Building Mature Faith Together

In this message from Ephesians 4:11–16, Pastor Jim explores the difference between immature faith and mature faith and how the church grows into Christlikeness together. Using the imagery of waves and wind pushing a boat off course, he explains how believers can be easily tossed around by life’s circumstances or by new teachings when their identity is not firmly rooted in Jesus. Immature faith reacts to every wave and follows every new voice, but mature faith stays anchored to the gospel and keeps its focus on Christ. Jim reminds listeners that maturity is not simply knowing more information about the Bible but allowing the gospel to reshape identity so that believers increasingly reflect Jesus. As the body of Christ grows together, each person plays a role by speaking the truth in love, encouraging one another, and helping one another stay fixed on the horizon of Christ. Through this shared ministry the church is built up, strengthened in unity, and equipped to display the fullness of Jesus to the world.

Transcript

Jenna: The passage for today's sermon comes from Ephesians 4, verses 11 through 16. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith. And in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature." attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love. We will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head That is Christ. From him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love. As each part does its work. The word of God for the people of God.
Pastor Jim: Amen. Some of you know Jess and I just got back from Tennessee. We were down there to see our son Jimmy does competitive bass fishing. Out of a kayak, which we didn't even know was a thing until a few years ago. And that he could go to college for it? And get a scholarship and everything. And God has just been sort of laying out an interesting but wonderful path for him. And so we got to go down there and see him fish in a championship, and down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which was awesome. But here's why I'm telling you this. He fishes out of a kayak, and you know, if you've ever been on a boat of any size, you know that Wind and waves typically work against the boat. 
You know, they will push the boat around, up and down, causes all sorts of problems. And particularly on a kayak, it is really prone to be moved by current and by wind. 
You know, it can push you off the spot that you want to be on, especially if you're trying to fish and you're trying to stay in a spot, you're trying to stay there. Or if it's really choppy, if you've ever been out on a boat and you know, if it's really choppy, what's that produce? Seasickness, right? And you're up and down, and you're up and down. And after a little while, you're like, this is not going well. And, you know, when somebody starts getting seasick, it really kind of ruins the thing for everybody else. Or you're just ignoring that guy, making fun of him the whole time. As they're, you know, throwing chum over the side, it's not so great, but they're not very helpful anymore. They're not really contributing to the boat. They're not helping fish. They're not helping bring fish in. They're not functioning. They're not able to stay upright. Everything really kind of becomes the focus, moves to them rather than on the mission of catching fish. Or, you know, in the case of a boat that's getting blown around by the wind, you're not being able to stay on the spot that you want to be on. They actually make something now for trolling motors on particularly on kayaks or smaller boats. My son has it. It's called SpotLock. Which basically means that it is connected to GPS satellites and he can press a button on his little remote and it will keep that kayak right there in that spot. He doesn't have to do anything. He can just keep fishing and it'll slowly turn, but it'll stay right there on that pinpoint. Even though the wind is blowing, he'll stay right there in that spot so he can keep fishing in that area. Or you know that if you are seasick, You know, the rule is look at the horizon. Look at the horizon. Just look out there rather than just trying to keep an eye on the waves, which is going to make you sick. Look out there somewhere. Look farther out. Look into the horizon and sort of focus yourself out. There so that you can Become well enough that you can be part of the mission of fishing again. Well today in this passage what Paul is doing is talking about mature faith and Mature faith, a mature church, a mature body of people that are not being Blown around like infants who have no control over themselves, who are not being moved around by winds that are buffeting them of new teaching, who are not being tossed around by the circumstances of life, by these waves that are making them seasick, making them ineffective in the mission, making everything about them. And so I want to look at this and kind of look at three different things really Immature faith? Or I would say, immature elements of our faith, because we all have that. Immature faith, mature faith, and mature ministry. Immature faith, mature faith, and mature ministry, or really look at sort of the danger of immature faith, the alternative of mature faith, and the result of a mature ministry in a church body as it functions together in maturity. And so I just want to pray about this as we dive into this passage. Would you bow your heads with me? God, we come to Ephesians 4 for a second time here and ask that you would speak. That you would By your Holy Spirit, would you make the text come alive for us? Would you bring out what you want to bring out? Would you take the prep that I've put into this and make much of Jesus with it? And would you call us to maturity? Whether we've been walking with Jesus for a long time or for just a little time, We all need to grow. There are still areas in which we are immature. Where we need to grow up into really being the body of Christ. And so, Would you do that work in my heart? Would you do that work in this congregation's heart? Would you help us know you, Jesus? That's really what it means to be mature, to know you in the depths of our identity. Pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. 
