Leadership & the Doctrines of the Nicolaitans — Philip Powell

Heavenly Father, we pray that you will help us now as we look at your word. We thank you that your word is life and your word is light. And you have said that it will never return to you void, but it will accomplish that to which you have sent it.

We pray, Lord, as we prayed earlier, that you will guard our mind and guard our lips, that we may say what you want us to say and that we may refrain from saying what you don't want us to say. And, Lord, we pray as this tape goes out to various people that it will cause an awareness of your presence and an awakening to the truth of the word of God.

We thank you, Lord. The psalmist said, Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. And, Lord, we know that if your word is not hidden in our hearts, then there is every possibility of our sinning against you.

We pray that you will, Lord, just help us to keep that word in focus in our lives in the name of Jesus, for the glory of your great name. And all the people said, Amen. Okay, well, we're on our, what is it, the fourth meeting.

The first message was on the topic of when God calls for a drought in the church, and that's available on tape. The other one was, Will the Real Bride Please Step Forward? of the emerging church in today's world, and we gave notes with that.

And then last week, we looked at its clean-up time in the church. Christ is coming back for a pure bride. Do we believe that? He's coming back for a pure bride. Then the third, in the series on the bride, which is the fourth actual in the meetings that we've held so far, and we're giving notes with all of this, is leadership and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

The Deeds and Doctrine of the Nicolaitans

And we've suggested that leaders should always be open to examination and open to challenge. I want to direct your thoughts to a few verses. Revelation chapter 2, verses 6 and 15. Now, these are the only two occasions in the Scriptures where we have reference to this business of the Nicolaitans.

And you'll notice in the first instance, it warns us about the deeds of the Nicolaitans, and in the second, it warns us about the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Now, I find that basically with false living, it starts in a practical way, and then ultimately, it becomes a doctrinal thing.

With regard to true living, it works the other way. You have to have your doctrine right, and out of your doctrine flows correct living. Now, we'll be saying more about that next week when we look at the topic of perverted Christianity, Satan's ultimate weapon.

I think it was Billy Graham who said on one occasion, the problem with today's church is that we've been inoculated with a small dose of Christianity, which makes us immune to the real thing. And that's true.

But there is, and of course we have to recognize it in the light of the prophetic Scriptures, that there is going to become a great deception. So much so, it says that if it were possible, even the elect should be deceived.

Now, I've heard people misquote that, and they say the elect will be deceived, but it doesn't say that. It says if it were possible, the elect will be deceived, but the elect cannot be deceived. They are elected not to be deceived.

And so we've got to be among the elected not to be deceived. Do you agree with that? So, that's important. We'll come back to this a little later in the message, where we see that wrong doctrine flows out of wrong living, but right living flows out of right doctrine.

It's the reverse of the cycle, really. And people say doctrine doesn't matter. But it does matter. If you don't know how to live right, how can you live right? And true doctrine tells us how to live right.

Is that right? So, doctrine is vitally important. Revelation 2, verse 6 says, But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Verse 15, Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine.

So, the deeds have now become the doctrine. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which things I hate. Very quickly, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the idea comes from the word Nicolaitan. It comes from two aspects of that word, when it's broken down.

Nicao, which means to conquer, plus laos, means the people. So, in the idea of the Nicolaitan doctrine, you have the idea of the conquest of the people. Now, there are two things which flow on from this, which we'll look at a bit later in the study.

One is the idea of the domination, control of others. I would like to suggest to you that the leadership thing, which has been set up in the church today, is not biblical. Now, leaders, the idea of leaders is biblical.

But the expression leadership is not biblical. Leadership really, in its formation, has the idea of method or activity. But we have applied it to a group. We talk about the leadership. And in so doing, we're applying it to people.

We're applying it to a group of people. And what we're doing, actually, in that, we are establishing, again, the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. We are establishing an elitism. And the Bible doesn't know anything about it.

