Established In Your Faith

Introduction

I appreciate the convictions about unseen things that have brought you to this place today. And it’s in regard to the strength of those convictions that I want to talk to you a little bit more about. I want to focus on one phrase in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 14. I want you to know when I first came across this graphic, I didn’t know anything, I don’t think, about Hurricane Patricia. But as the week unfolded, and I thought about this particular slide, well, how appropriate. As we’ve been dealing with the after effects of a tropical storm, but I want to talk to you about storms of a greater implication that have to do with our souls, which have to do with the stability of our spirits, and the threats to that we read about in Ephesians chapter 4.

1. God's Eternal Purpose of Unity in Ephesians

And before I get to the particular phrase, I want us to appreciate this verse in its greater context. And as I say that, where to begin is the issue because really you have to go all the way back, not just to the surrounding verses in this chapter, which are important to the phrase that I want to look at, but also to the entire book of Ephesians. And so, since that’s what I wanted to do by way of introduction, in fact, the introduction of this lesson’s already over. I’m going into point number one, and I know it’s one of the shortest Tony introductions ever. I got help from this preacher friend I know in Centerville, who is the guru of Ephesians, as I would like to refer to him, Jared Boldman.

And we were talking about what is the theme of the entire book. And I sort of like the way he summarized that in our discussion. That, of course, he’s talking about, Paul is in the book of Ephesians, God’s eternal purpose, which was to unite all people in the death of his son, that they might have life and glorify him. I think that’s an excellent summary. Illustrated in the apostles themselves, that God would take the likes of a zealot, fisherman, and a tax collector, and mold them into a cohesive unit, who would be his ambassadors to the world. Chapter 4, in particular, is telling us what this unity looks like, this eternal plan, this unity of all men in Jesus Christ, at least by design, by ideal, what this unity should look like, and the break in verse 17, which I hadn’t really noticed before, where he talks about the way they should not walk in contrast to the way that they should walk.

He then begins to give a picture in 17 through 19 of what living for self, in contrast to what God has designed, living for self and serving self and following the lusts of the flesh, how that does not fulfill God’s plan for us. And so he sums up by saying you didn’t learn Christ in that way. And that occurs to me that my favorite word can be employed here in verse 20 metonymy. You did not learn Christ in that way. Everything that is associated with him is not about you following the passions of your flesh. But you are to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Lay aside the old man that is that is corrupted in regard to deceits, he says in verse 22, renewed in the spirit of your mind, put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God.

And that’s what all of our teaching and preaching in this place, our worship together, is designed to produce in each one of us. This new self in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. And he gives us some key qualities in living this unity. In verses 1 through 3, Paul himself is a prisoner as he writes this. He says in verse 1, and he says, I entreat you. Walk in a manner worthy of your calling. And he starts right to the heart of the matter, developing the qualities of humility and gentleness and patience, showing forbearance to one another and love and diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And he talks then about the basis of this unity.

And I guess in the flow of this context, I haven’t really appreciated how it fits with the rest of it. The foundation for all of this is that there is one body, one collection of saved people, and we need to be numbered among them. If indeed that is what we are, as the Decker Prairie Church of Christ. There is one body, one recognized group of saved people. There is one spirit, instrumental in our salvation. Just as you were called in one hope of your calling. It’s not a myriad of conclusions to this story. One Lord, one faith, one set of beliefs that are to govern and guide us as instructed in this new covenant, the New Testament. One baptism, one act that places us as a result of our faith in Christ and causes us to walk in newness of life, he would say in Romans 6, one God and Father of all, from whom all of this comes, who is over all and through all and in all.

That’s the foundation of this unity, and we are to appreciate the Son in particular, that one Lord who came and did something extraordinary. He descended. He left heaven’s glory. The measure of Christ’s gift. It says in verse 7. He led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. And as he goes on to describe those gifts that he gave, and these are the things that Marty was talking to us men about when he was here a couple of weeks ago. The gifts that he gave, interestingly enough, apostles and prophets having a first century use. And now he says, some as evangelists and pastors and teachers. And what all of those have in common is the dispensing of this message. The teaching, the giving of this instruction that is to guide our unity in him.

What an excellent and incredible gift. I was, my series last weekend in Centerville was every good and perfect gift. And I talked about Jesus coming and descending, his incarnation, a sermon that I shared with you not very long ago, as an expression of God’s gifts. Everything that emanates from God is what we need. Every good thing bestowed in every perfect gift comes from above. James chapter 1 and verse 17. And we get excited about gifts. Perhaps if you are involved in a little secret sister exchange, you’ve been receiving all sorts of gifts, and it’s not even Christmas. But then when Christmas comes, the excitement, the anticipation, the kids go wild. And I’ve told you before of the exciting Christmas we had that is definitely the most unforgettable moment of all of the gift giving we ever did at our house was the year that Brad Walker’s dad secured a laptop for Brett.