So, Let's look at verse 14 again here for a second and just sort of talk about immature faith. He says this, Paul says, Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves. If you look there at the start of verse 14, where it says, then we will no longer be infants. If you really get into what's happening here, it's actually a continuation of the sentences that came before. It's one big run on sentence. And really the way that starts is it's saying in order that. In order that you will no longer be infants, meaning In light of all I've just talked about, I want you to do that in order that you won't be infants and tossed around by the waves and blown about by winds of new teaching. 
Well, what is the in order that? Well, if you remember last week, we talked about Apest, that Jesus gifted the church with this grace. This multifaceted grace of proclamation and teaching the gospel through apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, pastors who would proclaim the gospel to people and help build up their identity. 
So much so that they grew in unity in their faith, grew in unity of their love and knowledge of Jesus, and that they would be mature in so that they wouldn't be infants. That's the continuation there. He says, Jesus has done all this for and in the church, giving them this proclamation of the gospel so that You would no longer be infants tossed around by the wind and the waves. That they would be able to minister in loving truth to one another and call each other to a deeper maturity, a deeper knowledge and relationship with Jesus. And so really, the priority of this section is that people would be rooted and grounded in the gospel through the work of Jesus, through one another, building up the body. And so You know this about Hope, you know this about me: we talk a lot about gospel identity. First. That behavior flows out of our identity, healthy or not. Mature or not, that behaviors come out of our identity. And so this week, we're talking about identity. One more time, and then next week, we start to get into what are the behaviors that flow out of that? What are the ethics of Jesus's people? And so today, again, we're talking about identity as it pertains to being immature in our identity or mature in it or maturing in it. And so he starts by saying... Immature faith is infantile. It's like an infant. And what can infants do for themselves? Nothing. They are unhelpful around the house. They're making a mess. They're just selfish. They're all about themselves. They're getting blown around, pushed around. 
Like they go where you tell them, like you just carry them and cart them around, right? They're weak. And so this is what he's saying. He says, like immature faith is like that. It's like a baby. It's like a newborn baby. And there's this call here then to grow up. And we see this several times in Paul's writing, in the letter to the Hebrews as well. There is a call to grow up, to not just consume milk anymore, but to move on to larger substance, the meaty things of life. He's saying there's a time to grow up. Do not get caught in immaturity because it is like being an infant. I suppose it has been the same throughout the life of the church in the last 2,000 years, probably even beyond that into the faith of Abraham and the Jews, that there has always been this threat of immaturity. But I think now in our culture, we are so shallow. 
So, not focused in our thinking. So quick to move from one thing to the other Such consumers, we bounce from one thing to another, that we're kind of infantile in our faith, that we have not gone deeper and been rooted in the gospel. We've not grown up and gotten solid in our faith. And so. There are different aspects to this. Friends, you can be immature in your faith in a whole lot of ways, and it's just obvious to everybody. It's obvious to the people you're in relationships with that person is like unhealthy, that they're immature in their faith in Jesus. They know Jesus, they come to church, but like they're very immature and unhealthy. But I don't want us to miss the fact that We all have areas of immaturity, right? We all have areas that still need to be honed and sharpened and solidified and grown. 
