What if we saw LIFE in the ekklesia not as a focus on ourselves to fulfill what is perceived as the “great” commission, but in a much more glorious way — participating in a corporate expression of Jesus Christ, Head and body, in which His church comes into the fullness of Christ growing together into One New Man? We would feel like heavy weights and burdens would have just fallen off of us again!

In part II of this series, organic church life was discussed as living according to God’s Eternal Purpose, and not by way of the great commission, even though that is a highly popular view today and growing among believers who are meeting and living in what they call organic church life.

I mentioned last time that the “unique” commission of the eleven apostles was already fulfilled in their lifetime in the first century, and here, this time, we will go into more detail about that as we discuss what discipleship and the sharing of the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ looks like within organic church life community.

Another look at the “Great Commission”

“Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with [them] and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.” Mark 16:14-15, 20.

Many people today believe that this command of our Lord’s still awaits fulfillment. It is widely taught that it was intended for all believers making them responsible to carry the gospel to every man, woman, and child in the world. This view which has been commonly called the “Great Commission” has totally changed the landscape of traditional church since the late 1700′s and has been really gaining in popularity today.

Yet, despite all the popularity concerning this view, the Bible does not teach this application of Jesus’ words at all. It does not show up in the New Testament story, in Paul’s letters or in the letters to the churches in the book of revelation of Jesus Christ.

Those who support this view say that the common reason for no recurrence of this command anywhere else in the New Testament is that it needed not to be repeated, only practiced. And they claim that the growth of the church was due to every member partaking in this commission which, in their words, was for all believers. They also say that this is what occurred, that disciples made disciples who made disciples, and so on, and so on, for countless generations. But where is the proof of all this?

A “magic strategy” theory

Now, this might seem a little melodramatic here, but I am not attacking any one who believes that the great commission needs to be fulfilled today, and am not targeting the messenger, only the message. Let us now critique the heart of that message.

Like with those men in the late 1960′s who explained in the Warren Report about the unbelievable path of the “perceived” fatal bullet (the magic bullet theory) that killed President Kennedy, men today want us to believe a “magic strategy” theory of how the church grew and multiplied but it lacks the evidence and proof to be validated by scripture and the history of the first century church.

What makes it so appealing for so many today to believe that can be seen in the time that we live. Today nearly every student is taught business and marketing techniques in high school, college, seminary, ect… So, in a human effort to fix the church of it’s woes, “learned” men have turned to their secular education, and business and marketing concepts for the cure. They have used these concepts to interpret the inner workings of the ekklesia in the first century without understanding the true story of what was really going on.

Many pastors feel like failures today with millions of people leaving the institution of church every year so they have turned to man-made concepts in order to reduce attrition (people leaving the church) and to “grow” the church. They have used scriptures to defend their position, but have never considered a holistic approach to studying the Bible. If they did, they would see the ekklesia as an organic entity that grows, not by a simple formula, but by Christ Himself as He is taken as LIFE by the saints who live and share His Life together.

This perceived generational growth in the church through living out this command is what teachers of this view want people to believe. But there is absolutely no evidence of this in the New Testament story, that this ever occurred in the way they say it did. It is pure conjecture at best.

Nowhere in the Bible are all believers taught that each and every one must go to the nations to preach the gospel and make disciples

Let’s go back for a moment when Jesus gave the command. It was in Galilee (Matt. 28:16; Mark 16:.14-16) where He appointed the eleven remaining disciples. No others were present, and it was only them that He spoke to in going into all the world and preaching the gospel and making disciples. If this command was intended for all believers then it would have likely been written that way. Only the eleven were present when those words was spoken, and references by Paul later in his letters supports this when he describes that the gospel has been preached through out the world. (See also Matt. 28:16-20; Acts 1:1-8)

Nowhere in the Word of God are New Testament believers taught that every one of them must go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person and make disciples. If this was a responsibility, a personal mission statement,  for every believer then it would be so obvious to Paul, who had written most of the New Testament. He would have highlighted that and put that front and center in his many letters to the saints. But, there is not one reference to that anywhere in his letters. In fact, it never shows up anywhere in the New Testament after the gospels.

Paul, who never mentioned a disciple-making method based on the great commission, did warn us of following after philosophy coming from traditions of men

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Col 2:8

If we break it down this way, to get back to the New Testament story, it leaves one scratching his head thinking how can modern teachers and followers of this view be so passionate about something that does not exist. Personally, I think it is passion misdirected. As believers we all have the passion towards the Lord Jesus Christ and His body and can even possess the right motives at times, yet we have to protect ourselves from philosophical theories that can displace bibical truth and history.

