Personal Salvation and Evangelism, Session 10
Course Summary
We have said that the path into fullness of Christian life is through faith (God reigns, Jesus is Lord and Savior, we can be born anew as children of God), repentance (turning to live according to the good news we believe, and turning away from sin), baptism (being united with Jesus in his status as a child of God, in his death and resurrection, and being united with all who believe in him), forgiveness of sins (receiving and giving grace, releasing all desire for vengeance, seeking the best even for our enemies, remembering that we can and must forgive even if we cannot safely or justly reconcile and that we must give up vengeance even if we must uphold the restraining penalties of the law). Finally, the promise toward which all this points in this life is the gift of the Holy Spirit: that is, God comes to live in our lives in anticipation of our future eternal life with God in the perfect new creation. The Holy Spirit confirms our faith, repentance, baptism, and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us, building the fruit of the Spirit in us so that we may show our likeness to Christ. The Holy Spirit gives us special spiritual gifts to aid our mission and ministry for Jesus.
We discussed the spiritual gifts last week. They are not for the purpose of glorifying us, but are for the purpose of showing forth the good news about the Trinitarian God and for empowering the mission and ministry of Christ’s church.
The Gift of Prophecy
After the general spiritual gifts (or fruit?) of faith, hope, and love, the gift most to be desired by all believers is the gift of prophecy, the ability to hear and speak God’s immediate word. Prophecy is not necessarily predictive. It can also be about the past or present. Prophecy gives God’s perspective on human events and shows us how to respond. It may show us lessons we need to learn from the past; it may show us how to deal with present situations; it may orient the way we approach the future. Sometimes prophecy just reminds us that God knows and can reveal to whomever he chooses something about us that we thought we had managed to keep secret.
Prophecy is not designed to give us useless information, nor is it simply designed to make us look like experts. Prophecy is designed to help the people of God live godly lives. If it is not doing that, it probably is not genuine prophecy.
True and False Prophecy
There has always been a tendency for people to claim to speak for God when, in fact, whether they consciously know it or not, they are speaking for themselves.
We are often inclined to tell people what they want to hear, or what motivates them to do what we want them to do, and if we add to that our claim to be speaking God’s message, we think that it gives our words more power. But wishful thinking is not the same thing as prophecy.
Others think that prophecy means just the opposite, denouncing people who are doing wrong. Some people think that they are being prophetic whenever they are righteously indignant on behalf of their own cherished ideals. They find confirmation in their prophetic role when others oppose them (“Yes, I am suffering just like the prophets of old”). But, the prophets of old were not speaking on behalf of their own ideals. They were speaking messages that they did not want to deliver, sometimes messages that offended their most cherished beliefs (e.g., Jonah, Amos, Jeremiah). But angry reform movements are not the same thing as prophecy.
Still others think that they are being prophetic when they come up with a unique (or not so unique) interpretation as to how the political events of our time fit into endtimes scenarios. Nevermind that they are yanking scriptures completely out of context, that they are arbitrarily imposing literal meanings on symbolic texts and symbolic meanings on literal texts, that they are ignoring the long, discrediting history of botched endtimes predictions, that they are ignoring that the Old Testament promises to geo-political Israel are now transferred to the spiritual church and that God’s faithfulness to Jews takes a new form having little to do with old Jerusalem. They tell an exciting, dramatic tale in which it is easy to get caught up. They may mean well, but they are distracting the people of God from concentrating on the things that are vital to their faith and mission, things like living the transformed lives to which Jesus calls us. Beware whenever someone concentrates more on the obscure than on the clear.
Some people think that prophecy must always come in fresh words, but sometimes it will come as the fresh application of old words—perhaps a scripture passage or a hymn that takes on surprising relevance.
Some think that prophecy must be spoken in fervent, eloquent, or spontaneous manner, but it may be spoken by a poor, stumbling reader of a manuscript, or it may be written out or acted in pantomime. The Spirit is more inventive than our preconceptions.
With so many self-appointed spokespersons for God running around, obviously we need better ways of determining what is from God and what is not from God.
The key is not the style of communication, but the source. The source of all true prophecy is the Holy Spirit. And we discern the Holy Spirit’s presence by whether what is spoken is consistent with what the Holy Spirit has previously revealed in scripture, with the faith that Jesus the crucified is risen Lord, by whether what is spoken builds up the body of Christ in love, and, ultimately, by whether what is spoken proves to be true.
