I want to make it very clear that
when I talk about maintaining the unity of
the body, compacted together, that that does not
preclude the fact that there could be, and
there are some times where divisions in churches
or churches being divided are essential, such as
heresy, doctrinal distinctives that cause people to have
to separate because they no longer can worship
together in areas of doctrine about which they
do not agree.
I mean basic doctrines.
So I do not want to give the
idea that that kind of unity is all
-inclusive.
There are times where God calls some people
to come out from among others and be
separate, and touch not the unclean faith.
Remember what I said when we started.
It's whether or not divisions over personalities and
little kind of pettinesses between us, and whether
or not we part our hair right or
wrong, wear the right color suit, or it
may not be that petty.
We evaluate the kind of things that we
allow to separate us.
Keep in mind what I said to you
would not separate our church because we are
committed to the unity of the body.
I want to clarify, unless anybody got the
impression that I am suggesting that you just
stay in a church with all kinds of
theological heresy.
I'm not trying to imply that in any
sense of the word.
Now, the true nature of the local church.
What is the true nature of the local
church?
And as you look at your manual, if
you look at your manual, just glance at
the manual before we actually begin to discuss
that page called The True Nature of the
Local Church.
The rest of the manual is made up
of reference items.
And aren't you glad we're not going to
go through them all tonight?
You see, this is designed as a study
manual.
And this is primarily for you to take
home, personally and with groups.
Notice about three pages past The True Nature
of the Local Church.
There's a page that has some lines on
it that says, In summary, we will.
See the lines there with blocks in it?
Turn it sideways, In summary, we will.
All right?
What that means is it's a kind of
a worksheet that any group of people who
want to take this and use it as
a worksheet in the light of the truths
that we're dealing with will do so.
You see, there are three columns, Principles, Objectives,
and Means.
And there's on the left-hand side, it's
A, B, and C going down.
You see, A, the believer, B, the church,
C, the world.
I mean, C, world.
Now, notice the top, the words Principles, Objectives,
and Means.
So, under A, when we talk about believers,
what are the principles that we believe?
And then what are the objectives?
We should.
And then what are the means?
We will.
So once we settle what the principles are
that we believe, the objectives are that we
should be doing, then the means, how are
we going to go about it?
Then we relate to the church, letter B,
same way.
And then letter C relates to the world.
And in the light of this whole study,
here's a simple worksheet where groups of people
can get together and come to grips with
some issues and discuss them and put some
concrete thoughts down as to what we're going
to do about believers, what we're going to
do about the church, what we're going to
do about the world in recognizing what the
true nature of the church is and what
the true nature of the body of Christ
is.
Now, if you'll turn to the back side
of that page, there should be an article
on the back side that says responsibility...
Now, what does it say?
Spiritual responsibility does what?
Necessitates what?
Accountability.
That's it.
See, I don't have one here.
You don't either.
Okay, well then don't worry about it.
You don't have to study about things.
Here's one of those.
Okay, it has a diagram on it, but
basically it's saying this, that unless you are
accountable to somebody, then your spiritual responsibility is
nil.
It's good for us to sit here tonight
and say, this is wonderful what we're learning.
And some of you are going to say
that.
And it is wonderful to learn.
But a year from now I'd come back
and say, what have you done about it?
You say, well, well, I really didn't know
what to do about it.
You know why?
Why?
Because you weren't accountable to anybody.
Spiritual responsibility necessitates accountability.
And we discussed the importance of getting together
with people and saying, look, one month from
now we're going to sit together and we're
going to go over these principles.
We're going to spend a weekend on them.
And then we're going to lay out something
on paper.
And then a month later we're going to
get together again.
What progress are we making?
And we're going to keep on assessing what
is going on in the light of these
principles and our objectives and the means.
And we're going to make every necessary adjustment
as we go so that we'll not merely
hear about these things and say, wasn't it
nice?
Now we have another manual.
Well, you think you have a nice manual
tonight.
By the time the week's over you'll know
you've been there with all the manuals you'll
have.
And you're not going to be able to
digest it all this week.
And if you take it and just lay
it aside you might as well forget it.
You're just wasting your time.
But if we are committed to the principles
we're hearing about then we're going to get
serious about it.
That's why I'm asking you to get all
the boards out here this week.
Your church board should be out here all
week.
And every church leader should be out here.
Every Sunday school teacher should be out here.
Everybody who has any part in the actual
life of the leadership capacity of the church
should be here every night this week so
that we understand the importance of ministering and
what it is to be one, together.
All right?
Now all of these articles are going to
relate to what we're going to talk about
even now in the second half of The
True Nature of the Local Church.
Now take a look at that page, The
True Nature of the Local Church.
Look at three Roman numerals.
The first one is the program of the
church.
See, it's the white page called The True
Nature of the Local Church.
The first one is the program of the
church.
The program is to exalt Christ and edify
believers and evangelize.
Exalt Christ, edify believers, evangelize.
And then letter D is most important.
To equip the church structure with the potential
of refreshing, coming time after time from God.
To equip the church structure so that the
church structure will make room for times of
refreshing to come from the presence of God.
That's a subject in itself.
Look at the priorities of the church.
Worship and praise, top priority.
Ministering one to another, right underneath it.
And then to maintain a climate, maintain the
climate, so that both of those two things
can take place.
Worship and praise can take place.
Ministering one to another can take place.
The climate is wholesome so that can happen.
Then letter D says outreach.
And there are question marks there.
