April 29, 2018 – “Wonderfully Made for an Amazing Purpose: Prophecy” by Rev. Cody Sandahl
Lay Reader = Matthew 7:15-21
15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus you will know them by their fruits. 21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Introduction
Well we are continuing our series looking at our Spiritual Gifts – our Spiritual DNA from God. We have all been designed by God to have impact and enjoy certain kinds of ministry roles. Last week we gave some encouragement to those with the spiritual DNA for leading – remember to be a mashed potato stirring servant leader like Christ, not a glory-hoarder.
Last week I shared one of my worries for this sermon series – I’ve been preparing for this and the class that starts today for about a year, so I’m worried that it will be a letdown after all this buildup.
My second worry illustrates why we desperately NEED this sermon series. You’ll notice that the vast majority of the stories I have to share about these spiritual gifts come from myself or my extended family. And that’s not because we have some amazing corner on the Holy Spirit. Not at all.
No, the problem is that Presbyterians don’t like to talk about the extraordinary things the Holy Spirit has done in and through them, so I don’t hear these kinds of stories from people who aren’t related to me. And even in my family, I called my mom a couple of weeks ago to double-check a story. And she didn’t realize that it had been a Holy Spirit moment until I called. She didn’t have the language to put around the experience until I gave her the synopsis of what I’ve learned and will be teaching.
That is why we NEED this sermon series and this class. The Holy Spirit is doing things right under our noses, and we don’t have a way to think about and talk about what we’re experiencing. And our whole church is spiritually poorer because of it.
Imagine if the early church was too scared to share the amazing stories we read about in the book of Acts. So imagine Acts 20. Paul is preaching, and a young man named Eutychus falls asleep and falls out of a window and hits the road three stories below. Let that be a warning to those who might fall asleep in a sermon! And obviously Eutychus is dead. But Paul trots down there, embraces him, and lifts him to his feet, and the young man is alive again. And verse 12 says “they were not a little comforted.”
That’s the Holy Spirit, right? But what if they were too scared to sound foolish so they just said, “Oh wow, Eutychus is the luckiest dude in the world! I bet he landed on a packet of gummy bears or something?” They would be spiritually poorer. While it’s not always that dramatic, this is what we do every day of the week in the 21st century. We dismiss the inexplicable around us and pretend it doesn’t exist. We are spiritually poorer because of it. Hopefully through this series we will gain some language to discuss what is and isn’t the Holy Spirit showing up to do something.
And if you have a story you want to talk through, PLEASE let me know – everyone will be spiritually richer if we get to hear stories that aren’t from people with the last name “Sandahl.”
And with that, we now move to our second spiritual gift, spiritual DNA, and it’s everyone’s favorite: prophecy! In our Presbyterian setting, I’m going to guess that this is the type of spiritual DNA that people least want to admit. Because whenever we hear “prophecy” we think in our minds, “predicting the future.” And sometimes that comes with prophecy, but that’s not what prophecy really is.
Let’s check in with one of the best examples of someone with the spiritual DNA for prophecy in the New Testament: Peter.
2 Peter 1:16-21
16For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” 18We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
19So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
False Prophecy
Well I said that most of the stories would involve my family, and I’m going to fulfill that. Because just this last week I actually had a prophecy come to me. Directly from the mouth of the Lord. You ready for it? It’s a good one.
Thus sayeth the Lord: “Thou shalt triple thy pastor’s salary in 2019!”
Clearly a true prophecy. Clearly a word from the Lord, right? No?
That’s why Peter said in this letter we just read, “no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” When you prophecy out of your own will and desires, you’re just making stuff up.
A word of prophecy has to be confirmed by the worshiping community, and it has to be resonant with how God has already spoken through Scripture – that’s what Peter means when he says the prophetic message has to be “more fully confirmed.” No one just gets to say, “I heard it from God, so you have to do it.” That’s not how it works.
