2 Timothy 3:5 (NKJV) 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
I have been sharing some observations about the need for the church to walk as supernatural people. I pointed out the hunger that man has always had for the supernatural. I am convinced the explanation for this hunger is that a supernatural God created us to be supernatural people. We were separated from God by sin but never lost the innate understanding that there was something more to our existence than the natural world. The bible supports this point of view in both the Old and New Testaments.
In our last post we looked at Galatians 3 where Paul asks the question, “Do you think that you can finish in the flesh what was begun in the spirit?” The spirit is the part of man that is vitally joined to God. It is the part that is born again when we receive Jesus as savior and Lord. Particularly in the Charismatic movement, there were people that went to false extremes in their attempts to be spiritual. They created confusion in the body of Christ.
In our attempts to bring balance, we sometimes allowed the pendulum to swing too far in the other direction. There was a tendency to avoid appearing out of balance. We began to be more acceptable and left the expectation of supernatural help. We learned to market, to study trends and use technology. All of this is good and valuable, but we cannot think we will do a job with solely physical tools that was meant to be done primarily in the spirit. We need to get back to depending on the spirit and using natural tools as supplements to what we have that no one else can match.
Of course, I do not mean to say that the whole church has left the way of the spirit for the ways of the flesh. I believe that there are varying degrees of this tendency in most of us. Some have bought into a lie that the “modern” way of preaching the gospel does not require what they might call “spooky” spiritual people. Others have compromised in some areas while not in others. I think most of us know that we need to depend on the Holy Spirit, but we have been disappointed in the past or we just do not know how. Whatever the degree of compromise we may be suffering, we need to get back to depending on the things that originate with and flow from the spirit of God to make the difference. Nothing else will change the hearts of people.
In today’s scripture, we a statement that is the culmination of a process that leads to the powerless state of the church. Today we live in the kind of times Paul lived in more than any other period in history. He lists some conditions that lead to his final description of the church. They have a form of Godliness, but they deny the power of Godliness. To me, this clearly describes the tendency of most of us in the western world. We have the forms, but we do not have the power.
Church history tells us that when the power of God is not operating in any church circle or denomination, there will eventually be an attempt to explain why. There are many who say the gifts of the spirit have passed away. Someone tried to point out to me recently that speaking in other tongues was a sign no longer given by God. I have heard teachings that say healing and the miraculous had passed away. Others teach that Apostles or prophets have passed away.
All who consider these things to have “passed away” believe that because they no longer see them operating in their lives and ministries. Since they do not see them, they must have passed away. Those in the body of Christ who do believe in such things and claim to have seen them are dismissed as “simple” or worse.
I always wonder just when they passed away. What was the date? Was there a funeral? Did God change his nature? Why did Jesus seem to need supernatural power? What chapter and verse tells us we no longer need supernatural manifestations? I have heard teachings that say 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that the gifts are no longer necessary because “that which is perfect has come” referring to the completed Bible.
I do not want to take the time to explain why 1 Corinthians 13 says just the opposite but let me pose a question. Why would Paul give detailed instructions about the “manifestations of the Holy Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 when such manifestations were going to pass away according to chapter 13 which falls directly between the two. Why would he have needed to tell anyone about the nature of these manifestations and how to operate correctly in them if they were only going to be gone within a generation?
Nothing God has given has passed away. God has not changed and neither has the bible that tells us “signs” will follow those who believe.” If we are not seeing the signs promised in the bible, we must find another reason. Let me propose that the conditions pointed out in the verses before what is quoted above are part of the problem. They describe our day, and those conditions rob us of the power of godliness that should be behind the form just as it did the church of that day.
Let us take a moment and look at these conditions.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NKJV) 1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
This is a very disturbing list but look again. We certainly live in perilous times. I do not believe most Christians have all the characteristics in this list. I do think the list represents the spirit of our times. I do think that we are affected by them. Their influence leads to verse five. We have the forms but the more these things influence us, the less we will have the power. In the end we will deny the power is real. We will stop expecting to be supernatural people and we will settle for something less. That is not the Church Jesus sent into the world
What should we do? I think it would not hurt us to look at this list and take stock. I am not suggesting we become condemned, but conviction is not a bad thing. If we are objective, I think we will find that we have allowed some of these things to get into our lives. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to show us how we have been affected by the spirit of our times. We need to rise up against that spirit both publicly and privately. We need to declare war on all of these attitudes and aggressively root them out of our lives and our ministries.
To admit that we have been influenced by what is on this list is not to admit weakness. The Lord knows who we are, and he made provision in his word.
1 John 1:8-10 (NKJV) 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
To say that the things on Paul’s list could not possibly influence us is foolishness. They have influenced us. We need to find out how, repent before the Lord and let him cleanse us of their unrighteous effects. If we do that, I believe we will be in a position to see the power of Godliness restored. We will once again begin to walk as the supernatural church Jesus sent into the earth in John 17.
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