| Wednesday, February 6, 2008 |
| Spiritual Gifts Part I – Spiritual vs. Natural: |
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (NKJV)
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
When I was very young in my faith, before I had made any sort of real commitment to follow Christ, I recall some negligible teachings on the spiritual gifts. I specifically remember hearing about the gift of tongues. I recall being absolutely confused and intrigued by the whole thing, and I desperately wanted to understand, but those who were teaching it seemed uninterested in spending much time on the subject. It was almost as if they felt obligated to teach about these gifts because they happened to be in the Bible, but the obligation went no further than making mention of them. The attitude toward these gifts seemed like the attitude of a parent teaching their young child about fire. When I was young I had a sense that fire was a very normal and useful thing, but that it was a thing for grown-ups, not kids, and were the supreme power of fire ever to fall into my hands I would most certainly burn down the house, and probably kill myself in the process. This seemed to be how my youth leaders viewed the spiritual gifts. They exist, they are something that God does, they are useful, but they are far too powerful and dangerous for the average Christian to handle, and it would be best to simply put the whole thing out of our minds and never think of it again. I, of course, disagree with this.
The gifts are dangerous. Anything powerful is dangerous. But, like fire, the usefulness of the gifts far outweighs its danger. What if we simply remained afraid of fire, and never sought to harness it. We’d still be eating raw meat, because we would be unable to cook it. We’d live in darkness, because we would be afraid to light a torch or lamp to light our homes. In a very real sense, fire was the first technology (I’m having visions of grunting cavemen in my head, which I’m not sure is historically accurate – but oh well).
My point is, that fire seems scary to someone who doesn’t understand it. We always fear what we don’t understand. This is probably why Paul begins his discussion of spiritual gifts in 1Cor. 12 with this statement, “concerning spiritual [gifts], brothers, I do not want you be ignorant.” Paul was intent on dispelling any ignorance about the spiritual gifts. To be true to the text, it actually seems that the Corinthian church was on the other end of the spectrum from my youth leaders. The church at Corinth was becoming frivolous with the gifts, to the point of using them selfishly, disregarding the needs of others. It is interesting how ignorance about a thing can produce either an unhealthy fear of it, or it can make you not afraid enough! I was a pyro-maniac when I was about 13. I played with fire a lot. I had a few good scares. I destroyed some things. I almost started a forest fire once. I did NOT have enough fear of fire. It seems the Corinthian believers did not fear the power of the gifts enough either.
So what is the cure for either too great, or too little fear of the gifts? Knowledge. The more we understand the gifts, the more equipped we will be to use them, just as a proper knowledge of fire – how to prevent it from spreading, how to put it out, how to make more fire when you need it – helps you to use it to your advantage. So let’s put some preliminary ideas about the gifts on the table…
What is a Spiritual Gift?
To my surprise, I discovered that the phrase “spiritual gift” actually appears only once in scripture, and it is not in any of the places you would suspect. The one place it appears is Romans 1:11, which says, “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.” It would be helpful here to get our grammar on (sorry).
“Spiritual gift.” Two words: one a noun (gift), the other an adjective (spiritual) that modifies the noun. So in Rom. 1:11, Paul is saying that he wants to impart a gift to the Roman brothers. However, if he had just said ‘gift,’ we might assume that he was offering money, or a goat or something. But by appending the adjective ‘spiritual,’ he specifies that it is not just any gift, but a gift of a spiritual nature. So what does that mean? What makes something spiritual? Sometimes to understand what something is, you have to understand what it isn’t (anyone confused yet). So what is the opposite of ‘spiritual’? The opposite of ‘spiritual’ is ‘natural.’ A natural thing is a thing that is part of the natural, physical world in which we live – part of nature. So a spiritual thing is something not of the natural world, but part of the spiritual world. This is a tough sell for us Americans, really anyone who is part of the West. We’ve gone through the Enlightenment, and we now live in an age of science in which everything that is true or real can be tested, observed, and proved. I have no problem with science, by the way. Science is a wonderful tool to help explain the world around us – the natural world. As such, I believe that science does a great job! However, science has nothing to say about the spiritual world. The spiritual world operates on different rules, different laws, different principles. “What goes up, must come down,” really doesn’t apply in the spiritual world. I recall that Jesus ascended to heaven, and has yet to return. Satan is called, ‘The prince of the power of the air,” implying that in some strange way he lives in the expanse between the earth and the clouds. And let’s not forget that wonderful promise that we will one day be “caught up together into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” Doesn’t sound like God is overly concerned with gravity in that instance. Now, God created the earth to have gravity, and so it is part of the natural world, but the spiritual world works differently. As yet, I do not believe that scientists have ventured to explain the laws of spiritual world.
