Equipping the Saints
W. Carl Ketcherside
[Page 161] |
In the very midst of a wonderful discussion on the unity of the Spirit, the apostle Paul injected a statement about the descent and ascent of Jesus (Ephesians 4:9, 10). The translators appointed by King James I thought it was parenthetical and so indicated. I am not so sure that it was. The immediate concern is that Jesus is a gift-giving Lord. He is free and lavish. Every one of us receives grace, measured only by His bounty. No one is left out. No one is forgotten. Every person in Christ is a recipient.
Jesus descended as the greatest gift heaven ever bestowed. When He ascended He gave gifts unto men. When He came it was in a body of flesh. Every member of that body functioned to enable Him to carry out the divine purpose. He walked, talked and spoke to suffering humanity. His eyes looked upon the cringing woman taken in an adulterous act. His hand touched frightened lepers existing in the isolation of a living death. But the ultimate design of God could not be fulfilled while he was in a body of flesh.
To fill all things, to reach out to the universe He had to ascend. In doing so He left a spiritual body to carry on His mission among creatures of the flesh. Every organ in that spiritual body has a function. The body is not edified or built up by being ministered to, but by ministering. It is the whole body which must be appropriately joined together. Every joint must supply something. There must be an effective working in every part. This guarantees "the increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love" (verse 16).
The body is not one with ministers, but a body of ministers. It is not a kingdom with priests but a kingdom of priests. Every child of God is a minister. Every called saint is a priest. Every one is obligated to "show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). Turn to that verse and read it. Meditate upon the word "that" until its implication in this passage floods your consciousness. It is a tragic commentary upon the ability of man to confuse and corrupt to behold what he has done to the body of Christ. He has manipulated and moulded it after his own image. He has defined and confined it, organized and disorganized it. He has debated and argued over its area of service and responsibility, and sought to control it by claiming the authority to speak for its head.
Nothing is sillier than to talk of "the social gospel" as if there were another gospel. Nothing is more ridiculous than to withdraw the salt from the putrefying mass and put it into a theological salt shaker on an ecclesiastical shelf. It is a sin to put the light under any bushel, but the sin is compounded when the basket used to hide it is the church. Members of the body of Christ must touch
[Page 162] |
All of this is interesting to me. I just had to say it. I admit it was only secondarily the theme of Paul in Ephesians 4. He was interested primarily in showing that Jesus left no stone unturned in providing for the functioning of the body when He returned to heaven. If He had not gone away the enabling Spirit could not have come as the other Helper. In order to fill all things, Jesus gave special gifts to the gifted body. In our issue for last month we learned that His gifts to the body were special functionaries. There were four categories of these-- apostles, prophets, evangelists and teaching shepherds, or pastors. In this present issue we are to learn the divinely ordained function of these in the community of the reconciled ones.
As a proper approach to this I entreat you to stop right now and read Ephesians 4:1-16. I wish I were in your home or office where we could read it together. I deplore the limitations of cold print. But please read it and underline in the text the words "in love" in verses 2, 15 and 16. We must make allowances for one another in love. We must speak the truth in love. The body must edify itself in love. Love is the answer to impatience, harshness and decay. Love must regulate our mutual association, our speech and our contribution to the upbuilding of the majestic body. Because we are in a culture hooked on the success motif, a capitalistic society where often "the Madison Avenue man in the gray flannel suit" dreams up gimmicks and promotions to mesmerize the public, we are often betrayed into thinking that if we could just hit on the right commercial we might lead the public to our trough and soon outgrow "the other sects" in number. This is a vain hope. It is a fragile fantasy.
Programs can be dreamed up and drummed up by very unloving people who regard others as statistics and so many scalps on the partisan totem pole in front of the orthodox tepee. But the only dynamic which will change this world is love. I mean love for the unlovable, love for persons whom you cannot like. You would not need to be forbearing in love if everyone saw things exactly as you do. If you love only those who love you, you would make a first-class publican according to Jesus, but you would not truly be a child of the Father.
Every gift must be exercised in love. Love validates every gift and sanctifies every sacrifice. You can have the faith that moves mountains like anthills, but without love it would amount to zero. You could surrender your body to be reduced to ashes by the flame at the martyr's stake, but it would be a useless gesture without love.
