In the Body of Christ, there is a divine order of relationships. Sometimes in a family, the husband scolds his wife, the wife spanks the children, the oldest child hits the next oldest, and so on down the line to the youngest, who in turn kicks the cat. There may be times when you feel as if you are getting the same kind of treatment. However, certain Scriptures reveal that this is necessary for the preservation of today’s move of God in the earth to bring forth the Kingdom. Otherwise, it could dissipate and die in its own frustrations.
God is setting before His people one more addition to the structure of divine order and principles. It has to do with His authority that is now resting on a company of apostles and prophets.
In order to govern the people of God, they must learn to be entreated, to listen, to seek God, and to receive a word from the Lord.
There will have to be a deep dedication upon a company of Apostles and Prophets to have a refined, purified drive to lead the people. They cannot have an ambition just to assume a place. They must not fall short of seeking to know the will of God, of walking in the will of God, and of showing themselves as examples to the flock.
It is necessary that independent action be forsaken, that every word be submitted to the company of Apostles and Prophets for weighing to see whether or not it is a word of God for His people.
This raises a certain question: How infallible are the apostles, the prophets, the pastors, and the elders who are moving in divine order? They will face certain problems of being vulnerable and having to answer for what they say and do. A brother will have to submit to an apostolic word that comes with confirmation, even if he could vow that God Himself had whispered in his ear.
The authority that God is establishing now is as important as the word given in the fifteenth chapter of Acts when the Church met to settle certain problems which they were facing. At that time, there was great conflict within the Body of Christ. Some were saying, “If a Gentile becomes a Christian, circumcise him. Make him keep the Sabbath; make him follow certain ordinances, or he cannot be a Christian.” Others were saying, “No, Christ is the end of those ceremonial laws. The truth is in Christ.”
The apostles met in Jerusalem, and the answer came through one who had not seemed important before: James, the brother of our Lord. He gave a word; and everyone confirmed it, saying that it was a word from God.
And because it was a word from God, they listened to it; thus, our freedom also was proclaimed in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. The book of Galatians was written over that very issue which had been resolved. A Gentile Christian does not have to be made into a conventional-type Jew.
Paul spoke about the fallibility of his own ministry and Peter’s criticism of it. No man is to be declared infallible. This is very necessary to understand, because a company of brothers, moving in divine order, will be bringing God’s word to His people.
What is the plan and pattern of divine order for this day? What is written concerning man, so that you will not think more highly of a man than you ought to think (Romans 12:3)? How can you evaluate your own ministry, the ministries of authority over you, or the ministries who are submissive under you?
Paul’s letter to the Galatians gives us some answers. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you, and want to distort the gospel of Christ. These were the ones who were trying to make Jews out of the Gentile Christians. But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:6–8.
Paul was saying, “I gave you the right word, but if anyone else gives you another word, even if it be me or an angel, let him be accursed.” He realized that saying such a thing meant there was the possibility of it happening.
God forbid that it should happen today. If someone gives you a word other than a pure word from God of how a church should be, if he preaches something else besides the divine order and pattern that God has revealed, do not listen to him. For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10.
Denominationalism must be forever avoided by those whom God has set free to walk in the restoration of His divine order for the Body of Christ. Neither can they have a pope over them.
Any word for their direction must be confirmed by the apostolic company of brothers who are walking in divine order. A true apostle of the Lord refuses to be a pope. There cannot be any personality cult tolerated in the Body of Christ. There cannot be that “big I, little Jesus” doctrine. This is what we must fight against.
Paul defended his apostolic ministry, saying, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.
But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas (Peter), and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me.
Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. And it was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. Galatians 1:11–2:2.
The above passage is the second indication that Paul was not claiming infallibility. He was saying, “Although I had all this revelation from the Lord, I submitted it to the brethren because I wanted to know whether or not I had run in vain. I am not infallible; but if anyone else comes and preaches another word to you, or even if I should, I want you to know that the first word I gave you was of God. Even so, I could miss it; I could fall by the wayside.”
It is important to know this, because if Paul said he could miss it, then every apostle and prophet of today’s apostolic company should say, “I could miss it too. If the day ever comes that I do not walk according to the word I have spoken and the vision and revelation I have given, turn away from me.”
Paul had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised; (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. (Here again we see the fallibility of apostleship.) For prior to the coming of certain men from James (remember—James was very much a Jewish Christian), he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision (this was in the church). And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
“For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify” (or frustrate) “the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Galatians 2:8–21.
What Paul was saying in verse 20 would not be the clear revelation of God if it had not been challenged by the mistakes of Barnabas and all the other brethren, including the apostle Peter.
