Trinity Church Spokane Valley
Ephesians 4:1-16
Good morning Trinity Church. It is my pleasure to be in front of you again this morning. I wanted to let you know about an encouragement that I had about you from Chris Mullins last week after the service and he had mentioned that of all of the experience that he had with us last Sunday morning that he was very blessed when we were all singing together as a church. That is not something that he experiences where he is at home and he just wanted me to know how wonderful of a blessing it is that we have that together. It is indeed something that is very beautiful to hear all of you God's people singing praises together in which your voices are what dominate that time together. So I want to just say that with you as an encouragement to you to know that we are encouraged by that as well. This morning I had the choice of what passage to pick for what to preach today and if you looked on your bulletin you see that it's an Ephesians 4. The reason that I wanted to pick this passage is that as we're coming to the end of the summer you know we kind of take our little breaks from ministry which is okay God builds in seasons and cycles for us to enjoy but as we come into the ministry season I do want us to have a mind that is set by God's Word and what he says is our purpose as believers in the church as we move into a new season for this to do together. So if you would please stand with me for the reading of God's Word. I therefore a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness with patience bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says when he ascended on high he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men in saying he ascended what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things and he gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth and love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Father I pray as we look at your word that your spirit would open our eyes to behold the wonderful things that are in your word and direct our hearts to serve you faithfully. I pray this in your son's name. Amen. You may have heard that the human eye is what is called an irreducibly complex organ and what is meant by that is that there are several parts, several ingredients, cells, fluids, etc. that make up the eye and if any one of those parts is missing it is no longer able to see. The church is very much like the eye. In order for it to function properly as God has designed she needs all of her parts working properly. The problem is that we can love our own ideas about the purpose and function of the church. Some may believe that the church is defined by her leaders, others that she is defined by her ministry programs, yet others by her involvement in the community. These are short, far short of God's purposes for the church. We also may have a problem thinking of ourselves too much. What can the church do for me is the question that comes into our minds and when we think this way we move along in our lives but away from each other in search for someone who can fulfill our needs. Ephesians 4 begins a portion of Scripture that paints a picture of a healthy church in action and our section this morning verses 1 through 16 is bookended within love. There's a lot of material between those words we're going to by God's grace get through it but this material tells us how to pursue God's purposes for the church in love and how we all have a part to play. So the main idea I have for you this morning is this. Since self-love will drive us apart we must seek to build each other up in the uniting love of Christ. Self-love will drive us apart so we must seek to build each other up in the uniting love of Christ. This section tells us how to do that through three means. The first is that the United love of Christ protects the peace produced by the one true God for his church. Second, uniting love rests in the giver of the diverse gifts to his church and last the uniting love of Christ causes the church to grow together into Christ. So our first point the uniting love of Christ protects the peace produced by the one true God for his church. Christ has secured peace through his spirit but because sin is still present in us we must maintain that peace with one another. The love of Christ has united us we are called to keep that unity in love for one another. You can see in verse 1 that the chapter opens with a therefore. I therefore. This is just like what we saw at the beginning of the summer in Romans chapter 12 I appeal to you therefore brothers. What's coming now is based on what came before. In Ephesians Paul has focused on the life that God has given us in Christ by grace alone through faith alone. In this letter he's writing to a mixed audience of Jews and Gentiles who have repented and believed in Christ for their salvation and part of Paul's emphasis in the letter is that the blessings that God has given in the work of salvation encompasses all peoples. All that divided Jew and Gentile has been done away with through the death of Christ and the death of resurrection of Christ inaugurated the new covenant in which the people of God are those who positively respond in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ. All of us are united to him. Gentiles are now heirs of the promises through Christ with the Jews and it is through this united body that God's wisdom would be put on display. So Paul a prisoner of for the Lord urges the church. Urge there in verse one. Same word that we saw as appeal in Romans 12 