“Faith in a Changing World” – Ephesians 4:11-16

I believe it is Benjamin Franklin that is said to have made the statement, “There are two things that can be relied on in life: death and taxes.” To those I would add a third: change.

It seems that the world is constantly changes. Sometimes, the change is for good, and sometimes it isn’t. Many times, it depends on who we ask on whether change is good or bad.

Look at the changes that have taken place in our world just since the beginning of the 1900’s. The world has gone from a primarily horse-and-buggy world into a world of jets, rockets and cars. We have gone from a world of kerosene to electric lights, and our electricity is being produced by the sun, the wind and the atom.

American culture has changed over the last century, too. Just within my lifetime, we have gone from a black-and-white world to one of technicolor. We no longer have to watch only three televisions channels; now we have multiple channels that can be viewed over any number of devices.

Our world is changing, and sometimes we resent the change. Maybe we aren’t ready for the change. Maybe we welcome the change, but want it to be more gradual.

The bottom line is that change is not necessary a bad thing, but in an ever-changing world, it becomes more important to hold fast to the things that are true and eternal. It is very important in our constantly changing world that our faith is firmly grounded in Christ.

Background

God understands this truth. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, God inspired a number of biblical passages that speak to us and warn us of holding firm to the faith through changing times. James tells us the way to stand firm in our world is to pray with a firm belief and without doubt. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that Timothy is to “[p]reach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” He wrote this to Timothy because Paul knew that would come a time when people would change—they would give up sound doctrine for things they want to hear. Paul’s final advice on the matter is: “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (cf. 2 Timothy 4:2-5).

The idea of standing firm in a changing world is also found in today’s passage. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was probably written with the intent that the letter would be passed among the churches of Asia Minor. For this reason, the letter is impersonal and does not address any specific issues of a particular church. Instead, the letter is focused on God’s work to bring the body of Christ together and how that unity of the church is to play out in our daily lives and in our world.

As we look at today’s passage, we need to keep in mind the following truth:

Central Truth: By the power and work of the Holy Spirit in us and the church, Christ enables us to stand firm in a changing world.

Christ enables us to stand by:

1. Building up His body, the church (11-13)

It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s 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.

Paul began this passage with a call to the readers to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (v.1). He further wrote, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (v. 3). The apostle then speaks to the gifts that Christ gives us by His grace.

There are two other places in the New Testament where Paul wrote about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He lists these gifts more extensively in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. In all three areas, the Bible shows us that the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit are given to all believers in order to build up the church. The 1 Corinthians passage refers to the way a body is made up of many parts, each having a purpose to make the total body function properly.

Here, Paul only mentioned a few of the spiritual gifts, two of which are probably no longer applicable in our world. To be an apostle, a person had to have seen the risen Christ and been commissioned to share the Gospel with others. The role of the prophet was to impart a new revelation from God. The generation that saw the risen Christ died out long ago, and the need for the prophet probably ended when the New Testament was finally finished.

Still, there are needs for evangelists and pastors and teachers. The first three positions—apostles, prophets and evangelists—were people used by God to strengthen the church over an area, while the pastor and teacher were restricted to a local church. Think of the difference between evangelists and pastors today. Evangelists travel from church to church to preach in revivals, while pastors are focused on the church to which they have been called.

Regardless of how we come to understand the roles of the apostle, prophet, evangelist and pastor and teacher, the reason Christ gifted these positions was to “prepare God’s people for works of service.” The reason God brings us together as a church is so that we can grow in our knowledge and awareness of God. We are to grow in Him, and the reason we grow in Him is so that we can be better equipped by Him to minister to our world—the works of service. We are also called to minister to and serve one another.

The reason we minister to our world and to each other is so that grow closer together in Christ until we reach a unity and maturity in Him. In Jesus’ prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus prayed for us, for those who would come to Him through the preaching of the message. Regarding us, Jesus asked the Father, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (John 17:23).

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote about the ministry of reconciliation that God was working in us through Christ and that He had called us to that same ministry of reconciliation. Part of the reconciliation is in bringing unity to the body of Christ. In this unity is our strength and our testimony.

The unity does not mean that we have to agree on every little thing. We can like different kinds of music, different kinds of foods, even different translations of the Bible. It does mean that we are united in our commitment to Christ and to one another. And our unity brings us into a growing awareness and knowledge of Christ, or, as Paul writes, we are “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Being strong in our relationship with one another, building up the body of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, having the fullness of Christ within us and in our church will enable us to navigate the changes in our world with assurance, peace and joy.

