let me let me pray for us uh as we look<\/p>\n
at look at God's word together uh dear<\/p>\n
uh Heavenly Father we we thank you so<\/p>\n
much uh just for this day for being able<\/p>\n
to to come and to worship together uh it<\/p>\n
is good uh to be together as the body of<\/p>\n
Christ uh to worship you to to look at<\/p>\n
your word I pray that you will continue<\/p>\n
to to bless us as we meet together and<\/p>\n
just as we look at continue to look at<\/p>\n
your your word together I pray that you<\/p>\n
will uh just give us um minds and hearts<\/p>\n
that that understand your word and pray<\/p>\n
that you will just change us today I<\/p>\n
pray that you will bless uh kunon Pon as<\/p>\n
he translates we know that you are the<\/p>\n
one who who gives us Grace uh to<\/p>\n
understand it and so we just pray that<\/p>\n
you will help him uh to to translate uh<\/p>\n
the words that you would have him to say<\/p>\n
pray that you will speak uh through me<\/p>\n
your servant uh dear Lord I want to<\/p>\n
honor you and I just pray that you uh<\/p>\n
will speak through me I pray that you<\/p>\n
will be with Becca as she teaches the<\/p>\n
children we pray that you will also uh<\/p>\n
use her in a mighty way and speak<\/p>\n
through her uh to change the hearts and<\/p>\n
the minds of the children as they meet<\/p>\n
together<\/p>\n
too we pray that you will teach us about<\/p>\n
uh Unity uh in your word and what that<\/p>\n
means and what that looks likees and and<\/p>\n
what you call us to do in response to<\/p>\n
that and we ask all the listen in Jesus<\/p>\n
name<\/p>\n
amen is that is this oh there we go all<\/p>\n
right Ephesians 4: 7 through<\/p>\n
16 but Grace was given to each one of us<\/p>\n
according to the measure of Christ's<\/p>\n
gift therefore it says when he ascended<\/p>\n
on high he led a host of captives and he<\/p>\n
gave gifts to men in saying he ascended<\/p>\n
what does it mean but that he had also<\/p>\n
descended into the lower regions the<\/p>\n
Earth he who descended is the one who<\/p>\n
also ascended far above all the heavens<\/p>\n
that he might fill all things and he<\/p>\n
gave the apostles the prophets the<\/p>\n
evangelists the Shepherds and teachers<\/p>\n
to equip the Saints for the work of<\/p>\n
Ministry for building building up the<\/p>\n
body of<\/p>\n
Christ until we all attain to the unity<\/p>\n
of the faith and the knowledge of the<\/p>\n
Son of God to mature manhood to the<\/p>\n
measure of the stature of the fullness<\/p>\n
of Christ so that we may no longer be<\/p>\n
children tossed to and fro by the waves<\/p>\n
and carried about by every wind of<\/p>\n
Doctrine by human cunning by craftiness<\/p>\n
and deceitful<\/p>\n
schemes rather speaking the the truth<\/p>\n
and love we are to grow up in every way<\/p>\n
into him who is the head into Christ<\/p>\n
from whom the whole body joined and held<\/p>\n
together by every joint with which it is<\/p>\n
equipped when each part is working<\/p>\n
properly makes the body grow so that it<\/p>\n
builds itself up in<\/p>\n
love the grass withers and the flower<\/p>\n
Fades but the word of our God will stand<\/p>\n
forever now when Carly and I first got<\/p>\n
married we we didn't have children and<\/p>\n
so we had a little bit of free time on<\/p>\n
our hands and so we would go to to the<\/p>\n
gym at our apartment complex and we<\/p>\n
would run on on the treadmill several<\/p>\n
days a week and there was a TV in the<\/p>\n
gym and there were only a few channels<\/p>\n
and the one that we liked the best was<\/p>\n
this remodeling show and so the host of<\/p>\n
the show would would buy a property and<\/p>\n
then they would hire different uh<\/p>\n
workers to come in and fix things that<\/p>\n
were wrong with the house<\/p>\n
and then they would would film these<\/p>\n
Crews coming in to work on the house and<\/p>\n
the crews usually consisted of about<\/p>\n
five five or six people and so if there<\/p>\n
was a plumbing problem they would H uh<\/p>\n
bring in a bunch of plumbers to fix the<\/p>\n
pluming plumbing problem and then they<\/p>\n
would film them for a couple of days and<\/p>\n
show it the same with uh if they had<\/p>\n
electrical problem they would bring in<\/p>\n
electricians to fix the<\/p>\n
electricity and one of my favorite Crews<\/p>\n
uh to watch was the the Mason masonry<\/p>\n
crew they would come in and they would<\/p>\n
