God Empowered Growth

Introduction

I’ll invite you to Ephesians, the fourth chapter. Ephesians chapter 4. We’re going to read that in just a few moments. I want to start out just thinking about a question or an idea. What do we have to do to grow? That’s a thought so many people have, an idea that a lot of people discuss and talk about everywhere I go, different places I’ve lived, different places I’ve visited. This is an idea or a concept that everyone wants to talk about. They want to talk about growth. And so I wonder some other questions along those lines. Is growth the purpose of the church? Is that even our purpose? Is to grow. And what do we mean when we talk about growth? Tonight I want to talk a little bit about that idea and maybe present some things from Ephesians 4 that’ll help us think about God empowered growth, the kind of growth that God actually wants from us.

And so I invite you to read with me, beginning in chapter 4 in verse 1. I’m going to read the first few verses here and talk about this text. It says, 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 and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to 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. And 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 acquip 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 and 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. Ephesians 4 is such a powerful text. And as I was thinking about this idea of growth, it came across this quote that I thought was really powerful along these lines, this idea. David Mathis, he wrote this article, it had to do is growth really the point. And he talked about living in the grace of God and understanding God’s grace, which is really what the first three chapters of Ephesians is about.

And then when we get to chapter 4, where we just read, it’s now calling us to this certain kind of lifestyle. But this is what he says to grow in Christ, we don’t set out to grow. We set out to taste his goodness. What a powerful thought.

Is it about appealing to the community with the words the community wants to hear? Is it about saying things in just the right ways to bring people in? Some of those things are fine, and some of those special efforts are good things to do. But I think actually what we really need to get at when we think about growth is this idea right here that we are portraying the goodness of the Lord. What it means to taste his goodness.

That you are answered prayers for us in so many ways. And I appreciate so much the faith of the leadership and of the congregation as a whole and bringing us in and making us a part of you and welcoming us, and we felt so welcomed in so many different ways. It just so happened, unfortunately, that my grandmother passed away a few days ago. And even in that, you have been so loving and caring and reaching out to us and showing your concern. And that’s what a congregation is supposed to be. That’s what a congregation is all about. And that’s what the Lord’s church is meant to be about. And so often we think about these ideas like you’re a light to the world, and certainly that is an important idea from Matthew, the fifth chapter.

But I want you to be aware that actually Jesus is taking this from Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah 59, if we can just visit this quickly and talk about it so we get a good idea of what this actually means in our life. Isaiah 59 is this warrior God text. It’s the text from which in Ephesians 6, Paul gets those accoutrements of war, right? The helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness. All of that comes out of Isaiah 59, because God clothes himself in righteousness and power and might, and he brings salvation to his own people because he couldn’t find anybody else to do it. But then there is a text that comes after that in Isaiah 60. And in a sense, this is really the heart of what I want to get at in some of the text we’re going to talk about and then think through in Ephesians 4 and really Ephesians as a whole.

But he says this in chapter 60 and verse 1, as he’s now transitioning. The Lord has brought salvation. The Lord’s glory has fought for his own name. And now in chapter 60 and verse 1, this is the message.

This text is about them reflecting the glory of God. It’s about tasting the goodness of the Lord and reflecting that goodness so that all the nations are drawn to them. And that’s the very thing that goes on to happen in Isaiah 61 and following text. The nations are flocking to them and coming to them and bringing them gifts. It’s really predicted in Isaiah 2, right? That all nations will flow to Zion and that there’s going to be this new law and this Messiah, it’s going to go forth from there. And so even all the way back in Isaiah 2, it’s talking about this. But the whole point in Isaiah 60 is that we so embody the nature and the quality of God that now it’s shining out from us.

And so we can do all the programs and all the special services and all the things that we want, but if the glory of God is not shining out of us, if it’s not coming out of our life, none of that’s going to do any good. And that’s where we come back to that quote. That to grow in Christ, it’s not that we’re setting out to grow. It’s not that we’re only thinking about growth, but really it’s about the fact that we want to experience the goodness of God because of the very nature of who He is. And when we do that, when we understand who God is and what that means in our life, and that pours out of us, everyone around us will see that and they’ll be affected and they’ll be brought to him.

