Growing up: Christlike Character - James Thackeray

Welcome to the Grace Church Weekly Podcast. We're an international church right

in the heart of Stockholm, Sweden.

Each week, we share a message that's rooted in the faithful teaching of God's

Word and open to the vibrant work of the Holy Spirit among His people.

Here's this week's message.

We're carrying on our series today. which feels like a good time of the year

doesn't it to really think about growth i'm sure a number of people have been

planning this year's training plan or this year's nutritional plan well maybe

this can feed into a little bit a spiritual plan,

We're going to be in Ephesians 4 today. So if you open that in your Bibles,

I'm not going to read the whole thing in one go. We'll kind of go through it.

But before we sort of look at that, I just want to share something a little

bit about the excitement I felt back in November.

The mighty England cricket team was just about ahead to Australia.

Hopes and expectations.

Somebody laughed. Somebody know what happened next.

Expectations were high. This was the best England team for a long time,

and it was the worst Australian team.

And we were finally going to win in Australia. This would have been the first time in 20 years.

Fast forward only 11 days, and we were already 3-0 down.

Eventually, we lost 4-1. So, I mean, English in case that's not obvious.

I'm an Australian. We got absolutely thrashed.

One of the stars of the team, a young man called Harry Brook.

Had some terrible innings, didn't do very well.

And then this story broke. These pictures of him out drinking.

Not only had we lost, but we didn't seem to really care.

They're all out getting drunk the day after they lost.

And there are all these headlines of course saying they

were they brought disgrace to the badge

they didn't live up to that calling as

an England cricketer now if you're as old as me you know they're going to Australia

getting thrashed and embarrassing yourself is what English sports teams have

done for many years the point is it really wasn't what you hoped for for somebody

playing for the England cricket team.

And sadly, it seems a lot easier to find bad examples of people living a life

worth of their calling than good.

I could name countless politicians.

Countless public figures, you see. Why are you doing the things you're doing?

Paul starts Ephesians 4 with these verses.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

And then the whole chapter, and indeed half of the next chapter,

is talking about living a life as a Christian, this wonderful privilege we have in Christ.

How should we therefore live?

How should we live up to that badge? Live up to that life that we're called.

Last week, Phil spoke to us about the architecture of holiness.

Talked about learning, receiving, hearing, seeing, and practicing.

Today, I want to see three aspects of growth in this passage.

Unity, maturity, and purity.

Kind of rhyme, so hopefully we can remember that.

Let's talk about unity first. Again, it seems so easy in this current day and

age to come up with examples where unity is not happening.

We could talk about politics in pretty much any country. We could talk about sport.

We could talk about everyday life.

It feels like we're living in a more disunited time than ever before.

You don't have to look at pretty much any form of social media.

That was a shocking stat. Seven hours a day, good grief.

Social media is just full of people arguing about things.

We have this whole idea of negative feedback loops, of echo chambers,

and we see a world increasingly appearing to be at each other's throats.

Even the most harmless, innocent things. just for fun, I looked at some cat

video and within like the fourth or fifth comments, people are arguing with each other.

They're arguing with each other over a cat video. It's very strange.

There's a wise rule which says never read the comments because as bad as things

seem to be in the comments for anything, they're even more crazy.

But even in church, the church does not have a long perfect history of unity.

We were at my old church over Christmas back in the UK. And it was lovely to

see that there were a lot of familiar faces, but also a lot of new faces.

But I was reminiscing about some rather dark days in the church when we got

a new pastor and several people left.

We got a new Bible once and even more people left.

But the biggest shock of all was when we got a new songbook and about 20 people left.

Just because of the type of songbook we got.

And it seems in Paul's letters, this is not a new thing. Paul wrote a lot about unity.

It's definitely a problem today in the world, and it was definitely a problem back then.

Let's look firstly at the foundation of unity in verses 1 to 3.

Paul writes, As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy

as a calling you have received.

Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

So the foundation of unity seems quite clear. It should be something we aim for.

It should be something we work for.

Sometimes when you look at people arguing with one another and you look at some

of the divisions around the world, you can see actually people are working for

the exact opposite of unity.

People are working to convince everyone they are right.

And that's how we get disunity.

Paul actually says, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

Look at those things in verse 2. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient.

Bear with one another in love. Are these things that we commonly see in the world?

Maybe social media is a bad example because I really think it brings out the worst in people.

But if we consider this idea of unity, are we always humble? Are we always gentle?

Are we patient? Do we bear with one another in love?

Because it doesn't say just try a little bit.

Paul doesn't say every now and again, just sort of let things go and kind of grin and bear it.

Paul says, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.

You see we have peace with God through Jesus Christ because Jesus came he died

for our sins that we might be right with God and if we know Jesus is our saviour

we're all in that position.

And that is why we need to be united with one another through this peace that Jesus bought.

Are you making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit?

