0:00 Good afternoon, family. Nice to see everybody. How are you? Good, hopefully. Excellent. Praise the Lord for the chance to be together today. Um if you want, you can turn to Ephesians chapter 4. It's uh where I wanted to share from today. 0:15 Um and as you're turning there, I'll I'll tell a kind of a funny story that happened in our house recently. Um we were the girls had asked me some uh Bible question and I was thinking about it. I was kind of thinking out loud and 0:30 I was kind of answering the question and I wasn't really sure the answer, to be honest. It's kind of one of those you you realize once you have kids how often they ask you a question you go, "Huh, I don't know." And I just kind of under my 0:43 breath almost I said, "I want to ask Brother Zach about that." And uh Francy, our 6-year-old, she she said, "Hey, Daddy?" And I said, "Yes." She said, "How come you say you want to ask Brother Zach about that?" "Does he like 0:57 read the Bible a lot?" >> [clears throat] >> And I thought that was kind of a uh it was such a wonderful question from a 6-year-old. Why you want to ask Brother Zach? Does he read the Bible a lot? And I uh I laughed and I thought, 1:12 "What a perfect question." Um why do I want to ask Brother Zach about this? You know, it's a good question for all of us to ask. What would And I wonder, what would you say? If your child asked you, "Hey, why do you want to know what Brother Zach 1:26 thinks about this verse?" What would you say? How would you answer that question? Is it because he reads the Bible a lot? You know, there are a lot of people who read the Bible a lot, but I'm not they're not coming to my mind. So, what 1:38 what's different? And um I think that if we're not clear about the answer to this question, actually it's a source of confusion. It can be a great source of confusion. The scriptures are a couple of times in the scriptures that it 1:53 speaks about those who are tossed to and fro here and there by waves of doctrine. One time is in James chapter 1 and it speaks about the danger in James chapter 1, the danger of doubting, the danger of unbelief. He says, "If you doubt, 2:11 you're going to be like someone who's who's tossed here and to and fro." Um that's in James chapter 1. The other place that it says it is here in in Ephesians chapter 4. It speaks about uh a different danger. What's the danger that it speaks about 2:25 here? It speaks about the danger of not growing up. The danger of being an immature believer. Remaining a child. It says here if you look with me at um 2:41 Ephesians 4 and verse 14. It says we are to no longer be children. And it it defines children as those who are tossed here and there by the winds of every doctrine, tossed here and there. We're no longer to be children, 2:58 but it continues, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, Jesus Christ. And I think it's so important that we see the burden of the Lord very clearly is he wants us to grow up in all 3:16 aspects. Have you seen that? Our spiritual growth is a real burden on the Lord's heart. That it pains the Lord if he sees us remaining as children, spiritually speaking. And not just in one area of our lives, but it says here in Ephesians 4, grow up 3:35 into Jesus Christ in all aspects. You could say it my attitude towards blank, fill in the blank, should no longer be childish. My attitude towards money should no longer be childish. My attitude towards gossip should no 3:55 longer be childish. My attitude toward tragedy and disappointment should no longer be childish. This I'm just defining what does it mean to grow up in all aspects into Christ? The Lord doesn't want us to be immature 4:12 children in any area. It's very important. My attitude towards current events must no longer be childish. My attitude, you know what the Lord convicted me of the other day? Your attitude towards boredom is childish. We've all been around kids who say, "I'm 4:30 bored." And I was kind of feeling that way about something in my life and the Lord said, "I want you to grow up. Grow up to a mature man. What are you doing talking about being bored?" And I realized even there, even my 4:43 attitude towards boredom, I've got to grow up. The Lord wants us to grow up in every single area of our life, in our attitude towards entertainment. We have to grow up. In our attitude towards the news, we have to grow up. In 4:56 our attitude towards the opposite sex, we have to grow up. Everything. Our attitude towards chores, we have to grow up. You know, I used to think when I first got married, this shows how immature I was, I used to hope my wife would do the 5:09 dishes. >> [laughter] >> Uh cuz man, I don't want to have to do the dishes, right? And now I hope she doesn't have to do the dishes. I actually hope I get to do it before she can get to it, right? We're growing up, praise the Lord, but it's very important 5:21 to see this this the first thing I want to say. The burden of Jesus Christ, if you are a member of NCCF and if you're here even as a visitor, you want to know what our church is about, we want to grow up to maturity in Jesus Christ in every single 5:38 area of our lives. And part of what the Lord is doing in speaking to us and in guiding us by the spirit and in appointing teachers who teach us, part of what the Lord is doing is he's shining a spotlight at ti- from time to 5:51 time in areas of our lives where he says, "You're still childish in your thinking here." You hear about a war in Iran and you're worried? What? Jesus says, "Lift up your heads, your redemption is drawing near." You can't 6:04 be a child in regards to war. You see the gas prices going up and you go, "I don't know what to The Lord says, "Look at the sparrows." Right? In all of these things, the Lord wants us to grow in every area of our lives to maturity 6:19 in Christ. And we have to I I want to, you know, take this as a command, you could say. NCCF, we are no longer to be children, but every single adult member must grow up in all respects. 