When the world's wisdom becomes the church's stronghold, she will pray, “Kingdom Come,” but will resist at best and completely reject her day of visitation at worst. The simplicity of our life lies within this reality, which should be honestly evaluated by each person: Either we are being conformed, or we are being transformed (Rom. 12:2). The wisdom we adopt will largely determine the outcome we experience.
“Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise” . - 1 Corinthians 3:18
Jesus’ primary mission has always been the manifestation of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. When God manifested Himself in the flesh in the life of Jesus Christ, he did not merely come to start a religion called Christianity; he came to give humanity access to the Kingdom of God. This begs the question, why is there such little participation with and evidence of the Kingdom of God within the Church?
First and foremost, realizing that Satan is raging with great zeal to squelch and eliminate God’s people from accessing the realities of heaven is critical. It will enlighten us to recognize that we are as susceptible to yielding to Satan’s schemes as anyone. We have to start with this truth if we are going to break down the barriers that have been built up in the Church from the Kingdom of God breaking in. God’s people encountering and walking in the presence and power offered to them in Christ is his ultimate mission.
We can discuss many topics regarding what blocks God’s people from encountering his Kingdom. The previous blog discussed the first one: offense. In this blog, I want to highlight how deception quickly creeps into our midst and keeps us resistant rather than hungry for the breaking in of God’s Kingdom. I encourage you to honestly evaluate whether this barrier exists within you and your leadership of influence. If it does, confess and repent of it before God rather than justify why it exists within your life. He is more zealous for imparting the Kingdom of God in our lives than we are. A surrendered life to Christ is the simple answer to increasingly encountering the breaking in of the Kingdom of God in our lives.
2) Deception
“You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me, “declares the LORD.”
– Jer. 9:6
Deception primarily occurs because of the adoption of the world's wisdom as our system of thinking. When this happens, we create strategies and systems in the name of God that are in direct conflict with what his heart desires. This is why Paul stated, “Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise” (1 Cor. 3:18). Deception creates a delusion in one’s mind, replacing the way of God with the way of the world, thinking the way of the world to be the way of God and the way of God the way of the world. Isaiah exposed this deception, saying, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight” (Is. 5:20-21)!
This type of deception has existed from the beginning of time and is one of the primary ways the devil slivers in and becomes prevalent among the Church. Deception creates a massive barrier in the body of Christ, keeping us from pursuing and receiving the breaking in of God’s Kingdom. It also adds many diversions to pursuing the one thing that is our ultimate prize, stealing pure devotion to Christ as our prize. When this happens, though we love Christ, we also love the pleasures offered at this world's hands. The manifestation of the Kingdom of God confronts the kingdoms of this world, demanding a radical response from his people, and rather than repent; we resist because of the many lovers we have let in.
Paul talked about this when he said:
“I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as pure virgin to him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ”
- 2 Cor. 11:1-3
When the world's wisdom becomes the church's stronghold, she will pray, “Kingdom Come,” but will resist at best and completely reject her day of visitation at worst. The simplicity of our life lies within this reality, which should be honestly evaluated by each person: Either we are being conformed, or we are being transformed (Rom. 12:2). The wisdom we adopt will largely determine the outcome we experience.
When we make this plea before God, “Your Kingdom Come,” we should prepare ourselves, as his response will be a rebuke that leads to an individual and corporate conviction. He will beckon us to sacrifice at the altar of his feet other religious lovers in whom we have found pseudo pleasure. When he does, we have two options, humility or arrogance. We can admit our surrender to the devil’s deception and let go of many things we have built in the name of God that are not God. Or, we can become offended at God, defend our offense, and justify why we are right, and God is wrong.
These false loves that religion offers were seen clearly in the days of Jesus. In John 9:39-41, Jesus interacts with the Pharisees, who were blinded by their arrogance, pride, and self-righteousness.
