"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ."
Till we all come
in the unity of the faith. What this scripture means is simply this: If
we’re ever going to become truly powerful in the kingdom of God, if
we’re ever going to be any great threat to the devil, we’re going to
have to grow up—together.
It won’t be enough for just a few of us
to grow up on our own and say, “Too bad” about everyone else. It doesn’t
work that way. We’re a part of each other. The Bible calls us one
body...the Body of Christ.
Let me give you an example. When I
began teaching God’s revelation on the laws of prosperity, I started
getting an amazing amount of flack. Preachers started calling me and
chewing me out because I wouldn’t borrow money and things like that.
Finally God said to me one day in prayer, Don’t teach on the laws of prosperity anymore until I tell you to.
“Why not?” I asked.
There’s strife in the camp, He told me. Other preachers are mad at you and in strife over it.
I
didn’t realize then that the level where we stopped would affect us
all. I didn’t realize that even I wouldn’t be able to go on and operate
in the additional laws of prosperity until the rest of the Body would go
with me.
We’re not islands unto ourselves. I can’t do anything
without affecting you. You can’t do anything without affecting me. We’re
joined together by God but held together by one another (Ephesians
4:16). We can only grow up…together!
Learn to walk in love. Refuse
to fall prey to division and isolation. Feed on the Word daily and
encourage your brothers and sisters by feeding it to them too, so we can
all grow up to be “a perfect [or mature] man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ.”
