Heb 6 talks about not laying again the foundation, but going on to perfection.

Let the 5-fold train us that we my be perfected and go onto perfection.Going on to Perfection

2 November 2003

On our recent holiday we had the opportunity to go for a night ride in the Addo elephant park. And while we where on the night ride, with the guide etc, my parents where busy watching the lions from the rondavels, but that is another story. The ranger stopped us by an ostrich egg, just lying in the field. No nest no nothing, just the egg. What had happened is that a fox had rolled the egg out of the nest hoping that the egg would break. When it does not they go looking for a stone to break the egg, but forget where they left the egg. They need to learn some memory lessons from the elephants.

Still on ostriches do you know why the males are the pretty, and the females are rather dull? The females sit on the nest during the day and the male at night. So during the day the female is camouflaged against the brown landscape and the male is hidden in the darkness of the night.

Each egg that the ostrich produces has the potential to become another ostrich. The eggs that are removed from the nest still have the potential to hatch but will not because they need the warmth of the nest to complete the hatching process. For the egg to become an ostrich it needs to break out of the shell. While it stays in the shell it will remain an egg and only be good enough to be eaten.

So it is with us! All Christians have the potential to become son of God, but so many of them never achieve it. they are left out in the cold like that lone egg sitting all on its own, lacking the warmth of the ?nest?. That is why there are many Christian who never resemble Christ.

Let?s have a look what constitutes the ?nest?:
* It is a place of warmth as I have said.
* Place of security, mainly because of the camouflage of the parents.
* Place of ?covering?.

You could call this ?Phase 1? in the little ostrich?s life. It ?coming out? experience, as it comes out of the only world it knows the safe and secure world of the egg. The real reason it breaks out is because it has out grown that egg.

Now you may be thinking that that is when a Christian gets born again. Nope I know many Christians and some in this church that are stuck in their shells. Not willing to break out of the restricted, yet ?secure? life that they lead. This can also be true of all of us within a specific area of our lives.

Phase 2, called ?school?. There was an article in the Table Talk about an Egyptian goose who had it?s chick in a block of flats and they tried desperately each day to cross marine drive to get her chicks to the vlei. The parent geese where doing all they could to train the goslings. The parents still need to train the chicks in the required ways. Jesus cries out in Matt 23:37 that He wants to gather the children under his wings like a hen gathers her chicks. Ps 91:4 says

He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

Paul says in 1 Thes 2:7
But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. 1

We need both the mothers nursing, fathers love and protection.

Now how did God plan to raise us?

Eph 4:11 gives us the way.

We all know Eph 4:11-13 as it is one the core scriptures to the apostolic move. But I will read it again from the King James Version to lay emphasis on another aspect.

11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in d the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: 2

We have the 5-fold for perfecting, now that perfecting might be a bit of a surprise to you because you where expecting ?equipping?. Why is it different in the KJV than the NKJV?

The Greek here is

2677 katartismos { kat-ar-tis-mos?}
from 2675; TDNT – 1:475,80; n m
AV – perfecting 1; 1
GK – 2938 { ??????????? }
1) complete furnishing, equipping

This Greek word is used only here in the whole bible. It denotes a fitting or to prepare fully. The example here is not equipping such as going out to buy a whole lot of tools. But rather preparing to write exams, or preparing to go on a hike. Not only go to Cape Union Mart to buy or your goodies, or is that CNA. But also train your body by getting fit you train your mind by doing other walks that will be similar. Then the night before you lay out everything go through you check list. Then you pack your bags taking only what you need or might need. One does not want to be caught without something, but you also do not want to carry extra load.

You prepare fully, often there is a mix of experience on the hike some have done many hikes, some a few and maybe for some this is their first time. Normal the experienced person will land up repacking other peoples bags for them. Know what I am talking about. They will help you as you walk, help to pace you and guide you. Give some tips that they have learnt through experience.

Eph says that God has given us the 5-fold to do this in our journey of life. To help us prepare for it. Prepare us with the knowledge of the word, prepare us in the way we handle situations, and prepare us to prepare ourselves, prepare every aspect of our life so that we can live this life fully.

I have learnt that the more prepared you are for the hike, the more enjoyable it is. I used to do a lot of cycling. The golden rule, is carry a spare, but often you think ag no I don?t need it. Remember no cell phones at that stage. So it was walking, to find a phone, phoning my parent and hoping that they where home, etc, etc. What was even worse is when you go with a spare that you have just fixed and you need it, then your spare gives in. The rides that I did when I was fit and my bike was working well where very enjoyable otherwise why would a 16year old get up before 6 on a Saturday and cycle to Cape Point and back 120km just for the heck of it.

The scouts motto, be prepared. The same way scouts trains you to be prepared for scouting, the 5-fold prepare, equip or perfect you for life.

So what is this target? How do we know when we are fully prepared? Eph caries on by saying ?till we come into? 4 things:

1. The unity of the faith,
2. Knowledge of the son of God
3. Unto a perfect man
4. unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ

Unity of faith, Eph 4:5 says ?one Lord, one faith, one baptism;? this is very important one faith not in the sense of your ?faith has made you well? but rather faith in Christ, the faith that brought us to salvation. If everyone in this body believed and taught different things there would only be confusion and problems. If there is unity it brings harmony, the correct frequency and blessings.

The knowledge of the Son of God there two sayings the one is ?ignorance is bliss? and the other ?ignorance kills? ignorance is bliss means that you are in a state of bliss and peace because you are unaware of the dangers around you, hence the counter saying it kills.

Proverbs 24:5 says

A wise man is strong,
Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
3
Hosea 4:6 says<