It is contrary to the Scripture. So, I would question the idea that is used very much today in charismatic Pentecostal circles of the leadership concept. Then, ultimately, you will find, and it's hard to determine which comes first, but always they run together.

There is domination or control of others. And there will ultimately be immorality expressed in the midst of it. It's unavoidable. The doctrine of the Nicolaitans always links up with the doctrine of Balaam throughout church history.

And the doctrine of Balaam led into immorality. Now, sometimes it comes from leadership, not by precept, but by practice. And the thing flows through the church of Jesus Christ and it becomes corrupt.

So, there are two things. Now, the first thing is what we have suggested to you, this domination or control of others. Ironside says Nicolaitanism is really clerisy. The subjugation of those who were contemptuously styled the laity by a hierarchical order who lorded it over them as their own possession, forgetting that it is written, one is your master, even Christ, and all you are brethren.

The Things God Hates

Okay? Now, that is really fundamental. Now, the Bible lists 15 things that God hates. Psalm 5 .5, He hates workers of iniquity. Psalm, these are in your notes, 45 verse 7, He hates wickedness. Then Proverbs 6, 16 to 19, lists seven things that God hates.

It says, these six things that the Lord hates, yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. And the seven things are, one, a proud look, two, a lying tongue, three, hands that shed innocent blood, and the greatest expression of that in modern society is abortion.

God hates it. A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, the sixth, a false witness that speaketh lies, and the seventh, he that soweth discord among brethren.

Now, there would be those who would suggest that Philip Powell sows discord among brethren, but I don't think you can do that if you stand for the truth. It's the other side that is sowing discord by allowing falsity to come into the midst.

There have been a lot of innovative things, and I stood against them in Australia, and I tried to speak, for example, I tried to speak to Frank Houston on one occasion about some of the modern art expressions that have come into the church.

He wouldn't have a discussion, but that sort of thing has expressed itself in all sorts of seduction, all sorts of seduction. I tried to stand against it for years, way back, way back, but it has. And now certain modern art expressions, now, I'm not against modern art, but I am against it in the church.

It is not for the church to practice that. Modern art is all right outside in the secular world, or whatever, but that is not our job. That's not our job. And when we get into that, all sorts of corruption comes in.

It happened throughout history. Martin Luther took a stand for righteousness on justification by faith. In his wake, there came the Renaissance. And you had all of these art things that came into the church.

The Renaissance introduced a period of darkness into the church history like we have never, ever had before. The same thing, the devil plays the same trick. If you don't know history, then what you do is you repeat the mistakes of history.

So we've got to know our church history. And there are many, you know, good brothers, you know, with great intentions to save the world, but they have never studied church history. That's the thing that I like about Jacob Price.

He's a man who has studied church history, and he can see the failures that have happened in the past are recurring again. And we've got to stand against it. And we've got to listen to those who have done a bit of research and a bit of study.

Otherwise, we'll take the church down the path that the devil wants it to go. And so these are the things that we've got to stand against. The tenth thing is God hates robberies. Isaiah 61 verse 8, robbery for burnt offering.

In other words, if you're going to offer something to God, don't go and steal it from somebody else. You're going to offer it to Him. God hates that. God hates, in Jeremiah 44, 44 to 46, it says He hates the abominable thing.

What was the abominable thing? Go down a line, and you'll see what it is. To burn no incense unto other gods. God hates idolatry. Then 12, God hates hypocritical religion. He hates your feast days, and He hates your solemn assemblies, Amos 5 .21 says.

He hates hypocritical religion. The 13th thing that God hates is the residence of hypocrites. He says to Jacob, I hate your palaces now, because you are living as hypocrites in regard to my call, and your very places I hate, the place where you live.

God hates false oaths, Zechariah 8, 17. And then the 15th thing, which is the only thing listed in the New Testament that God hates, relates to the Nicolaitans. I suppose we ought to say 15 and 16, because it says He hates the deeds, and He hates the doctrine.

