Ephesians 4:11-16<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nI was the oldest of four children in my family of origin. For the most part, my siblings and I got along reasonably well. To be sure, there were times when I used my superior age and size to intimidate my brother and sisters. But there were plenty of times when they got me back. When their efforts started to hit home, I would sometimes cry out in anger, \u201cGrow up! Just grow up!\u201d (The funny thing is, they\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0grow up, and have all turned out to be fine human beings.)<\/p>\nIf you were to assign a title to Ephesians 4:11-16, it might be \u201cGrow Up!\u201d But Paul writes, not in anger or frustration, but in order to encourage the readers of his letter to grow up as Christians. Consider, for example, the following excerpts from our passage: \u201c[S]o that the body of Christ may be built up. . . . [Until we all] become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants. . . . [W]e will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head. . . . [T]he whole body . . . builds itself up in love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul assumes that we should grow up in our faith. Becoming a Christian by accepting God\u2019s grace through faith is the beginning of lifelong growth in Christ, or at least that\u2019s the way God has planned it. Unfortunately, many Christians have chosen the path, not of growth to maturity, but of Peter Pan Christianity: \u201cI\u2019ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up, not me!\u201d Perhaps we have been led to believe that being a Christian is mainly about going to heaven after we die, rather than living as citizens of God\u2019s kingdom both now and forever. Perhaps we sense that we should be maturing as Christians, but aren\u2019t quite sure how to do this. Or, maybe our lives are so busy we just don\u2019t pay attention to our development as disciples.<\/p>\n
No matter what slumbers might\u00a0keep us from realizing that we should be growing as Christians, Ephesians 4:11-16 is a stirring wake up call. It says to each of us\u2014and to all of us together\u2014\u201dGrow up!\u201d<\/p>\n
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:<\/strong>\u00a0To what extent do you think of the Christian life as an experience of growth? As you take a good look at yourself today, would you say that you are growing in Christ? Are you more of a Christian today than you were a year ago? Five years ago?<\/p>\nPRAYER:<\/strong>\u00a0Gracious God, I need to hear the call of this passage today. Though I have been a Christian for a long time\u201450 years!\u2014I still need to grow up in you.<\/p>\nAs my fellow reflectors and I work through this passage together, help us to understand what it means for us to grow up in faith. Show us how we might receive your grace and respond to it so that we are maturing as Christians.\u00a0Amen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image courtesy of\u00a0Laity Lodge\u00a0Youth Camp<\/a>, one of our sister programs in the Foundations for Laity Renewal. This reflection was originally shared at TheHighCalling.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1712,"featured_media":1376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections"],"yoast_head":"\n
Grow Up!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grow Up!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The High Calling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-21T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-23T02:18:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/406\/2015\/03\/132391_472646777426_6252175_o_1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The High Calling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The High Calling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/\",\"name\":\"Grow Up!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-21T16:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-23T02:18:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b\"},\"description\":\"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Grow Up!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/\",\"name\":\"The High Calling\",\"description\":\"Everyday conversations about work, life, and God\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b\",\"name\":\"The High Calling\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/author\/thehighcalling\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Grow Up!","description":"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Grow Up!","og_description":"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/","og_site_name":"The High Calling","article_published_time":"2015-03-21T16:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-23T02:18:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":250,"height":250,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/406\/2015\/03\/132391_472646777426_6252175_o_1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The High Calling","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The High Calling","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/","name":"Grow Up!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-21T16:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-23T02:18:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b"},"description":"by Mark D. Roberts Ephesians 4:11-16 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/2015\/03\/grow-up\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Grow Up!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/","name":"The High Calling","description":"Everyday conversations about work, life, and God","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/#\/schema\/person\/8e49fb4208c4e6a097141f0eb321f51b","name":"The High Calling","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/author\/thehighcalling\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1712"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thehighcalling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/406\/2015\/03\/132391_472646777426_6252175_o_1.jpg\")
by Mark D. Roberts<\/em><\/p>\n