What was the real purpose of Jesus in bestowing evangelists and instructional shepherds upon the body? Was he creating a special caste to be trained and put up for hire as the ministers of the flock? Millions think so, or their actions belie their thoughts. I deny that this was the intention of the Father as judged by His wonderful revelation. I am going to make some statements which are emphatic. I make them now so you can decide whether you want to read further. I have no desire to have a captive audience. It is possible to walk out on one in print as it is when he is personally present. But whether you continue to read or not, remember that your disagreement with my thinking will in no sense militate against my love for you.
If there is any hostility it must be in your heart toward me. I feel absolutely none toward you. My love is not conditioned upon your seeing these things as I do. I accept you as my brother because the Lord accepted you as His child. My love for you is based upon the Lord's love for us. "Beloved, if the Lord so loved
[Page 163] |
1. Every gift bestowed by God, whether conveyed naturally or supernaturally, mediately or immediately, is designed to be used for the good of all and for the edification of the body.
2. The community of the saints is a fellowship created for the purpose of enabling every disciple to develop to the fullest degree of his potential in whatever area he is endowed of God.
3. Any system which operates in such a manner as to inhibit or sublimate the use or development of any gift of God is detrimental to the cause of Christ and can never restore the primitive order to the ekklesia of God.
4. The training and developing of a special class or caste to minister to the ekklesia, or for the ekklesia, to the exclusion of the development of every member of the body as ministers, is foreign to God's purpose and plan. It can never have the divine sanction or approval. Every organism on earth is strong only in proportion as it is able to carry out the purpose for which it exists. The fact that it may be successful in accomplishing something else is no indication of strength at all. If a school is known for the beauty of its architectural structure but its students are uneducated and helpless to face the world, that school is a failure. If the human body has one organ which has shown prodigious development while the others are all weak and decrepit, the body is not strong, but weak. A man whose arms and legs are paralyzed is not strong merely because he is a good talker and has eyes with unimpaired vision.
So that I may not be misunderstood, let me be very explicit! The practice of hiring a man as the minister of a congregation of saints is without scriptural warrant. It creates an office unknown to the revelation of God, try to justify it though men will. The very concept of putting up a sign reading "Church of Christ--John Doe, Minister" is sectarian and unscriptural. It will not make it any less so to childishly put "Vocal Music" in parenthesis under "Church of Christ."
Why not put John Doe, Priest, upon our signs? If every Christian is a minister, and every Christian is a priest, and one can be hired to be "the minister" for the ministers, why can he not be "the priest" for the priests? I hope that you will not want to hang me when I say that the average professional minister of "The Church of Christ" actually is more of a priest than he is a minister. Our liturgy or ritual is different than that to which our Roman Catholic friends are subjected, but whatever it is it is conducted by "the minister." He is the front man until the elders fire him and he must remove to another diocese.
The congregation is no longer a family of brothers and sisters gathered around a thanksgiving table of the Father. It is a convocation of communicants or parishioners, gathered before an altar, a sacred desk. When all are seated the man of the hour comes in and issues a priestly summons to worship. He intones the prayers, reads from the sacred volume, delivers the homily, and thus fulfills the role for which he is reimbursed. This is not a social gathering of saints at all but an organizational approach. Is there no place for an evangelist? Is there no place for teaching shepherds? Of course there is! They are the gifts of Christ to the body and God never gave a useless gift. But we can divert gifts from the purpose intended by the donor and this is what The System has done. If a father presents a car to his son as a gift so that he may more easily attend school and the son uses the car for an immoral purpose it does not argue that there is anything wrong with the car. What has happened is that we have used the gifts of God to the body in a way which Jesus did not intend.
But The System has so cleverly disguised itself that we now confound it with God's revelation. It has substituted
[Page 164] |
If you are still with me, I'd like to have you do me a favor. Turn again to Ephesians 4, and by the side of each verse from 11 to 16, put down these captions as guidelines for our discussion. By verse 11 write "Special Functionaries." By verse 12 write "Specific Purpose." By verse 13 "Scholarly Stature." By verse 14 "Safety From Deception." By verse 15 "Speaking Acceptably." By verse 16 "Serving the Body." Of course Paul didn't give "book, chapter and verse" as a lot of our brethren caught up in the prooftext syndrome refer to it. Sometimes the versification is arbitrary. Certainly my verse labels are so. They are merely handles with which to grasp on to thoughts in an unbroken sentence. In the King James Version these six monumental verses are contained in one sentence.
