(9/28/21) Spirit-Lead Church - How Do We Grow Spiritually?
SPIRIT-DRIVEN CHURCH
Ephesians 4:1-16
QUESTION: When you think about your past experiences in church, how would you describe the spiritual growth process? What were you told to “do” that would produce spiritual maturity?
QUESTION: Why do you think most people feel ashamed and discouraged about the lack of spiritual groups in their lives?
When we hear about spiritual growth, many quickly jump to the personal spiritual disciplines we perform at home or alone. Many are convinced that the more time we spend alone with God will produce a stronger, more robust faith and obedience to Him. God brought us to life, now we must do our part to transform ourselves. Time alone in the Bible and prayer is the primary diet of all healthy Christians. If you are struggling, you are probably neglecting to eat spiritually.
Personal Bible reading is helpful and beneficial to our faith in Christ. It is not what we are given as our primary diet when it comes to growth in maturity. We have emphasized one part of the Christian life to the degree that it has overshadowed and by nature de-emphasized the Spirit’s work in our lives. There is a great benefit to be found in reading God’s word for ourselves, but the church for the first 1500 years had no access to personal Bibles. Reading the scriptures through in a year was not a church practice until the invention of the printing press. God has given Christians a timeless promise that can withstand any culture, given it has God’s word in some form.
I want to show how by these verses below that our spiritual growth is not the result of our efforts, but the work of the Spirit alone.
Phil. 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Gal. 3:2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Gal. 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Heb. 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith
From these verses above, Paul and the writer of Hebrews argue that our faith and our spiritual growth come to us by the Spirit. We simply believe. He also gives us how the Holy Spirit does this supernatural work of transforming our minds into the mind of Christ. This is not a human work but a work of the Spirit’s power. Paul gives us a clear picture of what this looks like in Ephesians 4.
Paul begins the chapter by pointing to our unity with each other. We are not separated at our spiritual birth but connected by a unique bond.
Eph. 4:1 ¶ I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
Eph. 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
Eph. 4:3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We must maintain this bond of peace because this is the conduit that the Spirit uses to change us. Unity within the church is what ends up changing us, we don’t read about individual works we can rely on as our primary means of change.
Eph. 4:4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—
Eph. 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
Eph. 4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Eph. 4:7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
We are not pursuing the Christian life as individuals who happen to gather once a week but as a unified body all connected by our Lord, faith, and baptism. Paul is setting up this new spiritual structure to help the church see the power it holds when it functions as it should. The Spirit will come and begin to transform the church into the maturity of Christ.
Eph. 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
Eph. 4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Eph. 4:13 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,
Eph. 4:14 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.
Eph. 4:15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
Eph. 4:16 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.
Where else in Scripture can you read such promises? When the body functions as God designed it, the Spirit comes and matures them, preventing them from being led away by false doctrine. The ultimate promise is that they will be built up in love. Our engagement in God’s word within the local church is promised to protect, guide, build up, and strengthen our faith in Christ. Instead of struggling alone to grow in Christ, we lean on each other, looking to Christ together. It is not a potential for spiritual maturity but a promise by the power of the Spirit.
QUESTION: What is encouraging to you about Paul’s instructions to the church?
QUESTION: Why do you think this is so hard to practice and trust today?
QUESTION: What ways can we encourage each other to trust the Spirit’s work by obeying Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 4?
Praise, Prayer and Confession:
• What can you offer to the Father in praise?
• What is a sin you need to confess?
• What is a burden we can carry?
• What can we take to our Father in prayer?