02.20.2011 How to Become a Mature Christian

02.20.2011 Grace Summit Sermon - How to Grow to Become a Mature Christian - by Jeff Yackley from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

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Today’s scripture reading, Ephesians 4:11, refers to any Christian as a SAINT – Tom Short is a campus preacher who speaks at HSLT – and he is known for referring to his Christian friends as ‘Saint’…

At HSLT, Tom Short talked a bit about his debate with Al Goldstein –Tom referred to Al Goldstein as the most sick, reprobate person he ever met – filthy mouthed – self-centered, narcissistic – take the worst person you ever met and multiply it by infinity – and Tom wondered if Goldstein was still alive. Well – I did a little investigation – and found out that Al Goldstein is still alive – however – he had a twin brother – Sal Goldstein, who was almost as nasty as his twin who recently died. Now, Al Goldstein had heard that Tom Short often referred to people as “saints.” – So he offered Tom 1.3 million dollars to do the eulogy – on the condition that Tom would say that Sal Goldstein was a saint. Well, after talking Al Goldstein up to 3 million dollars, Tom agreed to do the eulogy – with the condition that he call Sal Goldstein a ‘saint.’

The day of the funeral came – and Tom got up and said – Sal Goldstein was one of the most sick, reprobate people I ever met. He was a liar, a cheat, a thief – filthy-mouthed, narcissistic – take the worst person you ever met and multiply it by a gazillion – but compared to AL Goldstein, Sal Goldstein was a saint (wait for laughter – but not too long!).

Mike has been going through the Sermon on the Mount – but we are going to take a break from that today. I considered talking about money and calling it The Sermon on the Amount…

Actually, what I’d like to focus on today is the role of us – the congregation – in the church and in the community. God has positioned each of us in such a way so as to be able to meet certain needs that only we can meet. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in the State of the Church address – we would like Grace Summit to be a place to equip you to meet needs. We would also like to provide opportunities for you to meet needs.

During the weeks leading up to Easter, we are going to be doing a special series – Extreme Makeover, Hope Edition – and the pastoral team is really excited because we feel that this is going to unleash this congregation – the body – to fulfill their calling and to enable each of us to meet needs – and for each of us to grow up into a deeper maturity as Christians.

Let’s pray…

11 And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of 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 a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him, who is the head, [even] Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. 17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one [of you,] with his neighbor, for we are members of one another

I would say that this church has a greater percentage of people participating in ministry than most churches in the United States. I would also say that we have a lot of room for growth at enabling and equipping you to do ministry. Each of us has God given gifts and talents that we can use for God’s purposes. I’d like to take a few minutes to dissect this passage so we can have a better idea of what it takes to grow up in all aspects into Him.

11 And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

First of all, it is Christ who gives some as apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers – as gifts to the church – and he does this to equip the saints for the work of service. Historically, when I’ve heard the word, saints, I’ve thought of those who have gone before – who are now part of that great cloud of witnesses – people who are already in heaven. But Paul is talking about the regular Christian – ‘God’s people’ is how the NIV renders it – and it is interesting that it is not the pastor doing the work of service – it is the pastor who is equipping ALL OF US to do the works of service – to the building up of the body of Christ – the church.

Building up of the body of Christ – you can look at this in a few ways:

1) Building up the church – corporately – reaching the lost and getting them involved in the Body of Christ

2) Building up of individuals – encouraging, strengthening, helping individual people to grow up in their faith – to ‘make disciples’ – and especially to make disciples who make disciples.

3) Another translation for building up is ‘mending’ or ‘repairing’ – there are a lot of broken people out there and in here – and we need help to be mended and repaired and restored to our proper use and service for God

1 Peter 4:10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

The implication here is that each one HAS RECEIVED a special gift that we are given – specifically with the purpose of serving one another.

Continuing in v.13: until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

1) We are most like Christ when we serve

2) Serving brings unity

This means that when we serve – when we are equipped to minister and to build up the church, to make disciples and to mend and repair people – it helps us to GROW UP – to become mature, to become more like Jesus. It also helps us to be united in faith and to grow in knowledge of Jesus and to become more like Him.

Richard Strauss wrote:

“God is not trying to produce successful Christian business people who can impress the world with their money and influence. He is not trying to fashion successful church leaders who can influence people with their organizational and administrative skills. Nor is He trying to fashion great orators who can move people with persuasive words. He wants to reproduce in His followers the character of His son—His love, His kindness, His compassion, His holiness, His humility, His unselfishness, His servant attitude, His willingness to suffer wrongfully, His ability to forgive, and so much more that characterized His life on earth.”

14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

How many of you have been out in the ocean when a wave you didn’t expect came along? You can really get thrown around. The implication here is that there are people out there – lots of people, who would like to trick you and cause you to believe lies – to believe doctrines that aren’t true. They are tricky and crafty and scheming lies.

