"Christ Ascended = the Church's Provision" Part 10

Let's begin with prayer. Heavenly Father, you know our frame, that we are but dust.

We are as the flower of the field that fades away.

The wind passes over it, its place is no more, and no one left remembers.

Life is so brief and fleeting. We are so temporary.

And yet you are from everlasting to everlasting.

You are God and not a man. You do not change, and your word is eternal and true.

Who are we that you are mindful of us? That you make us from the dust and breathe the breath of life into us.

Is already grace unfathomable? But then, you save us at the cost of your only begotten

Son. And you tell us, you tell us where we may know you, and how we may worship you.

You reveal yourself in these words that you have breathed out.

That holy men carried along by the Holy Spirit put down these everlasting eternal words.

And we say thank you. Thank you for giving us a lamp for our feet, a light into our path.

And we ask that this time this morning, that you would know the joy of being worshipped by a people who reverence you and who rejoice in you.

And we pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ with whom you are well pleased.

Well I invite you to stand with me as we read again Ephesians 4, 7 -16.

Another opportunity to give reverence to Christ who is revealed here in these words.

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.

Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean except he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth.

He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.

But speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up into all aspects into him who is the head, even

Christ from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Over the last few weeks

I've come across several articles, interviews which prescribe various methods and means for church growth.

Everything from buying a homeless man a beer if he promises to come to church. The extolling of the virtues of fog machines.

You think I'm kidding? I'm not. Or sending an aerialist spinning down on her rope from the ceiling to glorify

God with her body. Perhaps we should choreograph dance routines like People's Church here in Oklahoma City.

Five campuses, 5 ,000 weekly attendees. Perhaps we should mix

Martin Luther and Nicolas Cage like J .D. Greer. His Summit Church has 11 campuses and 10 ,000 weekly attendees and he just got elected president of the

SBC. Perhaps we should unhitch the Old Testament from the gospel story focusing only on the resurrection like Andy Stanley.

His North Point Church has six campuses and 30 ,000 weekly attendees. Or perhaps we can just smile and tell everybody what they want to believe about God anyway like Joel Osteen and have six services and 52 ,000 attendees.

These are the success stories of church growth. These are the models that are put forth and churches of every size are called to follow suit.

But when numbers serve as our moral authority like Ahab and Jezebel they lead

God's people whoring after Baal. Does God, does

Jesus want his church to grow? Yes. Did Jesus say he would build his church?

Yes. Critical question for our time. One answered by our text.

What does growth look like to Jesus? How are churches built according to Jesus?

We got to pay attention to what he says here in Ephesians 4, 7 -16. And we'll be focusing on the last two verses.

We've been warned in verse 14 that we should no longer be infants in a typhoon of lies.

As a church that means that we ought not be tossed to and fro by every new fad or carried about by every farce.

It is not true what is being said. It is not true that God has left us in a postmodern fog on secularized roads with only this out of date largely useless map to some kind of foreign terrain.

Christ's provision, our provision as the church flows from Christ ascended.

He has given us the Holy Spirit. He has given each of us grace according to the measure of his gift the

Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit Christ has given servants to his saints so that through the ministry of the

Holy Scriptures his body is built and the church grows.

And we are not to be built up into the measure of J .D. Greer or Andy Stanley or Joel Osteen.

And our church does not have to look like a dance floor, a movie theater or a sports stadium.

Christ must be preached from all the Scriptures until he is formed in all of his people. You'll see on the back side of your handout where we are at the very end of this outline.

We're talking about what Christ gives to his church, the grace given.

And we're here in verses 15 and 16 and seeing that Jesus Christ gives sustenance to his church.

As you look at verses 15 and 16 I think that you can detect the richness of what is going on in these verses.

Tracing the vein of gold is as easy as paying attention to the first phrase and the last phrase of verse 16.

If you have a word -for -word translation you are in a lot better shape. The New American Standard starts this way.

You can see the phrase the whole body at the beginning of verse 16. Meaning the whole body now at the end causes the growth of the body.

