Title: Spiritual Maturity/Ephesians 4:11-16
God has called us to different offices, so that we may perfect the saints, do the work of service, and build up the body of Christ. Therefore, all officers and members of the church should focus on building the church.
When the church is built up, the church grows to the measure of Christ and becomes like Christ. Therefore, each saint must fulfill the role of a letter of Christ and grow up to the size of Christ, revealing the image of Christ. A person who has grown up to the measure of Christ is a mature believer and can glorify God.
1. We must imitate Christ
We have to admit that we are all different because God created each human being different. But we must not set ourselves apart from each other, but be united in unity in such diversity (v. 16).
In Ephesians 2:4-5, there are seven ways the saints become one. Therefore, believers must keep what the Holy Spirit has made to become one, and those who make such efforts are perfect believers before God. In order to build a church community, we must sacrifice ourselves and put our efforts into unity.
The leaders of the 21st century are those who are good at uniting and uniting, and those who can gather a lot of people are those with skills.
The way believers become one is through faith in the Son of God and knowing Him (verse 13). To become one in the text refers to the unity to be achieved in the future. It means that believing and knowing have not yet been fulfilled, but will be accomplished when the church achieves spiritual maturity.
Belief in verse 13 is a personal response to God's Word, and knowing is what the children of God believe. Faith and knowledge must become one. If believing refers to the content of Christian theology, that is, the way of faith, to know refers to the experiential knowledge of Christ acquired through daily life. Therefore, what the apostle is talking about here is to become a mature church in the content of confessional faith in Jesus Christ and personal fellowship with him.
Thus, believing and knowing come together, and the one who possesses it grows to maturity to the measure of Christ, and the one who has matured becomes one in unity. An immature person cannot unite.
The reason the Church of God must unite is to evangelize to unbelievers. For example, if there are three or four churches together in one building, it is not beneficial to preach the gospel to unbelievers. In order to evangelize to unbelievers, the church must be united, and the local churches must also unite.
2. We must reach the full measure of Christ
To grow up to the measure of Christ (verse 15) means to have the experiential knowledge of Christ.
The image of God lost from Adam and Eve can be restored through personal fellowship with Christ. This is the truth of the Bible. By meeting Christ, we are restored to the image of God in Christ.
To accomplish this, God requires of us the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22ff). Those who bear the nine fruits of the Spirit are those who resemble Christ. If we have produced the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, we are mature believers who have reached the measure of Christ. The nine fruits of the Holy Spirit are the direction in which each of us must grow with the power of Christ.
In a world where children of darkness live, we must examine whether the church, a member of Christ, has reached the place of Christ, whether all the local churches are bearing the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, and whether we are trying to imitate the character of Christ.
The Lord wants to see His mature character through us and our church today. As church workers and stewards of the kingdom of God, we must become children of God up to the measure of Christ.
3. Spiritual maturity must be in the truth
An immature saint is like a child (verse 14). Young children do not play long with one toy. I keep looking for new things and want to change. Also, small children are easily deceived. However, this childish attribute can be found in immature saints. Such a spiritually childlike person is not worthy to be a servant of the Lord.
The apostle Paul clearly required mature believers when he referred to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. He said that we must come to the measure of Christ in the truth.
The truth must be in love, and the mature church must be full of love. The Apostle Paul tells us to walk in truth in love (verse 15). The church cannot be the church without the truth, and the church cannot grow without love.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Mature saints don't happen all of a sudden. We must wait long in Christ. In the name of the Lord, I earnestly wish in the name of the Lord that the church, which became the body of God, will be fully completed and that you will become a beautiful child of God who continues to grow until the day you can fully dedicate yourself to God.