EKKLESIA HEALTH CHECK-UP
Paul clearly defined that the core function of the Ekklesia is to worship God by equipping the saints for the work of the soul saving ministry so that the Ekklesia is edified (Eph. 4:12). Anything else is spurious. The early Ekklesia had apostolic (go) teaching not just with words but with mighty deeds, food fellowship, prayer, sharing resources, going fishing to catch two-legged fish. When they met together, Paul gave clear instructions in 1 Cor. 14:20-40 regarding the way the Gatherings are to be conducted.
The key verses in this passage are 31 and 39: “You can ‘all’ (both men and women) prophesy one by one, so that ‘all’ may learn, and ‘all’ may be edified.” He emphasizes that ‘all’ can prophesy, so that ‘all’ may learn, and come to maturity, the real purpose of Gatherings. ‘All’ should learn is only possible when ‘All’ can open their mouths and participate. In the Ekklesia ‘All’ are participants, for there are no spectators. The only exception is that wives are not to contradict their husbands in public (1 Cor. 14:34-35). ‘All’ can prophecy which means ‘All’ can edify, exhort, comfort and disciple each other, such that the Ekklesia grows and multiplies (1 Cor. 14:3). It is not important how elaborate the wedding ceremony is, the core issue is whether the couple will produce babies? It is not important how elaborate the worship service is, the core issue is whether it will advance and multiply the Kingdom of God?
VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS
Of all the things that the Devil has stolen from the people of God, vision is the most precious. Without vision, people perish (Prov. 29:18). Without clear vision and purpose statements, the church has no road map. Yeshua declared His vision statement at the very outset. After He was baptized, had fasted forty days and faced Satan, He came to Nazareth, declared His manifesto, and launched His ministry, saying, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to deliver the captives, to restore sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18-19).
Was any evaluation been done on Yeshua’s ministry outcomes? While in jail, John sent two of his disciples to assess Yeshua, querying Him, “Are you the Messiah?” to which He replied, “Go and report to John that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (Matt. 11:16). These were Messianic prophecies which He was fulling. The Christian goal is to transform communities by becoming their light and the salt. The Church Inc., however, needs to change from a program-driven institution to a purpose-driven enterprise. Regular evaluation leads to re-visioning and course correction.
NO LITIGATION
NT Ekklesias were evaluated from time to time. Any Ekklesia going astray got a visit from Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus or other brethren. By reason or, if necessary, admonishing, they would bring the Ekklesia back on track. Sometimes, Paul sent well targeted missiles (Epistles) to them. When the Ekklesia at Corinth went into litigation to settle their disputes, Paul sternly warned them, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” Paul preferred that we be defrauded rather than going to the secular courts to settle even non-spiritual matters (1 Cor. 6:1-11). Yeshua set up a cost-effective court of appeals led by fivefold ministry gifted elders, whereby “every word should be established at the mouth of two or three witnesses” (1 Tim. 5:19-20; 2 Cor. 13:1; Heb. 13:17).
CONFUSION GALORE IN GALATIA AND THESSALONICA
In Galatia, when Judaizers, tried to introduce Jewish customs, Paul got annoyed, calling them “foolish” (Gal. 3:1). The Thessalonians thought that the Messiah was coming back in their lifetime, so they left their jobs to wait for His second coming. Paul immediately sent them a message clarifying that many things still had to be fulfilled before Messiah’s return (2 Thess. 2:1-11). Peter wrote epistles to Ekklesias, warning them against false teachers and prophets (2 Pet. 2:1-4).
CARNALITY AT CORINTH
The Ekklesia of Corinth had many problems. The Lord’s Supper had become an occasion for drinking and feasting. They were plagued with dissensions, disputes, and other serious moral lapses (1 Cor. 11). For example, when a man had an immoral relationship with his stepmother, Paul commanded that such a man should be removed from the congregation and his body be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (1 Cor. 5:1-5).
INSTRUCTIONS FOR DAY-TO-DAY CHRISTIAN LIVING
Newly emerging Ekklesias needed answers to questions about many subjects, including offerings and the use of money (2 Cor. 9:1- 14), the eating of food offered to idols (1 Cor. 10:19-21, 2832), going abroad to earn money (Jam. 4:13-17), whether to marry or not, and whom to marry, seeking divorce (1 Cor. 7:1-40), care of the poor (Jam. 1:27), and more.
