Genesis 7:13 - On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 

Matthew 24:37-39 - As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

 Jesus said that the days before the Rapture would be similar to the days of Noah.  It comes on the world unexpectedly, when everyone is still making plans for the future (getting married) and celebrating.  Only Noah and his family knew what was coming; they had the revelation.

Noah had a task to complete.  God revealed to him what was coming (the Flood) and exactly what he should do (build a giant ship or Ark).  Nobody else suspected what was about to happen or received the instructions.   They were not seeking such knowledge, because they were too busy with their own pursuits and pleasures.  In the last days before the Rapture, God speaks and reveals what is happening and what is about to happen – that is, He reveals the prophetic moment in which we live.  Only the faithful church receives this revelation.  The world receives signs, but not revelation - signs in the environment (destruction of the earth’s water supplies and natural resources – se Revelation 8), signs in the heavens (disturbances in space), and the shaking of the earth (like the giant earthquakes/tsunamis that have even moved the earth’s axis in recent years.  The world ignores these signs, of course.  The faithful church, however, has revelation – God speaks and calls his people to prepare now for the Rapture.  The world continues on with its pursuits and pleasures, while the faithful church prepares for eternity. 

Just like Noah, the faithful church has a task to complete: creating a Body or structure exactly the way God wants it, and bringing in as many as possible before it is too late.  Many religious groups are busy doing the opposite.  They work to create a church structure that pleases themselves, or allows them to enjoy themselves and express themselves.  Others try to create a structure that will appeal to the culture surrounding it.  Few are concerned about how God wants things done in the church; few are willing to question or surrender their own opinions, preferences, and ideas to the Lord’s revelation.  They do this because they do not even believe that God has revealed, or would reveal, how he wants things done in the church.  They believe God left us to our own reasoning, because that is what they want – their own reasoning. 

Let us think about this.  If God was so particular about the dimensions of this giant wooden box or ship, would He not be even more opinionated about how things should be in his church?  God was so concerned about the way people worship that He gave an entire book about how to offer animal sacrifices (Leviticus), and dozens of chapters about how to build the place of worship in the Old Testament (in Exodus and 1 Chronicles).  It seems strange, then, that God would have no preferences whatsoever about what music we use in services today, or how we comport ourselves in the services, or how we should preach.  Surely he would not want us merely to look at what others are doing and then imitate the ones we like the best, that suit our tastes.  On the contrary, God reveals his project in more and more detail, just as in the days of Noah.  “The faithful church” is so named because she faithfully carries out God’s revealed instructions.  We have an Ark to build – the Body that will go up in the Rapture. Just as Jesus told his disciples to get new wineskins to hold new wine, so we need the new structures revealed by the Holy Spirit in order to hold, contain, and preserve the new outpouring of the Spirit in the last days. 

The world will continue unaware.  Marriage (and being “given in marriage” or getting engaged) is something that looks toward the future.  Nobody gets married the day before they die.  People get married because they want to spend years with the other person, to raise a family, etc.  People in the world will continue to plan for the future – with political plans, military strategies, financial or economic programs, relationships, business deals – right up to the end, with no awareness that their plans will go unfulfilled.  

In the faithful church, we do not know the day or the hour the Lord is coming – just as Noah did not know exactly when the floods would come while he was building the Ark.  We too make plans for our careers, our children’s education, and so on.  We are responsible, serious people.  Even so, we make every decision with the awareness that Jesus is coming soon to take us to eternity.  Every day we know that this could be the day.  The Ark is done.  We are in the last minutes of history before the Rapture, prophetically speaking.  NO other signs must be fulfilled before that event.  It could be tomorrow or next week.  This awareness changes all of our priorities.  We devote ourselves to the Lord’s work first of all, and attend to the material concerns only as a way to sustain ourselves to keep serving the Lord until that final day comes.  The world does not decide things with this awareness – unbelievers assume the world will continue on its present course for decades, even centuries.  They plan accordingly, and they pursue their pleasures accordingly.  We know that the end is near, and the most important thing is to prepare ourselves for eternity, and to bring as many as possible to eternity with us. 

In the period immediately before the rains began, God brought Noah’s family into the Ark, and he brought all the necessary animals to them.  Noah did not have to go out and trap animals – this was a miracle where God brought them in.  Noah’s task was to construct the Ark exactly as God wanted it so that it was ready to hold the animals when God brought them.  This is like the Faithful Church today.  God is bringing in the last ones who will be saved before the Great Tribulation, the time of judgment coming on all the earth.  God brings them in by his Holy Spirit – the growth is a miracle.  It does not depend on human techniques.  The faithful church follows the revelations and directions the Lord gives, and prepares the Ark (the church, the Body) so that as we evangelize, and God brings in the people miraculously, there is a proper place for them to be carried to eternity.  People come because of prayer, because God must operate to bring them in, just as he brought the right number and type of animals from all over the earth to Noah in those days. 

It is interesting that it says, “The Lord shut them in.”  In other words, after everyone had entered, God closed the door behind them.  They did not do it themselves – it was the hand of the Lord.  There was no more opportunity for those outside to be saved.  This is a prophetic illustration of the Rapture as well.  It is an act of God – a miracle, not something we can do ourselves.  God is the one who transports us to meet Christ in the air.  As this happens, though, the Age of Grace ends – the period during which salvation is available to the “nations” or the Gentiles.  It is just like God closing the door of the Ark behind Noah and his family.  There is no more opportunity for salvation after the Rapture for Gentiles.  

