Social Theory
In a book called Millennialism and Social Theory, Gary North noted that Christians have never developed a social theory.
What is also remarkable is that two millennia after the Incarnation of God’s Son in history, His followers have no idea what a saved world ought to look like. They have no blueprint for a uniquely biblical social order. There is no comprehensive body of materials that would point to a solution to this question: “How would a Bible-based society differ from previous societies and present ones?” Hardly anyone is even asking the question. Hardly anyone ever has. His book explains that obsession with the rapture and the millennium has prevented this from happening. Christians assume that Jesus will provide a perfect social theory during the millennium, so we do not need one now.
A number of modern trends have undermined the social cohesion of society.
- Increased nationalism
- Growing government power
- Expanding individualism
- Weakened families
- Urbanisation
The biblical social theory is given in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses did not realise it, because he had spent his life isolated in the desert and the household of Pharaoh. God had already established a social structure among his people. In the promised land, Moses discovered that the “tens fifties, hundreds and thousands” are the glue that holds society together.
So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you-as heads of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials (Deut 1:15).In this passage, Moses was setting aside men to be judges. These tens, hundreds and fifties and tens already existed among the tribes of Israel at the time of the Exodus. Tens, fifties and hundreds existed before Israel became a nation. They were important to the cohesion of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Structure
The world needs structures to prevent the strong and wicked bullies from seizing power and trampling over the weak and vulnerable. The powerful must be prevented from prospering at the expense of the weak.
Most Christians expect the state to provide this protection, but that hope has been illusory. At best, the state has distracted onto side issues neglects the weak and the poor. At worst the state becomes powerful and aggressive and plunders those who need its protection.
Libertarians suggest that protection could be provided by entrepreneurial businesses and insurance companies. Businesses can provide defence and protection services for local communities, but if business is the only source of these things, there is nothing to stop businesses from dominating people and morphing into a pseudo state.
In Moses day, justice, defence, welfare and education were mostly managed in a local community by the Tens and Thousands. Tens provide protection and defence and protection their members, without dominating or controlling them.
Tens
Society is made up of people and families. Families are the building blocks of society, but the relationships between them determine the shape and strength of society. The Ten was broader concept than a nuclear family.
In Egypt, a Ten would have been a group of slaves controlled by a taskmaster. During the exodus through the wilderness, a Ten was a group of families travelled and camping together in close proximity to each other. The number is not the number of people in the group, but the number of men in the group capable of contributing to their protection. The people making up the Ten would usually be linked by family ties, but they would also be bound together by a commitment to support and protect each other.
A Ten was a group of five or six families that could produce ten adult men to serve their community. The numbers do not need to be precise, but the base would a father and his adult sons. Jacob and his twelve sons would have been a Ten. The adult sons would usually have wives and children. A couple of uncles and aunts and cousins might also belong to the Ten as well. Abraham included his nephew Lot in his household.
Once they were in the Promised Land, the Ten became a household working the plot of land that had been allocated to them by ballot. The land was allocated to households, and the land laws worked to keep the land in the hands of households. All members of the household would all work the land together to produce food and provide clothing and shelter for the rest of the household.
A household consisted of three generations of the same family. It would include a father and mother, their adult sons and their wives, and their children. If an elderly grandparent were still living, the household would cover four generations. It could also include unmarried aunts and uncles, and widows and orphans from their wider family. Many households would include some servants as well, so supplying ten adult men to protect the household was easy.
A household would live in several houses clustered together on their land or in a nearby village. These adjoining houses would share one or more walls and a common courtyard for household tasks and cooking. This made it a cohesive economic unit.
The Hebrew expression for household is “bet ab”, which literally means “fathers house”. A man did not leave his father’s house when he got married. Rather his wife joined him there. They become one flesh, in the sense that they belong to the same family, but they do not yet become a new family. When daughters got married, they left the household to join their father-in-laws household.
When the head of the household died, his sons could continue working their land as one unit. Because the eldest son inherited a double share, there was a strong incentive for keeping their inheritance together. Alternatively, they could divide the land between them, so that each of them with their wife and children became a separate household. A son could leave his father’s household before his father died, but he would not get a share of the land at that point. Abraham set up a separate household, because his father was unwilling to go any further on the journey from Ur to Canaan.
The Household or Ten was the basic unit in Israelite society. Christians should be concerned about the collapse of this unit in modern society. This is the major reason for the weakness of the modern nuclear family that Christians are so concerned about.
The Role of the Ten
The Ten has several important functions.
1. Protection - the Ten share responsibility for protecting their community.
Protection comes through getting together with others.
In Moses time, the men of the ten shared responsibility for protecting their families. They kept their families together while they were crossing the wilderness. They continued to provide protection once they were in the Promised Lands.