BUSINESS HOUSES CHECK PORTFOLIOS DAILY
Businessmen must set clear goals for maximizing profits, and they check their investment portfolios daily to make necessary course corrections. Eight out of ten start-ups fail due to lack of clear vision and strategy. Army commanders make strategy changes by the hour to counter tactics of their enemy, to avoid defeat. God has revealed the “faith once delivered to all the saints” (Jude 1:3-4). It is the same package deal for everyone, whether Paul, Billy Graham, or us. It is for us to maximize our gifts and talents. Sadly, “bogus men have crept in” and pauperized the church, which is no longer able to chase out predators from the environs of the church itself. Devising strategy daily remains a must, for chasing out predators and to possess your God given domain.
SPIRITUALITY IS MEASURABLE
The traditional church is the only enterprise that has no stated long-term goals. Sadly, they measure success by “nickels and noses.” Many think that spiritual goals could never be set or monitored, even as evaluation took place in the NT times, starting from the Day of the Pentecost. We must track progress to finish the race, playing to win (1 Cor. 9:24-26).
The Great Commission is easily measurable using Biblical criteria. The goal to disciple panta ta ethné is measurable because we know there are 16,700 ethné in the world (Psa. 2:8). Monitoring holy dips is the best performance indicator of kingdomization. Equipping of the saints is very easily monitored by their productivity in the harvest field. Being fisher of men is again easy to evaluate based on the number of two-legged fish caught. Anyone who is allergic to numbers must know that God put a Book of Numbers in the Scriptures. Numbers help track, “the Ekklesia grew in faith and in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5). The Bride must know how many Brides she has birthed.
THE BACK DOOR
Just as industries dispose of all their non-moving stock, so the Ekklesia needs to be decongested by showing the exit door to all the space-occupying legions in the pews. Nominalism is the malignant cancer of the modern church. The Bride who is supposed to be free from spots and wrinkles has sadly grown lumps and bumps. She needs liposuction surgery to get rid of her excess flab, to become slim, active, and vibrant with her youth renewed as that of an eagle (Psa. 103:5).
HABAKKUK WROTE DOWN THE LORD’S VISION STATEMENT
The oft-repeated Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds are ancient doctrinal statements of Christian beliefs, but they have no stated goals. An institution without goals represents an obsolete, obscurantist exclusivism. God asked the Habakkuk to write down his vision on tablets and to run with it. We need to do the same (Hab. 1:5; 2:1-3).
EKKLESIA GROWTH OCCURS IN THREE WAYS
1. Biological growth. The membership of a church can be increased biologically by birthing offspring, but unfortunately, no one becomes a Christian by natural birth (Mark 16:16; Jn 8:37-44). Everyone must repent, accept the lordship of Yeshua, be baptized and become fruitful. Most qualified, professional pastors fruitlessly dish out profound though incomprehensible charisma to Christians, who are already suffering from obesity due to an overdose of traditional fodder and lack of any spiritual exercise.
2. Transfer growth. Christians coming to the city looking for jobs either join an “attractional church” or form their own groups and hire pastors. A mega-church attracts people because of its attractive programs, resulting in closure of surrounding churches. This is not growth, because new members are already Christians. Here, many of the members are financially well off, but are poor in the fruit of the Spirit. We all need to go and reap, and add new believers to our account, lest the harvest perish (Phil. 4:17).
3. Conversion growth. This is true growth. It is an apostolic Ekklesia that proactively goes and finds lost sheep, flocking them in small groups. It then nurtures them to maturity so that they multiply. They have plenty of perspiration and persecution, while income and comforts are fewer, but there is plenty of lasting fruit. A truly biblical Ekklesia is a multiplying Bride. The greatest challenge before the church is to convert Bible thumpers into the Great Commission Equippers, that turn barren believers into reproducers.
