Today is a call to wake up and to grow up. Today is a day to afflict the comfortable. Today is a day like in Joshua’s day where the Lord calls out to you and says, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” Will you stay seated in the first two camps? Or will you by God’s grace get up out of your seat and not just occupy space but instead take possession of and live out of who and who’s you are? Will you leave behind foolish and childish ways of living while claiming the name of Christ? Will you take a step towards growing up?
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 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, 14 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. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 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. (Ephesians 4:7 – 16 ESV)
We have been studying the book of Ephesians since September of 2017. Nearly a year into studying this book. Seven sermons devoted to chapter one. Seven sermons devoted to chapter two. Fifteen sermons devoted to chapter three. Eight sermons so far devoted to chapter four. A total of thirty-seven sermons devoted to the major themes of who you are in Christ Jesus and how to walk as a follower of Christ Jesus.
Why do I bring this to our attention this morning? I bring this to our attention for two reasons. One is a positive reason and the other is a negative reason. The positive reason for bringing this to our attention is to highlight the blessing of thirty-seven sermons from God’s Word on the themes of identity and holiness.
We need to constantly give ourselves to the hearing and the practical living out of our identity in ways that bring honor and glory to God. That’s the positive reason. I am privileged to stand in front of you each week and bring the Word of the Lord to bear upon our lives.
Now for the negative reason. I have a concern for us as I think and pray about the breadth of our study in Ephesians. My concern is for the name of Christ. My concern is for the reputation we give to the name of Christ. When people in our community see the people of The Well, I am concerned for what they see.
I am concerned that they see a people who call themselves Christians who do not imitate their lives after Christ. I am concerned that the cross of Christ has not come to bear on the lives of the people of The Well in such a way that our reputation in our community is that of a people who resist sin, resist foolishness and pursue holiness and wisdom.
Why am I concerned about this? Why am I concerned that our reputation might be that of a church that gives license to sin? I believe this partly because of our short history as well as a few current concerns. In our short history we have become known as the church that helps struggling sinners belong to a church family. This is a good thing that can also carry some negative consequences.
Addicts of all shapes and sizes and broken people from all walks of life (divorcees, homesless folks, etc.) have all found a home here at least for a little while. Men who seek pleasure and happiness through porn and unhealthy relationships and women who seek pleasure and happiness in men and vocational success. People who are ticked at the church across town. These are the kinds of people the Lord has been drawing into The Well for six years.
And that’s awesome. We want to be a safe place for hurting and broken people to belong. But my concern is that we have yet to become a people that is not just looking for a place to belong but longs to become like Jesus. Does your longing to belong, trump the Biblical command to become like Christ?
Here’s my last concern. And this seems to be one of the roots of my concerns. There are at least three factions or divisions within our church family. One faction or camp or group of people plugs their ears, ignores, complains and even jokes about our preaching. Complains, ignores, resists and jokes about God’s Word. The second camp complains that our preaching seem to be directed right at them. This camp complains about feeling uncomfortable. And both of these camps will tell you that they rarely pick up God’s Word throughout the week.
The third camp is much different. The third camp is overjoyed for the preaching of the Word. There is a hunger for the preaching of the Word. This camp will sit for hours in tears of repentant conversation in response to the preaching of the Word. This camp is like a small remnant in our church family that is desperately holding out for entrance into the Promised Land while hungrily holding fast to the Word of God as it is preached.
My heart is concerned for the first two camps because those first two camps act like children. My heart breaks for those first two camps because I fear the worst for you and I want the best for you. But nevertheless I am the messenger and the Lord is the surgeon. As a messenger, my aim today is to once again (for the 38th time in nearly 12 months) confront the childishness among us and call us to grow up so that we may no longer merely belong, because belonging without becoming is merely pretending.
Today is a call to wake up and to grow up. Today is a day to afflict the comfortable. Today is a day like in Joshua’s day where the Lord calls out to you and says, “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” Will you stay seated in the first two camps? Or will you by God’s grace get up out of your seat and not just occupy space but instead take possession of and live out of who and who’s you are? Will you leave behind foolish and childish ways of living while claiming the name of Christ? Will you take a step towards growing up?
Now you might ask, “What does it mean to grow up?” If you are asking that question with me then I am hopeful for you. And God would answer you through what Paul says to the Ephesians in the 15th and 16th verses of chapter four where he says “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, who is 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.”
