Monday, August 29, 2005

The Secret Place of God

This posting is an extension of my previous message "Eternal Security" posted on 22nd. Aug. 2005.

Let us study Psalm 91 again. The truth is, the promises listed in this Psalm are for Christians who fulfilled the condition given in the first verse:

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1, NKJV, emphasis added).

"Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1, NLT, emphasis added).

In other words, only Christians who dwell or live continuously in the secret place of the Lord will find divine rest of total security. The secret place is not meant for someone who just runs to it in time of trouble. The important condition for having complete security is to find the secret place of the Lord and dwell with Him there. A person who dwells with the Lord must maintain a continuous intimate relationship with Him. Hence, such a person must be a true Christian.

This place is called a secret place because it is hidden and we need to find it. We must find the door that leads to the secret place.

I believe it is like seeking the Wisdom of God because as I said in my previous posting it is through wisdom we are able to find total and permanent security. Job gave a discourse on Wisdom of God which relates to finding the secret place.

"That path no bird knows, nor has the falcon's eye seen it. The proud lions have not trodden it. The deep says, 'It is not with me'. it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. Destruction and Death say, 'We have heard a report about it with our ears.' God understands its way, and He knows its place" (Job 28:7,8,14, 21,22,33, NKJV, emphasis added).

The above passages reveal 3 things to me:

1. The secret place is hidden from animals, birds of the air and all living things. The whole natural creation does not know it. The reason being, the the secret place is not in the natural realm, but in the spiritual realm. The spirit of man quickened by the Spirit of God will enable the Christian to find the secret place.

2. "Destruction and Death" is a person - the Devil. He does not know understand the secret place, let alone finding it; he only heard about it!

3. God alone knows the secret place and only He knows the way to it.

It is obvious form the above that we must first find God before we are able to find the secret place. The door to God is secret; it is covered up from the natural senses and reasoning. This door to God is the cross of Jesus Christ. The way to God is through the cross. The natural man (please read my earlier posting "The Three Types of Man") will not run to the cross. he recoils from it; he does not like it and he does not want it. But, behind the cross is the door to the secret place.

Listen to what Paul said to the Christians in Colosse:

"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set you mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:1,2,3, emphasis added).

Notice that the life of the true Christian is hidden with Christ in God now (in our daily walk in Him) and not in the next world! This explains why we have total security now and not only in the next world.

Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

When Jesus died He did not die for Himself, He died for us; He took our guilt; He took our condemnation; He paid our penalty; He died our death. When Jesus died we died. When we die, we pass through death, through the death of Jesus, through the cross into a new realm, a realm that is not in the naturarl world. A realm that natural senses cannot discern; a realm that natural creatures do not perceive. It is a realm in Christ.

Finally, let us take a closer look to the Scripture, "For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God".

The realm in Christ means double protection - in Christ and in God. Nothing in the whole universe can reach and harm the true Christian except that they come through God and through Christ.

That represents total and permanent security.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Eternal Security

The quest for security springs from the universal craving of the human heart, irrespective of race, nationality, culture or social or economic status. Because of this, a major part of human activity in every country is directed to find security for the people. This is even more so when signs of the time are appearing everywhere in this period of time. There are more plane and train crashes; more floods happening in places never have any flood in history; more and stronger hurricanes or tropical storms. Then, there are sudden changes of weather condition. Earth quakes and many other calamities and disasters are happening everyday. More and more people are dying because of wars and unknown diseases without mentioning more cases of senseless killing and murder or taking of human lives.

In our contemporary culture there are various agencies, industries or organisations (private or public) in some way or other devoted to provide the people with some sort of security. One example is the insurance agency. But, the scope of providing security is limited. A person can insure himself against an accident. But, there is no way to be sure that an accident will not happen. He can insure against fire and theft. But, there is no way to be completely sure that fire will not break out and no theft will take place. There are security forces such as police and armed forces and army. The trouble is, the stronger the security measures of one nation autometically becomes insecurity of another nation. Then, there is the provision of Social Security and health program in some countries. We must admit that all these means of providing security are good and should be fully supported. But, they are all temporal and none of these means is able to provide total or permanant security. Man can provide limited measure of security in time but he is powerless to achieve real, permanant and total eternal security.