one. This is an earnest fervent encouragement and exhortation. This is really important for Paul. What he is saying is of vital importance for the life of the church. What is he urging? What is he saying? Well he is saying that in response to the gospel the type of walk the way that they live is to be worthy of the calling to which they have been called. What is this worthy walk? Well Paul begins by pointing out the manner of the walk in verses two and three. We're only going to touch on these but they're very important. First they need to walk with humility and gentleness. They're not to think of themselves more highly than we had to think. We heard about that earlier this summer. Second they're to live with patience. They need to temper their expectations of one another. Their expectations of one another need to be reshaped in them through the light of the gospel. All of them were learning to live with God and each other under the New Covenant in Christ. And this patience was to be reflected in how they bear with one another. And we can probably relate to that. There are people in our lives and whether we're thinking rightly or wrongly about this issue there are people in our lives always that are not really measuring up to what we expect. This is due either to immaturity such as with children or old patterns of sin that are taking time to correct or it's because I need to grow up. Right? We need to grow up if we have expectations of people our thinking needs to be corrected. So we need to bear with one another in love. But it is love. The love of Christ in particular that underlies all of it which leads to the purpose of this manner the first element of this worthy walk which is in verse 3. In verse 3 Paul points out why the Ephesian Church needs gentle humility patient and bearing love. And the reason is that there is a threat for division. This threat comes from a love of self that is not humble or gentle or patient or bearing. The differences that still exist whether great or small threaten the unity that Christ has already purchased. So the believers are called to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. So let's focus on this exhortation. Another way to think about the word eager could be diligent or striving or fervent. Real proactive effort is required. And maintain. Think about the word maintain for a moment. What do we maintain? What is maintenance? Well it is work that is done to prevent failures. I do maintenance on my vehicles. Right? I change the oil so that it will keep running. I'm trying to keep it in the condition in which I received it. The word for maintain could also be translated as keep or guard. And this is why I called the point, this first point the uniting love of Christ protects the peace produced by the one true God for His church. We maintain or we keep or we guard or we protect something that is already established. It's already present. And it's already we recognize it is vitally important. So this is important to remember for the Ephesians and for us as well. Christ has already united us by His blood. It is already true. Anything that would have divided us has been washed away because of the uniting work of Christ. The Ephesian church, this church, is purchased. We are adopted. We are one family together. But because there are visible differences, because we have different backgrounds, because we have prideful and impatient and unloving remaining sin, unity is always at risk. The unity that exists though is produced by the Spirit. The content of the bond of the Spirit is peace. Peace has been secured. It has been secured by Christ. It has been given to us certainly by the Spirit. Peace with God above all. But as a result, peace with one another. Unity with God has been secured and unity with each other. But the church must be diligent to protect it. I don't want to spend too much time on the rest of this section. These are the first few verses. So very briefly in verses 4 through 6, you can see Paul gives a series of ones. These ones are the theological foundation for why we have this unity in the first place. Paul says there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is overall and through all and in all. Seven ones, culminating in the truth that there is one God and Father of us all. Like I said, this is the theological foundation for the unity of the church. Everyone, everyone in Christ is part of the one body that serves the one Lord of our one salvation. He is overall and through all and in all. That has to be the root of everything that we do to seek unity with one another. We do this for one very important reason. It protects our unity for the sake of protecting the glory of God, the witness that we have of God's glory. John 17 records Jesus praying to his Father on the eve of his death. In verse 11, referring to his present disciples, he says, "Father, Holy Father, keep them in your name which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one." A little further on, he prays for those who would believe afterward through the word of his disciples and he also prays that they would be one. And what is the reason that he prays this? Because he tells us himself, so that the world may believe that you sent me, that the world would believe that God loves his people as they show love for one another. God's reputation and glory is on the line. Jesus prays for God to keep or protect the unity of the disciples, so that his love would be known to the world. Unity in the church is meant to illustrate a love that God has for his people. A lack