BE LIKE JESUS!

The goal of what God is doing in the church, the goal at which we in the church are aiming, is to be just like Jesus Christ. Look at the second half of Ephesians 4:13, “…and become a mature man, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” The word “man” does not appear in the New International Version. But it is in the Greek. It is the goal of the church. It is God’s goal. Remember what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2 where he was talking about how Jesus tore down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles? “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace…” (2:15) God’s purpose? To create a new man. The church is this new man. The new man is the body of Christ. It begins in infancy and grows into mature adulthood. The new man of 2:15 is the mature man of 4:13!

This mature man is to look just like Jesus Christ! Paul says he is “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” This should bring back to mind what Paul said in 1:22, 23, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The church does works of service and grows stronger and stronger and closer and closer together and as the church grows it comes to look more and more like Jesus Christ. The church does the same kinds of things. The church shows the same characteristics. Finally, the church gains the whole measure of the fullness of Jesus.

But at the time of Paul’s writing the church was still very young; maybe not still in infancy, but very young. He tells the believers that they must gain strength and be built up. I remember seeing toddlers playing in the waves in Lake Michigan. They could hardly stand up! Every time a wave came in it almost knocked them off their feet! Their lives were actually in danger because if a wave knocked them over they could be pulled out into the lake and drown! I also remember watching beginning sailboarders on the lake. They could hardly stand on the board let alone control the direction they were going! Wherever the wind blew, that’s the direction they went. They hadn’t learned to use the wind to go where they wanted to go. The church is not to be like the toddler or the beginning sailboarder. The church is to be built up and to grow powerfully mature in faith and the knowledge of Jesus Christ!

What does the church look like today? It is splintered. It is scattered. It is disconnected. In many ways, it is bruised and wounded. In many places it has been attacked. Some of the parts are very weak. Some of the parts are very fat, obese. Some parts of the body seem to really hate each other. What about God’s plan and purpose for the church? What can be done? Catch Paul’s words in 4:15, 16, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

Can you see the church drawing itself together? Can you see the parts reconnecting? Can you see the ligaments popping the bones back into place? Can you see new strength coming into the growing muscles? Can you see the beaten and battered body of Christ rising to his full stature and looking into the eyes of Jesus Christ? We can’t do it all! Paul knows that. That’s why he says the body “grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”