Church Life In Christ (Ephesians 4:14-16)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:08.869 Let's turn again to Ephesians chapter four. I will be preaching from versus fourteen 2 00:00:09.189 --> 00:00:23.780 through sixteen. Let me begin, however, in verse seven. Fesians for 3 00:00:24.379 --> 00:00:26.940 verse seven, as were all begin reading tonight. If you have a Black 4 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:31.579 Bible from the cart, in the back its page nine hundred and seventy seven. 5 00:00:35.179 --> 00:00:38.250 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of 6 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:42.969 Christ's gift. Therefore, it says when he ascended on high, he led 7 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:47.609 a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, 8 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:51.640 what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower regions the 9 00:00:51.799 --> 00:00:56.600 earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the 10 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.119 heavens, that he might fill all things, and he gave the apostles, 11 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.750 the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for 12 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:08.829 the work of Ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we 13 00:01:08.950 --> 00:01:12.549 all attain the unity of faith, of the faith and the knowledge of the 14 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:18.109 son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of 15 00:01:18.150 --> 00:01:22.180 the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to 16 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:26.140 and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by 17 00:01:26.219 --> 00:01:33.170 human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth in love, 18 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:38.290 we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, 19 00:01:38.969 --> 00:01:42.730 into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by 20 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:48.280 every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, 21 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:56.239 makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. I'men maybe 22 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:06.629 seated well as we come to effusions, for we've gone over this passage once 23 00:02:06.750 --> 00:02:12.509 before, but I want to look particularly tonight with you versus fourteen through sixteen. 24 00:02:13.469 --> 00:02:19.379 In Verses Fourteen through sixteen, we have a picture of the goal of 25 00:02:19.740 --> 00:02:23.300 our church. What kind of place are we supposed to be? What kind 26 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:29.180 of places the Church of Christ supposed to be? What kinds of things might 27 00:02:29.379 --> 00:02:32.370 describe what the ways in which we are growing, in what we are growing 28 00:02:32.569 --> 00:02:38.090 to? Let me pause right there and just to point something out. Even 29 00:02:38.129 --> 00:02:43.330 in the very way that we begin talking about this, in talking about growth, 30 00:02:43.530 --> 00:02:47.479 we are talking about something that is not static. Our faith in Christ, 31 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:53.240 our position in Christ, is not at attic thing. It's dynamic, 32 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:58.080 it's moving it's growing. As I mentioned this morning, sometimes people will think 33 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:02.909 about Christianity like a kind of information dump. They imagine perhaps that they have 34 00:03:02.949 --> 00:03:07.389 a file folder in their minds where they were, where they put into that 35 00:03:07.509 --> 00:03:13.020 folder anything that relates to God, Church, religion. It goes right in 36 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:15.740 that folder and it's filed away. Are All kinds of article, some read, 37 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:23.180 some not, some halfread, some maybe just scratches on Napkins. They 38 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:29.330 might say things like the Trinity, various proofs, or how ought one to 39 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:32.969 confess his or her sins and the dangers of Roman Catholic pen and system, 40 00:03:34.009 --> 00:03:40.409 or maybe the Holy Spirit question mark. So we have, of course, 41 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:45.759 we have these questions in our minds. We have these various things that we 42 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:51.919 believe or don't believe. There's no denying that there is truth and doctrines that 43 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:57.590 can be listed, can be analyzed, taught, systematized, but that doesn't 44 00:03:57.669 --> 00:04:02.750 necessarily describe our faith. It describes in a way it's content, but it 45 00:04:02.830 --> 00:04:10.659 doesn't describe exactly