There must be an honoring of divine order. If there is not, we will hit impasses that will frustrate everything that God sets before us. In the apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, we read how he set them in order.
Divine order has many aspects. There is to be submission to apostolic leadership. But many people do not understand what such submission involves. That submission is not submission to an apostle as a human individual. It is a submission to his ministry and to the authority that is represented. This means submission to everything which that ministry produces.
Sometimes reservations toward submission exist when something goes wrong in the whole system of divine order in a New Testament church. Even then we must not react in rebellion to the authority that God has created. We cannot be submissive to one apostle specifically, and not be submissive generally to the whole authority of divine order that God has brought forth. We cannot decide to be submissive to one apostle, and yet not be submissive to another apostle that God has brought forth.
This truth is expressed in I John 5:1: Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. This has been a basis by which some women have very correctly evaluated a relationship. A widow with children very carefully considers a man who wants to marry her. If he really loves her, he will also love her children, even though he has not begotten them. They are her children; and if he loves her, he loves that which is born of her. If he cannot do that, then he should realize that he does not love her enough to marry her. He does not really love her if he is reluctant about taking on the responsibility of her children, thinking that they are brats and not caring much for them. If he loves her, he will find himself loving those children as much as if he had begotten them.
The same principle holds true concerning our coming into the Kingdom of God. God has a lot of children, and most of them do not have manners as good as those of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not reflecting His image perfectly. But if we love the Lord, we will also love that which He has brought forth. If we love an apostle and are submissive to him, we will be submissive also to everyone whom God has raised up under his hands. As we are submissive in love to one another, we will become a true expression of the family of God. The more we pray for an apostolic ministry of authority, the more we will find ourselves praying for all the apostles, prophets, and elders who are linked with him. We will find ourselves blessing them and being deeply concerned about those whom he has raised up.
We cannot become those who compare men. Paul said that we are not to compare one against another (I Corinthians 4:6). It is carnal and it should not be done. We should not exalt one against another, any more than a mother would look at her children and say, “The oldest one is very bright. He is in the tenth grade. But the younger ones in kindergarten and in the first grade do not know very much.” It is all a relative matter—a matter of progress. People who are coming into a walk with God should not be put down; rather, they should be encouraged, because eventually in the process of growth and appropriation they will be commissioned to places of responsibility and authority.
In the family of God, there should be no such thing as putting down one in favor of another, or saying, “Look at this brother; how well he is doing! But this other brother is not doing so well.” If one brother has been walking in the things of the Lord for only a few years and is advancing rapidly, and another brother has been walking a great many years and is moving rather slowly, then we should bestow the more abundant honor on the one who lacks, so there will be no division in the Body (I Corinthians 12:25). There must be no exaltation of one against the other.
Partiality can become an issue. Love has to be without partiality, and so does submission. Submission, generally, is an evidence of love. It is love that is expressed before any requirements are ever voiced or imposed. If you have to wait and weigh an individual action to decide whether or not you are going to be submissive, you are not submissive. If you have to wait for every word and action of a loved one in order to decide whether or not you are going to love that one, then you do not have love.
This truth is of deep significance, and you will do well to embrace it in your heart. If you love God, you do not decide from chapter to chapter whether or not you love Him anymore. You love God regardless of whether or not His Word says something to you that you like. You do not wait until you hear what He is going to ask of you. You just sign the contract and let Him fill in the details. You make an unconditional surrender in submission to the Lord, saying, “This is exactly what I am going to do, Lord; I have predetermined my submission to You in every event.”
Submission does not have to be based on specifics in order to stand. It will have specifics, but it will be based on a general dedication that says, “I love the Lord. I am submissive to the Lord. Therefore, whatever is required, I will be submissive to it.” It is not to be based on performance, as in the marriage vows of “love, honor, and cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse,” although those are good. You have to reach into an overall submission, so that you are not constantly evaluating your relationship with another individual because of what he does. There are things that God does which you have to accept because you love Him and are submissive to Him. Yet that does not mean, necessarily, that you can reason it out or understand it. God sometimes seems very unreasonable, and yet we can move into such a level of submission that we can say, “Here we are, Lord. We love You. We submit to You.”
There are times, in any relationship, when there is only one basis by which you can move ahead. The one whom you love may not necessarily be doing what you want, what you understand, or what you think is reasonable. Sometimes there is much provocation and aggravation involved. Then you must remember that love covers a multitude of sins (I Peter 4:8). You do not love people in order to forgive them; but because you love them, you forgive them in advance.
