Today’s Apostle
— Beginning —
While this is not
intended to be an article on everything about apostles, it is intended as an idea
of where apostles will begin at least in concept. Without a picture or “vision” people will run
amuck. Too many times we are called on
to trouble shoot or “cover” and we weren’t built to cover anything. We surely aren’t supposed to parade around telling
everyone how many churches are under us.
We are supposed to be under the church.
No sooner does the word
apostle come up, that the name Paul does too.
The apostle Paul’s life has left an impression
on the church that established him as the standard of apostolic ministry. He
would wince at that thought. My own view
is that there will never be another Paul, nor do I think God intended for there
to be one. That would lead to idolatry.
What we will see,
however, are people in the apostolic ministry who will:
1) Follow
his example in following Christ,
2) Be
similar in purpose, but not identical in style,
3) Recognize other apostolic people in the bible as examples
from whom to learn,
4) Look
to Jesus as the best role as a “sent one” to finish the work given them.
(Builders
finish the work given them.)
I consider these basics
in foundation for my own life and ministry. The earliest examinations of my
ministry left me in a heap until the Lord spoke through the words of Paul and reminded
me that those “comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise” 2
Corinthians
— The Identity
Crisis Facing Today’s Apostle —
Somewhere between “they
no longer exist” and “they haven’t yet arrived” is where we are. We can be
found among those who are the Saul types, the pretenders and wannabes. We don’t look like what you would think an apostle
looks like and we would agree with you.
We are endeavoring to emerge for the churches sake and disappear for the
same reason, for we cannot become the new idols on the block. We must become known and unknown at the same
time. We believe like John the Baptist that
Christ must increase and we must decrease simultaneously. Our greatest credential is not that we have
seen Christ but that we do see Christ being formed in the body. It is our one
consuming passion; He must be all in all.
Our greatest personal crisis is that we know that we aren’t what we will
be, but are called to do the work anyway.
It makes us dependent!
If ever there was a time
for the apostle to be recognized and accepted, it is now. We need the time to prove our ministry to
today’s leaders of churches. We probably
won’t do miracles right away
although we are doing them. Miracles
will show up as needed by the Lord, not by the people. However, the biggest miracle we’ll do is to
transform the church from its present audience minded, personality based,
entertainment styled, controlled, managed, limited ineffective representation
of Christ and his life into the living entity called the Body of Christ. It is no less a miracle than that of turning
the Queen Mary around in the
What gives us this faith is of course God’s word to us according
to Eph. 4:11-16. We have another witness
though, the body itself, including the leadership. There is a growing hunger for the “real
thing”. Leaders standing before several
thousands of members, secure with church bank accounts full of tithes, and all
the right ministries functioning are confessing, they know it isn’t all there
is. They have a growing dissatisfaction
with what they have accomplished even though, by other churches standards, they
have arrived. God is speaking to their
hearts that it won’t stand the test of fire, 1Corinthians
The apostles of the early church were busy building the church as
something new. There was no church and
sometimes no synagogue from which to draw any idea of an assembly representing
Jesus. The early apostles could start
from the beginning with the right foundations and build upon them. They had the privilege of working with a
blank canvass rather than a pre-existing picture of “church”. Today, much of what is accepted as church
format has gone unchallenged. It is entrenched
in tradition and has its limited track record.
It measures its productivity by other churches and feels it is doing a
good job, good enough to tell others to follow their “pattern”. Thus seminars and conferences perpetuating
the whole thing abound. How could anyone
argue with success? Is it?
Nehemiah may well be the most important “rebuilder”
to look at when considering today’s church structure and results. His first job was to look at the ruins and
inspect the foundation upon which to begin the work, Nehemiah.2:12-15. Obviously, more can be extracted from this
passage, but I merely wish to stress the importance of checking out the
condition of the churches that apostles are now going to work with. Often we are dealing with walls that are broken
down; these walls are made of “living stones” many of which are torn down,
burnt with fire, disconnected. Many
times this is the result of improperly established foundations of church life,
based more on ministries, events and following the crowd in the newest
trend. There can be no other foundation
except Jesus. We can build on nothing
else.
The apostle of
today must look to see that Jesus is the foundation, the Head of the
body and all in all, completely filling the church, which is his
body. Jesus is the source of all
ministries, the one who chooses those who minister and by the Holy Spirit, (the
anointing power, grace) the one who affects the results. Many times the church has already begun to
see the need to be rebuilt. But,
sometimes the apostle must not only point out what needs change, but the one
who brings
about the pulling down of what is not of
God, Jeremiah. 1:10.
It is good to note, however, that the Holy Spirit usually
precedes the apostle to a work by already beginning the process of “pulling
down” and destroying the little kingdoms we have built. The most recent outpouring of the Spirit had
an additional goal of dismantling that which was not of God and not just refresh the
believer. Many know that what they
experienced during the move of the Spirit was more than laughter. He began to show the church what they needed
to release from their hands, and what had to be placed in God’s hand.
But without the presence
of apostles who could follow up, the church went back to its old ways assuming
that they had a visitation, not knowing God wanted a habitation. When God took over a meeting and completely
upset the “order” of church according to man, He wasn’t playing.
The history of Nehemiah
is one that parallels ours in that he came out of captivity with many captives
looking to rebuild
This perfecting of the
body is an apostolic mission that must take priority today. Just as every member had his place on the
wall and was directly next to another, in Nehemiah’s day, so will every member
take his and her place on the “wall” building with every gift and five fold
ministry in the body, Ephesians 4:16. It
will take the whole body to rebuild the whole body, not just a few. Part of our ministry is to recognize and
release people into ministry. I am
talking both five–fold and body life ministries. You will be amazed at what God has already
placed in the body and is seated in the congregation…waiting.
As Christ fills the body
and replaces the religious
structures, then the church will be that which displaces the
enemy in the earth. Our strength is in
Him. Our strength is not in our numbers,
our organization, our programs nor our wisdom.
The “master builders” are receiving blueprints from the throne with a
mandate to follow them to completion.
They need your prayers and your support.
They are not coming to take over the church, but to help you make over
the church. God alone will take over the church. It is His and not ours. Amen.
Blessings In Christ,
This
Ephesians Ministries International®
article is a publication of Ephesians Ministries International®.
Ephesians
Ministries International,
Http://ephesiansministries.org