Paul gives revelation insight into resets of the kingdom that occurred when Jesus ascended to be with Father. Quoting prophetic words from the Psalms that mirror the moments when David brought Glory into Zion and fed the nation, Paul frames the Ascension with a sense of bringing Glory and kingdom together into function. David shifted the culture of Israel with Glory and kingdom in fuller function and established a kingdom that Jesus made eternal.
At the Ascension, with all authority in heaven and earth, Jesus bestowed His own leadership dynamics upon the Ecclesia by giving kingdom leaders to her. Apostles, prophets, teacher, evangels, and shepherds. We know that the five are distinct by this and other passages of Scripture even though we can see that teacher-shepherd appear to be blended by the way this verse is written and a special relatedness between teacher and shepherd can be verified.
The fivefold ministry is the ministry of Jesus. He had a ministry, and He gave that ministry to the Ecclesia. Then, He gave the Ecclesia leaders who make leaders so that the blueprints of this house or Body could be continuously used to expand His kingdom assemblies.
The goal of Ecclesia is to displace hell and disciples cultures. The measurement of success is the influence and impact of the Ecclesia in establishing kingdom in people and places. This measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ comes by the full function of the fivefold ministry as foundational leaders, apostles and prophets, guide the preparation and positioning of individual members of the Body or living stones of the Building.
The human body has eleven or twelve [depending upon who you ask] complex systems that must interact and interrelate cooperatively at no expense one to the other to bring the integration of complex physical systems into full function. The Spiritual Body has complex systems that must interact and interrelate cooperatively in ways that produce miraculous “perpetual motion or growth” through the integration of complex spiritual systems. “Building itself up in love” means that entropy cannot touch the properly functioning Body of Christ! The process increases without running down because it produces more than it consumes!
The function of the five aspects of Jesus’ leadership, the dynamics of kingdom leadership, can be measured for “success” by the structural integrity, spiritual integration, and statured increase of the Ecclesia.
Structural integrity speaks to the blueprint preparation and positioning of living stones. 1 Kings 6:7: The stones used to build the temple were shaped at the quarry so no sound of hammer, chisel, or iron tool was heard in the actual construction. This speaks prophetically of the proper preparation and positioning of blueprinted construction: leaders prepare and position.
Spiritual integration speaks to fulfilling the perfect blending of personal destiny with kingdom purpose. Every member, when properly and prophetically prepared and positioned fulfills his individual mandates of dominion and kingdom purpose without any contradiction or competition with another member’s fulfilling personal destiny. In this way, the kingdom purpose and the personal destiny enhance one another because the Creator and Designer calls into assemble parts of His Body so that they fit perfectly into a full expression of His stature. The Body represents because the Creator perfectly designs while His leaders prepare and position.
Statured increase speaks of the influence and impact of the Body. The Body represents Jesus in the earth so that His authority and power influence spiritual conditions and atmospheres and impact people and places. The purpose of Jesus in people and places are known and fulfilled by the increased stature of the Body, building itself up in love. Stature is the measurement of the influence and impact of Jesus on people and culture: if Jesus builds His Ecclesia, the authority of hell is displaced.