build things like walls made out of<\/p>\n
brick or just made out of stone and each<\/p>\n
person on the crew usually had a<\/p>\n
specific task that they were they were<\/p>\n
good at um one person would uh get the<\/p>\n
concrete from the concrete mixer bring<\/p>\n
it over to the wall another man would<\/p>\n
would take the concrete put it on the<\/p>\n
wall and another man would set the<\/p>\n
bricks up and so that's how they would<\/p>\n
build these walls it was amazing just<\/p>\n
how fast and quick they would go and<\/p>\n
once of a a section of the wall was<\/p>\n
complete and the concrete firmed up a<\/p>\n
little bit and was dry then all the team<\/p>\n
would come together and they would take<\/p>\n
these tools and they would smooth out<\/p>\n
the rough concrete that was in between<\/p>\n
uh these bricks and so they would smooth<\/p>\n
out these joints and so each worker<\/p>\n
would take these small little tools and<\/p>\n
and do this and so our our text that we<\/p>\n
we were looking at today it is kind of<\/p>\n
like one of these instruction shows that<\/p>\n
Carly and I used to watch at the end of<\/p>\n
our passage Paul is giving us a general<\/p>\n
description of how the church is built<\/p>\n
up by all the different parts of the<\/p>\n
body that have all these different skill<\/p>\n
sets and so they're coming together to<\/p>\n
build up the<\/p>\n
body Paul mentions briefly that Jesus<\/p>\n
has uh given us unique gifts he has<\/p>\n
given each one of us in this room that<\/p>\n
is a Believer he has given each one of<\/p>\n
us a unique gift that is supposed to be<\/p>\n
used for bu building up the body of<\/p>\n
Christ and Paul then focuses on a crew<\/p>\n
in<\/p>\n
particular those who have been been<\/p>\n
given an extra measure of handling God's<\/p>\n
word and he looks at this group as how<\/p>\n
it builds up the body of Christ and why<\/p>\n
it is important and so like the the<\/p>\n
masonry crew there are some who set the<\/p>\n
Bedrock Foundation like the apostles and<\/p>\n
Prophets some bring the bricks to the<\/p>\n
wall uh like like the Evangelist and<\/p>\n
then some Square their bricks up on the<\/p>\n
wall like the Shepherds and teachers and<\/p>\n
at the end everyone on the whole team<\/p>\n
comes together with a final task of<\/p>\n
smoothing out the joints between the<\/p>\n
bricks so that the wall is sturdy and it<\/p>\n
is<\/p>\n
complete and the first point I want to<\/p>\n
look at this afternoon is that God's<\/p>\n
word is a gift to the<\/p>\n
church uh in verses 8-10<\/p>\n
Paul describes Christ as our Victorious<\/p>\n
King it says therefore it says when he<\/p>\n
ascended on high he led a coast of<\/p>\n
captives and he gave gifts to men and<\/p>\n
saying he descended what does it mean<\/p>\n
but that he also descended into the<\/p>\n
lower regions the Earth he who descended<\/p>\n
is the one also ascended far above all<\/p>\n
the heavens that he might fill all<\/p>\n
things and so in verse eight note the<\/p>\n
quotation<\/p>\n
marks Paul is is quoting Psalm 68 that<\/p>\n
speaks of God defeating his enemies in<\/p>\n
ascending to his sanctuary as Israel's<\/p>\n
Victorious God Paul uses Psalm 68 along<\/p>\n
with a short description of Jesus's<\/p>\n
kingly work to show us that Jesus is our<\/p>\n
Victorious King in defeating his and our<\/p>\n
enemies Paul refers to Jesus Victorious<\/p>\n
work of defeating these enemies whenever<\/p>\n
he said he led a host of<\/p>\n
captives and so Paul is using wartime<\/p>\n
imagery here to communicate something to<\/p>\n
us when a king defeated his enemies in<\/p>\n
biblical times he would often bring back<\/p>\n
conquered soldiers uh from the opposing<\/p>\n
Army and make them into slaves and so we<\/p>\n
have a picture of Jesus who has<\/p>\n
conquered sin and death and the power of<\/p>\n
darkness and Satan for us so that now<\/p>\n
they are his<\/p>\n
captives and Victorious armies upon<\/p>\n
return home they would also give the<\/p>\n
citizens of their country some of the<\/p>\n
spoils that he they had taken from their<\/p>\n
enemies that they had<\/p>\n
conquered and this was done as a way to<\/p>\n
celebrate the victory together of what<\/p>\n
they had<\/p>\n
accomplished and so Jesus in a similar<\/p>\n
fashion he gave gifts to men upon his<\/p>\n
Ascension and return home as our<\/p>\n
Victorious King<\/p>\n
in uh in verse<\/p>\n
11 it says and he gave the apostles the<\/p>\n
