20.Toward what goals is the glory of the ascended Christ moving us?

The unity of the faith.

The knowledge of the Son of God.

A perfect, mature man.

The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

There is no question concerning the Divine goal for the Body of Christ. There is no question concerning the adequacy of God’s wisdom and power for accomplishing all He has determined to accomplish.

Christ is the finisher, as well as the author, of our salvation. What He has commenced He shall complete. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.

One of the principal Divine truths that burns in the heart of the conquering saint is that God will bring the whole Body of Christ, and each individual member of the Body, all the way to the fullness of the image of Christ, in spirit, in soul, and in body. He who has called and justified us will also glorify us.

The ministries and gifts given by the ascended Christ will labor until each member of the Body of Christ is filled with the same refined gold of love, faith, trust, confidence, courage, and perseverance in the Person of God in Christ.

The ministries and gifts given by the ascended Christ will labor until each member of the Body of Christ comes to the full knowledge of Christ, until each member perceives Christ as filling all in all in the heavens and on the earth.

The ministries and gifts given by the ascended Christ will labor until the whole Body of Christ, and each member of the Body of Christ, has developed into a full-grown, mature man. The standard of maturity is the full stature of Christ.

We understand, from this passage of Scripture (Ephesians 4:13), that God will be satisfied with nothing less than perfection in the Body of Christ. Since one imperfect member would make the whole Body imperfect, each saint must be perfected "at the quarry" and then placed in the Body at the proper moment.

And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building (I Kings 6:7).

It is obvious, in Ephesians, Chapter Four that the Church, the Body of Christ, was conceived in the mind and heart of the Lord God of Heaven. It is likely that the creation of the Body of Christ, the bringing of it to unity and maturity, is the central purpose of the history of the world to this point.

If we would have a true understanding of the redemption that is in Christ we must realize that all that is taking place is, first of all, for God’s benefit—to accomplish His purposes. It is when we view the workings of the Spirit of God as primarily for our benefit that our interpretation of the Scriptures becomes distorted.

The plan and purpose of God includes the creation of the eternal Temple of God, the Wife of the Lamb, the sons of God and brothers of Christ, and the judges who will crush Satan, release the inhabitants of the earth, and govern the creation in righteousness. God’s will and delight are fulfilled in these and other accomplishments. When we view the work as being of God, in God, for God, we have no trouble believing that each objective will be achieved perfectly.

Each of the Divine objectives can be achieved only by bringing into being the Christian Church, the unified and mature Body of Christ. All that God desires will be realized in the glorified Body of Christ.

The perennial error of Israel and the Christian churches is to attempt to use the gifts and graces of God to benefit the world, and to seek to force the unregenerate to behave righteously. We read in current Christian journals that the Lord wants to raise up powerful ministries to meet the needs of a dying world.

While meeting the needs of a dying world may appear to be a godly ambition, it is not the purpose of the giving of the gifts and ministries of the Body of Christ. The purpose of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit is the perfecting of the Body of Christ. As soon as the Body of Christ has been perfected, the entire Christ—Head and Body—will return to the earth.

When the Lord and His holy ones appear to the earth, sin will be judged and removed from the presence of mankind. God will meet the needs of a dying world by the appearing of the perfected Christ, not by the ministries or efforts of the churches of our day.

This is not to say that Christians should not improve the condition of people whenever possible. But it must be kept firmly in mind that the Lord’s Kingdom is not of this present world. His attention is directed toward the perfecting of His Bride. As soon as this has been accomplished, the world will be ministered to successfully.

The Christians churches throughout their history have been drawn into social issues, attempting to force their will and ideals on a disobedient, reluctant mankind. It is so today. Believers turn their eyes away from the Lord toward the needs of mankind, stating that the practical Christian will get out and do something to help people and not just warm a seat in the church building.

It sometimes is true that the more we attempt to improve social situations the less good we do for people from the standpoint of eternity. The more we turn our attention to God and the things of Heaven, the more practical and eternal good is done for people. The Lord Jesus was completely occupied with the worship and service of His Father. Yet He did more practical and eternal good for the world than any other person.

There have been instances where God has directed Christian people to work in a social endeavor. In this case, actual good will be accomplished.

The problem of the world is not physical in origin, but spiritual. When we rage at the physical symptoms of spiritual bondage, such as homosexuality, we lose sight of the fact that the homosexual is bound spiritually. It would be like raging at a dog because he barks.

In order to spoil the strong man’s house, the strong man must be bound. The power of Satan must be broken before people can behave righteously.

When the sins of society become blatant, outraged Christians may tend to ignore the Lord, except in token prayers, and attempt to force righteousness by politics or some other physical means. What Christians should do, when there is a social problem such as abortion, is to go to prayer, seeking the Lord’s solution.

The Lord may provide the believer with a practical manner of approaching the problem. Or, the Lord may point out to the believer that the world practices the abominations it does because it is bound with evil, and God is preparing the Church to remove the evil from the earth.

The world, without realizing it, is awaiting the maturing and unifying of the Church of Christ. When the ministries have performed their work, and the Church has arrived at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, Christ will return and the world will be delivered.

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law (Isaiah 42:4).

God eternal, universal purposes can be accomplished only in a perfected Church. He has given gifts and ministries to bring into being an unblemished Church, the Wife of the Lamb, the Body of Christ.

God has a long-range plan which shall be totally successful. Because of our lack of prayer and communion with the Lord, we may spend ourselves on short-term solutions, only to find the same problems appearing later in a worse form. It is wise to spend ourselves on God’s long-range plan, while being totally diligent in the good works the Lord may lead us to do in the present moment.

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