The 96th Thesis Of The Reformation
| “That they may be made perfect in one, in the unity of the faith. Unto a perfect man, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. “That they all may be one, as you Father, are in Me And I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me”. Jn. 17:21-23. “I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto each of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ…until we all come in 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”. Eph. 4:1-13. These words should be sounding as alarm bells in the church today. If His purpose for the church is to be fulfilled in unity why then are there so many divisions, estimated at over 20,000 different denominations. And why is it that while with our lips we speak of unity, we still continue to defend and even to build the walls of our divisions? Some, to explain this paradox teach that our unity is only to be an ideal unity, to which our divisions are a testimonial, because in spite of them the ideal stands true. Isn’t that kind of unity like the feet of iron and clay from Daniel 2? Besides Jesus prayed for our unity to be as the oneness between Him and the Father, is their oneness only an ideal unity? Others claim that only their denomination is the true church and all the rest are apostates, this makes unity an internal issue only applying to their particular sect. But these are just veiled attempts to justify the traditions of today by neutralizing the convicting power of Gods word. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand…He that is not with me is against me and he who is not gathering with me is scattering abroad." Matt. 12:25,30. “I plead with you my brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment…I brothers could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as unto babies in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food…for you are still carnal. For there are envy, strife, and divisions among you…for when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? We are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building…Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are…Therefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul, Apollos or Cephas, the world, life, death, the present or the future, everything is yours! For you belong to Christ, and Christ to God”. I Cor. 1-3. For while one says I am of this denomination and another belongs to that one, and still others are nondenominational I’m a charismatic you’re a fundamentalist. Are we not perpetuating a carnal and divided church that is in direct opposition to God’s purpose for us to be one, and even as Paul and Jesus have said, destroying the temple of God? Could it be that the root of our problem runs much deeper than we are willing to look? Because it calls into question the very foundations upon which we, the churches of today are building. Let us not be those who stick their heads in the sand, but as the Bereans “For they received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true”. Acts 17:11. The first question to be examined is, just what exactly is “the church”? When we speak of the church we find that like many words today, the word church means different things depending upon the context in which it is used and the particular bias of the hearer. Is it just a matter of semantics with all the meanings being correct? Or have the issues been confused through the redefining of words, so that a false reality has been substituted in the place of God’s purpose for His people? These questions have been on my mind for some time now and, through seeking understanding in prayer, study, and discussions with others, I believe God has brought me some clarity on this issue. I would like to share this with you. Before continuing please ask the Lord for discernment to know whether this teaching is His truth or is it simply the teaching of man. Our English word “church” which appears in the New Testament (NT) as a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, actually finds its root in the Greek word kuriakon because the Latin translations, which were used exclusively for over a thousand years, substituted a Latin rendering of kuriakon for ekklesia. The Greek kuriakon takes the word kurios (lord) and makes it the possessive noun “the lord’s”, showing ownership of anything dedicated or belonging to the Lord. It is actually used twice in the NT “The Lord’s supper” II Cor 11:20 and “The Lord’s day” Rev 1:10. When Christianity came to England the Latin kuriakon became pronounced as the Anglo Saxon word "kirk or “circe” which in time evolved into our word church. Long before the Bible was translated into English, this word church true to its original root kuriakon, maintained for the most part an external meaning of “the Lord’s house”, referring to a church building, temple or other holy place. This external meaning is by far the most common understanding of “church” even among Christians today. In Webster’s Dictionary there are five meaning listed under the word “church”. #1 “A building for public Christian worship”. #2 “Any Christian denomination.” #3 “An organized Christian congregation. #4 “An occasion of Christian worship”. These four define the church as external, that is outside of us, as in something we do, an organization to which we belong through membership, or a building we call “The Church”, “The House Of God” or “His Temple.” We may even call the room we worship in “The Sanctuary” meaning a holy place where we are closer to God. And since it is these buildings and the institutions that maintain them that make up the “church, then it follows that we must have membership in one of them in order to be in the church, right? “ekklesia from ek (out) and kaleo (to call) literally called out ones” Remember now, that whenever we see the word church in the NT its never kuriakon, that the NT writers chose to use there but the word ekklesia, which has no external meaning at all, being from a compound of the prefix ek (out) and a derivative of kaleo (to call) literally meaning “called out ones”. In the common or secular Greek writings of the NT era ekklesia was used for those called apart to assemble like a city counsel or some other distinct group. The NT writers chose to use ekklesia because it describes those called out of the world to assemble in Christ. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you should proclaim the praises of Him, who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God”. I Pet. 2:9. The NT never says to greet those who come to your church but it does say to greet the ekklesia that meets at your house. Rom. 16:4,5 Col. 4:15 etc. Beloved there is a huge difference between these two. Whether speaking of the local ekklesia (those gathering together locally) or the universal ekklesia (all the people of God) this is the context in which ekklesia is used through out the NT. Only Webster’s last definition #5 “The whole number of Christian believers” is true to the original meaning of the scriptures. We need to closely examine our history to understand what happened to create a mindset that supported such a misleading translation of ekklesia, which many Bible translators agree, should have been translated “assembly” or "congregation". This error has brought much confusion to God’s people, by giving validity to the false concept of the ekklesia being some external entity to which we must be joined. Since the word church has never expressed the original intent of the scriptures, for the rest of this paper I will use the word assembly in its place. (At this point we recommend the study on "the history of the English word church".) You also as living stones are being built up a dwelling of God in the spirit. What criteria does the NT use to define the assembly? It’s not any earthly building, “the Most High does not live in buildings made by hands”. Acts 7:48-50. In the New Covenant there are no external holy places, “neither in this mountain (Mt. Gerizim) nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father… God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” Jn 4:21-24. “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched…but you are come unto Mt. Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem…to the universal gathering and assembly of the first- born” Heb 12:18-23. The assembly is a spiritual kingdom that must be spiritually discerned. “Unless a man is born of the Spirit he cannot see the Kingdom of God Jn. 3:3. “It is written in the prophets they will all be taught of God. Every one who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me” Jn 6:44,45. “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven... and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it” Matt. 16:17,18. “You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood” I Pet2:5. “You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the house-hold of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. And in Him the whole building, being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling of God in the spirit Eph 2. It is Jesus Christ Himself who is the rock upon which the assembly is being built through the revelation of all that He is to us, we who are born of the spirit, baptized in the spirit, taught by the spirit, worship and living in the spirit, a spiritual community, His dwelling place, the assembly of the Assembly of the First Borm. |
| But history tells us it wasn’t long until, like Israel of old, the assembly rejected Jesus as their King, the head of His body, and appointed a man to be the head elder over each assembly, “The Bishop”, and the hierarchy system began to grow. Then they created Archbishops to rule over the Bishops in an area. And the Archbishops from the larger cities had more influence, so they were called Patriarchs, ruling over the surrounding Archbishops. Finally, the Patriarch from the most influential city, “Rome,” became the supreme head over all others, the father or papa of the church, “The Pope”. All the while the consciousness of the assembly is changing from a spiritual reality, into one of an old covenant religion, no longer functioning as the body of Christ but as a part of this world’s system, “The Institutional Church”. This church was presented as God’s established authority the seat of his power on earth the storehouse of all knowledge on any subject, so that the church decided if any new ideas were valid or not. As a result all of Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages. The preeminence of the clergy was unquestionable controlling every aspect of human life because if the only way to heaven was through “The Church”, then they alone held the keys to heaven and hell. They ruled over the kings of the earth with an iron fist, if any king went against the Church his whole kingdom was cut off from the church and therefore heaven. The people would riot causing the king to repent and the kingdom would be reinstated in the Church. The priests were the only ones through which all preaching and teaching must come because only they were spiritual enough to read and understand the scriptures. Anyone who dared to challenge any of these points even by memorizing or simply having a page of the scriptures in their own language was arrested tortured and even killed if they refused to recant, charged with heresy because they dared to believe that the scriptures were written to them so they might know God. The ekklesia, The Temple