of unity ends up tarnishing that reputation in the world. Did you know that in professional sports, when a company offers an endorsement to a player, they enter into an ethical agreement, they create what's called a moral clause in the contract. And in a typical and typical endorsement agreement, the moral clause provides grounds for the sponsor to be able to remove themselves, to terminate the contract, if the individual is convicted of a crime or some sort of moral, turpitude, or commits an act that likely in the sole opinion of the sponsor, which would adversely affect their reputation. So by endorsing the player, the company is putting their own reputation on the line, so they put stipulations in to protect that reputation. Well, just as a company seeks to protect their reputation, so the church, the members of the church must seek to protect hers, to protect the reputation of the church, because it protects the reputation of our God. Now, in this church here in Trinity Church, there is not a strong sense of division, there is not a strong Jewish culture, or at odds with a Gentile culture, but that doesn't mean that there aren't differences among us. And these differences, even if they're under the surface right now, can potentially cause divisions, which is why we need to keep on guard. For example, we all have convictions about certain things. For example, there's strong convictions among us about how we should school our children. There's strong convictions about political parties. There's strong convictions about how to spend our Sunday, or how to spend our money. These convictions all may be good as long as they're rooted in Scripture, but what can happen is we can turn some of these convictions into an unwarranted law that separates us in one way or another. We need to be very careful not to let some of these convictions create divisions. We need to remember, ultimately, that Christ has called us to live in light of the gospel together, which means that we're seeking to be godly together. So, yes, we want to make sure that we can godly decisions about all of the things I mentioned before, but it is done so in a way that reflects the unity that God has given us in Christ as we seek to live under the gospel truths. So, we just need to look inside of our own hearts. You need to think about how you have shaped an opinion of someone, and be very aware that that opinion may be doing something in your own attitude that creates a division between you and another believer. I want you to be very aware of the threat that it brings to your love for those who have been united to you by Christ. So, one, we need to protect the peace that God has secured for us in his love. Second, we also need to rest in the one who has given various gifts to his one body. There can be times in which we fail to be united in love because we feel we have not enjoyed the same blessings as others. We can be jealous. We can see someone be very gifted in something and think, "I need to have that in order to serve the church well." On the other side of the table, we can be pridefully disappointed when we don't see gifts that we feel that we have in other members of the church. We pridefully perceive it as a lack in others. Looking to Christ as the one who is the giver of our gifts helps us rest in peace with the way that he has distributed them. Verse 7, you can see, introduces this content with a small word but, right? It's a small contrast. But what's being contrasted here? All of the ones in verses 4 through 6 lead to how each one in the church has been given a gift. The grace that's given according to Christ. Paul says they're given according to the measure of Christ's gift. These gifts are according to Christ's purposes. Paul then does something that seems to take us off a little bit when he quotes or alludes to Psalm 68. So when he ascended on high he let a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. That's Psalm 68. Christ measuring out the gifts, though, is the fulfillment of what the psalm was going for. I don't want to spend a lot of time on the psalm. But a careful reader, if they go back and look, is going to notice that there seems to be a change that Paul has given in the citation. In the psalmist says that the one who ascended receives gifts from among men, while here Paul says the gifts were given. John Calvin proposes that Paul didn't change the words. His quotations stopped at the end of being leading a host of captives and added his own words in the spirit of the psalm, which actually does end by saying that God is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Or verse 12 that the women at home have divided the spoils, right? The idea that gifts are given to the subjects of the conquering king. That's what's present here in the psalm. So Paul's use of the psalm is relevant because the psalm itself speaks of God's victory over his enemies, just as Christ has had all things put under his feet. The psalm also speaks of the deliverance of God's people and the blessings his people enjoy just as in Christ, all who are saved enjoy God's blessings. And in the psalm God takes his place in the sanctuary and peoples from other nations, along with Israel, are gathered to worship the Lord. Jews and Gentiles together. Paul therefore sees the work of Christ as the fulfillment of the psalms pattern and expectations. He is the one who has ascended and descended. Christ descended in his incarnation. After his death and resurrection he ascended and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. So