prophets the evangelists the Shepherds<\/p>\n
and<\/p>\n
teachers and what is common among all<\/p>\n
these people is that they all Minister<\/p>\n
God's word to God's people in some way<\/p>\n
and so they have this common connection<\/p>\n
and Jesus has given us all the ability<\/p>\n
to understand his word and he's given us<\/p>\n
the ability to minister his word uh to<\/p>\n
one another and we'll look at that in<\/p>\n
just a minute<\/p>\n
but he has given some people a special<\/p>\n
measure of gifting and administering his<\/p>\n
word that he doesn't give to<\/p>\n
everyone the apostles and Prophets<\/p>\n
received God's word and they<\/p>\n
communicated it to<\/p>\n
everyone and we received God's word<\/p>\n
through them and now we have God's<\/p>\n
written word that instructs us and<\/p>\n
informs us and the evangelists take<\/p>\n
God's word and they they share the good<\/p>\n
news with other people and so they God<\/p>\n
uses it to add new members to the church<\/p>\n
and the Shepherds and teachers they<\/p>\n
instruct the body in God's<\/p>\n
word and so by Christ giving his church<\/p>\n
these people who have been gifted with<\/p>\n
this extra measure of the word gift he<\/p>\n
is gifting the church with his word and<\/p>\n
he is providing a way to build up the<\/p>\n
church that we'll look at next God uses<\/p>\n
his word to build up and strengthen<\/p>\n
Us and how does this particular group of<\/p>\n
people contribute to building up the<\/p>\n
church<\/p>\n
Church the end goal of Christ giving the<\/p>\n
church his word and those who administer<\/p>\n
his word is mentioned in verses 13-<\/p>\n
14 it says until we all attain to to the<\/p>\n
unity of the faith and of the knowledge<\/p>\n
of the Son of God to mature manhood to<\/p>\n
the measure of the stature of the<\/p>\n
fullness of Christ so that we may no<\/p>\n
longer be children tossed to and fro by<\/p>\n
the waves and carried about by every<\/p>\n
wind of Doctrine by human cunning by<\/p>\n
craftiness and deceitful<\/p>\n
schemes and so Paul gives us this<\/p>\n
picture of a body that is United and<\/p>\n
mature in the<\/p>\n
faith this is a result a result of God's<\/p>\n
transformative word in the church and is<\/p>\n
what we are to strive for as the<\/p>\n
church the unity that we have with one<\/p>\n
another in Christ it should be grounded<\/p>\n
in the<\/p>\n
truth and what truth are we to be United<\/p>\n
in the first way we are to be United is<\/p>\n
in the truth of faith God has given us a<\/p>\n
collection of truths that are Central to<\/p>\n
our faith and that is what Paul is<\/p>\n
referring to when here whenever he says<\/p>\n
faith there are Central truths about<\/p>\n
Jesus about God about the Trinity about<\/p>\n
the church about<\/p>\n
baptism about the gospel and how we live<\/p>\n
that out and so we want to know these<\/p>\n
truths we want to know these truths that<\/p>\n
are called doctrines in the church and<\/p>\n
we want to be United on what we believe<\/p>\n
about them in the faith because there is<\/p>\n
only one truth in one Faith which Paul<\/p>\n
makes note of in Ephesians 4 uh<\/p>\n
4-6 there we<\/p>\n
go Ephesians<\/p>\n
44-6 there is one body and one Spirit<\/p>\n
just as you were called to one hope that<\/p>\n
belongs to your call one Lord One Faith<\/p>\n
one baptism one God and Father of all<\/p>\n
who is over all and through all and in<\/p>\n
all we also want to be United in our<\/p>\n
knowledge of Jesus we want to to know<\/p>\n
who he is and what he has done for us<\/p>\n
and he is at that heart of scripture at<\/p>\n
the heart of the gospel and at the heart<\/p>\n
of our<\/p>\n
faith everything that God has promised<\/p>\n
us it's centers around Jesus so we want<\/p>\n
to make sure that we understand any if<\/p>\n
we understand anything in this world is<\/p>\n
it's to understand Jesus Christ to<\/p>\n
understand who he is and what he has<\/p>\n
done for us and the knowledge of Jesus<\/p>\n
that Paul speaks of here is more than<\/p>\n
than just head knowledge or facts about<\/p>\n
Jesus and what he has done the knowledge<\/p>\n
Paul is referring to includes that we<\/p>\n
know Jesus experient experientially<\/p>\n
through a relationship with him the<\/p>\n
truths of God's word especially truths<\/p>\n
about Jesus transform who we are they<\/p>\n
transform our desires and how we think<\/p>\n
and how we live and so part of our goal<\/p>\n
