Faith in Christ is Vital!

 The renewal of faith in Christ is essential in a culture that is driven by hyper pragmatism and is marketed on the idea of what we lack and do not have. The media industry continually communicates to consumers how we do not measure up. According to this cultural model - we do not have the right status – the right looks – the right clothes – the right stuff – the right house, and most of the time, if we are not careful, we will not feel right about ourselves on the inside. If we are not alert to this media bombardment we can not only subtly begin to agree with its message, but even begin to transfer it to our relationship with God. The fact that we lack at times in our life keeps us dependent on God and this is where a vital faith in Christ is central. The fact that we lack is however, only part of the truth.

Remember, if we are a Christian we do not lack as far as the power of our redemption and spiritual inheritance accomplished in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7).  The only real lack that is present in our life is due to the fact that we are in process and complete change is ongoing. If we lack or need provisions they are on the way. Our salvation is complete, but our growth in grace is not finished (II Peter 3:18). Scripture provides both of these realities in tension with each other.  It has been referred to by theologians as the already and not yet. Already you are redeemed and adopted, but not yet are you in a state of complete glorification. This is not to suggest that if you trust God for your life that you will be able to also obtain all the things the culture promises you. You will however, instead live in the good of God’s promises. 

Interacting within a culture that is always telling you what you do not have or how you lack takes reminding that your confidence and focus is on the greatness of God. 

 Gerald R. McDermott in an excellent book on how Jonathan Edwards, during the Colonial period of American history interacted with culture, provides some critical points on what it means to live by a vital faith.  In his book, Jonathan Edwards Against the gods, McDermott summarizes 3 aspects in one way or another of what it means to have faith in Christ as it is applied to a cultural context. I am providing a brief account of his general principles. When we struggle in unbelief concerning our life situation it is good to remember the following. 
 

1. "Jesus is the Object of our Faith." We pursue him by faith because he is the object of our longing and desire. Certainty in life can be gained in no other way. True biblical faith has nothing to do with a cold separate aloofness to knowing God.

2. "True Faith Keeps on Seeking, Knocking, and Asking." Our love for God and our cultural context requires this kind of biblical faith. Questions do not put off true biblical faith nor does leaving such things always to I guess we just have to belief satisfy faith. If we stop pursuing, the genuine-ness of our faith can be questioned. This does not mean we do not have to leave things from time to time and trust God, but we never stop seeking understanding.

3. "Faith also has a Situation and Cultural Context." This demands that we hunger after God’s truth in order to understand it for our times. Each generation of believers must apply the Scriptures and the Christian faith within their own time. The truth of Scripture never changes, but the cultural context in which we live does.

 So how do we return to a vital faith if the coals from the embers have grown somewhat cold? 

Turn to the Scripture and be reminded of God’s greatest to us in Christ and the things he has promised – Romans 4:20-23 

Turn to prayer in order to bring your request to God no matter how personal they are. God desires to be strong on behalf of his people. He receives glory by answering prayer – Jude 20

Turn to the Holy Spirit to strengthen your faith. This is one of the things he is committed to doing as a main part of his work – Ephesians 3:17

 The passages provided here are to be read. They underscore each point. They hold encouragement and promise. They will help to renew your faith in Christ. 

 Gary L. Finkbeiner

The Critical Nature of Having A Right Focus on Justification by Faith

I Timothy 1:10-11
“And whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel …” (ESV)

The above Scriptures given by Paul underscore the importance of sound doctrine being aligned with the gospel of the glory of God.

Recently I sat listening to a few different messages presented by three different speakers. Attempting to be open and desiring to be edified in the faith I settled into the presentations. As I carefully listened to the presentations it begin to dawn on me that although I was listening to Christian themes I realized the gospel at its core was increasingly absent. I moved from being puzzled to becoming concerned? Not wanting to be critical I acknowledged that the teachers were excellent presenters and good speakers. I believed them to be sincere teachers and conveyed a desire to express their convictions based on what they believed the Bible was teaching. Scriptures and biblically sounding ideas were talked about, but there became an increasing disconnect related to the quoting of the passages and the context in which they appeared. Further, there was no connection to the related themes being presented and at other times the passages were taken from their immediate context.