So many believers think everyone is sitting passive while nothing is going on and the church in it’s entirety is in ruins. They think they feel some inward call to action, to do something great in the name of our Lord. But, so often this is done pretentiously rather than being led by the Spirit because it is Christ who builds His church. It is true that church needs restoration, but that being said, it is not the institution that needs to be restored and fixed, but it is a return to body Life in the expression of the Lord Jesus Christ in His body that must take place.

Many who view going back to Jesus’ command to the eleven apostles is the fix for the church do not understand how He builds His church — not by simple methods that anyone can do, but through body life when the saints live and share His Life together and Christ is formed in them, among them, over time. So, they follow something that is popular, something that is trendy rather than the truth concerning organic church Life from the perspective of HE who is the source of it.

The eleven men Jesus appointed for the “Great Commission” were “specially” empowered for the job

It is important to note that the eleven disciples were “specially” empowered by the Holy Spirit with miraculous signs and abilities so that they might accomplish Jesus’ command (Mark 16:17-20; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 3:1-7.) Only the eleven were called in this manner. It was in the counsel of God to build His church by sending out the apostles who preached the gospel and made disciples, while the church grew vibrantly in true body life where they loved and cared for one another in sharing his Life together.

The ekklesia grew because the saints who gathered and lived together matured in this body life, and, over time, the ekklesia matured and grew with the gifts (gifts of the spirit like healing, prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in toungues, gift of faith, ect…ascension gifts like apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, pastor) growing organically in its midst. Paul was clear about the gifts in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12, 14: Eph. 4:11-12) and clearly explained that they were distributed by the Spirit among the entire body of Christ not in some special group of individuals — like with the eleven apostles.

The apostles that grew up in church life in the ekklesia were different than the original eleven. They did not immediately come into those giftings, it happened over time. They grew up in body life for many years before they were set apart and sent out as itinerant church workers (Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Timothy, ect…)There was no rapid multiplication — just a consistent growth that took many years to develop. And these later apostles were but a small percentage of the ekklesia as a whole. Not everyone was an apostle, just like not everyone had the gifting of pastor, teacher, prophet, or evangelist.

Also, these later apostles did not come into this calling in a pyramid marketing strategy where followers are made in some sort of cookie cut-out fashion.The eleven men Jesus chose were given a “special grace” to be endowed with giftings that the entire local ekklesia would develop over time.  The eleven were not the norm, but a special contingent of men sent out by Jesus Christ that were a help to the growth of the body of Christ, not a direct pattern for it.

The Bible is explicit in how the “unique” commission of the eleven apostles was fulfilled in their lifetime

It is apparent that the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the mission during their lifetimes in the first century A.D. Notice what Mark 16:20 plainly states:

“And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.”

The Apostle Paul confirms the fulfillment of the Great Commission in Colossians 1:23:

“… the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven.”

Notice what the Apostle Paul also said in Romans 16:26:

He stated that the gospel of Jesus Christ was “made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.”

And so we see by the testimony of Scripture, the commissioning that Jesus gave to the eleven disciples in Mark 16:15 was fully accomplished by these men during their lifetimes in the first century A.D. The Great Commission has been fulfilled!

The discipleship in the ekklesia according to REAL Organic Church Life

Now, we get to the question, if the “unique” commissioning of the eleven apostles has already been fulfilled in the first century, in that preaching the gospel and making disciples becomes a corporate responsibility, then what does discipleship look like today? We have discussed in ways, what it does not look like that it is not a man-made method that comes right out of a business and marketing text book, but it is something that grows organically in the ekklesia where Christ is the LIFE, and this LIFE is shared together by the saints in loving and caring for one another.

Discipleship is a corporate transformation of the Spirit, which is led by the Spirit, where all are conformed to the image of Christ, and not some uniformity that comes by a method of growth and multiplication. REAL discipleship is where Jesus Christ is expressed in His body where His saints live under the Lordship of Christ, who is the Head, growing into ONE mind and ONE body of Jesus Christ. It is where we are learning together to be ONE New Man as we share His Life together in relationships grounded and rooted in Him. In submitting to one another (not in breaking up in teacher/student groups where one is always to be followed and the other is always the follower) is where this transformation takes place.

It cannot take place by submitting to a person who sees him or herself in a position over you, as a teacher, or leader who rules over you, but only where the saints submit to one another in living and sharing His Life together as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. Mentoring is a community activity, and not for those who see themselves over others and try to hold authority over another as “a spiritual parent”, “spiritual father or mother” or anything that resembles that.

