The Scriptures contain principles which teach us how to think and what our feelings and reactions concerning one another are to be. Whether we realize it or not, the basic factor in the Kingdom is relationships. All the problems that we face come to us because we do not know how to relate, or we have not yet perfected our relationships with one another.
In the past recent years, we did not face the testings and dealings of God that we are facing now. Every relationship is presently experiencing a certain amount of the Lord’s testing and sifting. The relationships between parents and children are being tested, and they must be set right. The relationships between the teachers and the children in the Kingdom schools are very unique, inasmuch as these schools are not like ordinary schools, but more and more they must achieve what God really wants. There has been a decided change in the relationships of all the brothers in the ministry. It is not restrained, but it is changing as we are learning a level of submission that we have never had before.
When you submit to your brother, you are not to have this attitude: “I will not be concerned about his problems. If there is a personality clash between us, I’ll just ignore his problems.” That is the wrong attitude. If the pastor of a local church is having a problem, and the people decide to not face it, eventually he will sink deeper and deeper into his problem. As a result, the people will have a difficult time, and some may even leave the church.
We need to know basically how we are to relate to a divine commission. Let us look at this somewhat differently than we have, and see that we are not relating to people, but to the Word of God over them. The fourth chapter of Ephesians speaks a great deal about the relationship of the Body to the gift ministries: to apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. The following chapter tells us to be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (verse 21). The chapter continues, speaking about the relationship between husbands and wives, parents and children, slaves and masters. In all of these relationships, we need to understand this principle: Divine order involves submission, but the main ingredient in that submission is faith. Your submission is most effective when you have faith for the person to whom you are being submissive. Then you will not view what he lacks; you will view what God has said over him, and you will be submissive to that.
According to Ephesians 5:22, wives are to be subject to their husbands as to the Lord. Yet we know that very few husbands, in their relationship to their wives, have the good qualities and attributes that the Lord has. Therefore, it takes faith on the part of the wife to see that, progressively, the commission of God unfolds.
I was commissioned long before I had any ministry. It was very difficult for me to accept that commission, and the Lord had to deal with me-not because I was imperfect in the commission, but because I had to accept it. I had to accept the Word of God over my life, just as you must accept the Word of God over your life. It all begins there, because if you cannot accept what God says about you, you will not be able to accept what He has spoken about someone else either. You must have enough faith to say, “I believe the Word that the Lord spoke over me. I believe that it is exactly the will of God, and it will come to pass. Regardless of the things that seem to be in the way, or the impasses I have to break through, I must have faith in that Word.”
The enemy attacks us at times with feelings of inadequacy, and sometimes the Lord allows it because it is important that we do not have any confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). At the same time, we must have a great deal of confidence in what God’s Spirit has witnessed about us. We have confidence that He will bring to pass His perfect will within our lives if we believe His Word. Then when we look at our brothers and sisters round about us, we will view them, not in their lack of attainment, but with our acceptance of what God has said over them.
We tend to judge a person by the degree of attainment he has achieved, rather than by the ultimate goal he is to reach; and these are two different things. Perhaps there is not one of us who believes that he is already perfect, that he is moving perfectly in the will of God. But we can rejoice as we believe for one another. So we see that faith is the principal ingredient in submission. We are subject to one another as unto the Lord, because we see Him coming forth in each one of us. We do not have any confidence that there will be any perfect attainment outside of what Christ brings forth. Therefore, we submit to one another as unto the Lord. I submit to the Lord in all of you, in whom He is working His perfect will.
Do you realize that you can submit to what the Lord is doing within your brother, even if he seems to be hostile to you? This is the way you can see contentions disappear, because you refuse to honor them. You refuse to dwell on the incomplete manifestation of the will of God in your brother. Your faith reaches out with a submission to believe that it will eventually be according to the Word of the Lord. The Gospel age began with a young girl’s response to the angel: “Be it done unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). It may have been a long process by which she was brought to that place of submission. Like Mary, we too must reach the place where we say, “Lord, I submit to You.”
