Culturally Irrelevant

Something I’ve been noticing about this area over the past few years: the enemy has worked really hard to leverage abuses and mistakes in the church in order to marginalize the Spirit’s involvement in our gatherings, both small and large. Why? Because he knows the Holy Spirit is our source of power as followers of Christ. Our character comes from his fruit in our lives (Galatians 5), he reveals the truth and connects us to the Father (John 14 and 16:5-15), he gives us power over sin (Romans 8), he gives us divine guidance (Acts 13:1-4), and he gives the signs, wonders and gifts that the world can’t refute, confirming the truth of the Gospel (Mark 16:15-18; Acts 6:8-10; 13:6-12). No wonder he works so hard to separate us from our source. If he can do that, then we’re just doing this thing in our own understanding, with lots of hard work and planning and Excel spreadsheets and fundraising. The scary thing is that we can do some pretty impressive things, naturally speaking, with creative ideas, hard work and some cash. But there are some things we can’t accomplish, Kingdom-wise, no matter what our resources are if we don’t have the full manifestation and operation of the Spirit’s power in our lives.

Every aspect of the Spirit’s involvement is critical, but I want to focus on his gifts in this post. When it comes to these gifts, which I believe are under attack right now in the body, we need to ask ourselves a few basic questions about our lives as believers individually and as corporate bodies that gather weekly:

1. Are we “eagerly desiring” spiritual gifts, especially the “greater” gifts as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 12:31? If not, is there a fear of the potential messes of abuse, disorderliness, or manipulation? Is that enough of a reason to ignore the manifestation of the Spirit in the church that’s intended to heal, grow and encourage the body? 

2. Are we providing an environment somewhere/somehow in our homes and our churches where sick people can be healed by the laying on of hands? Is this something that we look forward to and expect to happen in our gatherings on a regular basis? When was the last time someone was miraculously healed at a gathering of some kind? 

3. Is there an environment somewhere/somehow in our church where the normal Christ-follower can learn about, exercise and be mentored in the use of spiritual gifts such as discerning of spirits, a word of knowledge or wisdom, prophecy, the public manifestation of tongues and the interpretation of tongues?

4. Are we OK with 80% of our church spectating as 20% do the work, or are we expecting as Paul did that every believer attending our church will participate in the encouragement of the body through the use of the spiritual gifts they’ve been given for administration, helps, showing mercy, teaching, working miracles, healing the sick, prophesying or speaking publicly in tongues for someone to interpret (see every and each one in 1 Corinthians 12:6,7,11).

Before he became king, before he slaughtered thousands of Philistines, before he entered into King Saul’s service and before he beheaded Goliath, David was a shepherd. The Bible doesn’t have much to say about what happened during those years, but David tells King Saul that he killed a lion and a bear while defending his sheep (1 Samuel 17:34-36). OK, stop right there. Teenage boys don’t just charge after a lion with a slingshot or grab a wild bear by the beard and club it to death. That just doesn’t happen unless you’re on a Hollywood set for a movie like 300. What we do know is that at some point while he was a shepherd, David was anointed by the prophet Samuel. 1 Samuel 16:13 says, “So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” The Bible doesn’t say how long David continued to shepherd his father’s sheep after being anointed, but it’s obvious that there was some undefined amount of time between his being anointed and being called into Saul’s service in the next few verses. I truly believe David killed the lion and the bear AFTER the Spirit of the Lord had come upon him in power.

I think that’s really important because of how the story unfolds. Immediately David’s life changes. He suddenly has favor with the king as if out of nowhere, he ignores the fear of an entire army and goes up against a well-trained soldier who happens to be HUGE, kills him with a slingshot and then cuts off his head. And it gets even better from there. But if you miss the significance of his anointing and the Spirit’s power coming upon him in chapter 16, then it just looks like he’s a really confident, smart, good-looking kid who gets his “big break”.

The Bible is very clear on this point. Story after story in the biblical record illustrates how it takes the Spirit of the Lord coming upon a person or a group with great power and anointing in order for things to change. In order for God’s will in the earth to be accomplished, people have to be filled with His Spirit.

Over the next couple weeks I want to dive into what it looks like when we’re filled with the Spirit. If you’ve got any feedback, perspective, stories or experiences to share, I’d love to hear where you’re coming from.

I’m thirsty. Thirsty for more of God. The more I do this thing, the more I realize that God has called us to do the impossible, and I don’t even want to think about moving ahead in our own strength, not even a little. The realization of how much I need Him has brought on some ravenous thirst for more.

Paul tells us to be constantly filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) and Jesus says that he will give us living water that will flow out of us like a spring of water to eternal life (John 4:14). Like you, I’ve had “experiences” or encounters with God in the past. I’ve felt the power of the Holy Spirit and had times when I’ve been filled to overflowing so that I’ve said and done things I wouldn’t normally say or do. But when I read through the New Testament, this “filling” is more than a once-in-a-while experience.

In the Old Testament, the Spirit would come upon individuals for specific purposes: to prophesy, judge, deliver, rule, create artistic works, etc. But those guys didn’t have an open invitation to receive the Holy Spirit like we do today. The average OT Joe didn’t experience the manifestation of the fullness of the Spirit, but that fullness and power has been given to each one of us because of Christ (Acts 2:38-39). And we’re encouraged to be filled constantly. Why? Because the not-filled me is very different than the filled me. With the not-filled me, things are difficult, impossible, frustrating. The filled me is energetic, creative, full of joy, inspired and approaches difficulty with patience and confidence in God.

Here are some questions I’m asking: Can I really answer God’s call without being filled with His Spirit? How has the infilling of the Spirit affected people’s lives? How has it affected yours? What does it look like to be constantly filled with the Spirit? Is it an option for the believer? Is there a danger in NOT being filled with the Spirit like the Bible talks about?

On a side note, I’ve noticed something interesting over the past 10 years or so in my own life. Of all the “encounters” I’ve had with God, most haven’t happened in a church. They’ve happened in parking lots, in classrooms, in homes, in a car or on the side of the road, in the shower or at work. And the majority of the times I’ve been powerfully ministered to, it has been through ordinary believers, not recognized leaders. I believe this is a good thing. It’s natural, healthy and the way God intended it to be. I also know that many believers still expect God to show up in a church more than anywhere else, and that if God is going to show up in our lives, it’s going to come through a powerful leader. But I’ve experienced that power more often through “nobodies” than somebodies. Why don’t we expect it to be this way? Why do we wait for the leader to walk into the room before we expect God to show up? It’s easy to confuse the leader’s function to equip believers for ministry with the ministry itself. Some are called to equip the rest, and the rest are called to do the ministry. That means the majority are called to operate in the power needed to do the work of the ministry. Hmmmm. More on that thought later.

Also, check out “Spirit Led = Supernaturel (Perry Noble)” on Tony’s blog. You’ll have to scroll down a few posts.