Apostolic Foundations and Apostolic Patterns

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1/2/1987

Spoken in 1987, Transcribed in 2002

Prologue

The nature of the apostolic is, without question, one of the most treasured and important topics on the heart of God. But before we even begin to delve into the Apostolic of God, one thing must be clear in your mind. If you don’t know anything else, know this:

Everything in the Father’s heart is summed up in His firstborn Son, Jesus Christ.

The Father has chosen to express His nature, all that He is, through the Son. And today, on earth, He is building His Church that will possess all the divine qualities and character of Christ Himself. The Church, the Body of Christ, is just exactly that: Christ Himself manifested through His People joined together. Just as Jesus is the exact representation of God Himself, so the Church will be HIS BODY, His representation on the earth today!

While some have neglected this teaching about the Apostolic of God, others have turned it into a doctrine or theology that elevates a “thing” rather than the person of Jesus. In offering the following thoughts, I intend strictly to elevate the Christ (Anointed One) of God and to clarify exactly who Jesus is, expressed in His Church, His present-day Body. “Lampstands” and “Foundations” are nothing more than the nature and substance of the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.” What is heaven but a shadow of the Christ of God…

“But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).

The temple of God is in God Himself. “Heaven” itself is the substance of Christ and is manifested or explained to us in expressions we can understand. Such as we are “seated with Christ in heavenly realms,” and I am “in Christ” if I am truly His disciple. All of heaven itself is the essence of the heart of Jesus. So the things we’ll talk about are not “things.” They’re not just ideas, doctrines and concepts to run after. They are the very heart of Christ Himself. And if this is the Word of God, rest assured that His desire is for the Word to become “flesh and dwell among us.” Let the Word become flesh in you, not just an exciting new teaching to impress others. As Christ the Word is manifested, He tabernacles in our midst; the tabernacle of God is among His people. As the Word becomes flesh, we’re being built together to become a “Habitation of God by the Spirit.”

As we go on into this, please realize that anything that is not “in Christ” is only a gimmick, a form of godliness that denies its power. Accurate, biblical “patterns” can easily become substitutes for a relationship with, and abiding in, Christ. Even with the best of intentions, you’ll never be able to find what you’re looking for—the Christ of God manifest in your midst—by using intellectually modeled forms of “the church of the Bible.” You will not be able to grab onto a form because it “looks that way in the Bible” and ever find satisfaction for your hungry spirit. This satisfaction is found IN CHRIST—our abiding in Him and us as His Habitation. That is what the Kingdom, the Church, is all about.

Introduction

The following thoughts are far from the last word on this vast subject, just as they are certainly not the first words written. Nevertheless, I offer no apologies for suggesting that the Church of Jesus Christ has suffered tragic loss at the hands of those who have abused the Biblical teaching on apostolic principles—some to attain power, some for financial gain, and others simply desiring respect for themselves.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, though equally as dangerous, some have created a “post-apostolic” third covenant in which “God doesn’t work that way anymore.” They have denied the existence of obvious truths in the Word of God regarding apostles and prophets, lampstands, and other critical issues. They plant “church” after “church,” and denomination after denomination, out of presumption, ambition, or division rather than on the basis of Apostolic Authority (which is the Biblical pattern). The result has been a religious world marked by 2000 years of decline. Many, unfortunately, know little of the spiritual Power and Substance of our Lord’s Church, the Church we read about in the Bible.

Here’s something to think about: You can study what other people have done for years, but that doesn’t make you who they are. Painting the picture of some city or country far away from here doesn’t put us in that country. To be able to paint a portrait in the minutest detail of what the city of Jerusalem or the landscape of Galilee or any other place looks like doesn’t mean that we’re there.

This is the dilemma we face as we pursue the nature of the Church. To study in great detail all that they were, to know what they knew, even to believe in what they believed in, does not make us the people that they were. The people of God’s Church have substance, integrity, and a pure attitude of the heart. They are characterized by a unique perspective and priority system. Our lives are either hidden in Christ—or we just “know about” being hidden in Christ. We are either full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, or we simply study people who were.

What a massive difference between those two things! Hanging around people who truly are birthed in Heaven and breathing Heaven’s air (pneuma) every moment of their lives doesn’t mean that we have that same life. Even if we were right in the middle of those people, literally 2000 years back in time, it wouldn’t help us a bit unless we were living in the same life and power that they were. Even if you lived in the first century and called yourself a Christian, that would not make you a part of the “first century church.” Why? Because you’re only part of the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” in as much as your life is truly “in Christ” and as your substance, your genetic structure, is newly created of uncreated Life (Heb. 12:27). Only if you are truly Born of the Spirit, and Born of water, and Living in the Life of Jesus Christ—penetrating into Deity—will you partake of a Supernatural Life.

Merely mimicking behavior and words that you read in the Bible doesn’t make you part of the Church. Neither does a philosophical system of morals, behavior, and culture. That’s not it. Either Christ is real in you, or He’s not. “The Kingdom of God is not scientifically observed and studied, but it is within you.” You can hang around the Life of God Almighty in His People your whole life, but never actually be a part of it yourself. You need to know that.

I make these observations in the hope of better things for the future! Jesus is building for Himself “a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish”—a Church that “the gates of hell cannot prevail against” and of which the principalities and powers are in awe!1 As always, we must build “according to the pattern,” “on earth as it is in Heaven,” in order to see His Glory fill the earth!

Notice the sequence of verses in Exodus 402 which state, “As the Lord commanded, Moses did,” “as the Lord commanded, Moses did,” “as the Lord commanded, Moses did,” and finally, in verse 34, “and the Glory of God filled the temple.” That’s the kind of life that we lead—the Glory of God filling His dwelling place “on earth as it is in heaven” because we “do as the Lord commanded.” Because we go right into the Pattern of God, right into the Life of God, right into the Most Holy Place with nothing stopping us, we will understand what the Glory of God is. We discover His ways as we go into His Presence individually, and the same holds true corporately. The Glory of God is found in walking as the Lord commanded. If you don’t do “as the Lord commanded” (out of ignorance or fear) you might still be His child, but you’ll die in the wilderness, pathetically impoverished. It doesn’t have to be that way. There have been too many generations like that. The understanding of Apostolic Foundations and Apostolic Patterns is not a salvation issue. It is a Glory issue.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets” (Acts 3:19-21).

Apparently, there is a restoration of things that God (according to Acts 3; 2Pet.3:12; Rev.19:7 and other passages) is waiting for. There’s a part that we play in speudo—“speeding His coming,” “hastening the return of the Lord.” There’s an active part that we play, mysterious as that may sound. Somehow, in some way, we hasten His return. It’s not that we can make God do anything. He’s not a genie in a bottle with our wish being His command. Absolutely Not! But there is a cooperation in which both “the Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come.’” Just as every safe deposit box requires two keys to open (the bank teller’s key and the depositor’s key), so we both—Jesus and His Bride, the Church—put our keys in the lock-box and together we turn the keys…and the vault opens.

That’s not to our credit in any way. Only by His grace, by His divine wisdom, has he designed the universe in such a way that, by learning to do His Work by the Spirit, we are being trained, built together, and raised up as a Bride that is an equal yoke for the Son of God. There’s a partnership in the Gospel. We are partakers of the Divine Nature. God’s desire is that we have “fellowship,” all things in common, with the Holy Spirit (Php.2:1; 2Cor.13:14). And that’s just Biblical Christianity. We’re participating somehow in the events of God and the future of this world that we are living in. “The Spirit and the Bride say ‘Come.’” Praise God for that privilege!

Though generations of religion have passed by, people have not been crying out “these men who have turned the world upside down have come to our city also,” or, “See how they love one another!” Nevertheless, the day is coming when people will cry out once again and the Bride will be ready as an observable equal yoke for her Groom, the Son of God.

You may already be dealing with these issues, yet it seems important to mention them as a backdrop. It’s a pitiful joke to think that the sum total of what God has in mind for His People is to just “go to church” on Sunday. It’s a crime to go on as if the only thing God had in mind when He allowed His Son to be butchered in order to buy the Church was a bunch of people dressing up and attending services on Sunday and Wednesday nights. That’s terrible! I want to say that as clearly as I can with no apologies. The Kingdom of God does not consist of mere words, mere speeches, and mere meetings, but of dunamis—POWER (1Cor.4:20). And that’s a fact.

If it’s God’s Kingdom, then there’s a supernatural, divine Essence that men cannot mimic. They can’t duplicate God’s manifested Reality. It can’t be done. You can’t do what only God can do. Suppose a group of atheists got together and went through the motions of “singing praises to our God,” “waiting on the Lord’s Table,” “hearing another wonderful lesson from the Word,” and “praying for the sick and afflicted the world over.” Would anyone on the outside be able to differentiate the atheists from those who were truly born from above? If no one could spot the atheists from the Christians, then there’s an element of reality that’s missing. Heed the apostle Paul’s warning: Watch out for counterfeits from satan that look like Christianity! (2Cor.11:14-15). The heart of God longs for so much more than the superficial, shallow norm of Christianity that we’ve settled for all these years.

“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him Glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then He said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ And He said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God’” (Revelation 19:6-9).

The following thoughts were originally shared with a living room full of ordinary people who simply want to be that Bride. This is the testimony of my heart and theirs that Jesus has, in fact, still “KEPT THE BEST WINE FOR LAST”! There are still some very special things ahead of us, and I’m looking forward to that.

Again, please don’t make a doctrine out of what follows. Nor should you disregard it lightly because it doesn’t fit the norms of twenty-first century American religion. Nor would it be wise to allow it to fan ambition or wander-lust, or allow a movement-centered mentality to creep into your heart. Turn to the Word of God with honesty and turn to the God of the Word with reverence and awe. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus!

Part 1: Three Units of Corporate Christian Life

We live in a world divided and confused with “ministries,” “denominations,” “non-denominations,” and “free,” “universal,” lone-ranger Christians. The “church world” is full of people who live unaccountable to men, who by choice and commitment regard themselves as their own best mentor (claiming it is the “Holy Spirit”—“God and me”), while truly it is only their pride, disobedient independence, and their distorted and inadequate personal impressions, knowledge, emotions, prejudices, fears, and experiences that are “guiding” them—not the Holy Spirit at all.

One of Father’s safeguards to this “trap of the devil” that is so popular in this day above all days—is relationship with Brothers and Sisters. Beyond merely a “safeguard,” to be totally intertwined with Brothers and Sisters in work and daily life is a Command (1Cor.12, Rev.3, Heb.3:12-14, Acts 2:42-47). “If you LOVE Me…you’ll obey Me!” Another perspective of this is found in Hebrews 13:17. Here we find that God says, by His Spirit, that accountability should be a given for every Christian. We’re NOT our own, we were bought for a Price, and it’s not our call! It’s God’s call. It’s HIS choice how we relate to one another—and “I have no need of you” and “I can do it myself” and “I only need JESUS”…are the words of the “carnal” and “babies” in the Faith and Walk of Jesus (1Cor.2-3, 12). The Book of Hebrews was written to men who were scattered abroad. It was not written to a specific local Church (as were many of Paul’s letters). The Book of Hebrews was written to Christians all over saying, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Heb.13:17). This was a general statement to Christians. The amazing assumption was made by the Holy Spirit that everybody would know who it was that was over him in the Lord—who it was that he should “obey.” Wow. Oh, surely this can be abused. But how much worse that YOU should abuse it by refusing the Word of God?! He didn’t say, “only those who are associated and affiliated with the local Church need to obey those over them.” He wrote to Christians scattered all over, and his assumption was automatically, “obey those who have the rule over you, those who watch for your souls, those who must give an account for you.”

If we don’t know who it is that gives an account for us, and if we don’t know who it is we yield to, then we are in violation of God’s intention for every Christian, which the Hebrews writer (the Spirit of Christ) took for granted! If there is no one who we yield to or even consider to be one who is “over us in the Lord,” and who walks with us daily, then we are out of line with God’s Plan. Do we just make our own way, do what we want to do, and act independently without yielding or submitting to ones “over us in the Lord”? Do we “take it or leave it” based on what we agree with? Such behavior is common when a person desires to be his own boss and do what he thinks is right in his own eyes. When that happens, the norm for a Christian as seen in Hebrews 13:17 is violated. The “lone ranger” type of Christian does not exist in the New Testament; it’s an unfortunate growth-stunting anomaly, if the Words of God in the Bible are the final say on the matter.

This “lone ranger” thing, which describes so many today who consider themselves the MOST Spiritual people they know, doesn’t exist in the Word of God, except in the rarest of cases. God does not ordain such pseudo-heroic spirituality. “Me and Jesus” Christianity is not what GOD said was His desire, or His way. In fact, He even said that the cost of living this way would result in “hardness” and “deception” and perpetual “childhood” in our Faith. Who would want that?! We’ll talk later about some of the diverse circumstances that Father may place us in. For now, though, let’s get it straight that an intentional lifestyle of “independence” and “white horse” Christianity, where “I can do it myself” is the motto, and one lives their own life as they please and shows up at a meeting or three during the week and calls that “fellowship” and “church” —this is in flat disobedience to God. God Himself says such a person is “hardened” and “deceived.” Deceived by sins they cannot see, and hardened to not even care, to the point of defensiveness. “Some love the light…” and some do not, “because their deeds are evil.”

In spite of the division and confusion with “ministries” and “denominations” and the like, there are really only three basic units of Christian life in the Bible—the local Church, apostolic companies of men, and the universal Church. Of these three basic units of Life in the Kingdom of the Beloved Son, only the first two are His normal pattern—the local Church and apostolic companies of men (which are closely tied to the local Church). The universal Church is an exception to God’s norm and is often times grossly abused. So, let’s begin with the local Church, or “Lampstand”….

The Local Church

As seen from Jesus’ viewpoint in Revelation chapters 1 and 2, there were seven separate lampstands, seven churches, in Asia. Not one general “universal” church. An identifiable local Church is that which holds up the Son and allows His light to shine into all the world, as well as being the place where Christ circulates (Rev.1:13, 2:1). It involves real people, in real places. Although it would be impossible to describe every detail of what God’s Church looks like, the following are some crucial elements that characterize the local assembly.

A Kingdom, not a Democracy

The Church is not, and cannot be, individuals “doing their own things,” “blooming where they are planted,” and getting together with others when they feel it is most beneficial. When a situation is marked by “every man doing what’s right in his own eyes,” the people involved are not positioned under the full measure of blessing, provision, and protection by King Jesus.3

There’s a blessing that comes from being under the King, the Anointed One of God. When men have no king, they also have none of the benefits and protection of the Kingdom. The end of Judges says that because they had no king, every man did what was right in his own eyes. And, beyond that, when a man says, “I have a King, His name is Jesus, but I don’t need the Kingdom,” he is, according to the Bible, missing the King. Such a man has attempted to truncate the Head from the Body. Since that’s not possible, he has separated himself not only from the Body, but from the Head as well. That’s an important point for a lot of today’s religious world.

Leadership from On High

When God’s timing is clear and circumstances dictate, it may be Father’s Intention that there be Elders and Deacons in a local Assembly. Biblically, certain situations motivated the Placement of Elders in the local Church. For example, in Jerusalem, after perhaps a dozen years without Elders (there were still none as late as Acts 6, seven to ten years after Pentecost, with literally thousands in the local Assembly there), it became apparent in the Spirit that perhaps it was time for Elders. While there are no details of the exact time and reasons for the change of ways there, we do know there are Elders in the one local Church in Jerusalem by Acts 15, which was several years later. Perhaps Overseers became necessary because of the scattered work of the apostles (Galatians 1) who lived in Jerusalem from early on. We also see the need for Overseers/pastors/shepherds/elders in the new Assemblies where Paul laid the Foundation. These were places with a void of daily Apostolic input (since Paul only stayed a matter of months in these Asian and European cities, as opposed to the 25 years Peter and others with the apostolic gift stayed in Jerusalem). 1Timothy 2 and Titus 1 describe the type of man of God required for such a task.

The “eldership” is always plural in every example in the New Testament. There is never an indication of there being just one person who is “over” a local assembly, though this Laodicean and Nicolaitan (“conquer the people”) practice is certainly commonplace, if not normative, in today’s religious world. Eldership is always plural in the New Testament. The “senior pastor” idea, with a “board” of elders and deacons as “advisors,” is completely foreign to the Scriptures. The other alternative that some opt for (in rejection of the “senior pastor” idea) is a “hired preacher”—again totally foreign to the Scriptures.

It is essential that we solve this leadership dilemma, rather than simply discover and point out (as anyone can do) the problems and discrepancies. That is why this next thought is incredibly significant. The Biblical alternative to the world’s way of doing “leadership” (boards, hierarchies, hired leaders) can only be understood in an environment that is “daily in public and from house to house,” and where all the members are truly “joined and knit together by every supporting ligament.” If you try to grasp what leadership in God’s Kingdom is all about in any other environment, it will never make sense. In a “church” that centers around “Sunday services,” probably the only leadership structures that will work are the non-Biblical worldly models. But in an environment that is according to the Biblical pattern, leadership from heaven can be understood. It makes sense that to discover God’s real answer about the Biblical leadership pattern, you have to walk in the same Life that they walked in. It doesn’t make sense any other way.

You can see why leadership is a dilemma in the religious world. And you can see how easily people form some sort of “church government” that strays from the Biblical standard. Inevitably, it cannot be leadership according to God’s pattern because the religious system itself is not God’s way, either. I know that sounds dramatic, but let’s be honest!

So, because of this dilemma, one of two routes is usually chosen in forming church hierarchy. In one scenario, a specific man is chosen as leader because he’s a good speaker, or he has a magnetic personality or a Ph.D. Or maybe he was the founder so people feel they owe him respect. To be honest, this top man is practically exalted and everyone else comes under him. At that point, he then becomes the cork on the bottle for them. They’ll never become more than he is because Jesus said “a student is not above his teacher.”

In the second scenario, a “preacher” is hired and a plural eldership is formed. But while the man hired as “preacher” is seemingly the man who is most full of the Holy Spirit, who seemingly knows the Word of God best and knows the God of the Word best, he becomes only a hireling and central attraction for the visitors.

Both of these approaches stand in direct opposition to the Word of God. In one, a single man is exalted and holds all the power, with everyone else as his advisors. In the other, a man is hired and made a slave or hireling of the system with a plural eldership who pull the strings. They may hire a man who seems to be most “full of the Holy Spirit,” but then turn around and fire him when they get tired of him. In the religious world today, these are the two major alternatives to this thing we call “church government.”

By contrast, only the ekklesia, the community of God, can accomplish the task of raising up men who will turn the world right side-up. A “habitat” of the local Church—where men and women are “counting none of their possessions as their own” and “admonishing one another daily so that none are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” is the only place where men “full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” are raised up (apart from a Sovereign act of Jehovah, which is the exception). The props of elaborate church hierarchy, programs, seminaries, and Bible colleges will never do it. The last 1900 years is proof of that! And that along with the Scriptures is testimony enough that Jesus meant for His Purposes to be fulfilled exclusively in the Church! It can only be too obvious that men’s methods have not yielded the fruit that the Church of the first century yielded.

Bad Fruit Equals Bad Tree

Anybody who’s honest will tell you that the best we’ve been able to do is try to find programs that get people fired up enough, police people well enough, apply enough pressure, or instruct their minds well enough, that they can carry out a gimmick to accomplish some task. If the program is good enough, they can network it like Amway and it can seem like they are doing a really “big” work. But the problem is that they didn’t do any of that stuff in the first century. None of it. It’s all foreign to the New Testament. They didn’t rely on any man-made props to accomplish God’s Work, yet they did a far better job than we’ve done! How can this be? How do you achieve such staggering results without a program? A tree is known by its fruit, and no good tree can produce bad fruit. It should be obvious that 1900 years of “church growth” has failed to produce the fruit of the first century Church. Therefore, the tree itself is wrong. You know a tree by its fruit. You can hang apples on an oak tree all day long, but that won’t make it an apple tree. A tree is not a program or an organization, but an organic life that yields the fruit automatically.

Jesus never taught motivational techniques to his disciples so they could pass “methodologies” down through the ages. Jesus Himself and Christians of the first century didn’t operate that way to accomplish “spiritual goals.” Having wonderful externals of hype and numbers doesn’t make the organization a living organism full of God’s Glory. The externals may seem awesome to us, but what kind of fruit have they borne? The church has been riddled with division and splits and hypocrisy and sin of every conceivable kind. Right? Jesus himself prayed that there would be ONE UNIFIED BODY. Won’t His prayer be answered? Have history and our lives today been heading toward unity? If the fruit is bad, the whole tree is bad. The foundation of our entire approach to “church” has missed the mark. This is a scary thought given the fact that Jesus said it is the Church that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against.”

The Church is “the pillar and foundation of Truth,” and Christ is “the Savior (Deliverer) of the Church.” “His intent was that now (not just someday ‘when we all get to Heaven’), through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms…” (Eph.3:10). No wonder Paul could exclaim, “to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end” (Eph.3:21).

Idols—The REAL Obstacle

Many today are striving to understand and define Biblical “church government.” However, this dilemma will only be solved in the context of Biblical Church substance and daily life together as a people. The answers will never be found in the unBiblical substitute that revolves around Sunday morning “worship services,” hierarchies of leadership, committees, and a clergy/laity mentality. From such a context, you will study and administrate your way into many, many trials and crises that are unnecessary and harmful to the cause of Christ.

The problem is not that we just haven’t found the right method yet. The real obstacle to penetrating and discovering God’s heart concerning HIS government in the Church is our own idolatry. Our idols of lifestyle, family, and career seem so normal and good to us. Yet, it is these idols that relegate the Kingdom of God to mere meetings, speeches, programs, and “special days” (Sundays, Wednesday nights, “bring your neighbor days,” holidays). These idols—not a lack of Biblical knowledge about church government—are the true obstacles.

What is it that keeps you from “laying down your life for your brothers” and learning to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none are hardened and deceived by sin”? Is it a lack of knowledge about church government? Or is it your “right” to live in a nice house, pursue an upwardly mobile career, and spend the evenings with your “family”?

The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who are in unbelief. Those blinded ones have believed the lie that satan could bless them and make them happy through idols which feed the flesh. Without even thinking, people are deceived into craving these various idols, feeding the animal of the flesh, all the while thinking that somehow these idols will bring success and satisfaction. But that’s a lie! It’s a lie of the adversary, the enemy, the “murderer,” as Jesus called him. It’s a lie that satan can bless you more than your Father in Heaven can. That’s the enemy. The obstacle to discovering the leadership of God is the basic wickedness of idolatry, not the lack of knowledge of church government. And, unless you start there, the rest of this will be meaningless.

