Apostolic Mistake
Art Nelson
The Spirit of the
Lord keeps prodding me about deception among and within the People of God. The
result has been the last couple of issues of Present Truth Teaching Letter and,
since I can't seem to get away from it, this issue also. It is not that I want
to keep harping on the negative, but, rather that the negatives, the deceptions,
have become so widespread that many are having their faith trashed and their
lives shipwrecked. Many new converts are building on faulty foundations because
of the deceptions. These are foundations that will not stand during the shaking
of all things that God is going to unleash. We may even be seeing the beginning
of the shaking now. When it is all over only the things of the Kingdom of God
will be left (Hebrews 12:26-28).
The current burr in
my saddle is the “apostolic” talk that is circulating in the aftermath of the
Lakeland/Todd Bentley debacle. There has been a lot of focus on “apostolic
networks”, “apostolic associations”, “apostolic covering”, “apostolic
alignment”, “apostolic commissioning” and other similar nonsense. Yes, I said
nonsense because none of this type of talk is the least bit biblical and in some
cases directly against what the Lord has said.
I am sure that most
of those involved in all of this type of thing are sincere and desire to serve
the Lord. However, you can be sincerely wrong and sincerely deceived. They are
like Apollos who was fervent in Spirit and sincere about the Lord. However,
Priscilla and Aquila took him aside and explained the way of God more accurately
to him (Acts 18:24-26). Many of these so-called or self-called apostles need the
way of God explained to them more accurately. Of course, they have to receive
the correction and make adjustments just as Apollos did.
Some then may ask
if I believe in the apostolic? Absolutely! I believe that Jesus gave gifts of
men to His people and that apostles are one of those gifts and that they are
operating today as they have among the people of God since the day of Pentecost.
But, I don't believe in the “apostolic” as presented by the modern promoters of
the “apostolic reformation”.
“Apostle”
is not a title that is attached to a name; neither is it an office that one
occupies. Paul never called himself 'the apostle Paul'. He would refer to
himself as 'Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ'. Apostle means “one who is sent,
messenger” and by implication, one who is sent for a specific work or with a
specific message. The one who is sent has no inherent authority outside of the
parameters of the specific work for which he was sent.
Apostles have no
scriptural authority to ordain, commission, send out, or authorize other
“apostles”. During this age apostles are only sent out by the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13:2 NASB
(2)
While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set
apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Acts 13:4 NASB
(4)
So, being sent out
by the Holy Spirit,
they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.
After the Holy
Spirit spoke about setting Saul and Barnabas aside for the work, the other
prophets and teachers did what we would expect:
Acts 13:3 NASB
(3)
Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent
them away.
This verse sounds
like the prophets and teachers sent them out, that they had the authority to do
so, but the next verse makes it very clear that they were sent out by the Holy
Spirit. After this, the two are called apostles—sent ones. If the Holy Spirit
has not done the sending, then there is no scriptural evidence that one should
be called an apostle.
This shows that any
form of apostolic network is overstepping its scriptural boundaries when it
tries to commission or otherwise authorize so called 'apostles' even if this is
done under the guise of 'covering' or 'fathering', which in themselves are
teachings that are far removed from scriptural guidelines.
As far as I know,
all of the 'apostolic networks' operate as a pyramid; that is, there is a
hierarchy of authority with someone sitting at the top of the pyramid. This type
of operational model is condemned by Jesus.
Mark 10:42-44 NASB
(42)
Calling them to Himself, Jesus *said to them,
"You know that those who are
recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men
exercise authority over them.
(43)
"But
it is not this way among you,
but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant;
(44)
and whoever wishes to
be first among you shall be slave of all.
The Jesus authority
model is quite different from that of the world—even the 'sanctified' world of
the modern church. So, the idea of coming into “alignment” with some authority
structure that is outside of the local assembly of God's people is non-biblical.
The clearest
example of this in the scriptures is Antioch, which was not founded by any
apostles nor associated with any apostles nor in any way “apostolically
aligned”. Let's take a look at the development history of Antioch.
Acts 11:19-21 NASB
(19)
So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in
connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch,
speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.
(20)
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and
began
speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
(21)
And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned
to the Lord.
After the
persecution of Stephen, the believers were scattered from Jerusalem but the
Apostles stayed. These believers preached Christ in Phoenicia, Cyprus, and
Antioch to the Jews only. Some of these from Cyprus and Cyrene went to Antioch
and preached to the Greeks, that is , Gentiles also. The Lord was with them and
a large number became believers. So, this was done without any “apostolic”
involvement.
Acts 11:22-24 NASB
(22)
The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent
Barnabas off to Antioch.
(23)
Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and
began
to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain
true
to the Lord;
(24)
for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And
considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.
The church in
Jerusalem heard about what was happening in Antioch and sent Barnabas,
apparently to check it out. Notice that the church sent Barnabas, not the
apostles. And even though the church sent him, he is not called an apostle. It
is only years later when he is sent from Antioch by the Holy Spirit is he called
an apostle.
Barnabas encouraged
them and ministered in Antioch and considerable numbers became believers. So, we
have a growing and thriving assembly of God's people in Antioch still without
any apostolic involvement.
Barnabas realized
that more help was needed and went to look for Paul in Tarsus. Notice that Paul
was not “apostolically aligned” with anybody either. While he had visited
Jerusalem, they didn't exactly take him under their wing either.
Acts 11:25-26 NASB
(25)
And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul;
(26)
and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year
they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were
first called Christians in Antioch.
Barnabas and Saul
met with the church at Antioch and taught for an entire year. The Antioch church
grew and matured; again without any apostolic involvement, alignment, or so
called “spiritual” covering.
The only reason
that we have this problem among the people of God today is because the modern
institutional church doesn't operate in a scriptural manner. If it did there
would be opportunity for the Lord to raise up ministry and leadership from among
the brethren. They would have a proven local ministry with proven character
because they would be accountable to the local believers. Then, whenever the
Holy Spirit would desire, He would send forth those whom He had called to a
trans-local work. A church model that works correctly would have no need of any
“para-church” organizations and certainly no need for 'apostolic networks'.
In the scriptures
Paul and Barnabas split up after their first journeys together. Barnabas took a
team and went in one direction while Paul took his team and went in a different
direction. We have no record that they formed any type of 'apostolic network'
with their two teams. There was no alignment, covering, accountability or
anything else between the two teams. Each went and did what he believed that the
Holy Spirit had sent him to do.
It is only our own
egos that want to bring everything into our own structure. The work of the Lord
falls into the sovereign domain of the Lord. He already has a plan that He has
implemented. He is perfectly capable of directing His workers without any help
from self-appointed apostles.
So, enough
“apostolic alignment”, “apostolic reformation”, “apostolic movement”, apostolic
whatever talk. Let's just do what the Lord has said do. If we will walk in the
Spirit, we won't fulfill our fleshly desire to build our own kingdom or lord it
over others.
©
2003-2008 by Art Nelson and
Lifestream Teaching
Ministries
Previous issues of Present Truth are on the website: www.Lifestreamteaching.com
For comments or questions contact Art Nelson at this address:
artnelson@lifestreamteaching.com
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