So You Want to be an Apostle???? By Lahry Sibley When is the last time you saw and Apostle? If you saw one, what would he look like? What kind of qualifications do you suppose he would have? Let’s look at God’s Word and get a glimpse of the real deal. God knows the church of Jesus Christ in the USA could use a boost, maybe a prophet or an apostle. 1 Cor 4:1 SO THEN, let us [apostles] be looked upon as ministering servants of Christ and stewards (trustees) of the mysteries (the secret purposes) of God. Apostles are servants who do ministry. They are trustees of the secret things of God, but oh so eager to make them known (special messengers) to the Body of Christ. Perhaps they move in the prophetic as well. 2 Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [proving himself worthy of trust]. Trust is such a precious commodity in this hour. There are so precious few who can actually be trusted, apart from Christ. This man, the apostle, is very mature and is biblically and spiritually led by the Holy Spirit. You just feel better when he is around…..don’t you? 4b It is the Lord [Himself] Who examines and judges me. Few would deny that Paul surely was an apostle. His judge? The Lord Himself. 6 Now I have applied all this [about parties and factions] to myself and Apollos for your sakes, brethren, so that from what I have said of us [as illustrations], you may learn [to think of men in accordance with Scripture and] not to go beyond that which is written, that none of you may be puffed up and inflated with pride and boast in favor of one [minister and teacher] against another. Oh the pride I see in churches today, and factions, and ministers. Just question the teaching of some of these guys and you will see who has an idolatrous relationship with them. These things should not be as Paul so aptly points out. 7 For who separates you from the others [as a faction leader]? [Who makes you superior and sets you apart from another, giving you the preeminence?] What have you that was not given to you? If then you received it [from someone], why do you boast as if you had not received [but had gained it by your own efforts]? National fame, literary notoriety, video performance. Do these things make one a faction leader? A Superior? An authority? 8 [You behave as if] you are already filled and think you have enough [you are full and content, feeling no need of anything more]! Already you have become rich [in spiritual gifts and graces]! [Without any counsel or instruction from us, in your conceit], you have ascended your thrones and come into your kingdom without including us! And would that it were true and that you did reign, so that we might be sharing the kingdom with you! “you have ascended YOUR thrones and come into YOUR kingdom” (emphasis my own) That is why so many of today’s church leaders lack the power of God. They are not ambassadors of Christ as they should be. In stead, they are kings of their kingdoms of their own making, empowered by their own egos and conceit. True apostles will never fall prey to this self inflation and pride. 9 For it seems to me that God has made an exhibit of us apostles, exposing us to view last [of all, like men in a triumphal procession who are] sentenced to death [and displayed at the end of the line]. For we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world's amphitheater] with both men and angels [as spectators]. Apostles are of God made to be and exhibit as a man sentenced to death. Surely, apostles have already died with Christ, but they are looked upon, even to many church folks and especially church leaders as common criminals, to be despised and ridiculed. Sigh. How did we get into such a mess as this? 10 We are [looked upon as] fools on account of Christ and for His sake, but you are [supposedly] so amazingly wise and prudent in Christ! We are weak, but you are [so very] strong! You are highly esteemed, but we are in disrepute and contempt! Not only the world has contempt for true apostles, but so does religious crowd as well. They despised Jesus, and they despise His apostles, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and prophets. The church leadership is held in high esteem, while the true apostle is viewed as being weak, contemptable and in disrepute. 11 To this hour we have gone both hungry and thirsty; we [habitually] wear but one undergarment [and shiver in the cold]; we are roughly knocked about and wander around homeless. Ever look at the “street people” in a city park and wonder if there is an apostle among them? Only outcasts go hungry, and are thirsty. What are they cast out from, if not our very own churches, whom they should be loved and welcomed by. Apostles suffer harsh treatment, just as Jesus did, without a true cause for the vindictive behavior of the religious kings and their kingdoms. 12 And we still toil unto weariness [for our living], working hard with our own hands. When men revile us [wound us with an accursed sting], we bless them. When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure it. When is the last time you ever heard of an apostle being included in the church budget? 13 When we are slandered and defamed, we [try to] answer softly and bring comfort. We have been made and are now the rubbish and filth of the world [the offscouring of all things, the scum of the earth]. To mention an apostle or prophet is to equate the title with a snake oil salesman or a crooked attorney, a politician even. Why is that? 14 I do not write this to shame you, but to warn and counsel you as my beloved children. When was the last time you heard such a warning come from the pulpit in your church? Has it been a while? Why is that? 15After all, though you should have ten thousand teachers (guides to direct you) in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the glad tidings (the Gospel). A father to all, but yet rejected by most, especially church “leadership”. 16 So I urge and implore you, be imitators of me. In another place, Paul says the same thing, to be imitators of him, as He imitates Christ. Christ was a servant to all the rest, so is His apostles. And both Christ and Paul urged all to be servants as they were. Servants have no self interest, but live to please and work for their master, always at His beckon call. 17For this very cause I sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord, who will recall to your minds my methods of proceeding and course of conduct and way of life in Christ, such as I teach everywhere in each of the churches. This is what Paul wanted imitated among the church brethren. If it is not imitated by church leadership, it will not be imitated by the church itself. 18Some of you have become conceited and arrogant and pretentious, counting on my not coming to you. Many are not counting on the soon coming of our Lord and Savior either. But that will not spare them when He does come. Suddenly!!!!!!!! 19 But I will come to you [and] shortly, if the Lord is willing, and then I will perceive and understand not what the talk of these puffed up and arrogant spirits amount to, but their force (the moral power and excellence of soul they really possess). All church leadership, true leadership, should posses moral power over the lusts of the flesh by, and only by, the power of the blood of Jesus working in their lives. They also should possess excellence in their souls…living according to Romans 12. 20 For the kingdom of God consists of and is based on not talk but power (moral power and excellence of soul). Are you living in the kingdom of God, or are you observing the kingdom of God. Romans 14:17 says that the kingdom of God …is righteousness, heart peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Is there where you dwell, or do you just observe others whom you think dwells there? 21 Now which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of correction, or with love and in a spirit of gentleness? Apostles are well able to apply the rod, but most often walk in love and gentleness of Spirit. Of course, there is much more that scripture reveals about apostles. But this passage really hits the high points. I hear folks often comment how they would like to be or have been apostles. Really? Could you joyfully embrace what Paul went through, what the other 12 went through, what Jesus went through? My Lord we need all the leadership operating in the Body if the Body is to be alive and healthy. We need all the parts active as well. Sadly, in some churches, the head of the pastor is so large, there is no room for anything else. Jesus was crucified outside the camp, outside the temple, outside of the religiosity of His day. That is likely where you will find the true apostle as well. Look closely. You just may spot a prophet nearby as well.
