What Is What

For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.  But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel...  -- Acts 2:15-16

When the Holy Spirit is poured out upon God's people their experiences will differ widely. Some will receive new vision, others will know a new liberty in soul-winning, others will proclaim the Word of God with power, and yet others will be filled with heavenly joy or overflowing praise. "This ... and this ... and this ... is that!" Let us praise the Lord for every new experience that relates to the exaltation of Christ and of which it can truly be said that "this" is an evidence of "that". There is nothing stereotyped about God's dealings with His children. Therefore we must not by our prejudices and preconceptions make a water-tight compartment for the working of His Spirit, either in our own lives or in the lives of others.  This applies equally to those who require some particular manifestation (such as `speaking with tongues') as evidence that the spirit has come upon them and to those who deny that any manifestation is given at all. We must leave God free to work as He wills, and to give what evidence He pleases of the work He does. He is Lord, and it is not for us to legislate for Him.

Let us rejoice that Jesus is on the throne, and let us praise Him that, since He has been glorified, the Spirit has been poured out upon us all. As we accept the Divine fact in all the simplicity of faith, we shall know it with such assurance in our own experience that we shall dare to proclaim with confidence -- "This is that!" -- Watchman Nee from The Normal Christian Life

This is from a section in Nee's book about "The Diversity of Experience".   In it he relates the different manifestations of being filled with the Holy Spirit as experienced by Charles Finney, R.A. Torrey, and Dwight L. Moody.  Moreover, what Peter in his message calls the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy does not match up to the signs the prophet seemed to forecast.

Because I was a member of the Assemblies of God, when I taught about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, I always taught that it came with the evidence of speaking in tongues.  I don't feel bad about doing that because if anyone asked me, as they sometimes did, why they "couldn't receive", I told them to seek God and not worry about tongues or any other gift.  Personally, I sought the gifts of wisdom and discernment since those seemed -- and still seem -- in very short supply in most churches of any stripe. 

Did I speak in tongues?  Yes, I did, and if I attend a Pentecostal meeting today where I somehow manage not to get so annoyed I feel more like speaking in hillbilly, I am liable to begin praying in tongues.  Sometimes when I'm praying, especially for someone else, I will break into tongues.  In a service, my rational mind says it's probably mob-think; in private, it's just a habit.  My rational mind doesn't know everything and is wrong on a fairly regular basis. 

Being filled with the Holy Spirit, whatever that means, is mostly beyond our normal ways of thinking and understanding.  It is nonetheless a reality that is available to anyone in Christ.  It is something we are called to seek continually. 

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.  (Ephesians 5:18-21)

Worldview

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. – 1 John 2:15-17

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. -- James 4:4

As we know, the world does not necessarily mean the earth.  The Greek word behind world can be transliterated as kosmos, which is related to kosmeo which means “to adorn.”  We might say “to dress things up.”  As used in the above passages, and many others in the New Testament, the cosmos isn’t a place but an arrangement.  In his little treatise called Love Not the World, Watchman Nee explains:  The classical idea of orderly arrangement or organization helps us to grasp what this is. Behind all that is tangible we meet something intangible, we meet a planned system; and in this system there is a harmonious functioning, a perfect order.

Now even though the kosmos has an internal harmony, it is hostile toward God and rejects Him.  Though it could not exist apart from God’s creation and is, in fact, derived from creation (it could not be otherwise), its internal consistency allows it to function apart from and in opposition to the Divine order.  In John 12:31-32, Jesus, speaking of His coming crucifixion, contrasts what has been with what is about to be:  Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.  The Cross dethrones and casts down the one who has been ruling and will give mankind a new ruler and a new cosmos.

Christianity is often cited as a source of conflict in the world.  Jesus would not argue with that.  He said He came to bring division.  We are bound to be in conflict with an order and a system that rejects God and thus rejects us.  We tend to think of things being worldly that are obviously immoral or that are associated with debauchery.  But worldliness is simply looking at things in a way that lines up with the mind that is behind the world – the prince of this world. 

Satan does not rule over planet earth.  He rules that kosmos.  He has a hierarchy and structure upon which his system is organized and integrated.  If you accept that system, it will make perfect sense and have, as Nee said, an internal harmony.  Of course, this requires us to reject truth and much of what we know is real, but it does provide those who are of the world with the ability to live in a coherent way. 

