Goal of the Gifts

Gracious God, we confess that we have longed too much for the comforts of this world. We have loved the gifts more than the giver. In your mercy, help us to see that all the things we pine for are shadows, but you are substance; that they are quicksands, but you are mountain; that they are shifting, but you are anchor. We plead your forgiveness on the merits of Jesus Christ. Accept his worthiness for our unworthiness, his sinlessness for our transgressions, his fullness for our emptiness, his glory for our shame, his righteousness for our dead works, his death for our life. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Assurance of Faith

Galatians 4:4-7

But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters. And because you are sons and daughters, God has set the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father!’ So through God you are no longer a slave but a son and daughter, and if a son or daughter then an heir.

In Christ, you are forgiven, adopted into God’s family, an heir to the kingdom!

Confession of Faith

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church*, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Worship

80 How Deep the Fathers Love

361 By Faith

196 I will Glory in my Redeemer

Prayers of the People

Prayer Request

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Goal of the Gifts

Turn again this week to Eph 4

We have spent a few weeks looking at the gifts given to the church

the gifts of leaders

who gave them

their function and applicability to our current situation

and how we are to use them, building up the church and doing the work of ministry

Now we shift to look at what is the goal of the gifts

Ephesians 4:7–14 ESV

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 the one who also 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 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.

Last week we concluded with the understanding that the building up of the body can reflect two aspects

increasing the mass

or edifying or strengthening

So this week as we return to the text we see Paul flushing out the goal or purpose of the building up

Ephesians 4:13–14 ESV

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.

So those given in leadership are to utilize their gifts, to train up the body so that it can do the work of ministry until we attain to maturity, and avoid the pitfalls of childishness

Maturity

I am sure that all of us have been accused of being immature in our lives.

Well Paul here in a single sentence tells all of the church for all time to knock it off

He is pointing out that we have been gifted with these great leaders, and that if they do their job and train us up properly, then we should mature

we should have a goal of maturity

What marks our our maturity though

"unity of faith”

Paul says that the gifts are to be building us up unitl we reach the unity of the faith

that is quite a tall order, in principle the faith is already unified, God laid down a perfect doctrine of salvation and faith for us, it is in our practice that we so miserably fail

The Purpose of God: Ephesians Diversity of Gifts

How ironic it is that the very unity of the faith, and unity of the knowledge of God, is in fact the very thing that causes schisms. Paul here is speaking doctrinally—there is but one true gospel to which all believers should adhere. How desperately sad is the fact that the church is known by schism, not unity; ignorance, not knowledge; and indecisiveness rather than maturity. How it must break God’s heart to see us continue in such a poverty stricken condition in light of what he has done, stands ready to do, has the resources to accomplish, and has defined as our calling in Christ

Sometimes we can let the idea of perfection get in our way of trying at all

Obviously this should be a goal of the application of the gifts

this can sometimes mean heated discussion and arguments over what is true and what is not

"and knowledge of the Son of God”

which leads to an even loftier goal

not only unity of our faith, but unity in what we know about the Son of God

so that means more debates

I know for many this seems an almost unbearable thing to think about

the problem is not the debates, but how sinfully we do them, how we take them too far

Deu 29:29 “29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

God gave us each other, gifted each of us differently so that we might grow in our understanding of Him, He has revealed all He wants us to know of Him, and our job is to grow in knowledge and faith, then pass that on to the next generation so they don’t have to begin over

for as Peter proclaimed at Pentecost “this promise is for you and your children”

"measure of the stature of the fullness of God”

so we have been gifted for the purpose of growth into maturity

and what is the full measure of that maturity?

to the “measure of the stature of the fullness of God”

I cannot tell you that I can provide a perfectly clear understanding of what this means

that is because I believe it to mean a goal that is far beyond our own capability to attain to

it might well mean the other side of glory

in that case it means for all human existence, which would make sense

We are to equip saints, do the work of ministry, build up the body, come closer and closer together in our faith, and grow in knowledge about Him until He returns for us.

this surely precludes a sedentary faith, content with what we know, content with what we have done, content with any aspect of our walk with Christ

we are to set our goals so high because we know that we ourselves are not the ones carrying ourselves to the finish line

Childishness

sometimes the best way to describe something is to describe the opposite

just so we are clear Paul gives us the opposite of what we are called to do

eph 4:14

Ephesians 4:14 ESV

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.

He tells us where we are and what we must overcome to accomplish the goals given

“no longer children”

sometimes childhood is sorely maligned, looked down upon. This is not what Paul is doing here

Childhood has its place, both in growing in physical and mental stature, but also in spiritual childhood

The basis of our entire worldview is set during childhood, and is very hard to change in adulthood

so we must go through a period of childhood, but it is also important to recognize that period in your life as a period of preparation, not waste it, not see it as a period of frivolity.

more importantly as Paul tells us here, we are not to remain in childhood, rather mentally or spiritually

childhood is a great period of growth, and growth means work, and when we avoid that work, though we physically grow out of child hood, we do not do so mentally or spiritually.

therefore we are no longer in childhood, but rather we are childish in our adulthood

Christ said we must come to Him like a child. Meaning that when we are outside of the faith, we think of ourselves as mature and intelligent, we have it all figured out, but truly we know nothing, and need to humble ourselves and begin again. Coming to the foot of the cross ready to learn again as a child.