Anyone who claims that Peter was the infallible pope of the Church from the very beginning needs to see that fallibility. I do not think that Peter ever would have consented to be a pope; neither would Paul or Barnabas. They all made mistakes. There should never be an issue over whether or not a man of God can make a mistake. The real issue is the fact that you submit to their authority because the Lord lays it upon your heart, and not because they ask for it.
When God has designated men to be apostles or prophets or other ministries, what can be said about these men? Are they claiming something for themselves? If they try to establish their ministries for themselves, they are slowing up the process considerably. God must establish them. As these ministries begin to come forth, let there be no mistaken viewpoint about them. As Paul said, “Who is Cephas? Who is Paul? Such men are ministers by whom we believe. One plants, another waters, but God gives the increase. He who plants and he who waters are nothing, for it is God who gives the increase” (I Corinthians 3:4–7). No other evaluation counts but that flow from God.
Whatever a man receives from God comes by a flow from God, and his flesh cannot take any credit. He may speak living words from God like no other man in his generation has been privileged to speak, but this does not mean that he is anything special except an oracle by whom we can believe. He must live to do the will of God, to walk in it, and to be one in whom God is pleased. But we must not set our eyes upon him.
God has brought forth a father ministry to speak a living word of the Lord in this hour, and that word will live on and on in hungry hearts. It will be voiced and respoken with even greater anointing.
Young prophets will come forth to speak that word again and again. They will rise up, a thousand strong, to exceed anything that has ever been done.
That is not a challenge to the father ministry; it is his fulfillment. He does not seek for a place; he seeks to be a channel so that God’s people know what they should do to become the family of God.
A man of God in authority may make many wrong decisions, just as an earthly father does. Yet he must be faithful to his stewardship to those over whom God has given him authority.
Of all those in a family who will answer to God, a father will answer more than any. Although a mother is closer to her children, having carried them in her body until the time they saw daylight, yet the father has the authority in the sight of God, and therefore, the responsibility.
This is also true of a father ministry. He knows that he has the responsibility for the family of God. He will answer to God for them. If he fails, his saying that he is sorry will not be enough. When a son is sent before a judge and condemned for his actions of delinquency, his father is actually responsible in the sight of God.
The book of Samuel gives an example of this responsibility. God told Eli, “I am going to judge you and cut off every man from your house because your sons made themselves vile and you restrained them not” (I Samuel 3:13). The responsibility for a family rest upon the father. He will never be able to forsake that position. A true father ministry knows his stewardship over the family of God. No amount of praise or glory or honor should offset his faithful responsibility.
Let the brethren who are moving as a company in divine apostolic order be faithful to rise up as fathers over the house of God. Let them arise as prophets who speak the word of the Lord. Let them seek God earnestly. They will have a bigger job than they expect.
The members of God’s family must pray for them because they will need much wisdom, and they will have to know the voice of God. They will need to know how to reach out and save one of their brethren if he becomes self-destructive in his course. Many difficult situations will be set before those in authority.
The father ministry may sometimes have to go to a submissive brother in fear and trembling, and without trying to pull rank, tell him that he is doing wrong. He must tell him when something is not the way the Lord wants it to be.
The brother may have a struggle in his heart concerning that word, because it means that no matter what his calling is, he can be wrong.
There may be times when the brethren have to alert the father ministry to a situation that he is not aware of and entreat him as a son would entreat his father. Because he listens and is submissive to the brothers, a difficult situation is resolved. Although he may have a thousand answers that some of the brothers would never know, yet it is also possible that he might miss an important answer.
Isaiah 11:6 says that a little child will lead them; and so a babe may lisp the answer for which a father ministry will thank God. He must always be listening, for God speaks through many voices.
I Peter 5:5 says that the members of Christ are to be subject one to another. A ministry of authority receives life when his every breath, every heartbeat, every thought, day and night, is submissive to the stewardship of his authority to minister to the people.
A man who rises up against the wrong in the authority that is over him may not necessarily be rebellious or deceived. He may be truly submissive.
This is a principle. A person may disagree with what someone in authority has said or done, even though he is submissive to him. If that authority listens, he will realize that this person is not rebellious or deceived, but is truly submissive.
Proverbs 27:6a says, Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Like a friend, he does not rebuke his authority; he entreats him as a son would entreat his father. No spirit of rebellion or deception can be found in him, for his heart is submissive.
In the Body of Christ, should everyone else be open to correction except those in authority? No. It is possible that ninety percent of the people who go against their authority are deceived and rebellious, but the other ten percent are sincere people who are not deceived or rebellious. When the Lord shows them something, they present it as a humble offering to the one in authority, and he should listen to what they have to say.
