Our reading today is from Ephesians chapter 4.
Starting in verse 1, we read,
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 over all 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 in deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in 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.
And this is the word of God.
Great. Thank you, Karen.
Let's pray together as we come to this passage
and ask God to speak to us.
Why don't you join me?
Father, this morning as we come to your word,
this really amazing passage,
I pray, God, that you will speak to us, God.
And don't just speak to our minds, but speak to our hearts.
We ask, God, that you pour the Holy Spirit out upon us,
that your word will come alive.
It will take deep root in our heart.
God, won't you both encourage us with the good news of Jesus,
but also challenge us, God,
to become more Christ-like,
to become like you.
God, we want our church,
and we pray for the church in Hong Kong, God,
that we as a citywide church
will become mature,
as this passage calls us to,
that we will grow to the fullness of the stature of Christ,
that we will become more and more like Jesus.
God, I pray, help us to do that.
And so this morning, equip us and show us, God,
and call us to yourself.
God, we know that many of us, God,
are going through tough times, Lord,
discouraged, lost a loved one,
going through difficulty.
God, this morning, won't you come and minister to us,
we pray, Lord.
We want to have the risen Lord,
the ascended Christ,
lift our heads, God,
and to see you,
and to be encouraged and full of hope.
And so, God, we ask you to come and do that,
we pray.
In your wonderful and gracious name,
amen.
I'm not sure if you remember being in high school.
For some of us, that was a long time ago.
Nate, that was just a few years ago.
Come on, you can't shake your head like that.
I remember getting towards the end of high school,
and the big question is,
what do you want to do with your life?
Where are you going to go?
What are you going to study?
What is your calling?
What is your purpose?
How are you not going to waste your life?
You've got these big questions about,
what are your next steps?
What trajectory do you want to go in?
Maybe some of us here are kind of like,
mid-stage through life,
you know, 45, 50,
and you're wondering,
how do I want to spend the second half of my life?
How do I want to not waste my life?
What is my calling and purpose in life?
To have a vision,
or clarity of purpose,
or calling,
is such a clarifying and liberating thing.
You know what you can say yes to,
you know what you can say no to,
it's so clarifying to know your calling in life.
Well, in this passage that we're going to look at today,
Paul gives us,
in this incredibly important passage,
a real sense of purpose and vision
and calling for the church.
He tells us what it is that the church
is called to be and called to do.
In fact, this word calling
is actually the word he uses.
Look at verse 1.
He says,
I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord,
urge you to walk in a manner
worthy of your calling,
there's our word,
to which you have been called.
He says the same thing in verse 4.
He says,
You were called to the one hope
which belongs to your call.
Okay, so Paul is giving this church,
the Ephesians,
a vision for their calling as a church.
Over the last six weeks
as we've been working through Ephesians,
we've seen that God has this grand cosmic plan
for the entire universe
to unite all things together under Christ,
1 verse 10.
And the church,
he's been alluding to the fact
that the church has some purpose
in this calling.
Today he's going to get really practical
and show us what is the calling of the church
and what role it plays
in this cosmic plan and purpose of God.
And so Paul's big idea is this,
to the church is called
to build one another up
so that together we can be a unified,
united,
and mature body of Christ.
Okay, that's what Paul's going to call us to today.
To build one another up
so that together we can be a mature,
unified body of Christ.
So look at what he says here.
He says,
I urge you to walk with one another
in a manner worthy of the calling
to which you've been called.
So Paul wants us to walk out this calling.
It's not just theory
that you have on your website.
It's actually something we practice.
And he says,
verse 2,
with all humility.
Okay, that's a good thing.
Humility means self-forgetfulness.
Remember C.S. Lewis' famous quote,
to be humble is not to think less of yourself.
It's just to think about yourself
less of the time.
So with humility,
with gentleness,
with patience.
Why do we need patience?
Because sometimes people test our patience.
And he says,
bearing with one another in love.
Another translation says,
making allowances for one another's faults.
Which is such a great description.
That doesn't mean we just turn a blind eye
to one another's sin,
or hypocrisy,
or willful wrongdoing.
We don't just pretend that what is wrong
is not wrong.
What it means is,
we don't need to go and point out
every person's fault all the time.
Somebody does something that bothers you,
and you kind of say,
I can let this one go.
It's alright.
