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[0:00] Let's do this. Open up to the book of Ephesians. We will be in chapter four this morning.

[0:11] ! Ephesians chapter four, verses one through sixteen.! Ephesians four, one through sixteen.

[0:23] Title of my sermon this morning is to live and love like Christ. I felt like this section of the book can kind of condense all that we've learned from before on Friday and Saturday and kind of send us out in a way of just like, this is what we're going to do.

[0:37] Because this is how Paul even structured the book, right? The first three chapters have been here is the theology. Here is who you are because of what Christ has done. And chapters four through six is kind of a, this is how you live.

[0:50] So I'm going to keep it simple and I'm going to read the text, pray, and then we'll get after it again. One last time. This is God's holy and authoritative word.

[1:04] I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. One last time.

[1:14] 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.

[1:26] 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 was over all and through all and in all.

[1:42] But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's love. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.

[2:01] 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 fulfill all things, that he might fill all things.

[2:17] 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.

[2:28] 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.

[2:41] 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.

[2:54] 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.

[3:18] Oh God, what glorious truths we are able to just read from your word. These are wonderful things that are far too marvelous for me to preach appropriately unless your spirit fills me and helps me.

[3:31] So God, I ask earnestly in my weakness, fill me with your Holy Spirit, set me on fire so that I may accurately proclaim your goodness and the glories of Christ to these beloved people on this Sunday morning.

[3:44] Lord, help us to receive your word with gratitude, with joy, with conviction. We thank you that you are the God who speaks.

[3:55] We thank you that you are a God who does not leave us to figure things out on our own, but you help us, Lord. So give us ears to hear this morning. Allow me to preach with liberty and joy and passion and clarity and power and fruitfulness.

[4:15] Because you are worthy, Lord. We are desperate for you this morning. May I decrease. May you increase.

[4:26] May you increase. may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may may Amen.

[4:59] The classic cinematic masterpiece, The Little Rascals, tells a story of little kids who kind of run amok throughout a neighborhood. Their parents are barely in the picture.

[5:09] I actually don't know where the parents are throughout the entire thing. But there's this big divide between the girls and the boys in this little neighborhood. And the boys have created this club, an oath where if you belong to this club, you must act and behave in a certain way.

[5:26] It is the He-Man Woman Haters Club. And here is the oath that they take at the beginning of each of their council meetings. He says, I, Slimy, Slimy's one of the boys in the neighborhood.

[5:38] He always carries a toad in his front pocket. I, Slimy, member in good standing of the He-Man Woman Haters Club, do solemnly swear to be a He-Man and hate women and not play with them or talk to them unless I have to and to especially never fall in love.

[5:54] And if I do, may I die slowly and painfully and suffer for hours or until I scream bloody murder. That's their oath they take before each of these meetings. But the problem is inside the He-Man Woman Haters Club is the protagonist of the story, Alfalfa.

[6:10] And Alfalfa falls in love with Darla, but he cannot let them know because that's not how He-Man Woman Haters do. Now, eventually it all works out and they all love each other. It's actually kind of weird, like why these kids love each other.

[6:20] But that's not the point. The point is this. If you're a part of the He-Man Woman Haters Club, there is a way that you must live your life. We are not a part of the He-Man Woman Haters Club, but we are a part of the Church of Christ.

[6:34] And therefore, we must live in very particular ways. Yeah, I went there. That's the connection this morning. Listen to the Gospel Transformation Bible describe what's happening here in these verses.

[6:49] God, the first three chapters describes this. God has done this for you. You were like this and have become like that. Live this way. Do this. Oh, and the last three chapters are live this way.

[7:01] Do this. Don't do that. The reality is that God has called us by His grace and blessed us in Christ. Therefore, we must live out our calling in Christ as His holy and beloved people.

[7:14] We know that God has called us to a standard of living. We know that because Christ has transformed our lives, we must live a certain way. And so these verses are here for us because we regularly forget this.

[7:29] We are a forgetful people. I hope you're sensing a theme here. Why does God speak to us through His word? Because He knows that we will not remember and He wants to help us as we continue on in the Christian life.

