Ephesians 4:11-16

Ephesians 4:11-16 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. 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. 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.

1 Corinthians 1:10-12 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

Each one of us has been given grace as Christ has apportioned it. (Ephesians 4:8) Christ gave his gift of life to each person who would believe on him as Lord and Savior. This measure of grace is given to us for his glory, and we are given a place in the body of Christ to function for the glory of God. There are many different members in the body of Christ, and there are many different roles or ministries. All roles, all positions, are for the purpose of attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. As members of Christ's body, we should be working together in unity, revealing who Jesus is to the world. When we fight and devour each other, we become like the world, and such behavior obfuscates who Christ is in us. Far too often Christians accentuate the differences in their beliefs rather than their oneness and their agreement on the basic tenets of our faith. This human tendency also affected the first church. A lack of cohesion caused people to say, "I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ." This division has its seed from the beginning of time when the serpent asked, "Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'" This attitude is the basic ingredient of SIN. It also can be known as SELF or SELF-WILL.

As Christians, we need the body of Christ to mature. We need apostles, ministers, teachers, and others in the body for our survival. People who believe they can go it alone or limit themselves to a certain prescribed doctrine are deceiving themselves. The corporate body of Christ has many members and different perspectives, but we all need each other. The eye does not have the same perspective as the hand, yet they do the work of the church together. If we fail to realize this, we will be tossed back and forth by our whims of doctrine and lose our effectiveness as a functioning body. We will only seek out the eye's perspective or the hand's viewpoint. We will go to the TV or the internet to affirm our perspective. (In the media church, for example, we often find the prosperity gospel, which has value, but it is not the only perspective of the body of Christ.) Notice, Paul fought this attitude of saying we are of one person's doctrine or idea: we will only listen to Apollos and his followers, or Cephas and his followers. When we limit our beliefs, we accentuate some scriptures and de-emphasize others. We follow the highlighted parts of the Bible and ignore other parts. That is why in our daily breakfasts I serve every scripture as it comes along. Of course, I might skew the scripture one way or the other depending on my perspective, but at least we study the whole counsel of God, not just part of it.

What is speaking the truth in love? These few words probably have caused as many problems as any other words in the Bible. Speaking the truth usually means to us to tell it as it is, or to explain why someone else is wrong. Of course, we supposedly perform these acts in love. I wonder about the love part when the speaking of truth is done with SELF in power and EGO in control of the tongue. I am sure many splits in the body of Christ have started this way. Sadly, so-called speaking truth in love has destroyed many people. This syndrome of wanting others to know that we possess the truth is a deadly, intoxicating wine. We are all susceptible to its influence. Under its spell, we will dance to its delirium. I cannot tell you what is absolute truth other than Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who died and rose again for my sins and called me to himself, but I can tell you the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If we exemplify these attributes, we will probably speak the truth in Christ's love. We will probably want unity with our brethren more than we will want to enforce our perspective, and we will definitely desire the best for the church of God. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)