Jesus gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be instructional shepherds. Why did He give them? What was the purpose of these gifts to the body? The answer is "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." But if prizes were being given out for verses most often misunderstood, this one would certainly win a ribbon.
What does it mean? Look at it again. Note that the word for appears three times. But the first word is not the same as the last two. It comes from pros, a term which implies implementation of purpose. Probably the very best rendering here is "with a view to." The gifts of Christ, the special functionaries, were given with a distinct view or purpose in the divine mind. The word "perfecting" is from katartismon. Originally it meant to restore something to its proper place. From this it took on the connotation of properly arranging and putting things in order, and finally, making complete and functional. A good translation here would be training, qualifying, adapting or fitting. The evangelists and shepherds are to train the saints.
Work is from ergon, the word for employment or task. Ministry is from diakonia, the word for service of any kind. W. E. Vine points out that here it is "not in the sense of an ecclesiastical function." No one can determine by seeing the word ministry in the sacred scriptures what kind of service is implied. This must always be defined by qualifying and explanatory terms. The same word used to describe the work of Timothy is employed to describe that of Martha, who applied to Jesus to draft Mary as an "associate minister" (Luke 10:40). One who mows the lawn surrounding the meetinghouse is as much a minister of God as one who stands in the pulpit.
The word "for" here is from eis, as it is in the next and last usage in this verse. It signifies unto or into. "For the work of ministry" simply means unto the work of service. Edifying is building up or strengthening. Verse 16 shows that the body is to be self-edifying. It is built up by being fitly joined together through the effectual working of every part. It is not that someone comes in to build up the
[Page 165] |
I doubt that any of us who honestly and objectively survey the fragmented restoration movement today can say that we have restored this concept of carrying on the work of ministry. God's method is to equip all of the saints to function to the highest degree in the exercise of their gifts. Ministry is not the work of one man or two. It is the responsibility of every member of the body. The arm is to function as an arm. The ear is to function as an ear. But it is by the cooperative work of every organ that the organism grows.
The System has betrayed us into struggling along on our own until we can accumulate a sufficient amount of money to hire someone as "our minister." If he is successful in increasing the number enrolled upon our roster we think in terms of hiring an associate, or assistant minister. As these develop in skill and acumen through use, the other members grow spiritually flabby through disuse. Eventually as "familiarity breeds contempt" and the personality of "the minister" fades or palls, we let him go and look for a new face to grace "the pulpit." Brethren are always seeking a minister instead of seeking to minister.
Most of us do not know that the word "pulpit" is a transliteration of the Latin pulpitum, a stage for actors. Our British brethren are correct when they talk about "the speaker's platform" but never about "the pulpit." The very idea of a pulpit determines the attitude of those who gather with us. When one attends a theater he does not go as a participant in the drama. He pays admission and attends as a spectator. He waits nervously for the show to begin and when it is over he heads for the parking lot to try and beat the traffic jam.
It never occurs to him to take a place in the spotlight. He is a watcher, not a worker. He is an observer and sometimes an objector. But he is not one of the players. We are losing the battle because we have changed the purpose of God from a well-trained army in the battlefield to a content group in the bleachers meeting to watch a gladiator thrust at an unseen and sometimes imaginary foe.
Regardless of oratorical ability, if an evangelist or an elder does not train the saints--all of them--to minister according to their gifts, that evangelist or elder is not doing what God expects of him. He is not fulfilling the purpose of Christ in bestowing his function upon the body. You do not train soldiers by lecturing to them but by allowing them to use their weapons under proper supervision. Soldiers cannot always train with wooden guns or cap pistols. They learn best when under fire. Saints should be taken out on field trials and taught to meet the opposition face-to-face.
Suppose that an elder not only cannot train the brethren under his care but is himself untrained and helpless. What should he do? The answer is simple. He should resign. He should not have been ordained in the first place. The scriptures specify the qualifications for a bishop. It is wrong to violate and ignore those qualifications and deliberately appoint someone who does not have them.
[Page 166] |
But I am told there is no scripture for resigning. Of course not. The word of God assumes there will be no one ordained as a bishop who is not qualified. If one is gifted as an administrator and can meet the other divine requirements he should exercise his gift. He should do so willingly and not under constraint or pressure. If he is unable to meet the requirements he ought not to retain the place. A bishop does not occupy a political office. He fulfills a function. He does not qualify because he gets votes but because he meets God's specifications.