of God, the Body of Christ, His dwelling place, taken captive by the traditions of man-made teachings, centered in the elementary ideas belonging to this world, words were redefined truth and error blended. Mere men, standing in His temple presuming themselves to be the head of His body usurped the head-ship of Christ. And the assembly was led out of the Promise Land and became captives in the city of man, the Institutional Church. “And upon her forehead was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the martyrs of Jesus… and the woman you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth. Rev. 17. “How has the faithful city become a harlot? It was full of judgement: righteousness lodged in it: but now murderers”. Isa. 1:21 Oct 31, 1517 is the date given for the birth of the Protestant Reformation because on it Martin Luther who is called the father of the Reformation posted his 95 thesis on the door of the church at Whittenburg Germany, protesting the errors of the Roman Church. He wrote many other papers one of them was titled “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” where he identified the Roman system as “Spiritual Babylon”. From which he and the other leaders of the Reformation were seeking to separate the church, but instead they perpetuated our entanglement in it, because they failed to discern between the reality of Christ and the traditions of man. Much that they deemed of God and salvaged to rebuild with was in fact the chains of their captivity. They carried with them this institutional idea of the church with its clergy laity distinctions. While the hierarchy system was on a smaller scale the quest for power and authority in it still thrived, as a result it didn't take long before many of the Protestant Churches became instrumental in the death of any who dared to challenge them, showing how the “Mother of Harlots” has indeed had many daughters. History reveals that millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ have died for their faith at the hand of the Institutional Church which is the mystery, Spiritual Babylon. For more than 1500 years God’s children have been born into, and raised up under this system in one form or another. Today, for the most part the power to use the sword has been taken away. However the idea that the institutions have been established by God, as the place where His authority resides, still continues to hold precedent in the hearts of most Christians, so that those who meet in the NT model of gathering together in homes or even a small independent church are judged as being rebellious and questioned with “who is your covering”? “Who teaches and preaches there”? “Are they ordained ministers”? “Have they been to Bible School”? Those who ask these things fail to realize that neither the institutions nor their schools are any protection from error because that whole system is built not on the Rock but on the sand of man’s traditions. These shifting sands have been manifested in different ways, each building one upon the other. Then the meanings of words have been altered, giving the illusion that our traditions are based on the scriptures. We noted earlier how our English word church, which appears as a translation of the Greek word ekklesia. Is actually from the Latin translation of the Greek word kuriakion a word with an external meaning “anything belonging to the Lord”. So the scriptures now appear to teach that the assembly is “the church” an external entity, of buildings and corporations, to which we must be joined. The Body of Christ has come to mean simply a group; we say we are a small body of believers, or the body of the church voted yes, referring to the majority of the group, this is a watering down that destroys the true meaning. Body ministry where each member of His Body functions by using their particular spiritual gift to minister as led by Jesus their head, is no longer applicable. Because the gifts of the spirit, which we have seen God has set in the assembly according to His design for the building up of the body, are now taught to have been done away with completely, or they are considered not relevant for today being superseded by the institutional functions like the head pastor, youth pastor, church counselor, etc. So now “The ministry” is the work of the paid professionals “the Clergy” who are schooled and ordained by the Institutions. Remember melos? A member of His body, a functioning part of His flesh and of His bones. We now are simply an audience, “the laity”. Even the word member has been redefined into “membership” like in a club, where you join the church of your choice and then you belong to that organization. If you disagree they kick you out, or you quit separating from them and you join another one. Error building upon error over time is so interwoven in the fabric of our understanding. That today’s experience of the church is for the most part unquestioned, and has even become a kind of lens or filter through which we see and even understand the very scriptures themselves. All this is working to keep us blinded to the paradigm shift that has occurred between the NT assembly and the mystery, Spiritual Babylon. This whole system, cloaked in these new definitions, is not only creating division among God’s people. Its very existence is dependent upon the perpetuating of these divisions. Our Lord Jesus Christ… shall not come until the falling away comes first II Thes 2 “Its necessary that I appeal to you to urgently contend for the faith first delivered to the saints... Remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. In the last days there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” Jude. “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after