BIBLE FELLOWSHIP TEACHING PLANS BELONG: IT TAKES MATURITY (EPH. 4:12-16)
IT TAKES MATURITY CALVARY TEACHING PLAN PREPARATION > Spend the week reading through and studying Ephesians 4:12-16. Consult the commentary provided and any additional study tools (such as a concordance or Bible dictionary) to enhance your preparation. > Determine which discussion points and questions will work best with your group. > Pray for our pastor and our church, the upcoming group meeting, your teaching, your group members, and their receptivity to the study. HIGHLIGHTS BIBLICAL EMPHASIS: Paul transitioned his thoughts from humility and generosity to unity and diversity. Paul s next instruction to the congregation in Ephesus was to pay the price in order to demonstrate personal spiritual maturity. TEACHING AIM: The call to follow Christ comes with the call to grow in Him. A church cannot be healthy unless its members are maturing. MEMORIZE: But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head Christ. Ephesians 4:15 2 BELONG Calvary
INTRODUCTION As your group time begins, use this section to help get the conversation going. 1 What does it mean to be mature in different areas physically, emotionally, mentally? 2 What does it mean to be spiritually mature? What distinguishes spiritual maturity from maturity in other areas? 3 What are some habits, beliefs, or practices that indicate a person is spiritually mature? The word maturity means to be fully developed. It indicates progression. Someone is physically mature when he or she reaches adulthood. Mental and emotional maturity do not necessarily coincide with physical maturity. Everyone reaches a level of maturity at different times. More important than physical, mental, or emotional maturity is spiritual maturity. When we talk about our spiritual maturity and health, we are referring to the degree to which your life conforms to the life of Christ. Followers of Christ realize this is a goal they will never reach in this life, but they continue to strive toward it. Having already touched on what it means to be humble and what it means to seek unity while appreciating variety, Paul moved to discuss Christian maturity. To be a good church member is to be a maturing follower of Christ. 3 BELONG Calvary
UNDERSTANDING Unpack the biblical text to discover what Scripture says or means about a particular topic. > Have a volunteer read Ephesians 4:12-16. According to the end of verse 12, what is the goal of pastoral leadership? Why is the maturity of a congregation a marker of success in pastoral ministry? What are some ways we can measure the health of a congregation as a whole? (Review and discuss the sidebar Measure #3 with your group.) Leaders labor for the training of the saints in the work of ministry. The ultimate goal of that training is to build up the body of Christ (v. 12). To build up does not mean growing in size, but growing in depth. Leaders in the church should wish to see people be mature in Jesus Christ. We all (v. 13) means that this is not just dependent upon leaders, but upon every follower of Christ to grow in the maturity and devotion to Christ. We reach toward the goal together and strain toward it with laser-like focus to the upward call of Christ. According to Paul, what does it mean to become spiritually mature? What does Paul mean when he refers to the knowledge of God s Son (v. 13)? What does he not mean? Measure #3: Am I Taking My Next Step of Spiritual Maturity? Bible-reader I regularly engage with God s Word Word-doer I am growing in my obedience to God Self-denier I am increasingly turning away from my sinful desires Self-giver I habitually serve God by serving others Faith-shower I am looking for ways to display my faith in action God-seeker Seeking after God is an increasing priority in my life Christ-bearer I am unashamed of my faith and the life I am called to in Christ God-lover My love for God and others is increasing regularly 4 BELONG Calvary
Most Christians think about maturity in terms of activity (i.e. they go to church, give, participate). While these things do tell us something about maturity, what is a better way to view Christian growth and maturity? Spiritual maturity does mean knowing things about God and checking off a list of things you are supposed to do. It means knowing God on an increasingly deeper level. We grow in maturity after we have been reconciled to God in Christ. We know His Word and apply it to our lives. We allow the thoughts of Christ to determine our actions. We seek the active presence of Jesus in our lives. These practices, not participation in some kind of religious activity, show that we are coming into spiritual maturity. This is what it means to grow into a mature man with stature because our maturity is measured by Christ s fullness (v. 13), not the fullness of our calendars. How does spiritual maturity affect our ability to make moral choices that honor God? How must we test these choices? Read 1 John 2:3-6. What litmus test for moral maturity did John put forward? Moral maturity means living the life Christ lived and doing the things Christ did. Our moral maturity is marked by the degree to which our lives align with the teaching of the Bible. We do not obey in a legalistic way in order to be accepted, but we obey because of a deep and abiding love for Christ born through the continual submission to His will as revealed in Scripture. Obeying is not enough if obedience is not connected to a deepening relationship with the giver of the commands. 5 BELONG Calvary