So don't give yourself a pass here when I'm talking about immature faith, thinking, well, I've been in the faith for a long time. I'm good. I know a lot of Bible verses. I'm good. I come to church like three or four times a month. I give, I'm good. I'm mature. Paul's like, no. You can do all that stuff and still be wildly immature. And so don't give yourself a pass on this. Just try to allow this text to speak to you and say, well, where am I immature? Where are the areas of my life that need to be grown up to become less childish and more man or woman-like in their stature, in their maturity? Because a person can know a whole lot of the Bible and know a whole lot of Christianese talk and know a lot of the stuff and still be wildly immature, as can a church. Again, Paul's main point here is actually that the church would be healthy, that the church would have unity and maturity. And so, yes, we are individuals, but we are a collective and man, churches can be wildly immature. I have a friend who pastors a church down in Virginia. It used to be Baptist, meaning all the people vote on all the things. And let me tell you, He has had three years of hellacious ministry. Of trying to just get the most simple things done because wildly immature people show up who don't even come to the church anymore, are not even part of the ministry, but because they have a right to vote, they show up and they raise cane. Wildly mature. They know their Bible. That building is pretty. They've got money in the bank. It looks great. They got a lot of programs. On the level of maturity. They don't know how to love one another well. They don't know how to move the ball when it comes to advancing the faith of Jesus out into the community. Why? Because they know a whole lot, but they don't really know Jesus in a deep way. Wildly immature. And so Paul is Calling this church at Ephesus, and I would say calling us some 2,000 years later, to be a mature individual, but a mature congregation, a maturing congregation in our faith. Because man, Immature faith is like an infant. 
You know, and again, maybe, you know, this just from life in the world that like, you can know a whole lot, but it doesn't mean you're an expert. Like just because you can hear a golf announcer analyze a shot, Talk about a putt, talk about the green, talk about the slope, the angle, the speed, the wind. Doesn't mean that guy can go out there and golf, right? Or just because you're an astronomer and you can know light speed and you can know the distance and you can know about black holes and you can know about planets and stars and gravity and all these things, it doesn't mean you're an astronaut. It doesn't mean you really have experienced this or you know it. Or teachers, you know, I know we got a lot of teachers in this room and administrators, you know that there are people who know the curriculum, they can show up, they can do the work, but man, they stink at being a teacher. They don't know how to love kids. They don't know how to minister to them. They don't know how to grow them up, right? Because head knowledge doesn't necessarily mean you're an expert in something. It doesn't mean that you are mature or good at it. And Paul's saying, don't be infants. Don't be infants. And it could be particularly true in life as a whole, right? We know adults who can be 40, 50, 60, 70 years old who are still wildly immature. Just because they have age, just because they have experience, doesn't mean that they know how to be in relationship of love, of trust, of care, of gentleness, exhibiting the fruits of the spirit. They might go to church, do all the things, but still wildly immature on the inside, right? And it shows itself most likely in relationship. And so, What it comes down to is that identity is not rooted in Jesus. They know a lot about him, but they don't really know him. I've not really experienced deep transformational relationship with him. And so it means then these two things that flow out of that being pushed around by the waves and blown about by the wind. The waves, I would say, equating to like life circumstances. And when things start to upset the boat of their life, they start to come undone because friends were going to encounter waves, right? But they're getting pushed around by them. These things come up in life and it's like, my kid didn't get this thing. I didn't get this promotion. This thing's going on in my health. And they just come unglued, right? Life circumstances, the waves just smashing into them. They don't know how to withstand that. This is the kind of stuff that he is talking about. They end up being on the boat seasick, throwing up, making a mess. It's all about them, not really part of the mission because they're just getting tossed around by the waves and have an inability to function on the boat that is them. Life. Now again, We all have those moments. 
Right? We all, again, like we just, we know that we all have moments where we're weak. We all have no, have moments where life pushes us around and suddenly we're like throwing up over the side of the boat. 
Right? Like we know that's not what I'm talking about. 
I mean, ongoing stuff. An ongoing problem that just comes up that continually causes you to be selfish, causes you to be ungentle, causes you to be mean, causes you to be greedy and envious or whatever it is, right? The works of the flesh. These areas of our life that are still prone to being pushed around by the waves that come our way. Tossed around, ineffective. Making it all about us rather than being on mission for Jesus. And he says there is immaturity that looks like a wind of teaching that comes through and takes you off course. That blows you away. This new type of teaching that comes in. Now, this was very much a concern for Paul. Paul knew in the early church that people were coming in who were cunning, who were deceiving, who were in it for the money. And they were people, these false teachers, these wolves were coming in among the sheep, among the flock, and they're teaching other things about Jesus that weren't true. Now we can look at that and say, well, that's not us. Where would we get new teaching from? 