[7:40] So often, we can walk in ways that dishonor God. Right? And if you think about David in Psalm 51, right? He is repenting of the horrific sins that he committed against Bathsheba and Uriah and all these other people.

[7:57] And yet in that, he says, against you and you only, Lord, have I sinned. Yes, other people are affected, but the most grievous thing that happened there, and now listen, this is important, the most grievous thing happened there is that he sinned against God.

[8:10] When we sin, it dishonors God and is unacceptable for those who claim to be Christians. Or we can get comfortable where we are at in our Christian walk and simply coast.

[8:23] I'll go to church each week. I'll go to some of the prayer meetings. I'll do this and that. But the rest of my life, I'm going to keep for myself. We'll coast. But friends, when you become a Christian, you become an ambassador for Christ.

[8:39] You become Christ's representation throughout the watching world. Therefore, we must live a life worthy of being associated with Jesus Christ, which means we must live patient, humble, unified lives that help one another mature in Christ.

[8:58] If we don't know this, we will live unworthy lives. We'll put our stock and our hopes into things that will leave us wanting. We will pull ourselves back and recoil into loneliness because people aren't meeting the standards that we think they ought to do when we ourselves are not pursuing them in a way that is Christ-like.

[9:15] We'll end up being embittered towards one another and being tossed to and fro by every talking head rather than your shepherds. Rather than building up, rather than building one another into Christ, we can try and build one another up into ourselves or into some cultural ideology and can live in such a way that makes Christ seem less than what he is.

[9:42] When we put Christ first and we are building each other into Christ, we are aligning ourselves with the reality that there is nothing and no one more worthy of our attention and our devotion than Christ himself.

[9:54] We are Jesus people. We must love Jesus, pursue Jesus, exalt Jesus, and our lives must scream these realities through our actions and our words.

[10:10] We need the Spirit's help in this. If we miss this, rather than the church being the dearest place on earth, the church will become a place of caution or suspicion or exhaustion or a place of performance rather than freedom and joy and delight.

[10:26] We'll miss the mark of the purpose of the church. But my hope for us this morning is that we would live lives worthy of Christ, that Christ would be exalted in every aspect of our lives, that in our love for one another, we will be able to look and identify it.

[10:42] Yes, clearly. The way we are engaging with one another is driven by the love of Christ. Yes, the unity that was purchased by the blood of Jesus is controlling our interactions right now.

[10:53] It's helping me love you in a particular way. It's helping me forgive you in a particular way. It's helping me delight in this mourning in a particular way because we have been bought by the blood of Jesus.

[11:05] Paul is urging the church to walk in a way that honors Christ so that they are joyfully unified, so that they are mature in Christ and tenacious in their faith. Christianity is a bit of a gritty religion, right?

[11:20] It's confusing because you have to work hard, right? Paul says, I worked harder than any of them, yet it was not I, but the grace of God that was in me. But there's still toil there. There's still work there.

[11:32] We can't just simply coast and be like, well, the grace of God is going to carry me through this. It's not how it works. We work from a finished position of victory, but we still do the work.

[11:44] Our hands must be towards the plow in how we relate with one another. We must live a life worthy of Christ. Here's my main point this morning.

[11:55] It is this. A church worthy of Christ must love like Christ. A church worthy of Christ must love like Christ. And so how does loving like Christ make us worthy of Christ?

[12:07] We will see two aspects of love that will show your life to be worthy of Christ. Aspect number one, verses one through six, your love unifies.

[12:20] Your love unifies. Let me read the first three verses here. 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.

[12:46] Peter O'Brien says this, God's gracious calling not only bestows great privileges on them, it also carries with it solemn responsibilities. There is a unity that is required of the Christians because the blood of Christ has demanded it.

[13:02] We have to walk like Christ, right? If we keep coming back to the same thing, because that's the main point. How did Jesus love you? He loved you in a way that Paul says in chapter three cannot even be comprehended apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.

