Power Politics By The Apostles!

This is the Tenth post in the series from Chapter 5 of Friends With God: God’s Called Out Ones. In the previous post we examined the role of the Church as the representative of the Kingdom of God on Earth today. This post examines what Christ said regarding the structure of the Church, who is the leader and how it is financed.

What Is The Church Structure?

If the church is now the representative of the Kingdom of God on Earth, what is the structure the church is under today? This is a leading question, for it implies that the church is ‘under’ some sort of structure.

I put this question here to alert you to the fact that it’s very easy to find yourself asking such questions, which may then steer you into authoritarian thinking. However, I don’t want to lead you into thinking like me (even if it is correct), but prefer to point you to what is stated in the Bible, and leave you to determine if it has any bearing on how you live your life.

To motivate people to think for themselves is not easy, for if they agree, then perhaps they are just thinking the way you suggest them to! If they don’t agree, they often go off looking for someone else to follow.

Yet with those who truly think for themselves (while asking God for guidance) we will be able to have a mature and intelligent conversation on the many difficult and controversial issues of scripture. (Mal 3:16-17, Acts 17:10-11)

Not that we will always agree, by any means, but if we are one with the Father and Christ, (John 17:21) then we are being led by the Spirit of God. We will then express to each other the various facets of God’s character.

As with the old story of the four blind people who grabbed various parts of an elephant (the tail, trunk, ear and leg) all had very different perspectives of what an elephant looked like.

We alone can’t see all of the fullness of Gods character. We need the help of others’ perspectives, as God reveals himself to each of us. Then, with humility and patience, we may be able to step back and see a collective view of God.

While this will never be a complete picture, it will at least be more than we could perceive on our own. In order to understand God, we need to share our understanding of what God has revealed to us.

Is there a structure that God wants His Church to be in? If such a structure exists, perhaps we can see it in what is prophesied about the church in the future? In Revelation, Chapters 2 and 3, we find seven churches that all seem to exist just prior to the end time great tribulation.

While some have taught that these seven churches are actual “eras”, which each take up hundreds of years from the time of Christ up to his second coming, this view is problematic. Christ gives each church clear warnings that they better clean up their act before he returns. He says either, “I will come unto you quickly” or “hold fast till I come”, or something similar, indicating they all coexist just before the return of Christ.

We could also assume that 2,000 years ago, John, who wrote the Book of Revelation, actually sent these letters to seven real churches. Each of these churches therefore, (both back then and in the future) had and will have diverse and strong characteristics- some good and some bad.

One thing all the churches had, or will have, are some people who are righteous members of God’s family, and therefore are His friends.  

The Angel Of The Church At…

Each letter to the churches is addressed to “the angel of the church at…’ . Who or what is this ‘Angel’? The word Angel is also the word for messenger, and can refer to a human (Mark 1:2, Luke 7:24-27, Luke 9:52, James 2:25) or spirit being. According to Bullinger’s Companion Bible, the term ‘Angel’ is simply meant to be for a physical messenger or leader of the congregation in the region. Someone had to get the letter from John, and such an individual was the ‘Angel’ of the church.

If Bullinger is correct, then these seven churches at the time of John were not under any single leader, and there’s no indication that God desired them to be under one leader. Perhaps you may class John as being the leader, as he wrote these letters to the churches, but nothing is said of his fulfilling that role for them.

It must be understood that when scripture talks of ‘seven’ of anything it often means a total or complete group, not simply an exact number. So ‘seven churches’ could mean the complete church, which is made up of many groups, with various characteristics: from the righteous groups represented by Smyrna and Philadelphia, to the very decadent groups represented by Laodicea and Thyatira.

It seems that, as in the first century, the prophesied future for the church is that of many groups of people, with different leaders, in different locations. From this we can see that in the end time there will be many different “works of God”. Such a collection of scattered groups is therefore what God wants, or at least allows, for His Church.

