21 Nov This is us: Healthy body

Ephesians 4:1-16

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷ But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” ⁹ (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ 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, ¹⁴ 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 in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ 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.

I think it is safe to say that we have many health-conscious people in our church. Some of you are very strict in what you eat. Some exercises regularly. Some are gym junkies. Some are very active in sharing health tips on WhatsApp. I used to receive a lot of “good morning messages” on different WhatsApp groups that said, “Don’t eat this because you might get cancer. Or eat that to prevent cancer. 5 tips to increase your immune system against coronavirus.” If you have a WhatsApp group with your parents in it, you know what I am talking about. Sometimes I wonder if there is any truth behind those messages. Because I can receive two contradictory health messages in a matter of days. But there is nothing wrong with being health conscious. It is good to do so. We want to take good care of our bodies so that we can live and do our responsibility well. In this passage, Paul describes another body, the body of Christ, or the church. And we should be very interested in the health of the body of Christ. Why? Because as Christians, we are part of this body. And in this passage, Paul tells us what makes the body of Christ healthy. We must pay attention to it. Because unlike those unreliable health tips on WhatsApp, this is the word of God. This is the eternal truth. We can trust the Bible to make us healthy as a church. And here is what we know about anything healthy. It grows. If it does not grow, it is not healthy. And the same can be said about a church. A healthy church is a growing church. And by growing, I do not mean the size of the church. There is no correlation between the size of the church and the health of the church. A church can be small and healthy. It can also be big and unhealthy. True church growth is more than just growing in numbers. True church growth is about growing in Christlikeness. A healthy church is a church that looks more and more like Jesus.

Today, we conclude our series, “This is us: Growing together as righteous sinners.” And throughout the series, we continue to emphasise that every Christian is a righteous sinner. Christians are people who have been made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus. But at the same time, Christians are also sinners who struggle with sin every day. It means that every Christian has room to grow. And in today’s passage, Paul tells us what it looks like for us to grow together as righteous sinners. And what Paul has to say to us is very radical. It is counterintuitive to our culture.

Here is why. Today we live in a selfie generation. Back in the day, when we went on a holiday and we saw the breathtaking view of the Grand Canyon, what did we do? We said, “This is super awesome. Let me take some pictures of the Grand Canyon.” But today, we say, “This is super awesome. Let me take some pictures of myself with the Grand Canyon in the background.” Am I right? So, the focus switch from the breathtaking view to us. We love taking pictures of our self. Many years ago, the word that we used to describe it was narcissism. Today, we call it Facebook and Instagram. We lived in a culture that is obsessed with self. So, the questions that we often ask ourselves are, “How does this benefit me? What advantage would this bring to me? How does this make me better?” And we bring the same questions to the church. “How does this church benefit me? What advantage would this church bring to me? How does this church make me better?” We evaluate everything through the lens of “me, myself and I.” But Paul tells us otherwise. Paul argues that if we want to grow as Christians, we need to switch the lens of “me, myself and I” to “we, us and our.” This is the key to a healthy church. Christianity is a personal faith, but it is a community project. Let me sum up Paul’s argument in a few sentences. We cannot grow in Christ without active involvement in the church community. And the body of Christ cannot grow without our active involvement in the church community. Let’s look at it together.

I separate this sermon into four parts: Unity; Diversity; Maturity; Community.

Unity

Ephesians 4:1-3 – I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Paul tells the church in Ephesus to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. You often hear me say, “Walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.” What does it mean? The word worthy is not used to prove who they are but to act consistently with who they already are. So, Paul is not telling them to prove that they are worthy of the gospel. Paul is telling them to live in such a way that agreed with who they already are because of the gospel. In other words, Paul tells them to live out their new identity. And this is crucial. The church in Ephesus consists of both Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. And the Jews and the Gentiles are very different from one another. Not only that they are different, but Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that they do not like one another. And the solution to this problem is not to separate them into two different churches but to remember their new identity in Christ. And this new identity is not defined by race, background, talent, social standing, etc. This identity is defined by who they are in Christ and what Christ has done for them. Their primary identity is no longer Jews or Gentiles but Christians. And Paul tells them to live out their Christian identity.