as the church is to reach a place that<\/p>\n
Paul describes as mature<\/p>\n
manhood the mature church is one that is<\/p>\n
rooted in sound Doctrine and truth that<\/p>\n
has transformed those in the church and<\/p>\n
since we live in a sinful world this<\/p>\n
means that this task will never be uh<\/p>\n
completed this means that we must<\/p>\n
constantly be working towards this goal<\/p>\n
of maturity we must set our hand as the<\/p>\n
church to the plow every day to<\/p>\n
accomplish this<\/p>\n
task Paul contrasts the the singular uh<\/p>\n
one man in verse uh 13 with the the<\/p>\n
plural children in verse 14 uh to show<\/p>\n
us that our goal for all belie is for<\/p>\n
all believers to reach this place of<\/p>\n
maturity it's it's one man it's not a<\/p>\n
bunch of little children and so we are<\/p>\n
one body and so everyone in the body is<\/p>\n
included here uh there is no one who is<\/p>\n
left out or excluded from this goal of<\/p>\n
being united and<\/p>\n
mature there's no individualism in the<\/p>\n
church in the sense that it's just you<\/p>\n
and your walk with Jesus we are to think<\/p>\n
of ourselves as we learned um from John<\/p>\n
Hy on our church Retreat as being united<\/p>\n
to<\/p>\n
Christ we should also think of ourselves<\/p>\n
as as being part of the church at large<\/p>\n
and United to one another we are part of<\/p>\n
one body so we should want to see every<\/p>\n
believer Among Us reach<\/p>\n
maturity a maturity among all believers<\/p>\n
church and Paul gives us a guide or a<\/p>\n
measure how to to know what that mature<\/p>\n
church should look like the measure of<\/p>\n
or the guide that we are to use is found<\/p>\n
in verse<\/p>\n
13 the measure of the stature of the<\/p>\n
fullness of<\/p>\n
Christ and so the mature church will<\/p>\n
look like Christ it will look Christlike<\/p>\n
God wants us as the church to look like<\/p>\n
Christ he wants the body to match the<\/p>\n
head and this is what Paul is talking<\/p>\n
about in verse 15 when he says we are to<\/p>\n
grow up in every way into him who is the<\/p>\n
head into<\/p>\n
Christ if you ever gone to to the gym<\/p>\n
you you've probably seen guys who just<\/p>\n
work out their arm arms and they don't<\/p>\n
work out their legs they have these huge<\/p>\n
upper bodies but these tiny legs and so<\/p>\n
their up upper body is just just<\/p>\n
disproportionate to their lower body and<\/p>\n
so it just it looks<\/p>\n
interesting um and so this is why it's<\/p>\n
so important that we we have knowledge<\/p>\n
of Christ we want to know what he looks<\/p>\n
like so that we know how to look like<\/p>\n
him when we look at Christ in scripture<\/p>\n
we see his Holiness we see his blameless<\/p>\n
blamelessness we see his righteousness<\/p>\n
we see his humility and his Perfection<\/p>\n
and we will never attain this while on<\/p>\n
Earth but it is our goal to look as<\/p>\n
close to Christ as possible and so this<\/p>\n
maturity in the faith and especially in<\/p>\n
Christ is what the church is striving<\/p>\n
for and is what God has given those with<\/p>\n
the word givs<\/p>\n
for and so what what what does this mean<\/p>\n
for us how does this apply to us uh the<\/p>\n
first thing it means is that we are to<\/p>\n
spend time in prayer<\/p>\n
I want to encourage you to pray towards<\/p>\n
this end pray that the church that Grace<\/p>\n
City will become a mature group of<\/p>\n
Believers pray for those who teach and<\/p>\n
preach God's word pray for pah as she<\/p>\n
teaches people on Sunday mornings or<\/p>\n
Sunday afternoons I come in I see her<\/p>\n
every day discipling people pray for uh<\/p>\n
Kun ma as she in the afternoon disciples<\/p>\n
people pray the the Lord will give those<\/p>\n
with the word gives insight into his<\/p>\n
word and the ability to preach and teach<\/p>\n
God's word that will build up people<\/p>\n
that will lead to maturity of the<\/p>\n
church uh pray for aan Chan and pmo and<\/p>\n
P noi as they are in seminary learning<\/p>\n
God's word to be able to teach others<\/p>\n
the the truth the Deep truths that they<\/p>\n
learn pray that each member would<\/p>\n
understand the truth in order to<\/p>\n
administer to one another which we will<\/p>\n
look at<\/p>\n
next uh uh DD sends out uh the<\/p>\n
church program information each<\/p>\n
week she sends it out a couple of days<\/p>\n
before the the service and so just pray<\/p>\n
