The Church – Or Nothing

O1 Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, 2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours”. 1 Cor 1:1-2

Notice how carefully the Apostle Paul sets out his words in the above scripture. There is a reason for that, as we shall see.

The title above might appear a bit confusing. But I have written it deliberately so in light of what I need to say here.

Have you ever noticed, in the epistles, that the apostles did not write to a particular person when writing to the churches? In other words, they did not address their letters to a man. On the contrary, they wrote to the church. In their letters, they addressed the church as a unit. In doing so, they were proclaiming a cardinal truth of the Spirit: that WITH GOD, IT IS THE CHURCH – OR NOTHING.

Just in case you missed it, let me reiterate it right here, at the very outset, in the clearest terms possible: NO MAN IS ABOVE THE CHURCH. No minister, no ‘spiritual’ leader, no one in the five-fold ministry, no elder, NO ONE is above the church. The church as a unit is above any man or any group of people.

Actually, the forerunner to this state of affairs is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus did not put Himself above the church. He put Himself in the midst of the church!

“I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” (Heb. 2:12)

The church is a Body, a singular unit, and God has no favorites. Oh, but I have to correct myself there. I needed to say that God does have favorites; but God’s favorites are not what we have been programmed to accept. On the contrary, God gives greater consideration to the weak, the less honorable, and the less beautiful. We read that in 1 Cor. 12:22-23.

“Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.”

The Early Apostles had an understanding of God that we do not have today. No wonder even their lifestyle, their modus operandi, and the miracles, wonders and mighty deeds that happened in the Early Church are incomparable to anything that we see today.

These men of God knew the heart of God for the church. And they knew exactly how God equally gives honor to every part of His Body, which is the church, and that there is favoritism with Him. That is why they addressed letters to the churches, and not to men!

But even then, all along, since the time of Moses, this aspect of God with regard to the church had been lying there in plain sight for everyone who had eyes to see. In the Old Testament, when we read about when the children of Israel went out to gather the manna that God had brought down to them, the account states:

“17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack…” (Ex. 16:17-18).

Long before, in the Old Testament, God had declared His standard: none is of more value to Him than another. In fact, God is particularly detestful of any one of His children who aspires to appear more important than his brethren. God has equal regard for all His children.

Praise God for whoever we are. But the minute we begin shelling out our position, our qualifications and our accomplishments we become nothing with God. In effect, we cut ourselves from the Body of Christ.

In the days we live we hear things that literally make your ears to tingle. I heard one preacher say, on live TV, “I have spent 3 billion shillings building my reputation!”

Yeah, you heard that right. Someone had tried to soil this man’s name on social media, and he was not taking it lying down.

Of course, the man is a big minister, and he has a large following. But, alas! he is a classic example of a man who is living on his own. The man has effectively cut Himself from the Body of Christ. God cannot allow a person with such an attitude into His church.

But the standard for being a part of the Body of Christ is,

“Who maketh thee to differ from another?” (1 Cor. 4:3)

In other words, Who are you?

The Apostle Paul said repeatedly, “I am nothing.”

That is the standard for one becoming a member of the Body of Christ.

Have a lovely Sunday morning all.

[God loves His church!]

Pleasing God: Paul’s Body

One day my daughter came complaining to me, and she said, “Dad, someone has been using my bathing scrubber, and you know how sensitive my skin is.”

Unfortunately for her, I had just bee reading 2 Corinthians 11, and the anointing from those words was still buzzing all around and about and in me. So I said to her, “Oh, I am sorry. But you know our house is like a half way house, with many people coming and going, and you and I have no way of knowing who might have been using your scrubber. I think the only person you can report that problem to is God. Oh”, I finished her off, “you can also talk to the Apostle Paul about your sensitive skin.”

She smiled ruefully, because she knew exactly what I was about. I had warned my children long ago that we had to expect to live like pilgrims in our own house.

The words of the Apostle Paul.

