Ephesians 4 tells us that the Lord gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers. According to our thinking, an apostle establishes churches with elders, a prophet speaks for the Lord, an evangelist has campaigns for the preaching of the gospel, and the shepherd-teachers shepherd and teach the saints. However, Ephesians 4:11-12 says that these gifted persons are for the perfecting of the saints. How much perfecting has there been among us? In Ephesians 4 Paul gives us the teaching of the perfecting of the saints, and in Acts 20 there is a record of how he perfected the saints. After establishing the churches and appointing the elders in them, he went back to visit them and wrote epistles to them. He stayed in the church in Ephesus continually for three years (Acts 20:31). Within those three years, Paul said he taught them publicly (no doubt, in a bigger meeting) and from house to house (v. 20). He admonished each one of the saints night and day with tears (v. 31). He said that he declared to them everything that was profitable (v. 20), that is, all the counsel of God (v. 27). Surely he talked a great deal about God’s economy. Not only did he write concerning the Body of Christ in the book of Ephesians, but he also should have taught this to the Ephesian saints publicly in big meetings and in their homes. “From house to house” means “according to houses.” Paul taught according to houses, which means that he taught in all the homes of the Ephesians, admonishing each one of them with tears.
There might be a little visitation in Christianity and among us, but how much vision concerning the things of God has been ministered to the saints? I would say there has been very little. Some of us may have some vision, but how much perfecting work has been going on among us? The co-workers and the elders must be honest with themselves. We may have visited the saints a little, but we did very little perfecting. We may have preached the gospel to bring new people in, but we did not continue our work in the perfecting of the saints. This perfecting results in the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12) and the operation in measure of each one part (v. 16). It is very hard for all the dear brothers and sisters to speak, to function, in a meeting. Paul, however, points out that when the gifted persons perfect the saints, the saints will be perfected, issuing in every member, each one part, operating in his or her measure.
Each member of our physical body, no matter how small it is, has a measure. Today, however, there are many members of the Body of Christ who will admit that the pastors have a measure but will not admit that they have a measure. We need to realize that all of us as members of the Body of Christ have a measure and that we all need to operate according to our measure. If there is no operation of each one part, each member of the Body, how can the Body be built up? When the members of the Body operate, the Body grows. The Body grows by each member operating in its measure. A person’s feet have to operate in their measure for his physical body to grow properly. If his feet do not operate, he is crippled and the growth of his body has been greatly damaged. If his physical body is to grow adequately, every member of his body has to operate. If I am not able to walk for three days, I will feel sick. The more I walk, the stronger I become. If an older person does not “operate” in this way, he is dying. While I am walking, I am struggling to live. If I do not move, or operate, I will die. Many Christians today are not living but dying. If all the members of the Body are dying, how can the Body grow, resulting in its building up? There is no possibility.
We all have to wake up. We need a change of mind. We have been drugged to the uttermost by Christianity. We have been poisoned, but we do not have the consciousness that we have been poisoned. We have been covered with a heavy, foggy, and smoggy situation. We need to get out of this. Many Christians are dying, yet with no consciousness that they are dying. What a deceit to the Christians on this earth! This is why I am so burdened. I would like to share something with you to make you happy, to “sing a melody” to you, but the vision that I have received does not allow me to do that. It only allows me to study more and to pray more for you. All of us need to wake up.
I believe that among us there are a number of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers, but these gifted ones did not do the proper work. In other words, these gifted ones have not done the work of perfecting the saints. We have the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers, but where is the perfecting? We have very little perfecting among us. We have to rise up to do the perfecting work. We must learn of Paul by visiting the homes to teach the saints. Many of us are very rich, but we do not exercise to use our riches to perfect others. Thousands of saints and new ones are waiting to be perfected, but who will do this work?