Servants in the Church

Servants in the Church

For a long time now, evangelists have taken it upon themselves to act as apostles, prophets, shepherds and teachers in addition to preaching the gospel. This accounts for the current condition of church life. The evangelist is in his proper place as long as he preaches the gospel; but once he ventures outside his anointed area to be a shepherd and teacher who leads new converts farther along the way, then it goes badly.

In addition to evangelists, God has placed in the church apostles to watch over the churches, prophets to maintain divine vigilance, teachers to instruct in the doctrine which leads to godly fear, and shepherds to watch and guide, until “we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Eph. 4:13.

Recently we have seen examples where the evangelist, whose task is to bring new souls into the church, has also taken upon himself the enormous task of rearing the lambs with his own hand. The fruit of this folly has long been apparent. In virtually every large city, the churches that came into being as a result of the recent revival have been split into two or three factions. The evangelist runs out of supplies, and as the proverb says, when the manger is empty, the animals begin to bite one another. The new convert cannot find enough nourishment in a gospel that is only intended for sinners, so finally he perishes from spiritual hunger. True, this recent revival has helped people come one step further away from the old bondage in that they have received the baptism of the Spirit and the gift of tongues. But still, in spite of all the divisions and all the people who have fallen away, it hasn’t dawned on them that God has placed other spiritual gifts and people in the church so that by working together, there is a healthy growth in the faith.

If we look at Israel, we can see the work of the prophets and how vital they were for keeping the church in order. When Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said, “‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’. . . And he received the gold . . . and made a molded calf.” Ex. 32.

Moses would never have done this. He was a prophet who had tremendous power, one of whom the Lord could say, “If there is a prophet among you [Aaron and Miriam], I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face.” Num. 12:6-8.

When Moses came down from the mountain he “saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies).” Ex. 32:25.

Moses was neither an evangelist nor an eloquent speaker as Aaron was, and yet in spite of his eloquence, Aaron was not able to lead the people. He was too weak; he did not have a clear connection with God. God could only speak to him at night in dreams. During the day, he was preoccupied with listening to the people and heeding their voices, just like Saul was in his day, to his own corruption. 1 Sam. 15:24. Aaron was not able to provide spiritual nourishment for the people; discipline stopped, and the people cast off restraint, desiring a molten image to worship.

Aren’t people doing the same thing today? They make for themselves molten images to worship because they have run out of spiritual food and because they want to please the people.

Just as Aaron allowed the people to bring all their jewelry to mold a golden calf for their enjoyment, today a cry goes out to the people in every place where God has adorned His people with spiritual gifts, asking them to quickly send in reports about healings, revivals, baptism of the Spirit and the gift of tongues. From this “jewelry” a golden calf can be molded which the people can dance around. They are set free from Moses and his tablets of commandments, and the sound of the people’s rejoicing can be heard from far off.

Read Judges 8:22-27 about how Gideon gathered the plunder in a garment to make adornment for himself. With this plunder Israel practiced idolatry, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

To reject those whom God has placed in the church brings certain judgment. Every clearly discerning person who opens his eyes to see, inclines his ear to hear and uses his mind to understand will recognize that the churches today are in very bad shape, precisely because apostles, teachers, prophets and shepherds are not allowed to do their tasks.

And whose fault is this? The evangelist gathers to himself. Because of his own ignorance, he keeps the others in ignorance by gathering this flock of new converts to himself—the converts whom God added to the church. And why does he do that? Because he wants an attentive flock around his pulpit, and because the larger the flock, the greater the collection. The cause of this sin is a desire for honor and temporal rewards; the root of it all is unbelief.

Yet, God be praised, the light has begun to shine and day has dawned in these areas. We have this confidence in God that His people will soon receive enough knowledge and light that they will be able to see, hear, understand and judge for themselves in these matters.