Bible Text: Ephesians 4:11-15 | Pastor: Eric Danielson | Series: Vision for East Lincoln | This is the first of a series of sermons intended to unfold the vision for East Lincoln Alliance Church that God has laid on the hearts of the elders. This sermon answers the question: What is the goal that should unite us together as we move forward as a church family?

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Our Unifying Goal
Ephesians 4:11-15

I’m excited to begin this sermon series because it’s the culmination of a 2½ year process of study, discussion, discovery, prayer, and development by the elders related to our goal and direction as a church. It’s a series that I hope will cast a vision for us as a church and lay a foundation that we can build on as we move into the future.

For me, a journey began back when I was a teenager in the Evangelical Free Church of Willmar, MN. I grew up in the church, learning about God and the Bible, and in January 1990, when I was fourteen, the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my heart on a Sunday morning while listening to a sermon and I was born again. I don’t know exactly when, but sometime after that I remember being in church on different occasions and having this big question on my mind: I knew I had been saved; I knew I was a Christian; I knew I would be going to heaven… but now what? I was just a kid and I realized my whole life was in front of me, but I was already a Christian. So what was I supposed to do about my Christianity for the rest of my life? It felt like I had made it to the finish line but was stepping up to the starting line all at the same time and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.

I began observing other Christians who were older than me. They seemed to enjoy going to Sunday School and church and learning about the Bible. Some looked like they had more passion about God than others, but it still seemed like everyone was basically on the same path – going to Sunday School, going to church, and learning more about God and the Bible. So that’s what I understood Christianity to be and I think that became the answer to my question at that time – as a Christian who was already saved and going to heaven, I was to spend the rest of my Christian life going to Sunday School and church, learning more about God and the Bible, and trying to become more passionate and excited about it like some people I saw.

I think I experienced what a lot of Christians experience and that is a lack of clarity and direction when it comes to what the goal of the Christian life is and the process for reaching that goal. And what I think happens is that some Christians end up having no goal at all, while others try to figure it out on their own, like I did. And when people try to figure it out on their own, it leads in a bunch of different directions.
• Some pursue the goal of Christian service and sacrifice. It’s all about devotion and doing their duty.
• For others it’s all about being led by the Holy Spirit, so they pursue a life of greater prayer, expectation, mystery and wonder.
• For some the goal is biblical knowledge, so they pursue the study of theology and doctrine, and the memorization of Scripture and creed.
• Others have the goal of personal holiness and their goal is moral purity and keeping all the rules.
• For others it’s all about saving the lost, so they are compelled by living a life of love and compassion for the lost and needy.

These are all Christians – they’re all saved and going to heaven – but they all have a different goal in mind when it comes to living the Christian life and therefore a different pathway or process of reaching that goal. And what that amounts to in a local church like ours is a bunch of people doing a lot of things, but not really moving forward as a church. People might make some progress in their own personal journey, but the church doesn’t really move forward together. There isn’t a unified effort; they don’t have a unified goal, or vision or direction. They have a lot of stuff going on, but not a lot to show for it – as a whole. Everybody is kind of doing their own thing.

You can see the same problem play itself out in a number of places in our society. Take government for example, whether it’s at the local, state or federal level, if elected officials have different goals in mind and different pathways for meeting those goals, what’s going to happen? Nothing! These are some of the brightest and most influential people in our communities, but they can’t get anything done because everyone has their own agenda. Thankfully that never happens in our government…

Or think about sports teams. If a football team is filled with Pro Bowl athletes, but each of them has a different goal in mind and process for meeting that goal, that team is going to really struggle. All that talent, but unable to move forward as a team. There has to be a unified goal and pathway to meeting that goal if the team is going to move forward.

Local churches are made up of a bunch of Christians with different strengths, passions, and giftedness, but if they are not united together with a common goal and vision, the church will have a hard time moving forward.

For years I think we’ve seen this dynamic at East Lincoln Alliance Church. A lot of wonderful people with a variety of strengths passions, and gifts have joined together as a family, but we have struggled to find a common goal to unite us or a clear vision for pursuing that goal. I’ve even done sermon series about that very subject with the hope that God would reveal his goal and vision to us. Over the years different people have asked the question: Where are we going as a church? A question that reveals that a common, unifying goal and vision is missing.

Well, about two and a half years ago the elders decided to start reading and discussing the book Real-Life Discipleship by Jim Putman and God used that book to help us start seeing what a unifying goal and vision could be for East Lincoln. The book is about a church in Idaho and how they applied what the Bible teaches about the goal and direction for a church in their setting. It gave us a modern day example of how a church could practice the things we already knew about in Scripture, but just didn’t know how to fit together. Now, the church described in the book is way different than East Lincoln, but the biblical principles can apply to any church.

So we took those principles and asked ourselves, “What would this look like at East Lincoln with our setting – who we are and what we’re already doing?” I remember the meeting when the lights started to come on and we started seeing a framework for how to unite our efforts come into view. We spent about 6 months reading and discussing the book, then over a year flushing out a vision for what things could look like at East Lincoln, ending with our Elders Retreat last February. Since then we’ve been planning and developing a strategy for casting the vision to help everyone see what we’ve been seeing – a vision that we think people will appreciate and find very helpful both individually and as a church.

