(Show Video—Stethoscope)
Last time, we looked to Paul’s prayer here and noted that he asks for God’s power to work in the lives of the Ephesian believers so that they might enter into Christ-likeness.
We pointed out how Christ-likeness is something for us to enter into - to receive, rather than achieve. As Paul makes clear in verse 19, Christ-likeness is part of the “fullness” that God is working to bring into our daily lives. Christ-likeness is an eternal reality for every true child of God that we must learn to allow the Spirit to bring us into with respect to our daily experience.
“For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” - Colossians 2:9-10 (NLT)
We are called to allow the newness that is now within us through the presence of the Holy Spirit to be fleshed out in our daily lives.
“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” - Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB)
In verses 16-17a, Paul speaks about how God’s power works to bring us into the experience of individual Christ-likeness. That’s what we considered last time.
We noticed that the way God works to bring us into Christ-likeness is through teaching us to live our lives from the “inside out” - “strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” - and that the result is that we will live a life where Christ can be “at home in our hearts” (v. 17a), that is, there will be nothing in our lives that will make our Savior uncomfortable.
Now today, we will look to verses 17b through 19, and see how God’s power can work not only to enable us to experience in our daily lives individually, but to bring us to an experience of Christ-likeness collectively, as a body of believers. (READ TEXT)
2. Power to walk in corporate Christ-likeness - vs. 17-19
The church is the body of Christ. As such, we as a congregation are to portray Christ to the world. As we learn how to work together, we can, as a congregation, walk in Christ-likeness. As we seek to allow the power of God to change us as we need to be changed, we can truly be Christ at work in our world for God’s glory.
When God’s power is at work in the lives of individual believers, then His power will be at work in the corporate body of believers.
How does God work to bring about corporate Christ-likeness in a local body of believers? God’s power can . . .
A. Enable us to envision a Christ-like church - vs. 17b-18
The word translated “grasp” in the NIV is translated “comprehend” in the NASB, and “understand” in the NLT. The idea here is that Paul prayed first of all for them to be able to understand that which God has in mind for them to experience together as a body of believers - the love of Christ.
Jesus described His vision for His church in John 13:34-35, when He said:
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” - John 13:34-35 (NIV)
Our Lord’s vision for His church is that we love each other as he loves us and that the way we treated each other would not only come to identify us as His followers, but would also draw others to Him, too.
That which our Lord envisioned was obviously experienced by the early church, as we read about their shared life in the book of Acts:
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)
“And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.” - Acts 4:32-33 (NASB)
Can you envision church being like that? Too often, our idea of what church is like falls far short of what God says it can be.
I heard about a pastor who became very disturbed by the lack of attention his congregation was giving to his sermons. To try to remedy the problem he began providing sermon note handouts when he preached. The following week, the pastor noticed one man in the crowd writing feverishly while he spoke. After the service, he passed by where that man was seated and noticed that he had left the sermon notes on the pew. He leaned forward to see the extensive notes of this faithful member. What he found was a page full of notes which read, “Don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep…”
Another story I once heard was about how, during church service, a man heaved a heavy sigh and fell over dead. An usher quickly called an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived they quietly did their job while the service droned on. When the emergency team left, the usher overheard the medic talking on the ambulance radio: “We picked up six people before we got the right one.”
Calvin Miller tells about how he once talked with a new Christian about the glory of heaven. The man asked, “What are we going to do all day long for eternity?” Dr. Miller said, “We’ll praise the Lord.” The new disciple responded, “Forever - for ten million years - we’re going to stand around and praise the Lord?” “Yes,” was the reply. The man then asked, “Couldn’t we just stop now and then and mess around a while?”
The sad fact is that if you multiply the typical church service by eternity and you’ve created a nightmare for many people, because what too many churches experience together falls so short of what God has in mind for us.
Sadly, these stories illustrate what most people think of when they think of church today. If Christians have a hard time envisioning church as a life-transforming fellowship, filled with the life of Christ, how do we expect a lost and dying world to take us seriously?
The fact is, however, that when we rely on God’s power, He can change our attitude and understanding concerning what the church can be - what our church can be. By God’s power, we can envision our church becoming the kind of fellowship where one can truly experience the width, length, height, and depth of Christ’s love.
The American artist, James Whistler, was never known for his modesty. On one occasion, he was advised that a shipment of blank canvases had been lost in the mail. When the authorities asked him if the canvases were of any great value, Whistler replied, “No, not yet.”
Oh, that we might see the potential for our church by the power of God! We know we haven’t reached perfection, but by God’s grace, we’re seeking to head in that direction! May we each turn to God and allow Him to enable us to envision our church as being an exciting, loving, Christ-like fellowship! It can happen, if we will open our hearts to the power of God, and allow Him to plant that kind of vision in our hearts.
But not only can God’s power enable us to envision a Christ-like church, God’s power can . . .
B. Enable us to experience a Christ-like church - v. 19
While the knowledge mentioned in verse 18 speaks of envisioning, the knowledge mentioned of in verse 19 speaks of experiencing. The same power of God which plants a dream in our hearts of being a loving, Christ-like fellowship of believers, can work through us to make that dream a reality.
But the degree to which we experience God’s ideal for us as a church will be determined by the degree of commitment on the part of each member to see that dream realized.
“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.” - Ephesians 4:16 (NLT)
Cooperation in the church is imperative. We must all work together just as the members of our physical bodies must cooperate with one another.
Did you know that just to keep your balance while standing still, you need to work about 300 muscles? If that much effort is needed to “stand still,” how much more cooperation is needed to “move forward!”
Each of us has a role to play in seeing our congregation become the Christ-like fellowship God says we can be! But how do we do our part?
“As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” - John 13:34-35 (NIV)
How do we love each other as Jesus loved us? Jesus said . . .
“Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” - John 15:12-13 (NLT)
How do we lay our lives down for one another? Paul tells us . . .
“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” - Philippians 2:1-5 (NLT)
Notice that Paul’s questions here are rhetorical. In other words, the
answer to each question is “yes.” He is stating what is true of us in our heart of hearts by virtue of the new birth. We are called, now, to live our lives from the “inside out” allowing the newness that dwells within us (2 Corinthians 5:17) to be fleshed out in our daily lives. And if the newness of Christ that dwells within us is being fleshed out in our daily lives, it will be seen in how we relate to one another as believers within the fellowship of the church.
Basically, to lay our lives down for others, to relate to others in a Christ-like manner, will involve our observing the GOLDEN RULE:
“Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them.” - Matthew 7:12 (The Message)
What do we want others to do for us?
A. We want others to consider us.
B. We want others to encourage us.
C. We want others to appreciate us.
D. We want others to forgive us.
I like the way the GOLDEN RULE is expressed in The Message, when it says “take the initiative.” That is what is going to be required of us if our church is going to be the Christ-like congregation that God calls us to be. As Paul said in Ephesians 4:16, “each part must do its work” if our church is going to be a Christ-like congregation.
That means that we must each allow God to show us how to allow the newness within us to be expressed through us to others within our church family. That means we must each take the initiative to consider how we want to be treated by others and treat others that way, no matter how they might treat us.
In the football locker room of West Point there is a sign which simply reads: “Do not let what you cannot do, interfere with what you can do.”
You cannot control how others will act toward you, but you can control how you act toward others. Let’s each commit to allow the Christ who is within us live his life through us and express that Christ-like life in the way we relate to one another. Then, by the power of the person present within us, we can not only envision our church being a Christ-like fellowship, but we will be on the road to experiencing our church family as a Christ-like congregation.
(Video - Start a Fire)
