Today, Dialegomai http://christian-discourse.blogspot.com contains a very important teaching, something the Lord had been leading me to about five years ago and He finally settled it for me and it became the reason for my leaving conventional organizational ministry work, the paid CLERGY man or any other title within the structure of convential institutions of religion.
The reason I left was not just over the issue of money, it was over the issue of Scripture versus the Traditions of Men. Please read the article and you will understand.
I didn't recieve this teaching from any man. The Lord showed me this truth in my own personal time in the Word and through years of experience and He had been trying to show me this truth since I was a young man and I had accepted Christ. I was told by others that God had called me into the ministry, I needed to fulfill it.
The truth be told, if we are Christians we all have a call into ministry- "the ministry of reconciliation" and "the proclaiming of the Gospel and the discipleship of those that God calls when they hear the Gospel".
Yes, God gifted me with teaching but with that gift comes a lot of responsibility for seeking and speaking the truth. It is very difficult to have this gift, because God does lay the greater judgement on us all the time. He teaches us to live what He speaks. The prophets of old and even of the new, many gave up home family and more for the sake of speaking what needed to be heard. They were asked to live it and signify it. Sometimes where they looked rediculous to the world. John the Baptist went about in clothes made from camel hair, eating only grasshoppers and honey. What an odd looking character he must have been. Don't get me wrong, I am not equating myself as a prophet, but truthfully Christians are to be despised in this world, because they just don't fit into the box of mankind and His traditions. The problem still is here, that a prophet is never respected in his own home. I too experience that. The people in Jesus hometown could only relate to Him as the Carpenter's son, s simple boy they knew that grew up there. They couldnt see beyond his humanity. Pastors and Families do that to people in the congregation and at home, always holding people at bay, less they say something or do something they don't think is "kosher". Jesus sure wouldnt fit into a lot or most churches today and probably still wouldnt find much room for him in His hometown. He would be out of line, out of step with the traditions of men. He wouldnt be Churched, dignified, religious, in line with the program, he wouldnt be given even the time to speak much less teach, he would be confined to a pew, to be quiet and learn, because you can't be trusted.
At least the synagogue allowed others to speak, thus He did. For the church to have wanted to return to the practices of Judaism with a Tabernacle and a Priest, they went even further, they left out the equality of at least God's chosen to speak, a word or a scripture. They are left silent, while only those elected to speak, the one man show is worthy of speaking, only he is qualified, that's why we call Him Pastor.
We can't let the Holy Spirit in here, to allow others to teach or have a song, or whatever, my goodness it wouldnt be "churchy".
Each of us are to grow up into the fullness in Christ- where we should be teaching others. Read Hebrews, Read Corinthians, Read the Bible, we are not to be delegated to sitting on a pew in silence to the one man show. The system propagates lazy spirituality, and keeps babies - babies, always depending on an intermediary for their milk, never getting into eating meat, never growing, just sitting there Sunday after Sunday becoming, spiritually atrophied, useless hearers but never doers. The doer gets outside of the building, escapes the walls that have bound him, he is free to worship with his life and the way that he lives it. The doer has something to say!
It' so important he has to tell those outside of the building as well as within, he has to speak to more than just the "churched" and the "religious".
He goes where only Jesus has gone before, into the byways, the alleys, the bars, the streets, the homes, the hospitals, the rehabs, the work environment, where people are, right where they are. Jesus could have just sat there in the Temple and waited for the sinners came to him. He didn't he went to where they were! As He walked the earth in day to day life, we do as well, here is where the lost sheep are. They have given up, the church didnt want them, the religious have no use for them, they are the scum of the earth, the discarded, yet, these are those that Jesus died for!
The truth is truth- the Nicolatians that John spoke about in the Book of Revelation is none other than the clergy/laity system.
Either Christ is our Shepard and Our Head and we are of the Priesthood of Believers or "we are not".
Which shall it be?
Scripture or the Traditions of Men.
Read the teaching on Dialegomai, it isnt written by me, it is written by another brother in Christ that the truth was revealed to Him as well.
Most Seminarians, and even those in employed in the traditional practices of men, know these truths for they have studied Church History and the Languages of the Bible. For those that don't perhaps this will bring light to where darkness has laid for sometime. For those that know and continue anyway propagating this pagan practice, of the one man OVER the body other than Christ.