If I say that the kosmos is a “state of mind” it conjures up connotations of positive thinking and positive mental attitudes.  It’s more like being of one mind with the mind behind the system.  In Romans 8 Paul says that to be fleshly- or worldly-minded is death while to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.  He says, in Colossians 3, that we should set our minds on things above, where Christ dwells.  If we accept the thinking of the world system, it is spiritual death because it cuts us off from God.  If we accept the mind of Christ we will have everlasting life, and, for a time, we will continue to live behind enemy lines, in contact with the world system, confronting, abrading, offending it – not because we are doing anything wrong, but because that kosmos has been judged and its ruler dethroned by the Cross.

A lot of us would like to declare a truce of some kind with the world.  It won’t work.  I’m going to have to close this out, but there seems to be a lot more here.  Maybe when I’m not so addled from working all night I'll be able to come back to it.    

The Cross and the Soul

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14.26-27). Now Matthew shows us in the matter of affection how believers ought to choose loving the Lord first rather than one’s family; while Luke signifies what attitude must be maintained towards the love which arises from the soul life – we ought to hate it. Strictly speaking, we are not to love just because the objects of our affection are those whom we would naturally love. Dear and near as parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children are to us, they are listed among the forbidden. Such human love flows from soul life which will cling to its heart desires and will call for love in return. The Lord maintains that such soul life needs to be delivered to death. Though we do not see Him, He wants us to love Him. He desires us to deny our natural love. He wishes to rid us of our natural love towards others so that we will not love with our own love. Of course He wills that we should love others, but not with our natural soulical affection. If we love, let it be for the sake of the Lord and not for their sake. A new relationship comes to us in the Lord. We should receive from Him His love so that we may love others. In a word, our love must be governed by the Lord. Should He desire us to, we must love even our enemies; if He does not ask us to, we cannot love even the dearest of our household. He does not want our heart to be attached anywhere because He wants us to serve Him freely. – Watchman Nee The Spiritual Man, Chapter 4 “The Cross and the Soul”, pp. 180, 181

Here’s a little something to think about over the weekend. I think I’ve been on this topic before, but Nee states it well from his perspective of distrusting the impulses built into our old nature.

I doubt that God very often forbids us loving a spouse, child, or parent – in fact, He gives an explicit command in Scripture that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church. Yet, even then, it is stated so as to cause us to realize our lives are not merely lives but legends of God’s grace.

There's a New Sheriff in Town

A devious heart will be far
from me;
I will not be involved
with evil.
I will destroy anyone
who secretly slanders
his neighbor;
I cannot tolerate anyone
with haughty eyes
or an arrogant heart. …

No one who acts deceitfully
will live in my palace;
no one who tells lies
will remain in my presence.
Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
eliminating all evildoers
from the LORD’s city. – Psalm 101:4-8

A walk in the Holy Spirit is not only not committing sin but also not allowing self to abide. The Holy Spirit can manifest His power solely in those who live by Him. Whoever walks by his natural strength cannot expect to witness the mighty realities of the Holy Spirit. We need to be released from everything natural as well as from everything sinful. If we insist in walking according to man – not just the sinful, but the all-inclusive natural man – we reject the rule of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How can He exhibit His power if we are set free from sin and yet continue think as “men”, desire as “men” desire, live and work as “men” do? We are not leaning entirely upon the Holy Spirit of God to work in us. If we genuinely desire the fullness we first must break the all-pervasive influence of the soul. – Excerpt from The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee (emphasis added)

The quote from Psalm 101 sounds like one of those good old Old Testament theocratic, social conservative rants. The nutroots might read that and think it is exactly the mindset of Mike Huckabee or Alan Keyes or the Mormon hordes threatening the Great Ball of California. Of course, we are learning that it is really the Collectivists of the left who can’t tolerate disagreement or individuality, but that’s not my topic for the day – except maybe indirectly.

Psalm 101 is the song of a righteous king determined to drive out the lying and the deceitful, the wicked and arrogant. OK, what better place to begin such a purging than my own self? I look in the mirror and am reminded of the blues song that says, “I’m built for comfort. I ain’t built for speed.” My “palace” may be a little weather-beaten and rundown these days. I can’t do much with the exterior; it’s keeping the rain out at least. I can still keep up the interior, knocking down the cobwebs and mopping the floors.

