Introduction and Greeting
The peace of the Lord be with you and with your house. We give thanks to the Lord, to the Eternal God, to the Almighty for this time that allows us to establish the truth that establishes freedom, the freedom that establishes grace, the freedom that establishes the peace of our Lord and Savior Jesus. This is a time of revelation where God is manifesting His will, allowing each one of us, men and women of faith, to establish the Kingdom of God in the places where He has positioned us.
We expose ourselves before His word so that His word may cleanse us and establish in each one of us what He has purposed to do when He called us to His grace and to His mercy. We have been studying this doctrinal theme of perfection, having already examined four different sections, and today we will complete particularly verse 13 of chapter four of the epistle to the Ephesians.
The Base Text: Ephesians 4:13
“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.”
This verse presents four declarations of purpose that represent, for each man and each woman of faith, a goal to which each one of us must arrive. We know the words of the apostle in Philippians when he says: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after… this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”
This is the purpose of the life of man and woman when we are upon the face of the earth: to reach perfection and be able to establish with it what the Lord has determined with each of our lives. We have read in the Old Testament, in the book of Proverbs: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”
The Four Declarations of Purpose
When the apostle writes verse 13, he is establishing four well-defined purposes:
- First expression: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith”
- Second expression: “Till we all come… of the knowledge of the Son of God”
- Third expression: “Till we all come… unto a perfect man”
- Fourth expression: “Till we all come… unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
In the revised version of 1960 they change the expression “age” for “stature,” reading: “till we all come to the stature of the perfect man.” Both versions speak of the same thing, one does not differ from the other. It is presenting the moment when Christ Jesus as man establishes the perfection of the lifestyle of the Kingdom of Heaven upon the face of the earth.
The Fourth Declaration: The Age of the Fullness of Christ
Tonight we will study this fourth declaration of purpose, so that each one of us may understand what it means to reach the age of the fullness of Christ. To understand this declaration it is necessary that each one of us ask ourselves: What was it that Jesus did at the age of 33 years?
Because the age of the fullness of Christ is precisely the deeds that He performed when He reached the age of 33 years. Therefore, to be able to understand this declaration of purpose, it is necessary that we ask ourselves what Jesus did, what were His acts, what were His actions, what was His posture before the things that He was developing, so that each one of us can establish a guide to reach precisely the age of the fullness of Christ.
Division of the Teaching: Three Sections
This teaching has been divided into three sections, three actions that Jesus performed and that serve each one of us as a guide so that we can equally follow this path and be able to establish for each one of us the age of the fullness of a perfect man.
FIRST POINT: The Understanding of Who He Was and Why He Had Come
The word “conscience” in this teaching will be changed to “understanding.” The reason for this change is because currently, when we speak of conscience, it appeals to a philosophical definition. So that it will not be confused with some philosophical definition, we will use the word “understanding.”
The Gradual Development of Understanding
The first thing we must establish with respect to this first point is very important: Jesus was developing understanding as He was developing. From the moment He had knowledge of existence, He did not know from that moment that He was the incarnate Son of God, but He develops conscience, He develops understanding as He grows and develops.
For example, in the Gospel of Luke we are presented with a fact that only Luke presents, when He was 12 years of age. We know the account when Jesus decides to stay after the feast of Passover or the feast of the Paschal Lamb had ended, which His parents went up to every year. After His family had advanced for the space of three days, they realize that Jesus is not found among the company. They decide to return and look for Him in all places; the last place in which they decided to search was precisely in the temple.
We have already an average of six days, practically a whole week, when they finally find Him. Jesus says to them: “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” He is already developing understanding.
When we arrive at the age of 30 years, in the account of the wedding at Cana of Galilee, the mother says to Jesus: “They have no wine.” And we know what Jesus responded: “Mine hour is not yet come.”
With this we want to establish that Jesus did not acquire understanding overnight. Jesus, by the Spirit of God, acquires understanding of who He was and why He had come to the face of the earth. This is very important because it is establishing to each one of us, men and women of faith, that in the same way understanding will be developed as each one of us becomes involved within the work of God.
How many times has it happened to each one of us that we have the idea that there is something I have to do, but I don’t know what it is? And it is only through the intervention of the Holy Spirit when the Lord reveals to what the Lord has called us. This is precisely what happens with Jesus: He develops understanding as He develops, but when 33 years arrive, He has full knowledge, full understanding of who He was and why He had come.