Salvation & judgment –  The Ark was salvation for those inside, but judgment for those outside.  This is the pattern in Scripture – every act of God’s salvation for his servants coincides with an act of judgment on the flesh.  This is not a popular idea today – people want to talk about the “Year of the Lord’s Favor” without mentioning that this is the same as the “Day of the Vengeance of Our God.” (see Isaiah 61:2 – “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God”).   The greatest blessing in all of history is the Rapture of the church (Paul calls it the “Blessed Hope” in Titus 2:13), but the final judgment on the world and all flesh commences at the same time – the Great Tribulation.  Today, the Lord is speaking to us as well – proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of the vengeance of our God.

Each week or month that passed brings us closer to our Blessed Hope, the coming of our Lord Jesus.  We feel that we must make the most of the time we have remaining (see Ephesians 5:16).  Time is running out for us to carry out everything the Lord wants us to do, and for those around us to receive the blessing of salvation through Christ.    

In this passage, Jesus is explaining the Last Days to his disciples.  He then offers an analogy to illustrate his challenge to us:“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?”  (Matt. 24:45).  As Christians, we are God’s servants.  As devoted followers of Christ, we want to be the type of servants that God considers “faithful and wise” – that is, reliable for achieving His purposes, and prudent about avoiding mistakes and problems.  

Many churches talk a lot about trusting God, emphasizing to their congregations that faith is important – and it is. God is faithful and we can trust Him fully.  Few churches, however, talk about being a person whom God can trust.  That is our goal.  Jesus indicates in this passage that there are some believers God trusts enough to give them responsibilities over His household.  He entrusts them to provide spiritual food to His other servants.  We want to be trustworthy, people God can entrust with the tasks that need to be done in His great Project of Salvation. 

Jesus goes further, however, and mentions that within this group of servants that God has entrusted with responsibilities, a subset will be faithfully attending to their spiritual duties when the Master (the Lord Jesus) returns.  Not all those whom God entrusts will remain faithful to the end – some will become abusive toward the members of the church, and self-indulgent with worldly pleasures and benefits (see v. 49).  

This is the challenge for us today.  If we want to please God, we must continue to be faithful and consistent in our walk with Him.  Jesus is coming soon.  According to this passage it matters what we are doing at the moment He returns.  Our goal is to be faithful in his sight.

Matthew 8:14-15 - “When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.” 

Jesus wants more than to come into your heart.  He wants to come into your home, to your family, to touch the people closest to you and save them.  When we really put our faith into practice, our family life centers on the Lord, and our family members and loved ones receive His blessings as a result.  Many evangelistic messages today center around the verse in Revelation 3 where Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…”  We are encouraged to open the door and let him in.  Yet this is not just the “door to your heart.”  Too many people treat their faith as a private matter between them and their Lord.  There is certainly a private dimension to our relationship with Christ, but there is also a public component – our integration into the Body, and our application of our faith within our home.

  God wants to touch even our least favorite family members!  There is some humor in the fact that Peter’s mother-in-law is the one who receives the miracle when Jesus came to his house.  Tensions with the mother-in-law are nearly universal – most cultures have mother-in-law jokes.  People often feel that their spouse’s mother interferes too much in their lives, is too opinionated about everything, and too demanding.  Biologically, she often outlives her own husband, so it is common that families have to take their elderly mother-in-law into their own home to live with them, a situation full of little inconveniences and frustrations.  Nobody ever reads this passage and asks, “What was Peter’s mother-in-law doing at his house?”  We almost expect her to be there. 

Yet Jesus touches her and heals her immediately.  We should ask him regularly to touch each one in our family, each one who has a need. 

Notice her reaction: she gets up and begins to serve.  This is the Lord’s plan for each one he saves and each one he heals – that we begin to serve him.  Unfortunately, many people never take this next step and become proactive in their faith.  This is God’s plan for each person – to work actively for his kingdom.  

This is the second blessing in this story, though.  Peter did not just receive healing in his household.  Another servant joined the disciples – another person was equipped to wait on the Lord and to help.  As we bring the Lord’s presence into our homes, and ask him to touch our families, the benefit goes beyond merely solving the immediate problem (health, finances, etc.).  More people join the Lord’s team of faithful servants.  This is a terrific blessing.  Not only does God want to give a blessing to your family members, he wants to integrate them into the Body and use them to serve others. 

They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this?  Whose inscription?”  

“Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  When they heard this, they were amazed.  So they left him and went away. - Matthew 22:20-22

It is interesting that Jesus asks about the coin’s “image” (or “portrait” in some versions) and “inscription.”  It reminds us of the phrase God used when He created man, in His own “image and likeness.”  (Genesis 1:27).  Caesar’s image and likeness was on the coin; God’s image and likeness is on each of us.  We owe taxes to the government officials, who issue money with their images; but we should give God our very selves, surrendering our lives to him, because He made us in HIS image and likeness.  We belong to him.  Nevertheless, religious people like those in this passage tend to put things in the reverse.  They use religion as an excuse to withhold things that belong to the government.  At the same time, they give themselves – their hearts and minds and lives- to this world instead of to God.  

