WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.520 Well, good evening. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.599 I want to encourage you to take your Bible and go with me to the book of Ephesians in chapter 2. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:09.919 Ephesians 2. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.679 And for those of you that are here for the first time this evening, welcome to you. 00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:14.880 Glad to have you here. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:20.320 We are in the middle of a series that we've titled Imago Day, which means the image of God. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:28.160 And it goes all the way back to the book of Genesis, in which God speaks about humanity and says that He created male and female in the image of God. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:30.239 In God's likeness, he created them. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:38.320 So we've been unpacking that for the past several weeks, and we're now coming to a new new place this evening, which we'll be looking at. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:46.479 Tonight I want us to look at something that often sits quietly under the surface as we think about the Christian life. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:01:16.000 Over the last several weeks, we've been looking at the image of God, and we've traced the story from the very beginning of the Bible, from the beauty of God's creation and the making of male and female in his image, to the fracture of that image in the fall, to the glorious realization that Christ is that perfect image, and how God in his grace is restoring that image by saving us, and then imprinting more of Christ upon us in sanctification. 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:44.079 And as we've walked through that, I'm sure you've all felt the weight of that, the glory of the beginning, the dignity of what God intended, the sorrow of what we've lost, the hope that can be found in Christ and salvation, the wonder of Christ who is the image of God, bearing that in human flesh, and also the yearning of it within our sanctification as we grow up into Christ Himself. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:52.640 And so there's a question that we haven't answered yet, and it's a question that's pertinent to this, and it is where does that image grow? 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:58.400 What is the environment in which the image of Christ is developed within us? 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.079 So, where does that restored image live? 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:07.200 What does Christ's likeness look like when it takes shape in human form? 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.680 And how does that new man grow into maturity? 00:02:13.039 --> 00:02:15.520 So we're going to look at the scriptures and answer that. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:19.599 And the biblical answer, in short, is not in isolation. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:25.039 The Bible doesn't bring us to a private spiritual life. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:28.080 It doesn't bring us into individual effort. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:34.560 It in short speaks to us that the answer to those questions is the church. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:48.800 We've established that Christ is the image of God, and we often speak about the church as the body of Christ, but we don't often put the two together, that the image of Christ is going to be imprinted on the rest of his body, which is his people. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:54.800 And so the church is, as we'll see, is the corporate expression of that restored image. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:04.719 And that is why the New Testament refuses, absolutely refuses, to talk about the Christian life as an individual spiritual journey. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:06.960 It never does that. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:15.199 The restored image is not just an individual reality, it is a corporate community reality. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:18.080 It is a church reality. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:24.560 And if I can risk sounding hyperbolic, I would say this. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:29.759 You cannot become like Christ without the body of Christ. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:33.599 You cannot reflect the image of God alone. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:40.319 You cannot grow into maturity apart from other people of God. 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:46.879 Now I know that wrinkles our independent American spirit, but it needs to. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:54.400 Because I'm not talking about a limitation that God has given us, but a gift of one another. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:01.919 Because the church is not a club, it's not simply a week of weekly event, and it's not a collection of like-minded people. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.240 It's something unlike any other gathering. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:11.120 It is the new humanity that God has brought about through Christ. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:24.079 The regenerate people of God that are created after the likeness of Christ, who are indwelt by the Spirit, who are reconciled to one another, and are destined to bear the image of the heavenly man in glory. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:27.279 We are a different people. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:38.000 And so we're going to see this evening that the church is the place where the fractured image finds its healing, that the church is the place where the new man grows. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:42.000 That the church is the place where Christ's likeness becomes visible. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:48.720 That the church is the place where the Spirit forms us together into the likeness of Christ. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:53.360 And so that's why this message is part of our Imago Day series. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.199 And I think a vital part of it. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:59.360 Because our growth in Christ's likeness depends on what we're going to see this evening. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:00.639 So here's where we're going. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.439 And we're going to look at five movements within this. