This is my last stop in this prophets or posers series, though the general topic is going to get several more posts in the coming weeks. Just because I’m done posting my thoughts, doesn’t mean you can’t post yours (see my invite below).
Here’s Prophetic Fallacy #7:
“By God’s grace I do in reality have the gift of prophecy, therefore I’m functioning prophetically in my community or organization.”
Counterpoint: You may be a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal. You might be “nothing.”
This is the fallacy that I wanted to conclude with for now before I explore other thoughts on prophetic functioning. The reality is that God has blessed some of his people with prophetic gifting. And you might be one of those people. However, it’s not enough.The apostle Paul first attacked this fallacy a couple thousand years ago so I’ll just quote him. Bold lettering is my emphasis.
“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1-2)
Having special or revealed knowledge can very easily lead to an overestimation of one’s own importance (Romans 12:3). God’s people don’t function very well together when this is the case. One might be right and on the side of justice as God sees it, but still not be on God’s side. It’s a humbling thought that in God’s economy we could actually see things completely for what they are and have convictions that line up with God’s will, but still not be on God’s side because our hearts are not properly oriented to God Himself or to other brothers and sisters.
The presence of love as a motivation can be easily rationalized. It takes some work to make sure that we are fueled and motivated by love – and that’s work on our part to create space for God in our lives and work on God’s part to foster His life in His through His Spirit. In the case of prophetic gifting, love can fade away (or disappear) in apparent importance because of a self-driven quest for justice or even vengeance. Or maybe love gets lost because of an over-confidence in certainty and all or nothing categories.
Regardless, many who take the high road of being God’s side in community tensions or disputes end up being exposed as “nothing” because they set themselves above and apart from those they are seeking to challenge or prompt towards truth. The Scriptures offer a healthy test for this – it’s the fruit test. Trees are judged not be what they proclaim themselves to be, but by the fruit that they bear. Ugly fruit = ugly heart = someone who is “nothing” in terms of God’s purposes for His people.
Prophetic functioning carries with it an odd and maybe counter-intuitive blend of tenacity or boldness along with humility and tenderness towards people as well as a general systemic wisdom about what things are “off” or contrary to God in the bigger picture. This is perhaps where the carnal prophet goes awry – he has his or her quiet time with Jesus in the morning and then goes about trying to fix the things that feel “off” to him or her. Love gets lost in that equation, because the carnal prophet works to get the system to conform to his standards and values.
Prophetic functioning that is “something” in God’s economy is characterized by love (for God and the whole community and not one’s own agenda), wisdom (pertaining to the complexity of the human heart as well as to how communities function, especially how power is used), humility (knowing that even as a prophet – one cannot claim to be functioning out of certainty. The prophet, more than anyone, should recognize how fallible they are in this great spiritual journey.) There may be a fine line between serving with boldness and in full faith and feeling like we must be certain – but that’s a sign of immaturity I think. The power of one’s character, especially a mature and emotionally healthy person, allows one to boldly engage matters of justice and truth without losing sight of their own identity and person along the way.
There are no doubt other fallacies that influence people to assume that they have greater authority in matters than God has truly given them…but this is where I’m stopping in terms of my own thoughts. If you have a fallacy that you have identified in the spirit of this series, I invite you to write a guest post for me and we’ll keep the series going….seriously.
If you have tracked this series (and I recognize there may be many readers who had not interest in this), and you have any overall reflections on any of the dynamics highlighted, please leave a comment and hopefully there can be some further discussion.