Now apart from that, in the New Testament, there is no other reference to God actually hating anything, except in Romans 9, verse 13, where it says, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Now that is a quote from the Old Testament, and so really, for the purpose of this study, you can ignore it from the New Testament point of view.

So the only thing that God really hates, the Bible lists in the New Testament, is the deeds and the doctrines of the Nicolaitans. So, the big question is, what is this business? What are the deeds, and what are the doctrines of the Nicolaitans?

Calling, Revelation, and the Scriptural Attitude Toward Leaders

But before we do, I want to have a look at the scriptural attitude to leaders. Now the Bible lists that God establishes certain people as leaders. He does it by His calling. He doesn't do it by an educational process.

He doesn't do it by a training process. He does it by putting His hand upon people, and He calls them to be His ministers. That principle in Matthew chapter 16 is wider than most of us understand, where Jesus said to Peter, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.

He not only says that He is the rock of the church, but He's saying that Peter is the rock, but as a representative man, not as an individual. You've got to see that. He is a rock in the way that the revelation has come to Him.

For here's the setting. Here's Jesus and His disciples, a beautiful picture of a church. A church is a group of people surrounding Jesus, and Jesus is there in a place called Caesarea Philippi, right away from Jury, right away from the religious establishment, and He challenges them, and He says, who do men say that I am?

And they said, Lord, there's a lot of conjecture about you. Some say that you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, some say you're that prophet, and so it will be, and so it has always been. There's a lot of conjecture about the identity of Jesus Christ.

But He said then, who do you say that I am? And now the issue rests with them. And Peter is the one that speaks up first. He says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, you're a happy man, Peter, because flesh and blood is not revealed at you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I say to you that you're Peter, upon this rock I will build my church. The rock of what He has just said, yes, absolutely, that's the foundation, it must be. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

But also the rock of how it has come. How did it come? It didn't come by information. It didn't come by education. It came by revelation. Right? And so Jesus says, nobody's going to get into my kingdom, nobody's going to get into my church unless they come in by revelation.

Now when we try and whip people up into enthusiasm and get them by hype and pressure, we're cutting across the whole idea of the revelation. See? They've got to come in on the basis of what God does, not what we do.

We can't, we can't compel people into the kingdom, we'd like to, wouldn't we? But we can't, because it's on the basis of revelation. So Jesus is saying to Peter, Peter, this is the way I'm going to build my church.

But there's another truth here, you see. Peter has entered into the revelation and now he shares it with the group. And so Jesus says, that's the way I'm going to build my church. When a man gets a revelation from me and shares it with a group and they enter it, that's the way I'm going to build my church.

The problem now, in most of our pulpits, we have no revelation. We have people who are sharing messages that they've got from somebody else. That's what happens. They get hold of a message and everybody's saying, the Holy Spirit is saying one thing.

No, He's not. What has happened is one man who we consider to be up at the top has said one thing and all these little voices have echoed what he's said. And, you know, we get confused. Unless a man gets a revelation from God, my sermons may not be very good, but I don't get them from anybody else.

Never. I get them from the Lord. I must. When I, you know, this is a bit different, this type of thing, but even here, I mean, this is my own stuff, nobody else's, but I recognize that this is not so much inspirational type preaching, which we, you know, we can get into, but it's more information because we're doing it for a particular purpose.

But that is what Jesus is saying here. So leaders, and leaders come out and they all come out on the basis of revelation. The five ministry gifts, or some people like to say four. I've always felt there's five.

I don't think it's a big issue, but there's the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. Some put those two together and say it's one pastor teacher. Well, I think a pastor must always teach, of course.

But there are some teachers who don't necessarily pastor. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. But the basic thing, there are two elements in all true ministry. The first is revelation. It's got to be in any area.

And the second is honesty and truth. Now, I've had so many discussions with some of my colleagues and one in particular said to me on one occasion, Phil, he said, you know, you sit in a congregation and being a teacher, he said, you immediately detect whether it's truth or not.

