As I was reading through the latest Cutting Edge (The Vineyard Churches Publication) I read the article on Power Evangelism. When asked what he meant by "power evangelism" the writer said, PE "is using the "power gifts:" healing, prophecy, deliverance, & ministry of the manifest presences of God-to reach people." Oddly, love didn't make the list of "power gifts." Love isn't power? God IS love, but it's not a power gift? Paul explicitly says love is the greatest gift, yet it's not a "power gift?" Weird. Wrong. Unbiblical. Sad. Reflective. Unfortunate.
I am thankful for the multitudes of those who are great lovers of God who never prayed in tongues or prophecied. E. Stanely Jones; Mother Theresa; Jean Vanier; Henry Nouwan; Charles Studd; Francis of Assisi. These incredible people remind me, as I flounder in the shadow of Apostolic shadows, that "love is the greatest gift." I am thankful too of my "empowered" brothers & sisters; I'm blessed to witness the miraculous in & around me.
Yet if love isn't the greatest of the "power gifts" than we've missed the point. In fact we've missed Jesus.
1 comment:
I am with you...
We often talk as though the Holy Spirit's role was solely and primarily to empower for ministry, even to the point of causing miraculous signs. Clearly, however, these signs and wonders fit into a larger pattern, of which our own empowerment is only a smaller part.
The Holy Spirit is given to glorify Jesus, sometimes this happens in and through even us! The fruit of the Spirit being just as important as the gifts of the Spirit, and all ultimately subsumed by the witness of the Spirit to the Lordship of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:3)
It is possible to so focus on the manifestations of the Spirit, that we forget the Spirit's agenda and purpose in manifesting at all.
On the other hand, it is possible to ignore that the Spirit does indeed empower for ministry with signs and wonders, even tongues...
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