Wave of Glory?
Many are speaking about a “wave of glory” visiting Perth this year (https://world.prayerassembly.org). This is generally accompanied by great confusion. Our real state before God is expounded in the teaching below.
Introduction
I had a long and disturbing dream recently, whilst much of it is psychodynamic in origin, it also contains a spiritual message. In the dream I was called to be preside over a huge cathedral communion service but was paralysed because there seemed to be no “order of service”. This prophetic teaching suggests what a kingdom of God order might look like for the Church in Perth today. As a “colony of heaven” (Phil 3:20) we are called to share in the most radical shift ever in the history of humanity, from sinful humiliation to heavenly exaltation. From the regular condition of fallenness to the heights of glory. This cosmic-evoking transformation “in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15) is summarised by, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil 2:10). Union with this global promise is for the people of God everywhere and at every time. It is realised in what we call “revival” and promised to us when we abide by the relational condition, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Pet 5:6; James 4:10;). Today however we are far from such amazing grace.
Normal Church Life
The architects of the attractional church model (like the now disgraced Bill Hybels) never imagined that their congregations would mostly attract other Christians and depopulate surrounding smaller churches. This has caused the Spirit great grief! In an hour of multiple church “franchises”, the so-called “McDonaldisation of Christianity”, we have forgotten only intimate relationship attract the habitation of the Spirit (Eph 2:22). Only a restoration of holy relationships (see John 17 vv.3. 11. 21ff; 25f.) can lift the disciplining hand of God from us, his beloved Bride in Perth. Only a dishonest Christian could say of our current state, “great grace is upon us all” (Acts 4:33). We worship a King who makes “the last be first, and the first last.” (Matt 20:16). The original apostles “turned the world upside…saying that there is another king, Jesus.”” (Acts 17:6). Our present Church hierarchies look more Babylonian than the kingdom order Jesus birthed (Rev 18:4).
Look Again
The New Testament describes the composition of the God’s Church unflatteringly, “not many of you were wise…of noble birth. 27…God chose what is foolish/weak/low in the world to shame the wise/strong to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor 1:26-29). And Paul seems to insult his apostolicity where under Christ’s rule the “less honourable and less respectable” (1 Cor 12:23) are apostles, men self-described as “the scum of the world, the refuse of all things” (1 Cor 4:13) of ἔκτρωμα/“abortive birth” (1 Cor 15:8). Presently, men and women are contending to claim honour for the coming “wave of glory” (https://world.prayerassembly.org, cf. 2 Cor 10:12,18) to W.A. They seem ignorant of the Spirit’s warning about a prevalent “sandgroper spirit” (https://cross-connect.net.au/warning-warning/ ) of “envy/selfish ambition” (James 3:14, 16) which will impede the purity of the divine harvest. How can we avoid the collapse of the wave of glory before it reaches our shores, or worse still, that it will turn out to be a dangerous “dumping wave”. How might the regular hierarchical power structures in the Church be redeemed from our celebrity title-bound culture? The Lord has given us an answer, but one which we can never see whilst we look upwards.
Wash The Feet
A most humble brother dropped in the other day with a deep message I first heard around 2010. “I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.” (Isa 45:3). For Perth NOW this is a call to an act of humility whereby senior pastors must wash the feet of their juniors, (including those whose words they have dismissed), older Christians washing the younger, white people bathing the feet of the Indigenous, the wealthy the less economically abled, and so on. “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.” (John 13:14-15). In spiritualising Jesus’ command, we have not loved each other in a “high vis” manner. The Lord commanded us, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”” (John 13:34-35 cf. “the world may believe/know” 17:21-23). Tragically however, Christ’s prediction has been rendered null and void by our failure to love one another.
Cold Hard Facts
Money speaks to us all, but the last time I checked pastoral salaries reflected a worldly world. The greater the size of their congregation, the higher the “salary” paid. The more “successful” a preacher in growing a congregation the greater his/her reward. There is next to no basis for such a sliding scale in the New Testament (1 Tim 5:17-18 may generally apply). What is clear is biblical remuneration on the basis of need (e.g. number of incomes in a family, number of children, health concerns) rather than status, position or title. Such an arrangement would express equality of care in the Body of Christ; “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other” (1 Cor 12:25). Putting these truths into practice would spark a revolution in how the Church is perceived in Western society; leading to much growth and to the sort of persecution so many of us presently fear.
Recover the Gospel
To move from the deprived condition of our fallen humanity to the heights of glory Jesus must accept divine judgement, becoming unrecognisable as a human being, “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isa 52:14) and invisible even to his own Father, “My God…why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). The first apostles followed Jesus in this mode of life, “God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.” (1 Cor 4:9). Where though is such radical lowliness amongst the most visible stratum of the Church in Perth? Whilst a special anointing of lowliness can be found amongst intercessors and the like, the World Prayer Assembly may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for the stars of our Church, like Margaret Court. Mark Varughese, Nick Scott, Ken Lee, Clive Pawson, Craig Newell, Dean Groetzinger et.al, to “wash the feet of the saints” (1 Tim 5:10). When this happens all the people of God in Perth will be empowered to say, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1). Only such a true “wave of glory” can mature us into the Bride Jesus died for and deserves (Eph 5:25-27).