Elders Appointed by God

Every man in leadership must be observably drunk on the Holy Spirit, fully controlled by the government of God, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.4 Elders and deacons are primarily local (as opposed to traveling) men. There will be exceptions, as some men are both pastoral and apostolic, such as Peter, who called himself an apostle and a “fellow elder” (1Pet 5:1). While God clearly desires elders to be over His flock, simply following the pattern of “having elders” in every church has no merit in itself.

Every religious group has its own answer to the problem. Lutherans have a synod; the Presbyterians have a presbytery; the Episcopalians have episkopos. Every denomination thinks that by instituting some “form” of church government, they can bring God down into their midst. It’s like the genie in the bottle trick—thinking that if we rub the bottle just right, God will automatically have to bless us. If you follow the right rules and regulations of “government,” then God will have to bless it. And somehow, doing it right makes you right and everybody else wrong.

Again, having elders has no merit in itself, even though it is the Biblical pattern. Everything in the Church must be done in God’s way and according to God’s timing. Anyone who would appoint men who are not described from God’s vantage point as being “full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom” (Acts 20:28, 6:3-7) is in big trouble. “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers,” according to Paul. It was not men in their intellect and ambition that made them overseers. Overseers appointed on any other basis than “full of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom” are in big trouble.

If you want to be technical, the Biblical pattern is that never (not even once in 30 recorded years of the Church of Jesus) did a Church have elders right after it was born. It was always a few years later that elders were appointed. By the strictest principles of Biblical interpretation, then, it would be “unBiblical” to have elders until quite some time after the Church is born. Amazing, isn’t it? It never happened in New Testament times.

“All right,” you say, “we’ll just make a rule that every Church has to wait a few years before they have elders.” No, No, No! That’s not the point. While some just ignore the Word of God, most of the religious world today uses a “paint by numbers” approach to the Bible.5 “From the beginning it was not so.” Christians in the first century never had clear-cut doctrines to go by in each new situation that came up. They weren’t imitating anyone. The account in Acts 15 portrays clearly that twenty years after Pentecost they were still wrestling to find out what the right doctrines were. Men who were with Jesus for 3 years still couldn’t put their fingers on exactly what all the “perfect doctrines” were. They had to talk about it quite a while. It wasn’t a given. It wasn’t some creed that they handed over instantly. There was a wrestling match over God’s will, and it will always be that way. It’s not that clear-cut (as exemplified by 3,000 denominations who all think they are right. Nobody thinks they are wrong). Unlike most of us, those disciples couldn’t turn to “pat” answers for their problems. Instead, they were forced to turn to a Living God who always has a current thought about current situations.

The time has come for the 3,000 or so denominations to stop quarrelling about what they think is “sound doctrine.” Rather, let us turn to the God they turned to and know the God that they knew—living our lives with the priorities, vision, obedience, and self-sacrifice of those normal men and women of the first century! Without that, doctrines, while essential, will leave us empty and desolate, “having a form of godliness, yet denying its power.”

Make no mistake about it; the recognition and appointment of “elders in every city” is still (though abused by some) on the heart of God to “put things in order” (Titus 1:5-11). There was a certain dynamic present in each of the situations where Father inspired Paul to appoint elders or to instruct regarding elders and deacons. Likewise, it was a radically different dynamic in a dozen years in Jerusalem where God did not call for “elders.” These are the “gems” of Spirit-Life found within the pillar and foundation of Truth-the ekklesia. It’s not a word game, but dynamic Life. Having elders just for the sake of having elders has failed to produce the fruit of the first century Church.

Apostolic Companies of Men

The second unit of corporate life that we read about in the Bible is what we’ll call apostolic companies of men. These “ascension gifts” (Ephesians 4) are gifts poured out on men by God. They are virtually always refined in character and raised up in the local Church. Then they are sent out (or taken out by apostolic men) for extra-local work.

“And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia” (Acts 20:4).

When Paul traveled, he pulled men in with him—two from here, three from there, one from there. Paul saw that these men had been given Gifts from on high for the building up of the Church, and he drew them off with him as he went from place to place. That’s the second unit of life that we see and which overlaps, ebbs, and flows with the local Church. We’ll look at this one more closely later.

The Universal Church

The third unit of corporate life is the universal Church. Please be aware of the fact that there is both a valid and an invalid sense in which this term can be used. Somehow God may set aside times when it is right for individuals or groups of people to inhabit places in the name of Christ, but where an expression of the local Church does not necessarily exist. The following are a few examples of what might be considered “valid” expressions of the universal Church. However, keep in mind that these are still exceptions to the norm.

Valid Expressions

Consider the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:39). For reasons that only God knows, He sometimes calls a man back to Ethiopia alone, with no Church, no fellowship, and no accountability. Nevertheless, history tells us that at least two of the original twelve apostles eventually made their way down there and a great Church flourished.

Then there’s Apollos. He was a bit of a loner, and Paul seemed to have considerable tension with him. Yet while Paul challenged (even a bit sarcastically) Apollos’ service to the saints at times,6 Paul would not judge Apollos’ heart. In 1Cor.3:4-4:6, Paul included Apollos as he spoke of his own heart. He said, “I apply these things to myself and Apollos for your sake.” He said he didn’t even know his own heart, so let every man’s motives be judged by God on that last day. We don’t even know our own hearts and there are secrets of men’s hearts that we don’t even clearly know. That doesn’t mean that we don’t expose sin. Of course we do! That’s normal Christianity. But Paul said there are some things that we just can’t get into, that we just can’t know. “I apply these things to myself and Apollos for your sake.”

So Paul had an open attitude toward Apollos, even though it seems he was a little frustrated by him at times. He was a brother and gifted by God, for sure, but somehow he was a loner and may be considered as part of the universal Church.

Finally, the city of Athens held numerous new disciples (Acts 17:34-18:1), but there is no record of there being any “church” there. Nor did Paul travel back to Athens to establish the believers, or write letters to them, or even refer to them in his letters. Was there a “Church” there? Apparently Paul didn’t think so since he responded so differently to the other cities on that same journey where Churches were established (Corinth, Thessalonica, and Berea). Did the brothers and sisters of Athens move to another city where there was a Church? Or did they just stay put and have a “nice little fellowship”? We have no clues from the New Testament, but one thing is clear. On Paul’s next trip to the area, one or two years later, he did not visit Athens.

What does that mean? There were believers in Athens, but no Church in Athens! At least, Paul didn’t act like there was a Church there. What does it mean when you have numerous disciples, baptized believers, in a city and yet God doesn’t seem to view that as a Church? What does that mean? It just doesn’t jive with our twenty-first century way of thinking. We think, “Where two or three are gathered together in His name, there’s a church.” But that isn’t what the scripture says. In the context of Matthew 18 Jesus is talking about how His people will function together in the working out of the purposes of God. He is saying, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I’ll work with you and confirm my Word amongst you. There will be binding and loosing” (vs. 18). Jesus said He would work with us if we are gathered in His name. If we agree together in prayer in His name, He will meet us on that ground (vs. 19). But, Jesus never said, “Where two or three are gathered, there’s a church there.” Never. A church is not automatically there just because there are believers gathered together.

Athens is an unusual circumstance, granted. But I just want to point out that it is possible to be part of the universal Church without belonging to what we’ll call a local Church or Lampstand or Foundation. The people are no less saved, but there isn’t a Church there.

Invalid Expressions

The invalid expressions of the universal Church are far more common and widespread in the world today. These are the man-made units of denominations and parachurch “ministries.” We’re getting into big trouble when we establish these deviations from the Truth of God. Show me where there’s a “denomination” or “ministry” organization in the New Testament!

How can there be these “ministries” which have “headquarters” that separate them from the rest of the Body of Christ? They simply did not exist in the first century. There were no parachurch organizations devoted to feeding the poor or evangelizing a continent…devoted to this good thing or that good thing as their “ministry.” Show me in the New Testament where a parachurch organization specialized in their own special niche of “ministry.” It simply does not exist in a Church where they turned the world upside down and the Glory of God was manifested and fear seized all the people (yet many joined their number anyway!).

You don’t see the props of parachurch “ministries” where “a great number of priests were converted.” A Church filled with God’s Glory doesn’t need props. It doesn’t need systems, programs, visitation things, benevolence things, and who knows what else! God doesn’t need that kind of help.

Picture these words emblazoned on the sail of Jesus’ boat when He crossed Lake Galilee: Jesus Christ Ministries. Or picture a stone, propped outside the cave where Paul and some of the brothers met, with the words: Pastor Paul of Tarsus. It just doesn’t make sense! You can’t picture that kind of thing happening. When we raise up a “ministry” or denomination that is outside God’s expressions of corporate life in Christ, men are exalted, names are exalted, and people are exalted. And Jesus’ name is tacked on as a token gesture. This is clearly an invalid sense of the universal Church.

The very existence of the props is a clear declaration that God’s valid vehicles for His Glory have been pushed aside, either out of ignorance of the Word and the heart of God or because of ambition. Thus, “Ishmael” is born, always and forever more to “persecute the child born of the Spirit; it is the same now” (Galatians 4). His desired expressions are the apostolic companies of men and the clearly defined Church in a city, accountable to an easily identified local Church government. It is assumed by God that virtually every Christian would be part of that (Heb.13:17).

The truth of the matter is that in the New Testament the word “ministry” is one of those yucky, mistranslated, anglicized words.7 The Greek word usually rendered “ministry” simply means “service.” Does “Paul of Tarsus Services” make any sense? Of course not. Yet that’s what people are saying by their use of the word “ministries.” It may seem like a picky little thing, but not when you consider that because of this mistranslation, a whole scheme, a whole avenue of approach to the Christian walk and Christian life has been created that never existed in the Bible. We must go back and unravel some of these things, so that we can return to Christ as the Savior of the ekklesia, the Community of God.

Part 2: Do Apostles Really Exist Today?

What Does Scripture Say?

Are there apostles today? First and foremost, the Bible must be our authority. So what does it say? If God Almighty dropped a book down to us on the proverbial desert island, and we knew absolutely nothing of what the twenty-first century church was saying or doing, could we possibly come up with anything vaguely resembling the religious world today just from looking in the Bible? No possibility.

What would you decide about the nature of the Church and the way it functions? Could you come up with “Sunday morning worship services”? I’m afraid not. Even the phrase “first day of the week,” is not Biblical; the literal translation is “first of the week,” not “first day of the week.” But even if it did mean “first day of the week,” how many times does it appear in the book of Acts? You can count the number of occurrences on one hand, from the beginning of Acts all the way to the end of 60 years of recorded church history. Their lives together as the people of God did not revolve around Sunday mornings—that is a settled fact.

But if we were to record twentieth century American church life, every other paragraph would read: Sunday morning we did this; Sunday morning we did that; Wednesday night we did this. That’s what you would read because about 98% of what we call Christianity in the world today happens on Sundays and Wednesdays. That tells me that if we were recording history today, “first day of the week” would be in every other paragraph. But in the first 60 years of church history, when God’s Glory exploded, they only mentioned the first day of the week a couple of times. Can we ignore such a discrepancy? No! I’d say that Biblical Christianity has nothing to do with Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. And if the Bible is our only standard, rather than the traditions of men, our lives had better not center around special days either. And that’s only the beginning.

What would you decide about apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers? Let’s zero in on the question of apostles, as it relates to foundations and patterns. Do they exist? If you were to eliminate everything you ever heard about the subject and just looked at the Bible, I suspect you would come up with a dramatically different conclusion than what the evangelical, fundamental world has come up with in these last days. Somehow the lack of power we see around us is justified by a doctrine of our own imagination, a doctrine that holds that apostles are obsolete. In the New Testament we clearly see that the apostles testified with great dunamis, great power. We see the testimony of power in the apostolic life of the first century, and because we don’t see that power today, we wrongly conclude that it isn’t meant to be.

Do you see the faulty logic? The Bible says that God will display apostolic power in His Church. But we don’t see it, so we conclude that there’s no such thing. We’ve got the cart before the horse. We’re trying to create a doctrine based on what we see with our own eyes, rather than based on God’s Word. We feel the need to rationalize our powerless existence by creating a doctrine to explain it. That’s not acceptable. God did give us a book, and I intend to look at it with brutal honesty and not shut my eyes to what I see Biblically in order to create a doctrine to explain my own failures and inadequacies. I’m going to call upon the Word of God as the standard.

“All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures forever” (1Peter1:24-25).

Men are like grass and have failed for generations, but the Word of God endures forever. I don’t explain what I read by the grass of the last 2000 years; I explain it by the enduring rock of the Word of God. That’s my Rock—that’s the only place I stand. I don’t care if no one else is living in the fullness of God’s power and presence, I’m not going to give my life over to the “grass,” to men and their traditions. Even if I never see all that God says is “His inheritance in the Church” (Eph.1:18), I refuse to settle for anything less than what the Word of the Lord, which endures forever, says the Church must be!

Even if I never see it with my own eyes, I’m going to be like the people of Hebrews 11: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:13-16).

Those people were earnestly “looking for a city whose builder and maker (whose architect) was God.” I’m looking for that too—nothing less. And, like them, I have opportunity to turn around to the other world, if I want to. But I’m not going to do that. If we have that attitude and trust, God will not be ashamed to be called our God, and we will be His People.

I ask you again: Are there apostles today? If the Bible is our authority, what does it say about apostles? Does it really say that they would become unnecessary and “pass away”?

The Twelve

I’m not referring to the twelve “apostles of the Lamb” (Rev.21:14), whose apostleship was an office (Acts 1:17-26, 2:14, 6:2). Jesus called these men to be apostles before “He ascended on High”8 and “gave some to be apostles…” (Ephesians 4). Theirs are the only twelve names on the twelve foundations of the wall of the Holy City.

But what about those who were chosen by God after Christ ascended on high? Paul wrote that “when He ascended on high,” Jesus gave gifts to men: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. These are not “the twelve,” for they were called before the ascension! “When” is the literal Greek word in the text. Clearly then, there is a distinction made in the Word of God between the twelve apostles of the Lamb and those men who were called to be apostles when Christ ascended on high. The apostles who are included among the “ascension gifts” are those that we will consider as we explore the Foundations and Patterns of God.

All His Gifts

As in all aspects of God’s Truth, the apostolic of God has its beginning and ending “in Christ.” Every spiritual blessing is found in Christ (Eph.1:3). That means He had it first! Any gift you want to name, He had it first. “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives….” He was the covenant Man who went before us and who, in bodily form, possessed all the giftedness of God Himself. And He was the Man who ascended and went and sat at the right hand of the Father in Glory. So every spiritual blessing is in Him. After He ascended, the gifts that Jesus Himself first had were then given to the entire Body!9

Jesus was and still is the ultimate Apostle. He is the “builder of the house,” “the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess.”10 Jesus is the Great Prophet.11 He said of Himself that a Prophet has no honor in His hometown. Jesus is the Evangelist.12 He came to proclaim good news to the poor, to set captives free, to heal the lame, to give sight to the blind, to declare the year of the Lord’s favor. He came to seek and save those which were lost. He was manifest to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus is the Good Shepherd.13 He came to replace those false shepherds of Israel who didn’t heal the sick, who didn’t bind up the broken hearted, who didn’t wrap the wounds of those who were lame, and who didn’t seek and save those which were lost. The long-awaited Messiah would be called the Son of David. And, finally, Jesus was the Master Teacher,14 as seen throughout the gospels. “Jesus began to do and to teach” (Acts 1:1). He began to teach them and they followed Him.

Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, Teacher. Jesus was the Master. The Standard. The Founder of all good things. It follows, then, that if all these Gifts are not part of the totality of the Giftedness of the Body, how can it really be the “Body of Christ”? How can we call ourselves the “Body of Christ” if all of Jesus’ Giftedness isn’t present?

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being...” (Hebrews 1:3).

“And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:22-23).

No one man has all of the gifts except Jesus, who was the sum of all spiritual things. He was the exact representation of the Father, and the Father’s Glory was manifest in the face of Jesus Christ. He had all the giftedness of Deity. And because He, the firstborn from among the dead, ascended to the Father, we (plural) also can become partakers of His giftedness. We share in the fullness that was given to Him. The fullness of Christ dwells in His Body, the Church. All the Gifts that He had were taken and spread throughout the whole Body of Christ. If, as a whole, we don’t have ALL the gifts, then we’re not the Body of Christ. It’s just that simple.15

And please do not be lulled into thinking that “the Body” refers to the Church “at large,” as some intangible, “invisible” entity out there that possesses all the characteristics of Christ. It was about relationships and responsibility and co-working daily within the visible, identifiable local Church—living out the Christ life together, “daily in public and from house to house.” Paul said THIS was the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way: the Body of Christ, “all together and lives merged,” where no one says, “I have no need of you” until next Sunday. In the very next chapter he wrote, “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too (the Ephesian Church) are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” (Eph.2:21-22).

Building the House

Since Jesus is THE Apostle—the Builder of the House—HE is our standard for understanding the apostolic.

The apostle Paul said, “I laid a foundation as an expert builder,16 and someone else is building on it…” (1Cor.3:10).

Jesus said, “I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it” (Mat.16:18).

According to the Hebrews writer, “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself” (Heb.3:3).

“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psa.127:1).

So, when we talk about the building of God’s Church, we’re talking about apostolic things. The House of God can never be separated from the building up of the House of God. The two are inseparable, so we need the apostolic in order to be the True Church of Jesus.

And since the building is in shambles, how much more do we need the architekton, the master builder!17 Those who can read the blueprints in the Heavenlies and architect the construction project are just as vital as ever. They are just as vital now because the project is just as important now as it ever was, if not more so.

We’re not in this to merely exist, and “keep house.” We’re in this to become a habitation of God with ever increasing Glory—to grow up into the fullness of the stature of Christ.

But we’ve got to do it God’s way! Without this vital aspect of the giftedness of Christ, the apostolic, His Body will be disjointed and scattered. The “great power” (literally dynamo) of Acts 4:33 will be conspicuously absent. “The apostles testified with great power…and great grace was upon them all.” Great grace is the product of the apostolic life.

Until We Reach Unity in the Faith

“It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Note the word “until.” It literally means “duration of time.”18 Has the Church reached the whole measure of the fullness of Christ? I think not. If we don’t have unity of the faith…if we don’t have the full knowledge of the Son of God…if we don’t have the full measure of the Stature of Christ (His productivity and fullness)…then we are not there yet. And if we’re not there yet, if the “until” hasn’t come yet, then the extinction of these Gifts from on high is impossible!

All of the Gifts—apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers—were given to the Church until we all reach unity in the faith, the full knowledge of the Son of God, and the full measure of the stature of Christ.19 If we can ignore that word “until,” then we might as well throw the rest of the Bible out the window as well.

Make no mistake about it, nowhere in the Scriptures are the gifts discussed separately as though some gifts would continue and others would not.20 That is a doctrine of men, and if a man writes his own scriptures, he makes himself out to be a god. I suspect we should be very humble and accept the Scriptures the way they are written. That’s not an overstatement.

The apostle John was called to write down the book of Revelation in about AD 96, long after the other 12 Apostles of the Lamb had died and graduated into Jesus’ presence. The Lord told him to write to the Church in Ephesus (Rev.2:2) that He knew they had tested those who claimed to be apostles but were not, and had found them to be false.

Didn’t John miss the perfect opportunity to say, “Hey, don’t you know I’m the last living apostle? Quit testing these men and just rest assured that there aren’t anymore left?” He could have, and indeed should have made that statement if it were true. But John did not perceive that he was the last living apostle. Otherwise, he would have called it “error” instead of encouraging the people to “test them.” Apparently, John didn’t think there could be no more apostles—they just needed to be carefully tested, since many were making false claims.21

The Gift Not the Office!

There are as many as 23 apostles mentioned in the New Testament, not just the 12, 13, or 14 that most of us have been taught.22 Here are some more references where the literal Greek and the context of the passage point to apostles other than the “Twelve Apostles of the Lamb”:

Matthias (Acts 1:26).

James, the Lord’s brother (Acts 1:14; 1Cor.15:7; Gal.1:19; 2:9).

Paul (Acts 14:14; 22:21).

Barnabas (Acts 4:36, 11:22-30,14:1, 4, 14; I Cor.9:6).

Apollos (1Cor.4:6-9).

Andronicus (Rom.16:7).

Junias (Rom.16:7).

Epaphroditus (Php.2:25, Messenger = Apostle).

Titus (2Cor.8:23, Messenger = Apostle).

Two unnamed (2Cor.8:23).

Timothy (Acts 19:22; 1Thes.1:1, 2:6).

Judas (Acts 15:23).

Silas/Silvanus (Acts 15:23; 1Thes.1:1, 2:6).

Erastus (Acts 19:22).

Tychicus (2Tim.4:12).

Paul’s calling as “one abnormally born” (1Cor.15:5-8) seems out of place if all you consider are the Twelve. In fact, the job description to be one of the Twelve included the requirement that he must have been “with us” from “the time of His baptism until His ascension” (Acts 1:21-22). Paul didn’t meet the qualifications. There are only Twelve names on the Foundations of the Holy City in Revelation 21, and Paul’s name isn’t one of them! Yet, he certainly counted himself among the apostles.23

Paul referred to both Apollos24 and Barnabas25 in a manner which suggests apostleship. To the Romans, Paul wrote that someone else had laid a foundation in that city and that he had thus often been hindered from coming to them.26 Neither Paul nor any of the Twelve had ever been there. Perhaps Rom.16:7 gives us a clue. “Greet Andronicus and Junias… They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.” The Greek actually says “viewed as outstanding apostles,” not “viewed as outstanding by the apostles.”

As already mentioned, false apostles still had to be tested,27 indicating that the matter was not as simple as taking the original twelve, subtracting one, and adding two. And apostles were given to the Church “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph.4:11-13). Let us continually cry out to God for all the Gifts He has for us!

It seems clear that the Holy Spirit considered Matthias one of “the Twelve” (Acts 2:14, 6:2, 4). And if Matthias was one of the Twelve, that makes Paul the thirteenth, at best. Paul is not on the foundation stone of Revelation, so he’s in a different class. What we are dealing with is not an office, but a gift.

Paul never claimed that his apostleship was to be recognized by everyone.28 “If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord” (1Cor.9:1-2). His was a gift, not an office.

“We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can proclaim the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in another man’s territory” (2Corinthians 10:13-16).

Part 3: What Good Are They, Anyway?

“And He, Himself, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, but, speaking the truth in love, we might grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).

The list of benefits brought to the Body of Christ by these men (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) is immense. Two common misconceptions dominate the religious world today. One is that if we’ll just hang in there until Jesus comes back, then we’ll finally become mature all of a sudden. The other misconception is that our growth into the “full stature of Christ” comes solely through having a “personal relationship” with Jesus. Anything beyond that is considered icing on the cake.

Don’t be fooled! Look again at Ephesians 4. These attributes, which God intends for every Christian, come out of a relationship with these gifted men that Christ (He, Himself—intensive pronoun) ascended on high and gives to the Church. Clearly, our fullness in Christ comes through being equipped by the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers of God. It does not come by hearing inspiring speeches from a pulpit every week.

