A few years ago, I read a book called "Kingdom Triangle" by J.P. Moreland that has profoundly framed how I have studied, understood, and sought to live and experience the Kingdom of God.
I really, really like the author, J.P. Moreland. He, in my estimation, is one of the most balanced Evangelical writers/thinkers out there who not only write about what the Kingdom of God is like but experience it too. Because seriously, who cares if you can write something brilliant about the Trinity if you never experience your Trinitarian theology. Ever. I read somewhere that before the Protestant Reformation, there was, for the most part, no disconnect between a theologian's theology and his/her experience. With some exceptions, Christian thinkers actually experienced their theological reflections about God. Not exhaustively. But considerably. Moreland does this. And this is one of the reasons why I really like him.
A note about balance. Most people think they're balanced. But most people actually are pretty imbalanced (all of us are imbalanced in some way, because there's no person out there who is totally free from imbalance). The thing is, that most imbalanced people don't realize they're imbalanced. Because in their minds the only continuum that exists in the Christian life (i.e. Word-centered [i.e. Reformed] vs. Spirit-centered [i.e. Pentecostal/Charismatic]) only represent 2 streams of thought out of other streams that are included in the historical Christian faith. They are oblivious to other streams that are out there as well. Some other people of the Kingdom of God are compassionate-ministry/social-justice oriented and/or spiritual formation oriented (which I would argue is connected yet distinct from being "Word centered [in a Reformed understanding]" or "Spirit-centered" [in a Charismatic understanding]). As a parenthetical statement, I personally think that the compassionate-ministry/social-justice stream and the spiritual formation stream can be clumped together, although they're not 100% identical.
Let us take an example of this. Look at the well-known passage of Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to diving soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Different Christian traditions may have different, yet valid attitudes as of how they "live out" this truth.
"Word-centered Christians" ,with respect to generalizations, may read this verse and be encouraged to focus on the intellectual study of the word, getting your doctrine right, and engaging in lots of exegesis and hermeneutics to study the intellectual meaning of biblical passages to "extract its power".
"Charismatic Christians", with respect to generalizations, may read this verse and be encouraged to focus on the "Charismatic reading" of biblical passages, in terms of how the Holy Spirit divinely electrifies passages when he speaks bible verses prophetically through his people to pronounce people's prophetic destinies, engage in spiritual warfare, and have people supernaturally "cut to the heart" with the Word of God.
You see, someone who has knowledge of these 2 streams and gleans from both of them may consider themselves "balanced", yet neglect other stream(s) of the Kingdom of God. Spiritual Formation, within recent years, has started to become more well known in Evangelicalism, which is good in my opinion. Because until then, most of us have had no idea what this spiritual formation stream of the Kingdom of God is all about, and hence would be stuck in a 2-dimensional continuum of measuring how "balanced" we are.
"Spiritual Formation Christians", with respect to generalizations, may read Hebrews 4:12 and be encouraged to use different contemplative methods of meditating on the scripture throughout one's day. Not for blatantly supernatural effects, or to intellectually study the scriptures, but just to have the content of the verses soak into one's being and permeate different aspects of one's self (thoughts, feelings, will, body, and social relationships). There are levels of permeation that one's heart/spirit can experience as one persists with creative experimentation in meditating on the Scriptures. Some effects come after months of persisting with the spiritual discipline of contemplative meditation on passages. Some effects only come after years of persisting. Some only after decades. This comes through 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 style spiritual discipline. It is distinct from the "Word-centered/Exegetical-Hermeneutical" stream and the "Spirit-centered/Charismatic" stream.
It is interesting to note that people from their own streams tend to have their own take on what it means to "disciple others" and "follow Christ". Christians from all 3 streams read and quote from the same Bible to back up their framing/understanding of "discipleship to Jesus", whether it's knowing the Scriptures more and more the way Jesus knew them and had his mind shaped by them, or working and moving in the Holy Spirit to do the supernatural works that Jesus did through the Holy Spirit, or growing in Christlike character in the way one reacts when others sin against them.. And their different views may all be valid, but still have blindspots.
Back to Moreland. This guy is balanced. He not only thinks he's balanced, he actually is. And he experiences the stuff he talks about too.
