1 00:00:02,280 --> 00:00:06,040 Thinking back to the ancient world, the world through the 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:10,840 eyes of the philosopher Aristotle was dynamic. 3 00:00:11,760 --> 00:00:13,600 The world that he perceived was dynamic. 4 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,120 It was characterized by constant change. 5 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:17,920 And he looked around and he he saw. 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,960 Everywhere I look, there's things coming to be, there's 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,640 things growing and changing, and then there's things passing 8 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,280 away. And he said all of the other 9 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:33,240 philosophers of his day, the Platonics and the Platonists and 10 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,720 the pre Socratics, he said all none of them can adequately 11 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:39,920 account for the dynamic nature of the universe. 12 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:41,480 They can't account for all of the change. 13 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:46,640 And so from Western philosophy, from Aristotle on, came this 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,840 idea that change is intelligible because things are moving toward 15 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,440 fulfilment, things are moving toward a purpose, toward a tell 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,480 us. And so this this goal makes 17 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:05,800 sense for for Aristotle when he looks at an acorn and he says, 18 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:07,880 what is the the purpose? What is the goal? 19 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,840 What is the, the design of the acorn but to become a great and 20 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:13,840 mighty oak tree? And when you understand that, 21 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:15,840 then the cracking and the shedding and the growth and the 22 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:18,040 all of that begins to make sense. 23 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,120 It's movement toward fulfilment. And This is why philosophers 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,480 then will retreat to their quiet studies among their books and 25 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:25,640 the light their pipes, and they'll begin to ask of all of 26 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,480 the things of this natural world, what is their purpose and 27 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:33,840 what is their tell us what is their goal? 28 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,320 And we've stopped thinking this way in our church. 29 00:01:38,320 --> 00:01:40,680 We might say we we look at the goal of the tell us, but we're 30 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:45,760 much more impressed by what is impressive more than the goal or 31 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:47,840 function. We we look at what impresses us 32 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:50,480 in the church. We like to measure activity. 33 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,280 How many people showed up to your church on a Sunday morning? 34 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:56,600 It's the first question we ask people of of another church. 35 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,200 Well, how many people are there for your worship? 36 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,280 How many people were online in your live stream? 37 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:03,880 How many children and youth do you have in your children's 38 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:05,360 department or in your youth department? 39 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,639 How many people came at Easter and at Christmas? 40 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:10,560 How many life groups do you have? 41 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:13,960 We measure our programs and the density of our calendars. 42 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:16,280 We say how many classes are offered and what's the 43 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:18,320 participation rate of your classes? 44 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,400 How many people signed up for the events? 45 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:25,160 And we love financial metrics. How many giving units does your 46 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:27,840 church have and is your giving increasing and what's your total 47 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:30,840 budget? And we even award leadership 48 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:33,720 positions in our Southern Baptist conventions based on how 49 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,840 much churches are giving to that convention. 50 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,560 And we need to go back and consider again this ancient 51 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,280 word, this ancient concept of tell us or purpose. 52 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,400 Change is intelligible when you know the goal, when things are 53 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,480 working toward fulfilment. And even thinking of Aristotle, 54 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,280 he said the purpose of an axe is to cut down trees. 55 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,480 And if your axe doesn't chop wood, then it's an axe in name 56 00:02:57,480 --> 00:02:59,400 only. And you said look at the eye. 57 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,080 The, the, the point of an eye is to see. 58 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:04,120 And if you're, if you have an eye that doesn't see, then it's 59 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:06,160 an eye in name only. And the purpose of an acorn is 60 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,920 to become a great and mighty oak tree. 61 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,280 But what is the purpose of a local church? 62 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:16,280 And we have to answer this question, what's the goal by 63 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:20,280 which we can measure growth? Turn in your Bible to Ephesians 64 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:25,600 413 to 16. Paul uses this ancient word tell 65 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,920 us to describe the purpose of the church in Ephesians 413. 66 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:32,920 So Paul says not only is the world dynamic, not only is the 67 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:36,480 world characterized by constant change, but so is the church. 68 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:39,080 Change is coming, change is inevitable. 69 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,600 Change is healthy. Change is built into the very 70 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,360 design of this body. And Ephesians 4 is a passage 71 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:46,760 that demands change as we go through it. 72 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,240 It's going to say in verse 13, our unity is increasing. 73 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,880 We're growing in the perfection of knowledge. 74 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:56,000 And as we're growing, we're changing and we're growing in 75 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,640 maturity to mature manhood and we're growing up in every way. 76 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:01,480 It says we're changing in every way. 77 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,440 Verse 16, we're growing up in love and change is is happening, 78 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,920 but this, this passage teaches us what we're being changed 79 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,400 into, what the goal is. And if there's no goal, then we 80 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,040 become like verse 14. We're children that are tossed 81 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,959 to and from by every church fad and every argument that we hear 82 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:23,120 online. And so programs and activities 83 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,320 in the church are great so long as our eyes are fixed on the 84 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,000 goal. Look with me and read with me 85 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,640 Ephesians 413 to 16 to see the goal. 86 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:34,960 I'm going to start at verse 11 to to lead up to it. 87 00:04:35,280 --> 00:04:38,640 Paul said he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, 88 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,440 the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the Saints for the work 89 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:44,480 of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ. 