Title Ephesians 04:1-12 Faith and Service
Contents
Faith and service (Ephesians 4:1-12)
1. Introduction:
Last week, I read in the newspaper that Koreans doing business in Orange County discriminate against Vietnamese people and become a problem. Discrimination against Mexican employees has become a problem for a while, but if you prejudice and ignore the fact that we went to help Vietnam when there was a war, it is considered an ignorant act that does not know the lessons of true history.
A chronic problem America has right now is race. Above all, the conflict between black and white is deep. White people were forced to seize, sell, buy, and abuse black people. Still, the pain does not end as they continue to be prejudiced, emotionally ignored, and socially discriminated against because they were once slaves. Weren't we Koreans the ones who broke the shrimp in that fight? White people should not ignore black people, even out of a sinful heart, but serve and give. Because of that, the conflict is still deeply pitted and continues with pain.
Where there is no service, there is pain, conflict, and dryness, but where there is service, there is unified peace, order, and abundant life. Through that service, we mature and our surroundings become a truly livable environment.
2. body
First, it is to perfect the saints (verse 12).
Perfection is the same as saying to make you mature. It means that you are responsible for making them mature soon.
We all go through the process of growing up from a child to an adult. No one suddenly grows up to be an adult. Growing up, you need someone to nurture you. First, they are parents, relatives, teachers, seniors, friends, and they are nurtured by the surrounding environment. If you do not meet a good caregiver and environment, you will grow up into a distorted and unhealthy life.
God has given the believers who first believed in the mission of nurturing the weak and young saints so that they can grow to maturity and completeness.
If you meet a good leader, good church member, or friend of good faith while living your life of faith, your weak faith will grow and mature, but if you meet a wrong leader, unmature church member and friend, you will grow up immature and crooked. Therefore, we should strive to be good leaders, good seniors and friends. In addition, it is important to know what kind of mature believers they are, and to socialize and nurture them.
In 1 Corinthians 3:1 Paul made a distinction between the mature faith and the childish faith.
What does childlike faith look like?
1. This is a person who has converted and started to believe in Jesus, but his old habits and thoughts of the flesh mainly affect his life. That is why we always need someone's help to maintain our faith life. You cannot lead a life of faith on your own. You should always nip like a child, praise them, hug them and help them, and clean up spills and breaks. This is how the early Christian life begins.
2. Also, they do not yet have the strength to help others religiously. That's not to say that I don't want to do it, but it doesn't help. Because it's still weak. Someone is always with you and you have to take responsibility, but the temperament of the old person easily shows up, and soon you become hostile, misunderstood, jealous, and turn away. This is characteristic of the faith of infancy, regardless of long church attendance.
The writer of Hebrews writes, "Because of the long days you should be teachers, but again you must be taught by someone what the basics of the word of God are, and you have become those who eat milk and cannot eat solid things" (Hebrews 5:12). are speaking
As time goes by, everything gets old and worn out by itself, but it does not mature by itself. Faith can mature only when you are born again by the Holy Spirit and then continuously be nurtured by someone. Just like babies born and fed by their mother's milk to grow, but if they are left without food, even if they are born, their faith and soul will become malnourished and die of malnutrition, just like children in Africa or North Korea starving.
So Peter earnestly calls out to the saints.
"Like newborn babies, lust for pure, spiritual milk, so that you may grow through it to salvation. If you have tasted the mercy of the Lord, do so" (1 Peter 2:2-3).
If there is a big wish for me, it is to become a church full of believers who long for spiritual milk. That is why I want the whole church to become a church that devotes all its strength to learning, nurturing, and being born anew in Jesus Christ.
Just as a mother nurtures a child by holding her baby in her arms and giving her whole being along with her warm body temperature, nurturing the Word is not about teaching and learning with the head, but about sharing spiritual milk, that is, holy faith, character, and love leading to salvation with the Word. when it grows. As a result, those who share become more mature through sharing, and those who are nurtured grow through receiving.
Even if they do not hold the Bible and teach, those who believe first will influence new believers in their personalities and lives. The appearance of those who first believed is reflected in the new believers and they are discerning. 'I think he's a really good believer' or 'He's kind of weird'. 'He just talks'. I am young, but I express what I feel spiritually like a child.
Second, the first thing that believers should do is to grow young believers to a place of service with joy.
Here, the Bible tells us that the saints who have been perfected and those who have been nurtured should take on the responsibility of service. When a young believer who has not developed enough faith is entrusted with a heavy duty of service, at first he tries to bear it, but soon he collapses. Also, because they do not yet know the secret of the religious blessings that come from service, they cannot bear the responsibility with joy. It's just heavy and hard. Because the burden is so heavy, they often put themselves to the test and put others to the test, often causing trouble for the church.
For this reason, the church must be diligent in training to entrust the responsibilities of service to those who have been trained in the Word and the life of faith, and the members must actively participate in this training. Service is important, but it cannot come before training in the Word and character of faith. When this order is changed, chaos will come in your life of faith, crowds will come, and your faith will become sick. So, our church prepares a parenting program every semester and tries to nurture the members.
Below Revelation 3:1, the Holy Spirit rebukes the church in Sardis. "You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead". He rebukes him for his incomplete conduct. At this point, it is a big deal. that he is seriously ill. If you believe that you are alive when you are dead, that you are alive when you are not perfect, that you know when you do not know, you know that you are strong when you are weak, and that you know that you are enough when you are lacking, this is not a common misunderstanding, and you are not usually suffering from a serious illness. To say that our deeds are not perfect means that the members are not living the life God wants them to be, and that they are spending their energy on things that are not church-like, and that it is because they are not properly nurtured and are not mature.
That is why all those who serve in the church put worship first, prayer first, and word first. Through this, we must first know the will of God and receive spiritual strength to serve. Teachers must first participate in the worship service and nurture them, and those who serve in the kitchen have a heavy responsibility, but they must first worship well before serving.
No matter what kind of service you do, your priorities will change and you will experience difficulties in your life of faith and will not last long. It's like building a house. If you build a foundation well and build a house on it, it will not collapse. If you build a heavy house without a foundation, it will eventually collapse.
Such a church, like the church in Sardis, lives in an illusion and becomes a church that receives the rebuke of the Holy Spirit. And you will die. The Bible tells us how to recover from this condition.
First, you must wake up. You have to come to your senses and look at yourself.
Second, we must remember the grace God has given us (3:3b)
Third, He tells us to repent of what is reflected in the Word.
Fourth, be obedient - You must obey not only with words but also with your actions and actions.
that's the only way to live
An elder from Korea, Koshin-pa, came to an inner healing seminar before.
He was a treasurer of a large church in Korea, wealthy, and a high-ranking person in society. While attending the meeting and receiving many graces, he sincerely looked back at himself before God and repented of not being able to serve the church right as an elder, hating other members of the church, and not living as a true father of faith by giving his wife and children authority.
With his repentance, the great grace of the Holy Spirit came upon him. He cried so much for each other whenever he prayed for each other, experiencing great grace that he did not know whether he was inside or outside the body. As many people listened to his prayer, their hearts were warmed and they were moved to heal their bodies and minds.
3 outgoing horses;
The work of faith appears when people who know God's grace and are trained work. When the works of encouragement and healing of faith appear, beautiful virtues are realized. That is to establish the church, the body of Christ. Our lives are filled with him. This is achieved when we fully build up the saints through serving each other and grow into people of true service through training.
Dear saints,
Let's be servants. This is the purpose of life to which God has called us and the purpose for which He has called us by faith. Let us serve together.