I share this experience because I believe it is important to point out that one could actually be listening to Christian themes preached or taught and not hear the gospel. In fact, it is extremely likely, given today’s evangelical culture, to think you are hearing the gospel because you are listening to Christian themes but indeed it is absent. Words like justification and sanctification can even be the terms discussed while those using them have no idea of their true biblical meaning or how they are applied in the Scriptures that are referenced.

The term justification used in the New Testament is a prime example. One of the speakers stated that justification was being made righteous, which is not the truth. This statement is not even true when we add “made righteous before God” if we understand this righteousness to be something we become rather than to be residing “in Christ.” A big difference is related here. It is possible he may have not spoken in the way he intended and meant to say that “justification means being made right with God in that we are pardoned and forgiven for our sin based on the righteousness of Christ,” which is the truth. In this case there is a huge difference between the two phrases, but as the message continued he reinforced his previous statement in the way he talked about justification. The message came across basically as, through justification we are made righteous and now in sanctification (the process of growing in holiness) it is up to us to live in righteousness by making the right decisions. This might be a slight over simplification on my part of what was being taught, but not a misrepresentation. In other words, the speaker went on to basically say, God gives us initial righteousness (through Christ) and it is up us to maintain it as well as grow in it. However, is this the teaching of the New Testament or even the gospel? Not completely and one might say not even close. As stated above sound doctrine must conform to the gospel (I Timothy 1:10-11).

Justification – The Grand Doctrine of them All!

At its root the biblical idea of justification (Romans 3:21-27) is “to declare righteous” not to be made righteous. In fact the term justification is a legal term meaning “to declare.” Again, there is a huge difference.

Justification is based on the righteousness of God obtained through Christ, and herein lays the key phrase from Paul, “through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.” If we move off this foundation we wander into the self-deception that we are righteous and even doing a good job of maintaining it. In this idea the righteousness of Christ is devalued and we become in danger of being deluded by self-righteousness. We start acting like we can really do this apart from grace and God’s gift. The true nature of the gospel is hidden and Christianity is reduced to moralistic pursuits. This is not only not justification it is not even “good news.”

The Reformer of the city of Strasbourg Martin Bucer in the Reformation remarking on the dangers of doing violence to the biblical doctrine of justification and distorting it by self-righteousness stated, “Even the demands of the gospel are unobtainable unless we trust the promises of Christ and rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, not only can we not do the Law of the Old Testament right, we cannot even do the commands of the New Covenant. This might shock us, but Bucer got it right. When we fail or sin, and all of us well, we must trust. We trust in that Christ’s righteousness covers our failure and sin. We gain strength by grace to repent, turn from sin and continue forward knowing we are established on the foundation of justification by faith and what Luther referred to as an alien (outside ourselves) righteousness. Bucer or Luther did not mean obedience is not possible, but can only be accomplished through grace and a right understanding justification, based on faith, which hold us and does not let us go. This means when you sin you do not fall out of salvation or lapse back into being under the old Adam. You are in Christ and need to have faith (trust) in him.

Why is this Important?

Focusing on the biblical doctrine of justification has everything to do with the outworking of the Christian message in our culture and the building of the church. When it comes to the gospel in our culture if we give sinners the impression that if you join us we will make you a better and perfect person the gospel is obscured and true righteousness is diminished. At this point peoples focus is off the glory of Christ and set instead on how they are doing in their movement toward human perfection. This does damage also to the grace needed to make real progress in sanctification. When it comes to the church we will become in danger of being a people extending less and less grace to others in a false pursuit of creating our protected community and families.

This final point about the church is expressed by the great Lutheran theologian Francis Pieper (1953) who stated, “The doctrine of the Church is of such a nature that if a person erred earlier, all his doctrinal errors will reappear in his teaching concerning the Church. Since membership in the Christian Church is established solely by faith in Christ, the Scriptural doctrine of the Church presupposes a correct understanding of justification by faith …” A-men.

Gary L. Finkbeiner

Justification by Faith

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” Romans 3:28

The concept of justification by faith appears several times in Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is a major theme and point of emphasis in his epistles.

