Ephesians: "Live worthy of the call..."

You know, this church was almost never planted.

I could say that probably 10.

There's 10 different ways that this church was almost never planted.

But I think of one story in particular for Katie and I.

She's serving in kids today.

So if you haven't met her, she's the best of us and hope you get to meet her.

But but there was a moment in 2022, and I think it was the fall of 2022, and we had just found out that we were pregnant with Asa.

We just found out we were about to have our son.

And and we knew that our plan up until that point was to was to plant a church.

At that point, we were going to plant a church in the city of Boston.

This very well, this very easily could have been Kingdom City Church in the North End.

But God used that to kind of shake us up in that season of our lives.

And we ended up moving here, but this was not a very quick, a very quick move.

Ultimately, in that season, we almost out of fear didn't plant at all.

And I remember Katie and I, we were walking around in our neighborhood at the time and you know, just kind of holding hands, going on this walk.

And we were just so overwhelmed with a ton of fear and a lot of uncertainty.

We we now were very concerned about our family.

We were now thinking about resources and finances.

We were thinking about the fact that, you know, are people gonna help us?

Is anything gonna happen?

Is God gonna put his hand on this?

Is God gonna be faithful?

We had had friends who had tried to plant and then it didn't work out.

Some of their marriages fell apart as a result of things like that.

And so we just had a ton of fear.

And and you know, we were we were sitting there thinking, are we really about to try to start a church with a baby and no money and potentially no people and just nothing but like trusting that God is gonna breathe on this when we move and and and do whatever's gonna happen.

And and I remember we were walking around our neighborhood and and we just started, we just started saying out loud all the things that we were afraid to lose, all the things that we wanted.

So we started talking about the house.

We started talking about the floor plan, we started talking about the kinds of schools, we started talking about the yard, we started talking about some of y'all like a yard, big dream.

But we started talking about, you know, all these things that we were afraid that we were gonna lose, all the things that we were afraid that we weren't gonna have as a family.

And I remember when we were walking around, the reasonable choice in our minds, if we, if we use what felt like wisdom at the time, the reasonable choice said, Hey man, what you guys need to do is you need to think about your family, you need to think about security, you need to stay on staff at this large megachurch, you need to get a really good paycheck, you need to stay where you're at, and you need to, and you need to stay there, you need to do that.

And that felt reasonable and it felt wise as we were walking through there.

And when we were thinking in accordance with our own flesh and our own fear.

Because you know, something that the enemy will do is that, is that he'll take fear and he'll mask it as wisdom to you.

You know, because when you, because when you submitting to fear, you know is not godly, right?

Like you know that.

If you're here and you're a follower of Jesus, you'll be like, yeah, submitting to fear, that's not godly.

I would never submit to fear.

What the enemy loves to do is he loves to take fear and put some makeup on it and call it wisdom.

And then you say, Oh, I'm I'm being wise.

I'm being wise.

When in actuality, you're submitting to fear, cloaked in wisdom.

And what felt like as we were walking around was, yeah, this would be the wise thing to do.

And I remember we looked at each other and we said, you know what?

We could stay at this mega church, we could lead this ministry, we could do these things, and everyone would still look at us and say, Man, look at them, they're so faithful.

Like, man, they're still in ministry, they're still serving the Lord, they're still making disciples, they're still doing all of these great things in the name of Jesus.

Look at them, they're being so faithful.

And we literally said, No one will know.

But then right after that said, but we would know.

We would know.

We would know that ultimately we submitted to fear and that the reason that we're here is because we didn't trust God, because we didn't step out in faith.

Author Chip Heath once said, once wrote, He tells us and warns us to beware the soul-sucking force of reasonableness.

The soul-sucking force of reasonableness.

Once again, when we were walking around that neighborhood, all the things that we were talking about and all the things that we were saying, they sounded reasonable.

They sounded wise.

They sounded like we were putting together a pros and cons list and really breaking it down and going, like, yeah, this is the way that we need to make this decision.

It sounded very reasonable.

It didn't sound like fear, it didn't sound like anxiety, it didn't sound like faithlessness, it sounded like reasonableness.

And I just want to tell you guys today that the greatest threat to your calling will be the soul-sucking voice of reason.

I'm growing increasingly more convinced about this.

The more that we've taken steps, the more that we've stepped out in faith, the more that we've seen God answer and respond to things, the more that we've seen God have his hand on things, the more that we've seen God be faithful in the midst of fear and in the midst of anxiety and obedience in the face of all the reasons that you shouldn't do it, I've I've truly come to believe that for you in the room, many of you in the room, the greatest threat to your calling will be the soul-sucking voice of reason.

It'll be good decisions, safe decisions, wise decisions, submitted to fear, and yet you'll call it wisdom.

It won't be the risk you take, it'll be the comfort you idolize.

You know, I think that that's us in the room.

Like as I was prepping and I was praying through this, and I was thinking about, I was literally thinking of names and faces, and I was thinking about every single one of you, and I go, man, what is the fear that I have for our church?

What's the fear that I have for Kingdom City Church and the city of in the city of Atlanta?

Is my fear that, man, we're gonna be so foolishly faithful and that we're gonna take all these crazy risks and that God's gonna remove his hand from us because we're just being absolutely poor stewards of all these places in our hands because of all the faith, all the risks that we're taking in calling faith.

I was like, no, I don't think that's gonna be ours.

I think the thing that could take us out is no risk at all in the name of wisdom.

When in actuality, it's the comfort that we idolize.

You know, I believe that we need more faithfully foolish people.

Faithfully foolish.

We were in the prayer room the other night on pursuit night on Wednesday night, and God used 1 John 5.4 to kind of illuminate some things in my own heart about me.

As I was kind of prepping and thinking through this, and in 1 John 5.4, it says, it says, and what is it that overcomes the world?

And then he says, It's your faith.

It's your faith.

And he's obviously talking about our faith and wisdom that sustains us to the end and perseveres to the end.

But but what I felt stir up as I was reading this, and what the what a sense the the spirit kind of illuminated for me is that is that, man, hey Blake, what you like to do is you you really love to play it safe.

Like you really love to play it safe within your own abilities and your own giftings and your own knowledge and the things you know and have the answers to.

You love to calculate, and then you'll call it faith because it's in the name of Jesus, when in actuality you're operating out of fear.

And I just felt this invitation from the Lord to say, Blake, you need to be a fool.

Like you need to be faithfully foolish.

And I was thinking about this term foolish, and it literally means lacking good sense.

Lacking good sense.

You know, sometimes the Lord calls us to things that are beyond the senses of our own human nature, beyond your ability to understand, beyond your ability to reason with.

And God will call you above and beyond those things.

When you look throughout the scriptures and you see, you see Abram get called by God, and he says, He says, Hey, Abram, leave everywhere that you've ever grown up with and everyone that you've ever known, and I'm gonna, and I'm gonna send you to a land, and I'm not even gonna show it to you yet, I'll show it to you along the way.

Can you imagine sitting down with your family and thinking, like, yeah, I heard this voice, said it was Yahweh God, and He's telling me to leave everything that we've ever known and all that we have and all that we've collected over generations and to leave, and they're going, okay, go where?

I have no idea.

He's telling us to go.

He said it'll show it to me at some point.

Is that reasonable?

Does that look like foolishness?

But it was faith.

And you see all these stories throughout the pages of scripture over and over and over and over and over again.

Are we just saying about believing for it?

We just saying about God doing things in our day and time that He's done that we've read about, and you know what God uses to do those things?

Faithful fools.

Foolish faith.

People who do not submit to fear and call it wisdom, people who do not cave to the voice of reasonableness.

And you know what often it it kind of looks like is it it asks questions like this.

Do you really think you can do something like that?

Do you really think you can make an impact like that?

Do you really think your life can make a difference like that?

Do you really think that God can use you like that?

Do you really think that God can conquer that sin?

Do you really think that God can use you to lead and disciple people?

Do you really think that your marriage can be better and be all that God says it can be after you did that, after you said that?

Do you really think that you can be faithful in singleness and steward all of those desires?

Do you really think God will take care of your finances if you take that step of faith and follow him?

Do you really think?

Are you sure?

That's what it sounds like.

And what it sounds like is someone really deliberating and thinking through a decision, which sometimes is wisdom.

But oftentimes it's fear, trying to find any way necessary to keep you from becoming all that God longs for you to be and keep you from doing all that God longs for you to do.

My greatest fear for you is the twin idols of consumerism and fear that keep you from operating in faith and fulfilling your God-given calling and destiny.

You know, according to Dallas Willard, there were two things that Jesus warned us the most about.

The first was the fear of man.

In other words, it's the idol of approval.

And the second is the deceitfulness of riches or the idol of comfort and security.

I can almost guarantee that every single one of us in this room, it's one of those things.

Right?

Like for both of us, or a combination of both of them.

I know for me it's been both in different seasons.

That approval really looks like the kind of the applause of others.

That man, if other people can be impressed by what I'm doing, then maybe that means that I'm doing something good and I matter and I mean something.

Maybe some of you are here and you're just longing for the voice of someone to say, good job.

What you're doing is amazing.

What you're doing matters.

And what you're longing for is the approval of other people because your life isn't rooted and rested in the approval of God.

And the other one, the deceitfulness of riches or the idol of comfort and security, this is the one that's really tricky because especially if you're someone who has a family, it'll sound like, man, you have to provide for your family.

You have to take care of them.

You can't take risks like that.

You got to take care of your family.

