Ben Fitzgerald's sermon

I enjoyed listening to Ben Fitzgerald speaking recently. He is well aware of the major divide between Pentecostals and conservatives, in that conservative denominations discount about a third of the Bible (the spiritual bits) because of their religion. They don't/won't believe God for a miracle.

Nice. Conservatives need to be challenged on that.

He proceeded to make a very conservative point about God being glorified. He was saying that God is not glorified in you if you're depressed for 20 years, or stuck in sin for 10 years. It would have been better for you to push into God for healing, and then you could have a great testimony in your health and happiness. He gave a couple of amazing testimonies of God healing his own addiction, and of some other incredible healings—which I don't doubt indeed glorified God.

But something isn't quite right in that picture. John Piper puts it this way: God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him. Ben Fitzgerald is saying: God is most glorified in you when you've been made happy and healthy.

The deeply unsatisfying flaw

Now off the back of the testimonies he shared, it's difficult to see a flaw in Fitzgerald's theology. But there's a reason why Pentecostals have so much difficulty and spend so much time on answering the question about why people don't get healed all the time. Whereas everyone else answers the question with a simple "because it's not God's will", based as it is on not just a number of random verses (Luke 22:42; Matthew 6:10; and many more), but the entire countenance and direction of every believer's life (Luke 9:23, denial of self), some Pentecostals believe it is always God's will to heal.

So here's the flaw: Ben Fitzgerald's approach is producing a bunch of believers who are deeply unsatisfied in God. They haven't received their healing, after many months or even years. They don't have a good testimony. Their beliefs or their God haven't come through. And so, because of their flaws, or lack of healing, they are now to consider themselves unable to glorify God or be effective in evangelism.

Compare that to conservatives like John Piper who are open to spiritual things but don't demand healing: a person doesn't get healed, yet still praises God, thanks God for their situation, and asks God for the strength to continue in that situation. They're sick, but remain confident in God and content in their situation—unlike the world. This startling difference, of contentedness and satisfaction in God despite pain, is both an incredible witness to others, and deeply God glorifying. Those in the world crumple and become depressed or anxious under pain. What if there was a person who was in pain and still found reason to praise God—unbelievable! Sounds like Paul and others in jail!

Ben tells of Brother Yun who laughs as he shows the scars from his shackles. Ben is crying hearing about it, but Yun is happy! After asking him about this, Yun explains that getting those shackles made him so close to Jesus. So incredibly close to Jesus. So Brother Yun found deep satisfaction in God, through suffering, just like Paul and his thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Paul writes here that God himself would not remove the "messenger of Satan". Instead of commanding the sickness to go, he was to find power in his weakness. Ben is saying, find power in your strength. When you are strong, then you are strong. When God does away with your weakness. That's the opposite of what the Bible says.

Finding a better way forward

Now, indeed if you have a great testimony, then by all means shout it from the rooftops! It is a strong witness and glorifies God. But, for the many of us who are struggling, unless you have a word from God's Spirit, be content with the grace you've been given. And therein lies the rub: yes God can heal, but it's in his timing and at his word—not ours (more on that in my series "Directionalism": following God's direction, not presuming it—or denying it—at propheticengineering.org/series/directionalism). I noticed that in Ben's prime example, he first heard from God that God didn't want them to leave that bound up lady on the foreshore of a local beach alone. In other words, it was God's timing. Not ours.

I know that goes against what some Pentecostals hear. But look at you. Look at reality. Your theology doesn't work because while you might see more miracles than your conservative brothers and sisters, there is still a lot of sickness and unhappiness. It's one thing to say God can heal, but it's quite another to say God will heal, right now. Believing God can heal is trusting God at his Word; believing God will heal is trusting a man-made New Age religion.

Let me retell for you the gravest and strongest personal testimony that many have experienced in their own context. I'm thinking of a person in particular that was faithful (to the Word Faith beliefs and practices) and yet died. That God put in front of us as a witness. I think they had cancer, but I hadn't been in touch with this person in a few years to be sure. They believed God for their healing, but it never came. They were faithful in their belief that God will heal, but died. Now, what does that testimony bear witness to? That this person had hidden sin? No. That they weren't faithful enough? Not unless it's a works-based healing. That they didn't have appropriate prayer covering? No, they had a great community around them. No—the person's testimony is this: your theology is wrong. You've over-extended yourself. You've gone from God can heal to God must heal. You've moved from a humble posture of "nevertheless not my will but yours be done" (or "may your will be done on earth"), to declaring your own will be done. You've created a Jesus which would never have gone to the cross, because testimony is only to be found in victory, health, and happiness.

