THE HEAVENLY
MINISTRY OF CHRIST
Read and pray: “Therefore He says: When He ascended to the heights, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.” (Eph. 4:8)
Saul was received as a member of the Body
Then Ananias went to the house where Saul was, laid his hands on him, and said, “Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, that is, Jesus Himself who appeared to you on the road by which you came, that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 17).
Saul received his sight, rose up, and was baptized. He was not only baptized into Christ, but also into the Body. Then he stayed for some days with the disciples in Damascus. In this way he was received into the Body as a brother.
Protected and cared for by the Body
Saul immediately began to proclaim Christ in the synagogues, thus gaining the opposition of the Jews, who eventually plotted his death (vv. 20-25). How did he escape from Damascus? It was not by disguising himself and slipping away. Rather, the members of the Body let him down through the wall at night in a basket. The basket may symbolize the church. He was sent out in the Body and by the Body.
When Saul went to Jerusalem, the apostles who were there did not receive him. They suspected that he wanted to deceive them and were afraid. Another member, Barnabas, came forward, reporting to the apostles how Saul had been genuinely converted. Once again, it was through a member of the Body, but not one of the apostles, that Saul was received.
Later Saul returned to Tarsus, his hometown. There Barnabas found him and brought him to Antioch, where they remained for a year, meeting with the church and teaching the people (11:25-26).
Through all these steps, this young opposer eventually became an apostle. This illustrates how much time the Lord Jesus spent to make just one believer a competent apostle.
Ephesians 4:8 tells us, “Therefore He says: When He ascended to the heights, He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men.” To say that He gave gifts to men is a rather simple statement. However, we can perceive, from the case of Paul, how complicated it was for this member to become a gift as an apostle.
In His ascension, Christ exercised His headship to guide His Body, with one member bearing one responsibility and another fulfilling another.
The case of Paul shows us the excellence of the life work that the ascended Head carries out in order to prepare even a single effective apostle. This operation is not a movement of Christ as Sovereign, but a work under His headship, bringing the entire Body into excellent functioning. Do you think Paul could have become an apostle by attending a seminary for four years? Many members of the Body were needed for the Head to prepare Paul to become an apostle.
Sooner than expected, it may well happen that some of you will be sent out as apostles. It is necessary to realize that, for this to occur, the Head in the heavens must exercise His leadership in the lives of many members of His Body.
HOW THE MEMBERS GROW AND FUNCTION
How can all the members grow and function so that the Body of Christ may be built up? Suppose a Pentecostal comes among you. After he finishes preaching some moving sermons, you are all carried away. You begin to speak in tongues, roll on the floor, shout that you have power, and preach from the top of the roof to the people below who need to repent and believe in Jesus, or else they will go to hell.
Do you believe that such a movement can cause you to grow? I have already seen how people behave in Pentecostalism. From what I have observed, I can state that there is little, if any, growth among them.
Pentecostalism is a movement, not the excellent life work that the Head carries out in order to touch His members, one by one, detail by detail.
Please do not misunderstand me. I do not intend to discredit any Christian work; nevertheless, I believe the Lord has shown me that Pentecostalism is not a work that can build up His Body with regard to life.
It does not truly carry out the marvelous life work. I have received a burden from the Lord and know what He is seeking. I am certain that, after a few days of these meetings of ours, all of you have already been touched by the Lord in a marvelous way.
You went to the Lord and praised Him for bringing you out of darkness, touching your heart, and enlightening you. Touching the Lord in this way and being touched by Him is the excellent way in life by which you grow.
The result of this growth will be the expression of your function. Functioning comes from growth, and growth comes from the excellent life work that proceeds from the Head.
Notice what Ephesians 4:15-16 tells us: “But holding to the truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, out from whom all the Body, being joined together and knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.”
We all need to grow in the Head. Then, out from the Head in whom we grow, we will be supplied. Whatever part of the Body we may be, we will be supplied by the Head to function in order to minister life to the Body. In this way, the Body will be built up.
Colossians 2:19, like the passage in Ephesians, also speaks of “holding the Head, out from whom all the Body, being richly supplied and knit together by means of the joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of God.” We may be a joint to supply the Body, or a ligament to unite the members.
The Body has only one Head. Consider how busy He must be taking care of each one of you. His heavenly ministry is to take care of you in the smallest details. He exercises His headship by charging me to come here to minister Him to you.
He charges the elders to keep in contact with you. He moves other members who are close to you to maintain fellowship and pray with you. He constrains you to keep in contact with Him so that He may work in you and supply you with the specific riches that you need.
As you are helped and enjoy Him, you grow. Then He may exercise His leadership to send you to Neuchâtel¹. While you are there, you may give a testimony that ends up helping those who are there.
All these activities are part of the heavenly ministry of Christ, causing all His members to grow and function so that His Body may be built up.
AN ORGANIC ENTITY
You will realize that what I am describing is an organic relationship between Christ and His Body. You are living members of this organism, not merely members of an organization.
This organism has Christ as the Head exercising His care over each one of you and over all of you mutually. All of you are cared for together under His headship. Praise the Lord for having here in Europe this organism under the living headship of Christ!
I believe you can see how this differs from traditional Christian work. The human body does not have a dead system related to the functioning of the various parts. All the nerves, muscles, and other members are under the living control of the head. The whole body is under organic headship.
The activity of the physical body under the direction of the head corresponds to the heavenly ministry of Christ as Head. He does not need a Christian organization to be established in order for His Body to be built up.
He works organically, first to form apostles and then to cause all the members to grow and function. This work results in the Body building itself up.
My burden under the organic headship of Christ is to minister life to you, not to stir you emotionally. I truly believe that Christ has been ministered into your inner being. If this has happened, you feel continually constrained to keep in contact with Him: “Lord Jesus, I love You. You are my life. You are everything I need. I am open to You. I want to be conquered and occupied by You. I wish that my whole being would be saturated with Your Person.”
You have probably prayed in this way already. If so, you are under the headship of Christ, under His heavenly ministry, receiving the life that He ministers into your inner being for the growth and the functioning of His Body.
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¹ Neuchâtel (or New Fribourg) is a Swiss city located on the shores of Lake Neuchâtel.
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