Can you imagine a defense force in which there were Field Marshalls, Generals, Colonels, Majors, Captains and Lieutenants, all of whom knew a good deal about withstanding enemy attack, yet their troops were largely stay at home civilians? In this example, the troops are expected to put on their uniforms and assemble on the parade ground at the army base once a week. For most of the time while they are on parade, they are simply required to stand ‘at ease’ listening to accounts of bygone battles and army regulations. At the end of each lecture they are brought to ‘stand at attention’ before they are marched off the parade ground, dismissed and allowed to return home, remove their uniforms and resume their civilian life? If this description bears some resemblance to the organization and operation of much of the church on earth today it is the intention to do so.

So let us open our New Testament and take a look at how God really does intend that His church should  operate and act as the testimony of Jesus Christ on earth today.

In the example above, only the Field Marshalls and Generals would have direct access to the Supreme Commander, whereas every member of God’s army, His church, is given the right to direct access to their Supreme Commander, at any time of day or night. Through Jesus we ‘have our access in one Spirit to the Father’. Ephesians 2:18.

There are no official positions in God’s army. There is no chain of command. Jesus told His disciples “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.  Matthew 23:9-10. If we have ears to hear His commands and we act in obedience with the will of our ‘Leader, that is, Christ’, then we shall perfectly perform His will ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.

‘Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it’. 1 Corinthians 12:27. All the members of our body have different functions and yet, as the brain directs them, every member is performing its function in harmony with other members, so that the body acts in perfect unity. That is precisely how God desires that His body, the church, will function also.

‘And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various  kinds of tongues’. 1 Corinthians 12:28. The heart, the lungs, the liver, the stomach and the kidneys may be primary performers within our body yet, without the tiniest vein providing its flow of blood, some small tissues will be affected.  So God intends it to be within the church, the body of Christ. No matter how significant the contribution of the primary performers each one is wholly dependent upon the Head.

‘Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body’. The members of the body of Christ are never off duty. They belong utterly to Him. He bought each member of His body to be His own forever, by paying the highest price possible through the willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross of Calvary. Our life was given to each one of us that its primary purpose would be to glorify God.

‘Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God’.  2 Corinthians 5:20. As members of God’s army we are provided with a uniform that tells everyone we meet that ‘we are ambassadors for Christ’. Once we came to Jesus in repentance and faith we were no longer servants of this world. We left our former civilian life forever. Our uniform is the testimony of Jesus that we bear all the time and wherever we go. We may dishonour it, but it is still upon us.

Surely we must now admit that the church today is not structured or operating in accordance with the Scriptures. This is why its impact is not at all in keeping with the church which had such a tremendous influence throughout the Roman world and far beyond.  Jesus Christ must be unrivalled Lord of each individual member of His body and of its operation. In Christ, every member plays an essential part in God’s army in standing against the wiles of His enemy, Satan. As such, each one must become a fully trained and equipped soldier of Jesus Christ. The seasoned and experienced members are not given to rule over the common and uncomely members. They are God’s appointed gifts ‘for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ….’

Please feel free to share your thoughts below. When you have finished with this post you may return to the main Posts page. https://hisupwardcall.com/posts/