Allegiance, Truth and Power: Three crucial dimensions for Christian living
No one becomes a Christian simply through knowledge or power.
Nevertheless, we continue to fill people’s minds with information, knowledge and truth to the point of intellectual indigestion because our training techniques seldom include actually doing what we are talking about. With one notable exception. In Christian training institutions focused on producing pastors, there are usually courses designed to train people to preach in which the students actually have to produce and deliver sermons. Well and good. They actually learn how to do something by doing it. Yet what they learn is seldom more than how to present information about Christian topics. If they are to learn anything about how to interact with people relationally to bring about healthy relationships with God and humans, they have to learn these things elsewhere. And if they are to learn how to operate in God’s power to bring the freedom their people crave, they have to learn this outside of the curricula of the schools supposedly established to train them to do pastoral work.
Ideally, then, we should be teaching truth as Jesus did to combat ignorance and error. We should know, however, that whenever the Scripture speaks of knowledge and truth, it is referring to experiential knowledge and truth, not merely the intellectual byproducts of these factors. And we should be led in teaching truth by the Holy Spirit who, incidentally is also the Producer of the relational fruits of the Spirit and the Giver of the power-oriented gifts of the Spirit. That is, He is in charge of all three of these crucial dimensions.
The Truth Dimension
Primary concern: Understanding
This dimension involves teaching led by the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:13)
Scripturally both truth and knowledge are experiential, not simply cognitive
Truth provides antidotes for ignorance and error
Though spiritual truth is pervasively relational and experiential (Jn 8:32), there is also a cognitive and informational dimension
This dimension embodies truth and knowledge of all aspects of Christian experience
We are to learn in this dimension about the contents of the other two dimensions
We are expected to grow in this knowledge dimension as in all other dimensions of Christian experience
Satanic and human lies are to be countered with God’s truths
Under this dimension, the church is to be experienced as a teaching place (discipleship, mentoring, classroom)
Theology is both cognitive and experiential
Power Leading to Freedom
Jesus said He came to set captives free (Lk 4:18). In making such a statement, He implied both that there is one who has captured many people and that people need the freedom God offers. People need freedom so badly that He, Jesus, came to earth to offer this freedom. He then demonstrated throughout His ministry what He meant by this statement.
Many are in captivity and in need of freedom from the hold of the enemy. Only when they are freed will they be able to understand the Gospel and commit themselves to Christ.
Category: Fall 2010, Living the Faith