Signs of Maturity Part 1

Ephesians 4:1-10

Introduction:

Have you ever brought a brand-new car or at least a second-hand one. Now, do you grab the manual and read everything about that car, or do you hop in the car and just take it for a spin and check everything out as you go along? If you are honest, you'll probably do the latter. Or if you get a new piece of equipment or electronics like a new phone and figure it out as you go well, as you and I both know that machinery or technology, if it can go wrong, it will go horribly wrong. And then we wish we would have read the manual. In most cases, we will keep the manual close by in case we need to refer to it, to see how to operate it better.

This week as we reach into chapter four of Ephesians is just like that. Paul has given us this new shiny thing called the church and Christianity. Now he is giving us a manual on how to live out this new humanity. We're not just taking it for a spin. He has given us all the things we need to pertain to living out this brand-new life. Unfortunately, sometimes as Christians, we just go along, and we figure out a way to do it ourselves. And then when we check back in on the manual, sometimes we can realize just how far we are from where we should be.

The intellect Christian can fall into great danger if they are not careful, you see the great weakness of this is that we will love doctrine so much that we will read one chapters, one to three over and over and over again. And then when that an intellectual Christian gets the chapter four, he goes, oh, this is just the rest of the application. I know all about this. And then he skips ahead. On the other hand, you might be a Christian that primarily orientates themselves to experience. They might thrive under the teaching found in the second half of this book; they want to know all about the spiritual gifts. They want to exercise it, them themselves. They're excited about Paul's teaching on the family and other such things. So, the intensity of feeling might be great, but if it's not directed by doctrine, or if it's not guided by truth, it can end up in all sorts of wrong directions. And we can fall foul of what is spoken on later on in Ephesians about being tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. So, with that, we need both.We need a strong, theological understanding and framework to base our orthopraxy on, and we need to experience it and live it out in action. The head, the heart and the hands have to be all engaged and connected in Ephesians. That's unity through diversity,

Our structure,

1. Unified walk 4:1-6

2. Unified in Diverse Gifts 4:7-10

Ephesians 4:1–6 NIV

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We see this therefore word again. Now this is a very big there for, and I believe it encompasses chapters. One through three, this walking worthy that we see here is the first major imperative or command that we come across in this book. In fact, is probably the first one, which is to walk in which the manner you have been called (salvation gift) or walk a life worthy of the faith. Now I see this verse taken out context so many times, it's on mugs. It's on water bottles, it's on pillows. And if you're not careful, this out of context can lead to either a very troubled life and thinking, That I am never walking right, or a very legalistic understanding of it, and you may think that I've got it all together morally speaking, but we would miss the point. To understand it, all we need to do is link it to verse two.

Which is this idea of the many characteristics of unity, like be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Well, humility is easy to get along with someone when they are easy to get along with, they're humble. Whereas pride causes angst and divisions. So, if you were to come to me with the truth, but you were to be a jerk about it, and you'll be hostile and prideful that instantly causes division and instantly gets my backup.

Don’t Be a Christian Jerk!

You, you hear you, you may hear this from people when they say, well, it’s just the truth. That's who I am. I just say it as it is. And that's Christianity, actually it isn't. We are supposed to consider the whole person of the Imago Dei, the person that's being made into God's image, our brother or sister in Christ. We are to know that we are broken. We have faults, they are broken. They have faults. Christ says to fix your own plank in your own eye, before you pull the speck out of your brother's eye, which comes from a place of humility, likewise gentleness is much easier to get along with than being arrogant. We are called to be meek, meek does not mean weak. Jesus was meek. And he was no push over. In fact the picture of the greek for being meek is knowing you have a weapon that you could weild, but keeping it sheathed. He was strong and straightforward to those seeking him, and those in the fold already. He had strong opinions and didn’t back down.As I said, we need to accept those with faults and love them because God loves us with ours.

How does Disunity Look?

How unsafe would it you feel or to say it another way, if you were walked down the street in downtown Collie and you were to see a guy who started to argue with himself, punch himself in the face, kick himself in his own leg, argue and fight with himself. We would say he has some issues. He probably needs some help. Are we likely to approach that guy? Well, we might, but it'll be very cautious. We wouldn't feel safe particularly around him, but you see I've painted a picture of just that of a local church or the church at times at large.