The Source of Eternal Security

I believe the source of true and eternal security comes from the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God speaking through the pages of the Holy Scripture offers the total divine security in time and eternity.

Solomon paints a beautiful picture concerning the call of God's Wisdom which is personalised in the first two chapters of the Book of Proverbs. Please read Proverbs 1:20 to 33.

It is good to consider the contract between one who listens to Wisdom and one who refuses the call of Wisdom:

"But whoever listens to me will dwell safely. And will be secure, without fear of evil" (Prov. 1:33, NKJV).

In other words, to give heed to the Voice of God's Wisdom is the key for us to dwell in safely at all times; to have total eternal security, without fear of evil.

"Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you" (Verses 25 to 27).

The above is the alternative of not giving heed to the Voice of God's Wisdom, but instead disdaining God's counsel. This obviously is the road to ultimate calamity.

Foundation of Eternal Security

There are only two ways we can build our foundation on; one is on the Rock and the other is on the sand:

Jesus said, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock" (Matthew 7:24 and 25, emphasis added).

Verses 26 and 27 give the alternative of building the house on the sand which is a poor foundation. The result is total calamity.

Notice that, the key to building the house on the rock which provides total and permanant security is to listen to the words of Jesus and obey His commands. This calls for a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul said, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3:11).

Peter said Jesus Christ is the "chief cornerstone" and believers are "living stones" of the spiritual house built on the foundation of the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4 to 6).

Understanding the Shepherd Psalm

The need of a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and to maintain an intimate relationship with Him is described in many passages of the Scripture. One of the most beautiful and the most familiar is the Shepherd Psalm:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (Psalm 23:1 to 3).

These 3 verses describe the type of security provided by Jesus throughout our life on earth. Notice that the security is total; physical, material and emotional. The all important condition is we must acknowledge Jesus is our Shepherd.

Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27).

Jesus tells us very briefly who are the true Christians and what is the basic requirement for being a Christian. He says, only His sheep hear His voice and obey Him and do what He says. A person who is not His sheep is not a true Christian and will not hear His voice and follow Him.

Any Christian who fulfills this requirement is qualified to claim all the promises of the Shepherd Psalm.

The next 3 verses of Psalm 23 is the promise of Eternal Security:

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (verses 4,5,6, emphasis added).

Notice that when we acknowlege Jesus as our Shepherd it is His responsibility to provide us with total and permanant security in life or death. We need not fear death nor evil when we dwell in the Lord's House forever!

The apostle Paul put it this way:

"For I am persuaded that neither death or life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38,39).

Security in Time of Trouble

Psalm 91 shows the total security made available to Christians who fulfill certain conditions in time of trouble:

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust' ........ " (Verses 1 and 2).

There are two conditions here. The word "dwells" speaks of the continuing position of our standing in God and maintaining a personal relationship with Him. The second condition is, we must acknowledge and make confidant confession to the Lord of our trust in God in our walk with Him by faith.

With these conditions fulfilled the Lord will deliver us from all the forms of trouble listed in other verses of Psalm 91.

These are the promises of God:

"I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation" (Psalm 91:14 to 16).

Monday, August 15, 2005

Light and Darkness

Jesus is the True Light and "in Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men" (John 1:4, The Amplified Bible).

In other words, Jesus is the Life and Light of men. If light gives life because Jesus gives life, then darkness gives death. Jesus said the reason that men loved darkness is because their deeds were evil:

"And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19, NKJV).

Notice that the natural men who do not know the Light are condemned because they love darkness rather than light.

Children of God must walk in the Light

"God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). Therefore, to engage fellowship with Him Christians must walk in the light and not in darkness.

"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

In other words, in order for the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all sin so that we can have fellowship one another and with God, we have to walk in the light. It follows that a believer who does not walk in the light is not a true Christian and so he cannot have fellowship with other true Christians and with Jesus Christ! This believer is walking sin because he is not cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

What the Bible says about Light and Darkness?

There are at least 3 passages of Scripture where we find the contrast between light and darkness, just and unjust, clean and filthy and righteous and unrighteous.

1. God said to Abram, "Look now toward heaven, and count the the stars if you are able to to number them. So shall your descendants be" (Genesis 15:5).