Not because I'm not interested in outreach, but
because after I wrote the word in, I
was not sure it should be written in
there.
Notice that letter C under Roman numeral I
says evangelize.
So I'm not trying to make light of
evangelizing.
But I'm not sure it should be under
Roman numeral II as a priority of the
church.
I'm not sure.
Maybe it should.
And my uncertainty is revealed by the paragraph
right underneath it where I suggest that I
believe that continuous corporate evangelizing will take place
when letters A, B, and C are right
in a local congregation.
When worship and praise are top priority, when
ministering one to another are kept in sharp
focus, when maintaining a climate that all of
that can happen is real, then I believe
the world will see that kind of a
church and God will bring to that kind
of a church people to be ministered to.
Evangelism results when believers are free in Christ.
And I can tell you many instances of
people who never could share Christ, never had
any power and witness until God touched their
hearts in Revival, and now have a freedom
to be able to share Christ with others
that they never knew would ever be possible
in their Christian experience.
Actually, energy, not the program, is the result
of letters A, B, and C above.
Spiritual energy results when worship and praise is
top priority, when ministering one to another is
given its rightful place, and when maintaining a
spiritual climate is such.
That's where spiritual energy results.
Now, the program of the church is the
outgrowth of the energy.
This statement is not in your notes, but
I believe the program is the outgrowth of
the energy, and the program is that which
is used to harness the energy and to
service all the energy that the Holy Spirit
has produced.
It's not to create energy.
Many of us look for a program to
create energy, and that's why it goes flat.
But when God ministers to us, and the
Holy Spirit energizes us as we walk in
the Spirit, then the church must find the
program to harness the energy that God the
Holy Spirit has created.
And when that happens, you watch the long
-range effects of a program that has been
born out of Holy Spirit-empowered energy.
And that's even true in evangelism.
Some of you remember Otto Koenig making the
statement when he tells how when he finally
met God in the jungle, after all his
playing around with his carnality, he finally met
God in a deep way in the jungle,
that the nationals saw what a tremendous change
there was in his own life, in his
life.
And do you remember what they said to
him?
You know his name.
They call him Tuon.
What did they say?
They said, Tuon, what happened to you?
You've become a Christian, haven't you?
Remember that?
Well, that must be hard for a missionary
to take.
Here he's out there sponsored by your churches,
and he goes out there, and the nationals
couldn't even see him as a Christian because
of his carnality.
And when God broke his heart and dealt
with him over his sin and self-life
and filled him with the Spirit, the nationals,
even the unconverted nationals said, you must have
become a Christian, haven't you?
You see what happened?
Now he has a ministry.
And he tells how God gave him the
ministry after he was thoroughly right with God.
So I believe the priorities of the church
must be such that outreach and influence to
the world will come, resulting from our meeting
God.
Now along that line, when you talk about
ministering one to another, there are all kinds
of articles that you'll want to read.
The one Let's Be Friends, Cosmetic Christianity, and
Superstar Christianity.
You won't want to read them now, but
those are the ones that relate to the
whole truth that we need to minister to
each other in witness, in sharing, in testimony,
in giving of ourselves.
Now look at number three, the plan of
God.
The plan of God for the church.
Romans number three.
The plan of God for the church is,
first of all, that God has called out
certain men with a ministry of the Word.
Certain men in the ministry of the Word.
Then he calls out other men into a
ministry of oversight and feeding the church.
I believe that both the Apostles Paul and
Peter called them elders.
And even St. Peter classified himself with those
men as an elder on the same level
with them.
The note is very important.
And I'm not making any attempt to delineate
titles.
Whether you're calling elders or deacons or trustees
or whoever you may have, board members, you
fit the principles into whatever your framework is
in your own local congregation.
And don't squabble over it in words.
Number, letter C says that there's another plan
of God.
He calls other people in a congregation into
a ministry of helps.
A ministry of helps.
And those are all kinds of ministries.
And it's beautiful when God begins to work
in such a way.
If you want to make a note or
take a look at the article, hold your
place there.
Look at the article called The Church with
900 Ministers.
Take a look at that article.
The Church with 900 Ministers.
And I'm just going to pinpoint a few
statements on my copy.
Don't try to read my copy, but I'll
merely show you where it is.
The Church with 900 Ministers.
It tells the story of this church in
California.
John MacArthur's church.
This was written in June of 1972 when
he was 32 years of age.
He said that two previous pastors had died
of heart attacks.
A 16-year-old congregation.
Both of the pastors died of heart attacks.
And it goes on to say that he
would have been the third one to go
the same way had he followed the same
pattern.
But he learned something about how the church
had to minister.
On the second page, he tells about, at
the bottom of the first paragraph, he tells
about the fact that his people, he started
to preach the word, and that he would
preach through the text of the word of
God as his own textbook.
And then in Ephesians, he saw the principle
that his job was to perfect the saints
to do the work of the ministry and
to cause them to be mature people.
And he goes on to say that the
church is nothing but a training place to
equip believers to be full-grown saints.
We are interested only in maturing believers.
We believe God would have us stripped down
to this bare minimum of maturing believers.
We're not attempting to do all the work
ourselves.
We just are trying to interpret from the
word of God what the church, how it's
to minister and function.
And then he talks about how many young
men are getting involved in the ministry, how
he preaches doctrinal sermons and expository sermons through
the word of God and what's happening to
the congregation.
And then on to the third page.
You'll see some interesting notes at the top
of the third page.
He says, is the objective to equip believers
so that they might do the work of
the ministry being realized?
