On Labels: Charismatic

We are talking church definitions here.

So 'Evangelical' doesn't just mean 'zealous', 'fervent', 'persuasive'.  And Charismatic doesn't necessarily mean possessing a great deal of personal magnetism.

The Christian term 'Charismatic' has taken something of a beating, especially in the States.  Sermons, articles, books and even conferences have been brought about with the intention of warning Christians about these errant people.

But I'm sticking with it, one reason being that for many years, the term 'Pentecostal' attracted utmost suspicion and derision in Christian and unbelieving circles alike, but the term is now relatively respectable.

Evangelical comes from the Greek work 'Euangellion' which means good news, or Gospel.

Charismatic comes from the Greek work 'Charisma' which means Grace-gift.

The New Testament teaches that Holy Spirit(1) gives certain gifts [charisma] to believers, such as Prophecy, other languages(2) (tongues), healing and words of knowledge.  There are many recorded instances of charisma being used by Jesus and the early Christians as well as guidelines as to how they should be used.

A 'cessationist' believes that such things were a temporary phenomenon for the time in which the New Testament was being written, and possibly shortly afterwards.

A Charismatic believes as follows:

- We seek to have an experience of being 'baptised' (filled, immersed, drenched) in Holy Spirit.  This is distinct from conversion and is to be sought by all Christians.
- The baptism in Holy Spirit is normally evidenced by spontaneous speech.  This may be joyful praise, prophesying, speaking in other languages for example.
- We are to seek to be continually filled with Holy Spirit
- Holy Spirit gives us boldness and makes it easier to preach the Gospel.
- Holy Spirit gives gifts, such as prophecy, healing, wisdom, knowledge, discernment and speaking in other languages, distributed to all believers as He wills, applying to all classes, incomes, sexes and ages.  We are to earnestly desire the greater gifts.
- Holy Spirit enables us to preach the Gospel with signs following, such as healing and deliverance from demons.
- Through our knowledge of Scripture, our maturity in Christ and the Gift of Discernment of Spirits, we can identify false prophecy and prophets, counterfeit gifts and miracles thus protecting ourselves from 'wolves' who would damage the church.

Charismatic Churches:
1. Seek for their members to be (initially) baptised in and (continually) filled with Holy Spirit.
2. Earnestly desire spiritual gifts and use them in church meetings and evangelism
3. Use the gift of discernment and scriptural knowledge to weigh up prophecies.
4. Allow suitably gifted people to contribute in meetings no matter what age, education, race, sex or social class.
5. Speak with authority.  Use words of command as well as prayer to deal with sickness and demons.

Why are we charismatic?

Because the Bible, in Acts, says this:

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

In Mark Chapter 16, it says this:

He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on people who are ill, and they will get well.’
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.  Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Note that the command to go into all the world includes the command to heal the sick and cast out demons, although non-charismatic Evangelicals tend to truncate the above verse in Mark, missing off the second sentence.

We are still in the last days.  The term 'last days' refers to the period between Christ's ascension and his return (feel free to check this out).  The Holy Spirit has not withdrawn his power.  Some churches have shut these things out, contrary to the teaching of Paul, who said we should 'earnestly desire the greater gifts'.

Notes
(1) I am going to use the phrase 'Holy Spirit' without the definite article, i.e. rather than 'the Holy Spirit'.  Some Bible Teachers such as David Pawson do this, and I believe it does better justice to the Biblical text and emphasises His Personality
(2) I prefer to use the term 'other languages' rather than 'tongues'.  This is a better modern expression of what the Bible says  emphasises the fact that God gives people other languages to speak which have not been learned and can be translated rather than just gibberish.

Back to the Gospel 3: Gouging out our eyes!

I will begin with two scripture quotes.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”

Therefore,
“Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.” And,
“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.” 


2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you.”
But Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel.”
The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you.”
When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud. Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, “What is wrong with everyone? Why are they weeping?” Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.
When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came powerfully upon him, and he burned with anger. 


1Samuel 11:1-6

A word of explanation is needed about the latter passage. Why did Nahash want to gouge out the right eye in particular? Well, according to commentators, the fighting men would carry their weapons with their right hand and their shield in their left. They would then look over the shield with their right eye. So effectively, by removing the right eye, they were rendering the people of the city powerless, unable to fight effectively in battle.

The relationship between government and church is complex and beyond the scope of this post, but I want to put a few points to you.


