WEBVTT 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.639 Thank you, Becky, for that number. It's a great 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:10.220 truth that is the part of that text that when 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:12.640 we have been there 10 ,000 years, there will 00:00:12.640 --> 00:00:16.339 be not any fewer days to sing God's praise than 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:18.780 when we first begun. That's hard to conceive, 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:26.300 isn't it? The immensity, I suppose the infinity 00:00:26.300 --> 00:00:31.129 of eternity. How do you get a hold of that? What 00:00:31.129 --> 00:00:33.329 a marvelous thing that God has saved us. We're 00:00:33.329 --> 00:00:36.590 going to spend eternity praising and worshiping 00:00:36.590 --> 00:00:41.310 and serving the Lord. I hope you'll be back tonight 00:00:41.310 --> 00:00:45.490 for our communion service at 6 o 'clock. We have 00:00:45.490 --> 00:00:48.270 to be out at 7 o 'clock because of a service 00:00:48.270 --> 00:00:50.909 that will be in here at 7 .30 tonight in connection 00:00:50.909 --> 00:00:54.649 with the School of Writing. So that's good news 00:00:54.649 --> 00:00:56.329 for you. We'll not be going overtime tonight. 00:00:56.710 --> 00:00:59.570 Some of you will rejoice in that. We have to 00:00:59.570 --> 00:01:02.509 be out at 7. And so be sure to be here at 6 so 00:01:02.509 --> 00:01:05.109 we can start right on time. We'll have a good 00:01:05.109 --> 00:01:07.290 time together sharing around the elements of 00:01:07.290 --> 00:01:10.849 the Lord's table, remembering His sacrifice for 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:16.189 us. Please open your Bible to Ephesians chapter 00:01:16.189 --> 00:01:21.129 4. Our text again today and for a final time 00:01:21.129 --> 00:01:31.299 will be verses 7 through 16 of Ephesians 4. The 00:01:31.299 --> 00:01:35.280 theme of this text is the church, a maturing 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:41.579 body. But to each one of us, grace was given 00:01:41.579 --> 00:01:45.859 according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore 00:01:45.859 --> 00:01:49.299 it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive 00:01:49.299 --> 00:01:52.159 a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. 00:01:53.379 --> 00:01:55.980 Now this expression, he ascended, what does it 00:01:55.980 --> 00:01:59.659 mean? except that he also had descended into 00:01:59.659 --> 00:02:03.239 the lower parts of the earth. He who descended 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:07.599 is himself also he who ascended far above all 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:12.819 the heavens that he might fill all things. And 00:02:12.819 --> 00:02:16.360 he gave some as apostles and some as prophets 00:02:16.360 --> 00:02:20.840 and some as evangelists and some as pastor -teachers 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:24.539 for the equipping of the saints for the work 00:02:24.539 --> 00:02:27.539 of service to the building up. of the body of 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:31.699 Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the 00:02:31.699 --> 00:02:34.780 faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:38.900 to a mature man, to the measure of the stature 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:42.659 which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a 00:02:42.659 --> 00:02:45.180 result, we are no longer to be children tossed 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:48.759 here and there by waves and carried about by 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:52.639 every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:57.719 by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.280 the truth in love, we are to grow up in him, 00:03:01.419 --> 00:03:05.520 in all aspects into him, who is the head, even 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:09.680 Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.500 and held together by that which every joint supplies, 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:16.060 according to the proper working of each individual 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:20.000 part, causes the growth of the body for the building 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:26.080 up of itself in love. A healthy body grows up. 00:03:27.379 --> 00:03:32.000 So does a healthy Christian, and so does a healthy 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.120 church. Infancy is normal, of course, but prolonged 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:43.180 infancy is not normal. In one of the churches 00:03:43.180 --> 00:03:45.620 where I have served, we had a dear family whose 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:50.099 baby at three and a half years of age became 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:55.240 ill with a form of meningitis. As a result of 00:03:55.240 --> 00:04:02.259 that disease, the little child's brain was affected 00:04:02.259 --> 00:04:07.900 and retarded. When I met Ronnie, he was physically 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:15.300 34 or 5 years of age. For over 30 years, the 00:04:15.300 --> 00:04:17.740 parents had lovingly and tenderly cared for Ronnie, 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:22.670 but he had never grown up. He had a prolonged 00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:28.410 infancy, and today he is in his early 40s, mentally 00:04:28.410 --> 00:04:36.889 still an infant. That is abnormal. Normalcy is 00:04:36.889 --> 00:04:42.810 growing up out of infancy into maturity. And 00:04:42.810 --> 00:04:46.029 that is what God wants of us, individually and 00:04:46.029 --> 00:04:51.310 corporately as a church. The church in the book 00:04:51.310 --> 00:04:56.910 of Ephesians is compared to a body. That is because 00:04:56.910 --> 00:05:00.410 the church is the living expression of Jesus 00:05:00.410 --> 00:05:05.730 Christ in the world. We are his hands, his feet, 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:10.889 his eyes, his ears. If I may say it this way, 00:05:10.949 --> 00:05:15.230 we are his visibleness, because he is invisible 00:05:15.230 --> 00:05:20.740 to the world, but we are what they see. We are 00:05:20.740 --> 00:05:25.660 his body. Now to some, the church is only stained 00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:32.100 glass and lofty architecture. To others, it is 00:05:32.100 --> 00:05:35.279 an activist organization seeking to promote social 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:39.279 or political change in the world. And to still 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.060 others, the church is merely a comfortable setting 00:05:42.060 --> 00:05:47.399 where they can socialize with peers and enjoy 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:51.459 themselves. But none of those things matches 00:05:51.459 --> 00:05:56.139 what the Bible says the church is. The church 00:05:56.139 --> 00:06:01.680 is a body. That is, it is a living organism composed 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:07.220 of people, people who have been redeemed by the 00:06:07.220 --> 00:06:12.040 blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, people who have 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:15.060 been called by God the Father to be a part of 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:18.889 the body. People who are indwelt by the Holy 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:25.290 Spirit of God. People who are numbered from the 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:28.670 day of Pentecost until that future time when 00:06:28.670 --> 00:06:32.829 the rapture takes place. An elect group of people. 