“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” (Gal. 6:17)

Notice the words, “my body”. This scripture is talking about Paul’s physical body. Here Paul says that he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. What were those marks?

I have had the misfortune of hearing American preachers who claim that they cannot fly economy because their bodies cannot cope with the stress of traveling bundled up! They claim they need more leg room and more ‘prayer room’ (and more refined cuisine, of course), and for this reason they can only travel first class. Or in private jets.

It is clear that such a person has never been called by God to preach the gospel. Otherwise how would they have preached in the days of the Early Church when the only thing to ride was a donkey. And if one wanted to fly (which so many modern preachers are dying for) they would have had to attach wings to that same donkey! And if for some miraculous reason that worked and one now needed to fly first class, they probably would have had to sit on the donkey’s head. First class.

Today’s preachers care more about their bodies than the gospel they claim they are called to preach.

I can assure you, right away, that God has never needed such people. God cannot use such people. Why? Because it is clear exactly what kind of person God uses.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him” (Is. 53:10)

Who is that whom the Lord is pleased to bruise? It is the Servant He loves using most. That scripture is talking of our Lord Jesus, the Person it pleased God to use.The Bible makes clear that the person that God uses He bruises. God will definitely allow some form of physical suffering or discomfort upon the person He wants to use. Some more than others, of course. But God will not allow us to serve Him on our (body’s) terms.

And hence it was so with the Apostle Paul also. Paul’s body partook of the sufferings of Christ. If you got unlucky (or lucky, can’t decide which) enough to look at Paul’s body, it was an undesirable mess. How do you think a body that has gone through the ordeals that Paul went through looked like?

“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.” (2 Cor. 11:24)

I don’t know how I arrived there (for I thought I knew the Bible well), but somehow, for a long time, I always thought this scripture said “one time” instead of “five times”. But here, it says clearly that Paul received forty stripes save one five times. In practical terms it means the Jews got hold of Paul, stripped him down to his waist, made him kneel down in public, and flogged him 39 times with a whip. And they did this not once, but five times!

Unless I am much mistaken, by the end of the “five times”, Paul’s skin must have looked like the hide of a wild animal. Were all the world’s perfumers to come and attend to Paul’s skin, it would not have responded to their massagings and panderings.

And yet, this was not the end of Paul’s physical suffering.

“Thrice was I beaten with rods…” (v.25)

Now it was no longer whips, but rods. You can imagine the nerve and tissue damage that such beatings caused on Paul’s body. And I am pretty sure God was not miraculously ‘renewing’ Paul’s body, as He did Naaman’s (2 Ki. 5:14). God gave Paul only the necessary respite. On the contrary, this body was getting more knobby, twisted, mis-shapen, and bent.

“once was I stoned…”

They stoned Paul so severely that they left him for dead. Not until the disciples came and prayed over him, and the breath of the Holy Spirit passed over him, and he arose.

You might not know it, but this was the deadliest of them all. When stoning, they aim at the head. Apart from dying an agonizing death, the head becomes completely deformed. It was only by the grace of God that Paul would come out of such an ordeal alive. And God allowed this particular form of suffering only once; otherwise He might have lost His precious vessel.

After this ordeal, therefore, Paul’s head never looked the same. It was deformed in many different ways. The stoning robbed him of his peculiar facial features and it was no longer decipherable whether he had once been handsome or not. In his body, Paul was getting further and further from being human! But in the Spirit, God gave him the grace to soldier on. Paul – the suffering Paul – was God’s special vessel. This was the vessel that God was pleased to use!

And still the physical suffering would not end. Paul goes on:

“26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

God relentlessly and mercilessly smashed and shattered Paul’s body – and will. At the end of it all, Paul’s body was extremely scarred and deformed. His body was not a sight that anyone would desire to see. He himself states:

“… for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” (1 Cor. 4:9)

Paul’s body was a spectacle. For this reason, false apostles and false brethren made fun of Paul’s body:

“For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.” (2 Cor. 10:10)

You wonder, What kind of man was the Apostle Paul? Who would accept such a life? The even more incredible fact was that Paul rejoiced in his sufferings (2 Cor. 12:10).