Its crucial importance is foundational to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This powerful phrase reveals to us that we are declared righteous (a meaning basic to the idea of justification), before a holy God based on the accomplished work of Christ alone. Jesus’ righteousness provides the basis for such a declaration that we are pardoned by God as a result. The beauty of such a declaration is based on the fact that a thing is what God calls it to be. We are declared pardoned and are so, based on God’s declaration to us through faith in Christ.

The only condition required by us for the application of this justification is faith alone. A faith that is based on trust, which relies and rests on Jesus’ finished work. Any other condition besides faith in Christ turns the gospel into works and law. This kind of faith is a gift from God and applied to the believer through the powerful Holy Spirit. This kind of faith is a result of grace and not our meeting certain conditions to have this gift (Ephesians 2:8-10 and Philippians 1:29). Even the act of repentance is partnered with this kind of faith and even in one sense follows faith since a person must believe that God will forgive them when they repent of their sins. Biblical faith in Christ is an indispensible gift. Salvation is by grace alone.

Author and teacher Hywel R. Jones has correctly remarked, that without this kind of justification “there is no Christian life.” Justification is the foundation of the Christian life. The force of Paul’s words in Romans 3:28, quoted above, underscore the critical reality. Paul’s statement at the beginning of the passage, “For we hold,” (NIV – “We maintain”) means that we do so with strong conviction and continual commitment. The force of the verb “to hold” carries the idea of continual action and presentation, without wavering. It is the continual reinforcement that the gospel is and remains “good news.”

When it comes to Justification by Faith I am not talking about a mere doctrinal formulation, but the foundation of a passionate faith. Luther’s colleague and fellow Reformer, Philip Melanchthon in his 1555 Topics on the Christian Faith, speaks to this issue by saying, “Faith is not only knowledge and thought, but something in the will and heart, a burning reliance on the Son of God.”

Gary L. Finkbeiner

Who Are the Real Hyper-Intellectuals or Rationalist?

"I will pray with my spirit, but I will with my mind also;" - I Corinthians 14:15

It does not take an individual within the ranks of the Pentecostal or Charismatic Networks a long time before one discovers the so called tension that exist between the mind and the Spirit. This tension is highlighted often inside of such movements. As it goes in such teaching whatever is of the mind is normally characterized as bad or doing violence to the Spirit and whatever the Spirit desires to do requires that you switch off your mind. I have listened as speakers exhort followers to literally turn off their minds in order to receive from the Spirit. Is this even possible? Does this even line up with a biblical view of the way God has created humanity? Does there exist such a radical distinction between the mind and the heart, the heart being that which is the center of the Spirit's operation to the exclusion of the mind?

Before we continue let me state clearly that hyper-intellectualism and rationalism are not good. Anytime an individual attempts to handle the things that belong to God through such a grid runs the risk of serious error. Furthermore, the presence of hyper-intellectualism or rationalism used to deny the power of God, as it is expressed in Scripture, can be the sign of and unregenerate mind who at the very heart of such an individual is opposed to God. On the other end of the spectrum irrationality is just as bad and can be a sign that the heart is not interested in submitting to biblical truth. However, the use of good intellectual skills on the part of a person who truly knows God is not opposed to the Spirit of God.

Pentecostals and Charismatics can both be Guilty of Hyper-Intellectualism and Rationalism

First, let me make one point very clear. When stating that Pentecostals and Charismatics can both be guilty of hyper-intellectualism or rationalism, I do not mean they foster this condition when they become theological or use theology. Instead, I would assert that they do this when they are simply being true to their belief system in most cases. In other words, hyper-intellectualism and rationalism is something all Christians can suffer from at various times. No one brings to the work of God only their heart and the Holy Spirit without their mind. Equally, no one brings only the mind without their heart. We have be made whole creatures by God. Both mind and heart must embrace spiritual revelation and truth as it is aided by grace.

The temptation and danger related to hyper-intellectualism and rationalism exist when the following conditions are present.