Every ministry requires a great deal of faith and prayer at this time. We must become totally involved with those who are over us in the Lord, as well as with those who are under us in the Lord. Suppose that by the leading of the Holy Spirit, I lay my hands on someone and commission him to be an elder in the will of God, and he becomes an elder. From that time on, I am totally involved with the commission that he has received. I must be as submissive as he is to that commission—maybe even more submissive—because that Word came forth from me, and I am required to be submissive to the Word of the Lord over my brother. I cannot reprimand him and reprove him as though he were a heathen (even though he may act like one). Rather, I have to come to him and entreat him like a brother. I must have faith for him and pull him out of any difficult situation he may be in. I must relate to him by his commission, and that requires a great deal of faith.
Most of our relationships are too personal. When our relationships are very personal, then we see one another after the flesh and we relate on a human level (see II Corinthians 5:16–17). Instead, let us focus more on the will of God over our brother’s life. Let it be a matter of discernment and revelation. I determine not to know my brother after the flesh, but by revelation. I want the Lord to reveal what He has for him, what the commission is over his life; then I will relate to him accordingly. Even if the manifestation of that calling is incomplete and he is not yet walking in the commission, I do not reject my brother. I become more concerned, and my faith reaches out in intercession for him.
I am always impressed when I see how much Paul prayed for the churches. Evidently, he did not pray for the world in general, but he did pray a great deal about those churches that had been started under his hand (Ephesians 1:16; Colossians 1:9). Why was he so concerned about those particular churches? Because he was submissive to the commission over them. He evaluated them by that commission. He yearned to see them standing side by side, striving together for the gospel and doing the will of God together (Philippians 1:27). He had no greater joy than to see them doing the will of the Lord and fulfilling the Word which God had given them. He was being submissive in faith to the ministry he had imparted to them, and also to the ministry that other apostles and elders perhaps had given them.
Remember how Paul exhorted Timothy with great faith: “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a disciplined mind” (II Timothy 1:7). “Remember the prophecies that are over you. Remember how the elders laid hands on you and prophesied over you” (I Timothy 4:14). “Stir up the gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands” (II Timothy 1:6). Paul continually urged Timothy: “Remember the Word. Remember the commission. Meditate upon these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may appear to all” (I Timothy 4:15). The Word over your life will not come to pass because of personal discipline, but because you have faith in the commission God has given you, and you continually meditate on it and give yourself wholly to it.
We believe in the gift of prophecy, but we have yet to walk as though we really believe the prophecies over our lives. We should give every diligence to appropriate the commissions and the Words. Even if no Word has been spoken over you personally, there are many Words over the churches; and you walk under a blanket commission when you become involved in a church. There are some ministries who have never had any personal commission, and yet they move right in to do the will of God. I am convinced that personal prophecy is not as essential as we might think. God seems to be de-emphasizing it since we are not using it as we could. We are not meditating on the prophecies and giving ourselves wholly to them. However, the time will come when we will return to the basics which we followed at the beginning of this move of God: We will lay hands on a person, give him a Word from the Lord, and then see him set about to walk in that Word.
Let me suggest a practical way to help people relate and to prevent many difficulties in their relationships. Let each local church review all the ministry and prophecies which have come over every individual in the church. Each person could submit a summary of the Words and prophecies that have come over his life. This material could be printed in booklet form and made available to every member. The people would be encouraged to relate and to know one another according to those prophecies. Suppose you were having a problem relating to someone. You could refer to the booklet and find out the Word and the commission for that person’s life. He may currently be involved in the battle of his life to see the will of God fulfilled. You do not want to add to his problems; rather, reach out with faith to see that commission fulfilled in his life.
Almost every person who becomes disillusioned and leaves the church does so because he cannot relate to a certain situation. This difficulty in relating seems to cut him off from the life of Christ. You can have a problem with a man, and yet be submissive to the commission over his life. You may be having a difficult time relating to him, but if you can have faith in the commission over him, he will minister to you. When you fail to see Christ coming forth in your brother, you shut yourself off from the flow of life that is in Christ Jesus the Lord. We can minister to one another and receive ministry most effectively by keeping the door open to draw the Spirit of the Lord from our brother.
If you think, “I do not want that brother to pray for me,” you are right back into the carnality of the Corinthian church. Paul took a dim view of their relating on a human level. He admonished them: For you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos, are you not mere men?
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. I Corinthians 3:3–9.
