Eph 4:15-16 | KingComments | STEP | . In the previous verses you saw that the Lord Jesus gave gifts to the church with a specific purpose, namely, to come to the fullness of Christ. That purpose will only be perfectly achieved when we are with the Lord in heaven. But also for here and now a purpose is achieved when the gifts can practice their tasks on you and me. That purpose is that we stand firmly and will not be wiped out immediately when the enemy attacks us. When you and I as members of Christ are filled with the fullness of Christ, the doctrines of the enemy will not get a chance to toss us here and there. The enemy will do his utmost to prevent the members to grow together to be ‘a perfect man’, full of ‘the knowledge of the Son of God’ ( ). One of his tested means is sowing the seed of disunity among the members. He starts with driving a wedge in the unity. To him it doesn’t matter what the theme of the disunity is, whether it is a quarrel about a normal everyday thing, or a wrong doctrine about the Person or the work of Christ, as long as the members get into fights. The result is that the image of the fullness of Christ is not to be seen anymore. When the members form a unity, when they are together and support each other, they are strong. When they are separated from each other, they are weak. Then the church is not a testimony anymore of the unity of the faith. And when the members are set up against each other, satan’s success really is complete. Because they are not firmly rooted in the teaching of the Scripture, they quickly drift about back and forth, when they hear people preaching their own ‘truth’. And when those ‘preachers’ know how to preach convincingly, they deceive a lot of people. Quite a few of television preachers are living examples of that. The enemy achieves his greatest success in churches where the believers remain babies or “children”. Those believers do not grow in the truth, they are stunted, immature. They know nothing about the unity of the church and, more seriously, they are not interested in it either. That’s why they have no stability and are an easy victim for sly people who just mislead them with their deceptions. With their deceptions they let the unstable members go astray. Often these believers remain dependent on a specific type of leader. Every gift, every true servant, feeds a child in faith in a way that it doesn’t stay dependent on him. The true servant becomes happy when he sees that babies in faith are growing more and more into the Lord and more and more independent because of his teaching. . In his teaching he shall certainly make use of truth and love. Those are the right ingredients in order to grow into Christ. The verse begins with the word “but”, a word indicating that a contrast to the preceding follows. Truth stands against deceit and error, and love stands against craftiness. Both truth and love are necessary for healthy growth. Truth without love is weak and leads to carnal tolerance. “Speaking [or: holding to] the truth in love” means that you, as a member of the body, are truthfully in your performance. You live from the truth and you reflect the truth. You do that in a spirit of love. Love is as it were the smell of a good perfume that surrounds you. This was perfectly seen in Christ. Everything He said and did was truthfully and embedded in love. A result of that is, that what is said without the mind of Christ, is not really true. It comes from the flesh. To ‘impose the truth’ on somebody is not “speaking the truth in love”. I’m afraid that I’m not the only one who shamefully has to admit to have said things that were indeed true, but which were not surrounded by the perfume of love. Truth is only that which is also spoken or hold to in love. The opposite is also true. Only that is true love that is in accordance with the truth. When you are only friendly and never speak of things that are wrong, you are not truthfully in love. Then love is hypocrisy, just fake. True love will point out the wrong to the other, for that wrong causes harm. When you do that, you prove that you love that person, as you prevent him from harm or you limit the harm. What goes for the individual also goes for the church as a whole, and that is the main issue here. A companionship that holds to the truth in love is not easily tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine. That is a company of people where every believer has his own firm and inextricable link with Christ, the Head of the body. Together they grow up into Him in everything. All aspects of their common lives are permeated with the features of the Head. As already said, truth and love are the features of Christ. When these are found in His members, the result will be that they will look like Him and they will grow up into Him. . In his turn, growing up into Him is also the result of being linked with the Head. From Christ – as the Head of the body – everything flows, what is needed for the body to grow. The point is that the body grows. But the whole body consists of all parts that are linked to each other by joints. For the growth of the body it is necessary that every member grows. There should be no member doing his own thing, taking care of himself, apart from the Head. Such a conduct would obstruct the growth of the whole and can cause imbalance. It is God’s purpose that each member grows by being linked with the Head. In this way every member will be able to work in such a way as is suited to the position he has in the body. The ‘teamwork’ between the members mutually will occur harmoniously. The joints, the invisible links between the members, will not do their job squeaking and creakingly. God has decided the measure of every member. No member has to do more, but should neither do less than is appropriate to do. A hand should do only the work of the hand. It must not want to do the work of the foot or add that to his work, as that will break the balance of the body. Then the whole body is not visible anymore, but only some functions which also ‘perform’ even badly. In this way the Head, Who loves to see His reflection in His whole body, is dishonored. When the members serve each other and make each other happy, it is the result of Christ’s work in them. He serves and makes happy. When the work of Christ can be manifested in this way in the members, they will together show Christ on earth. When the body functions that way from the Head, it builds itself up. Through the service the members serve each other with, they will grow up into Him, Who is the Head. This rich verse ends with the words “in love”. Love is, just as for speaking the truth, the only suitable ‘climate’ in which the growth can be realized at its best. Now read Ephesians 4:14-16 again. Reflection: What is the point of these verses for you?

