Ephesians 4:13-14 – Never-Ending Growth

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

Shema Yisrael Welcome to the broadcast outreach of Living God Ministries with Aaron Budgen. Aaron discovered Jesus is his Messiah while preparing to be a rabbi. He now teaches for several organizations and is the teaching pastor for Living God Ministries. Strongly distinguishing between the Old and New Covenants, Aaron presents the scriptures from a Judaic and historical frame of reference. Join Aaron now as he reveals the reality foreshadowed and the new life we can now experience because of what the Lord Jesus accomplished for us.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:39

Thank you for tuning in to today’s program. This is Aaron Budgen and I recently released a book titled Building Life. This is for young people who are starting out into adulthood and it is also for those who have found themselves in a circumstance where they are starting their lives over. I have put a lot of effort into writing this book. It is a short read of about two and a half hours. It is only available directly from me. So if you would like a copy, go to the Living God Ministries website and you will see a link there that says, inform me of Aaron’s books. Fill out the form and I will get back with you as soon as I can. I’m presenting a verse-by-verse study through Ephesians, and in the previous message I was in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 and 12, which says, And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And I was explaining at the end of the previous message that it can be difficult for people who have these qualities or who may be sent by God to speak to other people and to be a participant in equipping the saints or a participant in the work of ministry. Either way, it can be challenging sometimes to participate in the Christian world, especially within churches, because you won’t necessarily be very welcome there if you are perceived as a competitor to the existing leadership that might be there. And so at the end of the previous message, I mentioned that it’s important to still seek out other people, that if you are not able to find an assembly of existing believers, you still have a desire to connect with other believers, to be a part of the lives of other Christians, to participate in other people’s lives so that you can experience the gifts of the Spirit in this context— If you have a desire for that, then of course you should consider that to be a motivation to actively pursue relationships with other people. And if you are having a hard time finding other people with whom you can have relationships with, then you should consider going out into the world and effectively just go out there and make some new friends, you know? Just get out there and participate in something. Participate in existing activities, or as I mentioned briefly at the end of the previous message, make up your own. Invent your own kinds of activities that other people might be willing to participate in. Maybe just get a job, enter the workforce, and meet some new people that way. Or start a business of some kind. Or maybe just find out where people are going to assemble for events. Maybe you can rent a table and have something available for sale that it doesn’t really matter if you make a profit or not, or if you’re developing a big business of some kind. Just be a participant so that you will have an opportunity to connect with other people and make some new friends. If you just give up and do nothing, then it’s just going to eat at you. It’s going to make you frustrated. You’re going to become angry. There are a lot of things that people deal with. And I talk with people all the time who tell me things like, I just can’t find anyone in my local area with whom I can have some reasonable fellowship with. And, you know, I believe it. I understand. I know. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I can tell you that just because you can’t find who you think you ought to find doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still keep looking and still continue to find ways to be a part of other people’s lives and encourage them to know the Lord in whatever way they are willing to receive. And this is simply what we do. And I was also explaining in the previous message that you should not underestimate the individual, one-on-one relationships. People tend to get so focused on what other assemblies are doing that they forget that we have a God who wants an individual, personal relationship with his children, doesn’t he? Isn’t that what he’s really after? He is. He’s after a personal, individual relationship with his children. That’s the primary objective. The secondary objective is for there to be connections and relationships with other members of the body of Christ, but this is secondary to what is primary, and that is that our God wants an individual relationship with us, and so why is it that we seem to be so shy or feel it is so inadequate to have an individual relationship with with somebody else. And I have found a lot of people who just feel that that’s just not worth it. It’s not worth the effort. It’s not worth their time because they want an assembly like somebody else has got. You know, it is as if We have people who are coveting these large congregations, thinking, I just want one of those, you know? People are asking me where I go to church, and I just feel so ugly, I feel so ashamed, I feel so inadequate, because I can’t say that I’m a member of some particular well-known or recognizable church of some kind, like they are. And when people get wrapped up in those things, they completely miss the point. They completely miss the purpose and the intent of God. Yes, of course, it is difficult for the gifts of the Spirit to be well manifested without a reasonable assembly of people, but it can still happen, and it does still happen. on an individual basis, one-on-one, two people getting together, there are many opportunities for this to take place. But I do find that most people who I have communicated with over the years have had a lot of difficulty because they are coveting other people’s larger congregations because they assume that there needs to be other people, a church of some kind, who will provide them with new friends instead of going out there and getting their own. People get quite comfortable in their lives and they just don’t feel like causing a disruption to their regular routine. having some discomfort in going through the effort of building a new set of activities or participating in other activities that other people are involved in just to have access to them so that they can build new relationships and friendships. And, you know, it can be tough because it doesn’t necessarily work out well. You know, you need to be prepared to move on and move on and move on and just keep moving. And, of course, at the very least, people will at least know that who they will be able to reach out to one day if they ever decide that this is going to be an important part of their life, that maybe they’re going to include some God in their lives. And I’ll tell you that this doesn’t just happen right away. It usually takes some kind of significant disruption in in their lives some kind of dramatic change that happens in their lives and you have to be there at the right place at the right time with the right person with the right amount of significant change for them to be willing to include some God in their life as they are