There is no such thing as an elder emeritus, or a minister emeritus. Such designations are dreamed up to pamper human pride, of which some preachers have more than their fair share. They are bestowed to make men my age feel good and appreciated so they will not think they have been laid on the shelf to be replaced by younger men who have a lot of hair. But you couldn't run fast enough to pin a title like that upon me. Emeritus indicates someone who has served out a term and then retired with a title corresponding to that he held in active service. But I am a minister for life. My term will end in death. I enlisted for the duration. God made me his minister the day I was born into his family. I may not always minister in the same way, but I intend to serve my Captain until the waves of Jordan take me under and sweep me over to the other side. I want no special titles! I just want to serve Him whose call I heard echoing over life's hills when He found me.
A lot of folk become incensed when I talk about training every saint for "the ministry." Even my brethren who are preaching feel uneasy and inwardly upset by such talk. They immediately jump to the conclusion that I am implying that every person would be trained to "make talks" on Sunday morning. Actually, that is probably the easiest thing to do and the least effective form of ministry in the church. I know one preacher who says he "gets up his sermons" while on the golf course. After listening to some of them I am sure he is correct. If he cannot hit the ball any better than he does the mark, he needs a computer to keep track of his score. But when people are sick, discouraged, frustrated and depressed, they do not need someone to "earn his salary" by getting up and "delivering a sermon" on the sin of supporting Herald of Truth, a pretty effective radio and television program of the "Churches of Christ" opposed to use of instruments in conjunction with the public expression of praise to the Father of mercies.
The primitive saints did not gather to hear a sermon. The word isn't in the scriptures. The idea is not there either. They met as a family to sit down at a thanksgiving memorial service. They came to share their sufferings and the account of their persecutions and to recite their victories. They came to petition the Father to grant them boldness in the face of brutal adversaries. And Paul said they could all speak one by one, that all might be comforted, and all might be built up. He declared that those who spoke did so to build up, encourage and cheer those who needed it. What a gathering it must have been when brothers and sisters tearfully embraced.
They did not hold services, they rendered them. The service did not begin when they met in a third-floor loft or tenement for a communal meal, but when they gave each other a holy kiss and went back out into the raw and bloody pagan world. One of my favorite historians writes: "There is scarcely anything said in the history of the second and third centuries of Christians who could, in any distinctive sense, be called missionaries. The trader on his journey,
[Page 167] |
At first the church had no "missionary program." It was God's missionary program. The saints did not send out missionaries, they were missionaries. If there were those who went to regions beyond, those who remained behind helped them in their needs, but those who went were no more missionaries than those who remained. The saddest commentary on our modern state is that brethren no longer have a sense of mission to the world. They support programs rather than becoming involved. And because they are frightened to go out into the big world which God has made they create their own little worlds and mill around in them and thus salve their consciences. The fact that we now draw up charts depicting various departments-- evangelistic, benevolent and missionary--speaks volumes about what has happened unto us. We have not only fragmented human personality but we have fragmented our approach to life.
In a family you are a brother or sister, not because of the way you dress or talk but because you have been born again. You are accepted, not because you have a lot going for you but because you came to Him when He called. Churches are hung up on structures, drives for money, fights over the color of the rug on the pulpit, and squabbles about whether you should kneel for prayer in "the sanctuary" or stand as stiff as a ramrod.
I hope you'll not become too aggravated at me for what I am going to say. I doubt that we will ever be able to train for service to dying humanity in our so-called "church buildings." We have sanctified our brick and stone. We have dedicated them, and in the very act of doing so we created an artificial setting where we cannot act naturally. We have stained glass windows to filter light in a kind of ghastly type of flecks upon the pages of the hymn books. We have lights that are manipulated from a console so they can be brightened or dimmed to affect our moods. Home was never like this!
Even if you were having a good time in the parking lot, that is squelched as soon as you hit the front door and enter the foyer. As one mother said to her little freckle-faced kid, "Wipe that smile off your face. You're in church now!" I suspect our best training for service will come in the homes of our pagan neighbors, at the shop-bench where we work, or in the hospital where children are screaming and older folk are quietly weeping in their pillows from tear and pain.