00:06:33.329 --> 00:06:37.970 A living organism of people. The body of Jesus 00:06:37.970 --> 00:06:46.750 Christ. The local church is an expression. of 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:50.850 that universal body. The local church is composed 00:06:50.850 --> 00:06:55.209 of professing believers. Inevitably, there are 00:06:55.209 --> 00:06:58.550 some who are not genuine believers, but we can 00:06:58.550 --> 00:07:01.670 say that those who are in the church are intended 00:07:01.670 --> 00:07:05.730 to be professing believers who, having been baptized 00:07:05.730 --> 00:07:08.810 in obedience to the Lord, are meeting together 00:07:08.810 --> 00:07:12.410 for worship, fellowship, and instruction in the 00:07:12.410 --> 00:07:15.300 Word of God. Furthermore, they are organized 00:07:15.300 --> 00:07:18.100 according to the biblical pattern. That's what 00:07:18.100 --> 00:07:24.100 a local church is. We are a local church, a local 00:07:24.100 --> 00:07:27.319 expression of the body of Jesus Christ. We are 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:33.220 a body ourselves. And we are in the process of 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:37.620 maturing, as is the universal body of Christ. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:41.839 The body of Christ will not arrive at maturity 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.589 until all of us, finally come into the presence 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:51.709 of the Lord Jesus himself. Then we shall be complete 00:07:51.709 --> 00:07:57.389 in him, in that consummating sense. Now we are 00:07:57.389 --> 00:08:01.230 in the process of maturing. And yet there is 00:08:01.230 --> 00:08:07.269 to be a relative maturity that we somewhere along 00:08:07.269 --> 00:08:12.079 the way reach. It's not always easy to define 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:17.100 what spiritual maturity is, but there is such 00:08:17.100 --> 00:08:21.300 a thing relatively in this life, not only for 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:24.839 us individually, but for us as a church. And 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:30.800 our goal is to be working toward that. Now, we 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:33.899 have seen in previous weeks in our text what 00:08:33.899 --> 00:08:37.529 a mature church looks like. It's described in 00:08:37.529 --> 00:08:41.769 verse 13 as a mature man. That word mature has 00:08:41.769 --> 00:08:46.629 the idea of being fully developed, like a muscular 00:08:46.629 --> 00:08:52.029 athlete, an Olympic athlete. Have you watched 00:08:52.029 --> 00:08:56.309 the American gymnasts this week? Especially those 00:08:56.309 --> 00:08:58.610 young men who have taken so many gold medals. 00:08:59.009 --> 00:09:06.080 What a marvelous skill and art. They have developed 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.320 through years of hard work and practice. Have 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:13.899 you noticed how muscular those guys are? They're 00:09:13.899 --> 00:09:16.279 the kind you would not want to meet on the beach 00:09:16.279 --> 00:09:20.340 and have kick sand in your face. Now it's that 00:09:20.340 --> 00:09:24.100 kind of a well -developed body that is in view 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:28.120 in verse 13. That's what the church is to be 00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:33.360 like. Well -developed, equipped. Now what is 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.570 a mature church like? Further, well, he tells 00:09:36.570 --> 00:09:41.990 us that it's being unified in the faith. He says, 00:09:42.029 --> 00:09:44.149 until we all come to the unity of the faith. 00:09:44.250 --> 00:09:46.330 And so a mature church is a unified fellowship. 00:09:49.250 --> 00:09:52.289 There's not division in a mature church. If there 00:09:52.289 --> 00:09:55.610 is division in a church, it's because that church 00:09:55.610 --> 00:10:02.710 is immature or carnal, which is something the 00:10:02.710 --> 00:10:07.309 same. He says, secondly, that a mature church 00:10:07.309 --> 00:10:10.250 is one that comes to a full knowledge of the 00:10:10.250 --> 00:10:12.970 Son of God. That is, it is a spiritual church. 00:10:15.049 --> 00:10:18.629 It has a deep, intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, 00:10:18.970 --> 00:10:23.889 not a superficial one. And finally, he says in 00:10:23.889 --> 00:10:27.269 verse 13, that a mature church is characterized 00:10:27.269 --> 00:10:32.830 by the measure of the stature which belongs to 00:10:32.830 --> 00:10:36.149 the fullness of Christ. which is a way of saying 00:10:36.149 --> 00:10:39.529 that it's a transformed fellowship. That is, 00:10:39.529 --> 00:10:45.590 it is like Jesus Christ. It reflects His likeness. 00:10:47.330 --> 00:10:50.710 Walking into the fellowship of that church, you 00:10:50.710 --> 00:10:53.250 are impressed that here are people who not only 00:10:53.250 --> 00:10:55.730 know the Lord Jesus Christ, but they live like 00:10:55.730 --> 00:11:00.470 Him. You sense that you're in His presence in 00:11:00.470 --> 00:11:05.720 the church. That is a mature church. How does 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:08.559 the church get to that point? Well, we have learned 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:10.419 that the work of maturity is the work of the 00:11:10.419 --> 00:11:13.500 Lord Jesus Christ himself. He's the head. And 00:11:13.500 --> 00:11:15.379 as the head, he's concerned about the maturity 00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:19.279 of the body. We have learned that the means he 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.179 has provided is through individual spiritual 00:11:21.179 --> 00:11:24.940 gifts in verse 7. And we'll talk more about those 00:11:24.940 --> 00:11:29.580 the next time I'm with you. And the second means, 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:32.340 interworking with the first one, is individuals 00:11:32.340 --> 00:11:36.830 who are themselves gifts. He mentions in verse 00:11:36.830 --> 00:11:39.129 11 that he gives some as apostles and some as 00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:41.350 prophets, and we said that those belonged in 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:44.990 the foundation part of the church. And some as 00:11:44.990 --> 00:11:47.149 evangelists, that is, those who go out to areas 00:11:47.149 --> 00:11:50.710 where the gospel has never been proclaimed, the 00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:52.909 church has never been planted, and there they 00:11:52.909 --> 00:11:55.330 win people to Christ and they plant local churches. 