I don't need to go and point out
every person's fault.
So here he's got this amazing description.
Humble, patient, gentle,
bearing with one another in love.
Sign me up for that kind of church, right?
Now, why should we pursue these characteristics?
Well, look at verse 3.
He says,
being eager to maintain
the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.
And that makes sense.
As we are humble, patient,
bearing with one another,
it will contribute towards this unity
of the body of Christ.
Christ's body chooses the way of humility,
and patience,
and gentleness,
and graciousness,
because our unity,
our oneness,
is at stake.
What happens when a church is marked
by self-importance,
not humility,
by impatience,
by pointing out everyone's faults?
It's not unity.
It's division, right?
It's not oneness.
It's fighting.
It's friction in the church.
But Paul says,
actually,
behave like this
because your unity,
your oneness,
is at stake.
And notice,
it's not a unity that we create.
It's a unity that's given to us
in the gospel.
Paul says,
maintain the unity
that's been given to you
by the Spirit.
So when a church forms,
let's say,
watermark,
we plant a new church,
let's say,
we don't get the core team together
and say,
how can we foster,
how can we create
a sense of unity?
Actually,
the unity is inherent
in the gospel.
We don't say,
let's go on some team building exercises,
or let's think how we can foster unity.
Actually,
the unity is inherent
in the gospel.
Our unity is established
by the gospel.
Christians are united
by the fact that all of us
have a shared history.
It's the fact that we are sinners
saved by grace.
Ephesians 2 says,
we were once dead in our sins
and now we've been made alive in Christ.
Our shared history of depravity
and our shared oneness
in coming together in Christ by grace
builds and fosters a unity
in and of itself.
Maybe another way of saying this
is an analogy.
Think of a group of people
that were on a boat
out at sea, right?
Tragic situation,
waves come,
tip the boat over,
they don't have life jackets,
they're all going to die,
they're all going to drown.
But miraculously,
a boat comes past,
sees them in peril,
rescues them,
and saves them.
That group of people
don't need to foster
a sense of unity, right?
Forever,
their shared history
is going to bind them together.
There's something
that they've experienced together
that brings them together.
Well, Paul says the same thing.
Our inherent history
fosters a sense of unity.
And yet,
because of our sinful hearts,
we have this tendency
to break the unity,
to undermine this gospel unity.
And so Paul says,
be eager to maintain
the unity of the Spirit
that's been given you
in the gospel.
But here's another reason
that Paul gives.
Look at verse 4 to 6.
He says,
the church should be unified,
united,
one,
because that's who God is
and that's what God
is doing in the world.
Look at how he says
in verse 4 to 6.
It's almost written
like a creed,
an ancient creed.
He says,
there is one body,
one spirit.
Verse 5,
one Lord,
one faith,
one baptism.
We sang about that earlier.
One God and Father of all
who is over all
and through all
and in all.
And Paul's point is,
God is not divided.
God doesn't parcel himself out,
a little bit of the divine being
in there,
a little bit there,
a little bit there.
God is one.
What God is doing
is he's uniting all things
together under Christ.
Because of who God is,
we as the billboard
of God's grace
should also be one.
It doesn't help if we say,
God is this one supreme being,
but we are divided
and fighting.
No, no,
we may be a picture of God,
a billboard of his grace
and the gospel.
Think of this.
I don't know how many of you
have been to
one of those
majestic cathedrals
in Europe.
Europeans know how to build
great cathedrals,
right?
St. John's Cathedral
in Central
kind of does
something of this effect,
but not quite the same effect.
You walk in
and you are
wowed,
astounded
by the grandeur
and the majesty
of it.
Cathedrals are designed
to take your breath away.
You walk in
and you are meant
to be astounded
by the majesty.
And the reason
they are designed
like that
is it is meant
to give us a sense
of the majesty
of God.
The church building
is meant to reflect
who God is,
right?
I am not sure
if you remember
February 2011,
Christchurch,
New Zealand.
An earthquake
rocks Christchurch.
And the grand cathedral
in Christchurch
is left in ruins,
right?
Is a pile of rubble.
And Paul says
that's what happens
when the church
is divided,
when we're fighting.
This church
that's meant to be
a picture of the majesty
and the grandeur
and the oneness of God,
actually the church
as a cathedral
is left in ruins.
Well, think about it
this way.
