Welcome, friends, to another
broadcast of Morsels for Zion's Poor. When I was in grade school,
each class or club would choose some of their classmates as officers.
Each had a president, vice president, secretary, and reporter. Later
on, as grades progressed, other offices were added, such as treasurer
and student council representative. Not everyone clamored for these
positions, but one always felt honored to be selected. Most
of the time the selections were based on popularity rather than
an ability to perform any particular task. The children of Israel
in the Old Testament grew weary of being led by God who spoke
to them through his prophets. Some would say that they had
a legitimate complaint in the fact that Samuel's sons were
wicked men. God sometimes speaks more loudly
through His silence than He does through His voice. His drawing
back from His people is sometimes more effective than His holding
them near. They clamored and longed to have
a king like the other nations of the earth. Though the Lord
warned them of the results of such government through the prophet
Samuel, the people persisted in God according to a sovereign
purpose, granted them their wish, and gave them King Saul. Man's
nature from the very beginning has prompted him to shirk his
own accountability before God and to place it somewhere else.
One only has to listen to Adam and Eve's excuse-making in the
Garden of Eden to know that is true. It is ingrained in man's
fleshly nature to choose leaders to whom they can delegate responsibility
and thereby relieve themselves of any accountability that they
might have. The New Testament Church has
not escaped this notion totally. Many feel comforted by an arrangement
of hierarchy and kingship in their local assemblies. By following
such an arrangement, they can appear acceptable and legitimate
in the eyes of the religious world. This idea has become so
pervasive that to even raise this issue is to be met with
disapproval on many sides, as if seeking to follow the scriptural
example is somehow an error. Very early on, the people of
God in the Church came to be divided into two distinct groups.
These groups were commonly referred to as the clergy and the laity.
Most Christians today do not even bat an eyebrow when such
descriptions are cast about. They assume, because it is comforting
to the flesh, that such an arrangement must be taught in the Scripture,
if not by actual text, at least an example. Lay people are reassured
since they don't need to worry about deception, false doctrine,
or the introduction of non-scriptural ideas into the assembly because
they have someone, the clergy, looking out for them. All they
have to do is show up on Sunday, take notes on the sermon, and
call the preacher if they run into trouble of one sort or another.
The clergy, on the other hand, is comforted by having a specific
job to do and an income to go along with it. Everyone is benefited
by this arrangement, but the problem is that we find no scriptural
mandate in favor of such an idea. The scripture indeed teaches
that the church is to have officers or ministers, but rather than
there being a small number of officers, which are to be filled
by a select few, the scripture indicates that all of God's people
have a ministry in the assembly of the saints, for which they
are particularly gifted. And the healthy function of the
body as a whole depends on each office being occupied. The body
of Christ, that is, the Church, is a living organism rather than
an organization, and as such must operate as a living body,
with each part supplying its necessary function. These offices
are filled by God. No one can be elected to them,
and no one can be demoted and have that office taken away by
men. The Lord raises men up, and He puts them down according
to His sovereign purpose. There is no ranking or levels
of status in these offices. None can say that the office
they are given is more important or less important than that which
is given to another. These offices cannot be retired
from. Unless these offices are filled
by hirelings, there can be no cessation of their function simply
because someone wants to quit. At any time, God may change the
function or calling of a member of the body, but there is no
cessation of that person filling an office in the body if they
belong to Christ. These offices are widely diverse
as to their scope and operation, and there are diversities of
operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
All offices are not equally desired, but they are all equally necessary
for the growth and function of the body. All offices do not
involve public speaking, but all offices demand participation
of the members of the body. Not all of these offices are
displayed each time the church meets. Do you minister to the
brethren? Are you not your brother's keeper
and helper? For a free CD containing 15 of
these radio broadcasts, send an email to forthepoor at windstream.net.