So if prophecy isn’t predicting the future, and it isn’t making stuff up that you want other people to do…what is prophecy exactly?
Well Peter in our text today talks about prophecy in two ways. First, he recounts his experience on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured and joined by Elijah and Moses. He says he was an “eyewitness.” And what is an eyewitness supposed to do in a court of law? Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
So prophecy is first and foremost telling the truth as it has been revealed to you through prayer. That’s really the crux of the matter. Tell the truth. Tell the whole truth. Tell nothing but the truth. And so help you God if you mix your own will in there instead!
That’s why in my class I’m actually calling it the spiritual DNA for truth-seeking. Sometimes that truth has to do with something today. Sometimes that truth has to do with something that hasn’t happened yet. Whatever it is, it’s speaking God’s truth as revealed through fervent prayer.
And Peter then says that prophecy comes by “men and women moved by the Holy Spirit.” Why does that matter? Well, let me give you some homework. I want you to think about next Thursday, OK? Next Thursday. Maybe around 10am. That’s when we have a staff gathering. Now, I’m trying to think about what sermon series would be best for our congregation this Fall, and I need you to dial up the Holy Spirit and get a definitive answer to that question. I want you to call me at 10am next Thursday and tell me what the Holy Spirit told you would be the best sermon series for the Fall. Can you do that?
It might be a little hard, because we don’t control the Holy Spirit, right? We can’t tell God, “I need you to give me the answer to this question by next Thursday at 10am.” We can ask for it, but there’s no way to guarantee we’ll get what we want when we want it – if at all. That’s not how God works. So prophecy isn’t something you control. Prophecy – hearing a word of truth from the Holy Spirit – that’s something that God chooses to reveal to you on whatever day and whatever time God chooses to do it. You can’t dial up a prophecy like picking a screen pass from an NFL playbook. If someone needs a word of truth and you always have it on hand – you’re almost certainly making it up. And while you’re at it, don’t forget about that “triple the pastor’s salary” prophecy. Might as well keep that idea floating around if you’re going to make up prophecies anyway.
So the prophet is someone who repeatedly seeks God’s truth through fervent prayer. And sometimes the Holy Spirit gives a very specific word of truth. Sometimes that’s a word of truth for yourself. Sometimes that’s a word of truth for a ministry or a group. Sometimes that’s a word of truth for the whole church. But the prophet isn’t a dancing monkey ready to meet your whims. The prophet must seek God’s truth through prayer over and over again, or they’re probably making it up.
True Prophecy
When I was at the Hawaii Leadership Practicum, we followed the head pastor of the host church around for a week. And we were lucky enough to be there for their baptism day. This church invites people to come to a certain beach on a certain day and time, and they have a bunch of their pastors out in the water to talk to you about baptism and then baptize you. And there were LINES of people this day.
We were invited to be out there with them, and I declined the option to be one of the baptizers because I don’t like baptizing people I’ve never met before. But I did stay near one of their pastors I had gotten to know over the course of the week. A very nice, down-to-earth guy. But something was different this morning. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him.
So the first man came up, and this pastor said, “God is telling me you have struggles with alcohol. Is that right?” The shocked man turned pale and nodded in the affirmative. Then the pastor said, “When you get baptized, you’re a child of God. God won’t reject you because of your struggle with alcohol, but he wants you to live a better life after today. Alright?” The man, now so pale he was translucent, weakly nodded again. And then he was baptized.
That was just the first guy. Over and over and over again – not for everyone, but for many – this pastor had a word to share from the Lord. In the week I had spent with him, he had never done anything like this. It was something special on this baptism day.
That was the Holy Spirit showing up to give him truth for these people’s lives – that was prophecy.
