Marks of a true Christian--Eph. week 5

Ephesians 4:11–32 ESV

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Intro: According to verses 11-13, God gave the church her spiritual leaders for the sole purpose of promoting spiritual growth within the body of Christ. The reason why growth is needed is obvious. The Bible is clear when it tells us that every Christian is a baby when they are saved. Hence, the process is called "The New Birth", John 3:3, 7; 1 Pet. 1:23.

Just as every parent in the world is delighted when they see their children growing and maturing, God is blessed when He sees His children making the transition from babyhood into adulthood in a spiritual sense. God wants us to move from the spiritual nursery to the spiritual battlefield. He wants us to leave the realm of milk, bibs and diapers and He wants us to enter the realm of meat, battles and devotion, v. 13; 1 Cot. 3:1-3; 2 Pet. 3:18; 1 John 2:12-14. God's plan for every one of His children is to see them all reach spiritual maturity! He just wants us to grow up!

A few do, some never will and others reach for that goal daily. I am not going to be preaching to those who have already arrived today. It would be of no use since you a re already confident in your achievements, proud of your humility and so sure of your advanced spiritual standing that mere fools like myself could not possibly have anything to say to someone like you anyway.

Neither will I be speaking to those who are satisfied just to be saved. You, like the Lord's disciples, have merely entered the gate of His garden. From where you sit, the world and the things of God are both within easy reach. You are content to be saved and you do not wish to be bothered. Never fear, I will not disturb your slumber.

The people to whom I am preaching today are those who are genuinely saved by grace. You know Jesus is your Savior and you know you are headed to Heaven. You know you are far from what you should be, but there is a genuine desire in your heart to be all the Lord has saved you to be. Your life is filled with ups and downs, with the struggles of the flesh and the spirit. You are not self-righteous, self-confident or self-reliant. You merely want to grow! It is with you, those who fight the same battles I face, that I share this message. The verses we have read contain information we need to make our desire to grow a reality. These verses point out very clearly The Marks Of A Maturing Christian. All I ask you to do today is lay your life alongside the Bible. This passage will tell you whether you are growing or not. If you are interested in growing, then notice with me The Marks Of A Maturing Christian.

I. V. 14-16 THEY ARE MARKED BY CALM STEADFASTNESS

(Ill. These verses point out three areas where the growing believer is found to be steadfast and stable.)

A. V. 14 They Are Steadfast In Their Doctrine

- They are not constantly being taken in by the false teachings in the world around them. The maturing believer is one who knows what they believe and why they believe. They are pending time in the Word of God and are not deceived by the lies, tricks and traps of the enemy! (Ill. 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Tim. 3:16-17)

B. V. 15 They Are Steadfast In Their Development

- The growing believer has a deep attraction to the truth of God. They are constantly adapting their lives to the teachings of the Bible. They take the time to find out what God wants from their lives and they change whatever it takes to line up with His will. (1 John 2:3-4; 5:3) they do this because obedience the to word of God produces genuine Christlikeness in their lives! (Note: Just as many children want to grow up to be just like their mom or dad, the growing believer wants to grow up to be just like Jesus.) The growing believer is steadily progressing in his growth relationship!

C. V. 16 They Are Steadfast In Their Devotion

- Just as our human bodies are knitted together in a wonderful way, so the body of Christ has been carefully "compacted" together. Each member in the place that pleased the Lord, 1 Cor. 12:12-27. The growing believer wants to find his place in the body and fulfill that place to the best of his ability. It is a sign of spiritual maturity when a believer does his/her best to carry out the assignments they have been given by the Father above. (Note: When a part of these physical bodies doesn't live up to its assignment, it causes problems for the whole body. When one part fails, the whole body suffers! The same is true in the church. When every person participates and does what they have been assigned to do, things function smoothly when they do not do what they are supposed to do, the whole church suffers as a result!) In short, you can count on a maturing believer!

II. V. 17-24 THEY ARE MARKED BY CLEAR SEPARATION

(Ill. A maturing believer is easily identified because he/she is so different from the world around them. These verses speak to that issue.)

