Spiritual Gifts & Callings are NOT signs of maturity…

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Spiritual Gifts maturity

Sunday 07/14/24

Title: Spiritual Gifts & Callings are NOT signs of maturity

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Spiritual Gifts & Callings are NOT signs of maturity…

In our last message we began working through 1 Corinthians 12-14 with a special focus on tongues. 

However, in order to treat the chapter logically and correctly we needed to cover the three topic divisions which temporarily pulled our attention away from our initial reason for turning to Corinthians. Today should be different though. We should be able to bear down on tongues a little more today.

Now if you reviewed as I requested, then you will no doubt remember that Paul had told these Corinthian believers that he did not want them to be ignorant regarding spiritual things and said this immediately after spending some time addressing their spiritual immaturity. 

This was no fluke, Paul knew the fastest track from immaturity in Christ to His very image being perfected in them was by means of the Helper Jesus sent to the church to continue His perfecting, maturing work in them. This is accomplished by His grace to FROM others and through them TO others which is why he addressed Gifts, Ministries and Energies in chapter 12.

Who can tell me the differences between these three?

  • Gifts – for everyone as the Spirit leads and empowers
  • Ministries – locations and function within the body – also for everyone
  • Activities or energies – certain people God the Father has given to the body for its maturity and training in the ministry or work of the Kingdom.

All of these work to edify the body in one way or another.

Now just so all our teaching remains connected, remember that we are covering this because Palm Sunday, Easter and Eastertide set us on a logical path of thinking which culminated in the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost.

In our studies we concluded that the Spirit of God comes within the US upon believing an surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus in the New Birth – just Iike He did in the disciples when Jesus breathed on them and told them to receive the Holy Spirit WITHIN them. Then, in obedience to Jesus’ command after having learned from Him about the kingdom for 40 days they waited for the Holy Spirit coming upon them in Jerusalem. This is referred to as the BAPTISM IF THE HOLY Spirit according to Peter and was an experience available to every believer after salvation – even among the gentiles.

We concluded that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, though it MAY often or even always come with Tongues, the scriptures do not always show that. What it does show is something external and nearly always verbal and magnifies God and His wonderful works.

The Purpose of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is to empower us in our testimony of Christ. Meaning in our living out the gospel and in our sharing of the gospel.

He is the Oil in the lamps of the Virgins of Jesus’ parable. The testimony of Jesus in our lives and hearts is the minas & talents in Jesus’ famous parables on stewardship in kingdom work.

[See – The Parable of the 10 Virgins • Empty Oil Lamps & a Wedding Feast]

So this topic is not just a minor curiosity, it represents our very ability to live out the Gospel of Jesus as a testimony to the world.

Now as I said when last we were together, it seems as if the Corinthians were a real verbal group. It also appears that they had a real affinity for tongues above other expressions of the Spirit.

So it is that Paul, as he continues, brings up tongues quite a lot! We also find a progression in his teaching slowly leading these Corinthian believers towards maturity in their desire for and expression of these gifts. He also elucidates basic rules of conduct so that they might be better equipped to discern when an expression is a true gift led by the Spirit of God and when it is just an expression of immaturity from the flesh.

Thus Paul ended the last chapter – chapter 12 with the words – “Yet I show to you a more excellent way”.

This statement is NOT used as a comparison but rather a relation of motion or direction. Meaning all of this is important so long as we keep things in order. Or so long as we keep first things first and second things second. 

The New English translation has a good rendering of this for clarification. It says,

But you should be eager for the greater gifts. And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.”

Meaning, everyone has a different gift, location and function in the body and no one can be all things to all people. no one is more important in the body than another and no one is less important. We should desire the gifts which most easily and efficiently edify the body and the most effective way of doing this is to allow genuine agape love be your motivation behind your eagerness to be used by the Spirit.

He presses this point home in the opening words of chapter 14 by saying, PURSUE love, but desire spiritual gifts.  

His point therefore in this most famous of biblical chapters is that we must have love as the basis, focus and driving force behind all ministry and expression of the gifts or they are useless!

This is also an expression of maturity in Christ as we will see!

1 Corinthians 13:1-13,

“(1) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  

(2)  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, 

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”  

“(3)  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits nothing.”  

