Results of Christ' resurrection...

I invite you to turn with me to Ephesians, chapter four, as we look at a passage of Scripture together.

This morning I want to concentrate for a few moments on what the Apostle Paul says

ought to be the result of Christ's resurrection power at work in us.

You will remember that at the end of , the Apostle Paul, beginning in verse 19,

had said that there was a power, an incredible power,

at work in us; and

he identified that power as the power, the same power, that had raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

And we see the Apostle Paul now in saying that

the power of the resurrected and now ascended Jesus Christ

is now at work on behalf of His church, and

that the ascended Lord Jesus Christ, at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,

is pouring out gifts on His church.

In verses 14-16 of , the Apostle Paul is explaining to us

what the purpose of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is,

what the purpose of the engifting of the ascended Christ is for the church.

There are to be results for us.

There is to be a consequence in us of the resurrected Jesus Christ in His power and His reigning bestowal

in the way that we live.

There is to be a practical result of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension and present rule.

And that's what we're going to concentrate on in verses 14-16.

Brother Don read the resurrection account as it's found in .

And now we’ll look at the results — or, to put it in a different way

the things which Jesus’ resurrection actually accomplished.

Here we're thinking about the consequences of Jesus’ resurrection power in us,

the consequences of the ascended Jesus pouring out gifts upon the church in us.

What is that power supposed to produce?

What are the gifts that the ascended Christ pours out on the church supposed to produce?

What does the resurrection power of Christ look like when it is flowing in us?

That's what we're going to concentrate on today. So let's look to God in prayer and ask His help and blessing.

Our Lord, we thank You for this Your word. It is the word of truth, and we thank You that the Lord Jesus Christ is risen, and risen indeed. And we thank You that we believe that; that it's more real to us than the seats we're sitting in right now. While there are so many in the world that struggle with doubts about that unassailable truth, that historical fact so overwhelmingly attested not only in Your word, but in the world, we pray, O Lord God, that even as we believe that truth with all our hearts and embrace it, that by Your Spirit we would see the implications of it, the results of it, the consequences of it in our lives, and that we would live out that truth, and not merely speak about it. We ask these things, O God, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Hear the word of God:

— 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Amen. And thus ends this reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant word. May He write its eternal truth upon our hearts.

Jesus is alive. He has been resurrected.

He has ascended, and He is ruling the world by His word and Spirit, and He is pouring out His gifts on His church.

So what? For what reason is Christ's resurrection power at work in you?

That's a marvelous thought worth a lot of reflection, isn't it,

that Christ's resurrection power is at work in you?

But we've already studied that in .

For what reason is He ascended and pouring out gifts on His church?

What is the result of that in us? That's what Paul wants to speak with us about this morning, and I'd like you to see two or three things here in verses 14, 15, and 16.

And I do want you to notice that the three things that Paul tells us are results from the resurrection power of Jesus Christ at work in us

and the gifting of the ascended Christ to His church are spoken about more than once in this passage.

For instance, in verse 14 you will see Paul speaking about our being established in truth,

but he does it in a negative way.

He gives us illustrations of what happens to people who are not established in truth, and then

in verse 15 he’ll speak positively about the importance of our being established in truth.

And then, in verse 15 when he begins to speak about our being matured, or

our growing in love,

he will speak of that also in verse 16.

And then, in verse 16 when he speaks about our being matured as a body, matured as a whole community –

So the truth that we're going to look at in 14, 15, and 16 are actually mixed and repeated throughout the passage.

But I want you to see three things in particular that the Apostle Paul says are to result in us

because of Christ's resurrected power, and

because the ascended, ruling Jesus Christ

is pouring out gifts on His church. And the first thing is this:

I. That we are to be established in truth.

Christ's resurrection power at work in us is to root us in truth, to establish us in truth, and

His ascended rule in which He engifts His church

is designed to root us and establish us in truth; and so,

consequently, the Apostle Paul will state this negatively in verse 14 as a result — as a result of the ascension of Christ, as a result of His resurrection power,

— 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

And notice in that passage as Paul gives a negative example of people who aren't rooted in the truth, that in the space of one verse he manages to give you four different metaphors or images of this. He starts off with children. Now, there's nothing wrong with children! In fact, children are often used as positive pictures of membership in the kingdom of God here, but when he says we are no longer to be children, what he's speaking of is not being immature in our discernment.

And notice in this verse, as Paul gives a negative example of people who aren't rooted in the truth,

that in the space of one verse he manages to give you four different

metaphors or images of this.

He starts off with children. Now, there's nothing wrong with children!

In fact, children are often used as positive pictures of membership in the kingdom of God,

but when he says we are no longer to be children,

what he's speaking of is not being mature or having discernment.

What is one of every parent's greatest fears?

