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This is just one story of many from my recent journey across the Americas to Chile. About a month and a half ago I felt God saying to me that He wanted to stretch my heart for the nations. I simply just said, “Sweet God! Let’s do it!” and didn’t think much more about it. A few weeks later I felt God was urging me to go to Chile with a friend of mine who has a ministry that partners with foreign missionaries and church planters offering whatever kind of help they need. I tried to push it out of my mind because, quite honestly, I did not have the time or the money to take such a trip without planning or notice. For the next week I went to bed with Chile on my mind and woke up with it on my heart. I finally mentioned something to my wife about it and asked her to pray with me about whether I needed to go on this trip; if it was just me I didn’t want any piece of it, but if it was God I wanted to be obedient. A few days later, she said, “Kyle, I gotta talk to you about something.” In my head, I thought, “Oh no, what did I do?” Then she totally surprised me and said, “You are suppose to go to Chile.” I knew it was true, I knew it was God. So I tapped into our savings (don’t tell Dave Ramsey), bought a plane ticket, packed my bags, and left two weeks later.
The country itself is absolutely gorgeous, with the Andes Mountains standing proudly to the East, their summits still heavily capped with winter snow, and the endless bliss that is the Pacific to the West. It is very chilly there (pun totally intended), and the food is overwhelmingly exquisite with juicy steak, cooked-to-perfection potatoes, and boiled, seasoned clams and shellfish being some of the main dishes. I was super stoked to find that some of the finest coffee I’ve ever had was served at every one of the four meals a day. More beautiful than anything else were the people. Their hunger for God was apparent as soon as I engaged in attempting conversation, they with their broken English and me in a less-than-poor adventure in speaking Spanish. We had a team made up of my friend, a Chilean missionary, a few translators, a husband and wife who lead worship, and me. We traveled from the very Southern-most city that is reachable by vehicle called Puerto Montt, to the nation’s capital city, Santiago, within the 10 days I was there, totaling over 650 miles. Every evening we preached at a different church in different cities and brought the message of the faithfulness and provision of God. After the message we prayed and ministered to whoever needed or wanted prayer. I have never seen the power of God fall so strongly on a gathering in my life.
I’ll share one example of what God was doing throughout the week. We were at a church where many people came down to receive prayer after the message. We begin to pray for many of the people as God lead us and God began to move in the most powerful ways. As my translator relayed the things I was speaking, God began to speak to me more specifically and with more detail than ever in my life. I prayed for healing over a woman and watched her physically change. I prayed for healing over another woman and as I did my chest started burning with intense pain, which I initially assumed was caused by the mysterious shellfish/clam thing I ate the night before. As the pain increased, I wasn’t sure what was wrong so I jumped out on a limb and asked her if something was wrong in the middle of her chest. She exclaimed that she had had an operation in that exact spot two months ago and that it didn’t heal right and something was still wrong inside of her; it caused her much pain. I prayed for God to immediately heal her and as I did I felt the burning sensation go away and apparently she did too as she began to weep and cry out, “Gracias, Señor!” She said the pain was gone and that God had healed her. God is absolutely amazing!
I prayed over many more people for all kinds of different things and God continued to do miraculous things. One of the most incredible experiences happened late in the week as the service we were at was almost over. I had been praying for some people in the back of the room and was walking back up to the front. I past a young guy of probably 16 or 17 years old whom I noticed earlier in the evening. I knew earlier that I needed to pray for him and I kept waiting and waiting for him to come forward but he never did. As I past him, I called Francisco, my translator, to come over to him with me, and I said to the kid, “Can I pray for you?” He nodded slightly and I said, almost without thinking, “You knew you were suppose to come up earlier for prayer but you didn’t.” He looked down at the ground and nodded again. I told him that it was okay and that God wanted to move inside of him. I put my hand on his forehead and it was as if I immediately knew the core of who this kid was: his deepest insecurities, his internal thoughts, his secrets that he had never told anyone before. I began to speak the things that were going through my mind. I began to explain with uncanny detail the hurt and pain that he held inside of his heart and how he hid this all internally, shielding it from his friends and family. I revealed the outburst of rebellion within him and the sinful things he had been doing over the past year or so. I told him about his dysfunctional relationship with his dad and how he absolutely could not stand to be around his father. I knew it was because his father had emotionally and verbally abused him growing up and that he felt no love from his dad at all. I said that I saw him shutting the door to his room at night, pretending everything was alright, and then weeping in his brokenness and depression in his bed, crying himself into slumber. This was scary territory for me to be trudging through and I finally asked him if all of this was true. He finally looked up from the spot on the floor that he had stared a hole through and peered deep into my eyes, trying his hardest to hold back the tears. He nodded his head and said that every word I spoke was exactly right; it was all true. I then said something that I knew was the reason I was praying for him, “You hate