They will fall at the feet of the cross and they will want Jesus just as much as we do. There’s another text we need to at least refer to in thinking about some of this because it talks about what the purpose of the church is, and I don’t want to go in depth in this tonight, but 1 Corinthians chapter 14 talks about this very thing, actually. That the point of what we’re doing in a place like this is actually about God and about us. And so I don’t want us to think that what we call often evangelism or outreach or whatever term we think. Those things are not bad things. It’s not that we shouldn’t be seeking the loss, certainly we should. But I want us to reframe our thinking about what a time like this is really about.

And 1 Corinthians 14 makes it very clear repeatedly in that text that what we’re doing at a time like this is for the building up. Let all things be done for the building up of the congregation. It’s this idea that we want to taste the goodness of the Lord. And so when we go into our life, we are allowing that to come out of us. We are coming here to learn and to grow. That’s what 1 Corinthians 14 talks about. And if an unbeliever happens to come into the assembly, this is the way it talks about it here in 1 Corinthians 14. If you just kind of if they come in, if they enter, if they walk in, they should see the right sorts of things happening.

They should see the encouragement, they should see the love, and they should see the truth being portrayed in such a way that they fall on their knees, they proclaim the presence of God among them. And the secrets of their heart are revealed and they are convicted. That’s why we do this. It’s to build up the congregation. And if we have an unbeliever that comes in, or we have a guest that’s here, and they are convicted by the right things happening within the body of Christ, God be praised. That’s God-empowered growth, at least in the way we typically think of growth. But I want us to think of this from Ephesians chapter four, about the idea of what growth actually is, and talk about this path to growth.

1. Elevate God's Purposes

What is a true path to growth look like? What does it mean for us to grow in the Lord? And so I want to bring up three ways for us to think about this from Ephesians chapter four. The first of these is that we learn to elevate God’s purposes. Some of the things I mentioned earlier, whether it’s a special Sunday or maybe neighborhood Bible studies or whatever things we tend to come up with in our thinking, those can be good things. Those sometimes are our purposes, the things we’ve thought of. And those are good, especially if we are focusing on them in the realm of elevating God’s purpose and what he wants to accomplish. Not just that we add numbers or that more people show up.

That’s not really God’s purpose. God’s purpose is to bring unity in Jesus Christ, to bring all things together in heaven and on earth. That’s what chapter 1 of Ephesians talks about. According to his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will. And so, really, before we get to chapter 4, we need to understand a couple things about what’s going on in chapters 1 through 3. And the first of these, and I want this to really be understood well, that scripture as a whole, but especially in Ephesians chapter 1, it is emphasized that scripture as a whole and the plan as a whole is what is often talked about as being theocentric. It’s God centered. So often in our culture and in our religious culture and society, things are so man-centered.

We’re so focused on what we want, that makes us feel good, the emotions, what drives us. And if we can look carefully at scripture, particularly Ephesians 1, it’s glaringly obvious. It’s really about God and who he is. Everything is according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace in verse 6, according to the riches of his grace in verse 7, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, verse 9, is a plan for the fullness of time. Listen carefully, to unite all things in him, being Christ. Things in heaven and things on earth. This is all done according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who are first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

And it finishes at the end, even talking about the inheritance and the saints being to the praise of his glory. This is about God. This whole plan and all of this is about God’s power and about God’s glory. And so if we want God and power to growth, what that’s going to mean is we first elevate God’s purposes. What he wants is what is most vital. That’s what’s most important, and that everything comes back for the sake of his name. You see that phrase even throughout the Old Testament. And some of the greatest prayers of the Old Testament, whether it’s Moses or David or Daniel, the sorts of things they talk about and what they’re appealing to God about is not just about the people, but they say, do this for the sake of your name, for your glory, Lord.

Moses, as he’s appealing to God, not to just strike the people dead and start over. He reminds God, this is for the sake of your name. What are people going to think if you brought these people out and then you just kill them in the wilderness? What is that going to do to your name? Now I think God would have figured it out. He would have been just fine. But notice the appeal that Moses is making. It’s not, oh God, this would be so horrible to kill all these people. You know, don’t you want to give them a second chance? That’s not the sort of appeal that Moses makes. No, it’s for the sake of your name. It is for your glory, Lord. This is how I’m thinking about this, and this is why Moses is a man of God.

