And He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to Me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” Moreover, He said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” Ezekiel 3:4-11
Who are the ‘sent’ to the Body of Christ, just as the prophets were ‘sent’ to Israel to learn the “Word” of the Lord like Ezekiel here? First the new covenant is different then the old covenant. In the new covenant the Holy Spirit is given to any and each believer who asks the Father. (Luke 11:13) The Holy Spirit should be your Teacher that you FIRST go to for answers to your questions. Secondly there are ‘gifts’ given to the ekklesia for ‘equipping’ us for ministry, ‘to build up’ the Body of Christ . (Ephesians 4:12) These ‘gifts’ are not careers or professional titles, but lifelong callings and members of the Body specifically made to ‘help’ the entire Body of Christ so that unity of faith might be achieved. So if unity of faith is the goal — then where does the atmosphere of ‘competition’ between groups or ‘Churches’ come from? So … if we are all working towards spiritual maturity and the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:13-14), then why are churches scrambling for other churches attendees? And most will deny that they are trying to take other church attendees — but the fact remains that within the worldly business system of the institutional church (501c3) money is a huge driving factor. So.. butts in in the seats means hopefully your “business budget” is met. Yet the first century church did not operate this way at all.
Jesus was very much against the ‘hireling shepherds’. (John 10:1-21) Does our current institutional religious system create ‘hired hands’? Has the CEO pastor role created a ‘hireling’? So if Jesus ‘gave’ these gifts to the ekklesia — can you name those gifts in your current Church? Do you know the apostle gift, the prophet gift, the evangelist gift, the teacher gift, and the pastor gift, and how each gift is different in it’s own way than each of these others? Currently our American system only allows the ‘pastor’ and possibly, generally, the ‘teacher’ gift. But where are the other three ‘gifts’ in your community / group / church / ekklesia? Do you know how each different gift is to equip you for ministry and build you up in the ‘faith’? Is the ‘pastoral’ gift suppose to ‘rule’ over all the other gifts? Has the American institutional church system simplified the ‘gifts’ too dramatically in the leadership structure? Has the American Church followed the world’s business authority structure in how it is ‘set up’? What if you realize that you have a calling to one of those other four gifts for the Body of Christ – but your church community doesn’t recognize that ‘role’ or calling? What can you do? Do you think your CEO pastor will recognize that calling and gifting within you and make a place for you to equip the Body where he or she has supreme authority?
Almost all prophets (those called to the prophet role to equip the Body of Christ for ministry) are not welcome in the leadership structure of the regular American Church nor are they recognized but mostly told that the role no longer exists, that it ‘passed’ when the apostles died. So if the Holy Spirit is growing you in that role — where do you go? Who is there to help you, or mentor you in that calling? First it is the Holy Spirit Himself. And usually there is quite a long period of time before He (the Holy Spirit) will allow you to be mentored by another. Jesus is very protective of His ‘gifts’. Most prophets will have to learn how to have a ‘forehead’ of flint. They will have to learn by experience what it means to obey the Holy Spirit in the most uncomfortable situations. Like when everyone else is not liking what you have to say, when you have been given a direct ‘Word” to deliver to another. Unfortunately so many people called to the new covenant prophet role make a LOT of mistakes in the beginning, because of spiritual immaturity, just like every other ‘gift’.
There is a need to begin to reform, reorganize, and remake how we view the American Christian religious system. We need to actually be led by the Head of the Church, the One Shepherd Jesus, who gave the Holy Spirit to show us the way in the day to day of life here on earth. Jesus’ kingdom is NOT like the world’s kingdoms. It is the opposite of what we know. It is the opposite of the way the ‘business’ church is run today. It isn’t suppose to be about the slick and smooth delivery of a sermon that makes you ‘feel good’. Or the comfortable building now called the “house of God” by the hirelings when in the new covenant the Temple of the Holy Spirit is our very own bodies, not the four walled structure. It isn’t supposed to be about … money, or the number of members who ‘tithe’ (another old testament covenant requirement). It isn’t supposed to be about the marketing or the flashy worship team / session. It’s suppose to be about koinonia, fellowship, partnership, members rightly fitted together following the “Head’s” (Jesus’) instructions THROUGH the indwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit in EACH member. Everyone participating — not like in a theater experience (like the current institutional Church service), but like a well organized construction crew who knows each of their job really well in the process of building the project the General has given them. Each member is going to the General for the next steps and blueprints of the project that has been assigned. The project? Ministry first to Jesus and then to the community you live in. How much of the money of your group has been spent on the community around you versus the church facility and staffing? Do you see hirelings? Or actual sheep of the One shepherd doing His bidding and led by His HOLY SPIRIT!