Does the Church still have a need for such men today? Let’s take a look at what we’ll be missing if we neglect these gifts from on high.

Equipping the Saints for Works of Service

The whole list of benefits for every believer flows out of being equipped by those who are supernaturally gifted. The word for equip in this passage is katartidzo, which is a medical term with three meanings. The first meaning has to do with the setting of a bone that has been broken. It can also denote the adjustment of a dislocated member of the body to its rightful place or the deployment of anything for orderly use.29

Without that equipping by Gifted men, you’ll find a Body broken, disjointed, and lying in pieces with pain and hurt and suffering. If your arm is broken, you can’t use it. It won’t function properly, and it hurts until it is mended. So, in the Church, true healing (katartidzmos) must take place before the Body can function. The “broken bone” has to be set before it can heal and become a useful member to do the work of God.

The second meaning of the word katartidzo is “to adjust a dislocated member of the body back to its rightful place”—ligaments, sinews, and bones joined and knit together just right. Can you see the parallel to our lives as members of one Body? You and I must be fitted together to become a habitation of God by the Spirit (Eph.2:21-22). All the stones are set together into their proper places until the whole building rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.30 Gifted men of God are essential in order for the house of God, His Habitation, to be properly built and fitted together.

Finally, katartidzo means “to mend the nets.” If the Body of Christ is tangled up with holes and knots, and is disorderly, then it won’t be useful. It needs orderly deployment to be used by God.

As we are in relationship with the gifted men of God, we are equipped for works of service that would otherwise be impossible to do. While equipping might take place apart from other people (by a Sovereign act of God), such occurrences are rare.31 For the most part, God uses earthen vessels to equip us. This treasure in earthen vessels is how God most often trains and equips His People.

Benefits of Equipping

Building Up the Body of Christ

By this equipping, the Body of Christ is “built up.” The word here was used for the architectural and structural considerations of constructing a home or temple. They are “built up.” Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Unity in the Faith

Jesus’ prayer was that we might be one, just as He and the Father are one. He said to Thomas, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (Jn.14:9). Can you truly say of disciples around you, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen Dave, or Jeff, or John”? Surely our cohesiveness as One Body is directly dependent on these Gifts to the Church.

Knowledge of the Son

Not knowledge about Jesus, but knowledge of Jesus. These men must out of necessity know Christ very, very intimately. By the gifts they bring to the family of God, we grow together to know Him fully.

Fullness of Christ

Our destination is “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Paul described the Church as “the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way” (Eph.1:23). The Church is the fullness of Christ. What a statement! Everything Christ is, the Church is meant to become.

No Longer Infants

In the original language, the word for infants (nepios) meant “speechless babies.” As we are equipped, we will no longer be speechless babies in God’s household. Rather than “takers only” in the Family, we will be those who take responsibility in the House. Those five gifts are given that we might not be forever speechless infants needing, needing, needing. Instead, we can grow into “fathers” and “mothers,” learning to take responsibility in His Family.

Not Tossed Back and Forth

Equipping is essential so that we are no longer blown around in confusion and gullibility by the impure teachings of men—men who are either ignorant or who are in it for themselves. Now we can be made solid. Remembering what we heard from the beginning, we cultivate the anointing of God in us so that no man can fool us.32 We’re established in what we have heard from the beginning so that now the anointing of God is clear in our lives and in our hearts.

Jesus said to Peter, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Simon Peter, but my Father revealed this to you.” Yet five minutes later, Jesus had to rebuke Peter, “Get behind me, satan.” Peter confused the voice of God and the voice of satan. He couldn’t distinguish between the two. The anointing and revelation from the Father wasn’t clear enough for him at that point in time. He required more equipping and anointing to be able to distinguish those two voices. Likewise, we too need equipping so that we’re no longer blown around by every denomination and every system of doctrine, continually confused and frustrated.

Speaking the Truth in Love

For many of us, one of the most difficult aspects of the Christ Life is learning to confront reality in the hearts and lives of those around us. If we’ve been equipped to have the heart of the Lion of Judah, we’ll leave no sin untouched and no stone unturned as we walk in the light with our brothers and sisters. Yet, the Truth is to be spoken “in love,” and that requires that we be equipped to have not only the heart of the Lion of Judah, but the heart of the Lamb that was slain as well.33

Growing into the Head

As gifted men of God equip us, we grow into a connection with the Head and His guidance, His teaching and Headship—His Lordship. The Head is the source—the Giver of thought, of purpose, and of protection. He gives a sense of direction to the Body so it all moves together toward a harmonized purpose.

Joined and Knit Together

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are given the special task of knitting sinews and ligaments together to form a unified Body. In a Church of 5000 (or even 500), it would be impossible for everyone to merge their lives into the lives of all the other local parts of the Body of Christ closely enough to “walk in the light” and “encourage one another daily” (Heb.3:12-14). But God, through these gifted men, “has arranged the parts in the body, everyone of them, just as He wanted them to be” (1Cor.12:18). Observation of, and correspondence with many thousands of Believers on six continents for many years certainly has validated the point: after the initial “honeymoon” period of “excitement” is over, chaos, disunity, sin, ambition, independence, and disconnectedness are the marks of virtually every “group” of Believers not in relationship with these Gifted men. What would be the purpose or motive of fighting against God’s Plan by ignoring the parts of Jesus, the Gifts, which bring cohesiveness, sense, Spiritual growth, and corporate fruitfulness to the Body of Christ? I’m thinking there had better be a VERY good reason to NOT “cry out to the Lord of the Harvest” for the Parts of His Life and Giftedness that make this much difference to the daily Life of His Body. Think?

Building Itself in Love

So finally, as the body grows, it is energized (energeo) to build itself up in love as each part does its work. Men of apostolic stature are indeed a necessity in the Church, but they could never do the work alone. “Therefore let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good works” “encouraging each other daily, as long as it is called today, so that none may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Heb.10:24, 3:12-13).

Treasure in Earthen Vessels

All these benefits are ours to the extent that we allow God to raise up apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. Don’t think, even for a moment, that you can achieve such growth simply by reading your Bible and praying a lot. The Scriptures themselves testify that unless you are surrounded by disciples with the five gifts, you will come up short. In order to attain to the full stature of Christ, we need practical, everyday interaction with gifted men of God. The treasure is in earthen vessels, in men, not just in what they’ve written down. Yes, contrary to popular belief, our primary tool of growth is not a gold-edged, leather-bound book with a string hanging out of it.34

Heresy, you say? But, what does God have to say about it?

“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the Lord. ‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the Lord, I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ says the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more’”35(Jeremiah 31:31-34).

“You are manifestly an epistle of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart…But if the law that brought death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the Glory of his countenance, which Glory was passing away, then will the Spirit which gives life not be even more glorious?” (2 Corinthians 3:3, 7-8)

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove from you your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

The testimony is clear that the new covenant would be written on men’s hearts, not on scrolls, stone tablets, or books. God means to chisel His very words deeply in our hearts by placing His Spirit in us! As much as I cherish the Scriptures and praise God for them, I have to say that these very Scriptures testify to a covenant not written with paper and ink!

Nowhere in Old Testament prophecy does God promise to give us a new book to replace the old book. The promised new covenant would not be like the old one. Rather, God would cause the same Spirit that wrote the Old Testament to LIVE in His People.

Does the twenty-first century church have any need for apostles? When you consider the vast list of benefits they bring to the family of believers, who could say otherwise! Let us stop debating the existence of these earthen vessels and start enjoying the treasures they impart.

Part 4: What They Are… And What They Ain’t!

Jesus is the Standard for the deployment of all the gifts. It’s not His Body unless it has all of His giftedness. What was Jesus like as an apostle? Was He different as a prophet than what we generally see today? (You better believe it!) What kind of evangelist, shepherd (“pastor”), or teacher was He? Jesus alone is the measuring rod that the Father uses, and the interpretation of all the Gifts and of all the Scriptures. It would be a serious mistake to use Paul as our role model for understanding the apostolic. Paul is not the standard of the apostolic; JESUS is the standard. Paul’s life only gives a partial picture of the whole apostolic life of Jesus.

Builders Under the Chief

As with our Lord and Chief Apostle, the apostles of God are builders or architects under the Chief.36 Paul described the Corinthian Church as God’s field, God’s building, and Paul described himself as the master builder. “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.”

Paul called himself a master builder. Now that’s a pretty radical statement coming from a man who was not one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb! Paul was a master builder, but not the Master Builder. That’s what an apostle is—a builder of the House.

When Moses built the dwelling place of God, he did so according to the pattern he had seen.37 This is not to be grasped intellectually, so you’ll have to chew on that one a bit. In order for the House to be built, there must be a builder who can read the blueprints. There must be an architect who can SEE. The masons, carpenters, plumbers, and craftsmen may be the best in the world at their trade, yet without the architekton’s vision and service to the saints, they’ll be unable to build toward a unified habitation of God which is joined and knit together. The role of the apostle is to spearhead a wedge of purpose, which enables the saints to follow and to use their own unique gifts to penetrate into the things of God. The Church is built on the Foundation of apostles and prophets and therefore becomes a habitation of God by the Spirit.38

Apart from a Foundation laid by an architect, there can be no habitation of God by the Spirit. The best that can result is some sort of disjointed, chaotic building known for its meteoric character—that is, it will go up in a blaze of glory and come right down in a puff of smoke. Such “churches” will be reactive and enthusiastic about ideas, but in practice they will constantly have to be propped up. There might be glorious talents, abilities, gifts, and callings among the People of God. But, without the prophetic insight and apostolic character of men who can SEE and build what exists in the unseen realm, the result is chaos.

Apart from a living relationship with an architect, even the most skilled plumber, carpenter, or electrician is going to make a mess of things. No matter how good he is, he is going to make a mess if he works apart from the one who can read the blueprints—the architect. The final product will have a pattern of being great one minute and rotten the next. It will be marked by pendulum swings—soaring high and then crashing back down. Continuous cycles of success and failure will frustrate the people. New ideas and programs may seem, for a while, to patch up the holes, but these will turn out to be nothing more than band-aids on cancer. The resulting structure will not be marked by ever-increasing Glory.

God’s Habitation will always be increasing in Glory. It won’t be a sporadic, roller coaster experience. The building of the House of God will be characterized by ever-increasing glory, pain, work, and perspiration. We were cursed with doing our work “by the sweat of the brow.” It is costly to build a House of God, and there is a cross involved. You’ll need quite a bit of timber to start off. And the fact is inescapable that you need the blueprints and the blueprint reader in front of you to bring the gifts of God together into a compacted, unified structure that goes UP (rather than in scattered directions).

Not All the Same

As with all of God’s creation,39 even apostles are given to the Church with differing degrees of glory. There are different kinds of glory; it’s true of different kinds of birds and animals and even resurrected bodies J. Well, it’s also true in the Church—specifically of apostolic men. There was only one apostle Paul in the first century—so why would we have to be just like him in order to be an apostle today? Who did what Paul did? Nobody. But there was still twenty-three listed in the New Testament. You don’t have to be like Paul to have the gift of apostle on your life. Nobody else was just like Paul. Even Peter said, “I don’t understand Paul all the time. This man is a little deep. But, you better not twist his words.” Peter said that in 2 Peter 3.

Paul was an evangelist, a teacher, and an apostle.40 But a man could be an apostle without being a teacher or herald. He might be a lousy communicator from a platform, yet be able to “wipe you out” at the dinner table! Remember that an apostle won’t necessarily impress you by his public speaking abilities. Someone who does not have the three distinct gifts that Paul had (who has the gift of apostle but not necessarily that of herald or teacher), may not come across as a great orator. But just because he can’t communicate publicly doesn’t mean he is not an apostle of God. Actually, you may find that he does awesome work around the dinner table or on a four-hour walk. : )

Keep in mind that an apostle won’t necessarily write Scriptures, either. Only five out of twenty-three apostles wrote graphe (writings)41, and a few books were written by men who were not called apostles. Yet, every apostle wrote living letters. And since they impacted peoples’ lives, they were known by their fruit.

Recognized By Their Fruit

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he, himself, will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you42 are” (1 Corinthians 3:9-17).

“If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 9:2).

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You, yourselves, are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody (how “boastful,” huh?). You show that you are a letter from Christ prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3).

“Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?” (1 Corinthians 4:18-21)

Paul was determined to find out whether all these boastful men who claimed to be apostles really were apostles—he would find out what they were made of. These men were questioning his apostleship and if he needed to come with a whip, he would. But he would find out whether they were just speaking words or if there was power behind what they were doing. There is an unmistakable seal, or mark, of apostolic authenticity. The proof is in their power. The Kingdom of God is not mere talk, but power. Their claims don’t make them apostolic men. Paul thought that it was possible that they were apostles and, if so, there would be a mark. An apostolic man would have a seal of the Holy Spirit of God and the genuineness of divinity flowing out of him. Dunamis, great power, would be manifested.

“I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He isn’t weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. “Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:2-8).

Paul told the Corinthians that if they examined themselves and saw Christ within, then that was proof that he had passed the test. If the Spirit of God was dwelling in them richly—if there was genuineness, regeneracy, and the power of God—that was all the credentials he needed. Like Grandma always said, the proof is in the pudding.43

Another thing that not all apostles did was “plant churches” (sorry to burst your bubble). After the sixth chapter of Acts, very few of those that we know were apostles are ever mentioned again. Not many are said to have established Churches like the apostle Paul did (Rom.1:5, 15:17-19). Apollos was called an apostle, and it says that Paul “planted,” but Apollos only “watered” (1Cor.3:6).

Either Servants…or Frauds!

If men who claim to be apostles lord it over God’s heritage, they’re frauds. If they must have a platform, if they must have a name badge, if they must have “yes men” around them, they are frauds. If they clamor for substance, seek money and success, or motivate others through guilt, they are frauds. If they float around unaccountable to other brothers—flaunting themselves, advancing their “ministry” and putting guilt or fear or flattery upon others in order to solicit power or funds—they are frauds. If they are simply “pastors” (unBiblical concept anyway, as it’s practiced today) of a mega-“church,” the fact that they currently have “power” and “popularity” and get to make speeches to adoring crowds and control massive budgets —surely does not make them “apostles” regardless of what they claim for themselves. If they claim to have “planted 400 churches on nine continents in the last 6 months, and two just last weekend,” then they are frauds. This sort of boasting, and the shallowness of what they leave behind (which will only ultimately serve to discourage honest and courageous Saints once reality sets in) is an abomination, and unsustainable in any Holy form. “I’m going to start an Ephesus or Antioch, and I’m going to train me some church planters, because I’m the greatest living christian author.” I am certain that anyone with the smallest amount of discernment can smell that this is a putrid forgery of God’s Precious Gift. Question their lives—don’t permit them to separate themselves in an Ivory Tower of their perceived importance. Watch for their arrogance and unaccountability as confirmation of any counterfeit and unHoly work. Some have the gall to project themselves as “apostles” or “church planters” based on borrowed words on their “internet web site” or because of manufactured fairy tale word-smithing, SOLD to the Saints for profit. (Can you IMAGINE Paul or Peter doing something so greedy and crass?)

“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many’”(Matthew 20:25-28).

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:5-9).

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).

And why is all of this so important? Why do we need to cry out to Father for the Real thing, rather than run after every fad that offers cool “church life” and “deep teaching”? Because those things are powerless to deal with satan, which is our only real adversary. The Gates of Hell continue to prevail in those situations, after the “coolness” has worn off. Only those whose backs are scratched and pockets are filled with the Saint’s money can continue to be excited about “this great move of God”—once many see their children go into the world and satan’s clutches, and marriages and lives destroyed by the devil. There is no Power in the “cool church life” world that will not deal with sin, and uses “deep teaching” as a license for sin and blasphemy and make-believe “stories” manufactured from scarce evidence and vivid imaginations—undocumentable make-believe to sell more books and peddle God for their own profit.

Why does this matter? Because there is no Leadership in the Kingdom of God except that which destroys the principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in heavenly realms.44 And the only way principalities and powers are defeated is on a cross. That means laying our lives down for others while they’re yet sinners, before they deserve it or even desire it. That marked the life of Jesus and there is no other kind of leadership in the Kingdom of God.

You need to realize that Godly Leadership is not based on talent or charisma. The only enemies are the “principalities and powers” in the unseen world. They are the ones with whom we’re at war. All other dealings are merely external and in the end don’t mean much. How dare we think we will win any battle by “instruction of the mind”! Defeating the principalities and powers, the spiritual wickedness in heavenly realms, happens on a cross, by the Spirit. One of the ironies of the universe is summed up in this: “‘not by might, not by power, but by my spirit,’ says the Lord.” And His Spirit is pure, holy and good, while our spirits demand equality and rights. Yet, we willingly make ourselves slaves of all and empty ourselves, laying our lives down, even to the point of death on a cross, giving our lives as a ransom for others. Yes, the only kind of leadership is that which destroys principalities and powers—and they can only be destroyed on a cross. That’s the only way.45

Pitfalls of Believing in the Gifts

After weighing what God has to say on the subject, we may conclude that we now “believe in” gifts (whether apostles or some other gift). But just deciding that we believe in a gift does not mean that there will automatically be the manifestation of that gift in our midst. Everything is subject to the purposes and timing of God.

Name It, Claim It

Time after time, a gift is “discovered” in the Scriptures, and someone exclaims, “Ah, I see a gift that we don’t have. Let’s start having it!” That’s fraudulent! That attitude has resulted in many counterfeits and much fraudulent activity in the world today.46 We must not do that.

This kind of “name it, claim it” approach to the Scriptures makes God out to be some sort of game show host who can’t wait to give you whatever is behind door number two. Just because you can name it doesn’t mean it’s yours. When God gives a gift, there will be no denying that its origin is God. It will have the divine and unmistakable mark of heaven. There won’t be any need to force it or conjure anything up.47 The fact is, no gift ever came into existence simply because someone “discovered” it in the Bible. Let us cry out to the Lord of the Harvest with submissive faith to receive these gifts. God is faithful to respond in His way and in His time.

They’ve Been Here All Along

Another pitfall of believing in apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers is the assumption that they’ve always been around, since “the Bible says so.” Actually, Paul never said we would always have those gifts, but he did say we need them until we all reach the unity of the faith and the full stature of Christ.

Someone will argue, “These gifts have always been around; we just haven’t recognized them.” But God gives specific gifts to specific men who have real names and faces. And they will either be recognized as anointed or they will be able to do no miracles among us.

Do you remember what happened when Jesus visited His hometown? Jesus, the ultimate Gift to mankind, could do no miracles in their midst because they had so little faith. The people asked, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son? He’s a carpenter! His brothers and sisters are with us.” In other words, they considered Him a mere human like everyone else. They failed to recognize the anointing of God on His life. As a result, He could do no miracles among them.

In fact, when God’s people lack the submissive faith that is required to receive His Giftedness, He will often take away anointed leadership as a judgment on His household, causing mere children to govern them. A classic example of this is found in Isa.3:1-4, 5:1-7. God had a vineyard, which He cultivated and loved. As gifts, He built it a winepress and a tower. But when He went into the vineyard, He saw that it yielded only bad fruit. The people had been disobedient with the gifts He entrusted to them. They were stiff-necked and obstinate, going on sinning in hopes that grace would abound. Therefore, He took away the prophet, the soothsayer, the captain of rank, the man of skill, the counselor, and all God-given anointed leadership. In response to their disobedience in receiving His gifts, God made mere women and children to rule over them. God made that happen. It was His judgment on the house of Israel. Then people will say to one another, “You have a cloak, you be our leader” (or, in modern times, perhaps they will say, “You’ve been to a Bible college,” or “You’re good with money”) Isa.3:6. That’s a judgment of God. To believe in these gifts does not mean they are currently in existence, but we can cry out to receive these gifts.

Korah’s Rebellion

It is actually possible to believe in apostles and prophets and yet miss them altogether when they are sent to us. So it was with the Jews when Jesus walked the earth as a man. Most of them believed in the coming Messiah and even prayed for His manifestation. But when God was moved to compassion by their cries for help, they delivered the precious Gift of God over to be crucified—not out of disbelief, but out of jealousy! For Pilate “knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him” (Mt.27:18). The last and deadliest pitfall of believing in the gifts is the tendency to grab onto a concept but reject the man because of your own spiritual pride and ambition.

“For Moses supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand” (Acts 7:24-35).

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt’”(Acts 7:33).

God came down to deliver His people, so He sent Moses. That’s how God does business. He chooses a man. He says, “I come down to deliver you. Now, I choose you.” But when Moses did finally go, how did the people respond?

“This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush” (Acts 7:35).

And so it is today. Without vision for what God is doing, a selfish man will cast off restraint and perish. As Jude’s letter warns, the latter days will be marked by the spirit of Korah.48 “I get all my leading from the Holy Spirit, I don’t need you!” “We have the Holy Spirit, too!” That attitude makes God sick and, if we persist with that kind of heart, He will judge us—as individuals, or as a people, He will judge us!

In conclusion, let me just say again that simply believing in these Gifts doesn’t mean that they are currently in existence. But, for the sake of Jesus and His Kingdom, do cry out to the Lord of the Harvest to receive those Gifts in your midst. Then ask for the eyes to see them and, finally, the heart to submit to whatever God provides.

Worse Yet: Not Believing in His Gifts

To believe in apostles has no merit in itself, but to not believe in them is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Suppose God gives you a gift that you “don’t believe in.” That gift remains dormant inside you and so you are right—there is no such thing! You’ve created a self-fulfilling prophecy. God can do no miracles in your life. You’ll never know the substance and beauty of that gift in your life because you don’t even recognize the gift as being possible. You’ll never experience a gift you don’t believe in, not in your life and not in the lives of others around you.

The bottom line is that you can’t fan into flame a gift that you don’t accept. Nor will you be able to say, as Paul said of his apostleship, “By the grace (undeserved favor) of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not wasted. No, I worked harder than all the rest—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1Cor.15:10-11).

Even more tragic than individual unbelief is the corporate rejection of Apostolic and Prophetic Giftedness by the Body of Christ as a whole. Such rejection becomes, once again, a self-fulfilling prophecy. Jesus was without honor in His hometown and could therefore do no miracles there. He was rejected by men 2000 years ago, and He is still rejected today whenever the church refuses to submit to His giftedness in people by the Spirit.

Not only is God dishonored by this state of affairs, but the Body of Christ is cheated out of its full inheritance. Jesus told the Twelve as He sent them out, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward” (Mt.10:40-41). Receive a prophet, and you’ll receive a prophet’s reward. Receive only a friend, and you’ll receive a friend’s reward. Receive a Bible teacher, and you’ll receive a Bible teacher’s reward. Receive a nice guy, and you’ll receive a nice guy’s reward. Receive apostolic and prophetic men, then you’ll receive foundations—the GLORY of GOD and the HABITATION of GOD by the Spirit!

