Our Mission: Part 2 - The Goal

Series Review: When thinking through the DNA of a church, that is, God’s design for His church, it is helpful to ask certain questions.

Who am I?

Why do we exist?

What are we to do?

To build up the body of Christ through biblical maturity.

Last week we considered:

The People of the Mission

The people of the church are to occupy roles that either center on equipping or serving.

This week, we move from considering the people of the mission to

The Goal of the Mission

There’s no need for us to be clever here, when it comes to our mission. Sometimes, in an effort to distinguish themselves in the culture and even as compared to other churches, churches seek to identify a unique mission to them that focuses its ministry very specifically. And while I’m sure some good can come out of those efforts, the mission has already been established for us. And if a church pursues other self-identified missions at the expense of this mission, it fails to be a God-honoring church.

The mission is familiar. It is clear, but it is anything but commonplace.

Matthew 28:19 ESV

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Making disciples is our mission. This is the answer to the question what are we to do?. We are to make disciples of Christ.

What are disciples of Christ? Many good definitions have been suggested. Here’s one I think is simple and, most importantly, reflects what the Bible teaches.

A disciple of Christ is someone who is a devoted and maturing follower of Christ.

Really the mission to make disciples is, I suggest, restated here in Eph. 4

Ephesians 4:13 ESV

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,

building up the body of Christ (end of v. 12)

How do we know if we are successfully building up the body of Christ?

as we see each other maturing

But here’s the problem:

FCF: Many are unclear regarding what the Bible identifies as marks of maturity.

Is maturity:

knowing the information contained in the Bible?

measured by longevity: a christian for so many years… attending church for so many years

doing good works

successful in business or good with money

To gain clarity on what the bible teaches about maturity, we’ll go to our ground zero text for our mission

Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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, 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. 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.

We will focus on vss 13-15 as we focus on the goal of the mission.

I suggest that

Pursuing biblical maturity requires we are clear on the marks of biblical maturity.

We can end up making allot of assumptions about maturity that are incorrect if we are not clear the what the Bible says about maturity.

We can end up making allot of wrong assumptions about people, about each other, if we are not clear on what the Bible teaches about maturity.

What are the marks of biblical maturity?

Unity (13)

To be more specific, a commitment to unity.

Now, let’s keep our context in mind here. Paul is writing to the churches in Ephesus. He has made clear that Christ has given people to His church as gifts to fulfill His mission for His church. We are, through equipping and serving to build one another up.

So the unity to which we are referring is unity among those of the church. This church.

We should be.... must be unrelenting in our pursuit and protection of unity.

But unity is something that needs to be defined. Sometimes we may assume that unity means that everyone is happy. But everyone being happy is not necessarily biblical unity.

So what is biblical unity? Looking at v. 13

Theological Harmony

attain in v. 13 is used several times in the book of Acts for travellers arriving at a destination (Ptolemais, Caesarea, Rhegium)

Church, we are on a journey together. It may be clear enough to us that ultimately our destination is eternity with Christ, but our journey together is one that calls us to understand the truths of our faith. To understand what we believe.

We come from different backgrounds, different experiences, varying levels of understanding, but what we need to collectively pursue is unity of the faith.

But another aspect of this unity goes beyond a deeper understanding of doctrine. It is also

Christ-Centered Fellowship

This is not just about a collective acceptance of doctrine. It is a unity in the knowledge of the Son of God. Consider what Paul said earlier in chapter 1

Ephesians 1:17 ESV

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

Knowing Christ with our minds only in the same way is not unity of the knowledge of the Son of God. Knowing Christ that comes as a result of the Father of glory giving the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation is transformative. And for us to have unity in this kind of knowledge of Christ results in the deepest possible fellowship.

So theological harmony is more than knowing doctrine (although that is certainly included), it is knowledge of Christ that is transforming and therefore provides a context in which meaningful relationships can form.

