STRAIGHT OUTTA CONTEXT: Ephesians 4:15

Chris McCurley: What is the best thing you could do for this church? And I assume we're all on the same page here. We all want what is best for Walnut Street. We want this to be a growing and going church, a church that makes and grows disciples, a church on the move, a church that makes an impact in our community and beyond. So what is the best way that you can ensure that that happens personally? Read with me in Ephesians chapter four, beginning in verse one. Ephesians four. Verse one. Paul writes, Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility, all gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling, One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led captive the captives, and he gave gifts to people. Now, this expression he ascended, what does it mean except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, 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 fullness of the Lord. of Christ. 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 people, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together By what 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. You know, whenever I go to preach somewhere, maybe I'm at a lectureship or a seminar or something like that, someone will come up and we'll have a conversation and we'll talk about you know the church and how things are going at Walnut Street. And almost inevitably somebody is going to ask a question. So how big is Walnut Street? Steve, you filtered that question more than once. You get that question a lot as preachers. So how big is your church? And there's a few different ways you can answer that question. You could answer it by saying, Well, we have about twelve hundred on the roll. But you know as well as I do that Regular attendance is not twelve hundred. Your membership is different from your ordinary attendance. You could answer with the highest number you've ever had. How big is your church? Well, one Sunday we had eleven hundred. Yeah, but that's not really answering the question, right? You could answer with the average, which is usually the way I answer. we have about seven, seven fifty on a Sunday morning, sometimes eight hundred. There's a lot of different ways to answer that question, and we we like our numbers, don't we? We talk about the numbers, we display the numbers, we we like our numbers, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but make no mistake about it. The preachers know the numbers. Elders know the numbers, and we may even know our numbers a little too well. It's easy sometimes to get too numbers focused. There's a book on church growth entitled When God Builds a Church. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Here's an excerpt from that book. It states since nineteen sixty six. Our church, the author, has grown from 125 to over thirteen thousand five hundred in worship. We have gone through five building programs and two complete relocation projects, the last of which cost over ninety million dollars, including land, construction cost, and architects fees. We have gone from an annual budget of eighteen thousand dollars to an annual budget of eighteen million dollars. What do you notice about that that's somewhat faulty? This is how we define church growth, isn't it? By bodies and bricks I mean, that's how we define church growth. We look at numbers. How big are the numbers? What's the budget like? How many bodies do we have in the pews? And for the most part, growth is defined by bodies and bucks and bricks, bigger crowds, bigger budget, and bigger buildings. We often measure success by these three B's. And many churches have enjoyed some pretty some pretty big numbers because of the gimmicks that they have employed to bring people through the doors. But what you have to use to win them is what you have to use to keep them, right? But what if it's not about bodies and bucks and bricks? What if our view of church growth is misguided and misaligned with scripture? I've said this before in in a post on social media. We've talked about it in a podcast. Excuse me. But so often when we focus on church growth. We focus on numbers, whether they're climbing or declining. We give ourselves the perfect out, don't we? Well, if people are coming, it's because they want to hear the truth. If people are leaving, it's because they don't want to hear the truth. And we never have to su assume any responsibility, right? It's never our fault. I mean, unless we're growing, but if we're declining, it's not our fault. People just don't want to hear the truth. Maybe they do. But maybe the way it's presented, maybe the way that You know, the congregation presents itself, maybe that's the problem. I know I've said this before. I'm not sure if I said it enough. But this isn't an organization. This is an organism. And we can create organization. We can build a robot that has all these mechanical parts working in harmony. But here's the thing about robots they're not alive. And an organism is a living, breathing, moving. It it it has organization in order to function, but the biggest difference between the two is that an organism lives, it moves, it grows, and it develops. And it all starts with a head. Without the head, the body will never be in alignment. It will never follow. The body will never be successful, it will never prosper, it will never mature without the head. This is Colossians chapter one, verse 13. Colossians 1, verse 13. For he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was