Recovering Biblical Spirituality, Part 3

Chapter Two

Picture Jesus walking in among the multitude of sick folk at Bethesda. The smell of filthy bandages and excrement stung his nostrils. All around him scrawny necks craned pale faces toward the surface of the pool waiting for the troubling of the water. Certainly, he knew what he came to do. He never made a move without His Father’s direction. No doubt He anticipated that the healing he would affect here today, on the Sabbath would be the final indignity to the Jews that would justify their murderous intent against Him. Peering intently into the faces of the moaning, distempered crowd He found the one he came for.

These verses speak in strong similitudes of the church. It is no stretch of anyone’s “revelator” that the sheep gate or market indicates the church. Bethesda means “house of mercy.” The five porches represent the fivefold ministry where the impotent folk reclined, waiting on the troubling of the water. 

A word here concerning the ministry. Note here that the leadership is portrayed as UNDERGIRDING the church and not LORDING OVER it. Most leadership models describe their function as “covering authority,” in the same way a husband covers his wife as leader in the home. This is error. I have never heard those who teach this expound this teaching in the light of Eph. 2:20 that describes Jesus as extending His foundation ministry through the apostles and prophets.  The doctrine of covering authority is found in 1 Co.11:3-10, where the husband, being made for God, covers his wife, who was made for him, to be his “glory.”

In these scriptures, it is evident that which covers is glorified by that which is covered. The significance of this in regard to the church is found in Eph. 5:31,32, where it is stated that the husband-wife relationship is a mysterious analogy of Jesus Christ and the Church.  Jesus is the Head of the Church as the husband is the head of the home. The Messiah is referred to in Zech. 4:7 as the Headstone of the temple. As the Headstone, he is singularly mentioned, not in association with human, delegated authority. Yet pastors today unflinchingly pronounce themselves as heads of their churches. They often use the analogy of marriage, claiming that they are married to their flock. If this is so, then as the pastor’s “wife,” the pastor is the head, and the church is “made for him” to be “his glory.” The Lord God, as Samson did is declaring to the world, “Someone has been ploughing with my heifer!” The pastor or priest is not married to the church. Such a one has intruded on the sacred bond between Christ and his bride and cannot but fall under the angry hand of God.  The scriptures teach that the fivefold ministry was made for the church, not the church for the fivefold ministry.

Jesus is the singular head of the church, and the leadership, rather than being above the flock as a covering, is beneath them as a foundation WITH Christ. The ministry was made for the church, not the church for the ministry. The ministry does not participate as husband to the church but rather as the “friend of the bridegroom,” espousing her to Christ.  The problem here is that the covering model for ministry interposes the church leadership between the Savior and the flock. It is then impossible to be rightly related to God and wrongly related to his delegated authority. The impact of this is two-fold. Overzealous believers are brought into bondage to overbearing leaders, and nominal believers are discouraged from deeper relationship to Christ because of the inconsistencies of those whom they are supposed to relate to Him through.

The covering concept is papal error dressed up in evangelical clothes.  Access to the kingdom is not through priesthood or the pastor but through the blood of Christ. The solemn obligation of leadership is to disciple men and women under the personal headship of Christ, to relate believers to Jesus. They are to teach them dependency on the indwelling Christ, not the officiates of the church.  In the analogy in John five, you see a multitude of impotent folk lying on five porches. These porches represent the fivefold ministry. As a result of misunderstanding, the people of God are improperly related to leadership and incapable of a healthy relationship with Jesus.

Instead of building on the foundation of the leadership, they are lying flaccid, impotent, in spiritual paralysis. Thus, they are in the right place, at the right time, but unchanged, in fact, growing worse. The impotent folk in this chapter were waiting on an angel to appear to trouble the water. The first one in received healing, but all others were left in despair. Over the years popular leaders have written about angelic visitations or supernatural appearances. These books sell like mad because people are more caught up with superstition and that which is otherworldly than they are with the Indwelling Christ.  People today search far and wide for some charismatic preacher who can finally help them attain victory. They keep their spiritual ear to the track, waiting for some bizarre occurrence that will stimulate their faith. Into this sad state of affairs, Deliverance Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ strides. The crowd was not looking for a man; they were expecting a glory clad angel. Jesus did not have any traits or characteristics to draw attention to Himself. He was plain and unassuming in his demeanor. He did not satisfy their hunger for flair and flamboyance. He did not look supernatural. Therefore, He was simply ignored by the crowd intent in their search for an angel. 

What an accurate portrayal of the general condition of the church today. A multitude of impotent, powerless folk, related, dependent upon the clergy, waiting on a move of God, waiting for something external to take place, oblivious to the glory of God standing right before them clothed in the simple grace of the indwelling Christ.  The Lord surely ordained this occasional visitation of the angel, but it is doubtful that his primary purpose for doing so was the healing of the sick. If that were the case, all who entered the waters would have been healed, not just one.  This drama played out as a type and foreshadowing of the spiritual characteristics of the modern church. Picture the pattern of events at the pool of Bethesda. A miraculous healing would take place, and a flurry of excitement would fill the five porches. The sick would drink the water, and bathe in it, only to be disappointed, because only one was healed. Yet in earnest, they would wait for the angel to return. Days turned into weeks, months, even years. Enthusiasm died to dry, ashen cynicism. Many of the sick would go home. The old miracles were reduced to fables. Perhaps nothing had really happened after all. Then again, the miracle, the flurry of excitement, and the scenario would be played out all over again. 

Compare that pattern of events to modern church history. Coming out of the Medieval era, the progress of the church is described as waves of revival interspersed with years of decline and stagnation. Luther, Wesley, Finney, Dowie, Moody, Parham, the healing evangelists, and others characterized the current revival emphasis. Spiritual hot spots have ignited around the world in places such as Wales, in India, Australia, South Africa, and here in the U.S., locations such as Topeka, Kansas; Azusa Street, Spokane, Washington; Zion, Illinois; Kansas City, Kansas; Anaheim, California; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Dallas, Texas; all of these cities bring to mind the faces, names and ministries of men who over the course of a hundred years have founded a spiritual history for millions of Pentecostal, Charismatic, and evangelical believers around the world. Thousands have migrated from city to city, and ministry to ministry, racing to enter in at the first rippling of the next wave of the Spirit. But one always steps in beforehand. You see, by the time it is recognized as a “wave of the Spirit,” it has already crested. The first groups to respond rejoice in the full benefit of that particular outpouring. All who come after register diminishing returns.

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