Not long ago I had the privilege of preaching at the setting apart of the incoming teaching elder at Sutherland Presbyterian Reformed Church.
I preached on “Change”.
I noted there that, while you shouldn’t join a church (whether as a member, or even as a leader) in order to change it, yet some change can be good and I outlined how leadership should go about change.
In particular, I noted:
Good change that we are to look for in churches is in terms of “growth”.
I don’t mean necessarily in terms of numbers, though that can be good too; or, bad – depending on how a church goes about growing its numbers.
But growth in grace among the members is good change. Necessary change.
Where there is no change by way of growth in grace something is drastically wrong.
I said I would look at this in a future post, and I intend to follow that up in this post, and next week.
Growth
The change that every pastor wants to see is “growth”.
The change every people want to see in themselves is “growth”.
By which, I mean, spiritual growth in the people. All changes in outward organisation have to aim at this: spiritual growth in the people.
The great passage on this is Ephesians ch 4 – and, unless otherwise noted, all references in this post are from this passage.
Christ wants to see growth in His church.
What kind of growth?
Christ “ascended far above all the heavens” that He might “give some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers…” (v 11)
Why does the Lord set apart pastors for this work?
“…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry” (v 12a)
Why? To what end?
“…for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (vv 12b-13)
Pastors are to equip the saints for the work of their ministry.
The saints are to exercise that ministry by building up the body of Christ.
The result is that:
– we will grow in the unity of the faith
– we will grow in the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God
– we will thereby grow toward maturity, or (as it is put here) towards that “perfect man”
“Perfect man”? Mature man?
By what measure?
According “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
That is growth we are to aim for.
That is what pastors are here for; that is what we are members of one another for: Growth towards each person in the church being more and more conformed to the image of Christ.
That is the goal.
As Romans ch 12 puts it:
– “not being conformed to this world,
– “but being transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Or, as it is in 2 Cor, ch 3
“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The pastor’s ministry, the ministry of each of the saints, is to serve the Lord, as He will use you, to bring about such a transformation in our brothers and sisters in Christ.
In practical terms, what does this look like?
What does the “perfect man” look like?
There are four areas that I will cover:
– Growing in Discernment
– Growing in Ministry
– Growing in Witness
– Growing in Worship
In this post we will look at the first two.
In the next post I’ll look at a the remaining two.
Growing in Discernment
This is the first mark of maturity that Paul lists in Ephesians ch 4.
He says that our aim is to:
…come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… (v 13)
so that:
… we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting (v 14)
We grow in discernment:
– through the preaching of God’s Word.
– through reading and meditating upon God’s Word.
Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts. Psalm 119:98-100
The writer to the Hebrews, in ch 5:12-14, lamented that his hearers were still spiritual babes. “You are still on milk,” he says, “when you should be on solid food.”
He adds: “Solid food belongs to those-who-are-of-full-age…” (the same word that Paul uses back there in Eph ch 4 of “the perfect/mature man”)
He goes on: “… to those who by reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”
It is not just the one who reads, and feeds upon, the Word of God, but the one who then puts what he learns to good use, who learns to become mature so as to discern between good and evil.
Today (as has always been the case, though today perhaps more than ever) we are seeing many being “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.”
They might feed upon the Word of God; but they are not putting it into practice.
To take but one example:
The Uniting Church recently began offering to perform wedding ceremonies for same sex couples; they blasphemously claim to be being led by God.
They are no longer able to “discern between good and evil.”
Discernment is more than just being able simply to distinguish between good and evil.
Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.
It is knowing the difference between right and almost right.”
Any babe in Christ can tell the difference between right and wrong. You don’t have to be a mature Christian to tell that.
Any babe in Christ can see that what the Uniting Church is doing is wrong.
The big question is: How did the Uniting Church get there?
It got there, it all began, by not discerning the difference between “right” and “almost right”.
It began, way back, with those who were content to follow “almost right”, and who then began to compromise in little things.
Just little things!
“These are not gospel issues,” they would argue. “Let’s just stick to the main things. Let’s not sweat the small stuff or tie ourselves in knots over little things.”
It would’ve been be something like:
– women in the ministry
– or, compromising on Evolution
– or, the sanctity of the Lord’s Day
– or, on a personal level: the sort of entertainment we allow ourselves…
“It’s not like you can’t be saved if you compromise in these areas. These are not gospel issues. So, why not! We might not be ‘right’. But we are ‘almost right’.”
But:
“Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong.
It is knowing the difference between ‘right’ and ‘almost right’.”
“Knowing the difference between right and almost right” is a bit trickier than “knowing the difference between right and wrong”.
It is an exercise for the mature.
That’s why we have pastors and teachers: to pick up on these things before “almost right” becomes “all wrong”.
The pastor, if he is faithful, must help his people discern the difference.
It may be:
– in some new teaching that is around
– perhaps, the latest book Christians are reading, that has become the flavour of the month
– or in the songs sung in worship: Sinclair Ferguson notes that: “Most people learn their theology from what they sing.” As Christians read less and less in this digital age, more and more of their theology is being shaped almost entirely by the songs sung in worship.
We have a responsibility, greater than ever before, ourselves to discern the difference between “right” and “almost right”, and to help others be discerning too:
“…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.”
Growing in Ministry
The 2nd mark of growth to maturity in Ephesians ch 4 is that the saints grow in their ministry.
This also must be a priority for pastors: to grow the saints in each, his or her own ministry.
Saints do not grow by being drip fed. Saints do not grow where ministry is the private domain of ministers.
Saints grow by rolling up their sleeves, and getting into the work of their own ministry.
In the words of Hebrews (referred to before) they need to “have their senses exercised by reason of use.”
Every saint is gifted, gifted by God:
– “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” (v 7)
– “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one…” (1 Cor 12:7) – what for? “…for the profit of all.”
The gifts you have been given, the gifts I have been given, are not for each, our own benefit.
They are so that we can serve the welfare of one another.
The pastor’s ministry is to “equip of the saints for [their] work of ministry…”
To what end? “…for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (v 12): the saints’ ministry is “to edify”, to build up, the body of Christ.
How will we, as the saints, go about this?
By “speaking the truth in love, so as to grow up in all things into Him who is the head: Christ” (v 15)
One important way in which we edify each other is by “speaking”.
The pastor’s brief is to speak. He is to:
– “preach the word!
– “be ready in season and out of season.
– “convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2-3).
Speaking is integral to the pastor’s ministry,
– whether it be preaching from the pulpit,
– or counselling one-on-one from house to house.
The purpose of the pastor’s speaking ministry is to grow the saints in their own speaking ministry.
And the saints’ speaking ministry is vital to the health of the church.
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb 3:12-13)
“Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph 5:19)
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, so as to teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” (Col 3:16)
“Comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing…” (1 Thes 4:18)
“We exhort you, brethren [i.e. ordinary members of the church] warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.” (! Thes 14)
This is how the body grows.
It grows as we speak to one another.
Speak what? The Truth!
Speak how? In Love!
We edify each other:
– only as we speak what is true
– and, only as we do so in love
Speaking the truth in love, grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.(vv 15-16)