He’s a servant of the Lord, because he’s thinking about this in correct perspective. And so when we think about growth and what we want from growth, we think about this idea of spiritual growth, even. The impetus behind all of that ought to be elevating, lifting up, extolling, praising God’s purposes. God knows what he’s doing. And I think the sooner that we figure that out, the sooner we’re going to come to a better understanding of what real growth is about.

God has a plan.

It is his plan that brings unity. Unfortunately, some people don’t want his plan. And so they’re not willing to submit to his will. But to those who will, they’ll all be brought into unity under Christ in submission to the Lord’s will. It’ll all be to the praise of his glory. And it’s our job to recognize and then maintain this unity. Did you notice that in the text that we read in Ephesians 4 in verse 3? It doesn’t say eager to create the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Sometimes we use that language maybe accommodatively. And I understand why we do that as humans.

No, peace exists into the will of God. It’s our job to recognize the peace that comes to Jesus Christ. It’s our job to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And sometimes that means facing conflict. Sometimes that means admitting that there are problems and then dealing with those problems because unity in the Spirit means that we are going to do this within the Spirit. Within what the Spirit directs. And so sometimes someone’s not doing that, and we have to deal with those realities. It doesn’t mean ignoring it. It doesn’t have fake peace. That’s not the idea that we’re maintaining the unity that’s the unity that God has brought to us through his plan by uniting all things in heaven and on earth through his son through submission to his will, chapter one.

God knows what he’s doing. And in his plan, he gave us apostles and prophets and evangelists and shepherd teachers. It’s interesting that text.

This is God’s plan for what the church is supposed to be structured like. Not only does he tell us the plan, but he tells us why. He tells us why he has structured things the way he has, that God knows what he’s doing. He has an understanding of the sorts of things that are going to bring the growth that he actually wants, this God-empowered growth. He’s going to give these individuals. And as Tony mentioned this morning in Bible class, obviously we don’t have apostles today, so some of this is contextual within the time frame which he’s writing. You have these apostles and you have these prophets, inspired men who are speaking the word of God, and now we have the word of God, and we can speak from the word of God in a very similar sort of way.

We have evangelists who are speaking the good news, and we have shepherds, elders, pastors who are leading and directing, who are instructing and teaching, and all of this is for this purpose. It’s not so that we can show up and sit in the pews every week and just listen and then go away and feel good and think, yeah, I’m a Christian. That’s good. I’m going to go out now and do my job and go to school and do the things that I do. No, that’s not the point. The point of this is to equip the saints for the work of ministry or service. God’s plan is all about growth. It’s all about me growing and about you growing. And we grow through various means and methods.

We have the revealed words of the apostles who are getting their message from Jesus Christ Himself. Who we have the words of the prophets that are then recorded for us. Who we have the work of evangelists and elders and teachers and all the good work that’s going on, and the whole point of all of that is so that we go away with greater knowledge and understanding to then live our life of godliness. And notice it doesn’t even stop there. It’s to equip the saints for the work of ministry, building up the body of Christ. It’s building what we have right here.

Body is a term that really just implies that this is a community. It’s a group of people who work together. And this imagery is all throughout scripture. But I think maybe the best way to conceptualize this are some texts that we’re really familiar with in the book of Acts. In the very beginning of the church. You know, in Acts chapter 2, we have Paul, Peter preaching the sermon, and the other apostles being involved in this, and we have these summaries at the end of chapter 2 and the end of chapter 4, and even at the end of chapter 5, telling us what the early church looks like. And here’s what it looks like. They’re all together, they have one heart and they have one soul.

They’re taking care of each other. They’re even selling some of their possessions to take care of those who have need. They care for each other. In chapter 4, they stand for the truth. When leaders and authorities try to tell them to go out and stop speaking in Jesus’ name, they say, no, we’re going to obey God rather than men. That’s the sort of thing that the early church is doing. And of course, Jesus sets up his disciples in the Gospels previous to this, telling them this is the nature of how things will work. By this, all will know that you are my disciples, the love that you have for one another. The fact that you are this body that works together and grows together.

Luke’s writing and his summaries, they actually portray what many in the ancient world would have thought of as kind of the ideal community. Plato’s Republic brings this concept out, and Luke is kind of playing on that to some degree. You know, they have all things in common, and they all are working together and living together. And so Luke, I think is purposely doing that as he does some other things within his writings to appeal in some senses to the ancient mind and the way they think. That this is the type of community that you want to be in. And so when people see us and they see the sorts of things we’re doing, they want to, we want them to see this. This is where we want to be.

