The Spiritual Life of the
Ekklesia
In our
first message, we
established (pretty convincingly
I believe) the spiritual nature
of the Ekklesia, and we said
that this Church that Jesus is
building, this Ekklesia, is a
spiritual house of living
stones. And because it is
spiritual, it is heavenly; and
that means it is not earthly. It
is not worldly, it is not
carnal, it is not secular, it is
not political, it is not
natural. Just like the Kingdom
of God, Jesus said, is not
observed, it's not seen with the
eyes; but the Kingdom of God is
within you, or the Kingdom of
God is among you - it is a
spiritual reality. So in the
same way, the Ekklesia, the
Church that Jesus is building,
is a spiritual reality.
Jesus said, "I will build My
Ekklesia", and so we know that
this Ekklesia is not built by
man, it's not organized by man.
Man is not the author or the
creator of it. Jesus is building
His Church, and so, it is a
thing that is quite beyond man,
quite beyond what man is capable
of. It is not a system of man,
it is not an organization of
man, it is not a denomination of
man, it is not a movement of
man. But just like the new
Birth, the Ekklesia is "from
above", something that
originates in the Spirit and by
the Spirit. And so it is
spiritual.
We said that the word "Ekklesia"
means the assembly, or the
gathering together, of those who
are called-out; and we saw how
the Scriptures (both in the Old
Testament and in the New
Testament) paint for us a
picture of a spiritual house of
living stones and this gathering
together INTO CHRIST of a called
out people. That's what we have
in mind when we use, and when
Scripture uses, the word "Ekklesia".
Jesus said He would prepare a
place for us, and He would come
to us, and would receive us unto
Himself. "Come unto ME," Jesus
said. And I believe this "place"
He has prepared is IN HIMSELF.
He has prepared a place for us
and it is a place of dwelling
and abiding in Himself. "I am
the Way, the Truth, and the
Life," He says. He has, and He
is, this Place prepared for us,
and He is the Way into that
Place. He is our Destination, He
is our Purpose, He is our
Promised Land, He is our Sabbath
Day, He is our Rest.
So the Ekklesia, the Church that
Jesus is building, is a
spiritual house of living
stones. It is the gathering
together INTO CHRIST of those
who are called out of the
earthly, out of the carnal, out
of the natural, out of the
worldly, out of the fleshly, out
of that which is merely human,
out of darkness, out of death,
and into the spiritual, into the
heavenly, into the very Life of
God Himself.
How powerful this is! How
wonderful this is! And can you
really see how we have utterly
failed when we try to bring the
Ekklesia down to earth, to make
it natural, to think of it only
in terms of meetings attended,
sermons preached, or programs
implemented! It is far greater,
far more wonderful, than
anything we can imagine or
define in earthly terms. And
because it is spiritual, because
it is heavenly, and because it
is a gathering together in the
Spirit, INTO JESUS CHRIST
HIMSELF and out of everything
outside of Christ, this Ekklesia
is LIVING.
And so the title of this second
message is "The Spiritual Life
of the Ekklesia". Because it is
spiritual by nature, it is
living. "I am the Life" Jesus
says. And we see this life and
this union in John 15, if you
will turn there please.
Now, you might not be accustomed
to thinking of the Ekklesia, of
the Church, in terms of the Vine
and the Branches. We usually
think of this in terms of our
personal relationship with God,
our personal walk with God. It
certainly includes that, but the
teaching of Jesus in John 15 is
not a teaching about The Vine
and A Branch (singular); it is
teaching us about The Vine and
The Branches (plural). And the
idea is that there is a living
union that exists between the
Vine and the Branches. It is a
living union that exists between
the Lord and the Ekklesia, which
is the gathering of those who
are called out of darkness and
into His marvelous light, out of
where they are and into union
with Christ. That idea is
conveyed in the Vine and the
Branches. They are joined to one
another organically. They are
joined to one another in
essence, in spirit, and they
share in the same Life. So let's
read that in John 15:
"I am the True Vine, and My
Father is the vinedresser. Every
branch in Me that does not bear
fruit He takes away; and every
branch that bears fruit He
prunes, that it may bear more
fruit. You are already clean
because of the word which I have
spoken to you. Abide in Me and I
in you…" (John 15:1-4).
