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Life By God’s Law
Led by God’s Spirit and God’s word, His people live by His law. The kingdom of God is Christians living in strict accordance with God’s law-word. This law, in its simplest expression, is first, loving God and second, loving one’s neighbor as one’s self (Matt. 22: 36-40).
To love God is to recognize and respect Him as the Creator and lawgiver of the universe and to obey Him in every detail of this precious law-word He has generously provided man to guide him throughout his life in this world. Seeking the kingdom of God is an aspect of loving God (John 14:15).
Loving neighbor as self means obeying God’s law with respect to one’s neighbor. The neighbor is seen as someone to be helped and not a competitor or a person to be exploited (Luke 10:30-37). Within the kingdom, society is organic, consisting of brothers and sisters in Christ, all members of a larger family, the family of God. Those outside the kingdom are seen as fellow creatures of God that need help. They need to be shown by example and by word what the kingdom is all about and why they need to repent, ask God to forgive them, and beg Him to accept them into His kingdom.
As these two injunctions take hold and begin to spread out and permeate a people, enormous changes in personal interrelationships begin to appear. Strife disappears; competition becomes cooperation; and people, sensing the mutual respect and affection, can connect with one another and communicate from their hearts. This begins within the Christian community but many outsiders are attracted to it and it soon spreads beyond. It is a consequence of Jesus’ words: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).
For the true Christian, there can be no authority other than Christ and no law other than God’s Law. Civil officials have God-given responsibilities and should be respected as God’s appointed servants. They are to be obeyed because Christ requires it but only to the extent they do not require what God forbids or forbid what God requires (Acts 5:29; Rom. 13: 1-7; Tit. 3:1; 1 Pet. 2:13-16). The authority that is obeyed is Christ and not His servant, the civil official.
This may seem to be a rather trivial distinction but it is actually most significant. It is important that Christians not lose sight of who they really are, the chosen delegates of a higher authority, one that supersedes all human authority. They are responsible only to Christ and are His appointed agents, chartered to bring this government and all governments into line with their Master’s will. In every interaction with, or consideration of such officials, Christians should be mindful of this awesome responsibility. They should not forget that they are a part of a great force, one that is dedicated to changing this world and that will eventually shape the laws these men enforce so as to bring them into complete conformity with God’s law (Matt. 28:19-20). Christians should always remember that they are Christ’s servants and therefore stand on very high ground. They must be humble but not allow their humility to interfere with their perception of reality and responsibility.
Church Structure, a Danger
God’s kingdom is now in disarray; its members are scattered across many independent churches, denominations, and Catholicism. There are many competing theological perspectives, the proponents of each seemingly certain that their particular views are totally correct. What is either entirely missing, or so tiny as to be invisible in today’s churches, is the vitality of the early ecclesia assemblies. How can it be restored? How can the kingdom of God be unified once again? The kingdom of God is in the hands of the Christian believers but it cannot function as independent families working on their own. Interfamilial cooperation cannot be dispensed with; Christians have been blessed by God with different spiritual gifts, all of which are needed for the proper functioning of the body (1 Cor. 12).
A danger associated with churches, however, is structure. The less capable members look to the more capable, not just for guidance, but as leaders to follow and structure is formed. It seems utterly reasonable to increase efficiency by employing such structure. But there is a side-effect, one that has grown into a serious problem. We are not dealing here with machines or inanimate resources but with God’s creatures, creatures that have the ability to grow in grace and develop into a powerful force. When Christ is their leader, they must hear His voice and be sure it is His voice and not another’s that they hear. This leads them to serious personal study of His word and they become more able and more willing to do His work. They also become more responsible and more capable of bearing the great authority that God places on them. They become His kings and priests in this world (Rev. 1:6; 5:10).
All this is seriously compromised when organizational structure is introduced into the Christian assembly. Teachers are vital to progress and are much needed but they especially need to guard against the temptation to structure the assembly and become its leaders. When structure is introduced, responsibility and then authority shift from the families to the leader or leaders and the assembly gradually loses its God-intended, self-governed and self-motivated character. It becomes an impotent church, perhaps led by a dynamic pastor or two but with a spectator congregation instead of an active and vital membership.