But we are victims of our past! Tradition has shot us down! We have been taken by the Goths who deposed rulers and imposed architecture. We somehow feel holier when we are in "the Lord's house." We forget that we are the Lord's house and He is in us. Not long ago a sister who went over on Wednesday evening to clean up the house, wash the dishes, sort and put things away in a house where a young mother had died that afternoon, confessed that she felt
[Page 168] |
Now all of this brings up some real questions. For instance, what about a young lad who goes away to school to "study for the ministry" as we so oddly phrase it, and then is "hired" by "the pulpit committee" of a congregation which does not want to be trained, adapted or fitted? Many congregations have no intention of ministering. They do not come to minister. They come to be ministered unto. That's one way in which they differ from Jesus. There are a lot of other ways I will not mention.
Such congregations are composed of runners who do not intend to run. They are composed of soldiers who do not intend to fight. They are spectators. They came to see the action and not engage in it. They do not want to take the sword of the Spirit. They want to watch a sparring match once a week. And they are not going to pay someone to disturb the status quo. They are not going to come out of the grandstand and get into the arena.
When congregations hire a man they want to own him. In that personality-eroding rivalry experience called "the trial sermon" a man is sized up not because of his ability to put the saints to work, but because he appears to be a good mixer, and one who is "safe." He will not disturb things. He will be content to work in the morgue without trying to get the cadavers to rise and walk. Congregations like this hire men to enhance "the community image" of the church. Remember that congregations do not hire prophets. They hire priests. And priests are defenders of traditions. They do not rock the boat. They only miss it! Congregations which create images always end up worshiping them. And to try and change the image is like attacking a god, an object of adoration and praise.
Can such places really be changed? I doubt it! Those who compose them did not enlist to fight the good fight of faith. They did not sign up to fight at all. Many of them came in under emotional stress. In highly-charged situations they were impressed with a burden of overpowering guilt. Those who were young and plastic manufactured guilt out of purely normal human feelings. They were baptized not so much to live for Christ as to be able to live with themselves. There was never a thought of getting into a fray where one might be battered, bruised, persecuted or even massacred. They had no thought of full-time service. They were caught up in a crusade, or driven in with a drive!
Many such persons live in a state of peaceful co-existence with Satan. They do not like him and they resent him, but they have no strategy to develop where they can engage in a toe-to-toe slugging match with him. They come unstrung when their children grow up and start "running with the wrong crowd" and drop out on Sunday and Wednesday nights, and grumble about having to get up and attend on Sunday mornings. They have a momentary heart-flutter when they learn that a family from "the Lord's church" has started attending with the Baptists. But they rationalize that the family was never very stable anyhow and the wife was always asking disturbing questions about why we do things as we do.
Shall the preacher quit and go somewhere else? Shall he opt out and get a job teaching school or selling life insurance? Neither of these would be wrong. One does not "leave the ministry" when he gets another job. He is as much a minister as he ever was. The only way to leave the ministry is to forsake Christ. But suppose that one wants to continue working with the brethren directly. Shall he "resign" and look for a new pasture? Where will he go?
The institutional image is well nigh universal and while some places are successful in holding a huge crowd, and in promoting a large building program in
[Page 169] |
I'd like to suggest an alternative. It is based upon the facts of life. It recognizes that the condition with which we are confronted is not ideal. It simply faces up to things as they are and not as we would like to have them. It is not original with me. Few things are! I have seen it hinted at in various books but I really got "zapped" with it while reading the fascinating biography of Count Nicholaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, who was born May 26, 1700. During his lifetime this man was famous wherever Christ was named. He was deeply loved by slaves in the West Indies, Eskimos in Greenland, Indians in Pennsylvania, Hottentots in South Africa, and Negroes in Surinam. I mean that! Philip Doddridge called him "that blessed herald of the Redeemer." John Wesley wrote to him and asked him to pray in his behalf.
Perhaps there has never been a more ardent worker for unity of all believers than this man, who wrote, "All fellowship which is only based on agreement of opinions and forms without a change of heart is a dangerous sect." The prayer of our dear Lord for all of us to be one became a passion, almost an obsession with this wealthy nobleman.
Early in his lifetime, probably from the Pietistic movement, Zinzendorf caught the concept of escclesiolae in Ecclesia (little churches within the Church). In every congregation there is a majority which is satisfied, immobile and stuck. They are legalistic and formal. But in every group there are also those who "sign for Jerusalem." Their hearts are tender and open. They seek a closer relationship with the infinite. This is not only true of congregations in a specific movement but it is true of the whole range of believers in Jesus in every denomination and sectarian group.