00:11:55.409 --> 00:11:57.990 That is a biblical evangelist. The Lord gives 00:11:57.990 --> 00:12:01.450 those people to the church. And then he gives 00:12:01.450 --> 00:12:05.269 also pastor -teachers. those who are shepherds 00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:08.710 who lead and feed and protect the flock of God. 00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:12.450 And so the means by which the church is built 00:12:12.450 --> 00:12:14.549 up is through individual spiritual gifts that 00:12:14.549 --> 00:12:17.809 we all have, and then through individuals who 00:12:17.809 --> 00:12:22.169 themselves are gifts, evangelists, church planters, 00:12:22.210 --> 00:12:24.690 and pastor teachers, those who have that gift 00:12:24.690 --> 00:12:29.090 of pastoring. And what is the work? The process 00:12:29.090 --> 00:12:32.509 of maturity. Well, in verse 12, it's the equipping 00:12:32.509 --> 00:12:36.210 of the saints. That's where it starts. Pastors, 00:12:36.210 --> 00:12:38.789 those who have that gift and that calling, are 00:12:38.789 --> 00:12:41.710 not intended by the Lord to be the hired men 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:45.669 of the church to do the ministry. We ought to 00:12:45.669 --> 00:12:50.929 throw out the term, the ministry, as it applies 00:12:50.929 --> 00:12:53.490 just to so -called full -time Christian workers, 00:12:53.789 --> 00:12:57.419 because all of us are in the ministry. Those 00:12:57.419 --> 00:13:01.259 who are called into the pastorate, into pastoral 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:04.159 -type ministry, and it's not just those in full 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:07.299 -time, by the way. There are lay people, elders, 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:09.879 pastor -teachers in our church who are called 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:13.440 and gifted by God to be pastor -teachers. Their 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.279 purpose is to equip or to furnish the saints. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:21.639 The idea is to condition the saints, to start 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:25.320 them developing their muscles spiritually, to 00:13:25.320 --> 00:13:28.950 feed them. Help them determine what their gift 00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:31.990 is so that they can begin serving in the church, 00:13:32.090 --> 00:13:34.830 and that's the next part of the process, equipping 00:13:34.830 --> 00:13:39.690 the saints for the work of service. My job and 00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:41.909 the job of others in our church who are gifted 00:13:41.909 --> 00:13:46.669 at pastoring and feeding this flock, that job 00:13:46.669 --> 00:13:52.490 is to dynamically condition you, to equip you 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:56.289 so that you can know where you fit. In the body 00:13:56.289 --> 00:14:00.470 of Christ. So that you can know what God's ordained 00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:03.950 function is for you. And you can begin serving 00:14:03.950 --> 00:14:08.509 there. And since we've talked at length about 00:14:08.509 --> 00:14:10.889 that before, let's go on to see what the final 00:14:10.889 --> 00:14:13.509 step is. And that is that the body of Christ 00:14:13.509 --> 00:14:16.929 might be built up. So that's how we get to be 00:14:16.929 --> 00:14:20.289 a mature man, is through that process. Now today 00:14:20.289 --> 00:14:23.789 we want to zero in on verses 14 through 16 and 00:14:23.789 --> 00:14:29.080 talk about... The results of maturity. As more 00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:32.940 and more individuals in a fellowship reach maturity, 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:39.799 the church matures. And as a church matures, 00:14:39.899 --> 00:14:42.419 there are certain things that we can anticipate 00:14:42.419 --> 00:14:46.879 finding in that church. These are the results 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:54.970 of a maturing church. Result number one. In verse 00:14:54.970 --> 00:15:00.269 14, stability. A church that is immature, that's 00:15:00.269 --> 00:15:04.129 still in its infant stage, is a church that will 00:15:04.129 --> 00:15:08.450 lack stability. As a church matures, there will 00:15:08.450 --> 00:15:11.289 be more and more stability built into it. Now 00:15:11.289 --> 00:15:14.309 that stability is described in several phrases 00:15:14.309 --> 00:15:19.529 in verse 14. He says, no longer children. That's 00:15:19.529 --> 00:15:23.299 one way of saying it. The word children here 00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:27.460 means that which does not talk. So it's talking 00:15:27.460 --> 00:15:32.860 about infants, babies, little children. And in 00:15:32.860 --> 00:15:34.879 the Apostle's thinking, it's the opposite of 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.379 what he's just said in verse 13 about the mature 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:41.039 man. It's the other end of the scale. It's the 00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:44.799 infant. He says, as a result of maturing, we 00:15:44.799 --> 00:15:51.309 are no longer babies. Those... who are immature. 00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:56.950 What are babies like? Well, they're wonderful, 00:15:57.049 --> 00:16:02.090 aren't they? Children are wonderful. Blessed 00:16:02.090 --> 00:16:04.529 is the man who has a quiver full of them. My 00:16:04.529 --> 00:16:09.389 quiver is full. And I'm blessed, and I am content. 00:16:11.470 --> 00:16:14.929 Children have a lot to teach us. They are wonderful. 00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:18.049 I wouldn't trade one of my children for anything, 00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:21.700 of course. Neither would you. Children have so 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:26.860 many positive aspects. But there are some negatives 00:16:26.860 --> 00:16:30.399 with children. Now, children would not recognize 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:34.200 that. But as you get older, you tend to recognize 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:36.940 some of the negative traits in children. What 00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:39.379 are they? Well, it didn't take me long to think 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:44.860 of them. And I'll just list a few that come to 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:50.299 my mind. I won't tell you why. In the first place, 00:16:50.379 --> 00:16:53.200 children, those who are immature, are self -centered. 00:16:55.019 --> 00:17:00.600 Their whole life centers on themselves. And as 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.639 a result of that, they tend to be, sometimes 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:06.779 at least, ungrateful. At least I find with our 00:17:06.779 --> 00:17:08.640 children, we have to teach them to say thank 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.579 you. Maybe yours are different. Your genes are 00:17:12.579 --> 00:17:14.099 probably different, and they say that automatically, 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:18.859 but we have faulty genes in our home. And so 00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:21.319 we have to teach gratitude. Why? Because children 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:25.880 are basically oriented around themselves. Furthermore, 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:30.099 children like to argue. And not usually over 00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:35.680 nuclear war, although it seems sometimes like 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:39.019 that's going to happen in the home. But they 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:44.019 usually argue over non -essential, unimportant, 00:17:44.140 --> 00:17:48.390 trivial things, right? He drank out of that glass. 00:17:48.529 --> 00:17:51.849 I'm not going to drink out of it. That's really 00:17:51.849 --> 00:17:55.490 important to a child. But actually they're non 00:17:55.490 --> 00:17:57.990 -essentials. And why is that? Well, basically 00:17:57.990 --> 00:18:01.329 because children have, because of their age, 00:18:01.390 --> 00:18:04.369 the inability to discern what's important and 00:18:04.369 --> 00:18:06.329 what's unimportant. They learn that as they grow 00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:09.769 up. But when they're young, they argue over non 00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:13.509 -essential things. And then children are characterized 00:18:13.509 --> 00:18:17.710 by irresponsibility. You have to teach them responsibility. 