Like, we're not listening to new teaching, Jim. We're not prone to be blown around by these winds. Allow me to bring you something to consider. How many of you follow Christian speakers. Authors online. Podcasts that you're listening to. Books that you're reading. New Teaching I'm not saying it's un-gospel. But is it? 
Yeah. This is the thing. And we're getting inundated by this. Inundated by this. Christian influencers in particular, who are just Flooding Facebook, Instagram, just TikTok with new information. Again, maybe they're saying great stuff. But can I just tell you something? They don't know you, and you don't know them. They could be saying a whole lot of stuff, but Do they know Jesus? Do they know you? Are you able to validate their faith, their maturity? This is what I mean. And so I think Paul would look at some of these things to say today and say, yeah, you probably don't have a charlatan coming into your church. Who's getting up on stage preaching you weird things about the resurrection he's like but What about these other people? What are they saying? Are you evaluating it? Are you being pushed around by this? And so I know how easy it is to see something. They say, you know what you need? 
You know, this is like for pastors. You know what you need to do in your church to make it grow? Blah. And you're like, maybe I do. Maybe we should. Maybe we should do that. You know what you need to do to raise your kids better? Boom. Do these things. Because they know it'll sell a book. And it'll get you to go to their conference. 
You know what you need to do to rescue your marriage? Boom. Again, I don't mean to cut down everybody out there who's Christian trying to do these things. I'm just telling you to be aware. That we are exposed to new teaching, perhaps more than anyone in the history of the world. In the way it's coming at us from every angle all day. And we just think we're just scrolling, looking on a phone, or we think we're just looking on a computer. We're just reading something, just listening to a podcast, driving down the road. I'm just asking you, are you being pushed around? Is it moving your identity off of Jesus? Is it telling you to put your faith and your hope in something else? And Paul would say, don't be blown around by that. Don't be moved by that. Continue to lock your eyes onto the horizon. When life's circumstances start to buffet you and push you around, you start to get sick. Look at the horizon, look to the gospel of Jesus. Or when the winds start blowing, turn on the spot lock and say, no, I'm staying right here on Jesus. I'm staying right here on the gospel of simply Jesus. I'm not gonna let these other things shape my identity. I need him. I need to know him more. I need to know more of him. See, maturity is looking more and more like Jesus because you're looking at Jesus more and more. Do you know what I mean? 
Like maturity doesn't just mean you can do all the things. You can do all those things and be wildly immature. But to be mature, Paul would say, is to lock your eyes on him, to have your affection set on him so that you grow in likeness, Christ's likeness, so that you look more and more like him as he shapes your identity. There's a verse in Colossians 2. Where Paul says something similar So what he's talking about in this passage, I'm going to read this. And again, the first part of this is probably not going to make sense to you, but this was a teaching. This was another false teaching that was coming into the church. He says, do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Meaning, don't let these other people come into believing these other things make little of your faith. Such a person goes into great detail about what they have seen. They are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Do you hear what he's saying? He's saying there's these teachers who are saying these things about things they've seen, things they've experienced. They've seen angels and they're trying to put down your faith saying it's not good enough. And he says, don't listen to them and their unspiritual minds. They've become disconnected from the head. He's talking to church people, friends. He doesn't mean just out on the market where people are saying false things. He's like, these are people who came into the church and they infiltrated and were teaching false things. He says they've become disconnected from Jesus. He says, no, don't let that push you off course. Lock on Jesus. Spot lock on him. Put your eyes onto the horizon of Jesus. Stay connected to him. 
So let me ask you a question: What waves and circumstances of life are crashing against the boat of your life right now. What waves and circumstances are crashing against your boat of faith? Or... What are the repetitive waves, those rogue waves that show up into your life and knock you off course? Those things that show up, the relationship that goes awry or the way you get slighted and that makes you know, get a little tight and you get a little angry and you say something that's ungentle. What are the things that cause you to freak out when it's like, the bank account looks low, so I'm going to start getting stingy. I'm going to start getting greedy. That kid didn't respect me the way that I wanted them to and you well up inside. 