It is true that in every ekklesia there are those who will be mature over time, as elders that bring guidance and service to the rest of the body, but they do not do this operating out of some position or office, but in community life, body life, in which they are giving of themselves.

Preaching the gospel and making disciples has not ended, but it has taken on a new face — becoming a fruit of ekklesia LIFE and not the root

Though the “special” commission to the eleven has ended in their lifetime, that does not mean that preaching the gospel and making of disciples is no longer necessary, it just puts it in proper perspective where ekklesia life is seen according to God’s Eternal Purpose where the saints grow in their discipleship in coming together as One New Man through body life, and not according to meeting some supposed quota in making converts through the great commission.

What this means today, is that a glorious and fresh discipleship awaits us in living and sharing His Life together as we participate in a corporate transformation in which the saints, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, unite with Christ the Head, take on the mind of Christ, and are made by the Spirit into One New Man.

So, making disciples and preaching the gospel has not ended but has taken a new face. It is not some mission statement that every believer must carry, but it is the fruit of the love that is shared and practiced in the ekklesia. The love and testimony of the Lord is shared with our neighbors as an overflow of that love and testimony filling our gatherings. In this flowing out of the community LIFE of God within Himself into His body, it is this body life that bears fruit, the fruit of love for Christ and His body which compels us to love our neighbors around us, those who do not know the Lord.

How we share the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ

This overflow of that love for Christ empowers us to share our testimony with our friends and our neighbors who do not know Him. We do not share Christ from some memorized message in order to make a convert, but our testimony concerning Jesus Christ comes from knowing the Lord as we share Him together in true body life. Jesus said that they will know that He is the ONE sent by the Father when they see us love one another.  The greatest witness is when those who do not know the Lord look at us and see us conformed to the image of Christ in how we behave and act towards our own brothers and sisters in Christ.

Also, as the ekklesia grows and matures, the gifts of evangelism grow too. There are those who mature in this gift, through living in authentic body life, that have the ability to express the heart of the corporate Man Jesus Christ. They live life in Christ, the Heavenly Man, and over time, it is apparent that they have been given the grace to share the mercies of Christ with those who do not know Him. They do not memorize some  ”how to go to heaven” tract and simply distribute it, but they minister to those right where they are at much like Jesus did with the prostitutes and the tax collectors. These are not people who feel that they need to fulfill some individual mission statement to please God, but understand the corporate responsibility within the church to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The problem with saying that organic church life is all about being sent out and making disciples turns the ekklesia into an empty place not devoted to loving one another and becoming the corporate body of Jesus Christ, but an organization where people never build any true and lasting relationship with one another. If every body is so busy trying to meet their quota and to bring people into the church, then that church lies in waste from all the neglect and is in a very sickly state. Borrowing from something that Ezekiel once said, it is like a valley of dry bones (Ezek. 37.)

It is Christ living vibrantly within and through His body, every joint supplying, that causes the driest bones to connect bringing nourishment to every joint and marrow, and to stand on their feet as ONE NEW MAN (Col. 2:19), not taking to a mission statement that was never intended for the individual believer, but to take Christ as LIFE, in which preaching the gospel and discipleship will be worked out through the corporate body of Jesus Christ in the ekklesia.

Itinerant church Workers today

Over time, those with the gifts of apostle grow and mature in body life, and mature in their gift and are sent out as itinerant church workers. This occurred in the first century as seen through the lives of Paul, Silas, Barnabus, Timothy, ect…There are those today with this gift, who after maturing in body life, have been sent out where they help others live the Life of Jesus Christ from the indwelling Life of Christ and sharing His Life together.

They help the saints in this discipleship, in learning to live under Christ as the Head of the church, and becoming one in unity and expression of Jesus Christ. They have been given an authority by Christ, not to reign over others as some kings calling all the shots and demanding everything being run through them, but the grace and authority by Christ to set up the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and maintain the purity of it.

In conclusion, our LIFE is Christ Himself, not trying to conform ourselves to “being like Jesus and doing just what He said” through our own interpretations — calling that life…or even organic church life. When the saints live apart from all the pretentiousness of saving the world themselves and pressuring others to do the same, and resisting the selfish desires to rule over God’s people by claiming some human headship over them as that person’s authority or teacher, then and only then, will REAL Organic LIFE manifest and grow. It is in this true body Life where discipleship takes place — the saints being conformed to the image of Christ, corporately.

[This corporate growing into One New Man will be discussed in more detail next time in REAL Organic Church Life part IV: Living His Life together in the Heavenly Man.]