20 years ago,
my parents were part
of a church.
It was a small church
and the church
there was lots
of fighting
and friction
and animosity
and division
and talking
behind people's backs
and everyone
would come to church
on a Sunday
smiling and all wonderful
but behind the scenes
there was lots
of friction.
And one night
my dad had a dream
and in this dream
he saw a picture
of a bride.
You know,
the Bible describes
the church
as the bride of Christ
but this bride's dress
was in tatters.
It was being torn
apart
and shredded
and he woke up
with such a heavy heart
saying the church
is meant to be
this radiant picture
of the majesty
of God
but all our fighting
and our tearing
each other apart
we've left the picture
of God in tatters,
right?
And that's Paul's
argument here.
He's saying
we've got one Lord,
one gospel,
one God and Father.
That's why the Bible
says unity
and community
and restoring
damaged relationships
is such a big deal
in the Bible.
It's not just
this impossible ideal
that we talk about
but nobody ever
really attains.
It's so important
to God
because it's a picture
of who He is
and what the church is.
Yes,
the Trinity
is Father,
Son,
and Spirit
but there's this
unbelievable unity
and oneness
even within the community
of the Trinity
and the church
is meant to picture that
and so Paul says
therefore let your
relationships put the
beauty and the
oneness of God
on display.
Let the church be
a billboard of His grace,
of His oneness,
of His majesty.
Let it be a cathedral
of gospel grace.
Therefore he says
be eager,
maintain the unity
of the Spirit
that is given to us
in the gospel.
Okay,
does that make sense
so far?
Now,
how do we do that?
How do we maintain
this unity?
I mean,
do we just beat each other
over the head
and say be united?
No,
no,
that's not how we do it.
What should we do?
Should we go to more
team building exercises?
Maybe we should all sign up
for dragon boat racing
because that,
you know,
is really going to
pull us together.
How should we do this?
Well,
Paul in the rest
of this section
gives us a clear answer
and this is his answer.
He says unity
is not something
that you foster
or manufacture
or coerce.
It actually is the fruit
or comes as a result
of spiritual maturity
and that happens
as you speak the gospel
to one another.
Okay,
unity is not something
you can force or coerce.
It's a fruit,
a result
of spiritual maturity
and that happens
as we point one another
to Christ
and speak the gospel
over each other
and that actually makes sense.
I don't know
if any of you
grew up in a family
where you had
rivalry with your siblings,
right?
So I was like that.
My older brother and I,
we fought a lot.
We fought with words
and we fought with fists.
Okay,
we didn't have
a very good relationship
when we were kids
but as we matured
and grew up,
well,
actually,
we put away our fists
and eventually over time
our words got a bit nicer
and actually,
we're now good friends.
We're actually very close.
maturity produces
a kind of unity.
Well,
that's what Paul says.
He says the same thing
in the church.
As we grow in the gospel,
as we mature in the faith,
as we become more like Christ
and Jesus in the gospel
becomes deeper in our hearts
and more real to us,
it affects our relationships.
This maturity will produce
a unity in the body of Christ.
Okay,
well,
how does that happen?
Well,
Paul's going to give us
three things,
okay,
that we need to mature
in the faith
to produce this unity.
And the first thing he says
is we need leaders.
Leaders,
okay,
what Paul calls
gifts of grace.
Look at verse 7.
So,
up until verse 1 and 6,
he talks about this unity
in the church,
may be eager to maintain
the unity of the spirit.
Why?
Because God is one.
Verse 7,
but grace was given
to each one of us
according to the measure
of Christ's gift,
or in other words,
saying that according
to Christ's choosing.
So,
there's unity in the gospel,
but unity doesn't mean
uniformity.
It doesn't mean we're all
just exactly the same.
There's a diversity
of gifts
and calling
within the body of Christ.
And then Paul quotes
Psalm 68.
He talks about God
ascending up on high,
leading a host of captives
in his wake,
giving gifts to men.
Now,
Psalm 68 is a tricky Psalm,
okay,
so let me try
and understand,
explain what's going on here.
Psalm 68
is what John Calvin
called
an ode
to military victory.
It's a Psalm
that describes
God as this
military leader
that is victorious.
Now,
in the ancient world,
every military leader,
when they won a battle,
they conquered their enemy,
they would either
just slaughter them
and kill them,
or they would take
the people
as their captives,
and they would become
slaves
in their kind of
city or town
or army,
right?
