Ephesians

Immersing Ourselves in Christ

Here in Ephesians 4:13, Paul tells us what the true measure of maturity is: “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” In fact, just to make sure we don’t miss his point, Paul tells us again, in verse 15, that God intends that we “grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” The Lord Jesus Christ is the One by whom God measures us, and the One by whom we are to measure ourselves.

If we never truly learn to know Christ, we can never become more than a pale and shabby parody of Him, a copy of a stereotype. But as we get to know Him in His true reality, as we obey Him and cast ourselves in faith upon Him, we begin to appropriate His life. We take Him into ourselves and onto ourselves, not merely hearing Him, but doing His will and His work. That is how we attain “to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

You cannot truly know Jesus Christ until you follow Him. The disciples were acquainted with Jesus Christ before they became His disciples, but they never really knew Him until they left everything and followed Him. That’s when their journey toward maturity began. So it is with us. We get to know Jesus by following Him, by obeying Him, by walking in His footsteps. Simply reading about Jesus is not enough.

It’s like trying to learn how to swim by reading a book about swimming. You’ll never learn to swim that way. You have to get into the water. You have to immerse yourself. You have to flounder around and bob up and down and maybe swallow a little water—but in time, you learn to float and kick with your feet and stroke with your arms and get it all synchronized. And in time, you become a swimmer! That’s what spiritual growth is like—immersing yourself in the Christian walk and Christian service as you learn to become more and more like Christ.

You might be thinking, How can I be like Christ? He’s the Son of God; I’m a mere mortal human being. He’s perfect; I’m a failure, prone to sin. If the perfection of Jesus is the standard, I might as well just give up. I’ll never be like Him. But there is no need for discouragement. Notice how we reach maturity—not in a single lightning-flash of sainthood, but through a gradual process of growth. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:15, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” God doesn’t expect us to instantly transform and become Christ-like—rather, He has provided a process by which we grow up into Christ-likeness.

I know many new Christians who are disturbed and disappointed that their conversion did not instantly transform them into angelic creatures. They get down on themselves when they find old habits, old attitudes, and old sins jumping up to bite them. They don’t know what to make of this. Sometimes they even wonder if they are Christians at all. Of course, they are. They just need to be reassured that, having placed their faith in Christ, they have embarked on a lifelong process of growth toward Christ-likeness and maturity.

Paul goes on to describe a day-by-day, moment-by-moment growth process of the church, which parallels the growth in an individual Christian life. In Ephesians 4:16 he writes, “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.” Here we clearly see that growth is God’s method. As individuals growing toward Christ-likeness, we support one another, encouraging each other’s individual growth and our collective growth as the church of Jesus Christ. Individually and collectively, we become more whole and mature, not only as spiritual beings but as complete human beings.

I love to see eagerness for growth— “I just can’t wait to be more like Christ!” That kind of eagerness is wonderful if it makes us eager to dig into the Word, eager to serve God, eager to pattern our lives after the Lord.

But sometimes we get over-eager—and that sets us up for discouragement. We want to be mature, but some error or setback throws us and makes us feel like total failures, like spiritual babies. In our impatience for maturity, we pray, “Lord, what’s wrong with me? Why don’t you hurry up this growth process? I’m so tired of being immature.” Have you ever felt that way? I have, many times.

But God has His own timetable, and most of us will take an entire lifetime to grow up fully. Certainly, some reach relative maturity within a few years of conversion, but even those are still in for a lifetime of spiritual discoveries that lead to greater growth. God expects the process to take some time. After all, it takes God years to grow an oak tree—but He can grow a squash in three months! God is not interested in growing Christian squashes. He wants to make sturdy oaks out of your life and mine.