Going back to the Fundmentals of the Gospel of Grace

       Today I have been thinking about Gods goodness to us although we have been unfaithful. As Church leaders we have abdicated our mandate as recorded in Ephesians 4:11-16 where the Apostle Paul wrote that;  11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,  Most church leaders have fashioned for themselves statuses like the Hindu caste system where people are treated as their class dictates. Some have called themselves Apostles. If they are addressed and the title Apostle so and so is not included, they get offended. The question is; Does the word apostle mean a title, an office or a calling.  the Greek word from which the word Apostle is derived apostolos (ἀπόστολος, ου, ὁ) is a Noun, Masculine meaning ; a messenger, an envoy, a delegate, one commissioned by another to represent him in some way. Originally this referred to the men sent out by Jesus Christ Himself to preach the Gospel. So, the only people befitting to be called apostles without fear of any contradiction are the twelve disciples of Jesus. Their number remained to be 12 because after the death and departure of Judas Iscariot, Mathias was elected to replace him Acts 1:12-26.  Apart from these twelve, no one should ever claim to be an apostle and the word does not even mean a title or office.
       One may ask; if the word apostle refers only to the twelve, why does Paul call himself an apostle? To answer this question, we will have to look at the meaning given above;one commissioned by another to represent him in some way. Originally this refereed to the men sent out by Jesus Christ Himself to preach the Gospel.  In our case here, Paul was commissioned by Christ Himself on his way to Damascus thus: Acts 9:5
Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.^[a] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
⁶ So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”
Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  And from here Saul became Paul and was sent to the Gentiles while the twelve were sent to the children of Israel. God is a God of order and a master strategic planner who planned all these before the creation of the earth and all that is in it. It is my sincere belief that at the moment, we have neither Apostles nor Prophets because the work of these two is perfectly done, completed and embodied in the scriptures. If we want to know and hear from them, we just go to the Bible. 
        Now back to the fundamentals, the work of pastors, teachers and evangelists, is in Ephesians 4: 12-14 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  None of us is doing this. We may be busy organizing annual conferences and seminars in big five star hotels or even at universities in many parts of the world. But the sinners who Christ died for, are not found in hotels but here ;

 

        At the moment many pastors are keeping quiet and there is none of us who can speak to our political leaders and tell them what the Lord is saying. In fact many pastor in Eldoret and other cities are playing partisan politics. In last few weeks Christiano leaders in Eldoret asked members of their flock to demonstrate "peacefully" and "pray against the Tsunami" . Indeed many faithful members went and did this. WE HAVE ALL BECOME LIKE THE POLITICIANS BECAUSE WE HAVE EVEN STARTED PRAYING IN THEIR STYLE. We do not ask ourselves what the cause of disunity is instead we assume that a certain group is wrong and the other is right. Among the members of the flock we have people who are members of the opposition and our prayers can stop them from thinking otherwise. If you keenly listen to the so called the Bottom line by KTN( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTNQC_LYb2s) you will here most people speaking with bitterness and there is no sign of reconciliation.

      Another mandate given to the pastors and church leaders is to teach and preach the whole gospel of Christ so that the flock will grow and in Paul's words;  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.  We all are in a blame game, blaming politicians, politicians blaming the common citizens for making "wrong" choices and the Government blaming the opposition and the west for all the problems affecting our country. We have forgotten what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians that only if we speak the truth in love, shall we grow up to maturity. I am sure most of our youths are easily beguiled by false teachers of religion who take them captive by teaching them false religion that tells them to kill because it is a religious duty. Those taking part in Terror groups like the Al shabaab are not true Muslims but disgruntled youth who do not have jobs and are misled. Paul admonishes us saying;  

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
         Unfortunately, the church has left its responsibility of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the ministers are instead building Kingdoms here on earth. Go to every city in Kenya and take a sample of where pastors live, where they belong as club members, who they associate with and where they shop. You will understand what I am talking about. In very few churches shall we find the gospel being preached because everybody holding a bible and can read and speak some English and Kiswahili is a pastor.  We should go back to the fundamentals of the gospel of Grace. Let us not build Kingdoms here but build the body of Jesus Christ for that is our duty and calling. Not buying big cars and building cathedrals and holding conferneces in hotels. When Christ Shall come, shall He find Faith?