‏ Ephesians 4:15-16

Grow up Into Him Who Is the Head

Eph 4:14. In the previous verses you saw that the Lord Jesus gave gifts to the church with a specific purpose, namely, to come to the fullness of Christ. That purpose will only be perfectly achieved when we are with the Lord in heaven.

But also for here and now a purpose is achieved when the gifts can practice their tasks on you and me. That purpose is that we stand firmly and will not be wiped out immediately when the enemy attacks us. When you and I as members of Christ are filled with the fullness of Christ, the doctrines of the enemy will not get a chance to toss us here and there. The enemy will do his utmost to prevent the members to grow together to be ‘a perfect man’, full of ‘the knowledge of the Son of God’ (Eph 4:13).

One of his tested means is sowing the seed of disunity among the members. He starts with driving a wedge in the unity. To him it doesn’t matter what the theme of the disunity is, whether it is a quarrel about a normal everyday thing, or a wrong doctrine about the Person or the work of Christ, as long as the members get into fights. The result is that the image of the fullness of Christ is not to be seen anymore.

When the members form a unity, when they are together and support each other, they are strong. When they are separated from each other, they are weak. Then the church is not a testimony anymore of the unity of the faith. And when the members are set up against each other, satan’s success really is complete. Because they are not firmly rooted in the teaching of the Scripture, they quickly drift about back and forth, when they hear people preaching their own ‘truth’. And when those ‘preachers’ know how to preach convincingly, they deceive a lot of people. Quite a few of television preachers are living examples of that.

The enemy achieves his greatest success in churches where the believers remain babies or “children”. Those believers do not grow in the truth, they are stunted, immature. They know nothing about the unity of the church and, more seriously, they are not interested in it either. That’s why they have no stability and are an easy victim for sly people who just mislead them with their deceptions. With their deceptions they let the unstable members go astray. Often these believers remain dependent on a specific type of leader.

Every gift, every true servant, feeds a child in faith in a way that it doesn’t stay dependent on him. The true servant becomes happy when he sees that babies in faith are growing more and more into the Lord and more and more independent because of his teaching.

Eph 4:15. In his teaching he shall certainly make use of truth and love. Those are the right ingredients in order to grow into Christ. The verse begins with the word “but”, a word indicating that a contrast to the preceding follows. Truth stands against deceit and error, and love stands against craftiness. Both truth and love are necessary for healthy growth. Truth without love is weak and leads to carnal tolerance.

“Speaking [or: holding to] the truth in love” means that you, as a member of the body, are truthfully in your performance. You live from the truth and you reflect the truth. You do that in a spirit of love. Love is as it were the smell of a good perfume that surrounds you.

This was perfectly seen in Christ. Everything He said and did was truthfully and embedded in love. A result of that is, that what is said without the mind of Christ, is not really true. It comes from the flesh. To ‘impose the truth’ on somebody is not “speaking the truth in love”. I’m afraid that I’m not the only one who shamefully has to admit to have said things that were indeed true, but which were not surrounded by the perfume of love. Truth is only that which is also spoken or hold to in love.

The opposite is also true. Only that is true love that is in accordance with the truth. When you are only friendly and never speak of things that are wrong, you are not truthfully in love. Then love is hypocrisy, just fake. True love will point out the wrong to the other, for that wrong causes harm. When you do that, you prove that you love that person, as you prevent him from harm or you limit the harm.

What goes for the individual also goes for the church as a whole, and that is the main issue here. A companionship that holds to the truth in love is not easily tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine. That is a company of people where every believer has his own firm and inextricable link with Christ, the Head of the body. Together they grow up into Him in everything. All aspects of their common lives are permeated with the features of the Head. As already said, truth and love are the features of Christ. When these are found in His members, the result will be that they will look like Him and they will grow up into Him.

Eph 4:16. In his turn, growing up into Him is also the result of being linked with the Head. From Christ – as the Head of the body – everything flows, what is needed for the body to grow. The point is that the body grows. But the whole body consists of all parts that are linked to each other by joints. For the growth of the body it is necessary that every member grows. There should be no member doing his own thing, taking care of himself, apart from the Head. Such a conduct would obstruct the growth of the whole and can cause imbalance.

It is God’s purpose that each member grows by being linked with the Head. In this way every member will be able to work in such a way as is suited to the position he has in the body. The ‘teamwork’ between the members mutually will occur harmoniously. The joints, the invisible links between the members, will not do their job squeaking and creakingly.

God has decided the measure of every member. No member has to do more, but should neither do less than is appropriate to do. A hand should do only the work of the hand. It must not want to do the work of the foot or add that to his work, as that will break the balance of the body. Then the whole body is not visible anymore, but only some functions which also ‘perform’ even badly. In this way the Head, Who loves to see His reflection in His whole body, is dishonored.

When the members serve each other and make each other happy, it is the result of Christ’s work in them. He serves and makes happy. When the work of Christ can be manifested in this way in the members, they will together show Christ on earth. When the body functions that way from the Head, it builds itself up. Through the service the members serve each other with, they will grow up into Him, Who is the Head.

This rich verse ends with the words “in love”. Love is, just as for speaking the truth, the only suitable ‘climate’ in which the growth can be realized at its best.

Now read Ephesians 4:14-16 again.

Reflection: What is the point of these verses for you?