[13:18] We have to love one another in such a way that cannot be explained apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we do that and when we live that way, we are living in a way that is worthy of Christ.

[13:32] Remember the immeasurable riches of his glory? That is the worthiness of Christ. And we must live life in a way that matches that, which is crazy and we can't do it on our own.

[13:43] But remember, Christ dwells within us. The spirit dwells within us. The spirit is going to help us. The spirit is going to empower us to love in such a way. These graces correspond with the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5.22.

[13:57] So in other words, Paul is saying in order to live a life worthy of Christ, you have to live a life full of the Holy Spirit. You must be a spirit-filled believer in order to answer this calling.

[14:11] Sorry, I'm screaming a little bit much. Mike, do I need you to do anything? Super caffeinated this morning. Ready to go. Okay, keep going. He doesn't simply say, I think if we hear the words bear with one another, I think we can oftentimes believe that means, okay, I can roll my eyes and I'm just going to bear with this for now and that's good Christian love.

[14:32] No, no. Bearing with one another means it is a long process of walking with this person no matter what because the love of Christ compels you to do such a thing. He also says, eager to maintain.

[14:45] Eager, that's a sense of urgency. It's like, I must maintain this unity. And why must we maintain this unity? We must maintain it because, back to this, the worthiness of Christ.

[14:59] Christ is so worthy that I will not let us be fractured. Because if we're fractured and I give up on this and I'm not going to pursue you even though it's difficult and our sin keeps bumping into each other, if I don't pursue you through that, what I'm saying is, Christ is a pretty good reconciler.

[15:22] Friends, he's not a pretty good reconciler. He's the only one who could reconcile us and God. He's perfect at what he does. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

[15:37] The peace that Christ has purchased must rule, must reign, must be the arbiter of our hearts and our lives. God wants us to respond by looking through our petty differences and loving each other through these differences.

[15:52] We have received a love that is immeasurable and we must pour that out into others. We do not really get the privilege of writing off folks. Here's the reality.

[16:04] Christian love is inconvenient. It's not simple. It's not like, oh, this is simple and easy and this feels good. A lot of times, you're going to have that first response of like, oh man, here we go.

[16:18] And that's okay. As long as you don't say, oh, here we go. I'm going to go this way. As long as you say, oh, here we go. God help me. Oh, here we go. Lord, fill me with your spirit.

[16:31] Because here's the reality. Every one of you who is purchased by the blood of the lamb is so precious and cherished in the eyes of Christ.

[16:43] And as we love Christ, how can we dismiss or see as an inconvenience those whom he has died for?

[16:56] We can't. The most annoying Christian to us is precious in the sight of Christ.

[17:08] So precious that he died for them. Therefore, because of my love for Christ, I cannot simply look at someone he has created, someone who he loves and cast them aside.

[17:21] I'm going to pursue them because it's my duty because I belong to him. That is eager to maintain the unity and the spirit of the bond of peace.

[17:34] This text corrects our instincts towards individualistic idolatry, right? We want life to be so convenient. We want it to be in this box where I do this and then I do this and then I do this and if I want to do this, that's fine.

[17:46] And the whole world is becoming more and more personalized, right? We've got algorithms, we've got phones, we've got all these things that's just like, I want to do this when I want to do this and if it's not in the way then all of a sudden it's toxic.

[17:59] There is none of that talk in this Bible. We are called to pursue one another. We must be, to be a Christian is to be a person committed to community, to be one whose immediate needs are secondary to the needs of those around them.

[18:22] It is to be a person passionate about unity and peace amongst one another, not because you're people pleasers, right? Now if there's people pleasers in this room, don't say, okay, yeah, I'm going to do everything. Stop, stop, stop, stop.

[18:34] It's not who I'm talking to. You plug your ears right now. No, don't. But you do it because you recognize the reconciliation of you to God and you want that to be poured out into you to one another.

[18:47] That's the motivation here. That's the motivation here. Our relationships with one another benefit when they are consumed with passion for Christ's glory, right? So again, we have to keep the main thing the main thing.