with the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through whom I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. So Paul's addressing a problem. And it's the problem of false teachers. False teachers were infiltrating the church, and they were teaching things like asceticism and angel worship, and they were pushing their doctrine that was nothing more than human philosophy or self made religion. And so Paul is making certain that these saints don't follow these teachers. And I want you to notice his strategy. Notice how he combats these false ideologies, these false teachers. He gives Jesus his resume, doesn't he? He reminds them of who Jesus is. And in so doing, he reminds the Colossians of who they are. And Paul does this often. He gives Jesus his resume, he reminds the people of who Jesus is, what he has done, and who they are as a result. You know, we we often think that. You know what makes us better Christians is because we have better arguments or we believe better things or we have better politics and and and Paul doesn't get into all of that. He doesn't he doesn't venture off into all that. Paul doesn't start there, he starts with Jesus, which is where we should start, because everything is predicated upon who Jesus is, what he has done, and who we are as a result. Compared to Christ, the promoters of these false teachings have nothing to offer. Just empty words, empty doctrines. And look at the language. Rescued, redemption, forgiveness of sins, per firstborn from the dead, fullness of the Father, reconciler. What's Paul doing? He's spelling out the gospel. And I love this because it's a reminder that remaining faithful starts with Jesus and the gospel. It's really that basic. It's kind of like, you know, if you watch Major League Baseball and and spring training. If you see the footage of them in Florida or Arizona during spring training, what are they doing the first few days of spring training? They're fielding ground balls, they're throwing to first, the pitcher's covering first, they set the ball on a T, get their swing right. They go back to the basics. Even though this is professional baseball, these guys have been playing baseball all their lives at a high level. They still go down to the very elementary, basic stuff because that's where the foundation is. And that's where it is for us as well. Paul does this. He starts with the elementary, the basic. He goes back to Jesus and the gospel because that's what defines us. That's the gas that keeps this vehicle going. And notice verse 21 following. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before him, holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard. Which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a minister. So Paul starts with who Jesus is, then he turns to who we are, and notice how he frames it. Formerly alienated, hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, now reconciled, holy and blameless, beyond reproach. He's appealing to their sense of identity, isn't he? He's reminding them of who Jesus is, what he has done, and who they are as a result. They are a new creation. They have been empowered to live a new kind of life. And you can keep reading through the book of Colossians and see where Paul encourages these saints to allow their new humanity to infiltrate every facet of their lives. Whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord, right? As Paul is spelling all this out, he adds this to the mix. He is also head of the body, the church. Why is that significant? Because it's a reminder that without Jesus, there is no organism. It's like a a snake that's had its head cut off. When I moved to West Texas, I like to hunt and fish, and somebody got me into rattlesnake hunting. Rattlesnakes very prevalent there, diamondback rattlers, and so that was an interesting hunt. You'd smoke out of their den and you bring out, and people actually eat them. I've tried it. It's a very lean meat, very tough, very chewy, but in order to kill a rattlesnake, you cut its head off. But even after you cut its head off, the head can still bite you, it's still venomous. But you can watch the body will move around for an hour or more, just wiggling around, trying to get somewhere, but it never does because it's aimless, it's directionless because it doesn't have a head. And that is the church without Jesus. We just squirm and move around with no direction, no goal, and we're certainly not going to bring any harm to Satan without a head. We may be moving, but we're not functioning. That's the church without a head. So, with all that set up, what are we talking about? Ephesians 4 15. Where are we going with this? Notice the verse, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head that is Christ. So the first three chapters of Ephesians are talking about our activity in Christ. Excuse me, other way around. First three chapters are talking about our identity in Christ. The last three chapters are talking about our activity in Christ. And chapter four is kind of a pivot point. And and Paul is telling these Christians and us in the process about the gospel, about the grace of God, about our hope in Jesus Christ. This is the message that we must always be telling, that must always be on our lips. Paul says, you must constantly be speaking this truth. What truth? Well, despite what some believe, speaking the truth in love is not your stance on instrumental music. That's not the truth that Paul is talking about here. The truth that Paul is