6:37 I hope every single one of us, we can shut the Bible, we can be done. I I think, I mean, I can leave with that message. Grow up in every respect. That's the first point that I felt the Lord put on my heart. Grow up in every 6:50 single respect. And the Lord is working on us all the time and he wants to continue to reveal the Lord Jesus to us from day to day. Proverbs 4 says that the lives of the righteous should be like the rising of the sun. It 7:03 gets brighter and brighter until the full day. 4:18. That should be uh life verse for every single one of us, that we're all growing up and the sun is always getting brighter. Not just in our knowledge of God, not just in our 7:15 knowledge of the Bible, but every area of our lives looks more like Jesus' life. So, that's the thing. So, but what now? For the one who has a burden to grow up in all respects, what's a very natural question for us if we have 7:31 that burden? I want to grow up. Then the question is, "How? How do I grow up in all respects into Christ in every single area of my life? How do I do it?" Well, thankfully, verse 14, actually I I didn't start I don't know if you noticed 7:44 as you were reading along with me, I didn't start from the beginning. I said we are to grow up, but it doesn't start that way. It says, "As a result, right?" Ephesians 4:14 says, "As a result, we are no longer to be children." It tells us that no longer 7:58 being a child children is a result of something. What? Do you Do you know what it is? Do you know what growing up in Christ is the result of? What's the gift that enables us to grow in Christ? What's the gift that God has given us? 8:15 And we can say, and children especially, I'm sure you most children are probably thinking, "Jesus." Which is a good Sunday school answer, but Jesus isn't the gift. I say that reverently. Or you might think, "Oh, it's the Holy Spirit." The 8:28 Holy Spirit? No, that's not what this passage says. The Holy Spirit's not even the gift that enables us to grow up in all aspects of our lives. If you say if you're looking it for context clues, some of you I see you're looking at your 8:39 Bible. Okay, wait, what's the answer? Good, you're getting warmer. If you say the church, you're getting warmer. Cuz in in verses 12 through 13, it speaks of it says the saints are equipped to serve to build up the body, as we heard 8:54 earlier even from Uncle Win Hai. Build up the body until we all attain. So, the church is getting warmer as an answer to the question, what is the gift that enables us to grow up in all respects. But that's not the full answer. Notice 9:08 where the sentence begins. Look with me, please, at verse 11. This is where the sentence begins. Ephesians 4:11. It says, "And he, Jesus, gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as teachers and some as Right, for the equipping of the 9:27 saints and for the building up of the body until we all attain to the unity of the faith. As a result, we are no longer to be children, but we are to grow up in all aspects. So, what do we see? What is Remember what we're considering, right? We're 9:43 considering this question. Verse 14 tells us that we're no longer to be children, but we are to grow up in all aspects and that's a result of something. Growing up to maturity in Christ in every aspect of my life is the 9:56 result of what? A church that's functioning according to God's design. Not just a church generally, but a church that's functioning according to the pattern that the Lord Jesus has appointed. And it tells us here very clearly in Ephesians 4 that the Lord has 10:14 appointed a pattern in the new covenant. The New Testament pattern. This wasn't the way in the Old Testament. The people of Israel didn't have this, but in the New Testament, the new covenant pattern is apostles have been given as a gift. 10:27 He gave apostles. He gave prophets. He gave teachers and shepherds. And what I have taken from this very clearly is that this, as we yield our lives and our gifts and our ministries and our burdens, we all may have different you may think 10:47 you have a gift. What do you do? Submit it to the pattern that the Lord has appointed in the church. A fully functioning church. You might have a burden. What do you do if you have a burden? How do you know that this burden is going to 11:03 be worked out to the fullness of Christ in all aspects? In the new covenant, the way I know that my burden can be perfected to the fullness of Christ is just like the the the New Testament church. It says they came and they laid 11:18 their gifts at the apostles' feet. I think it's a beautiful picture to take with us. What is my burden? What is my gift? Do I go off as a discom you know as a as a disconnected finger and say, "Well, I'm just going to go you know as 11:30 a pinky and go do my ministry thing?" No. I come and I lay it at the apostles' feet. And I say