What is true growth? thoughts on Ephesians 4:15-16

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.

Great words from Charles Wesley

I hope these words from Charles Wesley encourage you today--

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

Man-Centered Theology

I am noticing more and more strands of bad theology throughout our Christian culture. Many times they are innocent, seemingly harmless phrases that fit right in with how we speak about our God. How we speak about our God is important. I think this is part of how we do theology, and is a part of theology itself. Theology is how we try to grasp who God is on the basis of His revelation. So, when it comes to everday life we must be careful how we speak about God. Why? Because, in the end, we always end up "doing" theology in some way.



This is on my mind because of certain songs I have heard on the radio. They are Christian songs by artists who are Christians. What I have noticed in some songs, though not all, is the man-centered theology within. Ultimately, we as fallen creatures are inherently theologians of ourselves--we, through our sin, make ourselves god. This has been the case ever since the garden of Eden. So, as we are still depraved creatures (yet regenerated), it is clear how easy it is to focus on ourselves, even in theology.

One specific phrase I heard recently in a Christian song was basically this: because of Christ, "I'm free to be me." At first thought, this seems relatively harmless. Freedom is good. God loves me. He wants me to be free. What I would argue is that yes, you are free to be you because you already are. In fact, we are free to be who we are from birth, because we were born as sinners. All we are free to do is sin. So, you are already free to be who you are before accepting and trusting Christ. Christ does not make us free to be who we are.

What this "innocent" and seemingly benign phrase leads to is a disfigured identity in Christ. We are only righteous before God because of the righteouness of Christ imputed to us. Our identity in Christ refers directly to our salvation. However, when we imply that the work of Christ has the effect of allowing us to be who we are, or a fuller identity of ourselves, we make our identity in Christ something less than salvation. We fall into a man-centered theology that makes ourselves the goal of Christ's work applied to us.

Now, I am not saying that this artist or those who listen to this certain song would affirm this misguided theology. Probably, many people would agree that keeping Christ central is all important. What I am noticing, however, is the danger of what is largely overlooked. What is overlooked is the destination of the trajectory we find ourselves on when we tease out the theology of the phrase "I'm free to be me." Some may say I am nitpicky, but I think it's important.

Thoughts?