My greatest struggle within my own quaint little city of Mansoul is with those denizens who lie and deceive. When Nee talks about the natural man and the self, he is talking about that which is derived from the Real. It is a mistake to take the self seriously. By doing so, destructive illusions and great confusion are wrought in the world. The soul will be a pompous ass, if allowed. The self has a purpose, but it is not to rule. The soul is meant to serve the spirit, not the other way around. The natural usurps power over the real by deceit. Like the king in the Psalm, I need to get up every morning and run those liars out of town.

If I would walk in the Spirit and live in peace, I must embrace truth, and it is sometimes blunt and brutal. I can give deception, or the deceptive self no quarter. Since by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17). There is, in Christ, life-giving justification for everyone, power to live the abundant, Spirit-ruled life free from the strangling lies and murderous pride of the natural man.

Here comes the Son.

The Latent Power of the Soul - "Power for Service"

If one who is experienced in the Lord is present at a revival meeting, he can tell whether the speaker is using soulical or spiritual power. Once a friend of mine told me how powerful a certain preacher was. As I had never before met this preacher, I said I dare not judge. But I did write a few words on a notebook and gave it to my friend. I wrote: "Full of power but what power?" This friend was not as advanced in the Lord as was his wife. He did not understand what I had written. So he turned to ask his wife. After reading the note, she laughingly admitted, "This is indeed a real problem. What power is that preacher filled with?" Once a brother among us observed that whether someone had power or not could not be judged by how hard he was able to pound the pulpit. We need to discern in a meeting if a person's power is psychical or spiritual.

We may judge this power from two directions: from the preacher himself and from the audience. If a preacher relies on his past experience-wherein people repented through a message he gave-by deciding to deliver a message a second time with the expectation of getting the same result as at the first, he is undoubtedly working with his psychic power. Or if he tries to stir up people by relating many stories of repentance, he again will be using his psychic power.

On the other hand, if the attitude of a preacher is like that of Evan Roberts, God's vessel in the Welsh Revival of 1904-5, then his soul power will be denied. For that servant of the Lord asked God to bend him, to bind his soul power, to bridle his self, and to block all which came out of him. He who ministers ought to know the difference between these two forces. He should be able to discern what is done by his soul power and what is done by the power of God.

The work of the Holy Spirit is threefold: (1) to regenerate us, (2) to indwell us that we may produce the fruit of the Spirit, and (3) to come upon us that we may have the power to witness. Now whenever the Bible touches on the power of the Holy Spirit, it invariably points to work or witnessing. This refers to the Holy Spirit coming upon us, not to His working within us. It is clear that the power of the Holy Spirit is for work; the indwelling is for fruit. The power of the Holy Spirit is always spoken of in the original text of the Bible as descending or coming upon, while the fruit-bearing aspect of the Holy Spirit is spoken of as abiding in.

Why is the enabling power of the Holy Spirit spoken of as being upon? Because the enabling which the Holy Spirit gives you is outside of you. You cannot be sure of it. Therefore if in a meeting people ask you whether you are confident of today's meeting confident that people will be saved-you have to confess that you have no assurance whatsoever. For this power is exterior to you. The power of the Holy Spirit is beyond your control. But if this is soul force, you are assured of it. You know your message can cause people to weep and to make them repent. What is called dynamic power is merely the power of the soul.

Once I felt powerless. Although other people told me I was satisfactory, I felt rather feeble. So I went to see an elderly experienced sister, Margaret E. Barber. I said to her, "Your power is great, why do I not have power?" We knew each other well, and she frequently helped me in spiritual matters. She looked at me seriously and asked, "What power do you want what you may feel or what you cannot feel?" As soon as I heard, I understood. I therefore answered, "I want what I cannot feel." So she said, "You must remember that there is no need for people to feel the power which comes from the Holy Spirit. Man's duty is to obey God. For the power of the Holy Spirit is not given for man to feel." (Note that sensing in the spirit is another matter.) My duty is to ask God to bind my soul force, that is, my own power. I am to obey God absolutely, the rest I leave to Him to do.

If we work with soul force, we can feel it just as do the hypnotists, who know what results they will get by doing certain things. They know from the first step to the last step. The peril of the pulpit lies in the fact that many preachers do not know they are using their own psychic force. They think they have power; but they are only employing psychological power to win people.