Now we already saw in John 14
that Jesus says, "In My Father's
House there is much dwelling
space - there's plenty of room
to abide." Now He says,
"Continue to abide; continue to
dwell in Me, and I in you."
Abide in Me, and I will abide in
you. Dwell in Me, and I will
dwell in you. LIVE in Me, and I
will LIVE in you!
We're in verse 4:
"As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, unless it abides in
the vine, neither can you,
unless you abide in Me. I am the
vine, you are the branches. He
who abides in Me, and I in him,
bears much fruit; for without Me
you can do nothing. If anyone
does not abide in Me, he is cast
out as a branch and is withered;
and they gather them and throw
them into the fire, and they are
burned. If you abide in Me, and
My words abide in you, you will
ask what you desire, and it
shall be done for you. By this
My Father is glorified, that you
bear much fruit; so you will be
My disciples" (John 15:4-8).
Now, this chapter is so full,
but even with the fragment that
we have read, I hope you can see
that Jesus has something very
definite in mind for us. You
know He did not leave detailed,
specific instructions on how to
conduct a religious service. He
did not give us any guidelines
on anything to do with growing
the church, organizing a
movement, planting churches, or
doing any of the outward "works"
that we think are so very
important - those outward things
that we hold to be the very
essence of what "church" is. He
never does address those things.
He is after one thing, and this
one thing that He is after is a
spiritual matter; an inward
condition, not an outward thing.
So what is He after? He is after
fellowship. Communion.
Relationship. He is after a
sharing of Life together.
Sharing Life with you and with
me as we abide in Him and He
abides in us, as we live in Him
and He lives in us.
It's very obvious from John 15
that He wishes us to abide in
Him, to be together with Him. So
much so that He says apart from
Him, apart from this abiding, we
can do nothing. Now, it is true
that we can do many things apart
from Him, but the point is that
everything we do apart from Him
amounts to nothing! It is of no
consequence outside of Him, it
is of no value to the Kingdom of
God apart from this abiding,
living union with Jesus. Why?
Because He is the Life of the
Ekklesia, He is the Life of the
Believer, and everything outside
of Him, and everything apart
from Him, is spiritually dead.
In Him is Life: "I AM the Way,
the Truth, and the Life". Yes,
things done for God, apart from
God, are dead things. Things
done for Jesus, things done in
the name of Jesus, but done
apart from that abiding
relationship with Jesus, are
unfruitful, dead things.
So the Ekklesia consists of
those who are abiding in Christ
and sharing in His Life. Because
the Ekklesia is called out of
death and into Life, the
Ekklesia is living. What is the
implication? Well, among other
things, if the Ekklesia is
living and abiding in Christ,
this eliminates the need for
revival! What is revival? Well,
it's a Latin word that means "to
make alive again." It means
something has died and we are
going to revive it. That is
revival. But we have already
seen that when we abide in
Christ we share in His Life. The
Ekklesia is living because
Christ lives. And so the
Ekklesia has no need of revival,
because it shares in the life of
the Lord.
Now see, we try to take that
concept of "revival" and we
apply it to things that are
dead, things that are outside of
the Ekklesia - our church
buildings, our religious
programs, our church services,
our membership - and we hope
that through "revival" we are
going to increase our ministry,
enlarge our church, get more
people saved, or whatever the
goal is. But my point is the
Ekklesia does not need revival.
You are trying to raise
something from the dead with
revival, but the Ekklesia is
living.
The Ekklesia is growing
spiritually. It is expanding.
How is it growing? How is it
expanding? Numerically? Well,
perhaps; but the real measure of
growth is not in terms of
numbers or dollars. The Ekklesia
is growing spiritually with the
increase of Christ. Stated
differently, the Ekklesia enjoys
spiritual oneness with Jesus,
and so it grows spiritually (and
may I say, it grows
spontaneously), without effort,
and is fruitful as it continues
to abide in that spiritual
oneness that already exists in
Christ.
