2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We’ve looked at an array of Scriptures on the Holy Spirit previously, however this examination of Him will be in the context of His impact on congregations. As I mentioned yesterday, a congregation can’t bear good fruit unless it’s members do so as individuals. A congregation is only as faithful and obedient as the individuals whom God has called to it. We will also see more of what God reveals to us about one body with many parts. Both of these subjects are taken up in 1 COR 12. Remember that when something is repeated in the Scriptures, that is because God thinks it is important enough that He wants to emphasize it.
There is one particular citation here which is very important. While Pete didn’t quote it the day he showed me how silly I was being in thinking that I would suddenly bring all my non-believing family to faith just be giving them information on the connections between the OT and NT, it is certainly the basis of what he did say. 1 COR 12: 3, “I [Paul] want you [the Corinthians] to know that no one who is led by God’s Spirit can say, ‘A curse on Jesus!’ and no one can confess ‘Jesus is Lord,’ unless he is guided by the Holy Spirit.” This clearly points out God’s sovereignty. It is important to realize that a person taking the Gospel message to another willing to listen to it can’t know if his audience has been elected by God to come to faith or not. So, we can’t use this citation to judge whether God has called this person or not. The point here is that it’s the Lord’s right to judge and not ours. Pete was not trying to usurp God’s sovereignty in slowing me down. Instead, he was making the point that the important component in bringing anyone to faith is not the person carrying the message, but is the Holy Spirit. This issue is as germane to congregations, as it is to the individuals that comprise them. We can see here a very clear demarcation between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility to respond to it.
1 COR 12: 4-7, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to everyone for their particular service. The Spirit’s presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.” Suppose we were going to start a company to produce and sell widgets we designed. We would have to surround ourselves with people who had the talent to get many different jobs accomplished. No one person would be able to do all of the jobs. We would need research and development people to come up with new ideas, people with the talent to test our widgets in a pilot plant to see if they could be mass produced. We would need others who can test market our widgets to see which features they should have to be marketable and others with a talent for selling them. If our company is to be successful, we would need others to keep the books and still others to manage the people working to see that everyone does his job well and is working for the good of the company. We would need more people to physically produce our widgets and others to advertise them. The list goes on. It makes sense that no one person can do all these jobs. We are very blessed that God equips different people with different talents. Think of the chaos if we all had the same talent! Imagine the problems for the a company succeeding if each person were dealing only with his own agenda with little or no consideration for the good of the company’s agenda. Now, the same principle applies in spiritual terms to a congregation. Each member is needed. Each servant in a congregation must work for God’s stated purpose, the unification and edification of the Body of Christ, for God to be able to accomplish His work through us.
Congregations are made up of many people from different backgrounds who are each brought to the congregation by God for His reasons. The congregation Pete and I belong to is an excellent example of one in which many different kinds of people from different backgrounds have been made to feel welcome. It is my personal opinion that this “every kind of believer is welcome” philosophy is a trait of a healthy, functional congregation. That begins with agreement on the same basic beliefs, like Jesus Christ is Lord for example. But beyond the basics, there are many ways to be faithful all of which are acceptable to God. Although our congregation belongs to a particular denomination, it operates within the guidelines that God reveals to us in the Scriptures. It is a house of God with Christ as its cornerstone and with each member valued as a part of its structure. The Scriptures are at the center of its operations, and God’s will is its first concern. 1 COR 12: 12-13, “Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even through it is made up of different parts. In the same way, all of us whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink.” At the time that Paul was writing his epistles, the church was made up of members some of whom had been raised as traditional Jews and some of whom had been raised as pagans. There was some dissension among them because of these cultural differences. God used Paul to shed His perspective on that in the course of these letters. We can learn a lot from them which applies to our congregations today.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have brought us into the large congregation, the Body of Christ, to serve it as it carries out Your will. Within the Body of Christ, we are brought to our own congregations by Your grace, so that You can do Your work through each person brought into them. That is why each person in a congregation is important and valued by You. You have put Your Son at the head of each congregation, because You know the wisdom of His leadership. Help us to stay grounded in our faith in Him and our obedience to Him through the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Dear Lord, for the talents each member possesses as a gift from the Holy Spirit. Let us avoid the temptation to value one talent over another, but instead realize every talent the Spirit gives is necessary to get Your work accomplished. Let us mirror Your attitude with love for You and for every person with whom we serve You. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will continue looking at 1 COR 12 and other citations that shed light on this important issue. In the meanwhile, I hope you will know that God loves you and wants each one of us to be a part of a congregation serving Him side by side for the good of us all. Be encouraged in your faith, always knowing that God loves you and so do Pete and I.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn