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Articles 2024-2026
At His Ascension, Jesus put bondage under His feet, gave gifts to men, and purposed to fill all things (Ephesians 4:10). Or as the Amplified Bible says it: that He [His presence] might fill all things (the whole universe, from the lowest to the highest).
And starting with one hundred and twenty disciples meeting in an upper room in Jerusalem, He came in power and began to invade the lives of men and women in a new way through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
And at this time:
…He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Jesus gave these five strategic ministries to His Church as part of His plan to give world–wide expression to His messiahship. The Greek word translated “equipping” in the above verse is KATARTISMOS and it comes from KATARTIZO which basically means to mend, to repair, to knit together, to perfect. It seems that Paul had more in mind than the ministries simply equipping i.e., putting spiritual equipment into the hands of God’s people as individuals.
What he foresaw was our God strategically using these ministries in His house as He knitted together His people, causing a mending into oneness as a fisherman would mend a net. Notice how Paul uses this word in his first letter to the Corinthian believers.
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together (Greek, KATARTIZO) in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Here is God’s desire and design – to cause His people in every region across the earth to be perfectly joined together as a single corporate body. And He has given the five ministries to serve Him in this venture. It seems that we still have a distance to go.
Here is an interesting question. How many fish could a fisherman expect to catch if his net was torn and shredded? Which leads to a second question. How many times more unbelievers will pass from death to life when God’s net is an integrated whole?
Leading us to our third question. Will He help us, His very diverse people, to humble ourselves before Him and before each other so that He can then bring us into such unity around His own presence that the singular mind of Christ, Heaven’s Messiah, will be made known across the earth to all nations before He returns? Scripture indicates that He has and is giving the five ministries for this purpose.
Beginning at His ascension, He gave these ministries to us:
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
It does not appear that we have as yet come to the full expression of God’s stated goal for us. Will we ever experience unity of the faith? And if so, does it mean that we will all agree on every point of doctrine? Doubtful. I don’t even agree on every point of doctrine with the folks in my house church. But we love each other.
First of all, faith is not simply a mental belief that something is true. And faith is not achieved by psychological strivings to accept the validity of some belief system. Faith does not originate in ourselves. It comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17); He is its source. And true faith is then revealed by lifestyle. James tells us in his letter that faith without works, i.e., a changed lifestyle, is dead. It is not real faith.
On the other hand, we see real faith when Abraham responded to God by a willingness to offer up Isaac. His actions revealed his faith (James 2:17 - 24).
Faith is only genuine when it is walked out. So, in practical terms, what does unity of the faith look like? Today God is revealing it among His people by teaching us to walk out in practical lifestyle choices both what we believe He has said in Scripture and then also what we believe He is presently saying according to Scripture, and then doing so humbly with the attitude of servants toward each other. Faith in God walked out. Humbly. Together. According to Scripture.
And when our doctrinal differences are large, we must learn to wait on Him for wisdom about what to say and then when or whether to say it. And we must believe that the Holy Spirit will in fact succeed in ultimately guiding His people into all the truth (John 16:13). Lord, help us to be both patient and teachable.
The whole Church is on a journey in an increasing revelation of who our God is and also specifically of what He meant when He anointed men to write sacred Scripture – even, perhaps especially, those passages where we have experienced great controversy.
Lord, make Yourself known among us and give us godly overseers who have You as their priority and who can gently speak with clarity when some among us seek to propagate their own personal agenda or favorite doctrine that draws peoples’ attention away from You and toward themselves or toward their own preferences concerning what the Church should be doing.
Christ is our message, and He is coming into greater clarity among us all. Here is why God gave us the five ministries – so that He can not only bring us into the unity of the faith (the practical walking out of what Scripture teaches with the heart attitude of servants) but then also into the unity of the knowledge of the Son of God (Ephesians 4:13).
Unified in knowing God’s Son. If knowing Him is the definition of eternal life (John 17:3), then it must be the essence of the Christian life. Our then becoming one corporately in knowing Him must lie at the heart of His priority among us. Come together and behold God’s Son.
When we assemble, all other agendas must be set aside. The goal and focus of Christian leadership must be that corporately we intimately experience together God’s thoughts and priorities.
And whatever there is of self must be set aside.
Only then will we be able to envision a full–grown singular corporate many–membered man coming together all across the earth with the Lord Jesus functioning as the coordinating Head.
So, here is another question. To what is Paul referring when he says, till we all come…to a perfect (Greek, TELEIOS, fully developed, full grown) man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? What is the fullness of Christ that is to have a measured stature? Notice what he said earlier in his letter.
the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
The Church is the fullness of Christ. In His role as Messiah, He has deliberately stepped into the functional role of headship to a body comprised of a multitude of people filled with the Holy Spirit. And He has set His face to prove to His people and to the whole earth that He is not scattered in his thoughts or divided in His purpose.
When someone looks at the present condition of the Church and concludes that the Head must be confused, that is like saying a house builder doesn’t know what he is doing because a half–constructed house is not livable.
On the other hand, to say that where we’re at is good enough, is to fail to recognize God’s architectural design that Paul has just articulated in his letter to the Ephesian believers.
The Church which is the fullness of Christ, completes Him who is the head of His corporate body. And it has a measured stature that it is growing up into.
When the body of Christ matures to where it is making known His mind with clear accuracy all across the earth, then the nations will be without excuse on the day of judgement concerning God’s identity and priorities.
As a result, let us receive Paul’s counsel:
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, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ–
There is no confusion in heaven about who Jesus is. But on earth, everyone today needs greater clarity. Thankfully, our God is absolutely committed to the unveiling of His Son among His people so that in everything He may come to have the preeminence on earth that He has in heaven. Amen.
Donald Rumble – January 2025
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