So if you believe that you are
in need of revival, do not try
and resurrect something that is
dead - simply get into Christ
Who is Life! Come into that
abiding relationship with Jesus
that the Ekklesia enjoys, this
spiritual oneness with Him, and
you will enjoy Life of Him.
Fruitfulness in the Spirit.
Increase with the measure of
Christ. Why? Because of this
spiritual oneness, this union.
"I will prepare a place for
you," Jesus says, "And I will
come and receive you unto
Myself, that where I am, there
you may be also." That is
oneness! Because He lives, we
live. Because he is the Life, we
are alive together with Him...
The Spiritual
Fellowship of the Ekklesia
This article is taken from our four-part audio series
called, "The Ekklesia: A Revelation of the Mystery
Concerning the Church That Jesus Is Building." The
spoken form has been retained throughout. For more
information on how to get the complete teaching series
on compact disc, please click
here.
The thought and
intention and purpose of God is for a spiritual oneness,
a spiritual unity, a spiritual fellowship, a spiritual
communion (and even in that word "communion" is the idea
of union, a "common union"), a sharing of life together;
and towards this end He calls us - Jesus calls us - out
of this world, out of the earth, out of our very selves,
and into another place that He has prepared for us, a
place He says [where] He will come again and receive us
unto Himself. And I believe this indicates that this
place that He has prepared is a place within Himself:
"the Secret Place of the Most High God" - not some
external thing that we go and we meet Him in, but within
Himself. Because that is where all of this is heading.
That is God's Thought, His Purpose, and His Intention:
"to gather together in one all things in Christ." And we
who are the Ekklesia have simply entered into Christ
already and we have taken the first step into this
Kingdom of God, and we are - the moment we have entered
into Christ - we at the same time are immediately
brought into a very large circle, this vast company of
fellow believers (past and present) who have entered
into this living union with a living Christ.
And that will be
the topic of this message: "The Spiritual Fellowship of
the Ekklesia"; and all these other things we have
discussed prepare the way for this Spiritual Fellowship.
We cannot enter the Ekklesia until we let go of all
expectation for something "here and now", something in
this earth, something in the natural. At one time or
another we have all been guilty of taking the spiritual
reality and bringing it down to earth. We go here and
there looking for what we call "spiritual fellowship"
but really what we are looking for is a "meeting". We
are looking for a church service, or a home group, or a
conference. These things are not the Ekklesia; they are
things that we do, and things that can be done,
completely in the realm of the world. That is to say, we
can attend church services and still not touch upon or
enter into the Ekklesia. We can have meetings and
sermons and conferences and still not know anything
about the spiritual fellowship that exists within the
Ekklesia.
I'd like you to
turn, if you will, to Matthew chapter 18, because I want
to show you the basis of this spiritual fellowship in
Christ. This is very simple, yet it's very deep and very
profound, and so it's very easily misunderstood. But
let's read Matthew 18, verse 20. Jesus is speaking. He
says:
"For where
two or three are gathered together in My name, I am
there in the midst of them."
That's not a
very long verse. It's a very short verse. Very succinct.
But very, very profound because it gives us all the
ingredients of spiritual fellowship. Let's read it
again. Matthew 18:20:
"For where
two or three are gathered together in my name, I am
there in the midst of them."
I just love the
simplicity of Christ and the simplicity of everything
Jesus does, including the simplicity of this Church,
this Ekklesia that Jesus is building. Spiritual things
are very easily implemented once we apprehend them
spiritually. Once we see them they are very easy to
implement and put into practice.
Now take a look
at this fragment of Scripture. Jesus does not say there
must be two or three million gathered, or two or three
thousand gathered. He does not even say two or three
hundred, or two or three dozen. But isn't that how we
judge something? How many people do you have on the
membership roll? How many people did you have in the
service this morning? They keep attendance records so
they can measure the thing to see if it is getting
bigger or smaller, and they put the numbers up on the
wall so they can see what they are doing compared to
last year – better or worse. Well, that has nothing to
do with spiritual fellowship, and Jesus made it clear
that His Presence in the midst is what counts for
something, even if the group is so small as two or
three.
