The first step is to open up our being to the Lord, and the second one is to open our being to the saints. The second step is not so easy. It is easy to say that you allow God to perfect you, but to let the saints perfect you is not so easy. But Ephesians 4:11 says, “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets…” And He Himself gave. Who gave? The Lord did. The Lord gave gifted men. Was it your choice? No! He gave it! It doesn’t matter if you say that you don’t like those whom He chose! I don’t like them so I will not open myself to them. This is not the way. It is not you who determines; it is not me who determines. The Lord gave. It is the Lord who determines. It was the Lord who gave gifted men to the church to perfect us. “And He Himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints…” He Himself established, so the secret is: “I want to be open. Lord, use the brothers whom you chose to perfect me. I don’t want to choose anymore, because if I choose the ones I like, I will never be perfected.”
I want you to be honest. There are brothers in your locality who have already tried to perfect you, but you rejected it. Am I right? When I reject, who suffers the loss? I do! “He himself gave…” If we really desire to be perfected we need to say, “Lord, I open to you and I open to the brothers.” Now, let us pray before the Lord for one minute. Let us tell the Lord that we want to open up to the saints. “Lord, forgive me for all those whom I have already rejected.”
The good news about perfecting is that it is for all of us. We don’t need to take a mission course to get into this perfecting because this perfecting is for all. Verse 13 says, “Until we all arrive...” so the perfecting is for all. Many times we have the feeling that the perfecting is for the others. We might think that we are so bad that perfecting would never help us. This is a lie. I will tell you one thing; perfecting is for all. I was sharing with the brothers that a while ago I saw a sentence that says, “The day you find the perfect church, you should not become a member of it, because the day you become a member of it, this church will no longer be perfect.” This is a saying outside and it is according to man’s point of view. Let me tell you one thing! The church is perfect not because men are perfect but because God is perfect. Yes, God is perfect and the church is perfect because God is perfect. Another thing that I want to say is that the church is for imperfect men. This is good news because if the church was for perfect men there would be no place for me and there would be no place for you. But hallelujah, the church is for people who are imperfect! I have hope because I am not perfect, so the church is for me!
Did the Lord Jesus seek perfect people to save? Did He say, “I will save the perfect ones?” No He didn’t! He searched for the sinners. He found me. Did He find you? Hallelujah! So God took this imperfect man and said, “Let me show what I am going to do with this imperfect man!” Wow! One day God told me, “You will see what I am going to do in you!” I can be perfected!
The worse a person is, more glory God has. Why? Because the world says, “There is no way this one can be saved, let alone perfected.” But God says, “Really? You will see if there is a way or not!” There is a passage at the end of the Bible which describes the New Jerusalem. This shows us that there is a way! Are you going to be in the New Jerusalem? Is there a way? So you need to be perfected! Yes, we have this need. We need to be perfected. We are imperfect!
So God gave these gifted men to the church to perfect us. First Peter 5:10-11 says, “But the God of all grace, He who has called you into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground you. To Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.”
Hallelujah for the God of all grace who has called us into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus! We were called into His eternal glory! And here is says, “…after you have suffered a little while…” We have so many imperfections, so what can God do? He Himself will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us. God Himself perfects us. When He sends these gifted men, He uses them to perfect us. He uses the circumstances and situations to perfect us! “Establish, strengthen, and ground” – this is wonderful!
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