Sermon - Jeff Raines - Don't Be a Baby [Ephesians 4:11-16]

First Baptist Shreveport

Like instructions for putting together Legos, the Bible gives us instructions for how we can grow in Christ.

What does greatness look like?

⁃Is it like a sports where statistics prove an athlete is great?

⁃Is it like Billy Graham with the most sermons preached?

⁃Is it size of a church?

⁃Is it good works like Mother Theresa?

The disciples were very concerned about being great and who and how.

How do we do our best to grow into maturity as followers of Jesus?

⁃We need a church/community/human interaction

⁃We need a community that will shape us in the way of Jesus

Unity in the Body of Christ

⁃Paul wants to show us what we have in Christ; the great power of Love

⁃Old walls are broken down

⁃At the heart is the vision that we would become “mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”

⁃God wants us to have a lifetime of growth and wisdom, not get to a point and stop

⁃Maturity is different from talent

How do we get on this path?

⁃know that God is FOR us!

⁃This path is a walking path much more than it is a running/springing/soaring path

⁃Just keep walking (moving and believing) - ex: serving others, regular worship

⁃Take whatever talents/influence God has given to us and apply that to serving others — Can be quiet acts of service, like Mary who would sweep the doorways of the church. — Jesus’s example of washing feet

Don’t be a baby. Don’t be “tossed about”.

⁃steadfast, consistent

⁃speak the truth in love

⁃How do we grow up? — grow into the body where Jesus is the body, Jesus is the Lord