Wild Ephesian Times

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.  But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."  Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.  And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"  And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.  This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. (Acts 19:11-17 NASB)

There is a saying of Jesus that has always given me the "shivers".  In Matthew 7:22-23, Jesus basically says that performing miracles isn't the "proof" it's that I obey His words.  That would be fine, but this is right at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and He has just spoken some really hard words; "turn the other cheek," "love your enemies," "blessed are the meek," and so on.  It's a hard passage to get through unscathed.  Yet, not following these as a lifestyle is the indicator that my relationship with Him isn't what it is supposed to be.

Now, not to be legalistic, these elements to the Sermon on the Mount are not suggestions, and they are not laws.  Jesus transforms laws into a perspective derived from a relationship with Him.  In other words, these elements are not requirements, but evidence.  No evidence such as these elements, do whatever miracles I like, I'm still not "in" with Jesus.  I always puzzled over that because I have assumed that without the Holy Spirit performing the "miracle" it wasn't going to happen.  And then Ephesus in Acts 19, perhaps I have been mistaken.

Traveling Jewish Exorcists?  I suppose that makes some sense since belief in evil or unclean spirits wasn't especially a Greek belief, but still, putting the spirit under an oath to obey in the name of the Person someone else preaches seems like an odd practice.  Yet it demonstrates the power of the name of Jesus rather than the power of the exorcists.  It wasn't about Paul (who the demons knew about) but about Jesus (who the demons knew).  "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?"  It was about the name of Jesus.  Like the demons knowledge about Paul, these "Sons of Sceva" knew about Jesus.  They knew that His name was powerful, but they didn't know Him.

Handkerchiefs and aprons of Paul are going to the sick and possessed and they are being healed and freed.  But it's not about Paul, but Jesus Whom Paul preaches.  Read it carefully, "God was performing extraordinary miracles" not Paul.  One of my favorite little passages in the Hebrew Scriptures briefly tells of David's "Three Mighty Men" (2 Samuel 23:8-17).  These guys made Navy SEALS look like children (intense children, but still).  These are the guys SEALS want to grow up to be like.  But in these cases where one would defeat the Philistines by himself, it says that the LORD brought about a great victory.  The tough-guy was just a guy.  Sure they would break through the Philistine lines to draw water at Bethlehem, and break out again to bring it to David, but it was God working to bring victory through them.

I read of the miracles, but I have to remember it is my Master doing these things, not these people.  Argue as you may, it is the power of the name of Jesus and God Himself who does these things, not the traveling Jewish exorcists, or even Paul, or his handkerchiefs and aprons.  It never was about the people through whom my Master worked, it has always been about my Master.  Perhaps the reason "miracles" such as these are so rare in America is because we are so keen to make idols of humans.  It's so ingrained in our nature to focus on the person we can see, touch, hear, and blame that we become distant from the works of power of my Master.  Because we are merciless with these "idols" we create.  We set these people up, and crush them when they fall.

What I want is the wild Ephesian times to break loose in my town, and in my church.  It would be great if it became known as a place of miracles of my Master, not about certain people through whom the miracles came.  It would be wonderful if my Master performed healing of diseases, exorcism, raising the dead, and freeing from addictions.  It would be amazing and beautiful if, when asked what person in the community was responsible, no one could point to any one person.  If my Master shone through like the irrepressible sunlight through a break in storm clouds, that would be awesome to see.  So why hasn't it happened?

None of my handkerchiefs or aprons will help anyone I'm afraid.  Those of my pastor are probably in the same category.  It's not the quality of our leadership team to see people miraculously raised from beds of sickness or death, not yet anyway.  I believe that I and a lot of my fellow believers have a long way to go before our Master has the freedom to work in this way.  I really can't speak for all of us, but I know that I have a lot to work through, not legalistically, but relationally with my Master.  I want it, but I'm still caged by fear, shame, and pride.  I haven't yet let the Spirit of my Master loose within my heart and soul.  I should be consumed, but I'm not, not yet.  Not yet.

To Be Healed

At Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet, lame from his mother's womb, who had never walked.  This man was listening to Paul as he spoke, who, when he had fixed his gaze on him and had seen that he had faith to be made well, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he leaped up and began to walk. (Acts 14:8-10 NASB)

Right before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that one benefit for them that He ascend back to heaven was that they would do even great things than Jesus had done (John 14:12).  The allusion was to the arrival of the Holy Spirit in power, but this statement has still "haunted" some believers.  There is an entire belief system within modern Christianity which holds that the Holy Spirit no longer does miracles.  That's an over simplification, but the "cessationist" belief is that He no longer works this way, and only did so while the church was getting started.

