Detection of True Spirituality — part two

“I think the Lord is leading me to….”  “I feel the Lord is leading me to….”  “I really prayed about it and I felt that….”  You’ve probably heard these types of statements before.  And if it is God leading, who is anyone to question?  In many instances, it really is like questioning scripture at this point.  Except for one big thing—it isn’t scripture.  It is “I think,” “I feel,” and “I felt.”  And if not that, then sometimes it is, “The Lord told me.”  And that isn’t scripture either, even though, again, it is treated like it’s Bible.

One might hear these above type of statements from men in the office of the pastor.  How did he know what the church was to do?  How did he know what sermon he was to preach?  “The Lord told him” or “he felt the Spirit leading.”  One pastor I have known demanded the support of his congregation for every one of His sermons because it was Holy Spirit-preaching.  When he preached, that was the Holy Spirit, so it should be unquestioned.  Do you see a problem here?  This kind of language from a pastor places a type of authority on his decision making that is authoritative on the level of God.  Should we expect this kind of authority from the leaders of our churches?  In one sense, a pastor represents the voice of God, but it is only insofar he preaches the Word.  The people listen to God in those instances by means of the messenger.  But every opinion out of the man’s mouth or even just the ones when he is behind the ‘sacred desk’ are not synonymous with scripture.

How do we know what we ought to do in the areas that the Bible is silent upon, like who I’m going to marry, where I’m supposed to work, or whether the reuben on rye or the 10 oz. NY strip steak?  It seems that, “the Lord led,” is all we’ve got in those types of decisions?  Or is it?  How does the Holy Spirit actually work in these situations?

To detect true spirituality, first (part one) we proposed that all believers are spiritual.  Every Christian is spiritual.  There was a question of whether there were degrees of spirituality.  No.  Each genuine believer is indwelt by the one and only Holy Spirit, a Person.  You can’t get more or less of Him once you have Him.  However, He can have more of you.  It’s not quantitatively more spirituality.  No one is more spiritual in that sense.  However, someone can, rather than yield to the Spirit, submit to his flesh.  At that time, he is carnal, not spiritual, in a practical, not positional, way.  When someone is controlled by the Holy Spirit, then there are manifestations of that yieldedness.  We showed six of them.  These are how we detect genuine spirituality.  And now for the last aspect we will consider in the detection of true spirituality.

How Does the Holy Spirit Lead?

The Holy Spirit leads (Rom 8:14, Gal 5:18).  We know this.  But how does He lead?

First, He leads in accordance with Scripture.  “The sword of the Spirit . . . is the Word of God” (Eph 6:17).  Parallel to the filling of the Spirit (Eph 5:18) is the Word of Christ dwelling in us richly (Col 3:16).  Being controlled by the Spirit is being controlled by the Word of God.  All of this fits within the sufficiency of Scripture (Mt 4:4, 2 Tim 3:16-17).  God’s Word equips a person for every good work.  If a decision attributed to the Holy Spirit contradicts the Word of God, disobeys scripture, it wasn’t or isn’t the Holy Spirit leading.  The Bible is how we test to see if something is of God (1 John 4:1).   Sanctification of the Spirit is also the sanctification of the Word of God (John 17:17-19).  We are set apart by the truth, not by our feelings or opinions, which might be attributed to the Holy Spirit.

A corollary perhaps to the Spirit’s leading in accordance with Scripture could be “no private interpretation” (2 Pet 1:19-21).  The Bible has one meaning and many applications; however, we ought to also look to history to see how the Spirit worked in believer’s lives to apply Scripture.  The Holy Spirit isn’t going to suddenly accept a practice that has been forbidden by God’s people in the past.

Second, He leads in accordance with the church.  I’ve asked many if they needed the church to know the will of God and most will say that they can know the will of God independently of a church.  Often today I’ve noticed people think that they have the right to question a pastor in his preaching, but few think they should be questioned when they say ‘the Lord is leading.’  A church is to be of one mind, one spirit, one mouth, and one speech (1 Cor 1:10, Philip 1:27).  People should not operate outside of the unity or unanimity of the church.  Believers walk in the Spirit, but they do not walk alone.

