The Body of Christ Attaining Maturity

By Winston Ko

Introduction

This October/November, our church will dedicate the new building and, at the same time, commemorate our thirtieth anniversary. Traditionally Chinese consider thirty years old to be the age of maturity. Confucius claimed that when he was thirty, he "stand up" as a mature man. Of course thirty is also the age at which our Lord Jesus entered full-time ministry. Our "thirtieth anniversary" is, however, ambiguous. On January 18 of 1970, a Chinese bible-study group started its first Sunday Worship, which continued for more than thirty years. Then on August 13, 1973, this group was officially incorporated as the Davis Chinese Christian Church for the expressed purposes "to worship God, to edify the believers, to cultivate the fellowship among the saints and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world." You can see both dates are important in the history of our church and October/November this year falls exactly half way between the thirtieth anniversaries of them. We can commemorate both!

To incorporate our bible-study group to be a Church was more than a formality. It was also more than the natural outcome of (mostly student) members getting married and starting to build their families in Davis. It has to do with the revelation and enlightenment that Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Our emphasis today is the last verse: the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. The large Chinese characters in the vestibule reminds us "Christ is the head of the church". "The church is his body" is not merely a restatement to emphasize "Christ is the head of the church". There are many aspects of a "body" which can teach us about the church. For example, the church, like the body, is a living organism rather than an organization. Today I would like to focus on the aspects of unity and function. The purpose is to understand his "fullness" that is promised for the church.

I. The starting Point

The main theme of the book of Ephesians is about church as the body of Christ. It was given to the Ephesians who had faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints, [which make a pair of great "parallel phrases" in Chinese.] They remind us: faith and love are fundamental to a church. We could see them in our original bible study group and we can see them in the various Fellowship groups in our church today. Members in Fellowship groups tend to be like minded, to have the same love, to be one in the spirit and purpose (Philippians 2:2), and to carry each other’s burden (Galatians 5:2). Fellowship groups are the fabrics of our church!

It was for these people - a group of people not unlike our Fellowship groups - Paul prayed that the eyes of their (our) hearts may be enlightened in order that they (we) may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. [There are the three "to how great an extend" in the Chinese translation.] We share the same one exceedingly great hope he has called us; we experienced the exceedingly great power that we received from our faith; but it is a little difficult to understand his glorious inheritance in the saints. He has an inheritance in the saints? I hope we will all be able to comprehend it as we study today: the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

II. Inclusiveness and unity of the body

An important characteristic of a body is inclusiveness. While Fellowship groups that tend to be homogeneous are guileless to be like minded and to have the same love, the church, the body of Christ, includes people with all ages, backgrounds, experiences and needs. There are diversities in language and culture. The church must be inclusive and serve them all, not be purposely exclusive of any group. If you read the name "Davis Chinese Christian Church" as the church for people of the Chinese descent, that would be exclusive. But if you read it as the church where the Chinese language can be used and people who are more at ease to use it as their language of worship can be reached, it would be inclusive. Indeed, that is the purpose of our name. The recent addition of the Cantonese worship is based on the same principle. It is not to be an exclusive gathering of the people speaking Cantonese, but a recognition that there are people out there we could include if Cantonese were used as the language of worship, and we do have resource to minister to them.

Inclusiveness in our church is attained through the Fellowship groups. There are more than a dozen Fellowship groups for various ages and languages and dialects. They serve the people who have different backgrounds and going through different stages of their lives. Fellowship groups are also the keys to our church growth. The new wing of the church tries to satisfy the urgent need of space by the various Fellowship groups. In some ways it reflects the growing up of the body.

While we strive to be inclusive we must pay attention to unity. Ephesians 4: 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Here are the seven great oneness - one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God:

· We belong to one body. There are more than a dozen Fellowship groups in our church. But we are one body - one church - not a dozen churches under one roof. Our natural differences may make it difficult for us to function as one body. Like families, generation gap could divide the church. There are ABCs and OBCs with vastly different cultural backgrounds. We must recognize that through the cross, we die to our natural selves and live to God. We have a new life within all of us, just like all cells in a body sharing the same genetic base. We should focus on the same life we have within when we perceive and deal with our outward, or natural, differences. Rather than ignore our differences, we can then be sensitive to the needs of "other" groups. We can then grow together in the body of Christ tomaturity.

· We have one Spirit to guide us - we can and should sense the leading of the same Spirit. We have to listen to the Spirit prayerfully and carefully. Seven times in the letters to the churches recorded in Revelation our Lord made the call: he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. I also believe when the Spirit speaks to the church, it speaks to many. We may hear different aspects of the same thing due to our different burdens. Therefore, we should also learn to listen to our brothers and sisters carefully, in order to get the complete spiritual perspective of what the Spirit says to the church.

· One hope - A lot of our differences come from our outlook, our aspiration. Paul prayed that we may know how great is the hope "to which he has called you". We have to look far in perspective. The knowledge of what God has in store for us should supersede the differences we may see before us, because they are beyond our own outlooks and aspirations.

· One Lord - We all have confessed "Jesus is Lord". Yet, this Jesus, our Lord, on the night he was betrayed, prayed for all believers - John 17: 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

So if we have problems with one another, try to remember that our Lord prayed for our complete unity before his death on the cross for us. A sure way to remember is to break the bread together - partake the Lord’s supper that was also established on the night he was betrayed. Last year, the deacons of our church had its first retreat to sort out some difficult issues that we were facing. Bother Dennis Logan brought the bread and we started the retreat with breaking of bread together. At the end of the retreat we reached unanimity on several issues beyond all our expectations.

