RECEIVING A DIFFERENT SPIRIT
We have noted the characteristics of the biblical Jesus – humility, meekness, self-denial and sacrificial love in His mission on earth. In His own words, He declared, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). To be sure, these same characteristics should be seen and stamped in the lives of the true servants of God. When we see various ones claiming to be servants of God, parading themselves proudly, claiming ‘visions’, ‘gifts’, ‘power’ and lording it over others, we need to see the ‘red flag’ and question the spirit of these so-called preachers and teachers.
It is also true that the message of the true gospel always brings about a spirit of peace, humility, gratitude and love; it certainly does not promote a spirit of arrogance, a sense of superiority, a negative judgmental outlook and an attitude of one-upmanship and showmanship.
D. A. Carson in A Model of Christian Maturity asked:
“Is it a biblical Jesus who promises us nothing but health, prosperity, wisdom, and joy? Is it a biblical Jesus who guarantees heaven and says nothing of hell? Is it a biblical Jesus who promises eternal life but says nothing of entailed righteousness? Is it a biblical Jesus who needs to have his saving work supplemented by our merits, ceremonies, and sacrifices if we are to be redeemed?”
Often than not, a wrong spirit is accompanied by the teaching of triumphalism, a belief that all the victories we will experience in the new heaven and new earth are available to us now. It fails to recognize that we are still living in a fallen world, and we are still “work in progress” and have not attained perfection and complete spiritual maturity. It does not acknowledge that there is still the tension of the “already” and “not yet” in our spiritual walk. The Holy Spirit who dwelt in the holy, loving, patient, meek, compassionate and gentle Jesus is the same Spirit who seeks to reproduce these qualities in His messengers and His people. A different and negative spirit in those who claim to be His servants and His people should ring a warning bell that something is seriously wrong and amiss.
There is no doubt that God has blessed us with much of His life and power even while we are on earth, but let us realize that only when the Lord Jesus comes again will we inherit all that is promised by God in the new heaven and new earth. Some believers have rightly commented that we are saved, we are being saved and we will be fully saved at His second coming. A wrong understanding of this and over-realized eschatology will only cause much pain, discouragement and make us more vulnerable to the manipulation and deception of the evil one. Let us not forget that the devil can dress up like an angel of light and he can present his false messengers in the same guise.
Contrasted with the teaching of triumphalism is the calling to the preparedness for suffering and the readiness for persecution for all true believers and disciples of the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote:
“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,”
(Philippians 1:29).
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12).
The Apostle Paul himself listed out his sufferings for the sake of Christ and the gospel, and the list included being imprisoned, flogged, lashed five times with thirty nine lashes, beaten by rods three times, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, hungry, sleepy and burdened with concerns for the churches and also suffering danger from Gentiles and his own countrymen.
It is perhaps not incidental that almost all the apostles died for their faith as they faithfully preached the gospel in the face of opposition and persecution. And surely this is not a picture consistent with the teaching of triumphalism. In case we think that suffering only affected the apostles, read the passage in Hebrews 11:37-38:
“They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated – the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground”.
The comments made by D. A. Carson in A Model of Christian Maturity on the Corinthian church succinctly highlight the seriousness of a wrong spirit and the unbalanced stress on over-realized eschatology:
“They [the Corinthian Christians] rightly understood that the salvation Christ provides exalt poor sinners to become priests and kings; but they so emphasized these themes that they started to strut like peacocks, forgetting that until the parousia, the church is also called to suffering witness (1 Corinthians 4: 8-13). The Corinthian Christians were inclined to stress their freedom in Christ; but they overlooked the fact that perfect freedom is possible only when there is perfect goodness – and the church has not yet reached the point…They were avid followers of spiritual gifts, and especially cherished those spiritual gifts that fed inflated egos. Extravagant displays in their view prove how spiritual a person is, how much he has appropriated of all the blessings Jesus Christ already provided. This pathetic spiritual one-upmanship was doubtless part of the cause of the party spirit that wrecked the church (1 Corinthians 1:12)…In short, they were quick to seize every emphasis in Christianity that spoke (or seemed to speak) of spiritual power, of exaltation with Christ, of freedom, of triumph, of victorious Christian living, of leadership, of religious success; but they neglected or suppressed those accents in Christianity that stressed meekness, servanthood, obedience, humility, and the need to follow Christ in his suffering if one is to follow him in his crown.”
A wrong spirit will lead us progressively away from Christ and the true gospel. It makes us very vulnerable to the manipulation of the evil one, and causes pride to rear its head and closes our hearts to the truth and to openness to correction and repentance. Thinking of ourselves as wise, we become foolish and succumb to the preaching of a different gospel.