The key thing is
not how many people are gathered, but that, however many
there are, they are gathered together "in His Name", and
He is there in the midst of them. Now we should probably
search that out, because many things done "in the name
of Jesus" have nothing to do with Jesus. It is the
spirit of Religion, not the Spirit of Jesus. So even
when we say we are gathered "in His Name" it is not what
we say that really matters. The proof is whether or not
Jesus in the midst. Is He there?
Remember, the
Ekklesia is a spiritual house, so we do not take signs
and wonders and manifestations and feelings and
excitement and good music and good preaching to be the
presence of Jesus. When Jesus is in the midst it will
not be something we can see or hear of feel in our
flesh; His words are Spirit and they are Life. This is a
spiritual house that He is building, and it is a
spiritual oneness, and it is a spiritual Life that must
be discerned spiritually. So either He is there or He
isn't there, and having a lot of music and noise and
sermons and crowds of people will not make up for a lack
of Jesus being in the midst.
"Where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of them." Well, the numbers don't matter
to Jesus. They really don't. He doesn't even say there
must be two, or there must be three. He just says, "Two,
or three". Just two or three. He's very relaxed about
the whole thing isn't He? Well then, what about the
place? Where do we gather? Jesus did not say anything
about where they had to be gathered together. He did not
tell us to go to church on Sunday and seek His Presence.
He did not tell us to go to Jerusalem and search for Him
there. He did not say start a fellowship in your home
and I will meet with you there. You can do all those
things and still not have spiritual fellowship.
Remember the
woman at the well, and how (in John chapter four) she
tried to get Jesus to answer this religious question,
this question of WHERE are we supposed to GO and worship
God? "Now the Jews say Jerusalem is the place where God
is to be worshipped, because that is where the Temple
is. But my people say it's in this mountain that we are
to worship. So which is it Jesus? Just tell us which you
prefer. What location should we gather at, and we will
go there to worship."
And what does
the Lord say? "Neither! Neither! Neither! Neither in
this mountain nor in Jerusalem. The time has come for
Spirit and Truth worship," He says, "And that has
nothing to do with geography, location, where you hold
the gathering, where you conduct the meeting. I am not
interested," He says, "In the earthly side of things,
only in the spiritual side, only in the heart. God is
SPIRIT, and so if you want to worship God, you will have
to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth."
Simply put, the
Ekklesia is a group of people who are learning how to
worship God in Spirit and Truth, how to serve God in
Spirit and Truth, how to love God in Spirit and Truth,
how to make warfare in Spirit and Truth, how to enter
the Kingdom of God in Spirit and Truth. The Ekklesia is
a spiritual house of living stones who offer up
spiritual sacrifices to God and are growing into a
spiritual Temple! That's it! Nothing at all to do with
feasts and festivals and holy places and holy objects
and holy vestments and holy rituals and holy ceremonies.
Spirit and Truth is the only real holiness that counts
in this Kingdom of God.
"Where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of them." Just meditate upon the
simplicity of this. O.K., Lord, if the numbers don't
count for anything, and the place does not matter, then
WHEN are we to gather together? Is it once a week? Is it
twice a week? Is it three times a week? Is it the
Sabbath Day? Is it Saturday? Or is it Sunday? We get
into such bondage with these things. Here we are, trying
to project our own religious mindset and add to the
simplicity of Christ.
Well, what did
He say? Nothing at all about how often to gather, or
when the gathering is to take place! Take a look. He
does not say, "Where two or three are gathered together
in my Name on Sunday, there I am in the midst of them."
How absurd! "Where two or three are gathered together in
my Name on Saturday, there I am in the midst of them."
Absolutely nonsensical. Here's my point: if it were
important then He would have mentioned it, wouldn't He?
Since He didn't mention it, it must not be that
important to Him! And if it's not important to Him it
doesn't need to concern you and me. And that's all that
matters.
Oh, the
religious mindset is keenly interested in all these
external things! Because that's the only way they can
measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves
and lift themselves up above one another. "Oh, we
worship God on Saturday." "Well, we worship God on
Sunday." "Well, we keep the Sabbath." "Well, we keep the
Lord's Day." And in the midst of all of that they can't
understand the Ekklesia because it is a spiritual
reality, something beyond your ability to measure and
record and schedule! The Spirit of Jesus is not bound by
your schedule! He is not bound by your place of meeting!
