kerravonsen | Reflections on Today's Sermon

So... today's sermon was on 1 Timothy 4:1-6. Or, as he titled it "Spotting the Fake". (If you want to listen to the sermon for yourself, here's the DPC Livestream with the timestamp where the sermon starts.) For the most part, it was a good sermon. For the most part, it was on-point and relevant and scriptural. Good points made about "some people see demons under every bush, while others don't believe in them at all". Good points about what a "seared conscience" is. Good points about those who want to add to scripture, take away from scripture, distort scripture. Good points about what legalism is. BUT. (Yes, there is a "but") But there was one point where he was unfortunately wrong.

I'm not sure if I want to laugh or cry about a sermon about false teaching having false teaching in it. So what was the problem?

The problem was the part where he strongly implied that the Gifts of the Spirit only happened in New Testament times, and therefore also implied that anyone who says they've heard a Word from God is a liar and a false teacher. I mean, he didn't come right out and say that. He just led a lovely little chain of logic saying that the only people who are allowed to say "God told me this" are Paul and the Apostles and the Prophets. Because (a) Scripture is the Word of God, and (b) personal revelation is the Word of God, and (c) you aren't allowed to add to Scripture, and (d) therefore you aren't allowed to add to the Word of God, because that would be adding to Scripture, and (e) therefore any personal revelation to anyone other than the authors of the New Testament is not a gift of the Holy Spirit, but a lie and false teaching, and the words of demons.

Hmmmm. In laying out that line of logic, I can see the flaws in it, though it sounded pretty plausible at the time. The error in the logic is in point (d), because he is saying, to use set theory, that the set of "Scripture" and the set of "The Word of God" are identical, rather than that the set of "Scripture" is a proper subset of "The Word of God". There's no way that the Bible could be an exhaustive account of everything God ever said to anyone. It almost feels like circular reasoning: "God never said anything outside of Scripture because we don't have a record of what He said outside of Scripture, because Scripture is the record we have of what He said." Um, what? Did the Council of Nicaea or the Synod of Hippo say to God "We've decided that you can shut up now, we've got everything we need." Nope.

It's not that "there are no Spiritual gifts nowadays" is an uncommon doctrine in the Protestant church. Indeed, it is very common. It just happens to be WRONG. Yes, yes, I can see why people want it to be true, because it makes things a lot simpler. You don't have to use discernment, you just have to ignore everyone who has been given the spiritual gift of prophecy. And ignore all the bits in the New Testament that talk about gifts of knowledge and prophecy. Um... isn't that "taking away from scripture"?

The thing is, the Scripture already has instructions about how to test whether something is the Word of God or not; we haven't been left helpless with the limited "is it a quote from the Bible or not" test.

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood." -- 1 John 4:1-6

And then it goes on to say:

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." -- 1 John 4:7-8

And the rest of the chapter is all about love, of God, by God, in God, to one another.

So that's the test: Christ, not-of-the-world, and Love.

I think another thing that is relevant to this is a teaching from the Charismatic Church I was a member of for a while: "the gift is for the task". To unpack that... the Gifts of the Spirit are meant to be used for things, like teaching and encouragement and evangelism. The gifts are tools, not a merit badge. Unless you're Thor, you're not going to say "I have a hammer, therefore I am Worthy!" If you have any sense, you'll use the hammer for hammer things, and the screwdriver for screwdriver things, and the broom for broom things. Unfortunately, there are some who do treat it like a merit badge, or try to build up a cult of personality around it. Um, that's "the viewpoint of the world", guys. Bzzzzt! FAIL!

I'm also not saying that non-Charismatic churches don't have gifts of the Spirit. They do, they just call them by different names. The Bird of Heaven will fly where He will, and none can put Him in a cage.