is, at least in my mind, to run with
this crowd. They need somebody to keep up with
them, and we thank God for Paul being a part
of our staff, such a key person to us. Some of
you have met Mark Kramer, who will be joining
us in a couple of weeks to oversee our college
ministry, which is such a key opportunity for
us in this area. We have seven colleges and universities
within five miles of our church. Can you imagine
that? Including the University of Minnesota with
50 ,000 students. I would say that's a rather
unlimited opportunity for us. And he's going
to be coming on staff in a couple of weeks to
help with that, as well as to do some preaching.
and we're glad for his ministry. And so these
are some of the people who assist me most closely.
Then I should introduce my secretary. I won't
embarrass her that way, but our secretaries are
so key. But then it goes out from there, our
elders in the church, and it goes out to our
pastor teachers in our small churches, and to
those who usher, and those who sing in the choir,
those who teach Sunday school. You see, we are
all a part of this thing of the ministry in our
church. We're all a part of it. What is the work
of ministry anyway? Well, it includes such things
as visiting the sick and the shut -in. There
are some of you that do that, and I thank God
for you. There are some of you that regularly
visit people who... are a part of Grace Church,
but who can't be out to our services. And you
minister to them. You encourage them in their
ministry of prayer for us. That's so important.
Counseling. You say, well, don't you have to
be a professional to do that? No. There are some
of you ladies that do a lot of that on the telephone.
Isn't that right? That's true. There are some
of you who are given opportunities every week
to counsel with others, just on the telephone
or in a conversation that you have, encouraging
them or perhaps admonishing them, leading in
various ways in the church. Ministry includes
being an usher, passing out cards, passing the
plates. Ushers are terribly important in a church.
The ushers set the tone for a service, don't
they? As you come in, if they're grumpy, you're
not going to get a whole lot out of that service.
You're going to come in with a grumpy attitude.
But if the ushers are full of the Spirit of God
and they have a smile on their face and they
welcome you joyfully, that sets the whole tone
for what we do here. And we encourage our ushers
that way. They are so important to us, even in
the passing of the plates, to do that in an orderly
fashion and in a smiling way so that helps you
smile as you give. Choir members are important.
I don't know if choir members realize what a
significant ministry they have even when they're
not singing words. By the very look on their
faces, their participation in the service, our
choir does not sit here. In fact, our choir doesn't
sit at all right now when they minister. But
our choir does not stay on the platform for the
whole service. I've done that before in churches
where the choir has been there for the whole
time, and I don't mind that at all. But it's
especially critical then that during the message
they be alert and keen to what's going on because
there's nothing more distracting to a person
in the congregation than a choir member who's
sleeping up there and nodding, trying to stay
awake, right? The ministry of music. What about
teaching Sunday school? I don't know why it is.
that we think that that kind of ministry to the
Lord is not too important. After all, it's just
kids. Oh, my. What a twisted way of looking at
it. Because children have such tremendous potential,
and they are still moldable. They're still at
that age where they look up and they believe
everything you tell them. They don't question
it, like they tend to do as they get a little
bit older. They look up to you as a hero, almost
as an idol. Not that you're trying to get them
to worship you, but that's just the way kids
are, isn't it? I cannot impress upon you how
vital our children's ministry is. And we've got
some holes to plug. This fall, in Awana, in our
Sunday school, ministering to children. What
about nursery? These are such vital ministries
to our church. And we look at them and we say,
oh, well, that's for those people who have little
kids. No. It may be for them, but it's for all
of us who are gifted by the Lord to serve in
teaching little children. We say, well, that's
for the young people. We've raised our kids.
Now it's time for us just to sit back and relax.
Listen, God doesn't have a retirement program
in the church. There isn't one. Until the day
we get to glory, we need to be involved in some
kind of ministry. Now, it may change with our
age because we can't be as vital as perhaps we
once were and as active. But there's still a
ministry for us to do. You understand my point?
The work of service he's talking about here is
for all of us. And there's a place for all of
us to serve in some way. It may not be up in
front. People may not even see us do it, but
there's a place for us. For someone, it may be
simply helping a teacher in a Sunday school class.