The point is that unless you submit to the giftedness of Christ in a person, you can never receive the benefits of that gift. The extent to which you receive a gift in someone else will determine the benefits you receive. And to receive a gift implies not only belief, but submission.

Some would PREFER a “sperm donor” rather than a “father” (1Thes.1-2). If they can “bring in someone” to give them some ideas, and then dismiss them on their way, instead of building accountable ongoing relationships (the ONLY Biblical Model), then they can stay in control of their “property” and “space.” But, a true man of God will not be a “sperm donor” easily, since fathering is vastly superior in God’s eyes. One with legitimate Gifts from Heaven will be very reluctant to simply deposit information, when Jesus’ way is impartation. “The LIFE becomes the Light of men.”

Submit to the Gift or you cannot receive the benefits of the Gift. Submission is sometimes hard to swallow because it means that you aren’t “it.” It means that you don’t have all the answers in yourself and that you need the giftedness in someone else. It’s not easy to say, “Hey, I don’t have it. You do. I submit to the Gift of God that’s within you because it’s a piece of Jesus Christ.” Brothers, we need to be totally willing to submit to anything that is Christ. If we see it in our children, our spouses, someone else in the Body, or even a cricket (of all things!), we must gladly submit to the giftedness of Christ. Otherwise, we’ll never know the benefits of that gift.

Part 5: Unmerited, Sovereignly-Distributed Gifts

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are all Sovereign Gifts from God. He alone has the right to decide where, when, and to whom they’ll be given. And because they are sovereignly given, they cannot be attained by maturity, sincerity, Bible knowledge, deep desire, or even the need to have them. No, instead “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be” (1Cor.12:18).

Totally Grace

The gift of apostleship comes by grace (charis), which means “undeserved favor.”49 There’s nothing anyone can do to earn it. The gift is by grace and is therefore not deserved! You can’t grow into it, either. “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zec.4:6). As with all the children of God, apostles are birthed from above, “not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God” (Jn.1:13).

As Peter and John said of the once crippled man, “Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see” (Acts 3:12, 16). And so it is with all of God’s gifts. Power won’t make it happen, and godliness can’t earn it. Natural talents and abilities mean nothing. You can neither earn nor learn, attain nor win, mimic nor duplicate the free gift of God. Not by our own power or godliness, but by faith in the name of Jesus, do we glorify God, lest any man boast.

There might, however, still be a gap in time before these Gifts are manifested in a person’s life. Perhaps there will be a season of testing to reveal whether the man of God will be “faithful in little things” (see Lk.16:10-12). For Paul, the delay was almost a decade from his vision, conversion, and commission in Acts 9 (AD 36) to his sending out in Acts 13 (AD 45).50 Was all that time wasted? Not a chance! More likely, it was an opportunity for God to teach Paul faithfulness “with the little things.”

What was Paul during that time, anyway? Was he an apostle, even though it was almost ten years before he was actually sent out? One thing is certain, the gift was there. We know that because God said, “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan to the power of God” (Acts 26:17-18). I am commissioning you. I am sending you to the Gentiles and to their kings. Who among us wouldn’t say, “Okay, let’s go right now!” But it was another ten years before Paul was “sent out” (Acts 13).

Paul’s time in Damascus, right after his conversion (Acts 9), seemed like a total failure. There’s no record of any conversions, he had to escape over the wall in a basket, and the Bible says the churches enjoyed a time of peace after he left! : ) Next, he disappeared for three years in Arabia, and finally went home to Tarsus. All in all, it was about six years before he ever made it to Antioch (Acts 11), and almost ten years before he was actually sent out (apostello) in Acts 13:3. So, seemingly, Paul had no specific, visible assignment from God for several years. Even though the Gift is Sovereign, there may be a time delay as God tests our ability to be faithful with the little things.

It is possible to be disobedient to the calling on your life. While it’s true that no one can do anything to earn the free gift of God, it bears mentioning that His calling on a life can be quenched. Laziness, disobedience, and failure to grow toward the full stature of Christ are all factors that can inhibit the expression of the Gift. Likewise, there must be a nurturing environment for that expression—just the right amounts of light, water, iron sharpening iron, and faithfulness with little things. There is an active part that we play. “I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven,” Paul told King Agrippa in reference to his calling. “Fan into flame the gift of God that is within you by the laying on of my hands.”

Obviously, once a gift is given, God’s desire is that all of the elements will fall into place. But there will undoubtedly be a period of time that God will use to test our obedience and faithfulness with the “little things.” And once given a gift by the grace of God, we must actively respond to the call in faith.

In the Order of Melchizedek

The writer of Hebrews speaks of two priesthoods: the order of Levi and the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7). The priesthood of Melchizedek is of the same nature as Melchizedek himself. He was a man without history and without lineage. No explanation was ever given of where he came from or where he was going. “Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever” (Heb.7:3). Melchizedek was of a divine nature, sovereignly placed there by God. There was a greatness about Melchizedek—Abraham, the father of our faith, even tithed to Melchizedek!

There was a greatness about him, but understand that it wasn’t something you could attribute to his training, his lineage, or anything external. It was given by God by His Sovereign choosing.

The Sovereign Gifts which Jesus Christ “ascended on high” to give to His Church (Ephesians 4) are best described (as an analogy) as in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus gives Sovereign Gifts to His Church by His grace, His undeserved favor (God’s intervention that man did not earn). The Apostolic Gift is referred to as “the charis (grace) of…”

These gifts cannot be earned or learned, but only received as the Father freely gives. Those who are “equipped for works of service” in areas they may not have supernatural Gifting in will have definite origins and lineage. In the Old Testament, men in the order of Levi were trained in the priesthood from the age of 25 to the age of 30. They served as attendants and were trained in the responsibilities before they ever took over their priestly duties. In the same way, there is today a priesthood of believers, by way of analogy, who are “equipped” in the stature and fruitfulness of the knowledge of Christ,51 as well as “equipped” to “do their work in love.”

Again, consider the analogy, for understanding purposes. (Obviously there is no “clergy” or “special class of Saints” in the New Covenant—but ORGANICALLY the nature of Gifts can be understood analogously through this illustration.) The order of Melchizedek can only be explained by God’s Sovereign Purposes and His Sovereign Timing. It is clearly by God’s grace—undeserved favor that no man can ever earn—that these men are Gifted to the Church. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers are Sovereignly given to the Church to equip others into the fullness of Christ (Eph.4:11-16).52 In this way, the priesthood of Melchizedek equips the rest for the works of service and trains others, just as the Levitical Priesthood was trained into their responsibilities. Those of the order of Melchizedek have no explanation for their Gifts, other than purely God’s Grace, “lest any man boast.”

The Right Environment—Abiding

These Gifts of God, which the Holy Spirit has imparted as He wills, will manifest themselves if the environment of the corporate Christ life is present to nurture them into fruitfulness. What does the life of Christ look like as it’s expressed corporately in His people?

“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:12-14).

The Christ life in us will encourage (“admonish” in some versions) one another daily so that none are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. This admonishing process is vital to keep us from being deceived and hardened by sin. That’s true no matter who you are. There are no exceptions. This continual admonishment is an essential element in the nature of the Body of Christ. Without that environment, you will be deceived and hardened into a lack of fruitfulness. That’s not a threat, just a law of nature. Men are like plants—their fruitfulness is determined largely by their environment.

If the environment is right, an oak tree seed will always produce an oak tree. All young sprouts look the same at first, so you won’t know what kind of tree it is until a certain amount of maturity is reached. An oak tree, a maple tree, and an apple tree all look the same when they’ve first sprouted.

So it is with the Body of Christ. You won’t see men bursting with obvious gifts right from the start. But if the environment is right, they can grow into the stature of Christ. These Gifts, any Gifts, can be quenched without the nurturing of that Gift. Without the environment of growth, without the habitat of growth, without the iron sharpening iron—those gifts can be lost or quenched or pigeonholed. It is vital to live in an environment that nurtures the Christ life, so that the giftedness can begin to grow up and bear fruit. It will bear fruit in due season if it is planted by streams of living water.

The fruit is not manifested instantly. With regard to apostleship, the seed is the Gift of the Holy Spirit, given as He desires and as He wills. But the fruit won’t manifest itself right away. You’ll never see a little green sprout with an apple hanging off the end. Nor will you ever see a bunch of tiny apples on a tiny sapling. Every good tree bears fruit in season, but only after a time of nurturing and maturing.

You won’t have to put a sign in front of the oak tree to make it grow. It doesn’t need a label to grow and flourish, and neither do God’s gifts. Just feed it and nurture it in the Holy Spirit’s “habitat.” That is, admonish one another daily and refuse to consider any of your possessions as your own, being devoted to the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers. In that setting, the gifts given by the Holy Spirit will blossom and bear fruit as the genetic nature within permits. Remember that the destination is the full measure of the stature of Christ, not some “ministry.” The Holy Spirit gives gifts as He wills, so watch for fruit, not name tags.

In the meantime, don’t run after these things, but do “earnestly desire the greater gifts.” You don’t know what form the gifts will take because the Holy Spirit gives them as He wills. But when they finally are given and planted in the habitat of God’s Kingdom, they’ll bear fruit in season. You’ll know it when it happens. It won’t be some mysterious thing where you have to “discover your calling.” Nowhere in the Bible is a person encouraged to discover his gift. It’s good to desire whatever gift God may be able to give you. “Earnestly desire (not discover) the greater gifts.” Fix your eyes on Jesus, not on what you think is “your ministry.”

Be fruitful as you abide in Christ and lay down your life for others. If you’re busy climbing on a cross for others, you’ll know as time goes on what gift you have. If you’re abiding in Him and planted in the right habitat, you’ll grow and bear fruit after your own kind. A seed always bears fruit after its own kind. If you nurture and water whatever seed you have in you, it will bear fruit. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you will bear much fruit.” The emphasis is on abiding in Him.

Timing is paramount when it comes to the bursting forth of the Gift within. Consider just a few examples from biblical history. It was almost 10 years after Paul’s vision of Christ and his commissioning before Paul ever did anything worth noting. What might have happened if he had jumped on the scene before God said it was time? Or consider Joseph. His dream was given 22 years before it was finally fulfilled. And then, there’s Moses, who rushed impatiently into his calling and had to flee to the desert, where he waited 40 years for God’s timing.

You Can’t Miss it or Fake it!

The Apostolic is a piece of God, straight from God’s heart and the presence of God. You can’t miss it. There won’t be any doubt in your mind, and you won’t have to take a vote on it. If you have the hunger and humility and passion for Jesus to care and receive, then you will recognize the apostolic. The apostolic represents Divinity, and whatever is from God is unmistakable, if one cares. That’s why Paul could say, “I’ll come and show you whether this is mere talk or real power” (1 Corinthians 4). Of course many missed or refused Jesus Himself when He was here physically, so those same types (the proud, the lazy, those with sins they want to hold on to, the religious, those with power, prestige, or money to lose) will still not See or care.

You can ignore His Gifts or brush them aside if you like, but if you have a heart that really wants to see the Glory of God, you’ll see it. Again, Jesus was missed by most people of His day. There He was, the ultimate Apostle, and they missed Him. John wrote, “He came to His own and His own received Him not.” But if you have eyes to see and you really care, you can’t miss it. You won’t need to go down any kind of checklist to see if they meet the criteria: Do they do this? Do they do that? What about that? How many conversions do they have? What is on their resume regarding books they have “authored” and “churches” they have “planted”? When it is unmistakably and undeniably God, those with eyes to see will see, and those with sins and agendas will not. Just as it was with Jesus Himself, there will always be excuses and “let’s be careful here” and other diversions and “smoke and mirror tricks” to justify ignoring what is of God’s Plan and Mandate.

Though some will always try to do so for personal gain, in truth no one can mimic apostolic stature.53 “Knowledge” or personality or leadership skills are NOT the same as Grace from Heaven, and God’s Deposit of the Gift of architekton, “master builder.” Knowing all the right verses (or even great maturity) will never substitute for the specific gifting of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 2, Peter quoted, “My menservants and maidservants shall prophesy.” The people of God would be a prophetic people. But that doesn’t make everyone a prophet.54

The same is true with any other work in the Kingdom. Paul asked rhetorically, “Are all apostles? Are all prophets?”55 The implied answer is no. Doing apostolic work, prophetic work, evangelistic work, administrations, mercies, or helps doesn’t mean that the gift from God that dwells within you is in that area. But those qualities are part of the stature and fruitfulness of Christ. Therefore, you can anticipate doing many of those things, even though they may not be the thing that God has specifically caused to be embedded in your genetic new creation.

You Don’t Have to Define It

We may not have all the answers about the place of apostles, but let’s at least be honest with what we see going on around us. If this church existence is not what we read about in the Bible, then we must pay any price to find out what God wants to do. As long as that’s our heart, we can set a course that will result in God’s Glory without ever knowing the vocabulary!

If we determine to submit to whatever is of God, we will see His Glory and presence manifested among us. Rest assured, if you don’t understand everything there is to know about Gifts, that’s all right. You don’t have to understand it all. You could be deaf, dumb, and blind to all of these terminologies and ideas, yet if you submit to whatever is of God, you will do the right thing. And if you look for the Glory of God but don’t see it, cry out to the Lord of the Harvest for laborers!

Again, if you submit to whatever is clearly of God, He will do His work without you having to know the vocabulary behind it. All you need are the eyes to see it and the heart to get on your knees when you see the Peace of God show up. You don’t even have to label it at that point. Eat the fruit and digest it. If you were shipwrecked and starving on a desert island and you saw fruit hanging on a tree, you would eat it to find out if it had substance. You might never have a name for that piece of fruit, but if it nourished and fed your body, you wouldn’t care if you knew its name or not. You can LIVE off it, and that’s what matters.

And that’s the way it is with giftedness. You don’t have to be able to describe it accurately—all you have to do is eat it. You don’t need to know all the vocabulary. You just have to cry out to God whenever you don’t see His Glory being manifested around you. Then when He sends Life and begins to establish things around you, and you see it, GO AFTER IT!

Part 6: Territories: The Apostolic Wedge

Territories: A Living Relationship

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Christ is the chief cornerstone and no man can lay any Foundation other than Christ. We know that much is true. And, according to Paul, that Foundation is built on the apostles and prophets. Now, is Christ, our chief cornerstone, just a dead teacher who left some morals for us to try to obey and a certain pattern of behavior that will make us good little Christians who will die and go to heaven? If so, if our relationship is with a dead Jesus who was a good teacher, then it makes sense that dead apostles would be our Foundation.

But if Christ is the cornerstone because of our living relationship with Him, then how can we have a Foundation of dead apostles and prophets? The ekklesia (Church) of God is built on the Foundation of apostles and prophets who are as alive as the Chief Cornerstone Himself! If a historical Jesus isn’t enough to sustain the building, then neither are historical apostles and prophets. You can’t have a dead foundation built on a Living Cornerstone.

Jesus is the Cornerstone of my life, right now, not just a historical figure who impacted me by the life He lived way back then. My fellowship (the Greek word meant “having all things in common”) is with Him and I abide in Him now. “They won’t see him any longer, but you will” (Jn.14:19). If it’s a Living Cornerstone, it had better be a Living Foundation. And as I see more and more in the Scriptures, I testify to you that everything in me is crying out that we must have a relationship—a living relationship—with living apostolic and prophetic men.

That doesn’t mean that they have to be everywhere. They weren’t in every city in the New Testament Church. But we need somehow to be in relationship with all the Gifts of the Body if we really are going to grow up into the Head and attain to the full measure of the stature of Christ. And don’t think that you can have it by just reading what they wrote. We don’t need a dead apostolic teaching any more than we need a dead Jesus. A dead Jesus who taught moral things is of no real value to us. We can only bear much fruit to the extent that we abide (make our home) in Him, and we need that same kind of Fellowship with the Gifted men He sends to us. It must be a current, moment-by-moment relationship with real live people.

Now that we’ve established the fact that a living relationship with apostolic men is important, you need to know that the relationship is everything. It was on the basis of relationships, not an office, that Paul had authority where he did. “Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord” (1Cor.9:2). Paul was not an apostle to everyone, and certainly not in Judea, where he was “personally unknown.” Paul’s tone with the Romans, whom he described as “another man’s foundation,” was more like that of a teacher than like that of an apostle. So authority is bound up in giftedness and flows through living relationships with gifted men.

Territories: Not Always Geographic

“Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can proclaim the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work done in another man’s territory” (2 Corinthians 10:15-16).

“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in Laodicea, and those in Hierapolis” (Colossians 4:12-13).

Sometimes the boundaries of apostolic authority are determined geographically. Paul expressed a desire for his area of activity to spread beyond Corinth to the surrounding regions. And in reference to Epaphras, Paul specifically mentioned three cities where he was called to be a laborer. Paul could have said, “He labors over all the saints everywhere.” But, instead, he specified three cities.

However, geography is only one way that God sets limits on apostolic authority. For example, Paul was called to be “an apostle to the Gentiles” just as Peter was “an apostle to the Jews” (Gal.2:8). The boundaries can also be determined based on culture, area of a specific assigned task, area of life, a particular group of people, or even a sphere of understanding.

Before we continue with this idea of territories, I need to emphasize something. While not talked about very much in the New Testament, apostolic boundaries are very important. God only has to mention something once for it to be meaningful. I challenge you to dig into it. God leaves a lot of hidden treasure for those who are willing to work the hardest to find it.

Paul’s Company

One thing you don’t see in Paul’s life is a loose association of men strung out across the miles. Rather, men stood behind the Apostolic Gift of Paul, corporately, as a “wedge” supporting him in his Work. An apostolic company of men traveled with Paul from city to city establishing Churches, strengthening and reinforcing the disciples, and then appointing elders and putting things in order.56 In the New Testament a total of between 50 and 53 men traveled with Paul in this capacity at one time or another. Paul would send two here and two there, meeting others elsewhere by boat.

This mind-boggling beehive of activity we see in the book of Acts was very much a part of the Apostolic Pattern. But we can’t mimic it by hopping in the car, and traveling all over the place. Do you see the difference? The Apostolic is a dynamic that’s always moving, but which is initiated, maintained, and geared by the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t always the same men who traveled each time, and there was no predictable itinerary planned year by year. Paul traveled as God directed from place to place and drew different men with him, adding some and dropping others off along the way. Sometimes, when Paul was unable to go himself, he sent men to represent him. And, in those cases, he urged the Churches, “Receive them as you would receive me.”

Some of the “apostolic companies”:

Peter and John sent to Samaria to Philip the “evangelist” (Acts 8:14)

Barnabas, Saul and Mark (Apostles and helper) (Acts 13-15)

Paul and Silas (Apostle and Prophet) (Acts 15:40)

Barnabas and Mark (Apostle and helper) (Acts 15:37-39).

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke (Apostle, Prophet, co-Worker /helper, physician/co-Worker) (Acts 16:9).

Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Aquila, Priscilla and Apollos (Apostle, Prophet, co-Workers, physician, Teachers) (Acts 18:2-24).

Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Erastus, Gaius, Aristarchus (Apostle, Prophet, co-Workers, physician) (Acts 19).

Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus and Trophimus (Apostle, Prophet, physician, etc.) (Acts 24).

Judas and Silas, as prophets, sent with the Letter (Acts 15:27).

Barnabas and Saul bring relief money to Jerusalem (Acts 11:30).

Demas, Epaphras, Luke, Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, “many co-workers” etc... (Col.4:7-14)

Over and over again, Paul spoke of men who were behind his apostolic wedge. These were multinational, multicultural, cream-of-the-crop men, properly gifted for extra-local work. They came from different nations—even from different continents! Economic status, culture, and color all varied within this apostolic wedge of men. Yet Paul never set out to have just the right mixture of cultural and economic backgrounds in his apostolic company. Somehow, it was God’s desire to have that spread of people from differing backgrounds.57

Nor did Paul hunt around for each “gift” in Ephesians 4 and stick them all together into a nice, neat package of people with all the right titles. This is not a card game where you try to get some kind of royal flush by finding one apostle, one prophet, one evangelist, one shepherd, and one teacher. “Hi, I’m the apostle” “Hi, I’m the prophet”…That’s not it at all! Rather, it’s a dynamic and flexible group that doesn’t come with a prepackaged set of rules. As you look at it Biblically, you won’t be able to put a nametag on everything.

Epaphras in Colosse

For example, what would you call Epaphras as you look at his relationship to the Church in Colosse? They initially heard the gospel from him.58 Yet Paul, who had never even been to Colosse, took great authority in his letter to the Colossians. And it appears that Epaphras was reporting to Paul what was going on in the Church.59Could Epaphras have been an extension of Paul’s apostolic territory?60 Epaphras seemed to think so, as he gave Paul an open door and allowed him to write to them in the authoritative manner that he did. There were other Churches where Paul never exercised that kind of authority (see Gal.1:22).

Epaphras stood behind Paul’s apostolic wedge and made it possible for Paul to write as one who was “present in spirit” though “absent in body.” Could you write a letter to a Church that you had never visited and spell out detailed instructions about things you expected them to do? How presumptuous that would seem to us! We have this idea today that we call “autonomous congregations,” and that mentality leaves no room for someone like Paul to write with such authority to another Church.61

But Epaphras seemed to consider Paul the apostle of the Church in Colosse. Paul wrote, “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the Church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” He spoke with an authority that you wouldn’t expect from a man who had never been there—unless, of course, you considered the idea of territories, boundaries, and an apostolic wedge. Epaphras was clearly an extension of Paul, going back to Paul and reporting what was going on.

Does that mean he was Paul’s slave or a “yes man”? Certainly not! No more than Timothy or Titus, who served as extensions of Paul in Corinth. These men simply recognized and submitted to Paul’s giftedness, and there was a relationship between them based on his apostolic wedge, territories, and boundaries.62 “I will not build on another man’s foundation,” Paul wrote to the Church in Rome. So while he took a position of authority in Colosse, having never been there, Paul’s only authority in Judea was on a personal level.63

Paul in Judea

Paul was “personally unknown to the churches of Judea.”64 Even after 15 years of turning the world upside down, they didn’t know him! They only knew his face and that he used to be a persecutor of the saints, but “now he’s a brother.” Paul goes on to say in his letter to the Galatians (chapter 2) that the leaders in Jerusalem recognized him as an apostle to the Gentiles, just as Peter was an apostle to the Jews. So while he was an apostle to the Colossians, there was a sense in which Paul was not an apostle in Judea. The gift was not an office, and there are many examples in the New Testament that point to the fact that apostolic authority was localized within boundaries.

Barnabas in Antioch

The Church in Jerusalem felt free to send Barnabas to Antioch. That’s really interesting because the disciples in Antioch never invited anyone to come.65 Those in Jerusalem just heard that good things were happening in Antioch and decided to send Barnabas. The authority crossed city boundaries in an apostolic kind of way. Nobody invited a “guest preacher” from Jerusalem. That wasn’t the attitude at all. God was genuinely moving in Antioch, and the leaders in Jerusalem acknowledged that and so sent Barnabas to them.

