We learned in our last lesson that the kingdom, being totally ruled and led from within, is a process. Paul prayed for revelation for every believer;

I ask — ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory — to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him — endless energy, boundless strength! (Eph. 1:17-19 MSG)

As we have seen, God is training and perfecting us for a future eternal role through various equipping ministries.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. (Eph. 4:11-13NLT)

This is a statement growing in ever-increasing magnitude.  The different kinds of ministers that God has given the church are to equip His people to;

• Do his work.
• Help them grow
• Build a oneness of faith.
• Build a personal knowledge and relationship with Jesus.

All these things are not the final purpose. They are all necessary stages of growth to bring us to a fully matured person measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

What an incredible statement! His purpose is to completely transform us into His image. Just in case we think it is a mistranslation, let’s look at other versions.

• … attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. NIV
• … to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; NKJV
• … to mature manhood, measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ. (NEB)

This again is in line with the eternal purposes of God to train Christ-like ones to rule and reign with Him through eternity. Paul confirms this;

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. (Phil. 3:12-15 NLT)