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.560 And I've likened them to a bit of picking up a little pollen from five different flowers. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:11.199 Each of them are necessary to go. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:18.399 They might feel a little like one another, but in the collective whole, we'll be able to discover the sweetness of the five together. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:21.759 So we're going to see the new humanity that Christ has created. 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.160 We're going to see the interdependence of the body. 00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:28.319 We're going to see the unity and diversity of the new creation community. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:32.480 We're going to see the corporate maturity that God intends for us. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:39.199 And also relational Christ-likeness as we live out our lives together as the body of Christ. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:52.399 Like I said, each of those taken alone might feel small, but collectively they give us an immense understanding of what God is intending right among his people. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:58.560 Not only here, but in every place where people are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:00.399 So let's begin with this. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:02.560 Let's begin with the new humanity. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:07.680 And look at Ephesians chapter 2 as we see regenerate people created in the image of God. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:18.959 And if you look with me at this passage, beginning in verse 14 all the way through verse 22, you'll see Paul as he begins to describe the people of God that are being formed through the work of Christ. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:25.519 And he doesn't talk about a loose collection of individuals who happen to share a common faith. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:28.160 He speaks something far deeper. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:33.439 He reaches back into creation language and he reaches forward into glory language. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:41.199 And he speaks of a new humanity born of the Spirit, reconciled through the cross and created in the likeness of God. 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:44.639 Let's take a look at verse 14 and 15. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.879 But now in Christ Jesus, you who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:57.360 For he is our peace, who has made both groups one, tore down the dividing wall of hostility. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:10.399 In his flesh, he has made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:19.920 He did that so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:22.879 What is this language? 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:26.720 It's the language of new creation, is what it is. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:34.319 That the cross is not God simply forgiving individuals, but his intent is to form a new people. 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:14.160 And this is why Paul moves so very naturally from this reconciliation language to construction language, if I could put it that way. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:16.959 Take a look at how he describes this. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:32.879 He said, We're no longer foreigners and strangers in verse 19, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household and built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:39.440 In him the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:45.840 And in him you're also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:09:10.480 So he goes from us being dead in trespasses and sins and being saved by grace to this understanding of people who are separated with animosity and hatred and hostility for one another, brought into a brand new creation, a new man, if you will, a new created humanity, and that we are built together and indwelt together by God for his glory. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:15.039 And all of that imagery pulls things together. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:18.080 We're not just forgiven, we're joined. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.720 We're not just joined, we're built. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:29.600 We're not just built, we're indwelt, so that the presence of God Himself would be seen among the people. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:39.200 In verse 24, where this is deepened a little bit. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:54.559 In verse 24, he says, put on the new self, the one created to God's likeness, according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:10:00.399 Now, this creation, I dare say, is not merely individual because he's addressing it to the church. 00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.720 But if you want to see the corporate focus of it, take a look at the next verse. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:15.679 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth with each other to his neighbor, because we're members one of another. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:27.759 The image is now restored in a people who are brought together: one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one spirit, as he introduces this chapter. 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:31.840 And we have one hope. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:11:06.720 And so we have to begin here with this that when God is building the likeness of Christ, He's building this among his people in this new humanity, in which he's brought us into one body, he's given us one spirit, he's given us one hope, and we are meant to be the one place where God dwells for his glory. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.080 And so that tells us a lot about church. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:23.200 A lot of us, yes, we got up and we went to a building, and there are other buildings that we could go to, and we think about gathering as people, much like we might think about gathering in other of the assemblies that we have in this world. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:26.639 All sorts of things that we do together in different places. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:33.840 Some shared interests, some shared uh endeavors, some shared occupations, some shared sports. