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The
Measure Of Grace
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Ephesians
4:15 says, "But speaking the truth in love, we are to
grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even
Christ." This growth is made possible because
Christ gave grace to each member of His body.
But
to each one of us grace was given according to the
measure of Christ's gift (Ephesians 4:7).
Grace was
measured to each one of us so that each member might be
equipped "for the work of service, to the building up of
the body of Christ" (4:12).
When all
the members release the grace given them by doing the
work of service (which means ministry one to another),
then we, the body, attain to "a mature man" (4:13).
Literally, that means "full-grown", or in Thayer's
words, "lacking nothing necessary to completeness."
This
mature man, e.g., the body of Christ, fills "the
measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of
Christ" (4:13). In other words, Christ supplies
all the grace needed for the body to attain to the
fulness of God by measuring out that grace and giving it
to the individual members.
But for
the growth to really occur, for the grace measured out
to work it's full purpose, it is necessary that the
individual members function properly and effectually.
For "that which every joint supplies", meaning the grace
ministered by the member to the other members it
touches, depends on "the proper [lit: in its measure]
working of each individual part" (4:16).
But we
all know that many members do not function properly and
effectually. They do not freely operate in all the
grace measured to them by Jesus. Rather, they are
bound and limited, through sin, self, the world, and the
devil. This is the reason why Total Life
Ministries is committed to Word Based Counseling--to
free and release the individuals God directs to us, so
that they can more fully know and function in the grace
of God, and thus do their part in the body.
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