But Paul says
God does something
different.
In the gospel,
when God
defeats his enemies,
he actually defeats
them with love.
That's what God did
for all of us,
right?
We were once
God's enemy.
We were sinners
and rebels.
God won us
over to his side,
but he won us
over with love.
He didn't destroy us.
And what does he do?
He now includes us
in his church,
in his family.
And then God
amazingly
takes these people
that he has won
with love,
and he actually
gives them back
to his church
as gifts of grace.
So in the old days,
the military leader
would go and
if they didn't kill
their enemies,
they would bring them,
you know,
they'd walk back
into their city,
Rome or Jerusalem,
whatever it is,
with this host
of captives
trailing behind them,
and all the city folk
would throw tomatoes
at them and
jeer at them
and laugh at them
and scoff at them.
But Paul says
in the gospel,
those that God
wins and defeats
with his love,
they come trailing
behind him,
but rather than
everyone jeering
at them,
he actually now says
these are your
brothers and sisters.
He gives his captives
back to the church
as gifts of grace.
And I think
one of the best
examples of this
is the apostle Paul.
Remember Saul?
That was his name
before.
He's an enemy of God.
He wants to destroy
the church,
destroy Christianity.
He does everything
he can to wipe
out these Christians.
Oh, but the ascended,
risen Christ
meets him,
wins him over
with grace.
And then what does he do?
He gives Paul
back to the church
as a gift of grace.
And what a grace,
what a gift he was,
right?
I mean, he wrote
a whole lot
of the New Testament.
And actually in Ephesians,
Paul's been saying this
the whole time.
We were once enemies,
we were outsiders,
dead in our sins,
under God's wrath.
And God has now
included us,
he's made us insiders.
And now we're part
of God's cosmic plan.
And these sinners,
like you and I,
like Saul and Paul,
now God gives the church
as gifts of grace.
Like Saul.
I think another example,
if I can name
and shame him,
is Dan Tillis.
I don't know if Dan is here.
He's just gone out,
right?
And if you've heard
Dan's story,
we've played it a couple
of times at church.
Man, Dan lived
as if God was dead,
right?
Came to Hong Kong,
lived it up,
had no time for God.
Oh God,
the risen,
ascended Lord,
saved him,
rescued him,
redeemed him.
What a gift of grace
he is to our church,
right?
I think another person
is Henrika,
if I can pick on you.
Henrika came to Hong Kong
eight, nine years ago,
right?
Didn't want to follow Jesus,
living it up,
on her own journey
of trying to find
the divine
and the spirituality.
Oh God saved her.
What a gift of grace
he is to our church.
I could rattle
through tons of names.
I could tip you
someone else
had thought of,
right?
Came to faith
at Watermark
a few years ago.
What a gift of grace.
And that's what
Paul says here.
He says that God
takes these,
he apportions gifts
to his church.
Look at verse 11.
Now he elaborates
on these gifts of grace
and he says,
and he gave
these gifts,
apostles,
prophets,
evangelists,
shepherd teachers.
Okay,
just pause here.
In the New Testament
there are lots
and lots of gifts
that the body has,
right?
There's gifts
of encouragement,
there's gifts
of generosity,
gifts of service,
administration,
hospitality,
lots of different gifts.
But Paul here
mentions four.
Apostles,
prophets,
evangelists,
and pastor teachers.
Why does he just
mention those four?
Well,
one of the things
about those four
is they're all
leadership gifts.
Okay,
they're called
to be leaders
in the church.
But there's something
else particular
about them.
They all speak
God's word
and the gospel
to God's people.
So apostles
were those that
originally wrote
the New Testament.
They took the gospel
to the corners
of the world.
They gave us
the New Testament.
They proclaimed
the word of God
and the gospel.
Prophets aren't those
that foretell
the future.
Prophets aren't
fortune tellers.
To be a prophet
means you speak
God's word
to God's people.
So prophets
speak God's word.
Evangelists
speak the gospel
and God's word
to those that
don't yet know
about Christ.
They bring the gospel
to people.
And pastor teachers
speak God's word
to God's people
week in and week out.
So what characterizes
these four gifts
is that they're
those who speak
the gospel
and bring God's word
to his people.
They're not signs
and wonders gifts.