This new identity has four characteristics: humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love. And this is what we have looked at in the last couple of weeks. As Christians, we should display authentic life, sacrificial love, forgiving heart, receptive freedom, and discerning mind. In other words, as Christians, we need to look like Jesus. We need to display Jesus to one another. And the more we look like Jesus individually, the more we live like Jesus relationally, the more unity we have as a church. Pay attention to verse 3. Ephesians 4:3 – eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Don’t miss this. As a church, we are not called to create unity. We are called to maintain unity. Unity is not something we achieved but something we received from God and our role is to work hard to maintain it. But listen. It is the gospel that unites us. And we must get this right. Because there are many people who promote Christian unity today. They are saddened by the fact that there are so many divisions within the body of Christ, and they call for unity among all churches. And they have a point. It is extremely heartbreaking to see how easily a church split can happen over non-essential matters. But the solution is not for us to let go of all our differences and pursue unity at any cost. This is not what Paul is saying. Paul tells us that our unity is in the gospel. Any effort to pursue unity in the church that minimize the gospel will not build up the church but destroy the church. Look at the following verses.

Ephesians 4:4-6 – ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. The church is united because of the work of the triune God. God the Father creates one family. God the Son creates one faith, one hope and one baptism. God the Spirit creates one body. And this is the story of the gospel. It is the gospel that unites us. This is why we should never compromise on the gospel. Because the key to Christian unity is the gospel. Get this. The more we understand and live out the gospel, the more unity we have with one another. The more we neglect the gospel, the more disunity we have with one another. Christian unity is built on the truth of the gospel. So yes, we must pursue unity. But not at the cost of the gospel. There is no Christian unity without the gospel. Let me tell you why this is important. Because the gospel tells us that if we are Christians, it means that we have the life of the triune God. To be a Christian is to have the life of the Trinity flowing inside of us. When we become a Christian, we do not become a nice person; we become a new person. Christianity is not about bad to good but dead to life. And what makes us alive is the very life of God at work in us. It does not matter how different we are from one another, the gospel is more than powerful enough to unite us as one.

Diversity

Ephesians 4:7-12 – ⁷ But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸ Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” ⁹ (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰ He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Get this. Unity is not uniformity. Unity is not when everyone in the church begins to dress the same style, talk the same way, and think the same thought. But rather, our unity in Christ creates diversity. Because grace was given to each one of us according to God’s sovereign grace. In verses 8 to 10, Paul summarizes Psalm 68. And Psalm 68 is a victory psalm. Let me explain what Paul is saying. In ancient times, if an enemy was coming to invade a kingdom and oppress the people, the king would go out and fight the enemy. If he managed to destroy the enemy, he would return triumphantly. He would return to his throne, and he would take the riches he won in his conquest and give gifts to the people. This was how the king enriched the entire city. And Paul is applying the same truth to Jesus. Jesus descended to us and went through humiliation to set us free from the oppression of the enemy. He fought and won the battle. And after the victory, Jesus ascended back to his throne and is exalted above all. But it does not stop there. When Jesus is back to his exalted place, he gives gifts to all his people. And these gifts are often referred to as spiritual gifts.

Let me give you the best definition of spiritual gifts I know. It’s from Timothy Keller. “Spiritual gifts are differing abilities given by the Holy Spirit to each believer to meet needs in such a way that it creates a community of people who are growing into the fullness character of Jesus Christ.” Note Keller’s emphasis on spiritual gifts. He does not emphasise what it is but the purpose of it. And this is important. Because when we talk about spiritual gifts, it is very easy for us to focus on the kind of gifts that we want. For example, for many charismatic churches like us, we emphasize the gift of speaking in tongue. If you are not familiar with the term speaking in tongue, it is when Christians speak in a language that does not sound like any language you know. And they say that the sign we are filled with the Holy Spirit is that we can speak in tongue. If we do not speak in tongue, that means we are not filled with the Holy Spirit. And if we are not filled with the Holy Spirit, we are an inferior Christian. So, what do we do? Fake it till we make it. Right? There is a reason why if we go to these churches, their tongue sounds awfully similar to one another. “Kuraba raba…” Okay, let’s move on before I get into trouble. But in doing so, we often miss the purpose of spiritual gifts. The purpose of spiritual gifts is not for us to exalt ourselves but for building up the church. The purpose of these gifts is not selfish use but for the service of others. Spiritual gifts are not means of self-exaltation but service. Spiritual gifts are given to us, but it is not for us. Pay attention. When spiritual gifts are used rightly in the church, the result is not boasting in self but growing together in Christlikeness.

And every Christian, without exception, have been given spiritual gifts. The moment we put our faith in Jesus, Jesus gives us spiritual gifts for building up the church. It means that every one of us has a role to play to make this church grow healthy. All of us has a different role to play but we are one body. It is like soccer. Every player in the team has a different role to play. The goalkeeper’s role is to save a goal. The striker’s role is to score a goal. But they are part of one team. And they must play their given role. If the goalkeeper suddenly decides to run forward and try to score a goal, or if the striker suddenly decides to save a goal with his hand, the team is in trouble. The same is true with us. All of us has a different role to play but each role is equally important.

