Who Yo Daddy? Part I
The Holy Spirit and Jesus
“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative. But whatever He hears He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:12-15)
“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He [Jesus] has poured forth this which you both see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-34)
Many years ago the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements arose from increasing dissatisfaction with the staid, disciplined doctrines of the orthodox mainline sects of Christendom, and I believe that was God’s doing. The importance and excitement of being filled by, and walking in, the power of the Spirit had been ignored, leaving a gospel of the law without much heart or passion. However, I believe we all tend to take issues like these and retreat to far corners of the galaxy with them, when the truth is usually found somewhere in the middle. Just as the orthodox sects dwelt upon disciplined adherence to the letter, I believe the Spirit-filled sects have gone too far with their passions and freedoms. By doing so, I wonder if we are separating the Spirit from Jesus and worshipping Him instead of the two as one? Thus, the need to address the question, “Who Yo [our] Daddy?” Satan is the master of including elements of truth that keep us from THE truth. He will do anything to get our minds and hearts off Jesus, where they should be (Col. 3), for it is in the name of Jesus alone the power of salvation, the kingdom, and the power to defeat him is found.
Where does the disconnect happen? I believe in the concept of a second filling of the Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues, and subsequently moving in the other miraculous gifts of healing and prophesying [foretelling]. It is as though tongues have become mandatory for a complete faith experience and the others are not gifts God grants to specific people, but the standard of faith all are to display if they do indeed have faith. Proponents of the second filling point to the story of Paul and Apollos at Ephesus in Acts 19, where the word concerning the very existence of the Spirit had not gotten out to many. They were being “baptized into John’s baptism” and not into Jesus’ baptism. Had the Ephesians been baptized into Jesus’ baptism, as has been the practice of evangelism ever since, the Spirit would have been a part of the package up front and there would have been no need for a second faith event. They had been baptized into the wrong baptism and therefore no indwelling. God was not going to let people go on thinking they could obtain salvation and the Spirit by believing in John.
Without the name of Jesus invoked there can be no Holy Spirit involved because, as John 16 above states, Jesus paved the way for Him, sent Him, and the Spirit only speaks or acts as instructed by Jesus. This concept was in evidence at the Day of Pentecost, which many glorify the Spirit for exclusively, yet which Peter accorded proper credit to in Acts 2 above. It seems the Spirit has the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus had with the Father while here on earth, where He did and spoke only as He heard from and watched His Father.
Likewise, the idea of a second “filling,” separate from the one we experience when we come to genuine faith in Jesus clashes with Jesus words, “When He comes, He will glorify Me.” If there is a second and separate event aside from genuine conversion to Jesus, then who is the Spirit bearing witness of and thereby glorifying? Would it not be Himself and not Jesus? While there is a moment when the gift of tongues is granted to someone, and that after their moment of conversion, I believe it is, like any other gift of the Spirit, more of a revelation of what they already had God saw they were ready for than a separate event that glorifies the Spirit.
As to the claim the most “complete” Christian is the one receiving this gift, we find that also to be a fallacy. First, to the claim the most effective way to pray is your Holy Spirit-led prayer language, Paul says, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also” (1 Cor. 14). To think that God does not hear our prayers as clearly because we do not pray them in tongues, or we somehow do not hear His responses as clearly, is simply not true. Am I saying speaking or praying in tongues is useless? By no means! It is a bona-fide gift, and the Scriptures say it edifies those who have it, but If it was the only way to closely communicate with God it would be given it to all and not a gift to some.
Tongues isn’t even the most important gift, and is the gift accompanied by numerous admonitions as to how to employ it unlike the others. Why? According to Paul, all gifts are to be used to edify the body. He tells us any who are zealous for spiritual gifts should seek to abound for the edification of the church (1 Cor. 14). When the spiritual gifts are recorded, the list begins with “But to each one is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12). Ah, but there is one that isn’t.