The Importance of Clear Understanding
Why is it important to point this out as the first point of this teaching? It is important because man and woman are changeable. The thought of man, the feelings of man, the thought of woman, the feelings of woman are changeable. They change as we advance in age and as we are exposed to the environment in which we move.
Therefore, that a man or a woman can acquire understanding of what they are in Christ Jesus and understanding of what we have been called to, is a very important point in the development and growth of faith. Because many of us cannot do the things that God has commanded us precisely because of the environment, because of the atmosphere in which we are moving.
The Pressures That Jesus Faced at 33 Years
We are going to see an outline of what were the deeds of Jesus, particularly before the multitude in which He was moving, so that we see what were the pressures that Jesus faced when He reached 33 years.
John 6:66: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
When we read chapter 6, particularly we realize that Jesus establishes a series of teachings that were shocking to the Jews, mainly, but that were also shocking to those who had professed themselves as His disciples.
In verse 64, two verses back, it says: “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.” And He said: “Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”
Because of this, that is, because of what He had spoken, many of those who had confessed themselves as disciples of Jesus decided to withdraw, decided to abandon. When we read chapter 6 in detail, we realize that those “many” were great multitudes.
The Diminishing of the Multitudes
When we arrive at the age of 33 years and review the gospels where He fed 5,000, where He fed 3,000, where there were multitudes that He was ministering to in the last year of His ministry, those great multitudes began to decrease and withdraw. Many, those who had been with Jesus from the beginning.
So much so that when the apostle Peter, days before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, proposed in chapter 1 of Acts of the Apostles: “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”
Note verse 23: “And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.”
What we want to show with this is that of all those multitudes that had walked with Him practically from when He began His ministry, only two of them arrived until the end. What happened to the 5,000 men that He fed on one occasion and who followed Him wherever He went? What happened to all that multitude? We find only two who fulfilled that requirement that the apostle Peter established to choose the successor of Judas.
The Environment of Pressure and Rejection
This means then that the last year of the ministry of Christ Jesus, all that great multitude that pressed Him and that many times did not even let Him take His food at the corresponding hours, all that great multitude decreased.
John 6:70: “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He was speaking precisely of Judas Iscariot.
What are we seeing up to this moment? The last year of life, the year of the fullness of Christ Jesus, as the apostle Paul presents it in verse 13 of chapter four of Ephesians, the last year, instead of having developed as in the other years, many began to withdraw.
What does this mean for the effects of what we are studying? The pressure of the group, the rejection, the non-acceptance of the great multitudes that were accompanying Him.
Has it not called your attention that when we read the accounts of the crucifixion, when Jesus is presented before the Romans, there was a great multitude that shouted: “Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him!”? Where did all that multitude come from? Many of those who were there were men and women who surely at some determined moment had been with Jesus and who had also received His teachings.
We are seeing then an environment of betrayal, an environment of abandonment, an environment of contempt, an environment of rejection.
The Revelation of Suffering
Matthew 16:21: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”
He did not declare, not even to His disciples, that He had to go and suffer and be killed by the Jewish religious leaders of His time. He did not reveal it until the last year. And there we find the fact of the apostle Peter, when he says: “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”
The Agony in Gethsemane
Matthew 26:38-46: “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
On three occasions, on three occasions, this account is very forceful because it was not on one occasion, it was on three occasions that He repeated the same words.
What are we seeing with this? We are seeing that He has an understanding of who He was, an understanding of why He had come to this earth. “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” And on the three occasions He repeats exactly the same thing: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup, this cup pass from me.”
He is understanding perfectly that He is facing a process of agony, not even of death, but of agony.
The More Graphic Description of Luke
Luke 22:41-44: “And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
The Change in the Last Year
What are we seeing here? The age of the fullness of Christ Jesus, the last year of His earthly life, was not like the other years when He began. When He began, even the scribes, even the Pharisees gathered with Him. The doctors of the law gathered with Him and asked Him questions. Of course, there were those who sought to trap Him in something of the law, but they came to Him to consult Him, to hear from His teachings.
On one occasion, a doctor of the law says to Him: “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2).