I believe God was showing Abram more than the numbers of his descendants. God also said Abram's descendants are the light of the stars shinning in the darkness of the sky. The stars get brighter as the night gets darker and darker. Christians are children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:11) are going to shine out like the stars in their glory.

2. In the Song of Solomon, king Solomon gave a picture of Israel as God's betrothed bride:

"Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners" (Song of Solomon 6:10)?

I believe prophetically the above speaks of the true Church as the Bride of Christ. As human life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a man and a woman, so spiritual life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of God for His people, and Christ for His Church.

Song of Solomon 6:10 depicts a very beautiful picture of the Bride of Christ. She is like the morning after a long dark night. She comes forth with the brilliant and the beauty of the rising sun. She is as fair as the moon. The unique function of the moon is to reflect the sun. Similarly, the unique function of the Church, as the betrothed bride, is to reflect the Sun of Righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ (Malachi 4:2). The moon is not constant, it vexes and vanes; so is the Church. In the Book of Acts we see the early Church as a full moon, reflecting the whole nature and ministry of Jesus Christ. The Church had the ministries and gifts as those of Christ when He was in His humanity at the time of the twelve apostles. But, in history the moon began to vane, and it became smaller and smaller reflected less and less of Christ. And then the moon was no longer there (lost her function of refecting the light of the sun). I believer that was during the Dark Ages!Then the moon began to appear again and reflecting a little of Christ but has been vexing and vaning. I believe at the close of this age only the true Church will be as a full moon again with all the ministries and gifts restored and she will again reflect the Sun of Righteousness. This will be the time when Christ will come and take the true Church as the Bride for Himself! Do not be deceived by any so-called prophetic Bible teacher or pastor who tells you that the every believer in Universal Church is the Bride of Christ!

3. An angel said to John who was banished to the isle of Patmos concerning the Church of Jesus Christ towands the end of this age:

"Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still" (Rev. 22:10,11).

Notice that the Book of Revelation is written for God's people, the Church. John was commanded not to seal this prohecy because it will soon be fulfilled. The angel told John, a time will come when there will be a line of separation and departure of ways among God's people. Those who are righteous will become more righteous; those who are holy will become more holy; those who are walking in the light will be brighter and brighter; those who are unjust will be more unjust; those who are filthy will be more filthy and those who are walking in dark will get darker and darker. The difference between those who are in darkness and those who are in the light will become more distinct as a testimony for all to see before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the close of this Age

I believe at the close of this age there will be just two groups of believers in the Church (universal). One group will be the bride and the other will be the harlot! Every believer has to make a personal decision which group he or she will be found in. The decision is now! If you are not the bride then you are the harlot. The line of separation is clear and there is no grey area and there is no such thing as neutrality or compromise in the Christian walk. Salvation is not a static condition. It is a way of life that is progressive. A "saved" person is either going up or going down. He is either getting brighter or getting darker. He is either becoming more righteous or becoming more wicked. He is either getting cleaner or getting more filthy. He is either getting stronger spiritually or getting weaker.

Here are some references from the Scripture:

"But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like the darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble" (Pro. 4:18,19)

"Yet the righteous will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger" (Job 17:9).

The Bride of Christ has the bridal attire. She has the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). She has the garments of praise and the crown of life and she receives many beautiful gifts (spiritual) from God. Jesus will give her "some hidden manna to eat and a white stone with a new name written on it" (Rev. 2:17). She loves her Lord and yields herself to Him. She loves the truth and obeys His commands. She overcomes persecution and remains faithful to her Lord until death.

This is how Isaiah pictured the true Church prepared as the Bride:

"Arise, shine; for your light has come! and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah 60:1,2,3, emphasis added).

Notice that the day will come when the true Church has the glory of the Lord in the midst of deep darkness covering the rest of the people. The day will come when the Gentiles (unbelievers) and Gentile kings will come to the light of the true Church. They will not go to the harlot church!

Why? I believe only the true Church of Jesus Christ has the answers they seek after! They are likely to say to the harlot church, "You have no answers for us; you are just like us"!

Monday, August 08, 2005

The Glorious Bride of Christ

The Bible clearly says that the Church that Jesus Christ is coming for will be a glorious Church. The Glorious Church is the Glorious Bride of Christ.

