Series on the Modern Lukewarm Evangelical Church – No. 6
Satan hates God but has no power to strike directly at Him. Satan’s arrogant pride caused him to attempt to raise himself to the level of God. Perhaps this was the first time any being ever chose to sin against God. As a result, Satan and one-third of all the angels who cast their lot with Satan were cast out of Heaven to earth. The only means left for Satan to strike back at God was to separate mankind from God by causing men to sin and thus destroying mankind’s eternal relationship with their Creator. Satan’s attack on mankind began in the Garden when he deceived our first ancestors and caused them to be cast out of the Garden just as Satan was once cast out of Heaven.
Christ’s completed work on the cross provided for the remission of the sins of mankind and a means to re-establish relationship with God. Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, the church was established on the Day of Pentecost. Thereafter, the universal church was and remains populated by all born again believers around the world. This became Satan’s new target to separate God from His people. Satan knows that separation of believers from God will occur if he can corrupt the truth of God’s Word and/or the Church.
(1) Corruption of the truth of God’s Word. This corruption came through the infiltration of false teachers to spread lies and false teachings in the church. The subject of doctrinal compromise (heresy, false teachings) was previously presented in the three-part series “False Teachers in the Evangelical Church.”
(2) Corruption of the design, organization, and operation of the church. Satan continually seeks to undermine the design, organization, and operation of local church bodies from the beginning of the Church Age until the present day. But Satan’s plan was not a surprise to God. Jesus revealed through John (Revelation chapters 2 and 3) the spiritual condition of the seven churches of Asia Minor. These individual churches were Jesus’ prophetic picture of the seven periods of Church Age history, and the church is now in the last period of church history identified as the lukewarm Laodicean church. The modern lukewarm evangelical church has emerged at the very end of this period, the last days immediately precedes the Rapture of the church.
The attack on biblical doctrines and the design, organization, and operation of the church is the subject of this series of articles titled “Church, Inc.” In Part I we begin with the design, organization, and operation of the first century church as established by God. The essentials and details of this design, organization, and operation of the church (all born again believers, i.e., the body of Christ) is portrayed in the leadership gifts given to the elders of the church and the gifts of the Spirit given to all members in the body of Christ. To corrupt the operation of the leadership gifts and the gifts of the Spirit in the church is to damage or destroy God’s design, organization, and operation of His church.
The design, organization, and operation of the first century church
1. The Leadership Gifts
To understand the design, organization, and operation of the church, the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is perhaps the most succinct and clear expression of God’s design, organization, and operation of the church that encircles individual Christians, the local church, and as the unified body of Christ.
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. [Ephesians 4:1-6. NKJV]
Paul begins with an admonition to every member of the church to walk worthy of their calling. They were to endeavor to walk the walk in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace. Here Paul recognizes that even in the spiritual family of the local church, there are differences, many of which may bring division and conflict. Those divisions and conflicts cannot be resolved by reaching a compromise or a consensus, or by ignoring the issues at hand. The divisions and conflicts can only be resolved and unity restored as the church is led by the Spirit to a return to the purity of the unchangeable truth of God’s Word.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift… 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 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 of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 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 edifying of itself in love. [Ephesians 4:7, 11-16. NKJV]
Beginning in verse 11, Paul describes the establishment by Jesus of five leadership ministries and the combined job description of those ministries. Essentially, those who were given these leadership gifts were members of the local congregation whose specific gifts were used “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” In their various leadership roles they became elders, as the leaders in the local churches were called, and were selected by the local church from their midst. Essentially, certain members of the congregation were given various gifts of leadership by Jesus. In time elders with various gifts of leadership were formally recognized (commissioned) within the local church (see: Acts 14:23).
In the first, second, and third centuries, all five leadership gifts operated through the elders of the local church. However, apostles were usually called to an itinerant ministry to other cities, regions, or countries (as were the original apostles of the first century) while the remainder of the elders (prophet, evangelist, preacher/pastor, and teacher) generally continued to operate at the local church level.
One can gain an understanding of the status and work of elders by a quick review of what the New Testament says about elders:
So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. [Acts 14:23. NKJV]
And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. [Acts 15:4. NKJV]
And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
From Miletus he [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. [Acts10:17. NKJV]
For this reason I [Paul] left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. [Titus 1:5. NKJV]
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. [1 Peter 5:1. NKJV]
Here we see the inspired writers of the New Testament set the church in order. In summary, Jesus established the pattern for organization and operation of leadership in the local church in the first century, and that pattern is very clear. Certain individuals in the local church were given specific leadership gifts. The common term used for these leaders was “elder” as shown in the above Scriptures. The elders were called from the ranks of the local congregation for specific leadership assignments based on their gifting and who almost always were those having authority by virtue of age and experience. The above verses in almost every instance speaks of elders (plural) in the local church which confirms that local churches did not have one but several elders to serve the needs of the local congregation.
2. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit to the body of Christ
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. [1 Corinthians 12:4-11. NKJV]
The pattern for organization and operation of the local church did not end with the leadership gifts. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul described the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit to operate in the lives of individual Christians and in the overall life of the church for the purpose of promoting spiritual growth and development of the church.
Donald Stamps in his article “Spiritual Gifts for Believers” states that these gifts are not the same as the leadership gifts discussed in Ephesians 4:11-16 above. Leadership gifts are God-given abilities given to empower and commission some individual Christians to exercise leadership gifts in a more permanent or full-time manner in the local congregation and beyond.[1]
Paul listed nine gifts of the Spirit but does not include every God-given gift or ability that Jesus’ followers may possess. Stamps states that “…there are many desires and abilities God gives his people that may seem more common (compared to leadership gifts) but are equally important as God accomplishes his purposes.” Stamps also includes “abilities, talents, and expressions” given by the Holy Spirit which God uses to serve his purposes in a variety of practical ways.[2]
Did Jesus intend for the five-fold ministry gifts for leadership and the gifts of the Spirit given to all in the body of Christ to continue in operation throughout the Church Age up to and including the present day?
The answer is clearly a resounding yes! The verses dealing with the five-fold ministry for leadership (Ephesians 4:11-16) and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the entire body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) plainly indicate that all of these gifts are still needed in the church today and must remain operational until the entire body of Christ comes into a unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to the level of Christian perfection as measured by Christ’s standard (see: Ephesians 4:13). In other words, God intended that all of these gifts remain in operation until Christ returns for His bride.
When Satan succeeds in weakening or destroying the operation of the leadership gifts and the gifts of the Spirit in individual believers, it is a direct attack on the organization and operation of the local church body in order to destroy the life of the church from within.
In Parts II through V, we shall examine the outworking of Satan’s efforts to compromise and corrupt God’s design, organization, and operation of the church during the seven periods of the Church Age. Lastly, in Parts VI and VII, we shall examine the reasons for the disarray and dysfunction in the modern lukewarm evangelical church during the last days of the seventh and last period of the Church Age as a consequence of the abuse of the leadership gifts as well as the decline in the operation of the gifts of the Spirit within the universal church.
Larry G. Johnson
Sources:
[1] Donald Stamps, “Spiritual Gifts for Believers,” Fire Bible-Global Study Edition, Ed. Donald Stamps, (Springfield, Missouri: Life Publishers International, 2009), p. 2175.
[2] Ibid., pp. 2175-2177
