Gifts of the Spirit and the Body of Christ, Part 2

FROM Chapter 1: Charismatic Gifts and Christian Existence in Paul, by Duane Priebe

"The word charisma...in this sense, it often connotes participation in extraordinary phenomena--speaking in tongues, ecstatic prophecy, miraculous powers, faith healing--which are understood as manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in human existence."

"Speaking in tongues...expresses the work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming the barriers that separate men from one another. At the same time it serves to identify the Christian community as the eschatological people of God, i.e., as the community in which the end of history and the fulfillment of all God's promises has become an actuality in the outpouring of the Spirit."

"Acts clearly presupposes that all Christians have received the fullness of the Spirit."

"If there were any common core around which such lists (lists of the manifestations of the power of the Spirit), it would seem to be apostles, prophecy and teaching."

"The particular manifestations of the Spirit are not themselves the criteria for discerning the presence of the Spirit. The presence and the work of the Holy Spirit is defined by the confession "Jesus is Lord."

"The fundamental issue is whether one's understanding of Christian existence is characterized by a theology of the cross or by a theology of glory, whether God's power is experienced in this world in the midst of weakness and brokenness or in the transcendence of life in this world. Does the Spirit elevate us to some supra-human plane of existence, or does the Spirit free us to be fully human in this world?"

"For Paul, the Spirit does not encounter us in some transcendent realm to sustain u with his power, but he encounters and sustains us with his power in the midst of this life and its weakness and brokenness."

Don't Leave Me Now

Psalm 26:1-2

To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock:

Do not be silent to me.

Lest, if You are silent to me,

I become like those who go down to the pit.

Hear the voice of my supplications

When I cry to You.

When I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary.

Perhaps it's just human nature, some kind of instinctive separation anxiety that stems from Adam and Eve once having perfect communion with God, before they ate themselves out of house and home and had to go looking for a place to live outside the presence of God. God has always provided the way and means for His people to return to Him; unfortunately we don't always use them.

Perhaps it's an awareness of just how ungodly we really are. In our fleshly, fallen state, we are so far removed from being like Him, we sometimes cannot fathom the depths of His love for us, and we fear that one day we're going to do one too many stupid things, turn around, and He'll be gone.

Perhaps it's because we allow so many cares and concerns to cloud out the conscious realization of His promised presence. If we don't "feel" Him or "hear" Him or "see" Him, we begin to think that He's not there after all, that we are being allowed to walk alone.

It could be any number of things, but I know there are days when I think, "God, please don't leave me alone now. This is when I need you most!" If God stops walking with me, I know that I cannot go on. If He does not go with me, I will not go up from here. If He abandons me, I might as well give up, because there is no sense in continuing without Him walking by my said. Our enemy would like us to believe that God has left us to go the distance alone, and that we might as well quit because there is no use in finishing. But that's just a foolish deception.

Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us, that He was with us always, even to the end of the world! God's word says that He never slumbers nor sleeps, that His eyes are always watching, His ears always attentive to our prayers. We have the promise of the Almighty that He will never let us go...but we can walk away.

When I start feeling like maybe I've been forsaken or forgotten, I know in my heart that it is not God who has moved. When it feels like I haven't heard His voice quite as frequently or clearly as I know I should, I know in my heart that it is not because He has stopped speaking, but rather that I have stopped listening. It is not God who needs to return to me, but I who should return to God! For He has never failed me once, and He's not about to start failing now.

Inheritance

Psalm 16:5-6

"O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Yes, I have a good inheritance."

The concept of inheritance has been on my mind recently, mostly in terms of, "I wish some long lost cousin would die with no heirs and leave their millions to me." (I know no one else out there has ever thought along those lines, but...) I suppose the whole things started a few months ago when I was poking around in a courthouse in Texas and discovered a will which showed that my family line had been disinherited. What a shock that was to my little system! When I shared my findings with my mom, she told me she wasn't surprised at all, but that my inheritance wasn't being part of that family anymore anyway. We belong to a new family now, adopted into the family of God, grafted into His tree and His vine, now heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.

The Psalmist writes with the knowledge that his true share in the Kingdom is God Himself. God is the source of that which we will receive later, and also the source of that which we have now. Whatever I hold in my cup is part of my provision from the Lord. And it is God who will protect, defend, and maintain that which has been given to me! My inheritance has been surveyed and apportioned to me, and it is a share in the best that God has to offer me. The lines have measured out what is coming to me, and it is good indeed!

As part of the family of God, the blessings we receive in this life are direct results of the relationship we have with the Father. They are foretastes of future glory, glimpses of the inheritance incorruptible that awaits us in eternity. Our inheritance is a mansion prepared for us by Christ, treasures laid up for us there, crowns for righteousness and diligence in this life, and a place in the eternal Kingdom of God because of our service to Him here. What a blessing! What a promise! What a glorious expectation! I get to have my cake and eat it too, because I am blessed in this life and in the one to come!

Gifts of the Spirit and the Body of Christ, part 1

"Gifts of the Spirit and the Body of Christ" is a collection of articles written by several Charismatic Lutheran ministers, edited by J. Elmo Agrimson, who was at the time president of the Southeastern Minnesota District of the American Lutheran Church. It was published in 1974, and yet it surprised me in its relevant application to the continued Spiritual moves in today's Pentecostal/Charismatic circles. I'd like to share a few quotes from the book, and then respond to them.

FROM the Preface, J. Elmo Agrimson

"God's movement among us can not be wholly defined or traditionally regulated by church organization whether it be the local pastor, district, or national church administration. This may have a lot to do with the intense outflow of personal feeling and sense of freedom in the new informal groups. This possibly explains why the charismatic movement moves easily across denominational lines. One gets the impression that the old wineskin can not hold us and authority can not control us. However, it is obvious that new authority figures and new definitions soon appear in the group itself."

"Although it is occasionally good to have feelings of love and enthusiasm overflow the traditional patterns of church life, the source of the Christian faith and life comes from the word and person of Jesus Christ translated into human lives by the inner activity of the Holy Spirit."

It is absolutely true that a move of God can only be governed by His Sovereign will. Whenever anyone, from an individual to a denominational structure, tries to define what is and is not a move of God, we unnecessarily limit what God wants to do to our human understanding. However, there are limits that God Himself has placed on any moving of His Spirit--and those limits are found in His Word.

God's Word will define what is and is not a move of God. God's Word will determine what is acceptable and unacceptable practice within the context of the church. God's Word will detail what it is that God wants to accomplish in the hearts and lives of people through the moving of His Spirit. The Spirit is subject to the Word, but whenever we promote freedom in the Spirit over the standard of the Word, we are susceptible not only to false forms of revivalism, but also to false teachings that arise from disregarding the authority of the Word.

It may be true that the traditions and forms of a church or denominational structure may be compared to old wineskins which cannot contain new wine, but I'm not sure that a move of God always requires a complete break away from what God has done in the past in favor of what we believe He is doing now or will do in the future. But many today are using the supposed "move of God" to throw off all forms of accountability and authority structures so that they can appoint themselves to those positions and thereafter do as they please, thus imposing a new form and structure in their own image.

And it is never true that the experiential can be substituted for the foundational standards of the Word and the walk of Christ. While personal emotional experiences are found, and should be found, in close intimate relationship with the Lord, we must continue to be built on the foundation of God's Word, growing to become more and more like Jesus through consistent and intentional discipleship that follows the experience.