And what you'll do is you'll live your entire life never taking a risk or doing anything for God.

And I'm not, I'm not sitting here telling you to say, hey, God is calling you and your family to go push all your chips in, go out on the streets, and hope he just drops a million dollars in your lap and buys you out.

It's not what I'm saying.

And that's a lot of times the defense mechanism that'll pop up.

Because what's the enemy's goal?

Is to use whatever means necessary to keep you from being faithful to Jesus.

Any means necessary.

And a lot of times we think that what the enemy wants to use is always bad things.

He'll use sin, he'll use awful decisions, he'll use chaos, he'll use all these things.

But what if the enemy actually really loves to use a little bit of fear and a little bit of comfort?

And that's all it takes.

Because what's he going to use is anything, anything necessary to keep you from being faithful to Jesus.

And he doesn't care what it is.

Yeah.

For some people in their stories, it may be, it may be sex, it may be drugs, it may be all kinds of things that they end up filming documentaries about.

But most ordinary everyday people, it's a little bit of money and a little bit of fear.

It's just a promotion.

All it takes to keep us from trusting and being faithful.

So as we get ready to dive into Ephesians chapter 4, I want to kind of start here because there's two things that I want to kind of communicate real quick is that first and foremost, God's vision, God's vision for the church, God's vision is a strong, loving, unified church serving as a witness to the world by faithfully embodying Christ's character and executing Christ's ministry.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

The reason I start where we start is because the things that the enemy wants to use to keep God's vision from becoming a reality is fear and comfort that keeps you from serving as a witness to the world by faithfully embodying Christ's character and executing Christ's ministry.

He will use whatever it takes to keep you from fulfilling God's vision.

Because what did we just sing?

The same thing when Jesus taught us how to pray, he said, I want you to pray like this: your kingdom come, your will be done.

What is he saying?

God, I want your dream to become a reality here as it is in heaven.

And what does he consistently show us throughout the New Testament?

That God's means through which he wants to see his dream and his vision become a reality in the here and now is through you and me.

And you may be sitting there going, like, bad decision, God.

Like, really couldn't come up with anything better.

But this is the beauty of it.

He's done this all throughout human history, he's done this all throughout the pages of scripture, is that he uses people like you and me.

Why?

Because you would never have the audacity to take credit for what God does.

Would you?

Knowing you?

Knowing me?

People try to do it.

But like you know you.

Like if God were to actually use you to do something special.

We should never have the audacity to take credit.

That's why he loves to use ordinary, broken, everyday people.

Which is the second part of this.

That yes, God's vision is strong, is a strong, loving, unified church serving as a witness to the world by faithfully embodying Christ's character and executing Christ's ministry.

But he does this through godly, spirit-filled disciples and leaders leveraging their lives to build one another up as they are increasingly formed into the image of Jesus for the sake of the world.

A lot of words.

But this is essentially what Paul is saying in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 16.

Ephesians 4:1–16

Is that God's vision is a strong, loving, unified church serving as a witness to the world by faithfully embodying Christ's character and executing Christ's ministry, and he's going to do this through godly, spirit-filled disciples and leaders, leveraging their lives to build one another up as they are increasingly formed into the image of Jesus for the sake of the world.

That's Ephesians chapter 4, 1 through 16 in a nutshell.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So I'm going to break this down real quick through four through four things.

First and foremost, what Paul writes and starts out with here is this that you are called to live a life worthy of the call of Christ.

You are called to live a life worthy of the call of Christ.

Paul starts out in verse 1.

He says, As a prisoner for the Lord, Paul is writing from prison to the church, churches in Ephesus.

So if you go read Acts chapter 19, this is where we see on Paul's third missionary journey the birth of the church in Ephesus.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

And what he does is he starts, he literally starts a discipleship group.

And out of that discipleship group, he multiplies those guys and multiplies churches through these men as they go throughout the region of Asia preaching the gospel, to the point that at the end of Acts chapter 19, it says that all of Asia had heard the good news of Jesus through the movement of these churches.

Acts 19 · chapter mention

And so Paul is writing to these ordinary group of people that have been one to Christ through the gospel and discipled through everyday ordinary people, and he's saying that you are called to live a life worthy of the call of Christ.

So for those of you who are here and you have put your faith and trust in Jesus and you would call yourself a follower of Jesus, what you are saying is that you are identifying yourself with Jesus.

You're identifying yourself with him.

You're saying, I'm with him.

And the, and the idea in the New Testament is that when you say that, what you are saying is that I belong to him and I'm committed to becoming like him and I'm committed to doing the things that he did.

That's what you're saying.

And so when when Paul writes this and he's writing to the church, he says, he says, look, you've got to live your life worthy of the calling of Jesus on your life.

What you say to be true about you, you've got to live your life in alignment and reflection of that.

