Jeff Ling

A message delivered at the One Voice Leadership Summit presented by Messenger Fellowship
March 13, 2012
Nashville, Tenn. 

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Being the People of God

1Jo 4:14-17

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be  the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

“As He is”

He is not bound by the constraints of time. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Has always been, is now and forever will be our Prophet, Priest and King.

PROPHET

He is our Prophet – He is the eternal Word – in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God – and the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:1,14) and never a man spoke like this man (John 7:46) – authority flowed from his lips – he took the scroll of Isaiah and began to read – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim – to announce – to preach – to prophecy the year of the Lord’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19 )

And He is still speaking – he warns from heaven.  (Hebrews 10:25) He calls the elect from every nation. (Romans 8:30)  He is the eternal Word.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. (Revelation 19:11-13 ESV)

The grass withers, the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever. (Is. 40:7) He is our prophet!

PRIEST

He is our priest. He is an eternal priest – the Lamb slain from the foundations of the world. (Rev. 13:8) He steps into the waters of baptism and identifies with sinners (Matthew 3:13-17), being made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:17-18)

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death (Heb. 5:7) – he knows our frame – He sees with clear compassion, he weeps over brokenness,  he prays… he prays… “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32 ESV)

“And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me… Father, I desire that they also, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17)

He prays for us - He bears our names on the breastplate of His heart – he wears a thorny crown called holiness unto the Lord and he carries the offering of himself into the holy of holies, securing by His blood an eternal pardon and perfecting for all time those who have put their hope in him. (Hebrews 10:14)

He is a priest forever – long after the new heavens and new earth are in place he will continue in His priestly office.  The only glorified body with scars.

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain (Rev. 5:6)…  and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

(Revelation 7:9-10)

“Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:15-17)

He is a priest forever!

KING

He is King! – He is King by right of the creation that flowed forth from the eternal glory of the Trinity (Col.1:16) – He is the King Messiah,– the anointed Christ of God – commanding the elements, multiplying the very molecules of bread and fish – dismantling storms – disarming principalities and powers on his way to the cross – healing disease, dismissing demons – over turning death – proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

He is a reigning King – all of his enemies are being made his footstool (Heb. 10:13) – He commissions His ambassadors. (I Cor. 5)  He deploys his royal people – He declares all authority to be His and sends His subjects into all the world to announce to all people – from the humblest beggar to  every proud contender for the throne– The King of kings requires you to bow the knee and confess His Rule! (Matt. 28)

Be advised – he comes again as a King who will destroy His enemies.  Resistance is futile.

 He is King forever!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Whatever else may be part of the new heaven and new earth, at the very least it must be an ever expanding arena of His glorious reign – for there will be no end to the increase of His peaceful government.          

IMPLICATIONS

… because as he is so also are we in this world.

The implications of all this are massive.

The people of God:Carry the Word as prophets,

They walk as priests, and war as kings.

A Prophetic People

The people of God are a prophetic people – we are a speaking people – it is a God-like thing to speak.

We speak to one another, teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Col. 3:16), letting no unwholesome word proceed from our lips, but instead only those that build up – speaking the truth to one another in love we grow up into maturity – encourage one another (Eph. 4:25-32) – gifts of tongues, words of wisdom, words of knowledge, gifts of prophecy (I Cor. 12) … we are at war with a sullen, sarcastic, blasphemous, death loving culture ruled by the father of lies and words are our weapons – we take up the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of GOD. (Eph. 6) I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation! (Rom. 1:16) Faith teachers to often turned speaking on its head – a mechanism to obtain for our own desires – the people of God understand that they prophetically speak to nations to save, transform, heal, comfort, build up, tear down, plant and uproot, deliver and proclaim that Our God Reigns. We are a people of one message – not our own – the Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 19:10)  and so we glory in the cross (Gal. 6:14) – we defend gospel truth – the word of the atoning work of Christ for sinners – from the wolves that tragically roam our own camps – (Gal.1:8-9)

Because we are ambassadors who speak on behalf of our King – we must be politically engaged – but NOT in a moral majority sort of way – redeemed people have no claim to such a title – our dual citizenship (Phil. 3:20) requires us to not only participate in earthly electing processes but to stand apart and proclaim the rule, authority and reign of King Jesus. He is not a moral relativist. He is not a deconstructing philosophy – He is the eternal, ruling, sovereign monarch before whom every knee will bow.  Do you know why the world dismisses us and mocks us rather than hates us as it should? Because we refuse to tell the truth and speak like who we are.

