When Personal experiences are exaggerated!

Let me start by narrating Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael which is recorded in the gospel of John 1:47-50. This man Nathanael was enthralled when Jesus exactly revealed to him who he was, where he was when Philip invited him to meet Jesus and revealed the state of his heart, he just couldn’t believe it. Immediately, we see Nathanael confessing and saying these words, which is recorded in verse 49 “Rabbi,” Nathanael replied, “You are the son of God; you are the king of Israel.”. Jesus then responded and clarified with these words, “...Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these (John 1:50). Jesus did not want Nathanael to be excited with the revelation, which was shared with him but to know that He was the Messiah indeed.

Let me now draw parallels to the present time happenings. We all love experiences and love to make our experiences monumental, but somewhere down the line, the mission gets disillusioned.  Let's consider a scenario. If a preacher calls a person by name and prophesies on future happenings through the gift of prophecy, then the excitement shoots up and the experience becomes memorable. The person quickly becomes the follower of this prophet. And that prophet becomes a celebrity, savior and the mission ends there.

Let me talk about the five offices of the Church in Ephesians 4:11 which says, “And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers.". People end up assuming it to be areas of specialization. This is soon institutionalized and many Churches today have stopped existing for the purpose for which it was introduced. The original purpose is misconstrued so often. People forget the following verse which says, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ.”. (Ephesians 4:12).

Similarly, let me refer to the Pentecost experience. The experience of the Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) talks about the rushing wind, the sound, the fire, the tongues, is what catches the attention of the people, they like to dwell on it and excitedly wait all their life. In some cases, people train themselves and others to speak in tongues but fail to become the reason for which the experience was given. I have quoted this incident in my earlier blogs too. If you just hold on to the experience for a spiritual trademark you have got Christ's mission all wrong. The important thing that happened is not that people spoke in tongues, but it is when people from different people groups heard them speaking in their own languages as recorded in Acts 2:6, "When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language”.  The purpose was reached when people heard them speak in their native languages. Peter immediately clarifies the experience but did not stop there. We notice Peter preached Jesus to the crowd. And the outcome was 3,000 people experienced the salvation (Acts 2: 41).

In another significant incident when Simon the sorcerer saw people experiencing the Holy Spirit and miracles were happening when hands were laid on people, he was so excited and thought he can purchase it from Peter. We find Peter literally reprimanding Him and pronouncing the Judgement. (Acts 8:20-23). When Mission is overlooked people will be enthralled and talk about the experiences all their life without being useful for Christ's mission at all.

Let me quote the final example, the incident where Jesus raising Lazarus from the grave after four days. Have you noticed, there is not a single passage that records Lazarus speaking about his death experience? If it were today, we would have made a video, called a press conference and flaunted on the experience and narrate what happened during the four days. Lazarus did not do anything of that sort. He became the reason for many to experience the love of Jesus. Though the Bible records many deserted Him because of Lazarus, nevertheless many believed Jesus on account of Lazarus' resurrection (John 12:11)

Dear friends, Christ's mission is lying desolate. Everybody is interested to amplify one’s own experiences and talk about it,  but would you seriously carry Christ mission and influence others to do so?

You may read the last blog HERE

 

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