Gifts, Small and Great

Good morning,

I've waded into a difficult passage this morning, 1 Corinthians 12:14-31.  Because of its length I won't reproduce it here.  If you don't go read it, however, you will be lost.  Here is a link, to make things easy:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+12%3A14-31&version=NASB

The essential difficulty of this passage is the seeming contradiction contained in it.
First of all, Paul is saying that all of the spiritual gifts are as necessary as each part of the human body is necessary.  But, then, later (in verses 28-31), he seems to imply that some of the gifts are more special and important than others.

I love the analogy of the Church to the human body.  (Paul expounds on this also in Ephesians 1 and 4.)  Each believer is created by God, according to His perfect foreknowledge.  Each is a miracle. Each is designed to work beautifully together.  It is God that constructs the body in the womb of the mother.  It is God who gifts each new believer.  It is God who leads believers to the local churches, along with the gifts each received at the time of his/her conversion (salvation).  He builds churches according to the giftedness of each individual member.

And, here is a powerful truth - - -
To the extent each of those members yields to the Holy Spirit, walks in obedience to the Word of God and exercises his or her spiritual gifts, the local church grows.
(Now, there are exceptions to this.  There are, for example, churches which have unhealthy growth, based on false teaching and deception.  Satan will pervert anything that is of God, even the growth of the local church.)

Diversity of gifts is healthy.  Where there is little diversity, there is an overabundance of uniformity. Uniformity is not the same as unity. We should pray for and work for unity of purpose in our churches, while we celebrate the diversity of our spiritual gifts.

Another distortion of the devil's is to persuade us to honor some spiritual gifts more than others. Paul seems to confirm this false teaching by mentioning how the Church got started, through the work of the apostles (that gift was preeminent in spreading the gospel initially), prophets, teachers and so on.

Yet, Paul speaks of this to "call out" the false teaching and frame the truth correctly.  Some gifts are more "important" for specific times.  Some are more "showy" in that they seem more effective in leading others to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  Evangelism is one of those, for example. Healing is another.  Yet, all the spiritual gifts are necessary, whether they are "pretty" or "flamboyant" or "sensational".... or not.  After all, you can live without some of the more visible parts of the body (ears, eyes, hands, feet, face); but, it's hard to live without some of the "less honorable" parts (the elimination system, the heart, the brain, etc.)

What, then, does Paul mean when he says, "Earnestly desire the greater gifts, and I will still show you a more excellent way" (verse 31)?  How can we "desire" something that is not part of our individual "gift package" the Holy Spirit gives us at the time of our salvation experience?

There ARE "greater gifts", and they are the heritage of every believer, in addition to their customized "gift package" from the Holy Spirit.  They are gifts found in every Christ follower, every child of the King: faith that leads to salvation by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8), justification (Romans 5:1 - being made positionally right with God forever), sanctification (John 17:17 - the continual purifying we can have through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, in this earthly life), glorification (Philippians 3:20-21 - when we finally are totally free from sin, see Him face-to-face and are with him eternally). Inherent in each of these stages are the gifts of righteousness, joy, peace and love, the beautiful anointing oils of the Holy Spirit onto and into our own spirits (Romans 14:17).  We should every day earnestly desire these extraordinary, available-to-all-believer gifts!

In the next chapter, Paul shows us "a more excellent way", as he describes that ultimate mark of the Christian, the spiritual gift of Christ-like love.

Lord Jesus, you know I have truly wrestled with this post today.  There were (good) distractions.  I could not find things I wanted.  I believe this post to be horribly imperfect.  But, I pray that you will anoint it with Your matchless grace and use it in my life and in the lives of those who read it, as I pray for all my "almost daily" posts.  It is not about me; it is about You, and all of this (sometimes seemingly wretched mess) is offered up for Your honor and glory alone.  All love and praise to You, my King!  Amen.

What God Wants

Good morning,

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

Psalm 46:10

A member of my church is facilitating a 13-week Bible study, starting this Sunday.  It's called, "Experiencing God", and it's an expanded/revised study based on the very famous book by Henry Blackaby.  The subtitle of the study is "knowing and doing God's will".  As I said yesterday, there are no coincidences with God.  So, I am thinking of doing this study with that group....just when I got my Sunday afternoons back, after practicing for that play for 8 months.  I haven't told the Hubster yet; he'll say that I'm crazy...again.

Let's move on in our study of The Lord's Prayer by examining the next phrase.  Here it is:

"Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

Matthew 6:10

Remember, this is from Jesus, who was modeling for His disciples how to pray.  These sentences are the first two petitions in The Lord's Prayer.  They aren't requests for any of our personal individual needs.  These are requests/petitions designed to bring our desires in line with those of God.

What does God want?  What are His purposes?  What is important to Him, on a global level?

God has declared many times in the Bible that He will one day establish His Kingdom here on earth. He will do that in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, a biological descendant of David, who was promised that his descendant would rule and reign "forever" (1 Chronicles 17:11-14). That reign will commence after the great battle of Armageddon and will last for 1000 years, on this physical planet we call Earth.  It will be a physical kingdom.  

We are also praying, in that declarative sentence (6:10), for His spiritual kingdom to be expanded, established in the hearts of people who do not yet know Him.  We are praying for the Holy Spirit to be unleashed, asking that more and more people will come to a heart knowledge of the Truth, that more and more will accept Jesus as Lord and be snatched from a certain eternity in Hell.

At this moment, where is the kingdom of God?  It is most surely in Heaven, while simultaneously being here on Earth in the hearts of Believers.  Jesus said to His followers, 

"The kingdom of God is within you."

Luke 17:21

It is through His lordship in each believer's heart that His kingdom is expanded, one-by-one.

So, when we pray The Lord's Prayer, we are asking God to do what He has already said that He will ultimately do.  We are praying for the ONLY solution to the problems that plague our fallen race of beings.  

Romans 14:17 - - 

For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness - - - the only holiness acceptable to God is that provided through the finished work of His Son, and given to us for our salvation.  In and of ourselves, we possess absolutely NO righteousness.  Righteousness is listed first because it is the indispensable "first characteristic" of being part of God's kingdom.

Peace  - - - peace is not listed first, because you cannot have peace without righteousness.  Some Christians go all around the world "working for peace" by meeting the humanitarian needs of people. That is wonderful and necessary to "be Christ's hands and feet".  But, what good does this if we do not simultaneously share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ?  What good does it do if we meet their physical needs, yet leave them bound for Hell?  None.  So, let's not be fooled by this world's version of "righteousness".  There is only one kind of righteous that brings true peace and that changes lives for all eternity.  You wonder why peace has fled America?  It is because God's righteousness, manifested in the hearts of men and women, is largely absent.

Joy - - - true joy comes from only one Source, and that is the Holy Spirit of God.  It transcends circumstances, even the worst that this sin-stained world serves up to us, because it is supernatural.  It is God's gift to those of us in His kingdom. This joy is grounded in our certainty that He is with us through thick-and-thin, forever.

The greatest blessing of this life - - to be God's child, to be part of His kingdom.

Tomorrow:  we'll drill down on "His will".

Almighty One, in the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah had a vision of You.  He saw You seated upon a throne, high and lifted up, with Your glory filling that celestial Temple.  Your throne was surrounded by seraphs, those angelic beings with six wings, who continually call out, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, the God of Angel Armies! The whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:1-3) Father, may Your kingdom come, in billions of human hearts and one day, physically on this Earth. In Jesus' name, amen.