The point is that we all may desire to receive and share God’s word, and, while God may not call on all of us to do so, we all need to understand enough about prophecy so that we can apply biblical standards for distinguishing between true prophets and false ones. God uses the gift of prophecy alongside scripture to guide his people. We need to be prepared to recognize and receive his guidance, but to weed out false claims.
One of the spiritual gifts is the discernment of spirits, discerning whether a particular claim to have heard the divine word or to be operating in the power of God is authentically from God or is in fact from the devil. As believers, we may or may not have this spiritual gift of discernment, or, more likely, it may operate in us sometimes but not others. Our job in relation to the gift of discernment is exercise it when we can and otherwise to let it flow within the body.
But there is another kind of discernment which should always be operative in every believer. For lack of a better name, I call it scriptural discernment. Paul and John each give us two major scripturally guidelines for discerning whether something is of God. These are not the only such guidelines, but they are among the big ones.
Guideline 1
1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (ESV) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit.
Paul points out that it is quite possible to be led astray. He then gives one of the guidelines by which one can tell the difference between a true and false message of the Spirit. No one speaking by the Spirit can say, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
I am in the minority in the current scholarly world in my interpretation of this, but I believe that my interpretation makes more sense of 1 Corinthians than do most other interpretations. I believe that there were people in the Corinthian church who considered themselves Christian and who also thought that the man Jesus who was crucified was cursed. How could this be?
There was in Greek culture an emerging movement that did not gain full influence until the second and third centuries A.D., but which may have been in its early stages in the first century, a movement that saw the purpose of life as finding the secret spiritual wisdom or knowledge to get above human vulnerability. Creation and bodily realities like hunger, sex, birth, suffering, death, and so forth were evil. Spirituality was about rising above seeing physical things as significant. Even though it was quite contrary to belief in a Creator who made everything and declared it good, this cultural attitude toward spirituality crept into portions of Judaism and the church. They just took it for granted that religion was about helping them get above vulnerability; they paid attention to what fit their cultural predisposition and ignored or distorted what did not fit.
There is plenty of evidence in 1 Corinthians that this problem was in Corinth. There is also evidence in Paul’s Letters to Timothy in Ephesus in the mid-60’s AD and in John’s First Letter, also aimed toward Ephesus two or three decades later, that this cultural attitude was present in the society and in the church.
The evidence in 1 Corinthians is everywhere to be seen: seeking “wisdom” and seeing the cross as “folly” (1:18--2:16), claiming to have arrived at an invulnerable status (4:8-13), seeing Christian life as freeing them from a need for sexual morality (5:1-13), denying the application of moral law to believers (6:12-20); viewing marriage and sex as negative (7:1-5); claiming to “know” that food offered to idols is not spiritually contaminated because the idols are not real (8:1-13; 10:1-22); claiming that all things are lawful (10:23—11:1; Paul is calling them to think beyond their personal freedom to see the effect of their actions on others); denying that there was to be a clothing distinction to be maintained in worship between men and women (11:2-16); insensitivity to the status distinctions and privileges they were importing to their observances of the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34); elevating ecstatic spiritual gifts above things like loving service and clear communication of the gospel to the lost (12—14); denying the bodily resurrection of Christ and of believers (15).
If I am seeing the pattern rightly, then it is also likely that the problematic members of the Corinthian church held that the Christ was an immortal soul not a real human being, that Jesus was simply the body that the Christ used as a vehicle through which to reveal his wisdom, that the Christ departed Jesus before he was crucified, and that resurrection never happened because the Christ as an immortal soul did not need it. It is possible that such people indeed could “in the spirit” (note the small “s” on spirit) proclaim, “Christ be praised; Jesus be cursed.”
Paul says, in effect, “No, Christ died, was buried, was raised on the third day, and then appeared to many witnesses. If he did not die and if he was not raised, then our faith goes nowhere. But because he was raised, those who believe in him will one day be raised, and their present bodily labors for the Lord have eternal significance. The spirit in which you proclaim, “Jesus be cursed,” is not the Holy Spirit, but another kind of spirit altogether, the kind that moved you when you were pagan. You cannot understand that Jesus the crucified is Lord because only the Holy Spirit can reveal that truth to you, and you are not open to the Holy Spirit.”
