ALL MEMBERS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST ARE GROWING IN ALL THINGS INTO CHRIST AS THE HEAD
By Pastor Paulus Budiono
Johor, Sunday, August 26, 2018
Shalom,
A child and a mature man respond to God’s kindness differently. When children get whatever they want, they will consider that God is kind to them; whereas, a mature man acknowledges God’s kindness when he realizes that he has obtained the gift of salvation that frees him from eternal death as the wage of sins. Therefore, our adoration towards God should not be as superficial as a child’s; instead, let’s submit to the chastisement of the word of God that will bring us to the spiritual maturity, to equip us to face the wicked world. Beware of Satan and his accomplices who will use winds of perverted doctrines to extinguish the faith of youngsters at their productive age. I learn that the government of some countries have forbidden spiritual events to take place publicly; therefore, let’s make the best use of the chance that we still have from Him to ponder on the word of God because there will come a time when we are not able to worship Him freely.
At the time of Moses, Pharaoh gave an instruction to murder all the Israelites’ boys but spare the baby girls (Exodus 1:16) because when a girl got married, she would usually follow her husband’s faith; so, when her husband was an Egyptian, she would surely lose her faith to God. Now instead of murdering the children of God physically, Satan will brainwash them to kill their faith to God, their creator, using sophisticated technology, massive development of scientific inventions, and also spiritual-look-like seminars.
The Apostle Paul suggested that we not be easily perverted with various winds of doctrine that try to drown our boat of life (Ephesians 4:14). In Acts 27 we can read how the Apostle Paul, during his voyage, was facing a fierce storm that almost drowned his boat. Have we put our anchor of hope on Jesus, to enable us to arrive safely at the port of New Jerusalem (cf. Hebrews 6:19-20)?
Having given the five offices (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher), Christ wants to equip the saints for the work of ministry and for the edification of the body of Christ until we all grow to become mature men, no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine and the deceitful trickery and cunning craftiness of men (Ephesians 4:11-14).
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul admonished, “but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (vv. 15-16)
When we receive any letter that brings either good news (love letter, promotion letter, etc.) or bad news (debenture bond, speeding ticket, etc.), we’d better read it thoroughly from the beginning until the end, in order to get the whole picture of that letter. Don’t read or focus only on some parts; otherwise, we will be led to misunderstanding and wrong perception! The Bible is God’s “love letter” to man. Jesus was even willing to become man and dwelt among us (John 1:14). If we love Him, we
will not make an excuse by saying that we have no time to read His word. By reading the Bible we will be able to understand why He wrote us that “love letter”. However, the fact is that we often ignore the Bible that actually can give us freshness, peace, victory, etc., of such the world does not provide.
The Apostle Paul strictly admonished us to hold fast on to the true word of God because:
Man was created by God to be saved, sanctified and perfected before Him (Ephesians 1). Man was looking for happiness, yet he did not obtain it as he had lost the eternal salvation.
We were dead in sins, but He made us alive by the forgiveness through Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross (Ephesians 2).
Having obtained new life, we will be able to comprehend the width, length, depth and height of the love of Christ, which passes knowledge (Ephesians 3).
We don’t stay living as children (spiritually), but we are in the process of growing to be mature men who do not easily fall down into every wind of deceiving doctrine (Ephesians 4).
After being spiritually mature, we are ready to become the bride of Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom (Ephesians 5).
When we become parents, we should not hurt our children’s hearts. Children should honor their father and mother. And all of us need to mind our conduct in our social life. Those are all the criteria of a spiritually mature man who is ready to wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the dark world and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the air (Ephesians 6).
We might wonder, “Why doesn’t God subdue the wind of deceiving doctrine; whereas He is surely able to do so (cf. Matthew 8:24-27; Acts 27:24)?” The answer is: He wants us to act as a (spiritually) mature man capable of independently tackling the raging wind of deceiving doctrine. The twisted teaching can infiltrate into social media or our gadget. Only after becoming a spiritually mature man are we able to distinguish between good and bad (cf. Hebrews 5:14).
What can keep our boat of life from being carried away by the raging wind of false teaching? It is the anchor that is strongly attached to the bottom of the sea; in other words, we must put our anchor of hope behind the veil (the Most Holy Place) where Jesus, the High Priest, is present (Hebrews 6:19-20). On the contrary, when we weigh anchor, meaning that we need Jesus no more, our boat of life will be easily drifted away.