God because you hate your dad. You think God is a father like your father. I am here to tell you that God is not like your father. He loves you more than anyone on this whole earth, from Chile to Texas, ever could. He is not mad at you. He doesn’t want to throw you in hell. He is madly in love with you and wants to know you, and He wants you to know Him.” At this, the boy broke down. The coldness rushed from his eyes in the form of ever-swelling tears holding the emotions of years and years of loneliness and brokenness. With streams forming vertically down his desperate face, I began to tell him the miraculous Gospel of Jesus, and his gaze never broke mine. I explained,” Jesus took all of your sin, all of your loneliness, all of your emptiness, and all of your brokenness to the cross where He died the most gruesome and horrific death in the history of the world. He went into the grave taking with Him all of your junk. Three days later He arose from the dead, the only person in history to have victory over death, and in the pit of the tomb He left all of your sin and brokenness. He is alive today. He wants to give you life. He is here now and wants to bring you life –real life, abundant and full life, joyful life where He is your Lord and your Lover.” I told him that Jesus is real and that the reason I knew all the stuff about him was because His Spirit was in me, speaking to me, and leading me as I spoke and prayed over him. ”Jesus has given me life, He has rescued me from death, He has rescued me from my brokenness and pain, He has saved me from the mess I got myself into. Do you want Him to do the same for you?” With the puddle of tears on the tiles below growing larger, he said, “Yes, I want Jesus!” I lead him to the Lord, telling him to pray to God and ask Him to forgive him, ask Him to save him, ask Him to live in him, and ask Him to grant him life. As the boy prayed, I watched the Spirit of God fall on him, moving deep inside his heart and restoring life and hope and love within the almost forgotten depths of this kid’s soul. I was a spectator of the amazing grace of God rushing over a wretched man, as the Creator of the universe stole back what was rightfully His to begin with–the life of this teenage boy. God did many incredible things during this journey and it was an awesome blessing to join Him in His work. I pray that this testimony of His grace and truth and Spirit and power would fall deep upon your heart, bringing encouragement and refreshment to your spirit. May God bless you as you seek Him and as we are obedient to the things He calls us to do, may He bring light and grace and truth and life to the ends of the earth.
Some call it The Great Commission. Others say it is Jesus’ Famous Last Words, which is strange considering Acts 1. Regardless of what people call the passage, the final verses in the Gospel of Matthew are ones of which we should pay close attention.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:16-20.
This is a relatively popular passage, especially in evangelical circles. We love to put parts of it on t-shirts and coffee mugs and bumper stickers and use it as a slogan for our upcoming mission trips and outreach events. But how many times do we stop and meditate and marinate on the concepts Jesus is saying? I mean, there is so much going on in this passage, not to mention that these are some of Jesus’ last words before leaving earth. Let’s dive into this text and reflect on some things Jesus says.[i]
So everyone goes through the awful death of Jesus. Three days later, the stone was rolled away. The women had already seen Jesus and told the guys that he’s going to meet them up on the mountain. There is a rumor circulating that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples, which they knew was entirely untrue,
and they are wondering what exactly they are going to see on top of this mountain.
They make the journey to Galilee, climb the mountain, and there he is.
When they saw him, they stopped in their tracks and worshiped him.
What did that look like? I honestly have no idea. I don’t know if it they counted to three and sang a song together, or prayed, or if they bowed down, or raised their hands, or if they only raised one hand because they thought two hands would be too distracting to others. All the same, the bottom line is they worshiped. It would be incredible to know what that looked like but the fact remains, we don’t know.
But some doubted.
Some of the guys simply could not wrap their minds around Jesus resurrecting from the dead. Did they lose their ‘disciple’ status for that? NO. They just didn’t think this thing that was happening in front of them was possible – something just wasn’t right about a guy coming back from the dead.
Then Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”[ii]
The word, “authority,” is the Greek word, exousia. Everything on heaven and on earth – which is, in the Jewish mindset, everything, everywhere, all places both in this world and in the heavenly realms – Jesus has control. His power to control all of this was with him throughout his entire life, through he chose not to rule by force.
“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.”[iii]
Everything is in Jesus’ hands.
Jesus has a way of turning things upside down. In his day, there was this superpower that ruled a good chunk of the world called the Roman Empire. They held the authority everywhere they went. Their way of authority was coercion. They simply forced people do what they wanted them to do because if they didn’t, that person or group of people, would get the living daylights beat out of them…literally. Death was a completely reasonable option for dealing with people who wouldn’t do what the Roman Government wanted them to do.
So Jesus comes along and says, “I have all authority.” Jesus’ way of authority was not coercion; it was not force. He did not come with a sword and an army, but with a towel. He did not come on a chariot and a white horse, but on a donkey. He did not come triumphantly into the world in a shiny castle, but with humility was laid in a manger inside a stable. Jesus’ way of authority, or exousia, is through servanthood, not coercion.
