Governmental Apostles (4) Church Government

Jesus is the head of the church. He has not delegated this authority to church leaders or apostles. The only authority he delegated to apostles was authority to heal the sick and to cast our demons. He delegated governing and guiding authority to the Holy Spirit. He gave also gave all those who repent and believe freedom to obey the voice of the Spirit. Christians have authority over their own lives. The can give authority to their leaders by submitting them. The authority of leaders is comes from bottom to the top, not from the top down.

The Holy Spirit is everywhere and can speak to any believer, so he does not need to operate through a hierarchy. The leaders of human organisations are not omnipresent, so they have to work through hierarchy. The devil is confined to one place, so he has to work through a unruly hierarchy of principalities and powers. The Holy Spirit does not have this problem, so he does not need hierarchy. He can accomplish his plans by guiding Christians at a local level. The Holy Spirit guides the entire church by speaking to individual Christians.

Jesus worked locally and released lots of people into the apostolic ministry. He trained many apostles and gave them authority. He started with the twelve apostles and gave them some of his authority (Luke 6:12-16). Once the twelve were “on the case”, he began work with another seventy-two. They were “apostled” out into the surrounding villages and towns with authority to act for Jesus (Luke 10:1-21). The seventy-two were really green, but Jesus gave them authority, because he trusted the Holy Spirit to guide and lead them.

By the time he died, Jesus had 120 people who were waiting for the Spirit and “raring to go” (Acts 1:15). They had a lot to learn, but Jesus gave them authority, sent his Spirit and left them to it.