He is not bound by your rules and regulations for
religious activities!
"Where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of them." All right, Lord. If the numbers
don't count, and the place doesn't matter, and how often
the gathering takes place isn't important, then surely
you must have some instruction for us, some thing we
ought to perform, when we gather. What do we DO when we
gather together? Shall Peter open us up with a word of
prayer? Shall James lead us in a song? Shall John bring
us a teaching? Shall Judas take up an offering? Give us
some order, give us some kind of structure for the
gathering! What are we supposed to do? And you know,
Jesus doesn't give us a plan, He doesn't give us a
schedule, He doesn't give us an order of service, He
does not give us a checklist, He doesn't even say what
these two or three gathered together are supposed to do!
Now why do you suppose this is? I'll tell you why: it's
because a spiritual fellowship is led by the Spirit.
The Lord says,
"You just gather together in My Name, and I will be in
the midst, and then I will show you the next step.
You'll have to step out in faith. You'll have to let go.
This is what it means to be in My Ekklesia. You'll have
to give up your desire to control things, to direct
things, to manage things, to systematize things, to
organize things. That is the spirit of Religion. I am
building a spiritual house, and I am teaching you how to
be led of the Spirit, and so I'm not going to get into
the specifics of what to do, and where to do it, and how
often it should be done, and how you should go about it.
Just remember one thing: when two or three of you are
gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of
you. It will be all right! Just relax. Let go. Let me be
the Head. Let me be the Good Shepherd. Let me be the
Bridegroom. And whenever, wherever, you allow that to
happen, I AM THERE!"
Praise the Lord.
Now folks, that is absolutely amazing. That is the
Ekklesia. It is Jesus in the midst of His people,
leading us, guiding us, teaching us. That is spiritual
fellowship...
The Spiritual
Ministry of the
Ekklesia
Everything we have said
so far concerning the
spiritual nature of the
Ekklesia, and the
spiritual life of the
Ekklesia, and the
spiritual fellowship of
the Ekklesia, prepares
us for this fourth
aspect, that is, the
spiritual ministry of
the Ekklesia.
You recall, in my first
message on this subject,
we discussed how we
associate certain
meanings and thoughts to
words, and when a word
is used, we begin to get
a picture in our mind of
what we think that word
means, and it's usually
based on our experience
with that word
previously. We talked
about how the word
"church" has been
spoiled over the ages so
that it means something
completely different
than a spiritual
Ekklesia being built by
Jesus. Well, in the same
way, that word
"ministry" has been
spoiled. It has been
tarnished. It has been
tainted. May I say, it
has been defiled. And
when we think of that
word, "ministry", we
tend to immediately,
unconsciously, connect
it and associate it with
the word "church"; and
since our mental image
of "church" is usually
wrong, our mental image
of "ministry" becomes
distorted as well. It is
one of those words that
has lost its
significance because it
has been cheapened.
We need to recover our
spiritual vocabulary
again. There is a
Spirit-breathed language
and vocabulary in the
Scriptures, and we have
lost it, by and large.
We have lost the
spiritual meaning of so
many words that we toss
around. Church.
Ministry. Pastor.
Deacon. Prophetic.
Apostolic. We have made
them into religious
words - we have
naturalized them, and so
it is very difficult to
get at the spiritual
truth they once
contained, the spiritual
meaning those words once
conveyed. Well,
"ministry" is one of
those words. The
spiritual ministry of
the Ekklesia is a very
wonderful, wonderful
thing - but it has
nothing to do with
gathering support,
raising money, going to
school, getting a
program on television,
building a large mailing
list, flying all over
the world doing meetings
or constructing church
buildings. I said it is
a spiritual ministry.
And doesn't that make
sense? I mean think
about it. If the nature
of the Ekklesia is
spiritual, and the life
of the Ekklesia is
spiritual, and the
fellowship of the
Ekklesia is spiritual,
do you think the
ministry of the Ekklesia
- the practical
expression of it - is
going to be something
natural, carnal,
earthly, worldly, or
secular? That doesn’t
even make sense. But
here's the thing: if you
don't understand the
essentially spiritual
nature of the Ekklesia,
you aren't going to
understand the
essentially spiritual
nature of the ministry.