2. Embrace Truth's Power

This is the kind of people you want to be a part of. This is an assembly, a congregation that you want to enter and to join because they’re doing the right kinds of things. They’re doing God-centered kinds of things. And really, Ephesians is talking fully about that. This idea that when I trust God’s purposes, really, it leads to this important aspect that I want to go into next, which is the power of truth. This is a scary thing in our world. Scary thing for many people. But I want us to be confident and faithful that it is the path to true growth. Elevating, extolling God and his plan and his purpose. But what that means is also embracing truth’s power, embracing the power that truth has in our lives and the lives of the people around us.

And the text that we just read in chapter 4 and verse 15, it talks about speaking the truth and love. We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ.

Colossians 4 talks a little bit about this as well, speaking with grace. This doesn’t mean we just go out and we lambass people and we speak unkindly to them, but there is the reality that we need to speak truth. And in our world, people are so afraid of that.

I mean, just saying that there are boys and girls, that can get you in trouble in our day and age. Do you see how truth is a problem in our culture? And unfortunately, within the Lord’s church, sometimes there’s fear of speaking truth. And what I want us to understand is if we elevate God’s purposes, if we stand on God’s plan and what he wants, then we’re also going to real understand the importance of embracing the power of truth for growth. And when I talk about growth, and this is true of really the whole sermon tonight, I’m actually talking a lot more about what’s happening inside of me and what’s happening inside of you. That we’re tasting the goodness of the Lord, and then that is coming out of us and producing some of these other things that we often think of as growth.

But if I’m really going to grow as a person in Christ, and if you’re going to grow as a person in Christ, we just have to embrace the power of what is real and what is true. We’ve got to get out of this idea that we have to say the right words that are appealing to people in the world, that we have to kind of equivocate on some difficult topics and be careful what we say here and what we say there. No, that’s not the way we grow. That may appeal to people who don’t really want to hear truth. And if our goal is just to get some extra people in the pews and fill this room, well, we could do that all kinds of ways.

I mean, we could put a sign out that says free food or free money or free rent or whatever, and we could fill this place up. But that’s not God’s plan. That’s not God-empowered growth. The kind of growth that He wants is the kind of growth that we see in the book of Acts. And in Acts 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and following, where they’re speaking truths to people who don’t even want to hear it, and yet the word of God continues to grow daily. Priests even are submitting to the will of God, even when they were persecuting some of these men earlier in the text. That’s God-empowered growth. That’s saying what needs to be said. That’s letting people hear the sorts of things that need to be heard.

That’s speaking the truth in love, and of course, that can be hard. That’s tough. It’s hard to be in a conversation with people in our culture where they’re saying things that we just know aren’t true, sometimes very volatile, or even we might consider political sorts of ideas, things may be about, we like to shy away from these things, right? Because we think of them as political. And they’re a lot more than political. Things like abortion or homosexuality or some of these ideas, you know, we kind of stay on the outskirts. I’ll leave the conversation now. And I’m not saying you have to always jump in there and say something, but what I am saying is we need to speak truth. And not be afraid to speak truth.

Embrace difference. Don’t be afraid of being different. That’s where truth growth, God-empowered growth is actually going to happen. When we actually are willing to speak truth, the truth is in Jesus, we’re told in chapter 4 and verse 21. This is what Paul’s talking about in Ephesians 4. He talks about that the Gentiles, the pagans, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality and greed, practice every kind of impurity. That describes our world pretty well. But that is not the way you learn Christ. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as truth is in Jesus. Now let me stop for just a minute. If you just give me like a minute and a half here, let me talk about something.

And I’m watching the clock, so I won’t go beyond that. All these references earlier in the text to the head, he is head. In the ancient Near East, those are references to a king. Christ is king. And of course, bound up in the word Christ itself is the idea of the anointed one. That is a royal reference in and of itself. And in the ancient Near East, we have King Numa, for instance, who is king of Rome in ancient times. And there are these documents to talk about the ideal king and trying to live up to this king. You see the king, and he is the ideal representation of humanity, and you want to be like him. And I want you to understand that Paul is presenting this sort of concept in Ephesians chapter 4.

