How to Grow as a Christian

How to Grow as a Christian

By Pastor Matt Black

20 October 2007
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 4:11-12

Theme and Text: How can you and I grow in Christ? Christian growth is important. Parents want to see their children grow and mature. We want to grow in our jobs. We watch our gardens grow. We want to see progress. We want to see improvement. Transformation and growth are exiting. Stagnation is discouraging. We take growth for granted until growth stops. Nothing is more devastating than a child that has his growth stunted. Nothing is uglier than a drought that yields nothing but dead crops. We take our jobs for granted until the economy stops growing and companies start laying off. Growth is important!

Growth in your Christian life is the same way. The Lord commands us to go and to teach all nations, baptize them, and then teach them to obey all that the Lord commanded. That growing in obedience is what we are talking about.

It is the mission of Tabernacle Baptist Church to GROW the saints of God so that they will GO and make more followers of Jesus Christ. This passage of Scripture is central!

This morning we are re-emphasizing a foundation stone of Tabernacle and what Biblically should be the foundation stone of every church. We are to GROW daily and change to be more like Jesus Christ. In fact, we as Christians are all predestined to grow and change and be conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-29).

This morning we are going to see:

1. First the path of growth and change. God wants you to be more like Jesus!! That’s His plan. We are going to see how every one of us as Christians is called to grow and change. Nothing is more important in your life than that you are GROWING progressively and aggressively.

2. Then we are going to look at the producers of growth and change: tests, suffering, and ultimately the Word of God is what will change your way of thinking and your heart and your worldview!

3. Then we are going to look at the preachers of this growth and change! And there is no clearer place in the Bible that expresses this than Ephesians 4:11-16. It not only tells us that we grow, it tells us how to grow and change, and that’s exciting.

Let’s stand and read Ephesians 4:11-16, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”

[Prayer for guidance]

Introduction: This section of the book of Ephesians brings us to the very heart of the ministry. My role is the total commitment of myself to perfecting the saints through the teaching of the Word of God. A pastor’s role is to give himself to the Word and prayer. He is to “preach the Word…in season and out of season”. A pastor isn’t called to do it all. He’s called to dedicate Himself to the intense study of God’s Word and not much else; because when the saints are built up they do the work of the ministry. When the Word is going forth, the ministry thrives and the saints serve!

I will be very transparent with you. I want your heart. I want you to know that you have a pastor that is committed to you. I’m acutely aware that I have failed at this in many ways, and I’m growing and changing to be the pastor that God wants me to be for you. I’m not here simply to teach you. I’m here to love you and by God’s grace and with His help to guide you. I want to see you grow and thrive in your understanding of the Word. I want to see your children grow and change. I want your heart and trust and your total commitment, that each of us would seek to glorify and please the Lord. That we would grow and change to be more like Jesus every day.

The essence of it all is found in verse 12. I want to see you perfected. Verse 8 says that Christ in His grace conquered those who held us captive. Sin, death, hell, and the devil were all defeated when Christ was raised from the dead and ascended on high. Then verse 8 says as a result of conquering our enemies (taking captivity captive), Christ distributes the riches of the war and “gave gifts unto men”. The gifts that Christ gives lay the foundation of Christian growth. He gives four categories of men that are gifted in the Word of God. He lays the foundation with Apostles and prophets, and then He builds the house with evangelists and pastor-teachers. And these men use the Word of God to perfect the saints. God gives these men verse 12 says “For the perfecting the saints, for the work of the ministry...”

I. So let’s first look at the path to Growth and Change.

A. The Idea of Sanctification

This one phrase in Ephesians 4:11-16 that is the key to the entire passage is found in verse 12: “For the perfecting the saints, for the work of the ministry...” The gifted men are given to the church for the perfecting of the saints—not to entertain the saints, not to coddle the saints, not to make sure the saints are living their “best life now”. Jesus Christ is perfection. So to be perfected is to be be growing in Christlikeness. A Christian is not sinlessly perfect, but He strives to be pure as Christ is pure. Sin remains, but it does not reign over him. But the mark of every Christian is the hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is the desire for absolute purity. It is realize that our ultimate destiny is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and it is to seek it and crave it with all our might.

I believe that the perfecting of the saints is the centerpiece and heart of the ministry, and anything other than this is a misdirection of the purposes of God. All ministry flows from equipping the saints. In other words, if you are not growing and changing (being equipped), something is wrong!

