One of the most important things in the Body of Christ is learning to relate to one another. The basic problem is not that we do not love Christ or that we do not believe His Word, for we cherish all that He has brought to us. The big problem is that we still do not know how to relate to each other. You may think, “I just want to serve God and walk with Him. That’s all that matters, isn’t it?” No, that is not all that matters, because the “Body makes increase of itself by that which every joint supplies” (Ephesians 4:16). You cannot grow unless you receive the flow of life that comes from your brothers and your sisters. They cannot grow unless they receive the flow of life from you. The Body makes increase of itself through that which every joint, i.e. every member, supplies. We have need of each other.
You cannot forget the Body and go off to a monastery where you can meditate and pray and take care of your own spiritual needs. Such a life is pointless. It is also ineffective, because no one can do anything without the cooperation of others working with him. You are totally helpless unless you have the other members of the Body helping you and supporting you. We must relate to one another. We must have communication—a flow of life to one another. It is with this flow of life that we are concerned.
In I Corinthians 4, Paul spoke about how the people were to relate to the apostolic ministries. In verses 9 through 10 we read, For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.
In a sense Paul was being sarcastic, but in another sense, he was not. Anyone who is to be important in the Kingdom will be stripped of the human elements of success: self-confidence, talent, ability, drive, ambition, greed, selfishness, arrogance. With those attributes, and by stepping on others, you can be a “success.” However, God has to strip away every ingredient of success from those whom He would use the most. For this reason Paul said, “We are fools.” You have to be a fool before the pure wisdom of Christ comes through you. Paul said, “We are weak.” You have to be weak before God manifests His strength in weakness. Paul also said, “You are distinguished, but we are without honor.” He was speaking to the people to whom he had ministered. Humanly speaking, they still had a good situation, but Paul did not.
This thought continues in verses 11 through 16. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I exhort you therefore, be imitators of me.
Paul was bringing out a truth that is important for you to understand: A relationship that is right has a sense of responsibility. Paul was a father, and he had a sense of responsibility for his people. This is natural for almost all living creatures, that they are instinctively responsible for what they beget. The ancient Chinese morality took this idea to the point that if you saw a man drowning in a river, you should not rescue him. If you rescued him and were responsible for saving his life, you became responsible for him. From that time on, he became your charge. Therefore, you would have to take him home and feed him; your children could go hungry while you fed a stranger that you had pulled out of the river. To avoid that, the Chinese said, “Let him drown.” According to the moral code that they lived by, they were not as cruel as it might seem.
Paul said, “I exhort you to be imitators of me. Be a responsible father just as I am. Be responsible in the relationships that you have.” Whenever a man of God sees people come into a walk with God through his ministry, he becomes responsible for them. In effect, he has pulled them out of the river; and from that time on, he is responsible for them. The Chinese philosophy applies here. That is one of the things that drives a spiritual father. He knows that he has begotten many sons in the Spirit. He has become a spiritual father to lead them. He may scold them, drive them, push them to give and to work, and push them to care for one another and to love one another, but he cannot help doing this. He loves them. He realizes that he is responsible for his spiritual sons. He spoke a Word from God which created something in their hearts. When he saw what happened, he knew that he was responsible.
In this day, the testimony of a man of God may be different from Paul’s. He may not have experienced the trials and persecutions that Paul faced, but he has gone through other deep dealings—in areas that are considered a normal part of the fulfillment of life, such as family and various other pursuits and interests. There is not enough time, not enough energy, not enough hours in the day to get everything done, because the family of God is growing. His people have needs that require the support and the help of each member of the Body, and this must start with the shepherds. Every true shepherd must be a responsible person. He cannot have a relationship with the people of God without having a sense of responsibility for them. This responsibility has to rest upon his shoulders twenty-four hours a day. It is true that he is one of God’s sheep; but as the needs increase, he becomes more than a sheep. He becomes a shepherd over sheep. It is important for him to realize his responsibility for the sheep and the need for communication with them.
Children should never be allowed to grow up alone. They should have care and supervision. They should not be dominated and frustrated. There should constantly be a sharing of things and a communication with them. One of the best things that can happen to a child is for him to feel that he has something important to contribute to his family.
An example of this is a family in which everyone has to work, doing whatever he can in order to pay the bills and put food on the table. Everyone works. There is a communication within the family. They have a relationship which they cannot fulfill unless they all work together. That may seem like a hard way for a child to grow up, but there is nothing wrong with it. Each child is pulled in. Each child is important. Each child’s life has meaning as the family works toward common goals.
The same thing is true in the family of God. There is a sense of responsibility in our relationship. We work together. We are a part of one another. We are the family that must work together. No one can sit back, uninvolved with what Christ is bringing forth in the earth. Do you love the Lord? You must also love your brother. You must love each of the little ones in the Body of Christ with a faith that releases miracle power from God for them.
