What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

"He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son." (Col 1:13).

The Christian life begins right here. He was first under the government of the tyrant king called the devil. He was ruled by the power of darkness, but then through the gospel Christ swooped in and rescued him from that terrible kingdom. He is then brought into another kingdom and another government — a rich kingdom and a government full of grace. He is called a believer because his access and existence in this new kingdom realm is based on how much he believes in it.

He would only have access to as much as he believes. That means that the more he believes the more he is able to experience this kingdom and it riches. As such his initial faith needs to be developed until it is able to encompass the fullness of the kingdom. This is a test, it will prove how much he wants the kingdom. If his desire for this kingdom is great then he would believe all the way. But if his heart is divided then he would believe half way. 

"the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matt 11:12).

When one believes with all of his heart he becomes violent (passionate). He thinks about the kingdom all the time. He studies and meditate about it. He wants to know all that is available to him in the kingdom. In fact, he wants to know everything about the kingdom. He would often fantasize about the kingdom, imagining all the reality of the kingdom and how life in the kingdom would be like. 

He would imagine how it feels to be seated on the throne in Christ; how it feels to be incapable of sinning, how it feels to live above sickness, how it feels to have a Father who anticipates all your needs and provides for it even before you ask. The Christian knows that these things are not futuristic, for he is now already in the kingdom. He is in this reality where all these things are. As such he believes that his current situation and circumstances will begin to fade and give way for the reality of the kingdom. 

They say when two power clashes, the lesser will give way for the greater. The Christian has opened the gates of his heart to a greater reality, and as he focuses on this greater reality it begins to gradually sweep into his life, bringing everything into conformity to the reality in Christ. Yes, the more the Christian meditate, contemplate, fantasize, imagine, celebrate, anticipate and demand the reality of the kingdom, the more this reality comes into his life, conquering the reality of the rule of darkness and establishing itself in visible manifestation.

Even though at the moment the Christian still see the rule of death and darkness all over his life, he laughs. Oh yes, he laughs, for he has seen something greater — a reality so great and mighty that every other thing bow to it. They cannot help but bow. Nothing can stop the advancement of this mighty reality, nothing is strong or powerful enough to resist the manifestation of this reality. Oh it moves with such great power, bringing all things to conformity, and all the Christian needs to do is surrender to its greatness. 

He beholds the reality of the kingdom and he is in awe of its greatness. He is lost in the gaze of it, and he cannot help but surrender to its mighty advancement. Sinfulness will bow, every addiction will bow, every moral flaw will bow, pain will bow, depression will bow, poverty will bow, hates, envy, jealousy, and every other thing that belong to darkness will bow. Nothing is powerful enough to resist, they will be swept away by the mighty advancement of the kingdom of God in the life of the Christian. 

Oh, the Christian is so excited about the kingdom that he gravitate towards anyone who is also a fantastic of the kingdom. They form their little fan club, obsessed about the riches of the kingdom and pressing in to be caught up in the life of the kingdom. Yes, they become caught up in their lives as kings in the kingdom, ruling from the throne and releasing the power of the kingdom as it continues to advance on earth through them. They become conductors of the kingdom reality. Everything they touch becomes enveloped by the reality of the kingdom. Oh, it excites them whenever they see this happen. 

They love to see the kingdom advance; they love to see death and darkness overtakened by the kingdom reality. They so much enjoy it that they begin to pursue this also. They want to see everything around them enveloped by the reality of the kingdom. They would meet regularly to talk about the kingdom and its advancement. They join hands together to see to it that everything around them (including the whole of their locality) becomes overturned by the kingdom reality. 

They are kings of the kingdom, they are horns set before this advancing kingdom — horns that collides with everything in its path, forcefully bringing them under the power and reign of the kingdom. They cannot be stopped, they are so caught up in this activity. For this is their joy, this is their pleasure, their enjoyment, their occupation, their happiness and fulfillment — their reason for living. They so enjoy this that they forget to take breaks. They continue to advance with the Kingdom, and with each advancement they are growing, learning, maturing unto the fullness of God. 

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

Here we would try to reconstruct Christianity with the understanding that Christianity is about a government and a kingdom. In previous post I explained that Christianity is this way today because we thought Christianity is about worshipping God. And the moment we realized that this is not what Christianity is about then Christianity will begin to take up a new shape. In this post we want to imagine this new shape that will take on when our focus is kingdom and government. 

"“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth. That was the dream. Now we will tell the king what it means... after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world. Following that kingdom, there will be a fourth one, as strong as iron... During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold." (Daniel 2:31-36,39,40,44,45). 

From this prophesy we understand that the Kingdom of God is supposed to conquer every other power and continue to expand until it fills the whole earth. Jesus told us that, "the Kingdom is already among you" (Luke 17:21). So it is not a futuristic thing that is yet to come. The Kingdom is already here. We cannot be saved without the Kingdom, for salvation is the translation from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God (Col 1:13). Christianity is life in the Kingdom. 

"I will build My church (ecclesia), and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matt 16;18-19).

The Christian meeting is an ecclesia — the governmental assembly of the kingdom. It is where the power of heaven is wield. Here in this meeting we decide what to bound and what to loose on earth. We also strategize on how to expand the coverage of the Kingdom and its power. This world is filled with the power of darkness and the Kingdom is supposed to conquer this power from one locality to another. We would achieve this by planting ecclesia in every locality in the world. 

In the New Testament Bible we saw the Ecclesia in Corinth, the Ecclesia in Rome, the Ecclesia in Thessaloniaca, the Ecclesia in Ephesus, and so on. Each of these places are locality in the Greeko-roman world. The job of the Christian ecclesia is not to be doing worship services and religious ceremonies — capital no to that. Rather, there job is to conquer the power of darkness in the locality where they were planted, and enthrone Christ in the altar and throne of that locality.

"A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil." (Eph 6:10-11).

Once they have ascended into power (in oneness with Christ) in that locality, their job is to continue to legislate the Kingdom of God in that locality. They would set up a defense system that will enable the Kingdom of God to continue to stand in that locality. They will stand that ground they have taken for God, and they will spend the rest of their lives defending it until they die and pass the mantle to the next generation. This will continue until Jesus comes and vanquish the devil and his power forever. Why is this so? Because Jesus wants every generation of Christian to experience war and battle. He wants to have a warrior bride. 

"That is why the Lord left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all. These are the nations that the Lord left in the land TO TEST those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle." (Jdg 2:23, 3:1&2).

Joshua is the Hebrew word for Jesus. Hence, Joshua in the Old Testament is a type and prefigure of Jesus. Everything in the Old Covenant is a prophesy of the New. All of that happened because God wanted to tell us (to preach the gospel) of what will happen in the New Testament. Jesus came, broke the power of the devil, but yet left the devil in this world and then he ascended to heaven. It doesn't make sense. Why leave the devil? Why not finish him at the spot. No, he wanted to give us a chance to experience battle, and this battle is meant to test our faith. 