But when we arrive at the third year, at 33 years, everything began to change: multitudes leaving Him, multitudes abandoning Him, His own disciples rejecting Him, His own disciples abandoning Him completely.
The Lesson About Group Pressure
Why are we making this account? This account helps us understand something very important with respect to the understanding of who we are before God and for what the Lord has called us.
I said at the beginning of the teaching: man has a thought, man and woman change in their thinking as the years pass, man and woman change their way of feeling as the years pass. There is no man who resists group pressure. We change posture, many change position, many change way of thinking, many change way of feeling before group pressure.
This is due to the fact that we obey the external pressure we have more than what God has told us and what God has established for each one of us.
The Importance of Firm Understanding
The age of the fullness of Christ marks something very important: He had understanding of who He was and why He had come, and He did not allow group pressures, nor rejection, nor abandonment, nor contempt, nor comments to exercise upon Him a change of thought or a change of feeling.
In fact, the night that He was delivered we find Him sweating, there is an agony in His body and He asking on three different occasions: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”, because He is feeling the pressure, the approach of death upon Him that is wanting to trap Him. But: “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
Understanding of who we are and why we have come is the reflection of a man and of a woman who have reached perfection.
The Personal Application
Have you not realized that many times we ourselves have said before pressure, before things do not turn out as we had thought: “Maybe it is not the will of God”? Because we see in the hindrance, because we see in the opposition, in the inconveniences, a sign that God is changing our course.
With this we have to face each one of us. To be able to reach perfection it is necessary that we learn to maintain ourselves in what God has told us and what we have believed.
The understanding of who He was and the understanding of why He had come is precisely the evidence of having reached perfection.
The Parable of the Sower
In Matthew chapter 13, when we read the parable of the sower who went out to sow his seed—that one fell by the wayside, that one fell on stony places, that another fell among thorns and finally the fourth fell on good ground—when Jesus is explaining this parable from verse 19, He says:
“When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”
“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”
Those who fell among stony places are those who receive the word with joy, they delight in the word, they received it with joy, but when persecution comes, when persecution comes, they cannot maintain themselves and are choked by persecution.
Those who fell among thorns are those who receive in the same way the word with joy, the word was sown in good ground, but the cares of this world, the concerns of this world, the pressures of this world establish more strongly the idea that it is not necessary nor convenient to maintain the same posture, and they were choked.
The Great Teaching
The understanding of who Jesus was and why He had come is establishing to us this great teaching to reach perfection: each one of us must maintain ourselves despite pressures, despite rejection, despite opposition, despite contempt, despite every inconvenience that arises in the environment. It is necessary to maintain ourselves.
This is the greatest evidence of a man who has reached perfection, and this is the evidence of a woman who has reached perfection.
The Universal Experience
This is very important that we understand it, because each one of us, men and women of faith, are going to pass through the same experiences that Jesus passed through. Each one of us is going to pass through the same experiences of rejection, the same experiences of abandonment, the same experiences of opposition, the same experiences of criticism, the same experiences of inconveniences.
The question that each one of us must answer now is: How are we going to act before these elements?
It is very important that we can face it, because precisely for not having clear the understanding of who we are and why we have come, for what the Lord has called us, has left practically on the road many people.
How many men of ministry delivered the ministry precisely for a mess of pottage? How many men and women abandoned the ministry for a rejection, for an opposition, for a criticism, for an uprising within the same church? How many men and how many women?
Because perfection is measured in knowing how to maintain ourselves in what God has said and not in the obstacles that we find in the road.
The Example of the Apostle Paul
The apostle Paul writes to the Thessalonians (you can read it in the first epistle): “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.”
But that was not reason for Paul to abandon the ministry, not even to abandon the disciples of Thessalonica.
The Crucial Questions
How do we act before pressure? How do we act before the fact that things do not turn out well for us? How do we act before circumstances that tell us: “God is not with you”? How do we act?
If we do not act as Jesus acted, it means that we have not yet reached perfection.
So first point: till we all come to the age of the fullness of Christ Jesus means that we must maintain ourselves firm, independent of all things as they develop around us, independent of pressures, independent of persecutions, independent of resistance, independent of people who rise against us and defame, people who rise in opposition, independent of everything.
The apostle Peter said: “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.”