We can sum up these many different roles into two categories: leaders and congregations. Let’s look at the leaders’ role first. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers are the leaders in the church. And their role is to equip the saints, or the congregations, for the work of ministry. So, the leaders’ role is to help Christians in the church to be ready for the work of ministry. And how do they do it? The commonality between apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers is that all of them are ministers of the word of God. Their role involves preaching the word. So, my role as your pastor is not to do everything for you. There was a nickname that I used to be proud of when I was in Dallas. People used to call me “the one-man church.” Why? Because I was able to do all the work of ministry. Like last week. I led worship, I played the guitar, I preached, and I did benediction. To the point that I said at the end of the service, “I can’t do this anymore. My voice is tired” not realizing that the online streaming was still on. When I started pastoring, I was highly involved in almost every area of ministry. I thought it was awesome. But in fact, it was super bad. Because in doing so, I did not do my main role as a pastor. I did not equip people for the work of ministry. Paul writes that the leaders’ role is to equip people, encourage people, help people to develop and exercise their gifts through the preaching of the word. My job is not to do all the work of ministry. My job is to equip the congregations.

So, whose role is it to do the work of ministry? The saints. The congregations. You. It is your role to do the work of ministry. God has given you spiritual gifts. All of you are parts of the body of Christ. And you are called to build up the body of Christ. So, the question is not whether you have gifts or not but what are you doing with your gifts? Because if you are not using your gifts, then we can’t grow. The way a body grows is for all its members to use their gifts. If you want to see this church grow, don’t just ask the question, “I wonder what Yosi has in stock for me today. I wonder what he will preach.” If you want to see this church grow, you need to ask the question, “I wonder how I can use my gift to help people in the church today. I wonder what I can do to help others grow in Christlikeness.” This is how we grow as a church. There should be no passive Christians in the church. Every Christian in the church has a role to play in building up the body of Christ.

Let me give you just one radical implication of this truth. It means that the best ideas for ministry are not in me but in you. You are the one who does the work of ministry. You are the one who sees the need for different ministries better than me. And you are the one who has been gifted by God to meet those needs. You. Not me. So, if you see a lack in different areas of ministry and you come up to me and say, “Yos, our church is weak on doctrine. We need more Bible study.” I’ll say, “Let’s do it.” If you come up to me and say, “Yos, our church is weak on mercy ministry. We need to care for the poor.” I’ll say, “Let’s do it.” If you come up to me and say, “Yos, our church is weak on evangelism. We need to do more outreach.” I’ll say, “Let’s do it.” But it does not stop there. I’ll continue to say, “Well, since you are the one who is gifted to see that need and God gave you the desire for it, then you should be the one who does it. My role is to equip and support you. The rest is for you to do it. It is your role to do the work of ministry.” This is how the church grows. Not by relying on me to do everything. But by each member using their God-given gifts to build up the church. This is how we grow deep in the gospel and reach wide with the gospel.

Maturity

Ephesians 4:13-14 – ¹³ 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, ¹⁴ 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 in deceitful schemes.

The goal of every Christian exercising their gifts is to grow in maturity. And get this. We do not grow by remaining idle. We grow in maturity as we do the work of ministry. This is important for us to understand. When we become Christians, we do not become mature overnight. When we become Christians, we start off as spiritual infants. We are spiritual babies. And parents, you understand this. No matter what people say, you think that your babies are the cutest. Even though they make you go through sleepless nights, you know it is worth it. Why? Because it is the best retirement plan. One day, they will grow up and marry a super-rich person and take good care of you. There is nothing wrong with babies. There is nothing wrong with babies refusing to wear pants and walking around in a diaper and sucking a bottle of milk. It’s cute. However, it is not cute at all if you see me walking around in a diaper and sucking a bottle of milk. Right? Okay, try not to picture it in your mind. It will give you a goosebump. This is what Paul is saying. There is nothing wrong with spiritual infants. But healthy infants grow. If we have been Christians for many years and we remain spiritual infants, then something is wrong with us.