The Pharisees in this story were hoping to trap Jesus.  Should God’s servants pay taxes to a pagan ruler?  They thought this would put Jesus in an awkward position.  If he openly supported paying taxes, many of the people in the crowd would feel that he was no patriotic or zealous enough; it would make him seem weak, afraid to take a stand.  On the other hand, the Romans did not tolerate troublemakers who stirred up the crowds against taxes.  It was a crime to encourage others to commit tax evasion.  If Jesus said “no” to the tax question, he would be subject to punishment by the Romans, which would also have pleased the Pharisees.  It was a way to get rid of him.

Jesus called them “hypocrites” because they themselves faced the same quandary.  The Pharisees knew they could not say anything in public about taxes because they would incur either the wrath of the Romans or the ire of the crowds.  If Jesus had asked a Pharisee the same question in public, the Pharisee would have been in the same awkward situation that they foisted on Jesus.  It was indeed hypocritical for them to raise the issue, and their motives were evil – they simply wanted to embarrass Jesus because they were jealous of him.

This story gives us a picture of religion apart from God – worldly social institutions that try to please the people and appease those in power, instead of trying to please God Himself.  One of the favorite pastimes of religion is to think up difficult theological questions, such as the one posed here, for which they believe no answer exists except human opinions.  This encourages the members to adopt a relativistic approach to everything.  The religious mindset is always trying to think of hard questions for God.  “If God is all powerful, why does He allow my pain and suffering?”  “Why does the Bible say such a strange thing in ___ book?”  These are silly questions, of course; the whole purpose of them is to try to find a question that has no answer.  That is exactly what the religious leaders tried to do to here.   

They did this because they had no revelation.  They could not hear from the Holy Spirit.  They lived by their own reason and religious opinions instead of the Spirit’s daily manna.  For them, the Scriptures were just “dead letter” (2 Corinthians 3:6), ancient words they could try to understand, to debate about, and to apply literally whenever it was convenient.  The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.  They had no spiritual life, just the letter of the Law.

Jesus surprised them with his answer.  He began by asking them a question in response (“Whose portrait is this?  Whose inscription?”).  This is a common theme in the Bible – Jesus answers people by asking them a revealing question.  He knows the answer, of course, before he asks, but he wants us to admit the truth to ourselves.  The answer in this case was simple: Caesar’s face was on every Roman coin, as we put former Presidents’ profiles on ours.   

This seemingly simple answer betrayed a much deeper truth.  The Jews resented the Roman taxes and military presence, but they all enjoyed the benefits of Roman capitalism and commerce, the material luxuries brought into their country by this commercial superpower.  They used Roman money every day to buy and sell goods. They liked Roman products.  The Israelites did not produce these coins themselves; the currency they used, the only currency of value, was the Roman money.  It was part of the Roman system, and the Jews were participating in it as a matter of due course in their daily lives.  Jesus poses a simple rule: if Caesar made the money (he did), and distributed the money (he did), and still has a legal claim to some or all of the money (he did), then give the money to Caesar when he asks for it.  The religious mindset of these Pharisees confused material things with spiritual things, as religion always does.  Taxes are simply a normal part of any monetary system, a material thing.  They wanted find an excuse to keep more money themselves, instead of paying the tax.  They cloaked their petty greed and materialism in an appearance of religious zeal.  Religion does this – the people are not trying to please God, but rather pursue the same material things as the people in the world.  Then they use religious reasoning and arguments to justify themselves. 

God did not make that Roman money.  Caesar did.  Money is something governments make as a convenience to facilitate trade and commerce.  It is easier to use coins than to carry bulky items around to trade.  We all use it, we all benefit from it, and we all should pay the government what we owe to them.  Give Caesar what comes from Caesar.  It has no value in eternity.  It did not come from eternity and it does not enter eternity.  It has no eternal value.  The money was Caesar’s in every sense of the word.  He made it and distributed it.  It bore his image and name, as one might mark his own property to indicate ownership.

The Bible teaches us that we should pay our taxes and obey the laws:  “Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.  This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.  Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”  (Romans 13:5-7).

“Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good.”  (Titus 3:1).  It is part of our testimony as sanctified believers, as the Lord’s servants, to have a good relationship with the governing authorities over us, to obey the law.  God wants us to be good, respectable citizens.

Then Jesus addresses an even deeper issue: “Give to God what is God’s.” If Caesar made the money, what did God make?  You and me.  “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  (Eph. 2:10).  Not only did the religious leaders want to avoid paying taxes, but also they did not want to give themselves fully to God, to please the Lord and obey his revelation.  We should give to God what is rightfully His.  A few verses later, in this same chapter, Jesus tells them, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  (Matthew 22:37). 

We owe God our very bodies, our selves.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”  (Romans 12:1).  This is how we “give to God what is God’s.”  The religious leaders back then did not want to do this.  Instead, they wanted to appease God with something external, something material, like refusing to pay taxes to the unbelievers in Rome.  They were not concerned with pleasing God.  They just wanted to give God a little something so they could go their own way and do what they wanted.  We should give God what we owe Him, which is obedience and complete submission.  We should also give the authorities over us what we owe to them.

We should also remember to pray for our authorities – this is part of our obedience to God, “giving God what is God’s.”  “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  (1 Timothy 2:1-4).  The religious leaders in Jesus’ day saw the authorities as adversaries, competing for power and influence in society.  We do not view the government as an opponent, but instead as other people God wants to reach with his message of love, salvation, and eternal life.