Because Paul goes on to explain the reason for this. Why is this so important?

Because some of these things we see people arguing about, you just think they're

not even that important.

But the unity of the church, the unity of God's people, it's really important.

Paul writes, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one

hope when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul urges this sense of unity. Jesus said when he met with his disciples at

the Last Supper, He said, a

new command I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you.

We're all on the same side. We may have different backgrounds.

And probably this church, more than most churches, we have different backgrounds,

whether it's cultural, whether it's spiritual, whether it's our vocation.

We have many different backgrounds, but there is one body.

There is one spirit. We have one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

This is why unity is so important.

Rajesh and a number of other people will be going out on the streets next Sunday,

to share the good news, to encourage people to come and see Christ.

What does that look like if everyone's telling a different message?

What does that look like if somebody then comes into the church and they see

people not getting on, they see people falling out, they see people taking sides, they see cliques?

We're on the same side. We have one Christ. We have one saviour One God.

This is why unity is so important. Then we see how unity and maturity fit together.

Let me read on verse 7 to 13. I'm going to skip the bit in brackets,

not because it's very difficult, slightly confusing, but it is in brackets for

a reason. It's not part of Paul's main threat.

So Paul says, but to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned.

This is why it says when he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets,

some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may

be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the

Son of God and become mature,

attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So Paul explains these different roles, how Christ's grace is poured out in

different ways for different people.

You have apostles who grow the church, you have prophets explaining God's revelation,

you have evangelists spreading God's word, you have pastors guiding,

shepherding the flock, you have teachers preaching God's word.

But none of those roles are for themselves none of those roles are so that those

people can have a great living or can feel really good about themselves.

Those roles are to prepare God's

people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up,

until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God

so that we all become mature.

I mentioned earlier about this negative feedback loop, these kind of echo chambers.

This is the opposite, really. This is a positive feedback loop.

Through unity, we can become more mature.

Through increased maturity, we can become more unified, and so on and so forth.

This is very much the job of leaders in the church. It's good for anyone in

leadership to remember that.

Good for everyone to remember that, to pray for us, to hold us to account.

We're here to build the church up we're here to build the unity of the church.

Says then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves the

church is God's precious precious bride,

one of the real privileges of preaching is you get to stand at the front and look out at everybody.

And I genuinely mean that. It is so wonderful.

And I could embarrass literally everyone in the room by going around and saying

something about them, but that would take a long time and we'll embarrass you all.

But it is wonderful to have you here.

It is a wonderful thing that we have in grace.

When you think about where you have come from, what has brought you here,

and you look at your neighbor, you look at somebody across the road,

what has brought them here? It's quite amazing, really.

I won't do the nationality count, but we've got people from so many different

places, so many different backgrounds, and this is the pride of Christ.

This is what Christ died for, for you and me, that we might be built as a church.

And as wonderful as it is to believe in Christ, to be able to call him Father,

it's so much more wonderful to be able to do that together, isn't it?

To be unified, united behind that.

This is what we're to do. We're to build unity to become mature.

We're to build maturity to become more united.

Phil had a friend over from the UK a few weeks ago, a guy called Richard,

who, funnily enough, Richard was actually my kind of small group leader at university.

And I remember, even though it was a long time ago,

I went to university as a very kind of, I'd gone in a certain kind of church circles,

never met people outside those church circles, had a real chip on my shoulder

about a very specific piece of doctrine.

I won't go into it. It's not very exciting, not very important.

But I remember in this little small group, we came upon this verse that vaguely

mentioned this particular doctrine.

And I remember saying, ah, everybody thinks this means that,

but it actually means this.

And everyone was a little bit taken aback.

And I remember Richard saying, okay, this is, and I kind of went on and on a bit, as I do.

And he said, oh, we need to come back to this. We don't have time to be there.

Oh, well, let's come back to this next week.

I thought, great, this is it. I brought all my favorite commentaries on the topic.

I brought my Greek Bible, even though I didn't know any Greek.

But I thought, this will show them. This is great.

I'm going to show all these people where they're going wrong.

Just before the meeting, Richard took me to one side. and he said I'm not really sure it'll.

Benefit as much to go into this. It's quite obscure. I don't think for anyone

it's a big deal, but it was a big deal for you. We can talk about it another time.

Initially, I was mortified. I was ready to argue. I was ready to show I was

right and everyone else was wrong.

But actually, Richard was showing mature leadership. I actually thanked him

for that Because at the time I didn't.

I wasn't very thankful. I was a bit gutted.

But he saw that unity was important.

At a university age, it's kind of make or break. You leave your home church,

you leave home for the first time.

And arguing about some obscure piece of doctrine is a lot less important than

having unity and having maturity.

Because when we think about the things that mean a lot to us,

I'm not going to ask for a show of hands but if I ask for a show of hands of

who is a dispensational pre-millennialist I don't know how many hands I'd get,

probably not so many maybe some,

but if I ask for a show of hands or an amen,

those that believe the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

Hopefully most hands will go up or would hear an amen.