Jesus even said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”[iv]
His kingdom is not of this world. The word world is the word kosmos in Greek. It is this earthly world we live in.
Coercion forces people to live a certain way. Most of the time, that way is unnatural and uncomfortable for those people. Jesus said, “My way is from a different place. It is not of this kosmos. My way is not to push people around, but to find those who are being pushed around and help them back to their feet.
Then Jesus says perhaps his most famous post-resurrection words; “Therefore go and make disciples.”[v]
The word, “Go,” here is an imperative verb in the aorist tense. This means a few things for us. The fact that it is an imperative means that it is a command, not a suggestion. Jesus commands us to go. The same is true for the word, “make disciples.” In the Greek, there is also this idea that we are already going. So literally, it could be translated, “having gone keep making disciples.”
All of us are already moving in certain directions. We all have circles of friends with whom we interact and experience life together. It is not like we stand still in an ever-moving world. Jesus knows that we are already going so he says, “As you go make disciples.”
Making disciples, or mathetes, carries the idea of Talmudim, in the Hebrew Scriptures. A Talmid was life long students who followed everything that his teacher did. His whole life was dedicated to learning the ways of his teacher—learning how to live a certain way of life.
Humility is a main factor in this. You know what a good disciple would never say? He would never say, “I know all the answers.” That would put him above his teacher and would be the ultimate offence. It is so contrary to the western way of learning in which a student must know all the right answers and fill in all the blanks in order to be in good standing with the teacher. The first century, Middle-Eastern way of thinking is exactly the opposite, encouraging students to ask more questions, have less answers, and to not even worry about the blacks. Central to understanding discipleship is this idea of saying, “I don’t have the answers. I don’t know.”
Many times in sharing our faith, our greatest fear is what? Not having the answers. We think we are suppose to know it all and wonder what will happen if we don’t know all the answers that someone asks us? We think we need to know everything there is to know before we can tell people about Jesus. There is a great statement that every Christian needs to memorize. It’s complex and deeply theological. It is, “I don’t know.” You can’t be a disciple if you have everything together and you know all the answers.
So Jesus says to go (or having gone) and make disciples of all the nations. The word nations is the word, ethnos. People many times take this verse and slap it on a t-shirt and go on a mission trip to the other side of the world. There is nothing wrong with doing that but I think there is something way deeper here that we can get from this.
Ethnos means people not like you. People who live differently, look different, and are different than you.
So what is Jesus saying? Go and make disciples of the people who aren’t like you.
Jesus assumes that in our going, we come across people who are not like us. He reasons that we are in circles and have connections with people not like us. He’s saying, here, to the people of the first century, “You have it completely backwards.” They believed the savior would come to save them and them alone. It was this idea of, “Rescue us. Save us. Redeem us.” The religious people of that day even had a slang word for the nations that they often used. They called the other nations that were not like them, “dogs.”
Jesus turned that idea upside down. It wasn’t, “Hey guys, avoid those people with everything you have because they are unclean and are pretty much equal to dogs!” It was, “Alright guys, go and hang out with those people who are not like you. Don’t avoid them. Engage them! Talk to them. Don’t walk away from them, but try to get closer to them.”
If you spend all of your time with people who are just like you, you never engage the ethnos. If all you do is hang out in the Christian circles and go to Christian clubs and only participate in Christian events, you cannot get closer to the ethnos. If you never get away from people just like you, then you cannot make disciples.
Jesus even prays that we not disengage from the ethnos. He says, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”[vi]
Jesus prays for his disciples. He does not ask God to take them out of the world, but that God would protect them from the evil one. The intention was never, “I’ll take all of you and put you over here so that you will never have to deal with anything and you wont be infested by the heathens of the world and you’ll never ever deal with sin or sinful people again.” It was always, “Hey, I am going to put you into this heathen crowd and let you show them what I look like.”
This might come as a shock to some, but it is perfectly okay to be in the presence of “the bad people.” It is alright to be around someone who is smoking a cigarette, or someone drinking an alcoholic beverage, or someone who uses inappropriate adjectives. It is even okay to be at a place where those smoking, drinking, descriptive-word-using people hang out with no intention of distributing religious tracks or shouting turn-or-burn fraises from a loud speaker. We are to engage people not like us. And yes, other people will talk about us. We will risk damage to our religious reputations. We will be the point of interest during gossip sessions at the prayer meetings and people will question our morality and ethics and even our backsliden hearts. And all of that is perfectly okay.
There is an interesting concept I noticed in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. The first few verses say, “Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear [Jesus]. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered…”[vii]
Notice the different people in these few verses. Jesus is with the public outcasts. The-people-who-must-not-be-named. These people are completely opposite of those whom Christians would expect Jesus to be around. And yet, “these people” are the ones gathered around Jesus.
And the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered.