Paul identifies the source of the dangers of tongues and all other miraculous manifestations, saying, “One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies [or employs any other gift] edifies the church. Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy [teach], and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues” 1Cor. 14). Edification of self. Thus the need for the admonitions. Paul is clearly saying it is better to teach than to speak in tongues for the very reason concerning who the gifts edify. Edification of self leads to the biggest issue most who haven’t been given the gift of tongues have with those who claim to have been. As is the case with the other miraculous gifts, they’ve many times witnessed the aura of superiority those who have seem to universally relay to those who haven’t.
Gifts are given to only to edify the body and never be a source of pride for, or to set apart, the individual. To seek to edify others is to love. To seek gifts for any other reason is to seek power and this is where the danger truly lays. Two litmus tests help us discern whether or not gifts, especially those that involve the miraculous, are being employed in the manner intended or not, and as such from which spirit they originate. First, do those who claim them humbly receive them or eagerly desire them? And two, do they rejoice in them once manifested or not?
The Pharisees constantly pestered Jesus to perform signs, to prove He was the Messiah, even though He had already performed many. He said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah” (Matt. 16). He was saying the greatest miracle of all was simply Him bringing salvation and the kingdom to man, and to seek any further proof from Him to believe involved adultery, not with flesh but with other gods. Gifts are received in faith to edify others, not craved as evidence of power to edify self. Then, in Luke 10, Jesus says, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy…Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Same message: do not seek nor rejoice in the gifts, rather in the miracle of what I did to save you.
And yet, what do we often see from those involved heavily in the miraculous gifts? Do they not eagerly pursue those who seem to be the most gifted, fly them in from all around the world to teach, and then fill large venues with enthusiastic followers who all want to be a successful as they are? Do they not make the focus of their lives the gifts and live for the manifestation of them? If that is not “seeking” I don’t know what is. Once witnessed, do these manifestations of power not then become the news of the day, posted on social media and proclaimed proudly in their fellowships? If that is not “rejoicing” tell me what is.
It all makes me question whose power they are operating in, inasmuch as the Scriptures tell us there is power for miracles on both sides of the spiritual chasm between light and darkness. True, Jesus said signs and the miraculous would accompany those who believe in Him and did them “in His name” (Mark 16), but He also identified those as lawless, whom He never knew, as those who claimed to do those very things “in His name” (Matt. 7)! What?? Notice it says signs will accompany them [because they are gifts given], not they will seek to perform them. As always, Jesus looks to the heart, to the why and not the what. Those who properly employ any gift given by God do not seek, nor rejoice, in them. Rather, they quietly thank Him He has used them to edify others in love and they move on, “pursuing first Jesus’ kingdom and His righteousness.”
The point here is we need to tread very carefully when we start seeking manifestations of power as the evidence of faith or revering the work of the Spirit in us as somehow superior to, an additive we must have to augment, or an encounter with God we must seek apart from an abiding relationship with Jesus. Power without love is seeking the Spirit without Jesus, which is not the Spirit at all, but a dangerous counterfeit Jesus promised would lead many astray in these days.
A separate event that glorifies the Spirit, the seeking of manifestations of power, edification of self and feelings of superiority: all emanating from thinking we are walking by the Spirit more fully than others seeking a “mere relationship with Jesus.” This is not only claiming the Spirit bears witness to Himself without Jesus, it involves pride without love which also precludes Jesus. No, Jesus must be “Yo [our] Daddy” because He is the One who ensures a spirit of humility, love, and the edification of others. He sends and then gives to the Spirit, who then gives to us. To do anything that separates the two means we are worshipping one without the other when they are One. As the kingdoms arise against one another during these “birth pangs,” miraculous signs and wonders will be increasing on both sides of the aisle. Be certain you stay on the right one. Until the end of all things [to be discussed in part III], the One who sends and instructs is greater than the One who hears and relays. Urgently desire Him and His kingdom, and the Spirit will be with you, His gifts will accompany you, and the desire for power will never seduce you.
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