1. We are to respect those in political power, pay our taxes and realise that they are put in place under God's ultimate authority (Romans 13, Acts 23:5)
2. Having said that, government (if it ever did) no longer seeks the Lord for direction and guidance. The main political ideologies are humanistic.
3. We are not yet suffering active state persecution of the church, as some countries are, but there is a large degree of low level opposition to the gospel.

4. Government will happily tolerate and even financially support churches and Christian organisations that do good works, particularly if it fits with their agenda. But they will rarely support the preaching of the gospel.

Point 4 doesn't worry me. We do not live in a theocracy! And even in Old Testament Israel, prophets often lived on the edges of society, either earning their own living or relying on sympathetic supporters to feed and accommodate them. Jesus himself had 'nowhere to rest his head'. As a Christian, I want liberty (1Timothy 2:1-4), but I don't want a subsidy (Genesis 23:1-16).

I've seen it so many times. Churches and para-church organisations fall over themselves to get a grant, a subsidy or a service level agreement. It happens like this:
- 

• Some enthusiastic Christians set up a successful project. It combines caring for physical needs with sharing the gospel.
• 
It succeeds spectacularly!

• Either (a) it runs short of money, (b) they want it to expand or (c) a government agency becomes interested.
• They apply for funding.
• There is a clause in the contract which says that they cannot preach an effective gospel message.
• They get lots of money!

• It loses its effectiveness!

In other words.. Nahash has gouged our eyes out!

Let me quote from 'Revolution in World Missions'.

As much as we want to see hundreds and thousands of new missionaries go into all the dark places, if they don’t know what they are there to do, the result will be fatal. We must send soldiers into battle with the right weapons and understanding of the enemy’s tactics. If we intend to answer man’s greatest problem—his separation from the eternal God—with rice handouts, then we are throwing a drowning man a board instead of helping him out of the water. A spiritual battle fought with spiritual weapons will produce eternal victories. This is why we insist upon restoring a right balance to Gospel outreach. The accent must first and always be on evangelism and discipleship.
 P 109

Men for God: What not to do

Have you ever heard of men's crėches?

They have sprung up in some of our shopping centres. There was one in Cramlington, Northumberland, maybe it's still there. Ikea have a few as well, so I understand. They are 'play areas' for blokes, with Sky Sports TV, video games, snacks and 'lad mags'. The idea behind them is to let the wives and girlfriends get on with doing the shopping while the blokes can amuse themselves without getting into arguments. The term 'men's crėche' is exactly the right one. After a generation or three of fatherlessness, many of the men in our country are nothing more than big babies. It's just that their toys are a bit more sophisticated. It's not surprising we still treat them as such.

It's easy to look with amusement or bemusement at what the world is doing. The trouble is, we are doing it in our churches as well! I'll come back to this point in a moment.

There are now organisations out there such as Christian Vision for Men, books aimed at men, such as Wild at Heart by John Eldredge and Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. There are also men's breakfasts and conferences springing up. I have been to my share of these, and read a book or two. I'm glad that people are recognising that there is a need here that needs to be addressed.

Here's an interesting set of facts from CVM:

Thought provoking? How is it that our Lord and King, Jesus Christ, was able to build his church on the foundation of young skilled manual labourers and we can't seem to touch them? Where are we going wrong? The only thing here that I take slight issue with on here is the bit about being comfortable in church. I don't believe church should necessarily be a comfortable place for unbelievers. See below, for example.

The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.
Acts 5:12-14

But many of the things these people say are right. Church has become quite effeminate in many respects, such as the music (too slushy) and the decor (too flowery). But I am dubious about much of the material that is out there too which is designed to attract men. The marketing people, spin doctors and branding consultants have been out in force to see how they can make the Gospel attractive to men.

So to begin with, here's a list of what we don't need:

- beautiful, polished motorbikes put on display in the entrance of the church
- sexist jokes
- invitations to do extreme sports
- tribal shouts or chants
- more electronic gadgets and noisier music in church
- rodeo bulls
- Mexican waves and Harlem shakes

I have first-hand experience of most of these things, including the first on the list! I feel patronised by them. The trouble is, church people are being little different from the shopping centres and Ikea, with their men's creches.

So what are we to do?

Well, for a start, we need brave men who will live sacrificially, stand up for truth and righteousness, suffer for the truth of the gospel and lay down their lives for their brethren. Why don't we just obey what Jesus said instead of worrying too much about how 'attractional*' we are?

*This strange word only ever seems to be used in the context of making church attractive to outsiders.