Casual Continuationist = Practical Cessationist (Part 2)

This is part 2 of some excerpts from a post I found at Christians in Context by Andrew Farris entitled An Exhortation for the Casual Continuationist / Practical Cessationist

And yet Christians don't pursue these gifts, and I'm just not sure why. Wait, actually, scratch that; I know of a few reasons why we do not do this:

1. We haven't been trained how to seek spiritual gifts. Like anything with following Christ, someone godly, mature, and experienced needs to help us along with the things in which we are not experienced. Folks like my Dad come into play here.

2. We don't think that we the gift of prophecy, tongues, or whatever other spiritual miraculous spiritual gift we shrug off. But then, if we conceive of these as ministries that God gives us (not the ability to do them), then this problem is gone. We all seek to edify the church however God leads, according to the Scriptures, according to wisdom, and according to the Spirit's subjective guidance.

3. We don't make space in our services for the Spirit to work extemporaneously. In the name of tightly run, nicely packaged services (or in the name of a million other excuses), we simply do not give space when we meet together for people to seek prophecy to edify the church with. Seriously- if I was sitting in your church and suddenly received a prophecy to share with the congregation, when would I be able to do it? For most churches, it would be nearly impossible.

4. Our churches are too big. This sort of thing would pretty easy in a house church. But when 2,000 people are sitting in the same room, it is difficult to manage any orderliness while particpating in these spiritual ministries.

5. We associate the the "charismatic" gifts with charismatic excesses that we've seen. This is a big one, and it's a shame- but an understandable shame. So few charismatic churches do this well, and I just don't get it. 1 Cor. 12-14 are clear as day: tongues and prophecy are meant for the building up of the body. So if everyone is going crazy with tongues at the same time with no semblance of congregational edification, it all looks wacky, pointless, and unbiblical. That's because at that point, it is. But the truth is, we can be biblical charismatics. At my Dad's Vineyard I only ever knew of two instances where someone spoke in a tongue publicly, and both times it was followed immediately by an interpretation. That is the biblical use of tongues.

6. Most importantly, the "charismatic" gifts are weird and messy. Western evangelicals act like materialistic atheists. Sure, we pray, but we don't expect that God will do anything right away. But if we are going to pursue these gifts, then we have to start recognizing that God does things that to us seem strange. Yes, it is weird when people speak in what sounds like jibber-jabber. Yes, it is weird that people sometimes are shaking and crying on the ground. But as my Dad always said, if it really is the Holy Spirit working, then the real wonder isn't that there is a physical response, but that the person receiving that work doesn't explode on the spot.

The bottom line on this point is this: Christianity is weird through and through. We follow a Lord who we claim died for all of our sins, then rose from the dead three days later, and we celebrate that by symbolically eating his flesh and blood. That's weird, but we're used to it.

It's time we puruse the gifts that the Bible says God wants to give us for our good. Get over the strangeness and listen to the Bible. It tells us to do it, and it tells us how and how not to do it. It's time we started taking God's Word seriously.

I agree with everything he said- and well said it was.