If you don't understand
the spiritual life of
the Ekklesia you won't
know how to carry out
the spiritual ministry
of the Ekklesia. And if
you don't know what the
spiritual fellowship of
the Ekklesia is all
about, you won't even
know what to do with the
spiritual ministry of
the Ekklesia. So I have
approached these truths
in a particular order.
It has to be in this
particular order. The
practical expression,
the spiritual ministry
of the Ekklesia, is the
overflow, it's the
outflow, it builds upon
everything else that we
have already discussed.
We don't know what true
ministry is because we
don't know what the true
Church is. We look at
religion and define
ministry in the context
of religion. Well,
spiritual ministry must
be considered in the
context of a spiritual
Ekklesia. Otherwise it's
impossible to discuss
it.
So what is the spiritual
ministry? The spiritual
ministry of the Ekklesia
flows out of the Life
and the Fellowship we
enjoy in Christ, and
this spiritual ministry
is nothing more and
nothing less than the
expression of Christ
Himself to each other
and to the world around
us. Spiritual ministry
is the expression of
Christ. It is not
expressing myself, my
vision, my work, my
ministry, my church, my
group. It is the
expression of Christ:
His Work, His Ministry,
His Life, through me.
Now maybe you were
hoping for something a
little more definitive.
What do you mean "the
expression of Christ"
through a person? How is
that ministry? Here is
another one of those
things that is easily
implemented once you see
it, it's easy to walk in
once you grasp it, but
it's so simple your mind
tricks you into thinking
it can't be that easy!
Well, let's go to First
Corinthians chapter 12
so we can illustrate
this and hopefully enter
into the thought of the
Holy Spirit here. First
Corinthians chapter
twelve. You really need
to study this entire
chapter, but that might
be overwhelming at this
point. Let's focus on a
portion of this,
beginning in verse 4:
"There are diversities
of gifts, but the same
Spirit. And there are
differences of
administrations, but the
same Lord. And there are
diversities of
operations, but it is
the same God which
worketh all in all" (I
Corinthians 12:4-6).
Now do you see that Paul
has given us the Trinity
here? We have something
coming from the Spirit,
something coming from
the Lord Jesus, and
something coming from
God the Father.
Diversities of gifts, he
says, but they all come
from the same Holy
Spirit. Different
administrations, but
they all come from the
same Lord. Different
operations, but they all
come from the same God.
So you have the Father,
the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. These three are
one, and spiritual
ministry is simply the
expression of God
Himself, working through
the Ekklesia, to
accomplish His Will
through many different
yielded vessels.
But look at some of
those words there.
"Administrations".
"Operations". Sounds
very technical, doesn't
it? Sounds very
corporate. Well here
again, in my opinion,
the King James Version
has failed to
communicate something.
The word
"administrations" here
is the Greek word
diakonia, and virtually
everywhere in the New
Testament it is
translated as "ministry"
or "ministries". It's
where we get our English
word "deacon" from -
diakonia. And where they
got the word
"administration" from I
have no idea; I suppose
they just pulled it out
of the air. But that's
another example of how
we project our own
religious sentiment into
something spiritual and
we make it natural.
Well, if we want to
translate that fairly,
then we should be
consistent. So we would
say, "There are
differences of
ministries, but the same
Lord." And I'm pleased
to note that in the New
King James Version they
make that correction.
There are differences of
ministries, but the same
Lord. Paul is not
talking about some
administrative thing,
like a corporate
executive who sits
behind a desk. He is
saying, "There are
differences of
ministries but the same
Lord." That is to say,
"There are different
expressions of Christ,
but they all express
something of the same
Lord Jesus." Does that
make sense to you?
Different expressions of
Christ but they all are
expressing something of
the same Lord. Like
different facets of a
diamond. Each facet
reflects a particular
aspect and angle of that
diamond. There are
different expressions of
Christ, different
ministries, but the same
Lord.