So how do we grow up in every way? How do we no longer live like foolish children? How do we no longer bring reproach to the name of Christ in our community? Number one, we grow up as we speak the truth in love. Number two we grow up as we submit to Christ. And number three we grow up in a growing community of love. Let’s take each of those one at a time briefly.
- We grow up as we speak the truth in love…
Paul says, “Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way.” The first thing I notice in this verse is the word speaking. Growing up has to do with learning to speak. We are not called to be like children who do not speak we are called to be grown up and we are called to grow up as we learn to speak.
But what are we called to speak? Our culture loves the rant. Social media is overflowing with one rant after the next. Relationally we love to cut loose and let it out. And we love to win the fight and be right. I assure you that this is not the kind of speaking that God is calling us to. We are called to speak the truth. And not just the truth about how we feel or what our opinions are. We are called to speak God’s truth to one another.
But herein lies another problem. We know we are called to speak. We understand conceptually that we are called to speak the truth. And we often believe that if we just speak the truth we’ve done our Christian duty and we can go home. But Paul establishes the way we are to speak the truth. We are to speak the truth in love.
But what does it look like to speak the truth in love? I think this qualifier of love has to do with motivation and presentation. We must do everything in our power to speak only when motivated by love and we must work hard to present what we say in a way that communicates that we desire what’s best for the hearer. So we grow up as we speak the truth in love.
- We grow up as we submit to Christ…
Paul says, “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, who is Christ.” Medically speaking it’s true that the head controls the body. Our body behaves because it is in submission to and controlled by the head. Children have a difficult time getting their heads in the same place as their parents. Their thinking is jacked up. Their feelings control their thoughts. And their appetites drive them to think and act in ways that are foolish instead of wise.
It’s the same way with Christians who are not yet mature or grown up. They still live according to their foolish feelings. They still live according to their immature thoughts. They still live according to their out of control appetites. This is why submission to Christ is crucial to growing up in the Christian faith. Submission is all about surrender.
Christ is our perfect example and not only that but he is our perfect substitute. Because of his sacrifice at the cross we can seek the Father’s will for our lives and the Spirit of God will help us to submit and surrender to the will of the Lord which is to become like Jesus. To speak like Jesus. To serve like Jesus. To live like Jesus. To love like Jesus. To obey like Jesus. So we grow up as we submit to Christ.
- We grow up in a growing community of love…
Paul says, “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.” Paul often refers to the church as a body with many parts. Each part of the body of Christ is uniquely shaped and molded together and held together by the presence of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is working to grow the body into a mature reflection of Jesus to the outside world.
And when each part of the body is working properly in submission to Christ as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, then each part helps the other parts to grow up too. But what’s the key ingredient here? What’s the key ingredient to growing up in a growing community? The key ingredient here is that the body builds itself up in love.
The key ingredient is love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 – 8 Paul says, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
Love is the key ingredient to growing up. We must receive the love of Christ at the cross and then put love into practical action in the world we live in. And as we do this we become part of a loving community of believers who are growing up in a growing community. So we grow up in a growing community of love.
Application…
How do we apply all of this to our lives right here and now? What do we need to believe and what do we need to obey from this sermon? If God’s Word to us today is to grow up and to no longer walk like children and if we rightly understand that part of the journey of growing up includes speaking the truth in love and submitting whole-heartedly to Christ as our King and being part of a growing community of love, then what does this look like practically? What does this look like for the married couple or the dating couple or the single person or the parent or the college student or the high school teen? Let’s take these one at a time again…
#1: Speak the truth in love…
Speaking the truth in love is a touchy topic to apply to our lives. We get these pictures in our heads of pasty pale Jesus never raising his voice and always having a passive kind smile on his face when he spoke. I assure you though, when he called religious folks a brood of snakes, white washed tombs, a den of thieves and Satan’s children he was passionate and even angry.
The other picture we get is the pop-culture rant where anyone who disagrees with us get’s smoked with searing words and verbal bullying. Neither of these images are helpful, healthy or Biblically loving. We should be neither passive nor abusive in our use of words.
Winning the fight is another common issue with learning to speak the truth in love. Sometimes we view life like a fight to be won and in the process we trample on people that have been created in the image of God and we become unloving in our pursuit of another fight to win.
The last thing I would mention is that fear is a huge detractor from speaking the truth in love. I struggle with this a bunch. I fear that people won’t like me and that I’ll be all alone if I speak the truth in love. In any of these scenarios I must practice patience and gentleness. But I must still speak. And I must strive to speak God’s truth. And I must wait to speak until my heart is motivated by love for the other person that is born out of the experience of receiving the love of Christ. Speaking the truth is not about speaking the truth… it’s about loving someone truthfully with my words. So speak the truth in love.
