2021-05-14
Good Morning Dear Ones,
On the day that Paul spoke to the Corinthians, of a town full of trade business and a rich economy, one can hear his frustration at the people’s seeming lack of interest in spiritual things. 1 COR 3: 2, “I had to feed you milk not solid food, because you were not ready for it. This is because you still live as people of the world still do.” Paul had seen them jealous and quarreling, sure signs that matters of the Holy Spirit weren’t being prioritized. Part of this issue was that some followed Paul, others followed Apollos, etc. By the Holy Spirit, some plant the seeds, others water them, and God makes them grow. The people needed to understand that we, who believe in Christ, are servants working together for God. We should remember PS 24: 1 and EPH 2: 20-22, which I hope you will consult, if you don’t remember them. When faithfulness in Christ is not a priority, then the Holy Spirit is not inhabiting one’s soul. RO 8: 9, “If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn’t belong to Christ, and he can’t discern the things of the Spirit.” To be unsaved is to be spiritually dead and alienated from the Holy Spirit. There can’t be victory over sin. We can see depravity all around us, e.g. mass shootings, egregious politics, Godless school districts, pornography, murders, and sex scandals. Any kind of depravity besmirches the land.
2 CH 7: 14, “Who is responsible for revival? Those who turn away from their sin and return to faith in God. They can be heard and forgiven; God will restore prosperity to the land.” Because we all inherit sin from the original sin, and we sin ourselves, we are born sinners, who can be cleansed spiritually. We should never forget what Christ in His Atonement has done for us. He has saved, justified, and eternally forgiven our sins [JN 3: 16; RO 4:3; 1 JN 1: 9]. Anyone who is still sinning without coming to Christ remains as a baby only on spiritual milk. If he persists, he will never know the peace and solitude that obedient faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives us. Moreover, we should not be engaging in judgment of another’s spiritual state. Remember MT 7: 1-2, “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you the same way you judge others. He will apply to you the same rules by which you judge others.” No human can judge as fairly and rightly as God can. 1 COR 2: 15-16, “Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge Him. As the Scripture [IS 40: 13] says, ‘Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give Him advice?’ We, however, have the mind of Christ.”
The Greek word, anakrinei [pronounced: “an-ak-ree’no”; from the word “anakrino” meaning to appraise or investigate] is used here to mean what is judged or discerned by the Holy Spirit. This judgment of the subject is not from human standards but is from the standards of the Holy Spirit and pleasing to the Father. In the past we belonged to a congregation in which wrongdoing was done by three members of a self-appointed committee claiming to be a part of the church’s governing body. They were making decisions without reporting them to the rest of the governing body or the congregation. We watched as they fired the founding pastor, the Director of Christian Education, and finally an Assistant Pastor who was both the organist and choir director. These firings happened very close in time to each other, causing great instability and upset among the faithful of our congregation. Due to time constraints, the rest of the governing body had been rubber-stamping the decisions of this committee until they realized the folly of what they had been doing. It took time for the leaders of our congregation to uncover the mechanism of what was happening, and I had been asked to help with finding the truth. When these misdeeds were uncovered, I prayed first and was asked to tell the congregation about them. The congregation split, something my husband and I never want to experience again. We had been in the choir for 9 years. It had started out with few people reading music and in disarray. Nine years later, we had been invited to sing the Mozart Requiem at Carnegie Hall in New York. My opinion was that only the Holy Spirit could have given me the words to say at that last meeting. To assuage your curiosity about what happened after the split, I will tell you that the founding pastor retired, the DCE found another congregation to serve, and the asst. pastor went on to become the main pastor of a then dying church. In the ensuing years under his leadership, that church flourished and grew to many times its original membership, rebuilt the sanctuary, added a wing of classrooms, and became a spiritually healthy congregation. He is now retired. As for us, we tried other congregations that didn’t help us grow and finally joined this pastor’s new one, until we were transferred to MN. God is good!
PRAYER: O Lord, Your presence can be felt in the lives of the faithful. We see it in the decisions You make and the actions you take. Our prayer is that we will always be obedient to Your Son and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We consider ourselves blessed but not smug that You have given us such wonderful things, e.g. salvation; justification; eternal forgiveness for our sins and lack of desire to abandon Your teaching. We have the choice not to sin; please give us the strength to avoid temptation to sin. We ask You to keep us humble and at peace. The choices we must make are not always easy. They require us to sometimes use abilities we don’t know we have. You often test our faith by allowing trouble, losses, illness, and disappointments to come into our lives. Then, we are called upon to use unfamiliar steps in problem-solving. Dearest Lord, You are the Centerpiece of our lives, and we offer You our love, praise, and thanks for all You are and all You do. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m stunned at how much the Holy Spirit is commanding me to write about sin, law, and grace. Next week, there is more on this compelling subject. We are so blessed that He sends me such a rich foundation, before I write about each of the gifts of the Holy Spirit enumerated in GA 5: 22-23. In the meanwhile, I feel a great responsibility to write at the behest of the Holy Spirit what He gives me each week and to do so with love and accuracy. What began so long ago as daily letters to a dying friend has grown into a weekly opportunity to share what the Spirit gives me to tell you. We can be grateful for the readers that have added themselves from all over the world to those who take my Bible classes. This is a very special opportunity for me to share my faith and love of our Creator with you. He enriches our lives with His teaching and very presence in them. So, keep reading, and He will keep me writing about the Scriptures, His love letter to us all. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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