Members of a Ten will watch out for each other and check on intruders. If someone dodgy comes close to any of their homes, some of the Ten will check them out.
If someone attacks any member of the Ten, the others will come to their assistance.
If a large army comes against the wider society, the men in the Ten will join together with other Tens to defend their society.
Modern people tend to look to their government for protection from evil. This is a false hope. Governments continually fail to protect their people from home. Protection does not come from the top. Sound defence and protection must begin at the lowest level of society in the Ten.
2. Justice - most legal disputes will be resolved within the Ten.
If one member of the Ten steals from another member, the members of the Ten will sort out the problem. They will ensure that the thief makes proper restitution. The thief will accept the authority of the Ten, because he would lose his protection, if he rejected it.
If a member of the Ten is accused of stealing by someone from the wider community, the Ten will act in his defence. If the case is proven, they will ensure that the thief makes restitution to protect the good name of the Ten.
If the thief cannot afford to make made restitution, the Ten will make restitution on the thief's behalf. They will make arrangements for the thief to repay what they have lent over time. They will also keep an eye on the thief to ensure that he does not steal again. If he persists in stealing, he might lose his place in the Ten and have to leave the community. No other Ten would want him, so he might end up as an outlaw. The threat of this sanction should be enough to make most thieves shape up and change their behaviour.
If someone from outside the Ten steals from someone within in it, the Ten will take up the cause on their behalf. They will assist with tracking down the thief and ensuring that restitution is made.
Judges will learn their role and prove their credibility in their Ten.
3. Welfare - the Ten will provide support for members who fall into poverty.
A member of the Ten would make an interest free loan to another member of the Ten who is in financial trouble (Deut 23:19-20).
The members of the Ten shared the food they gathered in the food.
If a person is forced to sell their land, a senior member of the Ten will buy their land and hold it in trust until the next Jubilee.
The land must not be sold permanently... you must provide for the redemption of the land. if one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold (Lev 25:24,25).
If a person commits a crime and cannot afford to pay the required restitution, a member of the Ten will pay on his behalf. The criminal will be bonded to work for the member of the Ten until the debt has been repaid (Ex 22:3).
Some members of the Ten may provide employment for others who have a need.
The leaders of the Ten will teach financial management to those who are struggling.
4. Education - the Ten will assist families to educate their children.
Adults will pass their skills and knowledge on to all the children and young people in the Ten.
Tens were the important and essential foundation for a just and caring society.
Leaders of Tens
Each household or Ten had a person or a couple as their leader, usually the most senior person in the family. However, another member of the family might be recognised as leader, if they showed greater wisdom. Leaders of Tens have very little power and authority, because participation in a Ten is voluntary. If the families making up the Ten do not like what the leader is doing, they could leave and start a new household.A key role of the leader is to represent the interests of his Ten in dealing with other tens. The leader will be responsible for negotiating with other tens to form a Fifty or Hundred for a common purpose. A leader must act as a servant of the Ten, or they will lose their respect. The members of the Ten will trust their leader because they have watched out for them in the past. If the leader agrees to something that is not supported by the rest of the Ten, they will ignore their leader.
Leading a Ten would not bring much financial reward. The leader serves the others because they see a need and they understand they are safer in a Ten than standing alone.
Hundreds
The resources and capabilities of a Ten will be too limited to deal with many situations. A number of Tens will come together to deal with any larger threats to their community.
If all of the people in a village came together for a specific purpose, they would be a Fifty. If a number of Tens in a city came together with a common intention, they might be a Hundred. In what follows, I will refer to them both as Hundreds.
The Hundred derives its functions and authority from the Ten. Hundreds can only act, if the leaders of the Tens give permission.
The Role of the Hundred
The Hundred can be used for four main purposes.
1. Defence - sometimes several Tens will come together to deal with an external threat to their society.
If an enemy army threatens to invade the country, the first Ten confronted would be easily overcome, if they resisted on their own.
The leaders of the first Ten to see the coming threat would send messages to other Tens asking for help (Judges 6:35).
Men from a number of Tens might come together in response to the call and form a Hundred to resist the invader. The members of each Ten would serve together. The leaders of the various Tens would appoint several officers to lead the Hundred (Judges 11:5).
Participation in the Hundred would be voluntary. The Hundred would be held together by the relationships between the leaders of the Tens and their willingness to work together for a common cause.
If a person chosen as leader of the Hundred proved to be foolish, unwise, harsh or arrogant, a number of Tens might withdraw their support and re-form as a Fifty.
If the enemy was particularly strong, several Hundreds might join together voluntarily to form a Thousand. Leadership would rise in the same way as for the Hundreds.