So as we grow in our unity of the faith, which includes theological understanding, and unity in the knowledge of the Son of God which transforms us and therefore transforms us collectively, we need to see that this kind of growth is an

Unending Growth

Looking at the last part of v. 13

to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

The word mature here is communicating the idea of full development. Look at

1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

The contrast between children and the mature here. Do develop your practice of evil, but instead develop your minds to pursue maturity in the knowledge of Christ.

So manhood is referring to this contrast between children and adults. Manhood is adulthood. We’re going to see this contrast play out in the next verse.

But we’re suggesting that this development or growth is unending. Where do we see this in v. 13?

to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

What does this mean?

Consider first that Christ possesses the fullness of God

Colossians 1:19 ESV

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

And Jesus desires that His people will be filled with this same fullness.

So the call here is to pursue the fullness of Christ… More of Christ, which cannot be exhausted.

More of Christ in our worship

More of Christ in our families

More of Christ in our political thinking

More of Christ in our parenting

More of Christ in our marriages

More of Christ

This is what is meant by unity. There’s

theological harmony

Christ-centered fellowship

unending growth

This is part of the goal. This kind of unity. This is what we pursue as we build up the body of Christ. Biblical maturity

Another mark of biblical maturity is

Stability (14-15a)

Notice how v. 14 begins: so that you may no longer be children

There’s the reference to the contrast between the spiritual maturity of children and adults.

So here’s the flow of what Paul is saying in v. 13 into v. 14: the reason we want to attain unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and want more of Christ is so that we move from the state of spiritual infancy to spiritual adulthood.

There is the expectation, as we seek to order ourselves as a church around the framework for Christ’s church that Paul lays out in these verses that we will mature. We all were once children… immature, and spiritually immature people are wishy-washy.

What describes stability here?

The ability to discern true and false teaching (14)

The analogy that Paul uses here is a boat in a storm being tossed about and carried by the waves. The boat has no anchor… no stability and is unable to gain control in the storm. The storm has control of it.

The storm is first of all, false teaching.

Every wind of doctrine is doctrine, that is teaching. And church, there’s all kind of doctrine coming at us everyday. But what’s important to know is that much of it is false. There are categories of teaching that is true and false, and how do we go about identifying the difference?

The Bible is the rule. The Bible is the standard. But what’s crucial for us to recognize is that false teaching often sounds attractive. False teaching often appeals to that which is in us that desires to disobey God, and calls into question the truth of God’s Word all at the same time.

This is what Satan did in the Garden of Eden. Speaking to Eve, he said, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

Distorts what God said, appeals to Eve’s desire to go beyond what God has said.

Today, whether it is the

the suggestion that your are not only retired from the jobs you had until you were in your mid-late 60’s but also from serving Christ

the Jehovah Witness who says that Jesus is not God

The sexual revolution

The idea that hope in American ideals is as redemptive and sustaining to people as hope in Jesus Christ.

Marginalizing the local church in our lives so we can ease our consciences about what we do or not do on Sunday mornings.

That the OT is not relevant for the church and only the teachings of Jesus (most of it) is what we need to concern ourselves with.

False teaching is in play today. Can we identify it? If we do, are we willing to reject it, even if it appeals to our flesh?

The way God intended that we are strengthened to not be so susceptible, not be like the helpless boat in the storm is through a laser focus on our mission. To build up the body of Christ. Helping one another, with God’s power and wisdom, to mature in Christ.

We need to be stable. Able to identify false teachers but also able to identify false teachers.

human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

cunning lit. means playing with dice to defraud someone. It’s trickery.

craftiness is what described the Pharisees’ line of questioning of Jesus when they desired to discredit Him. Or Satan, when he deceived Eve. Craftiness is the motive.... hidden agendas

deceitful schemes are the tools used by the false teachers

So false teachers are motivated by evil hidden agendas to trick unsuspecting people to believe a lie and they will utilize any tool of deceit they think will be effective in leading people away from the truth.

Stability is also see in a

A commitment to lovingly communicating the truth (15a)

What Paul says at the beginning in v. 15 (speaking the truth in love), I suggest, is meant to be understood as a fundamental ingredient to stability. How does this work?

v. 14 told us we should commit ourselves to unity so that we will be able to identify and withstand false teaching and teachers.