YESHUA IS PERFORMANCE ORIENTED
Yeshua’s generational map consisted of 12 disciples who discipled 70 more disciples who gathered 120 who baptized 3000. He commanded them to disciple four geographical areas, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. In His parable of talents, Yeshua praised servants who worked hard and multiplied their talents. They were rewarded to rule over cities whilst the nonproductive fellow was rebuked and consigned to everlasting punishment for not multiplying his talent. Clearly, Yeshua expects us to multiply our talents. He expects us to produce thirty, sixty and even one hundredfold return on the investment He has made in us. As a reward, He will make us rulers over the human habitations where we have labored and planted His kingdom (Luke 19:12-27; Mark 4:8).
In another parable of the lost sheep, He said that the man numbered his sheep every day, otherwise how would he know that one out of a hundred is missing (Matthew 18:12–14; Luke 15:3–7). Ekklesia is a Household of God, where we should know by name and number of how many grand-parents, parents, children and grand-children there are, even celebrate their spiritual birthdays?
We need to make generational and geographical growth charts by counting numbers, and tracking locations where the movements are taking place. If there is a problem, then we can ask diagnostic questions and come up with solutions. Information helps us recognize where the apostolic anointing is flowing. This in turn helps us to decide where to invest more time, training and resources. Finally, how can we thank and praise God, for what he is doing, if we do not know what is going on?
THE EKKLESIA NEEDS VISIONARIES
Leaders are not those who conduct weekly worship, or even those who conduct crusades. Such people are merely stage performers, many of whom do an excellent job but fail to bring about any lasting change in their areas of influence. Real leaders are those who transform societies. For this, they need to have a clear vision and specific goals.
Martin Luther King publicly announced his vision: “I have a dream, to bring about equality between blacks and the whites.” Gandhi clearly stated that the independence of India was his goal. John Knox prayed to God, “Give me Scotland or I die.” These leaders changed entire nations. Yeshua’s vision remains to establish God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth.” God’s goal is to restore the earth, and make it beautiful, bountiful and blessed, as it was in the Garden of Eden. Yeshua has made us priests and kings, sending us to change the world and to reign on earth (Rev. 5:10; Josh. 1:8). He has given us “talents” and expects us to multiply them, so that He can make us rulers over cities according to our performance. Yeshua prefers success stories to platitudes. The natural trajectory of leaders is to climb ladders, whereas Yeshua knelt and washed the feet of His disciples.
YESHUA WILL SOON CONDUCT OUR PERFORMANCE REVIEW
There is a stern warning in the Scriptures about each person’s performance - “works” being tested by fire. There are no exceptions. Paul lived in terror of appearing before the judgment seat of Messiah where, “each may receive recompense for the things done while in the human body, good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:9-11). Christianity is not about solo playing but about building a winning team. Every Christian’s soul-winning, track record is being meticulously recorded on a scoreboard in heaven. The referee is coming soon and will blow the whistle on those who are playing foul, conferring crowns on those who are playing to win (Rev. 20:12; 22:12).
MAKE SURE THE SCOREBOARD IS FIREPROOF
“Each one’s work will be manifested; for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work of what sort it is. If anyone’s work, which he has built, endures it, he will receive wages” (1 Cor. 3:13-15).
LOGOS AND RHEMA
Unfortunately, both these words are translated as the “Word of God” in the Scriptures even though they have completely different connotations. We all know that the Logos is the “revealed will of God” which is the Bible, but we also know that Yeshua Himself is the Logos, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
Whereas Rhema is direct words of God to individuals which includes assignments. God spoke directly to all the great heroes of faith, like Noah, Abraham, Moses and even to Gentiles like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Pharaoh, and others and gave them specific instructions, which were not applicable to others. In New Testament times, the Lord spoke Rhema by dreams, visions as well as through His Holy Spirit to all His saints, and to Gentiles like the magi, Cornelius, and others. Even today God speaks through the Holy Spirit to individuals and gives them specific assignments. So, while Logos continues to be the unchanging revealed will of God, the Rhema is an ongoing revelation of God to individuals. However, Rhema will never contradict the Logos. For instance, if the Logos says that “God does not live in houses made with human hands (Acts 7:48,49) then anyone seeing a vision of building a grand edifice for worship, and calling it a House of God, is seeing a false vision.
Today, prophecy is one of the fivefold ministry gifts in which the modern-day prophets speak edification, encouragement, and consolation to the hurting in the Ekklesia (1 Cor. 14:3).
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