BE PERFECT AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT

 The church is not a social club.

If you want fire in he pews then you need to get rid of the ice in the pulpit

How many of us were thoroughly trained? ...... Those in the early church were!!!

Col 1:28-29 ‘We thoroughly train and instruct everyone to make them all perfect in Christ

That word perfect = in the Greek is teleiov (teleios), it means to be fully mature, grown up, able to be put in a position where you can act with authority in the administration of the running of the master’s household. It is the same word that Paul uses  in Ephesians 4:12

The Apostle Paul speaks of the purpose of the 5 fold ministry that the Lord has placed in the church, which according to Eph 4:12 is to bring us all to the full stature of Christ through the ‘perfecting’ of the saints, or as the Jerusalem Bible would put it ‘so that we make a unity of service in building up the body of Christ’.  Paul here is talking about equipping or preparing the body through these gift ministries and the word for perfecting in the Greek is (katartismov) katartizo.

·         This is the same word that is used in Mt 4:21 where they were (katartizo )‘mending’ their nets.

·          It is found in Mt 21:16 when the children were singing ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ and the reply of Jesus to the Pharisees was ‘by the mouths of children & babes you have ( katartizo) 'perfected' praise.

·         In Luke 6:40 it speaks of the ‘fully trained disciple’.  

·         In 1 Thes 3:10 & in 1 Peter 5:10 it means to restore.  The purpose is for us to all grow up to a perfect man as Paul says in Romans 8:17 so that as ‘joint heirs with Christ— that we may also be glorified with him. The purpose of being glorified is to reach a place of esteem, a place of honour. The Lord wants to bring us to a place where he can stand with us.

 

When I was thinking on this a few things came to mind. Names in scripture speak of character and nature.

The Centurion spoke in Caesar’s name. Jesus did everything in the Father’s name. He said that we could ask the Father anything in his name it would be done for us. He also said where two or three of you meet in my name that he was there in the midst of us.

Now here I would like to present you with a question. The Church in Laodicea were having their church meetings and Jesus was locked outside the door, he couldn’t get into their services.

Is it possible for us to gather together thinking that Jesus is present because he did say two or three gather together I am there in the midst?

I believe yes it is possible, because to gather together in the name of Jesus is to gather together in his person and to gather together in his person means that we have to have a one to one personal relationship with him as he had a personal relationship with the Father, then whatever we ask in his name, he will do it.

When 2 or 3 are one in heart, mind and purpose then there will be unity and that’s when the Lord commands his blessing.

Katartizo means to bring back into alignment, to adjust. Before creation everything was void and out of alignment. When God spoke everything came into alignment. When God speaks it is to bring everything back into order. We need to align or adjust ourselves with the word of God, and then we will start to harmonize as God intended us to be, his work of art (Eph 2:10) Jesus said blessed were those who hear the word and obey it.

 

Paul tells us in Gal 4:1 that an heir as long as he remains a child in no different to a slave. A ‘child’ is one who is not strong in faith, one who is not able to speak correctly and who is not able to behave correctly. That person is like a servant and not free to do his own will and is under the domination of someone else. It means that even though we are heirs of all the promises of God, if we are still immature in our character and we haven’t added this to our faith as Peter says in 2 Peter 1:6-8, then we will not be able to receive the promises of God. God will not put into our hands the power tools of the Holy Spirit. Faith is only the starting point it has to be developed.

 

Would you give the keys of your brand new car to a child? Would you hand an electric drill to a baby? A mature character or a grown up Christian should be able to point out where the word of God has been violated and then be able to recognise from the symptoms they see in that person’s life where the violation has taken place. A mature person in Christ should be able to correct where an immature Christian has gone wrong and then make that person give a right response to see them set free by the Holy Spirit.

 

A wrong attitude in a person’s life will prevent the healing power of Christ to flow out and heal the body. Our emotions and our attitudes have a lot to do with the well being of our bodies. Worldly sorrow leads to death, whereas Godly sorrow leads to life. When the emotions have been dealt with, then the spirit is set free from the wounding and healing then takes place.

In Psalm 32 David talks about ‘guile’, which means I am not thinking or behaving the way that I am believing.

Deep down inside I know what is right, but my imagination and my mind and my behaviour is in contradiction to what I believe deep down inside of me.

There has to be an agreement with what I say with my mouth and what I believe in my heart to bring about whatever it is I need an answer to. (2 or 3 witnesses = mouth + heart)

So we need these ministry gifts that Paul mentions in Eph 4, where the mature in Christ can teach the young in Christ so that we all together come to a unity in the faith; that is what the world needs to see. A church with a form of religion but has no power within is a contradiction.  

Let us pray to the Lord of the harvest asking him to send us, Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors & teachers so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ......  until we become fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself (Eph 4: 12-13)