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:49.759 We gather in all kinds of different ways, but there's something extremely unique about gathering together as people, because we are people who have been made alive by God and joined together by Christ for his dwelling place. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:58.000 And so there's something as we'll see in a few moments that we reflect together, that we can't even reflect on our own. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:06.000 And so in our day, we feel the pool of isolation, don't we? 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:27.279 We feel the weight of private struggles, we feel the pressure of personal expectations, we feel the quiet assumption that our spiritual growth is something that we must manage on our own in our personal devotions. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:31.279 We even use private language to do that. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:13:01.919 But the scripture here tells us something a little different, and as we'll see, importantly, that the new humanity actually grows together, that the restored image takes shape within community, and that the likeness of Christ becomes visible as the people of God walk together, as we bear one another's burdens, as we forgive one another, as we speak the truth in love with each other. 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:11.840 That is, I would dare say, even more important than our private, personal devotions. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:18.080 The church is a new humanity, the regenerate people created after the likeness of God. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:20.399 That's the first flower that we're going to land on. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.480 We've got four more flowers that we're about to about to come into. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:30.320 The second one is that the image of God is expressed through our interdependence. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:31.759 Our interdependence. 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:34.879 And I'd like for us to go to 1 Corinthians 12 for this. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:37.360 1 Corinthians 12. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:50.799 Now, Paul here is moving on from what he did in Ephesians, where he showed us that Christ has made one new man. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:59.759 But now in this chapter, in 1 Corinthians 12, he shows us how that new humanity functions, how it's lived out. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:07.519 And he doesn't picture a crowd of isolated believers who are simply walking down parallel paths. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.759 And that's often how we think about this. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.960 I'm a believer, I'm walking with God, you're a believer, you're walking with God. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:21.200 Paul doesn't talk about simply a line of people on their own individual journeys. 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:24.399 He uses a different image here. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:29.200 In 1 Corinthians 12, he talks about a body. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:30.879 Let's look at verse 12. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:32.720 1 Corinthians 12. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:47.519 He says here, for as just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many are one body, so also is Christ. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:57.360 For we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, and we were all given to drink of one spirit. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:02.480 Indeed, the body is not one part, but many, and on it goes. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:04.639 What is Paul saying here? 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:21.440 He's picturing a living organism, he's picturing a body that is interconnected, in which every member belongs to the other, and every member contributes to the other, and every member depends on the other. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:28.559 And he uses this very simple but profound observation at the end of verse 12. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:32.639 Though we are many, we are one body. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.320 And that little phrase carries the whole weight of this chapter. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.639 The church is one because Christ is one. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:54.240 And the church is many because the Spirit distributes giftedness variously among the body, just like we have our constituent parts of our body. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:01.120 The unity and the diversity within the church is not attention, it's God's design. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:09.679 We're made different, not uniform, so that we might live in harmony with each other. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:19.039 The restored image is not monochromatic, it's actually multifaceted, and it's beautiful. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:24.960 And Paul presses this further by naming some of the temptations that rise up within us. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:36.080 Verse 21, he said, The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you, or again the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:44.559 There is within us a temptation to think, well, I'm not really necessary, am I? 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:49.600 Or we might think, I'm really necessary. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:56.080 Or we might think that, well, their gifts really don't matter. 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:58.720 My gifts matter a whole lot. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:05.759 And Paul just dismantles all of that with with some pastoral care and integrity. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:11.039 It says because I'm not the hand, I do not belong. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:13.839 The I can't say that to the hand. 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:21.440 Everybody needs every part, or every part of the body needs every other part of the body. 00:17:21.599 --> 00:17:25.279 And the restored image requires everyone, all of us. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:34.559 The new humanity is diminished when we focus just on parts of it rather than appreciating the whole of it. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:37.680 And that means something for us. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:44.400 It means, first of all, that the Spirit is not working within us simply for our personal good. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:49.119 He's working within us for our collective good. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:18:02.640 That our spiritual growth as a person matters to our spiritual growth as a people, that our presence matters. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:10.480 Because, well, it's not because we're impressive, but we're indispensable, and there's a big difference between the two. 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:28.880 It means the places where we might feel weak in ourselves, God has already worked in someone else to be the strength in our weaknesses, and God is already working in us to be the strength in their weaknesses. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:32.240 That's how we depend on each other. 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:44.079 And it also means that the part of the body that seems less visible are actually just as vital as the others. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:55.279 A lot of attention can be put in a bulletin or behind a pulpit or behind a lectern somewhere, or on over here singing. 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:57.519 A lot of attention can be drawn there. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:07.119 But what about the stopping and coming alongside someone to say, I may be reading this wrong, but I think you might be discouraged today. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:08.880 And I'd just like to pray for you. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:13.519 I'd like to share a promise from God's word with you that might be of encouragement. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:23.039 See someone who's feeling a bit anxious, and you you inquire as to why, and you find out that things in life have just gone sideways, and you think, you know what? 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:27.200 God's given me extra money in my bank account today. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:30.559 I'm going to help this person pay that bill. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:36.559 Those things that are unseen, those things that are just not noticed, they're vital. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:38.000 They're vital. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:44.480 I was talking to someone this afternoon after the church service, and she's gone through a really difficult time. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:50.240 And she's dealt with some family issues that have just been really hard and enduring. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:59.599 And she said, as we were talking, she said, I just don't know where I would be if I hadn't felt the prayers of God's people here. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:02.559 How vital was that? 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:09.039 And nobody sort of went up on the platform and said, Let's trumpet about that we're praying for this person. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:16.960 Those were quiet prayers that nobody saw but her and God, and they mattered a lot. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:25.519 So when we read these passages, we're not talking about sentimental language, we're talking about the lived reality of the new humanity. 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:37.359 That the Spirit binds us together in a way that's unlike any other place on earth, where the joys and sorrows of one another are shared as the joys and sorrows of all of us. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:54.160 It's embodied in the way we carry one another's burdens, the way we share one another's victories, and the way we walk through long seasons of challenge and difficulty and grief and hardship. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:00.400 We feel the pressure to be independent. 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:12.880 And it really came home to me one day when I saw a picture of about 14 boys from Africa. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:22.720 It was a beautiful picture, it was a top-down shot, and the picture had nothing but the boys from their knees down to their feet. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:24.319 That's all it was. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:38.960 And all 14 of the boys were laying down on the ground with their feet pointing to one another, and there was a little patch of dirt in the center that was the circle, but the circle was formed by 14 pairs of feet, sort of wrapped around each other. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:45.200 And I thought, yeah, get 14 teenage boys from Garden City to do that together. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:46.720 It's never gonna happen. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:51.759 Why were just too individualistic? 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:59.759 But those boys there found a lot of unity in one another and being together and shaped by that community. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.279 Spirit. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:10.000 The American culture, the Western culture, is something that the scriptures speak about, not simply embrace. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:22.720 So it's before we move into the unity and diversity, we need to recognize that the church is the new humanity and that the church is interdependent on one another. 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:25.039 So now let's go to Galatians 3. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:27.200 And we want to see a third flower here. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.319 The image reflected in a reconciled people. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:33.440 And we see this in Galatians chapter 3. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.720 A lot of places, but we'll just go to this one. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:47.039 In Galatians 3, verse 26, Paul makes a statement about us. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:57.440 He said, Through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:05.519 And then in the next verse, he says, For those of you who are baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:11.039 Now that language is very, very deeply personal. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.880 But I also want you to see how communal it is. 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:27.279 Because he's not just describing what happens to individuals, he describes what happens to a people whose unity is rooted in Christ and whose diversity is held together by the Spirit. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:34.480 So just for a moment, let's step into the world of the early church by taking a look at the next couple verses. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:48.160 There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:58.079 Paul is speaking here about something that we may not fully appreciate. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:04.480 The Jews and the Gentiles of that day didn't simply misunderstand each other. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.359 They distrusted each other. 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:15.519 They had generations of suspicion, generations of resentment, generations of cultural pride. 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:25.279 The Jews saw the Gentiles as unclean, idolatrous people, and the Gentiles saw the Jewish people as strange and exclusive. 00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:30.000 And both groups believed that they were the superior. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:38.240 Both believed that they were truly the center of concern in the world. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:42.319 And both believed that each other was beyond reach. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:45.440 They were that exclusionary. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:48.559 But here's what Paul says about this. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:58.880 If you belong to Christ, there is no Jew or Greek, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:04.640 That is an astonishing statement to them. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:12.079 It's not just a call for tolerance, it's not an appeal for civility. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:17.200 It's an announcement that the cross has created a new humanity. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:23.839 And that all those old hostilities no longer define you as a person. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:37.759 That you are now brought into a whole new realm, a realm of reconciliation with people that you once thought were the worst people on earth. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:41.599 Ephesians makes that clear. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.440 Just to go back to those verses we looked at at the beginning, I'll just quote them. 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:54.960 Christ has created one new man in the place of two, and that he's reconciled both in one body through the cross. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:05.519 Christ is not just making us at peace with God, he's making it us at peace with one another through Christ. 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:13.599 Those who were once former enemies are now brothers and sisters in the same family. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:21.119 The restored image is not just personal transformation, it's relational transformation. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:26.880 It's the healing of divisions that once seemed unmovable by us. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:37.359 This is something the world longs for and thinks that they can achieve, but they never can, and they never do. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:41.119 But here it's possible. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:48.640 As I was telling Big Al one day, at the foot of the cross, the ground is level. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:54.799 Every one of us are on the same place at the foot of the cross. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:56.720 Every one of us. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:01.359 But this means something about our identity as God's people. 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:14.079 That means our identity is not held by shared preferences, it's not held together by similar backgrounds, it's not held together by cultural familiarity, even. 00:27:14.720 --> 00:27:16.880 It's held together by Christ. 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:24.960 The only way this can be explained is because Jesus is the Lord of all of the people gathered in his name. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:27.920 Otherwise, it would fall apart. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:38.400 It means the unity that we enjoy, however, is not fragile either, because it's rooted in Christ, who is Lord over all. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:49.279 And it means that the diversity that we experience is not a problem to solve, but rather a gift that's been given to all of us. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:59.680 It means that we can be multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-gifted, multi-voiced, and still have one heart together. 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.480 Because Christ is set as Lord over all of our hearts. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:11.440 And this is really meaningful, I think, here among our congregation. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:14.960 Because our church isn't homogeneous. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:25.200 It's not a single demographic, it's not one age group, it's not one ethnicity, it's what not one economic bracket, it's not one life stage at all. 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:33.039 If we were to do a demographic survey of our church, we would find we're probably fairly evenly spread across all of the spectrums. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.079 But what we are is not accidental. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:40.319 It's the work of the Spirit. 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:46.559 Because He means to be to bring people from every tribe and tongue and nation. 00:28:47.119 --> 00:28:52.079 And by God's wondrous mercy, we happen to have a small sampling of that here. 00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:59.119 And so that leads us to another flower. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:06.880 And I'd like for us to go to Ephesians 4 and see how this corporate image grows and matures together. 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:15.519 Paul describes here the growth of the new humanity. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:23.119 And again, Paul does not picture a group of individuals pursuing private spiritual improvement. 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:32.799 He pictures a body being formed, being strengthened, and maturing under the headship of Christ. 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:37.599 The movement of this passage is absolutely unmistakable. 