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FIXING A FRAYED FISHING NET

Do you get nervous when you read Bible verses that talk about how God expects you to get yourself up to perfect? Biblical phrases like “for the perfecting of the saints” still cause a twitch in MY conscience, and you would expect that a preacher who’s passed the milestone of his 55th birthday would frankly be too tired to sin any more and arrive at perfection by what some of us have always called “righteousness by senility.” But here in this inspiring — and sometimes aggravating — book of Ephesians, and especially here in our focal chapter, number four, comes that troubling expression:

“And He [Jesus] 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.”

And we say to ourselves, “Oh, dear.” Even the preachers and teachers, who are supposed to be out there helping everyone ELSE reach perfection, are saying in the mirror, “Oh, dear.” Because both the words “perfecting” and “saints” seem like they’re a long way off.

It’s kind of interesting, though, that the same goal we shrink away from ourselves we enthusiastically expect for everyone else in church. Have you noticed that? Don’t we expect the church elders and deacons to live exemplary lives? And the pastor to be a model citizen? Don’t we count on the church bulletin being free from errors and typos?

Let me ask this question. When you buy a brand new car, and pay the full MSRP sticker price, and then find out that the brakes squeak, and there’s a rattle in the dash, and the dome light isn’t working, you go back to the dealership, don’t you? “This car’s under warranty,” you say to the service writer. “And I expect these things to be fixed, to be in running order. I want a car that works smoothly, that fires on all cylinders.” You know, friend, in a way, that’s basically what the apostle Paul is calling for here: a well-ordered church, where all parts are functioning. Notice again:

“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Listen to how the New International Version gives us this same verse 12:

“To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”

Let’s carefully have a little Greek lesson, and then quickly share a story to illustrate it. The word here for “perfecting” is katartismos, and it can also mean equipping. By the way, we find the verb form of it, katartizo, over in Matthew 4:21, and it refers to the mending of fishing nets. As in when James and John were sewing up the holes in theirs just as Jesus walked up and invited them to join His fishing party instead. But whether you’re fishing for fish or fishing for men, the Holy Spirit is interested in making sure that there aren’t gaping holes in the nets He gives you. And so He invites us to a katartismos party, where we work together to plug up those holes and increase our fishing “take” for the Lord.

Now a story to illustrate. In their dynamic little book, The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson and David Kopp tell about a series of meetings Wilkinson had with a group of 2,000 students on a Christian college campus here in California. If you’ve read their book, you know that it’s all about pleading with God to “enlarge your territory,” and give you bigger oceans to fish from – strictly for His honor and glory. And he said to these college kids: “Why not look at the globe and pick an island? When you have it picked out, put together a team of students, charter an airliner, then take over the island for God.”

Well, the students cracked up. Take over an island? Who did this preacher think they were: Magellan and Vasco da Gama? It sounded ludicrous. But Wilkinson was serious. “Hey, I’ve been to Trinidad,” he told them. “You ought to ask God to give you Trinidad as a project. And while you’re at it, ask Him for a DC-10 too, to get you there.”

Well, slowly the laughing died down. And Wilkinson spent the rest of the week exhorting the students, according to Ephesians 4:

“If the God of heaven loves you infinitely and wants you in His presence every moment, and if He knows that heaven is a much better place for you, THEN WHY ON EARTH HAS HE LEFT YOU HERE?” And he spent that same week giving them the biblical answer to that question: “Because God wants you to be moving out your boundary lines, taking in new territory for Him — maybe an island — and reaching people in His name.”

Well, friend, here’s what happened. Two kids in that audience, named Warren and Dave, caught the vision. They began to talk up the idea of taking over Trinidad. And in the fall of the next school term, 126 students and faculty members chartered a jet and went from Los Angeles to Trinidad. And speaking of “preparing God’s people for works of service,” they had put together teams ready to do drama, construction, operate VBS programs — that’s Vacation Bible Schools — perform Christian music, go from door to door doing home visitation. In other words, this was a trained army. This was an “Operation Jabez” that did exactly what Ephesians 4:12 is talking about: building up the body of Christ.

It’s enlightening to read Ephesians in different translations and paraphrases, and we’d used several times the Message edition by Eugene Peterson. You really catch a mental glimpse of those 126 college kids when you read it this way:
“He [Jesus] handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher, to train Christians in skilled SERVANT WORK, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.”

Isn’t that a beautiful metaphor? And it’s a wonderful way, friend, to understand the concept of “the perfecting of the saints.” “Fully mature adults, working together.” That’s all. Here at the Voice of Prophecy we’ve all been blessed during this study to dig through the Tyndale New Testament Commentary for Ephesians. And author Francis Foulkes takes us over to the book of Hebrews, and the beloved “faith chapter,” #11, where the verb form, katartizo, comes in again. Here’s the verse:

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

And Dr. Foulkes makes the point that God made this universe with a certain blueprint in His divine mind. Certainly that blueprint included the idea that His church, His body, would function in the world as a powerful, united organism: blessing people, strengthening them, restoring them. And where nets need to be mended, or cylinders oiled, or squeaks erased . . . well, then, the apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers are called upon to help accomplish that. “Bringing the universe . . . into its intended shape and order” is how Foulkes puts it.

Let’s look at just one more Greek word, and with it a very straightforward “Jabez” warning, so to speak. Because the prayer “Lord, enlarge MY territory” might be one of the most risky utterances a Christian can make. Many a preacher has quietly, or not so quietly, worked to enlarge his turf in terms of ratings, resumés, royalties, revenue, rewards, regalia, and Rolls Royces. Those two young men, Warren and Dave, who organized the Trinidad campaign, might have become very pleased with themselves as their little army got on board the DC-10 and flew to Piarco International Airport. “Look at us! Look at what we put together!” Would it be a temptation to think that way? Well, friend, Greek lesson #2 today is this word: oikodome. It’s a kind of hammer-and-nails construction word, used here in Ephesians 4:12 and also back in 2:21, which reads like this:

“In [Jesus] the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.”

And Dr. Foulkes, here in the Tyndale commentary, writes about the expression: “For the edifying of the body of Christ”:

“The Church is increased and built up, and its members edified, as each member uses his particular gifts as the Lord of the Church ordains, and thus gives spiritual service to his fellow-members and to the Head.”

So as we grow up in Christ, as we develop just a little bit of “maturity,” as our nets are fixed and our fishing numbers soar . . . do we boast? Are we proud? No — we quietly rejoice that we can give service to our brothers and sisters and especially to our Friend and lead Fisherman, Jesus Christ. Another commentary we looked at made this observation:

“The officers of the church are not to lord it over the flock but are to consider themselves servants.”

So friend, God may have an island He wants you to reach for Him. Or it might just be your next-door neighbor or the kid who babysits your children. The perfectly saintly thing to do is to GO . . . when God says go.