you can see there at the universe 10 that this was an order that he might fulfill all things or that he might fill all things. And just as the father is overall and through all and in all Jesus now fills all. The son is sharing the glory of the father and he is the source of these gifts because he purchased them with his own blood. Because he has authority and glory he does as he sees fit with the gifts that he's going to give and we can rest in that we can trust that. In the C.S. Lewis story, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," there's four children from the Pevency family that are magically transported to the land of Narnia. The land is completely covered when they get there in a perpetual winter until hope starts to dawn when Aslan returns to the land. Before the winter is gone though, this Santa Claus character Father Christmas shows up and he appears before three of the four Pevency children and gives each of them gifts. He gives them weapons in their fight against the witch. He states that these gifts are to be used not only to defend themselves but also to take on that assault against the witch who is brought along the winter. Edmond, one of the characters he's not present. He has betrayed his friends. He has given himself an allegiance to the witch and he's become her slave. So he's not there but near the end of the story, Edmond ends up receiving the greatest gift. He received his freedom when Aslan sacrificed himself to free him from the witch's slavery. So when we think about that story, Aslan himself was the gift that Edmond had received and in all of the gifts that Christ has given us, the greatest gift is that he's given us the gift of himself. This helps us look to Christ as the giver of every good gift because it all is rooted in him. It helps us direct our hearts to him who deserves all praise and worship. A love of self ends up looking inward and compares itself with one another. A love of Christ and for one another turns to worship and the building up of each other. So we respond by remember that each of us are subject to Jesus on his terms. We're not to judge each other but we're to encourage one another. We're to support one other. Jesus is the one who brought about our peace and because he's the obedient son who has claimed victory over all, he is the one who has distributed the gifts that he has given to this body. We respond to this truth by rightly standing off him and his victory, what he has accomplished for us and we rejoice in and support one another who have also received the same gift and a variety of gifts that he has given to his church. Now I know there's probably some of you in here now that know nothing of this victory, that know nothing of this gift. You have heard a speak of Christ, you've heard a speak of his dissension, his incarnation to take on sin, to die a sacrificial death for sin and then be raised to the right hand of the Father. All of that has happened to demonstrate and to call you to believe and repent in the one who has saved you from your allegiance with this world. You have been called to be united with his body so that invitation is open to you now. The blood of Jesus accomplishes our unity so all of us are called to continuous repentance and faith because of that. But how does knowing Christ gives all things to a church impact how we relate to one another practically? How does the truth of him being the one who fills all things direct how we interact with one another? Well let's look at the rest of the passage to get the answer to that starting in verse 11. What I want you to see here is that a love of self does not depend on or seek help from others necessarily that's not the main thing that's going on. Uniting love that is truly Christian is inseparable one from a true knowledge and faith in Christ. It's to this knowledge and faith that the church is called to pursue together. You'll notice in verse 11 that Paul begins to specifically lay down the gifts that Christ has given and these gifts are different from the gifts so we list of gifts we find in Romans 12 verse Corinthians for example and what in fact what we see is that these gifts that he gives are people and for Paul's purposes here the people he starts out with are those who have a role of teaching. He says he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. Now this doesn't mean that other people in the church or other gifts are not important but what he is saying is that the truth about the faith about which we're to have the knowledge of the Son of God is dependent on faithful teachers that those gifts that God has given to the church. The importance of the connection of our unity and the faith is what Paul is stressing right here. Paul says in verse 12 that the purpose of these gifts as teachers is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So right here we see Paul has the rest of the church in mind. All of the saints are going to be doing the work of ministry. Each one has a role to play. Each of you have a role to play in the life of the body. What is this work of ministry? Well the next phrase specifies it. It is for building up the body of Christ. If you have different Bible translations the ESV and the New King James have the same proposition the word for which precedes the work of ministry and building up the body. You're not going to see that in the New American Standard or the NIV but I want you to see that connection. You should still be able to see it there. The teaching gifts of Christ are to equip the saints for the work of