[18:58] We have to be obsessed with Christ's glory. We need to love Jesus so much that it controls us. The love of Christ must control us to be with one another because that's going to protect us from overextending ourselves to an unhealthy amount, right?

[19:13] If that's the temptation, you're just like, well, I guess I'm going to have people over every single day and I will stay up till 4 a.m. in the morning and do my work and do all these things so that I can love them. Like, stop. No, no, no, no. If you're driven not by people pleasing, but you are driven by the love of Christ, there's going to be a certain balance.

[19:26] Yes, there will be sacrifice. Yes, it will be inconvenient, but in it, the Spirit is going to help you and in it, the Spirit is going to give you guidance and wisdom where it's like, I mean, you guys know me a bit by now.

[19:37] I love people and could be with people all the time. It is not good for my family of totally, totaling nine people if we have people over every single night for dinner.

[19:47] My wife would die. So yes, we open our home and bring people in and we love that. Yes, we serve people and extend ourselves in varying degrees, but there are dates on our calendar each month where it is not allowed to have people into our home because we need rest and restoration.

[20:04] That's wisdom. That's not being controlled by fear of man. That is Christ's glory being at the front of how we put our schedule together because I want to serve the church in this way for a long time.

[20:16] So we pray for each other. We constantly and consistently consider others greater than ourselves, which what this does is it leads us to lives of total servanthood to one another.

[20:33] A couple of months ago, about almost a year ago now, one of our closest friends got married. Her name is Martha and at her wedding, we've been waiting and praying for this marriage for a long time and her wedding was beautiful.

[20:45] It was so wonderful and the whole point of the wedding is you get to be like the queen and princess of the entire day. Like it's all about you. Nothing else matters, but that's not the way that Martha designed her wedding.

[20:56] There were a lot of children at her wedding. She has a bajillion nieces and nephews and she invited the entirety of our family. It's one of the first weddings that my whole family was invited to and in the back, she had a playroom for the kids that was full of coloring books and candies and different things and there's even one moment and you know, Martha is the star of the show and she's dancing and doing all these different things and there's a bunch of kids in the corner and she went over to my kids and she bent down and she danced with them for probably about 10 or 15 minutes and just the, you know, I got four girls at this point so they're just like, Martha is actually a princess.

[21:32] Look at this beautiful dress but why is Martha spending so much time on her big day with others? Because she's controlled by the love of Christ because she's counting others more significant than herself and my kids are going to remember that forever.

[21:51] They're going to say on Martha's big day she was focused on other people. That only happens when Christ is at the center and so we must live this way and we must take time to pray together and be with each other that unifies each other.

[22:06] I was so encouraged last night seeing you guys lay hands on each other seeing you guys spending extended time in prayer together that's what's going to unify you guys and spending time with you all this weekend I'm just like, man, maybe they should be teaching me some of these things.

[22:20] You guys love each other well and I know it's not simple, right? I know because in a room this size there are sinners, right? Because there's people in it and I know that there's going to be sin that comes across one another but through that all you all delight in each other and Christ is pleased with you guys in your love for one another.

[22:40] So all I'm saying here is keep it up. Colossians 1 10 he says, and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

[23:03] what you do with one another is you love with the triune God's unity in view. There is no one more united than our triune God.

[23:18] From eternity past, Father, Son, Holy Spirit been hitting it off been doing great. One God three persons completely getting it done perfected unity and the power of that triune God is inside of us encouraging us empowering us to love one another in a similar way.

[23:43] One commentary says this is we are already unified by having one body. We have one spirit. We have one hope. We have one Lord. We have one faith. We have one Baptist and we have one God and Father of all.

[23:56] This unity is precious to Christ and should be precious to us. I think that's the Gospel Transformation Bible. It's precious. This unity is precious. That's why Paul says one Lord, one faith, one baptism because remember, right, the context is so important.

[24:08] It's not just like, oh yeah, Christians, we should be together. Remember, these are Jews and Gentiles. They have just learned the fact that the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down and now he's saying, by the way, all of you guys are completely one.