talking about here is not women's role. You know, we often default to issues and say, Thank you for standing for truth. That's not the truth that Paul is talking about here. You know what the truth Paul's talking about here in Ephesians four fifteen? You know what the truth is? Jesus reigns. Jesus is King. He rules and reigns. The truth is Jesus and His gospel. That is exactly what Paul is talking about here. And we are to preach or proclaim, teach, or speak his truth in love. The truth that Jesus is Lord, that he has rescued us, that he is our only hope. That is the truth that Paul is focused on right here in Ephesians 4 15. And that's the truth that must always be on our lips. think you know this, but truth and love go hand in hand. Sharing the truth of the gospel should naturally be combined with expressing the love of Christ. It's not enough to simply talk about Jesus' rule and reign. We must do so, as Paul states in verses 2 and 3, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. When we are truly transformed by the truth that we speak, it makes a profound difference in the way that we love. We do as Paul mentions in verse 32. Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. So here's Paul's whole point. Speaking the truth in love is about proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ while living out the love of Jesus Christ. Like we talked about this morning. What what wing on an airplane is most important? What wing on a bird is the most important wing? Well, they're both important, or else it doesn't fly straight. Speaking the truth in love, conviction and compassion, that marriage that we talked about this morning. Unfortunately, we often, I say we often, not us, but Christians have often naturally assumed that truth and love are at odds with one another. That you can't truly tell the truth without being. Somewhat harsh or rude or maybe even hateful. And you can't really speak the truth in love because if love is involved, then it kind of cancels out or diminishes the truth, and therefore it's not as strict, and we got to tell people the truth. And sometimes people walk away from a conversation with a Christian and and and they're saddened by what they heard, and the Christian says, Well, I just told them the truth. I mean I just I told them what God expects. I mean I I can't help it if they don't like it. I just told it like it was. Yeah, but usually that means you were rude. And that you weren't kind. That you weren't loving. On the other side of the coin are those who resolve to to go heavy on the love part and almost exclude the truth because they don't want to upset anyone or Make them mad. And like I said this morning, going to hell isn't in anyone's best interest. You don't truly love someone if you're unwilling to tell them the truth for fear of being unloving. The bigger problem, however, is not a lack of love or truth. The bigger problem is that we're trying to resolve a tension that shouldn't exist. We we create this tension between truth and love that's that's not really there. Truth and love should exist in perfect harmony. You know, it's a e an and both, not an either or. There's there's there's no balance to achieve because the two are perfectly melded together. The person who is ruled and reigned by Jesus will naturally be both loving and truthful. The good news will always be on their lips. Their ultimate goal is to be like Jesus and to help others follow Jesus. That's Paul's whole point. Look at verse 13 again. 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 fullness of Christ. That's church growth, is it not? That's exactly what Paul is mentioning here. This is the model that church growth is patterned after. The model is Christ-likeness. It's not bodies in the pews, it's souls in the kingdom. It's about being more like Jesus, it's about building one another up to Christ-like maturity. That's what Paul is driving out here. He's encouraging one another to build up one another by speaking the truth in love to one another. And this promotes unity. a major theme of Paul's letters. It creates a stronger body. It strengthens us to be better and and and and more mature to withstand the devil's attacks. It equips us to go out and make s make disciples. You know, there are essentially four types of churches. The first is a dead church. Really no further explanation needed there. Although I will say That a dead church is not just one that has broken out windows and boarded up doors and cobwebs over the pews. There are some dead churches, as Revelation tells us, that seem to be thriving if you're an outsider looking in. There's all kinds of programming and activities, and there's a lot of people, but Jesus said that doesn't necessarily make you alive. So there there are dead churches. There are churches that may be doing a lot but not accomplishing God's goals. Secondly, there's the inside in church. And the inside-in church is the church that is issues-oriented. They're more concerned about procedure than they are about proclaiming. They're more concerned about protocol than they are people. They zero in on rules and regulations at the expense of relationships. You know, there are a lot of There's lot of talk today about what makes us unique as the church. And we often focus on issues. There are many pulpits where issues are, you know, the the flavor of the week every week. And this is something that just really hit me between the eyes a couple of years ago when Steve Baggett was teaching a class. And he was talking