Christ is the head, he is king. And so when he talks about this idea of the truth being in Jesus, think about it this way: that king speaks, and that is truth. If he says something is, it is. You either do it his way or you’re gone. That’s the way it works. And that’s why we have passages like Psalm 2 where it says, I’ve set my kingdom upon Zion, and either you take refuge in him, you kiss the Son, or you will receive the wrath. This isn’t, there’s no negotiation with the king. What the king says goes. And fortunately, we have a righteous and good king in Jesus Christ. And so we’re we’re very fortunate in that. But we need to picture this with that reality.

When he talks about putting on the new self in verse 24, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. That is that whole concept of recreating ourselves after the king, after Jesus and who he is. So we look at him and we see his life and we realize I want to be like him, like the head. He’s the ideal man. And the truth is in him. He lived the truth. He died the truth. He is the very essence and nature of what truth is. And so if I’m going to follow him, I have I have to get comfortable with embracing being different. Not only taking on and grasping truth for what it is and being willing to live that out of my life and speak it in my life, but also just accepting the fact that I’m going to be different than other people.

And the reality is people are drawn to that. We see the very thing happening in Acts chapter 5. I’m done with my minute and a half, by the way. Acts chapter 5 and verse 13. It talks about the signs and the wonders being done by the hands of the apostles. Sometimes we think, well, if we saw miracles, but of course people would follow and join, right? But that’s actually not what happens here. But it’s interesting the way this is referenced. In verse 13, it said, none of the rest dared join them. But the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. People are watching, brethren. They see the goodness of the Lord being lived in people’s lives, and they’re watching.

They may be afraid to join. Me standing on the margins. But notice in Acts 5, though many of them didn’t dare join, they’re afraid. As the message continues to be taught and in truth continues to be spoken, more and more people are joining and adding. You have this outset of fear, right? Because they know the authorities are against this. They’re saying some things that are different. And the Lord’s people and the apostles, they’re embracing the power of truth and they’re speaking truth. They’re even being beaten for truth as we go back to chapter 4 and chapter 5. They’re willing to suffer for Christ’s sake and say, no, we’re not listening to you, we’re listening to God. And the people respect them for it. Let the people respect you for speaking truth.

Embrace it. Be different. Don’t be afraid of what’s true. Understand that is the way that we draw all men to the feet of the cross.

They know there’s something different and they want something that’s different. Just look at the world we live in that is so chaotic and messed up. Do people really want that? They don’t even understand most of them, but what they really want is this. They want people that are like them. They want people they can be encouraged by and uplifted by. They want something to believe in. Eternity is in their heart, and they’re so desperate to fill that void. They’ll fill it with all kinds of things, environmentalism or politics, or whatever. They’re so dedicated and committed to whatever they can get their hands on because they’re so desperate for something to fill that void. And what we need to show them is the goodness of the Lord can fill that void.

3. Engage With Our Abilities

And be willing to embrace the difference of what truth means in our lives. And then finally, I think in Ephesians 4, where it tells us if we want growth, we have to engage with our abilities. We have to admit what God has given us, what he has blessed us with. We have to be willing to accept the gifts. And see how important every single person is to what’s happening within the body. There’s a number of different texts within Ephesians 4 that give us this idea. But all the way back in verse 7, as he ran through these lists of ones, the unity that comes through Jesus Christ, we have this one body and one spirit and one faith and baptism and one God. He then makes this statement, probably a puzzling statement to many people, but this idea that grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Grace can just be a gift. Grace is a really interesting word that we’ll have to tackle another time. But the idea here is that Christ has given gifts to each one of us. He gives gifts to men, it says in that quotation in verse 8. The picture here is one of triumph. Roman triumphs were impressive. They would essentially storm through the city of Rome with thousands and thousands of soldiers. Children were terrified at the sight. 50,000 foot soldiers all dressed in their armor, coming through men on horses, carrying the spoils of war, this massive demonstration. Of course, the general would then give gifts to all of his men and even to the people.

That he is this triumphant king, and he’s giving gifts to his men, and that’s where he talks about the apostles and prophets and evangelists and shepherds and teachers. But the whole idea is he’s giving gifts to all of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Every single person who is in Christ has something to offer. And that’s extremely important as we think about this idea of growth. That we all have to have internal growth. We all need to be focusing on what we can become and the things that we can do and how we can serve the Lord. And when we focus on that, the other aspects of this will essentially take care of themselves. I have to be willing to elevate the purpose and the plan of God.

