A Division of Labor

Neil Girrard
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Scriptures Referenced in This Article:
          (Follow the Scripture links if you want to study the Scriptures for yourself.)
Eccl. 4:12 π Ezek. 18:20 π Mt. 12:36 π Mt. 13:41-42 π Mt. 13:47 π Mt. 16:18 π Mt. 18:20 π Mt. 24:13 π Jn. 10:27 π Acts 7:48 π Acts 17:30 π Rom. 8:9 π 1 Cor. 3:17 π 2 Cor. 6:17 π 2 Cor. 6:18 π Eph. 2:10 π Eph. 4:16; 2nd π 2 Tim. 4:3-4 π Heb. 5:9 π Heb. 8:2 π 2 Pet. 2:18 π 1 Jn. 2:27 π Rev. 3:16 π Rev. 18:4 π Rev. 20:13

Jesus said, “I will build My ekklesia…” ( Mt. 16:18; top )

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Christ Jesus our High Priest is the “Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.” ( Heb. 8:2 ) Paul clearly tells us that this sanctuary and tabernacle is us, the body of believers who are in Christ. ( 1 Cor. 3:17; top )

Paul also tells us, “From [Christ] the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.” ( Eph. 4:16; top )

There is a division of labor that has lain unseen for centuries, even millennia. Ever since the “men of God” (the clergy, the bishops, the “pastors,” the titled, “spiritual” aristocracy who hold – or at least who claim, purport and play act as if holding – a special “sacred anointing” by which they alone are qualified and gifted by God to speak down to passive audiences, giving to them of their special “advanced” understandings of the Bible and the way of following Christ) took the preeminence and took upon themselves “the work of the Lord,” men have stepped into the realms of the work the Lord alone does, they have failed to perform the own works, and they have succumbed to the teachings and practices of the demonic whereby virtually all the passive, well-entertained listeners of these men have no practical knowledge or experience in such basic spiritual realities as:

  1. hearing the Lord for oneself ( Jn. 10:27 , 1 Jn. 2:27 , etc.; top);

  2. ongoing, progressive obedience to the King as a core element of the gospel of the kingdom of God. ( Acts 17:30 , Heb. 5:9; top ); nor even

  3. that this is their own personal responsibility which can never be passed on to another man, not even their “pastor.” ( Rev. 20:13 , Mt. 12:36 , Ezek. 18:20 , etc.; top)

If we were to boil this truth down into one statement that we can hold onto rather easily, it would be this: Christ will build His ekklesia when we operate in and live by His Spirit of holiness, truth and love in our every encounter with other people. We don’t have to do His job for Him – He is quite able to do His part whereas we haven’t even realized for centuries how we have routinely and blindly infringed on His responsibilities and even interfered with His work! We simply have no need of “church planters” and resident “pastors” and “church buildings.” (see Acts 7:48 , etc.) None of these things – as routinely practiced today – have any real place in the Scriptures or in the body of Christ. They are a poison that has over the centuries been incorporated alongside the real way of following Christ and they will soon be ejected from His true people. ( Rev. 3:16 , Mt. 13:41-42 ) Only those who persist and endure in presenting God’s unfailing and fervent love for lost and sinful mankind are those are truly His. ( Mt. 24:13 , Rom. 8:9; top )

One of the word pictures (parables, comparisons) that Jesus gave of the kingdom of heaven was that of a fishing net. ( Mt. 13:47 ) In those days there were no machines to make nets and fishermen spent a great deal of time building, repairing and maintaining their nets, tying them together one knot at a time. So too our Lord. Quietly and patiently over the centuries, wherever two or three had gathered in His name ( Mt. 18:20 ) and each member performed whatever part ( Eph. 4:16 ), whatever good work the Lord had foreordained for them to do ( Eph. 2:10 ), then Christ – as He had promised – was in the midst of them tying another rugged indestructible knot of two or three cords ( Eccl. 4:12; top ) in His net. Simultaneously men, under various levels of influence of both light and darkness, also built their own kingdoms (“churches,” denominations, even cults) and practiced all manner of truth and error, wisdom and folly, righteousness (what is right in God’s eyes) and lawlessness (what is right in one’s eyes) all in the name of Christ.

If we would simply stop supporting the supposed “man of God for the hour” and stop attending our preferred “church” social club to have our egos stroked ( 2 Pet. 2:18 ) and our ears soothed and stimulated ( 2 Tim. 4:3-4 ) and each one of us would simply be the body part God intended us to be, the body of Christ would arise and shake off the traditions of men and the doctrines of demons quicker than a duck sheds water. When we no longer require a visible representative of God to give us a filtered and vicarious relationship with God, then we will come out from the midst of the “Christian” idolaters and idolatry. ( Rev. 18:4 , 2 Cor. 6:17 ) Then – and only then – will God truly be our God and Father and we His loving and obedient sons and daughters. ( 2 Cor. 6:18; top )

Let he who has ears hear.


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