Oh, Grow Up!

[Before dismissing children to children’s church, take wireless microphone around and ask some young boys and girls: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”]

As we gather with friends and family members over the coming holidays weeks, that is a question that might be posed several times to some of the young boys and girls. I can remember aunts or uncles, grandparents or long lost friends of my parents asking me that question as a child – and I remember my answer – “I want to be a missionary!” Later in life, when our Nicole was in first grade, she told us that she wanted to be the first missionary on the moon! (Just keeping up the family tradition, since our first ancestors in America were missionaries to the New World from Scotland!)

It’s not unusual at all to ask a little one what they want to be, and the answers are not unusual either. (Unless they say they want to be a missionary – that’s a little unusual!) Some typical answers might be:

How would you feel if I came up to you, and asked you that question? I’ve heard that question asked in a way that was not very pleasant –to an adult who was doing something immature, and a person around them wanted to make a point, they might ask, “So what do you want to be WHEN YOU GROW UP??!!”

It’s really quite sad when a person never grows up. They live a selfish, immature life where the whole universe revolves around them, and their needs, and their happiness. No one else matters, no other needs are as great as theirs, they know what they want, and they want it now!

It is equally sad when a Christian never grows up. There is a thread of frustration through the New Testament when it comes to immature believers. In I Corinthians 3, Paul says, “I’d like to be talking to you in more mature terms, but you can’t handle it – you should be eating spiritual meat by now, but I have to give you milk, you’re not ready for solid food!” The same frustration shows up in Hebrews chapter 5, where the writer says,

You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things a beginner must learn about the Scriptures. You are like babies who drink only milk and cannot eat solid food.[i]

Peter, in writing to believers, urges them to desire the “sincere milk of the word” but with a purpose – so that they can grow by it – obviously milk is needed for a baby, but every baby is expected to grow up. He later says, “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…”

Paul speaks often of growing up and maturing in our walk of faith. His closing statement in many of his letters refers to “growing in grace and in knowledge.” In Colossians 2:6&7 he says, “continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught.” The idea of a tree being planted, rooted, and growing is evident. In I Corinthians 4:20, he writes,

20 Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.[ii]

A few years ago there was a TV ad campaign that featured kids who sang, “I wanna be like Mike,” and presumably eat some certain hot dog or wear Hanes underwear or drink Gatorade, or whatever he was selling at the time. For a Christian, there is one thing that we want to be when we grow up – “we want to be like Christ.”

There is one all encompassing goal for every believer and for every church. It is to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. In Romans 8:29 we read, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” God has stated that His purpose is for all of us to become like His Son, Jesus Christ. The goal that God has for each of us in life is to become spiritually mature – to “grow up.” This is true for individuals and for churches.

Last week we learned that God has placed all the ingredients necessary within the church in exactly the proportions and measures that He Himself knows is best. In today’s text we find the reason that Christ has carefully placed each of us in the body as He has. Read along with me from Ephesians 4, beginning with verse 11:

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

The overriding theme of these verses is maturity – the reason Jesus has placed all the ingredients for the church in just the right order and just the right measurements is so that each of us will grow up!

Very quickly, I want us to look at two aspects of this growth: First, “What does maturity look like?” Secondly, “How does this growth happen?”

When a newborn, like Haley Heron, is taken to the doctor for a check up, one of the things that is tracked very carefully is the growth rate of the child. They measure the baby’s length, weight and head size to insure that the child is progressing normally.

In the same way, there are indicators within the church that growth is taking place. Here are the measurements that can be taken to assess the maturity and growth in the church:

The work of ministry is being done (vs. 11). In a mature church, each person recognizes their gift - Paul has just listed several before this statement – and each one does his part. When teachers are teaching, and pray-ers are praying, and mercy givers are giving mercy, and craftsmen are using their skill for the kingdom, and every person is using the gift they have for the work of ministry – the result is that the entire body of Christ is built up. Here at Gateway Community Church we have a whole team of people who are willing to help you discover and use your gift. You can go to our website and complete a Spiritual Gift assessment, and immediately get your results – and we will help you get linked up with a ministry where you can begin to do the work of ministry.

There is one very important thing that must be noticed before we move on to the next indicator of maturity. The work of ministry is NOT done by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. It is NOT done by them! The work of ministry is done by the “saints,” the believers who make up the church. The role of the pastors, teachers, etc is to equip them for the work. All too often congregations make the mistake of thinking that they hire a minister to do the ministry – that is an unbiblical concept – Each believer is a minister – the pastor has the responsibility to equip those ministers to do the work of ministry, and when he does not do it effectively, the church is immature and stunted in its growth.