And that’s when laptops were a little more expensive. Kids didn’t have them, but that’s what Brett wanted. And because of Black Friday, Mark goes out in the middle of the night and secures a laptop for Brett. It’s a little expensive Christmas present, even still. But Mark cut me a good deal.

And I’ll never forget Christmas morning when Brett opened his present. And immediately engaged in backward somersaults all the way around our living room. I had never seen him do a backward somersault before, and not that many in a row. He was pumped. He was excited. And that’s how we get over some of the gifts that we receive. If only we could get that excited about these gifts that Christ has given that will reward us far beyond anything that we can imagine in glory. And these gifts that he gave involved the imparting of instruction for the equipping of the saints. Equipping them for the work of service, just as Christ came to serve, to the building up of his people, to the building up of the body of Christ.

2. No Longer Children Tossed to and Fro

Until something results. We all attain to the unity of the faith. We all grow into this unity together. On the basis of this instruction of the knowledge of the Son of God, we become mature in him to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. It is this maturity that I want to talk to you about. And the particular phrase of verse 14 that I want to call your attention to, because there is an ominous part of verse 14. The phrase that I want to draw your attention to is at the very beginning. When he says, as a result, as a result of this plan that God had that produced these gifts to present you unto spiritual maturity, he says, now I’ve got to warn you about something.

As a result, we are no longer, we might have resided here in times past. We are no longer to be children tossed to and fro. Or as the New American Standard says, here and there. By waves. And carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ, and from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. There are some very real threats to this unity. He says, don’t be tossed about by the waves.

We get the picture, right? Who wants to be out in the middle of the ocean, even in a lifeboat during a storm? I think you would understand the concept of being tossed to and fro by the waves. We’ve seen movies in this regard. Where people are out and lost, like unbroken, if you saw that. Somebody’s out in a lifeboat, being tossed about in a storm. He says, that’s the way we can be spiritually. And here are the specific threats that we need to be careful of.

So many false notions are presented as the will of God. There is so much teaching or doctrine that is not consistent, as we talked in our Bible class about Deuteronomy chapter 13, that is not consistent with what has been revealed to us. And he says, if you’re not careful, if you’re not established in the faith, and I let my word out of the bag there, by every wind of doctrine, he says. That’s how we’re tossed to and fro, and some people have terrible motives in all of this. The trickery of men. Don’t judge them on the basis of their appearance. We should have talked about that in Deuteronomy chapter 13. How smooth they may speak, how persuasive their argument. You must measure them by their words.

There’s trickery involved. Some have false motives. They’re motivated by their sensuality, Peter says, for example, in 2 Peter chapter 2. And the way of truth is malign. They speak destructive heresies. Peter warned. Jesus warned about wolves and sheep’s clothing. Craftiness and deceitful scheming. It may not be readily apparent to the untrained eye. Deception and trickery is one of Satan’s most effective tools. The God of this world blinds the minds of the unbelieving. If the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those that are perishing. Paul warned in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 3 and 4. The devil uses others to deceive. And sometimes we simply deceive ourselves. So Paul is warning about the destabilizing effects of what is not of Christ and what issues from man. Now, as I talk about this phrase, no longer toss here and there, that’s not what really caused this sermon this morning.

3. Established in Your Faith

And for the last 10 minutes, I want to talk to you about a word that just popped into my head recently. I said, I’ve never preached a sermon on this. And yet it’s a word that’s used extensively throughout the New Testament that really relates to Paul’s warning in Ephesians chapter 4. And it is this word established. You would be surprised how often this word appears in the New Testament. The word is not found in the context of Ephesians 4, but it is certainly set in contrast to the description of one who is tossed here and there by the waves. Most commonly, it is the Greek word serizo, and I don’t want to spend too much time on the Greek, two Greek words that I want to look at here.

But this word spoke of turning resolutely in a certain direction. Resolutely in a certain direction. Confirmed or strengthened is the idea. And Paul used it of the purpose of spiritual gifts. In Romans chapter 1 and verse 11, he talked about imparting spiritual gifts to the church at Rome, and he says, That you might be established. And in the Ephesians 4, parallel, in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 23, he encourages the church at Colossae to continue in the faith. Notice this. Firmly established and steadfast. And then this, not moved away, not tossed to and fro, not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard. And actually the verses that prompted the whole lesson are in verses 6 and 7, where he says, As you therefore have received Christ, so walk in him.

Like Ephesians 4, walk worthy of the calling wherewith you have been called. So walk in him. And then notice this, having been firmly rooted, and now being built up in him and established in your flesh. Faith. Overflowing with gratitude. Well, it would have been a much prettier picture for me if the word sterizo had been used there, but there’s a synonym in the Greek that looks like boo-boo. I don’t know how you pronounce that, but by okay. But it is a synonym to the word stereo, that is more commonly used. It is the word that’s used here. Peter also uses the term. But here’s the point of this word. We’re to be models of strength. We are to move in that direction. We are not to be characterized by perpetual weakness.