Let me give you three characteristics of spiritual infants from this text. First, spiritual infants are not discerning. Just like babies, they eat everything offered to them. Even poison. Babies can’t discern. They put everything they see in their mouth. The same applies to spiritual infants. Spiritual infants can’t tell good teaching from bad teaching. They eat everything offered to them. They agree to everything that sounds good in the sermon. And they listen to all kinds of preachers, including those who preach a different gospel. And they see nothing wrong with it. Why? Because they have no discernment. They do not know what the Bible teaches. They simply accept whatever the pastor said. Second, spiritual infants are self-centred. Parents, how long does it take you to realise that your babies are extremely selfish? Not long at all. They want what they want when they want it. They have no concept of waiting. And when they grow up, they do not like to share their toys. And they would grab other people’s food without consent. You have to teach them not to do that. So physical babies are very self-centred. And spiritual babies as well. Spiritual babies are always thinking about themselves. They are not thinking about other people. They only think about what is good and convenient for them instead of others. They are very self-conscious. Third, spiritual infants are not steady. Just like babies, they have a very short attention span. They love one toy for 10 seconds, and then they get bored and move to a different toy. One moment they are laughing, the next moment they are crying. They keep changing. Spiritual infants are the same. They keep changing. One Sunday they say they love God, the next Sunday they are missing from the church. There is no real change or repentance in them. They love God when everything in their life works out according to expectation, they walk away from God when things do not work out according to expectation. They don’t know what it means to obey God in suffering. They love God for what God can give them instead of loving God for God. These are the three characteristics of spiritual infants.

What does it mean for us as a church? It means that we must hold two truths in tension. First, we should not be surprised to see many immature Christians in the church. Think about it. When we become Christians, we start off as spiritual infants. None of us was born mature. All of us came out of our mother’s womb as a baby who needed to be fed. We made a mess everywhere and our parents had to clean up our mess all the time. So, why are we surprised to see many immature Christians? We are not saved by being mature. We are not saved because we have it all together. We are saved by God’s grace alone. And when we are saved, it turned us into spiritual babies who poop everywhere. It is a mess. So, if we are not saved by our maturity but by grace, we should not be surprised when Christians act immaturely. A healthy church will continue to produce many spiritual babies. That’s the first truth.

On the other hand, here is the second truth. We should never be content with spiritual immaturity. Because a healthy baby does not remain a baby. A healthy baby grows. So, yes, we all start off as spiritual babies, but we do not remain spiritual babies. Remember that we have the life of the triune God inside of us. Do you know what it means? It means that none of us can say, “It is impossible for me to change”. Every Christian has in them all the power they need to grow. Therefore, change is not optional. Growing is not a choice. None of us can say, “This is just who I am, and I have always been like this.” The moment we receive Christ, the life of the triune God is working in us and empowering us to grow and change and live together. Every Christian is without excuse. It doesn’t matter how we have lived our life for the past 20 years. It doesn’t matter how wicked we were. It doesn’t matter how much pain we have endured and how many scars we have on our body and soul. It doesn’t matter how deep those bad habits have been implanted in us. The life of the triune God can heal us and radically change us. These are the two truths that we must hold in tension. We should not be surprised to see many immature Christians, but we should not be content with spiritual immaturity. So, the question is, how do we become mature? I’m glad you asked.

Community

Ephesians 4:15-16 – ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ 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.

Do you see what Paul is saying? Paul says that we are to grow up in every way into Christ as his body. Christ is the head and we have been joined together as the body of Christ. For Christ to be the head means that he is the source by which all growth comes. Christ provides substance to every part of the body, enabling the body to grow. And for the body to grow, each part of the body needs to work together and work properly. Each part of the body is dependent on one another. In other words, listen to this. There is no growing into spiritual maturity just by us working as an individual. Spiritual maturity comes through deep involvement in a church community. This is the way we grow. Christianity is a personal faith but a community project. All of us starts as spiritual babies and we need to be part of the church to grow. Otherwise, we stay infants.

For some of you, you might have been Christian for many years, but you are still spiritual infants because you are not planted in a church, and you are not deeply involved in the life of the church. The only way for you to grow is for you to play your part in the body of Christ. You do not grow by remaining idle and becoming passive members of the church. You grow in maturity as you do the work of ministry together as one body. So, let me plead with those of you who are tuning in online. If you are part of this church, we desperately need your presence for us to grow. And you desperately need us for you to grow. This is why regular online streaming does not work. You can only grow when you are involved in a church community and play your role. There is no spiritual growth without deep involvement in a church community. We need you as much as you need us. So, please do join us onsite for the sake of your spiritual growth and the church.