So in his book, he writes about 3 points of the Kingdom that the Early Church was big on that caused the Church to grow like mad. They are:
1)Having a sharp Christian mind and worldview to outthink the Church's critics
2)Spiritual Formation. Growing in the character of Christ through persistent-longterm-yet-non-legalistic spiritual disciplines of practically abiding in Christ moment to moment in one's first-person consciousness to allow the Fruit of the Spirit to grow one's character. In short, the science of allowing the Fruit of the Spirit to grow in oneself.
3)Charismatic signs, wonders, and miracles of the Holy Spirit. The growing and effective use of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The thing about Moreland, is that he has such a balanced and varied background that qualifies him, I think, to write on all 3 topics. He has a PhD in Philosophy and was a professional apologist who debated world-class atheists in public settings/universities to defend the Christian faith on intellectual grounds (I think he may still do this). He has done his fair share of reading the spiritual devotional classics in the spiritual formation stream of the Christian faith and has experienced practicing what he reads to have his soul/character formed in Christlikeness significantly over a patient process of persistent New Testament style spiritual disciplines. And, within the past decade or so, he has started to explore Charismatic spirituality, such as prophecy, healing, and casting out demons. Basically the stuff you see in the book of Acts. Now this guy is truly balanced.
He writes about all 3 points of the triangle, and how we need to have elements of all 3 of the Kingdom of God to see revival in our North American churches. I am completely sold on this.
To me, these 3 points of the triangle are like the study of the 3 sciences in the physical realm. You have physics, chemistry, and biology. All are connected to each other, yet distinct. Just because one has an undergrad in physics, does not mean that one has an undergraduate level of understanding of chemistry. Just because one has a masters degree in chemistry, does not mean that one has a Masters level of understanding for biology. And just because one has a PhD in biology does not mean that one has a PhD level of understanding, or even a Masters or undergraduate level of understanding in physics. They are connected, yet distinct from each other. And all 3 streams of the physical sciences need to be capitalized on to have the maximum amount of cutting-edge technological developments in the physical world.
The same goes with these 3 points of the Kingdom Triangle. They are connected to each other, yet distinct. This is the sad, yet important part. Proficiency in one does not translate into proficiency in the other 2 points of the triangle. Just because one has a Doctorate in theology or philosophical theology like Wayne Grudem or William Lane Craig does not mean that one can concretely cast out demons who are harassing a tormented human. And just because one has experience and proficiency in casting out different types of demons like Charles Kraft does does not mean that one has the Christlike character/Fruit of the Spirit like Dallas Willard. And just because one has abundant Fruit of the Spirit/Christlikeness in them does not mean that one has the cultivated Christian worldview/mind to logically and rationally explain why Christianity is a more coherent and intellectually credible worldview than secular atheism.
To my understanding, these 3 points of the triangle actually combat different dimensions in how Satan tries to attack the Church/Christians, including our Western culture. The world, direct/blatant/explicit attacks from demons, and the flesh.
First of all, you have "the world", which includes the world of ideas, and what is publicly taught in secular universities. In order to engage the world in its own mother culture, one has to know the ideas that are circulating and dominating the minds of the people in it, and logically show how those ideas are either destructive and/or false and/or unwise, without just anti-intellectually "preaching at people". It is possible to use logic, science, history, and reflected experience to show how certain ideas are intellectually superior to others. For the Christian, this means that logic, science, history, and reflected experience can demonstrate and defend the intellectual credibility of the Christian worldview.
Then, you have Satan himself, as well as his demons. 'Nuff said. These guys have to be dealt with head on. And they don't bow down to doctrinate statements and systematic theology. They bow down to borrowed spiritual authority given from the Father in Jesus' name. But this has to grow. This has to be developed. It's not like Harry Potter where you say the name of Jesus and treat it like a spell and everything's solved. It's a strength and authority that needs to be cultivated/seasoned/grown and exercised responsibly to deal with different types of demons in spiritual warfare as one grows in spiritual authority as one grows in relational intimacy with Jesus to walk in the power that he walked with when he was on earth.
