Sermon Notes
Becoming Who We Are: Together
Ephesians 4:1-16
Before I came to Pasadena, interim pastor Denny Bellesi used to say, “Lake Avenue Church, you are a piece of work!” And, over my 11 years with you, I ‘ve learned this -- Denny was right. That’s what we are – a piece of work. ![]()
But, God loves us. In fact, God loves the world he made in spite of how messed up it currently is. Out of his love, God sent Jesus into this world not to condemn the world but to rescue it (cf, Jn 3:16-17). When God completes his rescue mission, he will make sure that things and people in his creation are no longer messed up. When God is done, there will be no more injustices, no more poverty, trafficking, pain, death, tears… Do you believe this? This is the good news that brings us hope.
This fall we have been seeing how a church like the one in Ephesus that Paul was writing to -- and the church here in Pasadena that I am preaching to – are central to God fulfilling his mission. God’s eternal plan is to place local churches made up of people from every “tribe, language and nation” into neighborhoods in this messed up world to enter in to the brokenness of the world, to give witness to and to make his glory known.
In Eph 2:10, we saw that God’s Word describes a church as his “work of art”. That’s what we are. We are God’s piece of work, all of us being rescued by his God’s grace through faith in Jesus and located here in this time and place now to do God’s good works in this broken world. Today, as we come to Eph 4:1-16, in my sermon I want to return to that image back in Eph 2:10 of us being a work of art that God is creating us to be. In ch. 4, Paul uses the metaphor of a body to describe the same thing, i.e., what we will be like when God finishes his work in us. Look at how he puts it in 4:15:
We will grow together to become in every respect the mature body of Christ (4:15).
This is our destiny! We in this church will “in every respect” become the body of the One who is our head, i.e., Jesus. So, we’re all like little infants when we first come to Jesus – but God promises to make us mature and strong. When I read language like this, I pray, “Lord, this sounds great. But, there is a lot of work that you will have to do so that we will become what you promise we will be!” And, basically, God’s Word today declares, “I know. But, what I have promised to do, I will do.” That’s what we’ll think about today.
I have asked our brass players today to help me illustrate the point. When they first started playing their instruments, they did not play the way they play now. They had a lot of learning and growing to do. I think most of us would find it hard to imagine how many hours of learning and practicing are represented in our musicians today. But, I want us to think about them bringing their years of practicing together to bless us and to bring glory to God. They could all be playing solos but what I’ve asked them to play together. Let’s hear how it sounds as they play a few measures of the Doxology…
How did that happen? How did these people go from those beginners struggling to produce the most basic sounds on their instruments to playing together a song of praise to God? It starts with what I’ll call a covenant.
#1: The Covenant We Must Make – to God and to one another. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (4:3).
What I want our musicians to do now is to play at the same time a few measures of whatever song they want to play. Let’s hear how that sounds…
Each one of them is a good soloist – but if they all play solos at the same time, they don’t create a work of at – no, they create a cacophony! But, when they bring their gifts together following the same piece of music, they are able to make music that they could not have done alone. And, the point that the Bible makes is that God has never intended for us to walk a solo journey with him. We only grow when we journey together.
I want you to see how important this is. After giving us three chapters of all that Jesus has done to bring us into the one household of faith, in ch. 4 Paul begins to tell us how we respond to what God has done. The Apostle Paul is extremely passionate about where our lives as Jesus-followers must begin.
Look at v. 1: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. How? From his prison, Paul begs them to do one thing worthy of their identity with Jesus: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (4:3).”