(1) You approach biblical doctrine in such a way as to shape its meaning to be less offensive. Scripture does contain many doctrines that are offensive to a human centered way of life. One of the most challenging doctrines to self centered approaches to the Christian life is the doctrine of election and predestination. Rationalism shows up when we attempt to define God's choice of us as God really seeing in advance that we choose him and then he makes his choice of us based on this human act of choosing him first. This is simply not taught in Scripture. God's choice of us has nothing do with our works. (See Romans 9:11-13)

(2) You reject other doctrines such as the doctrine of the Trinity because they do not make sense. Mystery in Scripture is difficult to understand. However, if something clearly appears in the Bible over and over again, just because we cannot understand it is no reason to reject it. We must embrace the truth of the Bible and pray for the assistance of the Holy Spirit to aid us. This does not mean we do not try and find good illustrations that help us to understand something as powerful as the mystery of the Trinity, but in the end all illustrations will fall a little short. (I Timothy 3:16).

(3) Maybe the most serious offense of rationalism comes when we embrace the idea that the only thing that we accept as believable is that which we can experience. This is the fundamental principle of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. The philosophical foundation of the modern period and its rationality was based on the idea that if I cannot experience something it does not exist. If I cannot experience something it is unknowable. On the other hand, the work of God must be received by faith. Rationalism does violence to the truth of Scripture when it puts experience in front faith. Biblical faith embraces all biblical truth whether I can experience it of not in the moment. This is not to minimize the importance of experiencing God, but it is to underscore the fact that many things in Scripture I may not experience. This means trusting God by faith even when my life is not fully working out the way I thought it would. In other words, I am forgiven even if I do not feel forgiven. God loves me even if my life currently does not look like he loves me. When I suffer and cannot figure out why God does not change the situation does not mean he is not currently working all things for my ultimate good. (See Romans 8:28)

As a Charismatic, early in my Christian life, I was guilty of many of these things. I prided myself in being "Spirit-filled" while at the same time I exhibited many rationalist traits. In fact the more I progressed along this path the more rationalistic I became. It has been observed by excellent Reformed and biblical scholars that mysticism leads to strong rationalism.

Refreshing change begin to take place when I returned to the authority of Scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit and accepted the biblical idea that some of aspects of the faith are covered in mystery. This does not mean that many of these same things cannot be taught or illustrated, but at the end of the day they must be excepted by faith because they are taught in Scripture. The Holy Spirit will help our understanding to grow.

The Scripture quoted above reinforces that God will work in such a way that both the mind and the spirit are fully equipped to serve God. The word "also" as it appears in I Corinthians 14:15 expresses that both mind and spirit are full employed in our service to God. Persevere in your study of the Scriptures and your learning of the Christian faith.

Gary Finkbeiner

Where has the Power Gone?
Job 26:14

Often within the context of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements the theme which drives them forward is the promised power of God. The question that is sometimes raised is: Where has the power of God gone? I know the nature of this question first hand since I have been in the movement for over three decades. Let me also state up front that there have been many good contributions brought to the Church through such movements.

Basically, the power of God has not gone anywhere nor is it absent. The power of God only seems absent when leaders in the Church or believers in general define the presence of spiritual power in partial ways. What I mean by this is spiritual power is defined only in the context of the demonstration of signs and wonders. After all Jesus promised power to those who received the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)? One popular Charismatic author even went so far has to say that the Church owes "a debt to the world in an encounter with God." This sounds good and spiritual, but is not biblical. Actually, what Paul says in Romans 13:8-10 is that we owe a debt of love defined by the apostle as a lifestyle based on the 10 commandments. Later in the chapter by this author the idea of an encounter with God is defined solely as the miraculous understood as healing and answered prayer.

Why challenge such ideas? Does not Scripture commend to us the idea of spiritual power and unless one is in complete denial of the present day operation of the Holy Spirit are we not to expect that God can heal and deliver people today? The simple answer to these kinds of question is yes, of course God is able to heal and deliver people today. The problem is our understanding of power is incomplete and not fully biblical when understood in this way. Let’s look at a few points.

