Signs will follow

"Carry this Gospel to all the world"
by Harold Copping

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Mark 16:9-20

TO CHEW ON: "'And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.'.... And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs." Mark 16:17-18, 20.

Christianity has divided itself roughly into two camps.
- Those who believe that these signs Jesus spoke of, which were promised to "confirm" the word have ceased (Cessasionists).

- Those who believe that signs legitimately continue till this day (Continuationists).

A footnote on this passage in my Bible defends the Continuationist position:

"The signs accredit the gospel message and cannot be limited to the apostolic age, any more than the Lord's commission to carry the gospel throughout the world. The signs, therefore, confirm the ministries of Christ's ambassadors in every generation" - J. Lyle Story, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1380.

This latter is what I believe (in other words, I am a continuationist). But if this promise applies to us, why don't we see more signs accompanying the preaching of the gospel?

Perhaps one reason is that we don't really desire them and so we don't ask (as the disciples did in Acts 4:29-30). John Piper, in an article on this topic, makes this observation (he is referring specifically to the spiritual gift signs referred to in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10):

"I wonder how many of us have said for years that we are open to God's moving in spiritual gifts, but have been disobedient to this command to earnestly desire them... I would ask all of us: are we so sure of our hermeneutical procedure for diminishing the gifts that we would risk walking in disobedience to a plain command of Scripture? "Earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy."

I have come to the point of seeing that the risk lies in the other direction. It would be a risk not to seek spiritual gifts for myself and my church. It would be a risk not to pray with the early church, "Grant your servants to speak your word with boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through your holy servant Jesus." Disobedience is always a greater risk than obedience" - John Piper "Signs and Wonders: Then and Now."

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for breaking through natural laws with supernatural acts when You were on earth, and since then throughout history. Help me to be more open to You working in and through my life in supernatural ways. Amen.

MORE: Feast of St. Mark

Today the church celebrates the Gospel writer Mark in the Feast of St. Mark. The day's liturgy begins with this collect:

Almighty God, by the hand of Mark the evangelist you have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God: We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

***********
More on the two views mentioned above: 
Continuationism:

• Wikipedia article "Continuationism"
• Theopedia article Continuationism (with links to supporting articles)

Cessationism

• Wikipedia article "Cessationism"
• Theopedia article "Cessationism" (with links to supporting articles)

***********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Are the Holy Spirit's gifts for today?

Saul/Paul's salvation through a "sign" - Acts 9 - "Saul Stricken" by Peter Paul Rubens

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

TO CHEW ON:  "I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Jesus Christ … so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 1:4,7.

In 2013 a prominent American minister held a conference in his church called Strange Fire (at which event he launched a book by the same name). During the conference he and many speakers claimed and attempted to prove that the miracle-working signs-and-wonders era of the Holy Spirit's gifts was / is a thing of the past. I wonder what Paul would say about that—Paul the writer of today's reading whose prayer for the Corinthians is "that you come short in no gift."

[Gift - charisma means gift of grace, a free divine gratuity, spiritual endowment, miraculous faculty … especially used to designate the gifts of the Spirit - Dick Mills, Word Wealth, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible p. 5486.]

From the word charisma comes the word charismatic, used in our times to describe the person who has one or more of these gifts functioning in his or her life, or who believes these gifts are for today's church.

If you haven't already picked up on it, I'm on the charismatic side of the fence. And I thank God for that Strange Fire conference and how it confirmed me in that position!

If you're grappling with whether or not you should take the Bible's teaching at face value here, the book Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere will give you lots of food for thought. In it Deere says:

"If you were to lock a brand-new Christian in a room with a Bible and tell him to study what Scripture has to say about healing and miracles, he would never come out of the room a cessationist. … This is not a system of doctrine that I would have ever come up with on my own. I had to be taught that the gifts of the Spirit had passed away. … There is one basic reason why Bible-believing Christians do not believe in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit today. It is simply this: they have not seen them" - Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, pp. 54, 55 (emphasis in the original).

I believe we need these miraculous gifts as much as ever. Deere names some reasons why God continues to heal and work miracles even though His revelation in Scripture is complete (cessationists teach that miracles were mainly to confirm the legitimacy of Jesus and Bible writers):

1. God heals because He is asked to heal.
2. God heals to remove hindrances to ministry.
3. God does miracles in order to teach us (about Jesus, His nature, His ministry).
4. God does miracles to bring people to salvation.
5. Miracles manifest the Kingdom of God.
6. God heals for sovereign purposes.

Points taken (and elaborated on) from Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Appendix A, pp. 219-227.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You that the Bible is clear on the availability and necessity of Your Spirit's gifts for me today. May I not quench the Spirit or commit the sin of unbelief in order to rationalize why I don't see more of those gifts in my life and the life of my church. Amen. 

 

***********

New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.