The people of God will be a prophetic people

A Priestly People

The people of God are a priestly people – we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:4-6)

The people of God are a people who love the presence of God, who chase the presence of God, who pursue holiness that flows from the transforming presence of God – we often speak of the “presence” – but it’s not an abstract – it is God Himself – we worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness (Ps. 29:2) – we function as priests and priests never appear before God empty handed (Heb. 8:3) and so we offer our bodies as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1) and we continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God – the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15) – But the people of God are not sequestered monks! We stand before nations – identifying with their pain, feeding the hungry, helping the helpless – it is priestly thing to seek justice and to not neglect to doing good and to share what we have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Hebrews 13:16) – and all the while we plead, we appeal, we beg –“be reconciled to God” – (I Cor. 5) priestly people write the names of nations, communities, people on the breastplates of their hearts and carry them before the presence of God.

A Royal People

The people of God are a royal people.

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)

We know that what is true in position is not always true experientially – as far as reigning goes, it would not be unfair to describe us as developmentally slow – but the princes and princess are always declared to be so by birth – before they learn to reign in practice. The earth is groaning for the revelation of these Sons and Daughters of the Kingdom.  (Rom. 8)

The people of God understand themselves as agents of the Kingdom of God – ambassadors – royalty in rags to be sure – but ambassadors none the less. We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

(1 John 5:19) – we see the darkness that covers mankind and we steadily seek to bring Kingdom light, and freedom and rule to every inch of it. And we proclaim as we go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons… (Matthew 10:7-8)

The people of God understand their commission as not beginning with the words of Jesus to go into the entire world but with God’s covenantal word to Abraham – And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:27-29)

Kings invade, they gain territory, they colonize – they export culture not import culture – the people of God – are going into all the world to preach the gospel, to obtain territory –to liberate those behind enemy lines – to establish outposts of kingdom colonies – treasuring the distinctive glories of God given cultures, we do not seek to obliterate them as some might suggest, but infuse them and enhance them with heaven’s presence. The earth is the Lord’s and royalty makes no apology for it. (Ps. 24:1) The nations are his creation and the eternal song of the Lamb will be made up of those the King calls from every tribe and tongue as He maintains the nations in God exalting splendor.

May Messenger Fellowship always remember its roots as Messenger International!
The Seed of Abraham says to us “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”(Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)

I love the word of J.C. Ryle:
“Nothing can altogether overthrow and destroy the church. Its members may be persecuted, oppressed, imprisoned, beaten, beheaded and burned; but the true Church is never altogether extinguished; it rises again from its afflictions; it lives on through fire and water. When crushed in one land it springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods, the Neros, have labored in vain to put down this Church; they slay their thousands, and then pass away and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them all, and sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that has broken many a hammer in this world, and will break many a hammer still; it is a bush which is often burning, and yet it’s not consumed.”

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)

Steve Fry, pastor of The Gate in Nashville and director of Messenger Fellowship, is the author of today’s post.

In his book, Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, Gordon Fee, recounts a time during his tenure at Regent College, when some of his students asked him this question: “ If you were to return to pastoral ministry, what would you do?” Fee says that his answer was immediate: “No matter how long it might take, I would set about with a singular passion to help a local body of believers recapture the New Testament Church’s understanding of itself as an eschatological community.”

I think that in large measure, the average local church in America doesn’t really grasp this. In the charismatic world, the emphasis on the ‘baptism in the Spirit’ is often highly individualized. Most believers – even if they do have the sense that the Holy Spirit is a person – see the Spirit’s infilling work more in terms of personal empowerment.

But what Fee is recognizing here is that our sense of self definition as a church has alarmingly shifted from that of the primitive church we read about in Acts. The first Christians knew that they as a people were to be the taste of the future for their generation in the present. The Apostle Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as “the down payment” of our future glory. What the Acts Church understood was that the Spirit’s power coming upon them and flowing through them was the sign of the future. They didn’t just look to the future; they knew that in a sense they were the future!

A wise marathon runner studies and knows the course of his race. He knows where the finish line is. Because he knows that that finish line is perhaps twenty miles away, he knows how to run his race at every point.

Knowing where the finish line is determines the way he paces himself and runs his race. For us as The Church it ought to be the same. Because the Holy Spirit indwells us individually and corporately, we should possess a keen awareness of what the ‘end’ looks like and adjust our present priorities and lifestyles in the light of that end.

To put it another way, let me ask a question. What will the end-time people of God look like? If we hold to a biblical worldview – regardless of our particular eschatological viewpoints – we know that there will be a generation who will actually witness the second coming of Christ .

