Ephesians 4: Growing as a group

Major Steve Dutfield reminds us we are responsible for helping each other to mature.

Key text

• Ephesians 4: 1-16

In 2008, the intriguing film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was released. Starring Brad Pitt and based on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald, the movie follows Benjamin, who was born as an old man and through his life keeps getting younger, before dying as a baby.

The film has many thought-provoking moments, particularly about life and even more so about death. Seemingly, Fitzgerald got the idea for his story from Mark Twain, who reportedly said how unfortunate it is that the best part of life is the beginning and the worst part is the end.

Pause and reflect

• Would you agree with this sentiment?

In writing to the new Christians in Ephesus and other churches in that area, Paul seems to take a different view. He suggests that life gets better as we journey through it and as we endeavour to live a life worthy of the calling we have received.

For Paul, writing from a prison cell, he must have wondered about how well his life had turned out. He had once been a zealous defender of the historic faith of his forebears, and it would seem he was making significant progress within that faith. How else would someone like Saul, as he was then known, have been able to visit and receive letters from the high priest giving him permission to take prisoners of those who were followers of the Way (see Acts 9:1 and 2)? In Philippians 3:6, Paul describes his persecution of the Church as a mark of his religious zeal.

Yet, as much of the remainder of Acts tells us, after meeting with the risen Jesus, wherever Saul’s life had been leading, he – a new man with a new name – was now on a new course.

Ephesians 4 gives a good insight into how Paul now sees his life, not as one who persecutes Christians, but as one who encourages them to keep growing in their faith. Whatever his life had been like previously, it was now to be marked out by humility, gentleness, patience and love. It seems to be clear that Paul considered these qualities to be part of the growing of Christians as they mature in faith, ultimately resulting in the unity that is clearly so important to Paul (see v13).

Pause and reflect

• Have you witnessed a growing awareness of the importance of these qualities in your life? 
• Is unity a quality that you see in your corps? 
• Is unity with other Christians a quality that you see in your community?

As Paul continues this section of the letter, he recognises that to grow in faith will be a hallmark of those who call themselves Christians, a natural development of their faith. He wants them to be ‘built up’ (v12), ‘mature’ and ‘attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ’ (v13). Being ‘infants’ (v14), therefore, is no longer an option.

In their infancy in the Christian faith, it is possible that the Ephesian believers could have gone along with all sorts of weird and wonderful teachings. Paul describes them as swayed by ‘every wind of teaching’ and ‘the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming’ (v14). Paul, though, encourages them towards maturity.

Being mature means putting away what is immature. Earlier, in his first letter to Christians in Corinth, Paul told his readers: ‘When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me’ (1 Corinthians 13:11). But how was this to work out for the Christians in Ephesus?

Paul says that it is all about God and the grace that Christ has freely given them. By his grace, he continues, God gifts everyone for the sake of his Kingdom (see vv11–13).

The Bible contains a number of spiritual gift lists. Here, the acronym ‘APEST’ may help us appreciate how God can use us as apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds or teachers (see v11).

Pause and reflect

• Have you thought about how the grace of God is evidenced in your life and through the gifts God has given you?

As is usual with Paul, there is a practical purpose to what he has expressed – it is not for purely academic appreciation. In this chapter, the purpose of God’s grace being given to his Church is threefold.

First, it is ‘to equip God’s people for works of service’ (v12). By serving, each of us is to be used for the building up of the Church.

Second, we serve so that the ‘body of Christ may be built up’ (v12). In other words, it is not just about me and what I do, but about us all growing and maturing, none of us going backwards in our faith and each of us being built up. This means that it is my responsibility to help you to grow – and your responsibility to help me mature.

Third, so that ‘we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature’ (v13). Unity within a corps – and within the wider Christian community – is not an optional extra. It is at the very heart of who we are, as we mature in our faith and grow in God’s grace.

Pause and reflect

• What part are you playing in ensuring that each member of the Church is being built up? 
• What emphasis have you placed upon unity as a characteristic of your own development as a Christian and within the life of your corps?