Growing Up Together

Introduction:

Every year we seem to get a little bit older don’t we? That seems like a pretty obvious statement; one like the famous Yogi Bera might say.

I remember reading a story in school about a family that had discovered a well that kept them from ever growing older. At first it seemed great, but then they realized that everyone they loved kept passing away and they were always the same.

Always being the same might sound like a good thing, but it isn’t when it comes to the Christian faith. Just like we would be concerned if an infant never got bigger, or never started crawling or walking, or never spoke, we should be concerned with the vast number of Christians who are not maturing in Christ.

I’m not just referring to the level of biblical illiteracy that so many in our churches seem to have; I am also referring to the fact that in the average church, most Christians have somehow gotten confused and believed that the church exists to serve them, rather than the reality that they should be serving in the church.

Paul connects service with Christian maturity in the Book of Ephesians, so let’s turn to Ephesians 4 this morning and take a look at what the Bible says.

Let’s pray before we read.

Ephesians 4:1–16 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 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.

Background of Ephesians:

First 3 chapters have to deal with the riches that we have in Christ

Chapter 4 transitions to the practical outworking of those riches

Have you ever met someone who was loaded with money, but was so tight with money that “they could squeeze a quarter and listen to it holler!”

These are the types of people who often have money and stuff but they won’t spend the necessary funds to keep up their stuff and the end result is that it becomes ruined or dilapidated.

Many Christians act that way with their spiritual gifts and they won’t serve, so let’s take a look at three things Paul points out in our text this morning.

1. Walk Worthy of Your Calling (v. 1)

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

We all ought to live exemplary lives so that there is no one who can look at us and mock our Savior.

Paul points out that he has put his money where his mouth is with this one. Paul is in prison for sharing the gospel and he is calling the church at Ephesus and all of the other churches, including us, who would read this letter to live by the same example.

We ought to consider the riches that Paul has just laid out for us that we have in Christ in chapters 1-3. In light of all that God has given to us, we ought to live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

It is a privilege for us to be saved. Paul said in Ephesians 2:8

Ephesians 2:8 ESV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Do you realize that were it not for God’s grace you would not be saved? I know that a lot of us like to think that if we had the chance to believe the gospel, we would believe it. You may think that is why you are a Christian today. That is part of it, but the truth is that you and I have such a corrupt, sinful nature, that were it not for God regenerating our heart, we would not respond positively to the gospel, but would instead reject it. Your ability to believe the gospel is a gift from God.

When you think about it, you could just have easily rejected the gospel like those in the world and be lost forever, were it not for the gift of God and the calling by which you were called that Paul refers to in verse 1.

The next few verses speak of the character of how we are to walk. We are to walk together in unity and love because we have one faith and one Lord and one baptism and were joined together to one church.

Ephesians 4:2–6 ESV

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We won’t spend a lot of time on this section this morning, but know that we are to live a life in community. This calling of ours to salvation is not one of isolation, but of unity in the body of Christ.

2. Use the gifts God has given us (vv.7-13)

Once we were saved, the Bible says that God gives us gifts.

Paul uses Psalm 68:18, which was a psalm described a victorious king in battle coming into the city and parading his enemies and then giving gifts to the people, to describe how Jesus was victorious on the cross.

Look at verses 7-13.

Ephesians 4:7–13 ESV

7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 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,

These gifts are described as grace given to us. They are not earned gifts, but gifts God has chosen to give us.

Now, if God has chosen to give us gifts, don’t you think He expects us to use them?

This section gets a lot of discussion because people focus on verse 9 and wonder if Jesus went to Hell when He died or whether or not their were Old Testament saints in a part of Hell, called Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise, before Jesus died.

That’t a discussion for another day, but this passage does not speak to Jesus descending to Hell, but to the lower regions: the earth.

Look at the grammar closely. The ESV has helped us understand the Greek here and the comparison. Jesus has ascended to the highest heaven, but He first descended to the lowest region, the earth. That’s where we are.

The point of the passage is not to describe where Jesus went when He died, but to describe the fact that since Jesus has ascended victoriously on high, He has given gifts to His Church.

Those gifts fall into two categories. There are gifts of people and offices to the church and then there are specific gifts God gives to individual believers to use in the church. Passages like 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12 speak to these gifts to the members of the church and everyone has one of them.

But here Paul speaks of the gifts of people or officers to the church. Some of these offices have ceased and some continue.

The offices that have ceased are:

Apostle

Prophet

These gifts were for a specific time and place and have ceased. Again, we don’t have time to go into why but you can read a book by John MacArthur called Charismatic Chaos if you want a further explanation.

Then there are the offices we still have.

