3 requests in 18 hours
In the last 18 hours, 3 people have contacted me in regard to the Holy Spirit, and the move of the Holy Spirit. Maybe some of these reflections would be helpful to others...
So far as the Charismatic issue goes, I did grow up, and still identify with the movement taking place called the Charismatic movement. That movement was concurrently touching many denominations including the Lutheran church, and looked a little different in each denomination. Here are some of my reflections.
1. The movement was a biblical movement. Anywhere there is an inconsistency between biblical teaching and church belief/practice, it is the church that must change, not the biblical teaching. This is the case in the ELCA today. There is now a gap between the consistent teaching of Scripture, and the voted on belief/practice of the ELCA in regard to human sexuality. One conviction I have is that the church can vote on anything that God has not already voted on. If God has already voted, we have no business voting. The charismatic movement was a reform/renewal movement, seeking to make consistent the church's belief/practice with biblical teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It included seeking the Lord in His word to find out what we were missing from the book of Acts, and Romans, and 1 Corinthians, and 1 Peter—New Testament Christianity! We had to change—not the Bible’s teaching.
2. The movement was churchly. Most people desired the unity of the body of Christ, the upbuilding of the body. As a result of the Charismatic movement, there were fresh expressions of unity among denominations. There was a palpable unity around the essentials of the faith, and especially around the One who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth keeping it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” They didn't desire division and disunity. Sometimes they/we didn't act this way. Pride rises, and the flesh is always at war against the Spirit, and too often the flesh exerted its ugly self, causing hurt and division.
3. Sometimes the movement went too far. Sometimes it went farther than Scripture. This was and is wrong. BUT, the question comes, "How do you respond to abuse?" Paul dealt with this in 1 Corinthians. When a doctrine or practice is abused, you don't stop teaching the doctrine or doing the practice, you correct it. The Corinthians abused spiritual gifts and Paul corrected them. He didn't tell them to stop practicing prophecy and speaking in tongues, etc. He corrected them in their belief/practice. The Corinthians abused the Lord's Supper. He didn't tell them, "Better off just stopping the Lord's Supper--its more work than its worth, its too dangerous." He corrected them.
My prayer was and continues to be, "Lord, I want everything Your word says is mine in Jesus Christ. I don't want to miss any of my inheritance as Your child. I want to say "Yes" to everything You say "Yes" to, and "No" to everything You say "No" to, because Jesus is Lord and I am not."
Thanks for asking this, it gave me a chance to think again about my convictions. Let me know if I can clarify or converse about any of these or other subjects.
1. The movement was a biblical movement. Anywhere there is an inconsistency between biblical teaching and church belief/practice, it is the church that must change, not the biblical teaching. This is the case in the ELCA today. There is now a gap between the consistent teaching of Scripture, and the voted on belief/practice of the ELCA in regard to human sexuality. One conviction I have is that the church can vote on anything that God has not already voted on. If God has already voted, we have no business voting. The charismatic movement was a reform/renewal movement, seeking to make consistent the church's belief/practice with biblical teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It included seeking the Lord in His word to find out what we were missing from the book of Acts, and Romans, and 1 Corinthians, and 1 Peter—New Testament Christianity! We had to change—not the Bible’s teaching.
2. The movement was churchly. Most people desired the unity of the body of Christ, the upbuilding of the body. As a result of the Charismatic movement, there were fresh expressions of unity among denominations. There was a palpable unity around the essentials of the faith, and especially around the One who “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth keeping it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” They didn't desire division and disunity. Sometimes they/we didn't act this way. Pride rises, and the flesh is always at war against the Spirit, and too often the flesh exerted its ugly self, causing hurt and division.
3. Sometimes the movement went too far. Sometimes it went farther than Scripture. This was and is wrong. BUT, the question comes, "How do you respond to abuse?" Paul dealt with this in 1 Corinthians. When a doctrine or practice is abused, you don't stop teaching the doctrine or doing the practice, you correct it. The Corinthians abused spiritual gifts and Paul corrected them. He didn't tell them to stop practicing prophecy and speaking in tongues, etc. He corrected them in their belief/practice. The Corinthians abused the Lord's Supper. He didn't tell them, "Better off just stopping the Lord's Supper--its more work than its worth, its too dangerous." He corrected them.
My prayer was and continues to be, "Lord, I want everything Your word says is mine in Jesus Christ. I don't want to miss any of my inheritance as Your child. I want to say "Yes" to everything You say "Yes" to, and "No" to everything You say "No" to, because Jesus is Lord and I am not."
Thanks for asking this, it gave me a chance to think again about my convictions. Let me know if I can clarify or converse about any of these or other subjects.
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