I had one of those uh huh moments the other morning while thinking about how to explain some of my choices to non-believers. Where this revelation led me was to walking in the Spirit.
Now this topic is unfortunately twisted by some theologians to mean speaking in tongues. I couldn't disagree more. My attitude is that of the Apostle Paul, "I would rather you spoke 5 words with your mind than 10,000 words in tongues (a strange language incomprehensible language). The gift of tongues offers a number of benefits; edification of our own spirit, priming the pump to get the Spirit moving, speaking to others of a language you don't understand and a sign to believers and nonbelievers.
But on fortunately some think it is the main gift, that it is the gift that everyone should seek (even though Paul tells us otherwise). We are told at the end of chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians (in the form of rhetorical questions which expect a negative reply) that not everyone speaks in tongues, not everyone prophesies and so on. If we look closer at theses passages (from the beginning of Chapter 12 to the end of Chapter 14 of 1 Cor.) you will see that the main purpose of the gifts is for the building up of the body/one another. Speaking in tongues does little toward that end, in my mind.
So getting back to where I was headed with this, I see spiritual gifts as a necessary part of the body life so that we can be built up (become mature in Christ). I don't see the gifts as mystical per se. I seem them as very practical tools to help us help one another. But in order for us to help each other with the gifts, they must be employed. Our regular Sunday services are just not structured to make room for the proper exercising of the full range of Spiritual gifts.
I firmly believe that the spiritual gifts are not to be relegated to some obscure corner of the Christian life, rather I see them being meant to be employed in our everyday life. Imagine if you are dealing with a child who is lying to you about where they have been and by a Word of Knowledge you were informed of exactly what they were doing and who they were with. Doesn't that sound pretty practical.
I see the gifts helping us live out the fullness of what it means to be a Born Again Christian. The gifts equip us to speak with supernatural knowledge and understanding to anyone around us. Employing them as God intended would mean that we become the kinds of emissaries that God intended when the Apostle Paul told us we were Christ's Ambassadors and Ministers of Reconciliation. Our lives would reflect the fullness of Christ in his love, power, mercy and righteousness.
But unfortunately we often try to do this out of our own intellect. And our wisdom is foolishness in God's eyes. Yes spending time in the Bible is a good thing. Yes sitting under good teachers is helpful. But ultimately we must become people who walk by the Spirit and not just by our human knowledge, wisdom and understanding.
You cannot love your enemies, speak well of those who curse you or reach out to the outcasts of our society in the power of our flesh and intellect. This Christian life we are living is intended to be supernatural. First Christ laid it out for us in the Sermon on The Mount, then He demonstrated it in how He ministered and finally He sent us his Holy Spirit to empower us to live the life that He had intended for us.
Later the Apostles gave further instruction in how and why we should lives this way. My job as a pastor is to continue that tradition by pointing people to Christ, Living a life worthy of emulation and encouraging, rebuking and teaching these new children of God how to live as mature disciples of Christ.
I cannot do this only on Sundays, I need to find ways to encourage, teach and rebuke on the other 6 days of the week. My job is not just to prepare sermons or to manage programs. My job it to be training future leaders how to live by the Spirit, how to walk in the gifts and eventually how they too can be people who make disciples.
Have I got it all figured out? No. If you want someone who has a much better handle on it then go talk to Francis Chen. I really think that I could learn a few more things from him. But the reason I am writing this article is not to point you to Francis Chen, but rather to encourage each and everyone of you reading this to hunger after the things of God. To become people who chase after everything that God has for you. I don't want to be satisfied with just hanging out with some fellow believers on Sundays and go home and just sit and wait until our next encounter.
This is why I attend two small groups during the week. One is to for an opportunity to operate in the gifts to encourage others. The other group is where I teach from the Word of God, encouraging those attending to walk in the ways of God. This is also why I write articles like this to try and encourage others to live the kind of life that Christ died for. He didn't die the death of a sinner just to pay for our sins, but He died such a death to open the way for us to live in such a way that people would stop and ask us, "How come you have such love, joy, peace and hope in your life?" So that they would be envious of us in such a way as that they too would want to learn how to live such a life.