We're going to break down the sentence to understand exactly what is being said. This is what is being said.

The whole body causes the growth of the body. English Standard Version. The whole body makes the body grow.

King James Version. The whole body maketh increase of the body. Now this might sound a little odd but it shouldn't surprise us at all.

Especially having read verses 11 and 12. That Jesus Christ ascended through his

Holy Spirit. Has given apostles and prophets to establish the word.

He has given evangelists to extend that word. And pastors and teachers to expound that word.

Equipping the saints for the work of ministry. And what is that ministry? It is using the word to build up the body of Christ.

In other words the whole body causes the growth of the body.

Let's talk about growth. The whole body causes the growth of the body.

I believe Paul's metaphor can be instantly felt. The meaning of it when we say something like this.

What you do to your body determines what you can do with your body.

Does that make sense? You can nourish your body. You can exercise your body.

Or you can poison your body. And atrophy your body. What you do to your body determines what you can do with your body.

And the same is true by analogy of the body of Christ. And we have to recognize our responsibility in this growth.

The whole body causes the growth of the body. If the whole body then is filled with the wrong stuff.

What will happen? There might be some kind of progress.

But in what direction? There might be some kind of increase. But with what? If the whole body is filled with the lust of the flesh.

And the lust of the eyes. And the boastful pride of life. What kind of growth then occurs? So it matters how the church grows.

It matters what we use to grow the church. What does the text say is to be used to grow the church?

Verse 15. Speaking the truth in love. Truth and love.

This is provided to us. These are provided to us by Christ through the

Holy Spirit. Truth and love comprise the sustenance that Christ gives to us through the Holy Spirit.

So that his whole body causes the growth of the body into the fullness of Christ.

If we read verse 7 and verse 15 together. Here is what we learn. Grace is given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

In other words, truth and love are given to each one of us.

According to the measure of the Holy Spirit. These are the provisions that Christ has given to us so that the whole body will cause the growth of the body.

Christ has sent the Holy Spirit. In Irenaeus the church father said the Holy Spirit has been sent.

To work out the will of the Father in humans and to renew them. The Spirit is as necessary as the rain and the dew are to make the land fruitful.

We have not been given a slight and rationed portion of the

Holy Spirit. We have not been given a minimal amount of dew or a mist or a small sprinkle.

Titus 3 .6 says that God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us richly through Jesus Christ our

Savior. What does that mean then for the sustenance which Christ provides? It means that we have all the truth of Jesus Christ.

And all the love of Jesus Christ we need through the Spirit as the body to build the body.

Let's talk about truth and let's talk about love as the provision of Christ through the Spirit to us. In John 15 .26

Jesus promised to send the Spirit of truth. I will send the Spirit of truth.

And he called him a paracletos, a comforter, a helper, an advocate.

He says in John 16 .13 -15 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears he will speak.

And he will disclose to you what is to come. How do we know the authenticity of the

Holy Spirit? He will glorify me. The Holy Spirit will glorify

Jesus Christ. For he will take of mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the

Father has are mine. Therefore I said what he takes of mine and will disclose it to you.

Jesus Christ in his ascension provides us with God's truth through the

Holy Spirit. And without that truth we will not see verse 13 come to pass.

It's only by the truth of Christ given through the Spirit that we will attain to the unity of the faith.

And of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Remember that grace and peace are multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our

Lord. In order for the whole body to cause the growth of the body we need the truth which

Christ provides through the Holy Spirit. There's no growth without that truth. Recognize that this truth is what the

Father has declared about the Son through the Spirit. Which means the only place you're going to find this truth written down, revealed clearly is right here in the

Holy Scriptures. There is no other source for the triune special revelation which is offered to us other than in the

Holy Scriptures. It is God speaking of his Son through the Holy Spirit.

And the Spirit comes to illumine the meaning of the text that he inspired leading us into the truth.

Jesus, when he's praying for his disciples, he prayed that the Father would not take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.

