CHRISTIAN GROWTH AND THE CHURCH
Ephesians 4:1-16
“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
It is very interesting to find that in the context of calling on the Ephesians to live lives worthy of their calling, Paul talked at length about the church. He specially highlighted the unity of the church, calling on them to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
The unity reflects the unity of the Triune God and there is the underlying implication that when unity is lacking the body will not function well, and when the body is not functioning well the growth of individual lives may be impeded.
Paul tells us that right from the outset, Christ gave gifts to the church and specifically he gave the church people who have the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip members of the body, that they may grow to become mature Christians, worthy of Christ.
In other words, one of the core functions of the church is to build up members to become mature Christians, whose lives are worthy of their calling. The reverse must also be true, that members need to be a part of the community (because the community possesses the special gifts that Christ gives) to grow in maturity.
When the unity of the Spirit is broken, the church’s ability to nurture Christians to maturity is impaired. When truth is sidelined for love, and when love is sidelined for truth, the environment in which members will grow to become is polluted and diluted because Christ is no longer the head. The church instead produces stunted Christians, stuck in perpetual infancy, never able to find the anchor in the God who is Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Such Christians, who are “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” bring no glory to Christ.
It is important for us to understand that when Paul tells us “speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become” he is not talking about teaching and sermons (although surely the teaching of the Word is vital); rather, he speaks of truth in action—truth lived, truth that sharpens each other, truth that cleanses and purifies—all done in the spirit of love, gentleness, patience, kindness and self-control. Then, Paul tells us, “we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” The church desperately needs “truth in love” rather than clever sermons and sterile relationships.
How important it is that we, as members of the body of Christ, pay heed to the wisdom of God and “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” so that the Church may indeed be “the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
“From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”