Like that's what I'm talking about. What are those rogue waves that keep hitting against your life that you haven't done business with yet? You've been following Jesus for years, but you haven't gotten to the root of that yet. This is what I'm talking about. This is what immature faith does. Those things come into our lives and then we start throwing up over the side, making everything about us. We're no longer about the mission because our identity has been so jacked up by some wave of life that happened. Paul says, no, don't do that. Keep looking to the horizon of Jesus. Keep locking onto him so that your identity is secure in him. Or what winds of teaching are you allowing to fill your sails? What other teaching you're listening to that's blowing you off course, moving you away from Jesus? What new teachings are filling your heart and your mind? What knowledge is puffing you up? Paul would say, what knowledge is puffing you up and filling you up, but it's blowing you off course. In relationship with Jesus or in obedience to him. He says that's what immature faith looks like. That's the danger of immature faith that isn't rooted in the gospel of Jesus when identity is not rooted in him. He says, "But there is such a thing as mature faith. Or maturing faith, or growing faith. Look again at 15 and 16. He says this is sort of the opposite, right? This is the other side of the comparison. "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head that is Christ." From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. He's saying, There is a mature man. There is a mature woman. There is a mature church. It is possible to grow in Jesus. Over time, through the rest of your days, maturing, becoming more and more like him. And it is to be pursued. It is to be modeled. It is to be enjoyed as life, friends. Growing in maturity. 
So often. So often, In Western churches get their maturity through their pastor. Churches get their experience of Jesus through their pastor. They outsource it. They outsource the spirituality and the growth. Can I encourage you? Don't do that. There's no real life in that. Life is found in you growing in Jesus, in you becoming more and more like him, in you rooting your identity and establishing it more and more in him through the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, anchored to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not to me, not to a church, not to an author, not to a podcast, to Jesus. Anchored to him, allowing him to grow you, to fill your sails, to solidify you. A mature faith is able to spot non-gospel teachings as they come into their sight, into their ears and say, no. This is something else. This is a charlatan. This is not the real thing. This person is in it for something other than Jesus. This is not about simply Jesus. That person's, that thing, that podcast, that book, that social media feed has become disconnected from the head. That's a rogue wave. That's a bad wind that's blowing there. Are they able to spot that? But ultimately, a mature person, like I said, is somebody whose identity is rooted in simply Jesus, who has grown by looking at Jesus and looking at him so that they start to look more like him. 
So they start to experience more of him as they turn their affections to him and see him. Because friends, we have to remember, and this is like... It seems like it's not enough. It seems like it's not enough when I talk about identity, and I know that. Because I experienced this with you. Because we're like, just tell me the behaviors to do. Just tell me the three steps to take so that I can get better in this thing. And friends, can I just tell you, it doesn't actually get to the root of the problem. The root of the problem is our identity is off somewhere. And so we need to regularly turn our affections and mature faith turns its eyes back to Jesus, locks onto the horizon, turns the spot lock on. 
So we stay right there with Jesus, regularly looking to him saying, well, okay, here's the truth of the gospel that I am a mess, that I am broken, that I am sinful. But Jesus is the one who stayed anchored to the father. Jesus is the one who stayed true when the winds of Satan were blowing against him saying, I'll do this and I'll give you the world. Throw yourself off of here and I'll raise you up. And Jesus said, no. I'm staying true to the word of the Father. He's the one who, despite all of our sins, stayed sinless and goes to the cross on our behalf. He's the one who was laid in a tomb. The tomb that we deserve to be laid in, he was laid in. He says, yeah, despite all of that you deserve, I'm going to take that on me. He was raised to new life and he's seated with the Father. God did something through him absolutely incredible on our behalf. And so I'm saying continually turn your eyes to that, lock your eyes onto that horizon Turn that and like anchor yourself to that and When you start to really believe that, when that really actually starts to take root in your soul, you'll realize that like, I am safe and I'm secure. I am approved. I don't need to find it anyplace else. I am significant. I have purpose in Jesus. I don't need to go find it in a job, in a family, in kids, in a relationship, in money, in a bank account, in a vacation, like none of that. I'm significant in him. And as you do that, man, as