Secondly, there is unity (vs 13). The second indicator of maturity is actually one that naturally grows out of the work of ministry being done by the saints – there is unity of faith and knowledge. When each one is doing his or her part, and using the gifts and talents that God has given in an effective manner – the entire church grows stronger –when teachers are teaching and people with the gift of hospitality are hosting, and leaders are leading – the entire body is knit together in unity and there is an increased depth of knowledge.

The third indicator is completion (vs 13). Paul says that when we have this unity of faith and knowledge that we grow toward “perfection” – which means “completion.” Paul uses a wonderful phrase to describe this perfection. He says we will grow up “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” He uses three quantifying words to convey the concept of completion. The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Do you think he wants us to measure up? You bet he does! Each of those words speaks to maturity – to completion. Paul’s desire is that we would all experience all that Christ is – the length, the height, and the fullness of Christ – the fact that we will not attain it in this life is irrelevant – The point is that the Christian is to press forward with the goal of being conformed to His image day by day. This is further stated in verse 15. We are to grow up in every way into Him – a life that is so centered on Christ that He becomes the central focus, the ultimate goal and the primary object of our life – everything revolves around our relationship with Christ.

Another indicator is Stability (vs 14.) Maturity in the body of Christ leads to a steady, firm foundation for life. Paul says that we will no longer be like a shipped tossed to and fro by the winds of false doctrine. The Greek word used means “whirled about in a way that makes one dizzy.” Folks, we must have stability in the church. In the months to come, the attack on the foundations of faith in Christ will come under increasing attack. If you thought the DaVinci Code caused a storm when it came out in book form, just wait for the movie! The claims are outrageous – utterly fictional and false – but millions of people already believe them, and more will be swayed by the “cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” Without maturity, we as individuals and we as a church are in grave danger of being tossed around.

We start the process of maturity when the people are equipped (vs. 12). The first and primary responsibility lies with the leadership of the church to be doing the equipping of the saints – because with out the equipping, the work of ministry does not happen, as a result there is not unity of faith and knowledge, which means there is not completion or shaping to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and as a result we are easily tossed to and from by the deceit of the world.

Last week the leadership of Gateway Community Church presented to you the results of 5 months of work – seeking God’s direction toward that goal. We recognize our responsibility, and we are poised to meet it! In the coming months, we are going to be redoubling our efforts to equip each and every member of this church to do the work of ministry – to build unity, to move us toward completion and to place us on firm theological ground. I urge you to be ready to respond when you are approached and encouraged to join in this effort.

Secondly, we fuel the process of maturity when we speak the truth in love (vs. 15). Many of us have heard that phrase before, and we sometimes struggle with speaking the truth because we are afraid to hurt another person, or offend them – so, in love, we often allow them to keep living in error – in an absence of truth. We cannot allow that to continue. Look closely at verse 15. There is a direct correlation between “speaking the truth in love” and “growing up in all things…” One cannot happen without the other. We will never mature – we will never grow up into Christ if we are not willing to speak the truth, with love, to each other. If we are in error – we need to be confronted about it. If someone is living in a way that is counter to the word of God – we must be willing to lovingly bring them into line with Scripture, and we must be willing to hear correction that is brought into our lives as well.

Growth is not optional for a child. No matter how much we might want to keep our children young and innocent for as long as possible – they are going to grow – and we have a responsibility as parents to make sure they grow and mature. If we do not care for them, nurture them and train them to be responsible members of society then we are negligent as parents – the same is true of the church. We have a responsibility to be growing ourselves, and nurturing each other toward maturity in Christ. It’s great to be a child of God – there is no greater privilege than to know the Creator of the Universe as your Savior and Father – but it is unacceptable to remain a baby in the family.

If you have not been born into the family of God – it all starts there. You can never hope to know the blessings of being a child of God unless you have been born into His family by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. He loved you so much that he suffered and died to pay for your adoption into the family of God. If you have not been born again into His family – do it today. Simply tell God, in your own terms, that you want to be his child – you want to be forgiven, freed from sin, and to grow up to be like Christ.

If you have already been born into the family – how’s your growth rate? Are you using your gifts to do the work of ministry? Are you growing deeper in faith and knowledge toward completion and Christ-likeness? Are you on firm ground theologically – ready to face the deceitful schemes of the world?

May God give us the blessing of a growing, maturing body. Pray diligently for your church – for your leaders as they equip, and for each of us that we will speak the truth in love and grow in every way into Him who is the head – even Christ Jesus our Lord.