God's Wisdom Revealed

By Gordon Gentry

God has one plan: to call out a people from all nations to be called by His name. God has one pattern, and we must build according to His pattern. His plan brings us to His end purpose; therefore we cannot lay it aside and bring in our own plan. Man's ways may look good for a time, but God's wisdom is revealed for eternity. In a true expression of the body of Christ, the basis of gathering is the life of God, the purpose of gathering is to be made one and to contain the fullness of Christ, and the order of gathering is in faith, directed by the Spirit. We must see the church for what it is in Christ, and also we must see a proper, practical outworking in the local expression. We must see the goal of our walk in Christ. The strong exhortations of this article are to stir up spiritual men and women to know God's plan and become a part of what God is doing in the world today.

Table of Contents

- Introduction

- In the Spirit or in the Flesh?

- Has God's Plan Failed?

- Recognizing the Church

- Theories or Reality?

- Authority in the Church

- Ministry in the Church

- The Body of Christ

Introduction

God has only one plan, and that plan cannot be changed. In this time He is calling out a people from all nations to be called by His name. He is building His church. He will not fail. His plan is predestined, and we are predestined in Christ to be conformed to His image.

God has a pattern, and if we are going to build, we must build according to His pattern. If we feel we can add to His ways, we are only fooling ourselves. God is concerned about every detail, and nothing misses His all-seeing eye. God never leaves those He calls to build as they see fit, or change any part of His plan. God's plan is perfect for eternity, timeless, and cannot be improved upon. Many have tried to "update" God's plan, but only to the detriment of His testimony.

Men can be used by God to help bring the purpose and plan of God back into focus, but if those men are followed--rather than God's Word--they can be used to corrupt the testimony of the church. Unless our laboring is within God's limits and under His authority, that which we do might be copied by those that follow after us.

The ways of man may look good for a time, and results may be used as the measure of success, but all things must be judged by His Word according to the revelation of the Spirit. We can say we are God's people and yet not know Him. The professing church has strayed so far away from God's original plan and His ways that if it is ever to be brought back to being His true church, there will have to be a revival that will bring it back to God's purpose and His working by the Spirit.

Time does not change man's heart. From the beginning, he hasn't wanted to hear God or come God's way. Cain knew the demands of a just God, but he brought what he wanted to bring as a sacrifice for God. God is faithful to reveal His ways and plan to those who are willing to follow Him. In our day, man is still following man because he will not come God's way. To hear man and follow what he tells us costs us nothing, and produces nothing eternal. But to hear God for ourselves will cost us everything.

One of the subtlest strategies of the devil is to tempt us to do God's will our own way rather than His way. If Satan can confuse the plan of God in our minds, he can tempt us to get our eyes off Christ and onto ourselves. When false doctrines start to control us, this is what happens. The devil says, "You will be as God," and this half-truth is a lie and will cause us to go into gross error if we pursue it. It causes men to create a salvation that is not God's salvation. We learn to live with sin rather than being delivered from its power. These doctrines cause us to have a double standard, rather than a single eye for God and what He is doing in His body, the church.

In the Spirit or in the Flesh?

Man has a counterfeit plan for "salvation."

When man looks at God's purpose and working with his natural mind, he cannot see it clearly and has to manufacture his own ways and teachings to further what he sees as God's purpose. But man's ways can never bring about God's results. There are two ways to work, in the Spirit and in the flesh. When we move in man's teaching we move in the flesh, which brings death. The Spirit alone moves in truth, which brings us to oneness and fullness in Christ.

It is impossible for a man to be led by the Spirit and miss the mark of God's plan and purpose. However, there is a counterfeit "leading" by man's mind and emotions which dulls his ear, so that he no longer hears God or sees the revelation of Christ and His body.

We cannot be built together in truth when men read scripture, ask questions about it, answer their own questions, and then build teaching on their own conclusions. Men, by this means of "interpretation," can do no more than create another salvation with a philosophy completely different from what God has revealed in His Word. When they create a different "salvation" they must redefine all the biblical terms, which allows them to make salvation what they say it is. But it is not God's salvation which will bring you to God's end purpose.

At the basis of most false teaching is the doctrine of "eternal security," which allows men to create a double standard for "Christians." This leads to many other false assumptions with many different terms and implications, but they are all on a wrong foundation. If we are going to build on a sure foundation, we must come back to a salvation and a life that is in Christ, not in some doctrine. God's salvation brings us into a vital relationship and fellowship with Jesus Christ, in which Christ must be Lord. Anything less than this is not God's salvation.