He may not even have the gift of teaching, but
he has the gift of helps, and he's able to do
certain things to free up that teacher so that
teacher can concentrate on teaching. For others,
it's sharing the gospel because they have a gift
of evangelism. All of us are to share the gospel,
but there are some who are particularly gifted,
it seems, in that way. It may be the ministry
of prayer. And we could go on, giving food to
the poor, caring for them. The ministry of service,
it's work. When he calls it here the work of
service, he means it. I wish that we could really
get a hold of this in Grace Church. John MacArthur
has written a helpful couple of paragraphs. He
says, the local church essentially is a training
place. to equip Christians to carry out their
own ministries. Did you get that? He says the
local church is essentially a training place
to equip Christians to carry out their own ministries.
Unfortunately for many Christians, the church
is a place to go to watch professionals perform
and to pay the professionals to carry out the
church program. In many quarters, Christianity
has deteriorated into professional pulpitism.
financed by lay spectators. The church hires
a staff of ministers to do all the Christian
service. This scheme is not only a violation
of God's plan, but an absolute detriment to the
growth of the church and the vitality of the
members of the body. Every member needs to find
a significant place of service. To limit the
work of ministry to a small, select class of
full -time clergymen hinders the spiritual growth
of God's people, stunts the development of the
body, and hinders the evangelistic outreach of
the church into the community. From the members
who give themselves to the work of the ministry,
God himself then will choose certain ones to
be his gifts to the church as a whole. He says
this is a never -ending cycle. And that's the
way it is. And so often as people are involved
in ministry in a church, it becomes clear over
the process of time that in fact God has laid
his hand on them and intends not to put them
into full -time ministry so that they can equip
people in a full -time basis. And that's an exciting
thing when that takes place. I hope you understand
that there can be no maturity without the rendering
of service of believers to one another within
the body. And that service requires the spirit
of humility. I'm not talking today about seeking
up front positions, but I'm talking about doing
the work of service. There are people who are
happy to do things if they'll be recognized for
it or made prominent in a church. The Lord Jesus
Christ gave us a wonderful example of service
when on that night before he was crucified, he
met with his disciples, and he left his place
as the host of the meal, and he took the towel
of a servant and girded himself. got a basin
of water, and began to wash the feet of the disciples.
That was the Oriental way. That was the Oriental
way of serving and preparing that person for
the meal. Normally, a slave would do that. Jesus
took the place of a slave. Now, it's not only
interesting that he did that, but it's interesting
when he might have done it. We're not told in
the Gospel of John, but over in the Gospel of
Luke, it seems that there broke out at that meal
a dispute among the disciples over who should
be the greatest. They were up -to -date Christians.
They should be living today, right? They began
to argue among themselves as to who was going
to be the most famous. The leader of the group.
And I can almost imagine that it was at that
point, without saying a word, that Jesus got
up, went over, and girded himself with the towel,
picked up the basin, and began to wash their
feet. And how their hearts must have been rebuked
as they saw that the work that God had called
them to was the work of serving. And that's the
work we're called to as well. Now the purpose
of the work of service, it says here, is that
the body might be built up. The edification,
the development of the body. So that the body
might come together and function harmoniously.
It results in more people being saved and then
more people needing to be matured. And they mature
and they work in service in the church and then
more people get saved. And it's just a cycle,
you see, that goes on and on and on. We as a
church, I hope, We'll never get to the place
where everybody who attends is mature. If that's
the case, then somewhere we have missed what
our purpose is. We ought to be continually winning
people to Christ and seeing them mature. That
means that in our church, we are always going
to have some people that are going to be immature
and growing. Hopefully not just immature, period,
but immature and developing. That's God's plan.
Now in verse 13, with this we'll close, we have
the goal of maturity. What are we after in a
mature church? He talks about the mature man
in verse 13. Do you see that? Until we all attain
to the mature man. The idea behind that word
mature is the Olympic athlete. What an appropriate
illustration on this weekend. The mature man
in the Greek mind was the muscular. fully developed,
well -built athlete. And what the apostle says
is that our goal is a mature man, a church that
is well -developed, muscular, getting its job
done. What does a church look like that is mature?