[24:20] One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one church and how are you guys united in this? Because of what Christ has done for you. Because of what Christ has done, you are one.

[24:33] But to walk in a manner worthy of Christ means that there should be a meekness and an air of godliness around us. When people leave us, any encounter with us, anyone at all, they should in some way encounter Christ because they've encountered us.

[24:46] I love this text because it calls us to something but it's also filled with hope because this command is in here. It means that we absolutely can do this by the power of the spirit.

[25:00] God's not going to put a command in here that we cannot fulfill apart from his power. He's going to give us power to live this way because he's called us to this. The spirit will help us in our eagerly maintaining of our unity, our pursuit of unity.

[25:19] We can look at this text and joyfully anticipate, right? We can joyfully anticipate how Christ will meet us because he loves to build his church.

[25:31] And as we do that, it's not simply, the goal here is not to just get good community so that we feel good. The goal here not even is to get good community so our church is good.

[25:42] The goal here is to give your life wholly over to Jesus Christ so that he can get the glory. The goal here is the magnification and glorifying of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

[25:56] This is worship. Our pursuit of unity with one another is worship because it magnifies the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It says that he is worthy. And friends, listen to me.

[26:07] There is nothing there is nothing more important in your lives than glorifying Christ. You strip away all that I have, all that I've done.

[26:26] But you allow me to worship my Savior and to glorify him. I will not need anything else. you will not need anything else.

[26:38] Friends, Christ is worthy. He's not just worthy today at this retreat. He's not just worthy when you feel like it. He is always worthy.

[26:51] There is glory that is due his name. We must worship him in the splendor of holiness. He is God. He's God. And he's worthy and he is so, the more you get to know him, the more you just, the more your view of him just simply expands and you say, this God is glorious.

[27:10] This God is majestic. This God is, and here's the crazy part, this God is my God. Once you were not a people, now you are his people. Are you kidding me?

[27:24] I belong to him. He speaks to me through his word and even through prophetic words and the Holy Spirit. He knows me personally. He's going to come near to me. He cares about me, counts my tears in a bottle, grieves with me, doesn't leave me in my grief, turns my mourning into dancing.

[27:46] He cares about you. He's worthy. And what God has done is he knows our need for this.

[27:56] He knows our inability to do this. So not only does he empowers us by the Spirit to do these things, but he also gives gifts. He gives gifts to lead us to the second aspect of our love and it is this.

[28:08] Here is heading number two. Your love strengthens. So your love unifies. Part one, part two, your love strengthens. This will be verses seven through 16.

[28:18] I read seven through 13. but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

[28:32] 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.

[28:44] 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.

[29:16] Through this unity, we are to experience and grow in the gifts that God has given so that we may be equipped to do the work of ministry and the work of ministry is maturation, maturing in Christ.

[29:28] So first, we must be, we must have a grateful love for Christ's gifts. There's this little section here where Paul's speaking in parentheses. He is quoting Psalm 68 which highlights Christ's fulfillment and work that he will dwell among his people.

[29:43] Psalm 68, 18 says, you ascended on high leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men even among the rebellious that the Lord God may dwell there.

[29:54] John 3, 13 says this, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And Paul is saying when Christ did this, when he ascended, which means before that he descended to bring these gifts to men and as he ascended, he is pouring out and leaving us with these gifts, right?

[30:11] When the Holy Spirit came down and gave us gifts, part of these gifts from the risen Christ would be the shepherds, the teachers, what else we got here? The apostles, Come on.

[30:26] The evangelists, the shepherds and teachers in order to do what? In order to equip the saints for the work of ministry, right? So Ed and Sean are gifts to you guys from the risen Christ to equip you, to equip you guys for the work of ministry, to help you grow up into him who is the head into Christ.

[30:47] Why did he give these gifts to you? Because he loves you and he wants to build his church. So we express gratitude for the gifts that he has given and to each he has given a gift. All of you are now on mission to do the work of ministry.

[31:02] Wherever God has placed you, you are to be an ambassador for Christ. You are to serve in this church whatever your gifts are, hospitality or giving or joy, whatever it is, administration.

