now once again let us turn to
the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians the fourth chapter and this evening
we'll read together verses 15 and 16 epistle of Paul to the
Ephesians chapter 4 and reading verses 15 and 16 but speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things which is the head, even Christ,
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. last time we gathered together
we spoke on the previous two verses and in verse 14 it tells
us then that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and
fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine and these verses
really continue that to direct us to show that we all must become
little children in the things of God Just as we are naturally
born a little child, a babe, and we grow naturally, and so
it is in our spiritual lives. There is a spiritual growth. There is not a staying the same
size, naturally, and the same is true spiritually. There is
a growth. Remember, therefore, we must
all come down to a little child and then grow, spiritually. These
verses really give us some view of the growth and the importance
of it. And so the apostle says, but
speaking the truth in love. Again, love is so vital to join
the people of God together, the church of God together. And here
we have this statement, but speaking the truth in love. There should
be then that edifying one toward another. The next verse ends
with edifying of itself in love. It is needful that there is that
edifying one to another. And we read this, the third chapter
in the first epistle of John, because it speaks a little about
that. And it tells us in verse 18,
my little children, that it's not love in word, neither in
tongue, but in deed and in truth. And hereby we know that we are
of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if
our heart condemn us, God is great in our heart, and knoweth
all things." So the statement here is, let us not love in word
only, but in deed and in truth. And this 15th verse speaks to
us about speaking the truth in love. We are blessed with the
truth of God in the word of God. And that sets before us everything
really that you and I need to know for our natural life and
more importantly for our spiritual life. And that truth must direct
us to none less than the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth
and the way. So we're thankful to know that.
And there is, therefore, this truth is growing in this truth.
But it has to be in this right way, in love. How important it
is that as we desire to know Christ's love toward us, and
respond with our love to Christ, and how there is that growing
in the greater knowledge of truth as we know more of the Saviour,
so there should be that growth in love, one toward another. The Apostle says, but speaking
the truth in love may grow up into him in all things." Grow
up into him. That means grow with a greater
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is a great,
wonderful privilege to be found growing like that and to understand
more deeply the great love of Christ toward us, and the great
love that Christ had in coming into this world to die for us,
to take away our sins, and how that should result in our hearts
being warmed to the Saviour and love to Him. And so there is
then this spiritual growth We do pray that we may grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It's
a good prayer. It's a right prayer. But do we
follow it up with a concern and the evidence of that growth,
the evidence of a greater knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ, that really means a greater communion And that means a greater
union and to know more of the blessed love of the Saviour.
And so may grow up into Him, the blessed Saviour in all things,
which is the Head. Well, the Saviour is of course
the Head of the Church. And how good it is when we are
directed to realise that Jesus is our head. He rules and reigns
in our life. He is to us the King of Kings
and Lord of Lords and so he is the head which is the head as
he says even Christ. There's no doubt about it and
how valuable it is if the Lord grants us this increase in the
truth and increase in love to him and also to the whole Church
of God, because it follows on in this 16th verse to tell us,
from whom the whole body, as every member of the Church of
God, wherever they may be, 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. The whole church is made up of
individuals. And we're all different. And
we all have a part to play in this world in which we live.
We are called upon to play our part. And it speaks here of the
whole body fitly joined together. And if we think of a natural
body, a natural body is fitly joined together, isn't it? In
a normal course of events we have arms and legs and hands
and feet and a head and a body and everything fits together
perfectly. We don't have one big leg and
one small leg. We don't have one big arm and
one small arm. They're all joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplies. And so this truth
and love produce this effect in the whole body. So there should
be a concern that all of us grow spiritually and we shouldn't
expect one to be out of joint as it were and not part of this
body. We should be concerned that we
are all fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplies according to the effect you are working. It is
a great blessing when you and I recognize the effectual work
of God in our hearts, because that effectual work of God has
a good effect, and it produces love to the brethren, it produces
unity, it produces that which is Christ-like. It's not something
which separates. You see, the church of God is
separated by the devil. The devil, of course, produces
There are very many ways to do that, pride and envy and such,
those things separate. We should be concerned not to
allow that kind of thing to come in to separate, but we should
desire, speaking the truth, in love may grow, spiritual growth,
so that we all come to this measure of every part, making increase
in the body, the whole body then grows together, unto the edifying
of itself in love. And this spiritual growth is
edifying. And it's good if it's edifying
one to another as we may speak of those things which God has
granted to us, those spiritual rejoicings, those spiritual evidences
which direct us to the love of Christ. And how edifying it is
when the church unites together in this wonderful spirit of love. Love indeed is the golden chain
that binds. It binds together. And we should
always be desiring and seeking that we may know more of it.
So here we have these words then. And it really finishes these
verses, the verses that we've been speaking about, about the
body of Christ. And of course, as we have said
before, there is only one body. different denominations, different
churches, different nationalities, different languages, but only
one church, only one body, and may we all be found part of that
one body. But speaking the truth in love,
may grow up unto him in all things which is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted
by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto
the edifying of itself in love. Amen.