what faith is. Faith which is that instrument by which we 46 00:04:10.939 --> 00:04:16.019 receive the blessings of God, faith which is active in that sense us. 47 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:23.980 We don't merely think about the things of the Bible, or we ought not 48 00:04:24.019 --> 00:04:29.209 to think about the things of the Bible, is as something static, because 49 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:31.850 what we see here in Ephesians, for is that we have been brought into 50 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:38.639 a relationship with Christ, a relationship so dynamic it can be described using the 51 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:44.560 metaphor of a body. Notice what he says. He says that we are 52 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:49.120 these gifts of ministers of the word, apostles, prophets, of angelist shepherds 53 00:04:49.160 --> 00:04:54.709 and teachers are given to the church. One is the read one reason is 54 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:59.550 for the building up of the body, the building up of the body. 55 00:04:59.629 --> 00:05:02.470 It's an active sense. There's a growing thing that happens and there's a goal 56 00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:06.740 too. It's not a wild kind of growth and out of control growth. 57 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:11.939 It's a growth with a point and a destination, as it says, to 58 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:16.779 mature manhood. There is such a thing as Christian maturity, and maturity not 59 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:21.410 just of an individual but within a body, to the measure and the stature 60 00:05:21.490 --> 00:05:27.449 of the fullness of Christ. That's pretty specific right. The maturity that we 61 00:05:27.569 --> 00:05:30.769 are called to grow into, or, to put it another way, the 62 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:36.920 maturity that God himself is growing us up into, is the measure of the 63 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.519 stature, of the fullness of Christ. We are being made in more like 64 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:47.079 him, we are becoming more and more like our savior. There is a 65 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:50.949 progression that he talks about in verse fourteen, so that we may no longer 66 00:05:51.029 --> 00:05:57.550 be children, tossed back and forth by this thing or that thing, but 67 00:05:57.670 --> 00:06:03.579 instead growing up into what, into him, who is the head. So 68 00:06:03.740 --> 00:06:11.180 this is the way that the Christian life is described. We don't think about 69 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:13.939 our faith, or we ought not to think about our faith, as a 70 00:06:14.259 --> 00:06:17.019 stack of papers to be pulled out and read or reread from time to time. 71 00:06:18.850 --> 00:06:23.970 Well, God may be the object of our faith, we are also 72 00:06:24.209 --> 00:06:28.810 the subjects on which he is acting. The True Christian, therefore, is 73 00:06:28.889 --> 00:06:32.519 one who has changed in the deepest parts of himself or herself when the spirit 74 00:06:33.079 --> 00:06:38.720 is at work, and that's because of the reality of who Jesus is. 75 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:44.240 This passage teaches us that Jesus is not a theory or a myth or an 76 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:48.750 idea. He is the son of God who became man and has now ascended 77 00:06:48.829 --> 00:06:54.670 into heaven and is reigning over all. Through him, the father is bringing 78 00:06:54.870 --> 00:06:59.350 these elect into the kingdom, he's causing them to grow, he's protecting him, 79 00:06:59.629 --> 00:07:05.139 protecting them against the deceitful schemes that are in the world. Now, 80 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:12.259 with that being said, those who like to downplay doctrine will perhaps rejoice at 81 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:16.009 my words and overstep their bounds in order to cling to a god of their 82 00:07:16.050 --> 00:07:21.569 own making, and this is dangerous, for while the son of God relates 83 00:07:21.610 --> 00:07:28.250 to us as a true person, living and active, there are things about 84 00:07:28.370 --> 00:07:32.720 him that are true and things that are not true. Those that ignore those 85 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:41.199 truths, those that ignore those doctrines, fail to reject him himself. Imagine 86 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:45.990 it this way. If I told you that you now have access to a 87 00:07:46.230 --> 00:07:50.350 million dollars free and clear, and all you have to do is access them 88 00:07:50.509 --> 00:07:55.709 with this account and routing number. But if I give you the account the 89 00:07:55.829 --> 00:08:00.300 wrong number, if I give you the wrong account number, the wrong routing 90 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:03.379 number, do you really have access to a million dollars? I could say 91 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:07.180 it over and over and over again. I could say you have a million 92 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:11.100 dollars free and clear, here's the account numbers, here's the account numbers, 93 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:13.769 here's the account numbers. But no matter how many times I say it, 94 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:18.170 no matter how fancy I make it sound, if the account numbers are wrong, 95 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:24.209 you ain't accidents. Saying the million dollars. It's like that with doctrine. 