"GROWING UP"

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Ephesians 4:11–13 “And He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:14–16 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

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Ephesians 4:14 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;”

>>>Paul says that the result of becoming a mature man in the previous verses, is that believers will no longer be children.

*“children” means “infant”. Paul is saying that maturing believers are no longer like infants.

>>>In describing a spiritual infant, Paul lays out some of the characteristics of an immature believer. They are unstable and carried about by anything.

*“carried about” means “carried around”. This is like an infant who keeps being passed around by different people.

*“Every wind of doctrine”-doctrines can easily sway an immature believer back and forth. This is how even Christians can find themselves in false teaching.

*“Trickery of people”-this is about people taking advantage of believers and causing them to do wrong or be blinded to evil (dice-playing).

*“Craftiness in deceitful scheming”-these schemes are the lies of the devil to cause believers to stumble. Immature Christians are easily deceived by Satan, falling into temptation.

*This is the life of an immature believer:following any teaching, slipping into wrong or destruction, and falling into temptation.

IMMATURE CHRISTIANS ARE UNSTABLE AND EASILY INFLUENCED.

>>>Being a new Christian is exciting. Staying a new Christian is dangerous.

>>>We should never lose the joy of being saved that we had when we first believed; but if we stay at the maturity level of a new believer, we will easily lose our footing.

*We will just believe any “good preacher” that we hear or feel-good doctrines.

*We will be manipulated by people and their wrong, because of a lack of spiritual discernment.

*Temptations from the devil will constantly overtake us, and we will never overcome.

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Ephesians 4:15 “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,”

>>>Paul, in love, tells the Ephesians to “grow up”. There are two ways he says to do this.

*Grow up in “all”. Believer grow in every way in every aspect of their lives (speech/thoughts/conduct/reasoning/wisdom/work/etc.).

*Grow up in “Christ”. Christ is the head of the church. When believers grow spiritually, they are growing deeper in Him as part of His body.

Hebrews 6:1–2 “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.”

>>>The goal of every believer is to grow up and move past just basic Bible principles into the deeper truths of God.

>>>Both passages show an expectation of believers to be growing.

BELIEVERS MUST GROW UP IN EVERY WAY AND IN CHRIST.

>>>Prayer, Bible reading, church fellowship are to impact every area of our lives and making those areas reflect Christ. Any aspect of immaturity in our lives can keep us from moving beyond being children.

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Ephesians 4:16 “from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

>>>Christ gives the growth to the whole body, as each individual part does its work.

>>>A maturing Christian as an individual has an impact on the growth of the Church as a whole. Jesus is able to use His body as He needs.

Romans 12:4–5 “For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.”

>>>Each individual believer are a part of the church together, helping each other grow and do what the church has been called to do.

MATURING BELIEVERS HELP THE CHURCH GROW.

>>>If we are not growing, we are not contributing. God not only gave salvation but a new purpose. Not growing in Christ is choosing to neglect His purpose for us.

>>>The church cannot do its job properly if we as members are remaining spiritual infants.

*Divides the church.

*Mislead the church

*Ruins the church (sin-Corinth)

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GROWING UP IS ESSENTIAL TO THE CHRISTIAN WALK.

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