The word "glorious" comes from the Greek word "endoxos" which means splendid, noble, gorgeous and honourable. Therefore, in describing a Church in this way, the Glorious Church is a Church that is full of honour, splendor, beauty with the sense of being a bright and shining Bride of Christ - the Bride that is filled with the glory of God. It is a Church that has within it the manifest visible, tangible and personal presence of the almighty God.

John saw the picture of the Bride prepared by God for His Son, "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2, NKJV, emphasis added).

How the Church is made ready for the Second Coming of the Lord?

In my previous posting we discussed the process by which the Church becomes "a perfect man" (Eph. 4:13). Paul said the five "body building" ministries are necessary to equip the saints for the work of the various ministries; for the maturing and perfecting of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). The perfect Church is a fully grown and perfect man - the Church as His Body demonstrates Christ in all His fullness in every aspect, in every grace, in every gift, in every ministry. In other words, the Church must be equipped to manifest Jesus in His fullness. In my opinion, at the present time we manage to manifest to the world only a pathetic small part of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians Chapters 4 and 5 reveal several distinctive marks of the Church that God is preparing to take it to Himself. It must be glorious, filled with the manifest presence of God, holy, without blemish, coming in the unity of faith, coming to the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ in Headship and Lordship, and coming into perfect maturity of a perfect man.

It is interesting to study the prayer of Paul for the Church (Eph. 3:14 to 19).

".... may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God".

In my opinion, Paul's prayer will only be answered when the Church comes in the unity of faith.

Preparation of the Glorious Bride

A major part of Paul's ministry is to help God to prepare the bride of Christ:

"For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2, emphasis added).

To the Church in Ephesus Paul said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wringkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25 to 27, emphasis added).

There are a number of important points in the above passage which deserve our attention.

1. The two processes of cleansing and sanctifying are closely related but are not identical. It is possible to have purity, or cleanness, without sanctification, but it is not possible to have sanctification without purity, or cleanness. In other words, things that are sanctified are also cleansed. Therefore, cleansing is an essential part of sanctification but not the whole of it. As an example, the blood of Jesus also cleanses us from all sins.

The apostle John said, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Here John speaks of the cleasing power of Christ's blood, shed upon the cross, to redeem us from sin. We conclude that God's provision for spiritual cleansing always includes these two divine agents - the blood of Christ shed upon the cross and the washing with water by His Word. Neither is complete without the other. Christ redeemed us by His blood so that He might cleanse and sanctify us by His Word.

2. Paul makes it plain that all believers who are redeemed and cleased by the blood of Jesus are not yet qualified to be the bride of Christ. Only those Christians who have gone through the full process of cleansing and sanctifying will be in the condition necessary for their final presentation to Christ as His Bride - a glorious Church, "not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing .... boly and without blemish" (Verse 27).

3. The means by which Christ uses to cleanse and sanctify the Church is "the washing of water by the word" (Verse 26). It is God's Word which is the means of sanctifying and cleansing; in this respect the operation of God's Word is compared to the washing of pure water.

Notice that, even before Christ's atoning death upon the cross had actually been consummated, He had already assured His disciples of the cleansing power of His Word which He had spoken to them:

"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3).

We see , therefore, that the Word of God is a divine agent of spiritual cleaning, compared in its operation to the washing of pure water.

Notice that the Word of God means the pure and uncompromised Word of God. I believe any preacher, teacher or pastor who deliberately compromises the Word of God for any reason, is against the will of God to prepare the Church to be the Bride of Christ!

Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against Me ..." (Matthew 12:30).

Monday, August 01, 2005

Perfection of the Body of Christ

Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church is perfect and He desires His Body to be perfect, fully grown up, mature, complete and lacking in nothing.

I believe before a perfect Church can be materialised there are two areas of perfection we need to look into - perfection in ministries and Christian's personal perfection. We have discussed the last one in my last posting (25th. July 2005).

Perfection in Christian ministries to others

As I mentioned in my previous posting one of the objectives of Paul's ministries is to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus".

Paul was speaking about the revelation of the mystery of God to the saints:

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Col. 1:27,28, NKJV, emphasis added).

