When I was a child I thought like a child. I looked at the elders and preachers: this was a time when there was still true Calvinists with charity in the Presbyterian church, and the Pentecostal fire was descending on congregations.
I heard people talk a very good game.
And I saw congregations split, and the faith of many fail. THis is not a rant about the charismatic, or evangelicals or Calvinists. But it is a note to beware of those who seek to make profit from the LORD, and boast of their power and experiences.
I have not quoted the remainder of the passage, but Paul notes that he would rather not claim his right to support, or to have the congregation support him and his wife — noting that Cephas (Peter) was married. and supported, and that this was right and proper.
But instead beware of what people boast. Look at how they act.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
I am quite aware that this was not an issue for the Presbyterians alone. At the times when the liberals were winning most of the committee battles (and, locally, gutting the Methodist church so it collapsed, and then starting on the Anglicans, who have almost crumbled, and the Catholics: for the unbeliever hates the Deformed and Papist equally).
What happened is that we sought spiritual experience and growth overmuch. We did not preach obedience and repentance enough. Then we doubled down, and became seeker friendly, removing the term sin, and thinking guilt and shame were sins, when they are not.
It is our thoughts and actions that can be sins: it is our thoughts and actions that can glorify God. If we hear and do the word of God today we will be more secure than if we hear and do what the spirit of this age commands.
And pietism (the most recent form of which is the charismatic emphasis of experiences combined with a post-modern theology) weakens us. For we spend too long on our feelings and not enough time on the hard work of obedience.
Our society is failing. It is our duty to stand: to not fail, and to warn. God will bring those wo him if we speak truth, for the people of this time are fed nothing but lies.
We cannot earn our salvation: sin is entwined too deeply in us. We are broken. Only in Christ can we be healed.
So let not boast of our spirituality and subtlety. Let us act.