Enrol in the School of Perfection

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11–12 (NKJV)

I would like to invite you all to enrol fully in the school of perfection, that we may live up to the dream of the Father. This school is conducted by the five graces of Jesus Christ, all of them enabled by the Spirit of Christ to bring His people into perfection of spirit, soul and body. Ministry is, first of all, a university of the Spirit. Let me explain.

The word "equipping" translates the Greek katartismos, a word closely related to two others: katartizō and katartisis. Katartismos is the word translated "equipping" in this verse. It appears only once in the whole New Testament, as though it had been chosen specially to carry the exact thought God intended concerning what these five gifts were purposed to do for the Church.

The thought carried by katartismos is a complete furnishing, a perfect provision of everything that must be present in the life of a Christian. It is a complete dressing, the completion of all the essential qualities, abilities, strengths and credentials that make up the perfect man.

Katartizō, on the other hand, implies the repairing of what is broken in man: a mending, a putting together of the man. In its strongest sense it means to make complete or perfect through the adjusting, repairing, mending and restoring of the man to his pristine state. This is the word that gives katartismos its strength: katartizō is the process, and katartismos the end result.

Katartisis concerns the strengthening of the mental faculty of the man, a perfecting of the soul through rigorous training, discipline and instruction.

The first mandate of a ministry gift, then, is to bring the saints into a thorough equipping, a perfection of spirit and body, through the process of adjusting, repairing, mending, training, disciplining and instructing every area of the man, spirit, soul and body, that must be brought to completion for the work, the business of service, in the ministry and in their world.

The ministry of the saints does not take place only within the four walls of a church. It reaches into their world, into the seven mountains, to fulfil the Great Commission of going into every man's world. A professor does not necessarily enter the vocation for which he is training his students, yet the student can be well prepared for that life.

The fivefold ministry exists primarily to school mankind, and the saints, to perfection. Have you enrolled in this school? It is the best school there is.