They reject the truth of scripture for the traditions of men.
I want to tell you a story, I was serving on a Pastoral Selection Committee, while acting as an interim Pastor (in my days before I listened to God and His truth on this one subject) and let me tell you the truth about Pastoral selections.
Unlike the early church where elders arose to teach and were selected by the Holy Spirit to serve with a multiplicity of other elders the single pastoral system within the organizations ARE NOT selected because the local body knows their character. Most selected today were never a part to that local body, they are not selected because of their spiritual gifting to teach or character, they are selected using today's Corporate guidelines to hiring. A lot of churces once the hirearchy has made the candidates choice, then try to Christianize it with a whole church vote.
I would have been assured, if this body had been together very long, The Holy Spirit already had some gifted teachers and under-shepards prepared and ready to serve who side by side, would have served just fine in roles of eldership. If the church was honestly seeking God's best in the situation they would have gone without having to seek outsiders. The Lord plants assemblies together, not men, and when He does, He has already gifted men and women who have been prepared by Him to teach and be examples of Christlike behavior. Almost every church in America, holding to the one man professional tradition has missed out on what God had prepared for them, if they but would listen to scripture and the Holy Spirit.
Pastores are not selected according to the scriptural guide of Timothy or Titus. Instead corporate guidelines are used where they must have the education, they must have a good work record as a Pastor or referral from some higher authoritarian, they must go through an interview process, they then are subjected to questions dealing with that particular bodies doctrinal beliefs and they often have to show that they can increase numbers along with the cash flow by their previous record or referral.
It is a process directly from man, and in no way resembles those that came up in the body, gifted, and stayed with the body serving as -under Shepard with others in multiplicity, not as the Head of the people but one who serves as an under-shepard. a servant, one who teaches but always open to others, one who learns as well, one who teaches with the purpose of burning the pews and replacing them with a pulpit for every beleiver in attendance. The scripture criteria given is never even used, because a large percentage of those applying aren't even known within the community much less that particular body of believers. I was involved in an interview with this young man, who by the way wasn't selected for the Pastoral job, because to be honest he would have chose teaching the Word over traditions of men. He told me the story, that while studying at Seminary, one very near by our location here in Athens, that one of His professors was explaining a particular passage of Sripture. The professor made a statement, now you can either preach this as the traditions of men would have it interpreted, or you can preach it as the Word of God defines it. If you preach it that way, you won't be a Pastor very long though. The young man applying for the position said," my co-student beside me, said I am going to preach it the way, tradition wants it, I want to be a Pastor". The young man applying said, "I told him, I was going to preach it the way God wants it preached, job or no job as a Pastor."
The young man applying made the right choice, needless to say the pastoral committee made the wrong choice. I and one other person were the only vote for him. Imagine that voting for selection of a Pastor! How perverse we have gotten.
I am so thankful to my heavenly Father for bringing me out of the system and into His truth.
I can never be a pastor, because there is only One Pastor, the word Pastor is Shepard, and that Shepard is the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus I call no man Pastor or nor do I want to be called Pastor.
I am just a believer like you, in the household of God, serving in the priesthood of ALL BELIEVERS.I have no intermediary between myself and the Father but the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no Head but Him. I don't have to seek help through a human pastor, I have THE PASTOR! I have the LORD - the true Klerios!
Read the article and learn something perhaps the Pastors have been afraid to tell you less they lose their position and titles. Any Pastor that knows the truth and can't rectify the situation by at least bringing this truth to their congregation, and then seeking a solution that is scriptural with the selection of a multiplicity of elders to serve and all are equal and allow for the gifting of each member in the congregation to be exercised as God chooses, is playing guard for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never allow where people are spiritual for chaos to break out and destroy what God has built. Once, again where people are taught by the Spirit and led by the Spirit, there is no need to fear chaos. We have allowed the experience of Corinth to make us fear the true work of the Holy Spirit to teach and to guide into all truth, but one must remember these were "carnal" Christians, not "spiritual believers" who were relying on the Holy Spirit, they were trying to outdo the others, relying on themselves, they wanted to have pre-eminence over others, thinking that their gift was the supreme gift and it gave them authority over others. They were no different then controlling Pastors, who think theirs is the only gift in the body. They are carnal, and like mist driven by the wind.