In other words, there are three related ministries used by Paul in his plan to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus". These are preaching (proclaiming) Christ, warning (admonishing or counselling) and teaching of Scriptures. These are the basic three ministries of the Word.

Now, let us see what Paul said about Epaphras:

"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, emphasis added).

If we put the above two passages of Scripture in Colossians together the four basic ministries for the perfection of every Christian believer are - Preaching, counselling, teaching and prayers. Therefore, the most basic activities/programs of any Local Church must include these four basic ministries!

Perfection of Christ's Body

Jesus said, ".... and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

Clearly, the builder of the Church is Jesus and He is the Architect who supplies the perfect blue-print for the building of His Church. He uses human materials. The fact is, the best architect can give the best blue-print but very often it is difficult to find the right type of human materials for the New Testament Church. Any Bible teacher can write about "Purpose Driven Church" or "Purpose Driven Life", the fact remains that good materials make a good and strong Church. But, inferior materials make a weak and inferior Church. In other words, godly believers make a true Church and ungodly believers make an ungodly church. Homosexual believers make a "harlot" church. Christ's Church is only as good as the believers who are the Body.

I believe this is the reason why God's first emphasis is on the character of the believers. Paul understood God's way and he began Chapter 4 of Ephesians with the primary emphasis on believers' character:

Paul said, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephe. 4:1,2,3, NKJV).

In other words, those who are called (chosen) by God as Christian believers must at all times walk with the right character - in humility, meekness, unselfishness, gentleness and mildness. Be patient with one another and making allowances for one another's faults because of the agape love for one another. Do the best to ensure walking in unity and harmony and in peace in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Church Building Ministry

Let us look closely at the first 16 verses of Ephesians 4 which I believe, lay the basic principles and purposes of the Church building ministry.

Verses 1 and 2 describe the basic character requirments of Christians with emphasis on humility - "lowliness and gentleness". It is interesting to note that Paul also emphasized on the humility of Jesus as an example in verses 9 and 10, "Now this, 'He ascended' - what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all thing". Notice that these two verses are in parentheses, signifying additional phases included in the original language.

The principle of humility was given by Jesus Himself, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 14:12).

Peter said, "Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, ..." (1 Peter 5:5).

Solomon said, "... And before honor is humility" (Proverbs 15:33). In fact this was precisely what Paul said about Jesus in Philippians 2:5 to 11. He was exalted because He humbled Himself first, not only because He is the Son of God.

Verses 4, 5 and 6 are the 7 basic unities of the Church. Believers are united as one because there is one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and one Father of all.

Verses 7, 8 and 11 are the diversity of Christ's gifts to men. These are the so-called five-fold ministry gifts - apostles, prophets, evangelists pastors (shepherds) and teachers. Notice that unity comes first before diversity. In these ministry gifts Christ gave Himself back to His Church by the Holy Spirit according to His will. In other words, what makes a man a pastor is not Seminary training, is not Bible School graduation or because he wants to be a pastor. It is because Christ the perfect Shepherd is in that man. For without Him a self-appointed pastor can do nothing. The truth is that many Christians fail to understand that Christ is the perfect embodiment in all the mininstry gifts - He is the perfect apostle, perfect prophet, evangelist, perfect pastor and perfect teacher.

Verses 12, 13 and 14 give us the functions and goals for which these ministries are set in the Church. Notice that these ministries are needed until all Christian believers (all the existing denominations) come into the unity of faith and full knowledge (and full acknowlegement) of Christ. Until the Church becomes a "perfect man" with the fullness of Christ.

In my opinion, the Chuch has a long way to grow into a "perfect man". Therefore we still need all these ministries. Many Local Churches have no apostles and prophets and the leadership assume that the days of the apostles and prophets are over - a very sad situation! The outcome of this ignorance is, members of the congregation "are like chrildren, 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. 4:14). Is our Lord, Jesus Christ coming back for the Church under this condition?

Verses 15 and 16 give us the climax to the Church building process. The spiritual truth is, there is no competition in the Body of Christ. The whole Body "joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love" (verse 16).

In other words, the Church is never in a static condition. Every member of the Body does his part according to the measure of Christ's gift to enable a progressive growth into a climax - a perfect Bride for Christ!