“…Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…” 2 Tim 3:5

Last week huge machinery harvested the cow corn around the clock on the hundreds of acres of our neighbor’s farm. Massive tractors with cutters and choppers constantly blew the stalks, husks, and cobs into open bed 18 wheelers which would be transferred into silos to feed their more than 3000 head of cattle for the next year. 

Now imagine a farmer next door going out with a scythe and a wheelbarrow to harvest his corn. How many acres do you think he could manage? In turn, how many cows do you think that could nurture for a year?

Paul spoke of a day before Jesus returns when people will act in a similar way. In a spiritual sense, it is as though they are choosing the scythe over the tractor. Though they are aware that there is a greater Source of power, they’d rather stick with what’s comfortable. They may present crisp arguments, write books, and teach courses to justify their position, even reason that their ways are superior. But Paul unmasks them. They sound convincing, but in truth they are denying (Gr. arneomai) i.e. rejecting or refusing, the power that has been promised and prepared for us to use. This is the same word for when Peter denied the Lord three times. Although he was Jesus’ friend, out of embarrassment and fear for his reputation, he caved, insisting he did not know Him.

Beloved, this behavior is more common than you may think. While I don’t know of any denominational leaders or seminary professors who would take out their scissors to cut out the pesky scriptures that command us to do things like “raise the dead [and] cast out demons” (Mat 10:7), I do know of doctrines that effectively send them to trash. The prevalence of such blatant unbelief means we have to be vigilant to guard against it lest we too succumb, compromising our principles only to hear the cock crow when it’s too late.

After Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, he and John performed that unforgettable miracle of healing the man lame from birth. This sign was witnessed by throngs of people in the temple. Even the “rulers, elders, scribes, as well as Anna the high priest, Caiaphas, John and Alexander” admitted they could not deny it (Act 4:6,16). And yet, not only did they not celebrate the great wonder that had been done, they arrested Peter and John then “severely threatened” them lest they invoke the name of Jesus in this way again. 

This happened to Jesus many times as well. After he healed a man born blind, the interrogation that followed proved that the Pharisees were not interested in the truth. Like a CNN reporter, facts were disregarded in favor of their pre-constructed narrative. Never mind that “ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind” (Jn 9:32); Jesus had done it on the Sabbath!

How is it that we have come to a place where our most reputable expositors can tell you how many times Jesus cast out demons, and preach eloquent sermons of how he did it, yet having no expectation or faith that they could do the same? Contrast this with a farmer with a sixth grade education in India. Although he doesn’t even know the New Testament was written in Greek, yet after spending the whole day in his rice paddies he sets a demon possessed women free from years of oppression in Jesus’ name on his way home. The PhD preacher may even want to keep such a testimony hidden from his congregation, lest he is outdone by a barefoot man. 

Of course another popular approach is to malign and criticize him. When Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin to be questioned, rather than give praise to God, they attacked them, perceiving that “they were uneducated and untrained” (from the Greek word idiotes). You can’t make this up. For me, I’d gladly be called a fool for making a lame man walk again.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead it created quite a firestorm. Again, the officials, rather than rejoicing, called a committee meeting to determine “What shall we do?” (Jn 11:47). I know, invite Jesus to teach them about faith, right? And then lay hands on them for an impartation, naturally! Nope. They worried about what would happen if the masses truly believed that Jesus was the Son of God. They worried about their reputations. Their cushy positions. They further created a worst-case scenario to justify denying this manifestation of God’s supernatural power: “the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” (v. 48).

Heaven forbid that they should humble themselves. It turns out that those who are most invested in a lie are also the ones who have the most to lose when it is exposed as false. It is also true that those who feel most threatened are the ones most likely to severely threaten others. 

On some level, we are all affected and blinded by bias. But when we allow our predilections to form the bases for our ideological and theological frameworks, we effectively box God in, and “sanctify” our unbelief. We end up with form but no substance. Our egg may look nutritious when in fact the white and yoke have long been sucked out. Until someone needs to eat, even a carton full of these at least look good on the shelf. 

I don’t plan to take a slow boat to China and arrive four months later when I can board a plane and be there in 15 hours. I also don’t want to find out one day that I had access to God’s awesome power to serve Him and didn’t use it. Imagine the futility of vacuuming my whole house without plugging it in. I don’t want to learn that He longed to clothe me with His anointing in order that I might perform the “greater works” that he promised we would do (Jn 14:12) while I languished in weakness, unbelief, or pretense.