Individualy we fight the battles in our lives, but as an ecclesia in a locality, we fight the battles of that locality. We fight to ascend into power in that locality, and then we fight to defend and keep that power as we wait for the coming King. This is what Christianity is about. It is not about appeasing God, neither is it about living a good life on earth. It is about power, kingdom and war.

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

In the previous post we looked at the nature of God and why he created man. Then we falsify the ideology that man was created to worship (appease) God. I put the word "appease" in brackets in order to specify that I am referring to worship as a means of appeasing God. Among religious folks, worship is mostly seen as a means of appeasing God. We come to church regularly and we try to live a holy life in order to appease God. We call this worship, and then we conclude that we were created for this worship, thinking that Christianity is all about this worship. We've missed it. 

The tree worship God by being a tree, the fish worship God by being true to what it is. God created all things, and by being true to what they are they are worshipping God. This worship is not for the sake of appeasing God (in the previous post I explained what I mean by "appease"). However, it honours the Creator. Yes, you honour the Creator by staying true to the purpose he created you. As Christians, to worship God we must remain true to what Christianity is. We didn't create Christianity, it is God that gave it to us and we must honour (worship) God by staying true to the Christianity he intended. So what is this Christianity that God intended? This is what we try to search out in this series.

In the previous post we also arrived at the conclusion that God created man so that he could have an intimate relationship with man, and he designed man to govern, reign, rule and have dominion. Christianity is God's way of restoring man to the original purpose he was created. That purpose is not to sing and dance every Sunday in Church. And it is certainly not to appease God, soothe his anger or pamper his ego. Immediately he created man, the first thing he told man was, "multiple, reign, rule, govern and have dominion". It is therefore safe to conclude that this is the purpose he created man.

Man fell and became slave to the very things he was designed to have dominion over. Christianity is God's way of restoring man back to power. But this time man will govern from the throne in heaven. Hence, Christianity is about returning back to power and exercising the government of God. No, Christianity is not about worshipping God. Surely as His bride we are supposed to adore, love and honour our Lord. But no one marries a wife so that she could follow him about, singing and dancing his praises. It would be irresponsible of us to just focus on that alone.

For too long we have hold on to the ideology that Christianity is about worshipping God. And this is why every of our Christian practices is structured towards this goal. Our meetings are called worship services. We feel that as long as we come to church every Sunday and worship God then we have fulfill our Christian obligation. But the moment we begin to see that Christianity really is about a Kingdom and a government then our Christian practices will begin to take up a new shape. Rather than holding worship services we would be holding governmental assemblies.

The word church is translated from the Greek word "ecclesia", and ecclesia is a Greek governmental assembly — an assembly that began in Athens where the adult male will gather and meet in order to make governmental decisions concerning the community. Ecclesia is never a religious gathering nor a worship service. We stray from the path that God has set us, the path that the early Christians walk. We keep telling ourselves that we are following the Bible. But if you should truly understand what happened in the first century as recorded in our New Testament Bible, then you will realize we are completely off.

We keep looking at the New Testament from the lenses of the culture and traditions of our modern time. But to truly understand what you see in your New Testament bible you must dive into the world of the first century — their culture and way of thinking. Until you do this you cannot rightly interpret the events you see in your New Testament Bible. It is not possible to accurately interpret an event of a culture that is alien to you. You will end up jumping into all kinds of false conclusions.

For example, you will never understand why they met in their houses. You will think it's because they didn't have money to build church. Here is a quote from a second century Christian leader, "The Word, prohibiting all sacrifices and the building of temples, indicates that the Almighty is not contained in anything." (Clement of Alexandria 195). Here is another quote from Origen, a 3rd century Christian leader,"We refuse to build lifeless temples* to the Giver of all life.... Our bodies are the temple of God." (Origen 248). 

These people intentionally decided not to build any church. They were not doing religion. They understood that they were not called to do religion, so why build a church? You might think they didn't have choirs because they just started and they were not organized enough. But this also was intentional. Many have assumed that there were no denominations and big churches because Christianity then was still primitive and they haven't grown and became more organized. But all of these assumptions are products of ignorance. 

We do not know this people, we don't know how they think and how they perceive Christianity. So we project our Christianity into the Bible and use our traditions to interpret theirs. But we cannot fulfill God's will by reading the Bible through the lenses of the traditions of men — traditions developed by pagan hearts and passed down to us. May God help us to see Christianity according to his eternal plan.

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

Before going into how the Christian meeting became a worship service we must first understand what it used to be. When you call something a worship service, then it means the whole meeting is centered on the worship. The Christian meetings in the first century were not worship services, they were called ecclesia. Ecclesia is a meeting where the community gather together to deliberate and make decisions. The first century Christians were a community. 

They were a self-governing community that did everything by themselves. They were their doctor, they treat each other. They were their farmers and they distributed food among each other. They were their carpenter, masonry, treasury, bankers, charity and everything. They were a self-existing community, depending on themselves and trying as much as they can to help themselves in everything. All of these activities will require a lot of discussion, deliberation and decision making. These are the things that are done in their meetings. 

If you look at 1 Corinthians 14 you will see that from the beginning it talks about the hymns singing, tongues, prophesying and mutual edification. This is because that is how they start their meetings. Then they move towards the decision making session. This is where Paul said the woman should not speak (1Cor 14:34), rather they should allow the heads of each home discuss and make decisions concerning the community.

Then before departing they feast on the blood and flesh of Christ. This was not done as a religious ritual. It was more like a social event as they ate and drank full meal, and enjoyed fellowship with one another. Some where even getting drunk and Paul had to warn them to eat and drink moderately, and also ensure that the food reaches everyone (1Cor 1:17-22).

What I am trying to say is that the first century Christian meeting was not a worship service. We have to understand what worship means to these ancient people, rather than using our current traditions to interpret what they were doing. Worship to the people of the first century is sacrifice, especially blood sacrifices. Yes they may sing and pray, but as long as they are not doing some sort of sacrifice or ritual, or a rite of prostrating themselves before God, then according to them it is not a worship service. 

So they were not doing a worship service, not according to them. If you should meet a first century Christian and ask him about their meeting he would never tell you that it was a worship service, cause according to them it wasn't. How did the first century Christians worship? 

"Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer." (Rom 12:1). The whole of their lives is their worship. They would never hold worship service because their whole life is their worship and service. So their meetings were not worship services. They were fellowships and they were councils (decision making meetings). 