90 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:48,440 And here's our text until we all attain to the unity of the faith 91 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,480 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the 92 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,160 measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we 93 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,600 may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and 94 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,600 carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by 95 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,520 craftiness and deceitful schemes. 96 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,320 Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every 97 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:13,160 way into Him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole 98 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,320 body joined and held together by every joint with which it is 99 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,480 equipped. When each part is working 100 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,720 properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in 101 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:25,720 love. So if you're here last week to 102 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,520 to recap, there's a beautiful this is a breathtaking passage, 103 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,440 chapter 4, verse 12 where it talks about God gives pastors 104 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,600 and teachers or pastor teachers to the church to equip the 105 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:38,720 Saints for the work of the ministry. 106 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,120 That's the tell us of the pastor, the tell us of the 107 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,040 teacher. Our purpose is to build you up, 108 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:45,360 to equip you for the work of the ministry. 109 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,080 And in light of that amazing verse, he kind of ties together 110 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,680 theologically a couple of really beautiful concepts. 111 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,760 The first one, if you were here, was the ascension of Jesus 112 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,160 Christ. So after he's raised from the 113 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,000 dead, he appears to the 500 and and he goes to the Mount of 114 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:02,480 Olives. If we think Jerusalem's that 115 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,320 high point, everything is up from Jerusalem. 116 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,440 The only point that's higher is the Mount of Olives. 117 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,560 Jesus is there with the Temple Mount in front of him. 118 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:11,240 You could see Jericho in the background and there he ascends 119 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,760 up into glory. And Paul cites that that that 120 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,120 theology that ascension by citing Psalm 68. 121 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,840 And he says when he went and ascended into heaven, he sat 122 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:25,080 down being coronated, being crowned king. 123 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,080 And unlike any other earthly king who then brings tribute 124 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,000 from those he conquers. He says Jesus is not like that. 125 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,120 He doesn't demand anything from those he conquers. 126 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:37,440 He actually gives tribute to those whom he conquers. 127 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:39,920 He's a king unlike any other king in the world. 128 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,880 So he sits down and he pours out gifts to men. 129 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:46,840 And here comes the second point of theology from last week. 130 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:50,600 He said, spiritual gifts you are given, giftings you are given. 131 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,720 Paul calls it a stewardship of grace. 132 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:56,000 You're given a responsibility so that we can tie in this third 133 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:59,480 theological point, which he said was the priesthood of every 134 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,160 believer. You've been given a gift. 135 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,680 Now you must steward that gift. Jesus said to his church in 136 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,560 John, as the Father sent me, so I am sending you. 137 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,600 Jesus was the first apostle, and he sent his apostles, and those 138 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:17,320 apostles put the authority and the responsibility of of 139 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:19,960 shepherding our gifts to the local church. 140 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,760 And so you are literally continuing the ministry of Jesus 141 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,640 Christ in his absence. He's seated at the right hand of 142 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,640 God. We've complete and fulfill the 143 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:35,560 ministry to the world. So those three things end in 144 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,360 verse 12 with with this, with this, these words that begin to 145 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,320 Orient us toward the tell us of the purpose of the church in our 146 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,480 passage. And again, Paul takes this 147 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:48,640 ancient philosophical word, tell us and he he applies it to the 148 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:52,440 church in verse 13. What is the purpose of the 149 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:53,960 church? We're going to ask 2 questions. 150 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:59,000 This is the first one. The answer began in verse 12 for 151 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:03,240 building up the body of Christ. The purpose of this local church 152 00:08:03,680 --> 00:08:05,320 is the building up of the body of Christ. 153 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:09,200 The purpose of Christ Church is building up the body. 154 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,240 We exist for spiritual formation and our passage is going to 155 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,720 elaborate on that goal as you look to our verse in verse 13. 156 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:20,800 Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge 157 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,400 of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the 158 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,160 stature of the fullness of Christ. 159 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,760 So, so Christ Church exists for spiritual formation. 160 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:32,120 This local body exists for spiritual formation, the word 161 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,200 formation. You can think of Jesus saying I 162 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,080 am the the Potter and you are the clay and I'm, I'm molding 163 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,360 you into a, a vessel or an instrument for my glory. 164 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,080 Formation means literally a shaping or a molding or a 165 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,880 forming, the process by which something takes on its proper 166 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:50,800 shape according to an intended pattern. 