Recovering Biblical Spirituality, Part 7

Chapter Three

The evident purpose of God is that His people in the Christian religious system, that they are brought to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man. The measurement of this perfection is by the hope of the people of God becoming a corporate expression in the earth that fully manifests the totality of anointing and maturity available in Christ through what He did for us on the Cross. This will be a people who know what it is to endure and excel against the intense pressures humanity will continue to face as we approach the yawning chasm of eternity.  Jesus warned that the last days would be difficult and burdensome; however, he promised that “He that endures to the End will be saved.” Endurance involves more than just desire. An athlete must endure to excel. He builds his endurance with training, diet, proper rest, and learning as much as he can about his sport and conditioning himself to compete. The disciplines involved in physical endurance apply as well to spiritual endurance. Christians must rediscover the disciplines of spiritual training, proper diet in the Word of God, spiritual rest, emotional and mental conditioning to compete with the demonic forces ranged against them in the world. 

A primary aspect of this remedial discipleship deals with the believer’s identity in Christ. Men and women mistakenly look outward to the spiritual strengths of others for security and identity. Your security should be in Jesus indwelling your own heart before you ever look toward the spiritual resources found in others. The spiritual strengths in others should ultimately point you back to Christ indwelling your own heart.

Jesus taught that in the end times men would cry out, “Here is Christ,” and “There is Christ,” but His people were not to believe. The word Christ means “anointed one.” So it is today, many claim to be anointed. Christians flock to one ministry and then another desiring to receive from “the man of God.” They are often left disappointed. 

The true man of God will not advertise. His own gift will make room for him. He won’t have to tell you he is anointed. The true man of God will not sing his own virtues, but he will extol, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” True gospel ministry seeks to leave you dependent on the indwelling Christ. False ministry seeks to create dependence upon their ministries, doctrine, and organizations. True ministry empowers believers to “go and do likewise.” False ministry enslaves believers, leaving them helpless unless they have “a word from the prophet,” or the latest tape series. Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.” Paul taught that men should learn to “eat their own bread…” He was referring to men not being lazy and refusing employment, but there is also a spiritual application. Paul commanded that the man who would not work should not be allowed to eat. He also stated in Ephesians four that the fivefold gifts were called for the “work” of the ministry. The Christian religious system has created a “great society” of spiritually unemployed persons. The majority of resources and effort in Christianity is put into facilitating inactivity. The highest profile activity of Christianity involves gathering together to sit idly, listening to someone speak. The nonverbal statement in that setting is that only one person here has something of value to say, there is only one person here of estimable worth. The first-century church was an employment office. The modern church is a food stamp office. In the first-century church, men spread throughout the world preaching the gospel and converting the masses. The twentieth-century church is too often where the spiritually unemployed go to receive a handout. 

God operates by His own principles. The man that does not work; the corporate body that is not involved in the work and not walking worthy of the vocation wherewith they are called, will not eat. God will not provide that body a place at His table.

Have you ever watched what happens to a hungry man? He’s grouchy, mean, uncooperative, short-tempered and impatient. Sounds like some church members you know? Did you ever hear someone say about their church, “I’m just not getting fed…”? In any relationship, the level of criticism and scornful mouthing is a direct measurement of the degree in which an individual has a lack of involvement and commitment.  Would anyone deny that satisfaction and fulfillment in marriage is a reflection of a commitment to and involvement in that relationship? What holds true in the marriage relationship holds true in any relationship, including the local church. The more committed and involved you are, the greater your sense of satisfaction. Your readiness to criticize and be negative is a justification of your lack of commitment or involvement.

Paul stated that the spiritually unemployed contributed to disorder in the church. He called such people busybodies – those who fill their lives with vain activity. You will fall into one of two categories. You are either a satisfied worker or a busybody. Consider the unemployed man. The first few days he will relax and get much-needed rest. The next week he will do things around the house that need doing, catching up on neglected chores. The following two weeks, he begins his job search. If the job search is unfruitful after a few weeks, he starts neglecting his search for employment. He doesn’t bath as regularly, and his dress becomes sloppy. He overeats because he’s bored. He isolates himself from his employed friends. He neglects chores, even leaving housework and food preparation for his wife to do when she gets off work. In short, his self-esteem goes down the toilet. He begins to depend on others for what he ought to be providing for himself. 

This is descriptive of many ills in the church today. Church members have no self-esteem. They cannot see themselves taking care of their own spiritual needs, let alone the needs of the body. They look to the pastor and the ministers in the church to meet their spiritual needs in the same way an unemployed man will look to his wife, his relatives, and even the welfare system to provide for him what he ought to be getting for himself. If that man does not snap out of his lethargy, he will raise his sons to be lazy bums, and their sons will follow in his footsteps, creating the kind of subculture we see in the welfare class, where third and fourth generations have known nothing but the government handout. They don’t even have a frame of reference for self-sufficiency. They are almost incapable of comprehending the value system of the working man. 

In the first century, Christianity was characterized by individual accountability to Jesus Christ, commitment to ongoing repentance, and deep involvement in God’s purpose. The appellation ‘Christian’ itself was coined by the pagans who saw the believers acting like “little Christs.” What did they see? They observed believers as Jesus, going about “doing good and healing all manner of sickness…” They were a people spiritually employed, about their Father’s business.  The same thing that’s wrong with the welfare class is what’s wrong with the church today regarding spiritual care and the vocation every believer has been commanded to pursue. 

It is no more right for you to come into the local church and sit idly by while others work to meet your needs than it is for an able-bodied man to sit on his backside and draw a welfare check. Just how broad do you suppose is the distinction between facing your responsibilities as a member of the local body and showing up to work on Monday morning?  The attitude toward attendance in the local church has been diminished to the same attitude of the welfare recipient picking up his food stamp voucher. He can go anytime; it doesn’t matter. In fact, you can go to any one of several convenient locations. But for the working man, there is one place and one time he must show up to pursue his vocation.

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