06/02/2024
Does God use Seriously Flawed People to do the Supernatural? Yes.
Spiritual gifts are "charisma." The first part of this Greek word "charis" is the Greek word for “grace” and does mean “unmerited favor.” The spiritual gifts are “grace gifts.” The spiritual gifts are the unmerited favor of God coming to us or through us to another person. Both the person receiving and the person ministering are doing it by grace - the unmerited favor of God. Absolutely no one ministers out of their own merit. This is extremely important for you to know. Anything supernatural blessing that comes from God through a human being to another human being is coming by grace. This is important for several reasons.
We should know that gifts of the Spirit coming through a person, do not tell you anything about the character of the person ministering. Spiritual gifts only tell you of God's character; His love, mercy, grace and kindness.
The assumption that a person being used by God is an obedient, mature believer is a bad assumption because of grace. We are commanded by Christ to cease judging other human beings and that includes the positive judgment that everything is right with a servant of God because he/she has a supernatural ministry.
We can never know the character of a servant of Christ through their gifts. We can only evaluate a supernatural ministry through them by their fruit; their character and the outcomes of their ministry. Christ taught His disciples about evaluation of ministry and said:
"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:18-21)
Trees look pretty similar until you examine the fruit. The nature of a tree is revealed by its fruit. An apple tree produces apples. A pear tree produces pairs. God alone knows what is in the heart of people. However, what is in their heart – their true nature – is revealed by their fruit.
Think about this. Judas was one of the Twelve Apostles of Christ. It appears strongly in the New Testament that God used Judas to preach the Good News, heal the sick and to cast out demons just as He did with the other eleven Apostles. The New Testament does not say that Judas was an exception. Judas, like the other Apostles of Christ, was a flawed human being, being used by God through grace.
But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?" Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. (John 12:4-6)
Clearly Judas had a problem with being a thief and yet still was used by God. We also need to consider his negative end, a su***de. If Judas was living today, many would be judging him in a positive way, thinking that Judas must be right with God to have a supernatural ministry when the reality is that Judas was a thief and was preparing to betray Christ for money. We should not receive the ministry of a false prophet despite how gifted he or she may be. We will know them by their fruits.
While there are many servants of Christ that are sincerely walking with the Lord and producing good fruit, there are thieves and ministers prone to betrayal in ministry today. Some of them have discovered that their supernatural ministry remains even in the midst of a sinful lifestyle. They may not understand that this is grace happening and not God’s approval of their sinful lifestyle.
They may be completely unaware that public exposure and God’s discipline awaits them if they do not repent. Most of these corrupted ministers will use the darkened methods of the world such as manipulation of a congregation through guilt or fear to raise a large offering. We should not allow ministers with bad fruit to have access to young people and congregational members because of a history of seduction. We should know them to be false by their fruits not by their gifts.
Knowing that God is using us and others by grace will help us with stability in supernatural ministry. I have said in meetings that if I have had a great week of prayer, fasting and many hours of meditation on the Scriptures, when I minister to the sick, I see about 85% of them receive either a complete healing or get a good start on it by receiving a partial healing.
On the other hand, if I have had a lousy week with no time to pray, no time to study the Scriptures, my best friend dies of cancer, and my dog has decided that he doesn't like me. However, when I pray for the sick, I see about 85% healed.
When I say this usually I get a substantial laugh from the congregation. Nevertheless, it is truthful comment. When you know supernatural ministry comes by grace – unmerited favor - you also know that supernatural ministry has no connection to your character, your works or lifestyle. Knowing this produces a stability that enables you to believe in Him without focusing on whether you feel righteous or unrighteous. You then understand that you can see the supernatural gifts of the Spirit come to help other people despite having a lousy week, month or year.
Getting our spiritual eyes off ourselves and on to Christ gets us off the rollercoaster of our own righteousness. We then can stand firm on the Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ.
When we think that God only uses the mature or the perfectly obedient, our faith will disappear because we have made it about ourselves rather than the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we don't believe because we are disqualifying ourselves, judging ourselves outside the grace of God, we will see very little happen supernaturally. When we keep our focus on Christ rather than ourselves, we can believe and easily qualify ourselves for God to use because of grace.
Christian people who don't understand that God will use them despite their flaws get confused when they are used by God. Unfortunately, they do not know that they are confused. They think that God is validating their message, their theology or their character. Nothing could be further from the truth.
God validates His Son. God validates the Good News. God validates His love for people but God is NEVER issuing a public approval of what we teach or believe because He is using us supernaturally. We humbly give Him all the glory rather than taking it to ourselves. We remind ourselves that the supernatural is an expression of His Kingdom, His power and His glory. God builds His Kingdom through grace.
The fact that God uses flawed and sometimes people living in sin for His glory should not confuse us. It is not an approval of sin in their lives. It is not an approval of their doctrine. It is not even evidence that they will be in Heaven when we they. Consider that Christ warned us about this very matter by describing the future Day of Judgment. He said:
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' (Matthew 7:21-23)
Christ does not deny that these people were doing these supernatural acts in His name. He does not say that these supernatural acts were false. However, these people failed to do the will of the Father and therefore will be told to depart from Christ.
This is a warning about being fooled by your own ministry. Just because God is willing to use someone in sin - because of wanting to help someone else - we should not think that God is ignoring a sinful lifestyle. Sin is seriously destructive and can ruin a life and ministry and marriage. God is very patient with His children but loves them enough to discipline them - for their own sakes - if they fail to listen to the Spirit’s guidance about sin over a period of time.
Thank God that He doesn’t want to condemn us with the unbelieving world on the Day of Judgment so He kindly disciplines us to help us repent.
Supernatural ministry is not a sign that everything is right with a servant of Christ. The Good News remains true regardless of how false we might be. God remains faithful and true to His promises despite having to use a compromised minister to help us. God continues to help people according to the Good News through grace even though the available servant might not be right with the Lord on every matter. God is good all the time whether or not His servant is good at all.
As an Army Chaplain, I remember conversations about other chaplains who were in self-inflicted trouble and had to leave the chaplaincy. Also, they were facing a removal of their ordination by whoever ordained them. We often said “SAM got them.” “SAM” was an abbreviation for “Sex- Alcohol- Money.” If I were to spend a little time remembering, I suspect that I could name a couple of dozen well-known and popular ministers who severely damaged their reputations and had to leave the ministry because of sin. I suspect that the number is much larger as some organizations privately discipline their ministers and may force a minister out of the ministry without any public knowledge.
Private discipline is not what the New Testament teaches but it is the current reality. Private discipline is very weak and often fails to deal with the problem. Private discipline does not warn believers about a particular minister’s tendency to sin in a particular area. Often these defrocked ministers just go somewhere else and continue to do just what they were doing when they were exposed. We need to know them by their fruits.
If you are a minister, don’t let SAM get you and damage your reputation, ruin your ministry and weaken your marriage and family. Don’t misinterpret grace still coming through you to those that you serve. Don’t be false. Humble yourself. Deeply repent. Follow Jesus.
Dwell Differently, Roger Sapp
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