But – what a lesson for us! The Bible here teaches us that we cannot worry about our bodies and expect to please or do the will of God. It is impossible. It is written of our Lord Jesus Christ,

“5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepred me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”

Notice the word “pleasure” there. It gives the Lord the greatest pleasure when we give our bodies to suffer for the gospel’s sake. Our bodies suffering on account of Christ is what pleases God most.

What a different outlook on life for us!

Unfortunately, this is a lesson that is alien to the general body of Christ today, thanks to all the teachings that have come to the church lately through your favorite apostles and prophets from down south. The teachers of the modern-era church teach only healing and the general prosperity of the body.

May God give us grace. May He give us grace to stop worrying about our bodies. Indeed, may we move on beyond there and give our bodies to suffer for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[Our love for our bodies is God’s biggest headache]

Persecution and Grace – Part 1

32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

33 Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.

34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Heb. 10:32-34

The early church certainly did undergo persecution. There is no question about that. But there is also no question about the fact that, despite this persecution, or probably because of it the early church was also a church in which the grace of God flowed abundantly.

In Acts 21:8-11 we read: 8 And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. 9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. 11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Acts 21:11

This man, Philip, had four girls, all virgins, who prophesied! Without a doubt, this ought to be declared the first wonder of the modern world.

Here we have all four sisters in one family prophesying. Not one or two, but all four. And the Bible goes to pains to point out that all these girls were virgins, which I am sure points to the importance that God attaches to those who are willing to pay the price to become “vessels of honor” (2 Tim. 2:20-22).

But notice also that these four girls were not prophets; they simply prophesied. This is a ministry of exhortation or direction to the church through a direct Word from the Holy Spirit. It is a slightly lower ministry than the ministry of the prophet. (The functioning of the Holy Spirit within the church is infinitely unlimitable, and that is why we cannot have a tunnel vision of the Holy Spirit’s operation within the church.)

And, therefore, these girls stayed with Paul for “many days”, but it was not given them to tell Paul what would befall him in Jerusalem. It required a prophet of God, Agabus, to travel all the way from Judaea to come and confirm to Paul the weighty matter of his impending persecution in Jerusalem.

Notice also that the Bible refers to both Philip and Agabus by their spiritual offices, “evangelist” and “prophet”. The Bible does not call the girls prophets.

In other words, women may not hold office in the Spirit, which designates authority; but women can minister in the Spirit in many different roles.

(One more thing we need to point out is that these girls were prophesying in the church. There are people who will say that women ought not to open their mouths in church; but I can assure you that these girls were not prophesying in their father’s living room. They were prophesying in the church. There are all kinds of misunderstandings of scripture simply because people will not rely on the Holy Spirit, but on their minds. But the Holy Spirit is faithful, and the minute we turn to Him, He opens up the Word to us. Actually, there are two ways of reading scripture: you can read and try to understand it by using your very fine mind; or you can decide to become a fool for Christ’s sake and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide and help you. One approach will bring you life; the other, law (“It is written!”) – and death.)

But what I want us to notice here is the incredible grace that was in the early church. This church, which was persecuted left, right and centre, was the same church that produced men like Philip, Agabus, and Paul – and these four extraordinary sisters.

Probably the modern church is not as persecuted as the early church was, and that is why it is difficult to find this pervasiveness of grace operating in today’s church as was the case with the early church. Maybe someone will point to the great move of the Holy Spirit during the charismatic era, and the many miracles and healings that took place then. That was the grace of God at work all right; but it is what I would call the “tip of the iceberg”. There is so much more grace at work when people are denying their flesh and partaking of the sufferings of Christ: there is so much more inner glory. There is victory over sin, joy, and peace. Even death has no power over such people.

