Listening to God 3: 'God speaking through Spiritual Gifts'

[For those who would read arguements in favour of the continuation of revelatory gifts for today I would recomment Don Carson's Showing the Spirit or to read here.]

Some people do not believe that all of the gifts mentioned in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians are for today. They fear that gifts that involve a revelation a revelation from God might compete with God’s word in the Bible if they were practiced now. They believe that those gifts were only for the time of the apostles and that they ceased when the apostles died. If you don’t agree with that position, I plead with you not to look down on those who do. Just because someone believes certain gifts stopped with the apostles does not make them unspiritual. For example, I am reading a book by an American called Charles Swindoll, who believes that prophecy is no longer available to the church. But it is clear from his writings that Charles is a man who loves the Lord deeply and I believe is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Another person who did not believe that gifts such as prophecy were available today was the great Baptist preacher Chares Spurgeon. Yet if I were to give an example of the gifts in operation I could hardly give a better example that the following incident from his life.

While preaching at Exeter Hall, he once broke off his sermon and pointed in a certain direction, declaring: “Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for: you have stolen them from your employer.” After the service, an obviously pale and agitated young man approached Spurgeon and begged to speak to him privately. He placed a pair of gloves on the table and said, “It’s the first time I have robbed my master, and I will never do it again. You won’t expose me, sir, will you? It would kill my mother if she heard I had become a thief…” (Sam Storms)

Perhaps this is what Paul calls a ‘message of knowledge’. Other gifts that involve the impartation of revelation from God are ‘a message of wisdom’, ‘tongues with an interpretation’, ‘prophecy’, and what is simply called ‘a revelation’. It is not always clear what the distinction between each of these is.

One thing that needs to be remembered is that the apostle Paul says that such revelations are imperfect in the New Testament. For example, he says that prophecy is to be weighed (1 Cor. 14:29). It is not then same as happens with certain prophets like Isaiah in the Old Testament who could confidently declare, ‘Thus says the Lord’, and whatever followed was taken as being an oracle direct from God. The concept of weighing New Testament revelation implies that it is of mixed content, that it is imperfect in character, and that the wheat needs to be separated from the chaff.

So our practice in Café church is that if anyone feels they have been given a prophetic word, David or I will first listen to it, to see if we can perceive anything that might counteract Scripture and then invite them to share it with everyone else. As a congregation we then listen to it, knowing that it imperfect in character, and seeing if these words might comfort or challenge us in any way.

Supposing someone fears such words are not necessary now that we have the completed Bible. Sam Storms explains

Scripture never claims to supply us with all possible information necessary to make every conceivable decision. Scripture may tell us to preach the gospel to all people, but it does not tell a new missionary in 2005 that God desires his service in Albania rather than Australia. The potential for God speaking beyond Scripture, whether for guidance, exhortation, encouragement, or conviction of sin, poses no threat to the sufficiency that Scripture claims for itself.

Hearing God 2: 'When God gives us a burden'

Do you ever think that if you want to do something then it could not possibly be God’s will for you? Elizabeth Elliot writes

For a long time I took the view that whatever I might want to do could not possibly be what God wanted me to do … A better understanding of Scripture has shown me that even I, chief of miserable offenders that I know myself to be, may now and then actually want what God wants. This is likely to be the case more and more as I practice obedience …

One of the blessings of the New Covenant which Jesus has established is to do with our desires. In Ezekiel (36:26-27) we read, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you … I will put Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Of course we have to be on our guard for we know that of sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). We have to learn which desires are implanted in us by God and which reflect such things as our selfish ambitions. But godly desires can be one of the means that God prompts us to move in a certain direction.

Related to this is what might be called ‘a burden.’ Brother Andrew describes a burden as, ‘something we become deeply motivated to pray about or act on, some part of history that God’s Spirit invites us to influence through our prayers..’ Another author explains ‘there will be grace within us that drives us to reach out to those for whom God has burdened us.’

Biblical examples of such burdens include Nehemiah’s desire to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He describes a moment where“… I had not told anyone what my God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem …” (Neh. 2:12). Similarly, the apostle Paul told the church at Corinth of how God put into the heart of Titus the same concern that I have for you (2 Cor. 8:16). The Holy Spirit ‘does wonderfully incline the hearts of believers in various directions.’

There is one word of caution. A burden for some course of action is not always God’s green light to proceed. King David had it on his heart to build the temple, and God commended him for this desire in his heart, but nevertheless it was not God’s will that David would build the temple (2 Chronicles 6:8-9). A burden should at least get us praying about things and may be God’s prompting to step out in faith.

Hearing God 1: 'When a Text Comes to Mind'

Over the next few days I am going to look at those means, that go beyond the plain reading of the Bible, whereby we might hear God.   

1. A text that comes to mind

Haddon Robinson complains about those who turn the Bible into a book of magic. For example, a person might open their Bible randomly and imagine that the first verse they set their eyes on is God’s particular word to their situation.

So the joke is told of the young man who was into flipping his Bible open at random passages to see what God’s will for him was. One day the Bible opened Matthew 27:5 (… Then Judas went away and hanged himself). Not happy with that word he flipped his Bible open to another text, his eyes descended on Luke 10:37 (… Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise'). He was even more disturbed and so he flipped the Bible open one more time, it fell at John 13:27 (Jesus said, “What you are about to do, do quickly").

I heard a woman give her testimony, which included talking about God’s direction for her life. She was trying to make a decision between living in the south of the island or in the border counties. She said she received a word from Isaiah who was told to go to the north and speak. She felt that God was telling her to go north. But such reasoning ignores the context of the Scriptures. The verse she looked at was a specific word for Isaiah. If it was taken to be a general principle beyond him then we should all travel north.

The truth is if we are going to take random verses of Scripture, ripped out of context, we might as well turn to the newspaper for such guidance. We might as well say, as we drive along in our car, ‘whatever the next billboard tells me to do, I will do!’ That being said, we should not be too hard on people who tell such stories of guidance. John Stott states, ‘I cannot deny that occasionally God seems to have guided individuals through a specific verse wrenched out of its context. But I must add that he has done it only in condescension to our weakness.’

But there is something that sounds familiar but is entirely different. I believe that sometimes the Lord will bring a text to mind. That text, giving respect to its meaning and context, may be a special encouragement to us or others. For example, Elizabeth Elliot writes, ‘I have never heard any voices or seen any visions from heaven … I have been reminded “out of the blue” on more occasions than I can count, of some word from the Bible which exactly suited my need.’ Similarly Storms explains

I’ve had several incidents where I was praying for someone, often a student of mine, and a single biblical text would suddenly come to mind. I would then quote it in the prayer and try to make application of it to their need. Afterwards, I would look up and find them in tears, asking: “How did you know that I had been meditating on that one verse before I walked in here? I was asking God to confirm his will to me through that verse and suddenly you spoke it into my life.”

The Bible precedent for this is found in John 16:13-15 (… when he, the Spirit of truth, comes he will guide you into all truth … the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you). Jim Elliff notes that while these verses were initially given to the Apostles, and had to do with their writing of down of what we know of the New Testament, there is a secondary application of these words to every true believer.

Of course the great thing about texts that pop into our mind is that if their context is properly taken into account any verse that comes to us has something to say to us—whether it came from our own imagining or was especially placed their by the Holy Spirit.