Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16

I. Your church grows through its unity.

A. Paul mentions the importance of unity in vs. 3. He says that the church needs to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If the church is going to grow there must be unity. If there is not unity, the church will simply collapse. 7 times in vs. 4-6 we are told what unites the church in what it believes. Our unity is based on certain core truths of the faith that we must hold in common. Three of those core truths have to do with the God we worship: the God who is Trinity.

B. But it is possible to be united in your beliefs and to still have disunity in your church. Why? Because of the attitudes of your heart. In Eph. 4:2 Paul lists four things that Christians are supposed to be: humble, gentle, patient, and forbearing. These four fruits of the Holy Spirit (see Gal. 5:22-23) will produce unity and that unity will produce growth. So, church, are you producing this fruit? It is those who produce the fruit of the Spirit who will keep a church united. If your life is not producing this fruit, pray for it.

II. Your church grows through its diversity.

A. We see the diversity in the church in vs. 7: “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” Jesus has given to each member that makes up the body of the church different gifts to help the church grow. To show us what Jesus is doing today for His church Paul goes back to what God did in the days of the Old Testament. Paul in vs. 8 quotes from Psalm 68:18 which refers to what God did at Mount Sinai after he had delivered the captive slaves of Israel from Egypt and what he later did at Mount Zion after defeating the Canaanites.

B. Both God and Jesus gave gifts after they ascended in their victory march. In both cases, the gifts that God and Jesus gave were people. These gifted people would help the people of God to minister to the congregation. In the Old Testament, those gifted people that God gave to Israel were the Levites. The Levites would not only offer sacrifices for the people, but they would also teach the people the words and the ways of God. And today Jesus after His victory over sin, death and evil has also given gifted people (vs. 11) to His church to teach His people.

III. Your church grows through its dependence on Christ and each other.

A. The goal of our growth as a church is found in vs. 13. We are collectively, as an entire church, to become mature. We are to grow up and no longer be children (vs. 14). We are to know Jesus so that we are not blown back and forth by various false doctrines (vs. 14). And how will we know if we as a church are all grown up? Verse 13 says that we will have reached the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Together, we will look like Jesus. How do we get there? By depending on Jesus and depending on one another. Verse 15 says that Jesus is the head of the body. But we depend not just on the head. We also depend according to vs. 16 on every joint in the body. Those joints are the teachers of the Word in the church from vs. 11 who then get the rest of the members of the body to use their gifts properly for the good of the entire church. We need to depend on Jesus, and we need to depend on each other to use the gifts Jesus has given us.

Application:
Let’s grow together as we depend on Jesus and on the rest of the body.

Sources:
The letter to the Ephesians
Commentaries on Ephesians by Peter O’Brien, Bryan Chapell, and Richard Coekin