Trinity, Incarnation and Re-Creation
Trinity
God is the One in Three; three Persons that constitute one God. How is this possible? How can three ever be just one? Is this a mystery that contradicts reason? It’s not impossible, nor must it be considered a mystery we must just accept; there is a logical explanation:
The three Persons are so perfectly and completely of one mind that all their thoughts and actions are always in agreement. Each is so fully God that two or three together have no greater knowledge or ability than any One alone. Each knows all there is to know and all Three together don’t know any more. When any One of the Three acts, it is an act of God, as if all have acted. This total completeness of each person and their absolute unanimity is what makes them One. These three distinct persons constitute the One eternal God, the totality of eternal being.
The only mystery here for us is one we create, due to our tendency to see things in human terms. We associate being with substance instead of mind. We are made in His image but He is absolute, infinite, and perfect while we are limited, finite, and fallible. We are not gods ourselves but we don’t need to be gods to see that the notion of the Trinity need not be a mystery.
Incarnation
This Triune God created the universe and decided, in perfect unanimity, that they would each assume different names and roles with respect to the creation; these are known to man as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In these roles they have established subordination among their Persons but in themselves they are, always have been, and always will be, fully equal.
In the incarnation, the second Person of the Trinity took on human flesh and became the God-man. In this, He did not become less God; He remained fully God but was also fully man in that His Spirit was in a man’s body and He experienced birth, growth, youth, maturity, pain, hunger, all the feelings of a man. He was and is the second Person of the Trinity, a spirit being, in human flesh—a perfect union of the two natures. Christ is the bridge between God and man.
Re-Creation
Christ, on the Cross paid the sin-debt of all believers and thereby created a new race of mankind—Christians. They, as all mankind, are both flesh and spirit but have in addition the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, living within them.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17)
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Gal. 6:15)
This totally new phenomenon, the indwelling of the Spirit, divided mankind into two separate kinds of creatures. Those without the indwelling Spirit cannot see, much less enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3-5); those with Him constitute that kingdom. They are new creatures in Christ who is their one and only Lord. Externally they appear to be unchanged but the eternal God resides within, transforming them to become more and more like Him as they progress toward their final destiny—perfection.
The Family
Marriage is the norm for mankind; the idea of the lone individual living on his own is an exception reserved for special circumstances such as existed in the early church (1 Cor. 7:1-9). Husband and wife are one flesh and should, as their relationship matures, become increasingly united in mind and purpose Gen. 2:24; Mark 10:8; Eph. 5:31). Their children need to see that togetherness and become a part of it as well. The family then becomes a unit, bonded together in love and faith, a functional element in the body of Christ, a force dedicated to the renewal of the world.
The family is a reflection of the godhead where we see the Father, the Son and the Spirit in perfect union governing their creation. God tells us that we have been created in His image as individuals but also as families. We should emulate our Creator and, other than in special circumstances, live as families. They should work toward achieving God’s ideal: to be united and unified in purpose, with all their members content and satisfied in their respective roles. Wherever possible, what families do they should do together; each member contributing (as ability permits) to all it does. Divorce should be unthinkable and seen as an extreme disaster, greater even than death.
The members of the godhead do not act as independent individuals but always act in complete unity with each other. Sinful man today does not have such unity within his families and therefore acts primarily as disjoint individuals. Unity in the larger society must begin with unity in the family. The family is everyone’s original training ground. What is learned there is never really lost. It colors everything that is learned subsequently. Today’s disjoint families cannot bring unity to the larger society because they have little or no unity in themselves.
Godly families, though, should emulate their Creator by attempting to approach Him in unity as in all other respects. Without diminishing their individual roles within the family, each member should strive to constantly improve the level of family unity. As this objective is taken seriously and pursued, godly families will become less fragmented and more of one mind. They will then be able to export their internal unity to the larger society and the world will gradually change.
Families form the core of society and societal organizations and contribute toward the shaping of the larger society. Families that are unified within themselves bring their values with them wherever they go and cannot help but influence their corner of society. When like-minded families join together and act in unison, their influence is magnified and can become world-changing. This is the means whereby the Christian faith will one day become the universal faith of all the nations.