The greater number in a congregation is like a backlog in a fireplace. You can strike matches and hold them against it until you are worn out, and no flame will be kindled. But if you will apply fire to God's kindling wood and then push it against the backlog you may be able to start it burning. In practical application this means that while one is carrying on his "routine work" in a congregation he must ever be searching for those whose spirits "pant for God." In small groups in homes these must meet to pray, train themselves in the Word and develop a strategy for capturing the minds of men and bringing their thoughts into captivity.
They must come to regard themselves as shock troops. They are God's Minute-men. They are commandos for Christ as I wrote in my book on that theme. They must not desert the army whose members helplessly mill around in the mess hall. If they flake off or flack out they will never reform them. No reformation is ever affected from without. All reformations are wrought by those who stay in. Commandos fight apart from the regular army but always as a part of the regular army. There may only be three or four in a large congregation willing to endure the rigorous training essential to well-honed combat forces. Let them train! God has always worked with remnants. He does not need a majority. He saved the whole world of mankind once with eight persons. A yeast cake does not have to fill a dishpan in order to motivate the dough to do so!
Did you read this statement by Elton Trueblood? "The more we study the early church the more we realize that it was
[Page 170] |
Here is the divinely-ordained goal of the equipping ministry. It is the ideal of the Father for all of His children. The original for "till" does not necessarily relate to time. It may designate the summit or peak, the highest point reached. But the word which must be emphasized in this verse is all. "Till we all come." This is the reason for training everyone.
An army is not strong just because it has a handful of outstanding fighters. A football team is not likely to win if only the quarterback and fullback have received coaching. The function of evangelists and shepherds is to train a team, to adapt the saints to the work of ministry so that all will be welded together as a unit in faith and knowledge of the Son. In his book The Church and The Churches W. E. Vine writes, "The 'we all' signifies all believers as a body, the complete company."
It is not enough to have a few leading citizens in the kingdom of heaven who are conversant with the dynamic of faith and living in conformity with the character of Jesus. It is not enough to have a few branches in the vine bearing fruit or a few organs of the body functioning properly. A perfect man is a mature man, one who is capable of performing adequately and skillfully in any field in which he may be called to serve. It takes every member of the body to make a complete man. God has no plan for non-functioning members in the body. Complete development is defined as "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
We have developed false standards of measurement. Sometimes we measure by the number of people who enter our structures for "the body count." Sometimes we gauge strength by the amount of "this world's goods" in the congregational bank deposit. Sometimes we use as a measuring-rod the number of men in the mission field whom we support. None of these are the criteria of God. Only our growth toward the stature of the fulness of Christ really counts. In attaining this every person contributes the share made possible by the divine gift. How we employ our gifts in ministering determines the strength and vitality of the body.
Here is another reason for training every saint, for establishing every one in the faith, and instructing every one about the character of God's Son. The untrained and ignorant, the immature and untaught, become the victims of deception. We are to be like children in some respects, but in understanding we are to be men. Knowledge is the best armor against delusion, the best weapon against error. To send our brethren into the world untaught is to send them forth naked against the sophisticated wiles of the wicked one.
It is not a sin to be ignorant but it is a sin to remain thus. It is not wrong to be a child but it is not right to continue to be one when you could grow up. The term "tossed to and fro" was applied by the Greeks to ocean waves. Anyone who has stood on the beach and watched the
[Page 171] |
The expression "carried about with every wind" was used to describe a ship without a helm, in a storm at sea. Such a vessel cannot keep a definite course. It is at the mercy of every gust sweeping violently over the ocean. Doctrines are referred to as wind because they have power to move men in a certain direction. They can carry the minds of men along with them. Albert Barnes says on this passage, "No man can be useful who has not settled principles. No one who has not such principles can inspire confidence or be happy, and the first aim of every convert should be to acquire settled views of the truth."
Children are often governed by whim or impulse. Their attention span is very short and extremely limited. Every fleeting thought sends them off on a new tack. One of the reasons for developing the saints is to give them a foundation upon which to build and to protect them from being swept from their moorings. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare wrote, "He wears his faith but as the fashion of his hat." Faith that is as fickle as fashion will accomplish but little toward the stability of mankind.