that God will use whoever is preaching<\/p>\n
to preach his word and to use it to<\/p>\n
mature the body pray for every part of<\/p>\n
the service as we look at uh the the<\/p>\n
doctrines of the church as we sing as we<\/p>\n
look at different scripture pray towards<\/p>\n
this end<\/p>\n
also we need to devote ourselves to<\/p>\n
learning scripture Our text today also<\/p>\n
encourages us to learn all the doctrines<\/p>\n
of our faith well this means putting<\/p>\n
forth effort and devoting time to<\/p>\n
learning them studying them and<\/p>\n
meditating on God's<\/p>\n
word we should devote as much time as<\/p>\n
possible to knowing God's word and this<\/p>\n
includes sitting under those that God<\/p>\n
has gifted with a special measure of the<\/p>\n
word gifts in teaching and preaching<\/p>\n
as I I mentioned before uh kund sends<\/p>\n
out the the church program and so pray<\/p>\n
for those throughout the week as they<\/p>\n
spend time preparing the Sunday School<\/p>\n
lesson as they spend time getting ready<\/p>\n
to preach pray for these people look at<\/p>\n
the passage and go over it before Sunday<\/p>\n
so that you are familiar with the<\/p>\n
scripture and you will be familiar with<\/p>\n
it as they preach through it or teach<\/p>\n
through it there are so many good<\/p>\n
resources that we we have on the<\/p>\n
internet that we have access to find<\/p>\n
good sermons or teaching on the internet<\/p>\n
that you can listen to throughout the<\/p>\n
week great City Post sermons on Facebook<\/p>\n
and YouTube which you can listen to at<\/p>\n
any<\/p>\n
time and uh we need to spend time in<\/p>\n
God's word if you don't have a a time<\/p>\n
set aside uh each day to spend in God's<\/p>\n
word then I want to encourage you to do<\/p>\n
this we need to make knowing God's word<\/p>\n
a priority in our lives<\/p>\n
there are several resources that you can<\/p>\n
use to to help you understand the<\/p>\n
doctrines of the faith as you enter<\/p>\n
Grace City through through the double<\/p>\n
doors uh you look to your right and<\/p>\n
there's a table and it has all these<\/p>\n
different resources that explain the<\/p>\n
doctrines of the church it will help you<\/p>\n
to walk in your relationship with the<\/p>\n
Lord uh if you're a new member of the<\/p>\n
church we give you a catechism that the<\/p>\n
the church has uh come up with uh if you<\/p>\n
don't have one of those and you would<\/p>\n
like one of those and ask us so that you<\/p>\n
can study the doctrines and the truths<\/p>\n
of the church so that you will know it<\/p>\n
and the Creeds that we recite sometimes<\/p>\n
on Sundays and the catechisms in the<\/p>\n
church are meant to guide us and to<\/p>\n
constantly keep the truth of our faith<\/p>\n
before us so that we know it<\/p>\n
well we all want to be equipped with the<\/p>\n
doctrines of our faith so that we can<\/p>\n
speak them to one another which is what<\/p>\n
we will look at<\/p>\n
next those that that are listed in<\/p>\n
verses uh verse 11 with this extra<\/p>\n
measure of God's word uh gifting in<\/p>\n
God's word and and ministering it<\/p>\n
they're not the only ones who God uses<\/p>\n
to build up his church in the word in<\/p>\n
verse 12 we see that one of the task of<\/p>\n
those people with the me extra measure<\/p>\n
of the word gifts is to equip the<\/p>\n
Saints uh in verses uh 15-<\/p>\n
16 let me see there we<\/p>\n
go uh rather speaking the truth in love<\/p>\n
we are to grow up in every way into him<\/p>\n
who is the head into Christ from the<\/p>\n
whole body join and H held together by<\/p>\n
every joint with which it is equipped<\/p>\n
when each part is working properly makes<\/p>\n
the body grow so that it builds itself<\/p>\n
up in<\/p>\n
love and so Paul is talking about all<\/p>\n
the members of the body here he's not<\/p>\n
just talking about those who have the<\/p>\n
the extra special gifts of administering<\/p>\n
his word god uses those in verse 11 to<\/p>\n
equip the body with the word so that<\/p>\n
every member of the body can administer<\/p>\n
to one another by speaking the truth in<\/p>\n
love the word uh speaking uh in the<\/p>\n
Greek text is a present participle which<\/p>\n
means that it is something that is to be<\/p>\n
be done uh continually and<\/p>\n
repeatedly and so we are to continually<\/p>\n
or repeatedly speak the truth in love to<\/p>\n
one another<\/p>\n
