A Different Vision of Power
Background
This article was provoked by the grief and shock I endured in witnessing petty senseless squabbling by mature Christian leaders in a Zoom call dedicated to calling Australia to repentance. The infighting was about who should be supported at Saturday’s NSW elections. The truth is few mortals can handle worldy power. In Perth, there is a wildly Pentecostal congregation supportive of political action, plus a very different Reformed fellowship fostering similar political aspirations. This clique is publicly labelled (for its branch-stacking etc.) “The Clan” (https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/western-australia/new-wa-liberal-party-leader-libby-mettam-takes-on-the-clan-20230130-p5cglu.html). It is a scandal offensive to heaven that we allow political power to intrude into the sole domain of Jesus Christ! Only freedom from alliances with the powers of this age, of any sort, releases the power of the coming age within the present time (1 Cor 10:11; Heb 6:5). This comes via a slow and difficult transition.
Introduction
In the middle of one night the Lord showed me that only when gifted Christians “let go” of their personal power to realise the success others (not Jesus) have told them they are called to become, can the kingdom of God appear in power in our midst (Matt 18:20). It was prophesied of the Messiah, “The government will rest on his shoulders” (Isa 9:6). The preoccupation many believers have with the world of money and politics is a deep deception grounded in fear the Lord forbids (1 Pet 3:6). In my own lifetime, I have witnessed Australian Christianity pushed increasingly to the margins of culture as Church power and privilege in the world has shrunk. In sinful reaction, (https://heatonkent.com/2020/07/18/jesus-did-not-react/), Sadly, Bible-believing people have become increasingly addicted to political influence. This is most famous globally amongst right-wing American Evangelicals, but back home we have witnessed the multiplication of Christian political parties accompanied by the explosive growth of the Australian Christian Lobby, catalysed by the Israel Folau episode. This is not the direction God’s Spirit. The rudder of the Western Church needs to be turned an angle of 180 degrees back to Christ as our only hope. To overcome the momentum of sixteen hundred centuries of “power religion” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinian_shift) the Church we know needs to be reduced to a state of powerlessness before God. Praise the Lord, this is gradually happening today in our fight “against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Eph 6:12) to whom God’s kingdom has wisely yielded ground.
Lessons in Disempowerment
Whilst revivals may begin with a powerful “Lord bend me” encounter, (https://artofholiness.com/lord-bend-us/ cf. Isa 6; Luke 5:8; Rev 1:17), my own growth in disempowerment has been gradual. In my earliest post-conversion days the Lord began to instruct me about weakness through scripture, “at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom 5:6). Soon after, exhausted and on the verge of drowning, believing my time was at an end, I had great peace as I mentally prayed with Jesus ““Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”” (Luke 23:46). Then there were the years of recovering from Church-induced PTSD (induced by evictions, riots, betrayals etc.), when every night I suffered from unsolvable problems in dreams. In recent months, I awaken very early, 2.30 a.m. on, with a sense of sheer incapacity to achieve anything. “All” I can do is feebly pray for others by name. This entire journey is God’s purpose to confirm the word, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9). Paul teaches, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Tim 1:8), understanding that only through “the power of God” can the crucified character of Christ be displayed (1 Cor 2:5; 2 Cor 6:7) to his glory. In the New Testament, power isn’t first a matter of measurable results but the of JESUS’ holy life (1 Cor 1:24). A remnant is being qualified by the hand of Jesus for future incorruptible leadership. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Lord Acton), is true of this present passing creation (1 Cor 7:39-41) but cannot apply to the power of Jesus. The wise see (Dan 12:10) that the turning of Western political forces againstChristianity is a case of reaping what we have sowed (Gal 6:7-8). By depending upon political, commercial, economic, psychological etc. powers, we have opened ourselves up to demonic assault according to God’s will.
Another Vision
God does not normally seem in charge of the world but is sustained in his patience visible impotence until the Last Judgement by the power of the cross. Jesus dreadful exclamation, “My God…why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34 citing Ps 22:1) was authored by the Father as he plunged his Son into a complete vision of G/godlessness. Here, Christ becomes (2 Cor 5:21) in his own eyes, and that of his tormentors, “a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people” (Ps 22:6). Bearing the full guilt of humanity, the Lord is reduced to “absolute impotence before God”, perfect powerlessness in the condition of our sin. This total inversion of power is the power of the cross, and it is a power we are called to share (cf. Acts 17:6). As Jesus had to let go of upholding the universe, we called in him to let go of all our natural capacities, Paul is the perfect example: “we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself…a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me 9 But he (the Lord) said to me, power is perfected in weakness .”(2 Cor 1:8; 12:9). This reality penetrated so completely into his apostolic life that amidst listing his credentials of “signs and wonders and miracles” he exclaims “even though I am nothing” (2 Cor 12:11-12). Many ardent followers of Jesus long to share in his presence and power, but in practice few agree with the way of the cross in their own lives.
Seasons of Powerlessness.
The Lord has long been working in the lives of his people preparing us for a major spiritual transition, to an often prophesied but rarely witnessed “nameless and faceless generation”. Many presently powerful leaders in the eyes of the Church will be passed by as the unique presence of the ruling power of the kingdom of God (Luke 4:18; 7:22; Matt 12:18) is released amongst the relatively “powerless”. Younger leaders, marginalised immigrant ethnic groups and Indigenous people (a huge topic in itself) will be raised up as conveyors and symbols of divine power to carry the presence and authority of the message of Jesus throughout Australia and to the nations. This will firstly amaze them, and then astonish the rest of the Church. Amazement at God’s unique unexplainable gracious sovereign power (Mark 10:32; Luke 4:36; Acts 9:21-22).
Conclusion
Major moves of God are accompanied by significant shifts in spiritual/theological understanding that in some way a rediscovery of the riches of the gospel. Such as justification by faith alone at the time of the Reformation, practical holiness with rise of Wesleyanism, a second experience of the Spirit with Pentecostalism, and so on. I sense that the Western Church is being prepared through humbling for a reconfiguration in our understanding of the power of God. May the Lord reduce us all to nothingness in Christ (2 Cor 12:11).