167 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:53,280 And you read through the Scripture, there's all kinds of 168 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,720 vocabulary that the Bible uses to describe are being conformed 169 00:08:57,720 --> 00:08:59,400 into Christ. The first one is you're being 170 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:00,840 conformed. You're being formed or 171 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,120 conformed. Galatians 419 One of my favorite 172 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,440 passages in Scripture, Paul says, my little children, of 173 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,200 whom I am in the pains of childbirth until Christ is 174 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,880 formed in you, you're being formed into the image of Jesus. 175 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,800 And it uses this image conformity and then and then the 176 00:09:17,800 --> 00:09:22,760 word image itself. Romans 829 we are conformed to 177 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,600 the image of his Son. And finally in 2nd Corinthians 178 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:32,000 318 he uses the word transformation and the the Greek 179 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:33,760 is literally the word metamorphosis. 180 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:36,680 There's a transformation that's happening where he says we all 181 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:39,440 with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being 182 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,080 transformed into the same image from 1° degree of glory to 183 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:44,440 another. You're increasing. 184 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:48,280 We are increasing rather as a local body in glory before the 185 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,040 Father. He says you're being formed into 186 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:51,440 his image. You're being conformed. 187 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:55,200 You're being transformed and then he adds this word in 188 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:57,280 Ephesians 4. You're maturing. 189 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,560 It's maturity. You're growing up in every way 190 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:04,560 so that you are no longer a child but a spiritual adult. 191 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:08,200 You're growing up from spiritual children to adults and it's that 192 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,520 word in verse 13. That word maturity is the word 193 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:16,920 tell us in the original and it means completion or perfection 194 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:18,880 or fulfillment. When when Jesus was on the 195 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:23,560 cross, the very last words that he spoke was it it is finished, 196 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:26,800 it's completed, it's done. That is the word to telestye. 197 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,480 It's the same root word. It's completed, it's finished. 198 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,320 So the tell us of the church is spiritual formation. 199 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:38,120 And as you come to verse 13, I want you to see there's three 200 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,040 prepositional phrases which are three aspects of this goal. 201 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,200 If our goal is spiritual formation, then he kind of 202 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,080 breaks it apart and says, and and this is this is what I mean 203 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,400 by it, 3 aspects of this singular goal. 204 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:55,600 The first aspect this is we must attain unity and the faith and 205 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,640 in the knowledge of God that's number one attaining unity in 206 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:01,840 the faith and the knowledge of God and attaining was used in 207 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:06,440 the ancient world of of reaching a destination means you're 208 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:10,000 you're arriving at a goal you're reaching a goal and this isn't 209 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,040 the goal of all humanity. This is the goal of those 210 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,160 Christians who put their faith in Jesus verse 12 to equip the 211 00:11:15,160 --> 00:11:17,120 Saints. The purpose of the Saints is to 212 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:18,720 be conformed into the image of God. 213 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,960 And even in this first preposition, there's there's 2A2 214 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:24,000 fold aspect. He says you must have unity in 215 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:27,400 the faith and the perfection of your knowledge. 216 00:11:27,400 --> 00:11:32,120 So you can't, you can't have a spiritual formation without the 217 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,040 perfection of your knowledge. As you learn this Bible and this 218 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,160 body of truth that comes and, and so when it uses this word, 219 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,320 faith, unity and faith, this is not talking about your personal 220 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,160 trust in Jesus Christ. That's one way we talk about 221 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,160 faith. It's using faith in the same way 222 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:51,200 that Paul used it in chapter 3 when he said there's one faith, 223 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:55,680 1 hope, 1 Lord, 1 baptism. Faith is the content of what we 224 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:59,760 believe, a body of doctrine. We have one body of doctrine 225 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,120 that we're all conforming our minds to, that we're perfecting 226 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,200 our minds around. And so he says we have unity in 227 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,960 this faith. And you go back to Acts 19, 228 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,240 eight. It's amazing to read that 229 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:13,880 portion of Scripture along with Ephesus because that's where 230 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:18,120 Paul plants the Ephesian church. And it says when Paul first came 231 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,360 in this synagogue, that city, he entered the synagogue of 232 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,600 Ephesus. And for three months he spoke 233 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,400 boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the Kingdom of God. 234 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:32,440 He says he reasoned with them daily in the hall of Tyrannis. 235 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,800 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia 236 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,880 heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. 237 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,600 I bring that up to show you when Paul comes to the Ephesians, 238 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,120 look how long spiritual formation requires. 239 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:50,800 It says he spent three months preaching to the Jews, and then 240 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:53,800 they continued for two years teaching them every day. 241 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,920 And then he writes them this letter telling them to continue 242 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,800 in this goal of unity and the perfection of knowledge. 243 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,840 And so he writes this church and he says, not all of you are 244 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:04,960 unified, not all of you have perfected your knowledge yet. 245 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:06,920 Not everybody understands their Bible yet. 246 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,800 So we're going to press on and submit ourselves to the 247 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,480 preachers and teachers and, and bow the knee to one another as 248 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,440 we as we seek from one another to learn. 