#2: Submit your life to Christ…
Our lives are spent making decisions on what to submit to. We can submit to our fear and hide or we can submit to God’s invitation to draw near to him. We can submit to the truth of God’s Word or we can submit to our every whim and desire. We can submit to what the culture around us puts forward as acceptable or we can submit to what God says is acceptable. Submission is about saying yes to something and no to something else.
Submission has to do with laying down my personal wants and my momentary whims. I may want to escape from the child who is throwing a fit or I may have a momentary whim to go purchase something for myself. But as a Christian I am called to walk differently than the world around me. Jesus laid down his life. He surrendered his desire for self-protection. He submitted to his Father’s will and he went to the cross for us so that our failures can be forgiven and the barrier between God and us could be removed.
So when I want to win the fight or when I want to retreat and hide or when I want to find a better job or when I want to lash out at someone who has hurt me, I can surrender those things to Christ in prayer as I search his Word for direction and ask the Spirit to give me the faith to submit and obey. So submit your life to Christ as your King.
#3: Become a member of a growing community of love…
In some sense this third point is the natural outcome of you and I doing the first two things. When we speak the truth in love and when we surrender to Christ we create a growing community of love. But this last one also takes obedience. It’s hard work to stay engaged in a growing community. We get tired. We get lazy. Other things compete for our time. We get distracted. And sometimes we just flat out don’t want to be around people.
But the scriptures are clear that we are to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb. 10:24 – 25) We are commanded to be part of a growing community of love on a regular basis. And the book of Acts seems to make it clear that the early church practiced this in large group gatherings and small group gatherings.
So don’t make excuses about not being in a growing community of love. Make it a priority because it is vital to your spiritual growth. And not only that, but when you do not take this word seriously you rob your brothers and sisters of the gift that you are meant to be to them. So become a member of a growing community of love.
Conclusion…
In conclusion I want to draw your attention back to where we started. I am concerned that the reputation of our church is not glorifying to God. Reputation is the story of your character and your character is the story of your integrity. This is why God through the lips of Joshua called Israel to “choose you this day whom you will serve.”
In the context of Joshua he actually begins with a walk down memory lane. He reminds Israel of the many false gods they and their ancestors gave themselves to. He reminds them of God’s miraculous mercy and his redemptive work on their behalf. They are standing in the Promised Land after hundreds of years of ups and downs as a community. God had taken them out of captivity, through the waters of the river and through the fires of persecution. And on top of that God had silenced and defeated their enemies so that they could take possession of the Promised Land.
Can you imagine what it would be like to be given an entire nation filled with cities you didn’t build, vineyards you didn’t plant and homes you didn’t pay for? Sounds like a slice of Heaven right? Now can you imagine just sitting down in all of that blessing and complaining or joking or stubbornly refusing to do what God asked of you or even (God forbid) continuing to live the way you used to when you were in captivity?
This is why Joshua tells the people to choose you this day whom you will serve. And the response of the people is overwhelming. “YES!! We will serve the Lord!” But Joshua’s response back to them is mind blowing because he’s like “no you won’t! You won’t serve him. You are a broken and rebellious people. In a few days you’ll be back to chasing after the false gods of yesterday.” And the people actually argue with him and they’re like “No way dude! We are in! We are committed! We will hold the line and serve God to the death.”
So Joshua’s response is “Well then… I’ll accept your commitment. Your own words will be witnesses against you. And in fact if your words aren’t enough… here’s a rock. This rock has heard everything you’ve said. I’ll set it up right here in the middle of the camp as a reminder to you of the words that witness against you should you ever decide to rebel again.”
So my questions is, who will you choose to serve today? God or your false gods? Will you choose to grow up today? Or will you stay in the seat of your childlike foolishness? Christ is waiting to receive you. His forgiveness and love is never-ending. He sees every failure you’ve ever made, every failure you are making and every failure you’ll ever make. And yet he loves you completely and furiously. And his invitation to you is not just to come and belong to his family. His invitation to you is to come and belong and to let the evidence of your belonging be proven in how you are becoming just like him.
Will you submit to Christ today? Will you submit and surrender all of your thoughts, all of your hurts, all of your emotions, all of your dreams and all of your future plans to Christ? Will you receive this truth spoken in love? Will become more engaged in a growing community of love?
Choose you this day whom you will serve. Your thoughts, your words and your actions are a witness against you. This rock is a witness against you.