THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

 

Chapter 16

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The Church, Her Workers

The Deployment Order​

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John 6:28-29 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

 

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The Church workers are also the Church members. Primarily and scripturally, the call of God is a call to work. To accept God’s call is not to go finding out what to get but what to do. Therefore, everyone who answers God’s call in Christ is accepting God’s salvation and service. Like an army, every believer in Christ is a troop or soldier. It is believing and becoming a member of a workforce. So, what is the actual difference between one worker and the other? It is in the nature of the assignment. Note that the one consensus assignment in Scripture that we all share, is that we, all members, should believe in the One that God has sent to us – Jesus Christ.

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It is Jesus, our Head, that shares responsibilities, and He does so according to the measure of anointing or grace with which we have been bestowed. Howbeit, all assignments are geared toward the edification of the entire body or workforce (1 Cor. 14:26).

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No worker does anything by his power. They are variously gifted as God deems fit according to 1 Cor. 4:7. God, by releasing grace to us with which to do any work in the body of believers in Christ, never made anyone superior to the others who are not given the same measure of grace. But everyone is expected to search to uncover his or her God given ability at any point in time, since it is according to various assignments. God’s way of sharing gifts or enablement is ‘shadowed’ in Moses’s regime in Num. 7:6-9, in the sharing of carts and oxen for the purposes of carrying out the service of the Levites. In this example, the substance we see is that there are supplies that can be accessed by, say, ‘Sis. A.’ because of her assignment at any given time, which cannot equally be accessed by ‘Sis. B.’ in the same workforce, as it would be a waste - and not required – in the hand of the latter. God Himself does not expect us to offer prayer asking for such because He would see this as asking to gratify fleshly passions (Jam. 4:1-4).

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The one Church is not given a name in Scripture. Similarly, Church workers are not given titles in Scripture. Church workers are only tagged in line with the offices they occupy at any point in time: ‘Samson’ can serve in the office of a Deacon, and so he can be addressed ‘Deacon Samson’ as long as he is in that office. ‘Joy’ can serve as a Deaconess (not in the office of elder or pastor, but in the biblical role of service to the church, as Phoebe did in Rom. 16:1). But the most appropriate way to avoid confusion around titles is ‘Samson (Deacon)’; ‘Michael Ekperikpe (Evangelist)’; ‘Joy (Deaconess)’ and so on. If Samson moves in the next two years to work as an ‘Elder’, he is addressed as ‘Samson (Elder)’.

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Evaluation Questions & Answers​

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1. All workers are members. Does that include the Pastors, the Superintendents(?), General overseer(?), the Reverends(?), the Evangelist, the Prophets etc.?

   • Yes, if they are in Christ. They “shepherd the church of God” (Acts 20:28), being members first, shepherds second.

   • But: ‘Superintendent’, ‘General Overseer’, ‘Reverend’ are unscriptural titles (Matt. 23:8-10). ‘Evangelist’, ‘Prophet’ are scriptural functions (Eph. 4:11).

   • Test: Do they serve or rule? They should not be “lords over the flock”, but examples to them (1 Pet. 5:3). If title makes them superior, they are not workers, they are lords.

   •  All workers are members. Not all titled men are workers (Matt. 7:22-23).

2. To go to God is to go finding out what to do, not what to get. Discuss.

   • See John 6:28-29. “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus: “This is the work… that you believe…”.

   • Meaning: Faith is work. Going to God = enlistment, not entitlement, as warned against in Jam. 4:1-4: “You ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

   • Example: In Num. 7:6-9, the Gershonites were given carts because the work required it. The Kohathites carried on shoulders, therefore no carts. Asking for carts when your work is for shoulders is fleshy passion. God gives assignment first, then equipment. Seek His face for task, not His hand for things (Matt. 6:33).

3. It is services delivery that makes salvation credible. Why?

   • “Faith without works is dead… I will show you my faith by my works.” (Jam. 2:17-18)

   • “Let us not love in word… but in deed.” (1 John 3:17-18)

   • Why? Salvation = enlistment. A soldier who never fights is a suspected spy.

   • “Let your light so shine… that they may see your good works and glorify your Father…” . (Matt. 5:16)

   • Credibility: The world believes our message when they see our ministry. “By this all will know… if you have love.” (John 13:35).

   • Preaching without serving is noise (1 Cor. 13:1). Kohathites carrying the Ark on carts would die (Num. 4:15). Wrong service discredits salvation.

4. God has called all of us to be servants. What therefore differs us one from another, according to Num. 7:6-9?

   • Nature of assignment and measure of grace, not superiority: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace… let us use them.”

   • Num. 7:6-9: Gershonites – two carts – work needed it. Merarites – four carts – heavier work. Kohathites – no carts, holy things on shoulders.

   • Principle: God supplies according to assignment. ‘Sis. A.’ may access the microphone because she is an Evangelist, proclaiming the Gospel and teaching women. ‘Sis. B.’ gets the food pantry because she is a Deacon of mercy.

   • To give ‘Sis. B.’ a microphone is a waste. “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7)

   • The difference is in function, not in value.

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​​Prayer

Holy Father, remind me of the truth that I am not a volunteer, but drafted; I am not titled but tasked. Amen.

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