Philip in Samaria

“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them” (Acts 8:14). They didn’t ask permission, nor did Philip invite them to come. Peter and John were sent. There is an authority based on territorial boundaries which doesn’t keep a man’s hands tied according to how much he is liked, or whether he’s “invited back.” Inside of apostolic boundaries, a man can walk in with authority, even uninvited. That’s the Biblical pattern. A little bizarre to our twenty-first century understanding of church, but true! There is an authority there. If someone is sent, they can walk in and seem to take over; that can’t happen in the denominational parachurch world where everything is so sterile and controlled.

Titus in Corinth

Paul sent Titus to Corinth, partly to find out how they had reacted to his first letter. While he was there, he acted in the same spirit and followed the same course that Paul had taken with the Corinthians. And they responded in obedience, receiving Titus with fear and trembling.66

Timothy in Many Places

Timothy, whom Paul described as “our brother” and “God’s fellow worker,” seems to have represented Paul in more than one city. Several of the letters were written from Paul and Timothy. And Paul urged the Corinthians to accept Timothy as they would Paul, since he would remind them of Paul’s way of life in Christ, as well as his teachings.67

Paul among the Gentiles

When it came to the Gentile churches, to whom Paul was sent by God (see Gal.2:9), he was pretty bold about making decisions. Concerning the collection for the saints in Judea, Paul told the Corinthians, “When I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me” (1Cor.16:3-4).68 They will accompany me. These men were already planning to go, yet Paul said that if he went also, they would accompany him!

Was Paul arrogant and boastful? Was he trying to prove something by running the whole show? No, he was simply operating in his Apostolic Gifting and exercising Authority as one who saw God’s heart concerning people, places, and Foundations. This wasn’t just a bunch of good-buddy brothers going from place to place. Rather, Paul had Authority from Heaven to make decisions about who would go, as well as where and when they would go.

Careful How They Build

Without a doubt, God’s way of building His Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven” has always been, and will always be, to use mere men to do His work, so that satan is humiliated and principalities and powers are in awe. Paul refused to build on “another man’s foundation.” Obviously, the very basis of this whole business is somehow related to men. It takes more than good intentions, sincerity, and a bunch of nice people who believe in God to build the Church!

The quality, type, and substance of the building materials will determine the quality and substance of the Foundation. The depth of footings (how deep you dig) will determine how tall your building can be. The mixture of the concrete, and the dimensions of the base have everything to do with how high and wide a building can be. You can’t let a building hang 30 feet over the edge of the Foundation.

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds…using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work” (1 Corinthians 3:10, 12-13).

The substance that a building is made of will determine if that building will stand the test of time and will be able to weather the elements. In a foundation, the aggregate mixture greatly affects the strength, stability, and character of the foundation, which in turn affects the nature of the building. If the mixture is too fine or too coarse, then the compression strength of the building will only be a few hundred pounds per square inch, instead of well over 10,000! And if the mixture is right, the concrete will only get stronger and stronger over the years as it hardens and solidifies. How does that apply when you’re building people together into a Habitation of God by the Spirit?

The nature and substance of the Foundation will determine whether the Church can stand the storms and pressures over time. If the Foundation is pure, no matter what may come, the House will stand.

Foundations are hidden after the building is finished. But if you have a building with a faulty foundation, you will be forever trying to square up the corners—replastering the cracks and planing the doors so they will close. And as storms come, the house, which looks so great from the outside, will erode and crumble. That is a picture of fading glory. What is of man has a fading glory, but what is of God has an ever-increasing Glory.

Jesus said that the storms will come, and when they do, the foundation will be shown for its true worth. Foundations are invisible and the building can look great for a time. But, ultimately, the storms of life will reveal whether the foundation is a good one, built on the Rock, or whether it was built on sand. Oh, cry out to the Lord of the Harvest to send forth those who can lay foundations that will stand!

Part 7: Christ Circulates Among the Lampstands

But, What’s a Lampstand?69

The word Lampstand is used almost interchangeably in the Bible with the words Foundation and Church. While a lampstand might possibly come about as a Sovereign act of God, His normal Pattern is to send apostolic men to lay the Foundation for His Building in the exact places of His choosing.70 Most of what we call “churches” today are formed unBiblically out of sincerity, ambition, ignorance, or division.71

“News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (Acts 11:22-23).

What is a Foundation? It’s a Sovereign Gift of the grace (undeserved favor) of God that is evident. Barnabas saw that the undeserved favor of God was evident. He could see the hand of God intervening in a divine way. God was there and he saw that. So he dug in and started teaching daily and bringing people to Christ, and equipping the saints for the works of service.

When there’s a lampstand, Foundation, in a city, it will be marked by the obvious thumbprint of God. You can’t do anything to deserve it or make it happen, but the grace will be evident. Men with eyes to see will know that God is there and will respond according to the giftedness within them to bind on earth what is already bound in heaven.72

Foundations are the result of God’s timing, His desire to bless His children and the free gifts He bestows on them. In the same way that God gives peace (not just the absence of trials or conflicts), so also a lampstand is God’s gift to men.73 No one can claim it, demand it, orchestrate it, or administrate it. The undeserved favor of God is just that—undeserved! You can’t make it happen, no matter how slick you are and no matter how finely tuned your program is.

Foundations are God’s response to our preparedness and crying out to Him for an expression of Himself. And a lampstand is a place where Christ circulates74 in a manner you won’t find anywhere else. “But wait a minute,” some will say, “I thought God was omnipresent.” Quite true. But Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be in their midst” (Mt.18:20). In context, gathering in His name meant agreeing together in prayer about what was already bound and loosed in heaven, standing for the same things Jesus stood for. While God is certainly present everywhere, does He not promise yet a greater manifestation of His presence to those where two or three gather in His name and to those who go out in His name (Mt.28:20)? And as awesome as this is, how much greater his presence in a Lampstand?!

He is everywhere, obviously, but there is an even greater, specific manifestation of Himself in the midst of His People. There’s a greater manifestation that makes it possible for an unbeliever to fall on His face and cry out, “God is really among you!”75 Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for Paul to have said, “When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present…” (1Cor.5:4).76

Christ circulates among the Lampstands and wherever you find one, you can rest assured that He is there in a way that far surpasses His general presence everywhere. But what exactly is this thing called a Lampstand and how do you know when you’ve got one?

You won’t find a precise definition for Lampstand in the Bible any more than you find a precise definition for love in 1 Corinthians 13. But you can see its effects. Asking the question, “Well, do we have a Lampstand in this city or not?” is like asking, “Am I in love or not?” You just know. When you’re in love, you know it. You may not be able to put a finger on exactly how or when it happened—you just know you’re in love! So it is with a Foundation. You can’t chase after it or do anything to “make it happen.” It’s clearly a gift from God, and when you’ve got it, you know it!

How do you define it? You really can’t, but you can see its outworkings. What a tragic mistake it would be to conjure up some formula or checklist for determining whether or not this particular group of Christians is a Lampstand! Anybody who’s ever been part of one knows the difference when he’s not, just as anybody who’s ever been in love knows the difference when he’s not. You know when you’re in love and when you’re not in love. And you know you can’t perfectly define it, so don’t try! Don’t make a “doctrine of lampstands.” You’ll suffer greatly for that.

Built on the Rock

What is a Foundation made of? What is the Apostolic cement that makes it joined and knit together? The only Foundation for a christian Church is obviously Christ. No man can lay any Foundation other than Christ.77 Yet only a revelation of the Christ of Rev.1:12-18, not another Christ of men’s imagination78, can be the basis for Foundation. This “Jesus” who does us little favors when we say the magic words is a false christ, and I’m sad to say that there are many false christs around today.

But when it is the Holy Christ upon which the Church is built, the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. There’s only one Jesus with white hair as wool and eyes of blazing fire and a sword in His mouth—“Faithful and True” who thunders through the nations on His white horse and has “Lord of lords and King of kings” written on His thigh! And that is the Foundation that the master builder, the architekton, lays.

In Revelation, John describes Jesus as one with a voice like a thundering waterfall and feet glowing like bronze. And when John, a man who knew Jesus intimately, saw this Revelation of who Christ really is, he fell on his face as a dead man.79 John had even been on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus and had seen His Glory once before, but still he fell as a dead man. That’s the Revelation of Jesus Christ. That’s the Christ upon which the Foundation is built.

Any other foundation is sand.80 Then the attitude is, “I hear the words of Christ, but I don’t have to put them into practice, because…(you can fill in the blanks). I’m sure Jesus will understand my situation.” But when you see the Christ as He really is, the Anointed One of God in His full revelation, there’s no question of how you will respond to His Word! He doesn’t even have to say anything, but you’ll fall as a dead man when you see “someone like the Son of Man.” You won’t be fighting and arguing over words, debating fine meanings and trying to find an escape hatch to get out of doing what God has called you to do.

If you’ve truly seen the Risen Christ, you’ll never have that kind of attitude! You won’t be looking for the easiest way out or the path of least resistance. You’ll just fall like a dead man. That’s the Rock upon which the Church will be built that the gates of hell cannot prevail against!

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock [the testimony of the revelation of the Christ of God!] I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’” (Matthew 16:15-19).

Upon this rock. What rock? The rock, the Foundation that the Church will be built on, is the testimony of the Christ of the Living God, with white hair as wool and eyes of blazing fire. The rock-solid Foundation that the apostolic brings to mankind is a revelation from the Father of Jesus Christ in His fullness and in His Glory. The master builder lays a Foundation of Christ in the lives of the people.81

Drops You to Your Knees

The insanity of sin and the perversion in our lives is directly related to the perversion of our revelation of Christ. So also, the strength of our Foundation is directly related to our Revelation of Christ. For that is what an apostolic man, the master builder, lays for the Foundation of the Church. As one who sees, he lays the Foundation of Christ against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. He brings a Revelation of Jesus Christ that drops men to their knees, and it is upon that rock that Jesus builds His Church.

In the same measure that the Revelation of Christ is given, the Foundation will be laid. And that Revelation of Jesus Christ to a people, along with an understanding of what it is that He’s building, will drop us to our knees. “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow” (Php 2:10). There are no exceptions. That’s what a Foundation is—a revelation of the Christ of God through the Father’s eyes rather than through men’s imaginations and self-serving ambitions.

Can be Taken Away

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Corinthians 3:10-11).

There are no guarantees that the building will stand, no matter how excellent the Foundation is. Every disciple builds on that Foundation. “From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph.4:16). Are you careful how you build? Do you use costly materials, investing in lives with gold, silver, and precious stones? Just as David refused to offer his God that which cost him nothing, do you have the same attitude toward your brothers and sisters? The fires of testing will reveal the quality of your work.

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things say He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands… Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent’” (Revelation 2:1, 4-5).

It is possible for a local assembly to lose its lampstand, its right to be called a Church. And good deeds aren’t enough to keep it from happening! The Church in Ephesus had a lot of admirable things going on, yet it was in danger of losing its Foundation. That’s an incredible thought, and worthy of serious consideration.

Foretold by Prophets

Even the Old Testament is not as silent concerning Foundations and Patterns as you might suppose. Go back and read about Zerubbabel, who rebuilt the temple after the period of captivity had ended. Try to understand what was signified by the “plumb line” of God, which is a straight measure that cannot be altered. God said He would build a habitation for Himself through gifted men, “not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit.” And the result would be that the latter house will be far greater than the former house.82 These prophecies were intended for our learning. Look into these things!

Holds up the Light

A Lampstand (Foundation, ekklesia, or local Church) is necessary in order to illuminate the Christ of God. The Lampstand lifts up the Light of the World, and the city set on a hill shows the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus to the world! You know what a Lampstand is—it’s something that holds a light. In Jewish culture it was the menorah, a sort of candelabrum, the seven-prong stand that holds up the lamp.

“He asked me, ‘What do you see?’ I answered, ‘I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left’” (Zechariah 4:2-3).

“‘And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.’ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth” (Revelation 11:3-4).

Oil from the olive trees is piped straight down through the seven channels into the lights.83 So it is a perpetually supplied Lampstand. It has a never-ending supply of fuel because the olive trees get their oil from roots planted along the river of life.84 The river flows and the tree grows and bears fruit, while the oil from the olive tree flows right into the Lampstand.

So the Lampstand, the Church, holds up the Light of the Glory of God. You can see the oil of the Spirit of God flowing continually and the blaze of the Glory of God as the Lampstand holds up the Light of Jesus Christ. That is a testimony of the Revelation of the Christ of God that the gates of hell can’t prevail against. That’s what a Lampstand is. It’s the vital component necessary to illuminate the Christ of God.

Can be Measured

The Testimony of the Revelation of Jesus Christ as “the Son of God, the Living” is the rock upon which the Church is built that the gates of hell cannot withstand. And the measure of that testimony is the measure of the substance, the depth, and the breadth of the Church.

If it is truly built on Jesus the Rock, the substance of the Church will always be characterized by an obedience of the faith.85 Who really is this Christ? Does He hold such an honored place in our hearts that at the mere whispering of His Name every knee collapses and bends in reverence and awe? Do we fall as “dead men”?

The depth of the footings will determine the eventual height of the building. Moreover, unless the foundation is dug below the frost line, it will crack and crumble when cold weather sets in. The depth of relationship we have with Christ Jesus and with each other will determine our ability to see over the clouds and to overcome the works of satan.

The boundaries and limitations of the Church will be determined by the breadth of the Foundation. A narrow Revelation of Christ in the lives of the people will limit their ability to expand apostolic territories.

A Lampstand holds up and exalts the Glory of God made to shine in the face of Jesus Christ as a city set on a hill, a people who shine like stars in the universe.86

Brings Repentance

There must be a clear Revelation of the One Faithful and True, the King of Glory, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and Bearer of the ever-increasing government of Almighty God. Remember that where there is no vision, or revelation, the people cast off restraint, they perish.87 Jesus the Christ must be openly and graphically set forth and portrayed—revealed with the conviction, the demonstration, and the power of the Holy Spirit—by a sent one of God.88

And if the True Christ of God is revealed in God’s timing with God’s Authorization (a True Apostolic Foundation of the Revelation of Christ), then “at the name of Jesus” men and women will instantly drop their selfish nonsense and fall to their knees. At the mere whisper of His name every knee shall bow.

Take a look at Corinth, for example. Even the worldly residents of this wicked seaport proved that they could respond with radical repentance when someone like Paul confronted them with their sin. Many today would try to justify lukewarmness and compromise in the churches by pointing out the fact that “Corinth wasn’t perfect.” But notice how the very least of those truly converted to the Jesus of the Word responded when someone touched their denseness and foolish sin.

“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter” (2 Corinthians 7:8-11).

Because a lampstand (a revelation of Christ) was in place, God’s power and Spirit prevailed. No matter how sin and carnality threaten to drag us down, our future is secure if the Christ of God has been laid as a Foundation in men’s hearts. Then, when the apostolic Word of God comes forth, no one will debate it or argue about it. They won’t say, “Well, that’s your opinion,” or “We’ll never invite him back again!”

Because there truly was in Corinth an Apostolic Foundation of a Revelation of the Christ of God that the gates of hell could not prevail against, what earnest desire they had! What eagerness! There was a passion behind it! When they found out that they had violated the holiness of the Christ of God (with white hair as wool), they dropped to their knees! It didn’t matter where they were then—the only thing that mattered was where they were going from there. And their direction was set; their course was determined, by the Foundation that was laid in their lives.

As an apostle of God, Paul reminded the Corinthians of what they had heard from the beginning. What “we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1Jn.1:1). Paul had touched, he had handled the Holy One of God and he imparted this Revelation as he had fellowship with them. Jesus was alive and tangible to the Corinthians and they bent their knees at the sound of His name, because a True Foundation was in place.

Even in a Church like Corinth, which was far from perfect, God prevailed. If it’s truly a Church, if there really is an Apostolic Foundation (literally a Revelation of Jesus Christ), the people will bow their knees. No matter how far they’ve strayed.

Those men and women still had remnant habits and areas of blindness from their previous lives, but, oh, how they had seen Jesus! And when Paul showed them the discrepancy between their lives and the Revelation of the Christ, their knees collapsed at His name! In this, the very weakest of apostolically grounded bodies of believers, it was clear that Jesus was the awesome measuring rod of the pleasure of the Father. May it be so in our day, or may God’s judgment fall to awaken us from our stupor and hypnotic slumber.

Results in Obedience

“Through Him and for His name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Romans 1:5).

What is faith? Faith is seeing Him as He really is. Faith without works is dead, but it’s not a legal system of following rules and regulations that He’s after—He wants our hearts. Our obedience comes from seeing Him.89 How could there not be works to follow your faith? Only if it’s not true faith, if it’s not seeing Him as He is. If your knee doesn’t bend at the name of Jesus, then you’re not abiding in Him and there will be no fruit.

But if you have seen Him and you are abiding in Him, the true Christ of God (not a figment of your imagination or some religious thing-a-ma-bob), your knee will bow and you will bear much fruit. Your neck will be loose, rather than stiff, and you will respond to the Word of God as soon as you hear it. So the Foundation of the Revelation of Jesus must be laid in your life as an individual, as well as corporately in the Body of believers in whom you’re investing your life.

This foundation of obedience to the faith is in contrast to the inevitable foundation of sand or mud that results from a weak revelation of Jesus Christ. “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint” (Pro.29:18). Every building has a foundation—the only question is what kind. A house that’s not built on a concrete slab will instead have dirt or sand for its foundation. If you build your house on the sand by failing to put into practice the words of Jesus, then the gates of hell will prevail in your life and in the lives of those you care about.90 It is impossible to teach them to obey all things that Christ has commanded you if the substance is missing from your own life.91

The Foundation of obedience to the faith is nothing more than a Revelation of the True Christ of God and a Testimony of that which goes forth and holds up His Light—the Glory of God that’s made to shine in the face of Christ Jesus. It’s the Lordship of Jesus Christ declared as an absolute. All the heavens and the earth, and things under the earth, bow at the name of Jesus. Peter and the rest of the apostles never begged anyone to become a Christian.92 They simply declared to men that God has made this Jesus whom you’ve crucified both Lord and Christ.

That’s the way it is when the Foundation is right. It’s a declaration, a proclamation, and a testimony of the Christ of God, holding up the Glory of God that was made to shine in the face of Jesus Christ. And there will automatically be an obedience to the faith. It’s not a legal system, just simple obedience of the faith. To See Him and Believe, and then to respond to Him because of who He really is—not who men say He is—that’s a Lampstand.

The Glory of God in Living Stones

Once the Apostolic Foundation is in place, it will allow for diversity among the saints even while they are compactly joined and knit together. The Church is built together out of living stones taken from the quarry.

“In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built” (1 Kings 6:7).

And we are that temple! It is not with bricks, all uniform and square, that the House of God is built. The House of God is built with living stones. Rocks are all different shapes and sizes. There’s diversity. And while bricks can be stacked one on top of the other with a little mortar in between, stones have to be carefully pieced together. It is a Sovereign God who decides how the stones in His House will be pieced together; and it is the job of the builders to See where God intends for the stones to fit in the building of His House. The “builders” are those with Gifts to See and piece (“mend” or “equip”) His People together by putting the joints in the right places, as Father has designed the Body to work.93 Once the rubble of the religion of men has been cleared out of the way, the builders can begin to tightly join together what God has done in people.94 Carefully positioned just right, with all the joints in the proper sockets, it is living stones that house the Glory and Presence of God.95

So, there is room for precious diversity and unique expressions of giftedness in the Body of Christ. The solid Foundation of God will never turn out clones or press people into conformity and quench the special gifts, but will instead fan them into flame. However, those gifts must flow from the hub of the City of God, the local Church. There is no room in the Kingdom of Christ for individualistic attitudes from people who “do their own thing.” God is not raising up lone ranger superstars who ride in to save the day and then disappear without a trace. The maverick, self-appointed prophet or evangelist will do much to harm the cause of Christ. All the gifts from on high are intended, not as ends in themselves, but as a means of equipping the saints and edifying the body.96

When God is in something, His thumbprint will be on it. And God’s thumbprint is always ever-increasing Glory. Anything else is just man’s attempt to do something for God. Without exception, man-made organizations end up cloning and squeezing people into conformity. They suppress gifts and callings. In that kind of environment, men are unable to speak what is on their hearts whenever it differs from the norm or creed. That in turn forces hypocrisy in the name of “unity.” Men rule rather than the Lord of Hosts.

Man’s thumbprint is a fading, decreasing glory.97 It becomes apparent that the local Church just isn’t doing what God designed it to do, so we invent Bible colleges, bus programs, youth rallies, vacation Bible schools, and all kinds of other crutches that the first century Church managed to do without. The glory is a fading one, so we constantly have to pump things up with new and exciting ideas, new teachings, new programs, new “preachers” or elders, and new buildings. In an effort to prop up what is failing to produce Apostolic Fruit, men rest on gimmicks and tricks done with mirrors, rather than putting their full weight on the Glory of God.

A Self-Perpetuating Foundation

In an apostolic environment, Paul was free to move about from city to city without failure. He usually spent only four to six months in one place, and never more than three years. In the span of three Sabbaths, Thessalonica had a Foundation98 that allowed them (by God’s grace) to become a model for the churches in Macedonia and Achaia. The Foundation is self-perpetuating because the Church cleanses and builds itself up in love once the Revelation of Jesus Christ in all His Glory has been laid.

Paul couldn’t be everywhere at once, nor were there apostolic men in every city. But God’s ability to sustain a Church with a solid Foundation is not dependent on men. Rather, the understanding from the beginning is that “I must decrease; He must increase.” It is Jesus who is the Chief Cornerstone. To be sure, in the early stages of a Church’s life, a great deal of dependence and reliance upon specific men will characterize the disciples. But that dependency will be less and less as time goes on and others are equipped for the works of service. Others will naturally grow up into the Head, which is Christ Jesus.

That doesn’t mean that the men who initially laid the Foundation won’t be needed anymore. Paul was not only a blueprint reader but also one who watered, planted, and built upon the Foundations he laid. He never just left town without any intentions of following through with what he had started. Rather, as soon as possible, Paul would go back and strengthen the Churches. An ongoing relationship develops between apostolically gifted men and the churches, and this relationship continues on after the foundation has been laid. So Apostolic work includes not only the initial foundation laying, but also the watering, feeding, and nurturing of the Church.

Once the pure Foundation of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is in place, it becomes a self-perpetuating Foundation because the people won’t be satisfied with anything less than the standard of Christ.99 When there is the testimony of the Glory of God in Jesus Christ, men can never be satisfied with anything less. Never again. They wrestle to present every man perfect in Christ and they are in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in each other. Once they’ve seen Him, they can’t settle for less. As long as their hearts are pure—as long as they’re not feeding their flesh or blinding and hardening themselves by searing their consciences—if they have honest hearts, they will never be satisfied with anything less again.

