Subject: How to "win the world" ? |
Bible Note: I found all of your comments very interesting because the echo many of my own. The Americanization of the "Church" is one of the enemy's greatest accomplishments. We have people who attend the assembly to be entertained, rather than to praise and worship God. Much of this is fostered by an overriding purpose to be the biggest church in town, not the most mature. There a number of contributing factors. One is the competition among pastors of even the same fellowship. They strive to become the fastest growing, numerically, as if that is a measure of one's success. Another is the lack of correct structure in the churches. There always is a Pastor, who may also be a Teacher, but if they have any relationship with an Evangelist it is most likely on a sporadic basis. The inclusion of a Prophet as part of a body of believers is so rare as to make one believe thay have all but become extinct, and of course Apostles have dissapeared from the face of the earth. It's funny, but Ephesians 4:11 and following says, "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; Eph 4:15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. I don't know about everybody else, but that says to me that we need all of those ministries in the Body Of Christ for us to become mature, functioning, spirit filled believers. If God has given all of those gifts to the "Church", what has the "Church" done with them. They have decided which ones they want and which ones they don't want, much the same as some who call themselves believers in Jesus Christ, reject certain parts of God's Word having to do with the baptism in The Holy Spirit. They decide which part they will believe and which part they will reject. Now, if we can believe God's Word in Ephesians then the "Church" is trying to function without some of the gifts that God gave it, and expecting to be complete and proper, because you'd be hard pressed to find a gathering of believers where all of those ministries are present. I have only known a few, a handfull at most. Where the five fold ministries are present the people mature and they graduate to ministry themselves, and out of their midst rise up other apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and the body perpetuates itself, just like God intended. Picture the Body of Christ as a human body. It is composed of, a head, a body, two arms, and two legs. God established the "Church" in a similar manner. Christ of course is the head, and the body, arms, and legs are the five fold ministries. They are part of what comprises the whole, not seperate artifical limbs that get attached when you feel like it. I have often taught that a believer can be considered a member of the Body of Christ when they begin to function as the part that God has chosen for them to be, just as God has laid out in 1 Cor.2 67 1 Cor 12:16 And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. 68 1 Cor 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 69 1 Cor 12:21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." Some churches have membership papers that you must sign to be considered memeberof that group, but brothers and sisters you get into the Body of Christ the same way you got into your earthly family, ... you are born into it, and no signature on piece of paper can alter that, or authenticate your salvation. When you begin to function as the foot, or finger, or elbow, or eye, or whatever you have been called to be you are part of the Body by your functioning, not by signing up. The Body of Christ will never function as God intended until these discrepencies have been corrected. |