Three things. He mentions them in verse 13. Until
we all attain to the unity of the faith. A mature
church will, number one, be a united fellowship.
A united fellowship. There will not be disharmony
in the church. If the word is being taught and
the members are responding in obedience to God,
that will produce growth and unity. Oneness of
heart, singleness of purpose. Listen, if a breakdown
occurs, If a division takes place, it's either
because the pastor is failing to feed the church
and thus equip the church, or the members are
not fulfilling their responsibility in the work
of ministry. Now, you can just mark that down.
That is the case. It's one or the other. A mature
church is one in which there is a united fellowship.
You see that in the early church, Acts chapter
2. They were a united group. And the impact upon
the unregenerate society around them was tremendous.
Thousands of people came to Christ because they
were a church that was growing and developing
and maturing, and they were united. And that
unity made an impact. And it always does. It
always does. characteristic of a mature church,
is the knowledge of the Son of God. The word
here means the full knowledge of the Son of God.
It's more than just knowing Jesus Christ as Savior.
It's the idea of deep, rich fellowship with Him.
It's heart knowledge of Him, not just intellectual
knowledge. He's talking about theology here that
worships. theology that worships the knowledge
of the Son of God. When I think of a church that
is the opposite of this, I think of the Laodicean
Church, a church which in many respects was successful.
If you would have the Laodicean Church in the
United States of America today, it would be posted
as one of the most successful churches in America,
undoubtedly. It was rich. had need of nothing.
On the outside, it seemed to be going great guns.
But when Jesus gives us the heart of the church,
it lacked one thing, and that was himself. He
was on the outside of the door knocking to get
in. I fear that that can happen in churches today.
That we can get the programs going, the gears
turning, the things happening, the people excited,
but somehow we lose sight of this most critical
thing, and that is our fellowship with Jesus
Christ. That we do not develop an intimate knowledge
of Him. A mature church will. It will be a spiritual
fellowship. A spiritual fellowship. Jesus Christ
will be the center, the focus of all that is
done. And then a mature church is also a transformed
fellowship. He talks about a mature man, the
measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness
of Christ. That word stature could mean ripeness
of age, that kind of stature, maturity. But however
you take it, it's talking here, it seems to me,
about a church that is more and more like the
Lord Jesus Christ, a transformed fellowship.
Spiritual maturity makes us more like Him. We
measure ourselves so often against ourselves,
don't we, instead of what Jesus is like. But
the more we mature, the more we will be like
Him. Filled with his likeness, we arrive at his
stature. The Lord wants us to be mature and to
be like Jesus. Are you like Jesus? Does your
life reflect him? You say, well, not perfectly.
Neither does mine. You see, sin still indwells
us. There are no perfect Christians on the earth.
None of us are perfect reflectors of what he's
like. But the point is that that's our goal.
And the point is that we are developing and growing
in that direction, becoming more like him, more
like the master I would ever be, said the old
hymn. Oh, to be like thee. Oh, to be like Thee,
blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art. Is that your
heart's desire today? If you're a maturing, growing
Christian, I know it is. I know it is. And that's
the desire of our church. Folks, let's press
on to maturity. Some of us have been too long
babies. We need to get on with this thing of
growing up personally and as a church. Let's
do it. Our Lord, we understand that to be your
will, and our prayer is that we might in every
way cooperate with you, that there would be no
sin that would beset us, no hindrance that would
keep us. from growing up and maturing in our
spiritual walk father i pray that i as the pastor
of this church that our staff our elders our
pastor teachers that every one of us may be in
obedience to the word and functioning within
the body doing the work of service so that the
body can be built up we pray that grace church
roosevelt will be a mature man To that end, we
commit ourselves to you. And today, Father, if
there are some of us that need to get some things
straightened out, some sins confessed, some attitudes
corrected, we need to make some steps of being
right with others so that you can work in our
lives. Then bring that to pass, I pray. Not just
for our sake, but for yours. For the sake of
your body. In Jesus' name, amen.