The word "sleight" is extremely interesting. It is from kubeia, a cube, and refers to dice used in games of chance. It is intended to condemn the idea of regulating actions, conduct or life by opinions which result from chance. Human behavior cannot be decided by drawing straws, or by rolling dice. Men who seek the guidance of God by opening the Bible at random, rather than through diligent study and prayer, should give thought to the implications of this statement. There is an English proverb which says, "The best throw of the dice is to throw them away."
"Craftiness' is from panourgia. This is a combined form consisting of pan, all, and ergon, work. It is literally "all-working." It refers to one who works all of the angles, one who knows all the tricks of the trade. There are cunning men who seek to make merchandise of souls. Such men have a field day when they move into an area where people are emotional without being too rational, and where they make up in enthusiasm what they lack in knowledge. An informed congregation is a safer congregation. Charlatans shy away from those who know the Book and are trained for spiritual combat. The truth can make us free only when we are not free from the truth.
The first six words specify an action, speaking; a subject, the truth; and an attitude, in love. The next eight words specify the object of the action, the result to be achieved. The truth must not be bottled up or kept in a mental container. It is to be shared. Silence is not always golden. Sometimes it is yellow. The philosophic Amien said, "Truth is not only violated by falsehood; it may be equally outraged by silence." Emerson declared, "The greatest homage we can do to truth is to use it."
I think that, in this context, the truth is used in contrast to the winds of doctrine, the decisions of chance, and the frantic activities of cunning craftiness. The last word in verse 14 is deceive. It is said that some "lie in wait" to deceive. This means they conceal themselves and their true motives. The alternative to this is openly to speak the truth. Only when we substitute truth for deception can we help our brethren grow. Years ago I read from the pen of someone and copied down for my own meditation these words, "Error always addresses the passions and prejudices: truth scorns such
[Page 172] |
Of course, truth must be spoken in well-chosen words, and in kindness and concern. But I do not think that is what is meant here. Love has to do with the condition of heart rather than with the choice of words. Love is the realm in which God's children operate, the kind of a life into which they have been called. In view of this they should speak the truth in love for each other. One does not deceive those whom he loves.
Verse 13 treats of spiritual manhood. Verse 14 deals with unnatural and prolonged childhood. The transition from one state to another is a matter of growth. Sometimes growth is lopsided. There are those who grow in some areas while in others they are deficient. God's design is that we advance in every department of life and in all things. We have already learned that our goal is the stature of the fulness of Christ. It is Jesus who must be our constant pattern. "More like the Master," should be our song and our dream.
We should not forget that this entire treatise of the apostle has to do with the "edifying of the body of Christ" (verse 12). It is for this all of the saints must be trained, fitted, adapted or equipped. It is for this that every gift has been given. No gift is to be used in solitude. No gift is to be used in isolation. All individual growth is for the purpose of encouraging body growth. But the body has a head, and it is that head into whom we must all grow up. Growth apart from Jesus is useless. The head is perfect, but we are not! The head is mature, but we are not! It is as we keep Him in mind and seek to reproduce His life that we constitute the body and contribute to the growth of this divine organism. No one who reveres Jesus will show disrespect for the body. He loved it and gave Himself for it!
Study that verse carefully! It is the divine formula for body growth. It is God's recipe for the increase of the organism for which Jesus shed His blood. It can be stated as an equation. Unity plus togetherness plus work plus increase equals edification. The apostle starts with the whole body. It is true that we are joined to Jesus individually, but being joined to him, we are one body. I am one in Christ with every saved person on this earth. I am not joined to Jesus because I am joined to my brethren, but I am joined to my brethren because I am joined to Jesus.
We are not one because we share the same opinions, ideas, views or insights. We are one because we have been joined to one Lord. William Barclay writes, "A church where social and class distinctions exist is no true church at all. A real church is a body of men and women united to each other because all are united to Christ." Again, in another connection, he says, "We ought to realize that we need each other. There can be no such thing as isolation in the church. Far too often what happens is that people in the church become so engrossed in the work they are doing, so convinced of the supreme importance of the side of the work to which they have given themselves, that they neglect or even criticize others who have chosen to do other work. If the church is to be a healthy body we need the work that everyone can do."
