The Experiential Nature of Apostolic Christianity

If you read through the New Testament carefully, it becomes obvious that what Jesus brought to the earth contains many specific things to believe, to do, to not do, and attitudes to have when believing and doing them. But what makes His version of Christianity a supernatu-ral Way of life goes beyond our thinking and doing. Apostolic Christianity, the only authentic Christianity in God’s eyes, is also an experiential Way of life. The things taught by Jesus and His apostles are full of what I call “experiential language.” Experiential language is language that requires the hearer to have an experience that corresponds to the speaker’s language. For example, if John tells you, “I have fallen in love with Mary” you might imagine what that “fallen in love” means because of the romantic books and movies you have seen. But “imagining” is not the same as “knowing.” If you have never fallen in love with someone, you cannot know what John went through, what his body and emotions felt, what happened to his heartbeat when in her presence and in his dreams after leaving her presence, and the hope for their future that started to consume him. “Falling in love” is experiential language: it is describing an experience and requires you to go through a version of what John went through before you can understand the language he used.

Much of the language used in the New Testament (as well as Old) is that same kind of experiential language. Take that word “love,” for example. Most parents will say they “love” their children, and most children will say they “love” their moms (not so often dads, alas). Un-fortunately, there was a woman in the news some years ago, who drove herself and her young children into a lake, to kill everyone in the car. She also said she “loved” her children. The meaning of that word seems to be very stretchable among humans, no? But Jesus provided us God’s definition of the term when He told his disciples, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (John 15:12 NASB). No matter how deeply we think we love someone, the specific experience that underlies that word has been defined by the One who created our ability to “love.” Whatever “love” we might already have within us, it is His kind of “love” that He intends to bring within us. Then there are terms such as “repent,” “believe,” “submit,” “disciple,” “righteousness,” “turn the other cheek,” “gentle,” “bless those who curse you.” You may fill those terms with your content, but unless your content matches God’s experiential content, you are not yet “repenting” or “believing” or “submitting” or being a “disciple.” Jesus’s examples and modeling provide the only valid definition of those terms. Remember that the Pharisees were passionately righteous people – that is, with their version of righteousness. And what did Jesus say about their experiential version: “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). Whatever version of those terms you may have brought into your relationship with God, it is His version that He intends to take their place. And you must be zealous to be stretched into His version, since He is your God and Master, right? Jesus came to change my thinking and behaving and attitudes, to be sure. But more specifically and deeply, He came to replace my inner “Reed” with the inner realities of Jesus Himself! “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 NASB) is to be experienced quite literally through the magic of the Holy Spirit’s anointing and strong leadership. And, more miraculous than we can imagine, the experience that His disciples had in Acts Chapter Two is your promised experience as well. Do not let false teachers deprive you of God’s version of experiential Christianity!

From “Blueprint for a Revolution: Building Upon ALL of the New Tetament,” Volume 1, page 180 (Westbow Press)