Unity and Maturity

Ephesians 4:7-16

⁷ However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. ⁸ That is why the Scriptures say,

“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”

⁹ Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. ¹⁰ And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Paul has just been talking about unity. Jesus has called us to be united as one body under Himself, regardless of our background or what church we attend. I loved it when David Pawson, a popular Christian speaker, described himself as ‘methybaptican’ – in other words, having no denominational label.

However, Paul goes on to say that unity doesn’t mean homogeneity. Jesus gave us different gifts, and different roles in the church. He also gave some people as gifts TO the church – the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given to the rest of us to “equip us to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ” ( v11-12).

God thought of everything! He made us all different, with different gifts that fit together perfectly so that each person’s job builds others up, and he gave some people as special gifts to equip us all for this work, with the aim of achieving maturity in Christ. It reminds me of symbiotic relationships in nature (like the clownfish and sea anemone), where two animals or plants are interdependent, and both get advantages from the other, which allows them both to live better, grow and mature.

So, what does maturity in the Lord look like? “Speaking the truth in love” and “growing more and more like Christ”, “so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Bring it on!

Lord, thank you that you want unity, but not homogeneity. Thank you for your gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, who help to equip all of us to grow in maturity and love. Please help each of us to fulfil the role you’ve given us, to build others up. Help us to grow in maturity and love. Amen

Written by Megan Cornell