Speaking of Christ who dwells in us as the hope of glory, Paul says in 1:28, “Whom we announce, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” The Greek word rendered full-grown may also be translated mature, complete, or perfect. Paul’s ministry was to impart Christ to others so that they may be perfect and complete by maturing in Christ unto full growth. However, many Christian workers today do not have any concept of presenting every man full-grown in Christ. The goal of their work is something other than this. But we must have the same goal that Paul had.
Even in preaching the gospel, our aim should be to im- part life in order to present others mature, full-grown, in Christ. As we preach the gospel to unbelievers, minister Christ to them, and help them to receive the Lord, our goal is not merely that they should be saved from the lake of fire and from God’s condemnation. Our goal is not only for them to experience God’s forgiveness; it is to minister Christ into them so that they may eventually be presented full-grown in Christ. If we fail to impart Christ to others as we preach the gospel, our gospel preaching will fall short of God’s standard. Christ must be infused into all those to whom we speak. Imparting Christ should be our aim in our gospel preaching.
We should have the same goal in our fellowship with the saints. As we contact the saints, our goal should be to minister Christ into them so that they may mature in Him.
Let us now consider several matters related to presenting others mature in Christ.
If we would present others full-grown in Christ, we must minister Christ to them as the portion of the saints (1:12). The Christ we minister must be the all-inclusive One, the centrality and universality of God’s economy (1:15, 18-19, 27; 2:4, 9, 16-17; 3:4, 11). If we do not experience Christ in a full way, we shall find it difficult to minister Christ to others. For example, if we do not experience living by Christ, we cannot help anyone else to live by Christ. But if in our daily living we live Christ, grow Christ, and produce Christ, we shall spontaneously infuse Christ into others as we contact them. The more we take Christ as our life and our person, the more we shall be able to minister Christ to others. Having become those who experience Christ and live by Him, we shall influence others to do the same. We need to enjoy Christ as our good land, labor on Him, live in Him, walk in Him, and have our being in Him. If we are such persons, we shall transfuse into others the very Christ whom we experience and by whom we live. In the Lord’s recovery what we need is not simply more labor to bring others into the church life. We need to minister the riches of Christ into others so that they may grow and mature. For this we ourselves need to experience more of Christ as the portion of the saints.
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