When we observe how the local church functions and how many people are
functioning in some capacity what do you see? Do we see all the members
actively working with other members building up the church? Do we see
75% of the members actively working with other members building up the
church? Do we see 50% of the members actively working with other members
building up the church? How about 25%? No, statistics reveal that
regardless of the size of a local church, less than 20% of the members
actively get involved with its function and many of them are heading
towards burnout. Why is this happening? Why does it seem to be almost
impossible to mobilize the members of the local church? I am sure that
there are numerous reason such as, a lack of leadership, a lack of
vision, a lack of discipleship, people are to busy, and so on. But I
believe the primary reason behind the limited mobilization of the
members of a local church comes down to one thing. Swapping the Lords
ingenious plan for man's faulty plan(s). Let's look at what the Holy
Spirit spoke through the apostle Paul.
"Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." (Ephesians 4:8) "And
He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the
work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all
come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in
the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in
love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ, from
whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint
supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does
its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in
love." (Ephesians 4:11-16)
Many church leaders for centuries have rejected the idea that the ministry gifts of the apostle and prophet
have continued beyond those of the early church. Their thinking is that
the gift or office of apostle and prophet have faded from the scene
when the apostles and prophets of the early church died. This thinking
goes even farther by saying that along with the passing of the apostles
and prophets miracles, signs and wonders have also passed away. They
site 1 Corinthians 15:8 which says, "Then last of all He (Jesus) was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time"
to mean that Paul was the last of the apostles appointed by the Lord.
They also use Ephesians 4:13-14 (shown above) along with 1 Corinthians
3:10; 13:11 to say that these gifts along with the miraculous only
functioned as scaffolding while the church was under initial
construction, and were removed or faded away once the structure had been
completed because the book we call the Bible is the totality of God’s
written revelation to the human race. Consequently, people now have
access to everything they need (2 Peter 1:3) to enter into a right
relationship with God via Christianity and the church of Christ. Without
doubt, the Bible is the totality of God’s written revelation to the
human race. However, if we look at Ephesians 4:8 again, some light will
shine upon us revealing the truth, "Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men."
First, notice that it does not say that Jesus gave temporary gifts to
men or that He gave gifts to men only for a season or a certain period
of time. Paul tells us, "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." (Romans 11:29) James tells us, "Every
good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of
turning." (James 1:17) The Lord does revoke the gifts and calling
that He gives to His church, because His gifts are good and perfect.
Also, notice that James reveals to us something about God that Malachi
also reveals, "For I am the LORD, I do not change..." (Malachi 3:6) The writer of Hebrews puts it this way, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
(Hebrews 13:8) In other words, from eternity past to eternity future
there is no change in Gods character, nature, purposes, plan or his
mode of being. What He says is what He means, period. "God is not a
man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He
said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it
good?" (Numbers 23:19)
If we say that the gift/office of apostle and prophet
have faded away and have no need for them because we have the Bible,
then we also have to conclude that the gift/office of evangelist, pastor
and teacher have also faded away for the same reason. If we also say, "But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away"
meaning that the gifts of the Spirit, especially miracles have also
faded away, because we have the Bible, then we also have to conclude
that knowledge has also vanished. (see 1 Corinthians 13:8-10) The
context of what Paul is conveying in 1 Corinthians 13 has nothing
whatsoever to do with the fading away of gifts and the miraculous that
Christ gave to His church. Paul is telling the church to grow up or come
into maturity, especially to mature in love because without love the
gifts will not function properly. He is telling the church that when
Christ returns, "that which is perfect" there will be no further
need for any of the gifts that He gave to the church. So, how do we grow
up and mature especially in love until Christ returns? Let's reread
Ephesians 4:11-16
Another thing that we must consider is found in Paul's description of the church, "And He (Jesus) put
all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to
the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
(Ephesians 1:22-23, also see 1 Corinthians 12:12-27) The church is
describe as a body filled with the fullness of Christ the Head. So with
this in mind, how would a person operate if two of their fingers, say
their thumb and index finger, were missing from both hands? They could
function, but they certainly would be limited. What about if a person
was missing any two of their five senses? Again, they could function but
they would be limited. With that said, how can we logically believe
that the Lord would limit His body by removing two important
gifts/offices along with the miraculous?
How can we honestly think this especially when he gave all five of these
gifts/offices for maturing the church? His would not do such a thing!
Do we honestly believe that for the last seventeen hundred years the
church has reach or surpassed the maturity that Ephesian 4:1-16 is
talking about? Do we suppose that the last seventeen hundred years of
the church is more mature than the first three hundred years?
Many proponents of the extinction of the apostle, prophet and miracles
will say to those who know that the Lord has not removed from His church
apostle, prophet and miracles , beware "For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And
no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform
themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according
to their works" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) not even considering that
it is they that Satan has deceived. Certainly the church must beware
that false apostles and prophets
can appear, but the context in which this passage appears is Paul
defending his apostleship. He is not insinuating or alluding too at all
that when he leaves this life there will be no more apostles.
Next, we also see another fact that sheds light on the existence of
apostles (maybe not recognized) today. Paul, tells us the all of the
ascension gifts were given "till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ." How can any church leader look at church
history for the past 1700 years and honestly believe that the church.
has arrived any time, "to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ." Do we honest believe that what we call the
church is unified? That the church operates in the full knowledge of the
Son of God? That the church completely functions in the fullness of
Christ? Let's be honest. What we call the church today is not even close
to just being united, let alone these other important issue that makes
the church one in Christ.
So, why do statistics reveal that less than 20% of the members of most
local churches do all the work while 80% remain idle? I truly believe it is due to
eliminating the gift/office of the apostle and prophet by church
Pharisees who have embraced the philosophies of men over the word of
God. They have been blinded by the god of the world, Satan, who is still
at work against the church to do what he did in the beginning, that is,
discredit God and His Word. (Genesis 3:1-5) Jesus gave to the church "some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some
pastors and teachers, to work together, "for the equipping of the saints for the work of
ministry." Their is not one verse of scripture (other than ones taken out of context) that says that the gift/office of the apostle and prophet have
faded away and are of no long any use once the early church apostles
and prophets died We do not seem to understand the harm that we have
done to ourselves by eliminating these key gifts/offices for our "better
ideas." Grace be with all those who
love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen
Monday, April 19, 2021
Building Together in Love
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.