The Head

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon Christian Church. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 4.

Next week- How Firm a Foundation- Summer Sermon Series.

Last week, ended with what we were not to be as a part of the body of Christ.

Now we see what the church should be.

Read Ephesians 4:15–16- “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 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.”

Pray.

What should be the makeup of our churches?

Three verbs.

1. Speaking.

If we are not to be thrown about by every falsehood, how are we to relate to other people?

Speaking the truth in love.

The Christian faith in Jesus Christ creates an output of words. Following Jesus does not produce a silent faith.

To speak- to proclaim or to teach.

What is the difference between the two?

Proclaim is to make something known, or to reintroduce that which has been forgotten.

Teach is the work for after, introduce and expand knowledge of a given topic.

Fascinating that after Paul mentions preacher/teachers, he reminds readers that everyone in the body of Christ ought to possess both sorts of speaking.

He goes even further in what is to be spoken.

Content and attitude.

Content.

What is lacking?

The truth.

In both non-believers and believers.

Non-believers- living according to falsehood. Built up a universe around them that simply isn’t reality.

Paul desires that the truth of the gospel would be proclaimed and taught to those who have never contemplated a different view of reality.

Believers- falling back into falsehood- Desiring to return to Egypt.

Paul desires that the truth of the gospel would be proclaimed and taught as a reminder to those within the church in need of reminding.

Attitude.

In love.

1 Corinthians 13- Patient, kind, not envying or boasting, not arrogant or rude, not insisting on its own way (bulldozing), not irritable or resentful, not rejoicing in wrongdoing, bears and endures all things.

If our speech, our words, are loving, then they meet this definition.

Both content and attitude are necessary.

Truth without love becomes condescending.

Love without truth becomes wishy washy.

Look at your experience with the evangelical church in America today.

We have both extremes on full display, but who do we rarely hear of?

Those who are threading the needle. Speaking truth, but speaking from a place of concern for the other before self.

2. Growing.

If we are not to remain children in our faith, then we are called to grow and mature.

What happens when we grow?

We learn and expand.

Move from learning our letters, to learning to put them together into words, to learning to put words together to form sentences.

Same is true in faith. Best parts of Youth Ministry- seeing light bulbs come on as ideas are put together.

We are not meant to stay in the basics.

How Firm a Foundation- provide the basics to beckon us forward.

We question and seek.

The Force age group- magnificent questions.

Disciples asking Jesus questions.

Mark 4:10- “And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.”

Luke 11:1- “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’”

Matthew 19:25- “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’”

The disciples pursued Jesus and the truth when they didn’t know the answers. Do we have a similar pursuit in our own hearts?

We put away what is childish.

1 Corinthians 13:11- “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”

Kids growing out of clothing and toys.

Aletheia- “She looks so grown up…”

Very thankful that I don’t still dress the way I did at various phases of my life.

What carries our interest? What grabs our attention?

A sign of growing in faith, in leaving behind childhood, so to speak, is the contemplation of the deeper parts of life and faith.

What are we becoming? What is the target of our growth?

Ephesians 4:15- “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…”

We learn and expand to become more like Jesus.

Building blocks are meant to build on one another.

Ideas are put together so that our knowledge mirrors the knowledge of Jesus.

We question and seek to become more like Jesus.

Our questions are not dead ends. Questions don’t show growth, seeking answers does.

When we don’t know, we dig.

Like the disciples, we want to ask questions of Jesus and pursue the truth in order that we would become like Him.

“Teach me to pray like you pray.”

We put away what is childish to become more like Jesus.

Jesus didn’t respond to people in childish ways.

He didn’t hold onto a childish understanding of Himself or of others.

Instead, He was able to love, to forgive, to speak what was necessary, to extend mercy, at every point.

As we leave behind childish things and childish ways, we become more like Jesus.

Everything that we are in the church is meant to grow us into the person and character of Jesus.

3. Working.

If we are not to be trapped (remember the imagery of craftiness in deceitful schemes, laying a trap), then Paul calls Christians to be working.

Not working for the sake of merely doing something, but working to accomplish something.

Effectually working.

What are we accomplishing in our faith?

What have you learned, who have you served, how have you grown, who is God to you?

In which direction is the work of your life aimed?

Remember, our work can get out of whack, aimed in a wrong direction. We need the truth of God’s Word to point us back where we ought to go.

As we seek to grow up into Christ, we would do well to look at His example.

Jesus always knew why He was here, the ends toward which He was working.

Mark 1:38–39- “And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.”

John 6:38- “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

John 10:10- “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

John 12:44–46- “And Jesus cried out and said, ‘Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.’”

Jesus had his aim set and He followed that path in all points of life. This was the work that He was appointed to accomplish.

Imagery of v. 14, tossed to and fro by the winds and the waves.

This is how life feels at times. More specifically, this is how our faith sometimes feels. It’s just there.

Jesus gives purpose to the working of our faith- it moves in a direction.

Settle in your mind what your work will be for.

Daniel- First few words of 1:8- But Daniel resolved. Purposed. Determined. Made up his mind.

Daniel set a path and followed it. We ought to do the same.

What happens when everyone in the church has this same goal of speaking the truth in love, growing into the person and character of Jesus, and working properly in the body of Christ?

The body itself grows and is built up in love.

Love for God, love for one another, love for others.

This is the aim of the Church. Will we all do our part?