I’m bringing this up as I recently attended a youth minister training seminar where the gift of prophecy was discussed. It was suggested by the leader that when you bring a word of prophecy to someone you should bring it ‘as if it were the very words of Christ himself.’
The scriptural evidence for this was the person of Paul ‘who no longer lives, but christ lives in [him]’ (Gal. 2:20). Paul had achieved a maturity so profound that Christ was His life. Christ spoke easily through Him and he could discern the voice of God so clearly that he could speak God’s very words to others. So we too, said the speaker, could achieve the same level of maturity & clarity – so be bold, and speak with authority as your words will become less, and God’s will become more.
The problem with this is if we could speak the very words of Christ we would have the same authority of the Bible and could add to it. The Bible could have its own ‘books of Tim’ if I reach that level of maturity. Unfortunately for my publishing contract, the last couple of sentences in the Bible warn us against adding to. We should probably pause then before our own ‘words of Christ’ or ‘thus says the Lordnesses.’
There’s also a logic problem with this evidence. Between God’s message and the one to whom He wants to receive the message there is this sinful me stuck slap bang in the middle. It doesn’t matter how good n’ clear the stuff that comes in from God is – and it doesn’t matter how mature I am either – I’m always going to get it at least a little bit wrong. Why? Because even my finest righteousness is filthy rags compared to the holiness of God and his words (Isa. 64:6).
Until I am perfected in heaven I’m not going to see clearly, I’m not going to know fully, I’m going to keep on seeing dimly as in a mirror (1 Cor. 13:12). I’m always going to be something of a roadblock to God’s words, even if I reach the maturity of Paul. The only way I won’t be, is if I suddenly became unsinful. I may be redeemed from my sin, and saved from its penalty but I haven’t magically become completely immune to my sinful nature or unaffected by the world and the devil.
And the thing is – neither was Paul unaffected by sin. Paul was not infallible, he was not perfect, and he was not sinless. Paul tried and tried to do good, but his sin was right there with him (Rom. 7:21).
What made Paul’s words stand as infallible – thus Biblical – then? He was one of the only chosen apostles, a witness to the resurrected Christ who God had called to a specific place of authority to start the initial spread of Christianity. God sanctified and spoke the words of scripture and then sealed them. This should tell us that God’s words do not depend on our maturity or even our relational clarity of hearing God’s voice – but they rest on God’s own power and purposes.
None of us, therefore, can claim that level of authority. The Bible is closed and isn’t accepting new unsolicited material at this time.
Does this mean we don’t hear the voice of God and don’t speak words of encouragement and prophecy to others?
No – I truly believe we can and do. In fact I believe I have. However I just issue a health warning on the label of ‘prophecy’ that contains this simple thought on approcahing someone with ‘a Word’:
> Don’t approach someone with
‘God says this,’
thus saith the Lord,’
or ‘hear the very words of Christ‘
> Instead approach someone with,
‘I believe that God might be saying,’
‘I think God might want to tell you,’
or ‘is it possible that …… …. means anything to you?’
Be humble and allow your words to be wrong, wrongish, not in season, not yet applicable. This allows you to be small and the Holy Spirit to be big.
Thanks folks.
Discussion
No comments yet.