A message to Christianity’s hireling shepherds who lord it over sectarian congregations.
To you who are zealous for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
You have been led astray!
In your zeal for Christ, you have fallen into the trap of sectarian doctrines and dogma instead of pursuing the love of God.
Like the Pharisees and Sadducees of old, you have tried to ‘control the narrative’! Instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement and to write God’s law on the hearts of all true disciples, you have opposed Christ’s work in His disciples, HIS DISCIPLES!
Like the Pharisees and Sadducees of old, you ‘lord it over’ Christ's disciples. You demand lofty titles, you lord it over ‘your’ congregations, and you engage in disputes over sectarian dogma while ignoring the weightier matters of Christ’s law such as compassion, grace, patience, faithfulness, forgiveness and the loving unity of the body of Christ.
You strain out gnats while swallowing camels!
Because of you and your sectarian divisions, God’s name is blasphemed among the gentiles!
For those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
It’s time for you to repent!
It’s time for you to stop being a hireling shepherd.
It’s time for you to stop serving your sectarian ‘denomination’.
It’s time for you to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
It’s time for you to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ alone.
It’s time for you to start serving the true Church of Jesus Christ; the spiritual family, not your sectarian, human organisations.
It’s time for you to remember Christ’s words to John,
Don’t hinder him! No one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to speak evil of me soon thereafter. Anyone who is not against us, is for us.
It’s time to love one another as Christ loves us.
It’s time to love our enemies.
It’s time to pray for those who persecute us.
It’s time to seek God’s guidance afresh.
For those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
Give up old titles and take on new roles.
You, hireling shepherds, you who lord it over your congregations, you are like corks in wine bottles, sectarian wine bottles!
One says “MY church has fifty members” while another declares “MY church has five hundred members” and yet another hireling shepherd boasts, “MY church has five thousand members”.
Yes, fifty, five hundred or five thousand members of YOUR churches!
How many of YOUR members are truly disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ?
How many of YOUR members have offered their bodies as a living sacrifice to God?
How many of YOUR members deny themselves daily, take up their cross and follow Christ?
How many of YOUR members have you condemned to being ‘Spectator Christians’, attending ‘church’ yet never inspired, empowered or equipped for ‘works of service’ in the Kingdom?
Have you forgotten, or do you willfully ignore, that your work is to equip the saints to build up Christ’s Church, not yours?
Have you forgotten, or do you willfully ignore, that Christ said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them”?
Have you forgotten, or do you willfully ignore, that the victory is won, “not by might nor by power but by my Spirit, says the Lord”?
Have you forgotten, or do you willfully ignore, that one Spirit-filled disciple equipped with the full armour of God, will put a thousand demons to flight and two Spirit-filled disciples, ten or a hundred thousand?
Have you forgotten, or do you willfully ignore, that Christ’s Church is a spiritual community, a family, not a sectarian human organisation! A family of Spirit-filled disciples.
How many demons are YOUR fifty, five hundred or five thousand Spectator Christians putting to flight?
How many of your Spectator Christians are cowering behind the barricades of their Christian subculture?
It’s time to give up your professional titles that set you above the community of disciples.
It’s time to give up your lofty ambitions for YOUR church.
It’s time to humble yourself and take on the role of a true servant in the Kingdom of God.
It’s time to direct your zeal, gifts and expertise to build up the true Church of Jesus Christ, not your sectarian Christian subculture that barricades itself against the world.
It’s time to equip the saints for spiritual warfare.
It’s time to advance upon the gates of hell!
It’s time to prepare fresh wineskins!
It’s time to harvest new wine!
For those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
Five propositions for effective service.
You, professional priests and pastors, you hireling shepherds!
- You who have been trained for service in the Kingdom of God.
- You who are willing to repent of your sectarian divisions.
Get ready to bring forth both new and old teaching; bring forth the old from from your wealth of knowledge of the Scriptures, make disciples, and allow ‘rivers of living water’ to flow through the company of Christ’s disciples.
1. Teach directly from the Bible.
- Do not teach sectarian doctrines, dogma or traditions.
- There is neither orthodoxy nor heresy, only truth and error.
- Expect Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgement!
2. Inspire disciples to study the Bible for themselves
- The ‘study circle’ instead of the pulpit.
- Guide disciples as a loving parent.
- Dialogue, not debate and dispute.
3. Rely on Holy Spirit to guide disciples into all truth.
- God’s law is written on the hearts of all true disciples.
- Holy Spirit is every disciple’s Advocate, Teacher and Guide.
- Never ‘lord it over’ disciples; never dictating nor dominating.
4. Speak the truth in love.
- Declare the gospel of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
- Respect every disciple’s freedom to follow their conscience.
- Avoid quarrelling over speculative definitions, doctrines and dogma.
5. Maintain the unity of the Spirit.
- Love is the defining hallmark of Christ’s true disciples.
- Love God with all your heart, soul and mind.
- Love your neighbour as yourself.
- Love your enemies.
- Pray for those who persecute you.
Serve Christ’s Church, Christ’s family!
For those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
Above all, be a human being!
Being human is the only common denominator uniting all humanity; the only way to reconcile human beings to God through Jesus Christ.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory!
Now Go and make disciples in all nations, baptising them and teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded; the foremost commandment being Christ’s new commandment to love one another as He loves us.
Make disciples,
- Teach them how to know God,
- Trust Holy Spirit to teach them what to know.
For those who have ears to hear, let them hear!
There has never been a better time to be a disciple of Jesus Christ!