They're other gifts
that do that.
These are word gifts.
I think of
2 Corinthians 4
where the apostle Paul
says,
For what we proclaim
is not ourselves
but Christ Jesus
as Lord
and we as your servants.
What do pastors
and elders do?
We are just servants
to the church
proclaiming Christ
and God's word
to build up the church.
Okay?
So here Paul says
God gives these gifts
to the church
and he highlights
four word gifts
that speak God's word
and bring the gospel.
So God gives leaders
to the church.
And what are these
leaders meant to do?
Well, look at verse 12.
It's very simple.
They are to
equip the saints,
that means Christians,
for work of ministry
and to build up
the body of Christ.
So God gives leaders
to the church
who speak God's word,
speak the gospel to us,
and they equip the saints,
that's Christians,
to do the work of ministry
which builds up
and matures the church
so that the church
can be a united,
unified,
mature body of Christ.
So,
in this passage,
who does
the work of ministry?
Well,
it's actually not
the pastors and elders.
I mean,
they do some of it.
It's not the apostles
and the prophets.
It's the saints.
It's the community
of God's people.
It's the Christians
and the members
of the church.
Or another way
you could say it is,
it's the lay ministers.
The word lay means
unprofessional
or the non-professional,
those that haven't
necessarily been set apart
as leaders in the church.
It's every one of us.
And so look at what
Paul says here
in verse 13.
We do this,
this work of ministry,
building up the body
of Christ,
until we attain
to unity,
there's our word again,
of the faith
and the knowledge
of the Son of God,
until we attain
to mature manhood,
literally in Greek
it means becoming
a mature man,
to the measure
of the stature
of the fullness
of Christ.
It was one of Paul's
wordy sentences,
okay?
What he means here
is that the church
with all its diversity
of gifts
is meant to minister
to one another
in order that we become
a united,
mature body of Christ
until we each
become more and more
like Jesus.
And he says the same thing
in verse 16.
When each part
working together
makes the body
grow so that it
builds itself up
in love.
Now when Paul says here,
until we attain
mature manhood,
what does that mean?
Until we become
a mature man,
is literally the Greek.
Is Paul saying that
we've all got to become
more masculine,
right?
Ladies,
you've got to become
more like us men.
Is Paul saying
there's no room
for women and femininity
in the church?
No, no,
that's not what
Paul is saying.
Who is the most,
who is the perfect man
in the Bible?
Okay, Jesus.
Jesus is the man
that Paul wants us
to all become like.
And what he's saying
is that as we become
more and more
like Christ
with our diversity,
whether you're male
or female,
whether you're
African,
Chinese,
American,
whether you're young
or old,
that we mature
and become more
like Christ.
So, and what is
Christ like?
Well, we saw it
in verse 2.
He is humble,
gentle,
patient,
bearing with one
another in love.
Okay, so do you
follow the argument
here?
God gives leaders
to his church,
what Paul calls
gifts of grace,
to serve the church
by bringing God's
word,
flooding us with
the gospel,
and then he equips
us as a church
to minister to one
another,
so that we can
become more and
more mature
and united,
which means
becoming more
and more like
Jesus.
Friends, this is
the point of
community,
this is why we
do CGs and
family groups,
so that we can
minister to one
another,
encourage one
another,
build up one
another.
One of the
implications of
this,
and this isn't
aimed at any
camera in the
room in particular,
one of the
implications of
this is that
online church
is not really
a thing,
right?
because when
you're watching
a service
online,
you're not
doing church,
you're watching
other people
do church,
because the
church is the
body that
encourages and
ministers to
one another.
Now, here's a
question, what
happens when
only a few
people in the
church minister
to one another?
Let's say you've
got this superstar
pastor, okay,
not a watermark,
the other church
down the road,
and he's like
unbelievable,
right?
He's an
incredible preacher
and he's an
incredible visionary
leader and he's a
great manager of the
staff team and he's a
brilliant discipler and
he's this great marriage
counselor and one-on-one
counselor and you feel
like you can go to him
and pull out all your
troubles because he
listens so brilliantly,
but he's also gifted at
everything and he's just
unbelievable and he does
everything, okay, that's
not going to be a healthy
body, right?
Or let's say you've got
a church where you've
got 10 or 15 people that
are amazing and they do
everything and the other
200 just coast along are
consumers.