in the context of the church as the Lord has appointed it, that is how my gifts and burden and life and ministry and ideas all of it can 11:46 only fit. So, how do I as a saint get equipped for the building up of the body? Jesus gave the gift of apostles. Do I receive an apostle as a gift of the Lord? It's a good question. Do I welcome an apostle? Do I if I'm not a member of the 12:06 church, maybe you're watching online right now. Am I seeking for a church which is functioning according to the pattern God appointed? Why are you here at NCCF? I hope the answer is because it's the very it's the closest church I can find 12:25 according to the pattern I see in the New Testament. You all at NCCF are seeking to function the way the Lord describes the church functioning. I hope that's everybody's answer. Hope it's not because you like the music or you like the preaching or you like 12:41 the the chairs are comfortable or I I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. Hopefully, it's because you say, "This church is seeking to adhere to the pattern that the Lord has appointed." That's the reason. That's and and we see 12:56 that we can only grow to the fullness of Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives in so far as we bring our gifts and our lives and our burdens and our ideas everything and we say, "I want it to fit in the context of this body." 13:11 In the context of the uh uh the the design of God. There's a parallel passage here to Ephesians 4 in 1 Corinthians 12 where the Holy Spirit also speaks of the body. If you want to turn there with me. 1 Corinthians 12. We 13:24 often consider when you think about how the church should function, 1 Corinthians 11 through 14 are a very good four chapters that are that speak about the meeting of the church and the functioning of the church. And right 13:39 smack dab in the middle, chapters 11, 12, 13, 14, the end of chapter 12, right at the very end, in the smack dab in the middle of Paul the Holy Spirit section on how the church should operate, we see this interesting um verse. 13:56 1 Corinthians 12 27 and 28. He says, "Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles." Right? Then prophets. 14:16 Then teachers and on and on and on. But I want to pause there because I wanted to highlight two very important words in this verse here. It says that the gift of an apostle is the first thing that we ought to recognize God's 14:30 proper order. That and by the way, I don't I don't see an apostle as a ruler or as a king, but I definitely don't make that mistake. But the other mistake is giving no significance to the role and 14:48 the authority and the functioning of an apostle. And on the one thing, a lot of people I think you know they're they're in the church generally, there may be a no kings parade so to speak. They go, "I don't want you know we don't want you 15:00 know whatever you think of a wrong kind of system of rule is." The pyramid of the business world. Yeah, definitely apostolic authority is not that. But the correct response is to not is not let's have no authority in our church. The 15:16 correct response is to say, "No, I want the church to function according to God's pattern. I want the proper functioning of the body." And the Holy Spirit sees fit to say here in 1 Corinthians 12, "The first gift that the 15:29 Lord gave to the church is the apostle." So, that that's one of what I wanted to highlight as first. The the other word I wanted to highlight is God. God has appointed in the church first apostles. And this is very important to realize that it is God's 15:48 pattern that we're seeking to follow. We are not seeking to follow the pattern of any man or any denomination or anything like that. We see and acknowledge God is the one who has appointed first apostles. And then prophets and then teachers and on and on 16:05 and on, right? And it's very important to realize that. You know, it says that um no man takes the honor to himself. I can't I I didn't write down the reference there, but no man takes the honor to himself. The one who does the 16:21 appointing is God. It's not it's not about um man. It's about a gift from God. And one of the one of my favorite verses is just in the next book over, 2 Corinthians 12. One of my favorite verses that I feel really defines 16:37 someone with apostolic authority and apostolic burden is 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 14. Here the Apostle Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he says something really really amazing here. He says, 16:52 "I do not seek what is yours, but you." And I love that as a description of an apostle. I don't seek what is your I'm not looking for your money. I don't want anything from you. I want your growth in Christ. 