Ephesians

Make Us Mature

The second result that God produces through the gifts He has given us is to make us mature in Christ. In Ephesians 4:12, Paul writes that these gifts were given “so that the body of Christ may be built up.” The first result that we just examined—preparing the saints for service—is directed outward, to the world. But the second result—building up the body of Christ—is directed inward, toward the church itself. The ultimate goal of building up the body of Christ is that “we all reach unity in the 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).

That is a great statement—in fact, it is a startling statement. The apostle is telling us that the goal of all God’s far-flung work in history is focused on us, members of the body of Christ, the church. What is that goal? You might think it would be the evangelization of the world. Certainly, as Christians, we believe in carrying out the Great Commission to preach the gospel to everyone around the world (see Mark 16:15). That is a crucial function of the church, but that is not the supreme function of the church!

The goal God seeks to accomplish, above all else, is our maturity—and Paul goes on to explain that our maturity means that we attain “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). He desires that we may become grown up, responsible, well-adjusted, absolutely Christ-like human beings, as God intended us to be.

It takes the church to do that. You cannot be all that God created you to be unless you are part of the church, functioning as God intended you to function, with the church functioning as God intended it to function. Deep down, this is what we desire: to be whole, complete, mature, and fulfilled.

We all have a mental image of ourselves as, at least to some degree, whole and mature. We all think of ourselves as more mature than we really are, for we have an enormous capacity for self-deception. Occasionally, there are times when we are forced to be brutally honest with ourselves. We make a major mistake, we get caught in a terrible sin, we cause pain to someone we truly care about—and then our self-image is shattered like a broken mirror. We despise ourselves and say, “I’m nothing but a stupid, stubborn, immature fool!” We want so desperately to be mature and Christ-like, but we so easily fall short.