In a really serious situation, all the Thousands in the nation might come together to repel a serious enemy. The leaders of the Thousand would choose a military commander to lead them.
Authority emerges as groups of people submit to trusted leaders, not through leaders seizing power and demanding obedience.
2. Welfare - Financial support might flow from one Ten to another.
A wealthy Ten might help another Ten that is in financial trouble.
Good relationships between leaders would be important for making people aware of needs and ensuring help went to the right place.
3. Justice - The relationships between the Tens that made up a Hundred will be important for resolving issues of justice.
If someone from outside a Ten steals from someone within in it, the other Tens within their Hundred will take up the cause and assist with tracking down the thief. The leaders of the Hundred will ensure that restitution is made to foster the unity of their community.
4. Marriage - A young man will generally need to go outside his Ten to find a wife. He will have a better chance of finding a wife in one of the neighbouring Hundreds.
The leaders of the respective Tens will be able to advise the leaders of the other about the character of the prospective marriage partner.
The leadership of the two tens will have good relationships with each other. They will be able to organise the transfer of the dowry without risk of loss for either party.
Ten Words
Christians frequently refer to the Ten Commandments. Our problem is that there are not ten commands, but only nine. We have to do a fiddle to make the nine commands into ten. The Roman Catholic Church splits out coveting your neighbour's wife, from other coveting to get the extra commandment (Ex 20:17). Protestants split off Exodus 20:4 and to make worshipping other gods different from crafting idols. This is dangerous, because it seems like physical idols are the only false gods. This is not true.
In the modern world, political powers and governments are the most serious false gods. From God's point of view, putting too much trust in the government is morally equivalent to carving a wooden idol to worship. Many Christians would not have a carving from Africa in their home, but they happily expect a new President or Prime Minister to transform their life situation.
Political rulers do not become false gods by the scope of their power, or expanding the size of their empire. The false god is created by the attitude of the people being governed. When people trust and worship political power, the government becomes an idol.
Words for the Ten
The Bible does refer to Ten Commandments, but uses the expression "Ten Words" in three different places to describe the words of the covenant written on the two tablets of stone.
Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant-the Ten Words (Ex 34:28).
My guess is that the reference is not to the number of commandments, but to the people who would use them most. Perhaps the statement should be translated as follows.
Moses wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant-the Words for Tens.
God's covenant was a covenant with the entire community, but the commandments written stone were most relevant to Tens and would be implemented by the Tens. The Ten Commandments are really Words for Tens.
Tens and Hundreds Destroyed
1 Samuel 8 is a really important passage. It describes how God's ideal government of judges and law came to an end, and were replaced with kingship, a model of government copied from the surrounding nations. This was a shocking change, as kingship is derived from Satan's method of control.
Samuel warned of another effect, which is not well understood.
This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers (1 Sam 8 11,13).
The king would take young people to serve in his army and palace. For a critical period during their growth to maturity, when they would normally be developing into a role in their Ten and Hundred, the young person will be taken out for a period of service to the king.
Loyalty to the King will replace their loyalty to their Ten and Hundred. They will lose respect for leaders of their Ten and may never be fully grafted back in. Their relationships with other young people in the king's service will be stronger than their relationship with leaders of their Ten and Hundred. Taking young people out of their local communities during their formative years undermines the structure of society.
Upside Down
Samuel warned of another serious consequence of the transition to kingship.
Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties (1 Sam 8:12).The King will appoint some of the young people who have been conscripted into his service to be commanders over thousands and fifties. This was a radical change. Under the previous system, the leader of a Hundred was appointed by the members of the Tens who joined the Hundred. The leader of a Thousand was appointed by the leaders of the Hundreds, who agreed to participate in it during the season of threat. These leaders would have already established trust within their Ten and Hundred. Membership of a Hundred and a Thousand was voluntary, so if the Tens did not like the decisions of a commander of their thousand, they could withdraw. In this structure, leadership emerged from the bottom and submission to leadership was voluntary.
Leadership functions the same way in the Kingdom of God. Leaders are given authority by people who voluntarily submit to them. If this authority is abused, voluntary submission can be withdrawn and the authority will evaporate.
The emergence of kingship turned this model on its head. Instead of leaders emerging from within, they would be appointed from outside by the king. The members of a Fifty or Thousand had to submit to the King's appointee, even if he was made foolish decisions. Refusal to obey the King's lapdogs would bring down the wrath of the king. Submission ceased to be voluntary.
The king would tend to appoint younger people who had recently been in his service, because they would be more loyal to him. These leaders would often lack experience in battle, so they would force the army to do foolish things. Authority imposed from above fosters foolishness.