In a previous post I explained how man perceive religion. Man perceive religion as a system of appeasing God. And they appease God by carrying out sacrifices. This act of carrying out sacrifices is called worship. Worship to ancient men (the people in the Bible times) is not singing and dancing. Praise is singing and dancing, but worship is sacrifices, especially blood sacrifices. There are three words translated as worship in our English Bible: 

(1) aboda in Hebrew (also - abad or asab) and latreia in Greek (also - latreuo). The literal meaning is service. The KJV as well as other older translations did not translate this as worship (I guess they felt service is just service, no need translating it as worship even if it involves God). 

(2) shachac in Hebrew and proskyneo in Greek. The literal meaning is bow down or prostrate. 

(3) zabach in Hebrew and thusia in Greek literally means sacrifice. 

None of these words had to do with singing and dancing. Worship in the religious sense is mostly about sacrificing to the gods. So religious men believe they have to carry out certain sacrifices (worship) in order to appease their gods. This worship is what their religion is all about. In fact, it is how man perceive thesis religion. Now we would look at how the Christian meeting moves from a council to a religious worship service. It all started around the 3rd and 4th century when many pagans were sweeping into Christianity.

Christianity had become the emperor's religion and everybody wanted to be a Christian in order to become favourable to the emperor. Many became Christians for political and social reasons. As the emperor's religious, Christianity attracts a lot of privileges and many people wanted to be a part of it. So Christianity became filled with people who were not truly converted in their hearts. They were still pagans in hearts, and they brought in pagan ideologies and practices into Christianity. They wanted to continue to do in Christianity the things they used to do in their pagan religion.

These people wanted to do blood sacrifices in worship. They were used to doing this, they believe this is what religion is all about. However, blood sacrifices is not allowed in Christianity. Christianity teaches that Jesus offered his blood as a sacrifice unto God, and he did that once and for all. No other sacrifice is needed. However, we were instructed to carry out a ceremony called the Lord’s Supper. In this ceremony we share wine as the blood of Jesus, and bread as his flesh.

Now, the Pagans tried to reinvent this Lord's Supper by filling it with their pagan ideology. They assumed the Lord’s Supper is the Christian sacrifice to appease God. So rather than it being a feast as it was in the first century where everyone ate, drank and spent time together, enjoying the Lord in each other. They turned the Lord’s Supper into a religious event where a priest carries out a sacrifice by mystically turning a cup of wine into Jesus's blood and offering it unto God to appease him. Yes, that was what the early church masses were about. It was a sacrifice where Jesus's blood is offered again unto God. Remember, sacrifice (especially blood sacrifice) is what these ancient men called worship. 

Now because of this sacrifice (worship) this mass was called a worship service and that was how worship service was invented in Christianity. These Christians believe God is this angry being that constantly needs to be appease. As such they would try to do masses as often as possible. They would even do it several times a day. They believe the more you do it, the more God is appease and then he could forgive their sins, answer their prayers and make life sweet for them. In fact, these mass was the way of salvation. You have to work for your salvation by going to masses regularly in an attempt to appease God and get him to save you. 

Thank God for the grace message today, but we still do Sunday worship service. We still hold on to that idea that Christianity is practiced by holding worship services. That is how powerful tradition can be. Even though we now understand that we don't need to offer Jesus's blood again in an attempt to carry out regular blood sacrifices. And even though we understand that the wine does not magically turn into Jesus's blood. Yet we still continue to do worship services, ignoring the Biblical meaning of worship and reinvesting it to mean singing and dancing. 

If you should take your time to study that Bible you are carrying, you will realize worship is not singing and dancing, but mostly about blood sacrifices. How many blood sacrifices have you done in your church? Why then is it called a worship service? The masses in the 4th century were called worship service because they believed they were carrying out a blood sacrifice by turning a cup of wine into blood and offering it unto God. What blood sacrifice are you doing in your church services? 

Can you see how irrelevant the idea of worship service has become since the moment we recant the belief in doing masses as it was done in 4th century Catholic Church. Even till today Catholic Church still carry out their Eucharist in every Sunday worship service. The Eucharist is the worship service. If there is no Eucharist it is not a worship service. Worship was never about singing and dancing. It is a ritual, it is a sacrifice. How can you remove Eucharist, and then claim you are doing worship service? We really don't know what we are doing. 

One thing about history is that over time things twist and change, and we lose the meaning of certain things yet we continue to do it as a tradition even though it no longer makes sense. Sometimes we invent new meaning in order to cause an archaic practice to make sense. 

Am I saying we should return to doing Eucharist. Of course no, the idea is pagan. There is no other sacrifice needed. Jesus sacrifice is once and for all. What I am saying is that our meetings shouldn't be a worship service, rather it should be a governmental assembly (more on that later). The purpose of Christianity is not to worship God. Yes, other religion (man's religion) are about worshipping their gods. But when you come to Christianity you have not come into the worship of another god, rather you have come into the manifestation of God and his Kingdom. 

The main reason God created man is not so we could worship him — God already has angels specifically designed to do that. The purpose of Christianity is to restore man back to the original intention that God had for him, and that is to "reign, rule, govern and have dominion" (Gen 1:28). And of course, to maintain an intimate relationship with God, just as we see with Adam and God in the garden of Eden. 

Let me quickly highlight the points I am trying to make in this series so that we don't get confused. 

1. Thesis religion is all about the worship of their god.

2. This worship is usually sacrifices and rituals. 

3. The first century Christians didn't see themselves as a religion as such they were not bothered about doing worship services (carrying out sacrifices and rituals). Rather they saw themselves as a community of God's kingdom, and as such they focus mainly on community issues. 

4. The 4th century Christians included a lot of pagans who wanted to do religion (the worship of a god). These pagans turned the Christian meeting into a worship ( blood sacrifices and rituals) by claiming to turn wine into the actual blood of Jesus and offering it unto God.

5. As such Christianity moved from the practice of a kingdom to the practice of a religion. 

Now you get the point I am trying to make? 

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

Here we would be looking at Israel. What was God really after with them? Was he after their worship (sacrifices) and their religious obligations and ceremonies?

"“What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting— they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!”" (Isa 1:11-14).

"‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’ “I will tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me. You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind. You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes. Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord? “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help." (Isa 58:3-7).

Several times God complain about their sacrifices and religious ceremonies when they ignore the main thing he is really after. God wanted to use Israel to produce a picture of his reign (Kingdom). God is righteous, and his reign is the reign of righteousness. Hence, the Kingdom of God is the reign of righteousness. So God is not happy when the people are so busy worshipping him that they ignore the reign of righteousness. God wanted the world to have a picture, a type, of his Kingdom on earth.

"Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer." (1Sam 8:4-7).

It was never really about worship and the blood of sacrifices. It was never really about their self-righteousness and their pious living. God wanted to be their king. He wanted his reign on earth. The Old Testament is filled with prophecies about God coming to be their king and setting up his Kingdom on earth through Israel. Generations and generations of the Israelites lived with an earnest expectation to see the Messiah come and establish the Kingdom of God in Israel. 

