Ephesians 4:11-16 reveals that the ascended Head gave many gifts in His ascension to the church. Some are apostles, some are prophets, some are evangelists, and some are shepherds and teachers. All these are for the perfecting of the saints.
We know that there is a very famous evangelist in America. For forty years he has been doing the work of mass evangelism, but he never perfects anyone. Although his work is great, there is no one to succeed him. If during these forty years, he would have perfected others to do the work of evangelism, then many would have been perfected. Man is unwilling to do this because man only sees what is close to him. He does not have a long-term view. He considers the big gospel campaigns more convenient than the training and perfecting of people. Furthermore, in the end, trainings do not necessarily perfect very many people. Hence, everyone takes the convenient and avoids the difficult, choosing the benefits of the readily accessible while neglecting the long-term view. As a result, year after year the necessary perfecting has been lacking. This is contrary to God’s economy.
In the New Testament, we can see the example of the Lord Jesus perfecting others. He only functioned for three years in His ministry. At the beginning, He continually trained Peter, James, and John, bringing them to the high mountain, transfiguring Himself before their eyes, and revealing Himself to them. Later these three went on to perfect others, and eventually there were twelve disciples following the Lord. After the Lord went to the cross, He continued to train the disciples by His death and resurrection and by His invisible presence. Eventually, He gained one hundred twenty. This was how the Lord perfected people.
Concerning the Apostle Paul, he told us in Acts 20 that after he preached the gospel in Ephesus, he remained there for three years, teaching each one with tears night and day from house to house (vv. 20, 31). Colossians 1:28 also shows us that Paul warned and taught every man in all wisdom, so as to present every man full-grown in Christ. Although Paul was such a great apostle, he had to go from house to house to perfect the saints one by one, that they would all be able to do the work of the New Testament ministry in building up the Body of Christ. This is the second vision that we saw.
The Lord went on to show us that 1 Corinthians 14 is a chapter on prophesying. The prophesying mentioned in this chapter is universal. It is not restricted to a few people. Verse 31 says, “For you can all prophesy one by one.” When the whole church gathers together and all prophesy, those unbelievers who enter will be convicted by all, judged by all, and will say that God is really among you (vv. 24-25). This is the culmination in 1 Corinthians 14 of everything concerning meeting, gospel preaching, working for the Lord, and service to God.
We cannot be hasty in teaching the brothers and sisters how to prophesy. You cannot teach a kindergartner to write essays. First he must go to primary school and practice writing. Furthermore, he must learn to compose sentences. Only after he has learned to compose sentence after sentence will he be able to write essays. After we gain the new ones, we must first have home meetings to nourish and cherish them. After they have grown up, then we should bring them to the small group meetings. In the small group meetings, there is the mutual teaching and learning of the truth and the pursuit of the growth in life. Whenever anyone speaks the word of God, based on the experience of life and the knowledge of the truth, the result is prophesying.