Growing to spiritual maturity together
Daily Scripture
Ephesians 4:12-16
12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we aren’t supposed to be infants any longer who can be tossed and blown around by every wind that comes from teaching with deceitful scheming and the tricks people play to deliberately mislead others. 15 Instead, by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ, 16 who is the head. The whole body grows from him, as it is joined and held together by all the supporting ligaments. The body makes itself grow in that it builds itself up with love as each one does its part.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
The apostle Paul made it crystal clear that following Christ means joining with other people making that spiritual journey. Finding deep unity with Christ and with one another challenges our human nature, so God calls us to sharing and accountability. One key way Resurrection aims to help is by supporting discipleship classes and small groups. Worship last week gave you the invitation to “deepen your knowledge of God and build relationships with your cohort this Fall!” (Click here to find ways to do that.) In these options we can help one another become spiritually mature so that nothing can knock us off course. “Personal growth and community growth work together here so that mature believers contribute to a mature church. The energy for each aspect of this is supplied by Christ.” *
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Changing the world by building God’s kingdom calls us to take our faith beyond just one weekend worship service and into creating sustained, sustaining relationships. How can you nurture spiritual maturity in yourself and others in your day-to-day life, building up the body of believers in love? “Paul sees growth as increasing in discernment and discretion, which helps believers avoid being taken in by false shortcuts to growth.” ** How can you motivate yourself and others to press on toward spiritual maturity when it isn’t easy or quick? “God’s goal,” Ephesians said, “is for us to become mature adults… measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.” The passage went on to say one key to helping each other grow is “speaking the truth in love.” Which do you find harder as you relate to others: speaking the truth at all, or doing so in love? How can taking part in spiritually healthy groups help you grow toward maturity in both of those dimensions?
Prayer
Lord God, dwell in my heart. Keep me daily growing more mature in you. Thank you for your love and grace, in my life and in the lives of others—the safe environment in which I grow best. Amen.
GPS Insights
Mike Ash
Mike Ash serves as the Director of Operations and Community Life at Resurrection's Blue Springs location.
In the gospel of John 20:19 we read the remarkable account of the resurrected Christ appearing to the disciples. The disciples were afraid and were processing everything that had happened when Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” He then showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were overjoyed. But Thomas wasn’t with them, and when they told him that they had seen the Lord, he did not believe them.
Have you ever shared something meaningful and someone didn’t believe you? It is an odd feeling, a strange realization that maybe you don’t know them as well as you thought.
The truth is, relationships are complicated and require an extraordinary amount of grace to navigate through different situations.
A few years ago, we were in a small group with five other couples. Several were newly married and some of us had little ones. It was a time of learning and growing and helping each other with babies, marriage and working through what it meant to follow Jesus. We didn’t always agree on everything, but we were determined to love each other.
John 20:26 says: “A week later the disciples and Thomas were together in the house and Jesus appeared to them again.” This time Thomas believed that Jesus was alive. One of the remarkable things about this is that the disciples didn’t kick Thomas out because he didn’t believe. He hung around for a whole week and was still considered a part of their group and a disciple even though he didn’t believe in the resurrection. I imagine it took a lot of grace for the disciples to consider him one of them even though at first he didn’t believe.
I’m so grateful to be a part of a church that acknowledges that we are all on a journey and we are not all in the same place with what we believe. As we meet in small groups and classes, serve and worship together, we learn and grow in what it means to be mature followers of Jesus. May we continue to be people who give each other grace.
For this is how they will know we are His disciples–if we love one another.
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Timothy G. Gombis, study note on Ephesians 4:16 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 369 NT.
** Ibid., study note on Ephesians 4:14.