The Kingdom is the reason God called Abraham, chose Israel, constitute them as a nation, gave them their religion and national identity. And when finally the Messiah came, he declared that he is the fulfillment of all the law and writings of the prophets. That means everything in the whole Old Testament — all the laws, the religion, the history and the identity of the nation Israel — only existed for the coming of the King and the Kingdom. And when the King came it was all fulfilled, completed and finished.

No wonder the Jews struggled to accept this. How can you say their religion and national identity has become irrelevant because Jesus had come? The whole saga in the Old Testament is geared toward this one thing, "thy Kingdom come". And then Jesus came and declared, "the Kingdom is already among you" (Luke 17:21). When we come to the New Testament we see the predominant of the use of Kingdom term. 

The new testament people called themselves "the ecclesia". This ecclesia is the word translated as church in many English versions of the Bible. Ecclesia is a government. It is not a religious assembly but a governmental assembly. The word gospel is also a governmental and military word in the first century. Even salvation speaks of being delivered from one kingdom or government to another.

"He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son." (Col 1:13).

When we became saved we were translated from one kingdom realm to another, not necessarily from one religion to another. This thing called Christianity is not about religion, worship, rituals and ceremonies. It is rather about Kingdom, government, power, reign and dominion. The early Christians didn't know they've started a new religion. Their intention was not to start a new religion. God's intention was not to start a new religion either. The early Christians still saw themselves as adherent of Judaism. Yes, Judaism remained their religion while Christianity was their government.

"Not finding them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the other believers instead and took them before the city council. “Paul and Silas have caused trouble all over the world,” they shouted, “and now they are here disturbing our city, too. And Jason has welcomed them into his home. They are all guilty of treason against Caesar, teaching that there is another king named Jesus.” (Acts 17:6-7).

The apostles were not going about teaching a new religion. Rather they were teach about a new King, a new government and a new Kingdom.

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

Man has a tendency to create religion. What I am trying to do in this series is to remove every man-made element so that we can see Christianity based on God's original intentions rather than man-made idelogies and beliefs. It is only that which is purely God that can be as glorious as the true bride of Christ. We must remove everything that is of man so that what we have is purely God. Here in Christianity, man has infuse their ideologies about religion rather than fulfilling God's intention. Many of these things may be done unintentionally, but they are there and need to be removed. 

We would have to dig deep to discover them and eliminate them. So man's religion is an effort to get right with God by appeasing him. It is always about trying to appease God. Yes, look at every religion in the world that believe in the existence of a god. They are all about trying to appease god(s) so that he would allow (or cause) them to live a happy life on earth. This is religion as produced from man's interpretation of the world and God. Man thinks God need to be appease. They think if God is not appease terrible thing will before them. 

They would make sacrifices to appease god. These sacrifices is what is called worship. You should read my post on worship in order to understand what worship means to ancient men, especially to those people in the times of the Bible. They interpret every natural disaster as the wrath of God. And then they carry out several ceremonies to appease God. That is such a terrible understanding of God. God is not Mr Angry. He is not constantly in need of people appeasing his uncontrollable temper. Neither is God an egoistic maniac that constantly need to be petted and pampered with praises and worship. 

Thank God for science today. Man now has another paradigm for interpreting things. Ancient man developed religion to interpret the world around them. They developed all sorts of ideologies that has now been proven wrong today. One of their many wrong ideology is that God constantly need to be appease. However, tradition has a way of transmitting from one generation to another so subtly even when it has been proven wrong and no longer makes sense. 

This ideology that God constantly need to be appease (because of his anger and egoistic issues, and because it is required otherwise he would make your life on earth unbearable) has somehow been passed down to us. Yes, there are some things that we inherit. We don't know where they come from but they continue to pattern the way we think. It has even brought us to the point where we think we were created solely to worship (appease) God. Many preachers preach this. You would often hear it on the pulpit. But there is no where in Scripture where it state that we were created for the sole purpose of worshipping God. 

It is absurd to make such conclusions. God already had angels which were specifically designed to worship him none stop. No matter how powerful you are vocally, no matter how much you can dance and sing, you can never worship as well as those angels. God had specifically designed beings whose job is to worship him. These beings are in large numbers. They never get tired, they can worship all day long, and you can never compete with them. 

How can you say God created man to worship him when he already has billions of angels doing that? Is that how great his ego is that he is not satisfied with the billions of angels already worshipping him? We saw God and man together in the garden of Eden, and God never said to man, "Bow down and worship me, for that is the reason I created you". Again, we saw God (as Jesus) and man, together in the first century. Yet, not once did God say to man, "bow down and worship me, for that is your job". So how did we arrive at the conclusion that God created man to worship him? Where did that conclusion come from? We really need to ask questions. 

“Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” (Gen 1:18).

If He had created man for the sole purpose of worshipping him then this would not be the firth statement he made to man just after creating him. Imagine, you employ someone to cut your house compound grasses. And when you brought the person to your house the first thing you say to him is, "relax, eat, drink and take charge of the whole house". You didn't bother to show him what he was employed for until the day was almost over. The Bible didn't say Adam was worshiping God in the garden. In fact, the word "worship" didn't appear in the Bible until the time of Abraham. 

I don't know why we insist on the idea that God created man to worship him. Right from man's creation, before the fall, before everything went wrong and needed fixing, what was God doing with man? We really need to rethink our ideologies. Was Adam holding worship services, singing and dancing every day in the garden? Or was he just bowing down and worshipping God day and night? Was he killing animals and offering sacrifices? Yes we can ascertain why God created man by looking at the very beginning. And what did we see in the beginning? Did we see a worship service in the garden of Eden? 

It's sad we are still very much influenced by the religion of man and the ideologies passed down to us. And we follow this pattern of thinking without questioning. Yes God created man for a reason, and it was clearly stated in the first statement he made to man, "reign, govern, rule, have dominion". Another thing we see at the beginning was that God would often come down from heaven and spend time with Adam. Because of this we can safely assert that God created man for relationship. We were designed to be his friend, his sons, and his bride.

As for singing, dancing and praises, that is not the sole purpose we were created. I am not saying we ought not to do it at all. In fact, we are supposed to do it. One of the thing a bride does is adore and honour her husband. But how would you feel if you married a wife and all she does is follow you around, singing and dancing to your praises. Surely you will think something is mentally wrong with this woman. Let's get our priority straight and be the Christians God has called us to be. 

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

In the part one we looked at the first man (Adam) and the second man (Christ). When God created the first man, the first instruction he gave man was not, "worship me, for I am your God and creator". Rather, according to the Bible, the first thing that God said to man — the very first instruction — was, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” (Gen 1:18).