No one desires persecution, nor does the Bible tell us to pray for persecution. But on the other hand, if you give the flesh too much rope, the Spirit is stifled. That is why, whether we are persecuted or not, we should always carry the mind that Christ had of denying the flesh. The flesh is our No.1 enemy. The Bible says about our Lord Jesus Christ, “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me… By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb. 10:5, 10).

Notice the word “offering” there. The believer’s body has been given him/her, not to be pampered, but to be sacrificed. And that is the mind that we need to carry.

[Below: Life for the early Christians was a life of great persecution and profound want]

True Prosperity

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3 John 1:2

In today’s fast-track and materialistic-minded world, it is an uphill task for even the Church to know what is what.

The scripture above is one of the most used by Christians today and yet, when you listen to its application in most of the cases, you will find it has been grossly misrepresented. Without going into any deep theological arguments, did you notice that the Apostle John takes it as a given that Gaius’s soul is already prospering. John’s letter would not have been so upbeat and positive if Gaius’s soul had not been prospering. After being assured of Gaius’s soul’s prosperity, John felt so happy and energized that he could now pray for any secondary needs that the man of God might have had, including his material prosperity and his good health.

In other words, this scripture above all shows us that with God the first and most important thing is the prospering of our soul. Material prosperity and good health come a long way after.

It is interesting when in a prayer meeting you mention that someone is sick and they need our prayers, you find people very concerned. But if a brother or sister is not well spiritually, it does not appear to be too much of a deal. In fact, much of the time, it is like people are not sure how to deal with the matter – such issues appear far removed from them.

‘Oh,’ we think, ‘the pastor will deal with that.’

In even some cases, such a need provides material for people to talk behind a fellow brother’s back.

But mention sickness or any need that touches directly on the body (finances, or even someone travelling – people will bind every small demon that may be camping along the road that brother or sister is going to use); here people know exactly how to deal with the enemy. Many of the most profound prayers I have heard have been crafted around praying for such needs.

But we as born-again believers need to realize that the thing we need to make sure about is the welfare of our soul. We need to make sure and doubly sure that our soul is well and prospering. We will pray God for our health and material needs because we need them here on earth; but they are not that important. (I hope I am not rocking somebody’s boat here!)

Many years ago, when I was working in the secular world, my life was controlled by how much money I had in my pocket. If I found my reserve shrinking below a certain level, I would feel the fear begin to rise within me. I would try to suppress it but it was more powerful than my faith.

‘What will I do now?’ I would ask myself.

Accordingly, my spiritual gauge would plummet and I would find myself worrying and agitating.

I wonder how many times we wake up and we feel the need that today I want to look after the welfare of my soul. How we need to make sure we are constantly doing something that profits our souls, like feeding ourselves on the right gospel, praying, fasting, even sharing the gospel with someone.

My pastor, Amas, always tells me, “Mwita, if I spend a day without sharing the gospel with someone, that day I sleep a poor man!”

Maybe that is why some Christians are having bad dreams at night! My advice to such brethren: try sharing the gospel with someone and see whether you will not sleep like a baby!

Many Christians wake up in the morning and they know exactly what they need – for the body, that is. Two eggs, scrambled; a cup of coffee, toasted bread, etc. That is for the Westernized world, mostly.

In Africa, a big bowl of hot porridge, two or three boiled sweet potatoes; and for those who can afford it, beef or goat soup! Then we are ready to begin the day.

Nothing wrong in all that, except that if after we have thus filled our bodies we find we have no idea about what to do for our souls, then there is a problem. May God help us!

Let us take time, energy and everything else that we have to make sure our souls are prospering.

Yes, we can even use our money and material wealth to prosper our souls by giving to the poor. There are some rich Christians who call the poor lazy. This is a big insult to God because the Bible says that if you lend to the poor you lend to the Lord; which means that God recognizes and respects the poor as they are and He puts Himself on their side.

Human pride, Bwana!