This past summer, I helped teach about the church to an adult class. The following is an excerpt from a lesson in which we thought about the importance of centering our lives around the local church. Part of why we want to do this is for our growth and the growth of others. Read Ephesians 4:15-16 before reading on.
In the world today, and consequently in church, we have a skewed understanding of success. Success in the world is defined by power, money, reputation, your retirement plan, or who your friends are. Or, it is coming to terms with yourself, finding peace in your life, and calling that successful. It asks the question, “what will benefit me the most?” “What will make me king of my life, or give me control of my circumstances?” The answer to these type questions bring about “success” in the world’s eyes. Even in the church today, success is sometimes defined by outward effects. The program that brings the most people in must be successful. This other program is not working because we are not gaining numbers like we want, so we should look for another. The world’s understanding of success, I think, has affected the church’s understanding of success. And, consequently, this has an effect on our understanding of growth. If we are having “success” then we must be growing. If we are growing, then we must be successful.
However, I would argue that we should detach many of the cultural understandings of success and growth and look at what growth really means according to Scripture. And I think we get a glimpse of that in this passage. Why did Christ give pastors (and others) to the church? According to this passage, they are for our sake, the body. So that we will be built up, unified in the faith and in our knowledge of Christ, and grow into a “mature man”, so to speak. This maturity has as its goal the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (v. 13). To be mature is to be like Christ. Furthermore, the purpose of this growth is so that we may not be fooled by erroneous doctrine coming from “deceitful schemes” (v. 14).
Instead, while “speaking the truth in love”, we are to grow up into Christ. Verses 15-16 are important for our understanding of what true growth means and what it looks like. According to v. 15, we are to grow up into Christ, the head of the body. Paul is employing body imagery here and providing a picture of physical growth to teach the truth of spiritual growth. True growth is always related to Christ. We do not grow, as individuals or as a church, without Christ being at the center of it. Christ is our head—supreme Lord over all—and we are his body. How does the body grow, then? How do we grow up? Look at verse 16. The body is connected to Christ, and from him (from Christ) it is held together by joints (members of the body) who are equipped with gifts, so that when “each part is working properly”, the body grows and builds itself up in love. We are connected to Christ and to each other and are to be using our gifts to further the growth of others, and in specific this local church body. Furthermore, we do not make the body grow, but only God from whom all our gifts are given (Col. 2:19; James 1:17). True growth, then, is not numbers, money, or any worldly view of success, but growing up into Christ by ministering to one another with our gifts for their growth in dependence on God to cause growth to happen.
We must think about how our church is viewing growth and success. It is vital to its life.