Then in the books of the gospel we see the second man, and all he kept talking about was kingdom, kingdom, kingdom. Yes, "Reign, govern, dominion, power, kingdom", these are the theme we see when we look at God's desire with the first and second man. He started with Adam, but Adam couldn't fulfill this purpose. Rather than ruling over the earth, Adam died (spiritually) and became subjected to the earth. He became subjected to struggles afflicted on him by the stubbornness of the soil. He became subjected to attack from wild animals. Subjected to the weather and everything on earth. 

Adam became subject to the very thing he was instructed to rule. Even till today, despite the amazing breakthrough in technology, man still remains subject to the elements of the earth. Such a pitiful state in comparison to what God actually desire. He had to send the second man (Jesus) to restore man to his original intension. And when the second man came what was he occupied with? Yes, the Kingdom. It has always been about the Kingdom, and man must be restored back to that. 

Let's not ignore that God had to take a series of step towards restoration before the arrival of the second man. One of the first major step was the calling of Abraham. Please, look carefully, what was Abraham called unto? 

"Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city whose architect and builder is God himself." (Heb 11:10).

Abraham was called to leave everything in search of a city — a kingdom which city is architect by God. No, Abraham was not called to go search for a monotheistic religion. Today, the world know Abraham as the father of monotheistic religion. But was that what Abraham was after when he left his home? Was that the reason God called him? The world would keep projecting themselves and interpreting things based on their falling nature. It was never about religion. God was after a Kingdom and a city. In the book of Revelation we see the full picture of the vision Abraham was chasing. 

"And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End." (Rev 21:2-6).

Yes, a Kingdom, a City, and a Bride. This was what God desire to bring forth through Abraham. Israel was a Kingdom, a City and a Bride. You will see this theme all over the Old Testament as Israel was designed to be a type, a picture and a prefigure of the Church — the real Bride, City and the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth. Hence, this thing that people call Christianity, this thing that we are meant to practice, is really about manifesting God's Kingdom. It is not about worshipping God and going to heaven. Neither is it about manipulating God and getting all the blessings you need. 

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

No, it is not about weekly worship services, and doing good works to appease God. This rather is an intensional effort to manifest power, dominion, heavenly intelligence, and the will and reign of the King (Christ). 

What Is Christianity (Part 1): From The First

We cannot truly practice Christianity until we understand what it is. Why did God give us this thing? What is it even about? Did God woke up one day and say, "Hey, all this billion and trillions of angels worshipping me is not enough. I will give man a religious that would cause them to worship me till they die and come join with the angels in heaven in worshipping me"? Is this all about satisfying God's craving to be worshiped and adored?

Is God this egoistic being that is so full of himself and constantly craving for attention, worship and adoration? We need to think again. Look at Jesus who is the revelation of God. How much attention did he look for, and how much worship did he demand while he walked the earth? Yes, he never did. He never looked for attention. When he started his ministry he would ask those that he healed to keep quiet and not announce him. He tried not to draw too much attention to himself.

He would constantly offend the importance people of his days. Jesus never demanded or ask anyone to worship him. That's not what he is after, and this reveals that this is not what God is after either. So what did we see Jesus doing while on earth? He was declaring the Kingdom. Yes, he was declaring the Kingdom both in words and actions.

"And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”" (Rev 21:3-4).

The Kingdom of God is God dwelling with man. It is a realm where there is no more pain, suffering, sorrow, crying, and sickness. This is what Jesus was trying to declare each time he healed the sick. He was trying to say, "look, there is a reality where all the sick are healed and all tears are wipe away". The Bible tells us that Jesus went about and "healed all who were sick" (Matt 8:16). This is a statement. 

Every sick was healed, not a single disease or demon possession was permitted. This speaks of a reality where these things no longer exist. Jesus revealed to us that what God is concerned about is his Kingdom. He is not look for more people to worship him like some egoistic maniac would prefer. He just wants to be with man and have man legislate his Kingdom on earth. This truth can be seen right from the beginning. 

Look at how God would often come to the garden of Eden to spend time with Adam. Look at how he told man to have dominion and govern the earth. And why did he ask Adam to name all the animals and whatever name he gives them will forever be their name? Why was he constantly relegating power to this man and giving him an opportunity to rule rather than demand worship from Adam? Can't you see? It was never really about worship but government and love. 

He just wants to be with man, to love man and have him love Him back. And he wants to watch man rule and govern in his Kingdom. This has been his desire right from the beginning. When men think about God they often project himself and assume God is like them. We think God is as needy as we are. We think he is constantly craving for attention and worship. So men try to bribe God with worship in order to manipulate him for their selfish needs. This is what underlines every religion on earth. They are all about appeasing God, bribing him, and manipulating him. We've missed it. God is not needy, he is complete in himself. 

"The true God is the Creator of all things. He is the owner and Lord of the heavenly realm and the earthly realm, and he doesn’t live in man-made temples. He supplies life and breath and all things to every living being. He doesn’t lack a thing that we mortals could supply for him, for he has all things and everything he needs." (Acts 17:25-26).

He needs nothing from us. He is not constantly angry and in need to be appeased with our sacrifices, worship, holiness, good works, etc. God is love, he is joy, peace and righteousness. He is everything he needs, he is complete already and needs nothing else. God only desire to love, and he has chosen man as the main object of him love. He planned to make a bride out of man and rule all of Creation side by side with his Queen. This is what he is after, and this what Jesus tried to reveal while he was on earth. 

Why else would Jesus give his disciples power to cast out demons and command sickness with the same authority that he has? Why share his dominion with those who are intimate with him? Can't you see? It's all there, it has always been about this. Look again at what Jesus said to his disciples, "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matt 16;18-19).

This was the first time the word "church" appeared in the entire Bible (using King James Version). And it speaks of wielding the key of the Kingdom of heaven, commanding such power that all of heaven begins to obey what you do on earth. If this is what church is really about, why then have we been so consume with all this ceremonies that has nothing to do with wielding the key of Heaven's Kingdom and commanding authority on earth?

This post is part of the series. Below is are links to the rest of the series:

What Is Christianity (Part 2): Kingdom, City and a Bride

What Is Christianity (Part 3): Man's Perception Of Religion

What Is Christianity (Part 4): The People Of Israel

What Is Christianity (Part 5): The Origin Of Worship Service

What Is Christianity (Part 6): Towards A New Structure

What Is Christianity (Part 7): Ecclesia In Each Locality

What Is Christianity (Part 8): The Christian Life

Ministry: Who Owns The Other?

You will often hear pastors talking about how they own the sheep. They claim their church members belong to them. Is such a claim Biblical? Are pastors the owners of the sheep in their care? 

"The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;" (1Per 5:1,2).

“So [elders/bishops] guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders." (Acts 20:28).

"Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly;" (1Pet 5:2).