249 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:20,040 And so they devote themselves to the teaching because the same is 250 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:21,880 true of us. None of us have arrived yet. 251 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,200 None of us have a full understanding of Scripture. 252 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,040 None of us are in perfect Christ likeness yet. 253 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,960 And so we come to church and we learn, we're perfecting our 254 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:31,920 knowledge. And Paul says when we perfect 255 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:34,000 our knowledge, it builds our unity. 256 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,920 So we remember this faith and this teaching. 257 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:43,440 And the second aspect, the second aspect of this goal is, 258 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,600 he says, for the corporate church to become a perfect man. 259 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,400 You can look at verse 13. He adds on to it. 260 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,200 Three simple words to mature manhood. 261 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:57,200 We're moving to mature manhood, Ian Hamilton says This is so 262 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:00,640 basic, but we forget that the church is not an aggregate of 263 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:03,080 individual believers, that we all come together. 264 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,080 Some chemical change has happened where it's no longer a 265 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,800 bunch of individual believers. You are we now the the church is 266 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:15,120 is us ontologically. And this phrase is is really 267 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:19,000 important because it teaches we have a marked visible unity of 268 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,880 faith and you have to understand the the communal or the 269 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:23,960 corporate nature of our salvation. 270 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:29,080 It says verse 13 until we all attain the unity of faith and 271 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,280 the knowledge of God. So this is not about Isaac 272 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,480 Farley becoming strong in the faith or you becoming strong in 273 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:36,600 the faith. This is about us. 274 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:38,720 This is about us becoming strong together. 275 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,320 Paul doesn't say until we attain to mature persons, it's singular 276 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:47,960 until we attain to a mature man, which means the goal of the 277 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,880 church is not met when you become spiritually mature. 278 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,040 The goal of the church is met when we become spiritually 279 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,520 mature. And this, this changes the way 280 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,240 the Western church thinks about church. 281 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,880 This isn't individualistic. I'm becoming like Christ. 282 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,080 It's corporate. We're doing this together. 283 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,200 And if somebody comes or doesn't come to church, they say I don't 284 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:07,840 need church because I'm ahead of the church. 285 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,480 I'm further along. They're going to drag me down. 286 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,760 You know this argument, you say you, you fundamentally missed 287 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:14,960 the the purpose of Ephesians 413. 288 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:19,000 The whole point is that if you think you've arrived spiritually 289 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:21,560 and the rest of your church has not arrived spiritually, then 290 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,200 you have not arrived. As it says you've given, been 291 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:28,840 given gifts, Ephesians 4 for the building up of the body. 292 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,680 Your gifts exist for other people because we're in this 293 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,600 together. We serve one another until we 294 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:38,440 all reach maturity, and the passage takes seriously the 295 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,720 reality that we've been united. There's no such thing as a lone 296 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:45,280 Christian working out his salvation or her salvation on 297 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:49,440 their own, which means there's no individual who says I have no 298 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,920 need of the church. There's no individual who can 299 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:57,000 say I've got my own personal relationship with Jesus or I 300 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,920 believe in God, but I don't believe in organized religion or 301 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,120 I'm not dependent on other believers. 302 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,880 That's thinking like a a child. Paul says that's immature 303 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:08,480 thinking. If you think individualistically 304 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,120 about the church, you're a child. 305 00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:13,640 If if you think corporately about the church, he says this 306 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,280 is a sign of mature thinking. This immature logic is exactly 307 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:20,000 backwards. Paul says we are the church. 308 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,800 And he says the church is so organized that we're we're 309 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:26,720 united. We're at one living, breathing 310 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,640 body like a forest ecosystem. We're like a, a coral reef. 311 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,720 We're we're we're one and you do not. 312 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,040 And you cannot have your own personal relationship with God 313 00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,080 and you cannot live the Christian life without 314 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,600 community. And if you don't believe me, ask 315 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,080 anybody who's tried to pull themselves out of depression or 316 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,600 ask anybody who's just tried to will themselves out of their own 317 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:48,840 addiction. You can't do it. 318 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,600 You need the church and you've been given gifts, a stewardship 319 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:55,840 of grace which exists for other people. 320 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:59,760 And the tell us of the church is spiritual formation, not just 321 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,800 yours. And we are mature when our 322 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:06,640 entire local church is mature. And you can take that 323 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,160 understanding and go back to all those metrics that we talked 324 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:11,319 about in the beginning about programs and people and 325 00:17:11,319 --> 00:17:14,599 activity. And you can measure this goal or 326 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:17,680 those metrics against this goal. Those metrics are still good, 327 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,880 but measure them against this goal of spiritual formation. 