Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
I have met a sizable number of believers over the years who were not members of any particular group of believers. Based upon those encounters, I have concluded that most of God's children who have no spiritual home are homeless, not because they are unwanted anywhere but because they are stubborn, rebellious, and despise government. Such self-willed saints are worthless to God in their present condition. Contempt for government is one of the marks of ungodly men (2Peter 2:9-10). "Presumptuous are they, and self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignified things." In the eyes of God, government in His family is a very "dignified thing".
Every child of God needs a spiritual home. Every child of God needs to be part of a family unit in Christ. Every child of God needs to be in meetings with other saints, so that he can speak of "our meetings". Every child of God needs a pastor that he can truthfully call "our pastor". Every child of God needs a home where there is order and discipline, where there is accountability for actions and responsibilities to fulfill. Except for the growing number of obedient children of God who have come out of Christianity because they heard the call of Jesus to do so, loners in God's kingdom are almost always mere rebels who will not submit to authority. God has ordained government among His people, but "foolish virgins" refuse to acknowledge that truth or humble their souls to the men whom God has anointed to govern His children on earth. This truth has to be learned, sometimes by painful experience: freedom in Christ is not a license to sin; it is freedom from sin to obey the will of God.
In the 1950s, Preacher Clark finally admitted to himself, after much heartache and persecution, that the truth of Christ was never going to be received in the denominational structure of Christianity. So, he began to hold home prayer meetings. A number of saints of God were attracted to the liberty and joy of those meetings. However, while some were attracted to the liberty and joy of the Spirit, the liberty and joy to which others were attracted was the liberty from any structure or government. The joy that certain unwise saints felt was the evil joy for the absence of authority over them. As time passed, my father grew heavier and heavier with sorrow because of those self-willed, unclean children of God. They were unconcerned about the filthy habits they had. They felt "free" to commit fornication, adultery, and similar immoral acts. They were set in their ways and despised government. They were never going to change.
In sincere prayer concerning this troublesome attitude in his little home prayer meetings, he took his burden to the Lord, and the Lord gave him his answer. Jesus told Preacher Clark to organize his work and to institute rules for conduct for those who were a part of it. He did it immediately. He announced in the next meeting that there would be government in his meetings with a standard of conduct (ten simple rules to follow) and that obedience to those rules would be required of all who wanted to be a part of his meetings. Over half of that small congregation walked out and never returned, but he was not sad; on the contrary, he was relieved. In fact, he felt as if he had gained. Every soul there who was clean in heart loved the feeling of having government over him. Every one who was self-willed and ungodly despised God's government and departed. Good riddance!
The children of God who meet in my house have no part with Christianity, but we readily acknowledge that God has ordained government among us for the protection of the flock. Those who teach that there is no structure in the family of God and that there is no such thing as one saint being "over" others have great difficulty with such verses as these from Jesus' apostles:
"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the Word of God, whose faith follow . . ." (Hebrews 13:7)
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account . . ." (Hebrews 13:17)
"The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder . . . Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." (1Peter 5:1-2)
"We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." (1Thess. 5:12-13)
"Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine." (1Timothy 5:17)
Paul mentions authority to rule over the saints in a list of gifts that God gives, and he exhorts the men who have been given that gift to rule "with diligence" (Romans 12:6-8). And in the famous twelfth chapter of 1Corinthians, Paul mentions "governments" as part of the structure that God "sets in the congregation". Everywhere God is, there is government. It is sweet; it is pleasant; and it is holy. It cannot be done away with, although it can be denied and rejected. Refused or accepted, however, government is ordained in God's house just as government is ordained by God in the nations of earth.
Without government, there is no peace, and where there is no peace, there can be no learning. And where there is no learning, there is no growth in Christ. The children of God must have government in order to grow in the knowledge of God. There must be order, God's order, to free His children from distractions so that they can mature in spirit.
If they will be damned who disobey and resist the governmental authorities that God has instituted among men of earth (Romans 13:1), what will be the end of those children of God who refuse to submit their souls to the government that our holy God has instituted among His people? If public officials of earthly governments are "God's ministers" (Romans 13:4) and a man's refusal to submit to them brings upon him wrath from God (Romans 13:2,5), how will it be in the Final Judgment for those in His family who refuse to hear what the Spirit is saying to the saints, spoken by God through the men that He has anointed to proclaim it?
The responsibility of ruling over saints is a grave one. Jesus held the pastors of the seven congregations of Asia personally accountable for the conduct of the members of those bodies (Revelation 2-3). If I am a reasonable man, and if I know that I will be required to give an account to Jesus for the conduct of those over whom the Lord has given me rule, then I will fear God and speak out against evil when it shows its ugly head among us; I will not allow false doctrine to be taught in my house; and I will labor for the saints to be holy and happy instead of ungodly and oppressed. King Saul lost his soul and ruined the nation of Israel because he feared the people over whom he ruled and obeyed their voice rather than the voice of God (1Sam. 15:24). When time for his judgment came and the prophet Samuel called him to give account to God, he was "weighed in the balance and found wanting." He was turned over to the power of Satan (1Sam. 16:14), and God became his enemy (1Sam. 28:16). Every man of God who fears God's people instead of God will fail to enforce the government of God. He is foolish, and he will suffer the vengeance of God's wrath because he did not love and protect God's children.
This truth exposes the fundamental sinfulness of Christianity's system of hiring and firing ministers. What man can speak the truth of God, as he ought to speak, when he knows that his congregation hired him to teach them what they already believe and that if they do not like what he says, they will fire him and hire another? Christianity's tradition of hiring ministers is one of the surest evidences that it is a wicked, Godless religion that is far from the heart of Jesus.
It may at first appear to some who observe us at a distance that we have no government or that we despise it, but nothing could be farther from the truth. We love government. In fact, it is because that we love God's government that we came out of Christianity. We learned by experiences that not one of the governments, or sects, within Christianity is of God. Christianity does not protect the children of God from wolves in sheep's clothing; on the contrary, it demands that they submit to them. The precious children of God are not safe anywhere in Christianity. That is why God is calling His children to come out of it. Jesus wants us all to enjoy the liberty and peace that government from God will provide for us, and that holy and good government is found in no Christian sect. It is only found in Christ.
We need government among the saints, and the saints who meet in my house have it. Thanks be to God!