The Great Commission
After His resurrection, Jesus, speaking to His disciples said:
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28:18-20)
These words hark back to the commission given to Adam and Eve to take dominion over the earth and raise up a godly progeny that would fill it to God’s glory (Gen. 1:28). Jesus says first, that He now has all power in heaven and earth. Heaven and earth denotes that His power is over men and angels, both spiritual and earthly; it is not limited, as some seem to believe, to the spiritual only. He has been given all power over the nations of the world. He is now the rightful ruler of all the peoples and nations.
Second, He sends his divinely empowered delegates into the world to do two things; a) to teach the nations (via the Gospel) the message of salvation and baptize them into the faith and b) to teach the nations, His nations, the nations now under His rule and authority, to obey all His commandments—e.g. God’s Law (Matt. 5: 17-18). What is involved in this second teaching requirement? Is it just to teach the law so that all can know God’s requirements? Is it just to warn the nations of the consequences of disobedience? No, just as a tutor of children is expected to continue teach the children until they actually learn their lessons and cannot cease teaching until they do learn, so the nations are to be taught until they actually obey all Christ’s commandments! The charge to all Christians in this commission is to actually bring all the nations of the world into obedience to every detail of God’s law.
This is nothing less than a requirement to make the nations of the world Christian nations and to make the world a Christian world. This is exactly what God commanded Adam and Eve to do and what they failed to do because of sin. God intentions, though, are never frustrated; He sent His Son, the second Adam, into the world to do what the first Adam failed to do. This He did on the Cross by paying the sin-debt of every believer and creating His body, the new Eve. Here, in this commission, Christ commands His Bride, all the faithful, to give birth to a wholly new world, the very world Adam and Eve failed to produce.
We see here that God’s people are charged to communicate two messages to the world; both Law and Gospel are necessary to fulfill this commission and to complete the work Christ began at the Cross. The Gospel reaches into the hearts of the people and awakens the elect to their calling as the Seed of the Woman and God’s servants. God’s Law awakens and teaches the nations how they must live as God’s subjects.
Third, Christ promises to be with His chosen people at all times until the end of the world. Because He is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, this presence is not a bodily presence but is in the form of the Holy Spirit that indwells all believers. This factor should not be trivialized; the presence of the third Person of the Holy Trinity within the believer is a source of power that can overcome every obstacle. It can make giants of the lowest and weakest of men and women and can empower them to conquer every enemy that attempts to impede this commission.
An important question here is: to whom are these words addressed? It cannot be only the eleven disciples that were physically present for a) they would not be here to the end of the age and b) they were clearly incapable of teaching all the nations in their lifetimes. Some say it is only directed to the pastors and missionaries that have undergone specific training in the presentation of the Gospel message. This, however, does not address the second requirement of teaching the nations to obey God’s law, a societal and political task involving every aspect of life. It can only be a command to do what Adam failed to do, to undo the damage Satan introduced and to make this world a Christian world.
This is a task requiring the full effort of every Christian in every walk of life. Clearly, it is every true, born-again believer that Jesus speaks to in this Great Commission. Only they, working as the salt of the earth and the light of the world, are adequate to fulfill this task (Matt. 5:13-16).
Christ came to undo the damage caused by the Fall; He came to save the world, the entire world, not just a few sinners (John 3: 16 and 17). The Great Commission is His command to put into effect the consequences of the victory He won at the Cross. It cannot be limited in any way, such as by reducing it to a call to evangelism. Every aspect of man’s existence on earth is affected. Jesus instructs us to baptize the nations, not just the people of the nations. How, though, is a nation to be baptized? It can’t be dipped in water, can it? No, but baptism is a symbol of cleansing and a nation is baptized by cleansing its laws and its culture. God is a holy God and cannot abide sin in any form. Every aspect of man’s life on earth must be cleansed of every trace of sin and all must gleam in perfect shining whiteness before He will be satisfied.
This is the task Christ set before His chosen followers, one that needs to be taken seriously. The goal is nothing less than perfection. It seems impossible! How can sinful man ever realize such a lofty goal? On his own he cannot but we are not alone; the Holy Spirit is with us and for Him nothing is impossible. We must put aside our fears and stop worrying about our inadequacies. We are not alone; God is with us and will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).[1]
The law aspect of the commission, which is vital to the growth and vigor of the faith, has been neglected in recent history and we can see how detrimental to progress this has been. Europe, once known as “Christendom,” has essentially left the faith. America still has many Christians but its laws, its schools and its culture have been stripped of their formerly Christian character and it is no longer a Christian nation. Why is this so? How did this once solidly Christian nation fall so low? It is only because the law aspect of the Great Commission has been neglected and unbelief has been permitted to fester. At first it was hidden in the shadows but gradually it grew and gained in numbers, power and influence, until now it commands the national government, its schools and every aspect of public life. These are the consequences of partial obedience, which is disobedience, to God.