Paul is begging them – and us – to enter in to a covenant to do life together with Jesus as the center of our community. I think most of you know that I now serve on the Board of Trustees at my Alma Mater, Wheaton College. When I was a student there, we signed a pledge that included the things we would not do while we were students. That pledge felt to us like a set of rules that we had to keep on our own. A number of years later, based passages of God’s Word like this one, we established a “Community Covenant.” It is a pledge to live lives worthy of the Lord in the context of a community to whom we will hold ourselves accountable. We confessed that we had a lot of learning and growing to do – and that could only happen as we did life together, submitting to one another, loving one another, and not giving up on one another. This is a part of that covenant:
We, the Wheaton College community, desire to be a covenant community of Christians marked by integrity, responsible freedom, and dynamic, Christ-like love, a place where the name of Jesus Christ is honored in all we do. This requires that each of us keeps his or her word by taking the commitment to this covenant seriously as covenant keepers, whatever pressures we may face to do otherwise.
The basis of a covenant like that is a shared experience of God’s grace, a shared recognition that each of us is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and a shared commitment to follow Jesus as Lord. But, in that, we also affirm that there are some core beliefs that we all share too.
And the kinds of core beliefs that Paul mentions holding us together are these: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (4:4-6).
Just seven simple but essential truths that form a part of what bonds us together. You see, Paul was well aware that there were many other lords, many other faiths, there were other baptisms in the world in which he lived. There was a whole pantheon of other gods that his Gentile readers certainly had patronized at some time in their lives. But, when people came to Jesus as Lord and Savior, those rival religions and rival belief systems and rival gods had to be surrendered to the Lord Jesus.
Based on a passage like this one, those who started LAC and led it long before any of us arrived covenanted to be the kind of church in which all who become a part of this community would hold on to the essential issues of our faith. The left a lot of room for what Paul called in Romans 14, “disputable matters”. I remember being asked when I became pastor here whether I could enter into a covenant with a church that allowed much more breadth on disputable matters than most churches do. Chris and I said, “Gladly and unreservedly!”
So, here we are LAC – still a piece of work in process. We have established our Statement of Faith that you can read online – a statement that includes my commentary too. That tells you the core beliefs that we teach here. But know that, based on passages like this one, we have determined that we will have people who are both Calvinists and Arminians within our larger fellowship; that our fellowship will not be based on whether we have “red” and “blue” political leanings, that charismatic and non-charismatic will find a home here, etc.
Having said that, I do want to say this very clearly: There can be no authentic Christian unity without a commitment to essential Christian truth like we find in Eph 4:4-6. But, our focus must be on those essential things that unite us – not the disputable things.
The Apostle Paul has provided here us a good list of the kinds of things on our “sheet music” that unite us. Let us hold firmly to those truths that stand at the heart of our faith. At the same time, don’t give up your convictions on disputable issues. Many of them are important. Instead, learn to discuss them and search the Scriptures about them with your church family. And, never leave your church family over disputable matters. Learn to dispute about them – with civility and grace -- within the community to which you have made a covenant. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (4:3).
#2: The Personal Qualities We All Must Nurture -- Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love (4:2).
I want our musicians to help us see what happens when some of them want to take over the piece regardless of the whether the dynamics markings indicate “forte” or “pianissimo”…
There seems to be a power struggle there, doesn’t there? Some are overpowered – even bullied. And this can happen in the community too. So, the Bible gives us three related words that describe the kind of personal qualities that need to be nurtured as we follow Jesus in a covenant community. What are they?
- Humility – groveling attitude but honest evaluation. It’s not, “I have nothing of value to contribute this church family.” No, it’s the honest self-evaluation that will never allow us to think that we’re better than others.
- Gentleness – weakness but controlled strength. It’s like a strong horse that controls its strength so that a rider can benefit from it. It’s the quality that when the emotions are running high and things seem out of control, to be able to absorb the emotions and the verbal blows and offer wisdom and a way forward.
- Patience – not indifference, agitation or apathy but faithfulness while waiting. Patience enables us to keep our covenants and to “bear with one another in love (4:2).” In this context, it is the quality that will make it possible for us to work through differences until the bond of peace is reestablished.
These very Jesus-like qualities will keep us from engaging in the abuse of power so rampant in our society. Instead, we will use whatever authority and power we possess not for our own benefit. We will treat people with respect and will value all people regardless of age, gender or ethnicity.