Another point of truth needs establishing. Suppose a person has a confirmed word from God and later receives a contrary word. Even if it comes from an apostle or a prophet, he is not disobedient or unsubmissive in refusing to accept it until his first confirmed word is either reconfirmed or rejected.
An apostle’s word is not infallible; therefore confirmation should be given to avoid confusion. No brother in authority should give a conflicting word of direction to a person without first consulting with the brothers who have already given him confirmed words of direction.
Otherwise, he upsets every word that has previously come. He may travel to other churches, creating confusion, and disturbing the people who think that the word he gave them is a word from God, when it is not a word from God. Paul said, In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. II Corinthians 13:1b. Not even an apostle should upset a confirmed word.
This truth needs repeating. When someone has a word confirmed by God, and he later receives a contrary word from an apostle, he is not disobedient or unsubmissive in refusing to accept that contrary word until his first confirmed word is either reconfirmed or rejected. If all the other prophecies over him were wrong, let that be established. But he is not bound to accept an unconfirmed word. In other words, there must not be confusion in the land. Neither an apostle nor any other brother is infallible.
A true man of God does not take the gold or the glory for himself. He lives a life of sacrifice. God deals with the pastor who tries to feather his own nest.
In the Body of Christ, there cannot be leaders who walk loftily while others walk humbly. All must walk in a spirit of sacrifice. Those who lead the people of God cannot ask something of the flock that they themselves do not walk in. There can be no plutocrats (society of the wealthy) among those who walk with God.
Infallibility is a false doctrine propagated by those who really question their own word. Do not accept a word from someone when he is not really sure of his word, and becomes forceful and angry.
A man or woman with a word from God does not have a big point to prove. They can give a word to a brother without forcing him to accept it.
If the word is given with authority, they do not have to worry about it. they do not have any point to prove. They do not have to establish the fact that their word is infallible. They simply give it openly and let God bring the process of confirmation through others.
When it comes to an issue where brothers and sisters are not in full agreement, they should treat one another as family. No one should rise up to say they have an infallible word. They should submit that word to the Lord for confirmation.
A man who has a true word from God is not afraid to submit it for confirmation. No one should be afraid to submit all of his actions to a true apostolic company for confirmation. Any brother who is independent and never asks for anyone’s advice will become very defensive about a situation in which he is involved. He will have difficulty facing his own problems if he does not seek for counsel, for confirmation, and for help. No one can walk independently of his brothers. If a brother wants to go his own way, let him go his own way. But if he wants to be one with the brethren then let him also submit himself to them, as they have submitted themselves to him.
Submission is a two-way street. If some of the leaders submit everything to the confirmation of an apostolic company, with an ear to hear what the Spirit speaks, then the others ought to do the same.
There is a despotic suppression which is not to be confused with submission. A despotic suppression is sometimes ministered by those in authority who do not move in the authority God has given. They reach a point where they are so oppressed by their own failures that they start suppressing others.
A few such instances can almost destroy what God wants to come forth—at least their part in it. When such a leader does not really know what the word of the Lord is concerning an answer, he suddenly realizes something must be done, and so he becomes very angry and defensive. That is not the right response.
Authority in the Spirit devastates the rebellious, but that is because God does it. He did it with Ananias and Sapphira when their rebellion caused their death (Acts 1:10). But authority in the Spirit does not devastate the sincere, questioning heart. If a brother comes to one in authority with a sincere, questioning heart and is devastated by him, that authority will be held guilty before God for devastating someone who came seeking an answer with real submission in his heart.
Those who are submissive will accept a word of authority over them, even when that word is wrong. And the aggressive, submissive appeal that they make to a higher authority will not be counted as rebellion. At times an immature authority may give words of direction which cause the people to petition for help from a higher authority. When he intervenes, the bumbling fallibility is corrected.
Hasty, unconfirmed action is wrong. Anyone can make mistakes. God forbid that we do. But if we do, we remember the words of the Apostle John: … These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I John 2:1. This is a good Scripture to direct us.
A purer dedication can still be found in the members of the Body than in the ministries of authority over them. Wherever a pastor is walking with God, there are members in his congregation who excel him in dedication. Watch how they live, how they walk, and how they serve their pastor. They help him fulfill his ministry. They seldom receive any praise, nor do they try to receive any glory. They do not ask for anything for themselves, and they do without things that God even grants their pastor to have.
Nothing humbles a pastor more than to know that people who have been listening to what he has spoken are walking closer to those words than he is. They love God so much that they live their lives by the word they are hearing.
Some could say that they are receiving the same advantage as their pastor—the privilege of serving God. That may be true in one sense, but it still humbles a pastor to see the people who have walked with him for years, when it seems as though he sometimes has a hundredfold more than they. It makes him realize how important it is for him to walk carefully and to listen carefully to God’s voice.