[1] This verse contains a precious promise; the word translated “never” is two words, “not” and “no” so we have here a double negative. This in the Greek connotes great emphasis; the Spirit is giving us His assurance that there is no possibility whatever that He will ever depart and place us on our own.
Unity in Truth
Christianity today is highly diversified. The present day lack of unity has weakened the Christian witness to the world and humanism is rapidly taking control of America as it already has in Europe. The apostle Paul told us that this is not God’s intent. He has given us leaders and teachers in order to bring us all into the unity of the faith. This unity, we are told, must be “of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” It’s purpose is: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine…” (Eph. 4:11-13).
In other words, it must be a unity in the truth. It cannot be a unity based on a least common denominator in which much of the truth is absent. Such an attempt at unity is bound to fail. It cannot survive because, it ignores the very differences that caused the diversity to begin with. Actually, unity is only possible in the truth; false elements cause dissention and tend to destroy unity.
Unity and Knowledge
So then, how can the many diverse elements now present in Christianity ever be unified? Each group believes that they are the possessors of the whole truth and that their view is the only true truth. They each see their way as the only path to unity. This is the present impasse but Scripture points to a way out. We read in 1 Cor. 11:
18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
The context is the Lord’s Supper but Paul’s reference here is to the problem of divisions within the church, which is our situation today. So, instead of attempting to solve this difficult problem on our own, lets take our lead from God’s word. We have here a group of Christian assemblies that disagree with one another to such an extent that a large section of a book of Scripture is dedicated to it. Paul says that heresies existed in Corinth and gives a reason for their existence. They existed so that “they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” The heresies were necessary! They were the vehicle through which the truth would become known. All the views needed to be aired and discussed until all the congregations understood the respective teachings. Heresies were not to be ignored but were to die out through exposure, and in the process, leading to widespread understanding of the truth.
The strong implication here is that the exposure is to be general. It cannot be limited to the pastors or elders but must include the members as well as the leaders. History teaches us that heresies do not originate or develop within the general membership but rather among the leaders and teachers. Such individuals often tend to harden in their respective viewpoints and vehemently resist change. Those that have the charismatic skills can often attract many followers to their views and heresy prospers.
Today, heresies abound. Any individual with or without credentials can start a church in his home or a school and, if he has the right charisma, can lead a great many people astray. The problem is not that there are too many such individuals but that the general population is so ignorant and gullible. Sadly, it is not just the unchurched that are susceptible to heretical ideas; church members, even long-time and otherwise very capable church members, often lack sufficient knowledge of Scripture to resist the heretics.
Here we have the underlying root issue responsible for the divisions we find in Christianity. It is the lack of Scriptural understanding in the great majority of Christians and their inability to resist and check heretical teaching. Very few have a good grasp of their own, let alone other denominational, teachings. Too many are easily led astray by charismatic charlatans. A case in point is dispensationalism, promoted by J. N. Darby and C. I. Scofield, which virtually took over the fundamentalist churches. It contributes greatly to the current lack of unity.
Unity and Doctrine
Unity among physically separate groups is dependent on a common purpose, one that separates them from others. Its effectiveness is dependent on the extent to which this purpose governs their thinking and their lives. A loosely held desire or inclination will not do much while a deeply held sense of life-purpose can effect tight bonds between strangers. When these groups are a small minority or face opposition, the sense of unity is further strengthened.
Prior to the 19th century, the majority or at least a substantial minority of Christians in the West were united in the purpose of establishing and strengthening God’s kingdom on earth. They felt that the entire world would one day be Christian and that they should do whatever they could to bring this about. The methodology employed included effecting cultural change as well as evangelism. The typical Christian that sat in a pew on Sunday felt responsibility for what took place within his or her range of influence. Speech or actions that were in violation of God’s law or word, be it by an individual in civil office, a business man, a man on the street or a child, were rebuked or punished accordingly. Individuals that persisted in such behavior found that they were not re-elected, lost business or were otherwise chastised by the community. Christians were strongly united in this kingdom purpose.