It is clear in Scripture that the pastors do not own any sheep. The sheep belongs to God and God alone. In the body of Christ the leaders do not own the people. In fact, it is the other way around. It is the people who own the leaders.

"So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."

Paul, Apollos and Peter are all spiritual leaders. Yet Scripture tells us that they do not own the people, rather the people owned them. The people own the ministers, the people are the inheritance of Christ — Christ owns them — and God owns Christ. Can you see the structure? Today in the body of Christ we have turned the structure the wrong way. We feel God own Christ, Christ own the pastors, and the pastors own the people. This is unbiblical, it is not how the early Christians practice this faith, and it is not how Jesus taught us to practice Christianity.

"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up." (Eph 4:11-12).

The ministers are slaves given to serve the people. Jesus gave these ministers as gifts to his people. Jesus love his bride so much that he gave her slaves to serve are, dress her up and prepare her for the wedding party.

"Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself." (Rev 19:7).

The bride has prepared herself. Jesus is not the one that will prepare her, she will have to prepare herself for the wedding. But how would she prepare herself? This is where Jesus comes in to help by giving her slaves who will dress her up. This was how it was during the first century. Slave was is how you know how wealthy one is. A king who is very wealthy will not only have many slaves, but he would have the best slaves. He would have the best cook, the best cup bearer, the best maid, the best launder, and so on. 

If this king is about to marry and he wants to show how much he loves his bride and wants her to look absolutely glorious on the wedding day, he would give her the best of his slaves to prepare her and make her glorious for the wedding. Yes, he would give her the best hair stylist in his court, the best dress maker, the best makeup artist, and all of his bests slaves that are skilled in preparing a bride for wedding. This is exactly what Jesus did for the Church. These ministers are our hair stylist, dress maker, makeup artist, and all the slaves we need to prepare ourselves for the wedding.

They are our slaves because they belong to our bridegroom. He gave them to us in order that they might serve us. If they are not doing their work properly we can report them to our bridegroom to deal with them and send us a more qualified and diligent slave. Yes, they must be very careful otherwise we would report them to our bridegroom and they will be in big trouble. Note that anything done carnally has no power in heaven. If you are acting in the flesh and not as the bride, then the bridegroom has no business responding to you. He is committed only to his bride and not the flesh.

The flesh is condemned to the cross and the bridegroom has no business with it. The bridegroom doesn't even want to see the flesh, much less listen to anything it has to say. So as long as we are being the bride and acting as the bride, we have the right to report slaves (ministers) that are not doing their work well. They are meant to serve us, they belong to us. This is how it is in the Kingdom, and it is time we start living out this reality.

"Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock." (1Pet 5:3).

The people not the ministers are the special ones. They are God's heritage and treasure. As such, the ministers are to treat them the way they would treat a king's bride, giving them special care and serve them humbly. Ministry is meant for spiritually mature people, and if you are truly spiritual mature you will realize how special these sheep are to God. They are so precious to the Father that he would do anything for them. Ministers are to look at the people through the eyes of the Father and see them as very precious people that are to be cared for.

"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea." (Mark 9:42).

"We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed." (1Cor 4:10).

Can't you see, the people are the special ones. They are the ones that gets the special treatment. The Lord guards them very jealously. They are the ones that are honoured, not the minister, and that was how it was in the first century. That was how Jesus taught Peter and John to practice Christianity. The little ones must be given special care, and they must be honoured. Paul came on the scene and did the same thing, for he was trained by the Spirit into a mature minister. A minister that treat the people like trash is carnal and babyish. A minister that treat the people like they are his property is not fit to be a minister for he is spiritually immature. 

One of the marks of immaturity is being too possessive. It is just immature to go about claiming these people are your sheep and that you own them like some kind of property. Grow up, and stop being such a baby. You have been given a responsibility to care for the sheep and prepare the bride. Do it with all humility and let the people feel that they are the special ones and the father loves them very much. It is immaturity to be so focused on trying to make the people feel you are special. You are still full of yourself, still a baby. We need mature ministers in the body of Christ.

Note: I am not trying to divide the body into clergy and laity. My point is that the moment you are playing the role of a minister, it means you are being a servant — a slave. The word "minister" means servant. Each time you play the role of a minister you are coming out of the body to serve as a slave to the bride. The bridesmaids do not own the bride, they can never own the bride no matter how much value they add to the bride. It is the bridegroom that owns the bride. In the medieval time the bridesmaids are slaves and servants, serving under the bride. The bride owns them, they belong to her, for they are her servants. This was what Paul was trying to say when he said to the Corinthians, "everything belongs to you whether Paul or Apollos or Peter" (1Cor 3:21-22).

Yes, even apostles do not own the people, rather the people own them. They are all slaves and servants to the bride. To understand more about authority, service and submission, check out this post: Authority, Service and Submission. 

 

Why The Pastoral System Must Be Dealt With

 

"And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth." (Rev 5:10).

He has made every one of us kings and priests here on earth. But when you take the wonderful gift of kingship that God has given his people, and then you place all that responsibility on one man in a group, then you have subjected the rest of the people to laziness. Most Christians are suffering from severe case of spiritual laziness. 

I want you to understand that I am not bringing all these up just to point to errors or to sound correct. If we want to start pointing errors we would never end. There are a lot of things we see and just ignore because fighting them would be like fighting the symptoms rather than the decease. You will just warry yourself and yet achieve nothing. But we focus on the very pillar of the problem, so that when those pillars are pulled down then the remaining ones will go away. 

The reason the body of Christ is so carnal is because we are not growing, and we are not growing because we are spiritually lazy. And one of the causes of this spiritual laziness is this structure where the believers kingly and priestly responsibilities is placed on a single man in a group. By doing this, you are telling the rest that they are free to go wine and dine with the world because someone else will fulfill all their responsibilities, and that, all they need to do is just make it to church every now and then, and put some money in the basket. 

Your responsibility is to be kings and priests here on earth. You are called to be a government. Not just a government of your ecclesia, but also a spiritual government of your life, your family, and the world around you—a spiritual government of the locality where you live, and a spiritual government of the sphere where you work. Everywhere you are, everywhere you find yourself, you are to exercise God's government. You are the manifestation of God's government. The government of God's kingdom is upon your shoulders because you are a member of Christ 

Nobody has the right to take that government off your shoulders. And you shouldn't be happy that the responsibility has been taken off your shoulders. This responsibility keeps you actively engaging Christ. When you are not occupied with Christ then you are occupied with the flesh. When your responsibilities in Christ is taken off your hands then you are subjected to engage the flesh and grow more carnal. What I am trying to say is that this responsibilities are important for our spiritual growth. Responsibilities makes us grow. 