That's not a healthy body.
Have you ever seen
somebody who, they only
like working out one part
of the body, right,
just maybe just the top
off and the other part
doesn't look so good,
okay?
That's not a healthy body.
In the same way, Paul says,
the body, the church, as we
all minister to one
another and encourage one
another, we build each
other up, okay?
Look at verse 14.
Paul says the same thing,
but this time he states it
negatively.
He says the opposite, what we're
not trying to become.
What's the opposite of one
mature man or adult?
The opposite is lots of
children running around
causing chaos, okay?
He says here, verse 14,
every member ministers to one
another so that we may no
longer be immature children.
The word there is plural,
okay?
Tossed to and fro by waves
carried about by every wind
of doctrine and human cunning
and craftiness.
So the role of every member
ministry is to help one
another grow into spiritual
maturity so that we're not
all over the place.
So we don't have one group
of the church going off in
that direction saying, oh,
you know, there's this
celebrity pastor.
He's mainly teaching us that.
And then another group of
the church going off in
that direction, listening
to that thing.
And then one group of the
church saying, oh, I read
this book and this is
wonderful.
Let's go in that direction.
And then another group say,
oh, we just want to do our
own thing over here.
And the church becomes no
unity, no gospel, no picture
of the glory of God.
Actually, as we grow up and
mature and flood one another
with the gospel, we become
united around who Christ is.
That's how we grow.
And so God gives us leaders,
people who we actually know
in real life.
We can know what their lives
are like.
We can know what their
marriage is like.
We can know what their
parenting is like.
It's one of the problems
with just following a
celebrity preacher.
He could be amazing on
stage, but he could be a
dog at home.
God actually wants to give
us leaders that we can
actually know, see what
they're like in real life,
who will bring us God's
words that we as a body
can minister to one another
and help us grow.
So what is Paul's strategy?
God gives us leaders and
he gives us lay ministers,
and there's one last thing
he gives us, which is we
need the gospel.
Paul says here that leaders
speak God's word so that we
can do the work of ministry.
Now what is that work of
ministry?
What does he mean by that?
Well, he gives us two clues
here in the passage.
The one is that word work
is actually in the singular.
It's not plural.
In Ephesians 2, remember he
says, we are God's
workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus for good works.
Okay, that's plural.
But here he says, there is
one work that God has
called us to.
What is that one work?
Well, we find out in verse
14 and 15.
Look at what he says.
He says, we're no longer
children tossed about by
every wind of doctrine and
teaching, verse 15.
Rather, speaking the truth
in love, we grow up in
every way into him who is
the head that is Christ.
So what is this work of
ministry that Christians are
called to?
How do we minister to one
another as a church family?
We speak the truth in love.
Okay, well, what does that
mean, right?
Does that mean we go around
pointing out everybody's
faults and then when they
get offended, we say, hey,
I'm just speaking the truth
in love, right?
No, that's not what it
means.
It means we flood one
another with the truth of
the gospel, which is truth
and love together in the
person of Jesus.
We wash one another with
God's word and the gospel.
We point one another to
Christ.
Say, look to Christ.
Christ, we flood one
another with the gospel.
Speaking the truth in love,
we grow up into Christ who
is the head, into Jesus from
whom the whole body is
joined together.
In Colossians 1, Paul says
this.
I read this this morning in
my devotions.
He says, this is my calling
to make the word of God
fully known, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory.
Him we proclaim, Jesus,
warning and teaching everyone
that we may present everyone
mature in Christ.
What did Paul the apostle do?
He went and he brought the
word of God, but what was
the word of God?
Christ in you, the hope of
glory.
And so the way we build up
one another is we flood one
another with who Christ is.
We point one another to Jesus.
We encourage one another in
the gospel.
We don't just go around telling
everyone to be better
Christians, do more.
No, we flood and we
encourage them.
We challenge, we encourage
with the gospel.
And so think about this.
Someone in your CG is going
through a tough time.
So what do you do?
You text them, keep calm and
carry on.
No, no, no, you don't do
that, okay?
No, no, you point them to
Jesus.
You walk with them.
You pray with them.
You listen to them.
And you remind them about who
Christ is and to hold on to
Jesus.
Hey, quick disclaimer.
I did this really badly
recently.