The problem is in interpreting what Jesus meant by "greater works".  The easiest and most common is to interpret it to refer to the miraculous signs Jesus did throughout His ministry.  Jesus, in His arguments with the Jews would call on them to believe the miracles and refer to those to overcome their disbelief.  Since the statement is in John, and this call to the Jews is in John, and John records the reception of the Holy Spirit differently (i.e. sooner than Acts 2), I conclude that when John records this statement of Jesus he too considers it to refer to the miracles.  After Jesus leaves, the miracles seem to become less prevalent.  Peter does many and then they seem to fade.  Paul does a few, but only a few.  Or does he?

Luke is the recorder of the explosion of the church in the First Century, and while he includes specific miracles less and less as Acts progresses, he does make references to "signs and wonders" performed.  This statement is what makes up for what is lacking in his specific references to miracles.  In other words, lots of miraculous signs occur, but he only mentions a few specifically, where they are important to piece of his plot or scene (or city, like here in 14:8-10).

It's my theory that cessationists beliefs are more a reaction against ecstatic practices of "spiritual gifts".  I have problems with most of these practices as well because of the unbiblical views they espouse.  There is no biblical support to put in place a "spiritual hierarchy" based on "gifting".  Such a view is actually preached against by Paul in the very books often used for support.

But it is also wrong for cessationists to ignore other passages which not only permit, but promote the use of spiritual gifts, even "ecstatic" ones.  I have a pastor friend who calls them "special effects" gifts.  The problem is that there are inherent problems associated with these expressions of the Holy Spirit.  Not the least is that they must be seen and understood in submission to the Holy Spirit rather than the other way around.  But another issue is the problems such expressions can cause when they become the focus instead of the One dispensing them.  These two issues are very closely related.

In Lystra, the focus quickly shifted from the message of Paul and Barnabas to the two men themselves.  It would seem that such a miracle was virtually unheard of in that region.  What I infer from that is that even "magic" of a dramatic sort was also unusual.  On Cyprus, the proconsul was impressed, but not to the point of worshiping Paul and Barnabas.  The miracle produced through Paul was to blind a magician.  So, he may have been somewhat acclimated to "dramatic special effects".  Here in Lystra, not so much.  They think gods have come down as men.  But even so, miracles of healing and raising the dead can't be common.  They have to be shocking reversals of universal assumptions about the world and how it works.  That is one reason Jesus came in the first place, was to push back on such assumptions.

The problem I see is that healing and other expressions of the Holy Spirit are hampered by the lack of what Paul saw in the lame man.  Paul saw that he had faith to be made well.  Where is ours?  Do I have such faith?  Or have I given up hope that my Master still works this way in this world of His?  I have a friend who has just gone through a very radical cancer surgery as the final step in combating a very aggressive form of cancer.  So far the results are the best that could be hoped for.  He is in ICU and recovering.  The doctors believe they got all of the cancer and were able to effectively rebuild the affected organs.  There may be complications to come, but that part which was trying to kill him is gone.  Is this healing from God?  Why not?  But am I able to have faith that God could have done it without the doctors?  That's where the rub comes.

I don't believe that I have a choice, but to accept my Master as Master over all physical life.  If He can and did "breathe" life into existence, then what sense does it make to not believe He still has mastery over it?  If the Spirit of the Living God decides, for the edification of His people, to heal someone, through someone else (for instance, doctors) or on their own, who can speak against it?  Is there something God is not "permitted" to do in this world?  It's not "my world" or "our world", it's His.  He made it.  So why would I limit my Master in His work, either through me, or, more likely, around me?  Paul stared straight at this guy, saw he had faith to be healed, and in a loud voice (as opposed to his "orator voice") commanded him to stand.  It wasn't Paul healing him, it was Paul telling him to act on being healed.  God healed the man.  Isn't this always the case? 

So whether healing, tongues, prophecy, or other gift of the Holy Spirit, I must seek to perceive the hand of my Master and not be distracted by either the act or the agent.  Perceiving the Spirit of my Master I should worship!  But if I don't perceive the Holy Spirit, and all that remains is the act and/or actor, then I should address the circumstances boldly.  The Scriptures will help me understand the difference.

What In The Name of Jesus?

