As the daughter of an Assemblies of God pastor, I
have been in the church my whole life. From the earliest memories of traveling
with my parents as children’s evangelists to attending the churches where my
father served on staff or served in volunteer positions, I have observed both positive,
Biblical practices from those genuinely seeking the Kingdom of God, and
negative, destructive behaviors from people deceived in their motives and mind.
What I am addressing today is in the middle of the
two extremes. It is our tendency to compartmentalize the Church, separating one
function from another and thus separating the need for all the gifts, fruit,
and callings God has for each of us.
The cause, I believe, is in a lack of understanding
of a triune God. Jesus said, in John 17:22-23, “I have given them the glory
that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me
- so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that
you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (NIV) We have
our limited views of God simply because we are human and limited in our
thinking. However, I believe God has been trying to reveal His character and
nature to us through the parallel of nature and His creation. I have heard the
analogy of 3 in 1 as the egg, the apple, or water more times than I can count.
However, I have always been frustrated with these analogies because of the easily
manipulated nature of these three. You can separate them through a process of
cooking, freezing, peeling, and manually dividing each part of these objects.
It wasn’t until I began to see God in the Bible repeatedly referred to as “light”
that the revelation of a unified God began to truly make sense to me. Below are
a few examples of what I mean.
According to an internet search of “How many times
does the Bible refer to God as light?” numerous articles have stated between
200 and 300 instances between both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
God often speaks to me during the most mundane
moments and this instance is a prime example of that. I was watching the movie,
Pollyanna, shortly after Disney+ launched. I was so excited to be able to watch
some of the classic Disney movies! In the movie, there is a scene where
Pollyanna and her little friend, Jimmy Bean, were playing together and encountered
the grumpy old hermit, Mr. Pendergast. They were trying to climb a tree (an
epic one at that) when they got caught and scolded for being on his property.
When Pollyanna catches a glimpse of rainbows dancing on the walls, she is
immediately drawn to them. Mr. Pendergast explains the science behind the light
of the sun being refracted by the prisms to make the color spectrum on the
walls. In a later scene, she strings them up to create dozens of rainbows
suspended on Mr. Pendergast’s walls. It was during this movie that the Holy
Spirit opened my eyes to the God of Light, refracted through the natural lens of
the physical realm for us to see and understand Him better. The prime colors
are red, yellow, and blue, yet it is impossible to separate them from one
another. Their blended characteristics make varying shades of red, yellow, and
blue such as orange, green, and purple, but they can still never be separated,
only observed.
When Jesus was talking with Nicodemus (John 3), He
told Nicodemus that unless someone is “born again” they cannot see the kingdom
of God. He went on to say that we are born of flesh (water) when we are born of
our earthly mother, but Jesus then explains that it is our spirit that is born
when we receive salvation. He is trying to explain these things, but it was
difficult for Nicodemus to understand with his limited understanding. Jesus was
trying to help us see that we were created to be 3 parts just as God is 3
parts. Father, Son, & Spirit. Flesh, Soul (mind, will, & emotions), and
spirit (the spirit-man made in the image of God).
In the western Church, these parts are separated to
the detriment of those we are leading to Christ. We have compartmentalized
evangelism, discipleship, and the gifts of the Spirit when they are meant to be
together from the start. What do I mean by that? Our programs have been created
to teach people about the Bible but we have required a class for those who want
to be baptized in water. We don’t offer to minister the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit either out of fear or ignorance unless it is Pentecost Sunday or we bring
an evangelist that operates in the gifts of the Spirit. This is even more
harmful because it perpetuates the misconception that only certain people are
meant to operate in the gifts of The Holy Spirit if they are called to certain
ministry. This lie couldn’t be further from the truth!
It is time for the Church to begin to decompartmentalize
the Body of Christ and start to teach about the body as a whole. The Gospel of Reconciliation
is complete reconciliation of humanity to God and His original purpose for us,
complete oneness with Him. It begins when we are born, and we grow to the point
of understanding. The body and spirit are then of the age of accountability and
has the capability to choose to accept Jesus as Lord and savior. There is no
exact age for this to happen because we all reach this point at different times
in our life but for most of us it is between the ages of 4 and 7. As a child,
raised in a God-fearing home, this should be when we are led through salvation
by our parents as they “train up a child in the way they should go” (Prov. 22:6).
For many others it happens when they hear the Gospel and the Holy Spirit
convicts them of their need for salvation and the Love of Jesus. 1st
John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (NIV) We then are
born again in The Spirit and our spirit-man comes alive within us. That is only
the second step to being reconciled to God. The third and final part happens when
Jesus baptizes us in His Holy Spirit so that our spirit-man is completely
submerged and connected to the Holy Spirit so that we have power to live
righteously and to be a witness that we belong to Jesus and that Jesus lives in
us. Just as Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit as proof that God sent
Him, the Holy Spirit is proof that Jesus saved us and we belong to Him. Jesus
refers to the Holy Spirit in John 15:26-27 when He tells His disciples “But
when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth,
who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me. And you also will
bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning.” Jesus is saying
that the Holy Spirit is our proof that Jesus is with us, just as He gave proof
through miracles, signs, and wonders that The Father sent Him.
But we have “shot our soldiers in the foot”, so to
speak, by delaying informing people about the Holy Spirit and withholding
ministering the Baptism in The Holy Spirit. The first church didn’t have an 8-week
class on next steps before being baptized in water or a 4 week growth track to
join the other disciples in receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. In fact,
throughout the book of Acts, we see these things happening within days and
sometimes hours of each other!
So why have we created a Christian assembly line to
make disciples and outsourced various ministries designed to build the Kingdom
of God?
The remedy to this problem starts with leadership
seeking direction and discernment, asking God to give a bold strategy in
training up our disciples in the full gospel of reconciliation; body, soul, and
spirit, reunited with God the Father through salvation in Jesus Christ and
Baptism in the Holy Spirit. It continues by equipping the 5-fold ministers in
each church (apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, & evangelists) as well
as elders and deacons to walk in the full gospel and how to minister salvation
and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There are some amazing resources available
for teaching simple ways to witness and minister in these areas. As an
evangelist, I am always eager to equip God’s people in these areas so that they
can be fully functioning in all aspects of walking out life as a Child of God!
Finally, it is essential that every program, every class, every group, and
every ministry in our churches teach the fullness of the Gospel from salvation,
baptism in the Holy Spirit, and walking in the calling, gifts, and fruit of the
Holy Spirit.
Those who are in the church and not on staff or in
a position of leadership, it is time to begin to mature and seek God outside
the four walls of the church building. I am challenging anyone who considers
themselves part of the Body of Christ to stop limiting yourself to a section of
the church and begin to open yourself up to the idea that God called us to
more, higher, deeper, greater in Him that is not limited to one compartment or
another. If you are serving with kids, then serve them by teaching and
exemplifying the complete life of a child of God. If you are an usher, or
janitor, or group leader, or even simply an attender, seek the Kingdom of God
and everything it entails, not just one or two sections.
There is so much more for us and so much more for
those who are seeking answers and truth. Yet many leave disappointed because we
are not being fully effective as the Body of Christ. Let’s show them the full
spectrum and not just one color.