00:18:17.849 --> 00:18:20.789 You school teachers know that. Why is it that 00:18:20.789 --> 00:18:24.190 you have homework? Why is it you check on homework? 00:18:25.170 --> 00:18:29.069 Because you know that children don't naturally 00:18:29.069 --> 00:18:34.450 like homework. Some more than others, but children 00:18:34.450 --> 00:18:38.950 would rather play than work. If you've ever encouraged 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:41.069 your children to take music lessons, you know 00:18:41.069 --> 00:18:43.329 what it's like to get children to practice their 00:18:43.329 --> 00:18:47.609 music lessons. Children are known for irresponsibility. 00:18:49.549 --> 00:18:53.549 If it's fun, it's great. If it's work, forget 00:18:53.549 --> 00:19:00.569 it. And then children tend to be critical. They 00:19:00.569 --> 00:19:05.210 tend to criticize instead of helping. They tend 00:19:05.210 --> 00:19:06.789 to be part of the problem instead of part of 00:19:06.789 --> 00:19:09.849 the solution. They say, why in the world are 00:19:09.849 --> 00:19:11.670 you pointing out the negative traits of children? 00:19:12.109 --> 00:19:14.190 Because we all know those anyway. Well, that 00:19:14.190 --> 00:19:17.069 is true. But I want you to understand how they 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:21.690 apply spiritually. In a Christian that's immature 00:19:21.690 --> 00:19:24.210 or in a church that is immature, what do you 00:19:24.210 --> 00:19:30.210 find? A lot of self -centeredness and ungratefulness. 00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:34.589 You find people arguing over trivial, non -essential 00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:38.549 matters. You find irresponsibility, people who'd 00:19:38.549 --> 00:19:41.390 rather play than work or who accept responsibility 00:19:41.390 --> 00:19:44.779 and don't fulfill it. You find people who criticize 00:19:44.779 --> 00:19:47.480 rather than help. Now it begins to take on a 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:51.619 little different form, doesn't it? I hope you 00:19:51.619 --> 00:19:53.740 understand my point, folks, that as we grow up, 00:19:53.740 --> 00:19:56.380 we're no longer children. And these negative 00:19:56.380 --> 00:20:01.240 traits that belong to childhood are less and 00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:04.779 less a part of what we're all about. That's true 00:20:04.779 --> 00:20:08.119 individually. It's true as a church. A church 00:20:08.119 --> 00:20:11.039 stabilizes as it matures. It's no longer like 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:17.779 children. It's like mature people. And then a 00:20:17.779 --> 00:20:21.140 church that is stable is described further as 00:20:21.140 --> 00:20:26.559 no longer tossed here and there by waves or like 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:30.140 waves. There's only actually one verb in the 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:32.559 original language here describing that whole 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:36.019 phrase. And the picture is of waves that are 00:20:36.019 --> 00:20:39.019 tossed back and forth. It's a nautical term. 00:20:39.579 --> 00:20:42.420 It means to be agitated like waves. This last 00:20:42.420 --> 00:20:45.559 week we had the joy of going up to the North 00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:49.220 Shore for three days. I found out there's a part 00:20:49.220 --> 00:20:52.900 of Minnesota I'd never seen, and I like it a 00:20:52.900 --> 00:20:57.480 lot. It's beautiful up there. We were along Lake 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:00.799 Superior as much as possible. A lot of fog there, 00:21:00.859 --> 00:21:03.299 too, so we had to go inland some to see anything. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.799 But we were there at the lake, and it was gorgeous 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:11.789 to watch those wake. I wanted to say lake waves, 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:15.109 and I finally did, come rolling up on the shore 00:21:15.109 --> 00:21:19.809 and beating against those huge rocks and carving 00:21:19.809 --> 00:21:23.589 out agates for people to look at. Beautiful. 00:21:25.210 --> 00:21:28.029 We sat out there one night for about a half an 00:21:28.029 --> 00:21:29.750 hour and just watched them come in. There was 00:21:29.750 --> 00:21:31.609 a storm way off on the other side of the lake. 00:21:32.289 --> 00:21:35.750 Gorgeous. Nice to look at, but you don't want 00:21:35.750 --> 00:21:37.609 to be out there on the lake when things are bad. 00:21:38.599 --> 00:21:42.519 I am told that Lake Superior is treacherous in 00:21:42.519 --> 00:21:48.099 a storm, that it's like an ocean, and that almost 00:21:48.099 --> 00:21:56.160 instantly the lake can become roaring with waves 00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:03.359 that can engulf a ship. In fact, we saw the model 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:06.160 of the ship that went down, I think, in 1975, 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:09.910 the ore boat. I can't remember the name of it 00:22:09.910 --> 00:22:15.490 just now. The Edmund Fitzgerald. Thank you. And 00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:18.130 took the whole crew. And they think what happened 00:22:18.130 --> 00:22:20.329 was that somehow the ship got turned the wrong 00:22:20.329 --> 00:22:22.569 way and the waves lifted the front and the back 00:22:22.569 --> 00:22:25.029 and there was nothing supporting it in the middle 00:22:25.029 --> 00:22:26.890 and the heavy oar just caused a break in two. 00:22:27.029 --> 00:22:29.990 And that's the way it lays on the bottom of Lake 00:22:29.990 --> 00:22:33.910 Superior. Not much stability out there with those 00:22:33.910 --> 00:22:37.009 kinds of waves. That's the picture he uses here 00:22:37.009 --> 00:22:40.450 of immaturity. Do you know people like that? 00:22:41.029 --> 00:22:45.809 Who spiritually or mentally are constantly agitated? 00:22:46.730 --> 00:22:50.529 Who are restless and boiling and churning and 00:22:50.529 --> 00:22:54.609 unsettled? Like waves being tossed back and forth. 00:22:55.650 --> 00:22:59.589 There are churches like that. And he says that 00:22:59.589 --> 00:23:03.109 when we grow up, we're stable. We're no longer... 00:23:03.470 --> 00:23:07.289 tossed back and forth like waves. He goes on 00:23:07.289 --> 00:23:09.470 to tie it together with the wind. He says, no 00:23:09.470 --> 00:23:12.190 longer carried about in circles by every wind 00:23:12.190 --> 00:23:17.190 of doctrine. Be carried around is the verb here. 00:23:17.329 --> 00:23:20.069 It's the root of our word periphery or peripheral. 00:23:21.529 --> 00:23:24.089 It's the idea of wind just carrying something 00:23:24.089 --> 00:23:26.990 around and around in circles. You know Christians 00:23:26.990 --> 00:23:31.819 like that? Busy, but not going anywhere. Just 00:23:31.819 --> 00:23:33.460 around in circles. There are some churches doing 00:23:33.460 --> 00:23:37.140 that. That's an indication of immaturity. The 00:23:37.140 --> 00:23:39.440 apostle seems to have in mind, particularly here, 00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:43.039 false teachers, philosophers, who were blowing 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.079 out their doctrines and their teachings in that 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:48.720 day, keeping the people of God just blowing back 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:53.240 and forth. And he says a mature church stabilizes. 