Who called you? Who chose you? Who positioned you in the place where you are? Before whom are you going to present yourself? Before the multitude that does not want you, before the multitude that presents itself against you, or before God?
Therefore, if it is before God before whom we are going to present ourselves, maintain yourself in what God has told you. Do not yield to pressure, do not yield to resistance, do not yield before persecution.
SECOND POINT: Obedience
Matthew 26:52-56: “Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
The Nature of Obedience
Obedience is a decision, but above all things obedience is an act.
Romans 5:19: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
How can we understand that we have reached perfection? Obedience.
The Scene of the Arrest
That night, when Jesus was taken prisoner, we have read it, that night He was praying for the space of three hours, because that is how the Gospel of Matthew relates it. For the space of three hours none of His disciples was with Him; on that occasion all were sleeping, they knew what was happening, but none was willing to pray together with Him.
The Gospel of Luke is presenting us the fact that His sweat was like drops of blood, thick drops. That is, the agony to which He was subjected that same night.
All that mob comes with sticks, with swords, and one of His disciples draws a sword and cuts off the ear of one of those who come to arrest Him. And Jesus says: “No. This is not how one should act.”
The Power of Obedience
He Himself says: “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled?”
Obedience.
Know that obedience is the best weapon to pull down principalities and powers that rise against the knowledge of the Most High. Many times principalities and powers do not obey only words. Many times principalities and powers cannot maintain themselves before one who has known how to establish obedience.
Have we not read in the Scriptures that the apostle by the Spirit of God says: “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled”? When your obedience is fulfilled, ready to punish all disobedience.
Therefore, obedience is a weapon of spiritual warfare. But above all things, obedience is the evidence of a man, it is the evidence of a woman who has reached perfection.
The Test of Obedience
Although there may be ways to free ourselves from that which we are passing through… For example, before a situation of sickness, it is easy to free ourselves: there are medications. But if the Lord has told us: “I am the Lord that healeth thee, I am with thee”, and we seek alternate ways, in reality we are not establishing obedience, we are seeking convenience, which is not the same as obedience.
It is important that we understand how we react before the pressures of the day, before the pressures of environments, before economic pressures. How do we react? Seeking alternatives or knowing how to wait?
Matthew chapter 6: “For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” Then, why doesn’t He give it to me? Because He is testing how much obedience we can develop in the midst of circumstances, in the midst of situations.
Obedience as a Limit to Darkness
Obedience is the way to show to darkness how much perfection we have reached.
Surely you have read the book of Job, at least the first chapters. The sons of God present themselves before the Lord and among them Satan also introduces himself. And the Lord says to Satan: “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”
We know that account. Know that perfection puts limits on darkness. Perfection puts limits on darkness, and one way to show perfection is precisely obedience.
Obedience Unto Death
Philippians 2:8: “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Have you not asked yourself why it has to specify what type of death it was? “Obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Because death by crucifixion was the most painful death. Jesus knew it. Jesus is not ignorant of what He is exposing Himself to. But nevertheless…
John 10:17-18: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.”
He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, a painful death. Jesus knows it, but it was not reason to say no. I come to establish obedience upon the face of the earth. “This commandment have I received of my Father.”
Obedience Above Personal Interests
A man of God, when a woman of God has learned to walk in obedience, they detach themselves from their own interests and needs. Because there can be interests, there can be needs, but when the man of God, when the woman of God knows how to establish obedience despite their own needs, then they are establishing themselves in the age of the fullness of Christ, establishing perfection.
And before perfection, the enemy cannot approach. He cannot approach this person.
In Job, that I cited a few seconds ago, in Job, Satan says: “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?” Do you know what the hedge is? Perfection. Which is precisely what God demands of every man of faith, which is precisely what God demands of every woman of faith: perfection.
The Universal Demand of Perfection
We find it in the Old Testament, we find it in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God says to Abraham: “Walk before me, and be thou perfect.” It is not the demand only upon Abraham. It is the demand for every man of faith, it is the demand for every woman of faith, because if he is the father of faith and we are the children of faith, it means that the demand that God imposed on Abraham also applies for each one of us: “Walk and be perfect before me.”
New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew it is written: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Therefore, perfection is a demand, and it is a demand of faith. None of us can say that we walk in faith without having understood that God is demanding perfection of us. We cannot say that we are men of faith, we cannot say that we are women of faith if we have not understood that God is demanding perfection of us.