96 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:28.120 The same is true of Jesus. In a way. In order to 97 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:33.519 benefit from him, you have to know him. You can't just make up 98 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:37.720 something, a god of your imagination, call it Jesus, and then hope 99 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:45.789 that somehow you'll be saved by, quote unquote, Jesus. Right. There's 100 00:08:45.870 --> 00:08:48.909 things that are true about Jesus. Born of a virgin, born under the 101 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:52.750 law, live, died, rose again. Was the son of God who 102 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:58.100 had come into the world to bring about the glorious consummation of his kingdom, 103 00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:01.700 and he has particular ways that he's doing that in particular ways that he's not. 104 00:09:03.620 --> 00:09:05.179 There are things that are true about him and there things that are not, 105 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:11.289 and that's important because Paul is telling us that we are growing, not 106 00:09:11.450 --> 00:09:16.570 up into an idea of religion, he says we are growing into Christ. 107 00:09:18.529 --> 00:09:24.919 You need to know who Christ is. Also note that not only is this 108 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:28.600 goal, not only is this our goal, but this is also the way 109 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:33.320 that we come to this. The way in which we are grown is by 110 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:39.549 God giving to us himself more and more through the word. That's why he 111 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:43.309 gives us these ministers of the word. That's why we base everything that we 112 00:09:43.509 --> 00:09:48.029 do here in our church on the word of God, because this is where 113 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:54.059 God promises growth. This is how we grow stronger and stronger. Knowing these 114 00:09:54.179 --> 00:10:01.500 truths about Jesus is how you know Jesus. Anyone who wants to divorce doctrine 115 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:09.889 in life doesn't understand really either. So then it's because of god, whom 116 00:10:09.929 --> 00:10:15.769 we receive powerfully and personally through his word in spirit, that we are changed. 117 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:20.330 That's what's described here in this passage, as well as the changing that 118 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:26.399 goes on. And as we consider that, then we can we are ready 119 00:10:26.440 --> 00:10:28.720 and we're ready to think about well, what is it that we are changing 120 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.799 exactly, or what is it that we are coming into and growing up? 121 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:37.629 Here's another way to ask the question. What is a mature Christian look like? 122 00:10:39.830 --> 00:10:46.710 What is a mature Christian Church look like? Well, the first thing 123 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:50.899 to say is that maturity is a category that we ought to be thinking about. 124 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:54.940 Right. Paul uses that word, about growing up into the into mature 125 00:10:56.179 --> 00:11:03.289 manhood. Sometimes people talk about young kids. I don't know if that's the 126 00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:07.490 right if I'm allowed to use that word yet, but young kids, as 127 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:13.049 we have this phrase, fail to launch right. Have you heard this phrase 128 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:18.879 right. A young person who is supposed to be at that point of maturity 129 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:22.519 where they are ready to launch and become independent, but it's sort of like 130 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:26.679 using a guess spatial little analogy, sort of fails to launch because they don't 131 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:31.120 have the things necessary and in order to do that, they never quite reach 132 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:37.110 the strage where they're strong enough to be independent. Similarly, in