Now here's the key:
spiritual ministry is
the expression of
Christ, it is the fruit
of our abiding in Him.
It is not something that
we do for Jesus, it is
Jesus Himself living
through us. That is
spiritual ministry. It
is the ministry of
Christ through the
Ekklesia, through His
Church. Now how will He
express Himself? There
is a wide range of
expression. Do not think
of this spiritual
ministry of the Ekklesia
as standing behind a
pulpit preaching a
sermon, or leading a
worship service. Jesus
expresses Himself in the
everyday, in the
ordinary; in the
mundane, and in the
common little things
that we call life. What
happens inside the
context of a "gathering"
or a "meeting" of
Believers is only one
very small aspect of the
Ekklesia. Everywhere we
go, everything we do,
has the potential to
express Christ.
I say it has the
potential. We must abide
in Him in order for that
expression and that Life
to have the liberty to
flow through us. The way
we live, the way we
work, the way we spend
time with our family,
the words we speak to a
stranger. It is so much
more than preaching a
sermon or singing a
song. Of course, all
those things are
included also, but
spiritual ministry is
not limited to
activities such as
preaching and singing
and witnessing. There
are a billion, billion
ways to express Christ.
If you really get the
fact that you are one
with Christ, and Christ
is one with you; that
you are a branch abiding
in the Vine, and can do
nothing of yourself;
then it is a simple
thing to just let Christ
express Himself through
you. Just get out of the
way! Let Him do it! He
is there, but He will
not force Himself,
because Love does not
demand its own way,
right? So you surrender,
you yield, you step
aside, you open the
door, and He rises to
the occasion. Spiritual
ministry is the
expression of Christ. It
is the fruit of our
abiding in Him.
I said earlier that the
Ekklesia enjoys
spiritual oneness with
Christ. This spiritual
oneness, this union,
this unity with Him - it
is not something we have
to earn, or merit, or
work towards. It is not
the REWARD for
spirituality, it is the
BASIS of spirituality.
Oneness with Christ is
not the GOAL of
spirituality, it is the
BEGINNING of
spirituality. Oneness
with Him, unity with
Him. It is the
foundation of
everything, this
spiritual union and
oneness with the Lord
Jesus. It's the whole
reason for the Holy
Spirit. Jesus said it is
expedient for you if I
go away - it's better
for you if I leave! Why?
Because when I leave the
Holy Spirit will come.
And then we understand
that once the Holy
Spirit comes, Jesus is
no longer limited by His
physical body, no longer
bound by geography and
time and space, no
longer restricted to
merely walking around
with a few disciples.
With the sending forth
of the Holy Spirit He
can now live within us,
and we can live within
Him. That is the whole
teaching, the whole
background of John 14,
15, 16, and 17.
Spiritual oneness. But
we say it so easily!
"Oh, I know Jesus lives
in me and I live in
Him." But do you really
get that? Do you really
comprehend that? I'm
just beginning to
comprehend it myself.
Look at the ministry of
Paul. What a spiritually
rich ministry it was.
Why was his ministry so
rich? So fruitful, is
what I mean. Why was it
so fruitful? Outwardly
he says we are poor, yet
we are making many
people rich! That is a
spiritual ministry!
Well, where did all that
fruitfulness come from?
"It is no longer I that
lives, but Christ Who
lives in me." That is
the secret of spiritual
life, the secret of
spiritual ministry.
Spiritual fruitfulness
is the result of living
in Christ, abiding in
the Vine. See how it all
goes back to that
personal relationship
with Him? "He that is
joined to the Lord is
one Spirit with Him."
One Spirit! One Life!
So members of Christ's
Body, the Ekklesia, are
not called upon to do
anything in their own
strength, or out of
their own ability. I do
not have to rely upon my
leadership skills, or my
talents, or my limited
understanding when it
comes to spiritual
ministry. In fact, the
less I have, the better!
The less I know, the
better! The weaker I am,
the better! Because in
that position I can
originate nothing, I
can't carry anything
out. I can do nothing
except trust in the Life
of Another, the Life of
Someone Else. And this
is what it means to
enter into Rest, to
observe the Sabbath as a
Person, not as a day -
to cease your labor and
enter into this place of
Rest, this place in
Christ that He has
prepared for us. It is a
Promised Land.
