Presenting
Every Man Perfect In Christ
Whom we
preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.— Colossians 1:28
After
reading a book on the subject of church leadership and the need for every
organization to have a “purpose statement,” I realized that the purpose
statement for our church and ministry was too long for anyone to remember it,
and it was certainly too long to be able to repeat it to someone else. So I
started praying for a short, concise way to state the purpose of our ministry.
After a lot
of prayer, my heart kept going back to the simple statement the apostle Paul
made in Colossians 1:28, a verse that has been the theme of our ministry since
its earliest inception and remains the purpose of our ministry after decades of
service. However, I had never thought of a way to present it to people as a
purpose statement until I was challenged by that book. Colossians 1:28 speaks
of Christ’s glorious presence in each of us and of our need to declare truth in
various ways to others with the ultimate goal of presenting every person
perfect in Christ. It says, “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching
every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ
Jesus.”
I can
emphatically say that our ministry has always been, is, and will always be a
preaching, warning, and teaching ministry — just as Paul described in
Colossians 1:28. And like Paul, we have an audience of “every man.” The word
“every” is the Greek word panta, an all-encompassing word that embraces
all people with no exceptions. To the lost, we preach. To those who are
saved, we warn and teach. But Paul said the ultimate goal
is to present every man perfect in Christ. “Perfect” sounds very hard
to attain, if not almost unreachable, so what was Paul really referring to when
he spoke of presenting people “perfect” in Christ?
The word
“perfect” in this verse is the Greek word telios. Paul used this word only
five times in the New Testament — each time to describe full-grown
adults (see 1 Corinthians 2:6; 14:20; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians
3:15; and Colossians 1:28). It describes how, as a person develops, he or she
transitions from being youthful and immature to an individual who is full-grown and mature.
In addition,
Paul used telios twice (see Romans 12:2; Colossians 4:12) to
denote spiritually mature individuals who are living in accordance with
the will of God. For this reason, the more recent translation of The
Amplified Bible states, “…that we may present every person mature
(full-grown, fully initiated, complete, and perfect) in Christ….” Thus, we see
the word “perfect” that Paul referred to in Colossians 1:28 as one who is
spiritually mature and endeavoring to live out his or her life in accordance to
God’s perfect will.
In the
context of discerning our ministry purpose, this verse gives very clear
direction. It tells us that we are not called just to win masses to Christ and
then leave them behind as spiritual infants. Rather, our God-given task is to
help people walk out of immaturity while leading them onward into spiritual
maturity. Bringing people up to this level of maturity is an undertaking so
huge that Paul acknowledged it could only be done with the power of God. He
said, “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which
worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:29).
The word
“labour” in Colossians 1:29 is the Greek word kopos, which describes the
most physically and mentally exhausting type of labor. By using this word, Paul
reminded us of the extremely hard work that is required to help a
person attain spiritual maturity. According to this, Paul worked very hard to
bring people from spiritual infancy into spiritual adulthood. In fact, the next
word he chose, the word “striving,” drives this point home. It comes from the
Greek word agonidzo, from which we get the word agony.
The use of
these two words “labour” (kopos) and “striving” (agonidzo) tells us that the
task of helping individuals move from spiritual infancy to spiritual adulthood
requires focus, effort, and hard work — and that it can often be as agonizing
as raising a natural child to become a level-headed adult. And we’re not just
spiritually raising one person, but many people at one time. This
would be humanly impossible if it were not for “his working,” which, as Paul
said, works in us mightily.
The word
“working” here is the Greek word energeo, which, of course, is where we
get the word for energy. Furthermore, the word “mightily” is the
word dunamis, which Paul used to describe Christ’s divine
ability that resides in each true believer. So Paul was acknowledging that
it is only possible to present every man “perfect” in Christ because of His
divine, supernatural energy that works mightily in us. We are insufficient in
ourselves for such a task. We can only accomplish it because of the infusion of
Christ’s mighty dunamis power that works in us. Hence, the task of
helping someone grow from spiritual infancy into spiritual adulthood is a
supernatural feat that can only be accomplished in cooperation with Christ’s
mighty power that works in us and through us.
If you feel
that you have failed to stick it out to the end with the individuals you’ve
been called to help mature, take heart! Yield to the Holy Spirit’s presence in
your heart, for you are only up to the task if the Holy Spirit’s
power is working in you and through you. And should you be looking
for a purpose statement for your church, your ministry, or your personal walk
with God, consider Colossians 1:28: “…that we may present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus….”
As believers, this should always be our purpose. We must not only win people to Jesus but also disciple them to maturity so they can live the balance of their lives as fully grown spiritual adults who live to do the will of God.
