The Whole Measure of the Fullness of Christ!

This morning I am reflecting on some of my favorite verses from Paul's letter to the Ephesians 4:1-7,11-16 NIV:

[1] "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. [2] Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. [3] Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. [4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called ; [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism; [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

[7] "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it."

[11] "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, [12] to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13] 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."

[14] "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. [15] 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. [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."

This past weekend we had some great teaching and imparting of truth, and these verses sum up much of what we heard, at least in my mind and heart.  To summarize quickly:

1) We are called to ONE body of Christ, by the Holy Spirit.  Paul just hammers this home, there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father!  There is no room for division if we are one.  Let us lay down our banners and denominations and embrace our oneness.

2) We are called to maturity in Christ, attaining the whole measure of fullness of Christ!  That is an unbelievable, understated sentence that we could mine for ages.  We are talking about the second person of The Trinity, the very Son of God, and we are going to attain this fullness of Christ!  The Fullness of Christ can only be found in intimate relationship with Him, and through the Power of Holy Spirit!  This is what maturity looks like - our hearts fully joined to Him.

3) Maturity in Christ Jesus then allows us to walk in Truth, in relationship which safeguards us from bad teaching, deceit, and the lies of the enemy.  As we mature, we welcome the joining of ourselves to the rest of the Body of Christ, seeing our place, purpose and destiny in Him.  We each have a part and it is in obedience to and relationship with Christ that we operate - He is our head!

These are spiritual truths that are attained through spiritual means, not knowledge for our mind!  We are called to trust our hearts, to lay down our opinions and ideas about how things are supposed to work, and allow Holy Spirit to guide us spiritually to real understanding!  We are being called to maturity, and it is Spiritual Maturity.  This is not about numbers in our particular congregation, or programs or outreaches!  This is about the ONE Body of Christ!  We do have our parts to play, but it is a small part in a much greater ONE.

God has apportioned to us the grace necessary to achieve exactly what He is planning!  He is the God of strategy and tactics, the Lord of supply and provision, the God of perfect timing!   He will accomplish exactly what He intends, and He will use each of us!  We are all equal parts of this great Body of Christ.

It is time to build each other up, to help one another to grow into the fullness of who they are!  This is not a competition, but rather a team building event!  We are called to raise up and release people into the their destiny!  We are called to join ourselves to each other to support one another in love!  Let us live our lives worthy of the calling we have received!  Let us embrace one another and together pursue the whole measure of the fullness of Christ!

Amen!