As I continue to prayerfully meditate upon God’s word
concerning spiritual gifts, I have found it notable how God describes the
attitude he wants us to have in relation to what he gives us. Here are a few
Scriptures that stood out today with special interest for how they are to
impact both my heart and my behavior.
1 Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially
that you may prophesy. (I Corinthians 14)
1. Pursue love: the kind of love
described in I Corinthians 13. Don’t “wait” for it; pursue it; seek it.
2. Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts: no
question that God wants us to not only desire them, but earnestly, eagerly,
longingly. Nothing in the Scriptures tells us that God doesn’t mean what he says
about this.
3. Especially (earnestly desire) that you may
prophesy: Paul goes on to show how prophesy does more to build up the
church than tongues, and this is the reason we should earnestly desire prophesy
even more than we would earnestly desire all the other spiritual gifts.
We do not need to wait until we know for
certain what prophecy means. We can pray that God would give us prophesy
however he means it, and however he wants us to have it. He will lead us to
understand his will. However, for starters, we are to earnestly desire the
fullest experience of his will in this regard.
12 So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the
Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. (I Corinthians 14)
1. So with yourselves: Paul’s expression, “so with yourselves,” shows that he was
talking about how the Corinthian church pursued all the spiritual gifts. He
says nothing in this chapter about any of the gifts ceasing with the apostles,
or belonging to the apostles alone. His interest was in how the churches used
spiritual gifts in the way they were taught through God’s breathed-out words.
2. Since you are eager for manifestations of
the Spirit: Paul treats this as a good thing. I have been taught that it is
only those pesky Charismaniacs who are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, and
such manifestations will get weird and wild in a “beyond what is written” kind of way.[1]
However, Paul taught the “manifestations of the Spirit” as good and normal,
albeit with the provisos that everything is aimed at the common good.[2]
3. Strive to excel in building up the church:
What would happen in our church groups if we came to every gathering having an
aim to build up the church by striving to excel? Wanting to build up the church
is not optional. However, the standard is not the bare minimum, but excelling
at building the church. And, no matter how poorly we are doing at the moment,
from where we’re at, we can strive to excel in building up the church
26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a
lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done
for building up. (I Corinthians 14)
1. What then, brothers?: I love this
because Paul takes whatever he teaches and calls the church to consider what to
do with it. He even TELLS us what to do with it so there is no doubt how to put
the Scriptures into action.
2. When you come together: picturing the
regular gatherings of the church. Note again that this is about when “you” come together, meaning the church,
not an apostolic board meeting where the spiritual gifts were confined to a
handful of men.
3. Each one has: “Each one” means just that. None of us are spectators to what the
rest of the body is doing. “has”
means that each of us has something to bring to church with us if we will
pursue the spiritual gifts and consider how we are placed to build up the body
of Christ.
4. A hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or
an interpretation: I think Paul is giving a summary of the gifts,
indicating ways that we come together to a church service. He doesn’t picture a
worship leader picking out all the songs, but people coming to church with
songs that express whatever God is doing that week, and what would be most
beneficial to building up the body of Christ. He doesn’t limit the instruction
to the pastor, but expects that some will have “a lesson” to present for the good of the whole church. “a revelation” is included, and makes me
want to know for certain what Paul meant by that. And tongues and
interpretations are also included, simply taking us back to the list of
spiritual gifts and calling us to come with these things ready to go. Of
course, this means in context of everything Paul has instructed about such
things.
Conclusion: When
Paul tells us to “Pursue love, and
earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy,” we
must add our “Amen” to this and seek it all. We can seek the fullest experience
of spiritual gifts in the church of our communities, and the most loving
character in handling these things.
As I have said a few
times recently, when we seek to be filled with the Spirit, we will mature in
the fruit of the Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit. While there may be some
sense in which we must wait on the Spirit to do what he will do, there is also
a sense in which we can set our minds on the Spirit now, and follow him where
he leads. We will become more Christlike, and more gifted, as we go.
© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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