And then he prays in verse 17 of John 17, sanctify them in your truth.

Your word is truth. Let's talk about love.

Not just truth but also love. Well, Ephesians 4 tells us that truth is in Jesus but so also we cannot have love without Christ.

What is love? 1 John 4, 10 says in this is love.

You ready? This solves all the questions and the musings of every song written in every age of pop culture.

This solves the question for all philosophy of all the ages. In this is love.

Not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his

Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1

John 3, 16. We know love by this that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

There are not endless opinions that are somehow substantive and right about what love is.

If we want to know the definition of love, we have to look at the cross of Jesus Christ.

And not simply see someone who perhaps in a misguided way was oppressed and knows the sufferings that other people feel.

But that he is the propitiation for our sins.

So very specifically when we look at the cross, we are not seeing something gone awry or someone just showing us a basic example.

But that we are actually looking at the Son of God and human flesh as a sacrifice before a holy and just God.

For the sins, for the transgressions, for the abominations that you and I have committed. In our place and for our sake he dies.

That is what love is. Is this righteous and sacrificial devotion.

This commitment that I am for this person. I am for these people in a right way even if it costs me.

That is what love is. Love and truth are centered upon and defined by Christ.

When we talk about the love with which we are to love God, the love with which we are to love one another, the love with which we are to love the lost.

This love of God Christ ascended has provided to us through the Holy Spirit. Romans 5 .5

The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the

Holy Spirit who was given to us. So Christ gave the

Holy Spirit to us. He gave him to us so that we would be filled with God's love.

In order for the whole body to cause the growth of the body. We need not just the truth but also the love which

Christ provides through the Holy Spirit. And without this love there can be no real church growth.

Jesus says in John 13 .34 -35 A new commandment I give to you that you love one another even as I have loved you that you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

We have to pay attention and see that this love and this truth by which the church is grown.

That speaking the truth in love the whole body causes the growth of the body. This truth and this love comes from the head of the body who is

Jesus Christ. You notice there in verse 16 it says from whom.

First two words in the verse. From whom. The whole body is fit, joined, supplied, measured, energized, thus grown and built by the provision of truth in love which proceeds from whom?

From Christ. Church growth is not real growth if it's not

Christ's growth. It's from Christ the head.

All manner of activities can be scheduled and put into action.

But Paul warns that those who are all about the sensational and all about the experience that they are not holding fast to the head.

From whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with a growth that is from God.

Colossians 2 .19 Christ is the vine, we are the branches.

Apart from him we can do nothing. We can generate a whole lot of activity.

But as far as genuine growth of the body in the grace of God as far as building up of the body to the measure of true maturity.

That eternally worthwhile work is impossible unless we do it with the sustenance which

Christ supplies as the head, as the vine, the truth and love of Christ.

Have in your mind a huge building. A huge building. Huge facilities. Vast numbers of people.

You can tell how much money has been invested and how much money is coming through.

Huge building. Vast numbers of people. Lots of money involved. These are, have become standards, metrics for how successful, how spiritual, how alive a church is.

Huge facility. Lots of people. Lots of money invested and lots of money flowing.

What would Jesus think? Well what did he do when he came to the temple?

What did he do when he came to the temple? Cleaned house.

He cleaned house. What did

Jesus do to the fig tree? Looks green and lush from afar.

Full of leaves. But when he gets close and finds no fruit he does what? He curses it.

It seems that the model for church growth today is the church that has it all. Rich, wealthy, in need of nothing.

And that's Laodicea. It seems that if we can't build it big we ought not build it at all.

If we can't grow it fast we shouldn't grow it at all. Andy Stanley called parents who keep their youth at small churches stinking selfish.

Because only large churches do church right. There is no inherent sinfulness in a large church.

There is no inherent holiness in a small church. There's no prize for getting smaller and there's no damnation for growing larger.

But when numbers are the metrics for what is right we have gone completely wrong.

Jesus tells some parables about the kingdom of heaven. He says it's like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.

