By
Art Licursi, building upon some thoughts taken from Russell Miller
...For
to make in Himself of twain one new man (Eph.2:15).
It is a
shame that so many in the Body of Christ do not see what it is that God is
doing today, in this day of the“dispensation
of His grace” (Eph 3:2) that
He committed to Paul for us.
The
error of some is a failure to come unto perfection or completion in the
Pauline revelation. They erroneously labor under the so-called Great
Commission that Jesus of Nazareth gave to His Jewish disciples for the
Jews. Matthew 10:5-6 These
twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way
of the Gentiles, and into any
city of the Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But
go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel
. 7And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Erroneously, they preach the “Kingdom
from heaven” that God promised to come to earth for the Jews,
ignoring His ministry for us today. Thus, they preach “another gospel”
than the one Paul was given for us today.
Others go
to extremes with agendas that are used of the devil that cause "divisions"
and confusion in the Church and "blind
(even) the minds" (2Cor.4:4) of believers from knowing the truth.
Consequently such teachings are used by Satan to deceive both saint and
sinner alike. Men walk in darkness when lies are substituted for truth for
this dispensation, the devil gets a foothold in the Church to wreak "havoc"
and make it weak.
God,
however, will not be mocked of men, for "the
Judgment Seat of Christ" (2Cor.5:10) awaits those who make
merchandise of "the Word of
God" (IICor.2:14-17; Tit.3:10) in order to build “their”
ministries and bank accounts. For them, there shall be a great loss of
rewards (ICor.3:15) and abundance of shame. Meanwhile, the devil "blinds
the minds of them that believe not,” souls that could have been
saved will be cast into the
Lake
of
Fire
at the "great white
throne" judgment (Rev.20:11-15).
In this
endeavor to discover what it is that God is doing today, several passages
of Scripture come to mind. Along with Romans 16:25 and I Corinthians 12:13
are two very similar verses in Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians:
Eph.2:15
Having abolished in His flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to
make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace.
Eph.3:9
And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery,
which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created
all things by Jesus Christ.
Today God
is in the business of building the “one
new man” that Paul calls “the
Body of Christ” that is invisibly unified by Christ’s indwelling “spirit
of life” (Rom 8:2). He is looking for "faithful" men and
women everywhere to be ministers of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ (ICor.4:1, 2).
God
appointed Paul, "the Apostle
of the Gentiles" (Rom.11:13), giving him the blueprints
(ICor.3:9-15) for the Church today. Paul and Timothy were faithful in
proclaiming "this Mystery
among the Gentiles."
Colossians
1:25-27
Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation
of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26
Even the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is
made manifest to his saints: 27 To
whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles; which
is Christ in you, the hope
of glory:
Will
you "follow" in
Paul’s footsteps or be drawn into an extreme and false teaching?
