CALLED TO PERFECTION

“Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the

knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”
[Ephesians 4:13]

Church membership is the most important thing anybody

can experience on the earth. Often we do not understand
what it means to be part of the church - the dignity,
privilege and responsibility. Failure to understand this
concept of the church is what leads us into trouble.

The main function of these offices given by Christ in the

church is to build up the church. There are challenges as
indicated in the [13, 15, and 16]. The ultimate purpose of
the function of these offices is to bring the church to a
perfect man. this is to be done by the church coming into
the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of
God. In the end what God looks for is that the church
stands as a perfect man.

The word perfect means fully grown, mature, up to the

standard. in this case the standard of Christ. The full
measure of the stature of Christ. The expression ‘perfect
man’ may suggest that it is referring to individuals but
the perfect man refers to the whole church with of Christ
is the HEAD and all of us, males and females as members
of the body.

This truth can be illustrated with [1Co 12:12]. Where the

body of Christ is is made up of members - us - males and
females. The perfect man is therefore made up of the
head and the body. Now the HEAD is always perfect, it is
the body that needs to be perfected, to become fully
grown, or mature. It is for this purpose (making a perfect
man of us) the offices in the church has been set by
Christ Jesus. Prophets, apostles, evangelists, pastors and
teachers have one goal: to make a perfect man. Because
we are many members, the perfection requires that all
parts be perfect. There can be no perfect man when
members of the body are not perfect. It is therefore
essential that we are concerned about the perfection of
other parts of the body. To arrive at perfection is the goal
of the church and it is for this reason prophets, apostles,
evangelists and pastors and teachers are exist in the
church.

Now, we must be aware not to assume that everybody

must be the same. As we have mentioned in earlier
sessions. Sameness is not a mark of the Spirit of God in
achieving unity. Similarly, the perfection desired is not in
we all coming into sameness. Why so? considering the
natural body, A healthy leg has certain features, which
are not the same as a healthy eye. These two members
of the human body are different and hence their maturity
or healthy state are not the same. Similarly, your perfect
condition is completely different from my perfect
condition. However, your perfect condition is nothing
short of what God expects from you as a member of Jesus
body, the church. The glory of Christ’s Church is in its
variety. Also, from this understanding we see that the
most important thing is not the special grace God has
given you or another. What is important is that you come
into perfection in that which God has given you in
particular to do.

Another truth to emphasise is that our perfection matters

to Christ Jesus. if the members are perfect then the whole
body is perfect. The analogy of the body is that what is
true of the head is true of the body and what is true of
the body is true of the head. That is, in a sense you can
say that Christ waits for our perfection because we are
his body. but Christ cannot be imperfect so until we are
perfected by the gifts He has given, we share in the
fulness of the head. This indicates that we cannot be
members of the body of Christ and we do not take our
perfection seriously. We cannot be members of the body
of Christ and do not care about growth into maturity.
Every part that is alive in the body, strives for food or
nourishment to grow.

It is therefore a failure on the part of a member if pastors

have to be compelling you to come for church services or
attend services to grow in your faith. Making yourself
available for prayer, the word of God and services in
Christ should be something members of the body strives
by themselves to do because they seek perfection. They
seek to mature, they seek to come into the fullness of the
stature of Christ Jesus. They seek to purify themselves as
[1John 3:3] indicates: “they that have this hope in them
purify themselves.”

HOW IS THIS PERFECT MAN TO BE ATTAINED?

The apostles teaching is that the whole work of the

ministry is to bring us to this ‘perfect man.’

There are two things to attain: the ‘unity of the faith and
the knowledge of the Son of God.’ The unity of the faith
refers to the faith of the ‘Son of God.’ The apostle does
not leave our coming into perfection to chance or any
other scheme somebody might propose. He spells it out.
We all come have to come into the unity of the faith of
the Son of God - only then can we obtain the perfection.
This perfection of the church of God is not obtained
through some other means but when we all grasp this
faith of the Son of God.

Contradiction? Now, is this a contradiction with what

the apostle said in [5], that we have all come into one
faith. Now he says we need to achieve unity of the faith
of the Son of God. There is no contradiction - [5] deals
with saving faith, justification by faith without which one
cannot be a Christian. However, without the faith in [5],
there is no way one can achieve the perfection.

Diverse views. We are aware that there are different

aspect of the faith of the Son of God, upon which
Christians differ - that does not lead to a perfect man.
When we achieve this perfect man, we will all be saying
the saying thing and believing the same things, because
we shall know Him and see Him as he really is. Therefore,
while we speak about having one faith in [5], we can also
speak about achieving unity of faith in [13] through which
we can attain perfection.

The faith in [13] is a broader faith to achieve - and what it

means is that there must be unity of faith concerning the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, there must be no
doubts concerning the person of the Lord Jesus: He is
fully human and fully God. The Unity of the faith
embraces both. Some emphasise one and not the other.
Some only see him as a good man who lived some years
ago and that is it. So that what He teaches is not binding
but optional. Others also see Him as God alone and
therefore the incarnation was not really possible. in that
case his obedience and humility is not something one can
follow.
WHAT TO GRASP: It is part of the faith of the Son of God
to know that before time, God purpose to save mankind
and planned that his Son will come and take on human
flesh and die for mankind but rise on the third day and
that Jesus came voluntarily to fulfil his part in this plan.
This must be accepted and meditated upon until its truth
begin to influence our lives.

Then we must think of Jesus Christ as Prophet, Priest and

King -

As Prophet - we take on board his teaching - and that only

He has seen God and declare Him [John 1:8]

As Priest - he gave Himself for us - sacrifice himself for us

As King - he came to found a kingdom, and he is coming

back to rule a visible kingdom. A kingdom which
presently is not geographically bound but spiritual.

Knowledge - of the Son of God - this is what Paul refers to

in Philippians 3:10

Prayer: