My burden in this message is to point out that all the saints should be building members. Ephesians 4:11 says, “And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers.” These gifted ones are not high officials with a special rank. Rather, they are given for the perfecting of the saints (v. 12). The saints need to be perfected, equipped, furnished, unto the work of ministry. This work of ministry is the building up of the Body of Christ. Because so many saints are not yet doing the work of ministry, they need the gifted ones mentioned in verse 11 to perfect them, to equip them, that they may be qualified to carry out the work of ministry for the building up of the Body of Christ. The perfecting or equipping is related both to growth in life and to training in certain skills.
The light on these verses has never been as bright and clear as it is today. We have seen that the work of ministry is simply the building up of the Body of Christ. This work should be carried out not only by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers, but by all the members. Hence, all the saints are building members. We are not only members who have been built up, but we are also members who build up the Body. Firstly, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers perfect the saints. This means that they build up the saints. Then the perfected saints become the building members. In these days the saints are being perfected. But after another period of time I expect that the saints who are being perfected now will also become the building ones.
Verse 13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Notice that in this verse Paul says “we,” not “you.” When Paul wrote this verse, he himself was already mature. However, he was waiting for the immature ones to grow up. In other words, he was waiting until we all arrive. Paul did not want to arrive at the destination ahead of the younger ones. Rather, he was waiting until we all arrive at three things: at the oneness of the faith, at a full-grown man, and at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In this verse there are three phrases beginning with the word at. The fact that there is no conjunction indicates that the second is in apposition to the first and that the third is in apposition to the second. Thus, the three phrases actually refer to one thing.
Paul expected all the saints to come up to his standard and to be the same as he was. Paul was a builder, and we all should be builders also. Paul was not some great official. At most, he was simply a member of the Body. The difference between him and most of us is that Paul was a building member, whereas most of us are just builded members. Nevertheless, the day is coming, perhaps after a few years, when we all shall be building members. Then we shall all arrive at the destination together.
Verse 14 continues, “That we may be no longer babes tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error.” A babe cannot be a building one. He first needs to become a builded one. For this, a spiritual babe needs to grow. If we would be a builded member and especially a building member, we must grow. Furthermore, we need to develop certain skills. In the foregoing message we pointed out that the way to perfect the saints is to feed them so that they may grow and to train them so that they may learn certain skills. The learning of skills is related to our growth in life. The more mature we are, the more we are able to be trained. For example, an older child is able to learn more skills in mathematics than a younger child. It is the growth in life that gives us the capacity to learn certain skills.
Not many Christians today pay attention to the growth in life. Furthermore, very few concentrate on the matter of training. Therefore, among most Christians today there is no growth and there is no training. This is the reason that one can attend so-called church services for many years and still remain a babe. Such a one can never do what the apostles and prophets were able to do, because he has been neither fed nor trained.
The situation in the Lord’s recovery must be altogether different from this. We need to rise up and declare that we want to grow in life and that we want to develop the necessary skills to become building members. I hope that after a few years all the saints will become building members with the growth in life and with the skills. This is what it means to be perfected, completed, equipped, and furnished.