First, let’s look at the text of Acts 1:8 - "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Sometimes in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles this is understood as no power, no Holy Spirit. However, this is not exactly what Jesus said. The passage is better interpreted as no Holy Spirit, no power. In other words, it is not spiritual power that mediates the Spirit rather it is the Spirit that mediates the spiritual power. The difference is simple. Whenever or wherever the Holy Spirit is in operation power is present. This is true whether or not the presence of that power is immediately seen or even detected through such things as signs and wonders, the use of spiritual gifts, or the right atmosphere in a meeting. Therefore, the new birth is powerful, conviction of sin comes with power, and the drawing of a person to Christ is equally a moment of power. The reason is that even in undetectable ways at first the power of God is in operation, since power is never separate from the Holy Spirit being one of God’s essential attributes (Genesis 35:11). In fact the new birth understood as regeneration is the miracle of raising a person from a state of death to new life. Even if at first it is not visible it does not make it less powerful.

Second, because power is an essential attribute of God’s being spiritual power can never be present without the power of the Holy Spirit in any aspect. In other words, God does nothing without the use of this attribute. The Church's understanding of the power of the Holy Spirit must be based on this second point. I know this may not be as simple, but it is critical. When Jesus says that believers will receive power at the moment the Holy Spirit comes upon them it does not mean that power becomes a commodity that is placed in the control of the one receiving it. Moving in this direction has caused much misunderstanding of the power of the Holy Spirit and has exposed the concept of spiritual power to corruption. This happens whenever we think that the power of the Holy Spirit is in our control or we must meet certain human conditions in order for it to work, operate, or show up in a meeting. Equally, such understandings contribute to the corruption of spiritual power because power looks and acts more like what we see in the world in its power culture. Wealth, complete health, success, promotion, and instant answers are all attributed to God’s involvement in your life. When these things are absent we appear powerless.

Third, since God’s power cannot be confused with the cultural idea of power, we can be confident as believers that even when our life does not look like our successful neighbors, God is at work. He is not only big enough to get us out of our challenged life he is big enough to bring us through challenging times in our life (Isaiah 43:1-5). This means God’s power is always at work in the life of Christians. What God desires from us is faith in Christ and what he has accomplished on our behalf especially the really critical things such as justification, adoption, and our union with Christ (Romans 6:1-6). If God is for us who or what can be against us? All of these things are done through the power of the Holy Spirit and it is this power that keeps us until the last day even if our life isn’t going the way we think it should. God is bigger. In fact the most important thing the Holy Spirit is accomplishing in the believer’s life is renewing our faith in Christ (Ephesians 3:16-17). This faith in Christ provides assurance that God is at work even when it does not look like it and he can also deliver us at any moment according to his great purpose and plan (Philippians 2:13).

Gary L. Finkbeiner

Discovering a Way Out by Going Further In:

Discerning the Presence of the Holy Spirit in a Charismatic Context

While watching a good movie one evening with one of my colleagues in the ministry a statement by one of the characters in the film caught my attention. The statement said something to the effect, “If you cannot find a way out, you find a way to go deeper in.” Reflecting a bit on this line I thought this is exactly my view of the pursuit of the Holy Spirit’s work. The direction my life has taken over the last several years have left some of my Charismatic friends a little puzzled as to the path I have been pursuing. They have watched me embrace and study with great zeal not only the Scripture, but early historical theology as well as that of the period of the Reformation as well as the post-Reformation period. Many have sat on the sidelines observing the direction I have taken and reasoned that I have abandoned my Charismatic roots as I have put at the center of worship the preached word and the celebration of the table of the Lord instead of testimonies and the “band.” Such moves when not understood can be seen as troubling especially to believers who have discovered in their thinking the vibrant life of the Spirit. Testimonies have a place in the gathering of God's people as well as musical instruments.