That’s why Paul was able to leave Thessalonica without failure after only about a month. Once the Foundation of the revelation of Christ was laid, he decreased and Christ increased. Make sense? He wasn’t the “super-speaker” for their annual “conferences.”100 He was a brother.101 The relationship didn’t end when Paul left any of the churches. He was never a hireling who could be hired and fired, or quit one job for another one that paid better. Show me one example where Paul was “hired” and then “fired” and moved on to another Church!102 It ain’t in there. Not only did Paul’s relationship with the Churches continue after he left, but his authority continued as well. Even when he had been gone for years, something about his authority was still intact.103

Years after leaving a Church, questions were still pouring in through letters and through visitors from cities where Paul had worked in the past.104 They would then go to great trouble to make copies and circulate his letters among the ones who really believed in Jesus and wanted to grow spiritually. No one considered this an inappropriate “dependency on men rather than on Christ.” Nor did Paul rebuke the elders from Ephesus when they hung on his neck and wept after he told them he wouldn’t see them again.105 There really is a proper way to be loyal and grateful to the gifts of God in men, without worshipping them.106

Rivers of Living Water

“On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer” (Acts 16:13).

When Paul entered Philippi, he found a place of prayer. But when he moved on, he left a Church there.107 A fellowship, a place of prayer where two or three are gathered together, is like a lake. It’s nice and peaceful, with great fellowship, but there’s not a foundation of obedience to the faith in a place like that. “We’ll just have a nice time and we’ll sing and we’ll pray,” but there’s not a Revelation of “at the name of Jesus every knee shall BOW!” The penetration and the joined and knit together apostolic cement that compacts and places and fits and binds—is not there. Nice people, saved people, but something is really, really missing. There is a huge vacuum and things just get syrupy and sickening after awhile because it is not unto anything. A lake may be a nice peaceful place to be for a little while, but if you put a water wheel into the middle of a lake, there is no power generated! For sure, the water ripples at times and there may even be a few waves, but the movement is random and without purpose. Sure it’s nice and peaceful praying, singing and fellowshipping, but there is no dunamis, no power. It really isn’t unto anything. If we project this “gathering” five years down the road, what would we see? It might be okay, but we would have to wonder what it was unto. No one would be tempted to say, “These that have turned the world upside down have come to our city also!” “The apostles testify with great power and great grace was upon them all!” That’s the difference—a lake cannot generate POWER!

On the other hand, when there is a Lampstand in a city, rivers of alive water gush from the throne room of God and spill over into the hearts and lives of everyone they touch!108 A river may not always be producing great power, but the potential is there. Just put a water wheel or a dam in it, and you can light up a city! The greater the river and the more defined its banks, the more water of the Holy Spirit and of the Word of God rushing through its channels, the more power you can generate!

Let me give you another analogy. Consider the difference between a flag and a sail. The flag generates no power, while the sail catches the full blowing of the wind to steer and move the ship. This is the difference between two or three gathered together in a “nice fellowship” versus a Lampstand or Foundation with the Glory of God in His purposes. A flag and a sail both go up into the wind, but one catches the wind of the Holy Spirit which drives it through the water of the Word to a destination of God’s choosing. The other just sits on the ship and flutters. A flag is very pretty, but it doesn’t generate any power. That’s the difference between the Apostolic and the sincere. Sincerity is a flag, but the thing that God calls and God does is a sail, driving through the waters to a destination.

A picture I once saw in Louisiana opened my eyes to something really wonderful. There was a mill house next to a flowing river and a mighty waterfall. Built into the mill house was a water wheel. I saw that the wheel was the Church of Jesus. All of the buckets were like the people of the Church who are joined together. A bucket by itself is worthless. But if all the buckets are connected by spokes to the hub of Jesus Christ, a beautiful water wheel mechanism results which can tap the energy supply of the river, the Holy Spirit. It’s all one wheel, though it’s made of many separate buckets all joined to the hub. The buckets, if they are all filled with rocks or cement, can never carry any water. So the vessels all the way around the wheel must be clean in order for it to generate power uniformly.

The river is coming no matter what, but the buckets must be clean and available, joined and knit together. Then the power of God’s Spirit can be tapped as the buckets are connected to the hub of Jesus through the spokes of giftedness in the Body. As the Gifts and Callings of God and the obedience to the stature of Christ is in place, the wheel of the Church will generate the power of God. The hub goes through to the grinding house and the millstone turns and grinds out the grain of the work of God.

If a bucket is not attached to anything, it’s just an ornament—it’s unproductive in doing the work of God. You can see how the Church with its buckets, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ work together in doing the work of God. Individual buckets with holes or mud don’t work on the waterwheel, nor do they have the ability to tap into the power it generates. The river and the power of God have been there all along, but it must be tapped in order to grind out the grain, the work of God. I hope that picture is as helpful to you as it was to me.

While everyone can’t help but testify to what they’ve seen and heard, “great power” (mega dunamis) is especially visible when the work is Apostolic. “The apostles testified with great power, and great grace (mega charis) was upon them all” (Acts 4:33). “The apostles performed many wonders and miraculous signs, and everyone was filled with awe” (Acts 2:43).

Seven Golden Lampstands

The seven golden lampstands were seven Churches. These were specific, local Churches, not the universal Church “at large.” God’s use of the word lampstand was not a random or poetic title. He has a beautiful and revealing picture in mind for us. The Jewish lampstand was specifically designed with seven stems. Seven is God’s number, the number of perfection, and that can be clearly seen by the prongs of the lampstand.

At a glance, you notice that six of the stems surround the center stem, which is representative of Christ.109 Six is man’s number. But with the seventh stem in place, Christ becomes the central, unifying feature. Yet, somehow the lampstand is pounded out of one piece of gold.110 Somehow, Christ and man are together, hammered out of the same substance. “The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col.1:26-27). The man Jesus Christ is the firstborn of a brand new race of people raised from the dead.111 So as the lampstand is held together with Jesus as the perfect Man, together we become a vessel that holds up the Glory of God by the oil of the Holy Spirit.112

Built of Apostles and Prophets

The Church is built on the Foundation of apostles and prophets. This Foundation, as mentioned earlier, requires a current relationship with real-life, apostolically gifted men. Just as we must be in relationship right now with Christ who is the Cornerstone, so also tangible, present-day relationships with apostolically gifted men must be taking place. Know this: Only as we are in relationship to Jesus and the men He has Gifted from on high can a Pure Foundation be laid. A Foundation or Lampstand isn’t just having some historical belief in Jesus’ teaching and conforming to some manner of life and a bunch of “traditions” that He handed down. It’s real-time, real-life situations that bring about the fullness God desires (Eph.2:19-22).113

So just meeting together with other Christians doesn’t necessarily make you a Church. For example, was there a Church (ekklesia, Lampstand, Foundation) in Colosse? We don’t know. Paul’s letter isn’t addressed to the “Church,” but rather to the “saints” in Colosse. We do know that Laodicea was a Lampstand (Rev.3:14) and Paul called them a Church (Col.4:16), even though it doesn’t seem that Paul ever went there. Nor did he visit Thyatira or Sardis, yet there were Lampstands there. We don’t know the apostolic backgrounds of some cities. Perhaps there was a Church in Colosse, but Paul didn’t refer to it as one.

What about Rome? Paul implied that a Foundation was there. We also know that Andronicus and Junias (or Junia) were in Rome, and Paul referred to them as apostles,114 even as “outstanding among the apostles.” That means exactly what it says. Literally, from the Greek text, there’s no way to translate it, “The apostles thought highly of them.” Some folks try to translate it that way in order to preserve their doctrines, but the text literally says that these men were outstanding apostles.

Then, there’s Athens. There were believers in the city (Acts 17:34), but no record of a Church there. And in Ethiopia there was at least one Christian, but does that mean there was a Church? Or what about Tarsus or Bithynia? Paul was in Tarsus several years, but then didn’t go back for at least ten years—and he never even wrote them a letter! Peter wrote to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Bithynia, but he didn’t call them a Church.

Not everything in the Scriptures is as clear-cut as we might like it to be. But one thing is certain: Not every group of two or three Christians who worshipped God was known as a Church that the gates of hell couldn’t prevail against. It takes a lot more than “nice fellowship” to destroy the works of the devil, tear down the gates of hell, kick satan in the teeth, and make all of Christ’s enemies His footstool! We desperately need the Foundation of apostles and prophets.

Apostolic Men Plant Churches… Churches Don’t Plant Churches!

What a shock this would be to the religious world! If you went back in time and took a close look, you would realize what a critical deviation we’ve made from the New Testament norm. Because we’ve deviated from God’s Pattern by rejecting Apostolic Truths, God has taken away His Glory and His Giftedness. As a result of our blatant disobedience, we are faced with a dilemma. How do we plant churches if we don’t have apostolic giftedness?

Instead of crying out to God for His Intervention and for the pouring out of His Gifts, some say, “The solution is simple. We’ll just have churches plant other churches. No problem. We’ll just get together a SWAT team of really spiritual people who know their Bibles real well and the church will send them out to plant a church.” Seems like the obvious alternative, doesn’t it? Yet that never happened in the Bible. Never once did a Church plant a Church in the New Testament. Not even one time.

In the beginning, God’s way to propagate the Church was to appoint and send men of apostolic stature and intimacy with the Lord Jesus into towns and villages that He would later visit.115 This was necessary so that He alone could initiate and direct the “plantings.” Men who are called and anointed with Apostolic Gifts and who are directed by the Head plant churches. There is no other way.

In Acts 16, Paul tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit of the Lord prevented him. Then the Macedonian call came and he ended up planting a Church in Philippi instead. Paul couldn’t have planted a Church in Bithynia, because God didn’t initiate that. As proof, we see that Peter later wrote to the strangers scattered in Pontus and Bithynia.116 He didn’t call them a Church of God in Bithynia. Peter wrote to a scattered remnant, which might fall somewhere in the category of “universal Church.” God didn’t allow Paul to go into Bithynia but instead called him to Philippi. And that Church of Jesus in Philippi ended up being a great asset to him through most of his life. They were partners in the gospel with him, rather than a pain in the neck like most of the other Churches who second-guessed and watered down the Apostolic Foundation to suit their flesh and egos.

There are no “daughter churches” mentioned in the Bible. Antioch was not a “daughter church” of the Jerusalem Church. There were many believers in Antioch before Barnabas arrived; yet, it was not until after he brought Paul to the city that the word “church” was used.117

God has seen fit to invest this whole matter of establishing churches in men who are Gifted for the Task (1Thes.2:7-16). Who knows what exciting discoveries await us as we return to His Way of doing things? You can count me in! What about you?

How do I Hang on to this Thing?

Let’s say you have (whatever that means!) a lampstand. How do you guard it? How do you keep from losing a lampstand?

As they learned in Ephesus, doing “good works” isn’t enough to maintain a lampstand.118 No one could do more good works than they did. The calling of a lampstand is to do what the Father and the Holy Spirit do—to point to the Son. “Remember the height from which you have fallen,” God warned them. Remember the heights of the First Love. Exalt Him! Our job is to be faithful with the little things, one on one, in bringing everything and everyone to a position of honoring Him. We don’t need to worry about protecting anything except the honor of Jesus. “Unless the Lord builds the house, it is built in vain” (Psa.127:1).

Don’t worry about protecting the Lampstand. That’s not your calling, and you can’t do it by good works anyway! Remember the heights of the First Love. Remember how you did good works in the beginning, and do those kinds of works! Don’t you dare forget the First Love because He’s the one you’re lifting up. You’re not just doing good things—you’re lifting up Jesus Christ. Your love for Him is what shines forth to the entire world so they might know that you’re His disciples as you express love to one another and to Him.119

A Lampstand is a rather mysterious entity that’s neither here nor there and has no beauty or majesty. It does not come with your careful observation.120 So don’t cling to it! Jerusalem changed dramatically in a single day (Acts 8:1)—and did anyone look back later and say, “Remember the glory days when we were baptizing people right and left? Remember when…”? Anybody who had that attitude missed the whole point!

Lampstands aren’t meant to be clung to. Jerusalem changed in a heartbeat, and anyone who looked back and said, “Remember how great it was,” missed the whole point of the Lampstand. It’s not a thing. It’s not some entity that you try to establish and then hold onto. Our job is simply to live for Him who died for us, and to lay down our lives for one another.

Our job is to keep our sights set on the Son, and then whatever God chooses to do to exalt His name is His business. Let Him protect it if it needs to be protected. It will be preserved only by His grace, His undeserved favor. As in the first century, so in our day, the grace of God will be evident. We’ll never be able to force something to happen and then tighten our grip on it to make sure it doesn’t crumble.

I’m all for Lampstands, but what I’m trying to say is that it’s not our job to make it happen! “Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s built in vain.” Of course we play a part in this whole business—making sure the components are there, seeking out an environment that’s daily in public and from house to house, positioning ourselves to live in one accord and in obedience to the faith so we can receive His Gifts. But it’s not a gimmick. When thousands of Christians left Jerusalem in just a few hours and only the apostles stayed, they couldn’t say, “Hey, wait a minute, we should’ve changed our approach and then we wouldn’t be having all this persecution.”

That persecution was not necessarily failure on the part of the people, though it could have been. Maybe they didn’t go into Jerusalem, Judea, and the outermost parts of the earth, so God dispersed everyone. But it wasn’t necessarily failure. Philip was called away from an “open door” to a single person (the Ethiopian eunuch) on the road to Gaza. That doesn’t make much sense to our all-American win-everyone-you-possibly-can-to-Christ mentality. What a crazy thing for Philip to do! Or was it? The way God does His business is far beyond our ability to grasp and understand. So don’t map everything out in an attempt to make a Lampstand “happen” and then cling to it in an unhealthy way.

The Kingdom of God is neither here nor there; it’s within you. Jesus said that. There’s no beauty or majesty that we might be attracted to it. It’s not a showpiece to put on a shelf: “Look at our Lampstand!” Now, it’s possible that God will use it as a model community, a model ekklesia, for all the world to see. He might do that again today, just as he did (for a time) in Jerusalem and Thessalonica. But don’t you cling to it and try to make things happen, refusing to let go of what you have. That’s not your job. Your job is to lift up Jesus Christ and to bring everything into submission to Him, until every enemy is His footstool.

There’s a whole world of difference between the attitude I’m talking about and the religious approach we see around us. This is a different way of thinking altogether. Ambitious and prideful motivations become unthinkable and grotesque when you’re in love with the Lord Jesus and when you long to live for Him and please Him first and foremost. Building your own “kingdom” for Him with human hands seems like such a noble project, but the results can never compare to the vast riches of waiting for Him and watching to see how He chooses to manifest Himself on the earth! Always be ready and watchful, earnestly going about your Father’s business, but don’t you dare take the reigns in an attempt to “start” something. Understand? It might seem like a subtle difference at first, but once you begin to walk it out, God will make His ways clearer and clearer.

God never gave us a method to accomplish His purposes in saving souls—He gave us a person, the man Jesus Christ.121 In the same way, He never gave us methods to accomplish His purposes in the Church, but rather persons “filled with the Holy Spirit and Wisdom” (Acts 6:1-7). There was no set methodology on how to deal with widows. The answer was men. God’s method of salvation was the man Jesus Christ. Likewise, in His Church it is the man Jesus expressing Himself through men to solve problems and give solutions.

God’s ways just can’t be found in a tidy little how-to guide. His answer to all the problems and complications in the Church is never a set of methods that you mimic. It’s men! It’s men filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ!122 God’s answer is men endued with “power from on high.” That’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it will continue to be.

“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’”(Isaiah 55:8-9).

“For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God…The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:11, 14-16).

It’s a big mistake to imitate methodologies, as if you can figure out with your mind how God wants something done. Cry out to Him for answers, “give yourselves no rest and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth” (Isa. 62:6-7). But don’t lean on your own understanding. That is a fatal error. The Lord does not live in houses (or cities) built by men;123 He lives in men!

Where is Your Home?

Where do you live? What “church do you go to”? These may seem like very reasonable questions to the twenty-first century mind-set. Yet a pilgrim, an alien, and a foreigner may not be sure where he lives. “Where is your home church?” someone will ask. “What? My home is in heaven! It’s in heaven, and it’s in Mary and Kent and Don and Tammy and Jeff and Maggie and Katie and Ross!” Where is your home? Really?

This is something you need to grab hold of. It’s good to wrestle with where your geographic location is and to ask yourself, “What if a great persecution hit this city? Where would the Church be?” Well, it would continue to be in Dave and Tim and Cindy and Kathy and Vicki and everyone else. Just where is the Church anyway? Where is your investment? “You (people!) are the seal of my apostleship,” Paul told the Corinthians. “You are living letters read by everyone.” If God chooses to destroy what we call a Lampstand in a single day, through persecution or some other means, God is going on. His Kingdom will continue to advance and grow somehow! It’s not confined to times and places, nor is it determined by some organizational structure. Somehow, there’s an ever-increasing Glory because it’s built in people.

Now, does that negate the importance of the visible, local Church? Not at all! God’s heart is sickened by the way men have used the concept of the “universal Church” as a cop-out for selfishness and individualism. But what I’m saying is this: It’s a neither-here-nor-there Kingdom. Don’t cling to it. Until we return to the Father, don’t hold onto it. Allow Him to do as He wills until the full Glory of what God is doing can be seen. He has reasons for everything He does, even dispersions and persecutions. Wait for His timing and let God do the building. Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s built in vain. Be faithful and cry out to God for an expression of His presence, for His Glory’s sake, not for your own comfort. Not so you can be happy or get swallowed up by “good fellowship.” This whole thing isn’t about you, anyway. It’s God whose honor is at stake!

The True Kingdom and Lampstand can never fall. It cannot be conquered or lost as we invest intimately in presenting every man perfect in Christ. We invest in people and wrestle to present one another perfect in Christ as we live for each other ever day—this is how His Kingdom stays intact. It would be a pipe dream to think that you could have a “Church” without the kinds of relationships that are daily in public and from house to house; confessing sins one to another; joined and knit together; one part rejoicing, all rejoicing; one part suffering, all suffering.124

Because the Kingdom is not “here or there” but within people, it is possible for someone to live right in the middle of a lampstand and receive zero benefit from it. Because the Kingdom of God is not within him, he might not even realize there is a lampstand and therefore spend all his time complaining and murmuring about how things could be better (the key word there is “things”). This is a no-beauty-or-majesty kind of Kingdom that’s “neither here nor there.” It’s within you! You can be right smack in the middle of it and not benefit at all. Not even be touched by it! You can still be your old sloppy, carnal self, driven by the lust of the mind and imaginations, without receiving any benefit at all. That’s because it’s not a thing—it’s the Glory of God in men. Now certainly, if God is truly there, you won’t “fool” as many people in your hypocrisy as you think you are, and “like Jannes and Jambres your folly will become evident to all” if you will not repent in “the space of time” that your Father grants you. You won’t truly be a “member” of the Christ’s Life if you can easily continue in sin without conscience or effort to change (1 John 3), and if you will not turn around in the Grace and time provided you, eventually “your going out will prove you were never among us.”

The very deity of Christ is a joke to the world when His followers live their lives individualistically. But when we are truly one together, having all things in common and counting nothing as our own, His deity and tangible Lordship are undeniable! Our oneness as a people is proof of our oneness with the Father and Jesus Christ—the testimony of Christ’s deity.

Vision for the Builders

Now here’s something you may never have considered before. It’s kind of subtle, because it has to do with internal issues. With all the awesome vision in Paul’s heart for the yet unrealized corporate expression of the Life of Jesus, how could he leave city after city, having spent no more than 24 months? And, knowing all the yet unrealized stature and fruitfulness in individual lives, how could he spend an average of only 4 to 6 months in a place?

Having seen the Reality of the Church, how could Paul walk away from it when it was still in its infancy? When it was undeveloped? When there were things left undone? And when he looked around and saw so much that wasn’t really the way he had envisioned it in his heart, how could he leave? How could Paul just walk away and leave unfinished business when he had a Revelation of what God was doing, and he knew God’s desire for a Habitation by His Spirit?

In individual lives, as well as in the corporate expression, it all fell short of what Paul wrote. Right? And yet he walked away from it. Why didn’t he stay 20 years in one place and continue to invest? Perhaps it was lack of understanding. He did seem to stay in cities longer and longer as his life went on, so maybe he grew in understanding.

More likely, though, it was a higher vision that drove him to press on to the next place. Surely his heart was broken for the unrealized potential in the young Christians, but he entrusted them “to God and the Word of His grace, which can build up and give an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).125

Might that higher vision be the laying of Foundations that others cannot lay, and trusting God to provide the other gifts essential to build on the Foundation? “I laid a foundation” and “every man should be careful how he builds” on it (1Cor.3:10). Maybe what drove Paul on to other places was knowing the Calling on his life—the Calling to lay Foundations that other men couldn’t lay. And while he was capable of going on and bringing them to maturity, so were other men with their gifts of building on the House. So maybe Paul was seeing the necessity of deploying God’s giftedness in the most economical way.

Not only that, but he didn’t want to warp them by staying around long enough to foster an improper relationship, an unhealthy dependency. The building will always be somewhat less than the dream found in the heart of the architect—the corners may not be quite square, the finishing work is perhaps a little sloppy, and the instructions are not always followed quite closely enough due to the liberties taken and the “better ideas” of the craftsmen.

When an architect has a vision and draws it on paper, he imparts the vision to the foreman and tells the craftsmen what he wants. Of course he envisions a stairway that’s perfect and doors that don’t squeak but are perfectly square and plumb. His vision is never one with doors that won’t shut. Due to human frailty, and because the craftsmen take liberties, the vision is always higher than the building itself. “Well, I have a better idea,” the craftsman says to himself, “I think it ought to be this way.” I’m sure that happens on construction sites. The craftsman doesn’t like the way it looks or the way it works, or maybe he just doesn’t have all the materials right in front of him. Things happen so that the building is always somewhat less than the dream in the heart of the architect. Nevertheless, he can’t be on the building site 24 hours a day, nor would he want to be. He’d be a pain in the neck if he were! Running around, peering over people’s shoulders all the time…it’s not supposed to be that way.

Besides, the vision of the architect may not be flawless either, since human weakness is a factor. Only the Master Apostle could do flawless works of genius. The level of giftedness varies from man to man, as can be clearly seen in the Twelve as well as in the rest of the apostles of the Bible. And the clarity of vision can be clouded by personal sin in a man’s life. Both of these factors will dramatically impact the final Foundation and the resulting integrity of the structure. The architect’s revelation of Jesus and his response to it will set the limits and determine whether or not this is a corporate identity that the gates of hell cannot prevail against (Mt.16:16-18).