He said, I am a pastor, and he said, I'm not committed to truth, I'm committed to people. Well, that's utter nonsense. To me, that is utter nonsense. If you're not committed to truth, ultimately you can't be committed to people.

And what's more, if you're not committed to truth, ultimately you'll lose everything you've got. Because all ministry has to be committed to truth. So there are two passages which I want to consider with regard to the scriptural attitude to leaders.

Support and Accountability in 1 Timothy 5

The first is 1 Timothy 5, verses 17 to 25. And you might feel that some of the things we say are pertinent to what has happened in New Zealand and in the situation. I believe God sent us here for a particular purpose and it's quite interesting that we find ourselves in Hamilton where there was a disclosure which was very disturbing not so very long ago.

But this passage of Scripture featured quite a lot in what happened with regard to that. And again, I would suggest to you that in fact it was misunderstood and the truth of it was very much misapplied in regard to the way that the thing was handled.

1 Timothy chapter 5. And verse 17. Let me read it to you from 17 to 25. Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine. For the Scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the labourer is worthy of his hire or his wages.

Do not receive, now this is a pertinent passage, do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. That is what the new King James says and it's not right, it's wrong. The old King James is right here.

Somebody got an old King James? Will you read it please? Pardon? Verse 19.

...against an elder receives not an accusation but before two or three witnesses. OK.

Before two or three witnesses. The new King James changes it and says except from two or three witnesses. I'll come back to that and explain why the new King James is wrong and the old King James is right.

And why the whole thing of this is so very, very important in regard to dealing with leadership sins. OK. We'll read on just for the present time. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear.

I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice. Doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share in other people's sins.

Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water but use a little wine. Notice that. Little wine. Not a lot. Little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins are clearly evident preceding them to judgment but those of some men follow later.

Likewise the good works of some are clearly evident and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. I read through the epistles to Timothy the other day again and you cannot help but realize what's happening here.

Here is the older apostle giving instruction to a younger pastor and he touches on many many things on what to do how to carry on and the verses 1 Timothy let me see where verses chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 are key verses.

There. Somebody read it to us. Read verses 15 and 16 of 1 Timothy chapter 3. Thanks Trish. Chapter 3 1 Timothy 3 chapters 15 and 16 these are the key verses.

To the whole of the epistle. That's what I'm trying to say here. Ok if you could just read that out really good and loud. That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church which is the living God the pillar and the ground of the truth.

Without contribution. Great is the mystery of God in us. God was made just in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world.

Received us into glory. Right. Now you see what you've got to see here is that Paul is telling Timothy how he should behave himself in the church of the living God. In many churches today you can just behave yourself how you like.

You can come in how you like. People come in you know in a sort of a lackadaisical sort of manner and as if it's not God's house at all it doesn't matter. This is our place sort of thing. But that's right they haven't been taught it.

That's the basic thing. But Paul taught Timothy taught Timothy how to behave in the church of God and he said you have to teach others because the church is different from anything else. The church is the pillar and the ground of the truth.

Right. If the church does not exist in society there is no foundation for truth and truth falls by the wayside. That is what has happened in modern society because the church has become weak then all sorts of weaknesses come into society.

When the church is strong then a strength comes back into society. And Paul says that you may know how to behave. And then in verse 16 which is the key he says because there is a mysterious force at work that we cannot analyze that we cannot understand it is the work of godliness.

Now out in that world there is a work of iniquity going on and the only thing that can counter it is not education or information or ability musical ability or anything else but it is the truth which comes through the church of Jesus Christ.

The only thing and he says great is that mystery of godliness. And he says Timothy you can't fully understand it. So this is what I am telling you how you should behave yourself and how you should tell others to behave themselves.

And so he deals with this whole thing. Now in the passage before us he is dealing with the matter of leaders not leadership please because we suggest that that is not a biblical concept anyway when it is applied to a group of people.

