The Most Excellent Way: Foundation for Revival
Introduction
The Lord is calling the Church in Perth (CIP),bursting in gifts but lacking in holiness (1 Cor 1:7; 5:1-2), to move on to the “more excellent way” of superlative love (1 Cor 12:31). In praying about such love I have envisaged the coming together of the CIP in practical unity in a way that would image Jesus’ prayer in John 17. He petitions God that the impartation of his glory in our midst would enable the world to “believe” and “know” he had been sent by the righteous and holy Father. (John 17:11; 21-23, 25). This extraordinary expectation we see confirmed by persecution we see in Acts onwards and in many non-Western countries today. The activities of “the dominion of darkness” witness to a real supernatural power operating via the Church (Eph 3:10; Col 1:13). This is far from the “she’ll be right mate” attitude of contemporary Australia to the message of the churches. Perhaps we prefer our sleepy situation to the intensities which must come (Acts 14:22) if we experience the revival we are praying for? A Zoom call yesterday with Myanmar has sharpened some of these apprehensions.
Myanmar Case Study
Myanmar, which I last visited in 2019, is the poorest nation in South East Asia, has had ½ m COVID cases, around 20,000 deaths and a vaccination rate of 26%. Importantly all the major Christian groups in the country have been involved in the roll out of the vaccination programme and the provision of food and medical relief. Whereas historically the Myanmar Evangelical Christian Alliance and the Myanmar Council of Churches stood for a polarisation between conservative and liberal Christianity, the Lord has miraculously called them to work together in a time of urgent need. In addition to the health crisis, the nation is under martial law, lawlessness abounds with effectively a civil war across the regions. This has “driven” the Church in the Spirit (Mark 1:12) to gather together across congregational and ethnic lines at a local level to cry out (Acts 4:24) for divine deliverance. In hearing about these things, I can sense the pleasure of the Father over his one Church in Myanmar and am sure he is already “commanding a blessing” (Psalm 133:1-3). This is surely a nation on the threshold of revival.
A Promised Revelation
On Zoom another brother had this scripture for Myanmar, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.” (1 John 3:14 cf. John 5:24). This promises that as Christians indiscriminately love other, in Myanmar or Perth, the infinity of the love of God revealed in Jesus will be manifested through our ordinary mortal flesh (John 13:34-35). This isn’t a property of our natural existence, but of our union with the still embodied Son of God (2 Cor 5:17; 1 Tim 2:5). It is the promise of something extraordinary can be revealed corporately through the one CIP.
Coming Together
We once had the annual Church Together where up to 15,000 used to come together to praise the Lord and listen to his Word. (I counselled the pioneer of that great event that it was not widespread enough to be permanently impactful). Today we have a range of networks all desiring unity for the glory of God (His Voice. Geo Networks, Perth Together, Movement.org etc.). These are significant signs of mutual recognition across the Body of Christ, but so far we have not seen the sort of glory (Eph 3:14-21) any of these groups would long for. What might the indispensable more excellent way of love look like in the CIP (1 Cor 12:31). For starters it must look like a new spiritual depth of leadership. Our natural resistance to authority means such a notion is necessarily highly controversial.
City Elders?
The attached diagram was produced by an apostolic figure in Perth, Paul Botha. I am in basic agreement with his passion to see the restoration of all the spheres of life and culture through the power and presence of Jesus and his Spirit (Acts 3:17-21). But are the “city elders” at the centre of this vision biblical? Probably. “Elders in the gate” (Prov 31:23) is an old covenant precedent, the church in Antioch seems to have operated through consolidated oversight (Acts 13:1-3), Paul’s gathering with the elders of the likely multi-congregational Ephesian church (Acts 20:17ff.) is a model, and city eldership seems to be the understanding in the final writings of Paul (Tit 1:5). Most significantly, if the earthly church somehow images the assembly of the elect humans and angels in heaven around the throne of the Lamb, elders, angelic or human (?) figure prominently (Rev chs 4; 5; 7; 11; 14; 19). Since the thrones of the elders (Rev 4:4; 11:1; 20:4) signify sharing the judgement of God the possibility of city-elders is a very sober one not to be entertained lightly. I discern the real issue here is not whether there are city elders but their character. A few things are prayerfully plain to me on this point.
First, the identity of these earthly elders has yet to be revealed because their council is not yet assembled. Sharing in the perpetual prostrate posture of the heavenly elders (Rev 5:8, 14) they are, “nameless and faceless” people. Their extreme humility means they “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3ff cf. James 3:13-18). They are men and women whose passion is to be “first in love” like their Lord (John 13:34-35). They “prefer others” (Rom 12:10 KJV) before themselves. They are more than torch bearers for Christ, as Spirit-filled beings they are living icons of the burning torches of the Spirit around God’s throne (Rev 4:5 cf. 2 Tim 1:6). They are mature holy people with hearts that understand that it is not merely giving until it hurts but giving until it hurts not to be able to give more. Who wouldn’t want to follow such people??
The Centre of it All
The Botha diagram points in the right direction, but in its original version it lacks the reason for everything, Jesus; “all things were created through him and for him.” (Col 1:16). By divine wisdom the wheel will never turn until Jesus is acknowledged as the sole centre of it all. It isn’t the Jesus of popular Christianity but the Jesus of scripture who produces apostolic-elders who are “the garbage of the world” (1 Cor 4:13). From all eternity the all-conquering love of God will be manifest through the glorified scars of the risen Christ (John 20:27) in “the Lamb standing as [“as though” or “as if” are not in the text] slain” (Rev 5:6). This means that of divine necessity (Luke 24:26), against all natural expectations of leadership, the eldership hub of the wheel that can retransform Western culture is a broken and crucified hub (cf. Gal 6:17). Only a manifestly broken eldership can be trusted to embody the reign of a crucified God over a city. This is the conquering wisdom of Christ crucified over the one host of demonic powers in the heavenly places (Eph 3:10) over both Myanmar and Perth. Give God all the glory.