Temporary to Permanent
Membership of a Thousand had been temporary. When the threatening army was defeated, the Thousand would be disbanded and the people would return to their homes (Jos 22:6). The only social structures with a permanent function were the Tens and Hundreds, and participation in them was voluntary.
Under the kingship, the Thousand ceased to be a temporary and voluntary force that was called up to deal with a particular, external threat. They become a permanent tool for imposing the king's control over society. The members of Tens lost their freedom of action and came under the permanent control of the king. An authority that arose from the bottom of society through submission was replaced by control from the top.
Chinese Counterfeit
An example of Tens and Hundreds being used for political control can be found in the history of China. During the imperial period, China was divided into eighteen provinces and 1,300 districts. These districts were too large for a magistrate or governor to control, so a system of surveillance was introduced.
Households were organised by the thousand and then subdivided into sub-groupings of hundred and then ten. Headmen kept a register of everybody in each group, recorded comings and goings, and reported offences to magistrates. Villagers were required to tell the headman of any illegal behaviour they encountered-failure to do sow was a crime (Jonathon Fenby, The Penguin History of Modern China, p.6).
The Chinese Tens and Hundreds were not voluntary associations that emerged in society, but were imposed from the top to achieve control over society. They are a fulfilment of Samuel's prophecy. These counterfeit Tens and Hundreds were not a source of cohesion, but a tool for control.
Evil is never original. It copies and distorts the real thing.
Justice Collapsed
The rise of kings destroyed the system of local judges that emerged in Moses time. By the time of David, the people of Judah were unable to get justice within their Tens and Hundreds. They had to go to Jerusalem and seek an audience with the king, who had usurped the local judges' role. David was a military leader, God had not made him a judge.
Absalom gained popularity by courting people who had been unable to obtained justice from the King.
Whenever anyone came with a complaint to be placed before the king for a decision, Absalom would call out to him, "What town are you from?". Then Absalom would say to him, "Look, your claims are valid and proper, but there is no representative of the king to hear you." And Absalom would add, "If only I were appointed judge in the land! Then everyone who has a complaint or case could come to me and I would see that he gets justice" (2 Sam 15:2-4).
Absalom gained respect by offering justice to people who could not obtain it. When the administration of justice is centralised, justice disappears. David was a good man, but he could not provide justice for everyone. He simply did not have time to investigate and judge every case.
People had to travel to Jerusalem to get their case heard. This was costly because while they were waiting for their case to come up, they would have to pay for accommodation in an expensive city. They would also be neglecting their family and farm left at home. Only those with power, privilege and money can gain access to a king's justice.
Permanent kingship requires heavy taxation, and taxation soon became a cause of injustice. A king would always side with his tax collectors, so a king cannot administer justice fairly.
The justice provided by Tens and Hundreds had disappeared, by the time Israel had its second king.
Modern Society
Tens and Hundreds formed naturally in tribal societies through family connections. Industrialisation and urbanisation have eliminated these links from modern society, so that individuals and families live in isolation from each other.
The collapse of community is greatest in modern cities, where migration and urbanisation have broken down traditional community relationships. Social mobility prevents stable relationships from developing and family life is breaking down. People feel like cogs in a machine and life is characterised by loneliness and personal insecurity.
Modern suburban culture creates barriers to communication and encourages individualism. As communities are breaking down and fear is rising, high fences are going up between houses isolating people from each other. This isolation means that most people do not belong to the community where they live.
This isolation and dislocation of urban society has been accompanied by the aggregation and accumulation of political power to the modern state. We now face the bizarre situation where needs are concentrated in individuals, but power and money are concentrated in the national state. This leaves families and individuals powerless before a faceless government. Justice, defence and welfare come from the top, whereas they are best provided at the bottom.
To restore the cohesion of our societies, Tens and Hundreds must be restored to our communities, but it is not clear how this will happen. Politicians have an inbuilt tendency to push power and money to the top, so they will always weaken society at its lowest level.
The Modern Church
The church should be strengthening the foundations of society, but this is not happening in the modern world. Western society has been shaped by the automobile and the church has gone along for the ride. The car has brought great freedom, but we have paid a huge price in loss of fellowship. A church has become something that we drive to, not something that shapes the community where we live. This severely weakens the relationships between Christians, so most modern churches are almost as socially fragmented as the rest of society.
Unfortunately, most people do not see the modern church as an answer to their heart's cry. It is seen as another institution that meets personal needs with programmes run by professionals. The megachurch model does not develop community, because it just replicates the national state model of concentrating power and delivering services from the top to the bottom.
Jesus Restored Tens and Hundreds
Jesus first step when he began his ministry was to form a Ten.
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him. These are the twelve he appointed (Mark 3:13-16).
By the time of Pentecost, the new church had become a Hundred.