Now, now what's he, if we kind of break it down ultimately, what's he saying?

He's saying, he's saying live in a way that reflects and embodies the incredible reality of what God has done for you in Christ.

So Paul just spent chapters one through three.

Once again, this is just Paul writing a long letter to these churches.

And for us, chapters one through three, he just spent all of that time talking about all that Christ has done and the theological riches that are true in Christ because of what he's done about us.

Like he just spent three chapters writing over and over and over again of what is true and what is yours in Christ.

And then he starts chapter four and he says, so now live a life worthy of that.

If that's really true about you, now live your life worthy of that, in reflection of that, overflowing out of that reality.

Because what has he just spent three chapters saying?

He says, He says, Look, God has called you from death to life.

He's called you from alienation and isolation to belonging.

He's called you from division to unity, he's called you out of darkness to light, he's called you from being outsiders to being God's family, he's called you from merely receiving God's grace to actually participating in God's mission.

And he just spent three chapters saying over and over and over again, all that is now true about you and all that is yours in Christ.

And now he says, so live in light of that.

So live in light of that.

What is he protecting us from?

He's protecting us from this kind of nominal Christianity that is so popular in a country and in a nation like ours, where people identify with Christ but don't live a life in light of it.

Some of us have been there, some of us are currently there.

Where if someone were to ask you, are you a follower of Jesus, you would say yes.

But if we were to look at your life, would your life match up and reflect, would it be worthy of the calling that is yours in Christ?

If people looked at you, they go, man, like look at the faith in this person.

Like, look at the way that they that they trust Christ, look at the way that they obey him.

It's obvious that he's the center point, that all of their life is orienting around him, that they are that they so believe who he is and what he's done and what he promises for them, that they're pushing all their stakes in, all the chips in in belief and trust in him.

Or they go, Oh, that's a person that looks just like me, except they go to church once every six weeks.

And that's that's not like that's it's just asking ourselves.

And what Paul is writing is he's going, he's going, look, Gentiles who used to worship idols over here, Christ has now won you and saved you and brought you into the story.

He's put a spirit into you, he's changed you.

And he's saying, Man, live in light of that.

Don't let the former things, don't let the old things, don't let these old people, don't let these old stories start to now get get a hold of you to where you start to live out of alignment with what you say and what you profess has happened, and you begin to live in alignment with with what Christ saved you out of and rescued you out of.

The temptation for so many of us is to run back to the things that Christ has rescued us out of.

Because it's familiar, because there's a comfort to it.

You know, I I think about when C.S.

Lewis said that he said that we're like a small child who's playing with mud pies in the dump when he's got the beauties of the beaches available to him.

And he paints this picture and he goes, That's so many of us as we're settling for the trash that Christ has died to rescue and save us from.

Because we've never laid hold of or experienced all that is ours in Jesus.

And so you rest in your personal experience of the former rather than in your faith to believe what God can do in the future.

And so Paul is saying, man, you've been given a new identity.

You've been placed in a new story, you've been given a new name, and now you need to let that identity begin to shape the way that you live.

Any Lion King fans?

I love this illustration.

Some of you know where I'm going with this.

Spoiler alert, okay?

If you haven't seen it, alright, it was made 30 years ago, so that's your fault.

So Simba is the prince.

The prince to his father's Mufasa, the king of the pride lands, right?

Big line.

Alright, rush to it.

Mufasa dies, okay?

Mufasa dies.

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

And uh and the enemy of the story, Scar, Uncle Scar, finds Simba in this moment where he's extremely vulnerable.

He's he's he's right next to his dead dad.

It's actually very traumatizing.

He's Simba, Simba's right next to his dead dad, and he's like, Dad, get up.

It's so terrible.

But and then Scar comes up to him in this moment and and convinces Simba.

He says, He says, Simba, look at what you've done.

This is all your fault.

This is who you are, the one who killed his father.

And then he tells him, he says, run away and never return.

And then he runs very far away, runs into a different kind of life, a different kind of existence.

And then in the story, there's a mentor, a baboon.

It's amazing.

For some of you, it was a small group leader.

For Simba, Baboon.

And pulls, pulls Simba along, brings him into this critical moment in the story, in the journey, and Simba essentially has a vision of his father.

And the word of his father to Simba says, Simba, remember who you are.

Remember who you are.

And then you guys all know the story.

Shifts the trajectory and he stops settling for the life of running away from his destiny and his calling, and he runs back to the pride lands and ultimately ends up being someone who can rescue and restore and renew the devastation of the pride lands.

And man, I think for some of you in the room today, Paul's word for you is that there was a time in your life where you really loved Jesus and your life looked like it.

And it doesn't right now.

And God's word for you today, I'm not gonna do it in his voice.

James Earl Jones is remember you do it, Charlie.

You sound like him.