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:52.799 As we read Ephesians chapter 4, and we get deeper into it, we realize that what is happening here is that Christ is ascended in his glorious ascension, which happens to be today, Ascension Day. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:30:00.720 And he equips through his ascension his body with various gifts. 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:08.640 Now, those gifts are not to do the work of the ministry, but to equip the rest of the body for the work of the ministry. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:15.599 And through the work of the ministry that all of the parts of the body do, this one body grows together. 00:30:16.400 --> 00:30:25.680 And the result is maturity, not simply individual maturity, but corporate maturity. 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:39.200 He gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers to do what? 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:43.599 To equip the saints for the work of the ministry. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:44.559 Right? 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:49.680 So that the equipped saints can do that work. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:50.960 How? 00:30:51.279 --> 00:31:02.160 By serving one another, by speaking the truth to one another, and by strengthening one another through all of the supply that the head who is Christ gives. 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:08.319 And so this new humanity, look at verse 13, is meant to go somewhere. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:16.640 Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son. 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:19.599 Stop right there for just a second. 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:38.160 Again, not a sentimental unity, a doctrinal unity, a theological unity, a God-provided unity that's rooted and shaped in our understanding of Christ and shared in a common commitment of Christ as Lord. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:45.359 Not held together by personality or preferences, but a people that are gathered by Christ Himself. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:52.079 And we are to deepen in our knowledge of Christ and align ourselves with his character. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:54.400 Now notice how that goes. 00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:55.359 We're still moving. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:56.640 Verse 13. 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:05.920 Growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:10.160 Again, a corporate maturity. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:25.039 A people who together reflect the fullness of Christ. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:31.200 And so that means that the restored image is not complete when one believer grows. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:35.839 It's complete when all of the body grows. 00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:44.799 The new humanity is meant to look like Christ, not just isolated glimpses on the third row. 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:46.880 All of us. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:53.039 And he says here that the corporate strength is found in verse 14. 00:32:54.319 --> 00:33:06.240 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown about by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:09.680 Immaturity will leave us unstable. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:12.480 It'll leave us susceptible to confusion. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:16.079 It'll lead us to deception and distortion of the truth. 00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:20.720 But maturity that is found in Christ will lead all of us to stability. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:23.759 That all of us will have spiritual clarity. 00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:27.200 That all of us will be able to discern truth from error. 00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:32.400 That all of us will be able to walk in the way of Christ with confidence and joy. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:36.880 And in verse 15, it gives us the operative way. 00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:41.599 By speaking the truth in love. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:48.240 Let us grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ. 00:33:50.240 --> 00:34:08.079 So this new humanity, we as the people of God grow through our conversations that strengthen our faith, conversations that encourage our obedience, and conversations that remind us of our hope that we have in Christ. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:18.800 This is not just a catchword for saying, you know, Billy, I've got some tough things to say, but I'm going to do it in love. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:29.360 And we just sort of blast him with what we wanted to say, and using that little phrase as just a little like spiritual cover for letting loose on a person. 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:43.679 Speaking the truth in love means that we take Christ-like speech into our relationships, that we serve one another in humility, that we speak to one another's encouragement and growth and hope. 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:47.119 Because that's precisely how Christ speaks to us. 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:57.199 Yes, sometimes exposing those places that need the light of his truth, but not saying, you know, I gotta speak the truth in love. 00:34:57.360 --> 00:34:59.519 So let me just say it right now. 00:34:59.679 --> 00:35:02.719 It's no, it's something completely different than that. 00:35:03.360 --> 00:35:26.400 And he says here in verse 16 that as we do this, from him the whole body fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. 00:35:28.400 --> 00:35:29.679 That's a mouthful. 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.000 I wish we could speak just on that for several weeks. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:48.960 But one thing I want you to catch here is this is very deliberate language, that the growth is not the result of a few key individuals within the congregation, that the result of maturity comes in the contribution of everybody in the body of Christ. 00:35:50.000 --> 00:36:02.000 The new humanity flourishes when every believer brings themselves, their gifts, their presence, their encouragement, their faithfulness within the context of the body of Christ. 00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:09.519 Because we all matter and we all need one another to become that mature, come to that place of maturity. 