But he is just talking about leaders. Have you noticed. Now we don't have ministers. We have ministries. Have you noticed that you know we are going to have a ministry come through. Sounds a lot better.

Doesn't it. Grandiose. But all he is is a minister. That is all he is. Right a minister. And a minister is a servant. Ok. Right. We are servants for Jesus Christ. There is only one great one in the world hallelujah.

And his name is Jesus. And it is only as we get away from this personality cult and this payment of enormous amounts of money to some guys who want to stay in five star hotels and drive big limousines and all the rest of it.

Now I am not if God gives it to you from a different perspective. Ok. But I am with Jacob Prask. If you are pinching that sort of money from widows and orphans and some of these guys are then they are nothing more than hirelings and they will have to give an answer to God.

And yes. And so we have to bring the message back into the church of Jesus Christ. And now he addresses this issue in regard to leaders and first of all he deals with it in respect of their support. Verses 1 and 2 he says let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor.

Now he is talking about money. He is talking about payment. And there was a time when pastors were so underpaid. You know my dad would bear me out here. They were treated disgustingly by the congregations.

So that and sister your husband was in the ministry disgustingly so that they could hardly live eat out of living. I came into the situation. Well when I started off it was bad and now it is even worse.

But that's ok. We are going along a particular way at the moment. But you know during the most of my ministry I have been reasonably well provided for and the Lord has wonderfully undertaken at all times.

God is good but the attitude Lord you will keep him poor Lord if you keep him humble is not on is not on. And so the workman Paul says ok he is worthy of his hire. But there are two requirements please notice these.

One that he has got to rule well ok. Now a man who is committing adultery when he is holding an office in the pulpit he is not ruling. Well ok. And really I cannot understand. I can understand a fall I can understand a failure.

But I cannot understand a man preaching and continuing to see a build up. He is a hypocrite. He is not only an immoral man. He is a hypocrite. Now the world will tolerate immorality. You have heard and I am not saying it is right.

I recognize it is wrong and I reckon it is wrong. But they will even tolerate immorality in royalty. What just happened with Charles. It is a sad thing. It is a sad reflection on society admittedly. But even the world will not tolerate immorality in ministry.

In clergy. Why. Because they recognize that it is hypocrisy as well. Because we are holding forth a message and we are doing the opposite. That is hypocrisy now. So the requirements are for proper payment it has to be.

He has to rule well. And then there is the other thing he has got a labor in the word. Now I am sorry I don't want to. Well I don't mind offending people. But I don't deliberately want to do that. But I do want to sound a message which will bring us back to basics.

There are some guys who occupy a pulpit who can't preach. They cannot minister the word. They put a text together and they string a little joke or what have you. And you have got nothing. You get nothing.

They cannot minister. The minister who is worthy of double honour has to rule well and he has to labor in the word ok. Notice that. So in respect of their support Paul addresses that. And then in respect of their sins.

And there are five considerations. Verses 19 to 25. This first one lets address. He tells them how to handle an accusation. We have suggested to you that the new king James is wrong. And the authorised version is correct.

Why? Because Paul's instruction here is to protect the young pastor not the accused or the accuser. He is not. He cannot receive an accusation against an elder a leader unless it is in front of two or three witnesses.

In other words if somebody comes to you and accuses you about wrong living by another man the thing you got to do is get two or three people there to hear what that man has said. That's all he's saying.

He's not saying get two people to witness to the same thing. That's ridiculous. You could never have that in a case of adultery. Could you? I mean if a woman comes and accuses a pastor of adultery you're not expecting somebody to be there to witness it.

Are you? I mean it's ridiculous. Timothy says. Paul says to Timothy if that type of thing happens make sure you've got two or three. Why? Well I mean I don't know if it's even necessary to that extent today because we've got tape recorders we could have somebody there.

He's really saying protect yourself Timothy. Protect yourself. That's what he's saying now. This is in line with Matthew 18 verse 16. Now in the notable case here the thing was held up for six months simply because they couldn't find a witness.