“They left him and went away” – Even though Jesus answered their question, they did not believe in him or yield to him.  Instead, they just went away from him and left him.  This is how dead religion works – when God speaks through revelation and silences all the human arguments and opinions, they just go away.  They avoid the revelation and shun the things that come from eternity.

We want to stay close to him.  Jesus is not of this world.  He is from eternity, and he will take us to eternity.  We need to understand which things in our lives are temporary – just part of our earthly existence while we are here – and which things are eternal and permanent.  “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”  (2 Corinthians 5:15).

“They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’  But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.  The greatest among you will be your servant.” - Matthew 23:6-11

Our flesh craves prestige and power.  The Holy Spirit does not accommodate this trait of man.  In the Work of the Holy Spirit, there is a constant struggle to keep our flesh from interfering with the Spirit’s Work, from hurting God’s project.  The Spirit wants to give glory to Jesus and none other.  Our flesh wants at least a little glory for ourselves.  Some people feel a need to be someone “special” – as did the Jewish leaders Jesus describes in the passage above.  One of the main ways pastors give into this urge is to claim some glorious title, something that sounds better than average, or maybe even better than everyone.  This was a problem in Jesus’ day as well.  The Jewish leaders liked to be addressed as “Teacher” or “Rabbi” – a title for religious teachers that was related to the word for “greatness,” similar to calling someone “Reverend” (a person we revere) today.  Jesus forbid his disciples to use these titles.  He also specifically forbids us from using the title “Father” for church leaders – which, ironically, became the universal title for clergy in the Medieval Catholic Church.

For convenience, we need to have some terms that we use to designate the men responsible over church congregation – some moderate or neutral term that simply sums up the function of the person ordained for this task, rather than ascribing special traits or achievement.  Some denominations use the terms “minister” or “clergy,” which are appropriate.  In Maranatha churches, we usually refer to these men as “pastors,” which describes their role in shepherding a flock that the Lord has entrusted to them (most people do not think of “shepherd” as an elevated title).  We speak of the “ministry” as something that the pastor exercises.  Of course, in other languages (especially non-Western tongues), there may be other terms commonly used as the generic name for a person responsible for a local flock or congregation.  We have seminar classes for our pastors where we teach them that they should never require their members to address them with a title like “pastor,” or rebuke someone for calling them by their name instead.  We want our pastors to be humble men, not lording it over the flock or using their position to satiate their fragile egos or pander to their personal insecurities.

The Lord uses some of our pastors in special ways.  Some are very gifted preachers or evangelists.  Others have an extraordinary number of visions, dreams, and prophecies – detailed revelations from the Holy Spirit – that accompany their ministry activity and edify the whole Body.  Still others have additional useful skills, talents, or abilities that enrich all of our churches.

Even so, we do not give any of them titles besides the simple designation of “pastor.”  We know some of the pastors have a prophetic ministry, but we do not publicly call them “prophets” – this is unnecessary and elevates a man, while the purpose of prophecy is to turn everyone’s attention on the Lord.  We have apostles in our midst, but we do not need to identify them individually.  What matters is the fruitful exercise of their apostolic ministry, not the attachment of titles.

In some countries, we have some pastors who are regional coordinators, overseeing an area with dozens – or even hundreds – of other pastors.  We prefer to call them “regional coordinators” or something low-key and descriptive like that.  Every regional coordinator is in submission to the Body and to the Presbytery (the Body of pastors that governs the Body. Nobody acts independently, without accountability.  We are aware that other churches and movements use liturgical names for such positions, like “bishop.”  Such terms can carry connotations of spiritual superiority, as in the Catholic Church, whereas we view coordination as more of an administrative function.

We sometimes encounter religious movements that use almost ridiculously grandiose titles for the leaders – “Prophetic Bishop,” “Apostle of the Prophets,” “Healing Prophet,” and so on.  In contrast, we believe that “the Lord bestows favor and honor” (Psalm 84:11).  We do not need to claim it for ourselves, assert it through some self-designated title, or advertise it by broadcasting our credentials to the public.  Such vanity is, well, vain and empty.  If the Holy Spirit is using a man in the ministry, it will be evident.  He will not need an official title to back him up, or to bolster what the Spirit is doing.  Of course, other churches have professional ministries or full-time pastors, something we normally do not have in Maranatha.  In contexts where the pastor has turned his ministry into his career and livelihood, it is predictable that competition would emerge as it does in every business, and many professional clergy treat the ministry as a business.  In the business world, titles and positions matter because everyone is competing for first place.  When churches become like a business and the ministry is the pastor’s job, we would expect to see an escalation in the titles that ministers claim for themselves.

Some might object, however, that the original church leaders in the New Testament used an impressive designation (”Apostle”) for themselves.  That is only partly true.  James and Jude introduce themselves in their epistles as “servants,” even though we know they were Apostles.  Peter begins his second epistle referring to himself as a “servant” first and “apostle” second – this verse could be the basis for a whole sermon about which is more important.  Paul does the same at the beginning of his letters to Titus and to the Romans.  Both letters to the Thessalonians use no titles in the introduction.    Paul refers to himself as simply a “servant” at the beginning of Philippians (which fits with the theme of that book), and as a “prisoner” at the beginning of Philemon (which fits with the message of that book, which about being “bound by duty” to release a certain Christian captive, Onesimus).  The point is that the Apostles did not always need to call themselves such.  When they did, there was a good reason.