15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him, who is the head, [even] Christ,

The word for SPEAKING – can be rendered PRACTICING or simply BEING TRUTHFUL in love – is a strong contrast to the tricks and deceit and lies of the preceding verse. Their deceit was not just in what they spoke but in what they did – so our love should be beyond what we speak to what we do and what we ARE. And again – as we do this, we grow up – we become more mature – in all aspects of Jesus.

Truth and love have to go hand in hand.

Warren Wiersbe said “Truth without love is brutality. Love without truth is hypocrisy.”

16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Each individual part – properly working – causes the growth of the body

3) When we serve, the church is built up

3) When we serve – we are built up

4) Serving helps us to ‘grow up’ in the faith – into maturity to be more like Christ.

I think many people are stagnant in their walk with God because they are not serving in the capacity that God intended. In our heart of hearts, we feel fulfilled when we are challenged to use the gifts that we have been given to serve others – and if we are not doing that, we are like children who don’t grow up. I’m reminded of 1 Cor. 15: 34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak [this] to your shame.

It is time to get serious about serving.

17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

First of all – what is the THEREFORE there for? This calls for action – to NOT be like the way we used to be – not thinking through things – not allowing our hearts to become calloused.

Those of you who play guitar know about callouses. When the fingers of the left hand press the strings down, at first it hurts. But then the skin begins to thicken on the ends of the fingers – and eventually, the fingers become so calloused that it no longer hurts. The fingers become unfeeling. When we allow our hearts to become calloused - our whole selves become unfeeling. The result in the Gentiles is that they become so unfeeling that they give themselves over to the practice of every kind of impurity – with greediness.

What does Paul attribute this to? The way they think and what they do as a result. – look at the phrases he uses: futility of mind/darkened understanding/ignorance that is in them – it results from having no purpose or vision in God. How is that countered? With TRUTH. IF WE WANT TO GROW UP AND MATURE IN CHRIST, WE MUST START WITH THE WAY WE THINK – TO PUT OFF OUR FORMER MINDSET AND PUT ON THE MIND OF GOD.

We are not like those who don’t know Christ – we have purpose in our lives – let’s continue – and as we do – look at the contrast of truth and lies in this section:

20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. 25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one [of you,] with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Take off the old self – Put on the new. 1 Cor. 5: 17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Take off the garments of sin and put on the garments of righteousness. Remove the lies –put on the truth.

4:24 talks about the lusts of deceit – lusts are deceitful because they do not provide the fulfillment that they promise. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – we need to fill our lives with TRUTH – whenever we sin, it is because we have believed a lie – we’ve been deceived. But you are to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Lay aside falsehood – Speak truth – and that means to your neighbor and to your self as well!

As I said at the beginning – before Easter we will be doing a series – Extreme Makeover – Hope Edition – where we will be doing things to give people inside and outside of our church hope. We would like to equip you to serve others. As we saw earlier in the message –

1) We are most like Christ when we serve

2) Serving brings unity

3) When we serve, the church is built up

4) When we serve – we are built up

5) Serving helps us to ‘grow up’ in the faith – into maturity to be more like Christ.

Historically, we have not been very good at asking for help – but many of you have been very good at seeing needs and meeting them. So there are two aspects of this

1) Everyone has a gift that he or she can use to serve – If you know what one of those gifts is, and you’d like to offer it to the church during Extreme Makeover, Hope Edition – we have a signup sheet in the back. Recently, I’ve heard of someone offering a couple hours of babysitting. Someone else has offered a couple hours of virus/worm removal. Maybe you can make a meal – I know there is an immediate need for that (with a signup sheet in the back). Maybe you are musically gifted and would like to be on the church worship team – talk to Dick about that. I haven’t asked Dick about this yet – but someone suggested that next Saturday night during the WinterBlahsFest – allow people to come and jam with the bands. Maybe you don’t know what your gift is, but you are really good at making money – you could work a couple hours of overtime and donate that to the project. Personally – I could use help with advertising – writing copy for Radio and newspaper ads – which might make it onto the website as well. I don’t know if we have this person already – but we could use someone who is administratively minded to match the gifts that people have to offer with the needs of the church and those in the community. I think Dick phrased it fairly well when he said, “ A skill or talent could be anything such as: raking leaves, cleaning, painting, a trade skill, fixing computers, fixing cars, typing, sewing, cooking a meal, companionship, or any other service that would be of some help to someone not capable to do these things themselves.”

2) We need those of you who are good at seeing needs to let us know what needs there are that need to be met.

Balance: 1 Tim. 5: 8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever.

Matt. 20: 25 But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and [their] great men exercise authority over them. 26 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. "

Romans 12: 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.