But God's word for you today is man, remember who you are.

Like remember what Christ has done for you.

Remember the new name that is now over.

Your life, remember what Christ has done for you and the new calling that He's placed on your life.

Stop running, stop running in the opposite direction and going back to an old life that's not for you anymore.

You have a new name and a new destiny and a new calling, and you need to remember who you are.

And if you do, the ways that God could use you as a conduit of rescue and renewal and redemption in a place that is currently devastated.

Like that's what he does.

But you have to live your life worthily of the calling of Christ on your life.

The second thing is you are called to work and strive for true unity in the body and family of Christ.

So the so the first thing is you are to call to live a life worthy of the call of Christ, worthy of what Christ has done, worthy of the name that you now bear, the image that is now on you, the one that you are increasingly growing close to.

And two, you are called to work and strive for unity in the body and family of Christ.

So right after, Paul writes and he says, he says, you are to live a life worthy of the calling of Christ.

He says, so be completely humble and gentle.

He's telling us how to do this.

He's telling us, he's telling us what this looks like.

He says, be completely humble and gentle.

Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort, can y'all say that?

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

And he goes on to say, there's 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.

So Paul, Paul starts out and he says, he's he says, look, you need to live a life worthy of the call of Christ, and this is what this looks like.

And I want you to pay attention to what he starts out with.

When you think in the beginning, Paul, a prisoner, I'm writing to you that you would live worthy of the call of Christ.

You would think that what Paul's about to say is about to give you a lot of action steps that you need to take.

So you need to take risks, you need to step out of fate, you need to do this, you need to go, you need to go embrace difficulty, you need to go stand in the in the face of persecution, you need to get ready to be a prisoner just like me.

But he doesn't say that.

He says, I'm writing to you to live worthy of the call of Christ.

And he says, so be completely humble.

Be gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.

And ultimately what Paul is describing here is he's saying, he's saying that there's a character required for Christian unity.

And then he and then in the bottom of this, he says there's a route to our Christian unity.

And so the character of Christian unity, the character that's required for us to be a to be a united family of people, is that we are all humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love.

You know, there's there's there's a lot of people who have been who have experienced hurt in the church, and it's led to them leaving, right?

And and making decisions that that kind of run from old situations.

And this is not at all saying or speaking to anyone's story in here that that's not true, you shouldn't have done that, or anything like that.

But it has become increasingly easy, both in the context of family and in the context of church, to leave or walk away or cut off ties as a result of hurt.

And it's interesting what Paul says here is he says, he says, Man, I'm calling you to unity, and if that's gonna happen, here's the character that you need to have in order for that to take place is that you need to have humility.

Why?

Because people are going to treat you bad.

And if you have a very lofty idea of who you are or what you deserve, that will ignite, that will ignite division because you'll want to lash out rather than I always think about the quote, I can't remember if it was G.K.

Chesterton and and or no, it was Spurgeon.

They said people were talking poorly about Spurgeon.

And Spurgeon listened to it and he said, he said, Sirs, I can tell you this, I'm much worse.

I'm much worse.

Or one time G.K.

Chesterton wrote back in response to an article.

The article said, What's wrong with the world?

And G.K.

Chesterton wrote back and said, Dear sirs, I am.

I am.

Because they knew, they knew that we're that there's a brokenness to us.

And and if we're gonna achieve Christian unity, then there has to be a humility in ourselves to know that rather than the reaction or the response being defensiveness, because I have a lofty view of myself, how dare you treat me that way, that instead there's a humility that's looking for a way to stay united, that's seeking forgiveness, that's seeking unity, that's seeking reconciliation, that's constantly putting ourselves in that situation.

And who's our example in that?

Christ.

Christ, the one who stepped out of the heavens, who humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross, who was spit on, who was betrayed, and yet cried out from the cross, forgive them for they know not what they do.

And so we look at that and go, man, was Christ taken advantage of?

Maybe.

But it was for the sake of love and forgiveness for the other.

And so the reality of what Paul is saying here is that, man, if you have the humility in this way to lower yourself to the point of service, it may put you in a position where you may feel like you were mistreated or taken advantage of.

But what the Lord wants you to do is that Christ identifies with you in those moments as you seek to build others up and love them and serve them.

That he will defend you and he will protect you.

Does this mean that you allow yourself to be abused?

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

But it does mean that if you are constantly on edge looking for a way to be defensive, that you will find ways to be defensive and you will find ways to cause dissension and division.

If you're looking for if you have a if you have a critical spirit that's looking for ways to be offended, you will find them.

But what he's saying is like, man, have a humility and believe the best in others, seeking to be one.

The second thing he says is gentleness, that there's a meekness, there's a gentle strength, there's a strength in submission and gentleness, that we're meant to have a gentle spirit.

And once again, there's some of us in this room that you go, that you go, man, that's like, no, I want I want strong.

