Fathers, Elders, Confessors
Prelude
Driving to a recent WA Elders Round Table meeting, I was uniquely moved to ask the Lord to speak to me via an odour. After I arrived, I noticed in corners of the church 2 aromatic diffusers pumping out sweet smelling savours. This confirmed my heart in relation to the message the Spirit would share. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph 4:32-5:2). And in heaven “the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, reach holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 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, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”” (Rev 5:8-10; Cf. 8:3-4). The Lord proceeded to open up a message many Protestants studiously avoid, about priestly service. We have largely lost the great truth of the “priesthood of all believers” (Luther,) and this omission has led to sad divisions in the Church today!
Introduction
With multiple groups across the city of Perth (His Voice, WA Elders Round Table, Movement Day, Geo-networks) seeking to promote a common goal, I believe the Lord has shown me his way for them to coalesce into a functional unity. I felt the Lord say that if they suddenly met in a common location the result would be a “rabble” of contending voices (Acts 17:5). Fulfilling an old prophecy about the power of jealousy and selfish ambition in Perth (James 3:13-18). As a whole, we have been misled, into believing we can have revival without reformation, that the peace of reconciliation can come without confession. The vast throngs that massed from across Israel to confess their sins in response to God’s Word through John the Baptist (Matt 3:5) were a sign that contrition must come before revival for a sustainable revival. Those in John and Jesus’ day are like us all, heart confession is a miracle of grace given to those passing beyond a fear of being judged. Such miracles can still take place. In 1818 a simple-minded young priest was sent to Ars in rural France (population 230), here he became famous. In later life 20,000 a year made the journey to the town, where he spent 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vianney. Such a move of the Lord can happen in WA!
Elders are Confessors
It has likely escaped our attention that in James 5: 12-16 the leaders of confession, given and received, are the “elders”. They humbly join with “anyone” (5:14) to receive forgiveness and healing together. When was the last time this happened in your congregation, or more pointedly, in a large church you know? We are stuck in relation to the shame-breaking power of the gospel because we lack a revelation of biblical fathering/mothering; the ability to hear sin confessed in a safe atmosphere free from the fear of judgement. Years ago, at Uluru, the Lord had me surprisingly told me proclaim over our land, that in Christ “Judgement has been taken away.” Cf. John 1:29; 2 Cor 5:19 (http://cross-connect.net.au/books/the-mystery-is-christ-by-john-yates/ and search for Uluru). We need to hear the Lord in a very intimate way that will reverse, rather than repeat, the pattern that a jealous God, “visits the sin of the fathers on the children” for many generations (Deut 5:9).
Different Kind of Fathers
Listening to a presentation at the Elders Round Table, the Spirit reminded me that as my own father never asked my forgiveness for being in the wrong, this pattern had become a “curse”, in nation and Church (Mal 4:5-6). To break the hold of shame and judgement, to release a new wave of liberated disciples across the Body of Christ, an older cohort of leaders, not intimidated by weakness and vulnerability, must openly confess their faults and failures, to one another and to an up-and-coming generation. Only in this way can the Adamic disposition of denial be overcome. (If Brian Houston had the courage to live this out, the degrading episode for Hillsong would have been avoided and a new wave of life would have swept over the Body of Christ.)
Repression or Confession
From Eden on the devil’s primary weapon against God’s children is accusation and blame (Rev 12:). God’s strategy is to open floodgates to total confession in a safe environment with mature godly men and women of God free from all disposition to censure or condemn. This is the faith described in James 5:16; “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working”. Visiting the van Gogh exhibit recently we witnessed the story of a creative genius plagued by darkness and depression who ended his own life, the Spirit told me that whilst depression (which I used to suffer) is a terrible thing, human efforts to suppress it i.e., to repress unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), is even more destructive of our humanity. Repressed people live ordinary, uncreative, boring lives. I see a day coming when the children of God, liberated by the gospel and freed form repression will bounce forward into a vitality of abundant life and inexpressible joy in the Lord (John 10:10; 1 Pet 1:8). The first step into this excitement in the Lord must be the release of true father/mothers in God who are secure confessors. This needs a much deeper abiding in the ministry of Jesus “apostle and high priest of our confession” (Heb 3:1).
Priests and Kings
Whilst progressive Church culture is very focussed on the 5-fold ministry of Eph 4:11 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers), the present Lord Jesus reigning from his heavenly throne names us as a “royal priesthood/priestly kingdom” (Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6; 1 Pet 2:9) united with his eternal Melchizedek calling of righteousness and peace (Ps 110:4; Heb 7:1-3). We must notice that Jesus’ commission to Peter and all the apostles sent in the power of the Spirit is connected with the delegation of limitless authority to bind and loose sin, that is, to declare sin “forgiven” or “not forgiven”. “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt 16:18-19). “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”…he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”” (John 20:22-23). Nothing is more powerful than a declaration total forgiveness flowing from confession of sin. If the Lord’s will is to raise up a council of fathers/elders/confessors, what can they lead the people of God into confessing (cf. Neh 9; Dan 9)? There is much to confess:
Plenteous Confession
The dark state of the world reveals our Church has failed to be “salt” and “light” (Matt 5:14-16), the divisions between us cries out for holy leadership, the abysmal state of discipleship indicates disobedience to the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). To end positively, I see the dove of Christ (Luke 3:21-22) alighting on our fathers/elders, indicating a grace beyond a coming flood of judgement. I see a time of great rest and fruitfulness (Acts 9:31) destined for US coming soon http://cross-connect.net.au/a-prophetic-picture-for-perth/