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Recognizing The Structure of
God's
Church
More and more Christians are coming to the alarming
realization that the Christian Church in North America is racing
headlong into apostasy. There is an ever widening gap between
solid Bible principles and the behavior of the average Christian.
Denominations and large Christian organizations seem more intent
on building grand "worship" and family life centers to
pander to an increasingly affluent constituency than taking the
Gospel to a Christ-less world. As truth-loving Christians observe
their once beloved church's walk away from foundational Bible
doctrines that safeguard against conformity with the world, they
are confronted with the dilemma of what to do. To stay in an
apostate church is hazardous to one's spiritual health and to
leave isn't always easy as the question arises: Where does one
go? In this article, I would like to look at the subject of
apostasy and how it is linked to church organizational structure.
With an understanding of some basic biblical principles regarding
church organization, one can easier recognize congregations led
by the Holy Spirit and find true Christian fellowship and
mission.
A SHORT PROPHECY BEING FULFILLED
Isaiah 4:1, Although part of a much larger prophecy,
when understood in the spiritual sense, is a powerful prophecy
all by itself. Here it is with prophetic symbolic meanings in
brackets.
For seven (number of completeness) women (churches) will
take hold of one man (The One Man Jesus Christ) in that day,
saying, "We will eat our own bread (spiritual food/doctrine)
and wear our own clothes (spiritual covering/ righteousness) only
let us be called by your name; take away our reproach!"
Spiritually interpreted, it reads:
All churches will take hold of Jesus Christ in that day,
saying "We will believe our own doctrine and provide our own
righteousness, only let us be called Christian so we will not
suffer reproach!"
Those who are alarmed at what is happening in the church
today, are actually witnessing the spiritual fulfillment of this
short prophecy! Jesus said, "Many will say unto Me on
that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in
Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many
miracles?' "And then I will declare unto them, 'I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' "
(Matthew 7:22, 23) We can see here, that it is not enough
just to call ourselves Christians or even to do "good"
works. We must know Jesus personally!
There is another picture of a corrupt church in Scripture that
sounds much the same as our short prophecy's prediction. Revelation
18:7 depicts the harlot/church Babylon saying in her heart,
"I SIT AS QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see
mourning." It certainly would not be a stretch to draw
the conclusion that Babylon considers her husband to be The King
of Kings. Yet, God tells it like it really is, and branding her
as "fallen," calls His people out of her so that they
will not partake of her sins. (Revelation 18:1-7) The word
fallen denotes that she was once upright but she has corrupted
herself and apostatized from God! Do you think it is unreasonable
to conclude that all the churches spoken of in Isaiah 4:1
will make up the Babylonian church depicted in Revelation
18:7?
Babylon is built upon the lies the serpent used to snare Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In essence, the lies state:
"Do your own thing and you will be like God, and you too
will live forever!" Spiritually speaking, then, the
principles of Babylon's government cut across all religious and
denominational boundaries. The heart of every man is corrupted
with this lie from birth by the legacy passed down from our first
parents. What was once upright has fallen. It is for this reason
that we must die to self, which is born of the fallen spiritual
nature of man. Praise God that Jesus became the last Adam (I
Corinthians 15:22 & 45). In Him, we can be made right or
upright again!
THE CHANNEL OF TRUTH PRINCIPLE
One of the most fundamental truths necessary in order to
recognize Christ's true church in counter distinction to Babylon,
is how God imparts truth to His people. God's plan is profoundly
simple yet simply profound! His plan of salvation has made it
possible for man to communicate one to one with God. Through
Jesus Christ, we have direct access and communion with The
Father. In fact, Jesus promised that The Holy Spirit would dwell
in us and teach us all things. We need not fear the teaching of
God!
We who believe are called The Body of Christ, Jesus being the
head. Just as the members or parts of ones body are subject to
the leadership of the brain, so, we are subject to the leadership
of Jesus, conveyed to us through the working of the Holy Spirit.
We could liken the Holy Spirit to the electrical impulses of the
brain sent to each body member. To illustrate, the smaller pinky
finger does not receive instruction from the larger and stronger
thumb. Each is directed independently of each other by the brain
which coordinates their functions. So it is in God's Church!