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) (Acts 1:14-15)
When the church expanded quickly, they continued to share in Tens and Hundreds.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:46).
The early church undertook many of the roles that had been undertaken by Tens and Hundred in Moses' time.
1. Welfare - the church provided support to people who fell into poverty.
The Christians who met together in their homes also shared their financial resources.
Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need (Acts 2:45).
-
Deacons developed new methods for caring for the poor (Acts 6:1-7).
2. Defence - the church provided protection for their community.
The religious and political leaders in Jerusalem were extremely hostile to the new church that was emerging. The Christians protected themselves by sticking together.
All the believers were together (Acts 2:44).
While they were together, the authorities could not touch them.
When Peter was arrested, the believers went into bat for him.
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him (Acts 12:5).
They used spiritual weapons and an angel released Peter. He returned to the house of Mary the mother of Mark.
3. Justice - the new church implemented biblical justice.
The Book of Acts records the effects.
These early Christians were not in a position to not deal with individual injustices that had left some people destitute and others wealthy. They resolved these problems with overwhelming generosity.
Many of the new Christian sold property and gave it away.
All who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold (Acts 4:34).
The word "possessor" is interesting. Luke used a noun formed from the Greek word "ktamomai", which means acquire, or procure. In Luke 18:12 this word was used to describe the wealth the tax collector had acquired.
Luke also used the word "ktema" which comes from the same root (Acts 2:45; 6:3). This is the word used to describe the property of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:22).
Luke did not use the normal word for "inheritance". This suggests that the early Christians were not giving away their inheritance, they were giving away property that they had received by other means. Some may have been gained fairly, while some would have been acquired by injustice. Some of those giving their property away will take this action because they believed that it was acquired unjustly.
State justice is usually bad justice. True justice operates best among neighbours and friends. Elders from Tens, Fifties and Hundreds would act as judges and settle disputes between their people. If some demonstrated real wisdom, they might be called on to be judges in their wider neighbourhood.
There were no needy persons among them (Acts 4:34).
The Greek word translated as "needy" is "endees". It is not the usual word for "poverty" and is only used once in the New Testament. It is a compound of the word "bind". Luke seems to be saying that no one "bound by injustice" was among them.
A Church of Tens and Fifties
Following Jesus example, the church should have an important role in restoring Tens and Hundreds in the places where we live. Every church should be attached to a particular locality. Ideally, there should be one Church at each location and each location should have one Church.
In my book, Being Church Where We Live, I described how a church should function as a local community. Each church should be led by four or five elders, each with a different gifting, submitting to each other to produce unity. Each elder would provide oversight for about five or six families. If all the families overseen by one elder lived close to each other in a local community, they would become a Ten. This group of connected families would be able to fulfil all the functions of Tens, as described above.
If the church had five elders, each providing oversight of a Ten, the entire church would be a Fifty. If specific needs arose, a couple of local churches could link through their leaders to become a Hundred. The leaders of the Hundred would ensure that the justice, protection and welfare are provided to everyone living in their community.
If Christians moved back to a more biblical model of church, Tens and Hundreds would be restored back to our communities. However, we would have to get out of their cars and auditoriums and move closer together.
Gospel Model
The New Testament provides a method for spreading the gospel, which will also restore Tens and Hundreds to our community. Luke 10 describes how church and gospel spread in five important steps.
A pair of Christians move to a new neighbourhood.
The Christians should seek a "person of peace" or "person of influence". This is someone who is open to the gospel and who has contact and influence with other people in the area. Sometimes that person might be a Christian with a burden for their neighbourhood. The new Church will usually meet in their house. In a traditional culture, the pair of Christian would live with the Person of Peace.
Once contact has been established with the person of peace, the Christians will look for opportunities to heal the sick. Jesus said,
The pair will disciple the new Christians and build relationships between them. They will mould them into a church in the home of the Person of Peace. Others in the community will be drawn in by their love.
The original Christians will replicate their ministry in the Person of Peace or a neighbour. This will free them to move into a new location and repeat the process. They will leave behind a group of people living in the same location who trust each other. This is the essence of a Ten.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place (Luke 10:1).
Finding an appropriate neighbourhood was really important. Christians should make their home in the new location.
Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave (Matt 10:11).
Staying with the Person of Peace would not be practical in Western culture, so the Christian pair would buy or rent a house as close as possible to that person.
When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you' (Luke 10:8,9).
A healing will usually crack open the neighbourhood. When Paul prayed for Publius' sick father and he was healed (Acts 28:8-10). All the people on Malta came and were healed (many would believe).
The Church View
From the church perspective, the first group started will look like this.