ministry which is the building up of the body of Christ. Now ministry is just a fancy word for service. It's not restricted to an office. I don't have a distinct role of ministry that is separate from you just because I'm up here today. Ministry is the work of the members of the body. If Paul goes on in verse 13 he says until. Well until what? Until we all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. I want you to see the way verse 13 is structured because we tend to get confused here by what Paul is saying when he goes on. 13 begins with a time marker until so he's saying we have work to do until this goal is accomplished. If you have an NIV you're not going to see some of this. I'll try to follow along but after unity of faith there's a series of twos. To the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. These two go together with that and then there's two mature manhood and to the measure of the stature of Christ. These are all set in parallel to show that all of this is talking about the same thing. There are same expressions or different expressions of the same goal. Mature manhood, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. These are all tied to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Well what is that knowledge? Back in chapter 2 of Ephesians in verse 15 Paul says that Christ abolished the law of commandments expressed in ordinances which is the old covenant and was restricted to the Jews. Why did he do that? He did this to create one new man making peace. Then down in verse 21 building on that same foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ being the cornerstone the whole structure is built into a holy temple. So in the context the whole structure is Jews and Gentiles those who were previously divided. So the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, the mature manhood, the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God is that the truth that Christ has accomplished the work to bring us together as one people of God. Why are we to strive for this? Verse 14 in order that we may no longer be children. Now children, and if you're listening children, don't take offense of this, but children you are wonderfully naive. You're ready to believe many of you and even those who are not children here. Many of you are ready to believe whatever you hear because you don't know any different. To avoid embarrassment I'm gonna avoid using any names but I can assure you that the person I'm gonna speak about is not present with us today. I had a child who had a wart growing between one of the fingers by the knuckle. They didn't know what it was. So this trusting and delightful offspring of my and asked what it was, I told my young protege that their adult fingers were about to come in and they were gonna lose their baby fingers. This caused no little panic. But the thing is is I was trusted. I was believed. They they didn't know any different. They hadn't heard about warts before and they certainly hadn't heard about adult fingers growing off before. But the naivety right of the whole situation is that we tend to trust authorities. We tend to trust those who teach things to us. Paul stresses the importance of the right knowledge of Christ so that we would not be naive. He does not want the church to fall prey to the crunning and crafty deceitful schemes that would cause them to be divided. Ignorance of Christ and the essentials of the faith put us at risk of division. Not understanding God's plan for Jew and Gentile being just united into one body is the context here and that can divide us. So what is the solution? How do we attain the unity of the faith? It is that we are to grow up in every way into him who's the head into Christ together. If you're following along in your Bible you may have noticed that I skipped something there at the beginning of verse 15. Rather speaking the truth in love. This is how we grow up together. Now some people will use this phrase to justify saying hard things sometimes hurtful things because they just need to hear the truth. Well the truth is not a tool to be wielded in this way. The truth of the gospel is Jesus' reconciling work. This truth, this is the truth we are to speak to one another, to draw each other closer to Christ in faith and in love. We're to help each other grow in respect to all things into him. The one who's reconciled us together. It is only in relation, in intimate, trusting, relying, obedient, loving relation to him, to Christ, together that we grow. Verse 16 says from whom again Paul's pointing back to Christ. Paul is showing that Christ is the source of our growth. Now this last verse is something of a fun clause or confusing clause but you need to pay attention to this because this is the climax of this section. So stay with me. The subject of this clause is the body. The verb is makes which by my word count there's about 18 words between those two. So depending on the translation on your lap you might also see causes to grow or just grows. With all that extreme between the clauses simply the whole body makes the body grow. Now well that doesn't tell us a whole lot so we need to see very clearly what's in between because it's very important. We need to focus on this for a very important reason because when we think about growth, when we think about spiritual growth what do we often think of? Like if I tell you you need to grow as a Christian what resources on your bookshelf are you going to be thinking about? For most of us, myself included I tend to think about the personal