Back to Basics 2Sampel

‘So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until 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... From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.’ (Ephesians 4v11-14, 16 NIV)

So far, in this Back to Basics 2 series, we have discussed Communion, Home Groups and Serving in the Church.

Why not check out the previous Back to Basics 1 series if you haven’t already and delve deeper into Prayer, Worship and Study?

One of the purposes of all these practices and disciplines is to build up and grow our faith in Jesus and develop our maturity as Christians.

In the verses from Ephesians above, there are two key concepts that I would like to pull out – ‘unity’ and ‘maturity’.

Unity

Unity is an absolute key when we are talking about the church. The Bible even says this:

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! (Psalm 133v1 NIV)

Where there is unity, God commands a blessing (see Psalm 133v3). In order for us to work together and be built up as a body of believers, we need to be operating in a place of unity, striving to get along with one another and, as far as it is up to us, living at peace with one another (see Romans 12v18). If God commands His blessing in this place, surely it is what we should strive for?

Maturity

The disciplines and practices of Christianity are all means through which we can be built up and grow up in the faith.

Hebrews 5:12 says this:

‘In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!’

Our unequivocal goal is to become mature, serving one another with the excellence that we have developed through prayer, study, worship and the like.

Let’s strive for holiness, being sanctified and brought from glory to glory in the family of God.

Now that you have discovered some of the basics of the Christian faith, why not put them into practice and watch how your faith grows and develops?

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