 But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene -- walk!" (Acts 3:6 NASB)

Violence in the Middle East, Muslims attacking American embassies, and an Ambassador killed.  Yesterday, the eleventh anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, "9/11", the radical Muslims in two countries in North Africa attacked American sovereign soil in the form of Embassies.  There has been a lot of polarizing responses to these attacks.  Some claim that they are reactions to a film released in America that denigrates the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.  Few in America have even heard of the film until now.  Mob mentality ruled, and now continues.

I have to accept that, had the movie attacked Jesus' character I would have been angry as well.  When a movie came out in the 80's with some shocking character assaults on Jesus, there were lots of angry mobs in America.  I'm not sure if anything was burned, or anyone killed, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Just the anger over abortion clinics and doctors, and the violence perpetrated against them in the name of Jesus looks frighteningly similar to these mob riots directed at Americans.  There are a boat-load of differences, but there are also similarities.  But that is not what the power of the Name of Jesus holds for Jesus' human creatures.

The Name of Jesus is not for a war banner against other people who hold different views.  The Name of Jesus heals those human creatures held in the powerful grip of an existence apart from their Maker and Savior.  "Walk" commanded to one lame from birth in ankles and feet sounds ridiculous.  But what a wonderfully different "lunacy" from the violence on both sides.  This lunacy makes strong the legs and brings a man to walking, leaping, and praising Jesus.  The lunacy driving other human creatures to kill each other and other violence is not the name of Jesus.

People who claim the Name of Jesus may decry this stance as "soft on Islam", but my response to those who believe that I'm wrong is that my stance offers healing in the Name of Jesus to those who would kill me for my faith.  If my Master, Jesus, the Eternal Ever-Existing Only Son of God Most High, God of the Armies of Heaven, would consent to heal me, how can I withhold such healing from anyone or hope they never find it?  I can't.  I won't.  Instead I weep and pray for their healing. "In the Name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene -- Walk!"

Ready To Be Healed?

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.  And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.  When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.   But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!"   And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.   But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene -- walk!"   And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.   With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. (Acts 3:1-9 NASB)

It's been a while since my last post.  Vacation and the length of time it takes me to push through passages in the Christian Scriptures have limited my free time unfortunately.  But that isn't all.  Sometimes I just haven't been intentional in making the time.  It's not impossible for me to make shorter entries as I work through a passage rather than only longer ones after I've completed it.

I wonder if I need to be more like the lame man in this account.  There are a few things about his response to Peter and what happens to him that make me wonder about him.  For instance, he gets up.  Peter takes him by the hand, not the whole body.  The man tries to stand.  This attempt to stand works, but I wonder if it's his first time trying.  Am I trying to "stand" in my spiritual life?  Have I given up?  Is "Peter" just on his way, it's the hour of prayer, and I'm in my routine, will I be ready to stand?

The other thing I note is his response.  Sure he leaps up when Peter pulls his hand and his ankles and feet become strong, but he keeps leaping as he walks, praising God.  So, when my Master reaches into my life and changes the thing I clearly can't, do I just then saunter off happy to be free of the "burden" or whatever?  Where's the celebration?  Where's the self-degrading celebration of praise to my Master?  Or do I just not want to make a stir with my problem, and then not make a scene with my cure?  So, God works in my life and I just keep the event to myself?  Is that the purpose of my Master?

As I imagine this lame-from-birth beggar, something in this guy's life never came to terms with his lame feet.  He was never able to accept it.  But unlike so many who claim that attitude, I don't believe he stopped trying to fight it.  He stood when Peter took his hand.  He had been lame from birth, why would he know to do that?  I suspect he'd been trying.  Something in himself would not accept himself in that condition.  So, when the day of his healing came, he was ready; his expectant hope was fulfilled.

I suppose if every lame beggar in Jerusalem were healed, then I could use this as a formula for healing and restoration, but they weren't.  This was the Spirit of God in the life of this particular lame beggar.  He was born this way so when this day came, his Maker would be glorified.  So, while I can't form a "theology of healing" from this, what I can do is form a model of faith.  The expectant hope of this man was fulfilled.  Faith is built on such hope (Hebrews 11:1).

So, what's the faith model?  The man tried when pulled.  I know that much.  I may not know what attempts he made before that moment, but I do know he tried when pulled.  He was ready enough to leave his condition that he took the offered hand and used useless legs to rise.  I can only surmise what sort of condition he was in, or what practices he had practiced leading up to this time.  So, they're not the formula, the formula, the lesson, is in the inspired piece, the fact he stood when pulled.