00:23:54.460 --> 00:24:00.119 It's able to take the wind. A number of years 00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:04.279 ago when I was studying in Chicago, I went to 00:24:04.279 --> 00:24:07.359 the top of the tallest building at that time, 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:09.579 which was the Prudential Building. There are 00:24:09.579 --> 00:24:13.220 buildings now that outscale that one by far. 00:24:13.579 --> 00:24:16.059 We were at the top of that building looking out 00:24:16.059 --> 00:24:20.779 on the 54th story, as I recall, and I remember 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:24.680 how secure we felt and how quiet it looked outside 00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:28.759 because that building is obviously quite sound. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:32.819 And then suddenly, from up beneath, came this 00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:36.059 newspaper page flying and turning in the wind. 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:39.519 And I was amazed at how the wind had carried 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:41.940 that little piece of newspaper all the way up 00:24:41.940 --> 00:24:45.400 50 -some stories in the sky and how it was abusing 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:49.200 it. Well, that's the idea here. There are some 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:51.299 Christians who are just blown back and forth 00:24:51.299 --> 00:24:53.960 by this person saying that or that teacher saying 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:56.000 this, and they don't know what the truth is. 00:24:57.579 --> 00:24:59.740 What God wants us to be is like that prudential 00:24:59.740 --> 00:25:04.420 building on the rock with the foundation down. 00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:11.660 That's maturity. That's maturity. There are those 00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:18.019 today who prey on immature believers, those who 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:21.299 are not so much interested in winning people 00:25:21.299 --> 00:25:24.799 to Christ as they are taking those who are newly 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:28.069 converted into their particular kinds of teachings. 00:25:28.589 --> 00:25:31.809 The apostle warns about people like that. He 00:25:31.809 --> 00:25:35.789 calls them cunning deceivers. Interesting word, 00:25:35.849 --> 00:25:38.670 the word trickery as it is in my translation, 00:25:38.930 --> 00:25:42.970 is actually the word for dice playing. And it's 00:25:42.970 --> 00:25:48.210 the idea of a person throwing the die and doing 00:25:48.210 --> 00:25:52.109 it in a deceitful, tricky manner so as to cheat 00:25:52.109 --> 00:25:57.109 another person. A very apt picture. He calls 00:25:57.109 --> 00:26:02.549 them those who employ cleverly disguised, crafty 00:26:02.549 --> 00:26:06.750 methods to deceive, to lead people astray from 00:26:06.750 --> 00:26:09.230 the truth into error. That's his thought here. 00:26:10.829 --> 00:26:14.309 Satan seeks to hinder spiritual growth in any 00:26:14.309 --> 00:26:17.130 means that he can. And one of them is just what 00:26:17.130 --> 00:26:20.029 we're talking about. He seeks to lead people 00:26:20.029 --> 00:26:26.420 into error and hopefully into condemnation. There 00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:29.940 are today, I think, some schemes that are around 00:26:29.940 --> 00:26:32.599 that Christians have to watch out for, some winds 00:26:32.599 --> 00:26:36.180 of teaching and doctrine that can upset and agitate 00:26:36.180 --> 00:26:38.579 and cause people to be unstable and unsettled. 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:43.400 There is the idea of some that we need to adopt 00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:47.200 the world's philosophies and standards, that 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.500 instead of confronting the world, we should accommodate 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:52.660 with the world and compromise with the world 00:26:52.660 --> 00:26:56.119 system that is opposed to God. There are some 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:58.259 who feel very comfortable using the term Christian 00:26:58.259 --> 00:27:02.700 humanists, a term which I would disavow. I would 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:06.680 not mind Christian humanitarians. That may connote 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:10.160 something decent. But the term of humanism or 00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:13.200 humanist today is a term that is descriptive 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.420 of what the world system is all about, that which 00:27:16.420 --> 00:27:19.119 is opposed to God, which seeks to secularize 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:24.119 everything, to remove God from society. That 00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:26.019 ought not to describe anyone who's a Christian. 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:29.660 And yet there are those who try to mix Christianity 00:27:29.660 --> 00:27:33.440 and humanism in some kind of a vague philosophy 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:38.039 or theology. Then there are those who pick up 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:40.640 another wind of doctrine that says that you can 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.140 achieve instant maturity through some deeper 00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:48.140 or higher experience. Maybe it's getting more 00:27:48.140 --> 00:27:50.460 of God or it's receiving something from the Holy 00:27:50.460 --> 00:27:52.960 Spirit. But there's some way to take a quantum 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.279 leap from this level to that level just like 00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:58.680 that. And what you need to do is have that experience 00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:03.220 and you'll be there suddenly. That keeps people 00:28:03.220 --> 00:28:07.259 from biblical maturity, genuine maturity. Then 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:09.240 there are the various cultic kinds of teachings 00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:13.230 around. There's this warmed -over appealism, 00:28:13.250 --> 00:28:15.470 as I call it, the power of positive thinking 00:28:15.470 --> 00:28:18.910 that is being espoused today by some, which defines 00:28:18.910 --> 00:28:22.049 salvation as achieving self -esteem and hell 00:28:22.049 --> 00:28:25.609 as living and not having self -esteem. It's a 00:28:25.609 --> 00:28:29.309 psychological kind of salvation. And so around 00:28:29.309 --> 00:28:33.869 us today there are myriad and sundry of teachings 00:28:33.869 --> 00:28:39.690 that are being blown across the church. By teacher 00:28:39.690 --> 00:28:43.509 after teacher. And those who are immature are 00:28:43.509 --> 00:28:46.890 caught up in all of that. A stable church is 00:28:46.890 --> 00:28:49.410 a mature church. A stable Christian is a mature 00:28:49.410 --> 00:28:52.990 Christian. Maturity makes one less susceptible 00:28:52.990 --> 00:28:56.450 to the religious fads that come down the highway. 