themselves” Acts 20:29,30. “Now I urge you brethren note those who cause divisions and offences in plain opposition to the teaching you have learned,for those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own ambitions, and by their smooth words and attractive arguments they deceive the hearts of the simple” Rom. 16:17,18. “Little children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrist have come, by which we know it is the last hour” I Jn 2:18,19. “I as a master-builder, who knows his job, by the grace God has given me,lay the foundation; someone else builds upon it. I only say this, let the builder be careful how he builds… Gold, silver, precious stones, wood hay or straw…each ones work will be shown for what it is” I Cor 3:10 13. If as we have noted the chains that are binding the assembly to the City of Man have been forged through redefining leadership to the usurping of the headship of Christ. Then what exactly do the scriptures teach about God’s plan for leadership that Paul and the other apostles established in the local assemblies, who were they and how were they to function? In the Institutional model of leadership authority is seen as residing in the office itself, and is conferred upon those who having met the requirements of their particular organization are ordained to receive the title. In the NT model, spiritual authority is given to an individual member according to the measure of the gift of Christ. As one functions and grows in their gift it is recognized and confirmed by others in authority Apostles, Prophets etc or by the whole assembly. “I left you in Crete to… ordain elders in every city as I commanded you”. Tit. 1:5. “They appointed elders (plural) for them in each assembly” (singular) Acts 14:23. When they had controversy who was it that answered it? “And they wrote letters...the apostles, elders and brethren send greetings …it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord” Acts 15. Paul “sent to Ephesus for the elders (1) of the assembly. When they arrived he said …Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers (2), shepherd (3) the assembly of God” Acts 20:17,28. And Peter wrote saying “The elders (1) which are among you, I exhort…shepherd (3) the flock of God… taking the oversight (4) … Not lording it over those entrusted to you but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd (5) appears you will receive the crown of glory”. I Pet 5:1-4. There are five words used in these verses to express the calling, the function and the gifting of leadership in the local assembly of the N.T. And we need to carefully examine each one of these to see the truth of what we hold today, is it the gold, silver and precious stones of God’s word, or the wood, hay and stubble of the traditions man. (1) Eder is from the Greek presbuteros meaning mature and speaks of the dignity and character of the calling given by the Holy Spirit. They must be blameless, the husband of one wife, not ruled by wine, anger, or the love of money, but patient, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, etc. I Tim 3 Tit 1. (2) Overseer is from the Greek word episkopos from epi meaning over and skopos meaning inspector. In Acts 20:28 it is the elders that the Holy Spirit has made episkopos and only here is it translated overseers. Why in each of the other four places that episkopos is used in the NT, is it translated as the title bishop? Why are the bishops and deacons contrasted one against the other, while the bishops and elders never are? And why are only the bishops and deacons mentioned in both, Phi 1:1 and I Tim 3:1 & 2, with the elders being omitted when we know from I Tim 5:17 that elders were there? The answer to these questions is found in Tit 1:1-7, and Acts 20:28 where elders & episkopos overseers / bishops are shown to be speaking of the same individuals. The more accurate translation is overseers because episkopos is used to show the function of the elders (see #4) but instead the title bishop is used which seems to speak of a separate office “The Bishop”. (3) Shepherd is from the Greek poimaino to be shepherding as in to feed, tend, care-for. It is the verb form of the noun poimen shepherd (see # 5). Both Peter and Paul exhorted the elders as the ones to be shepherding in the local assembly. (4) Taking the oversight is from the Greek episkopeo the verb form of episkopos (#2) and again shows the elders functioning as overseers, overseeing the assembly. (5) Chief Shepherd is from the Greek archipoimen that is used only once in the NT it is from archi meaning chief or head, and poimen meaning shepherd. The Chief Shepherd is contrasted here against those exhorted to shepherd (#3) the flock as His under shepherds and they are the elders. The word poimen is used 18 other times in the NT where it is always translated shepherd except in Eph 4:11 where it is pastor. And he gave…some pastors (poimen) and teachers. Why not use shepherd here also? The scriptures clearly show that those exhorted to shepherd (#3) and to teach in the local assembly were the elders. The elders… who labor in the word and teaching, I Tim 5:17, must…be able to teach, I Tim 3:2, so that he can by sound teaching, both stimulate faith and convict those who contradict Tit 1:9. But instead we have the title "pastor," which seems to speak of yet another separate office. In the original meaning intended in the NT we have one calling spoken of three ways