Eldership was envisioned there as yet another step towards the maturity of the body. Subsequently the Council of Elders has been established to facilitate and strengthen the shepherding and overseeing ministry of the church. 1Corinthians 10:16b-17: Is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. Therefore, even with space and language limitations, our church as a whole strives to break bread together. We do this in remembrance of our Lord, who prayed for our complete unity before his death on the cross for us.

· We all share the one faith. Ephesians 2: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - 9 not by work, so that no one can boast. We share the same one faith that we are saved by grace, not by work. No one can boast their work. This is a very important factor for unity.

· We have one baptism. Romans 6: 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. The implication to our relationship with each other is clear: if we live a new life united in his resurrection, we must have unity in him - doing so by burying our disagreement into death.

· Finally, one God. Over all: of course - that is our God the Father! Through all: amazing metaphor -- God is like the thread tying all the loose pearls (us) into an exquisite necklace - to be his testimony! In all: God dwells among his people in unity!

The seven great oneness are the accomplished facts, and they are also the basis of our unity. Only through unity can we have a church that can fully carry out its functions.

III. Functions of the body.

We listed four functions of our church in the Article of Incorporation: "to worship God, to edify the believers, to cultivate the fellowship among the saints and to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world." As a bible study group with Sunday Worship, we had been functioning "to worship God" and "to cultivate the fellowship among the saints". So I would like to emphasize here "to edify the believers" and "to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ". Edification and evangelism are the two major reasons why the church exits. The Great Commission of our Lord (Matthew 28:19,20): Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commended you. To make disciples is evangelism and teaching them to obey everything Jesus have commended us is edification. Church exists to carry out these two functions.

A. Evangelism

In the seventies, quite a few Chinese churches were established through out the United States, often based on bible study groups just like ours. In retrospect, many believe that this phenomenon was the work of the Spirit in the preparation for the influx of Chinese scholars and immigrants from China. We thank God for the privilege to take part in this mission. Evangelism among Chinese scholars and new immigrants has evolved to be one of our most important and blessed ministries. Many of the Chinese scholars are now strong Christians, a full fledged part of the body. The scholars group (or should I say groups) is maturing from a group being served to a group that serves the Lord and brothers and sisters in the church as a whole with faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints.

We have similar visions for the overseas missions. Missions is the ministry to be emphasized this year in our church. It is a ministry that transcends Fellowship groups. It is natural that China’s mission is special to us. "We’ll go with a mission to wake up the sleepy China; We’ll go with a vision of a missionary China, to spread the gospel to every corner of the world."

B. Edification

Evangelism is not the end of the Great Commission. The church must follow up the work of evangelism by edification. Church exists for the education of people who need to learn a new language of love, a new logic, and a new view of relationships. We can teach each other our experiences, encouraging each other. A functioning body is absolutely essential for growth and maturity to take place. Christians cannot grow well in isolation. We need to support one another. In the Bible, the word "edify" or "edification" is used most frequently in the context of the functioning body. In other words, the very nature of the body of Christ makes it important for every member to function and contribute to the process of edification.

Edification includes learning, practicing, and teaching everything Jesus commended us. The knowledge of the Son of God is the basis of edification. No matter how much we know, there are always more to learn and experience. The new wing of the church is called the education wing as a recognition of the important role of edification in church life. There are Sunday School classes to meet the different levels (from basic to in-depth) and different areas of needs. I want to encourage everyone to attend one of these classes.

Edification is to serve each other in love. I have to confess the mistake in my attitude of serving when I was young. I would say, "I am serving the King, I am serving my Lord. It is not brother and sisters that I have to serve." But this Lord I am serving reminded me: Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his live as a ransomfor many (Matthew 20:28). To be edifying, we must learn from our Lord, and have the attitude of serving the King in serving each others.

We must avoid complacency. As the church grow more and have received more of God’s blessing, we may start to think we are better than others. We may even start to neglect, even exclude, some of the weaker members. We may try to achieve perfection by only catering to those who meet our "standard". Let us learn a sobering lesson from the church of Ephesians. This church with faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints at the time of Paul grew to be arrogant and in Revelations 2:4 God rebuke it: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Oh God, we pray that this would never happen to us!

Rather, in love we should edify each other with a shared awareness of our sin, a shared need for confession and for forgiveness, a shared desire for righteousness, and a shared reliance on the cross of Christ. This way, we shall build up God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)

Conclusion

As we draw to a close, let us read on to one more verse, 1 Timothy 3:16, Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.

Obviously these lines describes Christ our Lord. He appears in a body - he is God incarnate - all these are accomplished facts. Why are they here coupled with the previous verse about the church? The church is his body -- he appears in a body. Therefore all these can also be the experience of the church! So have our eyes and hearts been enlightened -- what is his glorious inheritance in the saints? Yes, it is the church. The church, being the body of Christ, is God incarnate in the world just as Christ is God incarnate. The church is the testimony of God on Earth. Let man see God in the love we exhibit in the church and towards the world!

As we commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of our church, a church that has reached its "age of maturity", let us first of all remember our "first love". Let us not forsake faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints. As we grow in size and diversity, let us remember the seven oneness as our basis for unity, particularly that our Lord himself prayed for our complete unity before he gave himself for us. Let the church carry out the Great Commission - seize the moment to evangelize and make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification (Roman 14:19). Church exists so we may build up each other in love. Let us not be complacent. Because we must not be satisfied until we all reach unity in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)

Title: The Body of Christ Attaining Maturity
By: Winston Ko
Series: The Truth about the Church
Date: 9/9/01