So my goal in the next 5 weeks is to lay out this vision and what the elders learned and believe God wants for us as a church. Today I want to talk about our unifying goal, then in the next three sermons I want to unwrap a process for pursuing that goal, and in the last sermon I want to show you specifically how we see this all working at East Lincoln and how we are going to help. We really want everybody that’s part of East Lincoln to hear these sermons, so if you’re gone on a Sunday, please get a sermon CD or listen online.

The big question for today is: “What is our unifying goal?” Or, “What should it be?” If I was to ask myself that question three years ago, I would give an answer I thought was right, but if I would ask you that same questions, the answer would probably be different. God has made us all different and laid things on our hearts that we think are most important when it comes to the goal and direction of the church. In many churches this can lead to indirection and a struggle to move forward or even division as people who share the same personal convictions gather together thinking the church should go one direction while others who share different personal convictions think it should go in another. “Our church should focus on truth and knowledge of Scripture.” “Our church should focus on prayer and seeking the Holy Spirit’s leading.” “Our church should focus on service and sacrifice.” “Our church should focus on deeper fellowship and relationships.” “Our church should focus on personal holiness.” “Our church should focus on reaching the lost.”

These differences aren’t an accident and they don’t have to be a problem either. In fact, they are an intentional act of God – a gift that can make a church healthy, effective and strong as it should be, if understood rightly and united together with a common goal and direction. So what is that goal? Rather than depending on any of our answers to be the right one, with something this important, we need the authority of the Word of God. And there are several places in Scripture that answer this very question. The one that is clearest and most direct is Ephesians 4:11-15. The Apostle Paul wrote this text to a young church to help them understand what to do about all the different gift, passions, and strengths among its people.

Read Ephesians 4:11-15.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

I want you to see a few key phrases in this passage that speak about what the goal that unifies us together as a church should be. The first is at the end of verse 13 where Paul says that the reason that Christ designed the church the way he did was because he wanted everyone in the church to reach “mature manhood,” which he then describes as, “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” I’ve preached on this before about a year ago – the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ means this: Christ was fully mature in every way – that’s his stature. When we talk about the stature of someone, we talk about their height or build or physical makeup. The Greek definition speaks of the full maturity of someone, not just physically, but every aspect of their being: their thoughts, character, behavior, and purpose. So Christ’s stature is his fullness of maturity in every aspect of his life. And what Paul is saying to the church is: “That’s the goal Christ is aiming at and the goal your church needs to be aiming at, for all of your people. That’s the measure. That’s the goal God wants his church to pursue for his people: the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Paul says it again at the end of verse 15: “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”

So this is the clearest passage, but there are others I want to show you as well, so that you can see this is a repeated theme in the New Testament. In 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, Paul is telling the church why he’s so bold to declare that his ministry as an apostle is right in step with the work God is doing in people’s lives. His boldness comes from the obvious work God is doing through his ministry. When Paul preached the gospel to them, stuff started to happen because God was in it. He describes the work God was doing in people’s lives in these verses…

Read 2 Cor. 3:16-18.
16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

So Paul says that when someone becomes a Christian and is born again, a veil of spiritual blindness is lifted so that they can see the glory of the Lord. The Lord, who is the Spirit lifts the veil, and begins doing something in the Christian’s life. He says it in the middle of verse 18. Once the veil is lifted and the believer is able to behold the glory of the Lord, they are then transformed by the Lord into the same image – the image of the glory of the Lord – from one degree of glory to another – for the rest of their lives. The work God is doing in the Christian’s life is transforming them into the image of Christ. That’s the goal. Becoming like Christ in every way – attaining to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ – in our thoughts, character, behavior and mission.

He says it again in Romans 8:28-29: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” God’s plan all along has been to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ.

In the churches of Galatia, things were not going well. The people were straying from the gospel and beginning to follow a false gospel and Paul was very troubled. So in Galatians 4:19 he told them this: “my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!” He was agonizing over their current condition and longing for the time when they would be strong and mature, which he says would be when Christ was formed in them – when they had attained to what he described back in Ephesians 4: “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” By attaining that goal they would “no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

It is mentioned repeatedly in the New Testament that God’s goal for the church is that we would all work together to become like Christ in every way. No matter what your personal passions and convictions are, this is the unifying goal for us to all get behind. Our goal is not just being passionate about God, it’s not just being committed to Christian service, it’s not just about prayer and being led by the Holy Spirit, it’s not just being filled with biblical knowledge, it’s not just pursuing personal holiness, it’s not just deeper fellowship and relationships, it’s not just reaching the lost. Our goal is following Jesus and becoming like him in every way: in our thoughts, character, behavior, and mission. Rather than just focusing on doing our own things, pursuing the things we have gifts, strengths and passion for, we are to unite together with our unique passions and convictions to use them to pursue the same goal.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he charged his disciples with this mission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” That’s the goal we have as a church – to make disciples – men and women who follow Jesus and become like him in every way: in their thoughts, character, behavior, and mission. Everything we do as a church needs to have a place in pursuing this goal. Now, what does that look like for you and me? How do we know what to do? How do we know how we’re doing and what we should do next? That’s what next week’s sermon will begin to unfold.