Now all this relates to
spiritual ministry. If
it is a true, spiritual
ministry - born of the
Spirit, empowered by the
Spirit, led of the
Spirit - then it is not
your ministry, it is the
ministry of Christ. And
who are you? You are
merely a vessel, a
servant, someone through
whom Christ is
expressed. That is, if
your ministry is indeed
spiritual, and not the
invention of man, or
something that you
created to give yourself
something to do. Of
course, with a secular
ministry in a secular
church you can do
whatever you think is
right in your own eyes;
build everything around
your personality, around
your charisma, around
your leadership skills,
around whatever assets
you think that you have.
But the Ekklesia
reflects and expresses
Christ because it is One
Spirit with Him, and
spiritual ministry flows
out of that oneness,
just as the River of
Life flows out of the
throne and through New
Jerusalem.
The Spiritual Ministry
of the Ekklesia is the
expression of a living
Christ. We do not have
time to look at all the
ministry gifts: the
apostle, prophet,
evangelist, pastor,
teacher. Nor do we have
time to look at all the
spiritual gifts, and all
the different functions
and ministries and
expressions of Christ in
this Ekklesia. But in a
nutshell, these ministry
gifts and these
spiritual gifts are
simply different
expressions of Christ.
He is all those ministry
gifts, and He is all
those spiritual gifts,
and He simply expresses
something of Himself
through these different
ministries, through
these different gifts.
There are certainly more
expressions of ministry
than we have time to
name. "Husbands, love
your wives". Men, that
is an expression of
Christ, and it is a
spiritual ministry - but
I doubt most men have
ever thought about their
marriage as a ministry
to their wife. Raising
your children is a
spiritual ministry,
because that also is an
expression of Christ.
All these practical
things discussed in the
Epistles about everyday
living and
relationships, they are
not unrelated to the
Ekklesia, they are very
directly related. Why?
Because everything we
do, we do in the name of
Jesus - whether we are
gathered in the name of
Jesus, or praying in the
name of Jesus, or
washing dishes in the
name of Jesus, or loving
our wives in the name of
Jesus, or raising our
kids in the name of
Jesus. "Whatsoever
things you do," it says,
"In word or in deed, do
all things in the name
of Jesus, giving thanks
to God the Father by
Him."
What does it mean to do
something, or to say
something, "In the name
of Jesus?" What does it
mean that whatever you
do in word or in deed do
all things in the name
of Jesus? It means to do
nothing in your own
name, it means to say
nothing in your own
name. It means to do it
as if He Himself is
doing it; to represent
Christ in word and in
deed; it is an
expression of Jesus.
Well, that is beyond us,
humanly speaking. So we
must walk in the Spirit,
and if we are abiding in
Christ then it becomes
more than just a thing
that we do, when we do
all these things, all
these ordinary, mundane
things. It is, and it
becomes, a spiritual
ministry that expresses
something of the Lord
Jesus - something of His
Love, His Joy, His
Peace, His Patience, His
Gentleness, His
Goodness, His
Faithfulness, His
Meekness, His
Self-Control . That is
the fruit of the Spirit
- but all those things
are simply expressions
of the same Lord Jesus
Christ! "Differences of
ministries" Paul says,
but behind all of them,
whatever you call it,
there is the same Lord
Jesus, revealing some
aspect of Himself.
"It is no longer I that
live…but Christ Who
lives in me." That is a
powerful, powerful
thing, and I don't know
about you, but it goes
way beyond anything I
have ever considered in
terms of ministry. And
that kind of spiritual
ministry, that kind of
expression of Christ, is
available to every
member of the Ekklesia.
Every member of His
Body, every Branch, has
that potential for an
expression of Christ
through them. That Jesus
can be all that in me,
that Jesus can be all
that in you and through
you, in us and through
us together, is what it
means to live in union
with Him; and that is
what it means to be a
part of this Ekklesia,
this Church that Jesus
is building - those who
are called out, set
apart, and gathered
together into CHRIST.
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