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Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. \xa0From 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 4:15-16)

The first half of Ephesians 4 is a beautiful passage for understanding how we grow as disciples. \xa0

In the opening verses we\u2019re told of how we have been united together in the body of faith through God\u2019s work. \xa0In verse 7, we are told that each of us has received gifts. \xa0In verse 11, we\u2019re told that Christ has also given leaders and teachers of various sorts to equip us for good works. \xa0Finally, we are told that Christ himself remains the head of his Church. \xa0All of these are gifts that come to us from God along that vertical axis. \xa0

In response to this overflowing stream of gifts from Jesus Christ\u2014we are urged to live worthily in response. \xa0We\u2019re invited to keep the unity we\u2019ve been given. \xa0We\u2019re invited to receive the gifts and put them to use. \xa0We\u2019re invited to grow and help each other to grow as we build each other up through the use of these gifts we\u2019ve been given. \xa0God is at work, we are at work. \xa0We are growing and helping others to grow, even as they help us to grow. \xa0It is one big interdependent, organic mess. \xa0It\u2019s a body. \xa0With Christ as its head. \xa0

How does this body grow up into all this good work of mutuality and maturity? \xa0Love is the way. \xa0The body grows and builds itself up in love as it works. \xa0And the members of the body speak the truth in love as they grow. \xa0Work and communication, all done in the way of love. \xa0This is how a body moves and grows. \xa0

Of course, there are times when bodies turn against themselves. \xa0We often categorize diseases of this sort as autoimmune diseases\u2014where the immune system begins to attack its own body. \xa0This happens in the church as well. \xa0At no point is the body of Christ in more danger of death than when it attacks and fights within itself. \xa0A house divided against itself cannot stand. \xa0A body can\u2019t either. \xa0

Sometimes our conceptions of \u201ctruth\u201d drawn from this and other passages that name the word \u201ctruth\u201d have fueled such autoimmune diseases in the body. \xa0But here in Ephesians 4, as in other places in the scriptures, truth is set against lies and deceit. \xa0The 9th commandment regarding false testimony (of the courtroom, eye-witness account variety) is background to this conception of truth. \xa0Truth here is not a particular set of correct statements of belief so much as it is an honest description from the redeemed of the Lord as they tell their story (Ps 107:2) of what he has done. \xa0When we tell this kind of truth, in love, it builds up.

The way of love always offers a healing way for the body to continue growing. \xa0It offers the needed path of humility into things like confession, forgiveness, and a renewed honesty. \xa0It offers the context for truth to be told as encouragement for building up. \xa0And love offers a context in which we can all do our work, together, in faith\u2014both in our service to one another, but also\u2014as the body of Christ\u2014for the sake of the world. \xa0

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