Very small. It's the smallest of all the other seeds. But when it's full grown it's larger than all the garden plants.

It becomes a tree so that even the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. He spoke another parable to them about leaven.

The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.

Do you hear what Jesus is saying? He's saying little is great when God is at work. He's saying little is great when

God is at work. It takes a long time for a mustard seed to grow into a tree. It takes a little while for the yeast to get to all the extremities of the dough.

Let's make sure that we're not being brainwashed by our culture, bigger is better. Let's make sure that we haven't been trained to despise the small and the slow.

We have come to want big productions and big talent and big special effects and we begin to despise the small quiet growth of the kingdom.

We begin to think that only the spectacular is spiritual. We begin to think that only that which is flashy and overstimulating is right.

Our minds have been molded by the market and our ethics begin to suffer. We begin to think that slow is wrong and small is wrong.

But Christ ascended means the church provision and let us not despise his provision.

Truth is not flashy and entertaining and love is not fast and easy. And if we're going to grow the church by speaking the truth and love, we're going to need to rejoice and be content with the pace at which

Christ wants us to grow. I'm all for if God sends genuine revival, but I am not at all in agreement with Charles Finney who said revival is something that you generate and you generate it by excitement and you get excitement by something new.

And the church has been doing that for 150 years and where are we? Truth is not flashy and entertaining and love is not fast and easy, but it is only by speaking the truth from Christ and the love from Christ that the whole body causes the growth of the body into the fullness of Christ.

It is a sustenance which Christ supplies. And notice that it is synchronized, it is organized, it is coordinated.

Verse 15 says, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up into all aspects into him who is the head, even

Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building of itself in love.

I don't know about you, but when it comes to my head and the various parts of my body, I hope it stays well synchronized.

Especially when I'm walking up and down these stairs. When things are not well synchronized, you either call it clumsiness or a handicap.

And it's to be well synchronized in the body of Christ. He is the head of the church, organically and royally.

By him we have life and by him we are led. He is the head.

So he synchronizes the whole body to walk as he desires us to walk. And this is, we see, in the intersection of truth and love.

Notice in verse 15 and then at the beginning of verse 16, how everything is synchronized in Christ.

It says, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even

Christ, from whom the whole body causes the growth of the body.

From Christ we have truth and love by which we build up the body into Christ.

It's from Christ and into Christ. And the partnership of truth and love cannot be understated.

It's a renowned partnership throughout the scriptures. For instance, when Paul is giving thanks to God for the church growth in the

Colossian church, he talks about how the gospel has been constantly bearing fruit in them and increasing.

And when he says, I give thanks to God and I have been doing so since he's heard, what?

And the love which they had for all the saints, the intersection of truth and love.

And 1 John 3 23, this is his commandment that we believe in the name of his son,

Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded. It's the intersection of truth and love.

And I found this again also in Jude, but it got me to thinking. In Jude's time, it's just like our time.

Things that he was facing, just like what we face. And I got to tell you, sometimes the bride of Christ, she's way more insecure than her bridegroom.

Jesus, when he was ministering on earth, we find him to be absolutely confident in the will of his father.

He's filled with the Holy Spirit and he would preach the truth in love. And he was compassionate. He did wonderful things for people.

But he spoke the truth in love. And many times people would walk away from him and he would be sorrowful about them leaving.

He would weep and grieve over Jerusalem who would fail to gather to him.

But you know, you don't see Jesus bending over backwards, compromising, contorting himself somehow to just, please just follow whatever you want.

I'll do anything you want just so you'll follow me. But that's where the bride of Christ is so often.

We're so insecure. We want everyone to like us. And we're willing to give up so much and compromise so far just to get people to like us.

Since there's this temptation, I find Jude's instruction to be rather convicting.

Because in Jude's time, he talks about certain persons creeping into the church. Ungodly persons who turn the grace of God into licentiousness.

Meaning, because it's all about grace, you can't tell me anything about my sin. Feasting among us without fear, only caring for themselves.