The new 19th century theologies (dispensationalism and amillennialism) that were adopted and taught in the churches discouraged this faith in the future of God’s kingdom on earth and in time. They were highly pessimistic toward the future and deferred any victory of Christianity until after Christ’s return. The only work then left for Christians to do was evangelism; “let’s save as many as we can before time runs out.”
The typical Christian, believing these new doctrines, understandably lost interest in any personal involvement in social activity other than evangelism, an activity that most felt lay in the purview of pastors and missionaries. The old purpose is now gone and its replacement (if we can call it that) holds little interest for the average Christian. Humanism has filled the gap that Christianity left behind and is now in control of all but isolated pockets of Christian culture. Having lost their purpose, Christians lost their unity. The unity of a century or two earlier is now but a pale shadow of what it was. Its power, a doctrinal system that instills a real heart-felt purpose among Christians, has been lost.
Unity and the Church
The church leadership, in just about every denomination, has treated their congregations as sheep that need to be spoon-fed the very basic teachings. Most pastors see themselves as shepherds charged to protect their sheep that, in their opinion, would otherwise be at the mercy of heretics or unbelievers. Often, protection is needed but the best form of protection is knowledge. These sheep-children need to grow up and be able and “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3:15).
A major factor in the sheep-like condition of the great majority of Christians is the two tier structure characteristic of today’s churches. Congregants are not given sufficient reason or incentive to lead them to spend the time and effort needed to acquire an in-depth understanding of Scripture. It entails many hours of reading and study, a commitment that most men would need a good reason to expend. They need to be shown from Scripture that this is something that is required of them and this, the churches do not provide. The few that do demonstrate a significant level of interest (typically younger men) are encouraged to enter a program of study to become pastors. Hence, the development of a two-tier, shepherd-sheep system in which Scriptural knowledge and responsibility are concentrated in the pastor class. This is not the picture of the Body of Christ we see in 1 Corinthians 12. There we see serious participation on the part of the entire congregation, each doing the work the Holy Spirit has equipped them for.
Pastors must stop treating their congregations as children that are unable to deal with doctrine other than on a do this and don’t do that basis. This may be the case today in the majority of typical congregations but even there, a significant number of members are capable of understanding and then teaching many of the others. Christians should be united in the faith and in the knowledge of the faith and must believe with understanding. This process is necessary to achieve the goal of Ephesians 4:13 “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine…”
Unity at the level of pastors and leaders, while desirable, is no substitute for unity among the people. It is the Body of Christ that constitutes His effective force for establishing righteousness and His members cannot do so without a thorough understanding their responsibilities in this regard.
Today’s churches are too top-down oriented. There is too much separation between the leaders and the people and little or no participation by the latter in church affairs. The pastor preaches a sermon; the people listen and then go about their business in life. But their affairs do not include the church; the church is a place they go to be obedient to God and to learn about Him and His word. Christians need to feel that they are not merely spectators but are an integral part of the churches they attend. They should see, for example, that a baptismal ceremony is something they are doing. The pastor is merely the individual designated by the congregation to perform the actions of the ceremony but it is the church body as a whole that is welcoming the new member into its community.
Unity and Freedom
All this is a consequence of a gross misunderstanding of the institution we call the church. It is pictured as a ruling institution that, alongside the state, sits above and rules over the family and the individual. This is a distortion of the biblical picture, where we see the regenerate individual free in Christ and in bondage to no one. He obeys the magistrate “for conscience sake,” because God says he should and then, only when in his opinion, such obedience does not violate God’s commands. This is not subservience it is the free choice of a free individual who sees only Christ, his true Lord and only lawgiver, above him.
The same is true relative to the church. Absolute obedience is only to the Lord and not the pastor or bishop or any other official. He obeys church officials because God tells him to and only when, again in his opinion, the request conforms to God’s word. He is told to “search the Scriptures” to see if what he is being told is true and what he is being asked to do is in conformity with God’s law.