328 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:24,920 The first aspect he said was unity of the faith and 329 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,000 perfection of knowledge. The second one was for the 330 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:29,240 maturity of the corporate church. 331 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,840 And then finally, the third aspect of this goal in verse 13, 332 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:35,480 it says is to attain the measure of the stature of the fullness 333 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:36,880 of Christ. That's a mouthful. 334 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:39,320 Another way to say it. It could be rendered to the 335 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:43,000 measure, namely the maturity of the fullness of Christ. 336 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:47,000 Or we might say it in one word. The goal is Christlikeness. 337 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:49,880 We're trying to attain this goal. 338 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:54,880 The goal is Christlikeness, and so he uses this word fullness to 339 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,840 the fullness of Christ. This comes in a lot of ways in 340 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,080 Ephesians, a lot of different contexts. 341 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,600 It's always the emphasis is on the filling up, the being filled 342 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:07,320 up that comes as completeness or entirety as a result of being 343 00:18:07,320 --> 00:18:08,720 filled. And it says Christ is the 344 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,160 fullness of God and he's filling the church. 345 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:16,760 And so we're aiming at mature manhood as opposed to being 346 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,120 spiritual children. And our goal together, again, we 347 00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:22,360 have to have a focus. We have to have a pattern. 348 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,280 The pattern is after Jesus Christ. 349 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,640 We want to be like him. Bruce says the glorified Christ 350 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,320 provides the standard at which his people are to aim. 351 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,440 The corporate Christ cannot be content to fall short of the 352 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:39,240 perfection of the personal Christ, which is is has really 353 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,280 strong implications because there's a great cultural 354 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:44,480 argument that's going to say when we get to chapters 5 and 6 355 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,520 where it talks about how we are to order our household with 356 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:49,760 women being submissive to their husbands and husbands loving 357 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:52,080 their wives and children being submissive to the the husband 358 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,440 and the wife. It's not a cultural argument 359 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,600 because Paul saying right here, when we when we seek after 360 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,640 Christ and when we have this unity, this is what our lives 361 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,000 are to be patterned like. This is what society looks like. 362 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,280 This is the goal for our households. 363 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:08,520 And you get to see that everything that comes after this 364 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,120 is, is the the goal, the pattern. 365 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:12,760 This is what we shape ourselves after. 366 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,640 And now that we understand that the goal of the church, the goal 367 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:18,040 of this church, it's so important. 368 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:19,840 The goal of this church is spiritual formation. 369 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,520 That's why we exist. I want to ask a second question, 370 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:26,240 the verses 14 to 16 answer. Why is spiritual formation 371 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:29,080 essential? Why is this the goal? 372 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:32,000 Why is this so important? Read with me verses 14 to 16 373 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:38,600 again, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by 374 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,640 the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human 375 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,200 cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. 376 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:48,160 Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every 377 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,440 way into Him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole 378 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,840 body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is 379 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,240 equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body 380 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:02,920 grow so that it builds itself up in love. 4 reasons I want you to 381 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,200 see why spiritual formation is essential. 382 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:12,920 It says it's essential for stability #1 #2 for integrity #3 383 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,760 for maturity and #4 for responsibility. 384 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:19,920 So it's important for stability says that you might not be 385 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:24,680 driven to and from by the waves. You're stable #2 integrity that 386 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:29,000 you might embody the truth and love to this local church, all 387 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,440 of the believers you're in community with #3 maturity that 388 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:35,680 you might grow up in every way into Christ who is your head and 389 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,600 then #4 responsibility so that each part would contribute to 390 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,280 the growth of the whole. And we'll go through these one 391 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,520 by one. This is why spiritual formation 392 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,160 is essential #1 stability. We are formed spiritually so 393 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,560 that we may no longer be tossed to and fro by the waves and 394 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,000 carried about by every wind of doctrine, every fad of the 395 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,960 Church, every book that's put out, every wind of doctrine by 396 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,440 human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. 397 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,440 Immature believers are so susceptible to false doctrine. 398 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,400 And he says that's why the stability, that's why the 399 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:10,280 perfection of your knowledge is so important. 400 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,040 You have to be conformed into his image and conformed into his 401 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:16,800 image, formed into his image, transformed by the renewal, 402 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:18,840 renewal of your mind. Because when your mind has been 403 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,680 renewed, then you have the mind of Christ, and the mind of 404 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,240 Christ keeps away from error. It's not susceptible to error. 405 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,240 You can tell truth. So that is a henna clause. 406 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,400 He's saying. So that denoting purpose, it's 407 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,160 essential so that you might no longer be a child in the faith. 