The Normal Christian Church Life (#4) - Chapter Two

Chapter Two: "The Separation and Movements of the Apostles - Antioch, the Model Church"

Using the church at Antioch ("the first church established on absolutely clear Church ground"), Nee deals with how the apostles were set apart and what their work was like as a model for church life today. I won't include all his detailed background material for the sake of brevity, but if you want to search it out more, his book is available online at Google books.

Keep in mind that when Nee speaks of the apostolic calling, he's referring to a particular calling, not to all believers.

First of all Nee observes that in Acts 13 Barnabas and Saul are actively engaged in local work when they are chosen from among the prophets and teachers in Antioch. "These prophets and teachers ministered so wholeheartedly to the Lord that when occasion demanded, they even ignored the legitimate claims of their physical being and fasted. What filled the thoughts of those prophets and teachers at Antioch was ministry to the Lord, not work for Him. Their devotion was to the Lord Himself, not to His service. No one can truly work for the Lord who has not first learned to minister to Him...It was to the divine call they responded, not to the call of human need...

"...their compassions had not been stirred by doleful tales of child-marriage or foot-binding or opium-smoking..No appeal had been made to their natural heroism or love of adventure. They knew only one appeal - the appeal of their Lord...if the Holy Spirit has not said, 'Set apart that man for the work to which I have called him,' he can never be an apostle. He may be a prophet or a teacher, but he is no apostle...God desires the service of His children, but He makes conscripts; he wants no volunteers. The work is His, and He is its only legitimate Originator...The tragedy in Christian work today is that so many of the workers have simply gone out; they have not been sent (by God)."

Nee goes on to point out that while the direct call of God is imperative for apostolic ministry, it also requires the confirmation of representatives of the local body of believers from which the apostles/workers go out. "God spoke to a representative company in the church, to men of spiritual experience who were utterly devoted to His interest...The call was personal, the separation was corporate...no separation of workers should be done hastily or lightly. It was for this reason that fasting and prayer preceded the sending forth of Barnabas and Saul."
Nee concludes this section of the chapter with strong words saying that these prophets and teachers did not represent a particular church or ministry (no special name, no particular organization, no fixed rules); and this is why there was unity among all believers. "Christian ministry is the ministry of the whole Church, not merely one section of it. We must see to it that our work is on no lesser basis than the Body of Christ. Otherwise, we lose the headship of Christ, for Christ is not the Head of any system or mission or organization; He is the Head of the Church."

The remainder of the chapter deals with what the apostolic ministry looked like in Antioch. To summarize Nee's teaching on this, I will give some simple bullet points:

• "In Scripture we nowhere find that apostles are under the control of any individual or organized company."
• "...constant movement characterized those sent ones....they were pioneers, not settlers. They did not wait till believers were mature before they left them. They dared to leave them in mere infancy, for they believed in the power of the life of God within them...they were filled with the Holy Spirit. The apostles might go, but the Spirit remained."
• They followed the leading of the Spirit, traveling from place to place, preaching the gospel, and planting (house) churches.
• They returned to visit the places where they had planted churches and spent a little time establishing the saints and appointing elders to bear the ongoing responsibility of the church in that place.
• They reported back to Antioch what God had done, but their reporting had nothing to do with raising finances for the work. Their simple and pure aim in reporting was two-fold: to glorify God and to bless His children through the good news of what God had done.

Watchman Nee is always careful to underscore the need for true spirituality in the worker. He ends the chapter with a gentle warning about following the model without a deep and intimate walk with God: "We dare not underestimate the value of apostolic methods - they are absolutely essential if we are to have apostolic fruits - but we must not overlook the need of apostolic spirituality, and we must no fear apostolic persecution."