Also, anything that divides God's people cannot be the working of the Spirit. The Spirit of truth does divide, but not that which He is building. The division is between the world and the church, the sinner and those who believe. Whenever man begins to make two groups within what God is doing, we know he does not see the church or the plan of God. The Spirit never creates two groups, such as the church and a group of "overcomers" within the church. These teachings come out of man's thinking only because he has no true revelation of the church. When men say things like, "God is calling the overcomers to stand for the church," it is certain that they do not see what the church is, and have gone on to justify their own concepts of a holy God making room in His church for people who are not "overcomers." Men have justified themselves right out of the truth of God's Word, and created a two-company church, which is in complete error.

Many times when men create their own doctrines of salvation, the result is a kind of repentance which leaves us in sin. In fact, sin becomes something to live with rather than seeking deliverance from. Most people do not even know what sin is; thus they approach it from man's viewpoint rather than God's. If we do not see sin as God sees it, we will not understand sin's deceiving effects in lives that are controlled by it. Sin hardens the heart, thus not allowing us to see as we should. It brings us into bondage. Sin separates us from God and God's children.

Even from the beginning of the church, the devil deceived men, causing them to preach another "Christ," receive another "Spirit," and walk in darkness because their ways were evil. They sought their own ways rather than God's way. Even at the beginning, man tried to mix law with grace--sin with righteousness. This always causes men to miss God's goal.

We are in the closing moments of our age, and we can expect apostasy, the corruption of sound doctrine. 1 Timothy 4:1 tells us that "the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." 2 Timothy 3:5 says, "holding the form of religion but denying the power of it; avoid such people." Men through all ages have denied the power of the gospel and taught doctrines that have caused many to err from the truth and go back into sin and the world. But now at the end of the ages it is even worse, as God's Word predicted it would be. We need to be mindful of Satan's devices and ways so that we might not be led astray, following the teachings of men and not knowing the truth for ourselves. We must stand in the liberty whereby Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1).

Has God's Plan Failed?

If we don't see by the Spirit, we are prone to deception.

When men fail to clearly see God's revelation of the church, by allowing the Spirit to open their eyes to spiritual truths, they will interpret certain statements according to their own definition of what God's plan is. Once they move away from the truth into the power of the natural mind, the deceptive powers of Satan and self lead them further and further away from Christ and the truth. Men have made certain statements, and then built on them as if they were scripture. This is bound to lead them and those who follow them further and further away, deceiving and being deceived.

The devil always mixes a lot of good with a little bad, but the bad "leavens" the whole (Galatians 5:9). If he can just get us a little "off track," we miss the purpose of God, and in missing it we create something other than God's design. Anything other than the will of God is sin, and separates us from God and His plan. The Jewish people had the scriptures with all the prophecies, but they did not know the time of the Christ's coming. The religious leaders of Jesus' day did not know Him. We have the same trouble today. Some of the leading men of our day have missed seeing God's plan. In their own minds they have tried to understand God's ways and couldn't, so they have gone on to "juggle" the scriptures to match their own interpretations.

A man who has been used in years past to bring the truths of the church back into focus says, "The church...has failed and is failing today." This brother has lost the vision of what the church truly is, if he can make a statement like this. The church is only the church as long as its members walk in who Christ is and what has been accomplished in Him. Therefore, in light of this quote we must ask, "Did Christ fail in what He did at the cross?" The answer is, "No!" This man, and many others also, either have never had a revelation of the church, or have lost the revelation they had and begun to call what we see around us in the religious world today "the church."

But what we see around us may not be the church. If we are going to see the true church, we must look to God and His Word, and then measure that which we see around us by what God says. We must be faithful to what God has shown us. What God has begun, He is able to finish, and only the spiritual man can discern the working of God by His Spirit. The Spirit brings the church into manifestation in different localities as He would direct, and this can only be recognized by spiritual brothers and sisters.

When anyone does not see the purpose and working of the church, he attempts to make the church something God has never meant it to be, or he tries to accomplish things that do not even pertain to the church. We need a fresh revelation of the church, its function, and its purpose. That alone will eliminate all the false theories of our day. But we also know from God's Word that conditions will get worse and worse, and heresy will become more deceptive as we approach the end of this age. Thus we should not be innocent of Satan's ways and teachings.