These three personal qualities lead me to reemphasize the point Pastor Jeff Mattesich made in his powerful message to us last week. He confessed what I also confess, i.e., over this past year, as we sought to lead in this past year, we could have done things much better. And, with your prayer support, we’ll seek to lead as well as the gifts of God enable us and the Spirit of God empowers us. There are two specific steps, we will take:
- Call ourselves and our entire church to prayer over these next 40 da In the Worship Folder, we have placed a copy of the marvelous prayer of Paul for his church in Ephesus 3:14-21. Let that prayer guide you. Pray it each day and let God take you from its words to specific matters of prayer.
- Provide a monthly update about what’s on our minds and in our hearts. It won’t be anything like our worship folder – but more like a family update about where we think God is leading us.
We’re praying that God might use these small steps to bring us closer to him and to one another.
#3: The Conduct We Must Engage In -- Speaking the truth in love, we will grow together to become in every respect the mature body of 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 (4:15-16).
Vv.15-16 provides a description of how the church, the body of Christ, moves from us being infantile to being mature. So, first we must be born. Growth starts when we place our faith in Jesus and begin to follow him. “From Christ” – the new life cannot really begin until you are made alive spiritually through faith in Jesus.
But, when we are born again in that way, we are infants in the faith. How might we be like infants?
- We have to grow in humility – not always saying, “Mine. It’s mine.” We need someone in our family to teach us how good it is to share.
- We have to grow in gentleness – not always having to have our moms say, “Be gentle with your little sister. Don’t hit her over the head with your truck!”
- We have to grow in patience – not always saying, “I want it now!” And then screaming until we get what we want. We need someone to love us to say “No! This will be worth waiting for.”
Just as an infant cannot grow but must do so in the context of a family. So too, we do not grow spiritually except in the context of our church family that loves us and wants the best for us.
I don’t have the time to develop all Paul says about this in vv. 7-13 but, boiling it down: God gives grace to each person in a church family. One beautiful aspect of that grace is that God makes each one of us valuable to the whole church – through the gifts he gives us. A few in a church family are, using his language, taken captive for a specific kind of role in the church family, e.g., to be missionaries, evangelists, and pastor/teachers. The Bible says their role is to use God’s gift to equip others to grow and serve. That grace, that role, is not a higher or more spiritual grace than others – though it is important. But, most of God’s family is called upon to represent God in the world – all over the world. Some are sent into the legal profession, others into the entertainment industry, others to JPL/NASA, others into business, yet others into public education etc. God sends his people everywhere to represent him.
But, even as we represent God in the world, we come back into our church family and, rooted here in love, we grow. And, the Bible gives us two directives about how we will grow together in our covenant community:
- Speaking the truth in love to one another – Remember that the biggest problem in their church was that Jewish and Gentile believers were struggling to live in unity. There were surely many deep wounds from the ways these two people groups had treated one another. I imagine that, especially, many of the Jewish believers had been mistreated by the Gentile majority in that mega-city. With that in their pasts, what should they do about those wrongs they had experienced. Ignore them? No, they had to speak what was true – but with love. Sins had to be owned up to and turned from -- and forgiveness had to be extended and received. The truth had to be uncovered in a context of a community covenanted to live in unity and conducting themselves with humility, gentleness and patience. I believe the same is essential in many of the racial and gender issues of our own day. Learning how to speak the truth in love will be a key to whatever shalom God will create in our Jesus-following communities.
- Gracing one another through the use of the gifts God has graced us with – Notice that in v. 16, it is the body itself that God uses to bring about our growth. The basic sentence in 16 is "the whole body . . . causes the growth of the body.” The word "whole" is important. Growth happens, we read, "according to the working of each individual part."
