Complementary Functions in the Body of Christ

Complementary Functions in the Body of Christ

Zac Poonen | 3rd November 2024

?

The great tragedy in Christendom is that many Christians who are fulfilling the first half of the Great Commission do not realize how important it is to fulfil the second half (Matt 28:19-20). What is worse, there are many workers who fulfil the first half and actually despise those who are seeking to fulfil the second half. If we are humble, we will see that we are fellow workers in the body of Christ, and that one function is as important as the other. The man who goes out to reach those who have never heard the gospel with the message of Christ dying for their sins is as important as the one who is seeking to complete the job by making that person into a disciple and teaching him to do all that Jesus commanded. It is very exciting to fulfil the first part of the Great Commission because this work often yields many wonderful stories to relate. The true accounts of missionary and evangelistic work are always exciting. There are stories to relate of people delivered from demons and idolatry and many things like that, and especially a lot of statistics to report. Evangelists can boast about the number of people they have brought to Christ. But what about another Christian worker, who is taking that convert and making him a disciple who obeys all that Jesus taught? He does not have statistics to boast about, but we may discover when Christ comes back that that person has done a more faithful job without getting any honour on the earth for making disciples. Generally speaking, Christians like to perform ministries that they can report about, and where they can quote numbers. That's why the Mark 16:15 aspect of the Great Commission is far more popular than the other half, in Matthew 28:19-20. But that is also why we are focused on the other half, and teaching people to do all that Jesus commanded. Suppose you have spent 25 years reaching out into different parts of the world, preaching the gospel, and doing evangelism. If you are an evangelist, you probably have the opportunity to report statistics of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people whom you have brought to Christ. But if you spent those 25 years teaching a group of converts who are not yet disciples to do all that Jesus commanded, you may not have much to report in terms of statistics. You have, however, produced Christ-like people who are a far better testimony for Christ on earth, and ones whom God can show forth to the devil as specimens of people who are redeemed from the nature of Adam, and who can manifest the nature of Christ. That effort brings glory in heaven, not on this earth.

“Prophetic ministry has never been popular, neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament.”

If you are a Christian who is seeking honour from men (even from fellow Christians!), you will not care much about the second part of the Great Commission, because that will not give you much to report. You will only be interested in the first part, if your interest is in statistics and numbers and the honour of men. The Old Testament prophets were never popular; it was the false prophets who were popular in Israel. What is the difference between the two? One of the differences was that false prophets told people what they liked to hear, while true prophets told the people what they needed to hear from God. And very often, it was a rebuke for their sin, their worldliness, their idolatry, adultery, and their going away from God, as well as a call to repentance (turning back to God). Prophetic ministry has never been popular, neither in the Old Testament nor in the New Testament. New Testament prophetic ministry is, in the same way, calling God's people back to Him, back to the word, back to obedience to the Scriptures, back to obeying all that Jesus taught. It is very different from evangelistic ministry - and the body of Christ cannot be built only by prophets or only by evangelists. To use an illustration, fulfilling the first half of the Great Commission (Mark 16:15) through evangelism can be likened to taking food from a plate and putting into our mouth. What is the purpose of all evangelism? To bring someone who is not a member of the body of Christ into the body of Christ. That is evangelism essentially. Evangelism is designed to make an unbeliever, idol worshipper or person without any God, to become a part of the body of Christ. My hand takes food, which is not a part of my body at the moment, and picks it up from the plate, and puts it into my body. That is a picture of how evangelism brings a non-Christian into the body of Christ. How does food fully become a part of the body? First of all, I see the food and I take it with my hand and put it into my mouth. This is evangelism, taking the unbeliever and bringing him into Christ. But this food, if it remains in my mouth, is never going to be a part of my body as long as I keep it in my mouth. It will rot, and I will spit it out. A lot of people who raise their hands, sign decision cards and say they have come to Christ are like that, like food kept in the mouth. You go there and visit these five hundred people who have signed these decision cards, and you may find only one of them became a real disciple. The other 499 just drifted away. That happens all the time. It is not enough for the food to simply make it into the mouth. The teeth have to chew the food, and then it goes down the throat and into the stomach where there are all types of acids thrown upon it to break it down. At this point, it is no longer a potato, or bread, or rice. It will get converted into other forms yet, and after a process of digestion and many other things that happen inside the body, finally that food fully becomes a part of the body. This is a very gentle ministry, initially taking the food and putting it into the mouth, and this is evangelism. But after that, other parts of the body take over, and they do things that the hand can never do. Likewise, other workers perform functions which the evangelists can never do, such as prophetic ministry, teaching ministry, shepherding ministry, and apostolic ministry, all of which builds that person to become a living, functioning, effective, and powerful member of the body of Christ. Like that food which, after a few weeks, is no longer a potato, or bread, but has become flesh,? blood and bone, so it should be with every person whom the evangelist brings to Christ. So, which function is needed more? The evangelist, or the prophet, or the shepherd, or the teacher? That is like asking, "Is the hand more important, or the teeth, or the stomach?" There is no way of comparing body parts, because if the hand doesn't take the food and put it in, then the teeth and the stomach have nothing to do; and if the hand does the job of putting the food into the mouth, but the teeth and the stomach don't do anything, then also it's wasted. So, there is no use in thinking that the evangelist is more important than the prophet, or that the prophet is more important than the evangelist. One may appear to fulfil a more important function than the other, but both are equally necessary in the body. God has determined that every part of the body must be healthy and muscular to be useful to fulfil its function.