How are people supposed to feel comfortable, safe when we fight amongst ourselves, if only there was a real life example of a time where the church got it wrong, and we could learn from. I'm glad you asked. There's a little thing called the COVID 19, along with that came political angst division in political ranks in regard to how to combat this virus. Some took, a more relaxed approach to start with. Others were a little bit more; shall we say dictatorship? And a lot of people in the west were divided over the local government and Mark McGowan and his approach to this as did to the rest of Australia. When the federal government started to bring in things that we may or may not have liked, meaning the mask mandates the vaccines, and you had this major split in the community, but worse than that, you had a major split and fractures through the local body as well throughout Perth.

And to nail it a little bit further, I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I can gauge that there has been some hurt even in our church because of this. How can Christians fall so much or not one side or the other? It seems irresponsible almost to have a difference of opinion, but I think there is this diversity that we have, we have the gospel, can the gospel be big enough to handle both views? Now I've heard arguments on both sides that are worthwhile arguments on the, wearing the masks and taking the vaccine. People's arguments have been along the lines of this that I want to take care of, the less fortunate and vulnerable in and around me. And so, I will take the injection.

I will take and wear the mask. So as to be responsible and to care for the weak and the marginalized, and they will use scripture and they will use the gospel as the catalyst for making that decision. Likewise, on the other side, people were saying, this is anti the gospel because it's forcing us to do things that we do not want to do. That is not healthy for us, that they are trying to control us, that they're trying to, uh, somehow give us things that will make us sick. And so, they, likewise were very strong and adamant on that side that, hey, we're trying to protect people from taking this nasty injection. We're supposed to be also looking out for people that don't want to wear masks because they cannot breathe properly along those sorts of lines. And they will also point the scripture point to the gospel as well.

The Problem!

So, what had happened is that this major division had taken place within the church, both fighting both sides. I was counselling people from both sides, talking about that. They've lost friendship. They've had brothers and sisters angry with them. That is not unity. That is not living unified life or practicing it all a unified life. So, the problem I see is that whilst even if the vaccine is very, very dangerous to the point of making us sick, it's still pales into insignificance. If the enemy can use it for us to divide, because that will do far more damage spiritually speaking, and the ramifications of people not coming to Christ could be far greater and wider of an issue with God, because we are supposed to, as we spoke about last week, supposed to clear the Pelican poop off the windscreen for people, this was not doing that.

So, the question again, gets raised, can the gospel, and is the gospel big enough to be able to cover both sides? . We need to ensure that when we are looking at this type of scenario in the future, that we ensure ourselves, that we do our due diligence, we do as much research as much digging and scripture that we possibly can. And we just don't do things really nearly. We don't run by just emotion or fear on both sides. I see on both sides. I also see not fear on both sides too yet. The first question raised, is it a gospel issue? Is this vaccine, mask wearing and mandates stopping us from performing or sharing the gospel? Of course we can make anything into a gospel issue. The lack of unity it was causing, certainly dipped into being a gospel issue. However, the gospel is big enough to handle both sides.

But Hhw can both sides be right? Your Christian conscience, if you've done your due diligence, if you have done your praying and you've done your study, even if you are wrong, if you believe you are right, and you go against that, then you have, Paul will say sinned against your own conscience. This is why Paul could say, I could eat meat given to idols. But if you can't do that, then you are wrong because this is just a piece of meat. However, because that is your truth and your belief and your conscience. And you've come to that through scripture, even though it might be wrong, then you can't go against that. And so, for me, I need to lay down that right in order that you may live your truth out. That equals Unity and a a mark of Christian maturity.

Christian Conscience

Romans 14:5–9 NIV

One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

People without opinions tend to be able to get along pretty well. But evidently Paul does not believe the solution to Christian disagreement is for all of us to become wishy-washy—even on the minor issues! When Paul weighs the risks of the mindset that can’t come to a conviction and stand for it, versus the risks of the mindset that has convictions on all minor matters, he chooses the second set of risks. In fact, he advocates for the second set of risks: “Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

So what is Paul’s remedy for the tensions created by strong-minded Christians who have firm but differing convictions about non-essential matters? How does Paul keep firm convictions about minor matters from becoming divisive? If he’s not going to solve the problem of division by telling us to lighten up, what is his solution?

“Each One Should Be Fully Convinced . . .” of What?