So, yet again, the Book of Ephesians calls each of us to find a place of serving the rest of the church family. And, it is clear about the fact that each one of us here is graced by God to make a difference in the whole church. We’ve experienced that today as our Shepherd’s Class has led us in worship. I hope you both give and receive each time you come to church with your family – through the welcome of an usher or greeter, through a moment of fellowship in the lobby, through the opening of the Word and the time of prayer in our services. But, what happens if a part is missing? Our brass players can help us experience that too…
Together. God has brought us together in Christ. He promises that we will “in every respect be a work of art – a body that in every respect becomes the mature body of Jesus Christ. This happens in a community of people who have covenanted to live together in love and unity and mutual service to one another. Let’s renew that covenant – and I declare to you: We will together bring praise and glory to God.
Brass players will play the measures we began with and then the organ will flow from that into the doxology.
Chinese Study Notes
回歸原本的自己：聚集在一起
以弗所書4：1-16
我來到帕薩迪納之前，在教會臨時任職的丹尼牧師曾經說過：“我們的教會就是神的工作！” 當我與它同在十一年之後，我學到了這一點，丹尼是對的。這就是我們教會 ---- 神的工作。 ![]()
神愛我們。神愛祂所創造的世界，盡管它現在是如此的混亂。因著神的愛，祂差遣耶穌進入世界，不是要定世界的罪，而是為要拯救它（參看約3：16-17）。當神完成祂拯救的使命，世間一切的人與物都不再混亂。當神完成祂的工作，世上就不會再有不公正，也不再有貧窮，痛苦，死亡，眼淚……你相信嗎？這就是帶給我們希望的好消息。
在這個秋季的講道系列中，我們看到，在神履行祂的使命時，如保羅書信中所寫的以弗所教會一樣的教會，和我們在帕薩迪納的教會，都是至關重要的。神永恒的計劃，是將各個不同“部落，語言和民族”的人們所組成的教會放置在這個混亂世界之中的各個社區，使它們進入破碎的世界之中，向世人作見證，彰顯神的榮耀。
