Jesus Army: Magazine - Prophetic Word

WE SEE Jesus Fellowship Church as an apostolic church; as a key church in the UK, called to impact the nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ, to win souls and build them into a New Testament lifestyle.

But what does it mean to be an "apostolic" church, to have an "apostolic" heart? We can learn a lot by reading Paul's apostolic letters such as his first letter to the Corinthians.

Called

It was a letter written to "the church of God at Corinth" by one "called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:2). Corinth, we find as we read, was in fact a messy church with many problems which Paul had to address. But it was still "the church of God". Apostolic church is not perfect church! But it is church with called and visionary leaders and it is church that is "sanctified" (1:2), set apart to belong to God.

Apostolic leadership will create church like this; they will impart "grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (1:3). Grace and peace are not just words - they are power, imparted and received for the strengthening of the church. Apostolic churches will know this power - a power that comes from the cross.

Cross

The cross will always be central to an apostolic church.

It was central to Jesus' teaching. He said: "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it." (Luke 9:23-24)

It was central to Paul's message: Christ sent him to proclaim the gospel - "not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:17-18)

Apostolic church will have at its heart the call of the Cross: die to your old life. Go against the flow of the world. Do not seek the world's education: what has all the wisdom of the world produced? Injustice, war, gun crime on the increase, a consumer society based on greed. The power of apostolic church does not come from natural talents or education, but from the "foolishness" of the cross.

Those who have let the cross work in their own life will be able to release its power in others.

Cultivated

Apostolic church grows. It has growth power because "God gives the growth" (3:6 RSV). Its leaders are "servants assigned a particular task by the Lord": some "plant" church, some "water" it - but God makes it grow.

Leaders of this kind of church dare not say, "We have the Holy Spirit but we cannot grow the church". They are humble, they cultivate faith, believe in God - and grow the church.

Captives

Such leaders are captives to the call to love: they are "slaves of everyone" (9:19), so great is their passion to see souls won and the church grow.

Are you prepared to be a slave to the rough-and-ready lads in street gangs? Are you prepared to be a slave to the elderly woman next door? Are you prepared to be a slave to that young couple with a baby and a chaotic life? We mustn't condemn people: our job is to love and serve all.

This will be the character of apostolic church. Identifying with people, not arguing with them, not superior. Like Jesus, making friends with people. Certainly not just poking literature at people! This is the great work of friendship evangelism that God started when "He so loved the world that He gave His Son".

Compassion

In chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes about all the powerful gifts that God gives to enable us to build the church. Yet central to this and more important still is the call to love.

We are to desire the gifts to build the church - yet love is still the "more excellent way" without which we will be fruitless and none of our gifts will work anyway. It is this deep compassion for people which will grow and build up the church.

"Love never fails" - that is, it never stops: it always carries on giving and believing with great patience. Does this describe you? Is that your heart for people?

There is no power without love. We must "follow the way of love" (14:1) if we are to be apostolic church.

Company

Paul worked with a great company of others; we read about some of them at the end of this letter. He was a networker who needed relationships in order to function: they "refreshed his spirit" (16:18).

Apostolic church works like this, with networks and teams pulling together to achieve. Paul had his close team - Timothy, Titus, Silas, Aquila and Priscilla, and others - and his wider network - such as Apollos and others. Relationships will always be of key importance in an apostolic church movement.

Compulsion

Paul's passionate, compulsive devotion to the cause of Jesus comes across at the end of this extraordinary letter. It comes across in a kiss and a curse.

A kiss: "greet one another with a holy kiss" (16:20). Paul writes this four times in various letters. There is a sacred affection among those who belong together in the cause of Jesus. Apostolic churches will always carry this kind of heartfelt devotion to one another.

A curse: "If anyone does not love the Lord - a curse be on him" (16:22). Paul wasn't going too far here! We must live in our love for Jesus: nothing else counts but committed, self-denying, self-giving devotion to Jesus and His Church.

Paul would give himself a black eye in order to win the fight! (9:27). How about us? Are we ready to give our all, to work with compulsive, powerful love to see the church built and Jesus honoured in our time?

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