These masterpieces of deception are always built upon assumptions drawn from the Word. But the church's foundation is not the written Word of God--it is Christ, who is The Truth. Rather than having the Spirit teach them what this means, many men have manufactured their own revelation, and built something that is a mixture of truth and man's thinking. Only those who are grounded in God's Word and filled with His Spirit will not be deceived by the devil working through these men's teachings. The apostle Paul said, "If anyone preach to you another gospel--let him be accursed." When man builds error on error he creates that which has no beauty. But once movements start, there are always men and women who will get behind them and entice others by their "cunningly devised fables" and half-truths, and deceive many (2 Peter 1:16).

The first safeguard against any false teaching is to know the real plan of God. The plumb line is Christ. What God has said and what God is doing in Christ will judge everything else. We shall know the truth, and the truth will set us free (John 8:32). We can only see what is wrong after we see what is right. So our goal should be to know Him and to experience Him in our daily walk and in our fellowship in the body of Christ--spiritual fellowship, not in doctrine, but in the outworking of the life of God. Without a revelation of Christ and His working, many young or immature Christians will be open to inviting, alluring teachings of man which could have very damaging results in the lives of those taken in by them.

Another safeguard, after seeing God's plan, is to be submitted to the life of Christ as it is manifested in the local expression of His church. We should submit to those whom God has put in the midst of His church to watch over our souls.

Lack of knowledge will destroy God's people. Isaiah says God's people "go into exile for their lack of knowledge" (Isaiah 5:13). We can say that many in our day ate being led into bondage because of their lack of knowledge. It is important for each member of the church to know the nature and function of the church so they might measure up to the standard of God and not the standard of man.

Recognizing the Church

We must see the goal of our walk in Christ.

Who is building the church? As obvious as the answer to this question seems, we need to state it. If it is true that God is building the church by the Spirit, it is foolish to believe that we can build the church, much less build it our way. Many think that by new methods and new ways they are helping God build His church. They are building a church, but what church? There are two buildings going up, but on what foundation? With something as important as the church, the body of Christ on earth, we cannot be indifferent to what the church is and how it functions.

The term "church" has been lowered to a place where it has many different meanings in the minds of men. Men may call a group a church, or the church, but the question is, does God say it is the church? There may be hindrances to any testimony of a local church, but these hindrances do not necessarily make it any less the expression of God's church in a locality. Believers may have fallen from their first love and need to repent. They may have false doctrine which God hates, with God still working in their midst. But there may come a time when the Lord removes the candlestick (Revelation 2:5), which means the gathering is no longer a witness unto Him and what He is doing. What begins as a local expression of the church can slip to a place where it is no longer a true expression.

Sometimes it is good to see what the church is not, so that the revelation of the true church will be more clear in our own understanding.

A gathering is not the church just because:

a) members gather on a regular basis;

b) it calls itself a church;

c) it has the right pattern of gathering or keeps certain sacraments, such as baptism and the Lord's supper; or

d) it has elders or a pastor. When we want to know the true structure and working of the church, we must go back to the Word of God. We cannot look to the masses or to the minority. Although we have the words of Jesus that tell us, "Very few will find the way," we cannot find reality by looking only to numbers. "The gate is narrow and the way is straight that leads to life," tells us that God's way is not the way of the masses (Matthew 7:13-14). But this does not mean that what God is doing in different localities is always small.

There may be only one gathering in certain localities, and it may still not be the church. There are certain spiritual principles that must be in manifestation for a gathering to be the local expression of the one church. The three basic ones are:

a) the basis of gathering is the life of God, with a personal relationship as its foundation, with the limit of the church's testimony being the locality where believers live;

b) the purpose of gathering is to be made one and to contain the fullness of Christ, that Christ may fill all in all; and

c) the order of gathering is in faith, directed by the Spirit. We must see the church for what it is in Christ, and also we must see a proper, practical outworking in the local expression. It must always be what the church is in Christ that guides us, not the outworking which is imperfect in its different stages of growth. We must see the goal of our walk in Christ.

Theories or Reality?

Is the Spirit in control and giving life to the church?

