Ephesians 4:11-13: Measuring Up

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. - Ephesians 4:11-13

When I lived in the Philippines, going to the market was a daily task for the apartment that I shared with the church's pastor. Each vendor would have their fruits and vegetables and cuts of meat arranged in the open air or under a sheet metal roof for you to push and prod and sniff so that you could test their freshness. You would specify a weight or quantity and the price was negotiated. Then your goods would be measured: weighed, counted or fit into a 10# tin can. I remember rice, specifically, which we could measure in gantas. We were only two in my apartment, so we never bought caban (50 kilos). If the vendor was your friend (your suki), they might let the rice mound a little bit in the measuring can. Times like these helped me to appreciate it when the Bible remarked that "Differing weights and differing measures— the Lord detests them both." (Proverbs 20:10)

More recently a different sort of measure struck me. when Paul commented that the "body of Christ" (the church) is supposed to be built up by the Spirit-gifted individuals until we attain the whole measure of the fullness (or stature) of Christ. For a moment, I want you to envision yourself as a teaspoon-the kind of spoon you use to put sugar into tea. The teaspoon is a very modest sort of measuring device.

Now-if you are a teaspoon-what sort of measuring device do you suppose Christ would be? I don't know either, but for the sake of discussion I am thinking of the large plastic buckets that can hold a 20 pound bag of rice or flour in my house. If that doesn't do it for you, imagine two Home Depot buckets stacked on top of each other.

Teaspoon. Big ol' bucket.

Back to Paul. He is saying that Christ gave these people in the church who pour into us and build us up until we have the fullness of the measure of Christ. My teaspoon just isn't big enough to hold the bucketful of the presence and character of Christ. So either I'm going to spill over. Not a bad thing. Or God is going to have to grow me up to handle the amount of Christ's goodness that he wants me to handle. It isn't just on his wish list for me, we are reaching (attaining) this goal. Paul says "...that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6)

Teaspoons and buckets weren't common as measure devices in Bible days. But jars were. Jars could be measures-like ephahs and omers. Sometimes I suspect that we worry about the weak areas in our lives giving out because of external pressures: job, finances, desires, relationships, etc. But maybe we should rejoice that the full measure of Christ is actually on the inside, trying to burst forth and the weak places are those places which give way to His grace sooner: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Cor. 4:7)

Or, as Eugene Peterson said, "This God-life cannot be domesticated or used; it can only be entered into on its own terms. ... Holiness did not make God smaller so they could use God in convenient and manageable projects. It made those men larger so God could give out life through them, extravagantly, spontaneously."[1]

[1] Peterson, Eugene H.. As Kingfishers Catch Fire: A Conversation on the Ways of God Formed by the Words of God (p. 80). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.