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by David R. Cox
(c) 2003
Very simply, we must return to the Bible in seeking the methodology of doing the work of God. There is a movement or thinking in modern Christianity that says "methods are neutral." In other words, God gives us the direction but how we get there, the methods we use to accomplish the work of God is totally up to us.
God prescribes a method with His purpose - Moses was told by God to speak to the rock in the desert, and Moses in anger struck the rock. By both means, water gushed out of the rock to fulfill the need of water for the children of Israel, but there is a great difference between the two. Because Moses refused to follow the method of God, Moses as a servant was cursed and not allowed to enter into the promised land and enjoy the blessings of God.
This simple passage instructs us that God has prescribed methods as well as purposes in His Work.
So what is the "prescribed method"? Very simply, God's people are to band together into small groups called churches, and these groups are organized around the work of God. The individuals in these groups evangelize the unsaved, and when the unsaved are converted, they are converted with the express purpose of being integrated into this church that evangelized them. Once in the local church, they are to be taught (discipled or made disciples). After a period of training, they are to fully engage in the work of the ministry themselves. The preachers and teachers are given to that local church for the express purpose of capacitating these "newbies" so that they can do the work of the ministry.
Today we have a general chaos in Christianity where everybody is proclaiming a calling of God (which God has never called anybody to do anything against His will, and His expressed and prescribed methodology). We have ministries in all areas of Christianity doing everything under the sun. The bottom line is, not all of this is legitimate, and in fact, most of it is simply unbiblical, rebels that refuse to follow God's commands.
God has instilled in His design a certain "genius". It works on a present level and on an eternal level. Most people do not realize this genius of God because they never have studied it (submitting to what God reveals) and therefore they cannot know it.
How does the local church work in God's scheme of things?
Very simply, God has instilled checks and controls in His design. First of all, we must clarify that the purpose of the church is for the accomplishing of God's will and this is most forcibly seen in the doing of God's work. God never designed all the Christian organizations that proliferate today in Christianity. They all have very serious errors in the organization, and these errors cannot be fixed without essentially making them into local churches. The local church is the plan of God for doing the work of God. Everything else is in competition with it, detracts from it, and sucks the blood and life from the local church.
What is God's work? - The salvation of souls. This is accomplished by Christian workers which are gotten by being discipled within the structure and framework of a local church. The edification of Christians is so that they can successfully do the work of God, not for some pie in the sky reason that is isolated from God and His major work of saving men's souls.
Last Updated on 12/09/05
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