Godly Rule and Order in the Assembly.
_______
"Let all
things be done decently and in order." 1Cor 14:40
"Obey them
that have the rule over
you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give
account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is
unprofitable for you." Heb 13:17
In our
renunciation of clerical rule in the worship of God, we found ourselves very
much like a people without a Government. Some who saw the danger of disorder,
proposed that we “elect elders,” as had been done by the churches in the early
times, as they supposed. But when we took the Scriptures for guidance, we found
that it was not the assembly that elected but the apostles who chose and
“ordained” these elders (Acts xiv, 23).
And
none of us could claim to have that power. So we were cast upon God for help in
our need. Prayerfully and reverent searching of the Word taught us, that there
is to be godly order and rule in the house of God (I Tim.ii.14,15; v.17; I
Cor.xvi.14), but not as in the worlds religious systems, to restrain spiritual
liberty, but to conserve it; not to hinder any who are being led on in the way
of obedience to God, or to restrain the exercise of any real spiritual
ministry, but to repress what is not according to God or for
the edification of the church. Then, in regard to ministry of the Gospel to the
world, and teaching of the word to the saints, we found that all such gifts
come from the living Lord in heaven (Eph.iv.ii), and that God “sets” in any
particular assembly (I Cor xii.28) as He sees need, those who are to minister
to and care for His people there. That being clear our responsibility was
simply to receive and recognise whatever permanently as in Acts xiii. I, or for
a passing occasion as Acts xv.32, 35, but not to “choose” what might please us,
or gain the approval of others.
In regard to oversight and rule, we learned
from I Tim.iii.I, that whoever desires such work-God having put the desire for
it into the heart (2Cor.viii.16)-and the men having the spiritual and moral
qualifications for it (I Tim.iii.1-7; Tit.i. 6-9), they are to be “known” and
“esteemed” in the service (I Thess.v.12, 13) as overseers, whom the Holy Ghost
has qualified for the work (Acts xx.28). This is not clerisy, nor is it
“everyman” ministry, but Divine order and godly rule for the edification and
blessing of assemblies of saints, wherever it is exercise. When gift is
withdrawn or labourers pass away, it is to God we are look for others, not to
the ballot box, as in the denominations.
In all
assemblies, however small, there usually are some who manifest shepherd care,
and take a heart-interest in the saints and the service of God. These are the
fit men to be recognised and owned as “guides” (Heb.xii.17, 24), not
necessarily officially, but always spiritually. And when there is true
sincerity in thus appealing to God and real submission to His will and way, in
accepting and giving place to whomever He sends us, it is wonderful how God
provides, neither social position nor property count at all, in giving place
and honour, to those serving and ruling in the Christian assembly. Often a
godly employee may be a leader in the assembly, while his employer is a
follower, gladly yielding to man who is his servant in workshop in higher place
in the church, while the employee is ever ready to own the rule of and the
obligation to submit in all things temporal, to
his “master according to the flesh”(Eph. Vi.5). When these principles
are seen in the Word, and accepted as the way of God, there is always blessing
and satisfaction in practising them.
And if
distinction is made, between one gifted to preach and teach, who works at his
trade to earn his own and his own and his family’s daily bread, and one who
preaches and is regarded as an official “evangelist” or “teacher,” the man who
does so at his own charges and not as professional “minister,” is surely worthy
of “double honour,” for he is a witness to all that there are still men to be
found who from to love to the Lord, His people, and his work, are ready to
spend and be spent in service for Lord, and thus roll away a common reproach,
made by worldly men that “preaching” is a way of making an easy “living,” which
they are not slow to use against the Gospel and such as preach it. But when
they see a man after his day’s hard toil, going forth as the messenger of
Christ to preach and teach Him, without remuneration as they would reckon it,
-although there is real remuneration even here and now in serving God- they
have no argument they can successfully use to oppose that servant of Christ.
And such free service for Christ and constrained by love to Him and to souls,
is the best argument against the office
clerical position in which so many boast, and from which they enrich
themselves. The man who at the definite call of the Lord leaves his boats and
nets, to give himself wholly to the work of spreading God’s Gospel, either in
home or distant lands, is an exception.
And
where there is evidence that the man has the Divine call, the right spiritual
condition, with the resulting seal of the Lord on his service, then” the
churches of the saints” are commanded to see that he is ministered to in
temporal things (Gal.vi.6), not as giving so much pay or remuneration for so
much work, but in thus supplying the need of true servants of the Lord. What is
given is given to the Lord, and is accepted by Him as an odour of sweet smell”
(Phil iv.18), a sacrifice with “God is well pleased”(Heb.xii.16).But bargaining
and selling (John ii.16) or engaging and hiring in the house of God, or in what
professes to be the service of Christ , are held in abhorrence in heaven, and
should in no sense be countenanced by those who fear and own his Name
(Mal.iii.16) on earth.
To be
continued........ God willing on “SHEPHERD CARE, AND GODLY RULE”
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