Presentation 10

1. Studies in Ephesians Presentation 10

2. The Structure of the Book Be what you are in Christ See what you are in Christ Chap 4-6 Chap 1-3 Doctrine Truth Application

3. Maturity the aim of Ministry Chap 4 v13-16

4. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Maturity is the process that describes the development from childhood through adolescence to manhood. That is what Paul wanted for the church! There is a sense in which the body of Christ will not be complete without a mature church. Jesus is the head we are the body. It is as though he is saying, “I am not complete without you”. But that completeness requires maturity.

5. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Imagine a full-grown head attached to the body of a baby. It is a grotesque picture. Now think of how Jesus, the head of the church, feels when the body shows no sign of, or interest in, growth. God’s aim is to bring us to maturity instead of leaving us malformed.

6. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for • Maturity involves reaching ‘unity in the faith’ v13. • In what sense has this to be attained? • First, agreement on major points of doctrine. e.g. concerning the Lord's person, his deity, his humanity, his incarnation - including his virgin birth, the purpose of his atoning death on the cross, his literal, historical, physical resurrection etc. • Where there is no agreement on these central issues there can • be no growth or functioning as a body.

7. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for 2. Second, more than doctrinal orthodoxy is necessary. It’s possible to believe all the right things yet be spiritually dead: “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead”. cf. Rev.3.1. And so Paul adds the need to have ‘unity in the knowledge of the Son of God’. The word Paul uses refers not merely to the knowledge of facts but a knowledge of experience, a knowledge of encounter. It is that experimental knowledge of Christ that enables us to say: “I no longer live but Christ lives in me". Gal 2.20 But this growth is also corporate. In other words it is something that the fellowship of God’s people arrives at together.

8. Maturity : A Goal to strive for Sadly, we are often infant churches v14 instead of mature. There are of course some childlike characteristics that the Christian must never lose, like his dependence upon God - a characteristic Jesus had in mind when he taught, ‘unless you become as little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven’. Matt 18.3 But there are also characteristics of childishness that we have to abandon in our pursuit of maturity. “but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me”. 1Cor 13 10-11

9. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for How should we to understand, “Putting away childish things”? First, children are fickle. They come home from school and David is their best friend but next day it is John and the following day it is Reza. Secondly, children have a lack of self-control. They are creatures of impulse and mood, and find it hard to control their responses. Thirdly, a child is prone to excessive emotional and sometimes violent outbursts if his will is thwarted. He is either fond of something or it hates it! These emotional extremes can heighten a state of mental turmoil and agitation.

10. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Fourthly, a child is easily deceived often because of his natural naivety and a lack of knowledge. This is why they make good audiences for conjurers, and why they believe there might be monsters under their beds. This is no criticism of the child but a description. Now when these characteristics persist into adulthood there is a lack of maturity. So too, in the Christian life, changeableness, lack of control, extreme responses, and an openness to deception prevent us from pressing on into maturity.

11. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for The second picture used to describe the immature Christian reinforces the first. He is like a rudderless ship at the mercy of a storm. Shifting winds swing him around. Such a person never seems to know his own mind or have settled convictions. Instead their opinions tend to be those of the last person they spoke to or the last book they read. As a result of this instability they are constantly changing direction and as a result they make little progress.

12. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Their great danger however lies in the fact that they are at the mercy of cunning and deceitful men. The immature are in no position to test what they are told. They are open to all sorts of influences, heresies and human manipulation. The word-translated ‘deceit’ is the same word used in the ancient world for ‘dice’. Dice playing gave an opportunity to deceive and cheat others by sleight of hand. Paul is saying the immature Believer is not aware that he is being taken advantage of.

13. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Jesus warned us against such deceivers. Cf Lk 21.8 "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them”. Weak, gullible, untaught Christians have joined all sorts of movements. They have sold all their possessions climbed up to mountaintop retreats to await the return of the Lord Jesus having been told that he would return on such and such a day.

14. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for What is the solution to these difficulties? Answer: A Mature Church. How do we develop maturity? Notice the connection made with truth in v15 . The translation ‘speaking the truth’ does not do justice to the Greek, which should be, translated as "truthing in love." A phrase that covers a wide range of ideas: maintaining, speaking, living and doing the truth. The mature has learned from God and his word! His evaluation of situations, patterns of conduct and the trustworthiness of individuals has been moulded by God's truth and it is that which he communicates.

15. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for However, there is a need for balance. It is good to be determined to communicate truth. But sadly, that can be done in a loveless, heartless way – with no regard to the feelings of others! The opposite mistake is to be so anxious not to hurt others that we sacrifice what they know to be truth. Jesus spoke out against what was false but he did so out of a heart of love for all involved. We must not confuse Christianity with sentimental niceness!

16. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love, but love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth. We need to hold the two together. Two Scottish ministers were discussing the previous days sermon. On hearing that his friend had preached on the subject of hell, he said to him, "I hope it was preached with tears in your eyes". Do you see the balance? Failure to mention hell would not have been loving. He would have been concealing the truth. However, to have spoken on this serious subject unfeelingly may have communicated truth but it would have been ‘hard truth’ not softened by love.

17. Maturity : A Goal to Strive for Growth requires mutual exhortation and admonition. Rom.15.14. Col.3.16 . Paul’s picture of growing up into Christ, is of the body growing up and filling out so that it fits the head. Children's drawings are often badly proportioned. The body is often too small for the size of the head. It is clear that he body needs to be stretched - to be filled out - in order to match the head. This is what Paul has in mind here. Jesus our head has provided all we require to reach maturity and this will happen ‘as each part does its work’. Every member of the church needs to be involved and committed to this task of arriving at maturity.