Evangelists

Pastor/Teacher

The evangelist is someone that has a special calling to go out and preach evangelistic crusades like Billy Graham. This does not imply that we are all not evangelists, or that we should not evangelize. However, some men have been gifted to be evangelists and churches should use these men.

Pastors and teachers are referring to one office. You can be a teacher and not a pastor, but you cannot be a pastor and not a teacher.

The final thing we need to see is the purpose of these offices. Why did God give the offices of Pastor/Teacher specifically to the church?

We see the answer in verses 12-16.

Ephesians 4:12–16 ESV

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.

The final thing we need to see about growing up together is that we need to:

3. Grow Together in Christ (v. 13-16)

The purpose of the officers in the church is not to be the professional workforce. It is not to have the leaders do all the work. It is actually the complete opposite.

God wants the leaders to equip the SAINTS for the work of ministry. This does not imply that the leaders sit back in a chair and watch the saints do the work. Remember that Paul told Timothy to lead by example.

I will say this ‘till the cows come home. If a pastor won’t lead by example and serve; if he won’t scrub the toilet, or throw up some tables and chairs, or grab a rake and shovel, he has no business being in the pulpit.

We are called to lead by example. But church listen to me very closely. I want you all to hear me.

The church is in a crisis because a reversal of this passage has happened and churches have become quite happy to watch the pastors and staff do all of the work while the members sit back and critique everything they do.

You may not care, but let me tell you that more men are leaving the ministry than ever before. They love God. They love their church. They don’t want to quit, but they and their families cannot take it anymore.

Pastors are expected to lead a volunteer army but with they are expected to put their teeth in their pocket! They have no authority to hire or fire as needed. They have no ability to replace dysfunctional members. They are expected to do everything and have rocks thrown at their glass houses and while they beg for help, no one steps up.

This makes Jesus weep! When we encounter this, it is a sign of a dysfunctional and lazy church. It is a sign of a spiritually immature church.

I don’t tell you that to complain to you, but to encourage you why we need to serve. God has called you, the members of the church. And if you say, “Well, I’m glad I am not a member, know this. God has called you to join a church! There is no category of Christian in the New Testament that is not a member of a church. You may be looking, but don’t look forever. Find a church and join it. If you find that God doesn’t want you there anymore and you have exhausted all remedies to stay, move on to another church and find somewhere to serve. Plant yourself.

But let me also say this. If you move around every few years because there are so many bad churches out there, it might be you and not the church that is the problem. There are legitimate reasons to leave a church, like if it is resistant to the Holy Spirit or if it is teaching error. However, a lot of times people leave for the wrong reasons.

But why should we serve? It is not just for the benefit of the church, but also for our own good - not to mention Jesus commands us to.

* We serve One another

The ultimate expression that we love one another is when we serve one another. We help each other out.

So many churches right now have not only pastors on the verge of quitting, but many of their key leadership people are burnt out as well. You can’t get people to help. The average wait time for a full-time Southern Baptist pastor right now is 18 months....and that is just to get a warm body in a pulpit. That doesn’t even speak to the quality of the candidates.

Furthermore, most of our churches are full of people that if they were to quit serving in their area of service right now, they would most likely quit everything from being burnt out. That means we would be scrambling to find volunteers to serve.

Now think about it for a moment. Think about the people you know right now that are serving in key positions. If they quit, who would replace them. If it was your job to replace them, could you do it with a quality candidate?

Now, let me ask you another question. Is your name on that list? Is your name on any list? And, if your name is on the list, do you do anything? Are you actually fulfilling your vow and commitment to the Lord?

You see, when we don’t serve, we put all of the load on the few and that is not loving towards those who are serving.

Some people have done a great job of butting cheek imprints in the pews and if you don’t get up to serve, you are going to be sitting on wood before too long and your cushion will need replacing!

So we serve because we want to love one another, but we also serve to grow up!

* We Grow together when we serve

It is the immature Christian that has an answer for every problem but is not a part of any solution. God wants us to grow and mature in Christ and the best way we can do this is by serving together.

The best way to build unity as a church is in the trenches. The best way to learn is on the fly. We need to love each other by serving one another, but we also need to turn our attention outwardly and serve the world by sharing the gospel and ministering to the people in this world.

Conclusion:

Jesus left His home in heaven and came to this world - the lowest parts of heaven, the earth. He was born in a barn, raised by a poor carpenter and his wife, and had no place to lay his head as a minister. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and gave His all without becoming a wealthy man. He gave His all when He went to the cross and took hell for every believer on that cross. He died and was burried and three days later rose again victoriously. He ascended to heaven and has given gifts to His church and He expects us to use them.

Let’s humble ourselves like Jesus and let’s make Him proud! Let’s love one another and let’s serve together to build the Kingdom of God on earth so that the farthest reaches of the earth might know Jesus and His love.