And it's not that's not what this scripture's saying.

He said, he's like, yeah, you're there's a humility that you you bring yourself low in submission to the Lord, and then you have a gentle spirit that's seeking the good of the other.

That you approach the other with a gentle spirit because you're wanting to serve them, you're wanting to help them.

He says, patience.

Literally, this word is the idea of long suffering or forbearance, embracing steadfastness and staying power.

That man, if we're going to experience unity, you know what you have to have?

A whole lot of patience with each other.

A whole bunch of patience with each other.

I love my son.

Love my son.

I sometimes, sometimes, if I'm not thinking straight, I'm like, you know, I might just spend a couple hours in the trash can, yeah.

But but no, I I I love him so much.

But and the reason, the reason, right, is because there's a there's a forbearance with him.

I'm committed to his good.

I'm long suffering with him.

Why?

Because he's mine, he belongs to me.

There's a commitment to him and a commitment to his good.

I'm not just his dad for a few years on the front end, I'm his dad for the whole of his life, and I'm thinking about who he's becoming and the man that he's gonna grow up to be.

And I'm committed to that.

And so I'm long-suffering in the seasons where he's difficult.

I don't give up on him.

Why?

Because I'm committed to his good for the long term.

And there's some of us here that when we have a mindset of consumerism that's only thinking about our own good, we give up on people because we're more committed to our good and we're not committed to their good.

And he's saying, No, no, there's a patience, there's a forbearance, there's a long suffering that we have to have because I want your good.

And the last thing he says is bearing with one another in love.

This literally means to endure for a long time in love.

To endure for a long time.

That man, it's it's so hard in a city and in a moment like ours where transiency is like the it's like the thing of our age.

And in a city like ours, where where man, you may be one of the churches that people are visiting in a cycle of things.

And what Paul's writing to me is going, man, there needs to be this commitment to one another, a long-suffering, a love where you're constantly seeking out the good for the other.

We're trying to build them up, where there's a commitment to one another, where I'm consistently going, man, how can I serve you and help you?

How can I build you up?

How can I, how can I be committed to you?

And then, and then what Paul does is he roots this not in their own action for one another, but he roots this in what Christ has done.

He roots this in their theology.

And he says, he says, Look, if all you're doing is you're trying to maintain unity based on the way other people treat you or talk to you or the way that you the way that you do things, he says, it's not going to work.

Your unity has to be rooted in the fact that Christ has already made you one.

And so he says, You are one body, you're one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father.

He says, This is what's true of you, because these Ephesians had come from various backgrounds with deep-rooted differences that had long history divisions.

You know, several weeks back we shared a quote from Justin Martyr who described the early church this way.

He said, We who formerly hated and murdered one another now live together and share the same table.

We pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us.

And what Paul is ultimately trying to say is that our effort to maintain our unity is rooted in the reality that Christ has already attained our unity.

Did you catch that?

Our effort to maintain our unity is rooted in the reality that Christ has already attained our unity.

So he's already made us one.

He's already conquered enemies, he's already torn down the dividing wall of hostility that we that he talked about earlier in Ephesians.

He's torn down the dividing wall of hostility to make us one.

And now our unity is rooted in that.

And this is so important because you, some of us, can't, we struggle, we get in the same community of people and they go, well, their personality is a little, I don't really dig their personality.

It's a little bit off.

Or, you know, they said something and it kind of sounded a little liberal.

They said something and it kind of sounded a little conservative.

They said something, and all of a sudden, our community is based on your your relational preferences and who you like to be around.

And what he's saying is, no, no, no.

It doesn't, even though their personality may be what it is, or their different preferences may be what it is, or the way that they spend their time may be what it is, or the way that they vote may be what it is, your oneness is rooted in something deeper that Christ has attained.

And so our effort to maintain our unity is rooted in the reality that Christ has already attained our unity.

In Christ, we have already been made one, and now through Christ, we work to live out and protect that oneness.

What if you constantly sought out division and dissension with the goal of reconciliation?

Like what happens so often is that we will we will have a level of bitterness or offense, and we will just learn to live with that.

Whether it's small, and for so many of us, it started out small, but it became big over time.

And what he's saying is like, man, if there's anything that could threaten your oneness or your unity, you need to seek that thing out and you need to destroy it and root things back in your oneness that's in Christ.

The third thing he says is that you are called to leverage all you are and all you have to build up the church and pursue the mission of Jesus.

Paul goes on and he says, but to each one of us, can you say that, each one of us?

Each one of us has been given as Christ apportioned it.

Each one of us has been given us, has he has given us grace, given us a gift of grace as Christ has apportioned it.

This is why it said, when he ascended on high, he took many captives and he gave gifts to his people.