Paul does introduce himself as an “apostle,” at the beginning of the letters to the Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, and to Timothy.  Interestingly, these are the letters containing the most guidelines about structure and practice within the churches themselves (handling of spiritual gifts, church discipline, raising new pastors, not observing religious holidays or food restrictions, and so on).  In the era of the New Testament, “apostle” was a descriptive term meaning simply “envoy” or “delegate” – a “messenger” on a specific mission (it also applied only to men, because it involved a legal delegation of authority).  This term did not yet have the churchy, religious connotations it later acquired.  Today, many Christians associate “Apostle” with the “founding fathers” of Christianity – the term has lost all its earlier functional meaning and has take on an air of grandeur and supreme importance for many people.  Similarly, the term “missionary” now has a very specific meaning (someone who travels to another country to preach Christianity, etc.) that it may not have had in earlier centuries.

Paul refers to himself with this descriptive term in cases where he is setting general rules and doctrines for the churches, because his specific role or mission in the early church pertained to this.  He was “sent” or commissioned to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles while the original “apostles” stayed in Jerusalem, reaching mostly Jews.  As the official delegate or envoy commissioned to establish Christianity outside its original cultural context (Israel), part of Paul’s job was to set the protocol for worshipping in a non-Jewish way, with church practices that did not incorporate any Jewish food laws, religious holidays, ceremonies like circumcision, family dynasties of priests, seniority by age, education, or bloodline, etc.  This may seems obvious to us today, but in Paul’s day it was very controversial.  Almost all the Christians before Paul came along were Jewish and kept Jewish religious practices, and Paul was almost alone in pushing to remove these unnecessary cultural trappings from the Work of the Holy Spirit.  Paul knew this was part of his special mission; it was his “job” in the early church, from the Lord’s perspective.  It is not surprising, then, that Paul felt the need to refer his commission as a special emissary (that is, “apostle”) in epistles where he is refuting the encroachment of Jewish “originalism” (”God’s Work started with us”) and establishing official protocol and practice within the Gentile churches.

That was twenty centuries ago.  Today, the term “apostle” has taken on a new meaning, associated more with greatness or leadership than with a specific task.  So then, a young pastor today who has an ambitious or self-confident personality might naturally fancy himself an “apostle,” because most Christians think of this as the highest position or office one can have in the church.  Tens of thousands of Christian preachers call themselves this, and of course, every single one claims that God called him to this office.  Jesus seems to say that “servant” is the best position (and the real Apostles were not afraid to call themselves that instead), and Jesus warns about people who “say they are apostles but are not” (Rev. 2:2).  Calling oneself an apostle does not make it so.  At the same time, we know that some pastors are indeed apostles. The Lord truly gave them this ministry.  Even so, it is wise to avoid the unnecessary connotations that arise from using this today as a regular title in public.  In Paul’s day, it meant he had a job to do.  Today, it sounds pretentious.  We know we have apostles in our midst, but we simply call them “pastors,” and they can still fulfill their calling.  It is better to avoid sounding ostentatious in the church.

The quest for titles was already starting, unfortunately, by the end of the first century.  Paul felt dogged by other (Jewish) pastors who followed him around and took over his churches after he left.  They would apparently tell the new Gentile converts, “Paul introduced you to Jesus, but now we will teach you how Christianity is really supposed to be – based on the original model in Jerusalem.”  These “Judaizers” (those who tried to make Christianity retain its original Jewishness) adopted superlative titles for themselves and broadcast their elevated status. Remember that in the passage above (Matt 23) Jesus warned his listeners that this was a widespread problem within Judaism in his day.  This phenomenon within Judaism of their day crept into the churches along with the other artifacts of Jewish culture.

Paul therefore mentions in a few places, “I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.” (2 Corinthians 12:11).  Paul understood that no man is anything; only Jesus matters.  We see similar statements in 2 Corinthians 11:5.  Paul also explained, “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves.  When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12).  Paul thought each of us should compare ourselves with Jesus, not with each other.  When we compare ourselves with Jesus, we realize we are truly nothing, and we are less prone to elevate ourselves with some new title.

This brings us back to the instructions our Lord Jesus gave us.  “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.  The greatest among you will be your servant…”

]]> http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/134/feed/ 0 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/585 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/585#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:46:52 +0000 dru http://maranathaglobal.jeffwatts.com/?p=585 Matthew 15:6-9 - Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.   They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ 

What were the religious traditions to which Jesus referred?  They had several main components.

1)    TRADITIONAL RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS (see Galatians 4:10-11; Colossians 2:16-17) – they had numerous special celebrations throughout the year, and they scrupulously observed the Sabbath Day every week.  Of course, different religious denominations within their religion disagreed about some of the specific rules for the Sabbath or the occasions for other holidays, just like denominations and churches today.

2)    TRADITIONS ABOUT THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP – Again, the Jews were deeply divided about this, with some insisting that the great Temple was the proper location for worship, many others spent their Sabbaths at the Synagogue, and the Samaritans insisted on worshipping on a particular mountain.  (John 4:40)  All the groups followed their own traditions.  They always observed the same customs about how to arrange the items in the Temple, how to arrange the seating in the synagogues, etc. (See also Matt 23:29). Jesus said they were all wrong (John 4:23).

