1 Pet 4:10 Each one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God. 5:1 Therefore the elders among you I exhort... (3) Nor as lording it over your allotments [the believers] but by becoming patterns of the flock.
...Thus, all the saints, not just the apostles, should be stewards. The elders should not place themselves in a special category, but they should consider themselves stewards, just as all the saints are stewards. ...In the church there is no such thing as rank. Rather, we all are stewards of the grace of God, and we submit ourselves one to another. If the Lord has placed you in the eldership, you should not be proud. Do not regard yourselves as higher than others, and do not lord it over the church as if the church were your possession. On the contrary, as a leading one, set an example for the saints to follow. When the saints see such examples established for them by the leading ones, they may say, "Lord, thank You for these good examples. We desire to follow them in praying, in reading the Word, in preaching and teaching, and in shepherding the saints." By the setting of the example and the following of the example, we all shall eventually serve together as stewards of the manifold grace of God. This is the proper church life, where there is no organization, no rank, no hierarchy, and no clergy-laity. In order for the church to go on in a proper way, there is the need for some brothers to take care of the administrative affairs. But this does not make them high officials with all the other saints as their subordinates. In the church life...we have one King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we all are His subjects.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 362, 364. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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