Living Out Our Identity: Unity and Maturity in Christ

``Hear this though, like, this is the rhythm of grace, that first you receive, and then you respond. You're accepted, and then you're empowered. As the Chinese missionary said, Watchman Nee, this is our little book, Sit, Walk, Stand. He put it, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that all true spiritual experience begins from rest. [01:01:36] (29 seconds)  #rhythmOfGrace

To be proud is to be actively resisted by God. God's opposition in this instance is not punitive. It's protective. He resists what destroys us. Pride is not confidence, but it's independence. It says, oh, I've got this without you. It's the fruit of that tree. Self -effort. But God confronts pride in us, not to humiliate us, but to invite us back in to dependence. Dependence on Him and dependence on one another. To be humble positions you to receive a generous outpouring of grace. No way. Unearned favor and empowerment. [01:15:57] (56 seconds)  #graceFlowsDownhill

I also want to note at this point that you don't need to compare your gift to somebody else. You've received a measure of grace. And it fits you. It fits your calling. Don't fight against it. Like, fight God. Good luck. But the church flourishes when everybody walks in the grace that they've been given. Not trying to copy each other's portion. Not trying to look the same. You know, comparison is an enemy to contentment. It is an enemy to unity. The kingdom is not about competition. It's about collaboration. God doesn't copy and paste our callings. [01:25:04] (43 seconds)  #unityInDiversity

In fact, unity is not uniformity. It is produced by our shared identity and does not lead to some sort of conformity but to diversity. And when we all function in our grace, this maturity is not measured by performance but measured by Christlikeness. And mutual interdependence. Right? The goal of apostolic leadership is to work yourself out of a job. Right? Every believer becomes a minister. Woo! Leadership in the church is not about domination but about facilitation. Right? The facilitation of other people's growth, of other people's function. It is to activate the church, not to control it. [01:25:58] (54 seconds)  #facilitativeLeadership

So Paul urges us to grow up from spiritual infants not walking out in our inheritance to mature sons and daughters, reflecting our alignment with the Father's nature, functioning in love and truth. Nepios tells of whose you are, but huios speaks of who you're becoming. Nepios is an heir, he cannot access the inheritance until he has come of age or matured. Spiritual maturity is not marked by gifting or charisma, those are grace gifts, but rather is marked by one's capacity to love. [01:28:51] (41 seconds)  #matureInLove

The image of the body joined and held together by which every joint supplies speaks of our spiritual interdependence, functional unity, organic growth from Christ who is the head. The Passion puts it this way, it says, all our direction and ministries will flow from Christ and the body joined together and continually connected will increase and be built up in love. So every part of the body needs to function properly for the whole body to reach its full potential. [01:29:32] (35 seconds)  #spiritualInterdependence