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The Servant of the Lord

The fourth chapter of the Book of Ephesians speaks of the Body of Christ. The Lord Jesus is the great Head of the Body. The believers in Christ, when they come to maturity, will form the Body of Christ. There is one Christ, one Anointed Deliverer, consisting of a Head and a Body. The Christ, Head and Body, is the Servant of the Lord, spoken of in Chapter 42 of the Book of Isaiah.

(4/20/2008) As I said last week, the Lord Jesus will not return until there is a remnant of the believers who have been brought to spiritual maturity. The rest of the members of the Body of Christ will be worked with until the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Then the perfected church, the fully mature Christ, Head and Body, the new Jerusalem, the holy city, will be established forever on the new earth as the government of the Kingdom of God.

The fourth chapter of the Book of Ephesians speaks of five ministries. They are not to be regarded as super ministries of some sort. They only are representative of the kinds of gifts God gives to believers so they can assist in the coming to maturity of the Body of Christ. These ministries should be treated in an offhand manner. The twelfth chapter of the Book of First Corinthians lists apostles and prophets along with the working of miracles and gifts of healing, which would not be the case if they were some kind of super ministries.

The fourth chapter of the Book of Ephesians tells us that the ascended Christ gave gifts to men. To one believer the Spirit gives the gift of apostleship that the believer might be equipped to contribute to the maturing of the Body. To another believer the Spirit gives the gift of prophecy that the believer might be equipped to contribute to the maturing of the Body. To another believer the Spirit gives the gift of working of miracles that he or she may be equipped to contribute to the maturing of the Body.

Such gifts always are given to the one Body, not to a local assembly. The Scripture says that the gifts and ministries shall contribute to the members of the Body until the entire Body, most of the members of which are in Heaven at any given time, comes to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We might wonder why is it so important that the members of the Body of Christ come to maturity. What does this have to do with our being saved and going to live in a mansion in Heaven, as the present mythology teaches us?

Take a look at the world of today. It is obvious we are approaching the reign of Antichrist, the period when man seeks to rule to world without Christ. As a result, filthy moral practices and horrible injustices abound. We may fret. We may believe that if we elect the right president things will improve. This is not going to take place no matter who is elected. The problem is spiritual and cannot be remedied by physical means. Evil must be overcome with the good of Christ.

In order for the United States to escape the destruction on the horizon there would have to be wholesale repentance and turning to God. Hollywood would have to experience radical changes. The educational institutions would have to promote the Christian Gospel. Do you believe this actually is going to happen? If it does not, the United States of America soon will become a third-rate nation, and worse things than this may happen to us.

There are some major forces that prevent the coming to maturity of the members of the Body of Christ.

The first major force is the priest-people concept. I have mentioned this factor in a previous message. As long as we regard the pastor as being more spiritual than the rest of the people, the believers are not going to take their own gifts seriously. They are not going to persevere with the Lord until they are equipped with the means of building up the members of the Body.

The second major force is the concept of Divine grace as an acceptable alternative to our growing in Christ, our becoming a new creation of righteous behavior. “Grace” is viewed as a new way in which God has fellowship with people. It most certainly is not, as any casual survey of the New Testament will reveal. In every covenant God insists on righteous behavior, that we love mercy, and that we walk humbly with God. Such behavior is as true of the new covenant as it is of any previous covenant, if not more so.

The only thing grace replaces is the Law of Moses. Now we have to obey Christ through the Spirit of God.

The third major force is the emphasis on everyone going out and “getting souls saved.” This is not a New Testament emphasis, although one would think so because it is so prevalent.

Nowhere in the New Testament are the believers encouraged to “go out and save souls.” Rather, they are encouraged to come to maturity as members of the Servant of the Lord, so they can bring justice to the nations when the Lord returns—and in some instances even today, as Christ directs.

But what about the Great Commission? Is it in force? Yes, especially for apostles, to whom the commission was given.

But let’s pretend the Great Commission has been given to every believer in Christ. Isn’t he or she supposed to go forth, get people saved, and build churches?

The Great Commission is that Christ’s apostles (“sent ones”) go into all the world and make disciples, not “get souls saved.” But isn’t this the same thing? Indeed it is not! How many Americans make a profession of faith in Christ but would not dream of denying themselves and bearing their cross after Christ? So they are not disciples.

Again, the Great Commission instructs the apostles to teach the disciples to obey the commands of Christ. But what do today’s missionaries often do? Tell their proselytes they do not have to keep Christ’s commands because they are saved by grace.

So every believer today is instructed to go into all the world, tell people how to get saved, and advise them it is not necessary to keep the commands of Christ because they are saved by grace.

It is obvious there is tremendous doctrinal confusion in America today, and the churches show this confusion by not moving forward in the repentance the Holy Spirit is stressing, by getting off into unscriptural errors such as the faith and prosperity emphases and the pre-tribulation “rapture,” and leading lives that leave something to be desired in terms of moral rectitude.

How many Christian families go to the theater and watch films that contain filthy language?

It is because of the confusion that results from ministers preaching traditions instead of expounding on passages from the Bible kept in context.

A few months ago I attended a meeting of young pastors. The Lord gave me a prophecy for them. It was that we are entering unique times as far as moral problems are concerned, and that Christ will give to those who wait on Him and obey Him strictly, not being bound by what they have experienced in the past, unique solutions to the unique moral horrors that will abound increasingly in America.

I read in the newspaper recently that a prominent children’s hospital in America is injecting children with hormones that will delay puberty until the child decides whether he or she wants to be of a gender different from his or her physical characteristics. If the child does want to change the natural physical gender, then an operation is performed to produce the desired gender.

This must be a remarkable operation, given the unbelievable complexity of the male and female reproductive systems. I wonder if the child thus transformed will be able to produce children. Imagine planting a uterus, ovaries, and eggs in a young boy, or sperm and a prostate gland in a young girl. Maybe they can make a wholly successful transformation. In any case, I believe it is what the Lord meant by unique moral problems.

We are not to fret about such abominations. We are to realize that the darker the spiritual environment becomes, the brighter will be the light of the actions of the Spirit of God. All things still are working for good!

It is certain that Christ will not return until there is at least a remnant of His Body who are mature enough to work with Him in establishing His Kingdom in the earth. It will do no good for just the Head to return. There must be a Body that will respond perfectly to the Head and do the needed work.

What can we do? Refuse to give someone our spiritual proxy. Petition the Lord for some spiritual equipment so we can help with the maturing of our fellow saints. And, except for those who really do have the gift of evangelizing the unsaved, and must operate their gift if they are to please Christ, quit worrying about going forth and doing that which we do not have grace to do.

When we worry about trying to “get souls saved,” and do not find the grace or opportunity to do anything about it, we may not find out from the Lord what our unique role is. The “good news” of the Gospel is to be brought to people at every level of spiritual development if they are to come to maturity in Christ, and so our ministry may be directed at those who already have been born again and need to grow in the Lord.

If we are willing to be a responsible, contributing member of the Body of Christ, we will hasten the appearing of the Lord from Heaven.

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. (Isaiah 42:1-4)

Do you want to a part of God’s Servant? I do. All the wonderful promises of the forty-second chapter of Isaiah are for those who choose to be God’s servant instead of trying to persuade God to be their servant.


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