I’ve got to be willing to embrace truth, but also in the midst of all of that, I have to be willing to engage the gifts that I have. What God has given me, what God has granted me with, and the same is for everyone else in this room. I have to be willing to see that and to work with that. And to admit how much I need to be a part of what’s happening in a place like this within the body of Christ. Look at the terminology here. In verse 16, he’s talking about this idea of speaking the truth in love, or to grow up. We just talked about this idea of embracing truth, but he goes on to say, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped.

Is that equipping again? When the body is equipped, every joint supplies. Right? So each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. You may see whatever your abilities are as being very small. But that’s actually part of the point here. Every single joint matters. Maybe it is you just get here a little bit early to visit with people and talk to people. And it very well could be that for some of you, that’s all you really can do now at this point. Maybe you’ve had some debilitating health issues. Maybe all you can do is pick a phone up and call someone. Or pray for people who need prayer and tell them you’re praying for them. But those things are important things.

I mean, they matter. It matters when we think about what the body is supposed to be, every little part makes a difference. That’s really the point in 1 Corinthians 12, when Paul’s talking about this idea. You know, some parts get more attention, have more prominence. But it doesn’t mean the lesser parts, at least in the eyes of men, don’t. That doesn’t mean they don’t matter. We need all of them. And sometimes within the body, we have some of these problems, right? You know, there’s people who get to get up and preach or teach classes or lead singing or say prayers and do these things publicly. And so others think, well, I’m just not very good at that. I don’t have a lot to offer. God very specifically, if we go to various other places in Scripture, He’s told women not to do some of these things.

So, you know, what do they have to offer, right? We think people could complain about this. There’s so much that all of us have to offer. This is such a small part of what it means to be part of a body. I mean, we need these things. We need preaching and we need teaching and we need to be singing, and we that’s all part of Scripture, and it’s all important. I’m not trying to minimize that, but there’s so much more to being a part of the body than the things that happen here for a few hours each week. I can testify to that reality in my life and the life of my family over the last couple weeks. Just phone calls or even text messages that have meant a lot to me.

And probably to that person. I’ve tried to think about this in my own life in reaching out to people. It seems like a small thing when you’re doing it, but it’s so powerful, it’s so important. Just these little things that every joint supplies. But here’s what I want us to understand when we think about God empowered growth. Speaking the truth in love, we’re to grow up, but also the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which with it with which it is equipped. Each part is working properly, makes the body grow. That’s what makes the body grow. It’s not that we go hand out flyers at the supermarket or that we knock on doors. Okay, that can be a part of that. But listen, every part working properly, that’s what makes the body grow.

So don’t minimize your impact.

Don’t minimize what it is you have to offer. What is your part?

What do you supply? That’s what we have to ask. And if you don’t know, you really have to ask. Because you’ve got something. There’s something you can do to be a part of what’s happening. There’s some way you can help. There’s some way you need to be helping. Because every joint must supply if the body is going to grow.

Conclusion

The path to growth is cut and clean through God-centered praise. Through the proclamation of His glory and His might. Through a desire to be filled with all the fullness of God, Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 19. And when we are filled up with God, the gospel has nothing else to do but to pour out of us. And it will pour out to such an extent that those around us cannot help but taste God’s goodness. When we have done that, God’s power will bring the increase. I want to close by looking at the text that came just before our reading tonight.

This doxology, which I would suggest is a great way for us to think about prayer in our own life. Most prayers within Scripture end this way. They end with doxology with praise and the glory of God. It says, now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. According to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the congregation and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. If you realize in your life tonight that you haven’t been supplying what you need to supply, it’s time to make a change.

That’s what we always are talking about as God’s people. We want to grow. We want to reach out. If we really want that God-empowered growth, it’s going to come by me understanding my part and doing it. And it could be that you’re here with us tonight and you’re not in Christ. You haven’t given your life to Him. That’s where you need to grow. You don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to have scripture memorized or know all the details of Scripture. What you need to know is that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all humanity, that grace has appeared to all men, bringing salvation, teaching and training us to renounce ungodliness and unrighteousness and live with self-control. To be part of God’s possession, to be part of God’s people.

We want to help you do that tonight. You can start by being baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins and come up out of the water in newness of life, being this new creature, recreated after the image of God and true righteousness and holiness. Can we help you do that tonight? Why don’t you come as we stand and we sing?