“He (the Lord) personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of the ministry, to build up the body in Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” Ephesians 4:11 – 13(CSV)
Our agendas only complicate things that need not be complicated. The purposes of the Lord do bring challenges and confrontation but these do not necessarily create or constitute an increase in confusion. When we see the functions as titles or positions to be attained then it is not God’s purposes we are doing but our own. This does put confusion on those we have been given responsibility to care for and train towards maturity. Their training becomes grounded in the ideologies of men, not the truth of the Lord. The agendas of men then become the foundations of agreement rather than submission to the lord becoming the birthplace of unity in the Spirit.
Our hunger to control, set tone or operate on our won terms is merely a reflection of our actual disdain for the the authority and tule of God in supremacy. We do not fear the Lord, we tolerate Him. We do not set His honor as our goal, we use His name to achieve our status. We do not stand in awe, we recline in positions of indifference. I doubt that very little of our current struggles in the body of Christ would exist if we were in true, humble submission to the Lord. We will walk in His purposes when we are submitted to Him.
“The secret counsel (friendship, intimacy) of the Lord is for those who fear (honor, revere) Him, and He reveals His covenant to them.” Psalm 25:14 (CSV)
In our pursuit of “intimacy” have we gone so far as to disregard or disavow the Supremacy of the Lord? In His days on earth Jesus never forgot Who sent Him and or how the honor of the One being represented is proved or disproved by the representative. When we walk in the fear of the Lord we will find our ability to honor Him increased by His manifest presence increasing in our lives. The evidence of intimacy is not revealed in our “pet” names for God. The evidence of intimacy is revealed in the flow of our lives. It is not and never will be about an external display, but about the heart condition before the Lord.
I am quick to acknowledge that the God of the Universe desires to have relationship with us and for us to walk before Him in the security of intimate fellowship. But in all of our dealings with Him we can never forget that we are dealing with the Living God, the I AM that spoke to Moses and called all of creation into being. We must never become so arrogant as to assume we add anything to God but always humbly remember that only as we receive Him can we be who we are to be. So Let us be careful to give proper honor to the Lord from hearts that are humbly submitted to Him.
