God’s Church and the Church of Men

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.