Paul claims that what Jesus did in dying for us on the cross causes a revolution in the way we see life.
1 John 4:1-3 (ESV) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
1 John 5:1 (ESV) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whomever has been born of him.
John, writing to the church in Ephesus, likewise is dealing with people who deny the significance of morality and love. John, like Paul sees the solution in not allowing a separation between Jesus and the Christ, in not allowing a separation between the physical and the spiritual. John, like Paul, addresses the topic of discerning the Holy Spirit. The true Spirit will confess that Jesus is the Christ and that he has come in human flesh. Those who are born of the Spirit of God will share that confession of faith.
Paul’s and John’s first guideline is that, when something is from God, it will be consistent with the view that the Christ of God, the Lord of life, is identical with the Jesus who suffered and died on the cross. The Christ came in the flesh. He did the will of God perfectly. He was crucified.
This is not just an abstract truth about Jesus. We servants are not better than the Master. We too may suffer even when we are doing the will of God as well as we are able. Suffering is not necessarily evidence that we are sinners. The absence of suffering is not necessarily evidence that we are righteous. We look at people around us not in order to measure their material and spiritual achievement level, but to see what God sees, and to represent God’s redeeming and blessing love for them.
What this means is not that we seek out suffering. We do not. Indeed, insofar as we may do so consistent with our faith and calling, we must avoid needless suffering. But sometimes suffering comes to us precisely because we are faithful.
As believers and servant leaders, we must be prepared to discern that suffering does not mean that God is displeased with us, that it does not mean that we have missed the will of God, that it does not mean that we lack faith. God’s servants in this world are not invulnerable. We are being conformed to the image of Christ in both his death and resurrection. Our lives will have rhythms of suffering and comfort, apparent defeat and ultimate victory. If it were not so, our lives could not retell the story of Christ, and to do that is our highest purpose and privilege.
Guideline 2
1 Corinthians 12:7, 26; 13:1, 6, 13; 14:1-4, 26. (ESV) To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good….If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together….If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal….(Love) does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth…. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 2For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. 3On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 4The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church….What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
Paul sees the love and mutual upbuilding that occurs in the community of faith as the purpose of the spiritual gifts. These are the marks for evaluating the exercise of the gifts in the life off the church. It is not about our own freedom of expression; it is not about our own social or religious status; it is about showing love in all that we do. Love is marked by a self-disciplined, self-giving caring for the well-being of others.
1 John 3:1--5:21 No one verse or small selection of verses states the whole point, but cycling through this passages are repeating themes that get linked together: A Christian is one who has been given new birth as a child of God; who is overcoming sin; who is loving fellow believers not just in words, but in self-giving deeds; who is believing in Jesus; who has received the indwelling Spirit of God; who is obeying God; etc. In John’s minds these things are inseparable. That is the point that he is trying to drive home. God is love, and there is no true religion apart from trusting what God has revealed, receiving what God has given, and living in keeping with what we now know of God’s heart.
Paul’s and John’s second guideline concerns love for fellow believers and potential believers and a dedication to the building up of the community of faith. Love is not a feeling. Love does not mean people-pleasing. Love does not mean doing whatever someone asks of us. Love is a decision of the will. It means doing what is best for the total well-being of another. We are called not only to do this, but to encourage our fellow church members to see that this quality of self-giving love is one important way that we recognize the presence of God in our midst.
So, faith that Jesus the crucified is the ruling Christ and that he has revealed in life-changing ways the nature of God’s love are the two primary tests for discerning the Spirit. Any “prophetic” message that does not fit with these realities can be eliminated. We are not just talking about holding the truth of abstract doctrines, but of taking attitudes toward all of life that fit with the revealed truth. The bottom line is that the Holy Spirit affects how we see and do everything.
For two other presentations on this topic see Judy Turner’s Listening for God: Biblical Basis for Discernment and John Turner’s Scriptural Discernment.
Discussion Questions:
1. When, if ever, have you heard from God?
2. Have you ever shared a message that you believed was from God?
3. Have you ever practiced scriptural discernment regarding whether a message is or is not from God?
4. Does your church have an organized way of practicing discernment?
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