One of the great dangers in many fundamental groups of our day is that men give Christ His place only in theory and with words. They ask the Holy Spirit to direct their services, but then keep everything decently and in man's order. The words they use are sound, but they lack the breath of the Holy Spirit who gives life. It is of no value to use the right terms if there is no reality. The difference is between life and death, the Spirit and man. God has called men to build, but not what they want, and only by His Spirit. Men are either building by the Spirit or ministering death. There is only one pattern, and it is God's. What man is building on his own can never fit into God's plan. We can't do what we want to, and then ask God to bless our efforts. All ministry and its fruit are going to be tried by fire (1 Corinthians 3:7-13).

We need not fear to be directed by the Holy Spirit, but we should be concerned when the church is controlled by man. In most groups today, nothing is known about functioning under the direction of the Holy Spirit. We could even say they have a fear of giving Him His rightful place--often they would call this going too far, trying to be "super-spiritual." But seemingly these groups have no fear of letting one man or a group of men direct their gathering.

We must rightly understand what it means to be directed by the Spirit. It does not mean that men will not be used to minister to the church. There is a fine line which only the Spirit can show us. Man is either controlled and directed by the Spirit, or controlled by a man or group of men. To the spiritual man this is not hard to discern. A working may look "spiritual," but not be building lives together. Nothing can be substituted for the Spirit and produce spiritual results.

We can have a group of good ministers in a gathering--but can they function under the Holy Spirit's direction? The functioning reveals who is in control. If man is in control we will end up with man's "church," but if Christ is the head and the Holy Spirit is in control we will see what God is building by His Spirit. We hear many complaints in our day about the lack of spirituality in the church, but are we willing to give the Holy Spirit the place of authority?

We need godly men who are hearing from God, but unless these men bring God's people into a true relationship with Christ, their ministry does not accomplish what Christ has given it for. I believe the responsibility is on the brother with a ministry to see that he does not lead men after his teachings or person. This can be assured only when each person is being taught by the Spirit, has a revelation from the Spirit for himself, and is functioning under the anointing of the Spirit.

Ministers need to be mindful of their purpose and goal, in order to labor together and function in faith. They can build only according to the grace given to them, the vision they have from God, and the ability the Spirit gives. Each minister is a builder, and his ministry should be valued in view of the fruits which are evidenced over a period of time.

The ministries mentioned in Ephesians 4:11--apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers--have been given so that the local expressions will come to "the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). Each ministry has been given to function that all might profit. Ministers are not to "lord it over" the church. They are given to function in their ministry for the growth of the church. In their functioning, they prove their call, which is serving God's people so they might be one in the faith.

Authority in the Church

Spiritual authority is only under Christ, the head of the church.

The authority in any gathering of the true church is first heavenly, and then expressed locally. Christ is the head, which is heavenly authority. Elders express His oversight, and must give an account to the head for souls in the local gathering.

When we speak of elders, too often we make them something they are not. They are not the head. They have never been given a place to dominate or rule the body of Christ. Their ministry is one of caring for the body, watching over, feeding, leading by example. Their authority is purely spiritual; that authority is determined by the grace God gives as the brother moves in the revelation God has given him. Elders are brothers amongst brethren with grace to function under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Each one in the church needs to "recognize those who labor amongst you, and who are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake" (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13). But these brethren can never take the place of Christ or the Holy Spirit. No man or program can take the place of the Spirit.

Eldership is an office which is local in nature and must remain local if God's purpose is going to be fulfilled. When any man or group of men creates an authority which is extra-local, they interfere with the testimony and witness of the local church. They also move into denominationalism, which destroys the testimony that "Christ is one." Any authority that man creates removes the gathering from spiritual and scriptural grounds of expression.

All workers and ministries first come under the local oversight of elders. Otherwise, if a ministry is under the authority of one outside the gathering such as an apostle or teacher, it destroys the expression of locality and gives control to man rather than Christ. For the local expression, Christ's authority works through local elders, not through extra-local brothers. Any spiritual authority working through men that have been called by God is always for the purpose of building up the local expression, never for controlling one or more local churches.

Ministry in the Church

Ministers are called by God and entrusted with a precious gift.

Ministry is an important part of God's working in the local church. If God has designed ministry to bring the church to a oneness of the faith, those whom God has called must build with that as their goal. They must see God's overall plan--what the church is and what God's purpose is for the church. It is only by spiritual revelation that anyone can know what God is building and how they can build in what God is building. If the vision they have is defective, they are disqualified for ministry. The church has been hindered in different areas because men were not qualified to minister--and the qualifications of a minister are not from man but from God.