(At this point we recommend a side study on the root of the words "PASTOR" and "BISHOP".) “You have only one Father, one master, and teacher, the Christ”. Jesus is the one who is to be the head of each and every assembly, which is His body while the elders act as under-shepherds not making the assembly dependent on them but overseeing the assembly, teaching, and encouraging each member to grow up into Christ. The elders are always to be a plurality in the assembly to protect us from a man becoming preeminent, by twisting words into titles. As we have done with “Bishop” and "Pastor," these words like the word church, are from the Latin translation and not a true translation of the original Greek. And it is because of the preeminence of these offices in our history, that they also have been forced on the scriptures, making it seem that the scriptures validate this form of leadership with its titles. But if we simply listen to God’s word and not our traditions, we find that Jesus Himself has taught us concerning the error of spiritual titles. “You are not to be called ‘Rabbi’ for you have only one master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone upon the earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and He is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be abased and whoever humbles himself will be exalted”. Matt. 23:8-12. He has told us clearly that spiritual titles usurp the place of God; and exalt one man above another, creating a system that takes us from the freedom of this New Covenant reality in Christ, and returns us to the bondage of an Old Covenant hierarchy, with a priestly caste standing between God and man, to minister before God for us and to minister for God to us.But Jesus has rejected this whole system with its hierarchy over His people saying. “It is written in the prophets they shall all be taught by God”. Jn 6:45. And again “you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them (the people), and their high officials exercise authority over them (the rulers). Not so with you. Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave”. Mt 20:25-27. Jesus' words are clear "not so with you," no hierarchy, no titles, no lording it over any one. And yet today we still call men Bishop, Pastor, Father or Reverend. We may even have a Head Pastor or Pope. Don’t you hear Jesus saying, “call no one Pastor or rather Shepherd?” because we are all brothers and He is “the Shepherd (poimen) and Overseer (episkopos) of your souls” I Pet 2:25. Jesus is the one and only “Chief Shepherd” (Head Pastor). By the way, the only place reverend is even used in the scripture it describes God, “holy and reverend is His name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” Ps. 111: 9,10. Have we no fear of God? Where is the wisdom in blatantly disregarding His commands? “As it is written, these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They are worshiping me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men…you are so busy holding on to the traditions of men you ignore Gods commands...Thus you nullify the word of God by your traditions”. Mk. 7:6-13 “My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have hewn out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water”. Jer 2:13 “And He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, to equip God’s people, preparing them (God’s people) to do the work of ministry, building up the body of Christ” Eph 4:11,12. Whether Paul, Apollos or Cephas; the world, life, death, the present or the future, everything is yours “Therefore let no one glory in men. For all things are yours: for you belong to Christ and Christ to God” I Cor. 3:21-23. Yes He gave some as gifts to His assembly to teach, oversee and shepherd. But those given are not The Teacher, The Shepherd, The Overseer or whatever other words we may use to puff ourselves up. Take teacher as an illustration, in Matt 23 Jesus said to call no man teacher because only He is our teacher. In John 14,15 He tells us that the Spirit of truth will teach us all things, guide us into all truth, reveal Jesus to us, and cause us to remember everything that He has taught us. And I John 2 tells us that we need no man to teach us because the anointing we have received teaches us everything. Yet we Know that He gives some to teach, and that the elders are exhorted to teach. So then, what the under shepherds are to teach is how to abide and walk in the anointing so that the assembly receives from the true Teacher; If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus”. Eph 4:21. “In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge … For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” Col 2:3-10. |
| Each one of these gifts He has given to us are a measure of His fullness, flowing through the individual members, and are intended for the building up of the whole body in Him. But when we take them unto ourselves they become titles elevating us, making it appear that we are the head. Usurping His place, we have become “those having a form of Godliness but standing in denial of its power… always learning but never able to grasp the truth”. II Tim 3:1-7. “Such people, bursting with the futile conceit of their worldly mind, lose hold upon the head, but it is from the head that the whole body, by joints and ligaments, receives its nourishment and thus knit together increases with the increase of God”. Col 2:19 “Until we all come in the unity of the faith…unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”. Eph 4:13. “That they all may be one…I in them and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one.” Jn 17:21-23. When we seek to serve Him and Him alone as, KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS. The author and finisher of our faith, the source, the guide and the goal of the assembly. Exalting Him as the one and only head over all things to the assembly; then will we discover that He is the antidote to all our divisions because He is our unity! “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from; Repent and do the first works”. Rev 2:4. “You say I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you fail to realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; And white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has ears to hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”.Rev 3:17-22. Please e-mail your response to ekklesia@aotfb.com Return to the article index . |