God does not ask you if He can deal with you in advance, but He teaches you obedience by the things that you suffer (Hebrews 5:8). He chastens every son whom He receives (Hebrews 12:6). As you come into the Kingdom, He starts chastening you and dealing with you as a son. As He lays a trial upon you, you may wonder, “What was that for?” He is saying, “You will find out eventually.” When you face a greater test later on, you will already have had your licks; and therefore the possibility is greater that you will choose not to do wrong. It is preventive chastening that works a spirit of submission in your life.
The same principle is true of hope or love or faith; they have a general, blanket effect in your life, and you do not have to rise to attain them for some specific situation. If God deals with your heart ahead of time, then you will be prepared for whatever happens. Those who have already conditioned themselves to submission in faith will not stumble when someone comes along and lays a stumbling block in front of them. They will stand because a general submission has already been worked in their hearts.
Our submission is not to be based upon another’s performance. Our submission is to be based upon his authority. We are to be submissive to authority. We submit ourselves one to another, not because a man in authority is doing what we expect, but we submit ourselves one to another as unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:21). It is a deep submission. If we do not do that, then criticism and rebellion can enter into our thinking.
You will have to be sold the walk that God is bringing forth, again and again, unless it is a revelation to your heart and you have submitted to it. Suppose there are things that do not bear witness to your heart, truths that you think must be weighed very carefully. If God brought you into His end-time walk, and you are totally submissive to Him and are walking along with Him, then you will not be thrown overboard by any teaching that you cannot confirm at the moment. When some new expression comes forth in the church, accept it generally. You are in trouble the day that you watch God move and you say, “I can’t buy this. I accept that other thing, but I do not accept this!” You are in trouble the day that you begin to sort out ministries and accept one and reject another.
Your walk with God must be based on a general state that will hold you and lock you into God, even though there are some things that you do not understand. An outstanding example of such things has been the jubilee music—expressive, instrumental music with the psalm singing in the worship service—which became such an issue to some, in the New Testament churches of today, that they were blown out because of it. A lot of people accepted it, but they were not really happy about it. They would be satisfied if there were never another jubilee service. There were others who came for the jubilee service. It loosed them into an explosive expression of worship; but in times of intercession, they were not there. Some say, “I go for the intercession, but I don’t go for the jubilee music.” Others say, “I like the jubilee music, but I don’t like the other worship much.” Still others say, “I like the worship, but I don’t like the jubilee music.” Many say, “I just like to sing the old songs and worship the Lord. I love singing in the Spirit, but leave the rest of it out. I don’t want that.”
You must see that your acceptance of the Lord has to be on a basis of accepting the entire Body in the divine order that He is establishing. It is all one bundle. Whether or not you can handle different kinds of expressions is not the issue. The issue is that you have a walk with God, and that you continue to walk with Him. As you do, you learn that certain expressions and phases of growth come forth and serve their purpose for a while. They may seem to emerge like an erupting volcano; then they subside. This happens because God is making the valleys into plains, and He is bringing the mountains low (Isaiah 40:4). Sometimes the adjustments seem rather explosive. It is God’s way of getting you out of the spirit of heaviness that oppresses whole churches. Maybe you need something to explode you. Maybe you need something to start you moving for the Lord, even though you are quite content to remain on your present spiritual plane.
The Lord stirs up our lives the way an eagle stirs up the nest (Deuteronomy 32:11). A mother eagle builds her nest out of thorns and whatever else is available, weaving it all together. Then she fills the inside with down and feathers, and sometimes wool from a sheep, or fur from another animal she has killed. After she has fixed up a nice big nest, she then lays the eggs, hatches the little eagles, and keeps feeding them. One characteristic of an eagle and a human being is the same; they will take as much as they are given, with mouths wide open and no sense of responsibility. Their response is the same: “Feed me! Feed me!”
There comes a time when eagles have to be taken away from their nest and taught to fly. They have to strengthen their wings, but they will not do it until they are made uncomfortable. Therefore, the mother eagle stirs up the nest until the little eagles sit down on the thorns. Then they are not as happy as before. Mother eagle is trying to emphasize a point, and they are getting it. Then the little eagles are soon screeching and howling and crawling on mama’s back. She flies out of the nest with them, one by one, diving and letting them flop and screech. Then she swoops down and helps them as they go through a traumatic experience of learning to fly. However, teaching those little eagles to fly has to start with getting them out of the nest.
