Divine Warnings Against Disorganization
The divine establishment of gospel order gave authority to appointments to oversight and direction in the work. The spirit in the church was one of counsel, and of deference to church order and government. The gift of “governments,” which is the gift of administration and organization, is one of the spiritual gifts. The apostle, writing from Italy to the Hebrew churches in Judea and everywhere, gave the exhortation: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account.” Heb. 13:17.
Again he wrote: “We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” 1 Thess. 5:12, 13.
Christ’s instruction regarding dealing with the erring shows that the visible church is a definitely organized body, not only having authority to maintain its unity and purity, but in duty bound to do so. Matt. 18:15-20; John 20:23. The spirit of prophesy says:—
Christ here gives no liberty for any man to pass judgment upon others. In the sermon on the mount he forbade this. It is the prerogative of God. But on the church in its organized capacity he places a responsibility for the individual members. Toward those who fall into sin, the church has a duty, to warn, to instruct, and if possible to restore. . . . Declare what God has said . . . If they persist in sin, the judgment you have declared from God’s Word is pronounced upon them in heaven. In choosing to sin, they disown Christ; the church must show that she does not sanction their deeds, or she herself dishonors her Lord. She must say about sin what God says about it. She must deal with it as God directs, and her action is ratified in heaven. He who despises the authority of the church, despises the authority of Christ himself. —“Desire of Ages,” pages 805, 806.
Before all the first apostles had passed away, the attack on the purity of the faith and the organization of the work had begun. The opposition of men who turned openly from the truth was not so deceptive and dangerous as that of those working from within. Hence Paul’s warning to the elders of Ephesus to take heed to themselves and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers; for men were to arise from within, teaching perverse things, and seeking to draw away the people after themselves. Acts 20:28-30.
Later, as apostasy further developed, Peter warned against those who in the name of greater liberty, would lead to the bondage of error. 2 Peter 2:19. They were opposed to the order and organization which hindered their efforts to tear down. They “despise government,” he says, “Presumptuous are they, self-willed.” Verse 10. Jude wrote of them also as despisers of dominion, or government. “These be they who separate themselves,” he said. Verse 19. As they could not dominate the organization, they drew apart and sought to separate churches and individuals from the movement.
The apostle John, who wrote latest of all, in all three of his epistles, warned against these influences. Of one experience, in which the pastor or officer of a church asserted its independence of apostolic oversight, refusing to receive the laborers sent to minister to it, he says: —
“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” 3 John 9.
No doubt this advocate of the independence of the churches from the general oversight established, was loud in his denunciation of the effort of the organized body to preserve the unity of the work. He prated against the apostle “with malicious words,” and had the word been coined then, he would surely have called the apostles’ effort popery. Inspiration says that his real difficulty was that he loved to have the preeminence among them. This was the spirit of self-exalting independence and disregard of gospel order and organization which led straight on to the papacy.
In this brief review of New Testament order we see the church established on the platform of truth, the whole body bound together in unity, possessed of the divine spirit of organization, with spiritual gifts and local and general officers set in it for the administration and government of its affairs in harmony and fellowship.
Christ was the leader and commander, guiding by the voice of the spirit of prophecy, and by the spiritual gifts promised to the church as it seeks his counsel.
Isaiah describes how the farmer plans with system and order his work of tilling the soil; “for his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.” Isa. 28:26. The church is “God’s husbandry,” or “tillage.” 1 Cor. 3:9, margin. He who gives wisdom to the tiller of the soil to plan his work, is Counselor to the gospel church, to enable its work to be done with the system and order befitting its sacred character. “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” Isa. 28:29.
As was shown John in The Revelation, Christ himself walks among the seven candlesticks, the churches, and holds the seven stars, the messengers of the churches, in his own right hand. His presence and guidance are promised “even unto the end of the world.”
He has been the leader in this advent movement, and by the counsels of his Word and through the spirit of prophecy the divine principles of order and organization have been applied to present-day needs and conditions. Every principle in the organization of our work today is found in the Word of God. As one united people, let us devote all our powers to the finishing of the work.
(Review and Herald, May 13, 1909)
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