Well, he says, the people need in particular
areas, see needs in particular areas, so they
make suggestions to the pastor.
And then he says, I say to them,
it's your church, go to it.
And then he says, look what happens.
The ideas, most of the ideas of what
the church should be come from, they do
not originate with, they originate with a congregation,
not with a pastoral leadership.
Then he says, on Saturday they get together
for small sessions where people get together and
decide.
From these studying planning groups, they evaluate the
entire life of the church, follow up the
Wednesday night meetings, the prayer cells and so
on.
As a result of it, look what happens
as a result.
Eight to nine hundred people now involved, eight
to nine hundred people are now involved every
week in that ministry of that church.
No shortage of volunteers to a staff of
a Sunday school of fourteen hundred, and they
have no shortage of volunteers.
Would anybody like to candidate in a church
like that?
Not surprisingly, he talks about the young men
now being called into the ministry.
He says that he as a pastor meets
with these young men, not to talk about
the direction the church is going, but to
pray with them and to believe God to
lead them on.
Look at what happened to prayer meeting.
Prayer meeting was thirty-five and now is
what?
Five hundred a week.
The attendance, four hundred people on Sunday morning,
to what?
Nineteen hundred every Sunday morning without contests, gimmicks,
or prizes.
The church averages seventy visitors every Sunday.
Then he goes on to talk about the
training.
He says, can this be reached by other
places?
He says he believes it can if other
churches would get back to the biblical principles.
Now please, let me warn you about playing
a numbers game, which it's easy for us
to do.
Say, well, if we go back to biblical
principles as I was going to jump from
thirty-five to five hundred and four hundred
to nineteen hundred.
By the way, you'll be interested to know
that this man's church is now over five
thousand.
This was in 1972.
Now it's over five thousand people.
In this congregation.
And it's a most beautiful, most beautiful thing
to see how it's run by elders who
are appointed for life.
Or, and then they become, some become ministering
elders as well.
And by the way, you can write into
that church and get a manual that he
has.
It's called leadership.
It's a notebook manual that he uses to
train the leaders of his congregation.
Now please, don't play a numbers game.
I don't know what God wants to do
to your congregation.
But I believe that we need to be
committed to some principles.
And if we're committed to principles, I believe
God will do what he wants to do.
So we'll, at least we'll be certain there'll
be nothing, nothing in our lives hindering what
God longs to do in the congregation.
You'll be fascinated when you read that article.
It will stimulate your heart as you read
it.
Now, look at where that's under letter C.
Calling others into a ministry of help.
And letter D.
Calling of every believer.
That's why I'm relating to that article.
Every believer to minister through his exercise of
his God-given gifts.
Everyone to do so through God-given gifts
to minister in the body.
To find the creative abilities that God has
given to all kinds of people in the
congregation.
To be able to minister in a very
powerful way.
When I, a little later this week, I'm
going to discuss the possibility of that when
I talk to the board level.
On the basis of people in our congregations
being given the responsibilities to seek out the
spiritual gifts that God has given others in
the congregation.
Rather than let people sit by with gifts
totally unused because they have never had a
sense that there was a divine urgency on
the part of the church for them to
exercise those spiritual gifts.
Apart from a few sermons they heard and
apart from the fact that nobody else wanted
to volunteer for a certain job.
And I'm going to talk about how that
can come about later this week.
But then letter E.
The scriptural basis of God's plan for these
things to happen.
God's plan, A, B, C, and D.
What is the scriptural basis for this to
all happen?
Well, you'll notice the scriptural basis is basically
threefold as it's given there.
One, the diversity of spiritual gifts and ministries
that God has given to the church.
That's one way it's going to happen.
That God has given many, very spiritual gifts
and ministries to people.
And then secondly, the body function.
The body function.
And thirdly, God's plan for world evangelization.
Now I'd like to go to that first
of all, and then come back to the
body function.
That's the one we want to discuss for
the rest of our time, the body function.
But let's discuss number three, first of all,
on the bottom of the page.
God's plan for world evangelism.
Now, you ought to order the tape, Lou's
message titled, Three Ways to Witness to the
World.
Three ways to witness to the world.
And that relates to that very, there's the
outline.
You see, what it takes him one whole
hour to say on tape, I can say
in ten seconds, love, unity, and joy.
Five seconds.
That's what it is.
He opens the Bible, and he shows from
all those references that those are the only
three ways he sees.
God says, are God's ways to witness to
the world.
Notice, all men are going to know.
How?
By the divine love, by the unity, and
by joy in the Holy Ghost.
He said, by this, you'll be approved of
God and accepted of men.
All those references relate to it.
Acts 9.31 is the verse in the
book of Acts that relates to the same
truth of it coming out in the book
of Acts, the early church, by the same
principle, seeing it very clearly.
Now, if you'll go from that page in
your notebook, and turn to the next page,
you'll notice there are, there's an article titled,
What About Revival?
And I merely suggest that the, or let
me just put up these references as well,
so you might make a note, I just
referred to that.
The heart of world evangelism is growth through
the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
And it's Acts 9.31 and Acts 6
.1 and 7 and Acts 11.21.24.
You can just jot that on the bottom
there, God's plan for world evangelization, how it
happened in the New Testament church.
Acts 9.31, 6.1 and 7, Acts
11.21 and 24, the heart of the
matter about world evangelization in the book of
Acts.
Now, in the midst of that all, how
does revival relate to world evangelization?
You'll notice the article, What About Revival?