Individually, of course, we need not be limited by any other man. In other words, in your gift and your calling you don’t need to fall into another person’s sins. But, at the same time, the corporate structure that goes up is tied to the vision of the architekton (the master builder) and the Foundation of the Revelation that he lays.

Part 8: The Cost of Going All the Way With God

Normal, Everyday Apostolic Fears

In this chapter, I’d like to suggest some of the fears that might come up in an apostolic walk.

Lack of Security

In today’s age of the all-American career, IRA’s, and retirement plans, a man may fear a lack of security in providing for his wife and children.126 Going to a new city could threaten that comfort zone. Of course, he always has the option to go back to the career world and make a secure salary, but he would sell his calling in the process. It takes a man of integrity to stand firm on his conviction that “it would not be right that we should leave the service with the Word in order to wait on tables” (Acts 6:2).

But then there’s the risk that the people of God in other cities will forget about his material needs because, like Paul, he’s out of sight, out of mind. That’s not an irrational fear; it was reality for the men who traveled from city to city in the first century!

“Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only” (Philippians 4:15).

It’s comfortable in a city where things have started to grow and prosper. There’s a cost involved when you go into a new place and do a new thing, where you’re not respected or loved or appreciated. Starting all over with carnal people in a new place is like going back to ground zero. And, before you know it, you’re out of sight, out of mind from the people you just left.

That was the first century pattern. That was Paul’s experience when it came to support. The people didn’t see clearly what was of Christ, so they fought against it, rather than supporting it and running with it. Because it wasn’t entirely their vision, the people didn’t participate with Paul’s work in other cities. So the fear of material uncertainty in moving on to another city is one of the things that could quench the apostolic gift. Dragging your family around from place to place is not too attractive.

Starting Over

Obvious ramifications of moving to a new city include starting at the beginning of a new work God is doing. With that comes the need to pay the price all over again. Paul put it this way: “We work hard with our own hands; when we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world” (1Cor.4:12-13). And no one seems to appreciate it!

“For it seems to me that God has put us on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men” (1 Corinthians 4:9).

The fear of paying that price all over again can be terrifying. The persecution, the insults, the reproach and all the fussing, carnality, and backbiting can be overwhelming. If the price seems too high, a man could squelch his calling by not taking the risks to do what God has called him to do.

Running Ahead of God

Another fear that might, if carried to an extreme, cause an apostolic man to bury his Gift is the fear of running ahead before his time. The proper response, however, would be to proceed with caution and in faith.

For example, Moses blew it by slaying the Egyptian and then had to flee to the desert. But forty years later, he was ready for the real thing. Perhaps he sensed the calling of God on his life, but he ran ahead of God’s timing.

Then there’s Joseph, who was given a prophetic dream, which he enthusiastically shared with his brothers. Yet it was another twenty-five years before the vision was fulfilled. And Samuel, set apart for God’s work while he was still in his mother’s womb, had to grow up before he was “released” by God. Then God “let none of his words fall to the ground.”

The word of God came to John the Baptizer in his 30th year, even though he had been trained by a priest (his father) and was a devoted, fasting Nazarite long before that time. God has His own timing that cannot be rushed. Even Jesus, who was sinless and who astounded the scholars by the time He was 12, did not receive utterance until His 30th year.

“‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to declare deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’”(Luke 4:18-21).

Finally, Paul was raised a Pharisee of Pharisees and was extremely zealous for God. He was “set apart from birth” (Gal.1:15), yet he was a grown man before he was called. Then, after having seen the Righteous One and receiving his commission in Acts 9, it was several more years before he was actually sent in Acts 13.

Clearly, to go before your time is to invite disaster. But, lack of faith in God’s timing can tempt men to bury their gift for fear that maybe they’re not ready for this, and maybe they just need to rest and be secure in their situation.

Leaving Too Soon

Another fear that would paralyze a man, if he walked by sight and not by faith, is the possibility that the Church he was about to leave might not prosper, or even survive. Paul was able to go on, knowing that Thessalonica might fail (or that Colosse might not make it if he didn’t visit them sometime). That didn’t hinder him from going on, but surely it had to enter his mind. What faith it takes to entrust men to God and the Word of His grace! He poured out his life and heart for people, and then he had to leave them behind, knowing full well how much work was left to be done in their hearts. How could he leave when he saw so much more that needed to happen, let alone what God saw? What if it all just fell apart? What an embarrassment that would be to him, and what an embarrassment to God!

If the Church that he was leaving didn’t prosper, wouldn’t it be a heartbreaking thing for the precious brothers and sisters involved? While confident that their salvation was secure, the apostolic man of God couldn’t help but weep over the wasted potential in Christ as they slumped into nominal existence.

But that scenario can never happen—not in the Kingdom of God! The Kingdom is neither here nor there. Either it’s within them now, or it was nothing but an illusion all along. This is for real! Though the particular local Church might not stand as it once did, you can’t destroy it by cutting it up. It’s like an earthworm. Since the worm has five sets of hearts, when you cut it up you don’t get one dead worm in five pieces—you get five new worms. And so it is with the Church. The Foundation is laid in men’s lives, and you can’t kill it by cutting it up! IF it is something that Father has orchestrated (rather than more of man’s divisiveness and ambition), such as the “persecution” of Acts 7-8 which resulted in the Spread of God’s Work, then even the difficult things will “work together for the Good” as they are born out of our Love for Him and responsiveness to His Purposes.

Granted, there might possibly be, if the church ceased to exist, a tremendous loss of the demonstration of the Truths of the Kingdom that can best be Seen. “You became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia” (1Thes.1:7). It is true that “for lack of vision the people cast off restraint”—they don’t want to hear about it! But when a Church is visibly “a city set on a hill” that “cannot be hidden” (Mt.5:14-16), and the nations praise God for this City, there’s no denying that God is alive.

When the expression of “on earth as it is in Heaven” is currently in practice, no one can argue that the selflessness and Christ-centeredness of the New Testament Church was just a “cultural” thing that doesn’t apply to us. You can argue until you’re blue in the face that the first century way of life would never work in our day, but you can’t dispute something that’s happening in the here and now!127

You can’t argue with the facts—what your eyes have seen, what your ears have heard, what your hands have touched. You can’t argue with that. So God does want a demonstration, a model, of what He can do in people so that nobody can argue anymore. It’s not just theories and ideas. There had to be in Paul’s heart a fear that maybe the testimony would be lost.128

Maybe that fear haunted Paul as he left the Ephesians, but he entrusted them to God even though he knew wolves were coming in from among their own number. Even though he knew there would be challenges, he entrusted them to a Sovereign God without doubting that He who began a good work in them would complete that work. The gates of hell cannot prevail against anything that God is doing.

Violently Pursue Equipping!

How do you “get in on” the glorious life of mega dunamis (great power) in an apostolically founded and equipped Body? Do you search out these apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and shepherds to be “equipped for works of service”? It is clear in Acts 2 that men from all over the earth STAYED in Jerusalem and didn’t just wander off back to their hometowns to have a nice little fellowship in their living rooms with a few family members. “All the Believers were together and had everything in common” (Acts 2). The men from “every nation” who had come to Jerusalem for the Jewish Pentecost stayed in Jerusalem rather than going home to their jobs and families. The people saw the testimony and the Glory of God’s presence in that place, so they stayed and all the believers were together and had everything in common. Nothing on this earth could take them from it. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, prayer, breaking of bread, and fellowship. They were devoted to the apostles’ teaching.

Paul spoke of the equipping of the saints for the works of service and the fruitful results that follow.129 Consider that list of incredible riches that have such magnitude of depth and far-reaching ramifications: the unity of the faith, the full knowledge of the Son of God, the full stature of Christ. Words can’t express it all! Yet all of these things will happen through the Gifts that Jesus gave to the Church when He ascended on high. If you’re one who is seeking first the Kingdom of God with your life, then that tangible equipping is worth your most earnest pursuit.

It will alter your life immensely to be in relationship with the Gifted men of God who are anointed to do the “equipping of the saints” in a unique and life-changing way. If they have the grace of God expressed in their lives in the form of special giftedness, I should do everything I can to position my life to be in relationship with them. If you really want to be useful to God, then it only makes sense that you would pursue those things.

This blows away the lone ranger approach to things. God’s way is to form and shape through the giftedness and the community of the Body of Christ. So it’s worth going after. If you’re seeking first the Kingdom, then you will go after it. It will be that important to you. If you want those attributes as part of your life, you will seek hands-on, tangible equipping from legitimately gifted, vulnerable, accessible, and cross-bearing men.130

“Great!” you say. “Count me in, but how do I do that?” There are a couple of possibilities when it comes to positioning yourself to be equipped from on high. For one, you might just call them and see if they’ll come to your city.

“Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them…” (Acts 11:11-12).

“Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch” (Acts 11:25-26).

“During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (Acts 16:9).

Or they might just come to your city (even your “fellowship”) uninvited. As the Spirit led, Paul and the other apostles simply went from place to place without asking any man’s permission.131 For example, the Macedonian call landed Paul in Philippi, where he proclaimed the good news to a group of women praying by the river, not to the man he had seen in the vision.

Join Your Heart—and Work With Them

Before we leave this idea of seeking out equipping, here’s some food for serious thought. You need to ask yourself why you would hang around these men. Is it to get help for yourself? Or is there a higher reason—to help them with the Work that God has given to them? That’s very important to consider.

If you can’t serve another man’s vision, then you’ll not be given one of your own (Lk.16:12). There’s something about working with someone else as part of a “wedge” or “plow” that is imperative to understanding God’s purposes. God honors the heart of a servant who can work within the context of what’s already happening because of another man’s vision, rather than trying to get something out of it for himself.

You need to see leadership the way God does and respond to those men accordingly with loyalty, respect, and obedience.132 An excellent example of loyalty and commitment to leadership is found in the account of Paul’s Macedonian dream in the middle of the night (Acts 16:7-10). It wasn’t that Paul simply decided to change course and the rest followed. Scripture reads, “we went” and “God had called us.” Luke’s record of the event includes a collective conviction about God’s calling and heart at the moment.

Since the men who traveled with Paul were loyal to him, they could join their hearts with conviction to Paul’s dream. Paul’s dream was their conviction. It was certainly not blind obedience, but they saw the Gift of God on Paul’s life and responded to it. The Life of God was more important to them than their intellectual assessment of the situation and what may have seemed logical. Because they saw the manifestation of the Life of God by the Spirit, they could say together, “We determined that God had called us.” So they got up in the middle of the night with no warning and went to a new continent, all because of the loyalty behind that wedge of leadership. They identified with the giftedness given by the Head that does not demand a “business meeting” and a “vote,” but is received as if from God Himself.

Another natural overflow of the appreciation for what God has given you through gifted men will be some kind of ongoing financial support. “Anyone who receives instruction in the Lord must share all good things with his instructor” (Gal.6:6), and even “double portion.” When done out of love and a pure heart, rather than from a sense of obligation, this is a wonderful way to participate in what God is doing through gifted men! “If just a cup of water in My Name….”

You notice that captives are being set free and the lame are walking and the poor are hearing the good news and the year of the Lord’s favor is being proclaimed. You want to help, so you provide sustenance to allow the man of God to get on with the work unhindered. In so doing, the reward of a prophet, or apostle, or shepherd, or Good News Teller becomes your reward as well.

In Paul’s day, men were sent from the various churches to see how he was doing financially. But their giving was clearly organic, not organizational! People gave to the apostolic and prophetic Work of God as their hearts prompted them. It was not an obligation or a sense of duty that moved them. They didn’t have to give. If that had been the case, their hearts could have easily been far from it. Instead, people gave out of the overflow of their lives and hearts. Paul was often in need, and for a long time, only the Church in Philippi helped him out.

Paul never organized a “missions fund” for the various churches to contribute to his needs. There were no “fund raiser” banquets, and absolutely no peddling of the Word of God in SELLING music or teaching. How appalling! Paul’s approach to life was conspicuously lacking any kind of administrative process that included a budget, percentages, and a year-end report. Paul just trusted God to supply his needs, and he knew times of plenty and times of want. Obviously, it wasn’t something Paul told everyone to do. He urged them to respond to Jesus from their hearts as the Holy Spirit prompted them. And so, churches and people gave out of the overflow of their hearts. They saw the need and Paul told them he was glad because it would be credited to their account in heaven for having done it. Not that he needed it, but for their benefit he was glad they did it (Phil.4).

The Stigmata

The stigmata were the marks that Jesus had on His hands and feet after the resurrection. And when we see Him face to face, we are still going to see a Lamb, looking as though He’s been slain, seated on the throne. These marks, the scars on His hands, His side, and His feet were what He showed to the disciples after He was raised from the dead. Seemingly, the scars from the crown of thorns, as well as the scars from having his spinal column ripped open by the lashes, were gone. He was beaten so badly, according to Isaiah, that He was barely recognizable as a human being. Yet He came up from the dead with scars on His hands, side, and feet. Those are classically called the stigmata.

The stigmata of the apostolic is exemplified by the lives of apostolically gifted men. In Paul’s case, the first words of encouragement he got upon entering the Kingdom of God were from a man to whom God had said, “Tell him how much that is appointed for him to suffer for My name” (Acts 9:16). What a nice greeting! “I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light” (Acts 26:17-18) sounds pretty glamorous, but it was tempered by the stigmata.

Now, while the stigmata is exemplified in apostolically gifted men, the high calling of suffering for His name is by no means limited to apostles and prophets. Everyone living in an apostolically founded existence will enter the Kingdom of God “through great tribulation” (Acts 14:22) and “violently” (Mt.11:12). Jesus said the Kingdom is entered forcefully and the violent take it by force. You need to realize that there’s a cost involved in this whole business! When a Foundation has been laid and a Lampstand is in place, there’s a certain pain, a cross that you don’t find in a “nice fellowship.”133 There’s an element of apostolic existence that includes taking up your cross daily.

“From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17).

“I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24).

“Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles; hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also” (2 Corinthians 6:4-13).

“For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored; we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world. I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:9-15).

“Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:6-10).

God is no respecter of persons! If you want surpassing great revelation, you also will be sent a messenger to keep you from becoming conceited. You also will be crucified in weakness, as your Lord was. You’ll bear the marks of Jesus on your own body. You too will receive buffeting in exchange for whatever blessings God bestows on you, to keep you from becoming conceited, “lest any man boast!” Will you bear the cross? Or will you scramble to avoid it?

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (John 12:27).

Will we cry and scramble to get out of it? Will we whimper and complain when everyone deserts us and nobody likes us? If no one receives what we say, what will we do? Will we bear the marks of Jesus on our own body, or will we scramble to avoid the pain? Will we try to lessen the pain by accepting the vinegar mixed with myrrh? Will we try to lessen the pain by doping ourselves up with our little fellowship and our games and hobbies? Will we go on parade and go on great speaking “missions” because we don’t want to bear the brunt of the cross in day-to-day living?

It’s so much easier to be a star. It’s so much easier to say neat things in Bible class and then run off to gratify the flesh. But will you bear the daily cross of being face to face with people and wrestling for their souls? Wrestling for the life of Jesus in them and for the fullness of that life to be expressed? Will you wrestle to bind up the broken-hearted and set captives free? You know, that takes a lot of time and a lot of pain and perseverance. It doesn’t happen overnight.

There’s no magic formula. Jesus didn’t lay hands on the Twelve, and pray for them, and then walk away with those men being spiritual giants all of a sudden. He wept over them, and He talked with them, rebuked them, and loved them. He wrestled with them, kicked them in the backside, hugged them, and let them lay their heads in His lap. There was a life imparted as He came to be in their midst and serve them, giving His life as a ransom for them. None of this can be done in a vacuum—it can only take place in relationships. That’s the nature of the Kingdom of God. Will you bear that kind of pain? Will you carry the cross of Jesus?

What is the cross of Jesus? Losing your job? Not having much money? No. It’s being willing to die for others even though they are persecuting and slandering and rejecting you. Even though they’re failing again and again, and it perplexes the “dickens” out of you! And yet, if they “LOVE THE LIGHT” (this is the lone non-negotiable, not their performance…they MUST want to have their lives exposed and they must WANT to change for Jesus, John 3, 1Jn.1), we will persevere for them without “striking the rock” out of our own impatience. We will endure for them, IF they “love the Light,” as Jesus has endured for us. We accept the cross for them, willingly and honorably, without complaint and without the gall of “whine.” Then, and only then, will the unBelievers “on that day” be able to say as the centurion, “Surely these men and women were the sons of God.” They have a right to see us on that cross, and “shining like stars in the universe.” However, if we’re not willing to get on that cross of risk and suffering to draw others away from sin and “snatch them from the fire,” the cross for others where “now, through the Church” that principalities and powers are humiliated, then “the world” won’t see the Real Jesus.

As with Jesus, the Apostle, however, most will not recognize apostolic things…

“This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes” (2 Timothy 1:15).

“But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort” (2 Timothy 2:16-17).

“Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words” (2 Timothy 4:14-15).

“Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica—Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he will be helpful to me” (2 Timothy 4:9-11).

“You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3).

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8).

“This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18).

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).

The nature of the apostolic is that it has no beauty or majesty—you can only see it with the eyes of the heart. It’s never seen “after the flesh.” Remember how they responded to Jesus? They killed him! Truly apostolic things will have a Glory that cannot be recognized on an external basis by nominal “Christians.” But as the crowds are walking away and the “scholars” are jeering and asking trick questions, those who have eyes to see will say, “To whom shall we go?” and “Did not our hearts burn within us as we walked along the way?”

Don’t Miss God’s Blessing!

Be diligent not to miss the Blessing of God! The no-beauty-or-majesty apostolic of Christ may arrive in a borrowed Volkswagen that has to be push-started (just as the Master Apostle made His entry in an animal trough, and His greatest moment was riding on a borrowed donkey). The apostolic may be hidden in “contemptible speech” like Paul’s in order that God might “confound the wisdom of the wise.” Will you have eyes to see if God does send Divinely Gifted men your way? Or will you join the vast majority who keep their distance and analyze, or even stone, those who God sends?

Like Jesus, Paul was rejected and blamed. “We considered him stricken by God” (Isa.53:4). He couldn’t heal his friend, he was in chains, and even Timothy was tempted to be ashamed of him after nearly ten years by his side. Rumors that Paul might be a fraud deceived even those closest to him.134

“We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:8-12).

Elymas, Bar-Jesus, was an advisor to the proconsul of his day, and Paul came to town and struck him blind (Acts 13:6-12). Now if that were to happen today, if a man were to walk in with an Apostolic Calling on his life and strike someone blind, Elymas would probably go out of the room saying, “That guy splashed chemicals in my eyes!” And then everyone would have to decide whether or not Paul was a fraud! Was Paul “unloving” in his “sermon” when he called Elymas a child of satan? Were his actions too severe? They had to make the same kinds of decisions about Jesus (John 6). Now we’d be forced to decide and face the scandal of it in our own hearts—did he throw chemicals in his eyes, or did God strike him blind? Was he too harsh, or did it just seem that way because he was full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom?

There’s a scandal (“skandalon”) involved that’s invisible to the naked eye. To everyone on the outside, it’s obvious he threw chemicals in his eyes because “God doesn’t work that way anymore.” Anyway, look how unloving that action was. That proves how unlike Jesus he is. “He’s a fraud! He’s an imposter!” With the eyes of your heart, you will have to decide.

All the evidence could externally support that idea that Paul was a fraud. He was a great healer, supposedly, yet he left his dear friend sick in Miletus. He even had his own physical problems. And now he’s in chains. To be sure, Jesus was crucified in weakness. To be sure, it was a scandal to believe on the One whom the Father sent with no beauty or majesty.

Paul was winning a tough, brutal fight, 14 rounds to 0, and then got an illegal kidney punch in the 15th round and went down. Would he get back up and finish the fight? You betcha!!!

That’s the best way I know how to describe the apostolic stigmata that Paul knew. He wasn’t going to give up or give in, even though he got an illegal kidney punch toward the end of his life. Would he give in to the pressures and the messenger from satan, or to the persecutions and the jeering of the life he’d been given? Did he give up when he was persecuted in rags and counted as an imposter and a fraud? He was rejected as His Lord was. He got an illegal punch and everyone in the province of Asia deserted him. Even his best friends were wondering about him, yet Paul got back up again and he fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith, and now a crown is laid up for him.

The apostolic stigmata leaves no room for boasting in the flesh. If it’s “glorious and awesome,” if it flexes its muscles, it’s probably not apostolic. Impressive resumes of so-called “church plantings” or “accomplishments” deserve the same Judgment God inflicted on King David for “taking a census” in his day. Paul “boasted” in very little, and only to make a point with those he loved and had laid down his life for. And yet today, the imposters publish their “results” in their biographical sketches, embellished by photographs on the books they “sell.” They flaunt themselves rather than Jesus on their “websites” and “newsletters” and “mailings” and the back of their “books.” They publish “my itinerary” junk, sign autographs, and often allow titles or special treatment. They have NO shame for the oohing and ahhhing that is cultivated by their strut. There might be a season for riding into town with shouts of Hosanna, but for the most part it’s going to be an animal trough. And only spiritual eyes will See while everyone else is crying, “Imposter!” There isn’t anything about it externally that would cause you to say, “Wow, this is really of God; I really like this! Hip-hip-hurray!”

The True Apostolic Church and Apostolic Gift will follow the Pattern of its Lord. “No servant is greater than his Master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also” (Jn.15:20). If they treated Him this way, they’ll also treat you like that. And the more of Him there is in you, the more they’ll treat you like Him. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

And the slander isn’t due to jealousy. They slander because they really do believe you’re a fraud, with all their hearts. : ) Such a “report” spreads like gangrene. But you’re going to have to see with the eyes of your heart, or you’ll miss it all. That’s true for the Church as well as for men who are called by God throughout all generations. It’s always been that way. Jesus Himself was executed by capital punishment, as a base criminal, with few objections from “spiritual” and “just” men. How could the Spirit of Christ within a man or woman be treated any differently?

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

So be it.