The Push For Power By The Apostles James And John

While the exact structure of the Church is not spelt out, Jesus does spell out what the structure of the Church is not supposed to be like. You can read it very clearly, for he never put any one of the twelve apostles in a position of authority over the others: One is your teacher, Christ, and you are all brothers. (Matt 23:8)

This point is emphasised by Jesus when James and John asked to sit at his right and left hand in the Kingdom. You can read the incident in Matthew 20:20-28 and Mark 10:35-45. When the ten other apostles heard about what John and James had asked for, they were indignant, for this request was obviously a power play by the two brothers.

It's very interesting to note, that just before this incident with James and John, Jesus had predicted his own death. He similarly predicted his death just before all the other occasions when the disciples had enquired of him about who was the greatest: Matthew 20:18-28 Matt 18:1-4, Mark 9:33-41, Mark 10:35-45, Luke 9:46-56, Luke 22:24-30.

You could read this as them wondering who was going to lead the group after Jesus was gone. Or, perhaps these pronouncements of Jesus’ impending death motivated the greed or pride in the disciples to desire his leadership role be passed onto them!

This is certainly how the other ten saw this request by James and John. (Matt 20:24) Jesus also identified the underlying motivation of the two brothers as being their desire to be in authority over others. His response was to tell them that the way to leadership and greatness was by service, not domination.

Defusing the tension amongst his closest friends, Jesus called the twelve together and said:

You know that the rulers of the gentiles (non-Israelites) exercise dominion over them, and they who are great exercise authority over them. However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your slave; even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matt 20:25-28)

Here is a clear directive by Christ: having dominion over and to exercise authority over, is not the way God wants leaders in the church to operate. Leaders are to be servants, following the example of Jesus. They are not to be oppressive and perverse in how they treat others:

Envy not (don’t imitate) the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord: but his secret council is with the righteous. (Prov 3:31-32)

Leaders should be willing to lay down their life, if necessary, to serve their fellow brothers and sisters in the church.

However, even after being with Jesus for over three years, this desire to be great was still evident in the apostles, for even at the last supper there was also a dispute among them as to which of them would be greater. (Luke 22:24) Again, Jesus had just said he was going to die, and it seems they were fighting over the power vacuum that would be left!

Patiently, I suppose, Jesus again reiterated what he had previously told them about how to rule in a Godly way:

And He said to them, The kings of the nations (gentiles) exercise lordship over them (over their subjects). And they who exercise authority on them are called benefactors. But you shall not be so: but the greater among you, let him be as the younger (newest), and he who governs, as one who serves. For which is the greater; he who reclines (sits at the table), or he who serves (the meal)? Is it not he who reclines? But I am among you as He who serves. (obviously meaning for them to follow his example) You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I appoint a kingdom to you, as My Father has appointed (a kingdom) to Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and to sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 22:25-30)

The Apostles were all equal, as they would each sit on a throne and have a tribe of Israel to judge- which again undermines the Primacy of Peter concept.

He reemphasised the most important aspect of leadership: leaders must be there to serve, not to be served.

He did not provide any detail whatsoever for the structure of the church, except indicating that the structure was to be very flat: the twelve apostles were all equal.

He did not mention democracy, or theocracy, or provide suggested divisions of labour, but simply said that we are not to lord it over others, but rather to be servants to each other. He left it up to them to think for themselves how to implement his directives such that the structure of the Church was promoting service and not self-aggrandisement of the leaders.

Unfortunately, despite Jesus’ admonitions and instructions, “power over others” did creep into the first century church. As we have seen in Chapter 2, many false leaders were prophesied to attempt to make a profit out of members, by claiming to be working for God, but actually using the money given to the church for their own benefit! (2Peter 2:1-3)

In the next post we will examine how Christ tells us to ensure the Church does not get into this sort of state of authoritarian leadership, and how to ensure that leaders focus on serving rather than dominating others.