I have what I call the “three strikes rule” for the Holy Spirit giving me a word of truth for someone. If I get the same nudge three times from the Holy Spirit, I have to say it or do it no matter what. One time was at my previous church at the viewing for a high school student who had died. And three times as I was in the viewing line I received a nudge to go tell one specific dad in the grieving family a very specific word. So I got out of the viewing line, snuck over to him, and told him, “I’m so sorry for your loss. I keep getting this phrase for you from the Holy Spirit, so I’m just going to pass it along. Tonight would be a great night for you to take the initiative and be the spiritual leader of your household. That’s all I got.” I don’t know what the result of that little nugget was, but I passed it along.
Another time I got the three nudges to tell a word of truth to one of my former interns. So I called him over and told him, “You are a leader. And leaders lead. Leaders go crazy when they don’t have a chance to lead. So as you start your career after college, remember to give yourself chances to lead, not just do your job. Maybe that’s in the church, maybe that’s in your work, maybe that’s something else – I don’t know. But leaders need to lead. And you’re a leader.”
He actually told me several years later that he had taken that to heart and he thanked me for it. That was a word of prophecy – a word of truth – that the Holy Spirit wanted to pass along to him through me.
Or if you rewind with me to late last year, I had a sermon where I shared I thought 2018 would be the year we would see some growth in our church, and if we were faithful we would see even more in 2019. That wasn’t based on a plan I had, just a spiritual sense. And in that sermon, I said, “I know you’re tired. You’ve earned your rest. But give me two more years so we can reach new people and build them up so they’re ready to take the reins. Don’t go through your church volunteer retirement yet!” That was like October or November. And over the first quarter of this year we’ve been seeing that potential and actual growth happening. That was a word of truth from the Holy Spirit, not something I had figured out ahead of time.
Being a Prophet/Truth-Seeker
Each week in this series I’m going to share some specific encouragement to the people who have the spiritual gift or spiritual DNA we’re talking about. So if you feel like you’re the kind of person who is frequently speaking the truth – even if it’s uncomfortable – you might have the spiritual DNA for prophecy. This part’s for you.
First, remember that the key to seeking truth is that you need to seek truth. Nice tautology there, right? How do you seek God’s truth? Through fervent prayer. If you have the spiritual DNA for prophecy, you had better be checking in with God all the time in prayer to make sure you’re getting a clear signal. You’ve gotta be the prayer equivalent of the Verizon guy – “God, can I hear you now? Good!”
Second…well…let me illustrate my second point with a few quotes from the late great comedian George Carlin. “I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.” Or “I think it would be interesting if old people got anti-Alzheimer’s disease where they slowly began to recover other people’s lost memories.” Or how about when Carlin took a shot at my home state? “You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans.” As a side note, it took me quite a while to find enough quotes from George Carlin I could actually share at church.
What’s my point? Laughing allows us to have discussions we wouldn’t otherwise have. Stand-up comics do this all the time. They push the uncomfortable button while making us laugh – otherwise we wouldn’t want to talk about aging or death or capital punishment, for example in those George Carlin quotes.
If you have the spiritual DNA for prophecy, help your team laugh together as much as possible. The team that laughs together can hear the truth together as well.
Finally, sometimes the role of the prophet is to remind a team that when our God is for us, who can stand against us. We might be limited in our abilities. We might be limited in the number of volunteers we have. We might be limited in our resources. We might be limited in our vision or our ability to follow through. But we worship a God who isn’t limited. Jesus said it’s better for us that he ascended into heaven, because the Holy Spirit will be with us to do miraculous things. Don’t let the team settle for our human abilities, help them remember that through the Holy Spirit what seems impossible is within reach.
Summary
Sisters and brothers, the spiritual gift or DNA for prophecy is all about seeking and communicating God’s truth through fervent prayer. If you get that result on your spiritual gift assessment, don’t think about predicting the future. Instead think about praying for God to show you what he’s seeing about this ministry you’re involved in. And then help the team laugh together, hear God’s truth together, and dream impossible dreams together. That’s what it means to be prophetic today. And I am excited to see what the Holy Spirit does when we tap into that spiritual DNA in our church. Amen.