In that article, it is a letter from
a pastor in Surrey, B.C., to the
editor of Christianity Today.
One and a half years after we had
a crusade in that man's church, and God
blessed in such a powerful way.
He wrote to the editor to share with
him the dramatic changes that took place in
the congregation.
Now, even though I'm ahead of myself by
going to number three before we do number
two, yet I want to pinpoint out, he
first of all said, you'll notice it near
the bottom of the first page of that
letter, where there are two or three stars.
Number one says, the worship patterns have changed
drastically.
And he discusses that.
Secondly, he says, there's a greater awareness of
the needs of other Christians.
Now, just watch all the things that took
place a year and a half after the
revival in that local congregation.
Number three, on the next page, there's a
new honesty.
And if you don't have three in your
notebook, just put three in there, just write
number three, and just put a new honesty.
A new honesty.
And what he went on to say in
it, that now people could express things that
before were very sensitive.
Now they could discuss things openly, candidly, in
a willingness to be right.
Now the pastor could preach on things that
before would be very offensive.
Now the people are ready for him to
share all kinds of things, because they have
a whole new honesty one toward another.
He remarked about that being an earmark of
what God did in Revival.
Number four, he said there was a greater
expectancy from the people for God to work.
And he goes on to say that now
God's working was the rule rather than the
exception.
Whereas before it was the exception, not the
rule.
And he discusses that tremendously.
And then, he, number five, he talks about
the laity more actively involved in the spiritual
ministries.
People-to-people ministries.
True people-to-people ministries.
And he tells in that paragraph how people
now come and they say, Pastor, will you
pray with someone or will you come and
pray with someone?
We have led him into the reality of
God's law and make sure we dealt with
him properly and all kinds of laymen involved
in the spiritual ministries.
That's what he's talking about.
Isn't that what we want to see happen
in the church?
He's saying that's exactly what happened.
And then, look at this, people are less
aware of the clock, number six.
And he tells, now they worship God not
by the clock but they worship God in
spirit.
Now they start at eleven o'clock sharp
but never end at twelve o'clock dull.
That's what advanced heaven says.
Many churches are like that.
Start eleven o'clock, ten to eleven o
'clock sharp but end at twelve o'clock
dull with people worshiping God between the second
hands of their clock.
And then, in summary, look what he said.
In summary, he said, I would have to
say that since revival there has been a
marked change in everything from our music to
our personal relationships with Jesus Christ.
So, when you take a look at all
of that, the six things he pinpoints, you
see, clearly, the church being the church, worship,
awareness of the needs of others, transparent honesty,
expectancy for God to work, laymen involved, and
now worshiping God in spirit and in truth.
And when he talks about laymen involved, he
talks about evangelism coming out of that church,
out of those people.
Everything changed from the music to the personal
relationship to Christ.
And then he goes on and gives a
second hand.
The bottom of that article, I must be
as truthful as he was to tell you
that there are some bad effects to revival
in a local church.
And he discusses them.
And he says, he gives us the reason
why.
And it's interesting to note the reason why.
He says, I think we must expect some
of these things because of the grip that
our culture and pattern of living has on
us.
Do you know what he's saying?
He's saying we are such victims of our
own culture and our own pattern of living,
we're in such a rut of the way
we've done it for so long, that we
must expect there are going to be some
problems when there's such a dramatic, drastic change
that has to take place when God touches
us deeply in revival.
And that's true.
And he gives the two basic areas that
were problematic.
One, polarization.
He says that the people who step out
into real honest experience with God tend to
amplify the complacency of others.
Just because they moved out, it makes others
look more complacent.
It's hard for people to remain neutral when
God works in a deep way in revival.
And that's true.
Along the same line, there's always the problem
of spiritual superiority complex.
And that is a problem of those who
think that we've arrived, we have it, we
have the answers, and nobody else has anything
good but us.
And we look down at other people around
us.
And that becomes as severe a problem as
the other.
And we must all be on the alert
for that kind of an attitude.
And secondly, he said, the people became more
aware of the reality of Satan.
When God works in a deep way, then
you must get ready for Satan to blast
in a real way.
So he said, that's a real sign of
revival.
Now, as you look at some of the
other articles, as you go home, you'll see
clearly they basically relate to all the things
we long to see happen taking place.
The article titled Superstar Christianity is a classic
of an article on the problem of always
having the expert in town, always having the
expert giving a testimony, and losing sight of
the man who lives right next door or
the man, the people he rubs shoulders with
day after day.
He said, I think it's about time we
say a word for the ordinary Joe, the
one who is the ordinary kind of a
person, and let him share with me the
reality about showing the importance of sharing in
a very real and personal way.
Now let's get back to that number two,
the body function, the body function in the
church.
You know, the rest of the articles relate
to evangelism, whether or not true evangelism can
come when there's no revival, the cart before
the horse, we've had it all backwards, that
all relates to whether or not evangelism can
precede revival.
In continuation, right in order, if I were
going through in order, that's the way we'd
be going in all those articles, in perfect
sequence.
But back to number two, the body function
in the church to prepare us for tomorrow
night's ministry on how do we minister to
each other.
But under the body function, you see, the
references given are the ones that I shared
earlier that relate to the unity of the
body.
See that?
1 Corinthians 1.10, Ephesians 2.19, 22,
and 4, 15, 16.
The fact of the matter is I didn't
even notice that those were the references I
put there until just now.
So what is it saying?
Don't expect the body to function unless the
unity problem is straightened out.
That's what it's saying.