We see here one sense in which Jesus’ saying, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” is true. Freedom is through faith in the truth, the truth that God is God and there is no authority independent of him. All authority is given by God and subject to God’s law and oversight. The Christian, the believer in Christ, while under both church and state is truly free. He obeys the temporal authorities only because his final obedience is to God.
What is more, both church and state are to be the objects of the free man’s dominion work. As God’s prophet, he is to “teach the nations” to obey his Lord (Matt. 28:18-20) and seek “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33). He does these things as God’s free man in his personal life, his family, and both church and state. This means working, within the means that God permits, to promote God’s law in civil government and God’s truth in the church. In this work he can find unity with others of like persuasion.
Restoring Unity
Unity cannot be achieved through meetings of pastors, seminary professors or other institutionally trained individuals. Most are too set in their views and have too many supposedly right answers to the theological questions. Many, if not most pastors are too concerned with loss of members, especially the older members that provide most of the funding, to take any steps that might offend them. Sadly, for many more, the prestige, power or financial security of their positions override all other considerations. In addition, the peer pressure from fellow pastors prevents many from seriously considering any change in their currently held positions.
Seminary professors have a life-long investment in the many students they have inculcated into what they feel certain are the only truly biblical theological positions. This is true also of older pastors that have taught a particular viewpoint all their lives. For these reasons and others, meetings held for the purpose of increasing unity tend to degrade into totally impotent, least-common-denominator endeavors.
But God is not frustrated by disobedient or self-serving organizations. Most Christians are already very upset with today’s godless society and feel it should be more Biblically oriented. God’s law is truly written in their hearts and their desire is to follow its lead; but because they have never been given a biblical basis to support such action, and many pastors actually discourage it, they have been unable to coordinate and take concerted action. Nevertheless, they know in their hearts that Jesus called them to be salt and light and are beginning to act accordingly. As more and more Christians begin to take action to correct the godlessness in the world around them, a unity based on this purpose will develop. This has already begun and will develop more and more rapidly as the culture continues to degrade.
This movement is developing outside of the seminaries and Bible schools. It is springing from the working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people. There is a tension developing between the teachings of the currently popular theologies and what is going on in the world. Christians are feeling with increasing fervor that they must act to correct the trampling-under of God’s commandments regardless of whether or not such action may be in conflict with the theology they hear from their pulpits. Despite all the teaching to the contrary, they are becoming dominion workers by applying God’s law in society.
A second reformation, one that is centered in and driven by God-fearing family heads, is forming. The first reformation, while correcting much of the error and corruption in the church left church and state as rival institutions and therefore lost its original power very early. It made possible the subsequent rise of humanism and its take-over of the greater part of society. But God in His wisdom knew the effect that that would produce in His saints. They needed to feel the scourge of Satan to wake them up and motivate them to become the soldiers for Christ they were destined to be.
Christians and especially pastors and teachers, that already understand the need for Christians to exercise their God-given, dominion work, should encourage others to get involved in this movement. The Body of Christ must be brought together to be in substantial and not just superficial agreement. All must “know the Lord” in a full sense. Mature Christians should be able to walk into almost any church assembly in the world and feel at home with what is being taught. We must become one as the Father and the Son are one (John 17:21-23). We are a long way from that condition today but it must be our goal, something we keep in view and work toward with due diligence.
Follow the Leader? – Why?
Because America’s Christians have neglected the culture, there is much ungodliness in the world today. Critics have laid the blame for this at the feet of poor Christian leaders and it is true that we have many poor leaders, some very poor; but the solution is not good leaders; it is no leaders! Now this may sound foolish but leadership, even with the best of leaders is not the answer. Christians must see that their leader is Christ and that they need to accept the responsibility associated with making Him their only leader. They need teachers but not leaders; they especially need teachers that explain and emphasize this one-to-one relationship between the believer and Christ. Christians need to see themselves as Christ’s emissaries chartered to do His work in this world. They are the Body of which Christ is the only head. The Apostle Paul, writing to the ecclesias in Corinth, said:
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. (1 Cor. 11:3)
The primary thrust of this verse and its context is God’s law for the family but it also says much more. It gives us the God-established order for all of society. Christ is under God and the family head is under Christ. Just as there are no rulers between Christ and God, so also there are no rulers between the family head and Christ. In God’s order, the kingdom of God, any intermediaries (e.g. elders) are there, not as rulers but as representatives of the families that elected them.[i]
Something happens when leaders are interposed between the believer and the Lord. The presence of a leader takes the pressure off the believer and he tends to leave God’s work to his pastor or to whomever he sees as his leader. He doesn’t feel anything even approaching the personal responsibility he would feel as an individual directly responsible to Christ. His motivation to make the necessary time and monetary sacrifices needed to prepare himself and then to get personally involved in really doing God’s work, simply vanishes away.
