Judges: Chap 2: The full knowledge of the Son of God is the path to maturity.

Title: Judges: Chap 2: The full knowledge of the Son of God is the path to maturity.         

 

Announcements / opening prayer:

 

 

EPH 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

 

EPH 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

 

EPH 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge [epignosis - full knowledge] of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

 

"knowledge" - epignosis = full of deep knowledge. Since such knowledge is of a "way" and is "alive and powerful" it must be learned, believed in, and applied to life if it is to become full.

 

All Christians have the same faith as regards to its substance, but not as regards its clearness and purity because the object of faith can be known more by one and less by another. So then, to attaining the unity of the faith is added 'and the knowledge of the Son of God. Unity of faith is found amongst those Christians who have a full knowledge of the Son of God. Since our knowledge of Him could never be complete, we must take the meaning of "full" as a certain level of deep understanding. One might say that this level is what one would have of another that he can truly call friend. When we have a true friend, we know much about them, but we never can know everything, and we continue to learn of them. Since the Son of God is infinite, the accumulation of the full knowledge of Him will go on for all of eternity.

 

If unity is lacking, immaturity is the culprit.

 

The "mature man" refers to each individual believer. Spiritual growth can only be accomplished by the individual through the grace of God. It is God's plan for each of us to grow up in all aspects unto Christ, as verse 15 states.

 

EPH 4:15 speaking the truth in love [not just saying what is true], we are to grow up in all aspects into Him [always having Him as our example], who is the head, even Christ,

 

Israel's plan was to drive out the Canaanites while completely following the Law. We are to mature to the stature that belongs to Christ.

 

As their neglect of God's plan brought consequences, so would our neglect of God's plan bring consequences to us personally, and that is namely, the loss of the experience in life of the life that is Christ which makes the spiritual life of the child of God a vacuum which draws into the soul an enormous amount of thinking sins like worry, anxiety, anger, fear, bitterness, revenge, hardness, selfishness, etc.

 

A believer does not need another believer for spiritual growth. God will provide the pastor teacher, the doctrine, and the Spirit of God will enable the growth.

 

The words, "unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ," further define what Paul means by the mature saint.

 

The expression "the fulness of Christ," refers to the sum of the qualities which make Christ what He is.

 

When Paul adds "the fulness of Christ" as a standard to maturity, all vagueness as to what maturity might be, is removed. It is precisely the qualities that make Christ what He is and there can be no confusion as to what those qualities are when we humbly study the word of God.

 

We are to have full knowledge as well as full experience (walk  in a manner worthy) of that which Christ has imparted to us, but in which we never stop adding more full knowledge and more full experience. It is the embodiment in us, the members, of the graces and qualities which are in Him, the Head.

 

We know that there is no absolute status of spiritual maturity since Christ is the infinite Son of God and we are finite, but this does not discourage us because we are perfectly in Him forever.

 

This does not ever frustrate us as anything else that is never achieved would certainly do. What is unique in us is our position in Christ. In Christ the believer is absolutely perfect and holy and this is always his comfort. We will never, for all of eternity, become Christs, but we will know for all of eternity that we are perfectly in Him and so perfect and fully justified before God. We will always be growing but this in no way discourages us.

 

If a man desires to reach a certain goal in a certain amount of time, but fails to do so, why is he beset with discouragement? It is because he thinks that this achievement defines him and so its lack is a definition of him that is lesser, but this does not happen in Christ. Our maturity does not define us. Our position in Christ defines us. In Him we are holy, perfect, forgiven, in the Holy of Holies, pure, clean, and beloved as He is. If we defined ourselves by achieving His actual being then we would be calling ourselves Christs, but we certainly are not. We are in Him and beneficiaries of His grace.

 

We will always be becoming more and more like Him, the image of Him, while who we are forever is always defined as perfectly in Him. This is perfect contentment.

 

In fact, our continual growth is a source of excitement and adventure.

 

The fulness of Christ will never be reached. We will forever be reaching towards it, but we will never be frustrated since our position in Him is perfectly holy and that is how we are forever seen and judged by the only One that matter, the Judge of all, God the Father.

 

Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

 

Php 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

 

Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect [position], have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude [truth leading to perfect contentment], God will reveal that also to you;

 

Php 3:16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained [the standard is the way of Christ].

 

We are always a reflection of Him, even in eternity. He is infinite and we are finite. He is the only begotten One, the eternal, yet we have had a beginning. We never arrive at a point where we can no longer grow, and this is for all of eternity. Yet we will have perfect peace and contentment since these things and all good things come from Him.

 

Thus the whole idea will be this —

 

The measure of the stature, that brings with it the full possession on our side of that which Christ has to impart, is the embodiment in us the members of the graces and qualities which are in Him the Head.

 

It isn't destroying Canaanites from the land or following the Mosaic Law, it is a far higher calling and one which is conditional and is based upon our unconditional position in Christ.

 

EPH 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

 

EPH 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

 

EPH 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge [epignosis - full knowledge] of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

 

EPH 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children [nepios - infant child = the opposite of mature], tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine [not the standard of Christ], by the trickery of men [ungifted], by craftiness in deceitful scheming [personal motives];

 

children - nepios = an infant child. Literally: without the power of speech.

 

EPH 4:15 but speaking the truth in love [not just saying what is true], we are to grow up in all aspects into Him [always having Him as our example], who is the head, even Christ,

 

"speaking the truth IN LOVE" - not just saying the truth with no regard to the feelings of others or their encouragement.

 

EPH 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together [present participles: an ongoing process] by that which every joint supplies [the service of the entire body in unity], according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

 

EPH 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles [heathen] also walk, in the futility of their mind,

 

EPH 4:18 being darkened in their understanding [perfect tense: they have always been in darkness], excluded from the life of God [they became alienated from true life], because of the ignorance [of spiritual things; of the full knowledge of Christ] that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

 

EPH 4:19 and they, having become callous [not sensitive to God or truth], have given themselves over to sensuality [excess licentiousness; absence of restraint], for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

 

EPH 4:20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

 

That's an understatement. How could we have learned Christ in excess licentiousness, uncleanness, and greed? There is no need for Paul to even state that we did not learn Christ in this way, but it draws us to think about the things that we did learn in that way and to see the contrast of those things with the qualities of Christ.