3)    TRADITIONS ABOUT THE PRIESTS OR PROFESSIONAL MINISTERS – They had traditions about their religious leaders – they expected them to be full-time, professional clergy.  The group called Sadducees followed the priests at the Temple, who were descended from Aaron and the Levites.  The group called the Pharisees followed the professional Rabbis or “teachers of the Law” who taught in the Synagogues – they claimed to be following a tradition started by Ezra the Scribe (the hero of the book of Ezra in the Old Testament). 

4)    TRADITIONS ABOUT HOW TO WORSHIP – They had their own traditions about how to worship God, but nobody cared about what God Himself wanted from their worship.  Some of the groups insisted on offering animal sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem; other groups “worshipped” by singing and listening to sermons in the synagogues.  They also had traditions about which version of the Scriptures they would use in their meetings.  The Sadducees and the Samaritans accepted only the first five books of the Old Testament, but they had slightly different versions; the Pharisees accepted the rest of the Old Testament as well.  Jesus told the Samaritan Woman that God instead wants people who worship in Spirit and Truth, that is, according to God’s revelation.  (John 4:23)

5)    TRADITIONS ABOUT FOOD AND DRINK – They had developed many traditions about what foods were clean and unclean.  Some of these came from Leviticus, but others were inventions of men.  They had rules about when they could eat food, when they had to fast, etc.

6)    TRADITIONS ABOUT TITHES AND OFFERINGS – See Matthew 23:23-24.

Jesus ignored their traditions and treated them as something worthless.  He healed on the Sabbath, which their traditions forbid.  He let his disciples violate some of the food laws, eating with unwashed hands. 

The problem persists today.  In the “Christian” regions, where people attend the same church from childhood, they often cling the tradition of their denomination and refuse to seek God for His will or plan about how we should do thing.  We cannot be passive and blindly follow the ways we have always seen things done.  We see each of the types of traditions listed above in Christianity today.  Where did these Christian traditions come from?  Men invent all traditions.  Jesus gives us the same challenge today.  We need to follow what God says and not always stay with what is familiar to us.  He has new blessings for us, new revelations to show us.  We need to let go of our traditions – all of them – and hold on to the commands of God instead.

Our flesh craves prestige and power.  The Holy Spirit does not accommodate this trait of man.  In the Work of the Holy Spirit, there is a constant struggle to keep our flesh from interfering with the Spirit’s Work, from hurting God’s project.  The Spirit wants to give glory to Jesus and none other.  Our flesh wants at least a little glory for ourselves.  Some people feel a need to be someone “special” – as did the Jewish leaders Jesus describes in the passage above.  

One of the main ways pastors give into this urge is to claim some glorious title, something that sounds better than average, or maybe even better than everyone.  This was a problem in Jesus’ day as well.  The Jewish leaders liked to be addressed as “Teacher” or “Rabbi” – a title for religious teachers that was related to the word for “greatness,” similar to calling someone “Reverend” (a person we revere) today.  Jesus forbid his disciples to use these titles.  He also specifically forbids us from using the title “Father” for church leaders – which, ironically, became the universal title for clergy in the Medieval Catholic Church.

For convenience, we need to have some terms that we use to designate the men responsible over church congregation – some moderate or neutral term that simply sums up the function of the person ordained for this task, rather than ascribing special traits or achievement.  Some denominations use the terms “minister” or “clergy,” which are appropriate.  In Maranatha churches, we usually refer to these men as “pastors,” which describes their role in shepherding a flock that the Lord has entrusted to them (most people do not think of “shepherd” as an elevated title).  We speak of the “ministry” as something that the pastor exercises.  Of course, in other languages (especially non-Western tongues), there may be other terms commonly used as the generic name for a person responsible for a local flock or congregation.  We have seminar classes for our pastors where we teach them that they should never require their members to address them with a title like “pastor,” or rebuke someone for calling them by their name instead.  We want our pastors to be humble men, not lording it over the flock or using their position to satiate their fragile egos or pander to their personal insecurities.

The Lord uses some of our pastors in special ways.  Some are very gifted preachers or evangelists.  Others have an extraordinary number of visions, dreams, and prophecies – detailed revelations from the Holy Spirit – that accompany their ministry activity and edify the whole Body.  Still others have additional useful skills, talents, or abilities that enrich all of our churches.  Even so, we do not give any of them titles besides the simple designation of “pastor.”  We know some of the pastors have a prophetic ministry, but we do not publicly call them “prophets” – this is unnecessary and elevates a man, while the purpose of prophecy is to turn everyone’s attention on the Lord.

We sometimes encounter religious movements that use almost ridiculously grandiose titles for the leaders – “Prophetic Bishop,” “Apostle of the Prophets,” “Healing Prophet,” and so on.  In contrast, we believe that “the Lord bestows favor and honor” (Psalm 84:11).  We do not need to claim it for ourselves, assert it through some self-designated title, or advertise it by broadcasting our credentials to the public.  If the Holy Spirit is using a man in the ministry, it will be evident.  He will not need an official title to back him up, or to bolster what the Spirit is doing.

Of course, other churches have professional ministries or full-time pastors, something we normally do not have in Maranatha.  In contexts where the pastor has turned his ministry into his career and livelihood, it is predictable that competition would emerge as it does in every business, and many professional clergy treat the ministry as a business.  In the business world, titles and positions matter because everyone is competing for first place.  When churches become like a business and the ministry is the pastor’s job, we would expect to see an escalation in the titles that ministers claim for themselves.