perhaps redefining what their life is going to be if it’s that kind of dramatic change people can usually be open to something like that but if you are not available if you’re not around if they don’t know who to call or who to have lunch with, or who to visit with, when these kinds of changes are taking place, then when they redefine their life, they’re going to redefine it without the Lord. And you’re probably going to have to wait until the next occasion, if one arrives. You know, if you know that somebody is going through a hard time, someone who you already know, that can be a wonderful opportunity to connect with them, engage with them, increase their comfort in some way in the midst of a serious tribulation. If you don’t already know these people, if you don’t already have some kind of connection with these people, it can be really awkward for you to just kind of insert yourself into their lives if they don’t already know you in some way. So these are some of the things I think you really need to keep in mind and to understand that the individual one-on-one connection is always the best way to go. You know, this radio program is very successful. If you go to the Living God Ministries website and you see the tab on the top of the pages that says Recent Testimonials, you can read through those, and each one of those represents about a thousand people at the time when that testimonial was written, maybe even more. It shows that broadcasting these programs through radio, and also people are discovering the programs through the internet more and more, it shows that this is an effective means of reaching people with the gospel and helping many to overcome the barriers that keep them from knowing their God and the new covenant and the relationship that God has called them to. It’s a very effective ministry, very cost-effective. The donations that people receive Give to this ministry are very well spent. I don’t feel shy at all about asking people to donate because I really do believe that the value is well worth it. But the success in numbers is related to the number of people that we reach out to. Of the people who listen to these programs, I can get a reasonable estimate of somewhere between 2% and 5% of the people who we reach out to through these programs experience a dramatic change in their understanding of their God through listening to these programs. The rest of the people can find me to be entertaining on occasion, but what they are really concerned about is what will happen in their lives if they believe that what I am saying is true. The consequences are just too big for their social circles and their social connections and the relationships that they already have. And so in general, they just don’t want to go in this direction so much. But they’ll listen, you know, because it’s entertaining and because they might very well be waiting for the next program to broadcast after mine. And of course, I do have a lot of examples of people who fit into this category. And then five years later or 10 years later, they contact me and they say, well, you know, Aaron, yeah, I was one of those. And eventually I gave in. You were right. And I decided I’m just going to have to believe what’s true because it really is more important than the consequences that I might experience for embracing the truth. And these things are great. They’re just fine. But on a percentage basis, what this ministry is doing, even though it’s tremendously effective, on a percentage basis, it still will never compete with what you as a person, as an individual, with what you can do if you will take some time out of your life to go out and make some new friends, be a part of other people’s lives, and tell them about the God that you know. And so through this ministry, I certainly have equipped a lot of saints for the work of ministry. So go do it. You know, I mean, go out there and do it and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit who will guide and lead you in this regard. All right, now continuing into verse 13, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 13, we see a description of how long should we do this, you know? I mean, how much effort should we really put into what we’re doing? I’m going to start again with verse 11 and then go into verse 13, just to give you the proper context. In Ephesians 4, verse 11, and he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And then in verse 13, till we all come together 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, 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. Okay, we have several subjects that are here between verse 13 and 14. I’m going to start with how long should we pursue the equipping of the saints? How long should we expect to continue to grow and mature? In verse 13, he says, “…until we reach a status that we will never reach.” That’s effectively what he says, you know, what, until we become perfect, a perfect man, until we reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, you know? I mean, is anybody ever going to reach that? Of course not. And so verse 13 is not a verse that says that this is reachable. It’s a verse that exaggerates the point to say that this is a lifelong experience until you are physically dead. That’s what verse 13 is communicating. It can be easy for people to make the assumption that these are attainable lives. goals. I’ve seen this happen. I’ve seen people try to assert that they have reached a state of perfection, that they are now a perfect man, or that they have reached the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, which of course is a tremendous expression of religious pride. And of course, people are trying to reach the unity of of the faith, right? Till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Verse 13 is an exaggeration to make the point that there will be no end to the pursuit of being equipped There will be no end to the expression of the gift of God, the gifts of the Spirit, in this context for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. There will be no end to the work of ministry. That’s effectively what verse 13 expresses here. He does this by saying, till we all come to the unity of the faith, knowing full well that we are not all going to come to the unity of the faith. If you haven’t noticed, that’s just not going to happen. There’s not going to be an absolute and complete unity. unity of the body of Christ and of faith, there is going to be relentless division and disagreement and conflict. There’s going to be a lot of that, and you’re going to find it very difficult to see much of any unity of the faith at all. That doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to pursue it. It just means that you need to understand that this is not an attainable goal. It is a direction that we relentlessly move in anyway, but that that is the point. It is something that we are to relentlessly pursue with an understanding that is not going to be achieved. but that we don’t ever just give up on improving the unity of the faith with one another. When it comes to the knowledge of the Son of God, there is no end to knowing the Son of God, to knowing our God, to knowing the Lord, to understanding the Lord Jesus, what he said, what he did, and how that can relate to our lives today. There’s no end to this, which is fantastic. You know, we have a lifelong experience today. that we can enjoy for our entire lives without any concern of getting bored, of coming to the end of anything, there will be no end to