However, my difficulty with the Charismatic movement is just the opposite of what some Charismatics might think it is. The difficulty that I struggle with is not the greatness of what Charismatics believe they have embraced by becoming awakened to the power dimensions of the Spirit, but instead the fact that such understandings are in essence not big enough. What I mean by this is as I have observed Charismatic understandings of the work of the Spirit a couple of themes are very repetitive. These themes in my estimation narrow or even shrink the manifestations of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit at times for example, is reduced to the experience of being slain in the Spirit, receiving an instant healing, or having an emotional glory melt-down moment. Though not questioning the sincerity of some of these phenomena, the Holy Spirit is actually much larger than this as I have observed myself personally having been in the movement for 38 years. It is important to note here that I do not intend to suggest that Pentecostals or Charismatics do not have a big view of God. It is sometimes just not defined or expressed well.[1] So in order to find a way out of this narrowing definition of the work of the Spirit I had to look further in to find the way out of what seemed to be a shrinking world in the movements understanding of the Spirit.

The importance of looking further in was driven home to me recently while having breakfast with a pastor friend of mine in a southern city. As we talked over breakfast he lamented over the comments given to him by a visiting pastor to his congregation. The comments centered on what the visiting pastor perceived as an absence of the Spirit in the meeting due to the fact that my friend had established weekly use of the communion table at his Sunday morning service along with the preached word instead of testimonies and alter calls. The pastor I was having breakfast with was being accused of not “moving in the Spirit” by what seems to me a narrow defining of

what it means to have the Spirit present in a worship service. Evidently, the Holy Spirit is only present if people are falling on the carpet or the band is allowed to continue for 90 minutes or more. This not only constitutes a narrow definition of the presence of the Spirit, not to mention potentially non-biblical, but also a narrow definition of what it means to worship and also encounter God’s power. While loving the vibrant worship of God carried along by a good worship band, and experiencing the presence of the Spirit with some emotion, God’s power must be understood as bigger than emotion or worship as just singing. Remember, the foundation of Christianity is faith in Christ (Romans 3:23-25) regardless how you feel or the atmosphere created by a worship band. The Holy Spirit therefore, fills every aspect of the Christian life from union with Christ (Romans 6:4), justification by faith (I Corinthians 6:11), and multiple refreshing fillings of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) meant to help us progress in our sanctification. The Spirit is experienced also in the preached word and communion as direct means of grace given by the Spirit (Acts 20:32; Matthew 26:26-29). In the next article I would like to discuss what a fuller treatment of the work of the Holy Spirit involves in redemption. In other words, maybe we can get out of a narrowing view of the Spirit’s work by going further in?

In the mean time Charismatics in attempting to discern whether the Holy Spirit is present in a meeting need to change the nature of their question to get a more accurate reading. The question should be: How is the Spirit present, not if the Spirit is present? This is not to say that the question of whether the Spirit is present is never crucial. In a few situations it might actually be important to ask if the Spirit is even in those calling themselves Christians. However, in most situations the how part of the question will force us to think bigger about the ways in which the Spirit might be working in a particular setting.

Essay and Commentary

Gary L. Finkbeiner

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[1] For an beginning study of Pentecostal and Charismatic worldviews see the recently published book by James K. A. Smith, Thinking in Tongues: Pentecostal Contributions to Christian Philosophy, edited by James K. A. Smith and Amos Yong, Pentecostal Manifestos Series (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010). Smith is very passionate about Pentecostal worship services and the inclusion of testimonies in church gatherings in this volume while at the same time committed to a Reformed worldview. By listing Smith’s book here it should be noted that I am not suggesting he would agree with this brief essay or the essay reflects the contents of his book.

The Critical Relationship between Grace and Spiritual Power

When J.I Packer took up the issue of grace in his popular book, Knowing God, he raises two important questions, “What is it that [prevents] so many who profess to believe in grace from really doing so? Why does the theme mean so little even to some who talk about it a great deal? The root of the trouble seems to be misbelief about the basic relationship between a person and God.”

James Montgomery Boice in his book, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace: Rediscovering the Doctrines that Shook the World, adds to this by acknowledging, “The problem is that, although we affirm the grace of God in theory, we reject it by neglect.” Boice goes on to state the difference in the general climate of Evangelicalism off against that of the Reformation by commenting, “When the Reformers spoke about “grace alone” (sola gratia), they were saying that sinners have no claim upon God, none at all; that God owes them nothing but punishment for their sins; and that, if he saves them in spite of their sins, which he does in the case of those who are being saved, it is only because it pleases him to do it and for no other reason.” He goes on to make this critique, “Today, large numbers of Evangelicals undermine and effectively destroy this doctrine by supposing that human beings are basically good; that God owes everyone a chance to be saved; and that, if we are saved, in the final analysis it is because of our own good decision to receive the Jesus who is offered to us.” … “And this is not grace.”