But nowhere does scripture call us to remain in childhood spiritually. In fact Paul admonishes the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3:13 ESV

13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

And the author of Hebrews goes even further, chastising them severely for their lack of growth in the faith

Hebrews 5:12–6:3 ESV

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits.

and these are the pitfalls of childishness

"every wind of doctrine”

“tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine”

the word doctrine is merely a way of saying teaching or instruction, so Paul is telling us that as a child we are susceptible to be pulled this way and that by different teachings regarding Christ.

the leaders that have been given to the church are to equip us, we are to receive that equipping, growing into maturity so that we can avoid this pitfall

another note for us as a church and as leader in that church, since we know that the proclivity of the child, both actual children and Christians who are children in their faith, is to be susceptible to false teachings it is our responsibility to prevent that and ensure they are recieving the best instruction

this is the reason behind our covenanting as a body to raise up the children, and care for the new Christian’

we cannot simply baptize them, give them mediocre instruction, and then just hope they hear what they need to hear on Sunday mornings and one night a week

growing out of spiritual childhood into spiritual maturity requires rigorous instruction

"human cunning and crafty deceit”

“by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

This tells us one thing, there are those within and without the church that purposely seek to lead young believers astray

This is exactly what the serpent did with Adam and Eve

It should be no suprise that the enemy still desires to thwart God’s plan.

We are called to strive for unity of Faith and knowledge of the Son of God, what better way to stand in the way of that goal, but by the use of people who willing decieve

Growing and Guarding

though I think Paul was aware that he was speaking in lofty terms that could easily apply to the whole of the church for all time, what we call the universal “or catholic” church, sometimes referred to as the invisible church, he was also giving direction to the local or visible church

direction for us in how to conduct ourselves, how to build up the body of Christ, how to guard ourselves from that which would prevent us from following Paul’s guidance here

Growing

Paul calls us to grow in faith, grow in knowledge, to strive for maturity

He is speaking to you and I individually, He is speaking to each of our families, and He is speaking to us collectively as a church

Many will preach pointing to the individual in the seat telling them of the responsibility they have to seek out their own growth

Paul in tying this growth with the gifts of leadership given to the church. He is telling those who hold the position of pastor/teacher/elder that they are the ones responsible for the growth of the members of the church

I cannot make you learn, if you fail to put in the work to learn you are guilty of the laziness that has prevented you from learning, but I am responsible

this is the nature of headship, this is the nature of how God has designed us to function

the elders in the church are responsible for equipping the family so that they may grow in Christ

and in turn the fathers in the household are responsible for ensuring the growth of their wives and children

this is the nature of headship, this is the nature of how God has designed us to functiontf those who hold headship in that group

Guarding

this growth, this acceptance of responsibility by those gifted as Paul has indicated is what bring health to a body of believers

we are to work covanentally to raise up the children, to “catechize the new believer

we as a church must build and foster an environment in which it is known that it is unacceptable to remain in a childish state of faith, even for our youth, we are to spur them on to continuous growth within their capacity

If we should fail

if we should fail in these areas, the consequences are dire

division, apostasy, false beliefs and teachers will all become part of our lives and landscape

the enemy loves to prey on the weak, he loves the believer who avoids seeking out truth and knowledge, because they are so easy to manipulate

Conclusion

For the one who has yet to come to Christ, the one who has yet to surrender their life to Christ, I invite you today do not wait. He has given all of Himself to pay for all of you. He simply calls you to believe and repent. Without that first step of faith most of what you heard here today would make little sense. So if that is where you are today turn to Him in faith, it takes no effort on your part as He has called you to trust in Him with a childlike faith. Look to the message of Jesus on the cross, and know in your heart that He was up there for you, and trust that because of that you will be saved.

For those who walk in Christ daily Paul has made it clear to us, we are not to continue to walk with that simple childlike faith all our lives. He has revealed Himself in His word, He has revealed His will and His plan in the word. We must turn to that word, find what He is calling us to do for Him and respond in obedience. Respond with a hunger for the truth and knowledge that will deepen your faith, your relationship with Christ.

As families we must work tirelessly to grow our children and our children's children in the knowledge and faith in the Lord. Shaping the entirety of our home around God’s word.

And as a church we must examine ourselves and ask if we are creating an environment of life long learning, never satisfied with the last bit of growth we had, when we know that the knowledge to be learned of our Lord is endless.

Benediction & Doxology

Closing Prayer

If anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to catch me afterwards. If your questioning where you are in your relationship with Christ come speak to me let me help you find out.

A quick reminder we do have plates in the back for anyone who desires to worship through giving today. I think we often think of giving as a compulsion, forgetting it is part of our worship of the Lord,and Scripture tells us to give cheerfully, “for if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable, according to what one has, not according to what one does not have” The plate to the right is general giving, and the one to the left is specific for our missions giving.

Join us as we sing the doxology:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye Heavenly Host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

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