Clouds without water, carried along by the wind. Autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead.

Grumblers finding faults. So they look like they ought to be something, but they're clouds without water.

They're trees without fruit. And actually what they bring is grumbling and fault finding. Following after their own lusts, speaking arrogantly.

Look at me. Flattering people for the sake of gaining advantage.

I'll say what you want to hear. I bet you want to hear this. I'll tell you that so that you'll be on my side when

I grumble and point out fault. And believe me when I speak so arrogantly of myself.

And Jude says these are the ones who cause divisions. Now I've got to tell you, as one of the elders here, and I think all the elders share my concern, when we're desiring the growth of the body, we're not planning for reduction of people.

We're not planning on the elimination of people. And we want to see more people reach for the gospel, more people love

Christ, and more people value the scriptures. So how are we going to safeguard the church from these hidden reefs posing such danger?

Jude answers, Jude 1, 20 -21, But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, truth, praying in the

Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

It's still the same thing. It's still speaking the truth in love. Because that is going to sustain us.

Because it is the sustenance that Christ has given. And the truth and love have to come together.

And so sometimes the truth doesn't sound very good, but in love we've got to share it. And sometimes it's really hard to love people.

But it's true, we've got to keep on loving. Shall we speak truth without love?

Shall we attempt to love in the absence of truth? Truth all by itself would make a very nice skeleton.

It's rigid, it's firm, it's clear. But where's the life? Where's the life?

Love by itself may have all the flesh of a body, but without a skeleton it's just a bag of mush. Christ has provided both.

So that by speaking the truth in love, from Christ the whole body will cause the growth of the body.

Let's talk about the joints and parts there in verse 16. The whole body is fitted and held together by whatever joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part.

So the whole body is made up of various parts which all need to be in proper working order.

And then rightly connected to each other. Paul wants us to look really closely at that metaphor.

What we see is that each one of us has a responsibility individually to be growing in truth and love.

While also taking responsibility for one another's growth in the same way.

So although the body has parts, they can't be a part of the body when apart from the body. Which is probably the way

Dr. Seuss would talk about ecclesiology. This is the way John Calvin puts it.

No member of the body of Christ is endowed with such perfection as to be able without the assistance of others to supply his own necessities.

There's no one among us who can do just fine on their own. None of us.

The joints fit and hold the parts together by what the joints supply, Paul says. What does that supply other than what

Christ has provided? Truth and love. The parts are joined helpfully insofar as each one of them work properly.

What is their proper working other than they properly work in truth and love? Here's some thoughts to conclude our time in Ephesians 4, 7 through 13.

As we think about the gift of the Holy Spirit and Christ ascended in his building up of his body.

The growth of the church. I want us to think of these four things as we come to an intersection of truth and love.

At the intersection of truth and love we're going to see some defining features. And the most dominating feature at this intersection is the cross of Jesus Christ.

The cross of Jesus Christ stands as the explanation for everything in the history of the world.

If you want to know the core of truth you go to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And the centerpiece of the person and work of Jesus Christ is the cross. Everything God has said in his eternal word.

Everything he has said, the validity, the veracity, the truth of everything he has said in his word depends on this.

That Jesus Christ is only begotten son. God the son incarnate hung upon that cross as the propitiation for our sins.

And we can't understand love in the least unless we look at the cross.

In this is love. Not that we love God but that God loved us and sent his only begotten son as a propitiation for our sins.

At the intersection of truth and love the dominating feature is the cross of Jesus Christ is the gospel.

Which keeping that in mind, here is an application.

True growth, true church growth is not statistical but spiritual.

It's interesting every once in a while I get asked how many people we have at Sunnyside. I honestly don't know. I know the people who come.

I know the families who come. Most of them are members. Let me assure you, the elders when we think of you, we don't think of percentages.

We don't think of trends. We don't think of metrics. We think of where you are in your walk with Christ.

When we pray for you, we pray that through whatever trials you are walking that you would find your sufficiency in Christ.