your identity starts to shift, the behavior starts to shift. And I know it seems like it's not enough. Pastor Adam and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago. We regularly try to counsel people and they're saying, you know, this relationship is going poorly or this thing's happening with my kids or this is what's going on. I keep doing this dumb mistake. And we're like, okay, you need to believe in the gospel. You need to trust Jesus in your identity. And they look at us through tears in their eyes and they say, I know I'm trying. And Adam and I have looked at each other and tried to counsel each other through the gospel. And we find ourselves saying to each other, I know I'm trying. I know that this, like, we would rather a 10-step plan. But can I just tell you again and again, turn your eyes to the horizon of Jesus. Allow the Spirit to carry you there, to focus your eyes there. Anchor yourself to that, and it will start to produce behavior. He is faithful to finish what He has started in you, friends. Keep looking to Him. Allow Him to mature you. What he says in this passage is that as we do this, we grow into His fullness. That we grow to become. Him. We grow to become the fullness. Of him. The fullness of Jesus starts to come out of us as individuals, but as a corporate church, as a body, as a family. As we mature together, we look more and more like him, and we're growing more and more into him, increasing in glory as we focus on his glory, Paul says. Functioning as one body to be Jesus to the world, to represent him out to the world, carrying the fullness of heaven on earth out to our friends and neighbors, to one another. It's all to him. It is all for him. But did you notice he says it comes from him? It is both to him and from him that we do this. It flows from him because he's what? He's the head. It's his idea. It's his brain. It's his vision. It's his desire. It's his plan. We're just like a fingernail. On the body of Christ. 
You know what I mean? Like it's him. It's all coming from him. It's his plan. He's the one that makes the foot do the thing. He's the one that makes the arm move. It's all coming from him. It's to grow into looking more and more like him, but it's coming from him. And friends, this is again the gospel. It is both the diving board and the pool. It's the invitation and it is the party. It is from him. It is to him. He's the one that energizes it. And so we get to look more and more like him. Friends, it is from Him. It is to Him. It is not about us. It is we before me. That's what this whole book has been about so far. Christ is the chief shepherd. Christ is the boss. Christ is the head of the body. To Him, from Him. As we grow as individuals. But did you pick up on the fact that he says it's not just about maturity for you as an individual? It's about maturity for us as a body. That there's something that's supposed to flow out of us as the body. One more time, look with me at verse 16. Similar to what he said in Colossians 2. From him, there it is again, from him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its part. Work. Earlier, he talked about how we are speaking the truth. In love. As each part does its work, speaking the truth in love. Friends, As a congregation, We are called to be all about Simply Jesus. We are the crew of this boat. We are the crew of this ship called Hope Alliance. Called to be rowing in the same direction towards him, to him, from him, energizing us towards him, united in faith, in love, maturing into and from Christ's fullness that he's bestowed on us through the spirit. Looking more and more like him in our church family, functioning as one body, each of us gifted in different ways, serving in different ways, talented in different ways, wired, enjoying different things, but all pulling together for the sake of making Jesus known, experiencing his fullness out into the world. Expanding on earth. As in heaven. Blowing from Christ's fullness. Again, it's His idea, it's His brain. The church was not our idea. It's his idea. He has decided to work through broken people for some reason, and he's fine with it, but he wants us to grow up into him. This was his idea. It's not about us. It's not about me, for goodness sake. It's not about the name Hope Alliance. It's about making Jesus known out to the ends of the earth. 
Like we want all people to experience the fullness of Jesus. And so we grow in maturity as individuals, so we grow in maturity as a church, so that we can make Him known to the world. Christ is the chief shepherd. He's the boss. He's the head of the church, the body. He says we do this. As we function, as we Speak truth in love. Not just truth. Not just love. Speaking truth in love. You understand that that's the opposite of deceitful, cunning, scheming teachers? You hear it? He says, "Watch out for false teaching. Instead, we speak the truth in love." Watch out for people trying to pull your identity away over here. We speak identity into each other by speaking the gospel to one another. This is the opposite of false teachers. This is truth. In love to one another. And can I just tell you, This is every believer's ministry. Speaking the truth in love. Is every believer's ministry. We hear speaking and we think, good thing that's not my job. I don't mean giving sermons. 