That was a rather lengthy tangent, but perhaps a necessary one. We must recognize the existence of a world around us that is unseen and often unexperienced. As Christians, we ought to become increasingly aware of this spiritual realm throughout the course of our Christian experience. The more in touch we are with the spiritual realm, the more we will be aware of what is really going on. In Daniel’s day, the angel Gabriel was dispatched to bring him a message, but was held up by the “Prince of Persia” (literally, the demon-ruler of that region). So God sent the archangel Michael to fight with this demon, and it took Michael three weeks to defeat him so that Gabriel could get through to Daniel. How often do you think stuff like that happens today? Is there a “Prince of America,” that is constantly fighting to make sure that God’s people don’t hear from God? I bet there is! Is there a “Prince of Glendale, AZ”? Who knows!? The point is, that there is a spiritual world out there that we don’t experience with our five senses. These things are understood and experienced spiritually. (I encourage you to do further study on this on your own. The Bible has a lot to say about spiritual things verses natural things. Just get a Strong’s Concordance, or go to www.biblegateway.com, and do some searches)
So, here’s the point of all of this…the spiritual gifts are just that – spiritual gifts. They are not natural gifts (such as musical or artistic ability), but they are spiritual in nature (this is not to say that God should not receive glory for or from such abilities, for all we have comes from Him). However, for a spiritual gift to truly be a spiritual gift, the gift itself must be spiritual in nature. The nine gifts listed in 1Corinthians 12 meet that criterion. Well, more later… |
posted by Jeff @ 10:15 AM  |
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| Thursday, October 25, 2007 |
| Not since April... |
So, I haven't blogged since April...so where do I start. Let's just pretend the summer didn't happen, that way, I don't have to try and remember everything that happened over the summer.
Well, you know that scripture, "Your sins will find you out"? Yeah, it's true. Though, in my life, it's not exactly my "sin" that found me out, but simply things that I should have dealt with a long time ago, are coming back to bite me. I am confident that this will all work itself out in time, but right now it sucks. I've got a constant knot in my stomach, my mind is racing with thoughts and feelings of inadequacy, and a deep recognition of all my failures and shortcomings. Though I know it is not healthy to stay in this place, I actually kind of appreciate it for the moment - though it sucks. Coming face to face with our "sins" (if you take sin in its broadest sense of "falling short of perfection") is a good thing, isn't it? Being reminded that we are not in control, that we really don't have our act together, that we have shortcomings and that we fail, that we fall, and sometimes we fall hard...isn't that a good thing?? Doesn't it drive us to our knees, doesn't it make us pray harder, doesn't it make us lean harder on Jesus?
So, whoever out there is reading this blog, pray for me. Pray that I don't waste this trial. Pray that I can figure out how to "count it all joy," how I can find God's wisdom in this situation. I need it... |
| posted by Jeff @ 11:06 AM |
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| Wednesday, April 18, 2007 |
| Almost Over |
| The semester is almost over! I had my last Greek class on Monday, and my other class ends next Tuesday. I still have some work to complete in both classes, but I can taste the freedom. Of course, the summer presents a whole new version of busy, so we'll see how it goes. Though, it will be nice not to have to think so much... |
| posted by Jeff @ 10:10 AM |
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| Thursday, April 12, 2007 |
| My new blog... |
I haven't blogged in a few months, so I figured the best course of action would be just to start fresh with a new blog (that way it doesn't look like I've neglected it - though I have).
Lately I've been feeling like there is just too much going on in my life. But its not coming all from one source, like being busy at work, or having a lot of homework. It is a monumental amount of stuff from every angle it seems. Things at church are picking up as we draw nearer to the summer, not to mention the recently added responsibilities that I have, learning/devising a whole new administrative system for the church (which I am basically in charge of), dealing with the fallout from recent events, end-of-the-semester cram time, not to mention the fact that I have my first date in..I don't know, FOREVER coming up next week. It's weird. It's like I'm being bombarded from every angle, on the physical level (I'm just exhausted lately), the time angle (it would be nice to have some free time eventually), from the emotional angle (both good emotions and bad), mental (Seminary...need I say more), relational level (um...I'm going on a date, what's up with that?!).
There, I've complained - which is something I'm pretty sure the Bible says I'm not supposed to do. Of course I could justify it by saying that I'm "venting" not complaining, but whatever.
God help me to do all that You've called me to do joyfully. Give me "length of days" so that I can accomplish all I need to accomplish, and help me to be diligent, not wasteful of my time. And Father, draw me to Yourself so that I will walk closer to You. Rid my life of all sin - the big stuff and the small stuff. In Jesus name. |
| posted by Jeff @ 9:32 AM |
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Name: Jeff
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
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