1) not sinful

2) honouring to Christ

3) the best way I can think of for me to act in this situation.

There's a lot more to say on that. What I would say is that the fighting the absolute disunity and disharmony that this ripped through churches was a great travesty, regardless of who's right. And who's wrong, regardless of what side of the coin you sit on, that is not what the church is about or four. I told you that Paul lived in really dark times as well. And when he's speaking to people at offices, he's not talking about the political things. He's not talking about the government, trying to come in and shut everything down, which they actually were back then. And they will do it again. I don't think we were quite there yet, but certainly they could. And there are some sciences pointing to that. But when Paul Penn, this letter, they did have a government that was out to get them who hated Christians, who wanted to destroy them. But Paul doesn't talk about that. He talks about keeping the unity, talks about the gospel. He talks about going out in mission together, regardless of what side of the coin that you fall on in regards to non-essentials. So that is just an example of how we need to look through the lens of the gospel to make our decisions. And remember God is sovereign. He's in control.

How Do We Stay United?

Well, we remind ourselves that whilst we might be diverse and have different Christian conscience ideas on things, we are United by the following. One more in Christ. I'll read it out again, make every unity. So, make every effort to keep the unity of the scripture through the bond of peace. Why? Because there's one body. That's what we remind ourselves. One spirit that we share. We remind ourselves of that. We'll call to one, hope. We were called to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is overall and through all. And in all it's one body, which means the one church, because we have many different denominations.

So, it can't mean just the local expression. It's talking about the one universal church made up of all believers. And I don't want to alarm you, but just because people come to a local church doesn't mean that they are part of this universal church. Yes. There are people that do come to church that are not redeemed or not saved. They may have fooled themselves, or they may not have fool themselves either way. There are people that attend the local church that will not make up the universal church. That's only for believers. That is only one that agrees with all of these things that we're about to talk about. So that one body is follows. The one true gospel, which was laid out in chapters one to three, those who have accepted the free gift of salvation.

And so, this one body is then United in the one spirit, not spirits, all the believers, the true believers that is are United with the one big spirit. They share this one spirit of God, which is the holy spirit. The spirit binds us together in our different expressions of the local church in cultures. But those who share that same spirit share Christ. Paul has painstakingly spilled out in chapters, one to three, all of that. This is then attached to the one true Lord. That's us. Our faith is attached to Jesus Christ, and he's latched on to us. This is God's Messiah Yahweh in flesh.

We need to understand that because the gnostics of the day taught that Jesus didn't have an actual body. And there are those who would band themselves under the Christian banner would say the same thing. They are not part of the one body. This bodily resurrection of Jesus, who has ascended into heaven is the one that we have hope in. And that we share in our faith with this one big faith meaning the all-encompassing faith, hat there is only one path, one confession of trust in Christ, not many, just one and is why the road is narrow leading to eternal life.

One Baptism

Now, we look at this thing as one baptism. Now, baptism can be a tricky thing. If we're not careful, there are a couple of confessions or historic creeds that we can read. One of them is a set of questions. The question is how they aren’t admonished and assured by holy baptism that the one sacrifice of Christ upon cross is of real advantage to the, and it is this that Christ appoint this external washing with water added there to the promise that I am as certainly washed by his blood and spirit from all the pollution of my soul. That is from all my sins. As I am washed externally with water, by which the filthiness of the body is commonly washed away, which leads to the next question on this historic creed, which says, what is it to be washed with the blood and spirit of Christ?

It is to receive of God, the remission of sins freely for the sake of Christ blood, which he said for us, by his sacrifice upon the cross, and also to be renewed by the holy spirit and justified to be members of Christ so that we may more and more die sin and lead holy and unbelievable lives. The Westminster confession says this about baptism and is a sacrament of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ. Not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized as the visible church. What you need to understand here is that the early church fathers believe that when you went through the baptism waters, you were being birthed, like being out of birth waters into the church. So not only that are they saying, but it's also to be an unto, a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace of this.

Ingrafting into Christ of regeneration, of the remission of sins and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to walk in the newness of life, which sacrament is by Christ own appointment to be continued in his church until the end of the world, simply put, there is only one baptism, there is not one baptism, and then you need to have a second baptism, or one baptism equals this. And one baptism equals are you now baptized in the, in the spirit? And now that leads to the whole idea of, oh, have you been baptized in the spirit, which then, then they would say, well, then you need to speak in tongues to prove that. And if you don't, then you're not saved. That is rubbish. That is heresy. That is not right. Baptism. Even though we go into the baptism or waters, the waters don't save us.