Christians should view all other Christians, regardless of their prominence, as fellow workers. They should hale their accomplishments and be encouraged by them to do more themselves. Instead, all too often they relax and leave the work to the public figures. They fail to see that their work is the vital element and without it the public figure can really do little if anything. Virtually all realize that their contribution is so small that its loss can’t be of any real significance. In this, they are correct, one voice in a million is not audible; so where is the answer? How can the efforts of the many insignificant workers be enlisted so as to have the whole become an effective force?
The army needs a general that the soldiers obey. That General is Christ but He doesn’t tell us to go and join this or that group to accomplish some grand purpose. He tells us to uphold and defend His standard of justice in everything we do. This is something within the grasp of the individual, something he can accomplish on his own. He can shirk this task also but he can’t rationalize that his contribution is so small as to be insignificant; for this task, his contribution is all there is and he has no excuse for failure.
How then is God’s work to be done and the Great Commission to be fulfilled? The only way is God’s way, which is through the efforts of individual, dedicated Christians acting on their own initiative in obedience to Christ. The great causes, ending the evils of abortion, government schools, homosexual marriage, etc.—all demonstrated failures—should be abandoned. Christians need to forget about the huge national or world-wide problems (which they know in their hearts they can do almost nothing to influence) and focus on their personal responsibility to the Lord. They should disassociate themselves from the great causes and make “the kingdom of God and His righteousness” a real priority in their lives (Matt. 6:33). Each believer needs to see that in any and every situation, he is first of all, the representative of the King of kings who expects him to defend His crown rights against all opposition. In a world that hates Him, this can be difficult and often results in painful recriminations but the true believer will persevere and in the end be blessed.
As more and more Christians see that this is their role and their responsibility, the aggregate effect will become visible and the nation will change. The cumulative cultural impact of the entire body of Christ, acting as individuals standing up for their heavenly Head, would be enormous. Even a relatively small minority of such individuals working entirely independently of one another could, in short order, result in the correction of many of today’s major godless practices.
Lou Poumakis
[i] Where we see the word “obey” used with reference to Christians and their elders or pastors, as in Hebrews 13:17, it is a mistranslation of the original which means “be persuaded” (see here). Christians are called to be students and doers of God’s word not followers of men (Acts 17:11; James 1:22).
Church and State
What does the Bible say about the separation of church and state? Well, we see that in Ancient Israel, there definitely was separation; kings were severely punished for assuming priestly duties (2 Chron. 26:16-21). We see, though, that in Christ, as prophet, priest and king, church and state are integrated. Also, the kingdom of God where Christ is king encompasses both church and state. In it, all believers are kings and priests (Rev. 1:6 and 5:10). The early ecclesias integrated both church and state in a single entity. They were the “called out” ones, separated from both Roman culture and Roman law. They were good citizens and, obeying God, gave unto Caesar that which was Caesar’s but God’s law and not Caesar’s governed their lives, civilly as well as religiously.
Prior to the time of the kings of Ancient Israel, there was no state as such. God was king and ruled both the religious and the civil aspects of His people’s lives through His law (1 Sam. 8:1-8). The kings were a later addition. God granted the people their request for a king but, for His own purposes, kept the church separate and independent of the king. This was the origin of the concept of the separation of church and state, but it came to an end with Christ and Christianity.
God gave His creatures only one law to live by. The Ten Commandments govern man’s relationships to both God and to his fellow creatures; both religious and civil injunctions were incorporated into a single law. That law was given to the people as individuals, not as members of institutions. The priesthood was not involved in administering the law; its primary function was to point to Christ and it was dissolved after He came. They were also the teachers of Israel and assisted the elders with respect to the application of Scripture. Neither was there any institution formed to administer the civil aspects of the law. It was done entirely by the people themselves, through their elders.