These qualifications touch two areas: the character of the one called, and the vision he has from God. Man has a responsibility to God for his moral conduct and for the witness his life gives forth. These can only match up to God's Word when he has seen God's standards and has God's grace and ability working in him to bring him up to those standards. The vision must be given by the Lord, and gives the brother his ability to minister, as well as what he ought to minister.

Vision is never separate from the Word. It comes by "rightly dividing" the Word (2 Timothy 2:15), which can only be as the Spirit teaches us and leads us into all truth. There is also an aspect of becoming the message as well as ministering the message. If what the minister has seen does not affect him, how can he expect that same message to affect others? God's message will affect because it is life, and those who hear it must obey or refuse it. So the minister must be very careful how the message is seen in him and how it is delivered through him.

Everyone called and given a gift must be one who has been dealt with by God and knows the value of the mystery. The value of something determines the way we look at it. In fact, it affects our whole manner of life. If the revelation is of great value, it demands all our care in sharing it with others. The minister must be exacting in his delivery of the gift the Lord has entrusted him with for the church, because he is not just preaching another sermon, but has been entrusted with the Word that is able to save and build up the hearers so they might grow up into the fullness of Christ. He cannot add to it, nor does he want to take away from it in any way, whether by his life or by the manner in which he shares it with others.

As ministers, we know that all who hear the message will not see the great value at once, but we who know the value need to act accordingly. This is part of the ministry--the value we place on what God has given us, and how much of our time is given to what God is saying. What value do we place on it in our daily walk? These things affect the ones we are ministering to. The whole man must be involved if the ministry is not to be hindered. The mind, emotions and desires must be brought to a oneness in goal if the minister is going to be a channel for life to flow to others. If one of these areas has not been disciplined by God, it disqualifies the minister from building in God.

As ministers, we may try to prepare and discipline ourselves, but nothing can take the place of the discipline of the Holy Spirit. It is God's dealing in our lives that brings forth real ministry of His life. It is the One who trains us that makes the difference in ministry. The best of man's ways and methods can never prepare a person for ministry. Natural knowledge about spiritual facts can never produce a ministry of life.

Ministry begins with a revelation from God, and without this there can be no ministry. Then, to be able to minister, the Spirit, as we have said, is going to build in the minister all that the revelation means. With the outworking of the revelation in the minister's life comes knowledge which is necessary for the proper serving of the Word in life. The minister must be sensitive to the Spirit as He reveals and prepares the heart and mind so that the revelation might be ministered to the hearers. The minister must also be under the Spirit's direction for the timing and organization of the Word so that it might be understood by the ones hearing the Word ministered. The minister can never allow himself to become sloppy in his delivery or presentation if he holds the revelation in its proper worth.

Not only must the minister be able to discern and know the voice of God; he must speak as an oracle of God. Those who hear must hear God, not just the word of man. If we hear only man, we have not heard God, and then we have missed the purpose of ministry. If we hear only man, we will follow man; if we hear God through man we will follow God. Everything God is saying points to Jesus, because He is speaking to us in His Son. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). The Spirit is speaking not of Himself but of Christ. If we recognize God's authority and submit to Him, we will be changed into the image of Christ. But when we submit to man, his teaching, and his soulish authority, we are changed into the likeness of man and move under the power of the soul rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. The inspiration of the Spirit makes the difference m ministry, not how much we know about Christ. Without that inspiration the hearers hear only man and not God.

A minister must be one who is under the control of the Spirit. He can't do and say what he wants to. He is only a vessel for God's purpose to be spoken to others. We might say that he has been entrusted with the destiny of souls. The question is whether he will be faithful in being directed by the Spirit. The Spirit is the only one who can bring us to God's purpose. So, how the minister fulfills his ministry has a great effect on those who are under his ministry. If he is not controlled by the Spirit, the voice of God will not come through him to bring light to those who hear. He cannot trust in his own thoughts or ability, so God must bring him to that place of utter dependence on the Spirit.

The making of a minister, whether it be a prophet or teacher, is much more than just giving someone the revelation. The revelation in some men's hands has caused great damage to the body of Christ because they had not been dealt with by God. They were not exacting in passing on what God had revealed. They went on to add and take away, wherever their minds took them. In all of this they were unfaithful in being a channel for the revelation or Christ to others.

