185. God’s Church and the Church of Men

The church described in God’s Word is not merely a collection of people who meet together now and then and congregate around one particular individual. The church is made up of individuals, all of whom are personally members of the body of Christ. All of them need each other, just as the eyes, ears, arms and legs need the other members of the body, and the greatest honor is bestowed on the lowliest and least honorable members. This “body life” blossoms where love and fellowship in the Spirit are allowed to rule and where the members are alive and active. The church is flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone, for we are all baptized by one Spirit to be one body. This is the church. It is crucified according to the flesh but made alive according to the Spirit. It has been registered in heaven but does its work on earth. The members serve as apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, in order to perfectly prepare the saints. Through the mutual help and effective working by which every part does its share, life comes about in the church. There is balance and unity within the church; it develops like a living organism. There the Word of God is preached with Spirit and life, and the cross and death are preached over all flesh and carnality.

From this we understand how wrong it is for one man to assume the sole responsibility for the development of an entire church—without making use of the help that the other members can provide. This would be like the captain of a large ocean liner insisting that he be the mate, the engineer, the sailor, the stoker and the cook on his ship. The help that the others provide makes it possible for him to function effectively as captain. If he refuses that help, he won’t go anywhere. By the same token, if the apostles, prophets, shepherds, evangelists and teachers are not allowed to do their work, the church will be no more than an assembly of dead souls. Adding a lot of procedural regulations to such an assembly will not improve it one bit, but rather will make it more puffed-up. The life in an assembly is what gives it value. If you take that away, it is irrelevant whether or not people register as members. Ordering a dead church according to a biblical pattern is like dressing a dead man in new clothes.

In the church every single member is to present his body as a living sacrifice to God; this is his spiritual service. On the other hand, if people adorn their bodies to please people, they are poor material with which to build a church. The church is the body of Christ, and it must be presented holy and blameless.

If the leaders of the churches would stop quarrelling about whether or not they should have a membership list and instead make sure that the sword of the Spirit is not kept from blood, then I believe it would quickly become apparent who is a true member of the church that is registered in heaven. Then the enemies of the cross would quietly excuse themselves.

But maybe that would be too bitter a pill to swallow.

Some time ago, brother Elias Aslaksen traveled to Tjømø with brother Even Evensen, the pilot. Evensen wanted his old pilot friends on Tjømø to hear the truths that had made him so happy. Brother Aslaksen spoke at the “free church’s” meeting hall about “cleansing,” but they couldn’t stand it. When these brave pilots (who had probably ridden out many a storm and blizzard on autumn and winter nights off Færder to the northeast) heard about cleansing themselves, their hearts sank. Their fearlessness, which had defied the raging of the elements, was of no use here. Their courage sank, and they hoped they could be saved without having to endure such a thorough cleansing. Brother Aslaksen had to leave after having only held that one meeting. Brother Evensen also learned a lesson here that he had never learned before. An old woman who was crippled with arthritis stood right in the way of the people coming out of the hall and gave brother Aslaksen this testimony: “God bless you, my boy! Nobody has ever spoken as you did in this hall.”

The same thing happened when brother Aslaksen visited the evangelicals in Hemsedal. They let him speak at a couple of meetings, and he again spoke about cleansing, whereupon they asked him to leave and never come back. They wanted to keep their “good old” unadulterated doctrine about sin and forgiveness—without being cleansed. What a strange religion that hates purity of heart and the brothers who only want the very best for them.

As we see, the preaching of the “way of the cross” is not tolerated anywhere in the denominations. From the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches on the one extreme to the most liberal Pentecostals on the other, they all agree that Jesus carried the cross, but that we must be spared from bearing our cross. Very few have understood the need to take up their cross daily and cleanse themselves.

Brother Theodor Ellefsen, Karl Pedersen and I have planned to visit our friends in Copenhagen during the holidays, but I don’t know for certain yet if brother Aslaksen will be able to come with us. Pray that God’s work will succeed through us, because we intend to preach the Word about being cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.