The apostle Paul outlined the corporate structure of God's
Church in I Corinthians. 12:4-6. To state this passage in
a way more specific to our focus: The Spirit is in charge of
gifts, Jesus the Lord is chief of administrations, and God the
Father is chief of operations, and that's it! Under them, we have
believers. The bottom line is, God does not need man's help in
directing His Church! Neither man, nor any other creature is to
come between God the Creator and the individual believer.
Perhaps the most critical aspect of the "channel of
truth" topic is Teaching (with a capital T.) Who we allow to
teach us is one of the foundation choices that we make that will
ultimately determine whether we stay with Babylon or follow
Jesus. According to the Scriptures, all are to be
taught of God! (Isaiah. 54:13; John 6:45; John 14:26; Ps. 32:8)
It is true that Jesus included teaching in the gospel commission,
but what did he tell them to teach? Let's look at that commission
in Matthew 28:19,20:
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: . . .
We must ask the question, "What had Jesus commanded
them?" Had it not been "Follow Me?" Now I know
that He had said far more than that but wasn't that the bottom
line? Because Jesus is no longer walking this Earth, we must
follow Him by faith. Therefore we must exercise faith in order to
be taught of God, faith being trust. A pivotal question that God
asks everyone is: "Do you trust Me enough to take your eyes
off of the tangible and 'look' to Me by faith to teach you?"
Please ask yourself, "Do I truly believe God can handle
it?" We say we give Him our lives, but do we? We acknowledge
Christ as the head of the church, but is He really the head of our
church? Are we willing to "go it" with Jesus alone? Do
we believe or trust in Him enough to step aside from the
traditions and teachings of men and ask for and trust solely in
His teaching and guidance to us personally? These questions bring
us to where the "rubber meets the road." This is where
dying to self comes in. God deals with me daily on these basic
points. And I will admit, dying to self and submitting to His
"invisible" guidance is the hardest thing for me to do.
I can attest, though, that God has shown Himself 100% trustworthy
and surrender is becoming easier and easier. The more I come to
know Him, the greater my faith responds. (Please Note: What I
mean by "Capital T" Teaching is that teaching which
makes us right or righteous. We can "teach" one another
many things that are helpful and profitable in this present life,
but those things cannot make or establish us as Christians. 2
Chronicles 20:20 speaks to this truth: ". . .Believe
in the Lord your God, so shall you be established; believe His
prophets, so shall you prosper." Only when we have come
under the tutorship of the Holy Spirit, as required by Scripture,
will we have the guidance and discernment needed to sort out the
teachings of man that are applicable or profitable for us.)
PUTTING IT TOGETHER
If we combine the concepts of #1 God alone being the
"Head" of the church, #2 God's Spirit teaching us all
things, and #3 following by faith, we are well on our way to
being able to recognize God's Church. Please remember, we are
having to relearn Truth. God's ways are not our ways so most of
what we have "learned" is corrupted with fallen
creature thinking. God wants us to understand Creator thinking
and He is the only one we can trust to teach us that!
In conclusion, Babylon has fallen because she has allowed the
creature (beast) to come between the Creator and the individual.
Whenever God's instruction passes through a creature, we must
hold it suspect as corrupted by fallen, creature interpretation. I
Peter 1:20&21 states that no prophecy of the Scripture is
of any private interpretation. If Bible writers wrote by
inspiration of God, then we must read and understand by that same
inspiration! Holy inspiration is not private for it is available
to all by the blood of Christ. This is our only guarantee that we
are getting the right understanding, unadulterated by creature
thinking, and that includes our own. In the final analysis, we
answer only to God. It is critical then, that we understand
precisely what He desires of us! To close, please turn to Revelation
14 and read the messages of the three angels (verses
6-12.) Notice the contrast there, between worshiping the
Creator and the creature (beast). We worship the one in whom we
trust!
Dear Father in Heaven, forgive us for putting our trust in the
creature rather than you our Creator. Open our eyes to the
deception with which satan has blinded us. Thank You for the
connection with You made possible by the blood of Jesus. Teach us
by Your indwelling Spirit so that we can know that we know You!
In Jesus name, Amen.
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