I had someone come and speak
to me and say, hey, Kevin,
I was going through a tough
time and I felt like all you
did was told me to do better.
And I was trying in a way to
encourage them to Christ, but I
completely did it badly, right?
So I don't always do this
right.
We don't always get it right.
But that's our goal.
Someone's going through a
tough time.
We don't say, do better, try
harder.
And we go and say, Jesus is so
wonderful.
He's so faithful.
Look to Christ.
Press into Christ.
Or maybe you're concerned that
someone you love and know is
drifting far away from Jesus.
We could just say, well, it's
none of my business.
Or we could go be a family member
with them and say, hey, how are you
doing?
How are your devotions going?
How vivid and real is Jesus to you
at the moment?
Hey, hold on to Christ.
He's so precious.
He's so good.
We sang about it earlier.
When darkness seems to hide his
face, our trust in his unchanging
grace, well, sometimes it's hard
to do that.
Sometimes life is so hard.
You can't even hold on to his
unchanging grace.
You can't say, on Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is
sinking stand.
But a friend can help you do that.
And so when somebody in your CG is
going through a tough time, what do
you do?
You go to them and you encourage
them.
You say, let's stand on Christ.
Christ is faithful.
Christ is enough.
Or maybe someone's struggling at
work and you sit down and you
listen and you pray with them.
Or you do what Oscar did this
week.
He texted in the men's group,
Colossians 3 verse 1.
Set your sights on things above where
Christ is seated.
He is your hope and glory.
And so this is Paul's word to us.
Speaking the gospel truth and love.
Flooding one another with the truth
of who God is.
We grow up in every way into him.
Into Christ who is the head.
From whom the whole body, joined and
held together, is equipped.
Every part doing its work.
Making the body grow.
So that it builds itself up in love.
Friends, this is the church.
This is what it means to be the church.
Church isn't a building.
As wonderful as those cathedrals are.
And if anyone wants to donate us a
cathedral, we'll take it.
Okay?
As wonderful as they are, this is the
church.
The church isn't a service that you
can just watch.
The church is God's people,
encouraging and stirring up one
another.
And what that means is that every
member in the church is called to be
ministers of God's grace.
Speaking the gospel, God's word over
one another.
Friends, maybe you'll never preach on a
Sunday.
That's okay.
Doesn't make you better or worse.
Maybe you won't lead a CG.
That's okay.
But you can be an agent of God's
grace.
You can build up the body.
You can help the church become the
mature stature of Christ through
every member ministry.
This is what Paul wants us to see.
That God has called the church to be a
united body.
One Lord.
One faith.
One baptism.
One church united in the gospel.
And how does he do that?
He gives us leaders who are really
just servants.
Speak God's word and the gospel to us
to equip us as the church.
To speak the truth and love.
The gospel.
To minister to one another.
So that we as a church can grow and
mature to the full stature of the
measure of Christ.
Let's pray together.
And then we'll come to the communion
table.
Oh Father God as we hear your call to be a
cathedral of grace God.
A picture of the majesty of God.
Oh God I pray won't you help us to do
that Lord.
God we confess that our sinful hearts.
God we so easily turn in on ourselves and
look after ourselves.
God won't you help us God.
Won't you make us humble.
Patient.
Gentle.
Bearing with one another in love.
And God won't you help us to grow up and
to mature.
To be the church that you've called us to
be.
Unified around Christ and the gospel.
God won't you make us as a church a
billboard of your grace.
God we pray that for ourselves and we
pray that for the church of Hong Kong.
We pray for every church in Hong Kong.
God the English church, the Chinese
church, the Korean, the Japanese, the
Filipino church.
God every church in Hong Kong.
God I pray won't you unite us and unify
us.
May we be God a picture of heaven on
earth.
God we know that it's one thing to call
us that.
We need a work of grace in our hearts.
God won't you speak to us this morning
Lord.
Where it is hard God.
God sometimes maybe we feel like we've
been bearing with one another in love for
a long time.
Maybe our patience is worn thin.
Oh God by your grace God won't you help
us.
We need you Jesus.
Fathers we come to the communion table
now.
I pray God.
Won't you remind us of our common history.
Our common depravity.
Our common lostness.
And our common hope in Jesus.
And may that God unify us and mature us.
And make us a cathedral of grace.
God I pray this in your wonderful and your
gracious name.
Amen.
Thank you.