408 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:39,320 And child is the word Nepios, probably where we get the word 409 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:42,480 nepotism. Nepios is a is a child from 410 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,120 infancy all the way up to puberty. 411 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:48,680 And as is typical in Scripture, it's not emphasizing the age, 412 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,400 it's emphasizing child likeness, saying that there are are 413 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,320 children who are lacking understanding, they're 414 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,360 inexperienced, they have no insight. 415 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:01,040 And there are children and adults who are spiritual infants 416 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,320 in this church who are not discerning yet. 417 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,880 They haven't been perfected in knowledge yet, and they are 418 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,280 susceptible to error and susceptible to all of these 419 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,880 things they're going to follow. Paul says in these verses, if 420 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,840 you think individualistically about the church, then you're 421 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:16,280 still in this category of spiritual infancy. 422 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,080 You don't yet understand. If you think corporately, you're 423 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:23,640 beginning to get it. And so stability is essential 424 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:28,600 because Paul says there are men and women and spiritual forces 425 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,680 and demonic forces that seek. I'll will for you. 426 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:35,400 They seek you and your family harm. 427 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,160 They seek to influence your children. 428 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,640 And they prey on the weak and the isolated. 429 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,760 They prey on the immature. And there's actually three more 430 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,720 prepositions that come here under this this heading of 431 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,400 maturity. And they kind of build to a 432 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,320 climax of their own as they talk about the wicked activity of of 433 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:57,440 men in this world. And Paul says that error is not 434 00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:01,320 by accident. These are not innocent errors. 435 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,640 Variant teachings are deliberate, and it's part of a 436 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,560 strategy that's designed to lead people away from the truth and 437 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,240 to pull them away from spiritual formation. 438 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,840 Clinton Arnold says in this we can see the fingerprints of the 439 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,520 evil 1. And you see here, Paul, the 440 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,040 first little prepositional phrase Paul writes that we're 441 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,240 not to be carried about by the cunningness of people. 442 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,120 And the word cunningness in Greek is literally the word dice 443 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:30,000 throwing. And it means cheating literally 444 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,800 and not only following that. It's more than just cheating. 445 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,240 It's deceitfulness. This is by deceitfulness. 446 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,040 Deceitfulness is the word navery or villainy or trickery or 447 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:42,360 craftiness. That's why Jesus says there's 448 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:44,760 going to be sheep, wolves in sheep's clothing. 449 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:46,400 They're going to come in and they're going to try to 450 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,440 introduce false doctrines and they're trying to upset our 451 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,200 spiritual growth and to pull you away from the truth. 452 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,800 It's cheating, it's manipulating, it's gaslighting, 453 00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:57,320 it's praying on the spiritually vulnerable. 454 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,760 And so the devil and the world are looking for isolated and 455 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,960 vulnerable Christians who are weak in their faith because 456 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,160 they're wanting to prevent this process of spiritual formation. 457 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,840 How do they do it? They try and pull you out of 458 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:13,680 healthy churches into more open and affirming churches where the 459 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:16,440 doctrine is more shallow and you're not going to learn as 460 00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:17,720 much. You're not going to be built up. 461 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,040 And they're going to do it in the name of God and in the name 462 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,240 of Jesus Christ. And they're going to redefine 463 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:28,360 biblical terms like love and justice and mercy so that they 464 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:31,520 can pull away your Christian service and make it less 465 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:34,040 faithful. And they're going to redefine 466 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,320 sin. And they're going to tell you 467 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,960 that what is good is evil and what's evil is good, hoping that 468 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,240 you'll participate in their wickedness with them. 469 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,240 And they're going to mingle theology with philosophy and 470 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:49,320 wisdom of the world, and so poison the purity of the truth. 471 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,400 And they're going to flood your thinking with worldly, godless 472 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:54,520 perspectives. There's a quote from Spurgeon 473 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:56,560 that he said years ago that stuck with me. 474 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:58,920 It's perfect for this context. He says people will believe 475 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,320 anything if you put it plausibly before them, which means if you 476 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:04,840 write a book, people are going to believe anything because it's 477 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:06,840 in a book and you've got a little PhD by your name. 478 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:09,240 People believe anything if you'll take your logic and 479 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:11,760 you'll put it in a good little argument and craft it just right 480 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:13,560 that anybody will believe it. And that's true. 481 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:17,480 So Christians, we have to be discerning and we have to be 482 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,600 wise. We don't believe things just 483 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,560 because people put it plausibly before us. 484 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,720 And finally, Paul says in deceitful schemes, and this is 485 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,040 kind of the climax, so we're towards schemes of error. 