And then you have "the flesh", which are the sinful habits ingrained in our fallen human nature that need to be dealt with through Spirit-assisted spiritual discipline. These are evil things "within a person" as opposed to demons who are "out there". Peter was able to cast out demons with the other disciples after Jesus granted them authority to do so. But he denied Jesus 3 times afterwards. The problem was not that he didn't have authority to cast out demons. The problem was that his thought patterns, emotional programming, volitional decision making habits, bodily conditioning, and social relational structures were tainted and twisted by sin, and needed to be "unwrenched and straightened into righteousness" through spiritual disciplines, such as fasting, praying, meditation on the word of God, silence, solitude, etc. That is why he wrote 2 Peter 1:5-7. Jesus himself never had any demons inside of him to be casted out, yet he still had to "learn obedience through suffering" (Hebrews 5:8). There is a "science" to grow in Christlikeness. It is an elaborate process with overall patterns, although there is a lot of mystery to it at the same time.
With all this being said, proficiency in one stream/point does not make one automatically proficient in other one(s). It is sad to see so many Christians and also Christian leaders only have proficiency/maturity in one stream without the other(s) and be satisfied with their current condition of development/growth. It is even more sad to see that because they have developed proficiency/maturity in one area, that they lose their "teachableness" to learn in other areas. Being teachable is one of, if not THE most important trait to have in order to grow. The moment one lacks teachableness, one stops growing. One needs it as a pre-condition for many things. To be able to humbly ask for help. To be able to proactively ask a more experienced person to train you in an area you need growth in. To be willing to learn from one's mistakes. To be willing to not care about looking like a fool, even as an adult. To proactively study and milk the knowledge from trusted resources when no one else is pushing/encouraging one to do so.
"Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise." - Proverbs 19:20
I had to be proactive and teachable, and still try to remain proactive and teachable as I am slowly yet gradually growing in all 3 areas/streams. The way God's grace usually works is in partnership with a proactive and teachable learner. I find that the most proactive and teachable people in life learn, grow, and develop the most.
In my university years, starting from 2003 and being introduced to Ravi Zacharias, I started to intentionally and proactively develop my Christian mind/worldview to know why what I believe is objectively true (hopefully without having an arrogant attitude, just like being confident that 2+2=4 without thinking that one is better than those who think that 2+2=5). I read the right books, listened to talks from people who knew their stuff, and milked trained apologists when I could. God grew my Christian mind a lot through that.
In my missionary years in East Asia, starting from 2008, while I was being brought to my lowest spiritual point in my journey, I had to go to the treasure chest of devotional spiritual classics in spiritual formation that were written by people who had PhDs in Christlikeness over the centuries. I had to be teachable. I read a lot. I experimented a lot with spiritual practices. I persevered, sometimes for months, even when I didn't immediately see any fruit to it. I listened to talks by contemporary people who had PhDs in Christlikeness. I milked the right people who were Christlike from their lifestyle of intentional spiritual formation (and still do). God has grown my character in me by me accessing his grace through proactivity and teachability on my part.
Then, starting at the end of 2010/beginning of 2011, by the grace of God I got exposed to legit Charismatic Christian spirituality. Growing up Baptist, I got zero exposure to this stuff. Prophetic dreams. Visions while one is awake. Dealing with demons when you feel the physical effects of them attacking you. The gift of prophecy exercised by someone affirming what the deepest levels of your heart feels spiritually without you telling them anything, immediate physical healings, literal miracles. Once again, I had to be teachable, because I had zero exposure to this stuff in my faith tradition. I had to find trusted resources and read up a lot on it, listen to talks on it, and experiment with this stuff in safe settings, and also milk those who are wise, seasoned, and experienced in this stuff. Although I still have eons to go to be able to deal with demons the way Charles Kraft does and/or listen to and discern God's voice the way Jack Deere does, God has grown me a lot in this area, through his grace meeting my proactivity and teachability on my part.
It is hard to find balanced people, who are balanced in all 3 areas. I know a lot of Christians who are strong in 1 or 2 streams/points of the triangle. I know very few who are are mature/developed in all 3 though. My hope is to see a whole generation of young Christians who are truly balanced and cultivated/seasoned/mature in all 3 points of the triangle. Then things will be ripe for a trans-emotional spiritual revival here in North America.