Christians today, after many centuries of government by churches and states, have lost sight of who they are and what their function is under God. The ecclesia concept of a called-out people, separated from the world and dedicated to the kingdom of God has been buried under a ton of falsehoods promoted primarily by churchmen that are all too ready to interpose themselves and their institutions between Christ and His elect. The kingdom of God, composed of independent, totally self-governed ecclesia bodies, needs to be re-established. This is the God-given form of the kingdom that one day will supplant all “the kingdoms of this world” (Rev. 11:15).
God’s people should be “kings and priests” (Rev. 1:6. 5,10); Christ is their King of kings and their High Priest and they have no need for church or state. These institutions should be tolerated to the extent they must be while they exist but should be avoided as much as possible and the goal should be their eventual elimination. Christians must learn that they have only one Head and that is Christ (1 Cor. 11:3. We are given here the entire scope of government, from the family to the Godhead and there is no provision for church or state.)
Churchmen may claim that they are not rulers but only teachers. However, when they control the content and source of virtually all the teaching, they effectively rule the people. This is the case in today’s churches where one man does all the preaching and the rest, having no voice and little interest, just sit and listen. It is a breeding ground for Christian sheep that are totally unprepared to do God’s work in the world.
KING JESUS!
God as King
An interesting lesson in government can be found in the history of Ancient Israel. In the early years of this nation there was no visible governmental structure. Almost all government was family oriented. There were family and tribal elders that were recognized and acted as judges and leaders but their power was limited by how the people responded to them. The only restraint on the citizenry was their voluntary obedience to the Torah—God’s law as written by Moses. They were a free people.
A few centuries after Moses though, they had almost completely departed from living by that law. They had descended into near anarchy where “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). They went to Samuel the prophet, their recognized spiritual leader, and asked him to anoint them a king:
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. (1 Samuel 8:4-8)
God’s answer to this plea is telling: He said, “they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” God saw Himself as their rightful King! But in what way was He their King? Why through His law of course. A king is a king only to the extent his law is obeyed. Those Israelites rejected God, not just by asking for another king, but by their disobedience to Him. He had given them a law that would make them a powerful nation had they believed and obeyed (Deut. 4:5-9); but they threw it all away because they didn’t have the faith to live by that law. Their disobedience, followed by their desire for a physical king demonstrated their lack of faith in God. Here is the rest of God’s response to their request:
9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10 And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. (1 Samuel 8: 9-17)
This truly free people, perhaps the only such nation in the pre-Christian world, chose to give up the great freedom they had and become the servants of a king. It seems incredible that they would do so but such is the hatred of God’s law for those under Satan’s bondage, those that have not been liberated by the Holy Spirit.
What can we learn about government from this passage today? As Christians, should we continue to live under the kings of this world or should we rather seek to have God be our King (Matt. 6:33)? Is this unrealistic in our modern world? This is what the ecclesias (early churches) did during the hegemony of Imperial Rome. These Christian assemblies, structured along the lines of the Jewish synagogues, were truly self-governed. Other than the apostles and their successors (that were teachers and not rulers), there were no higher level bodies; nor were there any local offices as such. They were governed by the families through their local elected elders (presbyters). These elders were public servants and not rulers in the true sense of the word. Government was in the hands of the participating family heads and it was Christ that governed them, through God’s law. They conformed to God’s authority structure (1 Cor. 11:3) and were a reflection of early Israel when God was their King.
These independent, self-governing ecclesia assemblies abdicated from Roman law by declaring Christ and not Caesar to be their Lord and lawgiver. This was more a political than a religious act. They were persecuted for it but survived and prospered to the extent that, by the third century, the emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of Rome. Later on, Justinian revised Roman law to agree closely to God’s law. The body of Christ through faith and obedience to God’s law had conquered the Roman world!
Is this an impossible dream for today? Only if God is no longer sovereign and Christ does not really have “all authority in heaven and earth” (Matt.28:18). What God promised His people of old He promises us today. One day a generation will arise to this challenge and will conquer the world for Christ. Do we just leave it to them or should we start now? There may not be many today that have the faith and dedication to take this step but take heart, God has His seven thousand. It will be enough.
Lou Poumakis