486 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,920 People use deceitfulness for their own plans, which are 487 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:36,040 characterized most of all by the error, and they love to use the 488 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,640 scriptures to introduce it. And the the error is propagated 489 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,040 with the intent of luring others to embrace error by trickery and 490 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,800 with deceit. I think most frequently I see it 491 00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:52,160 in our day under the phrase love your neighbor and the world will 492 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,400 throw all kinds of things under love your neighbor of of don't 493 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,640 show up to church because you might spread COVID. 494 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,520 Love your neighbor, wash your hands, love your neighbor. 495 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,800 Don't drive an SUV because it's bad for the environment. 496 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:05,640 Love your neighbor you throw anything under love your 497 00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:06,160 neighbor. Forget it. 498 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,080 Why did Jesus say that we love our neighbor, our neighbors, 499 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:11,360 vulnerable people who we see in need and we move to help them. 500 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:15,400 It has nothing to do with masks or washing our hands or fossil 501 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:18,200 fuels, right? We they will lure us away with 502 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,040 all kinds of doctrine and they will use scriptures. 503 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:23,240 Christians, we cannot be deceived. 504 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:25,400 We saturate our minds with the truth. 505 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,720 We have the mind of Christ. We are protected by knowledge 506 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:32,800 and truth grounds us, so we're stable. 507 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:34,760 Spiritual formation provides stability. 508 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,840 The second thing spiritual formation provides is integrity. 509 00:26:38,360 --> 00:26:39,960 Integrity. This is why he says speaking the 510 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,000 truth and love. He moves on and speaking the 511 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,680 truth and love. This is what we are to do within 512 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,440 this body of believers and it goes so much beyond just 513 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:50,920 speaking. The word itself incorporates 514 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,200 your speech and your conduct, which is why some translations 515 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:59,920 translate this verb speaking as being truthful or dealing truly 516 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,480 more than speaking the truth in love, they'll translate it as 517 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:07,680 confessing the truth in love. There's a pastor in our PLBA. 518 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,680 He says every time he meets a new believer, he puts him in one 519 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,640 of two categories. He says they're either a grace 520 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:16,000 giver or a truth teller. He says it's, it's one or the 521 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:17,560 other. And I think that's true. 522 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,560 We all tend toward one or or the other. 523 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,280 There's a, there's a pride that comes from being a bold, 524 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,720 courageous Christian truth teller, right? 525 00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,320 We all desire that. And to give grace can feel weak 526 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,120 or soft to some people. And then there's the others. 527 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:35,000 There's the grace givers. And there's a joy and a peace 528 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,560 that comes from forgiving and overlooking sin and showering 529 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,200 people with grace. And it can feel harsh or 530 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:42,560 unloving to wound with hard truths. 531 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,600 And what Paul's saying here is you as a Christian have to find 532 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,120 balance. Every Christian is balanced in 533 00:27:51,120 --> 00:27:54,200 this way. Truth without love is cruel and 534 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,640 cold, and love without truth is aimless and deceitful. 535 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,600 That's right. And we say neither of these 536 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:04,200 extremes is the fruit of pure and undefiled Christianity. 537 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:09,720 Christianity to find balance. So integrity goes beyond just 538 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,960 being correct or thinking the right things. 539 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,280 Integrity is about confession and character. 540 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:21,160 You're uniting your belief with your conduct, so it's being 541 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:25,040 truthful, it's dealing truly, and it's confessing truth and 542 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,480 love. You have to be wise as a serpent 543 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,840 and innocent as a dove. You have to be bold as a lion 544 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:35,560 and gentle as a lamb. Integrity, Spiritual formation 545 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:40,360 is also essential. 3rd for maturity, he says verse 15, we 546 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,800 are to grow up in every way and to him who is the head and to 547 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,960 Christ we are to grow up in every way. 548 00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:48,240 This is what we already spoke about, but we'll say it again. 549 00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,680 Your maturity is not self referential. 550 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,400 This isn't just about you and your walk with God. 551 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,120 Maturity is the goal of the passage to tell us of the church 552 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,840 is mature manhood. It's the end for which we were 553 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:03,040 designed that we might together grow up into one mature man. 554 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:05,640 And fourthly and finally comes with it. 555 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:09,920 Spiritual formation comes responsibility that each part 556 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:11,920 would contribute to the growth that says so that the church 557 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,400 will build itself up in love. There comes a point where the 558 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,080 snowball begins to roll down the hill and the church builds 559 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,000 itself up. Our growth, Paul says, is 560 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,720 dependent on every member participating. 561 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,360 It takes everyone of us participating. 562 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:27,960 Go back in your minds to Genesis 49. 563 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:32,680 There's a legendary question that God comes and he says to 564 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,560 Cain in that passage, where is Abel your brother? 565 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,520 And Cain says to him, am I my brother's keeper? 566 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,080 And I'm here to tell you today that in this body you are your 567 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,480 brother's keeper. You are responsible for the 568 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,120 spiritual growth of every believer in this church. 