our social 133 00:11:37.230 --> 00:11:41.909 and physical lives, the the body is meant to mature. The body of 134 00:11:41.990 --> 00:11:48.740 Christ is meant to mature. We are to become independent in a way, 135 00:11:48.419 --> 00:11:54.379 but only in a way that is always dependent on Jesus. Will come back 136 00:11:54.419 --> 00:12:01.490 to that later. So what does spiritual maturity look like? Well, I 137 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:05.769 think we could boil it down from this passage to a couple things. Knowledge 138 00:12:05.809 --> 00:12:11.889 and love. In the first place. Spiritual maturity is being able to see 139 00:12:11.049 --> 00:12:16.399 the truth from a lie, right, being able to discern and have wisdom 140 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:18.960 about what is and what isn't. Notice how he puts it. He says, 141 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.279 so that they will no longer be children tossed to and fro by the 142 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:30.230 waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine. Have you ever seen something 143 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:35.669 on the ocean or the sea that's just blown about, carried about by any 144 00:12:35.750 --> 00:12:41.509 little thing. We aren't to be like that. A spiritually mature person is 145 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:45.460 someone who knows God's word, what it says and what it doesn't say, 146 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:50.940 in its part, in its hole. It understands the specific details ails of 147 00:12:50.940 --> 00:12:54.419 the Bible and its connections to one another. Think about to go back to 148 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:58.529 a sea analogy. You think about a mature a fisherman who can read the 149 00:12:58.769 --> 00:13:03.049 waves, the seasons, the weather and then catch a net full of fish. 150 00:13:05.330 --> 00:13:09.330 Amateure Christian is like that. They can see what is of God and 151 00:13:09.490 --> 00:13:13.879 what is not of God. What pretends to be true piety, what pretends 152 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:20.519 to be religion that is a helpful and advancing and what actually is true piety, 153 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:26.350 what actually is godliness, what actually does lead to true godliness? And 154 00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:31.950 this is important, not just because we want to grow stronger and better, 155 00:13:31.029 --> 00:13:35.629 but because there are very real dangers in this world. Paul says, there 156 00:13:35.669 --> 00:13:41.539 are those who wish to do the church harm. That's an important part of 157 00:13:41.659 --> 00:13:46.100 wisdom, isn't it? Understanding that there are very real dangers in the world. 158 00:13:46.899 --> 00:13:50.259 You look both ways before you cross the street, not because it's just 159 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:54.500 feels good. You look both ways before you cross the street, because there 160 00:13:54.539 --> 00:14:00.450 are very real dangers. You can lose your life if you don't do it. 161 00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:05.330 We are called to grow into maturity, to grow through this feeding of 162 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:11.440 the word into Christ, more and more from Christ the word, so that 163 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:18.879 we might not fall into danger. Sometimes, Nimes, we pretend like everything's 164 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.559 okay when it's not. There are those who, I have to tell you, 165 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:31.669 pretend to be leaders, spiritual guides, faithful to the savior, savior, 166 00:14:31.230 --> 00:14:37.190 but are in fact wolves in sheep's clothing, demons praying on the week, 167 00:14:39.139 --> 00:14:43.659 those who wear fancy clothes, perhaps have fancy titles, but in fact 168 00:14:43.820 --> 00:14:48.740 deserve, and I'll put it in Jesus's words, to have millstones tied around 169 00:14:48.740 --> 00:14:54.730 their necks and cast into the sea and actually worse. Why? Why that 170 00:14:54.009 --> 00:15:01.490 drastic language? Because they are deceiving the little ones, evil doers who use 171 00:15:01.730 --> 00:15:09.759 smooth talk, flattery, fine and say fine things. They lie about Christ 172 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:15.840 to lure us in. They try to take the place of Christ in our 173 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:20.200 lives. They teach us that all we need to love is fear of them. 174 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:26.669 Love them and will be okay. Follow me, they say, and 175 00:15:26.830 --> 00:15:30.389 I will take care of you. Follow me and I will watch over you. 176 00:15:30.549 --> 00:15:35.259 Follow me and everything will be fine. And of course, children are 177 00:15:35.379 --> 00:15:39.860 easily deceived kids. I don't mean that to be mean, it's just true, 178 00:15:41.419 --> 00:15:43.940 and that's why your parents and and other people God has put in Your 179 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:48.820 Life Watch over you and protect you and warn you and train you to look 180 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:54.730 both ways across the street, to not talk to strangers and various other things 181 00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:58.490 that we are teaching you. The sad thing is, when it comes to 182 00:15:58.570 --> 00:16:06.440 our spirituality, our faith, sometimes even very old saints never made it out 183 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:11.320 of infancy, if they are saints at all. Those who should by now 184 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:18.429 be protectors, Warriors, faithful fighters for the truth, are confused, they 185 00:16:18.429 --> 00:16:23.029 stumble, they don't know the word of God, they don't understand it and 186 00:16:23.350 --> 00:16:30.190 are likewise fooled. This is what happens when the word of God is displaced 187 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:36.860 for the traditions and truth of men, when the ultimate and practical authority for 188 00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:41.980 all things is not the risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, but people 189 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:48.009 and their ideas and their selfmade religion. Well, how do I know what 190 00:16:48.169 --> 00:16:52.210 is selfmade religion and what is actually given to me by God through his word? 191 00:16:53.370 --> 00:16:56.929 That's how we know. That's why we keep coming back to his word 192 00:16:56.970 --> 00:17:02.799 again and again. Paul even commends the Brillans, for example, after teaching 193 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.799 them, for going to the word and testing whether the things he says are 194 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:11.200 true. Paul doesn't say, I'm so glad that you trusted my authority and 195 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.630 on that alone you accepted all these things. Now he commends them for going 196 00:17:15.710 --> 00:17:21.509 to God's word, and we all must do that. Paul says that we 197 00:17:21.549 --> 00:17:26.470 are to grow, through the word of God, into maturity, through Christ 198 00:17:26.589 --> 00:17:32.819 himself, into Christ himself. That's how we become spiritual adults, capable of 199 00:17:32.980 --> 00:17:40.500 perceiving the truth from the lie and capable of protecting others. To this he 200 00:17:40.579 --> 00:17:45.369 adds a second thing. Knowing the truth enables us to speak the truth and 201 00:17:45.569 --> 00:17:52.089 therefore build one another up in love. Truth is not something true truth is 202 00:17:52.130 --> 00:17:57.329 not used to beat people over the head, to be proud and mean true 203 00:17:57.569 --> 00:18:02.920 truth, the truth of God, the Truth of Christ, the Gospel. 204 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.359 Well, this is something that is full of love. It's all about love 205 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:11.039 from beginning to end, and it should be spoken in love. Truth and 206 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:17.190 Love, love and truth, they go together, and this is why the 207 00:18:17.349 --> 00:18:22.829 deceits of the devil cannot only be detected in the in comparing what he says 208 00:18:22.990 --> 00:18:29.500 to the word. Not only are his lies evident this way, but also 209 00:18:29.700 --> 00:18:36.140 in his lack of love, True Love, love for others, love for 210 00:18:36.299 --> 00:18:41.970 God. Let me put it this way. Do those who pray on the 211 00:18:41.089 --> 00:18:48.569 Church love the church? Of course not. What do they love themselves? 212 00:18:49.450 --> 00:18:56.160 Their lusts, their power, their pride. Where is Christ? Where are 213 00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:00.599 his people? You will find them where the truth of Christ is proclaimed and 214 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:07.440 where the love of Christ is evident, not in dark secrets, power plays, 215 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:12.150 manipulation and fear, not in pride, sinful secrets, shame and guilt 216 00:19:12.190 --> 00:19:18.869 and hatred. Jesus is not in these things. The True Church, you 217 00:19:18.029 --> 00:19:22.150 see from what Paul is saying here, is not a church that is held 218 00:19:22.269 --> 00:19:30.700 together by traditions and power, structures and bureaucratic lies, no matter how old 219 00:19:30.619 --> 00:19:37.299 or seemingly important they are. The church is a body that is held together 220 00:19:37.500 --> 00:19:41.369 by God himself, by the spirit of God working through the word, a 221 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:47.210 spirit that is of love and is of the truth. The True Church, 222 00:19:48.049 --> 00:19:52.650 a mature church, is a church where the Gospel is preached so that each 223 00:19:52.769 --> 00:19:57.319 member grows in the power of the spirit of God, being empowered in his 224 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:03.400 or her