It's not statistical, it's spiritual. Unless we are alive in Christ, unless the truth and love of Christ revealed in the gospel is being preached and shared and formed in our lives, that's not church growth.

The second dominating feature at the intersection of truth and love is the Holy Spirit. It's the

Holy Spirit. For it is He who is pouring out the truth of God into our lives and the love of God into our lives.

It is the Holy Spirit who brings about true church growth. For He brings the truth and love which

Christ supplies to His body. That means that true church growth is not programmatic, it's organic.

There is no substitute for the Holy Spirit. And to begin to call substitutes for the

Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, brings you into incredibly dangerous proximity of the blasphemy of the

Holy Spirit. There is no six week course that will get her done.

Education programs do not grow churches. There will be no

Led Zeppelin playing band to get us going. Emotional manipulation does not grow churches.

There will be no moments of planned spontaneity or contemplative prayer in our worship services that make the difference.

Mysticism does not grow churches. There will be no sweet spot contextualizing of the gospel that will trigger revival.

Rationalism does not grow churches. Speaking the truth in love grows the church.

The third defining feature of the intersection of truth and love is in fact the church herself.

For by our love for one another all men know that we are His disciples, Christ's disciples, and the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.

Which means that church growth is not individualistic, but it is communal. As we've already said, it's not something that happens by yourself all on your own.

Those who attempt to do so within a church are a cancer. Cancers in the church are content with their own self -perceived spiritual maturity.

They know more, they've done more, they've experienced more. Indeed, they are more than everybody else.

Again, Calvin says, if we wish to be considered members of Christ, let no man be anything for himself.

Let us all be whatever we are for the benefit of each other. And that is accomplished by love.

And where love does not reign, there is no edification, but an absolute scattering of the church.

The fourth defining feature at the intersection of truth and love is the Holy Scripture.

Your word is truth, Jesus says to the Father. Here is the eternal truth of God, who will never pass away.

And why in the world would a holy God, who is absolute, sufficient in and of himself, reveal his eternal truth to the sinful likes of you and I?

That's love. That's love. So at the intersection of truth and grace, we find the

Holy Scriptures. Which means that church growth is not autonomous, but accountable.

And this is an intensification of point three. We are accountable, first of all, to Jesus Christ.

It does matter how we try to thrive as a church. It does matter what we put into practice.

Because Jesus Christ has told us how he wants his church built. And he's

Lord, and we're not. And he has told us what he wants his church to be all about.

And he knows best, because he's our shepherd. So let's follow him, and be accountable to the lordship of Jesus Christ revealed in the scriptures.

Secondly, we are accountable to one another. Accountability is the intersection of truth and love.

Think of it this way. If we're to love one another, and speak the truth and love to each other, this, by definition, is accountability.

I love you, I'm for you in the right way, even if it costs me. And what am

I going to give you, except the very best, I'm going to give you truth. Those who love you the most, tell you the most truth.

By very definition, the intersection of truth and love is accountability.

To run from accountable relationships is to abandon the essence of church membership.

I find it remarkable, the depths of this passage, Ephesians 4, 7 -16.

I know we've taken a long time to get through it, be guaranteed we have not exhausted it. There are things left to think about.

Things left that I have to learn. I'm not done with this passage, I'm going to go back, because we're not done.

But I find it so remarkable, the simplicity of what we're told.

What we can hold on to, moving forward, at Sunnyside Baptist Church, in seeking and desiring the growth that Christ desires.

That Jesus Christ is on high, and he has given us all we need, through his holy spirit, to grow into the church he wants us to grow in.

Practically, this just comes down to you and I, speaking the truth and love to one another. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you so much for your generosity, your graciousness towards us.

We thank you for the certainty that we can have from your word.

What you want us to do. What you want us to be about. Thank you for not leaving us in doubt.

Lord, help us to be long -suffering and patient with each other. And cling to this which is good.

This provision you have made of speaking the truth and love. Give us the grace and the zeal and the courage to do that.