it can be tempting to to go throughout<\/p>\n
life and to talk about the weather to<\/p>\n
talk about sports politics science<\/p>\n
entertainment all of which is good and<\/p>\n
proper to talk about but without ever<\/p>\n
speaking of them in light of God's<\/p>\n
truth we need to be make sure that we<\/p>\n
see that we are instructed here to<\/p>\n
regularly go about intentionally<\/p>\n
directing our conversations so that we<\/p>\n
speak in ways that puts God's truth at<\/p>\n
the the Forefront and center of our<\/p>\n
conversations just because someone knows<\/p>\n
God's truth intellectually it doesn't<\/p>\n
mean that this person doesn't need to<\/p>\n
hear it even though God has given an<\/p>\n
extra measure of gifting in handling his<\/p>\n
word um in verse<\/p>\n
15 we read again rather speaking the<\/p>\n
truth in love we are to grow up in every<\/p>\n
way into him who is the head into Christ<\/p>\n
and so in using we Paul is including<\/p>\n
himself in what he is saying here and so<\/p>\n
this is the guy who was an apostle of<\/p>\n
Jesus who by the inspiration of the Holy<\/p>\n
Spirit wrote the book of Romans where he<\/p>\n
articulates all these doctrines of<\/p>\n
justification and sanctification and how<\/p>\n
they relate to Christ and so if there<\/p>\n
was ever a man that I would think would<\/p>\n
not need to have the spoke Tru spoken to<\/p>\n
him I would think it would be the<\/p>\n
Apostle Paul<\/p>\n
and so everyone the Elders of the church<\/p>\n
the Sunday School teachers the pastors<\/p>\n
and and any other teacher that God has<\/p>\n
given this special gift of teaching or<\/p>\n
preaching to they need to have the word<\/p>\n
spoken to them too in<\/p>\n
love and Christ has made us in<\/p>\n
interdependent on one another in this<\/p>\n
way let's look now at where our power<\/p>\n
for building up the body comes from<\/p>\n
where does this power come from<\/p>\n
speaking the truth in love is a a<\/p>\n
powerful and transformative way to build<\/p>\n
up one another and when we speak the the<\/p>\n
truth and love to one another Christ<\/p>\n
uses it to grow Us in spiritual maturity<\/p>\n
and so we really do need to see that in<\/p>\n
our<\/p>\n
text you were not just giving this<\/p>\n
person information that they don't<\/p>\n
already know and if you think that<\/p>\n
speaking the truth in love is just uh<\/p>\n
imparting information to someone then<\/p>\n
you will never speak the truth to others<\/p>\n
especially your friends or family<\/p>\n
members or spouses or anyone else in the<\/p>\n
church because you will think they<\/p>\n
already know the information that you<\/p>\n
are going to tell them and you will<\/p>\n
think that they don't need God's<\/p>\n
word look with me again at at verses 15-<\/p>\n
16 rather speaking the truth in love we<\/p>\n
are to grow up in every way into him who<\/p>\n
is the head and to Christ from whom the<\/p>\n
whole body joined and held together by<\/p>\n
the body to grow so that it builds<\/p>\n
itself up in<\/p>\n
love and so Paul is saying here that<\/p>\n
speaking the truth in love is a means by<\/p>\n
which we grow up into the head it's a<\/p>\n
means that we we grow and mature in<\/p>\n
Christ likeness that we were talking<\/p>\n
about earlier and So speaking the truth<\/p>\n
in love is a way that we grow and mature<\/p>\n
one another it where does this power for<\/p>\n
growth come from it comes from the head<\/p>\n
of the body which is Christ it is Christ<\/p>\n
together makes the body grow so that it<\/p>\n
builds itself up in love and this is<\/p>\n
Christ and again in Colossians 2 29 Paul<\/p>\n
gives a more of a a shorter and concise<\/p>\n
version of this he says to the to the<\/p>\n
Head from whom the whole body nourished<\/p>\n
and knit together through its joints and<\/p>\n
ligaments grows with the growth that is<\/p>\n
from God and so Christ is not only the<\/p>\n
head of the body but he is also the one<\/p>\n
who nourishes us he is the one who knits<\/p>\n
us together and matures us as a<\/p>\n
church in Ephesians 4:7 we read earlier<\/p>\n
by his grace Christ has given gifts to<\/p>\n
every one of us and so it is Christ<\/p>\n
Christ who is building up the church and<\/p>\n
so it is Christ that we are to look to<\/p>\n
as we try to to do this and be faithful<\/p>\n
uh to to build one another up in the<\/p>\n
word Christ has given us all gifts and<\/p>\n