Re-read verses 14-15. What progression do we see in these verses of Christian maturity? Why must growing from spiritual infancy to mature adulthood always be accompanied by an increased understanding in the teaching of God s Word? What is the difference in being able to win a game of Bible trivia versus being able to rightly handle the Word of God? How do we maintain balanced Christlike love as we mature in the knowledge of God without becoming puffed up with knowledge (1 Cor. 8:1)? Growing in spiritual maturity means growing in doctrinal maturity. Knowing theology may seem cold and abstract, but at the core doctrinal belief in the church is always immensely practical. Knowing the truth keeps us from being tossed about like the man Paul described in verse 14. True growth means growth in doctrinal understanding and purity, but not at the cost of love. We must remember that Jesus Christ is the most fully mature man who has ever lived; He is full of truth and love. To be mature means to grow in both knowledge and love. When this happens in a church, we function like a properly working body (v. 16). What is the end result of building up the body that grows in maturity together? How are we doing as a church here at Calvary in reaching this goal? Every member of the body of Christ contributes to the growth and maturity of the church as a whole. As we get to know Christ and His truth and live out that truth in loving ways, we 6 BELONG Calvary
become unified in faith and purpose; we mature together as we build up one other. APPLICATION Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives. 1 How are you growing into maturity? What is God teaching you lately? 2 Why is connecting in to community a mark of Christian maturity? Can a person be mature without being involved in community? Explain. 3 Christian maturity always express itself in bold and confident gospel sharing to the world. What is one step you need to take toward this mark of maturity? P R A Y Pray that Calvary would be a congregation that grows. Pray that we would be known as a body of disciples who make disciples and share our faith boldly. Ask that God would give us an appetite for His Word and a devotion to seeking His Spirit as we seek to grow in Christian maturity. 7 BELONG Calvary
COMMENTARY EPHESIANS 4:12-16 4:12. It is not the task of these gifted people to do all the work of the ministry. Their task is to prepare God s people for works of service. When believers are equipped and people accept the adventure of ministering to others, then the whole body is built up, matured, strengthened, and flourishes. 4:13. Diverse gifts create and build up one body in unity. This unity is in faith and knowledge of Christ. Christ does not try to build up superstars in his kingdom with superior faith or superior knowledge. He tries to build up a church unified in its faith and knowledge, each member being built up to maturity. All are to reach the fullness of Christ. The church s goal is that each member and thus the entire church will show to the world all the attributes and qualities of Christ. Then the church will truly be the one body of Christ. 4:14-16. The result of these spiritually gifted people s equipping the saints is that believers are not to be like children, easily persuaded and confused, jumping from one opinion or belief to the next, like waves on the sea being driven by gusting winds of false teaching. Rather, the believers are to speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love is a mark of maturity, which will enable us to grow up spiritually. Immature people often fall into one of two opposite errors. They speak the truth, but without love, or they love without speaking the truth. When we do the first, we often brutalize others, pounding them with truth but doing it in an unloving way. When we do the second, we don t tell others the truth, thinking that by shielding them from the truth we are sparing them from pain. We are not, however. All we are doing is delaying their maturation. To share the truth with our fellow believers is a mark of maturity, but to do it with love, with understanding, with compassion. From Christ the whole body is gifted, and as each one uses his gift for the benefit of others, the whole body matures. We must recognize that we belong to one another, we need one another, no matter how insignificant we think our 8 BELONG Calvary
COMMENTARY contribution is. There are no little people in the kingdom of God, as Francis Shaeffer used to say, and there are no little jobs. Just as a physical body needs red corpuscles and livers more than it needs a handsome face or beautiful hair, so we all belong; we are all necessary. We all can contribute, and when we do, we all grow to maturity in Christ. 4:14. The Ephesian church, as most of the churches Paul wrote, faced teachers with opposing viewpoints. They divided the church body into factions, each opposing the others. Their presence required the type of spiritual maturity and church unity Paul had described. Without such unity the church would act like a group of babies, each crying out because of his own pains and needs, each inconsistently saying one thing and then another, each at the mercy of cunning, deceitful teachers. To avoid infantile behavior, the church must mature into unity of the faith and of knowledge of Christ. 4:15. Such maturity involves teaching the truth in love. False teachers showed no love or care for the members; they simply wanted to get their own way. Mature believers search for the truth as a united body, loving and caring for the needs of each member. Such loving, caring search for truth allows them to grow as members of the body whose head is Christ, for Christ is the truth. 4:16. The head allows each part of the body to mature and grow, not concentrating on special knowledge and growth for a favored few. Each of the parts of the body is needed to hold the whole body together in unity. The body is truly a maturing, loving body only as each part is encouraged to grow and do its part of the work. 9 BELONG Calvary