That your child, at a point of immaturity in discernment,

will be taken advantage of

by an adult who has evil purposes and takes advantage of their very trusting nature and their lack of discernment

to do something to them that harms them.

Every parent fears that.

And the Apostle Paul is saying the same thing about the church:

I don't want you to be immature in discernment,

so that you can be taken advantage of by those who

deny the truth and who are seeking to own you, for their purposes.

And then he quickly changes the image, and he says

we're not to be “tossed here and there by waves.”

The picture is of a wave-tossed passenger on a ship.

I remember when we had the weather channel. They had a special from some college, that takes study cruises,

and they take their students to other countries.

They study the cultures and the histories of those nations during the semester, and then

they actually visit those nations in the course of their study cruise.

And on this particular study cruise, the great ocean liner

on which they were

faced the worst waters that had been experienced in that region in years.

It was constantly being tossed about by massive waves, so that

their rooms were actually wrecked, and

their study time was taken away.

Eventually, the cruise itself had to be cancelled and restarted, and the students had to be flown back home.

And here the Apostle Paul is saying that's the picture of what happens to someone

not rooted and established in truth.

I want you to be grounded so you can't be tossed about by those waves.

And then he changes the pictures again, and he speaks of, notice, by being “carried about with every wind of doctrine.”

And the picture there is of a straw, or leaves, or paper in the wind.

Have you ever dropped a piece of paper on a windy day? And you’re trying to chase it down and get it back…you need that sheet of paper.

Have you ever seen a woman on a windy April day in the Save-a-lot parking lot, and

she's got her grocery list and

she's trying to get her keys back into her purse and she lets loose of that grocery list and it starts flying all over the parking lot?

And she's dodging cars and trying to get the grocery list, because she can't remember all the things!

It's a long list, and she needs it.

And the Apostle Paul is saying that's a picture of a person who's not rooted and established in the truth.

They’re just blown around from here to there.

And then he switches the picture again, and he says not deceived by “the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting [scheming]….”

In other words, he doesn't want us to be deceived easily by false teachers.

And that's so important, because false teachers have always been around.

They’re around today; they were around in the nineteenth century; they were around in the first century and the second century.

Jesus and Paul and the other disciples all taught us that we would always face the challenge of false teachers.

That's one reason why being established in the truth is so important.

Satan can never rest without striving to darken (by his lies) the pure doctrine of Christ.

And so God wants to test our faith with those struggles.

So when false teachers come, though they are trying to darken the truth of God by their lies,

God is wanting to test us to assure that

we are established in truth.

That's one of the results of the resurrection power of Jesus Christ at work in us.

We’re rooted in the truth, established in the truth, so that

we're not blown around by every false teaching and wind of doctrine.

II. We are to grow in love.

But there's a second thing: we're not only to be established in truth, we're to be growing in love.

Notice how Paul puts it in verse 15: “But speaking the truth in love…” and again in verse 16, that the Lord Jesus Christ “causes growth of the body for the edifying [building up] of itself in love.”

How does the church grow in maturity?

The Apostle Paul tells you: it grows by truth and love.

Whenever you hear somebody pitting truth against love, or love against truth, you can best believe

they do not understand the Bible's teaching about truth and love.

Truth and love are not opponents; they are comrades in the great work of Christian maturity.

And that's why when you hear the criticism “Oh, that person is too concerned about truth…”

the criticism is misguided at least in its analysis.

Is it possible for a person to misunderstand the function of truth? Yes, it is.

Is it possible for a person to misunderstand the goal of truth? Yes, it is.

Is it possible for a person to be too concerned about truth? No, it is not.

It is true, of course, that sometimes people seem to care a great deal about truth

but they do not understand what truth is for.

They do not understand its function. And it is true that sometimes people show a great deal of concern about truth, and

they don't know what it is unto;

they don't know what its goal is.

The Apostle Paul explains to us here that the function of truth is

the fostering of real Christian love, and that

the goal of truth is the expression of real Christian love; and so,

we stress that the practice of truth is always in the context of love, and

it always aims for love.

And of course, love doesn't just mean “being nice.”

That's what love has been reduced to in our culture

— being nice and letting everyone do what they want to do.

That's what's really loving. But you know, even pagans, even seculars in our culture understand

that there is something called “tough love.”

And you know what tough love is? Tough love is loving someone enough to do something

that's not very pleasant for you or for them, and

that requires both truth and requires more than just niceness.

It requires a genuine concern for the well-being of another person,

even though it costs you.

And that's real Christian love.

Love — this kind of love — strong love, heroic love, self-sacrificial love

— that's what the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is to produce in us.

Have you heard of Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards.

They were Christian missionaries who died six years ago in Cameroon.

Both of them were medical doctors.