When one becomes unfaithful and is not disciplined by God, he uses the knowledge he has to pervert the plan of God. He has no fear of God, and in most cases goes on to establish something separate from the body of Christ, even though he may call it the church. We have too many self-appointed ministers going from place to place teaching and ministering that which causes local gatherings of believers to look to them, rather than to Christ, the head.

There are only a few today that have a godly care for the church and its members. The minister cannot have self-interest, pride in his ministry, or any goal other than God's if he is going to have a true care for God's church--one that will not control its expression and direction. The goal of God must be the controlling passion of the minister. With this passion, he must be under the control of the Spirit, or he will find himself over-protecting and controlling because of the care he has for the church. The Lord does express His control through men whom He controls, as they become vessels for the flow of His life and authority. But many sincere men have hindered the working of God by feeling they have been called to protect the honor of God and His Word. We need to remember that the Word of God is established forever (Psalm 119:89). If we set ourselves up to "protect" God's Word in some special area of teaching, the devil has already caused us to leave our resting place in Christ.

The Body of Christ

Oneness by the Spirit is revealed in the local church.

If we, as God's people, want to attain to God's purpose in Christ Jesus, if we are going to be moving towards God's end purpose, we must first have a heart for God and be willing to obey the Spirit. This means that we must first be filled with the Spirit and able to hear God by the Spirit so we can obey. Paul says in Romans 8:9, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." There is no substitute for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. This must be more than profession, or our own theology about what having the Spirit of Christ means. The issue is whether we are Christ's or not. We cannot trust our eternity to some man's teaching. We must truly know that we are His, and one of the ways we know that we dwell in Him and He in us is that He has given us of His Spirit (1 John 4:13). "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16).

To know what God is doing and judge with righteous judgment, we must be spiritual, and go to the scriptures and find the spiritual principles that define the church. Then we must be able to discern whether these principles are being worked out in an assembly. We cannot be looking for perfection, because the church is made up of those who are growing in the knowledge of Christ, not those who have attained to a state of complete maturity.

We must consider the government in a gathering. Is the government solely on the shoulders of Christ? Are there brethren under the spiritual authority of Christ in the place of eldership? Do these men meet the qualifications set forth in the Word, found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1? Do these men have a revelation of God's church and how it functions? Is spiritual discipline being exercised?

These questions must be considered in the light of God's revelation in His Word, to determine the true expression of the local church. We can judge only according to the revelation laid out in the Word of God. Without a revelation, we cannot find the church because we do not know what to look for.

If a group or gathering is an expression of the church, it must be autonomous. When control comes from the influence of men outside the local expression, the church can only miss the mark that God has set forth in His Word, the revelation of the church.

Local churches, expressions of the one body, are not meant to be joined together on earth. They are one, but only in the nature in which they are expressed. Where many try to bring different local expressions into fellowship through conventions, convocations, or special meetings, they begin to destroy the local nature of the church, and open the way for teaching and ministry that cannot be judged because there is no spiritual authority given in such gatherings to judge it. It doesn't matter how good the ministry may be--by its independent expression it takes away from Christ and causes many to follow after personalities and teaching rather than submitting to Christ and His working in the local body.

It is important to see the local nature of the church because it protects the members from much error. It puts responsibility where it belongs and doesn't allow each member to be a law unto himself. It also keeps a group of men from taking control and directing the church. The only oneness is that which is created by the Spirit, and it is revealed only in the local church. To continue to express the nature and purpose of God, Christ must be the head of the local expression, "controlling all of its functions. The wisdom of man can never accomplish the will of God.

Many man-made and man-controlled groups go under the name of "the church." If Christ is not continuing to be the head of the local church, it is not the local expression of the one true church. Man's authority always robs the gathering of a true expression of the life of God. Man's authority dominates and controls, thus in the long run is no more than a ministry of death, rather than a many-membered body functioning under the headship of Christ, building itself up in love (Ephesians 4:11-16). The church is the body of Christ, and it can only function properly when it is under His control.

God has not changed His original plan for the outworking of His church. He is still calling men and using them to build according to His design. God's plan brings us to His end purpose; therefore we cannot lay it aside and bring in our own plan. Let us settle it, that we must have God's plan for God's results. And not only must we know His plan, we must have His life. Let us not follow men, but allow the truth of God's Word to set us free and bring forth a fuller witness of His purpose.