Like the mother eagle, God has to work with us constantly. Some people become too much at ease in Zion, and so God tries to stir them up. If there is too much dependence upon one leader’s ministry, a procedure must come to stir up the nest. Then they must learn to depend on the other ministries whom God has raised up to minister to them.
Learn to obey the authorities that God has raised up for you in divine order. You must not have such a protracted dependency that you accept only one ministry and not the other ministries. If you trust an apostle whom God has raised up in divine order, then also trust the ministries whom God has raised up under him. They are all part of the whole picture. Do not go running, out of divine order, just to one leader for special ministry.
The people of God in this day are taking a step toward the perfection of divine order. If they do not do that, they will end up in hopeless confusion. God is leading His people today as He did in the days of Moses. An anointing was upon Moses, and he had great wisdom from God as he sat in judgment for the people. Finally he prayed for God to kill him, because he could no longer bear the demands of so many people. Then God laid that same anointing on seventy elders to bear the burden with Moses (Numbers 11:14–17).
This same principle must operate among the ministries today. If you are ministering in a capacity that has become overwhelming, do not just back off and withdraw from the ministry. Delegate what God has given you. Find others to carry it on, and help them to do it. God never intended His operation to be a one-man show. He does not raise up just one man to kill him with work. Sometimes it seems as if He is doing that, but it is not really His intention. Constantly delegate your responsibilities and set them in motion.
If we are submissive, and if we have love and faith and hope, we must let it reach out and embrace every area of our lives. Then when we face something new that seems hard to accept, it will not be a problem. Hope will reach out and make a blanket over it. Love will also reach out and make a blanket. It embraces all that God brings forth in divine order. God does not break up a set. God is saying, “Here are all of My dealings.” Some people are saying, “Well, I will take this one and this one, but I will not take that one.” God is saying, “No, they are a set.” We must never break up a set.
Are you saying, “I love everyone in the church, except one person. I don’t like that one.” That is too bad—they are all a set. God is not going to break up the set for you to accept just some of them. You will have to open your heart to love everyone in the entire picture. Whenever you find someone who is really rejecting you, remind him that you are part of the set.
In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul wrote this: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 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? I Corinthians 3:1–4.
What God is doing must not be reduced to the human level. At no time should we consider ourselves as mere men, but rather as sons of God. We are children of God. At no time should we look upon what God is doing among His people as a human enterprise. It is a divine thing that is coming forth. When any of us exalts one brother in authority above another, that is a sure way for everything to fail. If that is all we are feeling, we are reducing our involvement with one another to a human level; consequently, we will make our demands on a human level, and we will try to make bonds with those in authority on a human level. Bonds must be created on a spiritual level. Relationships in the Body of Christ have to be elevated to the right level, so that God’s will can come forth the way He wants it to come forth. If one says, “I will follow this apostle,” and someone else says, “I have another apostle I am going to follow,” they are walking as mere men, according to the apostle Paul. Nothing will work if we walk as mere men.
Paul continued, 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. I Corinthians 3:5–7.
God has been speaking a living Word to this generation through an apostolic ministry, just as He did in centuries past through apostles and prophets, which we read about in the Scriptures. Today’s living Word is a real foundation to the end-time restoration and the bringing forth of God’s Kingdom on the earth. As this Word comes forth, it is being recorded on tapes. But those tapes on a shelf are not going to move the world. However, when someone hears this Word and believes it and speaks it, he comes forth as a prophet. He says of this Word, “It is God speaking to my heart.” He speaks that same Word and gives tapes of that same Word to another to hear. Then God is speaking a Word to another, and after a while he, too, is speaking that Word, and another prophet comes forth. Is that a product of one man’s ministry? No, it is a product of God. God gives a Word, one man sows it, and another man waters it. Some cultivate it, and some watch over it so that the weeds do not choke it out (Matthew 13:7). There are many processes involved, which make us all a part of one another.
The ministries of authority should not feel preeminent in front of the people, thinking, “Well, praise the Lord, I am standing before the people where they can see me as an authority over them.” When they get up and speak a Word from the Lord, they must remember that God has planted the Word and others water it. They must realize the fact that God reduces everyone so that there is no special honor because of a place that God has given anyone. As a brother exercises his ministry of authority before the people, he should not look for personal respect and honor. The people should respect and submit to the Word, the ministry, and the authority that God has placed within that brother. In other words, the church must be looked upon as just one family, with no separation of clergy and laity. All must come down to become little people. The little flock is going to inherit the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).
