Glory to God! I trust you’re well and enjoying your Inheritance in Christ Jesus.
Today I want to start a series addressing the crisis confronting the Body of Christ currently.
The Church has an identity crisis. That’s why some are Catholics, some are Protestants, some are mainline denominationalists, some are Pentecostalists, some are Charismatics, some are Word of Faith, some are New Apostolic Reformers, some are Grace Movement members, and the list goes on and on.
Today each Minister has his or her own revelation and focus. That’s why some follow this Prophet, others that Apostle and so on. Some believe their Church is better than the one next door. Others believe their Man or Woman of God is the best Prophet in the world.
We have become followers of men and this is idolatry. Our Churches have become cults because we worship our Ministers instead of the Lord Jesus Christ who saved us.
You might view this as diversity but God sees it as division, and it grieves His Heart.
So how do we come out of this identity crisis? To answer this question, we must first understand how we got here.
A Lesson from the Early Church
The Early Church was united. If you wanted to belong to a Church in the 1st century, you wouldn’t struggle since all the Churches preached exactly the same Message and practiced exactly the same Lifestyle.
How did they do it?
Matthew 28:19-20 says, ‘Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.’
The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned the Apostles to go into the world and make Disciples, not converts or Church Members or followers of Apostles and Prophets.
He then told them how to make those Disciples. He commissioned them to make Disciples by teaching others to obey all things whatsoever He had commanded the Apostles.
That’s the brief the Lord Jesus gave these men and they stuck to it. As a result, the Early Church turned the world upside down and brought the Roman Empire to its knees.
The Early Church focused on making Disciples by teaching others to obey everything the Lord Jesus Christ commanded the Apostles. That’s what united the Early Church.
The Apostles were themselves Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ because He taught them for three and a half years.
By teaching others to obey what the Lord commanded, the Apostles produced more Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s because the Message that made the Apostles the Lord’s Disciples was being taught to new Believers, as a result, they also became Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostles didn’t have their own revelation. None of them stood up and claimed to know something the other didn’t. As a result, they all taught exactly the same curriculum because they had had exactly the same Teacher.
Over the years, decades, centuries and millennia, the Church changed the brief and the curriculum. They departed from what the Lord Jesus Christ commanded the Apostles to teach and as a result, they produced converts and Church Members instead of Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, like the Early Church.
Every new revelation from the Church created a new denomination or movement and divided the Church, and it’s still going on today. As a result, there’s a lot of division, confusion, deception and chaos.
The Church is no longer made up of Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, but Members of different denominations and movements according different revelations. Hence the identity crisis. We have become what the Lord Jesus never intended.
So what’s the Solution?
We need to go back to the Great Commission. We need to go back to making Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ based on what the Lord Jesus Christ Himself commanded His Apostles to teach others.
Where do we find that curriculum?
The 4 Gospels. The curriculum for making Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. When the Lord Jesus Christ taught in the Gospels, these men were looking and listening. He was making them His Disciples. They therefore took what He taught them and changed the world with it.
John 8:31 says, ‘Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in MY WORD then are ye MY DISCIPLES indeed.’
Only the Word or the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John can produce Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. His Words produce His Disciples. Nothing else will do.
Of course the entire Bible is inspired and we should most certainly read it, study it, believe it, preach it and teach it. The Lord Jesus Himself quoted the Law and the Prophets, so did the Apostles.
However, there’s a hierarchy of importance. The Words of the Lord Jesus Christ rank as number one in order of importance. His Teaching stands Head and Shoulders above everything else revealed.
Hebrews 1:1-2 says, ‘God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, HATH IN THESE LAST DAYS SPOKEN UNTO US BY HIS SON.’ Of course the whole bible is important, but there’s an order of importance in God’s Word. There’s definitely an information hierarchy.
Focusing on the Psalms or the Proverbs or even the Epistles will not make you a Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. That will not achieve the same outcome as focusing on what the Lord Jesus Christ commanded His Apostles to teach others.
By focusing on what the Lord Jesus Christ commanded His Disciples in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John will make us Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This will solve our identity crisis. We’ll stop being denomination and movement members because of our own revelation. We’ll then become Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ based on the Lord Jesus Christ’s Revelation.
Tomorrow we’ll go a little deeper. Please share this article with as many of your contacts as possible. If you haven’t liked our page, please do so. That way, each time we post something new, your friends will also see it. Please also invite as many of your friends as you can to like our page.
Let’s shake the world like the Early Church did as Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ who carry the Words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Glory to God!