Don't expect, by human means and by human
ability and by putting together some kind of
a human program to be able to see
these things happen unless it is done by
the Spirit of God ministering to us and
showing us what we are and what the
church is all about and giving us that
kind of deep-seated concern to be committed
spiritually to maintain that kind of unity.
Then the body function may cause or create
more problems than it solves if you're trying
to do it by human means or legislating
it.
Now look at the body function.
Letter A, peacemaking.
Letter B, spiritual foot washing.
Tomorrow night we will give you the principles
of spiritual foot washing.
Letter C, burden bearing.
D, provoking to love and good works the
body function.
Peacemaking, first of all.
What is that all about?
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall do
what?
For they shall do what?
Inherit the earth?
No.
They shall what?
They shall be what?
Called the children of God.
The peacemakers are called the children of God.
The meek inherit the earth.
The pure in heart see God.
But the peacemakers shall be called the children
of God.
Peacemakers.
Now the idea of peacemaking, primarily, is twofold.
There is the connotation of being an arbitrator.
Those who make things right with everyone they've
wronged.
That means I make something right, I'm a
peacemaker in that I want to make everything
right with those I've wronged.
Basically, it's threefold.
Secondly, the connotation of those who become arbitrators
or the in-between man between two warring
factions.
That's the second connotation.
And they're needed.
But the third is even more important as
far as tonight is concerned.
It's under number two.
You see, number two, body function.
Letter A, peacemaking.
Then there's a one.
And look at that number one.
Spirit-filled believers alone are capable of lovingly
maintaining unity in the body of Christ.
So you say, if you're walking in the
Spirit, then you're the only one capable of
maintaining the unity in the body.
A carnal Christian cannot.
He is too self-centered, too self-sufficient,
too demanding of his own rights, and he's
out to prove that he's right.
He has rights.
But a Spirit-controlled believer is one who
has surrendered all of his rights and who
has now learned what it means to have
the love of, the Spirit-filled love of
1 Corinthians 13 pouring out of his life.
So now it's love that does not look
for anything in return, love that even can
be misunderstood but doesn't care and bears all
things.
It's divine love.
It's a copy love.
So the Spirit-controlled believer is the only
one capable of maintaining unity in the body.
Keep that in mind.
You say you're walking in the Spirit, then
you're going to be one maintaining the unity,
not being divisive in relation to the unity
of the body.
But look at number two under that.
Spirit-controlled believers alone are capable of making
peace for those who are distressed and not
capable of making it for themselves.
Now what does that mean?
In every congregation there are some people who
are distressed, disrupted, some emotionally, some physically, some
because of circumstances of life.
There seem to be some families in every
congregation that are always on edge, always up
in the air, can never seem to become
stabilized.
They don't seem to have the ability to
make peace for themselves, to be able to
find the stability of life and family that
they must have if they're going to make
it in their Christian experience.
And God is looking for people to be
peacemakers.
Take the word literally.
Making peace for those who cannot make it
for themselves.
Literally meaning those whose lives have found a
stability and a source of strength and a
power in their experience to now be able
to take on the responsibility of all kinds
of people in a congregation who need the
undergirding and the strengthening and the stability of
another family.
Somebody who will become the support and the
strength of one who cannot make it.
And all of our churches have those people.
Both kinds.
But most of us are too self-centered.
I know of a godly man who is
now in heaven.
I greatly admire him.
But you know, this was an area to
him that seemed to be somewhat of a
blind spot in our congregation.
He would say to me, you know Ralph,
you know I really don't need any of
those interpersonal relationship ministries.
I don't need sharing.
I don't need testimony.
All I really need is to come to
church and sit in a regular Sunday morning
formal service or a service that goes in
order and hear it take place and enter
in and worship, hear the preaching, enjoy the
preaching, revel in the truth, and go home
absolutely fed and satisfied in my Christian experience.
I don't need any fellowship gatherings.
I don't need any testimonies.
I don't need this.
At least that's what he says.
And I'm not questioning about that.
I had a hard time completely understanding that.
But I turned to him and I said,
I called him by name, I said, Brother,
you know you've been a great blessing and
inspiration to a lot of people by the
stability of your lifestyle, the way in which
God has used you.
Did you ever stop to think that there
are people in this congregation who need your
undergirding, who need your arm around them, who
look up to you as a spiritual leader,
who need your support, who need your encouragement,
who need you to say a word to
them, who need you to say amen to
their testimony, who need you to be on
your knees praying with them, who need you
for their needs.
I said, Brother, what you somehow have lost
is the body function of the true body
of Christ.
Do you know that's so real?
Do you notice how God says it when
it talks about having the mind of Christ?
There's a little simple verse in 1 Corinthians
2.16 that says one statement, there's one
statement made in it, the end of the
verse, after it talks about the carnal man,
the natural man, and it talks about the
things of God are hidden from their eyes.
The last statement, does anybody have it already?
1 Corinthians 2.16, where does that last
statement read?
But we have the mind of Christ.
What is the key word?
We.
It's never I have the mind of Christ.
It's we have the mind of Christ.
Corporately, collectively, I know a man needs to
have the mind of Christ for his own
individual life and know the will of God
for his own individual life.
I'm not stubborn.
Or am I?
But when it comes to the body of
Christ, don't you ever listen for one moment
to one lady who stands up and says,
folks, I want to tell you what God
has told me to tell you that this
church has to do.
I've had a divine revelation from God.
I had a vision last night and I
had a voice from heaven speak to me
and unless all of you do it, you're
condemned to this.