But as for a show of hands, those who believe that it's by grace we are saved through faith,

I think I'd see a good show of hands, maybe in our men.

That we will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we will be his witness.

That all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching.

That we should repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins.

That Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy.

Would I hear an amen? I think I hear a lot of amens.

And if I said it's important to go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

I'm pretty sure I'd get a lot of amens.

See, there's so much more that unites us than divides us.

We're so much stronger as a church when we're united.

We grow together we learn together that's not to say that anything goes there are certain things,

that if somebody says from the

front or in conversation I will pick

them up on it and hopefully if there are things I say that are against scripture

people will pick me up on it but so often the disunity in churches actually

stems from the new songbook or the new version of the Bible or back in the good

old days, whether or not the preacher wore a tie.

It's important to be unified, isn't it? There is strength in unity.

Just to finish very quickly, let's see the link between unity and purity.

I'm just going to read from verse 17 to the end of the chapter.

Paul writes, So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no

longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking.

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God

because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so

as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more.

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.

Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

You were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self,

which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the aptitude

of your mind and to put on the new self,

created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor,

for we are all members of one body. In your anger, do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,

doing something useful with his own hands, to make that he may have something

to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful

for building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen.

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander along with every kind of mass.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other,

just as in Christ God forgave you.

And really Paul in the next 20 verses

is still on the same theme this idea of purity and how it links with unity just

very quickly there's a bunch of things Paul says don't be like this be like

this starts off with the Gentiles don't just do whatever you want.

Don't just please yourself,

follow Jesus put off your old self, put on your new self.

This is very much an action, something we should try and do.

Paul says, no falsehoods, instead speak the truth.

Mentioned in verse 15 as well, speak

the truth in love. This is such an important part of unity, isn't it?

When we see a brother or sister maybe straying a bit from the truth,

we're to speak the truth in love.

Very important to do the second part as well, because the truth can hurt.

And when the truth is not done in love, it can be very difficult.

We're to speak the truth in love to one another.

Verse 26 and 27 says, don't hold on to your anger.

Deal with it. Do not let the sun go down on your anger.

Very practical, very useful things. Things that can feed into unity.

No unwholesome talk. Instead, build one another up.

It's so much easier to avoid doing wrong things when there's a right thing.

And in all these things, Paul's moving away. He's not just saying,

here's a list of things you shouldn't do. He's saying, do this instead.

Don't gossip about each other. Build one another up. Don't be angry.

Deal with it before the sun goes down.

And then finally, in verse 33 to 32, don't be bitter.

Don't give in to rage, anger, brawling, slander. Be kind. Be compassionate.

Forgive one another. Thank you.

If you're struggling with those things, if you're finding it hard to look at

one another without some bitterness, without some rage, without some anger,

a good step is to bring this before God.

Try and view one another with kindness, with compassion, with forgiveness.

I think it's so important we consider all these three things together.

We consider unity, maturity, and purity.

I think they all feed in to one another.

There is so much grace when we're unified. There is so much grace to forgive us.

But surely there must be grace to forgive others.

I just urge you, at the start of the year, have a think. Pray to the Lord.

Link it back to what Phil talked about last week.

Learn what it means to forgive. Learn what it means to love.

Learn what it means to bear with one another.

Learn what it means to be unified.

Receive. Receive correction. Give and receive truth. In love.

Then hear. Hear what the Spirit is telling you specifically in your life.

There's a lot of things in there.

And my message isn't really take every single thing I've said and deal with that in your life.

What is the Lord speaking to you?

What thing did you sit a little bit less comfortably when I mentioned it?

What thing have you already thought I really need? I need to be more forgiving. I need to be kinder.

Or maybe there's somebody you know that they need to hear the truth in love.

And they found it so difficult to do that. Maybe that's the one thing you need to take away.

Now is the time to tell that person the truth in love.

Listen specifically what the Spirit is telling you and look to those who model these things well.

Maybe it's your older Christians, maybe it's parents, maybe it's your friends.

Look to those who model these things well.

Talk to them, gain encouragement from them and practice.

Practice building one another up practice being kind and compassionate practice

speaking the truth in love,

practice unity we have an amazing privilege we have such a privilege to be united in Christ,

we have such an honour that we can come before him today we can worship and

praise him as one and I actually think as a church I think we really do really well on unity.

Considering, again, just how broad our backgrounds are, I think it's great that

we don't have constant rumblings and cliques and arguments.

I mean, South Africans all kind of sit together, but apart from that,

we don't have cliques at this church. And I think that's to everybody's credit.

But let's practice these things. Let's practice building unity,

building a closeness, building a vulnerability with one other that we can truly share together.

Pray that for us all this week in his name. Amen.