A certain attitude must be in our hearts in order for us to walk the way God wants us to walk. Therefore, we must relate with a general dedication to be one with one another, whether we like it or not. There does not have to be some special consideration or special treatment in order for us to feel a bond in the Lord with one another. The oneness is there in that which Christ establishes as we come into divine order.
Paul also wrote: 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 fellowworkers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. I Corinthians 3:8–10.
There may be some very unique talents and abilities that God has imparted to each one of the ministries who are set in divine order to minister to you. Yet you may say, “I need this ministry, because he has been able to teach me and help me.” Someone else may come along with another kind of ministry that helps you in another way, and you finally decide, “This is the ministry I want.” Many sermons will come along; you may not like some of them, and you will like others because they bless you and make you feel good. Regardless of the sermon, you will have to face the fact that a lot of different people are going to serve you in the will of God, and you are to appreciate all of them and be one with them, taking what they serve you.
God is not setting before you a cafeteria menu. You do not pick and choose what you eat. The ministries set the spiritual meal before you: the soup, the salad, and everything else, right down to the dessert. Take it from soup to nuts as it is dished out to you. Open your heart to it, and it will be healthy for you. Often a sick person does not choose what is given to him. Along with some juice there may be a dose of medicine that he has to take. He has to take what is set before him.
Paul tells you to eat what is set before you without asking questions for conscience’ sake (I Corinthians 10:27). Otherwise you might stumble someone. For your own sake, it might be wise not to inquire into it too much. Sometimes you may eat certain food, and very wisely, for conscience’ sake, not ask what is in it. If you knew what it contained, you could become very disturbed and find it quite difficult to eat.
In the New Testament church of today, the Lord is setting truths before us through a variety of ministries, and sometimes the menu is not designed to tickle the appetite. It is not designed to satisfy an epicurean who desires to feast only upon the dainties. This is good, because we are raised up by God and placed in the family of God to go through growth experiences together. If it is a revelation to our hearts and God sets us in His family, we will accept all of the experiences totally.
Paul further said: For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. I Corinthians 3:11–15.
What was Paul saying? A true apostle does not build the family of God around himself, for if something happens to him, they will fall too. He builds them into the house of God, not trying to bond them to himself on a human plane, but rather in the Spirit. Then no matter what anyone does to him or to others, the work cannot be destroyed because all are built into Christ. It is not based on an earthly relationship.
The house of God can be likened to a vine that is growing. It can be chopped off at the roots, but it will not be destroyed if it has its roots in heaven. The branches can be mutilated, but the vine will not be hurt if the roots are in heaven. If an apostle builds the house of God on an earthly, mere-man basis, then the whole work can be destroyed. And if the people relate to him on that basis, they can be destroyed. But if all of the people have their roots in the fact that they are the habitation of God, and are built together in God, then no matter what happens to their apostle or to any other brother, the work will go on.
The living Word of this end time will continue on. It is indestructible because it has been built properly. There is no fire that can destroy it. It is pure. It is not wood, hay, or stubble that came up out of the ground and grew for a time, only to be destroyed.
Are you ready to relate in the house of God on a different basis? There are many ways that the brothers who serve you are indispensable in that which God raised them up to do. However, your acceptance and submission to divine order through an apostolic company of brothers is very important. There are enough ministries available, men whom God has raised up in divine order, so that we should not make any one of them expendable by throwing him onto a human level in our demands of him. Many brothers are eager to help those in authority with anything that is needed. No one is seeking a special place of ministry.
Today the apostolic ministry exercises authority over an area until it is set in divine order and is functioning the way the Lord wants. Then that apostle releases it to the apostolic company of many apostles, prophets, and pastors in divine order who will govern it. This is a different concept, one which is difficult for most people to grasp. In this hour we are building the Kingdom of God; we are not building a man’s kingdom. Nevertheless, unless we exert every diligence to follow the principles that God lays down for His Kingdom, we will end up building man’s kingdom.
Open your heart to this end-time divine order. It is not enough that a man of God believes that he is an apostle and you believe that he is an apostle. All must recognize that he is an apostle in a specific area. Furthermore, your confidence and faith must be involved with everything that God has raised up under his hand. When God reveals that a man is an apostle, often this is the key to your believing in the ministries that have come up under his hand. If you believe in a man’s apostleship, you must believe in what comes forth under him.