But Jesus created the single biggest and most powerful testimony by dying. Paul, like Brother Yun, found strength in his weakness. Not strength. And that is a blazing testimony. That you would be able to look with hope at God's face in the face of sickness and even death. That you would, when everyone else is despairing in another lockdown, not call down power to end the lockdown—for everyone is happy in freedom—but be content in that lockdown: that's bewildering. That's incredible. That's strength. It's not a witness to find happiness in happiness, or to find strength in strength. It's a witness to find strength in weakness. When we're weak—and remain weak—God is strong.

So in summary there's a blinkered approach to life that ignores the supernatural. There's definitely less opportunity for God's glory to shine through in that. But there's another approach which teaches dissatisfaction when you're not 100%. And this dissatisfaction robs us of being a light and witness in our weakness. Rather, we want to find that place like Brother Yun and the Apostle Paul of coming closer to Jesus while embracing our weakness. That so hurts some people's theology, but, it makes much better sense of why even Pentecostal churches are full of sickness—and even premature death. Don't let that witness go to waste.

Don't, like the Pharisees, discount that part of the Bible on account of your religion ("God must heal"). There is a place for weakness and submission of your will. It's in the Bible. Don't nullify it.

Go hard after God and his supernatural. Do it. But then like Jesus, submit yourself to His will and His timing, and thank God for the situation he's put you in despite your lack. Look to him for strength, in that weakness. Then go and bear witness now in your awe-inspiring strength-in-weakness.

A pastoral note, and another witness

When God doesn't provide your breakthrough straight away, but you persist in asking for it despite him saying "my grace is sufficient for you", you won't feel closer to God, you'll actually feel more distant. That's because he's not answering you in the way that you want. So you feel he doesn't care about you. So by changing "God can heal" into "God must heal", and similarly with any sort of provision ("God must provide"), it creates very fertile ground for disappointment. You'd be thinking God has forgotten you. And you end up closing your ears to God's words "my grace is sufficient for you", because your religion says that God must heal and I can't be weak.

Now, contrast that with an approach that finds strength in weakness. So like Jesus, you might pray for another way other than the cross. So pray for that miracle, that breakthrough. But then what you're going to do if God doesn't answer you in that way, is you're going to submit your will to God's. "Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done." (Luke 22:42) What that does is that it allows us to continue in God's will, and therefore get God's strength to continue in our weakness. Since it is God's will for us to be weak for that moment, he will provide strength to push through it. And we'll feel closer because God provided that strength.

As it is, Ben is asking people to come out of God's will and seek a breakthrough that God is not committed to. And that's why, paradoxically, seeking God for a miracle might push us away from God!

The positive truth here is to hear from God, and be open to the possibility that he might say "not yet", or "here's some grace to get through". A theology that says God must heal closes our ears to the possibility of hearing anything else, which creates relational distance. It's like how Jonah didn't want to hear about evangelising the Ninevites. We run away from that. We want all our problems to just magically fix themselves. We don't want to mature in our weakness and develop patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But these too, are evangelistic witnesses, and not characteristics of the world.

For those still with me: does it disturb you that conservatives have a much great witness in their character than Pentecostals? Can you see a connection between persevering in suffering and character? Can you start to see how strength in weakness is a foundation?

I think we're well within our rights to ask for a miracle. But I think God is well within his rights to say "no" or "not yet". If you find yourself being disappointed with God's performance, or you blame yourself, the answer might surprisingly lie in your theology: the way you think about God and healing and breakthrough. Take a look at the verses and concepts I've mentioned and study them. Do you find yourself having to explain them away, nullifying their power? Or can you take them at face value?

Let's honour God and find satisfaction in Him at all times. Amen.

P.S.

If there's anyone who wants to unravel Word Faith and re-think everything, it all starts unravelling at this point where we acknowledge the redemptive value of suffering. Ask me about it sometime.