Do you think that being a leader exempts you from the lowliest job of servant hood?  Do you demand submission from those "under" you?  Do you require that those in your charge honor you?  Do you receive their honor too readily?    Do you demand the respect due your "office" or your

"anointing"?  Do you prevent those around you from openly disagreeing with you?  Do you alienate and withdraw from those who do?  Do you equate honoring your office with agreeing with you?  Do you feel as though some leader has missed God when they overlook your gifting?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I exhort you as your brother in Christ, ask God to reveal your heart's motive.  Loosen the grasp on the authority and control you so tightly cling to.  Serve God with a pure heart and allow Him to build in you God's true heart of leadership,
servant hood.

        Some say God is restoring the "Apostles" to the Church, bringing in another, "Apostolic age."  They use the scripture: found in Ephesians 2:20, "...having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner {stone}..."  (NAU) 

     I do not intend to prove or disprove the existence of any Apostolic age but to make a discussion of the apostleship in general.  Do I believe there are Apostles in today's church?  Yes I do.   Do we know what that is supposed to look like?  Not necessarily. This we must admit, that Godly men and women, full of the Holy Spirit and in love with Jesus, disagree on this issue.  Some believe there are no Apostles, that the age of Apostles passed away.  Some believe the only Apostles present today are direct descendants of the original 12.  Others believe God builds each local church on a foundation of Apostles and Prophets.  Most likely there is truth and error in all these positions.  Do you call this that compromise?  Then answer this question honestly; Have you or have you not seen God move through His Church in ways that seem extreme, even out of balance, in order to emphasize a particular principle?  Examples; God begins to deal with a local fellowship, or even a whole movement, on the importance of intercession.  Suddenly, it's ALL about intercession.  If you're not praying for hours, you're not spiritual...EVERYTHING God does is in response to prayer etc. etc.   Similar moves include discipleship, The Word, relationships, praise, worship, holiness, prophecy, apostles, new wine and the list goes on.

We love to use Moses' example of leadership.
This only works if you have his
humility.


     So is God the one who is out of whack or is it us?  Well guess what?  It's not God!  God does indeed emphasize certain principles at certain times but we're the ones that get tunnel vision.  When God reveals a truth principle to us, we're the ones who act as though it's the ONLY truth He has.  It's our own stinking arrogance that assumes God would reveal His final, world changing doctrine to us.  Of course we want others to see things like we do so we end up building a movement around ONE truth of God.  The problem is, the participants of these movements begin to become blinded to the WHOLE counsel of God.  Naturally they begin to judge others, and separate themselves, based upon their personal take on things.  I believe this is a danger with the recent "Apostolic" move.


     The real purpose of this writing is to open discussion on what Apostolic authority is or is not.  .  Make no mistake, I believe in Apostles.  I believe in the prophetic and I believe in the power of God in His Church to do miracles.  I will say boldly that any form of "Secessionist" doctrine is flawed.  Church history and the scriptures make this plain.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.
     However, I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to point out what I see to be potential pitfalls in the "Apostolic" circles.

1.)  Ephesians 2:20, "...having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner {stone}..."  is clearly written in past tense language, having been built, already done.  We must use this scripture properly.  This is not to say there are not apostles and prophets in today's Church.  Certainly there are, but each local fellowship or for that matter each movement need not be reestablished on them.  The foundation of the

You do not have the right to use your authority as you choose.
Jesus had the Authority to come down from the cross , but He did not.

We all like someone who "Thinks outside the lines,"
until they think outside our lines!

"One true Church" is already laid.  I've built a few buildings in my life and if I did it right I never had to lay a second foundation.  In addition, the foundation of a building is rarely visible.  Which brings me to the second potential problem.

2.)  In practice, today's  Apostolic move tends to put the apostles and prophets as the governors of the local church.   I believe that plurality of leadership in the local church, namely Elders, is the scriptural pattern and even command.  (Titus 1:5)  The qualifications of the persons is not to be based on gifting but rather character. (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1)  While we tend to set forward the gifted to lead us, gifting (even anointing) and time-proven character are separate issues.  One may possess gifting with little or no character.  The subject of Ephesians 4:11, And He gave some {as} apostles, and some {as} prophets, and some {as} evangelists, and some {as} pastors and teachers, (NAU),  is not government, but rather giftings and anointings to equip the saints to serve.  Not to rule over the saints with.


3.)  The Church is a brotherhood and is not to be centered on submission to one man, but rather the authorities God sets in place and to one another.  Hebrews 13:17 says; "Obey your leaders and submit {to them}  for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you."  Ephesians 5:21 ..and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (NAU)  Ultimately we all answer to Jesus personally.  Please don't mistake this statement as a justification for rebellion.  However, as people who have experienced a genuine move of God, as those who have "gone after" religious spirits, how dare we preach submission to authority when we have participated in rebellion against the more traditional portions of the Body of Christ.  Not only have we rebelled but in many cases we have blatantly dishonored them, all under the guise of being Spirit led.  Stop me before I barf.  More than once God has required that I submit to leadership I did not agree with.  (Some might say I didn't do a very good job of it!)  We must be careful that our practice of Apostolic authority does not lead to Papalism.  If we prohibit the right of the saints to respectfully disagree we have fallen over the edge.

4.)  I believe the whole premise and understanding of what an Apostle is, is faulty.  An Apostle is clearly and simply a "sent one."  This carries no preconceived idea of leadership.  If you assume that Apostle means "leader" then you end up with a very different view of an Apostle than if you assume the basic definition of an Apostle is "a sent servant."  For instance, in Philippians 2:25, "But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger ( apostolos 652) and minister to my need;" (NAU), the word messenger is the exact same word translated Apostle in other places.  Epaphroditus was a man of low estate (but great value), but clearly an Apostle.  Why not use him as an example of Apostolic authority?  Why don't we?  The reason we don't is because of the human tendency to rule over others and to then worship those rulers, both of which are diversions from the truth of God.  Epaphroditus  was much to common to support our paradigm.

5.)  Because of the tendencies previously discussed, I believe Apostolic authority as we know it presents an upside down view of God's true leadership.  The fleshly mind looks at authority from the top down.  God's model is quite the opposite.  These scriptures form the basis of my understanding of what Godly authority really consists of.

Philippians 2:5-9 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (NAU)

John 13:3-4 {Jesus}  knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. (NAU)

Mark 9:35 He called the twelve and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." (NAU)

 
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE WRITINGS TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
    Copyright © 2004 Jim Waldron, IMSS, Inc All rights reserved.