But let me push it one step further. Paul says there is a specific practice in which we grow together into Christ. And that is, “speaking the truth in love”. Now, this is an interesting phrase. In Greek, it does not have the word speaking. This verse is literally saying “truthing in love.” It means that truth is not only what we say to one another but what we do to one another. Truth is something we live out. And not just truth but truth in love. We need both. We will not grow until we have a community of people who have the balance of both truth and love. Because love without truth is hypocrisy. And truth without love is deadly.

Think about it. What happens when we have love without truth? One of many things that I needed to do during lockdown was to watch myself preach weekly. And let me tell you, it was a weird experience. For the first few weeks, it was hard for me to concentrate during a sermon. It took me a while to take me seriously. But what surprised me the most was my voice. I listened to myself preach and I thought, “Why do I sound so weird? What is wrong with my voice? My voice doesn’t sound like that. I am sure my voice is better than that.” But you know what? No one else thought so but me. For you, I always sound that weird. Right? The reason why I thought I sounded weird was because I don’t usually hear myself. I hear myself but not in the way I really am. I hear but I do not hear. Do you see what happened? No one can hear themselves properly except through outside means. In order to know how I really sound, I need other people to tell me. This is why we need truth in our community. If all we have is love, we will not grow. We will continue to have blind spots and remain immature. Love without truth is hypocrisy. But what happens when we have truth without love? Do you know what we do when people tell us the truth, but they are not loving? We shut them off. We do not listen to them. Rather than acknowledging the truth, we harden our hearts. When we tell people the truth without love, rather than helping them grow, we drive them away from us. Truth without love is deadly.

Truth or love by itself cannot accomplish anything. Unless we have truth and love together, we cannot grow. And this is problematic. Because none of us is capable of doing both at the same time. We can’t do it. None of us has the balance of both. Some of us are wired to be nice people who love people without truth. Some of us are more direct and tend to tell truth without love. None of us can keep truth and love together because we are naturally selfish. Why do we love without truth? Because we do not want to hurt other people’s feelings. We think it is not loving to offend them. But listen. It is not loving to not tell people the truth. If we see food stuck between their teeth, and we do not say anything to them, we are not loving them. We are being selfish. We are more concerned with ourselves than we are of them. The opposite is also true. Why do we tell truth without love? Because we like being right. We want to show them that we are right, and they are wrong. Our motivation for telling the truth is selfish. We tell the truth, but we are not really concerned with them. We are concerned with ourselves. Do you see the problem? Our selfishness makes it impossible for us to have the balance of both truth and love. But we desperately need truth and love because we can’t grow without them. We need it but we are not capable of it.

So, what is the solution? The gospel is the only solution to our dilemma. Because the gospel gives us both truth and love. The gospel tells us that we are both sinners and righteous. Think about it. The gospel tells us that we are so messed up, so lost, so bad, until the perfect Son of God had to die at the cross for us. The gospel slaps us in the face with the truth. The cross of Jesus Christ tells us that we are far worse than we think we are. But the gospel also tells us that we are so cared for, so precious, that Jesus was willing to die for us. The gospel showers us with love. The cross of Jesus Christ tells us that we are far more loved than we dare to imagine. The gospel tells us that we are righteous sinners. And it is only when we get the gospel that we can be people of truth and love. The gospel tells us that we are very bad sinners. It humbles us to speak the truth in love without putting other people down. But the gospel also tells us that we have been made righteous in front of God. It affirms us to speak the truth in love without needing people’s approval. The gospel is the ultimate message of truth and love. And the gospel is what we need to grow together as righteous sinners. There is no other way.

Imagine a church like this. Imagine a church where every part of the body works properly. Christ is the head and the source. The church is his body. And the heart is pumping. The blood is flowing. The brain is thinking. The feet are walking. The hand is grabbing. The ear is listening. The mouth is talking. Do you know what we will have? We will have a healthy church that reflects Christ to the world. And this is my hope for RSI. My hope for RSI is not only for people to say, “They preach the gospel faithfully” but for people to also say, “They love one another deeply.” And by this, all people will know that we are Jesus’ disciples if we have love for one another. Let’s pray.

Discussion questions:

1. What happens when we pursue Christian unity at the cost of the gospel? Give examples.
2. What is the purpose of spiritual gifts? How is it different from the way people often think of spiritual gifts?
3. Can you see the characteristics of spiritual infants in you? In which area do you think you need to grow?
4. Explain the relationship between growing in maturity and deep involvement in a church community. Why is it impossible for us to grow spiritually mature on our own?
5. Love without truth is hypocrisy. Truth without love is deadly. Which one is your natural tendency and why?
6. How does the gospel empower us to grow together as righteous sinners?