00:28:58.569 --> 00:29:02.269 Maturity makes one less susceptible to be taken 00:29:02.269 --> 00:29:06.950 in by the hucksters of various heretical or false 00:29:06.950 --> 00:29:10.349 teachings. that are being blown about in the 00:29:10.349 --> 00:29:13.490 church. Folks, we need to grow up. And one of 00:29:13.490 --> 00:29:16.369 the results of that is that we will become stable. 00:29:17.769 --> 00:29:21.829 A second result is that of honesty. Verse 15, 00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:24.890 the first phrase especially, but speaking the 00:29:24.890 --> 00:29:29.569 truth in love. The original language actually 00:29:29.569 --> 00:29:33.289 says here, truthing it. The word speak is not 00:29:33.289 --> 00:29:37.980 found in verse 15. Although it says, Speaking 00:29:37.980 --> 00:29:40.079 the truth, or it could be translated truth speaking, 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:43.400 the idea is dealing truthfully. It's not just 00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:47.299 speech, but it's being true in the widest sense. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:51.059 He's talking here about a person or a church 00:29:51.059 --> 00:29:57.460 that has integrity, that has balance, that is 00:29:57.460 --> 00:30:01.660 healthy in character. That is a result of spiritual 00:30:01.660 --> 00:30:04.819 maturity. And I've simply condensed it to the 00:30:04.819 --> 00:30:09.000 word honesty. He intends for honesty to be lived 00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:14.660 out in every part of life and for it to be lived 00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:18.640 in the sphere of love. It has been said many 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:22.559 times that truth without love is brutality. Love 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:28.660 without truth is hypocrisy. Truth with love, 00:30:28.759 --> 00:30:32.119 though, is integrity. And that's what he's talking 00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:36.789 about here. Truth can be cruel. and so it must 00:30:36.789 --> 00:30:40.710 be conditioned by love, not changed by it, not 00:30:40.710 --> 00:30:45.589 compromised by it, but conditioned by love. Truth 00:30:45.589 --> 00:30:50.490 needs to be positioned or stated so that it accomplishes 00:30:50.490 --> 00:30:54.250 the glory of God. There are some who would use 00:30:54.250 --> 00:31:01.490 truth as a whip rather than as medicine. I think 00:31:01.490 --> 00:31:04.369 that there are some contemporary errors. in thinking 00:31:04.369 --> 00:31:07.710 regarding honesty. There are those who say that 00:31:07.710 --> 00:31:11.430 we ought not to confront anyone because to confront 00:31:11.430 --> 00:31:15.549 people is unloving. But what kind of a definition 00:31:15.549 --> 00:31:19.829 of love is that? It's certainly superficial or 00:31:19.829 --> 00:31:25.930 immature. It's false. You see, real love is tough 00:31:25.930 --> 00:31:28.890 love, as Dobson has pointed out in a recent book. 00:31:29.890 --> 00:31:36.049 It is love which seeks to help and to heal. It 00:31:36.049 --> 00:31:40.630 seeks the good of another. And so to say that 00:31:40.630 --> 00:31:43.329 you should never tell anybody the truth if it's 00:31:43.329 --> 00:31:48.589 going to hurt them is a lie. Sometimes people 00:31:48.589 --> 00:31:52.190 are hurt when they hear the truth. But if we 00:31:52.190 --> 00:31:55.710 say it in love, the truth can be a medicine, 00:31:55.809 --> 00:32:01.470 not an infection. It's a mark of maturity to 00:32:01.470 --> 00:32:04.480 be able to confront someone else in love. to 00:32:04.480 --> 00:32:09.079 do it wisely. I remember reading a copy of a 00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:11.180 letter that one Christian leader wrote to another 00:32:11.180 --> 00:32:14.480 Christian leader about a concern the former had 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:18.619 in the latter's ministry. In his letter, he expressed 00:32:18.619 --> 00:32:23.359 clearly, very clearly, his concern. The way I 00:32:23.359 --> 00:32:26.799 close the letter, according to Proverbs 27 .6, 00:32:26.980 --> 00:32:29.940 which says in part, faithful are the wounds of 00:32:29.940 --> 00:32:33.940 a friend. The verse goes on to say that the kisses 00:32:33.940 --> 00:32:39.079 of an enemy are deceitful. Thank God for those 00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:41.720 friends who love us enough to be truthful with 00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:47.579 us lovingly. We all need those kinds of friends, 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.380 and we need to be that kind of a friend to others. 00:32:52.119 --> 00:32:54.480 That's truthing it, and it's a mark of maturity. 00:32:55.339 --> 00:32:57.880 I think there's another error that we find today. 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:02.980 and that is that honesty demands that you let 00:33:02.980 --> 00:33:07.279 it all hang out. You never hold anything back. 00:33:09.779 --> 00:33:12.700 Actually, if one is going to truth it in love, 00:33:12.980 --> 00:33:17.740 there are times when it is best to withhold the 00:33:17.740 --> 00:33:21.940 full truth if it would damage unnecessarily another 00:33:21.940 --> 00:33:25.579 person. Let me illustrate what I mean. For example, 00:33:25.579 --> 00:33:29.329 in the matter of church discipline. Church discipline 00:33:29.329 --> 00:33:35.990 has as its furthest point, its most extreme point, 00:33:36.170 --> 00:33:39.450 the public dismissal of an individual from the 00:33:39.450 --> 00:33:43.009 fellowship of a church. Now, it's possible at 00:33:43.009 --> 00:33:45.569 that time to go into the whole laundry list of 00:33:45.569 --> 00:33:49.809 problems, to air it all, let it all hang out, 00:33:49.930 --> 00:33:56.829 be honest, and in so doing, be cruel. to the 00:33:56.829 --> 00:33:58.869 person who's being disciplined and make it impossible 00:33:58.869 --> 00:34:01.529 for that person to be restored, which is the 00:34:01.529 --> 00:34:05.569 actual purpose of church discipline. And so what 00:34:05.569 --> 00:34:08.250 do you do? You say only what is necessary to 00:34:08.250 --> 00:34:13.190 be said at the moment of discipline. You truth 00:34:13.190 --> 00:34:16.349 it in love. You condition the truth in love. 00:34:16.929 --> 00:34:19.369 I think that's one of the mistakes that the church 00:34:19.369 --> 00:34:21.409 in Oklahoma made when it disciplined the lady 00:34:21.409 --> 00:34:24.769 a few months ago and had the lawsuit filed and 00:34:24.769 --> 00:34:28.969 the... lady was awarded money i think the church 00:34:28.969 --> 00:34:35.369 said more than it needed to say i think we can 00:34:35.369 --> 00:34:39.389 illustrate this as well by a question that is 00:34:39.389 --> 00:34:43.730 sometimes asked by a husband the question is 00:34:43.730 --> 00:34:48.510 should i tell my wife everything that happened 00:34:48.510 --> 00:34:53.309 before i was married after all i should be honest 00:34:53.309 --> 00:34:56.789 shouldn't i should i tell her everything, let 00:34:56.789 --> 00:35:00.530 it all hang out. My counsel in that situation 00:35:00.530 --> 00:35:05.630 is no. I don't believe everything should hang 00:35:05.630 --> 00:35:12.989 out in that case because it can only hurt. A 00:35:12.989 --> 00:35:18.030 wise wife won't push that. A wise husband will 00:35:18.030 --> 00:35:22.429 be cautious and tell the truth but condition 00:35:22.429 --> 00:35:29.360 it with love and concern for his wife. There's 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:34.139 a time for honesty with love to expose. There's 00:35:34.139 --> 00:35:42.460 a time for honesty with love to cover. Should 00:35:42.460 --> 00:35:45.480 one tell a critically ill parent, for example, 00:35:45.480 --> 00:35:51.960 that his child has just been killed in an accident, 00:35:52.199 --> 00:35:57.400 knowing that that news may well cause the death 00:35:57.400 --> 00:35:59.639 of the parent, because of the critical nature 00:35:59.639 --> 00:36:03.099 of the illness? Or do you withhold that news 00:36:03.099 --> 00:36:07.079 until some point further on? Is that dishonesty? 