Kingdom Discernment
Mark 9: 38-40 (NIV)
“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.
In recent weeks I’ve been flipping on GOD-TV in the evenings and watching with great interest the Lakeland Outpouring featuring Todd Bentley. Since Sandy and I have experienced so much of what is happening in Lakeland in earlier moves of God’s Spirit, it’s fun to see the shaking and quaking and hear all the testimonies of God’s healing and redeeming power. As we’ve written here on my blog, the Vineyard has experienced two major outpourings similar to the one being poured out in Lakeland, so it’s interesting to watch it through the lenses of our past “renewal” experiences.
At times, Sandy and I find ourselves saying to one another, “Ouch, that wasn’t good!” or “Yikes, Todd sure blew it there!” It’s easy to second guess the men and women overseeing this outpouring, especially when I’m in the safety and comfort of my own living room! In football, they call it “armchair quarterbacking”. In the world of Holy Spirit outpourings, God sometimes calls it “Pharisee-ism”!
I’m comforted when I read the Gospels and see that Jesus’ first set of disciples had to deal with the issue of “armchair quarterbacking” as well. I find it interesting that it’s human nature to draw up strong arguments and come to lofty conclusions on others and their ministries long before we take the time to discern the heart of that person or the ministry they are doing. Obviously this nameless “man driving out demons” in Mark 9 was doing what he was doing “in Jesus’ name” but not doing it in a manner or process that fit the golden standard of ministry that had been drawn up by Jesus’ disciples. Jesus, when asked to get into the middle of this doctrinal argument, quickly declines, pointing quickly to the bottom line from God’s perspective. Apparently, from heaven’s perspective, it’s more important for demons to be driven off in Jesus’ name than it is for the people doing the ministry to agree on the correct doctrinal procedure of doing just that. Said more succinctly, for Jesus, “the ends” (demons being driven out) are more important than “the means” (the process being used to drive out demons).
That’s an important lesson to hold onto right now. As Todd Bentley and his team in Lakeland utilize different styles of ministry and yes, even promote at times a different doctrinal slant to this outpouring than we in the Vineyard would use, we have to be careful not to throw out “the baby” with “the bathwater”. John Wimber was excellent in helping men and women who came from a variety of Christian traditions and practices to embrace the larger work of God that was contained or flowing out of a very unfamiliar or even at times, offensive practice. “Eat the fish and don’t choke on the bones” was John’s motto when asking God for growing discernment when placed in a scenario where the outer manifestations were offensive, yet the inner heart was Christ-like in nature. May God give us a similar heart of discernment today, as this Kingdom outpouring continues!
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