calling to fulfill and be a good steward of their gifts and then 225 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:10.750 build up one another. What in love? What kind of church do you 226 00:20:10.990 --> 00:20:15.029 want to be? What kind of church are we called to be? Most 227 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:21.460 importantly, what kind of church is God making us to be? If our 228 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:25.819 faith is in Christ, he is making us to be a church that is 229 00:20:25.900 --> 00:20:33.180 all about loving him, living in him and learning him. The Christian Church, 230 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:37.930 or a Christian church, is one that sees its great needs, that 231 00:20:37.089 --> 00:20:41.849 sees its sinfulness, sees its danger, sees its weakness and, instead of 232 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:48.410 reaching deeper and deeper into itself, instead of loving itself, finds the love 233 00:20:48.450 --> 00:20:55.759 of the Lord in Christ. It reaches out to Christ for everything, for 234 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:59.960 the forgiveness of our sins, for knowledge of the truth, for lives marked 235 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.990 by holiness and love. In everything that we need and everything that we want, 236 00:21:04.269 --> 00:21:07.390 in every way in which we desire, to grow and grow and grow 237 00:21:07.910 --> 00:21:15.269 into the measure of the fullness of Christ, it must always and only be 238 00:21:15.630 --> 00:21:22.700 about Christ and Christ alone. Christian maturity, therefore, is not about becoming 239 00:21:22.859 --> 00:21:30.059 strong longer in yourself, but it's about becoming stronger in Christ. It's about 240 00:21:30.059 --> 00:21:36.569 putting all your trust in Jesus and in nothing else. That's what makes a 241 00:21:36.890 --> 00:21:44.089 mature Christian church. But note that this kind of maturity is never a lonely 242 00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:49.640 one or and alone one. It's not like Christ makes sort of this individual 243 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:53.799 mature and that individual mature and that individual mature. We are, as he 244 00:21:53.920 --> 00:22:00.240 says here, one body. This kind of maturity is one that comes all 245 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:06.750 together. He strengthens you and through you he strengthened others, and through others 246 00:22:06.789 --> 00:22:15.579 he strengthens you when you I just a quick still example before we end. 247 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:21.579 Perhaps you've gone and decided that it's time to work out and then you go 248 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:23.779 and you go to do a pull up or something like that. You realize 249 00:22:23.819 --> 00:22:29.140 this is this is gonna happen. You realize that there are certain muscles that 250 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:34.329 simply aren't strong enough to do the job. But what happens? When one 251 00:22:34.410 --> 00:22:38.849 of those muscles get stronger, it helps the others, which helps the others, 252 00:22:40.089 --> 00:22:44.680 which helps the others. There's this living body that grows stronger and stronger 253 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:51.759 as the individual parts grow stronger and stronger. And that happens because the spirit 254 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:56.680 is in the body, the spirit of Christ. As I said, he 255 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.069 strengthens you as he strengthens others, and he strengthens others as he strengthens you. 256 00:23:02.269 --> 00:23:03.750 That's why Paul puts it in this way. He says, from the 257 00:23:03.950 --> 00:23:10.470 whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, 258 00:23:11.390 --> 00:23:15.099 when each part is working properly, makes the body grow, so that 259 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:21.259 it builds itself up in love. So what is the point of our Christian 260 00:23:21.339 --> 00:23:25.579 maturity? What is the point of growing stronger and stronger and more and more 261 00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:29.970 healthy? Is it so that we can stand proud and tall in the world, 262 00:23:30.529 --> 00:23:33.609 so that we can stand above other people and say, look how strong 263 00:23:33.690 --> 00:23:38.769 I am? Of course not. It's so that we can speak the truth 264 00:23:38.849 --> 00:23:44.680 of Christ and love, so that we can be servants of men, even 265 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.720 as our savior was. We're not growing up into ourselves, we're growing up 266 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:55.160 into him. Our strength and Christ is not so that we can sit in 267 00:23:55.240 --> 00:24:00.109 the high places and be worshiped, but so that he can be and that 268 00:24:00.349 --> 00:24:07.269 through us, more seeds would be sown, more hardships would be endured and 269 00:24:07.430 --> 00:24:14.819 that we would love more and more deeply. Let's pray