And now in verse 15, Paul is urging his readers to not resort to the methods of the false teachers to proclaim the truth. If we are to build one another up to help one another to mature, what must characterize our efforts more than anything is love. Specifically, the love of Christ.

As much as lies and hate go together… truth and love go together.

Again, we need to build one another up through biblical maturity so that we can identify such people. They exist, and are often put forth as committed bible teachers. Embraced by part of the Christian community. American Gospel.

So stability is another mark of maturity.... biblical maturity.

Lit., we are to truth it in love. Those of the church are ambassadors of the truth, and our ambassadorial call is one of love. The manner of truthing it is gentle, compassionate, patient, not condemning. It is clear though about what is right and wrong.

Perhaps a good example of this is seen in what happened between 2 good friends in the Bible: David & Nathan

Nathan tells King David a story about 2 men, one who was rich and one was poor.

The rich man had all that he needed (flocks, herds etc.), but the poor man had just one ewe lamb which he and his family loved very much.

One day a traveler came to the rich man’s house and needed a place to eat and sleep. The rich man didn’t want to use any of his own resources to host the traveler, so he took the poor man’s lamb, killed it and used it to feed the traveler.

David responds like this

2 Samuel 12:5–6 ESV

Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Then Nathan respnds

2 Samuel 12:7–9 ESV

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

This was confrontational. Nathan truthed it with David. He could have just avoided the subject all together. He could have justified doing that because David is the king and he is not. But there was something that went beyond social graces. Something that stopped his fear of man overwhelming his fear of God. It was his desire to honor God by to lovingly tell his friend and his king the truth.

Nathan continues to tell David the consequences of his actions, and David sees his sin for what it was and repents. Then Nathan says this to David:

2 Samuel 12:13 ESV

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

The loving kindness of God is shining forth through Nathan’s confrontation of David. The truth and love go together, and when t comes to unity among God’s people, we need to lovingly tell one another the truth.

Pursuing biblical maturity requires we are clear on the marks of biblical maturity.

Final mark we will identify today

Anchored (15b)

Anchored in Christ

What displays our anchoring in Christ?

Christ as the standard

Our growth is to be measured in light Christ. The way we develop should reflect a resolute commitment to Christ. Our lives should display that they are centered on Christ… they are to orbit around Jesus.

We might be able to understand Paul to say we are to grow up in every way to Him. This would emphasize that our growth is towards Christ....

Tree bending towards the sun

We are to bend towards, conform ourselves to Christ.

He is the standard.

But Christ is also the source

Christ as the source

Paul speaks of Christ as the head here in v. 15.

Our growing cannot be done independent of or separated from our head… Christ.

Paul has already made the headship of Christ in the church clear, which is where we get one of the presuppositions of this sermon series that Christ is the head of the church

Ephesians 1:22 ESV

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

Our progress in the faith, that is, in our maturing, is owing to Christ as the source of our growth. We must yield ourselves to Christ’s instructions if we expect to grow. And again, the maturity process here is tied very closely to the people of the church. Christ has given to responsibility of building up the church to the people of His church.

George is meant to have something to do with my growth

I am meant to have something to do with Rick’s growth

Sandra is meant to have something to do with Pat’s growth

And so on.

But keeping in mind that Jesus is both the standard and source of this growth

Conclusion

So pursuing biblical maturity requires we are clear on the marks of biblical maturity. They can be described as

Unified

Stable

Anchored

This is the goal of our roles.

If your role centers on equipping, ultimately you’re working towards the building up, that is, the maturity of your brothers and sisters in Christ in this church.

If your role centers on serving, ultimately you’re working towards the building up, that is, the maturity of your brothers and sisters in Christ in this church.

This is our mission. Making disciples of Christ. Making committed, maturing followers of Jesus. God help us as we strive to this end.

But what does the process of building one another up look like. Lord willing, we will consider that next week.