I am convinced that if we don't walk in the Spirit and by the Spirit then we are barely more than animals. It is in the Spirit where we come into God's true intent for us as humans made in His Image who can live in this world and transform it. Yes there is evil a foot, but the more of us that are walking in the fullness of God's power, in His Spirit, then the more evil is pushed back.
God hasn't called us to a fortress mentality where we hunker down waiting for His return. He has equipped and empowered us so that no even the gates of hell will stand in our way. The enemy would try to convince you that you are powerless. He would say, "Your not Christ, you can't live that way!" But the Truth is that Christ was given us everything that we need so that we are more than conquerors. As I have heard it put once, we are to become people who when we wake up the devil says, "Oh sh_t they're up again!"
I want to be someone who shows all my neighbors that I am one who walks with Christ, one who loves authentically, lives out the principles of The Golden Rule. I want my neighbors to be glad that I am here. I don't want to be a religious nut but rather someone who walks by the Spirit in such a way that they might say about me, "There goes the man who walks with God".
Am I there yet? Not at all! Even still I won't give up on Christ working in me. I fully trust that He will complete the work that He has begun in me, as I trust that He will complete the work He was begun in you. To that end I will continue to pursue the purposes and gifts that God has invested in me. He didn't save us to sit on the bench for the rest of the game. His desire is that His gifts would be employed as each of us does our part in the greater tapestry of God's Will in The Kingdom of God.
He didn't leave us to figure it out by ourselves and He doesn't want us just sitting around waiting for something to happen. He has equipped each and every one of us to play a part, to be a friend and good neighbor, to be a vital part of the Body of Christ. Not everyone is called to be a Leader in the church, but everyone has been given a part to play in His Kingdom.
If you think that God couldn't use us, that somehow you are disqualified, you are wrong. God has a part for each and everyone of us to play in His plans for humanity Christ died to qualify those who were once called enemies of God. He has made a way for us all to play a part.
So I encourage you this week to think on these things, to examine your life and pray that God would reveal to you some small glimpse of what He saved you for. Your part may not be a great spectacle, but it will make a difference. When you visit those who are homebound, when provide a listening ear to a hurting co worker or neighbor, you are making room for God to use you and to touch the lives of the lonely and hurting.
If you find yourself saying, "Oh, I could never do that" Chances are that that may be the very thing God has for you, but the enemy is trying to discourage you from stepping out in the Spirit and letting God use you. The enemy hates it when we trust God and try things that we would have never tried. The enemy uses lies and fear and shame to try to disqualify us while Christ has redeemed us to serve God's purposes.
Fear not, be strong and courageous for Christ has overcome the world and His intent for you is to live an abundant life. A life filled with a cornucopia of God's grace and mercy. You don't have to grunt it up in your own strength and will, but as you trust in He who saved you, you will do more than you could have ever thought or imagined.
When we look at the Spiritual big hitters, like Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Smith Wigglesworth, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson and others. It wasn't that they were so great, it was that they trusted God at his Word and walked by the Spirit to demonstrate the reality of God's power, love and mercy.
I am encouraged in the story of an older woman, who after examining herself she realized that she had the gift of hospitality decide to invite her neighbors over, one at a time, for a cup of tea and fellowship. In the decades that she did this she led dozens of people to Christ.
Ask God to reveal to you, who you are in Him. Trust Him to put the gifts He has already provided to show when you take a step of obedience and expect Him to show up. Get in the game. We are not called to be spectators in the Great game of Life. We are meant to be participants, benefiting those around us as we let 'The Great I Am' reveal Himself in our lives.
May God's gifts and his Spirit move mightily in your lives as you seek his Face and His love, living as children of God redeemed to be salt and light in the earth.
In His Glorious Name,
Preacher Al
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