The quest for titles was already starting, unfortunately, by the end of the first century. Paul felt dogged by other (Jewish) pastors who followed him around and took over his churches after he left. They would apparently tell the new Gentile converts, “Paul introduced you to Jesus, but now we will teach you how Christianity is really supposed to be – based on the original model in Jerusalem.” These “Judaizers” (those who tried to make Christianity retain its original Jewishness) adopted superlative titles for themselves and broadcast their elevated status. Remember that in the passage above (Matthew 23) Jesus warned his listeners that this was a widespread problem within Judaism in his day. This phenomenon within Judaism of their day crept into the churches along with the other artifacts of Jewish culture.

Paul therefore mentions in a few places, “I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.” (2 Corinthians 12:11). Paul understood that no man is anything; only Jesus matters. We see similar statements in 2 Corinthians 11:5. Paul also explained, “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12). Paul thought each of us should compare ourselves with Jesus, not with each other. When we compare ourselves with Jesus, we realize we are truly nothing, and we are less prone to elevate ourselves with some new title.

]]> http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/571/feed/ 0 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/824 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/824#comments Sun, 08 Oct 2006 16:25:02 +0000 dru http://maranathaglobal.jeffwatts.com/?p=824 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:20

Matthew’s gospel closes with these comforting words.  Jesus is not just a historical figure, or someone who lived long ago and purchased our salvation.  He is alive today, and is active in his church and in our lives.  He is alive to lead us and guide us, to heal us and teach us, to provide for us and help us.

THE END OF THE AGE: The “age” refers to the period of salvation history that was commencing at that moment, commonly called “the Church Age” or the “Age of Grace” (of course, every age is an Age of Grace, because God is always gracious and compassionate).  This refers to the period during which the gospel would reach all the nations, Gentiles would be saved in great numbers, and the church would develop and grow as both the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ.  This age ends at the Rapture of the church, when we are united with the Lord forever in our eternal home.

We already know that the Lord will be present in eternity with us – everyone who believes in the Lord believes he reigns in heaven.  We sometimes become discouraged, however, in this life, during this age, and need reassurance that the Lord is with us even when our physical eyes cannot see him.

The “end” of the age is a prophetic event, and the fulfillment of certain prophecies operate as a sign that the “end” or final phase has begun, the “home stretch” of the project of salvation.  One of the two greatest signs in this regard was the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in her original homeland in 1948, an event upon which all the prophecies about the Last Days or “end of the age” depended.  The other greatest sign is the emergence of the Body that is prepared for the Rapture, the faithful church that is Baptized in the Holy Spirit (has their lamps full of oil and ready for the wedding feast), under the government of the fivefold ministries (see Ephesians 4:17), living by revelation, and working to hasten his coming.  The final church is the greatest sign and evidence that the project is nearing completion, because the development of the faithful church was the primary goal of the project.  Other events, such as the widespread contamination of the environment, world wars, the dissolution of the family unit, political and social events in Europe and Asia, etc., are indications that the end of the age is at hand.  The two greatest signs, however, are the re-emergence of the Apostolic church in a form prepared for Rapture, and the re-emergence of the state of Israel in a form ready for the “final week” of years in the book of Daniel.

We live in the end of the age, and the Lord is still with us, faithfully completing his project.  We look forward to being with him in the fullest sense at the Rapture, very soon.

“I will be with you always” - One of Jesus’ prophetic names, given in the book of Isaiah, is “Emmanuel” (also spelled “Immanuel”), which means in Hebrew, “God is With Us.”  God was with us in a special way when He entered the world in human form, and Jesus is with us now through his Holy Spirit.  The great promise of “Emmanuel” was that God would not be far away, or unreachable.  Instead, we can feel his presence with us and experience the operation of his Spirit in our lives and in the faithful church.

How is he “with us” today?  Individual servants of the Lord have Him in their hearts, of course, and we feel his presence when we pray, seek his face, worship, plead the Blood, etc.  But the most important way that he is “with us” today is in his BODY.  It is in the Body that we find the complete manifestation of Jesus in the world today.  That is the place where he reveals himself fully, something unavailable to an isolated individual.  That is where he reveals the plans to coordinate the completion of his project, and how we can participate in his Work.  He promised to be with you always, and he fulfills this promise in the Body.

 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - 

Our Lord is not just a historical figure, or someone who lived long ago and purchased our salvation.  He is alive today, and is active in his church and in our lives.  We can see the operation of the Trinity even in this simple, short phrase.  

“I AM” – this was the name the Father used to refer to himself in the Old Testament. (Exodus 3:14).  “I AM” sent Moses to bring his Word to the Israelites, and to lead them out of Egypt into the Promised Land.  “I AM” today (at the end of the age) sends us to bring his revelation to others and prepare the church for the Rapture, when we leave this world for the Promised Land (eternity). 

“With you”= “Emmanuel,” which means “God is With Us” in Hebrew.  This was a prophetic name for Jesus. (Isaiah 7:14).  It refers to his incarnation, when the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-4), and his return, which is certain. 

“Always, to the very end of the age”= the operation of the Holy Spirit.  This “age” is the age of the Holy Spirit, which began at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out in a new way, and ends at the Rapture when the Holy Spirit is removed from the world (the “restraining influence” is taken away, 2 Thess 2:7).  The Holy Spirit is working throughout this period to accomplish the project of preparing the Bride for the wedding of the Lamb. The end of the age is the completion of the Holy Spirit’s task in this world, and the Spirit leaves with the church as it is raptured – because the Spirit indwells this church, the Body. 

