“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be
spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved ” (Luke 5:37, 38).
My contention is that these words of Jesus can be applied to the NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH, as it forms a “NEW WINESKIN” that is ordained by God to hold the “NEW WINE” OF THE GOSPEL.” This limitless, unconditional grace of God extended to all of God’s created, human, image-bearers (Genesis 1:26-28) desperately needs a container that does so!
However, while serious Christians are generally very concerned about the message their church proclaims in great detail, they have almost no concern about the structure and function of the institution itself from which that message supposedly flows! I want to look at that in this posting.
Last week we saw that God’s institution of the New Testament church has the same authority, responsibility, and accountability to Jesus Christ as does the family, but with a very dissimilar method of implementing them. These three kingdom characteristics are applied INDIVIDUALLY BY A SINGLE PERSON (the husband) in the family. However, all three are always applied CORPORATELY BY A GROUP OF ELDERS in the New Testament church (all selected by the church members themselves).
These elders are mature, church-veterans, who are interested in making the church happen and grow into a mighty, Kingdom-extending force, actively attacking and tearing down the gates of Hell (Matthew 16:18)!
They may not be gifted preachers, caring pastors, or natural evangelists. They may not have obvious “ministry gifts.” which are nowhere to be found on the lists of elder qualifications Paul enumerates in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Their service in the office of “elder” involves church activities, spiritual direction and all final decision-making authority in the church. The office of elder is God-ordained and implemented by man.
These elders create for us a vibrant, structural, new wineskin to hold the powerful, life-changing new wine of the gospel of the grace of God.
However, that gospel itself is presented, nurtured and spread by a wholly different kind of church leadership, and the elders may or may not be a part of THAT leadership:
“And He (God) Himself gave some (to the church) to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect (mature) man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ“ (Ehesians 4:11-13).
The following paragraph from last week about these verses bears repeating: “They tell us that the primary mission of the institution of the structural church is not to preach the gospel to a lost world every Sunday morning from the church pulpit, although that will certainly occur. No! Its primary task is to EQUIP ALL ITS MEMBERS TO DO SO, as we live our normal lives, going out into that lost world on Monday morning to work at our regular jobs. Wherever we go, with whomever we meet, we are ‘Kingdom hand-grenades!’”
The church members are EQUIPPED to be these “hand-grenades” by the natural, spontaneous, unconscious (NSU) ministry of fellow church members who were given MINISTRY GIFTS. These fellow-members did not choose this equipping ministry, and they might initially even be unaware that they have these gifts. They can’t be purchased or acquired at seminary They are ONLY sovereignly given by God Himself, according to His inscrutable will!.
A recipient of a ministry gift may not yet be qualified or mature enough to be an elder, and they may never be called to be one. But their NSU ministry forms the heart and soul of a biblically-functioning wineskin, with the result in Ephesians 4:13, stated above, will eventually be “unity” and “spiritual maturity.” for the church
I see this happening in a biblically functioning church in three main ways:
1. Participatory and not observational church meetings:
Paul describes such meetings to the Corinthian church: “Then how is it, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be for building up (1 Corinthians 14:26 MKJV). Everyone can participate at church gatherings, even if they have a “teaching!”
Paul is here emphasizing orderliness in the meetings. Previously, he had told the Corinthians that every member of Christ’s body is necessary to the growth of the church, even those who seem to be the least of the members, and who appear to have nothing to contribute (1Co 12:18-27).
So, each member, without exceptions, is a necessary part of the local expression of the Body of Christ, and it is crucial that each is free to contribute to the church at its meetings.
2. Walk in the light together, eagerly confessing, openly and publicly, our already-forgiven sin:
“…If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:7, 8).
As we are “walking in the light” together, church is a place where this open, public confession and repentance can happen: “Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16 ISV). This occurs most naturally and easily in break-off, same-sex gatherings, i.e., “Celebrate Recovery,” “Alcoholics Anonymous,” etc., but this transparent mind-set affects the whole church (“make it your habit”).
3. Being as little children:
This means living by only what our Heavenly Daddy has revealed to us in our hearts, experientially. For example, He has told us that Jesus lives out through us by His Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:20) , that He is changing our “want-to’s” so that we will want to do His will (Philippians 2:13), which will be keeping the law of God (Romans 8:4)! Have you seen this, experientially?
As I learn to always think, “Daddy’s got it!” and hold His hand tightly, I find that I can live by doing what I really WANT TO DO! More and more, what I want to do is what Daddy wants me to do, the very Truth of God—the Law of God, applied by the Grace of God! “For the Law was given through Moses, but Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Daddy said it—believe it! Hallelujah!