Which brings an interesting question: do outcasts, sinners, and people not like you flock to you? Do people whom society runs away from want to hear the things you have to say? Do the religious people and Sunday school teachers mutter about you? If the answer is yes, you may look more like Jesus than many people think.
So Jesus says that as we are going, we are to make disciples of people not like us. Then he says two things to do: baptize them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything he has commanded.[viii]
The word “baptize” is the word, baptitzo, and literally means to immerse or submerge. In evangelical circles we would define this verb, to dunk. In many churches that practice baptism by immersion, the pastor or dunker says something about baptism being a tangible picture of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. Water is like death, being immersed into it is like being buried, and we are raised up to walk in newness of life. It is an illustration of the death of our old self and the resurrection of our new self. And what are the words we use? “I baptize you, _________, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
This passage could be a literal demonstration in which Jesus tells us what to do: “Say these words whilst dunking new believers.” Nonetheless, I think there is something more here.
In John 17, the same prayer as mention earlier, Jesus prays for every believer that will ever exist. He prays for unity between them. He says, “Let them be one as I and the Father are one.”[ix]
There is this perfect unity that exists within the Trinity: Father-Son-Holy Spirit.
Three-in-one.
The Holy Trinity.
One God, yet three separate entities.
All different rolls, yet all the same One, Triune God.
So there is this perfect relational flow that exists within the Trinity; three parts that are all in relation to another, all the same God.
This brings up and interesting idea.
We were created in whose image?[x]
God’s.
Our creator created us to be like him. How many social networking tools do we use on a daily basis. How many friends do we have on MySpace? How many times a day do we check FaceBook? We talk to people via Instant Messing, SMS text messaging, and video chat rooms. Most everyone we know has a cell phone and many of us have unlimited texting. We have blogs, Twitter, Bebo, and whatever else just came out in the last few minutes that you spent reading this. The fact is that we are the most well connected generation ever to exist. We can hardly exist outside relationships. We can’t wait to get home to check our comments, posts, messages, or who wants us to be a pirate? Or a ninja? We can’t stand it when we get a text in class or in a meeting and we are unable to check it. We are close to death whenever our phone dies or, God forbid, is lost or broken.
The bottom line is we were created to be in relationship with each other.
We were created to be in relationship with our God.
When Jesus says to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, maybe its not just a suggestion of what to say when you baptize someone. Maybe it is an instruction to show the people around us what living relationally means. Maybe it is an order to immerse these people in a Trinitarian community. Maybe Jesus is saying to show them what it is like to like in a community of people that love God, love each other, and love other people. A community who lives in this relational flow with each other, doing life together, embracing hardships as a group, crying when ones hurt, rejoicing when one is glad, and trudging through the most difficult situations life throws at a person.[xi]
I have experienced this first hand. Several years ago, Jade and I met a girl. She had lived a life of drugs, sex, and running off chasing after everything under sun. She met Jesus, began to experience life-changing grace and became one of our really close friends. We took her into our community, which at that time was our small group of our friends trying to do life together, and loved her through a lot of tough times. There were moments where she would slip up and fall back into some of the old things that use to drag her to the very bottom pits of despair, yet we still showed her love. And there were times when I wanted to be completely done with her altogether. But God, in relation with all of us, showed us how to love her as we loved each other. We accepted her in her loneliness. We accepted her when she slipped up. We accepted her when she was completely out of life. That was awfully difficult to do and I would argue that it is only through the grace of God that we are still close friends to this day. We helped in her seeing life from a new perspective. We lived life with her and helped her get back on her feet again. And she helped us see life from a new perspective (and helped us learn patience, love, and Christ-centered understanding along the way). That is immersing someone into a Trinitarian community—a relationally based family living out the things that Jesus said.
So Jesus says to make disciples, baptizing the ethnos in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded.
Jesus uses the word, didoxo, which means to teach them how to live as one says to live. In other words, don’t leave them hanging. Don’t just introduce them into this community, but teach them how to be apart of this community so that they will be able to go and make more disciples.
What does it look like for the Shalom of God, which is when everything is as it should be, to come into someone’s life? What does it look like for the Shalom of God to rest on a community of believers? Demonstrating to each other how to live the way Jesus taught us to live? That is what Jesus is saying to do. “Look, immerse these people who are not like you into a world that is focused entirely on me, and teach them how to live the way I taught you to live. It’s a better way of life! It is not about not breaking a lot of rules. It is about living in a way that changes the whole entire point of living itself.”
When we go on our “mission trips” or try to build relationships with the lost, people tend to ask, “So when do we bring up Jesus? When is the right time to bring the gospel to them?”
I started reaching out to these freshmen boys a few years ago. I met them at school a when they were in seventh grade, and over time, something connected between us. Gradually, I started hanging out with them, taking them out to eat after football games, and just sitting with them when I visited the high school. I had no agenda for these boys. I wasn’t trying to get them to come to my church, and I wasn’t trying to “save them.” I was doing what I felt like Jesus clearly said to do: LOVE THEM.