Thus the division of Paul over Apollos, etc. The people were turning to the desire before even Ignatius came along and wanting to raise "a mere man" up to a position of authority rather than having Jesus as Lord. Thus they argued whether they were of Paul or Apollos, etc. Pastor Paul or Pastor Apollos, which would it be?, they argued. "I want Paul", no, "I want Apollos", etc. as Paul said, "we are mere men".
Christ is our all in all.
Like the pagans when they saw the gifted believers act according to the Word, and miracles happened they wanted to call them gods. We do that with leaders and teachers and pastors. Who are nothing without the power of God, and who are nothing if they are stifling the power of God. If you want power in your ministry, then let go!
Jesus Christ is who we should seek, not the best speaker, the best performer or the best motivator, we are to seek Christ and then he will install those who HE has selected to serve us and teach us and I promise it will be more than a one man band, it will be a natural out flow of the Spirit of God, and not the practices of the traditions of men. It would surprise many Pastor, if they were to allow just some of those that have something to say - to say it, that the Holy Spirit does still gift others within the body to speak. Often it will be the uneducated, the poor, the lowly, who can offer more spiritual insight in one moment than a thousand educated seminarians or years of experienced pastors, could preach in a life time. I know, I have been in experiences like that in house church.
I was used long ago in "house church" before I ever got into the professionalism of the game or the organizational traditions. God had given me a taste of His desire for the body of Christ long ago in a home in the mountains of New Mexico, and it was glorious but like most, I rejected it because, it was non- traditional, non-accepted and as the traditionalist like to tag anyone outside of the box- perhaps a cult.
Of course over the years, many many years, I came to see, in that simple gathering, where God the Holy Spirit led and their were expressions of the gifted body of Christ in a New Testament sense, this is what He desired for His assembly of believers anywhere, anytime. Jesus said, He who the Son sets free, is free indeed.
We have nothing to fear, if we are built on the soundness of scripture and the Holy Spirit. We do whenever it becomes one man or one woman, worship and idolatry over the rest of God's people. Jesus did not send the disciples out alone, he sent them in two's for a very good reason. There is safety in numbers, and their is safety in multiple eldership. Look at Moses and Aaron, God always guarded things, and He knew the tendency for men to become puffed up with themselves, if not accompanied by another to help. This is what eldership is all about a coming alongside, not a powering over others. God calls and uses those He sets aside in numbers not in singularity.
There was no weirdness in these meetings and when it did happen the Holy Spirit shut it down, there was no off the wall acting out things or pretending of spiritual gifts, they were real and didn't puff up the one with them, but it was where God could speak and you could understand through scripture truth and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Not a bunch of people trying to outgift the other, not a bunch of people who spoke unintelligibly. They spoke words even as I spoke words of encouragement, they spoke to one another, they spoke the language of the New Testament - love for others above self. There was no trying to spiritualize something that isnt existent throughout the history of believers. Oh, there were always those few that might want to speak in gibberish, but it didnt last long, because it profitted no one. It was those that came alongside of you, and prayed for you, listened, exhorted and admonished you and alas comforted and encouraged you.
There was a unity of the Spirit of God. No one person was held in predominance over the others. No one's message or song was greater than the others. Some couldnt carry a tune, but they sang with beauty from the heart. Some couldnt theologize but they could in simple words say what no one had ever heard, words from the Lord. Things that only the spiritual man would understand. Plain English but full of God's wisdom and love.
These were meeting where not one part of the body could have gone without the other, where one had a song, another a teaching and throughout the body the Spirit flowed to give me something I had never experienced at a one-man show - the reality of the Living jesus Christ.
The reality of the Ekklesia, the assembly of those who had been called out of Babylon into the Kingdom of God.
God brought me full circle back to that truth about 5 years ago, where upon leaving the organizational church he opened the doors and brought me into a relationship with some other beleivers where we taught one another by the Holy Spirit's giftedness, and not the traditions of men.