An excellence can be found in the pews that sometimes exceeds what is found in the pulpit. Maybe some pastors think they do not have a soul in their church who does as good a job as they do. But most would agree that they could list those who are just as dedicated, or even more dedicated.
In general terms, a pastor can say that he is laying down his life for Christ, but there are also those who would lay down their lives for him. This does not make him proud; rather, it overwhelms him with the realization of the mercy of God.
Submission is based on the revelation of authority. If the Lord has not revealed the authority that is to be over a person, how can he be submissive to him?
A person cannot have real submission unless he has a true revelation of divine authority. How can he submit to someone’s authority over him unless God gives him a revelation of the ministry that the authority has for him?
A person in submission is actually submitting to the Christ who is coming forth in that ministry of authority. He is not claiming that the man is going to be infallible, but he realizes that God appointed and raised up the man to be an authority of Christ over him. His submission to him comes by revelation. How can you say, “Jesus is Lord,” or how can you say, like Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” unless God reveals it to you?
Christ said to Peter, “Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you; the Father showed that to you” (Matthew 16:16, 17). No one can walk with God in submission to the divine order for the Body of Christ unless God reveals it to him.
It has taken years for some to come to the place of revelation where they will accept the authority of an Apostle bringing God’s word to them in this hour.
Will it take years before they accept the authority of a company of apostles who will also bring and confirm words of direction for God’s people?
It is very important for the people to see the authority of those whom God has raised up to be over them in order to accept them as they should.
God must give His people a revelation of authority, not a revelation of infallibility. As the people are submissive to the authority moving in divine order, their problems will begin to work out in the Lord.
The people should have a revelation of a pastor’s authority, but by the same principle, there are ways in which he should relate to them in submission.
A pastor does not have any point to prove; all he needs to do is simply to walk with God. God will reveal his authority to the people. He does not have to worry about his ministry, because God will establish it.
No ministry needs to worry about their place of authority. Some may cause them difficulties because they do not recognize their authority, and they must try to talk them into cooperating. But it does not matter. They are God’s servant and they do not have to prove any point. They are just to do their job and then leave the situation in the hands of the Lord.
Submit to one another in the fear of the Lord (Ephesians 5:21). Submit yourself as a servant to those who are walking in divine order.
Learn to walk as a company of brethren. If the Lord has not revealed a person’s authority over you, how can you ever be submissive to it? You will continually be coping with that individual on a human level. Only God can reveal a person’s divine authority.
An individual who strives to avoid seeing a brother in the flesh is really admitting the fact that he never had a revelation of that brother’s spirit. A person is without any revelation if he continually battles seeing a brother only as a man.
If the Lord reveals a person’s authority over you, you can be submissive even when he deviates from the perfect will of God. You can believe that he whom God has appointed over you, and what he declares, will be perfected.
In other words, you can receive some wrong words of direction and still be a winner. A person can be obedient to an authority and start off in the wrong direction, but God will somehow intervene so that he ends up going in the right direction, and the will of God is fulfilled.
It is tormenting for a pastor to realize that he gave someone a wrong direction. When that occurs, God seems to support the authority, so that the harder a person tries to follow the word that is given, the sooner the will of God is performed.
Be thankful that the Lord overcomes the unintentional mistakes of those in authority. If the Lord has revealed the authority over you, you can be submissive, even when the authority deviates from the will of God. What God has appointed over you He will perfect; He will turn it around to His will if you are humble and easily entreated.
Submission to an appointed authority also embraces a faith. That submission carries a faith for which God overrules the fallibility of His servants.
The brothers can be submissive to one another with a faith that God will overrule the fallibility of every one of them. When responsibilities are committed into the hands of an apostolic company, there is a sense of fulfillment and a faith.
Think of the faith that Christ had when He left everything in the apostles’ hands. Among them were doubting Thomas, and Peter, who had just recently denied the Lord. Among them were all those who had forsaken Christ and fled.
Nevertheless, He committed everything into their hands. How much more in this day should we commit ourselves to one another, according to the word of the Lord, as we observe the commission that He has given each one.
We must be in submission to the authority appointed over us. When we are submissive, we must also have faith that God overrules the fallibility of those servants of God. They are in God’s hands. He raised up the authorities, and they are no more infallible than anyone else; but they have authority.
It is important to have a true revelation of authority, for if anyone has a false illusion or image of authority, it could be a disaster for the one in authority as well as the one submitting to it.
This word can teach families what a father is to be, what a mother is to be, and what the children are to be. It does not establish an infallibility; it establishes authority which can be entreated, the authority that God establishes.