And what Paul is pointing back to is he's saying that Christ came, he lived, he died, he raised from the dead, he ascended to the right hand of the Father, and he's poured out his spirit, and with his spirit he's given us gifts.

And so he goes on in verse 11, he says, So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors of shepherds, the teachers to equip his 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.

And so, why do we pursue unity?

What Paul's trying to make it clear is we don't pursue unity for the sake of unity, we pursue unity for the sake of mission.

Pursue for the sake of mission.

He's saying it's not it's not just for the sake that we can that that we can just have kind of friendship and in common unity.

He's saying, no, no, we pursue unity for the sake of the mission.

Why?

Because a house divided cannot stand.

Right?

He's saying that, man, when the church wars against itself, it gives the enemy access to thwart the mission of Jesus in the world.

How many times have we seen this?

Churches attacking churches, Christians attacking Christians, and the enemy gets access to divide and conquer.

How many churches have been torn apart because there was a small thing that became a big thing?

We don't pursue unity for the sake of unity, we pursue it for the sake of mission.

And what this requires is that each and every single one of us have a commitment to discovering our giftedness, placing them in submission to the mission of Jesus and the ministry of the church, and using them to advance the mission of Jesus through the church.

So the beauty of this is that each what Jesus promises that each and every single one of you have been gifted by the Holy Spirit.

If you are in Christ, you have been gifted by the Holy Spirit.

If you were in Christ, you have been gifted by the Holy Spirit.

Think about that.

That Christ Himself, through the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, has given a measure of his grace to you so that he can use you in his mission in the world.

So that he can use you to build up the body of Christ in the world.

And so what this means is that if you are in Christ and you have been given a gift and you are not stewarding that gift or using that gift, then you are not operating in the way that Christ has called you to.

That's one of the ways that we walk worthy of the calling that's been placed on us is when we steward the gift of God in our lives to serve and build up the body.

Every gift that you have is ultimately given to you by Christ.

Every ability that you have is ultimately given to you, but there's a supernatural ability that the Spirit of God has given you for you to embody Christ in a unique and specific way for the sake of building up the church and his mission in the world.

He names five specific gifts.

He talks about the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers.

I'm going to throw an image up here that I hope may be helpful.

And so this is an example of how this can look like in a local church.

So the function, the function of leaders within the church.

And so he kind of identifies these five specific things, but we know that throughout the New Testament, he he he lays out a list of gifts.

And so the idea here is that everyone in the church has been gifted by the Spirit and they come under the leadership of the church.

And now, and now they are all focused together to serve and operate and build one another up for the sake of accomplishing ministry and mission in a given context.

And so, and so the goal for even us as a church is we want to look at things like this and go, okay, how do we how do we have leaders that lead in effective ways in all of in all of these kind of different streams and functions of ministry?

And how do we mobilize the gifts of everyone in our church to now operate underneath that leadership for the sake of the mission and ministry of Jesus in our context?

And so this is the the idea here that Paul is that Paul is trying to accomplish.

He's saying, look, the the church is a diverse group and body of people that I've brought and collected together for the sake of embodying Christ in a specific way and continuing his ministry in that in that context.

The way Alan Hirsch says it is that the mission and ministry of Christ has been given to the body of Christ for the purpose of embodying the fullness of Christ.

And so when Christ ascended, he is now seated at the right hand of the Father.

And so if Christ is going to be present and active in the world, who's he gonna be present and active in the world through?

You and me.

That's why the church is called his body.

Is that we are now brought together in the body of Christ, given the Spirit of God and the gifts, so that we can embody Jesus and continue his ministry in the world and in this moment.

And what happens is if we all we do is receive the gift of God and then leverage it for our own sake, guess what happens?

One, you don't get used by God in the way that he wants you to.

And two, the kingdom of heaven does not advance the way that it's meant to.

And so what he's what's he saying is he's saying, Man, leverage your gifts for the sake of building up the church.

Because Jesus is all, we cannot be all.

Jesus has gifted us by his spirit that we may bring our giftedness together in unity to faithfully embody and represent him in the world.

Now, now I'll ask it like this, because some people always like to say, Well, look, man, I I am the church, right?

Like I, as a person in Christ, like I am the church, we are the church, people are the church.

So why do I have to do this in the context of this local church stuff?

Why does it matter that I actually commit to this and that I do this?

Well, one, you're thinking like a consumer, thinking about your privilege and thinking about what's necessary for you.

You're not thinking about how to be faithful to Jesus or how to how to reach the community around you.

And the way that I would ask this is this why do we invest in the local church?

Let's connect it to our city.

What do you think is going to have a more deep and lasting impact in our city?

A strong and healthy church or a strong and healthy Christian?

It's a very plain way to put that.

What's going to have a more deep and lasting and transformative impact in our city?

