Government in God's Church
GOVERNMENT IN GOD'S CHURCH
Pentecost is now behind us and we are eagerly looking forward to the Fall festivals, picturing the installing of God's government or kingdom on this earth. This government will not “fix” man's efforts at government, but totally replace them. Man has come up with all sorts of concepts for his governments; kings, presidents, prime ministers, dictators - you name it. Unfortunately, it is not much different in God's Church. Especially, since the break up of the World Wide Church of God, we have seen many ideas put forward, even voting, but what is the proper perspective for government in the Church?
We are all familiar with Proverbs 14:12, where it says: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” God has called each of us into His truth and way of life. We didn't find it on our own, or come to this knowledge by our own intellectual reasoning (John 6:44). Our way of reasoning and doing things will only end in death, so it should be important to each of us to determine what God's Word has to say on this subject.
Basically, God's government, whether in the millennium, the “church in the wilderness,” or the church we see today, is a theocracy. God the Father is the supreme head of all things and He has delegated His Son, Jesus Christ to be the head of His Church. God has, “...put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). And also, “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23). Paul then states that the church is to be subject to Christ as it's head. Most of us would say, “well, I don't have a problem being subject to Christ, it's those ministers I have a problem with.” There have always been problems in the various Churches of God, as there were many problems in the Corinthian church; not the least of which was a serious misunderstanding of the nature and function of leadership in the church. This was just one of several problems that Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians. Paul chided the church to stop acting like they did not have the Spirit of God and begin acting like they did! They were acting like “mere men” (1 Cor. 3:3). It is important to note that it was over the nature and function of their leaders that they were quarreling (i.e. Paul vs. Apollos vs. Peter, etc.).
As we just saw in Ephesians, the Church makes “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” John 10:14-15