Several months into this new relationship that had developed with these boys, I was asked the question, “So have you told them about Jesus?” It was a question that I wrestled with for a few weeks. I had not presented the gospel to them, and honestly, I didn’t want to. I didn’t even feel like I should, which was a little disturbing, considering I am a youth pastor and that is pretty much my job. After doing some study, and much dialogue with a few friends, I started to understand something. In thinking about the question, “when do I share Jesus with these boys?” the answer I came up with was I already AM. The truth is that I am sharing Jesus with these boys. I give them food when they have no money. I give them a ride home when their parents are doing something they think is more important. I talk to them when their world comes crashing down. I was telling these kids about Jesus in the things that I was doing.
So the issue isn’t, when do we share Jesus with these people? The issue is what are we saying about Jesus to these people? What are we saying we believe about God? If we are not hanging out with the ethnos, we are saying exactly what we believe about Jesus: that he cares about people like ME, but doesn’t have time for people like you. Or maybe worse, Jesus looks at them with the same look we give them when we see them.
It isn’t when we tell them that is important, but what we are saying. It is what we are communicating we believe about Jesus. How are we communicating the gospel in the way we live? What are we saying that we—as believers, followers, Christians, disciples—believe about Jesus in how we live and interact with the world, the nations, the ethnos?
When you hang out, study, lead a group, party, eat, reach out, engage, etc., what are you saying about Jesus? What are you teaching about Jesus?
Jesus sums everything up by saying, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”[xii]
EGO METH HUMON EIMI! Which literally translates, “I with you am!”[xiii]
Central to being a disciple is that we do not have to fear. Jesus says I am with you, always, even to the very end of the age. In the Jewish world, forever isn’t even a concept that you would talk about because no one can understand forever. A good Jew would never say anything about forever because it is uncertain. Jesus says with certainty, I am with you now, and will be with you till the end of the present age. In other words, as far as we can possibly see, I will be here with you.
We have nothing to fear because he is with us.
This is an interesting and brilliant way to end the Gospel of Matthew. In the very first chapter, it is said, “‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.”[xiv]
Immanuel—God with us. Matthew’s gospel has sort of this inclusion statement about Jesus. He introduces Jesus as God with us, and brings us back to the same things at the very end. “Surely I am with you always.”
***
THOUGHTS:
A disciple is someone who is done pretending. They are done acting like everything is ok. They are done pretending like they have it all together. They are finished thinking that they have all the answers to all the questions.
Making Disciples is asking other people to step into community with you so that both of you don’t have to go it alone. A disciple is past trying to figure things out and desperately desires God to put back the broken pieces of your life.
In making disciples, who is your ethnos?
Are you in circles of people not like you?
Are you immersing them in a Trinitarian community that longs to see the love of Jesus restore lives?
Are you living in fear? Or allowing the truth of the gospel to rest in you with no fear?
Remember, Jesus is with us always, to the very end of the age.
[i] Some of the ideas in this chapter are completely original to me. Most however are things I have heard taught or picked up on by someone else who was probably way smarter than me. I cannot remember who all of those people were so I give credit to anyone reading who thinks their idea is in this chapter.
[ii] Matthew 28:18.
[iii] John 3:31,35.
[iv] John 18:36.
[v] Matthew 28:19.
[vi] John 17:15.
[vii] Luke 15:1-2.
[viii] Matthew 28:19.
[ix] John 17:21.
[x] Genesis 1:27.
[xii] Matthew 28:20.
[xiii] This is Exodus 3 language. With ego eimi there are several drawbacks to all the times God is with his people.
[xiv] Matthew 1:23.
This post is a direct result of a conversation within my small group community that occurred Monday night. We talked about what it meant to live prayerfully and were discussing Jesus’ instructions on prayer in Matthew 6, when an interesting subjected arose. “What about when people pray in tongues in a service and no one can understand them? How is that different than ‘babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words,’ in verse 7?”
Thus, the topic for discussion is what exactly is the gift of tongues and how is it appropriate/inappropriate in worship.
Before I dive into scripture, I must confess that this subject is both deeply troubling for me (because I don’t enjoy controversy), yet very close to my heart. Monday night, I came clean and outed myself as one who has a prayer language; call it what you want–praying in tongues, speaking in the spirit, whatever–I call it my prayer language.
The story of this phenomenon began when I was 17 years old and a junior in high school. One Saturday night, I was intensely praying in my room and all of a sudden these words, seemingly gibberish and incomprehensible, fell out of my mouth in one, long strand. I, being the Baptist boy I was, became afraid and felt I had done something wrong. I immediately went to bed and even asked forgiveness from God for what had happened as a just-in-case-it-was-wrong thing. The next Wednesday at our youth group, we had a guest speaker from Canyon, TX, come and speak. As a part of the band, I was there early and me and this speaker sat down before the service and began to talk about God. He paused for a second and stared down at the table we were at, then said the most impacting words I had ever heard as a 17 year old kid. “Kyle, God wants you to know that whatever you experienced this past week was real and it was from Him.” I will never forget that experience.