the knowledge of the Son of God for us individually, and there will be no end of opportunities for us to be a part of increasing the knowledge of the Son of God in other people’s lives. To a perfect man, that’s verse 13 again. In verse 13 it says, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man. Are we ever going to become a perfect man or woman respectively? Of course not. Of course not. Till then, right? Well, when will then ever arrive? It’s never going to arrive. Certainly not in this relational context of what he’s talking about. And so it is something that we pursue. It is something that we understand will never be achieved. It’s an exaggeration to make the point that there is no end to the equipping of the saints for It doesn’t mean that the objective is to try to find a way to become perfect and that you’re a failure if you don’t. That is not the objective. The objective is to know your God, to be better equipped for the work of ministry, to engage in the work of ministry. to be a recipient of what God has for you to participate in the works that he prepares. The perfection is something that will never be attained. The unity is something that will never be attained. It is an exaggeration to make the point that this is to never end. Never just give up. “…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” That’s the end of verse 13. “…to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” It’s an exaggeration to make the point that we are not to just give up and wait until we are physically dead. You should continue and continue until you are physically dead and you can continue no more. Verse 14, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. All right, now, this is not a conclusion to verse 13 in the sense that you will no longer be children when… There is the unity of the faith. You will no longer be children when you have the complete knowledge of the Son of God, when you are a perfect man, when you have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That’s not when you will no longer be children in verse 14. So be very careful not to connect verse 13 and 14 in that way. What we are after is the next part in verse 14 that says tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine. It’s when you are no longer tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, that you are no longer really children. At that point, you’re a bit more mature in the faith. That is an indicator that you’re not so much a child, but you’re more of an adult when it comes to the faith. But this is not going to be accomplished when you isolate yourself from all the different doctrines that exist. And this is something that people will tend to do. is they will tend to say, okay, well, just give me the doctrines of this church. That’s what I believe. This is what I’m always going to believe, and I will never be tossed around by anything that anyone may potentially present. That is not what he’s saying. We definitely do need to be aware of what other people believe, so that we can be more effective as members of the body of Christ to help people get past a lot of these things that people believe that are simply not true. Of course, we should be well-informed about those things that are not true, about the various doctrines, about the different teachings, about the different beliefs that other people have. And I’ve found that there are so many people who just want to avoid all of that because they are afraid that maybe there might be something that they are believing that isn’t true. And they might be pulled away from the relationships that they have because they don’t want to participate with those things that are not clearly true. These are risks that people face, and they try to overcome them by not being a part of the world, by not understanding the conflicts, the issues, and the topics of their time and of their geography. and what people are dealing with in their own personal lives that are separate from what we want to believe and what we want to hold on to ourselves. You’re never going to mature in the faith until you know the different doctrines, you know and you understand what people are working with, what they’re dealing with. You’re not going to be effective in the work of the ministry unless you can be effective helping people move from one thing that is not true— into something that is. And it makes a big difference when you understand what is not. And so it’s not a matter of avoiding any doctrine that is different from what you are initially believing and trusting in. that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine means that you need to know what those doctrines are that are blowing all over the place in the wind so that you can discern what is true and what is not true, to include things that you potentially believed when you first decided to be a Christian to begin with. You know, you should expect that there will be some things that will be adjusted. That’s normal for people to grow and mature. In order to grow and mature from being a child to someone who is not, in this sense, in this context of verse 14, in order to do that, you have to let go of something in order to embrace something else. There has to be things that you let go of. There has to be things that you believe that are not quite true. And so there is a necessity to be familiar with different doctrines, to understand them, so you’re not confused by them, so that you understand why people believe certain doctrines and why they are not correct, why people believe other doctrines and why they are correct. These are issues that adults in Christ deal with. All right, now at the end of verse 14, he says, “…by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,” which gives the impression that these doctrines were intentional deceptions, doctrines that were invented through deceitful plotting, by cunning craftiness, In other words, to intentionally deceive. This will, of course, not always be the case, but I will explain this more in the next program. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this program. Do also go to our website, livinggodministries.net, and read through the recent testimonials page that we have there. There you will see the effectiveness of this ministry and discover how we have cleared away many of the common barriers that keep them from knowing their God, growing and maturing in their faith. Again, you can find this page at livinggodministries.net. And know that as you listen to these programs, you will likely find something that will be significant for you to grow and mature in your relationship with your God. do take the time to go to the Living God Ministries radio archive at livinggodministries.net. The archive is divided up into three sections. The first section is more of the life of Christ, and I provide a lot of historical content there in those programs. And I have made a lot of important contributions from a historical perspective to better understand what was taking place during Jesus’ ministry. In the second section of the archive, I speak about our life in Christ. And in the third section, you will find the verse-by-verse studies. If you would like some recommendations on what to listen to and in what order, do just send us an email to staff at livinggodministries.net. You will find that email on the Contact Us page. And after a conversation with me, I’ll give you a list of programs that I would recommend and in what order.

SPEAKER 01 : 26:17

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