The more you study the more you pick up on translation issues. The word “me” doesn’t make any sense here so I looked it up to see it was in the original Greek or if it was added with the intention of clarifying the statement. As it turns out, it was in fact added. The passage should read, it profits nothing – not “it profits Me nothing. How do you think I suspected this was wrong? Because no Gift profits the one being used in the gift. It is for the profit of others. A finger does not scratch itself, it is used to scratch and ministry to everything BUT itself. That is the way LOVE works. So it makes no sense to say, if I do these things without love, I Am Not PROFITED, because personal profit is not the point or direction of love. Which is the very point of this whole chapter. Paul is pointing out the need for love as the motivation for the work and ministry of the Spirit in the life of believers in order to move these Corinthian believers away from selfishness immaturity to maturity in Christ which always focuses on others.

Perhaps the greatest example of this was Jesus the night of His betrayal, Who knowing what He was facing still loved and spent Himself on His disciples and on us. He say that their hearts were troubled and so spoke comfort to them Let not your hearts be troubled. He prayed three short prayers for Himself, but then in John 17 He prayers His high priestly prayer for them, asking the Father to keep them and allow both them and us to be with Jesus where He was going to be – with the FATHER Which was the reason for their being troubled. Love LOVE LOVE!

So no wonder Paul brings these baby believers through this verbal baptism of love before continuing their education regarding the ministry of the Holy Spirit in and among them.

“(4)  Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;  (5)  does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  (6)  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  (7)  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  (8)  Love never fails.”

“But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.  

(9)  For we know in part and we prophesy in part.  (10)  But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.  

(11)  When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  

(12)  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  

(13)  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE.”

So the more excellent way was love.

Next we will finally hit some of the paydirt regarding tongues as we progress on to chapter 14, but without being grounded in all Paul said before this, we would be at a serious disadvantage to understand the heart, direction, purpose and greater meanings of Paul’s words next week as we begin examining chapter 14.

Blessings!

Hi my name is Mark and though I am opposed to titles, I am currently the only Pastor (shepherd/elder) serving our assembly right now.

I have been Pastoring in one capacity or another for nearly 30 years now, though never quite like I am today.

Early in 2009 the Lord revealed to me that the way we had structured our assembly (church) was not scriptural in that it was out of sync with what Paul modeled for us in the New Testament. In truth, I (like many pastors I am sure) never even gave this fundamental issue of church structure the first thought. I had always assumed that church structure was largely the same everywhere and had been so from the beginning. While I knew Paul had some very stringent things to say about the local assembly of believers, the point of our gatherings together and who may or may not lead, I never even considered studying these issues but assumed we were all pretty much doing it right...safety in numbers right?! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!

So needless to say, my discovery that we had been doing it wrong for nearly two decades was a bit of a shock to me! Now, this "revelation" did not come about all at once but over the course of a few weeks. We were a traditional single pastor led congregation. It was a top-bottom model of ministry which is in part biblical, but not in the form of a monarchy.

The needed change did not come into focus until following 9 very intense months of study and discussions with those who were leaders in our church at the time.

We now understand and believe that the Bible teaches co-leadership with equal authority in each local assembly. Having multiple shepherds with God's heart and equal authority protects both Shepherds and sheep. Equal accountability keeps authority and doctrine in check. Multiple shepherds also provide teaching with various styles and giftings with leadership skills which are both different and complementary.

For a while we had two co-pastors (elders) (myself and one other man) who led the church with equal authority, but different giftings. We both taught in our own ways and styles, and our leadership skills were quite different, but complimentary. We were in complete submission to each other and worked side-by-side in the labor of shepherding the flock.

Our other Pastor has since moved on to other ministry which has left us with just myself. While we currently only have one Pastor/Elder, it is our desire that God, in His faithfulness and timing, may bring us more as we grow in maturity and even in numbers.

As to my home, I have been married since 1995 to my wonderful wife Terissa Woodson who is my closest friend and most trusted ally.

As far as my education goes, I grew up in a Christian home, but questioned everything I was ever taught.

I graduated from Bible college in 1990 and continued to question everything I was ever taught (I do not mention my college in order to avoid being labeled).

Perhaps my greatest preparation for ministry has been life and ministry itself. To quote an author I have come to enjoy namely Fredrick Buechner in his writing entitled, Now and Then, "If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that He speaks to us largely through what happens to us...if we keep our hearts open as well as our ears, if we listen with patience and hope, if we remember at all deeply and honestly, then I think we come to recognize beyond all doubt, that, however faintly we may hear Him, He is indeed speaking to us, and that, however little we may understand of it, His word to each of us is both recoverable and precious beyond telling." ~ Fredrick Buechner

Well that is about all there is of interest to tell you about me.

I hope our ministry here is a blessing to you and your family. I also hope that it is only a supplement to a local church where you are committed to other believers in a community of grace.

~God Bless!