When you look at a man who is walking with God, you know that anything amazing that he is doing is by the grace of God that rests upon him. You can have love and faith for him because of the Word from God that rests upon that man. Do not overanalyze a situation and look at every little detail. A man moves on in God progressively. A leader should marvel at the brothers and sisters who are coming forth and serving. He should have faith for those who have been trained in other fields, and watch them move in and progress in God as their hearts are opened.
Maybe you do not like some of the things that you see in a church that is coming forth in divine order. Still you must think of it as a set. It is a package deal. Everyone is growing up together. One of the happiest situations can be found by watching the growth of those in authority, as well as those who are submissive.
It is one thing to bring a child into the world; it is another thing to be a good mother. Little children have to obey their mother, even though she may be very young and have much to learn about being a mother. Her immaturity is no reason to see her as a poor mother. After she has a few more children, you will find that she has become an excellent mother. She will have grown up along with her children to keep ahead of them.
This happens in the Body-of-Christ relationships too. A leader sometimes hastens to catch up with those who are coming forth. It is good when there is a progressive growing of the older ministries along with the initiative of the younger ministries. As they relate on a spiritual basis and are aggressive, they will move ahead; and the people will learn submission under them.
The people of God were not born for restraint and suppression from their leaders. Good parents learn when to restrain their children as they need it and when to give them encouragement. They constantly stretch them, and yet they must watch that they do not stretch them too fast so as to hurt them. This reminds us of the fellow who planted a garden. He was so proud of the way that the beans and tomato plants were growing that he became overanxious and began to pull them up a little each morning to help them grow a little faster. You know what happened to his garden, don’t you? This illustrates the fact that a leader cannot pull people along too fast, and yet he has to constantly encourage them. He cannot make demands upon them beyond what they can handle at the moment. He cannot be a dictator over the house of God; yet he must have the authority that continually watches over them, helps them, and brings them forth. He does it unto the Lord so that the relationship is on a spiritual level.
Leaders must not become people collectors. Some people have such a big point to prove that they like to collect people around them in order to govern and regulate their lives. That should not be. Although a leader should lead people and teach them to keep them from going into something wrong, he should not build them around himself. Those who are in authority must constantly work against such situations, so that little kingdoms are not built but the Kingdom of God is built.
People will automatically thrust a man into a wrong role. A man may start out with an honest heart to be a good minister, but the people will keep pushing and pushing until they have him up on a pedestal. They will crowd him into assuming a role over their lives that is not good, and he will find himself in a difficult place. He knows that God does not want that, but what can he do about it? He should simply back out and make sure that the people become dependent on something else.
Usually people take just as much as they are given, yet they tend to avoid any responsibility. They have to be weaned from making demands on a human level. They must learn to relate to the Lord and to their pastors on a spiritual level. When babies have to be weaned, sometimes they become angry and bite because they are so frustrated.
There are various spiritual ages within the house of God, and various reactions that people have to one another. We all have to come to the place where we have a beautiful, healthy relationship with one another because we are the Father’s family and we are building the Kingdom of God. The family of God must be so close that it does not relate on a human level.
In the Body of Christ there must not be an independence in ministering. No one should minister alone. When that happens, much damage may be done, and sometimes months pass before that damage begins to surface. We must learn to move together as did the disciples whom Christ sent out by twos. In fact, if possible there should be more than two apostles or prophets or elders present in ministry, because in the multitude of counselors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14). No man should be a law unto himself. People must be steered away from leaning on one ministry. They must be directed to look to multiple ministries. Some brothers tend to minister alone because they have an independent spirit. If a brother has a Word from God, he does not have to be afraid of ministering with someone else concerning it. There should not be an undercover way of ministering in the church. A matter should be brought out before another brother in authority.
Sometimes in Pentecostal churches there were women who had some revelation and perception, and so they ministered from their kitchens, but would not bring it out in the church. They even told people who to marry and what to do. If you have revelation, bring it into the church to the elders and pastors. If they have no knowledge concerning it, it is their business to find out. Lay these things before them and expect them to seek God concerning everything that happens. Do not put anything under the table or sweep it under the rug or minister it out independently to others like contraband. The Word of God is not to be handled like something on the black market. To avoid the pitfalls of independence, we need to have a general acceptance of the Body.
In the early Church the apostles were loosed by the deacons to give themselves to prayer and to the Word. Likewise, we must pray that the ministry of apostleship be free today, not to serve us on our terms, but to serve God on His terms and thereby serve the whole Body.