Lesslie Newbigin writes in his book The Household of God, these words, "The unity of believers with Christ and with one another in Him is of a far deeper nature than intellectual agreement. It is not in its essential nature an intellectual agreement at all though necessarily it involves a certain amount of in-
[Page 173] |
Another modern writer, an Oriental possessed of a keen analytical mind, whose name is Kokichi Kurosaki, in his book One Body in Christ, writes, "However, the reformers did not stop with separation from Rome; for having broken free from its bondage, they made their own institutional church. Then, almost immediately there appeared differences of opinion among them, and having learned well the lesson of sectarianism from the mother of that spirit, they now believed themselves to be the defenders of the true faith. Their only recourse to difference of opinion was separation, so there started an endless principle of division."
It is the whole body that is joined to the head, and not merely one faction, party or sect. If one is in Christ he is in the one body regardless of what else he may be in. And I receive him not because he has joined something else, but because he is joined to Christ. God joins men to the divine organism and sometimes they join themselves to something else. I deplore the "something else" regardless of what it is. I do not receive any person because of that to which he belongs, but because of the One to whom he belongs.
"Fitly joined together." This is from a word which originally meant to sew together, as one would take pieces of a dress or coat and fit them into their proper places and bind them to each other. It was used of ancient cabinetmakers who could join pieces of wood so skillfully that inspectors could hardly detect the line of juncture. It was often applied in the classics to musicians who played together in harmony. Harmony cannot be made by sawing away at a fiddle with one string. Harmony is produced by divergent instruments tuned to play in unison. An orchestra, like a congregation of saints, is an example of unity in diversity, the only kind of unity available to the created universe, as the critics of it aptly demonstrate.
"Compacted" is from a term which literally means "knit together." There is a difference in knitting things together and in sewing them or pasting them together. A lot of brethren are merely stuck together. When problems arise they come unglued. Knitting requires interlacing or interlocking in a sense of interdependence. I am not merely tied to my brethren. I am knit together with them. If I pull away from them I might unravel the whole fabric of fellowship to which God has called us. My task is to strengthen our hold upon one another, regardless of how weak or frayed the thread may be.
Since I no longer receive people because they agree with me, I have been delivered from loving only those who are in a certain faction, or do things a certain way. Admittedly some of them are difficult. Every family has problem children. God's family has a lot of them. But they are real tests of the genuineness and sincerity of the relationship. When brethren write me up, and some of them do almost every week, I read carefully what they say. If it is true, I make corrections in my life so I can be more like Jesus. If it is not true, I forget it and go on and love them anyhow. It wasn't too long ago that I was bitter and factious, and thought I best served the Father
[Page 174] |
Congregations will not be held together by preachers and elders. Even some elders cannot hold together. If the brethren do not love one another more than they revere their opinions and speculations and interpretations, all of the preachers on earth cannot keep them together. They will sacrifice what they love least for what they love most. If they love their brainchildren more than they love God's children, they will kill God's children to protect their brainchildren. Joint is from a word meaning to bind, fasten or secure. The body is knit together by that which every joint supplies. Every Christian is a joint, a supplier of strength and solidarity.
Working is the Greek energeia, our English word energy. The energy is in every part, every organ of the body. If there is an energy shortage in the body it is because some of the brethren are "laying down on the job." No member is useless. All are necessary. Every person who has had the patience to read this far, and who is not asleep, must realize that he is a vital part of God's program for conquest of the world. I confess that I do not have a brother or sister I can afford to lose. If they are in Him, they are where I am. And I love them, even if they cannot love themselves.
Increase of the body! What a glorious thought! Edifying of itself in love. What a transcendent principle! Please forgive me for quoting again from the pen of William Barclay. "Jesus Christ is no longer in this world in the body; and therefore if he wants a task done for him, he has to find a man to do it. If he wants a child taught, he has to find a teacher to teach him. If he wants a sick person cured, he has to find a physician or surgeon to do the work. If he wants his story told, he has to find a man to tell it. Literally, we have to be the body of Christ, hands to do his work, feet to run upon his errand, a voice to speak for him...Here is the supreme glory of the Christian man--he is part of the body of Christ upon earth."
If it doesn't bore you too much I would like to close with a statement from Elton Trueblood. Read the last sentence carefully. It may form the basis of what I write about in the next issue.
"The notion that the professional minister's main job is that of the conduct of public worship is something which we must destroy if we are to get ready for a larger and more fruitful team ministry...We must understand that, whereas public worship is important, it is important only as the beginning of a total process. The matter of chief importance is the steady continuous ministry of all the members, and the chief function of the pastor is to help people get ready for this ministry...The congregation must, accordingly, be reconstructed into the pattern of a small theological seminary with the pastor as professor."