A serious debtor to the Blood of Jesus,

-mike peters, Indianapolis, RealPeople@JesusLifeTogether.com

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FOOTNOTES

1Eph.3:10; Mt.16:18; Eph.5:27. Back

2Ex.40:16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 32, 33, 34. Back

3Jdg. 21:25; Heb.3:12-14; 1Cor.12:21-31; Mt.16:18; Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-33; Jdg.17:6. Back

4Acts 6:3; 1Tim.3:1-15; Eze.44:7-9; 1Sam.10:6-7; 1 Kings13:33-34; Ps.78:72; Ex.36:1-2, 35:31; Zec.3:6; Num.11:10-17. Back

5To illustrate how ridiculous the usual approach to understanding the Bible really is, let’s apply the principles across the board. For example, it would be, by honest consistency in modern exegetical methods, “unBiblical” to take up a collection on the “first day of the week” until the Church is in existence for about three years. We never read about such a thing until the first letter to the Corinthians is written, about 20 years after Pentecost.
Paul writes to the Church and says he wants them to take up a collection on the first day of the week. He was with them for a year and a half and never asked them to do that before (Acts 18:11). Paul first mentions the desirability of taking up a weekly collection years later so that he wouldn’t need to have one large collection when he arrived. There was a specific need at hand that the people could join their hearts to in a weekly collection. It was a specific need so Paul gave specific instructions about how to handle it. Does that mean we should make a law out of it and “institute” a weekly collection? Or would it be unBiblical to take up a collection for the first few years that a congregation is in existence? Surely you see the fallacy of this whole approach. It’s nothing but a big game where you search God’s Word in order to find out the “rules.” Back

6Acts 18:27; 2Cor.3:1; 2Cor.10:10-13, 11:6; 1Cor .16:12. Back

7Another word like that is “church,” which would be better translated “the community of God.” Or “interactive, interconnected, bonded, union of heart, mind, and lives in the recognizable, visible, Body of Christ.” Back

8Mk.3:14, 6:30; Mt.10:2; Lk.17:5, 22:14, 24:10. Back

9Eph.1:23, 2:22, 3:19, 4:13, 24; Col.2:9-10; 1Cor.12:12-28. Back

10Heb.3:1-3. Back

11Heb.1:1-3; Mt.13:57; Acts 3:22. Back

12Lk.4:18-22, 19:10. Back

13Jn.10:11; Eze.34:8-24; Psa.23:1. Back

14Mt.23:10. Back

15See also 1Cor.12:12-28. Back

16The Greek word was architekton, or “architect.” Back

17This brings up an important point that I think needs to be clarified in today’s evangelical world. Knowing the Scriptures really well does not make one a layer of foundations. Just because a man has read his Bible backwards and forwards, that does not mean that he has the ability to read the blueprints of the Church. Never was a person called an apostle in the New Testament because he knew the Scriptures. It was a Gift from on high, and it is the same now. Back

18mechris—Strong’s #3360, 3372. Back

19Even if we were to assume that the Church has reached the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, this passage presents a problem for modern theologians. For that would mean that not only apostles and prophets, but also evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, have become obsolete! Back

20Another at least minor indication that apostles and prophets aren’t going anywhere until this is all over is found in Rev.18:20-21. The apostles and prophets will rejoice over the judgment of God on the world system (Babylon) “for the way she treated you.” To this day, it doesn’t seem that the world system has been destroyed. And, according to John, when that destruction does come, the apostles, prophets, and saints will rejoice. Therefore, it only makes sense that there will have to be apostles at the time when God destroys Babylon in order for the rejoicing of the apostles to occur. Back

21Incidentally, the Bible (while not yet glued into one binding) was well circulated and quoted by this time (AD 96). If anything happened to change John’s assessment that apostles needed to be tested rather than automatically rejected, it was certainly not the “coming of the scriptures.” Nor was it the fall of Jerusalem (AD 70), which was already history. Has anything happened since that time which would have changed John’s words concerning apostles? Back

221Thes.1:1, 2:7; Acts 14:4, 14; 2Cor.8:23; Col.4:12-13; 1Cor.15:5, 7; Gal.1:19; Acts 12:17, 21:18, 15:13, 19; Php.2:25; Rom.16:7; 1Cor.9:4-6. Back

231Cor.15:9, 1:1; Rom.1:1, 5. Back

241Cor.3:6, 4:6, 9. Back

251Cor.9:4-6. Back

26Rom.15:18-22. Back

272Cor.11:13; Rev.2:2. Back

28In fact, probably 17 years after Paul’s commissioning by Christ Himself, and after many years of “turning the world upside-down,” Paul’s apostleship was still not an established fact in the place where Christianity had its very roots. “I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, `He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy’” (Gal.1:22-23). Back

29As seen in Mk.1:19, where James and John were “mending their nets.” Back

30You may recall that the temple of God was made out of stones that were cut at the quarry. It was not built from bricks that are uniform and square, but by stones. The tower of Babel was made out of bricks, and we know God’s pronouncement on that work of men. But God’s people are living stones (1Pet.2:5) who are cut from the Rock and who need to be fitted together. Each stone is different in shape, size, and makeup. Each needs to be fitted with another and compacted together (KJV) in just the right way. For each to randomly place himself in the house would be chaos, but as the gifted men of God equip all the living stones, they are appropriately cut and fitted and joined together into a flawless house. Back

31Some rare cases when God chose to sovereignly equip specific people included John the Baptist, Moses, and Elijah. But take a look at Elisha. He did twice as much as Elijah and he was equipped for the works of service by a person. Moses was sovereign in a sense; yet after spending 40 years as Moses’ servant, Joshua was the one who took the people across the river into the Promised Land. Similar examples abound in the Scriptures. Back

321Jn.2:24-27. Back

33For a more detailed discussion of the lion and lamb qualities of Jesus as these apply to leadership in God’s kingdom, you may want to write and request the three-tape series “Kingdom Leadership.” Back

34See Jer.31:31-34; Eze.36:26-27; Heb.8:7-13; Rom.10:14; 2Cor.4:6-7. Back

35See also Heb.8:7-13, 10:16-17. Back

361Cor.3:10-15. Back

37Acts 7:44. Back

38Eph.2:19-22, 4:16. Back

391Cor.15:38-41. Back

401Tim.2:7; 2Tim.1:11. Back

41 “Graphe” is another one of those mistranslated words. It has been translated “Scriptures” but the word itself simply means “writings.” Back

42 In the Greek, this “you” is plural. Can you see why it almost has to be? He flows right into “YOU are God’s temple (not “your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” like it says in ch. 6). You are God’s temple, His Holy Building, and don’t you know the Spirit of God dwells in YOU!? Back

43Reread 1Cor.13:2-8 and notice the tremendous cross involved. Paul spoke of being crucified in weakness and then living in weakness so that others might live in glory. And if people wanted to think he failed the test, so be it. That was part of the cost. As Jesus taught, no man is greater than his Master. His only concern was that they look at their own lives to see whether they reflected Jesus. Needless to say, being an apostle is not all fun and games! Back

44Eph.6:12; 1Jn.2:14, 3:8, 5:18; 2Cor.10:3-4. Back

45One practical application of all this involves finances. An apostle of God will be very fluid in his manner of making a living. But he will never be an “employee of the church” with a salary, car allowance, and three weeks paid vacation. (In addition, he will not have all that is “laid at the apostles’ feet” in his pocket and totally at his personal disposal. A Gifted brother is NOT God, and should not be “in control” of every issue, or feel the need. That is not wisdom or Spiritual Life. Other brothers should handle as much as possible.) Such abuses are not God’s Way, but, in fact, violate many Biblical principles. This arrangement, obviously patterned after the world system, can pollute even the purest heart and amounts to nothing less than robbery in the Kingdom of God! An apostle of Christ will always be willing to “make tents” whenever it becomes physically necessary or seems spiritually best (Acts 20:34; 2Thes.3:8). At times, it would be wrong to wait on tables rather than to be devoted to prayer and service with the Word (Acts 6:2-4). Ideally, by the Lord’s command, a man of God should earn his living by the Gospel (1Cor.9:14). In other words, his needs would be provided by those who willingly offer up material benefit because this man of God has brought increase to them spiritually (Gal.6:6).
Clearly, this transaction between lives is far removed from today’s religious world, where “preachers” are hired and fired after “trying out” for the position and are paid for “services rendered” (which usually includes a “competitive benefits package”). From the beginning it was not so! God’s way has always been willing service on both parts. The man of God responds to the calling, grace, and command of God alone (1Cor.9:16-18; Rom.1:14; 1Cor.15:9-10), not to any kind of lust for money or to the whims of those who might “fire” him (as if that were possible!). He’s a debtor. If he does it under compulsion, simply fulfilling his obligation, so be it. If he does it willingly, that’ll be even better reward. But, he’s a debtor. He has no choice, “the grace was given us, therefore we work harder than all the rest.” By the same token, his brothers and sisters are debtors, as well. They are debtors because of the gratitude to him for what he has imparted to them. He has helped change their very lives, so they are indebted and want to provide for his needs in response to God and His purposes on the earth. As we see God’s purposes being fulfilled and lives changing around us, as we notice the fruit of Jesus Christ and His gospel in men’s lives, we respond. We give to Christ by offering our material goods to the men who propagate the Life of Christ among us. This is not an external response just to “keep the church going.” It’s a vertical response to God as we see Him being multiplied in our midst. So we lay down our lives, physically and spiritually, in any way we can. Back

46For example, there are these doctrines of “five-fold ascension gift ministries” and “apostolic teams” that have been commercialized and franchised and misapplied in tragic ways. Back

47For a case in point, read Acts 10:43-48. “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.” And the people began to speak in tongues! Peter never said, “You can have the gift of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by speaking in tongues. Just raise your hands and start mouthing the words.” That’s not how it happened. Peter was in the middle of telling the crowd about Jesus, and quite unexpectedly, the people just exploded! As far as we can tell, they didn’t know anything about tongues until it happened. It was clearly from God. Back

48“They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?’” (Num.16:3)
It was this same line of reasoning that prompted God to strike Miriam with leprosy, and in this case, Korah and his 250 followers were swallowed into the earth. Take a few minutes to go back and read Num.16:1-7, 19-35. These things were written for our learning! Back

49Rom.1:5, 12:6; Eph.3:2-8, 4:7-11; 1Cor.15:9-10; 1Pet.4:10; Mk.13:34; 1Cor.3:5, 12:11. Back

50Josephus, et al. Back

51See Mt.28:18-20. Back

52The apostles were told to go make disciples. People are made into disciples—they learn to be followers. That sounds so foreign to a religious world that says, “God made me what I am. God made me a disciple and I don’t need men!” It was this same carnal arrogance that caused one of the Corinthian factions to boast “I’m not of Apollos or of Cephas; I am of Christ” (see 1Cor.1:12). God’s command is not optional, no matter what the world says. Jesus says, “Go make disciples…and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt.28:18-20). “I commanded you, and you command them to obey me.” There is a cycle there. It was on that condition that He promised to “be with you always, to the very end of the age.” Praise God for that promise, because the making of a disciple doesn’t happen overnight! Back

53Some claim to be apostles, but these are to be tested (Rev.2:2; 1Jn.2:18-27; 2Cor.13:3-6). Back

54If you are genetically right-handed, your left hand can be trained to do much or all that the right hand can do. I can dribble a basketball and shoot with my left hand (some may dispute this!), but that doesn’t make me left-handed. I can’t make myself genetically left-handed. Some have, because of an injury to their right arm, learned to be very proficient at tasks with their left hand. Such a person might, with great effort and training, learn to out-perform someone else who uses his dominant hand, especially when the opponent is sick or untrained in the task.
All of this is analogous to giftedness in the church of Jesus. With much equipping, a person can learn to function in an area where he is not genetically gifted—even to a greater extent than one who is gifted in that area, but who is spiritually sick or lazy. Back

551Cor.12:29. Back

56Col.4:7-17; Acts 20:4-6; Rom.16:1-24. Back

57There was a reason for that. God wanted to demonstrate that the wisdom of men is foolishness to God. In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. Race, culture, background, and color are of little significance. Just as the Father, Son, and Spirit are One, so shall we be One. The men in the apostolic wedge, along with all their differences, form a miniature representation of the Godhead. Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are so one that they can’t be separated. And Jesus said, “As the Father is in me and I am in him, so you will be in each other.” We will be so intertwined that you can’t separate us. There will be no difference—black, white, yellow, red, old, young, street person, engineer, bank president, or secretary. You won’t be able to separate us. Back

As in heaven, so on earth. The Kingdom of God will share such a oneness, walking in the Deity of the Godhead, that it can’t be separated. That’s a pronouncement from heaven. Jesus said that the world will know us because we are one, just as He and the Father are one. Those men were pulled from various regions, not because Paul was trying to do something special, but because he watched for gifted people and God decided to raise men up from every conceivable walk of life. That is what God, who is no respecter of persons, chose to do, perhaps as a testimony to the oneness of lives that aren’t built on prejudice but on love.

58Col.1:7, 9. Back

59Col.2:5. Back

602Cor.10:13-18; 1Cor.16:10. Back

61The idea of autonomous congregations doesn’t exist in the Bible. Yes, the church in one city is certainly separate from the church in another city. But in the light of apostolic truths, we begin to see clearly that there is to be a degree of relatedness, of being joined and knit together as one body, between churches. A lot of things in the Bible (the nature of the church, the book of Acts, the letters, etc.) start to come alive and make more sense as we return to God’s way of doing things. The apostolic of God is the glue that holds everything together and builds it up. And if you can hear it, let it be known that churches never planted churches—apostolic men planted churches (but more about that later). Back

62A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Lk.6:40). You become like your teacher. There is a substance about the student, a certain representation of the teacher. “He will remind you of me in all his ways.” A substance and character will mark the person, and he will be a product of the one who teaches him. People who were part of an apostolic wedge, as well as those who were affected by it, were marked by the substance and character of the life of Christ. Back

63Gal.2:11. Back

64Gal.1:22. Back

65Acts 11:19-22. Back

662Cor.7:15-16, 12:18. Back

671Thes.3:2; 2Cor.1:1; Col.1:1; Php.1:1; 1Cor.4:17, 16:10. Back

68Read verses 5 and 6 as well. You might be surprised by the way Paul just takes over the situation. Back

69For more depth on the subject of Lampstands, write and ask for an e-mail titled “Community? House Church? No, No, No. It’s about Zoe Life!” Or this e-mail can also be found in the book titled “The Scales.” Back

70Acts 17:26-27, 16:6-10; Lk.10:1. Back

71For example, we send out a group of people to “start a church” because we have money in the budget that we feel guilty about. Or, because some other group is doing it, we figure we ought to be planting churches, too. Or we send out an offshoot because we’re growing so big that it seems better than buying a larger building. Or the elders and deacons have a fight, and we decide to split off and form a new congregation out of our desire for purity. Or because we read some foolish psychology book, purporting to be a church growth book that says we should “split” after we reach some certain number of people—no matter that this is TOTALLY unBiblical and a conjured “wisdom of man” theory. It would be safe to say that ninety-nine percent of America’s churches have their origins in one of the above categories. Yet, these are all clearly unBiblical ways to start a Church. Back

72Mt.18:18 (see the original Greek text). Back

73“‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” (Hag.2:9)
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.” (Lk.10:5-6)
So many people think that they’ll have peace just as soon as this family situation works itself out, or that marriage conflict is resolved, or they find the right job. But those things will never grant peace. Never. The peace of God is given. It never comes by the absence of frustrations, trials, or externally “bad” situations. Likewise, foundations are given as God sees fit, in His time and in His way. Back

74Rev.1:13, 2:1. Back

751Cor.14:24-25. Back

76Power was coming from Jesus to heal the sick. Wasn’t He all—powerful? Well, sure He was! But power came from Him and He felt power leave Him when the woman with the bleeding was healed. How could He feel power leave an infinite supply of power? Somehow, God gives a greater presence when He desires to give a greater presence. Where two or three are gathered, and when you’re together and the power of the Lord Jesus is present—these are times when God manifests Himself in an even greater way. Why didn’t the unbeliever fall down on his face and cry out, “God is truly omnipresent!” There was a specific manifestation of God with His People at that point in time, and the unbeliever responded to it. Back

771Cor.3:10-11. Back

78Mt.7:21-27. Back

79Rev.1:12-18. Back

80Mt.7:26. Back

81 For more on this subject, write and ask for “A Revelation of Christ.” Back

82Isa.62:1-12, 2:1-4, 28:6, 58:12; Hag.1:12-14, 2:3-9, 2:23; Zec.4:1-14, 8:1, 9. Back

83In Biblical prophecy, oil (used for anointing) represented the Spirit of God. Back

84Rev.2:1-2. Back

85Rom.1:5. Back

862Cor.4:6; Mt.5:14; Php.2:15. Back

87Pro.29:18. Back

88Gal.3:1 (Amplified Version); 1Cor.2:1-5; 1Thes.1:4-6; Rom.10:14-15. Back

891Jn.3:2-6. Back

90Mt.7:24-27; Mt.16:16-18. Back

91Mt.28:18-20. Back

92Col.1:28-29. Back

93 Eph.4:11-16; 1Cor.12 Back

94Neh.4:10. Back

95Rev.1:13, 2:1, 5. Back

96Eph.4:11-12; 1Cor.14. Back

972Cor.3, 4. Back

98Acts 17:1-10. Actually, Paul may have been there a little longer than that (Php.4:16). Back

99Here’s an analogy. When a foreign substance enters my body, it reacts by sending white blood cells to surround and swallow it. The foreign matter is taken care of by the normally functioning body. And so it is with the Body of Christ—if a pure revelation of Jesus is in place, then whatever is not of Christ will be surrounded and dealt with. The “alien” substance in the Body will not be allowed to survive. It won’t be able to co-exist with the Body of Christ. Thus, it’s not mandatory that apostolic men be there once the foundation is laid. If it is a pure foundation, it will purify and cleanse itself because men have seen Jesus Christ. Back

100Somehow, they managed to get along without such things in those days. But they did hang on his every word whenever he was able to be with them (Acts 20:7-12, 31-38). Back

101Mt.23:8-11. Back

102The apostolic pattern is not that men are hired and fired. They don’t leave to go on to a “greater work.” Rather, once a relationship begins, it continues. It’s not a stepping stone for something else. It ebbs and flows and there are times and seasons when it is more prominent than others, but the apostolic man is always part of it. Back

103An example of that ongoing relationship was the Corinthian Church. Paul said, “Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present” (1Cor.5:3). In essence, he was saying: I’ve judged this man, even though I’m not there; I have already cast judgment on him, and here’s what I want you to do—now do it. And in the second letter to Corinth, Paul went on to say that he took that line of action not only for the sake of the guilty party, but also to prove that they would be obedient to him. Read it. That’s what is says. It was a clear test of his authority in that Church. Their response to Paul was proof of his apostolicity. Back

104See, for example, 1Cor.1:11, 7:1. Back

105Acts 20:22-38. Back

106Acts 14:12-20, 12:21-24; Rev.19:9-11. Back

107Php.4:15. Back

108Jn.7:37-39; Rev.22:1-2; Eze.47:1-12; 2Cor.1:3-5. Back

109For a detailed description of the lampstand, see Ex.37:17-24. Keep in mind that none of these details are coincidental. The lampstand with its branches and buds was a copy and shadow of what is in heaven—the reality is found in Christ (Col.2:16-17; Heb.8:5, 10:1). Back

110By God’s command, the lampstand had to be hammered out of one piece of pure gold. Notice the application to the Church: one loaf, a pure batch without yeast (1Cor.5:7), all together in one accord, joined and knit together, compacted, having one mind, forming one new Man (“the Christ”—1Cor.12:12). Back

1111Tim.2:5; 1Cor.15:20-23; Col.1:18; 1Cor.15:56-57. Back

112For more on the subject of Christ in men fulfilling the purposes of God, write for the cassette tape When Sent, satan Falls. When God sends his people, Jesus sees satan fall like lightning, and He leaps for joy in the Holy Spirit. We go wherever He sends us, doing whatever He calls us to do. Then He follows by His Spirit visiting the towns and villages, and His work is done! We go there to prepare the way of the Lord (see Lk.10:1-24). Back

113See Territories: A Living Relationship on page 61. Back

114Rom.15:20, 16:7. Back

115Lk.10:1. Back

1161Pet.1:1. Back

117Acts 11:19-26. Back

118Rev.2:1-5. Back

119Jn.13:35. Back

120Lk.17:20-21; Isa.53:2. Back

1211Tim.2:3-7. Back

122Acts 4:23-31; 2Cor.4:6-7; Php.4:2-3; Col.4:12; 1Thes.3:1—5; 1Tim.1:3-7, 4:11-14. Back

123Acts 7:48-50; Rev.21:22. Back

124Col.1:28-29; Acts 2:46, 4:32, 5:42; Jas. 5:16; Eph.4:16; 1Cor.12:26. Back

125As Paul was leaving the church in Ephesus (Acts 20:17-38), he told the elders they would never see his face again. Then they clung to him and wept. That was not improper, by the way. It wasn’t idolatry or worshipping a man. It was an expression of people who really see Jesus in one another. It was okay and Paul didn’t rebuke them for that. He ripped his robes on another occasion when there was worship of men. But when Paul left Ephesus, he wept with them. He had a higher vision that drove him to press to other cities even though his heart was broken with the unrealized potential that he was seeing corporately and individually. He pressed on, entrusting them to God and to the Word of His grace. Back

126Keep in mind that only Barnabas and Paul were not married. All of the others were (1Cor.9:5-6). Back

127“A man with a theory will never convince a man with an experience” as a wise man once said. True Life in Christ, TOGETHER, daily, fully intertwined “from the least to the greatest, they all know Him” Life is our Inheritance AND our experience. It is only the shallow and the compromised who will not believe the Word of God, the Teachings and experience of Jesus, and then the Apostles—and passionately live for all they lived for. This book has grown out of the experience of a people of God who have lived in the Quality of Life of Acts 2:42-47 for two decades now. Folks can give some very convincing arguments to prove why the book of Acts was cultural and could never happen in our day. But you can’t argue with reality. The Reality of God in His People will have no beauty or majesty, to be sure. But still, it will be the Glory of God in His People, daily in public and from house to house, counting none of their possessions as their own, with ever-increasing Glory. Back

128Must it take visible proof, though? After all, Jesus did say, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Lk.16:31). If they don’t believe the word of God then maybe seeing it with their own eyes isn’t going to mean beans to them either! That’s another factor to consider. Back

129Eph.4:11-16. Back

130Do you want these blessings or not? Show me one place in the Bible where there is a list of attributes more powerful than these! And these come, according to the word of God, from being equipped by these men. Not from personal Bible study. If your priority for living is to seek first the kingdom, then it will be a very small price to pay to live in “the exact times and places” where God wants you to live, with no regard for your preference of job or climate or proximity to pagan relatives! Back

131Acts 8:14, 11:22, et al. Back

132Heb.13:17; 1Thes.5:12-13; 2Cor.13:10. Back

133People just have a great old time “going to church,” making money, coming home, and watching TV. People all over the world live that way. Go to church, believe the right things, and be nice folks—some of us used to be like that. We were so happy, too. Happy as pigs in mud! But then, all of a sudden, something hit us and the Glory and the stigmata came together. The cross and the Pentecost came together and they were inseparable. There is a stigmata of the apostolic existence. There’s a trauma to consider. Back

134Rom.3:8; 2Pet.3:15-16; 2Cor.11:26; Gal.2:4-5; 1Cor.4:12-13. Back

All that is truly HIS voice "shall cause the falling and rising of many—and be a sign spoken against—so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed."(Luke 2:34-35)