B. The Three Categories of Sanctification.

In Matthew 5:48 Jesus said, “Be ye, therefore, perfect even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect.” God’s basic standard is perfection. God’s ultimate goal is the perfection of His people. The word “perfect” means ”to be fully equipped, mature, complete, full-grown.” There are three ways that this word is used in Scripture in relation to the believer:

1. POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION. Look at Romans 4. Positional sanctification (also called justification) takes place at the Cross, at our conversion. It is about our salvation being totally by grace.

Romans 4:22-25 says that Abraham believed God and “it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

The moment you repent of your wasted sinful life and put your trust in the Lord, your sins are blotted out! Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. God looks at us through the righteousness of His Son. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:14, "For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." When Christ offered Himself on the cross, He did a work which, when applied to you and me, makes us forever perfect. In what sense? Not in the sense of our daily life but in the sense of our position before God. As Christians we have a perfect standing before God--positionally. We are holy and blameless, a chaste bride without spot or blemish. The moment God saves us, an account transfer of righteousness is made. My sins are laid upon Jesus, and His righteousness is put upon me.

Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness…”

Turn over to Zechariah 3:2-4. Here we have a picture of our positional righteousness. “And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Joshua is a brand plucked from the fires of eternal destruction! He’s robed in the filthy garments of his own self-righteousness. Isaiah says their as “filthy rags” (64:6). But his sinfulness is taken away and He is given a change of clothing—the robe of Christ’s righteousness. So in Christ God already sees us in perfect holiness.

2. FINAL SANCTIFICATION

You know what this is. It when we get rid of this old sinful body. Hebrews 12:23 says that heaven is filled with “the spirits of just men made perfect,” referring to the saints with the Lord. Ultimate and final sanctification comes when you die and go to be with the Lord. It means you’re perfect! We read about it in places like Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Or like in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality…” Or how about Romans 8:29-30, “whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified”. So final sanctification is when we are glorified. It is total and perfect conformity to the image of God’s Son. There’s coming a day when every one of us will be made perfect and our soul will be joined to a perfect, new, glorified body. And we’ll never sin again! That’s final sanctification.

Notice that you had nothing to do with positional perfection and you can’t do anything about ultimate perfection. There’s one other category...

3. PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION

This is the category of living here and now. You are called to be holy as God is holy, pure as Christ is pure. This means daily growth and change by the Word of God. This means your life is centered around knowing and living out the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. You are to strive to please God and be in conformity to the image of Christ. This is progressive. That means more and more, day by day, you are looking more like Jesus. This doesn’t mean absolutely sinless—it means mature, complete, grown-up, and fully equipped as a Christian. There’s no greater tragedy than an infantile Christian - a child who is “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14). God wants us to be grounded and growing. It’s the process of Christian maturity.

So there are three categories of sanctification: Positional, Final, and Progressive sanctification. Your sins are blotted out Positionally at salvation. Final sanctification though does not occur until you die or until Jesus comes back. Our text, Ephesians 4:11-16, is talking about the third aspect—the here and now—practical sanctification-the perfecting of the saints.

God has given the teaching pastors and the evangelists, He gave the apostles and prophets in the past, for one purpose—not to perfect the saints positionally or ultimately, but to mature the saints here and now. That’s the task!

II. So let’s first look at the Producers of Growth and Change.

A. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate Agent of Growth and Change

The agent of change is the Holy Spirit. I don’t believe for one minute that any human being can perfect the saints. The only impact anybody can have on somebody else’s maturity is when the Spirit of God working through them.

You are born by the Spirit and you are changed by the Spirit. I as one of the Lord’s undershepherds to perfect the saints, but I cannot perfect anyone. I am only a vessel.

2 Corinthians 3:18 lays out the process of change in slow motion. Turn over ther. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass [MIRROR] the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Paul says that when we gaze on the glory of the Lord in the Word of God, we will be changed into His image, ascending from one level of glory to the next as we are changed by the Holy Spirit. I can change no one. God by the Holy Spirit can change any one!!

