December 11 2025

Thursday December 11

Spiritual Maturity a Journey Not a Destination

Ephesians 4:11-16

11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head--Christ-- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Today we're looking at Ephesians 4:12-16. This passage teaches that the apostles and the prophets and the evangelists, the pastors and teachers were given as gifts and offices to the early church in order that the people of the church, the believers, would grow to spiritual maturity and display to the world what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Acts 11:26 tells us that the believers, the disciples, were “first called Christians at Antioch” of Syria. Remember that this was a church made up believers from various nationalities and backgrounds. There were Gentile believers. There were Jewish believers. And no doubt, some were there from other nationalities. It was a mixed group of believers but we find that these people worked together in such a way they were called Christians, which means they were Christlike.

The spiritual life is not a destination that we finally arrive at, and we are now spiritually mature. No, my friend, the real spiritual mature believer’s life is a journey, it is a daily walk in the right direction. Yesterday we talked about the was called “a perfect man” in these verses. What it means to be “perfect”. Christ tells us that we should be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. That means we are like Christ. Which means that we are in a place where we are being obedient to the Lord and the Holy Spirit’s leading and doing and living out the will of God moment by moment in our daily lives.

I like what Oswald Chambers says about this. When we really have grown to a place of spiritual maturity, on our journey, “we are walking by faith, not by sight”. He said, that it is not a matter of trying to figure out and doing the will of God, but “we are the will of God”.

We see that in these verses. We're not like children any longer, walking according to the lust of the flesh, walking according to the desires of our heart, doing what we want to do. No, we're living in the Holy Spirit, walking by faith, in the Word of God. Again notice, that the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers were given for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ.

By the way, the work of the ministry is not like teaching a Sunday school class. It's not being a part of the bus ministry or the youth ministry. No, no. They didn't have those in those days. My friend, the work of the ministry is living out your faith in real life every day. I said it so many times over the years. The spiritual believer is not one who has arrived. No, the spiritual life is a growth journey. It's not a destination. You never arrive.

Paul, as awesome as he was as an Apostle and disciple and follower of Christ and church planter, he said, "I've not yet arrived. I still reach forth." (Philippians 3:12-14).  We're always reaching forth. We are still every day coming to the knowledge that I have so much more to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. It's a growth every day. It is a daily going in the right direction!

The “work of the ministry” also includes the edifying of the body of Christ. This produces unity in the church. That's why they were called Christians first at Antioch. There was that unity of believers despite their background, despite their culture, despite where they came from, rich and poor, etc. They work together in love displaying the characteristics of Christlikeness in their actions and attitudes.

Paul goes on to say that we have come to the “unity of the faith”. Which is based on that body of truth concerning the person of Jesus. What do you believe about Jesus. That's why he goes on to say and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Who is Jesus? If someone doesn’t believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, God in the flesh, He is deity, and that He is divine, the apostle John and other writers of the New Testament make it very clear, they are antichrist. They are not a true follower of Christ. (Read 1 and 2 John).

The Christian life is a walk of faith. “We walk by faith not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And “We are no longer children tossed to and fro” (v. 14). Children are selfish. Children live on their emotions. They feel good and they show in their attitude and actions that they feel good. But then when they feel bad, in their actions and attitude they act bad and they treat others wrong. They live by their feelings. There are too many people in the church like that. God wants us to always be growing spiritually where we're displaying the characteristics of Jesus Christ in our attitude and in everything we say and do.

God bless!