Aaron, the High Priest, was allowed to enter the Most Holy Place once a year, to offer the blood of ram for the remission of his own sins and also the Israelites’ (Hebrews 9:7); however, Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice (Hebrews 7:27b) by giving up His Spirit on the cross and the veil was torn (Matthew 27:51) then He could go through the area of perfection.
God never tells a lie and only in Him can we get protection and hope for our future (Hebrews 6:18). What is the proof? When Jesus – the Word of God that became man – was put on trial, no lies proceeded out of His mouth. It is way different from man – however great he is – will have surely ever told lies whenever he is cornered. Be cautious, the devil is the father of all liars and he was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). The Bible records how the devil has been trying to shove
men down, including Jesus – as a Man – with his lies and deceiving words. Let’s take examples on the story of Job, who by God’s permission, was tested severely, but eventually he was restored; and also Jesus who was tempted by the devil after having fasted for forty days and forty nights.
Application: By loving the word of God, we are enabled not to tell lies to our husband, wife, children and others. Let's not be Christians who only like begging for physical blessings to meet our needs. It’s the Israelites' tradition that a (mature) man and a (mature) woman, who have been engaged, will not live recklessly; instead, they will make a serious plan for their future.
How do we know whether our anchor has been deeply attached to the bottom of the sea so that our boat will not be moved away when the fierce wind comes causing the wave to strike? Pull the chain of the anchor to make sure that it is deeply attached to the bottom of the sea. Many Christians, being dissatisfied with the teaching, move to another church looking for a different teaching. Without realizing it, by doing so they make their boat drift farther and more vulnerable to the impending risk of being capsized even though it has an anchor. On the other hand, if our anchor is deeply attached to the salvation and even tied deeper to the holiness, we will surely be in secure position even when the unrelenting waves keep on striking us.
However, we must always stick on the guidance, which is holding fast on the truth in love to grow in all things (not to all directions) towards Him – Christ – as the Head (Ephesian 4:15). Unfortunately, many Christians do not focus their attention only on Christ, but on other doctrines and dogma that make their spiritual life not grow to the right direction; whereas all members of the body (feet, hands, eyes, ears, etc.) should grow towards Him – Christ – who is the Head.
The Head, where the brain is, is the center of control of all members of the body. We sometimes ignorantly replace Jesus as the Head. So, instead of Jesus who should take a control, we let our emotion control and disregard other members of the body of Christ. Consequently, the ministry grows not towards Him but as our own wish. Does the foot not need the hand, the ear not need the eye (1 Corinthians 12:14-20)? Can a pastor work by himself undermining the role of an evangelist? As an illustration: All members of the body are actually related to one another and need to work together in order to do what the person wants. For an example, the brain will order the hand to take the Bible, the eyes will see the Bible and the feet will walk towards the Bible following the leading of the eyes. If a member stops doing its task, the person will never get the wanted Bible.
Every member of the body should always be ready to do the assignment according to the talent given by Him. For example, a member of the church choir should always sing beautifully for the congregation whether they are on duty to perform or not. We have to honestly admit that we have not functioned as members of the body yet. We are still prone to easily get offended, dislike others as the result of lacking or having no unity.
Be alert, the stern wind will try to pull our hope down! For that very reason, we need to behave as a mature man, putting off the mind and words of children. As Christians, many of us are still like kids who tend to play favorites, just like the Corinthians church who caused divisions by saying “I am of Apollos, I am of Paul and of Peter (1 Corinthians 3:4). We should remember that the Lord wants to use each one of us with our different gifts to grow to the same direction that is towards Jesus as the Head of the church.
Moreover, “the whole body, joined and knit together (not independently) by what every joint supplies (the eye will never swap function as the ear), according to the effective working by which every part does its share.” So, let’s minister to Him according to the gifts we received from Him! Obviously, we should not envy others’ gifts; rather, we should work on our gifts to serve Him joyfully. Jealousy and envy are the potential factors that cause the unity and teamwork to ruin; consequently, the body will not grow healthily. If the hand wants to do the job of the foot, chaos will definitely take place.
Every member of the body has to grow and edify himself in love. No member is the purest or the perfect one of all for only God is love and there is no envy, pride and anger in Him. We must have faith, hope and love; of which the greatest is love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
Now we understand that all members of the body cannot work on their own although they have great gifts. By working together in harmony, the body of Christ will be edified perfectly according to His will until it is ready to receive Christ as the Head of His body. Amen.