No, don't believe it for one moment.
Don't waste the time of day with it.
In fact, the church leaders ought to deal
with it.
Don't allow it.
The mind of Christ for the body of
Christ is always corporately known.
There will be a unity in plurality.
There will be, we have the mind of
Christ.
Together, collectively, corporately, it is in perfect accord
with every principle that relates to the body
of believers.
Now there's another statement that relates to that,
Ephesians 3.20. And God is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask,
all that who?
We ask or think according to the power
that works in me.
In what?
Us.
You see that?
Corporately, corporately we release the power of God.
We untie God's hand so he can work.
It's in us.
The tremendous importance of a body functioning is
one.
No wonder the unity of the body, maintaining
that is so essential.
If you see me putting up my hands
more than once this week, you'll know what
I mean.
Those who are not here tonight will wonder
and think I'm ready to be committed.
You'll know what it means.
That's true.
And then there's another connotation.
It's 1 Corinthians 11.29 where it talks
about the Lord's suffering.
And it talks about eating and drinking unworthily.
And it says if we do so, we
are eating and drinking what?
Damnation unto ourselves.
Why are we eating and drinking damnation unto
ourselves?
Why?
What is the reason given in chapter 11,
verse 29?
What is the reason given?
Why?
Not what?
Deserting what?
The Lord's what?
Body.
Oh, you thought that only meant Christ on
the cross, didn't you?
You didn't get a right view of him
on the cross.
And it does mean that.
But in the truest sense, what is the
Lord's body?
...of the Lord's body.
Letter B says, spiritual foot washing.
It's not only peacemaking, but it's spiritual foot
washing.
And tomorrow night, we're going to discuss that.
I was in a pastor's meeting one night,
one day, and there were about 50 pastors
there and I was just a guest.
We were holding a crusade in town, we
were just guests, not speakers.
And the man said, Brother, why don't you
just get up and tell us a little
bit of what's happening in town?
And I just got up and made a
simple statement.
I said, You know, it's just wonderful to
see the spiritual foot washing that's going on
among God's people.
How God is ministering to people, how we're
relating to each other, and how the spiritual
foot washing, we're just getting all kinds of
things straightened out.
I sat down.
Ten minutes later, the speaker of the evening,
the speaker of the morning got up to
speak, and he kind of got the pulpit,
like this, and he rocked back and forth,
up a little bit like this, you know.
And he said, Well, you know, we hear
a lot these days about foot washing.
He should have said this morning, we just
heard about foot washing.
And he was the kind of man that
everybody respected because of his stature, his reputation.
And he is a friend of ours.
P.S., he still is.
He said, Now, I want to tell you
what I think about it.
Before you let anybody wash your feet, make
sure of three things first.
One, make sure that the water isn't too
hot.
And those pastors just roared.
That was one.
Two, make sure that the person who is
washing your feet has clean hands.
And they roared louder the second time.
And then three, make sure before they're done
washing your feet or before you let them
wash your feet, you get permission to wash
their feet in return when they're done.
And that brought the house down.
And then he said, And now, let me
get on with my text.
I want to speak to you this morning
on the subject, the true nature of the
Christian ministry.
Lou and I were sitting there.
Listen to this.
Say, where were you sitting?
Underneath the chair by then?
And he said, Turn with me to Romans
chapter one.
And he started in on the true nature
of the Christian ministry.
And here were the words.
Paul, Paul, Paul, what?
Servant of Jesus Christ.
Called to be an apostle.
Separated unto the gospel of God.
And he went on from there.
And I don't want to take the time
for it.
Paul, a what?
Servant.
Called to be an apostle.
And the wheels began to turn.
Oh, oh, what is the truest connotation or
concept you have of a servant?
As soon as I say servant, what do
you think about?
What?
One who serves.
What else do you think about?
What?
Obedience.
What else?
What picture?
What mental picture do you have?
Under-authority.
What?
So you were getting it.
What's that?
One that shackles?
Slave?
No, not in this case.
Not in this case.
Even though, oh, he's bound because he's under
-authority.
But remember last night about the right kind
of bondage?
All right?
What picture do you get?
A what?
Responsible someone.
Okay, so I save the time.
It's this.
A king has servants.
King has servants.
has slaves, servants.
The connotation, king with the servants.
When you see that mental picture, where do
you see the servant?
Where?
At his feet.
The purest definition or connotation of a servant
is one who is right at the feet
of his master, right at the feet of
the king.
Whatever it means, right at his feet, to
obey at that point.
I couldn't help but think, well, if he's
right at his feet, he's ready to wash
his feet, isn't he?
If that's what the master says, wash my
feet.
I said, thank you, Lord, for giving me
the privilege of being there to hear that
man, or else I'd never be able to
share with you.
While he was speaking, I began to think,
where in the Bible do I ever see
any place where God says that whenever anybody
is to be a rugged elbow to wash
my feet spiritually and minister to a blind
spot in my life, I am first to
get a thermometer and check the Celsius, and
make sure it's not 120 degrees Fahrenheit, make
sure I'm not going to get burned, scalded.
I don't see anywhere in the Bible that
says, check the temperature first of the water.
But I remember Jesus Christ in the Garden
of Gethsemane, he said, Father, if it be
thy will, let this cup pass from me,
but nevertheless not my will, but thine be
done.
And what a picture of the temperature being
hot.
Christ going all the way through all that
suffering.
What an example.