We often hear talk of end time revival and ‘the glory of the lord covering the earth as the waters covers the sea.’ I for one do believe that there will be a manifestation of the glory of God in such a global fashion. What would a fully empowered Church look like just months prior to the coming of Jesus? I think there would be a passion to see lost men and women come to Jesus; I think there would be a passion to worship with abandon; I think there would be a release of authority over the enemy and power to do the works of Jesus in an unprecedented way.

I suggest that to live eschatologically, or as Gordon Fee says to define ourselves as an eschatological community, is to do precisely this: to live with the end in mind. To let the reality of the victory of Jesus at the end of the age shape who we are and what we do in the present time.

This is the message I shared at Messenger Fellowship’s One Voice conference on April 13th.

Messenger 2011 – Defend and Confirm the Gospel
Messenger 2011 – Defend and Confirm the Gospel

I’m in Nashville this week for the Messenger Summit. Messenger Fellowship is my ordaining body and filled with friends that are long time and close to my heart. The purpose of this summit is addressing the issues that divide the church in our day. There’s a particular focus here as it relates to the streams that seem to be polarized – particularly the missional vs revivalist (charismatic) elements within the Body of Christ. Think Andy Stanley vs. Mike Bickle.  (Their example) To me, this is a very narrow way of identifying the issue. It seems to me the issues dividing the church involve polarization and division but it’s hardly a simple issue to define.  It exists on different levels, almost like those multiple level chess boards you’d see on Star Trek. It’s not “evangelicals vs charismatics.”  What do those labels mean? Most of the people at this summit would agree that Andy Stanley and Bill Hybles are evangelical but I’m aware of a large swath of the Body that would question that. Is Brian McClaren and other emergent leaders in his stream evangelical? Would Mark Dever, John Piper and Sinclair Ferguson agree to share that label with them? On the other end, Mike Bickle is probably not a good starting point for the charismatic stream. There are more conservative starting points! But IHOP and Bickle are hardly the extreme. On the fringe are the Patricia Kings and John Crowders. So the issues as I see it revolve around at least three critical components

Gospel/Authority – the church faces a strong surge of renewed liberalism riding the white horse of justice and inclusiveness. The authority of scripture is being undermined while the gospel of God’s wrath propitiated by the atoning work of Jesus is being dismantled. As Brian McClaren himself as said – “that’s not a God worth believing in.” Where do we draw the lines that allow us to fellowship or require us to separate?

Revivalism – At what point does the church risk becoming either a gnostic community formed around ever increasing mystical experience or like the New York of post -Finney revivalism, a burned over district? How do we pursue the empowering grace of the Spirit and His gifting without creating a culture defined by the experiences we have instead of the gospel we proclaim in word and power. It seems to me that in the extremes, you can pick your entertainment: the skits and comedians of the seeker variety or the “toking the Holy Ghost” variety of John Crowder. Both means lead to ends that are self-serving for those wanting the entertainment whether they prefer the darkened auditorium of  anonymous observation or the spotlight of narcissistic outdoing of the other in goofiness.

Worship/Government – I’ll save comment on these for later. The governmental issues are less urgent for me as I do think there is latitude for understanding how church leadership functions but we do have to note an increased anti-authoritarian spirit on the loose. I’m anti-authoritarian as well when it comes to shepherds who would rather be served than serve. But leaders who are godly, responsible and loving in their leadership will always be needed. Worship requires a long hard look. Something seems askew to me. I fear we’ve laid upon music and “worship leaders” a burden that is going to be unsustainable in the years to come. I’ll save that for another time.

My ordaining body is a tribe known as Messenger Fellowship. Based in Nashville, Messenger is led by my “bishop” and dear friend Steve Fry. This article is the first of a three part series on the presence of God, a subject that I can tell you from experience is not theory for Steve – it is a paramount value and the pursuit of his life. – Jeff

The Presence of God is the central theme of Scripture. The fact that God is, is the cornerstone of everything else. His Presence encompasses His glory, His character and His ways. His Presence defines His missions of Creation and Redemption. His Presence underscores His ultimate purpose for this universe: to manifest His glory through the exaltation of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:9).

A focus on the presence of God seems, at first glance, to be the domain of Charismatic Christians – those who are by definition more prone to experience than rationality. Much of The Church has tended to marginalize the Presence of God to the realm of experience. We tend to define it in terms of the mystical and mysterious. Mention ‘The Presence’ to some believers, and words like worship, prayer, the prophetic, manifest glory, supernatural gifts, power, revelation, and so forth readily come to mind. Phrases that describe encounter.

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