In the fourth chapter of I Corinthians Paul was concerned about the family relationship. He was the spiritual father and he wanted the people to imitate him. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some have become arrogant (it does not say that they started out that way—it says that they have “become” arrogant), as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness? I Corinthians 4:17–21.
This sounds heavy, but Paul was entitled to talk that way. He was giving his life to see those people grow in God, and a few became arrogant. Paul was a spiritual father. He had a responsibility. He had to relate to those people. How did he relate as a spiritual father? He asked, “Shall I come to you with the gentleness of Christ, or shall I come to you with a rod? I will find out, not the words, but the power of those who are arrogant.” Arrogance can easily come up within the Body. There is a god-complex which affects people’s thinking, so that they become arrogant. They decide whether they will accept or reject the truths God is bringing. They decide whether they will accept or reject the ministries. That must be dealt with.
You must open your heart to the fact that God gives you a relationship with the Body, and that relationship has to be filled with love and with humility. You must be ready to take care of one another’s needs. Whenever someone withdraws from his responsibility in a ministry, an arrogance takes over his heart because he is playing God instead of serving God. That just does not work. The humility must be there.
In Romans 12 Paul dealt with the way the Body of Christ is to relate. He spoke of how we are to prophesy according to the proportion of our faith, of how the one who gives is to give with simplicity (verses 6–8). After he outlined the manner of service within the Body, he then gave the rules of love. We are to love one another. Without this love, and without this relationship and a sense of responsibility for one another, all of the gifts and ministries will go astray; and we will find ourselves back in the arrogance of religion. As Paul expressed it, Let love be without hypocrisy. Verse 9a. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor. Verse 10. He continued to build up this idea until he said, Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Verse 16. The American Standard Version says, Be not wise in your own conceits, as though it is very possible for us to miss everything that God has for us if we do not maintain this relationship together with humility and with love. Do you think that is possible? It is very possible if we become arrogant. Let God deal with our hearts. Let us not become arrogant.
Sometimes a ministry of authority may become accustomed to giving orders. He wants to move things as fast as possible; therefore, if the ministries counsel together and there is a common witness and a confirmed word on something, he moves on it. Consequently, true leadership and a deep respect for authority come forth, and there is a true blending together of the hearts of the people. However, that ministry must be careful not to go too far and be too arbitrary in giving orders and directives. There are to be no dictators or lords over God’s heritage. Instead, there is to be the spirit of a father that can come with gentleness.
This is the question that we face: Is there to be the gentleness, or shall we take out the rod? No matter what it takes, let the Church move. Let there be no undercurrents. Let everything be out in the open. Let there not be one clique or one pocket within the Body. Let nothing prevail except a total acceptance of the Lord and of what He wants. That is the kind of church we all want to be a part of. We want the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ living through our lives.
This is not a heavy teaching; it is very basic, and it requires a brokenness on your part. Pray for your spiritual fathers. Spiritual fathers are hard to find. What does it take to be a father? A sense of responsibility to cry over you, to be patient with you, and to know how to tell you what to do. A father will crowd you into more of God than you may have ever wanted. He will lead you into things that you are not dedicated to walk in. He will shove you to do things and make you think that you thought of the ideas yourself. He will use every kind of guile to trick you into walking with God.
May God let that same sense of responsibility rest upon you for your brothers and sisters. The love for one another will grow exceedingly, as will your love to walk with God and with one another and to be truly concerned about one another with everything that is within your heart. Start thinking about it. Open your mind and your spirit. There are children and young people who need your love and help. What about the children who do not have a father? What about a broken home? Or a mother who has lost her husband? What are we going to do about them? May God open our hearts to see the need, to see that we are related to one another and responsible for one another. We must communicate life to one another.
Let every man, woman, and child in the Body of Christ bless and be blessed of the Lord, for the Lord Jesus is looking down upon us and saying, “Inasmuch as you do it unto the least of these My brethren, you are doing it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40). There is nothing more practical in all the world than to open your heart to the many hungry people who are reaching for the Word of the Lord. Within your heart must be the desire to serve God’s people. The vision and inspiration must be in your heart.
Were you ready to hear? Did you listen? Let God speak to you. If you are ready to listen, may the Lord speak to your heart and prepare you for the days of service ahead. May you have such a burden that you weep for the people who have a need. Where there is no burden, there is no lasting, sustaining inspiration to continue in the labors of the Lord. May God give you the vision. May God break your heart.
What makes a prophet? Is it what he sees in the Word? Is it what he knows or thinks he knows? Is it the revelation he has? No. God has to equip every prophet that He wants to use with special glasses. These glasses have a special lens made out of tears. That is the way he sees the people and that is the way he sees the Lord—through a broken and contrite spirit.
Do you feel that you need to be broken in your spirit and to have this vision? It is good to say, “I haven’t been involved, but I am going to be.” Take a step. Act on this word. You can do it now. Let this word break you in spirit so that from now on, the Lord can love through you.