569 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,800 And I ask, who are you seeking the maturity of? 570 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:55,640 Who are you looking at the spiritual growth of? 571 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:57,440 Who are you taking responsibility for? 572 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,760 Look at verse 16, from whom the whole body joined together and 573 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,840 held together by every joint with which it is equipped. 574 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:12,440 Mythbusters had an episode where they, I'm looking at this, this 575 00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,480 passage, these two verbs in verse 16 joined together, held 576 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,400 together. They had an episode where they 577 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,480 took 2 phone books and they set them side by side and they 578 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:23,920 folded all of the pages of 800 pages of a phone book 1 to 579 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,160 another. And at the final product, they 580 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,320 couldn't pull it apart. And so in Mythbusters fashion, 581 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,280 they sawed holes in it and put ropes on each side and they 582 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,920 pulled as hard as they could and they couldn't take the phone 583 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,680 books apart. And so they got two cars and 584 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,240 they hooked the cars up to the phone books and they pulled it 585 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:40,400 apart. And I've just seen it. 586 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:42,520 They try and pull it apart and they won't pull apart. 587 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,120 And so again, Mythbusters fashion, they get a tank and the 588 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,400 tank finally can pull apart this phone book. 589 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,080 And so these two verbs, I want you to think of this joined 590 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,560 together and held together. Again, if it's 2 pages folded 591 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:59,480 together, it's it can be pulled apart, 8 pages, 20 pages. 592 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,600 This is representative of this church. 593 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:06,200 When every member is holding together the body, Christ says 594 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,760 the gates of hell cannot prevail against this church. 595 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,200 That happens not with one or two members. 596 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,080 We are held together by Jesus Christ when we serve one 597 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,000 another, when you are showing hospitality to me, when I am 598 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,360 teaching you, when you are giving and all of the members 599 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,200 are building the body up, the gates of hell cannot prevail 600 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:24,880 against it. That's what it's saying. 601 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,080 We build each other up. It's joined together, it's held 602 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,520 together when every member of the church is doing their part, 603 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:32,920 taking responsibility for the health and the spiritual 604 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,360 formation of the church. And now you can look inwardly 605 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:38,920 and ask yourself, what are the ways that I can seek the growth 606 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:41,320 of other people? You are responsible. 607 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,520 You are your brother's keeper. Now what are you doing to see to 608 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,320 the growth of this congregation? Consider your spiritual gifts. 609 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,560 How can you build up the church? Because Jesus says we are going 610 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,640 to be at this until we all attain Christlikeness and that 611 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,240 is in the end we're going to be doing this until Christ returns. 612 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,800 And this growth, like the growth in Acts when the Word goes out, 613 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:08,680 spiritual, spiritual formation comes with the growth of this 614 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:11,720 body as the word increases, but also it's numerical growth. 615 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,080 And in Acts, it talks about the numerical growth by the Word, 616 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,680 increasing among the people, spiritual and numerical growth. 617 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:21,600 The church expands and churches are planted and Christians are 618 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,920 brought into the fold and Christians are serving according 619 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,040 to their gifts and believers are being built up. 620 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:28,800 And our unity and our fellowship and our love is increasing. 621 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,400 And the world perceives these things and they glorify God. 622 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,840 And the the plans of the enemy and of Satan is frustrated. 623 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,200 They're frustrated. And our people become spiritual 624 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,000 adults and are so protected. And the church is blessed. 625 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,280 And we walk in stability and integrity and maturity with 626 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,240 responsibility. This is the church in its purest 627 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,160 form. This is the truest expression of 628 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:52,200 this local body. The tell us of the church is 629 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,480 spiritual formation and all of the blessings that we seek flow 630 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:58,840 from that. And so submit yourself to the 631 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:04,320 word of God and serve and submit to this local body. 632 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,560 And Paul says when each part is working properly, it makes the 633 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,360 body grow so that it builds itself up and love and pray with 634 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,360 me. Let's pray for that. 635 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:20,240 Lord God, may we not despise your incarnation, May we not 636 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,960 despise your ascension, that you are so gracious that when you 637 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:30,320 were seated at the right hand of God and became king, you did not 638 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:35,440 demand anything of us, but gave us gifts, gifts that we might 639 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:38,600 complete your mission. Lord, we are those who are here 640 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,080 to preach, to serve, to be hospitable, to give. 641 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,440 God give us the the courage and the confidence to do that, to 642 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,560 put away our childish things so that we may become mature 643 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:51,640 adults, so we can conform ourselves according to this word 644 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,560 and sing it and have it sung over us and study it. 645 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:58,400 Lord, build up this church. We've seen how to do it now. 646 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,240 Spirit, help us do it. God, we love you. 647 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:03,800 We ask all these things in the name of your son, Amen. 648 00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,199 Thanks for listening. You'll learn more about Heritage 649 00:34:08,199 --> 00:34:10,120 Church. Or if you'd like to respond to 650 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:15,679 this sermon, visit our website at www.heritageshawnee.org.