I mean giving short Many sermons to people. All I'm trying to do is preach the gospel to you. What we are called to do as a body is to speak many sermons to one another. Here's what the truth of the gospel is for you, friend, in this situation. Here's where I noticed that maybe you're struggling in this way. Can I pray for you? But can I remind you of who Jesus is to you and for you in this situation, in this moment? This is speaking the truth in love. This takes... Maturing individual faith to both do that and to receive that, doesn't it? If someone is going to speak... Well. I'm realizing as I say that that's wrong. Lots of people speak but are immature. The goal would be that as mature believers, we speak the truth in love. And the goal would be that as mature believers, we receive the truth. In love. That we're willing to hear from one another. We are willing to listen to one another. We are willing to boldly speak truth in love when the Spirit has prompted in moments of grace to help build up someone's identity in the gospel rather than letting them... We see people getting tossed around by the waves. We could just look and say, wow, that's a shame. Or we can come up alongside of them and say, hey, can I help you bail water for a little bit? Can I speak gospel truth into your life right now? Hey. I see this thing that's going on with your kid. I get it. I get it. Can I just remind you that God loves your kid? More than you do. Can I remind you that as a mom or a dad, your identity is not built on who your kid is. That you can trust Jesus for them, how about we pray for them? Boom. Gospel spoken. Do you see it? That's speaking the truth in love. That's not saying you stink as a parent. Stop yelling at your kid like that. That's not truth in love. Speaking the gospel. Speaking identity into people's lives. This is allowing people to show you the horizon. Friends. This means allowing people to come into you and say, can I point to Jesus out there on the horizon for you? Can I help you lock onto Jesus in this season of your life? How can I be praying for you? And you desiring enough of Jesus in your life that you receive that. And say, yeah, you know what? I want more of my identity in him. Thank you for helping me with that. Thank you for pointing that out. Poof! Imagine how crazy church would be if we all did that. Allowed people to speak into our lives like that? If we were willing to receive that, man, our maturity would just grow. We look more and more like him. And we would look more and more like him as a body representing his fullness to one another and to the ends of the earth. Allowing people to anchor you when the wind is blowing. Speaking the truth in love. Matt, close with a couple questions for you. How are you speaking the truth in love? Who are you speaking the truth in love to? You have relationships of depth with people in this congregation that You're part of their life in such a way that they And you just, you love their identity in Christ and you want to so build up their identity in Christ that you're willing to Too-gwad. Graciously in faith to say, hey, can I share a little gospel identity stuff with you about who you are in christ Who are you helping build up? Their gospel identity in this church. Who do you allow to speak gospel truth into your life? 
When was the last, let me ask you this question. When was the last time somebody spoke truth and love into your life? Other than a spouse. Probably not very often, right? That's a freaky thing to do. To allow that, to do that, but Paul says, this is what we do. Again, not pointing out each other's sins. It's seeing sin or brokenness or need in someone's life and saying, Where do they need gospel identity? Where does the gospel apply to that weak spot there? How can I help bring gospel truth and love to that person in that sense? When was the last time somebody spoke gospel truth into your life, helped shape your identity? Can I just tell you something? Not enough people do this for me. 
Like really, I think people are like freaked out to talk to the pastor. I'm just a guy. 
So I'm grateful to those of you who do. But if you see something in me that you're like, "Ew, hey, Or if you see where I'm struggling, or I'm afraid, I'm acting out in a way that's fleshly. You can graciously, in love, Talk to me about that. I want to get better. Because I know that if I do, I'll know Jesus more. And I know if I know Jesus more, man, that's full life. Do you feel that for you? This is what Paul's after. Who is helping you keep your eyes on the horizon of Christ. Who are you being honest with enough that they're able to help lock you in, lock you onto Jesus in the gospels? 
So friends. My guess is... That most of you, like me, are maturing in your faith. I know some of you well enough to say that you are mature in your faith. But we all have weak spots. We all have areas where we are still like infants. Where the waves of life still knock us over. Where the winds kind of take us off course. We need one another. Building each other up in the body so that we look more and more like the fullness of Jesus. May we all anchor ourselves more fully into the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. 
So that we can do our part to build up the body in love. So we reach full maturity in Christ for his glory. And our good. Let's pray together.