For many months prior to recording this word I kept having the words, 'no more humpty dumpty faith' repeated in my spirit over and over again. Not being one given over to nursery rhymes nor being one to make light of the faith we have in Jesus Christ, I was perplexed as to why I kept hearing this over and over again. Since the night that I recorded this word I have had the following insights on 'humpty dumpty' and how it relates to the church of today.
In all of the caricatures of Humpty Dumpty which I have seen he has been pictured as an egglike head with tiny arms and legs in proportion to the head - he is seated on the top of a wall, a very precarious position to place an egg. The relevance of this to the church of today comes in with those who would place themselves as a 'head' of the church, outside of the person of Jesus Christ there is no head. You can see the ineffectiveness of the arms and legs of this character unable to make use of the arms and legs because of the abnormal size of the head, making the very arms and legs useless. The 'head' pictured here represents man's thoughts and opinions of himself which is based in a misguided sense of self and of pride. Just as Humpty Dumpty sat himself upon a wall without any thought to the danger he was placing himself in so, too, today some have set themselves up for a fall, believing that all of their ideas, abilities, giftings and talents can elevate them to a position of headship over the body of Christ. A very precarious position indeed.
The inability of the king's horses and the king's men to put Humpty Dumpty together, represents the misguided busyness of the 'church' of today. There is a multitude of resource and strength within the church however many in service to the king find themselves serving no king at all. All of this results in confusion within the hearts and minds of those serving and frustration at the inability to 'get the job done', showing tangible results and fruit thus sowing seeds of hopelessness of which they were presumed to be saved from. It was never the intention of God in Christ to set up kings and kingdoms on earth where institutions, individuals and their ministries would be elevated in the sight of all. Interestly, it is the intention God to establish His Kingdom in the hearts of men, (in the most hidden place), so that He would be glorified. Over this, His Holy Kingdom, he has given His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, complete dominion - complete headship - complete reign over it. This does not, in anyway, negate God's choice of authority as it is given to men to carry out His will on earth, in so doing, He in His wisdom places people in positions of leadership but never "headship". Throughout scripture there are numerous examples of this designation of authority, in the Old Testament we see it in Moses, Daniel, Joshua, Joseph, David as well as others. Those that were successful in their leadership never presumed headship. Again in the New Testament we see God's assignments being given out to various individuals such as John the Baptist, the apostles and others. All of these individuals were chosen, and served, in a capacity of love and friendship with God.
In this word there is a call to faith, to hope and to love and just as in scripture the greatest of these is LOVE - for love will always remain - love is the basis of the everlasting kingdom. We are to have 'faith' IN Christ, not in man nor in the sytems of man. We are to have 'hope' IN Christ, not in our own abilities nor in the abilities of another. We are to have 'love' IN Christ - for He, himself, is our source and our model and in Him alone is our source of strength.
The call to unity of the Body of Christ stems across denomination networks and designs for it has never been in the heart of God that the body of Christ would be continually broken. His body was broken once, for all, and yet we continue to see it broken and fractured over denominational lines, over ministry lines, over governance and headship lines, and over who we are serving or working for. The body of Christ - the church - represented in this is sick - it is a way of thinking that, after the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, very quickly seeped back into the way of thinking of even those who would believe in His name. The only cure for this sickness is to see ourselves, as HIS BODY, supporting one another IN love and reverence for HIM. The call is, therefore, to be firmly fixed on Christ in all that we speak, see and do - for this is love that we would lay down our own thoughts and opinions, not seeing ourselves as equal nor elevating ourselves above the person of Christ neither are we to elevate ourselves above another, for we all have a part in the body of Christ. "For this is love, that we lay down our life for another".
As we learn to love we will begin to see the body of Christ knit back together in the womb of God - a perfect reflection of His kingdom here on earth! As we do this we will, together, be seen as THE KING'S men and in this we will see the reign of Christ established in our lives and the everlasting kingdom of God established.
Blessings to you in the name of Jesus Christ the Son!
Deborah Ritz
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