Christians are fond of embracing the great objectives of Scripture [Great Commandment (Mat 22:36-40), Great Commission (Mat 28:18-20), Healing (Luke 9:2, 10:9)] but we give lip service to following the Biblical processes for achieving these objectives. Most Christians believe God places great importance on accomplishing objectives but much less importance on following Biblical processes.
Defining objectives is the easy part, usually a matter of writing down a few sentences. Defining and executing processes is hard. Our first inclination is to grow impatient with God, forgo Biblical process and seek to do His work by the power of the flesh rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit. We ape the world's wisdom, trust its forms of publicity and imitate its ways of manipulating men. We say, "Stand over here on the sidelines God and we will show You how it's done." If a particular objective is not met, we don’t even change the process. We simply do it all over again with twice the effort and hope we don’t get what we always got! We double down on failure!
Oswald Chambers astutely observed that we may have misunderstood the true Biblical instruction. In other words, executing the process may well be more important than accomplishing the objective. Oswald Chambers wrote:
“We must never put our dreams of success as God’s purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.
What is my dream of God’s purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now…It is the process, not the end which is glorifying to God.
…We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get it wrong when we think of the afterward. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.
God’s end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.” (Chambers, July 28th)
Given that the process is at least as important as the objective, we must turn to Scripture for Biblical processes. If we turn to pastors and other powerful leaders, propped-up by Seminaries and Bible Colleges, we may only get a clever twist on the wisdom of the world.
Biblical processes include but are not limited to:
- Engaging in United Corporate Prayer
- Administering the Healing Activity
- Elucidating Truth
- Magnifying God in our Lives
The process of Elucidating Truth can be attempted by each of us using classical logic based on the evidence of Scripture, tradition and personal experience. Truth should never be based on feelings, intuition and emotions or on blind faith in some authority figure. But given our sin nature manifest by the enormity of corruption permeating our will, intellect and heart, we can never, on our own, find the truth. We can only be successful with the assistance of God’s Prevenient Grace.
God is the overwhelmingly dominant player in the synergistic effort to save our souls. He tosses a life preserver into the raging waters of life, pushes us to within arm’s length and urges us to stretch out our hands and take hold. God’s part is called Prevenient Grace which means the grace that brings salvation. The word prevenient derives from pre (before) and venio (come). God attempts to call, awaken, draw near, convict, save and empower every person who will ever live. He initiates, advances and perfects every good thing in each heart, intellect and will. He leads us from one step to another as he finds response in our hearts and disposition to obedience. Some men allow God to quicken, assist and nudge their free will to facilitate confession of sin, remorse, repentance, faith and obedience so they may receive the great gift of salvation (1 Pet 1:9). Other men choose to resist and reject the grace of God (2 Thes 1:8-9).
This Prevenient Grace opens our intellect, our will and our heart to the truth. Jesus said:
- "If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)
- "Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth." (John 17:17)
- "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." (John 18:37)
Furthermore …the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
But we cannot receive the truth of which He speaks without the Prevenient Grace of God. William Burt Pope expressed this concept in his own unique way:
“The fallen estate of man forbids the thought that the mere presentation of truth should save him. He has an organ or faculty to receive it, for it is as much adapted to his soul’s need as bread is to the need of his body; but the organ or faculty itself needs quickening. Hence the inherent power of the Word requires the influence of the Spirit to make it effectual. The Apostle Paul declares that his preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power generally; but he also declares that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The language or alphabet of the doctrine of the Holy Ghost must be taught to him who shall understand His consecutive and general teaching. He appeals, as the Lord appealed: why do ye not understand My speech even because ye cannot hear My word. A man must submit to the doctrine of sin generally, which is hearing Christ’s word or testimony concerning Himself and the sinner’s relation to Him, before he can receive the full exposition of that doctrine as it is salvation.
But there is an inherent efficacy in Scripture, as applied by the Spirit. It is the universal means of grace, though men may resist it. The Word of God is as efficacious as it is universal and sufficient. It is its inherent efficacy that detects unbelief and convicts it: it is not only effectual in saving, but in condemning also. It is the same Gospel power of God which is a savour of death unto death, and a savour of life unto life. The Scriptural doctrine of the Divine Word as the means of grace will not allow it ever to be made of none effect. It is an instrument that never fails. Regarded as the Word spoken to mankind, it cannot be without its power. The Spirit is never absent from the Word; in it He lives and moves, and through it He sheds an infinite variety of influences on all who either reject or receive it. Regarded as the means of grace within the Church, it has a sacred, specific, and always present grace accompanying every truth and every promise. The Spirit is in the Truth, as the virtue was and is in Christ: ready for impartation to every touch of faith.” (Pope, v3, p 296 - 297)
(See also Sections 4.2, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 11.10 and 13.2 of Theology Corner)
