Sermon Tone Analysis

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Today we are continuing this series at Fellowship on vision.
Here in this church we have chosen three words in particular to express our mission statement as a church: Love, Grow, and Serve.
These three words give us direction as a church towards our purpose for being here.
And so, we use these ideas from our mission statement to lay the foundation for our vision.
Or to say it another way, loving, growing, and serving are not only an expression of mission and purpose, it is also a guide for where we want to go and who we want to become as a church.
Last week we started this series by talking about love.
This morning we continue by talking about our mission and vision of growing.
Just like last week, let’s keep in mind that a single word can be stretched in many different directions.
Last week we talked about the balance between the three directions of our mission to love.
Today we want to nail down precisely what we mean by our mission to grow.
This time it is not so much about a balance of many directions, but a clear understanding of the contrast.
That’s why I’m having us look at a section from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
It was only a few weeks back when we looked at a section of Ephesians 2 in another sermon.
One of the features I noted then was how Ephesians is a letter about contrasts.
Contrast
Alright then, let’s look at what it means to grow by noting some of the contrasts that Paul brings up in Ephesians 4.
From Infancy to Maturity
This one might seem pretty obvious.
Healthy infants grow to become mature adults.
There is an expectancy to this.
Nobody expects a baby to remain a baby forever.
Of course, we expect that a child who is healthy is going to grow.
Paul lays this out as a baseline comparison for spiritual maturity.
He is saying, I expect that people who are Christians will become mature in their faith.
From Tossed about to Joined Together
Next, let’s note that Paul’s idea of a church that has growing Christians is a church that is joined together.
The contrast he makes here is against those who are tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there be every wind of teaching.
It’s tough to get anywhere when you keep changing directions.
That’s true enough when it’s just one person who keeps going back and forth.
How much more does it stall momentum when an entire group of people keep darting about one way and then the other, running into each other and over each other.
This is especially true in our society in which we embrace individualism.
It is so easy to convince myself in today’s world that I don’t need the church, I don’t need other Christians; all I need is Jesus and a Bible.
But, I think the Bible is being pretty clear in this passage that growing in faith as a Christian requires each of us to be joined and held together with other believers, otherwise we are tossed about and cannot grow.
From Deceitful Scheming to Living in Truth
Trust is a hard thing to come by once you’ve been deceived by someone tricking people into some kind of scam.
If you’ve ever fallen for the lies of a dishonest person trying to take advantage of others, then you also know how refreshing it is when you come across those you can trust to be truthful.
Now, I might walk away from that as being a simple black-and-white kind of principle.
Got it; tell the truth; move on.
But that’s not always so easy, is it?
Maybe this is why Paul adds a condition.
We are to speak the truth in love.
Here is where some maturity of judgement comes into place.
I mean, what is the right answer when grandma asks, “How do you like my casserole?”
I am supposed to speak the truth.
But I am also supposed to speak in love.
It’s not always so easy then, is it?
Being truthful in love isn’t always an easy thing to do.
But, truth is also more than just our words.
The Greek of this passage actually uses the word truth as a verb.
There is no good way to translate that to English; it would literally say truthing in love.
That’s why I put it into the notes as living in truth rather than speaking in truth.
Paul is making the point that living honestly is the contrast to deceitful scheming.
And living honestly also produces the kind of spiritual growth we’re talking about.
From Selfish Human Origin to United in Christ
The final contrast we should note in this passage is the difference between a life of selfish human origin verses a life of being united in Christ.
Let’s admit that we are constantly pulled by this one.
We live in a culture that tries to convince us that living for ourselves is the highest value there should be.
Our culture tries to tell us that you can do anything you want as long as you just believe in yourself and find your inner strength.
In that kind of world, I become the center of my own universe and everything else revolves around me. Anything that benefits or helps me has its place and it can stay.
Anything that doesn’t benefit me or make me happy gets cast to the side.
But instead, when Christ is the center of my world, then everything that is of value has its place in its unity to Christ.
And our value—you and I—have our place in this world because we are united with Christ.
Then, it is our unity in Christ which forms the basis of our identity.
It is our unity in Christ which provides guidance and direction for our mission and vision as people of God.
Let’s pull this together.
We are trying to figure out what it means for us to grow as a mission and vision of the church.
The apostle Paul lays out some contrasts telling his readers that growing in faith involves maturity, being joined together, living the truth, in a way that is united in Christ.
How do we mash these ideas together and get a clear picture of what it means for us as a church to pursue a mission and vision of growing our faith?
Vision Towards Growth
Spiritual growth is more than individual or academic
Often, when we think about spiritual growth—what it means to grow our faith—I think we are drawn to an almost exclusive individual or academic focus.
You know, to grow my faith means I am learning more about God, I am getting to know God better so that I can love God more.
It means I am reading my Bible so that I can learn scripture.
Often, I think, we reduce discipleship ministries to intellectual academics, or individual pursuits.
Spiritual growth is about cramming in more Bible study groups, and more personal devotions, and more prayer time.
I’m not knocking these as bad things.
And I think I’ve said this before in other messages.
But, personal spiritual disciplines like devotions and prayer and Bible study groups are all means to an end, not an end in themselves.
In this passage of Ephesians Paul is all about spiritual growth and coming to Christian maturity, and he is not saying a single thing here about prayer, or devotions, or teachings.
No, Paul seems to be focusing his vision for spiritual maturity on one thing: RELATIONSHIPS.
Visionary growth in the church is a growth that focuses on relationships that are joined together and united in Christ.
Visionary growth in the church is a growth that focuses in the direction of relationships that are joined together and united in Christ.
That may sound easy enough.
But apparently Paul was having some difficulty getting his church in Ephesus to fully understand this.
And generally Paul has pretty nice things to say about the Ephesians.
So, it may be worthwhile for us this morning to pause and consider how this might just be a message aimed squarely at us too.
Let’s not be too hasty in assuming that we’ve got this relationship thing nailed.
The church in Ephesus started because Paul brought together a group of Jewish people living in that city who all believed the message about Jesus being the promised Messiah.
Paul is also champion of the gospel message that, in Jesus, all people of the entire world are invited to receive the grace of God.
This was a stretch for other Jewish people.
These are people who have always been taught that Yahweh was the God of the Israelites, and only the Israelites.
Bringing gentiles into the church is Paul’s mission.
At first, he is getting resistance.
Eventually, resistance turns into reluctant acceptance.
But we see evidence of the tension that exists.
So, Paul writes this letter to the church in Ephesus with a particular focus.
He is trying to encourage the various segments of this church to work towards unity together in Christ.
I remember car trips as a kid growing up.
This was back when there was no such thing as video entertainment systems built into the car.
None of us had personal devices with screens and headphones.
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