00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:12.559 So, what does that mean? 00:36:13.519 --> 00:36:17.840 Your means of spiritual growth are found by the people sitting next to you. 00:36:18.639 --> 00:36:20.320 That's one thing it means. 00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:29.679 It means that the church grows together, that we do this, and we need one another to do this. 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:38.079 And I want you to show sort of the end result of that by looking at the last flower, that the new self is found in relational Christ-likeness. 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:40.639 And we'll go to Colossians 3 for this one. 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:59.360 As the new humanity matures, as each member participates in the body, the restored image will become visible as the people of God speak in truth and serve in humility and walk together under the headship of Christ. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:08.559 And here in Colossians chapter 3, we see the relational Christ-likeness that's meant to be seen. 00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:10.159 Verse 9 and 10. 00:37:11.440 --> 00:37:18.960 Do not lie to one another, since you've put off the old self with its practices, and it put on the new self. 00:37:19.199 --> 00:37:23.599 You're being renewed in the knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:34.880 In Christ, there's not Greek or Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all. 00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:39.199 Here's this renewal that's ongoing. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:45.519 The Spirit's work, and it's happening in the context of our relationships. 00:37:45.920 --> 00:38:06.719 He says about this new humanity, something that we'd read before in the book of Galatians, that we're not to look at ourselves in our old ways of thinking, whether we're Greek or Jew or circumcised or not, or barbarian or scythian, or slave or free, that those distinctions that once divided us no longer determine our place in the community of Christ. 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:12.400 That the new humanity is a reconciled people whose unity is rooted in Jesus Himself. 00:38:12.800 --> 00:38:20.239 But now he turns to the relational expressions of this new humanity in verse 12. 00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:40.400 Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. 00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:49.039 If anyone has any grievance against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so also you are to forgive. 00:38:50.239 --> 00:38:57.280 These are not abstract virtues, these are relational postures that we're to have as one people. 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:13.519 Compassion when someone's hurting, kindness when someone's struggling, humility when misunderstandings arise, patience when we all grow at different speeds. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:19.760 A restored image becomes visible by the way we respond to one another. 00:39:20.159 --> 00:39:23.760 That is the display of Christ-like maturity. 00:39:24.559 --> 00:39:27.280 And in verse 13, he makes that explicit. 00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:32.480 Just as Christ has forgiven you, so also forgive. 00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:39.440 The forgiveness that we receive becomes the pattern of how we relate to one another. 00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:46.480 The new humanity is not marked by perfection, the new humanity is marked by grace. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:40:01.599 It's a reflection of a community that knows how to forgive, that leans in toward reconciliation, that knows how to walk together even when relationships at times can be strained. 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:16.480 And that's why in verse 14 he says this above all, above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:18.320 Why? 00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:25.280 Because that perfect love is something that we've received in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 00:40:26.719 --> 00:40:45.360 It is that Christ-shaped commitment that seeks the good of one another, that serves each other without recognition, that listens to one another with patience, that speaks to one another with gentleness, that carries the burdens that aren't our own. 00:40:46.159 --> 00:40:47.440 That's the love. 00:40:48.239 --> 00:40:51.280 That's the atmosphere of a maturing people. 00:40:52.000 --> 00:41:01.119 And in verse 15, if there was any doubt that he was pulling this together into this corporate Christ-likeness, take a look at verse 15. 00:41:01.679 --> 00:41:09.280 And let the peace of Christ to which you were also called in one body rule in your hearts. 00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:15.519 The peace that comes when the gospel is meant to shape our interactions. 00:41:16.159 --> 00:41:21.199 The grace that comes into our life is meant to govern our responses. 00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:30.880 And when Christ's character becomes the pattern of our life, that's when the new man shows up on earth. 00:41:31.360 --> 00:41:40.239 And that's when the world will say, they will know we are his disciples by our love for one another. 00:41:40.559 --> 00:41:45.679 Because there's nothing else on earth that can explain what they're seeing. 00:41:46.960 --> 00:41:52.800 This is why the church is a vital place for us. 00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:57.440 It's how Christ is seen in among us and in this world. 00:41:57.599 --> 00:41:59.599 It's how we come to maturity. 00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:04.719 It's what brings us our reconciliation with one another. 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:08.639 And it is the fact that we are truly a new humanity. 00:42:08.880 --> 00:42:10.559 Let's pray together. 00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:29.519 Father, we do pray that you would help us to grow more into what we actually are, to recognize that we are not just formed in isolation, but brought into community. 00:42:30.800 --> 00:42:34.719 And help us to realize just how important that is. 00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:42.079 That the restored image doesn't just grow in isolation, it grows in among your people. 00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:58.559 And so, Lord, make us truly what we are, that new humanity created in Christ, reconciled through the cross, and dwelt by the Spirit, and destined together to bear the image of the Heavenly. 00:42:58.880 --> 00:43:00.800 And we pray this in His name. 00:43:01.119 --> 00:43:01.760 Amen.