PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS

“For the PERFECTING of the SAINTS, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” – Ephesians 4:12

Pressing into Perfection makes clearer sense as we understand the PERFECTING of the SAINTS: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the PERFECTING of the SAINTS, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph.4:12, KJV). Many modern churches are characterized by a strong clergy-laity distinction: Clergy are to do the work of ministry, while the laity pay their salaries, and benefit from the worship they conduct and the sermons they preach. No! The purpose of ministers is to develop ministry: to equip God’s people to serve. The purpose of ministry is to develop maturity. The purpose of maturity is Unity with Christ and His Church!

The Five-fold Ministry Offices are called to perfect or equip the saints for all the saints to engage in the work of the ministry, so that the Body of Christ as a whole can be edified. Christ set the Five-fold Ministry Gifts in His Body in order “to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up” (NIV). This makes the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to be equippers and trainers, rather than the conventional clergy. The word translated “perfecting” (KJV), “prepare” (NIV), “equipment” (RSV), and “equipping” (NKVV) is Greek ‘katartismos’, from ‘kata’, “towards” and ‘artios’, “fit, sound, complete.” This classical Greek verb meant “to put in order, restore, furnish, prepare, equip.”

In summary: the mission of ministers is to equip, prepare, and train the believers so they can learn to function in their own ministries. That’s how the church will be built up; not by the leaders doing everything themselves, but by the leaders equipping the rest of the people to function in their own ministries. A church in which only the leaders are working to build the church is weak, it is sick. A healthy congregation is one in which the leaders succeed in motivating, training, and deploying the people in a variety of ministries according to the gifts of each member, all of whom bring strength and depth to the ministry of the Body as a whole, and which bring about the maturity of members and of the Body.

Our Lord Jesus Christ earnestly wants to present us holy, blameless, and irreproachable to the Father in His Kingdom, but we have a part to play to uphold our half of the covenant: “if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col.1:23a). We must keep on growing rather than take God’s salvation for granted. We must endeavour to make our calling and election sure (1Pet.1:10).

The healthy, mature Church, as well as the saint on the Path of Perfection, is characterized by the following:

• Unity in the faith and in the knowledge of Jesus (v.13a)
• Passion for the attainment of the Fullness of Christ (v.13b)
• Maturing beyond distraction and deception (v.14)
• Speaking the truth in love (v.15a)
• Growing up into Christ, the Head of the Body (v.15b)
• Supportive connectedness with the rest of the Body (v.16a)
• Sustained growth (v.16b)
• Sustained increase in strength (v.16c)
• Each member or organ doing its work (v.16d).

The Purpose of Perfection is to attain “to a PERFECT MAN, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Eph.4:13b-14). We cannot be perpetually unstable and manipulated infants! The Proof of Perfection is when “every part does its share” causing “growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (v.16).

To press into perfection is to persist into COMPLETION: “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand PERFECT and COMPLETE in all the will of God” (Col.4:12).