17:12 That's a great description of an apostle. Somebody says, "I don't want anything from you. I want something for you." What a gift. And I know we have such an apostle at our church. Brother Zach never asked me for anything. I don't know if he's ever 17:29 asked you for anything, right? It's amazing that we have someone who God has given who says, "I don't want what is yours. I want you. I want you to grow in Christ." And I'm I praise the Lord that the Lord has allowed me to be in a church where I 17:44 can say, "I know someone who says, I'm not seeking what is yours, but I'm seeking you that you might grow." And I don't want to shrink and I I know just like the Apostle Paul could say, "I'm not I haven't shrunk from declaring anything profitable to you." 17:58 That's one thing that he said to some of the churches. "I declared the whole counsel of God to you." I believe that Brother Zach could say that. Hopefully, it's us. "I haven't shrunk from declaring anything profitable to you." But it's for our 18:09 benefit. It's not that he's gaining something. It's for our benefit. I'm so happy that he's not here right now. So, that we can you can say we talk about him behind his back so to speak a little bit. To say, "Lord, we treasure 18:20 the role the the appointed authority structure that you have put in place in the church. We treasure it and we value it as a gift not because of what some man says, but because of what the word of God says. 18:36 God gave first to the church apostles. And so, going back to the question, you know, my 6-year-old asked me in the car. Francy asked me in the car. When she asked, "Why do you say I want to ask Brother Zach about that?" 18:49 Is it because he reads the Bible a lot? What's the answer to that question? If you're now in my car, imagine you're in my car. What do you say to Francy? No. It's not because he reads the Bible a lot, although it's good that he reads 19:01 the Bible a lot. Why? It's because I want to grow up in all respects into Christ. And to help me, God has given me the gift of an authority that I can trust. That's the answer. Not he reads the Bible a lot, so I 19:21 should ask him the question. But of all the people who read the Bible a lot, God's given me one who I can submit to happily. That's why I want to know what he thinks about this thing. And family, it's challenged me to realize this, especially if you're a 19:35 member of NCCF and especially if you have kids. I say this lovingly. Your kids will know. Your kids will know. You want to know, am I under authority? Ask your kids. I was I this is a true story. It's perfect timing. It happened last week at 19:54 Park Sunday. I um We're at Park Sunday and one of the little kids was running around playing, and this child, who will remain nameless uh to protect their innocence. No, I'm kidding. I'm bragging on them. It's a good thing. Uh but this child said, 20:07 "Uncle Jeremy, are you going to dinner tonight?" And I said, "I don't know. I probably have to eat I I At some point I'm going to." Um I said, uh "Do you want to come?" And this child said, uh "If my dad says it's okay." 20:23 And I said, "Okay. Um do you think he would?" And this child said, "If the elders ask him to, he would." I kid you not. I started cracking up laughing. I thought that was so funny because Uh now I mean a few things, right? One, 20:40 obviously the elders aren't like, you know, asking anybody for any kind of meal or anything like that, right? Clearly. But I don't even know if this child knew I'm one of the I He didn't say, "If you ask." He said, "If the 20:50 elders ask." Right? But it spoke to me about how in this household there's clearly a value placed on the elders' authority. And this child might misunderstand it. That's fine. But I thought it was so precious to hear a child say, "If the elders ask my dad to, 21:05 he'd go to dinner." You know? Because it spoke to me about something There's must must be conversations happening in that home. I don't know, right? And it was just a beautiful picture and it reminded me, our kids know whether we're under 21:16 authority. And that's a challenge to me. Do my kids look at me? I mean this for myself and I encourage you to ask it for yourself. Do my kids look at me and say, "That's a man under authority?" Under authority, where does that phrase 21:39 come from? You know that phrase. You know who else that phrase described? Under authority. You remember in the Bible there's a time where someone says, "That's a man under authority." You know where it is? Yes, describes Jesus Christ. 21:54 Isn't that great? If our kids could see in us, "That's a man or a woman under authority." That's what the Centurion said about Jesus in Luke chapter 7. The reason the Centurion felt free to ask Jesus to just tell the the sickness 22:09 to leave and it would leave. He said, "Because I'm a man under authority just like you. I know that you're a man under authority." And that is such a compliment. Can our kids say that about us? Can your spouse say it about you? This is a 22:25 person under authority. I fear in 2026 in America, submission is a curse word. It's like a four-letter word. You say submit, everybody goes Well, I know that's >> [laughter] >> David knows, right? That's a bad word. You don't say submit, right? Why? 22:44 Why is submit a bad word? Because we're so obsessed with independence. We're so obsessed with confidence. We're so obsessed with whatever it is, right? Submit sounds like a bad word, but Jesus is our example. Jesus lived the most submitted 22:59 life anyone has ever lived. And And if the Centurion could see him and say, "This is a man under authority." Let me long for that, too. I mean that sincerely as someone who I have no I I have no I'm not eager for your submission. 23:17 I mean I don't want what's yours. I want you. I want to be able to look at every single one of you at NCCF and say, "That's a person under authority." Not because I'm interested in having authority as an elder. But because I know 23:30 submission is the pathway to power. Submission is the pathway to blessing. And the Lord's life illustrates it perfectly. If you think And by the way, some people might think I think wrongly when they see this interaction in Luke 23:46 chapter 7 between the Centurion and Jesus where the Centurion says, "This is a man under authority." I think what someone who doesn't really understand the life of Jesus says says, "Oh, yeah, he's under God's authority." 