No matter how much you love a child and wants him to enjoy life, you are damaging his life by taking every responsibility off his hands. You are teaching him how to be irresponsible and immature. But give him some responsibilities and he will grow very fast. The solution to many of the problem we have in the body of Christ is spiritual maturity. We have all these issues because we are still carnal and childish. But the moment we outgrow this childishness then all these things will go away. But how can we outgrow childishness when the very structure we abide in is designed to subject one in childishness? 

The Pastoral Office (6); Was Timothy The Bishop

One of the fundamental characteristics of an ecclesia is independence. You cannot practice democracy unless you are independent. Democracy is a concept only for independent entities. Before the colonial masters came most Igbo communities of Nigeria were practicing direct democracy. But when the colonial master came they discovered it is impossible to rule a people under democracy. Democracy is all about power being in the hands of the people. You cannot enforce your government on a people unless you take the power from their hands. So the colonial British had to disband the democratic system and installed Eze (kings) in each Igbo community. Then they ruled the communities through those Eze who were puppet kings. 

It is not possible for Timothy to be their bishop without disbanding the democratic system of the ecclesia. And the moment he does that then they are no longer an ecclesia. An ecclesia without democracy is not an ecclesia any more. So Timothy would have to destroy the ecclesia that Jesus said he would build (Matt 16:18-19) if he was to be there bishop. It is totally absurd to claim Timothy was their Bishop, there are no bases for such claim. You won't find any bases in the scripture, and you won't find any bases in the very ideology behind the ecclesia system. 

Ecclesia can only exist as independent groups, governing themselves. They cannot be under anybody. They have their own government, they rule themselves, that is the whole idea of an ecclesia. The idea of one church being under another church, and having a headquarter, that is not Christian assembly/community. Or that one man is governing several churches, like some kind of business enterprise. That is just people's ministry, it is not Christian assembly, neither is it the ecclesia that Jesus said he would build. Ecclesias are independent groups, governing themselves by themselves. It doesn't matter if you were the one that planted the ecclesia, you have no right over its government. 

British were the ones who brought the difference communities in the Niger area together and made them a nation. They gave the nation the name "Nigeria". If Nigeria was to be a Christian community, you will say the British were the founder and the G.O. But the moment Nigeria gain independence and got a democratic government, British no longer have right in the government of the people. Yes, from time to time, Nigeria can request aid from British or America or any other nation, but that does not mean Nigeria is under such nation. 

Just because American soldiers came to aid Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram, doesn't mean that America governs Nigeria. So also, just because Timothy came to handle certain things in the ecclesia of Ephesus doesn't mean that Timothy is their overseer. Aid does not equal government. And you do not automatically become someone's lord just because you help them. Christ is the only Lord and head in an ecclesia. Pastors are not the head, there is nothing like "head pastor". Rather their are several pastors in an ecclesia, forming the central executive that is answerable to the general executive which constitute the whole members of the ecclesia.

This post is part of a series. Below are links to the other posts in the series. 

The Pastoral Office (1); Organic Process

The Pastoral Office (2); Elder, Bishop, Pastor

The Pastoral Office (3); Church Vs Ecclesia

The Pastoral Office (4); Comparing The Practices In Different Centuries 

The Pastoral Office (5); The Apostolic Workers

The Pastoral Office (5); The Apostolic Worker

When I was teaching about the apostle I mentioned that an apostle is not a ecclesia planter. But he is one who comes with the blueprint, and demonstrate that blueprint while teaching other people to do the same work. These people become apostolic workers, their job is to go forth and plant ecclesia, nurture the ecclesia and make sure they are strong enough to survive this harsh world. That was what Paul was doing, he took Timothy and some other people with him as he goes about planting ecclesias. He did so in order to practically teach them how the work should be done. Practical teaching involves giving them tasks. So Paul gave them some task, he would send them to certain cities to do certain apostolic work. 

The work of an apostolic worker is to set the structure and ensure that an ecclesia grows into maturity, fully functional and healthy. It is like gardening. You will not only plant, but you will also nurture, water, trim, and care for the plant till it is mature enough and start bearing fruit. An apostolic worker is not the overseer of the ecclesia, that is the work of the elders; "From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them: “... the Holy Spirit has made you overseers [bishops]" (Acts 20:17,18,28). Timothy was not the bishop of Ephesus, you will not see that anywhere in Scripture.

Paul asked Timothy to remain in Ephesus and play the role of an apostolic worker, nurturing and caring for them till they come into maturity. An apostolic worker is not the overseer, he is just a minister. Ecclesias are independent entities, like plants. The work of a gardener is not to enter into the plant and start telling it where to grow branch and where not to grow branches. The plant is an independent entity, it has a life of it own, and it is governed by the life within it. 

The work of a gardener is not to govern the plant but to watch it grow, give it water when it need it, trim it, do whatever is required so that the plant would grow by itself (independent of the gardener) into what it was meant to be. The gardener does not dominate the plant or control it like a puppet. We human are so possessive and such a control freak. But if you have ever been a farmer you will have been impressed by that feeling of helplessness, knowing that a lot of things are not under your control. An apostolic worker does not try to control the ecclesia. He is not their lord or overseer, he only comes in with his ministry and minister to them

The brother through which ministry the ecclesia in Lagos emerge, he is not our overseer. He has no say in any of our decisions. Although we respect him and we would invite his input in certain things, but the ecclesia always have the finial say. And when things are going bad in an ecclesia, it is wise to invite an expert that knows how to make an ecclesia healthy. It's like going to a doctor, you will do everything the doctor ask you to do because you want to get better, but that doesn't mean the doctor is your king. He is just carrying out a service and you submit to his service because you trust him and you want to get better soon. 

The apostolic ministry of nurturing, caring or gardening a ecclesia is like that of a doctor service. Doctors are not our kings, we go to them when we need their service, but after that service we go our way, they have no control over our lives. We can even decide whether to follow their advice or not to follow them. Doctors are not lord over our lives. I have stayed too long on this I just hope you understand. As ecclesia continues to emerge in this generation we would need a lot of apostolic workers, who serve as ecclesia doctors—experts who know how to treat an ecclesia, make it healthy and glorious. 

A lot of people have tried to do ecclesia and it broke down. We need to have experts who can be called upon whenever an ecclesia feels they are unhealthy, or they feel they need an upgrade. Ecclesia can be started by novice, and may need an expert to properly organize them together to grow healthy or become more glorious/victorious. Frank Viola and his friends offer such services in America, they call themselves "workers". They've planted several ecclesias and help others to be healthy, yet they are not G.Os (general overseers). 

In fact, they have no jurisdiction in those ecclesia outside of the services of nurturing and organizing the structure. And this service can be rejected or embraced by the ecclesia, they cannot force themselves on anyone. Timothy ministry was to nurture the ecclesia in Ephesus. He was not the bishop, the elders were the bishop (the overseers), he was only an apostolic worker with a special ministry that can be likened to that of a gardener. Apart from Timothy Paul trained many other people who went and planted some other ecclesias. Epaphras trained under Paul in Ephesus and he went to plant the ecclesia in Colossae.  