And then I began to say, I wonder
if there's any place in the Bible where
it says that you are to check the
other man to make sure that he has
clean hands before he washes your feet, to
make sure he's a perfect angel before he
washes your feet.
And all I could remember was a time
in the Old Testament where God couldn't find
anybody to get his message across.
No prophet available.
And God was so absolutely committed to getting
his message across, that all he could use
was a filthy old donkey, bale and sass,
smelly old animal to preach his message.
I said, thank you, God.
It's not for me to even look at
whether or not it's a rugged joint or
a ragged joint or a smooth joint going
to rub into me.
Whether I like him or not, it's not
the vessel that I'm to be concerned with.
It's whether or not I'm going to be
willing for that to happen to conform me
to the image of thy Son, the Lord
Jesus.
And then I tried to find whether or
not there was any place where I should
get permission not to let him do anything
to me until he gives permission for me
to do to him.
And all I could think of was the
verse where God says, vengeance is mine, saith
the Lord.
I will repay.
God's saying, you leave the vengeance up to
me.
It's not for me to set it up
in such a way so that if he
gives it to me at 120 degrees, I'll
give it back to him at 130.
Not at all.
But what is the mind that's to be
my mind?
Philippians chapter 2, let this mind be in
you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal to God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him
the form of flesh and became flesh.
Why?
So that he might go all the way
down to the cross.
And it's at the place of death that
God steps in and God says, all right,
now I can highly exalt him.
Where?
At the place of the cross.
That's the place of exaltation.
And God does it.
And when you and I allow the cross
to be applied to every area of our
life, and we're not going to be concerned
where it comes from, and how hot the
water is, and whether they were clean hands
or dirty hands, and with no concern for
revenge, oh, it's then we're allowing the principle
of crucifixion to function.
And as we do so, God has his
own way of exalting those who live the
life of death.
And then there's burden bearing.
We'll talk about that tomorrow night.
And then provoking to love and to good
works.
Spiritual foot washing, then the burden bearing, we'll
discuss that tomorrow night when we talk about
how to minister to each other.
And then provoking to love and good works.
So I asked the man, I said, any
provoking going on in you?
He said, lots of them.
I said, but not that kind.
The kind that God sends.
Look what it says.
Provoke means to inspire and to incite.
That means really to encourage.
Needling on to good works.
Oh, I said, not needle or push.
Not needle, but needling.
How do you do that?
You needle without him knowing he's been needled.
How do you do that?
Provoke to love and to good works.
I just really believe that God would be
so thrilled if every church had a bunch
of provokers who were committed to a provoking
ministry.
I've often encouraged young people how they could
provoke deacons.
I say they do it all the time
in our church.
Now I mean the right way.
If some young people, you want a program
for a youth group?
Call your youth group the provokers club.
Committed to provoking everybody who is lax in
his spiritual life in that church.
How do you do that?
Well, if you have about three deacons who
are not deaking, then you get some young
people committed to provoking them.
How do they do that?
Well, they size them up.
They know they're not spiritual people.
They know they're not in prayer meeting.
They never hear them give a testimony.
Never hear what God's doing in their life.
So they know something's wrong.
And you have some spiritual young people.
So they go after them.
So here's a young fellow.
He goes to one deacon.
Say, Brother Jones, Mr. Jones, you know I
admire you.
One of the reasons I admire you is
because you've been elected as a deacon to
our church.
Or you've been elected as an elder to
our church.
And that's a high position that has a
spiritual connotation to it.
And you know, I'm a young person.
Someday in the future, I expect to be
a deacon or an elder in the church.
And I want to be prepared to be
a deacon or an elder, a spiritual one.
And you must be a spiritual person because
they elected you to that position and our
church wouldn't elect anybody but spiritual deacons and
elders.
By the time the week's over, you might
have the answer how not to elect anybody
but spiritual deacons and elders.
But in the midst of it, I want
to find out what it's all about.
Now how about if you and I get
together, Mr. Jones, and how about if we
meet next week and for about four times
this month, once a week, you share with
me what God is doing in your life
and what it's like to be a deacon,
the responsibilities, the spiritual obligation, and share with
me how real God is in your life.
Or share with me some dynamic things that
happen in your life.
I want to learn from the faith that
God has given you.
Guess what would happen to that deacon?
Sure you know, he'd have a heart attack.
When he recovers, he'll say, Oh, I'm sorry,
son, I appreciate your coming to me and
all like that, but you know, this is
income tax month and I'm a chartered accountant,
I've got too much to do this month.
Well, if that's so, Mr. Jones, next month
is the month of May.
How about if we do it next month,
the month of May?
Oh, I'm sorry, after income tax time is
over, I need a holiday.
I've been so busy.
My wife and I are going for a
trip to Europe.
If he didn't think of it before, he
probably thought of it right on the spot.
And, well, that's all right.
You deserve that, Mr. Jones.
But then how about the month of June?
Now he has heart failure.
Do you know what happens to him?
Sure you know what happens to him.
How is a deacon going to keep saying
no to a young person who wants to
get close to that deacon to find out
what God's doing in his life and still
be respected?
The young fellow says, that's all right, Brother
Jones, I'm going to go after somebody else.
No, no, he doesn't say that.
He says, I'm going to be with Mr.
So-and-so to see what God's doing
in his life.
And he goes around the deacon board.
And he's going to keep provoking all the
deacons.
Why?
Because he wants to grow in grace himself
and he wants to keep those deacons on
their toes spiritually.