about all these issues and and preachers focusing on issues week in and week out. And I'm not going to quote him exactly verbatim, but he said something to the effect of if you're not preaching the gospel, you're not a gospel preacher. So this idea that I'm hammering hard these issues, well, if your number one issue is not the gospel, you're not a gospel preacher. Somebody stands firm about an issue. Well, thank you for being a faithful gospel preacher. If you're not preaching the gospel, you're not a faithful gospel preacher. And so inside in churches, they just focus on issues. And not proclaiming the gospel. A third type of church is the outside in church, and this is the church that focuses heavily on the unchurched, which is not a bad thing, but they focus so heavily on the unchurched that they they tailor, they cater everything to the unchurched. When you look through scripture, worship the church is for who? For the saved. That doesn't mean that the lost aren't welcome. Doesn't mean that we don't invite them, that we don't want them to come and be a part of what we're doing here. But they don't receive top billing, if that makes sense. Now, that also doesn't mean that the the folks inside the church don't need evangelizing. Because Paul makes mention of this as well. That preaching the gospel, speaking the truth in love to one another, evangelizing one another never stops. But it's about equipping ourselves in here so that we can help bring others in from the outside. So You have the dead church, you have the inside in church, the outside in church, and then finally you have the inside out church, which I think is what Walnut Street is and what every church should be striving to be. I believe that this is the church Paul is describing, the one that grows inwardly with the intent of growing the kingdom. It's the type of church that equips the saints to make and grow disciples. That's the type of church that I want to be in, don't you? And I think we are. I want Walnut Street to be a living, breathing organism, not a stale, lifeless organization. And I think we are a living, breathing organism. I think we are really good at a lot of things, and the number one thing that I think we're best at is love. I feel so comfortable inviting someone here to Walnut Street because I know that they're going to be loved, even if they're different, so to speak. Maybe they don't look like all of us. I know they're still going to be love. Maybe they don't believe like all of us. I know they're still going to be loved. If a church doesn't get that right, it really doesn't matter what else they get right. So the fact that we lead with love, that we rely on the two greatest commandments, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, love your neighbor as yourself, that's it. That's the gist. But for this to happen, we must filter everything we say and do through those words, through what Jesus said, to love him with with everything you have and to love your neighbor as yourself. And I would encourage us, if we are, I don't know if you are, but not to be so numbers focused. This is difficult for me. As a preacher, it's easy to tie your success To bodies. And bricks and bucks. If the budget's down, what have I done wrong? If the attendance is down, what am I doing wrong? It's and and sometimes there's a direct correlation, but it it's easy for preachers to do that. I was preaching at a church one time and I was halfway through my lesson. And they had one of those boards. I think we used to have one here. I think every church has had that old wooden board that has the numbers that you can, you know, change out. And it had the attendance last week, the attendance this week, budget, contribution, all of that. And during the middle of my lesson, a gentleman walked past me and went up to the board and started changing the numbers out. And of course I've lost the audience at that point. Nobody's paying any attention to me. Then you hear audible sighs, because I guess the contribution of the numbers weren't as good as they thought they would be. Maybe that's a little too numbers focused to do that in the middle of the sermon. But it's easy for me to get numbers focused. I don't know if it's that way for you. It's also easy for me to forget that I don't cause church growth anyway. I don't grow the church. You don't either. And you know who does, right? God provides the growth. We water. We fertilize. He provides the growth. And I know you know this as well, but may I remind you the building is not the church. We don't go to church. We go as the church. Done this before. You remember this whole exercise? This is the church. This is the steeple, open it up and see all the people. It's cute, but it's absurdly wrong. Should go like this. This is the church building. This is the steeple on the church building. Open it up and see the church, right? We're not just the church when we gather here, but we're the church when we scatter from here. And it's great that we have this beautiful building to meet in and to huddle together, but the building's not the church. We are the church. And what is the best thing that you can do for this church? I'll answer for you. Grow. That's the best thing you can do. And that's what Paul is telling us in the readings we've had tonight. Grow. That's the best thing you can do for this church is to grow. to be all in on growth and mature. Can we help you tonight? If you need to answer the invitation, please do so as we stand and as we sing.

Colossians 1:13