2. Enabling us to grow up in Him (14-15)

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 men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

It was the day before Melissa’s fifth birthday celebration. I was lying down, with Mel laying on my chest. I told her she shouldn’t have a fifth birthday, to just stay a four-year-old. For some reason, she thought my idea was a bad one. While I enjoyed my little four-year-old, I also enjoyed watching her, Laura and Stephen grow into the adults they are now. I loved every phase of their growth, but I’m grateful I have three adult children making their way in the world.

That’s the way we want with our children. We want to see them grow out of the infant stage and continually mature and grow. That’s why Jesus is at work in us through His Spirit, bringing us into the fullness of Christ. It is only as we grow in Him that we are able to stand firm in our faith in a changing world.

Have you ever been around a person who seemed to agree with the most recent thing they’ve heard or seen? Only a few days ago, they believed something different, perhaps the complete opposite of what they now believe. And all because it was the most recent thing they heard.

Jesus wants us to become united in Him and to attain the whole measure of His fullness in order that we can stand up to the winds and waves of change that sweep through our world. Paul presents two images that speak to us about the treachery of infant thinking when it comes to matters of faith.

The first image is of a ship without a rudder. The rudder is used to steer a ship on an even course. Without the rudder, the ship follows the waves that act upon it, inevitably leading the ship to crash upon the rocks. The second image is that of something that is easily tossed by the wind. Growing up in El Paso, I immediately think of tumble weeds. The weeds are light and easily tossed by the wind, rolling along without providing any resistance.

For the believer who has not grown spiritually, these people can easily fall sway to someone who comes along with a warm smile, a soothing voice and a conviction in their voice. The slick politician or the wolf in sheep’s clothing that Jesus warns us of in the Sermon on the Mount is someone like this. Such people are capable of destroying a human life or a society.

The way we counter such cunning and craftiness is to be firmly grounded in the Truth that is Jesus Christ. Jesus told us in John 8:31-32: “If you hold to My teachings, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” In John 14:8, Jesus tells us He is the truth. If we know Jesus, we know the truth. Being grounded in this truth, we need not fear the challenges and changes that come our way. We are able to hear new ideas, and, if the ideas are also grounded in the truth, then we are able to grow in our faith. If the ideas are not grounded in truth, then we can see through the fallacy and reject the idea.

The life of truth must also be a life grounded in the love Jesus calls us to live. The love Paul wrote of is the love that was shown in John 3:16. It is the love that Jesus commanded in John 13:34-35. It is the love that Jesus declared to be the greatest commandment, and it is a love that is demonstrated in the way we love one another. The love Paul wrote of in this passage is defined by the apostle in 1 Corinthians 13. It is an unselfish acting out of service and surrender, wanting the best for everyone.

It is important that the truth and love be joined in equal measures. Speaking truth can come across as arrogant or mean-spirited and judgmental if it is not coupled with love. Love that is not joined with truth can come across as wishy-washy and non-confrontational. While no one should welcome conflict, there are times when truth must require us to stand firm. When we stand firm, it must be in love and faith in the One who is the Truth.

In so doing, the Bible tells us also allows us to grow in Christ. As we allow our faith to be tested, as we stand firm in that faith with truth and love, we are reaffirmed in Christ and gain greater insight into what it means to be a follower of Christ.

3. Unifies us in love (16)

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 summary of what Paul has been saying is in this verse. As Christ works in us, He is bringing us closer together, as individuals and as a church. In the concept of the church, the idea that is presented is a body that is growing and changing, just as a human body changes as it grows. Looking at pictures of ourselves as babies and children and then seeing ourselves in the various stages of our growth, we can see how we have changed but have also remained the same.

The growth the Bible talks about here is one that reaches its fullness as each person walks in obedience to the Savior’s calling. The effectiveness of the body is fulfilled only as we allow the heart of our church—the love that comes from God—work in unison with the head of our church—the head being Jesus Himself. When we walk and speak and live according to the Son’s will, we grow in Him, able to deal with changes, adapting where we need to adapt, resisting where we need to resist.

In so doing, we become a unified body of believers, united in Christ and under His lordship.

Conclusion

No matter where we live or what we do, we will experience change. The quill gave way to the fountain pen, and the fountain pen gave way to the typewriter, which in turn gave way to the word processor computer. Today, we communicate not with paper and ink but in electronic pulses.

Not that change is necessarily bad. Would you want to go back to the days when we read by kerosene lanterns, when we had to hitch up the team to go to town, when we had to endure surgery without the help of anesthesia? While I enjoyed bell bottom jeans, I don’t want to go back to the styles of the 70’s.

Change can be beneficial. But change for the sake of change is not what God calls us to do. The way to stand firm in our faith in a changing world is to rely on Christ to work in us and through us. Walking in truth and love, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, each part doing its work, we can not only live in a constantly changing world, we can thrive.

Our message is alive because the Christ we serve is the same yesterday, today and forever. Walk in that faith and that assurance, and you can face a changing world.