Who Is in Control?..

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From the beginning of the creation, humans have sought to be in control of their lives. The Israelites wanted a king they could see and who would guide and control them. They were not content to follow the Lord and His servant, Samuel.

There never has been, is not now, and never shall be a more important issue than that of who is in control.

God has made Jesus our Savior and our Lord. Throughout church history, Jesus has been acclaimed as our Savior. The atoning authority of the blood of the cross has been preached clearly in many instances.

But if one will examine the history of the Christian Church he will discover that in the majority of instances, Jesus has not been Lord. The Catholic Church is a good example, but by no means the only example, of man seizing control of the Kingdom of God.

Yet, the mark toward which every believer is to press is that of the rest of God, that is, the state of being in which the individual is aware constantly of the need to bring every thought, every word, and every action, to Christ in prayer so that the will of Christ may be done.

Such a state of being and living is not difficult to attain to. It is no more difficult to look to Jesus for the decisions of life than it is to rely on our judgment or the judgment of others. Yet the desire to take control of one’s own life is so terribly strong in people that believers find it difficult if not impossible to commit every aspect of their way to the Lord.

I have not heard of a religious organization that looks to Jesus for His will. All Christian organizations pray that their plans may be blessed. But to wait on Christ for His decisions may not be possible for a denomination because of various pressures and responsibilities.

But it is possible to any believer who is willing to forsake his or her life and follow the Lord Jesus.

What has provoked me to write this present essay is the knowledge that a new error has entered Charismatic thinking. The error is that of seeking to place the Holy Spirit in the role of Christ. The idea is that we can pray to the Holy Spirit and get Him to do what we want. The previous error was that we can command angels.

In connection with this, the position is taken that when we become mature enough we do not have to look to Jesus. We can decide what should be done in the Kingdom.

One man explained it to me like this: When my son is a young child he must look to me for everything. But as he grows older, I expect him to make some decisions on his own.

This allegory appeals to man’s instinct to control his own life. However, it is not valid. C. S. Lewis discusses something akin to this in Perelandra.

The son is not a branch growing out from his father. He is an independent person. He is not the bride of his father. His father is not being created in him. He does not live by the body and blood of his father.

His father did not create him that he may be an eternal temple of his father, such that his thoughts, words, and actions are to come from his father at all times. It is an inviting but invalid allegory. The son does not stand in relation to his father as we do to Christ.

Satan has little reason to fear most American church-attenders. But when one of those attenders decides to accept the crucifixion of his inward nature, take up his cross, and follow Jesus, Hell trembles.

Satan does not fear us, who are little more than intelligent dust. What Satan fears is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we turn over our life to Jesus Christ that He might live in us, and the Father in Him, all through the Fullness of the Spirit of God, then the nations are as a drop in the bucket and Hell is a fading empire.

Before the "we can command the Spirit and we can command angels" errors, there were the prosperity and faith errors. "We do not need to look to Jesus for the answer to prayer, speak the creative word. Use your faith, never mind bothering Jesus with your problem. Declare that there is no problem and it will vanish." Can you imagine there are Christians who believe this?

And, of course, there is the Catholic tendency to place Mary in the position that should be held only by Jesus. Can you picture the Apostle Paul praying, "O that I may know Mary"?

The Catholics are no worse than we. We are seeking a substitute for relying on Christ. "If we can just find the right formula, we can exert power and accomplish whatever we wish."

I do not believe there is greater room for error in Christian thinking than that of who is to direct the building of the Church, the Kingdom of God, or to assist us with our daily needs.

Any device, any formula, any technique, any system or practice that we adopt in order to achieve our desires apart from looking to Jesus at every point of decision, is loss for us and loss for Christ.

When one of our techniques "works," then we are led away from Christ. It is Satan’s use of what retailers term a "loss leader." It is Satan’s way of inviting us to act independently of Christ.

"Perhaps if we go someplace where God poured out His Spirit, or to a cemetery where a saint has been buried, we can pray and God will give us power so we can do what we think is best (and, of course, bring glory to ourselves)." If you can believe this, some are teaching that the Kingdom of God is here now. If we wish to, we can go forth and exercise the power of the age to come.

If you will think about what I have just written, you will see that all of these errors have one goal—it is to place the power of God in the hands of man rather than in the hands of Christ. God will have none of it.

God the Father is the source of all spiritual power. The Holy Spirit Himself gives gifts and ministries. But it is the Lord Jesus Christ, and only the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the authority to administer the power of the Father. Christ is the Chief Executive Officer, we might say.

When Audrey and I first accepted the pastorate of Mount Zion Fellowship in Poway, California, I stated that the Charismatic movement is going to be divided into two groups. The larger group will attempt to seize the gifts and power of the Spirit and attempt to "go forth and save a lost and dying world."

The second, and much smaller, body of believers will take all their gifts and talents, and their own lives as well, and pour them on the feet of Jesus as did the woman with the perfume.

They will not go forth to save "a lost and dying world" unless and until the Lord directs them to do so. They will wait on the Lord each moment in order to discover what He is doing and what He wants.

Audrey and I have adopted this stance. We endeavor to meet the needs as they arise. We have taken some steps, such as Internet sites, television programs, the sending out of literature. But there is no grand plan, just a patient waiting on Christ.

Meanwhile we have seen, in the arena of denominationalism, the continued emphasis on numbers of people coming to church on Sunday. This is the index of success, it appears. I believe all true Christians would agree that the numbers of people who attend a church are not the index of the worth of that church in the Kingdom of God. Yet denominations persist in this emphasis.

I seriously doubt that this misleading emphasis will ever change, and I am not persuaded that it should. My concern is that people seek to plan and operate the Kingdom of God rather than patiently waiting on the Lord Jesus until we know what He desires. As long as this is true, the pitiful moral weakness of the Christian churches will continue, I believe.

And the problem with the weakness of the Christian churches, at least in America, is that the leaders of government are not being presented with the moral behavior God insists on. Therefore Divine judgment awaits us.

Every nation that has abandoned itself to sexual immorality and other pleasures of the flesh has perished, even though at one time it had been strong and prosperous. Such is the future of America, unless God grants a revival that restores moral strength to our country.

If we are to be given a true understanding of what Christ is desiring today there must be people who have their Job experience; who taste the "strange ashes"; in whom "life that shall endless be blossoms red from the ground"; who can sit in the ruins of their life’s work and say, "Jesus is the sweetest name I know."

These sorts of experiences do happen to people who love the Lord. The purpose of such prisons, such crosses, is that they may know Jesus. From now on He is the Boss. They have no strength or wisdom to "go forth and save a lost and dying world." They are thankful to get through the day, leaning at all times on their beloved.

Such servants of the Lord are not always popular and sometimes do not attract a large following. However they must continue to be sternly faithful to the Lord Jesus. They will receive their reward in due season.

The willingness of Charismatic people to seek power rather than Jesus will lead to the False Prophet. The False Prophet has the two horns (doubled power) of the Lamb, but he speaks with the voice of the dragon: "I will. I will. I will direct angels. I will use the Holy Spirit. I will put on my administrative hat and arrange the master spirits who govern cities."

Brother, Sister, let us remove ourselves from those who are determined to use Christ to build the Kingdom the way they think God wants it built.

"Upon this rock I will build My Church." Jesus did not say the rock would build His Church; He said that He would build His Church.

And so He shall, if we will, as did Moses, look to God for every detail of the construction of the Church, hence of God’s Kingdom.

You can hear the morning sermon at morning.http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening.http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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