Do you know what's going to happen to
Mr. Jones who's on to Europe and Asia
and the Orient and wires back that his
trip was extended?
Do you know what's going to happen to
him?
He'll probably use those two or three months
to get caught up on his prayer life
and to do some heart searching, but God
searches hard, and to bring the account up
to date because he knows he has a
day coming.
He's got to meet with a teenager in
that church.
See what that teenager's doing?
He's provoking that deacon to good works.
And we are commanded to provoke one another
to love and to good works.
So much, notice that reference is right where
it says, and so much the more as
you see the day of the Lord appearing,
approaching.
The closer we get to the end times,
the more provokers we need in the church.
That's exactly what we need.
So if you're seeing a deacon who's not
deaking, then you're going to deak him up
so he's going to deak right.
And if you see a lady in the
church who's not the spiritual woman she ought
to be, then some young ladies are going
to go after her.
And they're not going to let her sit
still without...
You know why?
Guess what?
I'm already back to it.
This is why we're committed to the unity
of the body, and we cannot stand that
there's any one part of the body that's
ailing, because the whole body's affected.
And we're committed to ministering to each other
in a body function of not allowing any
dissipation.
And if you have two or three deacons
on your deacon board who are not deaking,
then the rest of you deacons ought to
start deaking spiritually and provoking that deacon to
good works.
I've heard of some boards, some pastors have
told me, and some have said almost every
place they've gone, there's been one man or
two men on the board who are opposed
to everything they want, everything.
In fact, one pastor told me, he said,
you know, I believe that one man, if
I were to encourage the church to vote
for motherhood, one man would vote against it.
But the importance of ministering to those who
have deep needs, and later in the week
we're going to talk about that when we
talk about spiritual leadership in the church.
Well, whatever way it is God wants you
to minister, let's be committed to it.
It's the plan of God for the church.
Let's start sharing with each other.
Let me just give you a beautiful illustration
as I close.
Here's a letter that came out of the
Hamilton, Ontario crusade.
Some of you who are there will remember
a couple that came from Missouri.
You remember?
Young couple, came from Missouri, Phil and Diane
Bounds.
They were about, she was about 21, he
was about 23.
They took off about two and a half
months of work just to come to our
crusades, and just to be a part of
them, just to learn, and just to experience,
just to enter in, marvelous to see them
grow.
One Sunday morning, we asked them to go
to a church in Hamilton to share what
God had done for them.
And what happened was, and what God was
doing to us, what happened was, on the
way to that church service, they had a
little spat between each other in the car.
A little feud.
And before they got to church, they made
it right.
And when they got to the church, she
shared in the public service how that even
that morning, God had to deal with them
in their car about having to make things
right.
Short while later, they get this letter from
a lady in that church.
Dear Diane, whenever I see you, this was
while the crusade was still going on, whenever
I see you in the meetings in Hamilton,
and see the beauty of the Lord Jesus
in your face, I feel a little bit
guilty.
I must tell you about it before you
go back home.
Remember that Sunday when you came to Buchanan
Park Church and shared with us?
I was disappointed our own pastor did not
preach.
I really did not think a young couple
like you two had anything to give us.
Doesn't that sound critical?
Then when you told of your little tiff
with your husband that morning, I turned off
more.
When the pastor said, you and your husband
would be glad to counsel with any of
us who needed help, I figured you were
not mature enough to help me.
Ever since that Sunday morning service, it has
been bothering me.
At least you were open about your struggle
and confessed it.
I didn't think I was critical or was
hiding sin.
Ever since the Lord has been uncovering my
heart, you little realized that your openness helped
me to see my heart as God sees
it.
Whenever I think of these meetings, I will
think of you two and of how the
Lord brought conviction to my heart through your
honesty.
May he continue to lead you both and
make your lives truthful.
May Christ always be magnified in you.
As the Lord brings you to my mind,
I will remember you in my prayers and
in sight.
That's the body function, how we need each
other, how we need to minister to each
other, we need to provoke each other, to
inspire each other, to wash each other's feet,
to bear each other's burdens.
And when you go home, you'll want to
read the article, Cosmetic Christianity, and the other
one on the same page, the opposite side,
Let's Be Friends, that relates to the very
truth that I've just now shared.
How a woman said she felt closer to
the apostles in the Bible than she did
to the people in her own Sunday school
class, because they are willing to speak freely
of their problems, whereas all of us do
nothing but hide ours and wear masks when
we're supposed to be ministering one to another.
The body of Christ, the true nature of
the Church of Christ, and the true nature
of the local church, by this shall all
men know that you're my disciples, in that
you tolerate each other, no, but you love
one another.
By this shall all men know, how?
In that they see that you're one, just
like I am one with the Father, so
they see that you are one with us,
and by this shall all men know that
I love them too, and that I've come
from the Father, because the world sees an
expression of the body of Christ functioning as
one.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, I pray that Thou will
just bring us to the end of our
selfishness, and our self-sufficiency, and I pray
that Thou will teach us what it really
means to know the true nature of the
Church of Christ and the local body of
believers.
May we never lose sight.
May we understand that when we injure and
do not discern the Lord's body, or when
we do not care for the Church of
Christ, we are injuring that which Thou didst
die for, and that which Thou dost love
passionately, and Thou didst give Thyself for the
Church.
O God, show us the seriousness of an
offense toward the body of Christ.
Forgive some of us who need to repent.
Have Thy way.
While we're praying, where are those who want
to be included in prayer?
You know there are areas that you need
to make right, and tonight we're just going
to have closing prayer.