We receive the blessings of this promise as we get our lives in step with the Holy Spirit’s project, revealed in the Body.  Today the Father entrusts us with the revelation as he did with Moses, and gives us the mission of bringing a people into the eternal inheritance (prepared for the Rapture).  Today we live lives transformed by the Incarnation (because Jesus was human and shed his blood for us), and live in hope for his return when we will be “with him” in the fullest sense.  And today we live with the “end of the age” at hand, with the Spirit operating and finishing his project in the world, which is the Bride prepared for the Rapture.

“…they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.” - 

Matthew describes the five types of infirmities of people Jesus healed during his ministry on the earth.  These different healings give a deeper understanding of the five-fold ministry in God’s project.  Because Jesus – as our great High Priest – had all five ministries, it is interesting to see how He used each of them in healing people.  The five ministries are listed in Ephesians 4:11.  The Lord appoints apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and the doctrine of the ministry is provided in other teachings.  For the sake of understanding the infirmities Jesus healed, it is only necessary to understand the general focus and purpose of each of the five ministries.  

The people Jesus healed were (1) those who were ill, (2) those suffering with various diseases and pains, (3) demoniacs, (4) epileptics, and (5) paralytics.  Each infirmity represents something in the Works that is healed by a fully functioning ministry.  Let’s look at each one in closer detail:

Those who were ill.  Jesus came for the spiritually ill.  He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Luke 5:31)  Jesus brought the Gospel to the spiritually ill. Spiritual illness is when one’s spiritual life is not functioning properly.  Physical illness has a variety of symptoms, but almost always includes tiredness, lack of energy, and loss of appetite.  We can sport spiritual illness because the believer becomes lethargic and lazy, apathetic and unconcerned; they lose their hunger for spiritual food.   Every heart that had a place for this Gospel was a heart healed from its spiritual illness.  The establishment of the Gospel was Jesus’ goal in the life of everyone He encountered who was ill.  The establishment of the Gospel is also the ministry of the apostle.  Just as the Lord uses Apostles to establish churches – to establish the Gospel – Jesus, in His apostolic ministry, established the Gospel in the lives of those who were ill, healing them of their illness, and making them servants in His project.

Those suffering with various diseases and pains.  In Jesus’ life on the earth, He never encountered a problem that He didn’t know how to solve, and He never encountered an infirmity that He didn’t know how to heal.  He was able to heal blindness, leprosy, hemorrhaging, and all other types of diseases and pains that the people brought to Him.  But despite the wide array of needs, He discerned the need of the individual and operated healings that addressed the individual.  Spiritual diseases and pains speak of specific problems and injuries in our spiritual lives, and the prophetic gifts address these specific wounds and needs.  This is the operation of Jesus’ prophetic ministry.  The Lord uses Prophets to discern the need of the individual that will be touched by the Work, and since Prophets are frequently used to guide the Church on a global level, the need of the individual may vary greatly.  It requires the wisdom and discernment of the Prophet to understand and to heal these various diseases.

Demoniacs.  Jesus encountered various people who were possessed by unclean spirits, and He was always able to cast them out.  Demoniacs are enslaved to the forces of darkness; they are like spiritual prisoners.  These are people in need of salvation, to be set free.  It was Jesus’ evangelistic ministry that cured the demoniacs, and it is the evangelistic ministry of the Body today that brings the message of salvation to those possessed by an unclean spirit.  We do not have a ministry of exorcists.  Everyone who is unsaved is a captive of sin, and needs to be set free through salvation.

Epileptics/those with seizures.  Epileptics are those who are thrown into seizures at various times.  They lack the ability to maintain control over their own bodies, because something malfunctions in their minds.  Spiritual seizures refers to a lack of self-control and a lack of integration into the Body.  It is through salvation as a process – the sanctifying process performed by the Holy Spirit – that we are able to overcome this.  This is the challenge each of us faces personally, in the trenches with our local churches, and this is the process that a Pastor helps with.  Jesus’ pastoral ministry was to shepherd His flock and assist each individual sheep through the long and sometimes painful process of sanctification.  Pastors help integrate us into the flock, the Body, where we learn to function properly and have self-control and discipline.

Paralytics.  Paralysis is the lack of ability to move.  Paralytics are unable to move certain body parts, like legs or hands, and in the spiritual sense, this is symbolic of someone who is unable to walk with the Lord or serve Him in the Work of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus encountered many people who were paralyzed, and He healed them.  This speaks of the healing in the Body of people who are paralyzed spiritually.  People who are unable to move spiritually are healed through teaching.  The ministry of teacher helps the member to see new aspects of God’s Work so that they can have more complete movement and activity in their spiritual life, instead of having certain areas lie dormant and unused.

Jesus had all five of the ministries, something that we have not seen in the life of any single individual in this Work.  Yet the collective group of pastors in the Work – the Presbytery – does have all five of the ministries.  It is only through the proper functioning of all five ministries in the Body that all five infirmities can be cured in the lives of those who are reached by the Work.  By the healing of these infirmities, the Body is made complete and is able to proclaim the same testimony that the individuals in the Bible proclaimed when Jesus healed them.  In this, the Work of the Holy Spirit moves forward, and the Lord is glorified.