he has given us different measures of<\/p>\n
gifts and by his grace he gives some of<\/p>\n
the members an extra measure of the word<\/p>\n
gift in teaching or preaching in order<\/p>\n
to equip the other members of the body<\/p>\n
to be able to take that word and speak<\/p>\n
it to one another and so Christ by his<\/p>\n
grace uses his spoken word in love to<\/p>\n
strengthen and build up our brothers and<\/p>\n
sisters in the truth and so Christ has<\/p>\n
has given us the means of Grace to to<\/p>\n
strengthen us it is similar to the the<\/p>\n
way that he uses the sacraments of the<\/p>\n
Lord's supper and the baptism that we we<\/p>\n
regularly see ministered and take when<\/p>\n
the sacraments are administered God<\/p>\n
gives a special Grace to those who<\/p>\n
Faithfully<\/p>\n
participate and he strengthens us and he<\/p>\n
encourages us in Christ and so God gives<\/p>\n
Grace to mature Believers when they hear<\/p>\n
his spoken<\/p>\n
word and do you see the love and care<\/p>\n
that Christ has for his body in<\/p>\n
equipping the body for maturity in the<\/p>\n
faith as you speak the the truth and<\/p>\n
love to one another look to Christ to<\/p>\n
give the grace needed for his word to<\/p>\n
transform this person it's not by our<\/p>\n
power or by our words uh that the the<\/p>\n
truth we speak will be effective but by<\/p>\n
his and in what Manner are we to to<\/p>\n
speak God's word to one another we are<\/p>\n
to to speak the truth in love we don't<\/p>\n
come at people with with a truth like a<\/p>\n
a club to to clobber them with we speak<\/p>\n
it with a desire to see God use it for<\/p>\n
their<\/p>\n
good whenever I was uh in Doctrine class<\/p>\n
at a Christian College one of my<\/p>\n
Professor my do my Doctrine Professor uh<\/p>\n
he told us he said you're going to<\/p>\n
you're going to walk away from this<\/p>\n
class with a lot of with more knowledge<\/p>\n
than you had coming in before and he<\/p>\n
said a lot of times I see students walk<\/p>\n
away and they become these theological<\/p>\n
Monsters uh they they have this<\/p>\n
knowledge and they and they if somebody<\/p>\n
else doesn't have it they look down upon<\/p>\n
them with halty eyes um and then then<\/p>\n
they'll look at this person uh and<\/p>\n
they'll become angry because they don't<\/p>\n
hold the same beliefs and so that's what<\/p>\n
Paul is telling us to do here is to to<\/p>\n
speak the truth in<\/p>\n
love it also means that whenever we see<\/p>\n
someone in sin and it's not according to<\/p>\n
to our faith we go to that person and we<\/p>\n
don't use God's word to clobber them<\/p>\n
over the head with it we speak the truth<\/p>\n
in love to them to see God by his grace<\/p>\n
grow them in the knowledge of who he is<\/p>\n
and so whenever we think about speaking<\/p>\n
the the word the truth to someone we<\/p>\n
need to remember that we need to do it<\/p>\n
out of<\/p>\n
love and let's look lastly at how<\/p>\n
maturity in God's word protects the<\/p>\n
church against false<\/p>\n
Doctrine in verses uh uh next slide<\/p>\n
please verses uh 13 through through<\/p>\n
14 there we<\/p>\n
go um and so so uh let's look lastly at<\/p>\n
how God God's word it protects the<\/p>\n
Doctrine until we all attain to the<\/p>\n
unity of the faith and the knowledge of<\/p>\n
the Son of God to mature manhood to the<\/p>\n
and by every wind of the doctrine by<\/p>\n
human cunning by craftiness and<\/p>\n
deceitful<\/p>\n
schemes and so Paul gives this metaphor<\/p>\n
of a ship on the sea to illustrate how<\/p>\n
the church is constantly bombarded by<\/p>\n
false<\/p>\n
doctrines that the church false uh faces<\/p>\n
false teaching from both with within it<\/p>\n
and also outside of it that threatens<\/p>\n
the unity of the faith of the church and<\/p>\n
so one of the goals for the church in<\/p>\n
reaching maturity in knowing the the<\/p>\n
truths of Christian doctrine is so that<\/p>\n
we will remain United during times of<\/p>\n
facing false teaching and the false<\/p>\n
teaching will not influence the church<\/p>\n
and so when whenever the the waves of<\/p>\n
false Doctrine they come against the the<\/p>\n
church the church will not depart from<\/p>\n
what it<\/p>\n
knows when the there pops up a new<\/p>\n
doctrine in the church about<\/p>\n
justification which is uh the doctrine<\/p>\n
and the truth of how we are made<\/p>\n
righteous uh before God and God<\/p>\n