[31:13] Lord, help me. I need people with a gift of administration. The only reason I got here is because of those people. But they are used to build up the church.

[31:27] Peter O'Brien writes, the ascent also implied a descent. Christ who ascended is the giver of gifts, having descended to the earth below in his incarnation. Christ then ascended higher than all of the heavens.

[31:39] And Christ now sets out to accomplish the goal of filling all things by providing his people with gifts that grow them into maturity. Jeremiah 3.15 says, and I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

[31:59] Remember Ezekiel 34 when he's talking about the false shepherds who were taking from the people and starving his sheep and treating them horrifically. And God steps in and says, no more.

[32:14] I will give you shepherds after my own heart. And ultimately that points to the good shepherd, Jesus, who is the door of the sheep, who rescues us out of darkness, who protects us from these things and from the wrath of God.

[32:28] So what do we do? How do we live? Well, we live confidently, right? If God himself is the one who is giving these gifts in order to build up his church, will he fail at this? Right?

[32:38] I think oftentimes we can get this false humility of like, oh, well, shucks, I can't do that. And it's like, no, that's not humility. What that's doing is you're limiting the power of God to do what he's promised to do.

[32:49] You have gifts for the church. Use them. Find out what they are. See where God would utilize you and be confident that you can do this, not because you're so good at what you do, but because God is so good at what he does.

[33:03] There should be a trust, not in us, not in Trinity, not in the men here, not in deacons, not in community leaders, but in the Christ who loves the church in such a way that he died for her. He is going to accomplish what he has set out to do.

[33:18] Hell will not prevail against the church. And man, in spending this weekend with you guys, I have full confidence because you are a dependent people.

[33:34] People who are staying here after the prophetic time and the prayer time is over to continue praying when there's s'mores down there, man. This weekend was so encouraging for me and it only will increase the amount of times I pray for you guys and the amount of times I pray for Sean and for Ed and for the leaders here and for Todd and all of you guys.

[33:56] Now I'll get to have some faces with the names that I'm praying for, which is a glorious thing. And that's what's beautiful, right? I wish I could have hit on this more throughout the time this weekend, but it's not just this local church.

[34:09] It is the capital C, the universal church, right? That's who these promises are for. So Trinity Cambridge is not alone in this. It's like it's Trinity Cambridge and Covenant Fellowship Church and Risen Hope Church and some joyful Presbyterian gospel preaching church down the street and all these different things who are united in mission to proclaim the excellencies of Christ.

[34:33] Like we are going to be okay. I know Massachusetts is a dark place. I know they're not like we love Christians. It's actually probably a lot like Ephesus. Jesus. And I know at times you guys can feel like man are we even making a difference?

[34:47] The answer is yes. Because you are saints who are faithful in the land. Doing what God has called you to do day in and day out.

[34:58] Christ is looking at you guys and he is saying well done. Keep it up. You are my beloved. Keep going. I will be with you.

[35:09] You are being faithful. I am glorified by what you all are doing. And the love we are called to is also a love that speaks the truth.

[35:19] He is calling these people to grow up into maturation. Right? I think oftentimes we think speak the truth of love means I'm going to come at you and bam, hit you with something correct you.

[35:31] And like, okay, that's a part of it. Yes, we must admonish one another. Right? We got to admonish the idol. We got to help each other. Exhort one another. Correct one another. Yes, that is all true. But when he's talking about speaking the truth in love, he's talking about speaking the truth of the gospel to one another.

[35:46] This is how we encourage one another. We speak the truth of Christ to one another. When your arm is around someone and they are weeping, you are able to speak the truth in love to grow them up into him who is the head into Christ.

[35:58] That's the whole purpose of all that we do. Maturation into him who is the head into Christ who is the cornerstone who is going to keep us. That's what we're doing. He came and preached peace.

[36:11] That's what the text says. Christ came and preached peace to us. Peace that he is bringing because we are now able to be reconciled to God. It's amazing.

[36:25] There are people here who by the power of the Holy Spirit actually hate their sin or actually saying I don't want to do this anymore. That's a gift from God.