We see Paul going around trying to get churches to arrive at an established position, Acts chapter 16 and verse 5. He says that your hearts might be established in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. So what are we talking about? Established has to do with a persistence in the right things, the right course, the right thinking, having heavenly affections, and a consistency in those things. That’s the way we use the word established all the time. We talk about an established actor or actress. And that is, they’ve displayed a consistency in their profession of acting, and they’ve had a number of gigs. Sandra Bullock comes to mind. I don’t know whether you call her an actor or an actress. You know, now all the females are wanting to be called actors.

She’s an actress as far as I’m concerned. But she’s established in that. We talk about somebody who’s established in the workplace. Again, there’s been a long practice of consistency, steadiness, dependability to what they have done. We look at appliances as being reliable, based again on a long history of performance, quality work, reliable, dependable. So I want to ask you. Where are you?

Are you pretty much spiritually where you were five years ago? It was not the goal of the gospel to bring people into Christ and then remain there perpetually in a fairly weakened condition. Paul’s goal, the goal of instruction was to move people toward spiritual maturity, to get them to an established place. Do you see yourself as dependable? Can people count on you? Can this church count on you? Are you reliable? I’ll tell you, there’s some people in this group that just reek of reliability. In a good way. You can count on them. They’re here. They’re a part of the work. How dependable are we? Some reside in a perpetual state of weakness.

They never really grow very much. And as I start looking at this word established, like in Colossians chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, it is my goal as an instructor in these things to do what Paul did, to try to move people to an established position.

4. Firmly Rooted

And I want to notice in Colossians 2 another word that’s used there. Having been firmly rooted. And that’s what it takes to be established. You have to have strong roots. As he would say in Ephesians 3 earlier to the text that we’ve been looking at in Ephesians 4. Rooted and grounded in love. What kind of spiritual roots are you developing? And that’s why we need to expose ourselves to studies of the word. That’s why we need to engage in personal study and meditation upon the word so that we can develop the strong spiritual roots. I mean, why are we studying Deuteronomy? Because understanding that book and that message will help us further to develop strong spiritual roots. That’s what we’re doing. And that word for roots is rezu in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 7, but it reminds me of a psalm where we’re admonished not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seed of the scornful.

But instead he says, meditate in God’s law. And do so day and night. And you shall be like a tree planted by rivers of water that yields its fruit in its season. And whatever he does, it shall prosper. Established. I want to look at a lot of passages that I don’t have time. 2 Thessalonians 2, 17, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good word and work. Revelation 3 and verse 2, they were admonished to strengthen the things that remain. In James chapter 5 and verse 8, he says, You too be patient, strengthen your hearts. For the coming of the Lord is at hand. And what I want you to know about this in conclusion is I am urging you, admonishing you to move to a more firm foundation and position as a Christian.

5. God Is Able to Establish You

Is that you’re not doing it alone. That God is assisting in our progress. In Romans 16 and verse 25, notice this. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery. God is able to establish you. He is involved in this process unto spiritual maturity. He himself will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 10. And here’s another reason for preaching this. This being established in him has an impact upon others. We need to move from spiritual immaturity and vulnerability to something stronger and deeply rooted with the help of God. And we need to see how this impacts the lives of others. Back to where we began.

Conclusion

What we’re really describing is an anchor to keep us sure and steadfast as we are assaulted by life storms. Sometimes they are the things we talked about in Ephesians 4 and verse 14 that want to sweep us away from the truth of the gospel. Sometimes they are personal troubles and discouragements that want to toss us around and cause us to jettison our faith.

But our hope, our confidence in God, our confidence in his word is an anchor for our souls. And so we’ve sung, will your anchor hold? Or we’re about to sing, will your anchor hold in the storms of life. Remember how we learn Christ. And do not ever stray far from it. He says, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus. That in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. He says, I want to remind you of something. You knew this when you became a Christian. But that old person you used to be, he’s not going down without a fight.

He’s talking to people who have made this decision in times past and now they’re susceptible to winds. Every wind of doctrine, he says, remember how you learned Christ. The way you lived before was going nowhere. It was going to net you nothing ultimately. It was in accordance with the lusts of the sea. You must continue to fight the battle and lay that self aside. There is nothing in the practice of consuming alcohol or engaging in any kind of immoral act that is leading you anywhere good. And don’t ever forget that. You’re laying that aside, he says, that you may be renewed in the spirit of your mind. As he would say to the Colossians. Setting your affections on heavenly things, putting on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness and the truth.

That’s the invitation of our Lord. He’s saying, Come and do what is right. And I will welcome you. That’s been the message of salvation from the very beginning. That was the message given to Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. In every nation, he who fears God and does what is right is accepted of him. Put on the new self. And when life assaults. And it will.

Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you have been called. Be established. Be firm, dependable, and steady. Because others are counting on you. Others are watching you. Others are following you. Realize the great responsibility that you have. Not Mike or Tim or Robert or Tony. Every one of us. Be established. Move toward, grow toward a firm position of spiritual stability in serving the Lord. Can we assist anyone in beginning the journey with us today? Can we baptize you into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? That you can then begin to grow into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ. We seem to encourage you to stand so