Some have suggested that preachers have become experts on the use of psychology in manipulating people. But I strongly repudiate such manipulation; for even though we know how to attract people with psychic means, we should purposely avoid using any psychic force. Once I was working in Shantung. A professor there said to his colleague "that these preachers work with emotions." It so happened that when I preached to the believers that afternoon I told them how undependable and useless was emotion. The colleague professor who was told by the first professor that preachers use emotion was also present at the meeting. After he heard my word he said it was a pity that the professor who spoke to him was absent.

Let us remember that all works done through emotion are questionable and transient. In the work done through the power of the Holy Spirit man does not need to exert his own strength nor do anything by himself. If a work is done by soul strength one has to exert lots of energy and employ numerous methods such as weeping, shouting, jumping, incessant singing of choruses, or the telling of a number of moving stories (I do not say that hymns and stories should not be used, only everything must be done within appropriate bounds). For the employment of these methods serves no other purpose than that of trying to stir up the audience.

We all know that some individuals have a magnetic attraction about them. Though they may not be fairer or more eloquent than others, they nonetheless can draw people to themselves. Often have people told me, "You have great influence over So-and-so, why do you not pull him over?" To which I answer, "That is useless." For this will merely be natural; it is not spiritual at all. Many mistake Christianity to be a kind of psychic phenomenon as though it belongs to the domain of psychology. We really cannot blame them, because we believers make the mistake first. Unless the power of God draws your parents or your children, your natural attraction-however great it may be-is of no avail. Even if you could draw them with your dynamic force, what, if anything, is really gained?

(Watchman Nee from The Latent Power of the Soul, Chapter 2)

Baby Talk

We have spoken of the need of revelation, of faith and of consecration, if we are to live a normal Christian life. But unless we see the end God has in view, we shall never clearly understand why these steps are necessary to lead us to that end. ... What is God’s purpose in creation, and what is his purpose in redemption? Watchman Nee from The Normal Christian Life

Creation and, consequently, redemption have a goal. God, it says, knows the end from the beginning. In the same chapter as the initial quote above, Nee relates the story of meeting an old saint who told him, “Brother, do you know, I cannot do without him? And do you know, he cannot do without me?” The Father will not be satisfied without His children. We are as important to Him as He is to us.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father.” Paul says we have the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.” Abba -- not to be confused with that dreadful ‘70’s pop group for which Sweden owes us reparations – ‘abba’ is the familiar Aramaic name for father, equivalent to ‘dada’ or ‘daddy’ in English, one of the first words a child says. Interestingly, the use of abba or daddy is not derived from the adult so much as from the infant. Babies make all sorts of ba-ba, a-ba-ba, dah, and mah noises. The parents encourage and reinforce these sounds helping the baby to string them together and make everyone happy by saying at some point “mah-mah” or “dah-dah”. We get excited and the baby no doubt thinks, “Cool. I wonder what brought that on?”

So it is with the Father. There is nothing unnatural or formal about our relationship to God in Christ. Through faith we are adopted. The Son of God is our elder Brother and the Father is our Daddy. Our relationship to Him is as loving and close as any parent-child relationship. In a good relationship, the parent is understanding and forgiving; the child is obedient and respectful. As a child I realize my Father has knowledge and wisdom that I do not possess and that there are things I can’t handle.

When I read the story of the Prodigal in Luke 15, I usually think of the son – his errors, his suffering and his restoration. But, as Watchman Nee points out, the story is really about the father who say, “My son who was lost is now found.” This is what God our Father seeks. He wants His children found and returned. God’s purpose in creation was to have sons, to replicate Himself and express His Nature through them. So, too, in redemption He has provided a way of return for those who have strayed.

Once we understand the reason why we are here – that we are created and redeemed to be sons and daughters of God – we can better comprehend why our Father requires certain things. No father likes to see his child unhappy, but no wise father makes a child’s way too easy. Maybe that’s why God is our Father and not our Mother.

As we get the proper perspective, some of the things that happen along the way matter less while others take on greater significance. Our journey begins to make sense. We begin to see how the Father took our mumblings and stumbling and gave them meaning and direction. We see that there was a Hand supporting and steadying us as we took a few steps. We see the Father smile at our childish pride in the “help” we gave Him lifting a load. When I tried but became too weary He carried me.