We are saved by God. We are redeemed. And so, this idea that we have when we are saved at the very instant that we are saved, we have God's spirit. Now the water side of things is to be an outward display of it. You know, action. It has also used Paul would point back to and say, when times are trouble or the times that you have struggled in your faith, in your walk to look back to when you were baptized, meaning that the reminder of that visible going through the waters was reminder of what has taken place inside of you already way back at conversion, and then have everything to do with God. Not with you just getting wet. Now what is it saying here? Well, there is one baptism, is this big idea for the whole church.It's talking about baptism and the spirit, which as we have learned, and I've just said there, that was painstakingly expressed in chapters. One to three happens immediately. When we believe it's given by God, himself as a down payment and assurance of his returning for us. So, in short, it is meaning that there's one conversion of being United to Christ no other way.

One God

Then as we know, there is only one God made up of three personhoods, of course, a father, son, and spirit three in one that's the Trinity. It means that the same God that I pray to is the same God you pray to. So, in those times when you are struggling and divided on things, be reminded that you pray to the same. God, if you are in Christ, you are both praying to the same God, how can you be divided? You can disagree. Of course, you can hold to your own opinion. Of course, you can, even if scripture permits and by loving and caring this approach people and do it in the spirit of love and grace and mercy that we saw in the first part of our chapter here through gently correct people, but on secondary things, sometimes it's just good to let it go.

Ephesians 4:7-10 “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)”

This chapter four is a real maturity test. How mature are we in the faith? Uh, and that will come down to, can we live peaceably with each other? So good about the rest of the world. We struggle to live peaceably with ourselves, with each other. Now, this is a bit tricky to understand it probably would've been better understood by the Jewish people of the day. I believe in my reading and understanding here's my crack at it. A first century Jew, would've understood this verse of the star to probably be speaking about Moses because a lot of the Old Testament references was to Moses. And of course, after this Exodus that we know about, we have a look after named after it, when the Egyptians were defeated, and the Israelites were rescued from slavery. As we know, Moses went up to Mount Sinai. He came down with the stone tablets of the law, the Torah, and the line with several early Christian writings. Paul sees this Ascension of Jesus as being in a sense like that of Moses or some would say a better Moses because he was able to complete the understanding of the law and fulfill it. And so, after this new Exodus, which has been achieved in Christ death and resurrection setting humanity free from bondage and thin and death through him, that Jesus went up into this heavenly realm where he now reigns as Lord.

Now this verse nine is quite puzzling in the sense that this is probably meant to simply stressed that in this gift of the spirit is Christ himself who has been received. And this is how king Jesus makes the church into his own fullness, giving us his own presence by the spirit in through gifts. So, verse nine to 10 in summary, the gift of the spirit is the same person who anti the world into flesh, who in Philippians two didn't consider robbery to did we equal with Yahweh because he was Yahweh in the flesh. So, this whole Ascension and dissension thing, uh, Philippians two five said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.

Phil 2:5-8 “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!”

Verse eight says, and in being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross, where for God has also highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus that every knee should bow. So being lowered and now being ascended into the highest realm possible that every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth, things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father. So therefore, in the gifts that each person receives, which is ministry gifting, and this is going to lead into a little bit. What we're going to talk about next week is that everybody is called into ministry gifts. Everybody has got been given ministry gifts and that ministry gift, when we receive it, we're receiving Christ himself in those gifts.

And so, with that in closing, let's not be a church that's punching itself in the face or kicking itself in the leg or fighting and muttering to itself. If you know, in your heart of hearts, no matter what side you have sat on in regards to the vaccines and the mandates and those things, whether you think you're right or wrong, it's not the point, it's your own Christian conscience, of course, but maybe you have been a Christian jerk and you know that in the light versus one through to three, that we're not supposed to be Christian jerks, even if we are right, we are called to love one another, be patient with one another, love each other even with each other's faults and misunderstandings, if it's non-essential of course you canhave your strong opinion in it, but do it lovingly, with patience, humility, and in gentleness so that we can live and thrive with each other in Peace and Joy.