The apostles never did claim to be working for the Lord; they were working with the Lord. They were God’s fellow-workers. The Christ in them was working with the Christ in their brothers. They realized that in themselves they were nothing. The man who did the planting and the man who did the watering were nothing; it was God who was causing the growth. It was God in Paul who plowed the ground and planted the seed. It was God in Apollos who watered it. God was causing it all to happen.
Paul spoke further to the Corinthians: Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court … I Corinthians 4:1–3.
Paul did not mean that they were not to examine his ministry, for he was constantly reminding them of the apostolic commission that Christ had given him. He defended that ministry, but he did not defend himself. Likewise, I will defend the ministry that is in you, and you will defend the ministry that is in me. You do not have to defend me as a person, and I do not have to defend you as a person. But I will fight for that ministry to come forth in you, for God’s perfect will to be done in your life. With this attitude, we are not knowing one another after the flesh (II Corinthians 5:16). Paul said in essence, in I Corinthians 4:1–7, “I don’t care whether any human court examines me. It does not make one bit of difference. In the final analysis, they have no authority, and nothing that they say can affect my thinking.” The human court told the disciples that they were ignorant and unlearned men (Acts 4:13). But God says that out of this foolishness, His wisdom comes forth (I Corinthians 1:25–27). So do not be dismayed if someone comes up to you and says that you are an uneducated fool.
Paul continued in I Corinthians 4:4–5: I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God. This is the guideline that we follow too. Very little praise is given to people. We do not praise someone for doing a good job, or evaluate his ministry. We simply have faith for it.
Verses 6–7a: Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? Even though you sincerely believe that your pastor was raised up by God, remember to keep your focus off the human plane and on the ministry that God is bringing forth in him. He does not have one thing that was not given to him by God. If we miss this truth, we will be guilty of the charge which is often falsely brought against us—that we encourage the adulation and praise of man.
Paul continued, But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? Verse 7b. In other words, why do you boast as though it were something inherent in you, some wonderful ability that you have? Forget the pat on the back, forget giving out medals, and others saying you are a great person. The things within you that count were given to you by God. Those that are part of the Adamic nature, you want to get rid of. This shows us again that we are to relate to the commission over our brother, to what Christ has said concerning him.
We can take this principle a step further. Occasionally someone says to me, “I accept your ministry, but I cannot always accept the other ministries. Some of these young brothers are moved with a lot of zeal, and I don’t know whether or not they are giving me the right Word.” Let us follow this guideline very carefully: The other brothers have a commission at my hand, and when you reject their commission, you are rejecting the one who commissioned them. We are all tied into His Kingdom together. Regardless of how effectively each of us seems to be moving in God, we are all striving together for His complete manifestation. Remember that God said, “If you love Him that begat, you love him also that is begotten of Him” (I John 5:1). You will have to love one another. If you see that a brother is full of zeal, but he does not seem to have much wisdom, then pray for him and help him.
This will solve a multitude of problems as we learn to have faith for each other’s commission. We are learning this principle more and more as we go along. We are learning to co-minister and to communicate without bypassing or circumventing one another’s commissioning. In the best of circumstances you are bound, however, to have some problems. Certain guidelines can be used when there is to be a commissioning for a Kingdom business or moving a person to a different church. Whenever counseling is given, bring in the pastors who are directly over the men involved; and in that way no one is being bypassed, and there will be no circumventing of anyone’s authority; rather, the commission will always be recognized. This may seem complicated, but it will eliminate many problems.
In the long run, this process will simplify our relationships a great deal and help us to flow together. We will not be putting out little brushfires of troubles or trying to solve little problems. There will not be that touchiness with one another when we recognize the dedication on everyone’s part to relate to the commissions that God has given us. By responding this way we not only honor the Word that is written, verse and line, but we honor the Word that is being preached to us. We honor the Word of the Lord that has come over the Body of Christ, and over the individuals as well. By honoring the entire scope of the Word, we are letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly; and we speak to ourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16).
What about the inefficiency and other problems we have seen? There are many people who will not take responsibility, but if we encourage and exhort them enough, they will come forth in a greater dedication. The independent person may say, “I have a Word from the Lord, and I do not care what anyone says.” Whether you realize it or not, you do care enough to listen to what someone else says.
