Jesus declared to the church leaders of His day that He would send "prophets and wise men and teachers" to the church - and the leaders would abuse them and reject them:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town." (MT 23:29-33)

The Lord has kept His word and sent "prophets and wise men and teachers" to the church. And over the centuries, the church leaders have often done as He declared they would do, mistreating these individuals and missing out on the blessings God intended for us.

The Church, on the whole, does not know what to do with prophets and wise men. We're getting better at receiving teachers, but that wasn't always so. There were times when the bible was only taught in Latin, a language the common person didn't know. And for a time, it was a crime for a lay person to own their own bible. The rationale was that the common person could not be trusted to understand God's word on their own, without the help of theologians. Instead of trusting the Holy Spirit to help people understand and discern God's word, the church took what she thought was a safer route and took absolute control over the bible's distribution. But over the last few centuries, teachers have been making a comeback. More and more Chr istians with the gift of teaching are being allowed to exercise this gift to make God's word known and understood to all.

How about the "wise men" that Jesus said He would send to the church? These are people with the gift of wisdom and counsel. Isn't that gift found within the ranks of clergy? Certainly. But the gift will be incomplete unless we also receive the wise men from outside of our ranks. Only in the last couple decades has this gifting been finding a welcome reception - through the office of counseling. A counselor is someone who can sift through the chaos of someone else's life and find the one key that sets them free from bondage. We need to make room within ministry for the wise men that Jesus sends our way, whether it's a professional counselor or just someone with this gifting.

What about the third group, the prophets? I believe the modern day version of this gift is spread across many people - "we prophesy in part," according to Paul - rather than being possessed in fullness by a single person the way the Old Covenant displayed. What does the prophetic gift look like today? In its immature, untrained form, it can simply look like a critical person. The critic feels God's displeasure with the way things are, and knows painfully well that there is a huge gap between God's calling for a church or leader and the present reality. But the critic (the untrained prophetic person) fails to understand that they are called to stand in the gap, not in the judgment seat. Until the prophetic gifting is combined with intercession and longsuffering compassion, the immature prophetic person will bring down more of God's people than they raise up. Untrained prophets tend to leave bloody trails behind them, and the church tends to push out and reject these trouble makers. They bounce from one church body to another, seldom finding a church home, because few churches are wise enough to look beyond the criticism and embrace what the Lord is saying through this person.

But God will fulfill His purposes. The church desperately needs mature prophetic people. The cycle will be broken and wise church leaders will begin to accept and receive people who are beginning to exercise their prophetic gifting. This will require great patience and humility on the part of the church and those in the prophetic role. The church will need to look past some of the harsh and painful things said by young prophets, and prophets will need to learn to blend their eager desire to deliver God's words with an equally great desire to restore those whom they unsettle.

Jesus was able to say some of the most direct and challenging statements in the bible, but He earned the right to speak plainly by becoming a living intercessor for those He was challenging. You can get away with saying some pretty honest things to me if I know you will die for me. But if you don't have any skin in the game, I'm not very likely to tolerate much criticism from you. This is the lesson that today's prophets must learn before they can truly fulfill their calling. Likewise, prophets will need to learn how to receive rejection as Christ did, forgiving those who rejected Him, without turning bitter, and without letting pride seep in.

Who are the wise men and women in your church body? Who are the ones who seem to be able to listen to the brokenhearted and respond with compassion and wise counsel? How can you release these individuals to practice their gift?

Who are the prophets within your body? How can you help them to practice their gifting in a setting that is safe for them and also safe for your body? God has a plan for using these people in a way that will bless the body. We cannot get to where God is calling us without making room for these people in ministry

Used with permission by: FreshBread

Hayden Andrews