declaring us righteous um whenever it<\/p>\n
pops up the mature church will know that<\/p>\n
is only by Christ's work that we are<\/p>\n
righteous before God and that we are are<\/p>\n
Justified before God we will know and<\/p>\n
stand firm on the belief that it is only<\/p>\n
through Christ the church that is<\/p>\n
immature on the other hand it will be<\/p>\n
like individual children that are not<\/p>\n
stable when the church faces the the<\/p>\n
waves and the Winds of false<\/p>\n
strine uh it will greatly influence the<\/p>\n
church and create instability and<\/p>\n
disunity within the<\/p>\n
church when a new doctrine about<\/p>\n
justification pops up in the immature<\/p>\n
church and the church uh will be<\/p>\n
influenced by it because it doesn't know<\/p>\n
what is the correct truth and this will<\/p>\n
create instability and disunity within<\/p>\n
the church some in the church will will<\/p>\n
rest in the works of Christ to make them<\/p>\n
righteous and others will say I need the<\/p>\n
works of Christ plus something else like<\/p>\n
my good works and my<\/p>\n
merits and there there's a common saying<\/p>\n
among some Christians that goes Doctrine<\/p>\n
divides but love unites I'm sure some of<\/p>\n
you may may have heard this slogan the<\/p>\n
the thought is that the less doctrinal<\/p>\n
truths that you have the less it will<\/p>\n
divide and then you can just be United<\/p>\n
by your love for one<\/p>\n
another and uh this is not this is not<\/p>\n
what the Apostle Paul tells us here this<\/p>\n
is the opposite of what the Apostle Paul<\/p>\n
tells us in E Ephesians<\/p>\n
he tells us that Division and disunity<\/p>\n
in the church it doesn't come from<\/p>\n
having too many doctrines but rather<\/p>\n
immaturity in those<\/p>\n
doctrines and so let's go now and go<\/p>\n
before Christ who is our head and ask<\/p>\n
him to give us the grace that we need to<\/p>\n
be the mature church that is grounded in<\/p>\n
his word that he has equipped and cus us<\/p>\n
to be<\/p>\n
Jesus we thank you so much for equipping<\/p>\n
your church with your word you have<\/p>\n
given us uh your word as a gift you have<\/p>\n
given us the apostles and Prophets<\/p>\n
who uh spoke your word uh who wrote down<\/p>\n
your word and so now we have it dear<\/p>\n
Lord it is ours and so we thank you for<\/p>\n
the gracious gift of giving us uh these<\/p>\n
men uh who have given us the gift of<\/p>\n
your word and so we thank you so much<\/p>\n
for it uh we thank you that you uh have<\/p>\n
not left the church without a plan and<\/p>\n
uh you've not left uh The Church Without<\/p>\n
guidance you have given us your word to<\/p>\n
guide us and so just pray that you will<\/p>\n
guide us uh as Grace city as part of the<\/p>\n
as your as your larger church I pray<\/p>\n
that you will guide us in your truth I<\/p>\n
pray that you will unite Us in that<\/p>\n
truth so that whenever false doctrines<\/p>\n
comes our way to Lord we we will as a<\/p>\n
church be able to stand and we will not<\/p>\n
be tossed to and fro like little<\/p>\n
children I pray that you will be with<\/p>\n
those who who teach and preach your word<\/p>\n
at Grace City I pray that you uh will<\/p>\n
bless them I pray that you will be with<\/p>\n
them as they prepare their lessons as<\/p>\n
they meditate upon you I pray that you<\/p>\n
will just give them good time in your<\/p>\n
word so that they can equip the whole<\/p>\n
church uh with the truth that they that<\/p>\n
we are to speak to one<\/p>\n
another I pray that you will be with us<\/p>\n
as we go uh out this week I I pray that<\/p>\n
you will just encourage us to to spend<\/p>\n
time in your word getting to know the<\/p>\n
doctrinal truths that you have given to<\/p>\n
us uh it's just not about having head<\/p>\n
knowledge dear Lord Lord we want you to<\/p>\n
work your word into our hearts and our<\/p>\n
minds so that we as a church look like<\/p>\n
your son Jesus Christ we ask all this in<\/p>\n
Jesus name amen<\/p>","english_search_text":"","":"","original_publish_date":"20241029","video_url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qafd204xebQ","video_id":"qafd204xebQ","video_duration":"36:34","channel_name":"Grace City Bangkok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346\/revisions\/347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracecity.machakosconsulting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}