As far as revelation and commission were concerned, the most independent ministry was probably the apostle Paul. Christ had commissioned the other apostles, and they flowed together. However, Paul came along like a “speckled bird”; he was unusual. His conversion was unique. The book of Galatians shows how Paul followed this principle of submission to commission and how far he went with it. By revelation Paul was told to submit to those who had been commissioned. But when He (the Lord) 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 (notice that Paul did not say, “God revealed His Son to me,” but “He revealed His Son in me”), that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. Paul was quite independent. He did not inquire of the other apostles, “Tell me what this is all about.” He did not confer with flesh and blood; God had met him and given him the revelation.
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, 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. Galatians 1:15–24.
What happened to Paul’s ministry during that time? It existed in just a token. Something else is needed in a ministry besides the commission. Like Paul, we too will not find the commission and the will of God done in our lives until we recognize and submit to the commission in each other. The day of personal independence is over.
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. (Paul had received a vision and a revelation of the Lord. He was a spiritual Fort Knox, filled with treasures of wisdom.) 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 2:1–2. Paul’s revelations, his preaching, and miracles were true. Nevertheless, he sensed the vain futility of a ministry that was not wrapped up in a relationship to the commissions that God was placing over the whole Body.
Paul continued in verses 7–8: But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter 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). Paul recognized that his commission was different than Peter’s. Peter had been commissioned to preach to the circumcised, and Paul to the uncircumcised. And it was the Christ in Peter, and the Christ in Paul, that made both of them effective. 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. Galatians 2:9–10.
Paul would have run in vain if he had not come and submitted himself to the other apostles. This is not to say that he had not been effective in a measure; however, the great effectiveness of his ministry sprang forth from that time on because of his recognition of Christ elsewhere. Paul referred to this in I Corinthians 3, when he told the people not to prefer one man above another, but to recognize that it was Christ who was bringing forth the growth. Christ gives a commission, and then it is the fullness of Christ through our faith that brings forth the ministry.
How can we apply this message? How does submitting to commission work? Submission brings a covering. It is a canopy over us—of love and of faith. I have faith in what Christ has said over you, and that places a canopy over you. You have faith in what Christ has said over me, and that brings a protection over me. When we intercede for one another, that intercession is effective.
When Paul went up to Jerusalem, the apostles recognized his ministry as well as Peter’s. Their commissions would be fulfilled. In their submission to one another, the apostles became a protection to one another. Submission does bring protection.
In the battles that are ahead of us, we dare not dwell upon one another’s problems and needs. Instead, let us dwell upon the Word of Christ over one another. Our submission to that Word and our faith for that commission to become effective will bring a protection over all of us.
This is a basic working principle which could also be applied to the relationship between a husband and wife. A wife has protection when she submits to her husband (Ephesians 5:22–24). However, if she finds fault and criticizes him, puts him down, and refuses to be submissive to him, she will be facing problems alone that could overwhelm her. By reacting in this manner, she elects then to face these problems on her own, when it was never intended that she should face certain circumstances by herself.
When a wife complains that her husband has a lot of faults, she should remember that he also has a commission of authority over her. If she recognizes that authority, she will pray for him—regardless of his problems and the areas where he needs to change. She will believe for the Lord to help him. She has faith that God will enable him to fulfill the commission over him. Thereby she puts herself under the protection of that commission, as though it were already perfect. I have seen women submit to husbands who did not have much faith, yet because they believed for them to become men of faith, what these wives projected was so blessed of God that their husbands seemed to be already walking in the perfection of that commission. We seem to borrow on what the manifestation of faith ultimately produces.
The Lord is teaching us how to believe for one another.
Rather than having faith in a person, we have faith for him. Faith for him can produce a greater unity than faith in him. If you have faith in a person, a sudden event someplace down the road could cause you to become disillusioned with him, saying, “I believed in him and he let me down.” Everyone you believe in will probably let you down. But everyone you believe for will abound more and more in a ministry toward you. You dare not sit around and criticize anyone. This shows a lack of submission and especially a lack of faith for him. When your eye is on a person’s flesh, Satan magnifies his problems all out of proportion. However, faith seems to shrink the problems down until you see that they are not as big as you thought. Then you can believe the Lord for a solution to the problems.
All of us have promises of God over our lives. Every one of us has a holy commission. We recognize that not only for ourselves, but also for one another. How wonderful it is to relate to one another with faith, and to submit to the commission that God is placing over each one of us.