A. V. 17-19 They Are Separated From The Works Of Darkness

- Paul makes a distinction between how the lost man lives and how the saved man lives. When a person receives Jesus as their personal Savior and is born again, they literally receive a brand new life. They can no longer walk as they once walk. They can no longer live as they once lived. You see, the lost man lives like he does because he is blind to the causes and consequences of his actions. He doesn't know where he is headed and he doesn't see the need to be different than he is. The maturing believer, on the other hand, is no longer in darkness. The lights have been turned on in his soul! The old manner of living is not good enough any longer. There is a new desire to walk in the path the Lord lays out. Life has ceased to be about "self-will" (Note: "greediness" - v. 19) and has become all about "God's will". That is why the Bible identifies the believer as "a new creature", 2 Cor. 5:17.

B. V. 20-24 They Are Separated From A Walk Of Darkness

- The believer has received a change of life that results in a change in his walk. We are called upon to "put off", once for all, the ways of the old man who is just growing worse day by day. (Note: The words "is corrupt" are present tense and speak of a corpse that lies rotting in the sun. Each day brings with it more evidence that the corpse is dead!) We are called upon to "put on", once for all, the new man, who had been created in righteousness and holiness. When the new believer comes to faith in Jesus, he learns a new way of life, v. 19-20! He has experienced a change of heart that results in a profound change of mind, v. 23! God puts a new desire within His children that makes them want to live differently than they used to live! The bottom line is this: the maturing believer looks different, acts different, walks different and thinks different than he did before!

III. V. 25-32 THEY ARE MARKED BY CHRISTLIKE STANDARDS

(Ill. As we enter this section of the passage, Paul begins to talk about the maturing believer's day to day walk. He focuses primarily on how he acts, reacts and interacts with, around and to his fellow believer. What I want you to notice is this: for the maturing believer, the emphasis in life is removed from "self" and is focused on "others", Ill. V. 19! The word "greediness" comes from a word that always translated "covetousness". In other words, the lost man lives like he does because he is selfish! The baby Christian also lives this kind of self-centered, selfish existence. But, the maturing Christian has come to understand that the world is bigger than him. He cares about the lives of others and this shows in his relationships with other believers! Remember what Jesus said about His people. The single defining trait by which Jesus said His people could be identified was that they would love one another, John 13:35. The maturing believer has that figured out!))

A. V. 28 They Are Christlike In How They Act

- Instead of taking what belongs to another to satisfy personal lusts, the believer is challenged to go to work so he can make money to help others. The whole point here is that self ceases to be great motivator in life! Others grow in their importance to us. The maturing Christian is one who has begun to look beyond self, Phil. 2:4, to see the needs of others.

B. V. 26-27, 31-32 They Are Christlike In How They React

- These four verses all talk about the same thing. They speak of learning to control your anger when you are offended and of learning to offer forgiveness when you have been hurt! The maturing believer does not allow the hurts they suffer at the hands of others to cause them spiritual problems! V. 27 tells us to be angry without sinning. How is this possible? It can only happen when you are angry only about the things that anger God! He is talking about righteous indignation! Any other kind of anger opens a beachhead in your life from which the devil can attack you, v. 28. And, if you give him and inch, he'll become your ruler! Verses 31-32 tell us that we are to refrain from getting even and lashing out at others. We are to forgiven them to the same extent that we ourselves have been forgiven! We are to do so even if they don't make it right with us!

C. V. 25, 29-30 They Are Christlike In How They Interact

- These verses talk about how we relate one to another. We are to always speak the truth, v. 25. When we lie to a fellow believer, we are lying to the body of Christ and to ourselves! We are to watch the evil speech that try to pour from our mouths. When we speak it should be to edify, or build up someone else! Anything else grieves the Spirit of God and hinders the church! The mature believer knows this and seeks to control his tongue, James 1:26; 3:1-12. Whereas the foolish speak and demonstrate their ignorance, Eccl. 5:3. It is better to be quiet and allow people to think you are a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Conc: When you were growing up, did your parents ever say to you, "I wish you would grow up!"? You know what they meant, don't you? They wanted you to act more mature than you had been acting. I wonder if God looks down at His church and says "I wish they would grow up!"? Well, some people never mature! I have a friend in his late thirties and he acts like he did when he was 15. Good guy, he just never will mature. The same should never be said about a Christian. Every one in this room who is saved ought to be moving steadily toward maturity in the Lord with each passing day. Are you maturing? Do you possess the marks of a maturing Christian? There is help for your need in this altar!