在以弗所書2：10中，我們看到，聖經將教會描寫為“神的工作”。這就是我們。我們就是神的工作，我們所有人都因信耶穌而被神的恩典所拯救，並在此時來到此地，為要在這個破碎的世界中傳揚神的福音。今天，我們來看以弗所書4：1-16。在以弗所書2：10，我們也曾看到，我們是神手中的工作。在第四章，保羅使用身體的比喻來描述同樣的事情，他描述了當神完成祂在我們裏面的工作時，我們會是什麽樣子。請看4：16：全身都靠祂聯絡得合式，百節各按其職，照著各體的功用，彼此相助，便叫身體漸漸增長，在愛中建立自己。
這就是我們的目標！在這個教會裏，我們將在各個方面成為耶穌的身體。因此，當我們第一次來到耶穌面前時，我們都如同嬰孩，然而神承諾我們，要使我們成熟與剛強。當我讀到這樣的話語時，我就會禱告說：“主啊，這聽起來很好，但是你必須要做許多工作，我們才能成為你所應許的樣子！” 今天，神的話語宣告說：“我知道，我所應許的一切我都會完成。”這就是我們今天所要思考的。
我想請我們的銅管樂手幫助我說明這一點。當他們開始演奏樂器時，他們演奏得像現在這樣好。他們還有很多要學習和成長之處。我想我們大多數人都很難想象，我們的音樂家們曾經花了多少小時學習和訓練。但是我希望大家能感恩，他們將多年的練習一起帶進教會，成為我們的祝福，並為神帶來榮耀。他們每個人都可以獨奏，但是我請他們一起合奏。讓我們來聆聽他們演奏贊美詩的幾個小節……
這些人是怎樣從初學者只會演奏出最基本的聲音，一直努力而變成今天這樣能一同贊美神的？我認為，這個過程是從契約開始。
第一：我們必須要遵守的契約 ---- 與神和與彼此之間的契約。用和平彼此聯絡，竭力保守聖靈所賜合而為一的心（4：3）。
他們每個人都是很好的獨奏者，但是如果他們同時一起獨奏，他們就不會創作一部和諧的作品，他們會制造一種噪音！但是當他們在同一段音樂使用各自的恩賜，他們就能制作出他們無法獨自完成的作品。聖經所指出的要點是，神從未打算讓我們與祂一起獨自旅行，我們只有彼此一同與神旅行時才會成長。
我想讓你看到這有多重要。保羅在前三章裏講述了耶穌為要使我們在信仰裏成為一家人，祂一切的作為，在第四章，保羅告訴我們應如何回應神的作為。使徒保羅著重描述了作為耶穌的跟隨者，我們的生命應當從何處開始。
請看這一節：我為主被囚的勸你們，既然蒙召，行事為人就當與蒙召的恩相稱（4：3）。
保羅懇求他們，也包括我們，要進入一個約，與耶穌同活，成為我們社區的核心。我想可能大家都知道，我目前在我的母校惠頓學院擔任董事會成員。當我還在那裏做學生時，我們簽署過一個承諾，其中包括我們在學期間不會去做的一些事情。這個承諾使我們感到，那是我們必須自覺遵守的一套規則。多年之後，基於神的話語，就像我們今日所讀的經文一樣，我們建立了一個“社區契約”。在這個契約中，我們承諾要在社區中活出討神喜悅的生命。我們承認自己還有許多需要學習和成長的事情，而唯有我們共同生活、相互交往、彼此相愛、不放棄彼此，才能做到如此。以下就是契約的一部分：我們希望惠頓學院的社區成為一個由誠信、正當的自由、活力並有著基督慈愛的社區，成為一個所有人都尊耶穌之名的地方。這需要我們每個人都信守承諾，作為契約的守護者認真遵守契約，無論我們面對何種壓力。
像這樣的聖約，是基於人們對神恩典的共同體驗，是對聖靈所居住的每一個人的彼此承認，以及對於跟隨主耶穌的共同委身。也就是說，我們一定要有共同的核心信仰。
保羅所提到的將我們聚在一起的核心信仰就是：身體只有一個，聖靈只有一個，正如你們蒙召，同有一個指望。一主，一信，一洗，一神，就是眾人的父，超乎眾人之上，貫乎眾人之中，也住在眾人之內（4：4-6）。
這七個簡單卻重要的真理，構成了將眾人合一的一部分。保羅很清楚地認識到，有很多其他的主，其他的信仰，也有許多其他信仰的洗禮。他的那些外邦讀者們肯定在他們生命中曾相信過很多其他的神明。但是，當人們承認耶穌為主和救主，並來到祂的面前時，那些對立的宗教和信仰體系與敵對的神明，都必須俯伏在主耶穌面前。
基於這段經文，那些開始建立我們教會、並在我們到來之前很久就開始帶領這個教會的人們，都承諾過使這個教會成為所有人信守基本信仰的一個教會。這為保羅在羅馬書第14章所說的“有爭議的事”留下了很大的空間。我還記得我剛來做牧師的時候有人問我，我是否能與教會達成契約，可以在有爭議之事上比大多數教會有更寬廣的胸懷。克麗斯和我都說：“我們對此欣然、並毫無保留地願意履行！”