B. There are other Tools of Change and Sanctification

1. THE FIRST TOOL IS TRIALS OR TESTS.

Turn over to James 1:2-4. Here it talks about tests to our faith. There are times when we are so pressured by circumstances, and the easiest thing in the world to do would be to act in the flesh, but you instead do not compromise your faith. Look at it, verse 2, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [VARIOUS TESTINGS]; 3 Knowing this, that the trying [TESTING] of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James says that one of the things that leads to your maturity is testing. The Spirit of God will bring opportunities into your life for you to choose between right or wrong. The way you choose is an exercise of your spiritual muscle. Each time you choose the right way, you’ve stretched your spiritual muscle and strengthened yourself. The Spirit of God puts in your way obstacles, tests, and opportunities for you to exercise faith in Him as opposed to believing in yourself—opportunities to put your confidence in God against all opposition.

It could be an abrasive spouse. You say WHY oh WHY did God put me with this person. I must have made the wrong choice. No, God put you with that person. Now exercise your faith and keep your vow of till death do you part!

It could be an unethical work situation. You can gain a little more money if you just compromise a little. True faith would rather lose the job than compromise! You choose the right thing under pressure. These tests come almost every day. It’s the first tool of God perfecting you to be like Christ. It’s part of the growing process.

2. THE SECOND TOOL IS SUFFERING

Sometimes tests bring suffering, but that is all right because 1 Peter 5:10 says “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus”. Wow that’s exciting. God’s called us—to grow and change in holiness. How are we going to get to that “eternal glory” though? It says, “after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” In other words, sometimes those testings turn into tragedies where you suffer greatly. Sometimes the making of a man or a woman demands some pain, hurt, and suffering. If the right response is made, then there is going to be the strengthening of your faith. The Holy Spirit uses trials and suffering to perfect us.

But there is one other element of growth where different men of God come into play...

3. SO THIS THIRD and most important TOOL OF CHANGE IS SCRIPTURE

a. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” If you want to grow and change, then you need to learn that the Word of God by the Holy Spirit is sufficient to change you! The greatest tool the Spirit of God has for the perfecting of the saints is nothing more than Scripture. The Word of God is what makes the child of God “perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

b. 1 Peter 2:2

“As new born babes, desire the sincere [pure] milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” Peter says that the single-mindedness of a baby ought to characterize the Christian. We should have the same undivided single-mindedness to hunger and thirst after the Word of God. As milk brings growth t the baby, so the Word of God brings growth to the man and woman of God. As Psalm 1:2 says, “The blessed man’s delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night”.

Now this morning our last and most important point is we are going to look at four preaching gifts that God has given the church to perfect and mature the saints—to make the saints aggressively and progressively holy—growing and changing.

III. So let’s first look at the Preachers of Growth and Change.

Each of these gifts are preachers of the Word of God. So if Tabernacle Baptist Church is to be holy, we must be committed to grow and change by the Word of God! And these four preachers: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors who are teachers, or teaching shepherds—these four preachers are divided into two groups, foundational and functional.

Let’s begin by looking at Ephesians 4:8. It says, “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men”. What were the gifts He gave? Verse 11 says, ” And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (lit. teaching-shepherds). When He led captivity captive and conquered through the cross and resurrection, He not only gave spiritual gifts to individuals, but He gave gifted men to the church at large—preachers that would sanctify the saints. Their task? To perfect (or mature) the saints for service—for the work of ministry and service in the church.

A. The FOUNDATIONAL PREACHERS: THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS. These offices are unique and temporary. In Ephesians 2:20 it says that the church is ”built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.” The Apostles and prophets were for the foundation of the church. They had their day and no longer exist.

Their functions were meant only for the foundation of the church until the Bible was written, and then these gifts disappeared.

1. Let’s look first at the Apostles. What is an apostle?

There has been a lot of misunderstanding about the Apostles. So let’s look at their ministry and see if we can clarify some points. I believe there were several things that made an Apostle very unique:

a. FIRST, AN APOSTLE HAD TO HAVE PERSONALLY SEEN THE RESURRECTION. He had to be a witness of the resurrected Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9:1, when Paul is defending his apostleship, he says, “Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” Also in I Corinthians 15, when he gives a list of people who had seen the Lord in His resurrected body, Paul says in verse 8, “And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle.” A man could not be an apostle unless he could attest that he had personally witnessed the resurrected Christ.

b. SECOND, ONLY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST CAN PERSONALLY AND DIRECTLY APPOINT AN APOSTLE.

