CARS WITHOUT ENGINES

Heb. 8:11  And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

Col. 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Gal 4:19  My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 

Even though there is definite continuity between the old and the new covenant they are also radically different in many ways.  If we fail to seriously consider the unique characteristics of this New Covenant and its implications for church life we may tragically end up with a souped up version of the old and something way beneath what God has in mind for us.  Under the old covenant believers were in a sense like cars without engines.  The Spirit came upon certain individuals and worked through especially kings, prophets and priests in order to make God’s will known to His people and to govern them accordingly.  There were many external ordinances, traditions, feasts, rules, and regulations to keep these ‘engineless cars’ moving in the right direction.  God’s Spirit influenced the hearts of believers from without and especially through the priesthood and their external system of religion.  That covenant failed dismally.  But we have a better covenant!  God now lives within every believer and it is absolutely crucial for every believer to be made aware of it (Gal. 2:20)!  ‘And I will put my Spirit within you, and make you eager to obey My laws and teachings’ (Ezek. 36:27). 

The most important function of New Testament leadership by far is the unlocking of the life and power of Christ within the believer.  According to the New Testament this is done primarily in three ways. Firstly, by preaching and teaching the Word of God in such a way that believers will see and understand the reality of Christ in them as their true identity, life, wisdom and power (1 Cor. 1:28-31, 4:1).  Secondly, by praying and interceding for believers that they would receive a revelation of this reality (Col. 1:25-29; 4:12).   Acts 6 verse 4 clearly delineates the primary functions of New Testament leadership in terms of these first two points.  “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."  And thirdly, by teaching them by both word and example that the life of Christ within them can only be manifested and realised via the death-resurrection route (2 Cor. 4:7, 12:10).   It is in denying and laying down our independent and self-centered life, that we find our life in union with Christ.  The godly example of leaders is absolutely crucial in this regard.  Yet, the example without the teaching and personal revelation in the heart of every believer will never take us over the finishing line as a victorious church.  If I only give believers a godly example and ask them to ‘follow me as I follow Christ’, without revealing the secret to that victorious life I am setting believers an impossible task.  This can only lead to frustration and ultimately burnout. 

In the light of these facts we need to ask ourselves some hard questions? May we ignore God’s revealed way of discipling believers and devise our own ways to do this?  May we, for example, just bypass the need for every believer to see for himself the realities of the New Covenant in the Word of God?  Is there any substitute for this?  Is it possible to get believers to maturity and effectively mobilise them for sustained servanthood in the church without their personal grasp of the Word of Christ and a personal revelation of their new identity in union with Christ?  If we cannot respond with an unequivocal no to these questions, then we are no longer evangelical leaders, but Roman Catholic priests.  Then we may just as well  adopt their whole system, for they have perfected it and have much more ‘success’ than Protestants with that methodology of external motivation via systems of en masse behaviour modification.  How do you compete with a unified “church” of 1.2 billion members?  If we ignore or neglect the essence of the New Covenant and employ other ways and methods to try and bring believers to maturity in their personal walk and other avenues to bring them to unity and their destiny as a body of believers, we are in effect busy using up tons of energy to push engineless cars.  The outcome of this approach is predictable.  We will eventually run out of steam and momentum and out of new ideas to get these ‘cars’ moving in the right direction.  We will run out of capable and energetic leaders who are willing to push ‘engineless cars’ up hills year in and year out, because we do not fire up the engine within people.  We will end up like hundreds of churches and church growth movements over the last few decades in the West; tired and stagnant. 

Leadership in the church of Jesus Christ is meant to represent Him, never to replace Him.  Every believer must be led to increasingly take personal responsibility for an intimate relationship with Jesus.  The New Covenant may never be veiled by a kind of ‘priesthood’ that again makes any leader or team of leaders a mediator between God and man.  There is only ‘…one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’  (1 Tim. 2:5).  Leaders are not the external engine of the church trying to push it to its destiny.  Jesus is the internal engine of the church and every single believer; and leaders should preach, teach, live and unveil this reality with an unswerving confidence in the radical nature of the New Covenant.  Jesus, the great Leader, Prophet, Priest, and King now lives within every believer!  “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God  (1 Cor. 1:22-24).”

PRAYER:  “Dear heavenly Father, please grant us a fresh revelation of the power of the Gospel and restore our confidence in this precious Gospel so that we may turn from our confidence in so many other ways and methodologies and turn back to the tried and tested apostolic approach.”