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:11.460 We would like to think that all of these were 00:36:11.460 --> 00:36:14.179 black and white, that there were easy answers 00:36:14.179 --> 00:36:16.460 to some of these things. There's not always an 00:36:16.460 --> 00:36:23.579 easy answer. Honesty with love. Is withholding 00:36:23.579 --> 00:36:28.300 the truth the same as lying? We say, of course 00:36:28.300 --> 00:36:30.480 it is. Well, before you answer that too carefully. 00:36:32.679 --> 00:36:36.219 What about you're going to a meeting that is 00:36:36.219 --> 00:36:38.760 confidential and you come home and your mate 00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:42.519 says, well, what happened? Now, if you don't 00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:48.079 tell her everything, are you lying? Maybe there 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:50.579 are some things that are fine to share. I run 00:36:50.579 --> 00:36:52.420 into this, for example, with the elders meeting. 00:36:53.519 --> 00:36:55.480 The elders meeting is a confidential meeting. 00:36:56.420 --> 00:36:58.559 Not that everything there is confidential, but 00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:01.960 we just go in with that understanding. And there 00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:03.599 are some things I can go home and share with 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:06.119 my wife, but I don't tell her everything that's 00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:12.360 said there. And I don't for several reasons, 00:37:12.440 --> 00:37:14.400 but one of them, and it's not that she's not 00:37:14.400 --> 00:37:18.420 trustworthy, but one of the reasons that I don't 00:37:18.420 --> 00:37:20.079 share with her is that I don't want to make her 00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:22.119 responsible for information she doesn't have 00:37:22.119 --> 00:37:25.300 to be responsible for. I think that's unfair 00:37:25.300 --> 00:37:32.809 to her. So do you understand how much we need 00:37:32.809 --> 00:37:35.510 to grapple with this idea of truthing it in love? 00:37:37.809 --> 00:37:40.090 Now, an immature person is not able to do that. 00:37:40.949 --> 00:37:44.210 An immature church can't handle it. But as we 00:37:44.210 --> 00:37:46.469 grow up, one of the results is that we can begin 00:37:46.469 --> 00:37:49.469 to understand how we truth it in love. That's 00:37:49.469 --> 00:37:53.510 what he's talking about here. We're honest, lovingly. 00:37:57.289 --> 00:37:59.929 A church is mature when relationships among its 00:37:59.929 --> 00:38:04.170 members are on an honest level, and yet those 00:38:04.170 --> 00:38:07.469 relationships are generously lubricated with 00:38:07.469 --> 00:38:13.090 love. Warren Wiersbe stated in his book on Ephesians, 00:38:13.130 --> 00:38:20.070 Truth unites, but lies divide. Truth needs to 00:38:20.070 --> 00:38:22.389 be the characteristic of our fellowship, folks. 00:38:22.869 --> 00:38:28.940 Honesty, but honesty in love. And to put the 00:38:28.940 --> 00:38:31.340 shoe on the other foot, I started to say the 00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:32.920 foot on the other shoe and that would be tough. 00:38:33.699 --> 00:38:38.559 To say it a different way, maturity is also evidenced 00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:44.840 when I don't need to know everything. When I 00:38:44.840 --> 00:38:48.400 can be satisfied with what I know or what I am 00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:52.800 told and I can leave it at that. When I can be 00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:55.239 satisfied by saying it's only necessary for me 00:38:55.239 --> 00:38:57.829 to know this much to do my job. That's fine. 00:39:02.050 --> 00:39:04.289 We could apply this in so many ways, but we have 00:39:04.289 --> 00:39:09.070 to go on. The results of maturity in a church, 00:39:09.250 --> 00:39:12.969 stability and honesty with love. Now, number 00:39:12.969 --> 00:39:16.889 three, vitality. We see this in verse, well, 00:39:16.929 --> 00:39:20.070 the last part of verse 15 and verse 16. He says 00:39:20.070 --> 00:39:24.090 we're to grow up in all aspects into him. who 00:39:24.090 --> 00:39:26.110 is the head, even Christ. And so the picture 00:39:26.110 --> 00:39:29.030 continues to be the body, the church, and the 00:39:29.030 --> 00:39:32.690 head, Christ. He says, from whom the whole body 00:39:32.690 --> 00:39:37.349 causes the growth of the body for the building 00:39:37.349 --> 00:39:40.110 up of itself in love. I left out some of verse 00:39:40.110 --> 00:39:42.590 16 for purpose, just to clarify the thought. 00:39:43.909 --> 00:39:47.849 A mature church produces a vital atmosphere. 00:39:48.550 --> 00:39:51.889 There is a certain dynamic that is in a mature 00:39:51.889 --> 00:39:55.940 church. which you do not find in a carnal or 00:39:55.940 --> 00:39:59.880 immature church. Now there are three statements 00:39:59.880 --> 00:40:01.579 that I want to make regarding what he says in 00:40:01.579 --> 00:40:05.780 verses 15 and 16. A vital church or body is one 00:40:05.780 --> 00:40:08.599 which develops a conscious intimacy with Jesus 00:40:08.599 --> 00:40:12.500 Christ as its head. He says, from whom the whole 00:40:12.500 --> 00:40:17.559 body. The idea is that my head is Jesus Christ 00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:22.300 and I receive from him all that I need. I am 00:40:22.300 --> 00:40:26.579 aware of my union with Him, and I am ever following 00:40:26.579 --> 00:40:31.619 after Him as my head. It includes the idea that 00:40:31.619 --> 00:40:35.019 there is no area of our ministry, there is no 00:40:35.019 --> 00:40:39.380 area of my life which is not under His control. 00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:44.840 He is directly involved with me because He is 00:40:44.840 --> 00:40:51.289 my Lord, my head. A mature church is a vital 00:40:51.289 --> 00:40:55.250 church, and it's characterized by that. People 00:40:55.250 --> 00:40:59.429 who are consciously aware of Jesus Christ in 00:40:59.429 --> 00:41:05.929 their life. A church which is intimately aware 00:41:05.929 --> 00:41:10.150 of Him as the source of everything. It's so easy 00:41:10.150 --> 00:41:14.829 for us to go on doing things in our wisdom and 00:41:14.829 --> 00:41:17.050 our strength, and what we think is right or what 00:41:17.050 --> 00:41:20.130 we think is wrong. What we need to learn more 00:41:20.130 --> 00:41:23.349 and more to do is to say, Lord, what do you say? 00:41:25.570 --> 00:41:27.650 I think the most important thing we can do in 00:41:27.650 --> 00:41:29.389 a business meeting or an elders meeting is take 00:41:29.389 --> 00:41:31.269 the word of God there and say, now, what does 00:41:31.269 --> 00:41:34.190 the word of God say about this? Because Jesus 00:41:34.190 --> 00:41:37.150 Christ is our head and this, my dear friends, 00:41:37.309 --> 00:41:40.070 is how he communicates with us through his word. 00:41:42.909 --> 00:41:47.940 I like what Bonar wrote. So shall no part of 00:41:47.940 --> 00:41:52.000 day or night from sacredness be free, but all 00:41:52.000 --> 00:41:56.599 my life in every step be fellowship with thee. 00:41:57.659 --> 00:42:00.079 The Apostle Paul said it a different way in Philippians 00:42:00.079 --> 00:42:04.159 1 .21. He said, For to me, living is Christ. 