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The Progression of God’s Pattern
for the equipping of the saints for the
work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
(4:12)
In the simplest possible terms Paul here
sets forth God’s progressive plan for His church:
equipping
to service to
building up.
equipping
The first task within God’s design is for
the evangelists and pastor–teachers to be properly equipping the
saints
(a title used for all those set apart to God by salvation;
cf. 1 Cor. 1:2). The evangelist’s
work is to bring men and women to understanding of the gospel of salvation,
to lead them to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and thereby become
children in His spiritual family and citizens of His divine kingdom. In the
early years the objective was to establish a local church. This begins the
equipping. The pastor–teacher’s subsequent work, then, is to provide the
leadership and spiritual resources to cause believers to be taking on the
likeness of their Lord and Savior through continual obedience to His Word
and to provide a pattern, or example, of godliness (1 Thess. 1:2–7; 1 Pet.
5:3).
Katartismos
(equipping)
basically refers to that which is fit, is restored to its original
condition, or is made complete. The word was often used as a medical term
for the setting of bones. Paul used the verb form in his closing admonition
to the Corinthian believers: “Finally, brethren, rejoice,
be made complete” (2 Cor.
13:11, emphasis added). The writer of Hebrews used the term in his closing
prayer: “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great
Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus
our Lord, equip
you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing
in His sight” (Heb. 13:20–21).
Not only is the matter of individual
equipping implied in these texts but also the collective equipping expressed
in 1 Corinthians 1:10—“Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but
you be made complete
(from katartizō)
in the same mind and in the same judgment” (emphasis added). The equipping
of each believer results in the unity of all.
God has given four basic tools, as it
were, for the spiritual
equipping of the saints.
These are spiritual means, because the flesh cannot make anyone perfect
(Gal. 3:3). The first and most important is His Word, the Bible. “All
Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be
adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). Jesus said, “You
are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John
15:3). The first purpose of the pastor–teacher, therefore, is to feed
himself, to feed his people, and to lead them to feed themselves on the Word
of God.
The example of the apostles, who gave
themselves continually to teaching the Word and to prayer (Acts 6:4)
indicates that a second tool of
equipping is prayer, and
the pastor–teacher is responsible to prepare himself and to lead his people
to prepare themselves in prayer. Epaphras was committed to this spiritual
means for building up believers. Paul characterized the ministry of Epaphras
by saying that he is “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that
you may stand perfect
and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has
a deep concern for you” (Col. 4:12–13, emphasis added).
It is essential to note that this
equipping,
completing, or perfecting of the saints is attainable here on earth, because
Paul uses katartizō
(the verb form of equipping)
to refer to what spiritually strong believers are to do for fellow believers
who have fallen into sin. The text strongly teaches that the ministry of
equipping
is the work of leading Christians from sin to obedience.
A third tool of
equipping
is testing and a fourth is suffering. These are primary, purging experiences
by which the believer is refined to greater holiness. James tells us to
“consider it all joy … when [we] encounter various trials, knowing that the
testing of [our] faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its
perfect result,” he goes on to say, “that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4). When we respond to God’s testing in trust
and continued obedience, spiritual muscles are strengthened and effective
service for Him is broadened.
Suffering is also a means of spiritual equipping.
Peter uses this word near the close of his first letter: “And after you have
suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His
eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect,
confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10, emphasis added).
Knowing and following Christ in the deepest sense not only involves being
raised with Him but also sharing in “the fellowship of His sufferings”
(Phil. 3:10). Paul rejoiced in his sufferings for Christ’s sake. God
“comforts us in all our affliction,” he says, “so that we may be able to
comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we
ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are
ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ” (2 Cor.
1:4–5).
The sending of tests and suffering are
entirely God’s operation, and He gives them to His
saints
according to His loving and sovereign will. But the other two agents of
spiritual equipping—prayer
and knowledge of Scripture—are the tasks of the gifted men.
Like the apostles in Jerusalem, the
pastor–teacher is to devote himself above all else “to prayer, and to the
ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Like Paul, he should be able to say that
his supreme effort is given to “admonishing every man and teaching every man
with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Col.
1:28). As Paul said of Epaphras, it should be said of every pastor–teacher
that he labors earnestly in prayer for those given into his care, in order
that they “may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col.
4:12). The devoted pastor–teacher is “a good servant of Christ Jesus,
constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine,”
which he then prescribes, teaches, reads publicly, and exhorts (1 Tim. 4:6,
11, 13). He is called to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2
Tim. 4:2).
Even the most biblical and efficient of
church organizations will not produce spiritual maturity without the
leadership of God’s gifted ministers who are continually in prayer and in
His Word. Administration and structure has its place, but it is far from the
heart of spiritual church growth. The great need of the church has always
been spiritual maturity rather than organizational restructuring. All the
books on leadership, organization, and management offer little help to the
dynamics of the church of Jesus Christ.
Even less does the church need
entertaining. God’s people can use their talents in ways that glorify the
Lord and give testimony of His grace, but when testimony turns to
vaudeville, as it often does, God is not glorified and His people are not
edified. Religious entertainment neither comes from nor leads to spiritual
maturity. It comes from self and can only promote self.
The study and teaching of God’s Word takes
time. The evangelist or pastor–teacher therefore cannot fulfill his
God–given responsibility if he is encumbered with the planning and
administration of a multitude of programs—no matter how worthy and helpful
they are. Again, like the apostles in Jerusalem, he cannot “serve tables”
and also be faithful “to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:2,
4).
cf.
confer
(Lat.), compare
MacArthur, J. F. 1986.
Ephesians. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary . Moody Press:
Chicago
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