我們的教會今天仍然是一個正在進行中的工作。我們已經建立了信仰宣言，大家可以在網上閱讀，這個宣言也包括了我的一些註解。其中包括了我們在這裏所教導的核心信仰。但是要知道，根據這段經文，我們已經確定，我們中既有加爾文派，又有阿米念派；我們的團契不會基於我們是否是“紅色”還是“藍色”的政治傾向，那些富有領袖魅力和沒有領袖才能的人們都可以在這裏找到歸宿。
雖然如此，我還是想清楚地說明一點：若是基督徒們沒有對以弗所書4：4-6這樣的基督教真理委身的話，就不會有真正的基督徒之間的合一。但是，我們的重點必須放在那些使我們合一的事物上，而不是在引起爭議的事情上。
在這裏，使徒保羅為我們提供了一個很好的清單，列出了能使我們合一的“樂譜”。讓我們堅定地信靠這核心的真理。同時，也讓我們不要放棄對於爭議問題的堅持。其中有很多重要的問題。不光如此，還要和教會的弟兄姐妹一起探討和尋找與之相關的經文。要學習在你所立約的社區之中與人們文明並優雅地探討與爭論 ，竭力保守聖靈所賜合而為一的心（4：3）。
第二：我們必須要培養的個人特質 --- 凡事謙卑，溫柔，忍耐，用愛心互相寬容（4：2）
我希望我們的音樂家幫助我們一起來看看，如果他們中間有人要獨占主角，而不管誰演奏的部分比較重要，那時會發生什麽。
似乎這中間會有權力爭鬥，不是嗎？有人可能會被壓制。這在社區中也可能會發生。因此，聖經給了我們三個相關的詞語，描述了我們在聖約社區中跟隨耶穌時需要培養的個人品質。它們是什麽呢？
- • 謙卑 ---俯伏謙卑的態度，卻又對自己有正確的評價。 不會覺得“我沒有任何價值可以貢獻教會。”不，這是誠實的自我評價，永遠不會讓我們認為我們自己比其他人更好。
- • 溫柔 --- 不是軟弱，而是一種自控力。這就像一匹強壯、能控制自己力量的馬，騎手可以從中受益。當情緒高漲，事情似乎失去控制時，能夠收斂情緒和怒語，提供智慧和前行的方法。
- • 耐心--- 不是漠不關心，激動或冷漠，而是在等待時有忠心。耐心使我們用愛心互相寬容（4：2）。”在這種背景下，正是這種品質使我們能夠在重建和平之前解決分歧。
這些與耶穌相像的品質，會阻止我們在社會中濫用權力。相反，我們對任何權威和權力的使用，都並非為了我們自己的利益。我們會尊重他人，包括所有的人，不分年齡、性別和種族。
藉著這三種個人品質，我想再次強調傑夫牧師上周強有力的信息中所提出的觀點，他承認一點，我也承認，那就是在過去的一年裏，當我們努力發揮領導作用時，我們本可以做得更好。在你們的禱告支持下，我們將尋求有效的領導能力，而神的恩賜使我們得以如此成就；神的靈能使我們得著能力。我們將采取如下兩個步驟:
1。在接下來的四十天裏，呼召我們自己和整個教會來禱告。在大家的敬拜程序單裏，有一份保羅在以弗所書3：14-21中為以弗所教會所做的奇妙禱告。求神讓這篇祈禱文指引你。每天如此禱告，讓神把你從祂的話語帶到禱告的具體行動上。
2。每月提供我們的思想和內心更新的內容。它不像我們的“敬拜程序單”，而更像是一個在我們的思想中關於神向哪裏帶領教會的更新資料。
我們求神可以使用這些具體的步驟，讓我們更親近祂，也更接近彼此。
第三：我們必須賦予實際的行為——惟用愛心說誠實話，凡事長進，連於元首基督。全身都靠他聯絡得合式，百節各按各職，照著各體的功用彼此相助，便叫身體漸漸增長，在愛中建立自己。 (4:15-16)。
在 第15-16節描述了教會與基督的身體是如何使我們從幼稚變為成熟的。所以首先，我們必須重生。當我們相信耶穌並開始跟隨祂時，成長就開始了。僅有“來自於基督”的新生命還不能真正開始成長，除非你因著信靠耶穌而在靈裏重生。
- • 我們必須學會謙卑——不要總是說“我的“，或者”這是我的“。”我們需要別人來教導我們，“與人分享”是一件多麽美好的事。
- • 我們必須學會溫柔——不要總是讓媽媽說:“要溫柔地對待你的小妹妹。別用你的小卡車打她的頭!”