spiritual disciplines, right? The books on my shelf I've got a book called How to Grow. This book was published recently, trusted author, trusted publisher, lots of good stuff, nine chapters that talk about growth as a believer. Eight out of nine of those chapters have to do with the reader himself. Now to his credit the last chapter deals with discipleship, the relationships that we have with one another. But we see the same thing in other books like spiritual disciplines for the Christian life, disciplines of a godly man and its counterpart for women. Even the Puritan Thomas Watson wrote the godly man's picture which is all of these characteristics of the believer, the individual believer and his growth in Christ. These resources are all great so don't get me wrong all of this is very important, it's critical. There will not be maturity in the church if the individuals are not growing in maturity. But my point is is what am I looking for when I pick these resources up? What do you look for when you pick up these resources? Because it usually has to do with my personal habits of Bible reading, prayer, personal character, fruits of the spirit, putting sin to death and so forth with the churches are all good, all of that is good and necessary. We won't mature as a church if we're not individually maturing as believers. But listen to what Paul says again look at verse 16 he says the whole body. Right there we have the collective group and that's important. Next he says they are joined and held together. Now these terms are somewhat synonymous, we'll take them one at a time. First joined, literally joined together or united. This term is also used in Ephesians 2, 21 in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Paul uses it again here in reference to the body and he's speaking of the unity of Christ's body that is established by the cooperation of all members. Now forgetting that all of this foundation still resides in Christ who is the head. The head is not separate from the body, the body is not separate from the head, but the body is only working as it grows together. Second helds together, very similar has its own flavor kind of like the difference between avocado and paste. Yes, this word was used outside of the Bible to refer to bringing about an agreement. In the New Testament, Paul also uses it in Colossians 2 and verses 2 and 19 where it's rendered knit together. Both of these are in reference to the saints relationships to one another. So the body is joined and held together. Next, the body is joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. Now some translations render this as ligaments, that's too specific. Think of the ligaments with the nerves, with the blood vessels, with the cartilage and the connecting joints of bones, skin, layers of fat and muscle, the whole kit and caboodle. If any of these are damaged, the connection is weakened and the part does not function well. So he says when each part is working properly and just like we noted in Romans 12 about having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them, the parts of the body are all gifts and the parts of the gifts that are being used for the other parts of the body, where to be used for the other parts of the body. First Corinthians 12, 14 and following Paul gives a vivid illustration of the need for a variety of body parts. No part should say it's not useful because it is not like another part. If the whole body were to be an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? Paul says these things in that context to show how the body needs different parts, but here in Ephesians he's saying that each part needs to do its part for the sake of the rest. And this is how the body grows. This is how the body builds itself up in love. Everyone, everyone, every member contributing to the growth of others in love. Every part contributing to the growth of others in love, in love devoted to Christ who is the head, most of all, if we don't have that the body dies, but also devoted love to the body because we're members of one another. If you've ever gone to a musical play or a ballet, you may have been aware and in awe of the gracefulness and coordination among all the dancers or actors, they take cues from one another, from the music, perhaps from a director. So what they do is harmonious, it's in sync, it's fluid, it's all goes together in one beautiful picture. Things turn out a little differently when the ballerinas are four, four years old, right? There's always one little girl that's off on the side doing her twirl and lifting her dress up as she spins around, right? The director may be still pointing to a performance that's painting a picture and telling a story, but everybody's attention has been distracted because that one little girl is off doing her own thing. Well, just as the dancers in a ballet need to be choreographed successfully to tell their story, so the church must grow together to display the glory of Christ. I use the illustration of choreography because it's from the root of the word translated as equipped in verse 16, but also helps us illustrate the important aspect of church membership. Now, most of you sitting here today, many of you are members and are have communicated your intent to be with us in membership, as we mentioned earlier, we've got many that are set up to be received as members in a couple of weeks, and we're very thankful for this, for your commitment now. And not just me or the other elders, we're not the only ones thankful. The whole body is thankful for your