For over 2 years, we ministered to one another, singing, eating together, having communion , praying, teaching one another. A life relationship, nothing superficial. We grew up into maturity into the fullness of Christ and are still growing. We still see each other, we still break bread now and then, but we have gone forth from there to reach out and begin to make new disciples for Christ in our daily life and work, as God directs us individually. These new disciples of Jesus will not be numbered and hung on a board to be displayed like trophies, based on someone we talked to reciting some manipulative prayer or four spiritual laws. Often we don't even know we have effected them in our life, and may not know until Jesus returns.
We just live a life of worship to plant the seed, it is God who will give it harvest and should that person or persons want to come alongside we will expend the energy to disciple them, if need be. Discipleship doesnt imply, being an overseer, nor some kind of spiritual boss, it is bringing the scripture to bear on life and it's decisions and guiding others to listen to the Holy Spirit who is the only real teacher believers are to have. To guide toward rightly dividing the Word of God. We can't play guard for the Holy Spirit and we can't do what the Holy Spirit can do. Whenever we try to be someone's spiritual authority, we are stepping in where -
NO MAN SHOULD TRED.
This is the work of God, this person, this individual and since God started it, He will finish it. This is the hardest lesson for us as teachers to learn. Thus we incur the greater judgement often.
We find it difficult to just pray for others and their enlightment of scripture, we want to tell them. There is nothing wrong in the telling, as long as we leave it after that with the Lord, for He will define the truth for that believer and often times we will learn where we failed, where our error is from this new member of the Priesthood of Believers. We must always be humble and never think for a minute that just because we have been a Christian, a teacher, a preacher or anything of the sort, that God can't speak to us, from someone in our failed human opinion that might not look like a messenger from heaven or sound like a messenger from heaven.
Jesus was THE- Messenger From Heaven, and the religious of His day would not hear Him either. Nor did they want to listen to Peter or John or the other little men of the time. They were uneducated but because of the gift of the Holy Spirit- the Resurrected Life of Jesus Christ within them, they spoke with boldness the Gospel, they talked about spiritual things, that the people could only assume would come from someone with an education in Theology or of the sort from the Rabbinic schools of the time. There they were, the old rough tough, fisherman Peter, called by Jesus- as we ALL ARE - if we are His - speaking words that only they had heard from those who had the education and the knowledge from schooling.
Paul dumped all of His schooling to know Christ and Him alone. Thus Paul, was not a great orator because of His education, he was a great orator for when he spoke the Holy Spirit would speak with power to break a man's heart in two, to realize his need for this Jesus Christ he spoke of. He would bring men to see themselves as God saw them with nothing in their lifes or hands to offer or to be accepted by God and that only Jesus Christ was that perfect sinless offering already made for all men.
Pastors are a dime a dozen, but the PASTOR, our only true Pastor can give us words and deeds that will amaze the hierarchy who often wonder why them, Lord and not me Lord? They will find them saying to themselves for example, "Why I tried for months to convert old John and I'm his pastor, he wouldnt hear me, then along comes little Sally who is always trying to butt in, when I am speaking and always talking the Bible and stuff, and she talks to this man, old John, one time, and he has a transformation take place, he hears God's call to salvation, why her Lord, and not me?"
The reason God works that way is because what man considers foolish is the Wisdom of God. Man will never get it, as long as He depends on the ways and methods of this world. There is a cry for all of us to return to scripture. To return to the simplicity of allowing God to be our everything.
Pastors- hear the Word of God, it is time to let go, you hold no power over the people, only God does, when you lay down your scepter and decide no longer to be king, then the KING can come in to your local body and shake the very foundations of this world, turning it upside down for Jesus. You might just discover what church really is all about. It will rock your tradition and break it down to mere little pebbles that can then be crushed under the feet of Jesus, so you can discover the real ROCK, and the real foundation -the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles.
I guarantee it, try it, you will like it! It will be all you ever hoped for if your heart is really intent on serving Christ.
If you just can't let go of those reins, perhaps it's time you examined if your goals and purposes are in line with the Word of God or are they just an extension of man and his traditions. Ask yourself, are you trying to play guard for the Holy Spirit or is the Holy Spirit guarding you?
If He is our guard then we have nothing to fear, for the gates of hell cannot prevail against the TRUE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST!
I sign, stepping out of titles, that men so often desire ..
your brother in Christ- Joe Black
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