And what is the evidence of perfection? Obedience. The evidence, the fruit of perfection, is obedience.
The Examination of Our Response
How do we react then before the demands of the Lord? Knowing that we are disobeying, do we prefer to do it and not correct our way?
You are realizing the gravity in which many of us, men and women who confess ourselves as believers, the gravity in which we are. We see first our conveniences, we see first our needs, and then, from there, we begin to distribute: if there is left over, then we are obedient.
Obedience: fruit, evidence itself of a life of perfection.
THIRD POINT: Being Willing to Lay Down Our Lives
John 10:17: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life.”
Third act that shows the perfection of a man, that shows the perfection of a woman: “I lay down my life.”
The Difficult Teaching of the Sermon on the Mount
How many of us has it cost to understand that teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 5, when Jesus establishes: “But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also”? How many of us say: “That cannot be literal. That cannot be literal, one has to understand the symbolism, surely that is a metaphor of which the Lord is speaking to us”?
If that were a metaphor, a symbolism, then He would not have said: “I lay down my life.”
It is that we have not understood the third act of perfection: being willing, being willing to lay down our lives for love of the work, for love of the ministry, for love of what God wants to establish in each one of us.
The Crucifixion with Christ
Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
What is it to live by the faith of the Son of God? What is it to live by the faith of the Son of God? We are understanding it: “I lay down my life.”
The Purpose of the Calling
To understand that God has called us not to benefit ourselves, but to sacrifice ourselves for others, is the greatest evidence of perfection.
When you go to First Corinthians (surely we have read it), the apostle says: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”
He is referring to that, and the apostle presents it in a forceful way and in a graphic way to be understood. He brings us to the understanding that it is not others who have to serve us, but we who have to serve others.
He brings us to the understanding that it is not fulfilling our expectations, that it is not fulfilling our demand, that it is not fulfilling our convenience, that it is not even fulfilling our needs, but that the work of God be established.
The Supreme Example of Love
Romans 5:7-8: “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
What the apostle is saying: “But for one not good, for one who is not going to represent anything to us in return, impossible.” “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Full Comprehension of the Apostle Paul
The age of the fullness of Christ is not established in that the work of God helps me to develop. No, I, Lord, for your work. If for this He has extracted us, if this is what we have to do, it has been done.
Ephesians 5:2: “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”
Paul wrote verse 13 of chapter four of his epistle to the Ephesians being well conscious of what he was writing to them. It is not that we are giving it an interpretation, a meaning, no. Paul was well conscious of what he was writing.
The Four Complete Purposes
Four purposes, four declarations to which we must aspire as goals to reach perfection:
- “Till we all come in the unity of the faith”
- “Till we all come… of the knowledge of the Son of God”
- “Till we all come… unto a perfect man”
- “Till we all come… unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
Summary of the Age of the Fullness of Christ
What does the age of the fullness of Christ Jesus mean? What does it mean?
It means precisely having understanding of who we are in Christ Jesus, of who we are and to what we have been called. Having understanding that not always things are going to turn out as we want them, not always are we going to see the result of the efforts we are making, not always. But despite that, we can maintain ourselves: “It is that the Lord called me to this. It is that this was what He determined.”
And I do not measure (and permit me to use this expression, although this expression is not contained in the Holy Scripture, but I do not measure) the success of my ministry by the results. I do not measure by what I obtain.
And we arrive at the second point: obedience, obedience for obedience. To His calling, obedience to His purpose, to what He has revealed to me.
The third point: being willing. “Who will go for us?” Knowing that “who will go for us” means persecution. “Here am I; send me.” Because they are not my interests nor are they my conveniences: it is your work, Lord. You gave yourself for us.
The Example of Queen Esther
Queen Esther: “And if I perish, I perish, but if for this the Lord called me, I will do it.”
Closing Prayer
I thank You, my Lord, this night for this great teaching that You establish in us through Your Holy Spirit. Now I ask, Father, that it be Your Holy Spirit who establishes in us, oh God, the understanding so that we may walk as a perfect man of the fullness of Christ Jesus. In the name of Jesus, amen.
I bless you. The peace of the Lord be with you and with your house. Amen.