[36:37] Nothing within us should be recoiling against our flesh but it does. Sanctification is part of this maturation into Christ.

[36:52] We can do what God requires by pausing and carefully thinking and then radically loving. in our sin towards one another right? We must be bold in speaking the truth to one another.

[37:04] We must do the work of ministry and build people up into Christ. What your love needs to do it needs to lead to the person of Christ. Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ.

[37:16] He is the point. There is no one more worthy. He is the reason we do what we do. All that we are and all that we have belongs to Christ and we belong to this church.

[37:28] It is your church. God has called you here to serve and invest your life here to glorify him by building with the other believers. Here, you serve one another out of love.

[37:38] You receive the gifts of Christ as an act of love. You speak the truth to one another in love. You build each other up into love, which is to build each other up into Christ.

[37:51] So what do you do? Well, you serve the church. You participate in community groups and maybe beef up the community groups so you can take out yellow team next to you. You prioritize the Sunday gathering.

[38:10] You recognize that the people whom you are serving with are precious saints for whom Christ died. Right? Hebrews tells us that there's a particular love that we have for the saints, right?

[38:21] For the household of faith. the gospel transformation Bible again says this Christian maturation, which is aided by gifted teachers and leaders is described as the fullness of Christ, doctrinal stability, and growing up into Christ and strengthening the body.

[38:40] This is corporate growth, not merely individual growth. God is honored when we live lives that are worthy of him. He is honored when we forgive those who we have sinned against.

[38:52] He is honored when we eagerly fight for unity amongst ourselves. He is honored when we receive the gifts he's given to the church as gifts. He is honored as we grow up into Christ. And as this happened, it's going to protect you from being tossed to and fro from every wind and wave of doctrine.

[39:06] Everyone is trying to figure out what's going on. There's always some new theological fad that's just like, hey, yo, what is this? It's going to be crazy. And it's fun to dive into those things sometimes, but don't let it take you and toss you like the waves of the sea.

[39:18] You must have a firm foundation in the word of Christ. And that happens by being connected to the body of Christ, receiving from the gifts that he has given to you. The meaning of this text applies in our commitment to doing life on life discipleship, a commitment to one another in love and the practical outworking of church life together.

[39:38] Christ must be the center of it all. I'm finishing up here. So what do we pursue? Well, one, we pursue godliness. We pursue holiness. We pursue one another.

[39:49] We pursue God himself. We pursue unity and we pursue Christian maturity. This text matters today because Christ's church matters today.

[40:00] It matters today because the church is the only eternal institution in existence. the way we relate to the church truly has eternal consequences. There is nothing more important than what Paul is calling us to here.

[40:13] We have to live lives that align and affirm the love that Christ has for others. Cosmic reconciliation requires cosmic change in our lives. We cannot live the same.

[40:27] If Christ is over all and through all and in all, then we must grow up into him and into his love. Christ is the whole point.

[40:40] What more could we desire? What could be a greater pull of our affections and our heart than he who is worthy of all of our lives? Friends, it is only Christ.

[40:52] And when we know this, life looks like understanding with Charles Spurgeon. Don't quote him, but I'm close to ending it with him. That the church is the dearest place on earth.

[41:04] It is the dearest place on earth because it is your church, because it is Christ's church. And because Christ is beautiful, the church is beautiful.

[41:16] You're invested in her and you spend your life for her. And when you spill out your life, you realize that it's for an eternal cause. And the very spirit of God, the very spirit of God is supporting you and strengthening you and helping you in this.

[41:31] Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for our salvation.

[41:43] We thank you for the church. We thank you for the gifts that you've given to the church. We thank you for your love towards us. We thank you for the power on high from the Holy Spirit.

[41:57] We thank you for the risen Christ. We thank you, Father, for your love. You are so good to us and you've given us so much. Help us to live lives that are worthy of you.

[42:11] May this be a church that continues to be worthy of Christ. And so may this church continue to be a church that loves like Christ. May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

[42:28]  Amen.