So Paul was sending people to different places to carry out certain tasks. They were co-ministers with Paul. And some of them, like Timothy, remain doing the work that Paul assigned them to do even after Paul's death. They were all ministers; apostolic workers and teachers. Bishop is not a ministry, it is a responsibility that a elder carries out as a member of an ecclesia. 

A believer can be a teacher in Lagos, and be ministering in the several ecclesias in Lagos. Such a person would be going around Lagos, holding teaching programs in each of the ecclesia, teaching and training them. This was exactly what Apollo was doing, in fact that was how every minister do ministry. They visit each ecclesia, minister to them and go to the next. They were not governing them or overseeing them, that was the work of the elders in each ecclesia. Ministers are in transit in an ecclesia, they never settle in a particular ecclesia and take over it. It does not belong to them, it belongs to the Lord 

There was an ecclesia I visited in Lagos, a teacher came to them to minister and they hosted him. We held a 3 days programme in that ecclesia and this teacher ministered. When ministry was done we returned back to normal ecclesia, and this teacher moved on with his ministry. That was how they did it in the 1st century. Timothy probably visited each ecclesia in Ephesus, ministered to them, reminding them of Paul's teaching, exhorting them to remain true to those teachings, and do some nurturing and structuring services before moving to the next. That was his ministry, and an ecclesia can decide to embrace that ministry or reject it. He is not the owner of any ecclesia, they are independent entities. 

This post is part of a series. Below are links to the other posts in the series. 

The Pastoral Office (1); Organic Process

The Pastoral Office (2); Elder, Bishop, Pastor

The Pastoral Office (3); Church Vs Ecclesia

The Pastoral Office (4); Comparing The Practices In Different Centuries 

The Pastoral Office (6); Was Timothy The Bishop Of Ephesus

The Pastoral Office (4); Comparing The Practices in Different Centuries

Let's look deeper into the 1st and 2nd century pastoral system before we move on to the 3rd century. 

"To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." (Phil. 1:1).

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate... Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued. (1Tim. 2:2, 8).

You can see that their ecclesia leadership structure had only the bishops (which is the same as the elder and pastor) and then the deacons. Those were the only two leadership positions that was available in the first century. And you will find the same thing in the second century. 

"Therefore, appoint for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord." Didache (c. 80-140, E).

"Preaching throughout countries and cities, the apostles appointed the first-fruits of their labors to be bishops and deacons of those who would believe afterwards. However, they first tested them by the Spirit. This was no new thing. Indeed, many ages before, it had been written concerning bishops and deacons. For the Scriptures say in a certain place, "I will appoint their bishops in righteousness and their deacons in faim" [Isa. 60:17, Lxx]." Clement of Rome (c. 96, W).

"It is necessary to abstain from all of these things, being subject to the presbyters and deacons, as unto God and Christ." Polycarp (c. 135, E).   

You can see the dates, they are all quotes from 2nd century letters. And each of them mentioned only two leadership positions; the bishop or presbytery (which means elder) and deacons. There were no other positions except these two. It was during the 3rd century that another position emerged, separating bishop from elder and setting it on a higher hierarchy above the elders. 

I don't think I will be able to go through the whole story but the change was as a result of politics. Yes, the elders started playing politics among themselves, and one succeeded in exerting himself as leader over the rest. Aristotle said man is a political animal, and that man has this innate desire to exalt himself and rule over his brother. That is the nature of carnal man, he wants to govern his brother, he wants to sit on a throne and watch his brother bow before his feet. It is a perverse desire, the same desire that led Lucifer to attempt to dethrone God. He wants to rule. 

God knows about this carnal nature of man, he knows how power corrupts a man, and as a result he set a structure in his ecclesia to ensure check and balance. A democratic system ensures that all the power does not go into one man's hand. It prevents anybody from becoming corrupt with power. The whole of the people share the power among themselves and help to ensure check and balance in the community, preventing excesses and the abuse of power. However, the devil entered into our midst and removed the structure of God leaving us with this thing that most of us still practice today. 

The change began to take place in the late 2nd century into the 3rd.

"Innumerable commands like these are written in the Holy Scriptures, pertaining to chosen persons: some to presbyters, some to bishops, some to deacons." Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E). 

"According to my opinion, the grades here in the church, of bishops, presbyters, and deacons... following the footsteps of the apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousness according to the Gospel." Clement of Alexandria (c. 195, E). 

"To all our fellows in the ministry throughout the world — bishops, presbyters, and deacons — and to the whole catholic church under heaven." Malchion (c. 270, E).

"All these bishops, presbyters, and deacons had suffered martyrdom in the prison at Alexandria." Phileas (c. 307, E).

"Paul himself has laid our foundation, that is, the foundation of the church. And he has put us in trust of the law—ordaining deacons, presbyters, and bishops." Disputation of Archelaus and Manes (c. 320, E).

"For [the bishops] are your high priests, as the presbyters are your priests. You have the deacons in place of the Levites... But He who is above all these is the High Priest [Christ]." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c. 390, E). 

From two offices of leadership in the 2nd century, it turn into three in the 3rd. And the 3rd century people would argue that it has always been three, when it clearly wasn't. You see the way they twisted the teaching of the apostles, and used the Old Testament to support their perverted structure. 

They started claiming that people like Timothy and Titus were appointed bishops of certain churches, and they were ordered by the apostles to appoint elders that would serve under them. They twisted the teaching and tradition of the first century Christianity and remolded it into the image of that perverse thing they were practicing. Today's theology school has adopted this twisted doctrine, they will tell you that Timothy was a bishop and the single overseer of the church in Ephesus. However, you will see no trace of such thing in the New Testament Bible. 

Search throughout the Bible, you will not see one single place where Timothy was called a bishop, or was specifically asked to "oversee" the ecclesia in Ephesus. Rather he was asked to appoint bishops, and he was given to do certain apostolic ministry among the Ephesian ecclesia. But these theology schools are looking at the Bible through the lenses of the tradition of men — a tradition that developed from the 3rd century. That is why they feel Timothy was the Bishop (overseer) of the ecclesia in Ephesus. However, the truth is that Timothy was just a minister. 

Reference: A Dictionary Of Early Christians Beliefs, A Reference Guide To More Than 700 Topics Discussed By The Early Church Fathers by David W. Bercot (Editor). 

This post is part of a series. Below are links to the other posts in the series. 

The Pastoral Office (1); Organic Process

The Pastoral Office (2); Elder, Bishop, Pastor

The Pastoral Office (3); Church Vs Ecclesia

The Pastoral Office (5); The Apostolic Workers

The Pastoral Office (6); Was Timothy The Bishop Of Ephesus