The letter A indicates an elder with pastoral gifting. At the beginning of the process, this would be one of the pair who came into the neighbourhood. When the original pair move on, the elder will be someone from within the group, possibly the person of influence.
The elder has a strong relationship with each person and would help build strong relationships all the members of the group they watch over. These relationships are represented by the lines. They are the leader of a Ten.
The Neighbourhood View
A view of the neighbourhood looks like this.
Christian A moved into A Street. He knew that P was a person of influence, so he rented the house next door to him. When P's crippled daughter was healed, he and all his family decided to follow Jesus. Everyone in A Street saw the dramatic change in both P and his daughter. When they asked what had happened, he blurted out the entire story with the gospel sprinkled in between. Those living in the blue houses chose to become Christians. A watched over them to ensure that none got side-tracked. He also worked hard on building relationships between them. The activities of this Ten are centred on P's house.
This is only part of the story. When A moved into A Street, he did not come alone. His friends R and E had moved at about the same time. They had served together in the church that they came from and knew each other well.
The faith stirred up following the healing of P's daughter led to the healing of a couple of other seriously ill people at the other end of the street. E shared the gospel to many others living in the street, and some came to believe. He took responsibility for those living in the houses shaded in green and built relationships between them. R focussed on those living on his side of the street. Three Tens have come into existence in A Street.
Moving Out
P grew to maturity quickly, so A was soon able to leave him to look after the blue houses. Person A moved his family to a house in D Street and next door to a Christian who was already a part of the blue group. This person believed that many of his neighbours were interested in the gospel, so A came to give them a hand to get things started.
E stayed in the same house, but left B to exercise oversight over the Christians in the green houses. They were all doing well and did not need much help anyway. E switched his attention to some people at the other end of the street and started building relationships with a group of believers connected to the person in the green house in D Street. Before much time passed, people living in the orange houses were seeking to follow Jesus and E was helping them get connected to each other. The neighbourhood now has five Tens.
The Wider Church View
Looking from the church perspective, we have something like the following diagram. Five groups of Christians are each overseen by a Christian elder (A, R, P, E. B).
These elders have strong relationships. They draw all their people together in one body to be a church. Many of these people knew each other well already. The elders work together to strengthen these relationships, so it looks like this.
The relationships between these people are as important as the people. They look something like this.
Tens and Hundreds
An effective church has started in this neighbourhood, but something else that is important has happened. Five Tens have formed. The members of each Ten know each other and trust each other. They will also have established good relationships with the people in the white houses that live around them. Each Ten has at least one person with some leadership skills that are available for service in the wider community.
Together these Tens make up a Fifty. This Fifty has strong leadership. Everyone in the neighbour would look to them and respect if a tough situation. If the growth process described above was repeated, the Fifty would grow into a Hundred.
Welfare and Protection
Something else important happens in this neighbourhood.
Welfare - The three Ds are people who have become deacons. They will provide social assistance to anyone in the neighbourhood who faces poverty. One couple in the Orange group chose to follow Jesus after they received help during a period of unemployment. If the neighbourhood was wealthy, the deacons might channel resources to other neighbourhoods where people are poor.
Justice - J is a person with real wisdom. People in the neighbourhood call on him to settle disputes. He gradually becomes a judge, skilled in applying God's law. His wisdom is well known, so people in white houses also take disputes to him.
Defence - If society were to collapse into chaos, W would have an important role. He could monitor people coming into A street and call for help to deal with undesirables. If the situation got really bad, some of the people might move in with friends in A Street for a while to obtain shelter and protection.
Serving the Neighbourhood
The Tens living in A Street will serve everyone in their street.
Welfare - Christian deacons will provide support to anyone in the street who needs help, whether or not they are Christians. They will be glad to help those who have not received the gospel. Some kind unbelievers will give money to the deacons, because they will appreciate the work that they are doing for people they know.
Justice - Christian leaders will be active in helping non-believers to achieve justice if they are robbed or hurt. They will be quite happy to bless free riders.
Defence - If the community is attacked, the Christians will provide protection for everyone. They will provide protection to non-Christians, even if they are unwilling to make a contribution to the defence efforts. Some of them will be glad to follow the directions of Christian leaders, because they will recognise that they are prepared and know what they are doing. Christian leaders would seek to bring everyone into unity as they seek to protect their community.
Neighbourhood
Apart from the family, the lowest and most important unit in society is the neighbourhood. In the modern world, many factors are tearing the neighbourhood apart. The local church would be a unifying factor, if Christians were to form Tens and Fifties in the neighbourhood where they lived. These Tens would return cohesiveness to the neighbourhood.
A body corporate might own the street on behalf of the residents. It could take responsibility for garbage and street repairs. It would do these tasks itself, but it would contract the work to specialists.