If one person is accused another man of that sort of thing and usually it's a woman that accuses a man of that sort of thing because the situation has happened and the leadership sat on it for six months.

That is disgusting. That is wrong. That is fundamentally wrong because the corruption then spreads. And when it came to us and I got involved I certainly did. It had gone on for between six and four months and I took action to ensure that the cover up that happened in the 1970s bought my words happened in the 1970s didn't happen again.

Now I will be challenged about that. I don't mind. But that is what I did. Because the man was still preaching after four months in a big church in Australia handling accusations. What does he say. He says when that sort of thing happens Timothy get on to it but make sure you've got two or three witnesses.

That's all he's saying. Some people point to Deuteronomy six seventeen six and Deuteronomy nineteen fifteen. But those passages apply to judgment generally. They do not apply to investigating. They apply to judgment about judgment.

It's entirely different. The principle is Matthew eighteen. Verse sixteen where it talks about the principle of witnessing. Say if a brother offends you Matthew eighteen it says ok go and see him on his own.

You go and see him. And then it says if he doesn't listen to you take two or three witnesses with you. That's the principle that Paul is addressing here. He's telling him how to handle accusations. Then he's talking about public rebuke.

Verse twenty he says those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear. Now the context again is quite clear. If a person is going to be rebuked publicly he's got to be there.

Present cannot be rebuked. If he's absent can only be done if he's present. And the aim is that the people will fear. Fear when proper discipline is instituted in the way that God intends it to be instituted there is a fear that comes upon the church of Jesus Christ.

And that is a wholesome thing. It brings the fear of God back into the situation. And brothers and sisters if anything is lacking today it is the fear of God. You see listening last night to a videotape of my uncle actually my dad's brother.

And he quoted he quoted Martin Lloyd Jones the great preacher of Westminster Chapel days who was asked what ministry is. He said can you tell us Mr. Jones in a word what is true ministry. And he said true ministry brings the sense of the presence of God.

That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about. And when things are done properly in the house of God there comes a fear of God almighty into the situation. After my my articles in the Omega Times on rock music and all that sort of thing.

I had a phone call from a brother in Ashurst and he said to me he said we are finding. He said when rock music comes into the church there comes a disrespect for the house of God. He said we have men coming in wearing caps and all sorts of things into the house of God.

Why? Because the fear of God has gone out of the place and you can address it and try and address it as much as you like. But what you need is somebody to come in with a prophetic voice and thunder the fear of God back into the place so that we can realize that we're not a social club anymore that runs a sort of an outreach of help to needy people.

That's what the church is largely becoming. And friends we need to help people. I'm not against that but that is not our fundamental work. Our fundamental work is to bring the awesome sense of the presence of God into the house of God.

And unless that happens I tell you in New Zealand in the churches that I've been to and I've been to a lot of them there is going to be a great dearth in the next generation of wholesome godly men and women because what will happen we will just become a social club and it's spreading like a cancer right through right through.

So he tells us how to handle this thing. And he talks about public rebuke that others also may fear. And then he talks about absolute impartiality. Verse 21. I charge you and notice the solemn charge I charge you before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect or holy angels that you do not treat anybody differently from another.

The thing that has appalled me in my association with the hierarchy of a movement that I've been associated with for years is the way that partiality comes in. And because a man has a big name he's treated differently from a man who has a small name that is contrary to the word of God that is against the epistle of James.

We are to treat each other without partiality. Cronyism has invaded the church of Jesus Christ and God has to shake the thing again to bring us back. Notice the solemn charge before the father before the son and before the holy angels that you don't treat anybody differently from anybody else because when you start doing that justice is shaken of its very foundation and the whole thing begins to shake and the church of Jesus Christ no longer is the pillar and ground of the truth.

God has to bring it back again then verse 22. And this is an awesome thing. There is the thought of the transference of sin that comes from leaders who themselves have sinned. Verse 22. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor share in other people's sins.