24:00 And you know, I'm under God's authority, too. So I'm kind of like Jesus, right? Jesus was under God's authority. I'm under God's authority. But no. It shows, if you think that, it shows how little you've seen Jesus. Because 24:13 we see in Luke chapter 2, if you want to turn there. Luke chapter 2, the beginning of Jesus' life. By the time Jesus was 12 he was ready for primetime according to the religious establishment, right? The the religious leaders marveled at his 24:28 questions. And yet what it says here it says in uh Luke One of By the way, I mean the 30 years of Jesus' life are mostly entirely hidden. What do we know about Jesus' 30 years prior to his ministry? We know very little. 24:48 Very, very little. But there is There are two verses that tell us how those first 30 years were lived. And they're these two verses. One of the only things we know about the hidden life of Jesus Christ we learn in Luke chapter 2 verses 51 and 52. 25:07 It says Jesus returned and continued in subjection. So we know he can So What does continued mean? He was already doing it before. So we know that for the previous 12 years he was subjected to his parents. And then it says he 25:25 continued in subjection. So we know for the next 18 years he continues. And what's the other thing that we see here? And he grew up in maturity. How did Jesus Christ grow to maturity in Christ, you could say, for lack of a better phrase. How did 25:42 Jesus Christ grow to maturity? He continued in subjection to his earthly authority. And if we see the Centurion incident in Luke chapter 7 and we say, "Oh, the reason Jesus had authority is because he submitted to God." We miss the 26:01 preparation for 30 years. What Two of the One of the only things we know about the first 30 years of Jesus' life is he happily continued in subjection to his parents and he grew because of it. Very important to see both of those. 26:16 That Jesus subjected himself to his earthly parents even when he was ready from a minute from a ministry perspective, from the worldly, you know, um establishment sense. He was submitted to them. And God caused him to grow because of 26:30 it. That's the other thing. God caused him to grow in wisdom and in stature, it says, before God and men. Oh, family. I pray that the Lord would give us revelation to see Give us the revelation of 12-year-old Jesus. 26:49 That's all we need right now. You want to grow to maturity in Christ? Have the revelation of 12-year-old Jesus. Who saw clearly that the that submission to God-appointed authority is God's appointed pathway to power. 27:07 God's appointed pathway to maturity. None of us want to remain like children. None of us want to be tossed here and there, to and fro, by waves of various doctrine. What is the gift the Lord has given us? He has appointed a new covenant church 27:26 according to a new covenant pattern. We want to gladly yield our lives so that we can grow into the fullness of Christ. That's That's how the passage ends in Ephesians chapter 4. So that the whole church can grow and be fitted together 27:43 and held together according to the proper working of every individual part. Let us not miss that it's not just about, as precious as it is, that we all have a vital connection to the head. Let us not miss the treasure of godly 27:59 [snorts] authority and the treasure of the privilege of following Jesus in happily and gladly subjecting ourselves to authority. This is how Jesus grew. It is how we will grow, too. If Jesus had not done that in Luke 28:19 chapter 2 there would be no Luke chapter 3. There would be no Luke chapter 4. It's done. And we'd be finished. The only reason we have the rest of the gospels is because Jesus happily continued in subjection even when he thought he was ready. 28:38 That's a good lesson for all of us to take. The way we grow to maturity in Christ in every aspect is we humbly submit ourselves to the appointed structure which God The pattern which God has appointed in the new covenant 28:53 church. This is something that we can never grow tired of hearing about, can never grow tired and and hopefully learning more about. But the Lord wants us each each and every one to be mature. And our burden, the burden of the elders, burden I know 29:08 of brother Zach as well on his heart, is that every single one of us would be fully mature in Christ. Not individually, but as a body, as a fully functioning body. We cannot do that outside of his appointed structure. Impossible. 29:24 I'll say it again. It is impossible to fulfill God's will outside of his appointed structure. But inside of it we can trust he will fulfill his will. He will perfect it. I am convinced that he began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. 29:42 I say that with total confidence today. I pray the Lord would help us to treasure the opportunity to to to hear clearly God's burden for us to grow and to treasure the boundaries and the pattern that he has appointed for our growth, 29:57 which is authority in the church and happy submission to authority in the church. If we can do that, I believe it will go well with us. Amen.