commitment here, but I want to challenge you this morning about whether you're thinking of your membership in the way that Paul is painting it here. I'm not saying that this is standing out to me in any way because what I just want to remind you that we have a tendency to think about ourselves first. First thing when I wake up in the morning, right? I'm number one, I have to reorient myself, so this is just protection. Here's some challenges for you. Do you feel like you're fulfilling your obligations as a member by just showing up on Sundays? Do you feel like your membership is strengthened by being in some kind of discipling relationship or discipling group? Do you feel like you're growing as a member because of your knowledge of theology is growing? Or do you feel like you're contributing in ministry of the church because you have helped in somewhere or another? Don't get me wrong again, these are all good things and we're very thankful for how you do contribute presently to this body. We are thankful, I am thankful that many of you are in some sort of discipling relationship, whether that's with another person or a couple people are in a group. We're really thankful that you're careful students of theology because we must have it right. We must know Jesus Christ. We're also thankful that many of you are helping in a variety of ways but this is a cautious but, but are you in these things rooted in helping each other grow in the faith? Like are you sharing the map of your lives seeking to direct to each other in the faith in the midst of your lives? Are you helping each other grow in the knowledge of Christ? So like if you're studying in your theology is it so that you can have a better understanding for yourself or so that you can direct other members of the church to a true and life-giving knowledge of Jesus? And living in light of who Jesus is, living with an experiential knowledge, with him as Lord seeking to be obedient to his commands, living with him as our great high priest so that we can direct one another to him when we need to receive mercy and grace. Learning to look and point each other in growth as we face our trials and temptations when we need his strength the most. Is your discipleship shaped by this? Is it descriptive of your membership? In a similar matter is your life as a member here marked by speaking the truth in love? So what I mean by this is are you showing compassion, bold compassion to those who are wayward or are you being patient with those who are weak? Are you reminding each other of the gospel? Are you encouraging each other in the spiritual disciplines in such a way that leads each other to Christ from whom the whole body grows? So if you're a believer and you've been attending with us for a while that have not joined in membership I want you to know that this is what we want for you because this is what Christ commands of you. Your life in Christ is dependent on the body which is joined and held together by Christ himself but the body is also dependent on you as Christ's gift. We are joined and held together and covenant with each other. This is what defines our membership. It is recognizing that Christ has called us to the unity of the body that's committed to its collective growth in Christ and from Christ. So whether here or with another church we want to help you fulfill what Christ has called you to. For the rest of us who are already members here I simply want to remind you remind us that the basis and pattern this is the basis and pattern of our covenant with one another. And remember covenant we have the following commitments that we will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We are dependent on God for this. We are dependent on His Spirit and recognizing that He has already created the peace that we need. And second we will walk together in brotherly love as becomes members of a Christian church. Exercise and affectionate care and watchfulness over each other and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require. All of this is so that we would build each other up to cause the body to grow maturity in Christ. A failure to do so we have to admit is a failure to love and a failure to love is often due to a love for self. There's no denying that we all do this at some time or another but Christ has paid for our lack of love by pouring out His love for us through His sacrificial death and His resurrection. Our risen Lord intercedes for our failures as we look to Him for our hope and look to Him for our growth. We look to Him for our salvation and we receive His love. And the uniting love of Christ should cause the church to grow together into Christ. Since self-love will drive us apart we need to build each other up. We need to strive to build each other up in the uniting love of Christ. United body is a body that is walking worthier for calling. We build each other up by protecting the peace that we have in the gospel, by resting in the purposes of the Son and by working together for our growth in Christ. Let us all remember that we are called to do this together in love for the glory of our Lord. Let's pray. Father, Lord Jesus, you are due all praise for the riches of your glory. You're the one who strengthens us for ministry through your spirit. You're the one who gives us faith to ground us in love, to build us up together. Help us look to you as our head and to each other as your body so that we would see and embrace the role that you have given to each one of us for the sake of the rest of us and all for your glory. Amen.