| God gave Jesus to be head over all things to the assembly, His body”. In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul is praying for us, that we might come to understand our glorious calling in Christ. His prayer is “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, would give unto us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; so that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened; that we might know what the hope of His calling is, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us so that we who believe might fully experience the exceeding greatness of His power”. (With all we are this must become the cry of our hearts “Lord that I might receive my sight”.) Then in verse 23 he says that, “God gave Jesus to be head over all things to the assembly, which is His body the fullness of Him that fills all in all”. Notice that he doesn’t say we are like a body, but that the assembly is His body, “The Body of Christ” this is not simply a metaphor but in actuality it is the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, revealed to us through three distinct parts. 1. First and foremost God gave Christ Jesus our Lord, to be head over all things to the assembly, which is His body. While walking upon the earth Jesus was the body of Christ. “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell” Col 1:19. Now having been exalted to the right hand of the Father, He has become the head, and we His people, the assembly; we are His body, the fullness of Him that fills everything. “Of His fullness we have all received” Jn. 1:16. “Unto each one of us is given grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ. This is why it says: when He ascended on high He... gave gifts unto men…He is the head, and on Him the whole body depends. Because it is from Him that we are made strong, by that which every joint (you & me) supplies, according to the effectiveworking by which every part (us) does its share, the whole body grows unto the building up of itself in love” Eph. 4. In Him dwells all the fullness of the God head bodily and you are complete in Him who is the head… from whom the whole body, by joints and ligaments, (us again) receives its nourishment and thus knit together increases with the increase of God” Col. 1&2 Even more than a King over His Kingdom, Jesus is LORD the head of all principalities and power, and the functioning head over His own body. 2. Second we have the Holy Spirit our spiritual lifeblood who connects us to our head, uniting and empowering us. “Jesus… being exalted to God’s right hand and having received the promise of the Father…He has poured this fourth” Acts 2:33. “Now there are different gifts but the same Spirit… The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the benefit of all…As the human body, which has many parts is a unity, and those parts, despite being many, are one single body, so it is with Christ. For we are all baptized by one spirit into one body I Cor 12. 3. Third the members of His body, “now you are the body of Christ and each of you an individual member” I Cor. 12. For we are members of His body of His flesh and of His bones.” Eph. 5. The word “member” used here and through out the NT is translated from the Greek word melos, which literally means a limb of the body. Just as our physical limbs are defined by their function in the body ears-hear, nose-smells etc. In the same way it is our spiritual gifts that define each member in the Body of Christ. Jesus has given each one of us a place and purpose in His body, and as we yield ourselves completely to Jesus, our head, allowing the gifts of the Spirit to be manifest through us we begin to function to the building up of the whole body. . God has placed each member in His Body according to His design giving the manifestation of the Spirit to each one for the benefit of all! “I thank my God continually for you because of the grace God which is yours in Jesus Christ. That in everything you are enriched by Him in every spoken word and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that you are not lacking in any gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. I Cor 1:7. “Now there are different gifts but the same Spirit. Differences of service but the same Lord. Executed in various ways but it is the same God working all in all. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the benefit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom…to another the word of knowledge… to another faith…to another gifts of healing… to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But the one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills…God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as He pleased” I Cor 12. Having Then gifts that differ according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them … prophesying in proportion to our faith… in our serving…in teaching…in exhortation …giving with liberality …leading with diligence… showing mercy with cheerfulness … loving without hypocrisy” Rom 12.