The Lord Jesus Christ created the office when He called the twelve. We read in Galatians 1:1. Turn there, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead”. Paul was an apostle not “of men, neither by men”. He was not appointed by some council or group of men. He was appointed directly by Jesus Christ. Paul was appointed an apostle on the Damascus road. The risen Lord appeared to Him. It was not a vision. Paul saw the resurrected Christ with his own two eyes. We read about Paul’s commission in Acts 26:16. Paul gives the account of his appointment to King Agrippa. Look at verse 15, Paul sees the risen Christ and says “Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

So twelve were appointed during the life of Jesus and saw him in the upper room. When Judas Iscariot had betrayed Jesus, they replaced him with Mathias. And later on they added one other apostle—Paul. And that’s it. There have been none since!

c. THEY HAD A REVELATORY MINISTRY—they were the writers of the New Testament. All the writers of the New Testament were apostles or were commissioned by the apostles. The only three books of the Bible that do not bear an apostles name is Mark who was a laborer with the apostle Peter, and Luke who was Paul’s helper, and Hebrews which was probably written by Paul. So Mark and Luke are the Gospels of Peter and Paul, and Hebrews is almost certainly written by Paul.

We see this revelatory ministry in the book of Hebrews 2:3-4, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

This witness that was confirmed was the Word of God that was spoken by the apostles and confirmed by miracles of the Holy Spirit. So the Apostles received direct revelation from God. They didn’t study the New Testament - they were writing it! In Ephesians 3:5, the Apostle Paul said that the mystery of the New Testament, “which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” God’s Spirit spoke directly to these men and they verbally gave the very words of God. This was done because there wasn’t a New Testament for the early church. The apostles spoke not only authoritatively, they spoke infallibly. They’re writings were “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16). Or as 2 Peter 1:21 says “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

So in Acts 2 when the 3000 were saved at Pentecost, they were to gather to listen to the Apostles’ doctrine. The apostles were giving in messages what would later be written down for us.

d. FOURTHLY, THEY HAD THEIR MINISTRY CONFIRMED BY MIRACLES. Hebrews 2:4 tells us that God himself gave witness on their behalf “both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles”.

So this gift of the Apostles was finished with the completion of the New Testament canon. There is no apostolic succession. When James, the Apostle and brother of John was put to death by King Herod, he was not replaced. Apostles are temporary. They were given to the church to write the Word of God for us.

Application: That means the Bible is sufficient. Whoever adds or takes away from it is cursed. We have no Apostles adding to the revelation of God. It is complete. If you want to grow in Christ, all you need is this book! You need nothing else. The Bible“is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). You have all you need for “life and godliness”.

* You might ask, weren’t there other apostles? What’s the difference between an Apostle and an apostle?

The Greek word apostolov literally means ”a sent one.” 2 Corinthians 8:23 makes reference to men called apostles of the churches.

However, the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ and the “sent ones“ of the churches are two different categories. One was appointed by the Lord Himself, while the other was appointed by the church and sent out for ministry as missionaries. The church is sending out people today who are apostles, but the Apostles of Jesus Christ who were sent out personally by Him, are no longer around. They were foundational.

2. Let’s look first at the Prophets.

These aren’t the Old Testament prophets, these are the New Testament ones. The Greek word for prophet means “one who speaks forth,” These men were the preachers of the New Testament.

a. THEIR PRACTICAL MINISTRY

What the prophets did was follow up on the work already begun by the Apostles. The Apostles would move around to new areas where Christ wasn’t named and preach, establish a church, build it up, and move on. Apparently, the prophets were the ones who stayed and continued to preach, or repreach, the Apostolic doctrine to the already organized churches. Now and then they would get direct revelation, but in every instance recorded in the New Testament where direct revelation was given to a prophet, it has to do with the practical life of the church. They were for the most part preaching the doctrine that the Apostles gave them until the NT was finished.

So it seems as though the Apostles majored on theology and the prophets majored on the practical application of the theology to the local church. In many ways the Apostles were the forerunners of the evangelists, who went out and proclaimed Christ, founded churches, and won people to Him. The prophets, who went in and made practical application to the church, were the forerunners to the teaching-pastors.

b. THEIR PLACE OF IMPORTANCE

The prophets were strategic, because when the Apostles were gone, it was the ministry of the prophets that sustained the early church. However, they too were foundational and have passed away.

Conclusion: Next week we’ll look at Evangelists and the office of the Pastor-teacher. The shepherds who teach the flock. The evangelists are church planters, and the pastor is the one that stays on for years and teaches the truth.

But let me challenge you to grow and change based on the Word of God! It is sufficient and exclusive!