- • 我們必須學會忍耐——不要總是說:“我現在就想要!”然後尖叫，直到我們得到我們想要的。我們需要愛我們的人對我們說“不!這一切值得你的等待。”
嬰兒必須要在家庭的環境中才能成長。同樣，我們也必須在愛我們的、希望我們得到最大益處的教會家庭中才能成長。
我沒有時間展開保羅在7-13節中說的所有內容。但總而言之，神賜下恩典給教會裏的每個人。這恩典的一個美好之處就是，因著神所賜的恩賜，祂使我們每個人在教會中都有各自的價值。教會中有一些人，用自己的語言，成為教會特定的角色，例如傳教士、傳福音者和牧師/教師。聖經說，他們的角色是使用神的恩賜去裝備、服務他人，並使他們成長。那樣的恩典和角色，並非比別人更高或更屬靈——盡管它很重要。神家裏的大部分人都蒙召，要在世上代表神。因此，有人進入法律行業，有人進入娛樂業，有人進入JPL/NASA，有人進入商業界，還有一些人進入公共教育等等。神差派屬祂的人到各處去代表祂。
然而，即使我們在世上代表神，我們也要回到神的家中來，並且在愛中紮根於此，使我們得以成長。而且，聖經給了我們兩個指令，告訴我們如何在所立聖約的會眾中共同成長：
第一，在愛中彼此說誠實話——如果一個人與其他的人不相合會發生什麽？事情開始的時候還不錯，但是當一個人和其他人不合拍時會怎樣？事情有點不對勁。當然，當一個人步調偏離時，其他的人需要介入來幫忙解決，而不是去忽視他。在教會中也是如此。
請記住，以弗所教會最大的問題，是猶太人和外邦人的信徒都在努力達到合一。 這兩個群體在以往彼此對待的方式，肯定給雙方都留下了很深的創傷。我想，尤其有許多猶太信徒在這個大城裏受到過多數外邦人的苦待。在過去的這一切經歷中，他們應該如何對待他們以往所經歷的錯誤？忽略它們嗎? 不，他們必須說實話，而且是帶著愛心來說。我們必須承認自己的罪，必須改過自新，也必須要更多地寬恕他人。人們要在承諾合一、並以謙卑、溫柔和耐心引導會眾的背景之中說誠實話。我相信，在許多種族和性別的問題上也是如此，這一點至關重要。 學習如何以愛心說誠實話，將成為神在跟隨耶穌的社區中帶來和平的關鍵。
第二，借著神賜給我們的恩賜，使我們彼此蒙恩- 請註意，在第16節中，神使用身體本身來帶領我們成長。 第16節中的重點是“全身......叫身體漸漸增長。”“全身”這個詞很重要。增長是因著“百節各按各職。”
因此，“以弗所書”再次呼籲我們每個人都找到一個為教會其他人服事的地方。而且很顯然，我們每一個人都可以因神的恩典而在教會中有所作為。今天在詩班帶領我們敬拜的時候，我們也經歷了這些。我希望你們每次和家人一起來教會敬拜時，都會有所得著和有所給予----藉著招待的歡迎，藉著在大廳裏片刻的交通，藉著神的話語和崇拜中禱告的時間。但是，如果一個部件迷失了怎麽辦?
聚集在一起！神使我們在基督裏聚集在一起。祂承諾說，要使我們“百節各按各職，建立基督的身體----一個在各方面都有著耶穌基督身量的成熟身體。唯有在一個彼此承諾，彼此相愛、合一的團體中，才能做到如此。讓我們更新這個契約：我要向大家宣告：我們要在一起為神帶來贊美和榮耀。
現在，讓我們聽一聽，當我們齊心一同工作時會發生什麽。各個樂器還是有各自的獨特之處，但是它們卻一同創作出美好的音樂。
榮耀歸給神
Greg Waybright博士
主任牧師
Greg Waybright