In the Old Testament, Israel had the Urim and the Thummim for God to guide her in her decisions (Ex 28:30, Lev 8:8, Num 7:21, Deut 33:8, Ezra 2:63).  Do we have anything like that today?  I believe we do.  The Urim and Thummim today is the church.  The Holy Spirit indwells a church as the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16).  The church is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).  God leads through the church, not through single individuals.  There is one Holy Spirit who indwells church members, the same Spirit, so the agreement of the church is the leading of the Spirit (Eph 4:1-4, 1 Cor 12).  Dividing off of the opinion of the church is heresy (Tit 3:10-11, 1 Cor 1:11-17).  Church members judge matters of believers (1 Cor 6:1-8).  Matthew 18:18-19 suggests a supernatural leading through the agreement of the church.

In the freelancing spirit of the age, many today do not desire the agreement of a church in matters.  They rather operate independent of church authority, appreciating the freedom of “the Lord’s leading.”  It’s a free country.  We can move about when and where we want.  Many treat the will of God as a plaything, affording them freedom, which they label “Christian liberty.”  Many pastors also use this freedom to move from church to church, again attributing the activity to the “will of God” in their life, when often it is discontent.  Rather than just leave, people should be sent by the church for greater ministry (cf. Acts 13:1-5).  Lesser ministry isn’t God’s will.  But who determines that is the church, not the individual.  Someone may ask, “Well, what if the church is wrong?”  If the church is wrong, an attempt should be made to persuade the church from the Word of God.  Sometimes men will just use scripture to excuse what they want to do.   Jeroboam quoted Aaron to justify building calves at Dan and Bethel.  The church should be able to determine whether something is the will of God or not.

When Paul discussed Christian liberty in 1 Cor 8-10, at the end of that section (11:1), he commanded the church at Corinth to imitate him as he imitated Christ.  In areas of liberty, people of a church should look to the leaders of their church to know what to do in areas in which scripture is silent (cf. Heb 13:17).  Rather than follow self, follow godly leaders in the church.

How did Timothy know he was to be a pastor?  1 Timothy 4:14 is a great verse on this.  First, prophecy, that is, the preaching of the Word of God.  I’ve had men tell me that they didn’t ask me what would be the right decision because they already knew what I would say.  How did they know?  The preaching of God’s Word.  Preaching worked in the heart and life of Timothy.  Second, the laying on of hands of the presbytery.  Timothy got the unified guidance of godly men to verify the will of God in this matter.  In many cases today, men say they’re “called,” in essence, “God told me,” and that’s their chief indication of God’s working.  This isn’t the pattern in scripture.

Do you see how that Scripture and then the church puts objectivity to the will of God?  This is how the Holy Spirit guides today.  In answer to this type of presentation, often I’ll hear from men examples of Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles.  Do you understand that God doesn’t work with us like that any more?  We have Scripture and the church now.  God doesn’t speak to us that way.  If He is going to guide you like an apostle or prophet, than you should also fulfill the qualifications of the prophet and the apostle.  You don’t, so don’t see yourself as led by the Spirit the same way they were.

Some Specifics Concerning the Individual Will of God

Does Scripture teach us that God has only that one person for us to marry?  Or does the Bible order us to obey God’s Word but give us liberty within scriptural parameters in those individual matters?  For instance, Scripture prohibits a Christian from marrying an unbeliever among other instructions (2 Cor 6:14), but God would give freedom within the bounds of what He said in His Word.  Paul says this in 1 Corinthian 7:39:  “The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”  “She is at liberty to be married to whom she will.”  Of course, he adds, “only in the Lord.”  Within biblical guidelines, someone can marry whoever he or she wants to marry, unless, of course, God sovereignly overrules otherwise.

The above exact teaching you’ll see in Proverbs 16:1 and 9:

The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. . . . A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.

The idea of “preparations” is “plans.”  It is God’s will for man to make plans.  A man is to devise his way.  The Lord may step in to change something, directing his steps, but he should go about making plans and devising his way.  God allows people to make their own decisions within the bounds of the guidelines and principles He has set up in the Bible.  The best way to ensure you do right is to obey God’s Word, practice it or apply it in every area of your life.  If you do that, those unknown, individual things will work themselves out, very much like we see in Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

In short, if you will trust God and acknowledge everything He said, those individual, personal decisions will work out fine.