00:42:05.340 --> 00:42:09.239 That's what life is all about. It's not getting 00:42:09.239 --> 00:42:11.619 this. It's not earning that much. It's not going 00:42:11.619 --> 00:42:14.639 there. It's not doing this. It's just Jesus Christ. 00:42:15.949 --> 00:42:19.789 And whatever he brings to me, that's fine. Whatever 00:42:19.789 --> 00:42:26.889 he withholds from me, that's fine. A vital church, 00:42:27.190 --> 00:42:29.630 a vital body, is one in which the individual 00:42:29.630 --> 00:42:33.289 members each function properly. That's the second 00:42:33.289 --> 00:42:37.690 thought. He says the whole body finds its source 00:42:37.690 --> 00:42:40.050 in Christ, and it's fitted and held together 00:42:40.050 --> 00:42:42.909 by that which every joint supplies, according 00:42:42.909 --> 00:42:45.210 to the proper working of each individual part. 00:42:45.849 --> 00:42:48.769 It is Jesus Christ who puts us into his body 00:42:48.769 --> 00:42:53.469 just at the point he wants us to be with a function 00:42:53.469 --> 00:42:59.429 and gifts to accomplish that function. And now 00:42:59.429 --> 00:43:03.090 as I grow up, as I mature, I begin to function 00:43:03.090 --> 00:43:08.210 and do my thing within the body. It is important 00:43:08.210 --> 00:43:12.579 for every one of us to find that function. that 00:43:12.579 --> 00:43:15.260 role that God has given us, to develop those 00:43:15.260 --> 00:43:18.280 abilities that we have, those God -given gifts, 00:43:18.400 --> 00:43:23.500 and employ them in the ministry as the Lord leads 00:43:23.500 --> 00:43:29.260 us. A vital church is one which does that. It's 00:43:29.260 --> 00:43:31.320 an evidence of maturity. When the people are 00:43:31.320 --> 00:43:34.019 a ministering people, when they don't just come 00:43:34.019 --> 00:43:38.659 to be preached to, but they come to share in 00:43:38.659 --> 00:43:43.360 and to go out to serve. And a third statement 00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:46.239 that we need to make, found here in verse 16, 00:43:46.300 --> 00:43:50.960 is this, that a vital church or body is one that 00:43:50.960 --> 00:43:56.739 is built up continually in love. Within the fellowship 00:43:56.739 --> 00:43:59.599 of the church, there is an ever -increasing love 00:43:59.599 --> 00:44:04.480 and appreciation and acceptance of other people, 00:44:04.619 --> 00:44:09.480 even people who differ from us, people who feel... 00:44:10.429 --> 00:44:13.570 than we do, or who look differently than we do, 00:44:13.750 --> 00:44:16.469 or who act differently or talk differently than 00:44:16.469 --> 00:44:18.889 we do. There is a loving acceptance that grows 00:44:18.889 --> 00:44:22.309 with maturity. Furthermore, there's a loving 00:44:22.309 --> 00:44:25.690 service to other people, doing what we can to 00:44:25.690 --> 00:44:27.550 help them, even though we may receive nothing 00:44:27.550 --> 00:44:31.909 in return. And as a church grows in love this 00:44:31.909 --> 00:44:34.969 way and is built up continuously as it matures, 00:44:35.150 --> 00:44:39.650 then there are people on the outside. who are 00:44:39.650 --> 00:44:41.570 not Christians, who look in and they say, my, 00:44:41.989 --> 00:44:45.030 what is this all about? I've never seen anything 00:44:45.030 --> 00:44:48.630 like this. The life, the vitality in this place. 00:44:48.809 --> 00:44:52.329 And what happens? They come out of curiosity, 00:44:52.369 --> 00:44:55.610 perhaps, to see what's happening. They come to 00:44:55.610 --> 00:44:58.530 understand their need of Christ because of the 00:44:58.530 --> 00:45:00.590 life they see around them. They say, I want that. 00:45:00.610 --> 00:45:02.969 They trust Christ. And then they're added to 00:45:02.969 --> 00:45:07.059 the body. And they begin to grow. and to be equipped 00:45:07.059 --> 00:45:10.380 and to serve and to be matured. And as they are 00:45:10.380 --> 00:45:14.559 matured, then they are vital, living, a part 00:45:14.559 --> 00:45:17.139 of the church. And folks who are still on the 00:45:17.139 --> 00:45:19.179 outside look in and they see them. And you see 00:45:19.179 --> 00:45:21.940 how that mushrooms, how it grows? That's God's 00:45:21.940 --> 00:45:26.139 plan. That's what the living body is all about. 00:45:27.300 --> 00:45:31.860 A healthy, mature church is one that is characterized 00:45:31.860 --> 00:45:35.550 by vitality. There's life in it, and it's membership. 00:45:41.289 --> 00:45:47.809 I wonder, as we close, as God looks at me today, 00:45:48.070 --> 00:45:53.050 and as God looks at you as a member of the body, 00:45:53.130 --> 00:45:56.150 maybe not this one, maybe that one back in North 00:45:56.150 --> 00:45:58.090 Carolina where some of you are from that I met 00:45:58.090 --> 00:46:00.010 this morning, or in Alabama, or in Michigan. 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:07.199 In that body where you are by God's design, how 00:46:07.199 --> 00:46:12.920 are you plugged in? Are you doing your thing 00:46:12.920 --> 00:46:16.699 there, that God -designed function that he's 00:46:16.699 --> 00:46:20.639 given you? Are you using your gifts, or are you 00:46:20.639 --> 00:46:23.699 on the edge, just kind of sitting watching what's 00:46:23.699 --> 00:46:27.860 going on around you? Please, please know that 00:46:27.860 --> 00:46:32.219 God's plan is for every member. to be a vital 00:46:32.219 --> 00:46:34.840 part of the body, for the body to function in 00:46:34.840 --> 00:46:39.440 a healthy, balanced, stable, vital way, for people 00:46:39.440 --> 00:46:41.760 to be saved and added to the body and for it 00:46:41.760 --> 00:46:45.940 to grow. That is biblical church growth. And 00:46:45.940 --> 00:46:55.760 each of us has a part in it. For us to do our 00:46:55.760 --> 00:47:01.579 thing, for us to have fruit, In accomplishing 00:47:01.579 --> 00:47:04.719 our function in the body, God has to have his 00:47:04.719 --> 00:47:08.000 way in our life. And I wonder as we search our 00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:10.360 hearts today, is he really the Lord? Is he the 00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:13.920 head? Now, he is the head positionally, but in 00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:17.079 practice. I mean, in the decisions that you make, 00:47:17.139 --> 00:47:20.420 in what you're going to do this week, in how 00:47:20.420 --> 00:47:24.639 you treat people, your wife, your children, your 00:47:24.639 --> 00:47:29.210 coworkers, is he really your head? Can people 00:47:29.210 --> 00:47:32.329 look at you and say, now that's how Jesus would 00:47:32.329 --> 00:47:38.090 live? Well, if he's having his way in our lives, 00:47:38.130 --> 00:47:44.190 then the answer can be yes to some degree. Let's 00:47:44.190 --> 00:47:52.650 pray. Lord Jesus, show us afresh that you're 00:47:52.650 --> 00:47:58.480 all that we need. It is so easy for us to get 00:47:58.480 --> 00:48:07.659 caught up in non -essentials. It is so simple 00:48:07.659 --> 00:48:12.179 for us to be sidetracked into things that are 00:48:12.179 --> 00:48:19.019 unimportant. We tend to find our joy and fulfillment 00:48:19.019 --> 00:48:25.800 in things that are peripheral, maybe even ungodly. 00:48:27.559 --> 00:48:30.760 Show us afresh today how much you are the source 00:48:30.760 --> 00:48:35.159 of everything that we are. And remind us that 00:48:35.159 --> 00:48:40.360 we're not our own, but that we're yours. And 00:48:40.360 --> 00:48:42.460 because you are Lord, you deserve to have your 00:48:42.460 --> 00:48:47.059 way in our lives. Have your way today. And bring 00:48:47.059 --> 00:48:49.920 those areas of resistance and rebellion or those 00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:54.139 areas of laziness and lack of discipline under 00:48:54.139 --> 00:48:59.980 control, your control. In Jesus' name I pray. 00:49:01.059 --> 00:49:01.539 Amen.