Recently I have been getting the urge to write on topics that deal more directly with issues of the Christian faith. This week I felt it so strongly. Like the prophet Jeremiah said:
If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
So today is the start of “The Fire Series!” which will be interspersed in between my usual posts.
This week one of the things that got me fired up was a message from Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church. I was listening to the podcast on the way from work and he illustrated something from scripture, from an angle that I had never thought of before. It struck a deep chord with what I knew to be true in my heart. So much so, that I felt like shouting “Hallelujah!” and acting like a crazy man in my truck. The scripture is the well-known account in Acts 2 when the disciples are waiting in the upper room for the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised. And He comes! Like the sound of a mighty rushing wind that fills the whole house, He comes! In divided flames of fire, resting on each disciple, He comes! And then they start to speak in tongues (languages) that are not their own. The people in the city hear them and are confused because they know that these guys don’t speak those languages. Unable to comprehend what could possibly be going on, they come up with the most likely explanation in their minds; these guys must be drunk.
But Peter addresses the crowd and says this (Acts 2:14-18):
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
17 “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
Familiar verse right? But imagine if we were there in that verse and we were Jews. What would we think? Well, we would probably call them crazy and we definitely would say that this speaking in tongues business is not of God (as some still say today). Because we would look at our bible (only the OT at that time) and say, “Speaking in tongues is not in the bible, therefore it is not of God!” (In our deepest, most authoritative tone of course.) And this crazy pastor/pope, Peter is leading people astray! I mean, plainly, Joel lists three things as evidence of the outpouring of the Spirit:
- Prophecy
- Visions
- Dreams
What’s not on that list? Speaking in tongues!!! The brightest Christian scholars would examine the Hebrew and the grammar and it would be dissected on pulpits around the world and this crazy, unscriptural, ungodly movement would be soundly rebuked as unbiblical – not of God!
So how did Peter connect this passage in Joel with what was happening in the upper room? What is it the he understood that we don’t? Peter understood God. He had walked with Jesus long enough to know that God is not what we expect. You see, Peter did not speak by intellectual acumen or human reasoning. Peter made a declaration of a truth that was downloaded into his spirit from The Spirit. He had a knowing deep in his gut that THIS IS THAT! And! He was willing to believe God rather than his own intellectual thinking. He understood the profoundly simple truth that God does not conform to the limits of our minds.
Today, the average Christian has been taught to put God in a box. If it’s not in the bible, it’s not God. The problem that is so well illustrated by the scripture above is that we do not have the mental wattage to interpret the mind of God in scripture. God never intended for us to go around looking for a verse that aligns to every situation. What He wants for us is so much more relational, so much more dynamic and so much more powerful!
I’m taking God out my mind-box. I want to see all that He is and all that He wants to do on this earth. I want Him to blow my mind and shatter my limitations! The God I serve is BIG. Bigger than I could ever conceive and I want to experience as much of Him as I possibly can.
In Matthew 12:22-32 Jesus delivers a demon-possessed man. (Again, something that had never been done before. At least not in the bible.) The religious leaders of the time again come to the wrong conclusion; it must be by a demon that Jesus is casting out demons. And it is in this context Jesus makes a deeply sobering statement, “…whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” I don’t know about you but that gets my attention. Really gets my attention!
When I hear about something new that seems strange I don’t want my first question to be, “Is it in the bible? And if not then it’s not God.” I want my first question to be, “Woah! God is that Your Holy Spirit at work? I trust you completely to lead me into all truth. So, if it is You, I want to know more! I want to experience it myself! Bring it on Holy Spirit!”
I thank You Lord that You are not a God that I can wrap my mind around. Then You wouldn’t be God, I would be god. But I’m not, and You are! You alone are God! Hallelujah!
Joyfully,
Copyright 2018, Matik Nicholls. All rights reserved.