A bunch of individual, even if they're strong, even if they're healthy, which I would argue that you can't be apart from the church because you're meant to you're meant to coexist in an interdependent community together.

But what's going to be most effective?

You existing as individuals or a church together in unity, mobilized for the sake of the mission.

What's going to have more of a deep and lasting impact?

The church.

That's why it's God's idea.

And then lastly, you are called to grow up to full maturity in Christ and help others do the same.

You can go ahead and come up whenever you're ready.

I so there's two things that Paul is really trying to communicate here.

One is for you as an individual, and the other one is for us as a church.

So one is that you are called, you are called personally to grow up into maturity in Christ.

So you as a follower of Jesus are meant to have a commitment to grow.

Like, do you know the areas where you're weak and where you're vulnerable?

And do you have a commitment to expose those things, to lay those things down, to change those things and to grow up into maturity in Christ?

And then, two, we're meant to have a commitment to one another to help each other grow.

And so the fact is that God could use you as a vehicle and a conduit of transformation in the life of somebody else.

And he wants to.

And so your commitment to allow yourself to be convicted by the Spirit of God, to not settle for anything less than God's best in any area of your life, to find sin in your own heart and in your own life and root it out, to find idols in your own life and root them out, to find a lack of love in your life and to root them out, to find compromise in your life and to root them out because of your commitment to grow up into full maturity in Him.

And then a commitment as a community to one another.

That means if you've got a brother or a sister struggling to follow Jesus and struggling to be faithful, that you're committed to one another to help them grow.

And some of us are existing as isolated people, and this is what Paul is describing.

He says, He says, if we do this, then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming.

And he says, Look, man, when you exist as kind of these isolated people who are not growing up into maturity, and you just kind of stay as these babies in the faith, consuming when you can consume, and living chained and enslaved to fear and compromising.

And he says, Man, when you stay that way, he says, Man, you're you're con you're you're you're unstable.

You're constantly blown and you and you drift and you you cave.

And he goes, but man, if we commit to this kind of life, we can be a strong, resilient church that that grows up into maturity, that you personally can grow up into maturity, and we together can grow up into maturity.

And what happens a lot of times is that is that when we see weakness, we respond to it with a critical spirit or a critical word rather than service.

And the line that I that I kind of want to bring us to a close in is this is that weakness in the church is not an invitation to scrutiny, it's an invitation to service.

Like weakness in the body.

If you in your earthly body, if there was a part of you that was weak, what would you do?

You would focus on that part of your body to work it out, make it strong.

And what's happening in the church so often is that we walk into a church and if they don't have what we want them to have, or they're not doing the things that we want them to do, or they're not operating the way that we want them to operate, we leave rather than potentially what if God is calling us to engage in a place because you have a gift to offer so that you can meet a need that is present, so that you can serve in a way that's needed.

Because God's vision is a strong, loving, unified church, serving as a witness to the world by faithfully embodying Christ's character and executing Christ's ministry through godly, spirit-filled disciples and leaders, leveraging their lives to build one another up as they are increasingly formed into the image of Jesus for the sake of the world.

Um we're gonna get ready to close.

We're gonna respond through communion, and then um, and if this is your first time receiving communion with us, um, I'll kind of walk you through it.

But a question that I kind of have for us as we prepare to respond is this.

You know, in verses 7 through 10, it talks about Jesus laying his life down, raising from the dead, ascending to the right hand of the Father, and giving gifts to the people.

And so my thought is this is that Christ died and raised and ascended to save, gift, and empower you for his calling on your life.

And so the reality is that Christ has given his body for you.

The question is, will we give ourselves for his body?

Christ has given his body, his life for us.

And he's called us to now give our lives for his body, the church.

That he could use us for his mission in the world, to be ministers of the gospel in the world, that God has a plan and a purpose for your life.

Will you partner with him so that it can come to fullness and fruition?

Or will we cave to the force of reasonableness that tells you to play it safe, to cave to fear and call it wisdom?

Holy Spirit, we just acknowledge our personal brokenness and our desire and our need for you.

We um, as we prepare to respond through communion, Jesus, you promise to be present with us in a beautiful way, in a special way as we do this.

And so we just acknowledge your presence with us.

Lord, we're not here to perform.

We're not here because we planned on, man, how can we give just the best possible, unblemished, perfected church service possible?

But we're here because we desperately need an encounter with the living God in a way that actually impacts our hearts and calls us to something great.

And Jesus, we need you to do that in us if that's ever going to come to fruition, because we do not have what it takes in and of ourselves.

We need your presence, your power to call us to something great and to equip us and empower us for the great thing that you've called us to.

And we can't do it by ourselves, we can only do it together.

And so help us, Jesus.

I pray that you would call, make a make a personal calling to each and every single individual in this room.

Whether it's to respond to you for the first time, or whether it's to partner with you and step into the calling that you've placed in their life.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.