Ephesians 4:11-12 shows that the service in the church is by gifts who perfect the saints so that they may carry out the ministry to build up the Body of Christ. This is a clear picture with a good order. Those who are gifts do not build up the Body of Christ directly; rather, they perfect the saints so that each one may do his part of the work of the ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ. We must grasp this order: at the top there is the Head of the Body who gives gifts for the edification and perfection of the saints so that everyone may do his part in the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ. This order involves the Head, the gifts, the saints, and the Body of Christ. This order enables us to clearly understand our position and our work.
Those who do the work of the ministry in the church include the elders, deacons, and serving ones. Their service is to bring all the saints to the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, with the result that we all arrive at a full-grown man and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (v. 13). When we carry out the work of the ministry in our service in the church, the stature of Christ, which is Christ Himself, will increase.
Ephesians 4:13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God,...at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” To arrive at the oneness of the faith is to arrive at the oneness of the full knowledge of the Son of God. However, Paul first speaks of the knowledge of the Son of God, and then he speaks of the measure of the stature of Christ, not of the Son of God. What is the difference between the Son of God and Christ? In terms of His person, the Lord Jesus is the Son of God; in terms of His work, He is Christ. The One we know is the Son of God, the life of God, and in the end we grow up unto the measure of the stature of Christ. In us there is the life of God, and on us there is the work of God. Son of God emphasizes the fact that God’s life has entered into us; Christ refers to the fact that we have God’s work on us. God’s work is Christ Himself; Christ’s work is for God to work Himself into us. The One we know is the Son of God, but eventually the issue of our growth is Christ.
We need to have the realization in the Holy Spirit that the Son of God always denotes God’s life, and Christ denotes God’s work. Since the Son of God denotes God’s life, it denotes God’s nature; since Christ denotes God’s work, it denotes God’s plan. In the church God wants the saints to grow up unto the measure of the stature of Christ by knowing the Son of God. This implies that God’s life and nature are in the saints; at the same time, God’s work and plan are also upon the saints. In other words, the saints have God’s life and nature within them as a result of the accomplished work of Christ upon them.
Our service in the church should cause the saints to know the Son of God, to know the life and nature of God in His Son, that is, to know the life and nature of God Himself. A newly saved brother may only know that he has peace and joy; he may not know that God’s life is in him. Through our service and fellowship, he should realize that he has the life and nature of the Son of God within him. First John 5:12 says that he who has the Son of God has the life; the eternal life is in the Son of God. When we speak of the Son of God, we touch God’s life and God’s nature; God’s life and nature are in the Son of God.
Our service in the church is to lead the brothers and sisters to touch God’s life and nature and thereby allow God’s plan to work in them. The result of the work of God’s plan in us is the increase of Christ. When Christ increases in us, the stature of Christ will increase in us. For example, if a newly saved brother lives in the life of the Son of God, God’s plan will work inwardly and cause the element of Christ to increase in him. The measure of the stature of Christ also will increase. This is the goal we must focus on and arrive at while we are administrating the church and ministering to the saints in our service to carry out the work of the ministry.