I have never really talked about that experience or other experiences with my prayer language to people. For me, it is a very personal thing that is, and for the most part, will remain between me and God.
So, the discussion on Monday was uncomfortable and challenging, as I came out and confessed that I do pray in a prayer language in my personal devotion and time with the Lord. This came as a shock to many in my community group and my prayer for us is that it will at least stir up some good conversation about the things of the Spirit.
I spent about four and a half hours, coffee in hand of course, in the library yesterday researching and digging up everything I could find (in 4.5 hours) on the subject. Here is what I found.
The main text I’ll exegete is 1 Corinthians 14. You can read it HERE.
In this passage, Paul is talking about the building up of the church using prophecy versus using tongues.
“For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.” [v 2]
one
We must understand first that Paul recognizes this phenomenon as a legitimate part of church life and as a spiritual gift from God. He mentioned this gift in chapter 12 among a list of other gifts and is now, in chapter 14, expounding on the subject. So what exactly is the gift of tongues? Johannas Weiss, a renowned, German Biblical scholar, suggests that Paul could be referring to what Jewish and Greek writers call a state of “ecstasy.” This is where the person experiencing ecstasy goes under an “inspired seizure,” as words come from his/her mouth of which he/she has no control. ”The prophet does not utter anything from himself but echoes the foreign things of another being.” [This one sounds a little far fetched for me, but in an effort to be unbiased in my research, it is what I found.] Plato says that one in ecstasy is, “one who becomes inspired and out of his mind, and the mind is no longer present in him.” This person might reveal things way beyond his schooling, say profound, proverbial statements, or merely say words of phrases that do not make any earthly sense.
The difference between the Jewish and Greek idea of ecstasy and what Paul refers to as “speaking in a tongue,” is that in ecstasy, the words spoken are seemingly understandable as far as the language is concerned. The occurrence in Corinth seems to be different.
“he utters mysteries with his spirit.”
This is a somewhat difficult phrase in Greek. The word, pneumati, can be translated three different ways: 1) in [his] spirit, meaning his human spirit, 2) in the [Holy] Spirit, or 3) to the Spirit. Either way, there is a mysterious utterance in some spiritual aspect, and Paul acknowledges this act as legit gift from God.
two
Paul himself prays in tongues (vv 6,14,15,18).
“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.”
It is a little frustrating to try to understand and analyze Paul’s psychology and language because he brings in Jewish and Greek backgrounds with no explanation. Though this gifting is very mysterious to us, Paul doesn’t give much instruction or detail on how it works. He merely says, “I speak in tongues.” I understand that Paul considers prayer in a tongue a genuinely Christian experience but that its natural irrationality renders it unprofitable for communal church life, which requires that the mind be productive (more on this in a bit). It is also interesting that Paul sings in the spirit. The term Paul refers to is psallein, which usually refers to praise through singing accompanied by an instrument but is not necessarily a previously written song in which everyone already knows. So in this sense, glossolalia could be related not only to prayer but also to singing a song. (I thought it interesting that the only other mentioning of Paul singing is while he was in the Philippian Jail, in Acts 16:25).
three
Paul does not reprimand or treat harshly the people who are speaking in tongues. He has the gift himself so he wouldn’t kick someone out of the assembly for using the gift. The problem is that it was creating alienation within the church, making the ones who didn’t possess the gift feel inferior, pushing them away from Christian community.
I found that the same situation broke out about a century and a half after Paul’s time with the followers of Montanus, who claimed special inspiration from the Spirit through the gift of tongues. The movement was rejected by church orthodoxy but was later espoused by Tertullian, who defended it. Perhaps this was because of a severe theological and devotional laxity in the church during the early second century. Regardless, some accepted it as Biblical practice while others rejected it.
four
Paul believes that prophecy is especially important because it illuminates the people of the church.
“I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.” [v 5]
In contrast, speaking in tongues is of value only to the person who speaks. Apparently, Paul believes that the primary function of tongues is to express feelings, thoughts, or sentiments too deep for words and to address them to God in vocalization that breaks the bonds of ordinary, rational speech. Perhaps this is what he means in Romans 8:26, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”
Prophecy builds up the church, and therefore, is a more important gift. John Calvin defines prophecy as, “that unique and outstanding gift of revealing what is the secret will of God, so that the prophet is, so to speak, God’s messenger to men.” It develops loyalty, appealing to the conscience and will. Evidently, prophecy in these early churches functioned as a role filled now mainly by preaching. It built up the church, aka congregation, or assembly of believers, or the body of Christ.
five
Paul seems to be saying that personal devotion has its place, but it is not as important as public devotion, which concentrates on building up the entire group.
