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"IN LOVE"
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Main Idea: Spiritual Growth and Maturity take place when we are ROOTED and ABIDING IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST AND PARTICIPATING IN HIS MISSION.
Introduction
How many of you have ever heard these words spoken to you before?
“JUST GROW UP!”
-Maybe it was your parents
-Maybe it was your Brother or Sister
-Maybe even your friend
-Or even a school teacher…
I remember being in School throughout Elementary, Junior High, and High School
-In Elementary I heard my teachers constantly say…YOU BETTER GROW UP AND GET READY FOR JUNIOR HIGH
-In Junior High just when we thought we were grown up…WE STARTED HEARING…YOU BETTER GROW UP AND GET READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL!
-And of course, just when you get to High School and think your grown up…YOU HEAR…YOU BETTER GROW UP AND GET READY FOR COLLEGE AND “THE REAL WORLD”
Surely, we don’t need to hear these words even, now right??
Surely, we are all now fully mature in this room, right?
-I think I get a pass for being in youth ministry
IM IN THIS QUOTE “REAL WORLD” …AND IM STILL NOT GROWN UP ENOUGH YET!
-I can’t tell you how many times I still have to call my mom because I don’t understand some type of Tax thing or financial thing
The Reality is…ALL OF US…MYSELF INCLUDED…are never done growing up…IT IS A LIFELONG PROCESS!
Which brings us to our passage this morning…
Transition to Main Body
This morning we are continuing our walk through the book of Ephesians…
In Chapters 1-3: we talked a lot about who we are in Christ and What Christ has done for us
Here in Chapter 4: we have talked a lot about Unity and about being built up together by our gifts
And now we have come to here where we continue to see this IMPORTANT idea of UNITY Continue…But also something also Paul brings something else important to us…
(NIV)
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ
We see a new important theme show up in this passage in connection to UNITY…AND THAT IS…
IMPORTANT THEME: “SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND MATURITY”
So, in a way (MUCH NICER THAN WE MAY HAVE HEARD AT TIMES) Paul is writing to the Church in Ephesus, and to us here, saying…HEY WE NEED TO GROW UP!
He is saying…
-Hey, we can’t be infants in our faith forever...
-We can’t be led astray because we aren’t mature and don’t know what is truth and what is not
-We can’t be pushed around as the body of Christ by this world
WE NEED TO BE STRONG AND MATURE AS THE BODY OF CHRIST…SO THAT WE CAN SPEAK THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL AND REFLECT THE TRUE IMAGE OF CHRIST IN THIS WORLD AS A UNIFIED BODY
AND THIS CALL TO CONTINUE TO GROW AND MATURE IN OUR FAITH IS NEVER FINISHED!
-No Matter what age, stage of life, or how mature we are in our faith…THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM TO GROW
BIG QUESTION FOR THIS MORNING
With that…The big question I want us to look at and unpack this morning…
HOW DO WE GROW AND MATURE AS DISCIPLES…BOTH TOGETHER AS A CHURCH…AND INDIVIDUALLY?
And overall, We are going to look at 3 big directions for growth and maturity
AND NO…ITS NOT!!
-Read Your Bible
-Pray
-And come to Church
IMPORTANT PHRASE
And to begin to unpack those directions to this question we need to look at verse 15 in
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
There are two important words in this verse that begin to give us some direction toward how we grow Spiritually as Disciples and as A Church
AND THAT PHRASE IS THESE TWO WORDS… “IN LOVE”
-This small phrase here is repeated 3 total times in the first 16 verses here of Chapter 4 (Verse 2, Verse 15, Verse 16)
-The word Love alone shows up about 23 times in the book of Ephesians
As this phrase jumped out to me not only here in this specific verse, but this chapter, and the word love as a whole I began to realize that there is a…
DIRECT CONNECTION BETWEEN SPIRITUAL GROWTH…AND LOVE
Read
And to Look at this connection we are going to look at Jesus’ words in
We looked at this passage during our Easter series…This Is where Jesus’ famous “I AM THE VINE” Statement shows up
So, let’s read this together…
(NIV) “I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Now remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
First Fire
1.Take a few moments around your table and talk about what you see in this passage…What sticks out to you in relation to GROWTH
2.Discuss
APPLICATION
In looking at and and that important phrase… “IN LOVE”
I think we see 3 big directions in helping us answer our big question this morning
HOW DO WE GROW AND MATURE AS DISCIPLES…BOTH TOGETHER AS A CHURCH…AND INDIVIDUALLY?
The first thing we see is this…
WE GROW WHEN WE…
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