The people living in the neighbourhood could decide what services they want. If they wanted to put in underground power wires, they could go ahead, provide they were willing to pay the cost. They would not have to wait for the City Council bureaucracy to decide to do it in forty years time. They could also decide what level of security they wanted.
State-run social welfare imposed from the top does not work. Social welfare works best at the local level. If churches formed Tens and Hundreds in their own neighbourhoods, deacons could work through them to those in financial difficulty.
State justice is usually bad justice. True justice begins among neighbours and friends. If churches established Tens and Hundreds in the neighbourhood, elders would act as judges and settle disputes between people. If some elders demonstrated real wisdom, they might be called on to act as judges in their broader communities.
The Kingdom View
Authority is the heart of the Kingdom of God. The defining quality of a king is authority, so understanding the nature of authority is essential for understanding the Kingdom of God. Jesus' prayer defines the Kingdom of God.
Your Kingdom come
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven (Matt 6:10).
The Kingdom of God comes when God's will is done. God's kingdom comes into being as his authority is widely accepted and obeyed.
Authority, not geography, defines the boundaries of a kingdom. A kingdom extends as far as the authority of the King is accepted. The Kingdom of God is defined in terms of attitudes to the authority of God. It extends wherever his authority is accepted. Every person living under the authority of God is part of the Kingdom of God. Every aspect of life that is submitted to the authority of God is part of the Kingdom of God. Tens and Hundreds turn authority upside down and bring the Kingdom of God into being.
Kingdom and Tens
If the Ten serves really effectively, the local people will participate in some of their activities, especially those that advance justice, protection from crime, welfare and defence. When the non-Christians in the neighbourhood participate in the activities of the Ten or Hundred, they will have to compromise with their standards of behaviour:
People will be treated with respect.
Elders and leaders cannot force other people to do things they do not want to do.
The truth will be spoken in love.
Forgiveness is the best solution to hurts and misunderstanding.
To participate in activities organised by the Ten, others will have to fit with their lifestyle. They will compromise their behaviour gladly, because they will see the benefits the Tens provide in their neighbourhood. However, they will not feel forced to change, because they remain free to opt out at any time
Christian leaders will not control Christians in their care, but will see to serve them. They will also seek to serve the other people in their street. Most people living in the street will respect their leadership because they will have observed their kindness and love. Anyone who does not like their leadership will ignore it.
Something interesting has happened in A Street.
If they serve effectively, the Tens will be the most influential group in their community.
Non-Christians living in the locality will submit to God's authority some of the time, so they can benefit from the activities of the Tens.
The members of the Ten will have submitted voluntarily to the authority of the elders, to each other, and to God.
The elders will have submitted to God, and to each other. This makes the Kingdom of God a reality in their midst.
Then Tens, Fifties and Hundreds could keep society functions effectively, even if all national and city authority has collapsed.
Taken together, this means that most people in the neighbourhood will be submitted to God, so in a sense, the Kingdom of God has come to A Street.
Principalities and Power
Spiritual power and political power go together. The reason is that the leaders of a nation have authority to enforce their will on any citizen of their domain. Everyone living in a nation must accept the authority of their king or president. The mayor, the council and the council officers have authority to act on behalf of anyone resident in their town or city. This power and authority creates a serious spiritual problem, because these political leaders are vulnerable to spiritual attack, and any attack on them is not just personal, but affects everyone under their authority.
Spiritual power always follows authority. When a political leader is influenced by demonic powers, the people under his authority are vulnerable to a similar attack. When we submit to political leaders, we open ourselves up to spiritual forces at work in their lives. When demonic forces attach themselves to a king or president, they become "principalities and powers", because they now have authority over many of the people in that nation (Eph 6:12).
Political leaders will come under immense spiritual pressure, because they hold authority over the people in their city or nation. If the enemy gets control over these leaders, he gains spiritual access to everyone under their control. The enemy concentrates his forces against those with political power, so he can win an easy victory over everyone under the authority of the leaders who fall into his hands. When a powerful leader falls into sin, then everyone in their realm becomes vulnerable to the same spirit.
Centralised political or religious authority is dangerous, because it makes principalities and powers possible. Once the enemy gains control over those with power and authority, he has easier access to all those under that authority. As a political leader accumulates more authority, the principality or power that controls him gains greater power over more people. This is how principalities and powers exercise power (Dan 10:13). (Centralising control of a megachurch in a super pastor has the same effect).
Tens and Hundreds beat Principalities
Jesus destroys principalities and powers by removing the centralised political and religious power structures that support their power. Wherever emperors, kings and presidents have seized or been give authority, evil spiritual forces can attach themselves to that authority. When political power evaporates, principalities and powers are reduced to being common evil spirits beaten by the cross. They gain spiritual power by taking advantage of political power, so the collapse of power and authority leaves them with no place to stand.