“ In the last days I will pour My Spirit out upon all flesh. Your son and daughters will prophesy your young men will see visions and old men will dream dreams” Acts 2:17. “Earnestly desire the best gifts… seeking above all to excel in those which build up the assembly … To sum it up, when you gather together, each one of you has a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation or an interpretation. Let all things be done to buildup the assembly” I Cor 14. “Where two or three gather together in my name, there I am in them, that they all may be one” "In the unity of the faith unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ". “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks let him speak as the very word of God; if any serve, do so with strength that God gives. So that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever.” I Pet. 4: 10,11. Oh what a glorious revelation when God opens our eyes to see the wonder of this “great mystery, concerning the Lord and the assembly” Eph 5:32. “The mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and from generations, but is now revealed to the saints…the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in (among) you, the hope of glory. Col 1: 26,27. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or even imagine, by the power that is at work among us, to Him be glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus from generation to generation for ever and ever” Eph 3:14-21. “Please bear with me, I am jealous for you, with a divine jealousy; for I betrothed you to Christ, thinking to present you as a chaste virgin to her true and only husband. But as the serpent in his cunning seduced Eve, I am afraid that your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”. II cor 11:1-3. Now the question must be asked when did this glorious mystery the assembly, become simply an institution? Or how did it change from “greet the assembly” to “greet those who come to your church”? To understand how this could happen, we need only to look at the history of Israel. In Exodus we see that God through Moses led them out of Egypt through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. But it was Joshua and not Moses that God used to lead them through the Jordan River and into the Promise Land, where God ruled as their King through Joshua and the judges with the elders. In I Sam. 8:1-22 we learn that they rejected God, and chose instead to appoint a man to rule over them as their king. If the king was a godly king God blessed them, but if the king was a wicked king God judged them. History tells us that because of their wicked kings God’s judgment was that they be led out of the Promise Land, and taken as captives into the kingdom of Babylon. “Now all these things happened to them as examples,and they are written for our instruction”. I Cor 10:11. Again and again Israel’s experiences are allegories to teach us spiritual truth. Their coming out of Egypt pictures our being called out of the world their passing through the Red Sea our baptism. But even more specifically Moses is a picture of the Old Covenant “the law” and as such he could not lead them into the Promise Land because the law can never make us acceptable to God. This truth is pictured for us again by the very reason Moses was not allowed to enter the Promise Land. Remember the first time God caused water to flow from the rock, He told Moses to strike the rock. Ex. 17:5,6. The second time God told Moses to speak to the rock but Moses struck the rock again. Num. 20:8-12. We need to look deeper to see what is being taught us today. “That Rock was Christ” I Cor. 10:4, and striking it is a picture of our relationship with Him being based on the old covenant of the law. “Moses writes of the righteousness by- the-law when he says that the man who perfectly obeys the law shall find life in it.” Rom. 10:4. “As it is written, a curse is on all who do not persevere in doing everything that is written in the Book of the Law”. Gal. 3:10. And speaking to the rock is a picture of the new covenant. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead you will be saved …For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” Rom. 10: 9,13. So we see in Moses not only a picture of the law, but also of those who continue to serve the old covenant of the law, they cannot enter the Promise Land; which is a picture of our entering His rest, that true land The Kingdom of God. “They (Israel) could not enter in because of unbelief… Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience”. Heb 3-4.The man Oshea, the son of Nun, makes this picture even clearer for us when we consider the reason Moses renamed him Joshua Num. 13:8,16. The word Joshua is from the Hebrew Yehowshua (Jehovah saved) and translates into the Greek as Iesous which in turn translates into English as Jesus. The same word but they each translate into English differently. Moses who is a picture of the law couldn’t take Israel into the Promise Land. But Joshua who is a foreshadowing of Jesus led them in. Even so those who realized their inability to follow the law and putting their faith in Jesus were on the day of Pentecost led into the Kingdom of God. The assembly was born and in Jesus all the types and shadows found their fulfillment. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords head of all principalities and power and the head over all things to the assembly, which is His body the fullness of Him that fills all in all. And as in Israel of old “They appointed elders in each assembly”. Acts 14:22, With Jesus as the head; the elders were under shepherds, overseeing the flock of God, teaching and encouraging the members to mature in the Spirit growing up in Christ, each one using their gifts for the building up of the whole body. “Be on your guard; don’t let anyone take you captive through philosophy, empty deceitful arguments, based on traditions of man-made teaching, centered on the elementary ideas belonging to this world and not after Christ Col 2:8. |
| A challenge to the church of our day. |