They could have lived a very comfortable life in the United States, and yet

they gave their lives

serving amongst Christians and amongst the most poverty-wracked people in the world in India and in Cameroon.

And Ruby died in her eighties and Laura died in her seventies, on the mission field.

Now, they could have been at home enjoying retirement, pursuing all kinds of leisure activities, but

they were spending themselves in love for the

sake of Christ, for the

sake of God's people, for the

sake of the gospel.

And I love what is said about them:

“‘Give me that death, O Jesus Christ, Lord of the universe! Give me that life and that ministry and that death.’ This is why Jesus came. This is why He was crucified. This is why He rose from the dead with all authority and promised to be with us to the end of the age: to create a people whose sins are forgiven and whose hearts are so full of the love of God and who are so emboldened by the triumphant Christ that they spend their lives with risk and sacrifice and love to help others know and enjoy the greatness of Christ forever and ever. Is this not what we were made for? And is there not something in your own soul that witnesses to you that this is true and worthy of full acceptance?”

Brothers and sisters, God wants you to do what they did. He’s probably not calling you out of the country but right here!

To spend yourselves right here in love for the

sake of Christ, for the

sake of God's people, for the

sake of the gospel.

And the Apostle Paul says that's the result of the power of Christ at work in you:

you love the truth,

you’re established in the truth, and

you’re emboldened to heroic love.

It doesn't necessarily mean that you all go to the mission field,

but it does mean that right here

you’re expressing heroic love.

It may be in the context of your marriage or family;

it may be in the context of your vocation;

it may be in the context of a loss that you have just experienced; but,

in a thousand different ways you manifest that bold, heroic Christian love,

because the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ is at work in you.

III. We are to mature as a community.

But there's one more thing I want you to see, very briefly, and you see it in verse 16.

Here the Apostle Paul tells us, that we are not only, because of

Christ's resurrection power and His ascended gifting of the church,

we're not only established in the truth,

we're not only growing in love, but

we are maturing as a church body [community].

Notice how he puts it:

— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

You understand the emphasis there that the maturity,

You understand the emphasis there that the maturity, that the growth that each of us experiences because of the resurrection power of Christ, because of His ascended engifting of the church, because of the work of the Spirit, that the growth – the maturity that each one of us experience is not simply for ourselves. It is for the whole body, so that my personal growth is not my first agenda when I come to church, but the well-being of the whole body is my first agenda, even in my personal growth.

that the growth that each of us experiences

because of the resurrection power of Christ,

because of His ascended engifting of the church,

because of the work of the Spirit, that the growth

– the maturity that each one of us experience is not simply for ourselves. It is for the whole body, so that my personal growth is not my first agenda when I come to church, but the well-being of the whole body is my first agenda, even in my personal growth.

– the maturity that each one of us experience is not simply for ourselves.

It is for the whole body, so that my personal growth is not my first agenda

when I come to church, but the

well-being of the whole body is my first agenda, that is even built into my personal growth.

This means that no increase is of use in my personal walk, which does not correspond to the whole body.

They person here today who desires their own separate growth, is mistaken.

“This means [and he's speaking of this verse]…this means that no increase is of use which does not correspond to the whole body. That man is mistaken who desires his own separate growth.”

In other words, as we come under the word, as we come under the means of grace,

as we pray for the resurrection power of Jesus Christ to be displayed in us,

as we pray to grow in grace and become more Christ-like,

our ultimate concern cannot simply be for our own personal growth;

but, in fact, it is for the well-being of the whole body.

So, it is

‘Lord, grow me in grace for the benefit of the whole body,

because You have not empowered me so that I can be more well off or

have it easier, or be more successful;

You have empowered me in order to be a blessing to the whole body.

Lord God, You have risen and ascended and poured out gifts on Your church, and

You've poured out gifts on me, not so that I can bless myself,

but so that I can bless others.

Lord God, everything that You have given and done,

You have given and done so that I would turn from looking out for myself, and

give myself away in self-sacrificing, self-denying, self-giving love.’

And the Apostle Paul is saying that is to be the

consequence of the resurrection power of Christ at work in us, the

consequence of Jesus, the ascended, ruling Christ, engifting the church,

that we are rooted in love:

that we tenaciously hold the truth and love the truth, and know the truth, and understand and dwell on the truth; and

we are committed to growing in love so that our lives are characterized by

self-giving,

self-sacrificing, love of Christ and for His people in all that we do; and

our own personal growth itself is ultimately designed

not only for His glory,

but for the well-being of one another.

What a dramatic adventure the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in His ascended rule is meant to give rise to, in our lives.

May God make it so. Let's pray.

Our Lord and our God, we thank You for the truth of the resurrection, and we pray that Your purposes for the resurrection in us will be accomplished in earth, as in heaven. This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.