The application from the lesson is that when my Master pulls me, I take hold that for which I have been taken hold of, and press on (Philippians 3:12-14).  This was a temporal healing at a point in a man's life, but he was celebrating praising God.  It was also a movement toward the heavenward call.  When my Master pulls me, isn't He pulling me heavenward?  Shouldn't I also leap and praise Him?  He's pulling me, who am I to be pulled by the One forming stars?  Why should I not stand?  Why would I not be willing to rise?  Legs, or heart, or mind, or hands, what of mine have I given up on?  That is not acceptable, not when I have this clear example that I am being called heavenward by my Master.  There is no excuse for giving up, it's never too hard, I am to rise when pulled, and leap and praise once raised.  Pardon me while I stretch some creaky joints; it's not the age, it the lack of use...shame on me.

Inspired to the Impossible?

Paul refers to some writing familiar to the believers in Ephesus when he quotes, "Awake sleeper, rise from the dead, and the Christ will shine on you."  We don't have that writing.  Chambers uses this passage to point to different types of initiative, the sort inspired by human effort, and the sort inspired by the Spirit of God.  I have to wonder, though, if there really is a part that is mine.

I have had to struggle with seeing myself as powerless over some of my behaviors.  But, at the same time, I have had to take responsibility for them, rather than blame some nameless cause, and simply surrender to these behaviors.  It is a tension with which I sometimes have difficulty.  How can I be both powerless and responsible?  Truly the only reason for the tension is my desire to pass off the blame.  The easy answer is that I, by my own choices and actions, have developed patterns of thinking and behaviors which now have taken over and I am powerless to control.  All that really means is that I must have help changing the behavior and thinking patterns.  I fear dependency, but it is the only way I can be free from these things to which I enslaved myself.

From this I already know my ability to inspire myself is doomed to failure.  So, when is initiative inspired by Jesus, not myself?  When He asks me to do the foolish thing.  The problem is that I have very little problem coming up with my own set of foolish actions, so I have to be careful not to choose something merely because it is foolish, ascribing those things only to Jesus.  Such as, He tells the man with the withered hand to stretch it forth.  The man does and is healed.  On the other hand, Jesus walks by the funeral bier and reaches in to raise the young man from the dead and return him to his mother.  Yet Jesus calls Lazarus forth from the tomb, orders the paralytic to pick up his mat and go on his way, and the blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam.

The things He asked people to do, if I put myself in the setting, are foolish.  The ones we think of most readily are the ones where Jesus does something; puts mud on the blind man's eyes (twice), touches the dumb man's tongue and puts fingers in his ears, and touches the leper.  There is this mixture of Jesus acting, and Jesus commanding.  So when am I waiting for the command and when am I waiting for the touch?  He commanded lepers to show themselves to the priests and offer the sacrifice Moses commanded, they went and were healed.  Not all lepers were healed the same way.  Which one am I?

When lepers travel to priests they venture to that place where they will suffer the most.  When a blind man has to navigate the narrow and noisy streets of Jerusalem to find a pool, he endangers himself.  When a man has a shameful deformation indicating, as everyone tells him, that he has sinned before God, why would he want to stretch it forth?  Jesus asked them to do the foolish thing.  The rich he told to sell everything, give it to the poor, and follow Him.  Not everyone was willing to do the foolish thing.  How willing will I be?

If I am willing, I will see the impossible happen, and Jesus will get credit.  If I attempt the impossible at the command of my Master, it will be clear that it cannot be me accomplishing it (hence the impossible adjective).  If it can't possibly be me, then it must be Jesus.  But if I attempt the foolish thing without His prompting, then I get the credit, whether I achieve the foolishness or it turns out for my benefit.  So I must listen for the voice of God, again; or rather, still.

So, I have heard, "Wait, worship, and walk before Me."  This puts my family in a difficult situation.  We can't tell people what we plan, and we look foolish.  We can't really prepare or we prepare for things we do not know will happen.  Either way, we appear foolish.  Employers want notice, property managers want signed leases, and we want to have closure.  It seems that I will not get what I want from my Master when I want it, but rather what He decides I need when He decides I need it.  He seems to think I do not need to know right now.  It appears what I need right now is the lesson in waiting, worshipping, and walking; and I am powerless to make Him answer sooner.