Tens and Hundreds are the solution to spiritual protection. In the Biblical model, authority is concentrated at the lowest level in the Ten, and that authority remains miniscule, because membership in a Ten is voluntary. A little bit of authority is passed up to the Hundred, but it can be easily withdrawn. During a crisis, some authority may be extended to a Thousand, but this authority is always be taken back, if the leader loses the plot, or when the crisis ends. This diffusion of authority foils the plans of the enemy. Evil spirits can no longer concentrate their attacks on a few powerful people, but have to spread themselves thin. As they disperse to deal with authority that is diffused throughout society, they become fragmented and powerless.
Many Christians have an overinflated view of the enemy's power. They believe that our struggle is against spiritual forces that are almost as powerful as the Holy Spirit. The truth is that Satan's power is an illusion. Evil forces have leveraged their power by gaining control over political and religious leaders with authority over many people.
Political and religious power has magnified the authority of spiritual evil. If an evil spirit gains control over one person, he can make that person's life miserable. If the same spirit were to gain control over a king or president, he can make a nation miserable. If that spirit gains influence over a megachurch, he can lead a thousand people astray. When political and religious control collapses, demonic power will be greatly diminished. When confined to a one-on-one battle, they will be easily defeated. When Big Government collapses and Tens and Hundreds rise in their place, a great spiritual victory will occur.
Tens Provide Spiritual Protection
Tens will provide spiritual protection for their communities by standing together in unity. They will watch over each other and stand together to resist the power of the enemy. When people love Jesus and walk in the Spirit, the enemy will have no grounds for attack.
Other people in the neighbourhood will continue to sin and some may allow evil into their lives. The difference with respect to protection from evil is that none of these people have authority over anyone else in their community (except in the rare situation where one is employed in the business of another). This limits their ability to expose others to the spirits that influence them.
The only people in the street with authority over others are the elders. They are submitted to each other, so their authority is constrained. The elders will be watching over each other, so if one comes under attack or falls into sin, the others will deal with the issue to get victory over evil.
Tens and Hundreds provide spiritual protection for each other and the people in their neighbourhood.
The only authority in the street will be exercised by the elders of the Tens. They are protected by submitting to each other.
The members of the Ten get spiritual protection by submission to each other and their leaders.
The person of peace will have influence in the street, but being "peaceful", they should be free from spiritual harassment.
The members of the Ten are not submitted to regional and national political powers and the spiritual principalities that cling to them.
A Street has become an authority-lite zone, making it a relatively a demon-free zone.
Advancing Ten by Ten
The Kingdom of God grows organically, like yeast spreading through a loaf of bread. The reason is that society must be changed from the bottom up.
The Kingdom of God cannot be imposed from the top, but must rise up from the bottom.
Replacing one set of rulers with another changes nothing, because the same principalities and powers remain in control. The only way to break free is for political power to be defused.
Defeating and evil government by military force will not advance the Kingdom. The use of military power releases a spirit of violence, which undermines the Kingdom of God.
Using democratic power to topple political leaders and replace them with others does not advance the kingdom. Democracy raises up human power and authority, which opposes the power of the Spirit.
The Kingdom of God advances slowly, street by street and village by village.
Jesus gave his disciples clear instructions to start in a particular place and start with a person of peace (Luke 10:5,6). Some places are easier to work than others.
Those who are serious about advancing the Kingdom of God will identify those easy places and build a beachhead, from which the kingdom can gradually spread, Ten by Ten, and Hundred by Hundred
As new Tens are established, the spiritual forces of evil will be gradually pushed back and the beachhead of peace will expand.
Time of Distress
Ordinary life faces now many new challenges. The world is getting increasingly violent and unstable and individuals and families struggle without the support that used to come from Tens and Hundreds. We may be going into a time of trouble, distress and judgement. Christians should be prepared for troubled times. To cope with the disorderly world that is merging, Christians and their families must get together in Tens to provide support and protection for their communities.
Leaders of Tens will establish relationships with other tens to share in protection and support.
Tens in the country will produce food to give to tens in the cities.
Tens in the city will distribute surplus food received from the country to people in needs.
Tens in the city with surplus wealth will supply Tens in the country with the resources that they need.
The Ten at either end of the street may agree to watch the entrance to the street to ensure that undesirable people do not enter the street. This may be the best form of protection against theft or looting during a time of disruption.
When society disintegrates, state power will fall apart. Social welfare system will collapse and justice will fail. Christian Tens and Hundreds will be needed to fill the gap. This will be a massive opportunity for the gospel.
Return to Keywords.