“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.” “He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
The only way tongues can be regarded to as more important than prophecy is when one interprets the utterance to the body, which builds up the church. Outside of interpretation–although it is of value to the individual–tongues is of no value to the church.
Paul compares tongues to instruments; lifeless things that make sounds, “such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the nots?” If you cannot understand the individual notes, it is merely meaningless sounds.
Then he compares it to other world-languages; “there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning. If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.” By contrast, this suggests that, at least in this case, the gift of tongues spoken of here is not an unknown, earthly language (as in Acts 2). Here, it is words unintelligible to anyone on earth, other than the person whom God has gifted as an interpreter. It also must be noted that the one who speaks in a tongue is permitted to interpret the utterance himself (v 13). The word foreigner is barbaras, or barbarian, suggesting the onomatopoeic words, “barbarbarbar.” The point is that if the sounds are heard by the hearer, they are still of no value unless they communicate a message.
Paul’s main concern is the building up of Christian community within the body of believers. Speaking or praying in tongues, though appropriate and beneficial in times of personal devotion and intimate, spiritual settings, does not build up the church and therefore, is inappropriate in larger, congregational worship settings. Prophecy is encouraged in larger settings (and small settings) because it edifies and builds up the community of believers. I do believe that speaking in tongues or praying in a prayer language is beneficial in some cases. If a small gathering of believers are seeking the Lord together, and everyone is comfortable praying in a prayer language, or at least with others praying in a prayer language, I do not think it is inappropriate. The believers are seeking to draw closer to God, through the Spirit, communally. If there are, however, members or individuals in the gathering that are not comfortable with tongues, I think it is more beneficial to do as Paul says. ”If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.”
Upon conclusion of this overly-lengthy post, we should heed the words of Paul. ”Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.” “Be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
There will be several blogs to come. Please check out the my journey page. It describes the things that have been going on in the last year of my life.
much love.
kp
The Cost of Being a Disciple..
Luke 14:25-27
Who qualifies to be a mathetes (disciple)?
There are these prerequisites to becoming a disciple.
Jesus says, if anyone comes to me…
In most cases, Jesus picked his own disciples by saying, “follow me.” akolouthe moi. There are only a few reported instances where someone would come to Jesus and ask to follow him.
And does not hate his own…
We read this as extremely harsh language because of our understanding of the word hat. It does not mean that we should despise our family members existence in order to love Jesus more. That makes no sense. This is a figurative term that operates on a relative scale. We should love God more than we love our family and even ourselves.
In first century Jerusalem, the family was extremely important. Your name came from the family line and it was a big deal to have your family name passed on to your descendents. Birth was celebrated and so was death. In your parents’ and grandparents’ old age, there was no home or hospice to pass them off too. It was an obligation, and one of honor, to take care of the family, especially your parents. You would all live in the same household and remain there until you died. So, aside from your devotion and dedication to YHWH, dedication to your family was the most important thing in your life. A good Jew would never put anything before his/her devotion to the family – except devotion to YHWH. The two were connected – the covenant existed between the ancestors and YHWH.
Gen 29:16-18, 22-31
Saw that Leah was not loved…
The word for ‘not loved’ is Senuah; and literally means to hate. So literally the verse is translated: and the Lord was that Leah was hated.
Did Jacob hate her guts? No. Did he like her? Probably so. Did he think she was pretty? Eh… But compared to Rachel, he hated her because he loved Rachel so much. It is a term of relativity that we should understand as, not as much as this.
Luke 14 – Jesus says if you don’t hate… you cant be my disciple he doesn’t mean you have to walk around despising everyone because you’re a hateful person. He means that compared to the love you have for God, the other people just don’t matter.
Yes, even his own life –
Jesus’ call is one of radical self denial. If we love ourselves more than we love Jesus, we do not qualify to be a disciple.
And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
The Roman Superpower ruled Palestine during this time period. Everyone would have known exactly what Jesus meant when he said, “carry your cross.” For us we just assume it’s a dude in a sheet carrying a 2×4 up Luther Hill. For them it meant
-criminal activity
-disgracing one’s family
-extreme humiliation
-the person everyone’s whispering about
-ultimately a terrible death
Jesus doesn’t just throw these words out nonchalantly. He means serious business. The criminal would carry his own crossbeam, meaning he took up the think that would essentially kill him.
Jesus means that if your allegiance is really not with him, and you’re not willing to stand with him and follow him in the face of possible rejection, then maybe this whole thing is not for you.
“Follow me” he says again.. This language is a little different than last week. It means come after me. ercetai opiso mou
28-30
Are there enough funds to build a watchtower?
In this day, watchtowers were common. They usually provided a lookout to protect the fields and vineyards from intruders and robbers. The higher the tower, the better the outlook was, the more the crops were protected.
So this is sort of an economic example that Jesus uses. The language he uses are economic terms – “count or compute the cost.”
If this task is not completed then you are susceptible to public shame. You are mocked and ridiculed. This was a time in which avoiding public shame and embarrassment was extremely important. A half completed project meant that you were poor in preparation and planning.
Another implication is the foundation. If all you have is a poured foundation and nothing else comes out of it, it is a useless plot of land where nothing can grow and nothing exists. A big piece of concrete doesn’t do anything for you except waste good space. If we are going to follow after Jesus there has to be something more than just the foundation.
31-32
War is something that most Israelites were very familiar. This is a request for terms of peace.
Most commentaries suggest that in the passage, Christ intends to make it known to his followers that the enemies that we will face are many and strong. Our strength compared to theirs is weak.
V32.
1. look at all consequences of following Jesus and be prepared to meet them. (if you need money for the tower, get the money, 20,000 men, get 20,000 men, etc.).
2. If you are engaged in the things besides Christ, you are not prepared to follow him (you start a project and can’t finish it, or go into a losing battle).
3. following Jesus is a full time thing which takes a lot of careful thought in order to fulfill the requirements
4. following Jesus is difficult. It costs us everything. “It will cost us the mortification of our sins and a life of self-denial, conflict with our lusts, and the enmity and ridicule of the world. Perhaps it may cost us our reputation, or possibly our lives and liberties, and all that is dear to us; but we must cheerfully undertake all this, and be prepared for it all.”
5. Leave all things or we can’t be a disciple. You cant follow Jesus if you turn back to your old ways or if you think you will turn back. If you don’t think you can handle it, if you don’t think you can persevere through that—the trails, temptations, hazards—if you are not willing to take up your cross and follow him, then you cannot be a disciple of Jesus.
“Welcome to the first Christian Church Meeting. Here are the rules…”
search for vintage 21 on youtube and you’ll see what i’m talking about.
Reread this thing.
Ask for terms of peace.
This passage is all about recognizing who is the higher power. “Who is Stronger?” It is a humiliating passage—you are stronger than me.
We are forced to think about what refusing the stronger one might mean.
Literally think about it a second. You are in charge of an army of men who are about to go up against another army twice your size in strength and number. What do you feel? (don’t say that).
-I cant do this. I have to submit. If I don’t then I will lose. And in this case losing means dying.
(the band dispatch?? The general? “I have seen the others and I have discovered that this fight is not worth fighting…”)
If God is the stronger one, then this is a passage of warning. What will happen if you oppose God? Can you battle him? NO. You will lose. The option? Submission. It is the only way out.
Recognizing that God is stronger and is the more powerful one is the only way to achieve peace.
Achieving peace with God – or the Shalom of God – is the point of this illustration.
V33. To be a disciple, you have to put God at the top. He has to come first before everything else. If there is something—an earthly possession—that you put in front of God, you must renounce that and give that up. Remove it from the number one spot and give that spot to God.
Luke 9:57-62
In the first case, the guy says “I’ll be your disciple, I’ll follow wherever you go.” Jesus says this profound statement.
Foxes have their place, birds have their place, but us.. we don’t have a place.
He is saying.. do you realize the kind of rejection you are about to go through? We have no place to lay our head. We do not have a home here in this world.
The second, the guy says, “let me go bury my father.”
In first century Palestine, the burial custom was to leave the body in the tomb for a year so that the flesh rotted away. After that year, the family would return to the tomb and put the bones in a special box called and ossuary, which was then set into the wall of the tomb.
Jesus could have meant that the time to follow him was now, and he couldn’t wait around for a year for this guy to make a commitment to following him. The consequences of following Jesus rather than burying ones father was seriously dishonoring to one’s family. Jesus makes it clear that to be a disciple, the main priority is following him in spreading the gospel message to those who have not heard it.
The third, the guy wants to say bye to his family.
Excessive concern for family ties makes the kingdom a lesser priority. Who can plow strait ahead while looking backwards? Discipleship cannot be double-minded.
Loving God and being concerned for his kingdom are the most important things for those who follow Jesus.
Phil. 3:7-9
If I gain the whole world, it means nothing to me
-get a raise
-get an A in a really hard class
-become world renown and famous
-star in a movie
-play in a super bowl
-win the lottery
It doesn’t matter to me. Paul uses harsh language. A vulgar term for human fecal matter. It is all a bunch of crap compared to knowing Christ
for his sake I have lost ALL things.
God has to be at the very top of your life.
So maybe its not – weigh the consequences, do all of this stuff, don’t do all of this stuff, and give up all of this stuff and BOOM you’re a disciple.
Maybe its saying, “Am I prepared to grow in Christ and be more than a foundation?” And saying, “God, I cant do this by myself. I submit to your authority. You are stronger. Bring Shalom into my life. I put you first. You are the most important thing in my life.”
