A gift from my secret sister 🦋 Growth is the way we measure

 Continuing on in Ephesians chapter 4: 14 - 16

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.

On Tuesday we talked about how Christ is the standard that we are to measure ourselves by, not each other. 

Now, if you thought, "If that is the standard, I'll never measure up. How can anyone expect to measure their maturity by the maturity of Jesus Christ?"

Well, I want us to notice something that is very important.

Because the apostle sets it before us. It is a process, he says, of growth. Just as it says in Verse 15: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” 

Growth is God's method. Growth is the way we measure our spiritual maturity.

And there are a couple of factors that show if growth is present.

That is exactly what the apostle does here. 

He says first, in Verse 14, “...that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Ask yourself, "Am I moving away from childish attitudes?"

Although the Scripture exhorts us to be childlike, we are never to be childish. Those are two very different things: to be Childlike is to have the faith which believes and acts without questioning. But Childishness is quite a different thing.

Children are not known for their stability and can be fickle,  their attention span is very short.

I read about a father’s frustration when he went to Baskin-Robbins and was trying to get His preschool aged child to make one choice among the 31 flavors of ice cream. He held her up to see all the cartons of ice cream... and ten minutes later the little one settled for just plain vanilla.

And this same flightiness, and inconstancy, can be seen in Christians who have failed to grow up and are still immature.

And you can also see it in doctrine, just as our verse says: "tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine."

But there is another factor for growth, here in Verse 15.

It is found in the phrase, "speaking the truth in love."

This is all one word in Greek, and it could be translated "truthing in love," or living the truth in love. Which is very revealing…

We do this by asking ourselves. "How much do I really want to see myself the way I am? Do I really want to know the truth about myself?" Or would we rather view the world with rose-colored glasses, than to listen to blunt and brutal truth about ourselves.

The shock of self-discovery, for the immature Christian can be a frightening thing.

But if it is truly grasped it is not frightening at all. It is the most hopeful thing that will ever happened in our life.

The moment we began to take a good, honest look at ourselves and see ourselves as we are, with all the facade stripped away, it may be painful, but it is also the most hopeful moment in our life.

Because, from then on, we can live in truth, open, unaffected, and unashamed, protecting nothing, with no need for pretense.

You can be yourself, "truthing in love," the greatest experience there is. That is the mark and measurement of maturity.

Now as I end, look at verse 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.”

There is fallacy, so common among American Christians, of moving from one church to another because we don’t like the people where you are. 

NOTE: I am not talking about wrong doctrine here but personalities and preference…

This is totally inconsistent with the New Testament pattern. God put you and I where we are; we are to stay there and learn to live and walk and work there, and God will use that to make for growth in your life that you might be complete in Jesus Christ.

This is how we grow and learn to walk as mature Christians in honesty and acceptance in love.

Note that both of these are linked with that phrase, "in love." As we walk this way, remember that day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, the Spirit of God is affecting a miracle and you and I are becoming more like Jesus Christ.

As well-adjusted, solid, fully equipped saints mature in the fullness of Jesus Christ.