According to Boice, if human effort is the central focus grace is not essential. In fact grace defined in this way is not grace at all since the term means unmerited favor.

If the church can undervalue grace the world and the culture rushes in the opposite direction. Rather than depending upon and receiving from God, the culture instead craves “power.” Here a danger begins to emerge in the church through cultural influence when grace is neglected and the idea of “spiritual power” is disconnected from it. In this climate the temptation to define spiritual power from the perspective of cultural power begins to surface.

Noted church leader and author Tim Keller in his book, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power and the Only Hope that Matters, has document the growing tendency towards idolatry in the modern culture when it comes to the kinds of things western people value. This “idol factory,” has Keller refers to it, finds one of its most predominate expression in the idea of “power.” Keller, noting the thoughts of Reinhold Niebuhr on this issue, makes the link between human insecurities and the desire to overcome these insecurities by obtaining power. Everyone wants to feel powerful and possess power or have ultimate control. Americans especially, attach the idea of power to things like money, position, our attitude, words, and anything that exposes a person’s insecurities. This is not to say that our attitudes or words are not important, but when it comes to grace they are not ultimate.

Reinhold Niebuhr has picked up on the human quest for power by stating in his work The Nature and Destiny of Man, “The perennial importance of power in social organization is based upon two characteristics of human nature. The one is the unity of vitality and reason of body and soul. The other is the force of human sin, the persistent tendency to regard ourselves as more important than anyone else and to view a common problem from the standpoint of our own interest. The second point Niebuhr will go on to say is birthed from “insecurity” and leads to “idolatry.” In other words, if self-centered sinfulness defines power instead of the way Scripture provides the true understanding, problems will emerge.

Wrong perceptions of power or power defined from a cultural perspective rather than a biblical one can lead us in remarkably wrong directions. In fact, the more we desire power for power’s sake the more it seems we are kept from it. In other words, we will move away from the very thing we so desperately want. In fact claiming to possess “spiritual power” in the manner of a cultural idea of power will distort it in such a way that it ceases to be truly “spiritual.”

Power plays into the grasp of idolatry when power becomes a possession for power sake. Jesus promised in Acts 1:8, that the church would receive “power,” not control or manipulate it. Once again, claiming to possess “spiritual power” in the fold of a cultural idea of power will distort it in such a way that it ceases to be truly “spiritual” and grace centered. Christians play into this arena (Charismatics especially) when we bifurcate power from the being of God proper and disconnect it from “grace,” which is a characteristic of God expressed through power. In this case something happens to “spiritual power” when we seek to implement it or use it. We appear to control it and direct it wherever we want it to manifest itself, instead of God being in control and using power to further his purpose. This can happen to the well meaning believer when the quest for “power” looks more and more like the world and its use of self-centered power. This can happen to us when we define “spiritual power” apart from the nature of God and his grace.

Connecting grace with power in the way Scripture connects them (I Cor. 12:9) keeps power located in the control of God and his purpose. It keeps us safe from the idea that we possess and control power (rather than receive it), manipulate and direct it, which eventually will lead us down a path away from grace and dependency upon Christ! Grace properly joined with power or grace seen as a manifestation of power keeps the Christian life and the church dependent upon God.

Paul’s understanding of grace assisted him in the knowledge that no matter how God was using him it was grace that established him and grace in which he labored. Paul expresses this preciously in I Corinthians 15:10 where he state, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (ESV).” Notice the use of present tense active verbs in this passage, “I am what I am” and “the grace of God that is (implied in the ESV) with me.” Paul’s experience and dependency on grace is current and active. This means that wherever he was at in his “spiritual growth” it was all due to grace. Also, whatever he was accomplishing for Christ through God’s power was equally due to grace. Paul never lost sight of the connection between grace and power and neither should we.

Essay by Gary L. Finkbeiner