“Jesus said, ‘For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. Some Pharisees, who were with him, heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
This passage is packed full of revelation. First, the judgment Jesus is speaking of is that of Satan. He came into the world to bring judgment on spiritual forces that blinded humanity's eyes to see God's glory (Jn. 16:11, 1 Jn. 3:8). He desired humanity to receive his words at face value, allowing them to lead to repentance so that he could lavish on them great rewards. Second, as often seen in the life of Pharisees, offense keeps them from receiving the words of Christ. Rather than responding, “We are blind; we want to see.” They react out of offense, as they believed to be the most enlightened to God of the day. Jesus’ response articulates the reality that arrogance and pride make you wise in your own eyes, duping you into believing that you see when you are blind. This pride and arrogance ultimately are birthed from self-righteousness that lives a life void of continual repentance. As a result, the religious end up staying blind and full of sin, when God could have healed them to see and be set free into his righteousness.
Like the Pharisees, we, too, can become arrogant and prideful quite quickly. Allowing our religious disciplines, moral successes, and fervor and zeal for God to make us self-righteous. It usually happens unintentionally and ultimately leaves us wise in our own eyes, believing our knowledge of God is superior to everyone else’s, including God. Though this seems extreme, it is true, and I would contend it happens to most people as they mature in their Christian walk. How we respond to Jesus’ rebuke when he reveals our self-righteous arrogance is the difference between staying blind or seeing clearly.
God does not coddle this type of deception; he exposes and rebukes it, expecting that we will respond in such a way to start thinking like him. Jesus demonstrated this as he threw down in the temple, exposing how the wisdom of the age had cultivated the culture of the house of God. He brought in a whip and drove out the systems and strategies of the world that had infiltrated his Father’s house (Matt. 21:12-17). What was meant to be a house of prayer, where the people of God sought after the presence of God, became a platform for satisfying personal pleasures.
God’s intention was never for the church to be a theater show hosting concerts with candy stands. Nor was it ever meant to be the avenue for fame and control. God’s purpose for the Church was to be a house of prayer so that those in the valley of the shadow of death would see the light they needed to consult to find the solution to their situation. The world is meant to look at the Church and say, ‘When they pray, their God answers!’
While it may be hard to see, and even more difficult to admit, Jesus may enter many of our churches whipping out our strategies and systems, exposing that we have become a den of robbers rather than a house of prayer that seeks after the presence of God. He may also expose that we have much teaching but little testimony of his power manifesting in our midst.
2) The Cure for Deception – Proper Function and Order in Five-Fold Ministry
And he (Jesus) gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ … so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
– Eph. 4:11-14
While God distributes gifts of the Spirit to each of us at salvation (Rom. 12:3-8), he also sets apart particular people to be gifts to the Church for the purpose of bringing proper alignment to Christ’s body. One of the primary cures for deception in the body of Christ is the recognition and empowerment of five-fold ministry. As Paul articulated in Ephesians 4, five-fold ministers are gifts to the church that equip the saints for the work of ministry. Without the full function of the five-fold ministry, we will be left ill-equipped and consequently prone to deception.
The five-fold ministry is critical for the Church, as the order that God has designed for our growth, maturity, and soundness to doctrine comes largely through these gifts operating collectively in leadership, teaching, and equipping. Most churches designate one person to fill the role of equipping when in reality, God purposed there to be 5. Without the function of the entire five-fold ministry in discipleship and equipping, the body will be left with one role attempting to shape the collective group of people’s thinking and mission through one lens and passion. Though the intention isn’t manipulative, it is negligent at best and deceptive at worst. We must begin recognizing that the majority of five-fold ministry has been undervalued, silenced, and not empowered in our churches. If we are going to position ourselves to hold increased levels of wisdom and revelation that encounters the fullness God intended, we will have to start valuing and empowering each gift God has given us in people he has called to equip.
The enemy is attempting to deceive the Church into a fear-based theology that either works to silence the full function of the five-fold ministry (usually eliminating the role of apostles and prophets today) or is simply blinded to the necessary gift they are to the Church. Without apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers ALL functioning in the body of Christ, we will be foolish infants, susceptible to deception, all the time thinking we are discerning, mature, and wise.
“But Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
– Matt. 22:29
Without the five-fold ministry functioning in unity and totality, we also will not understand the Scriptures or the power of God. We will easily be deceived, believing doctrines that diminish God’s power and massively twist the word to fit personal preference rather than truth. When these roles operate in unity, the Church is more fully taught and empowered to fulfill the fullness of what she was destined to do.
