God pours out his Holy Spirit

-

Remarkably, every person reborn in Christ arrives in the local church with a supernatural bequest from a gracious God, a gift of the Holy Spirit, a special and unique talent. It could be the gift of service or teaching or faith or administration or any number of other gifts (for lists see Rom. 12:6–8; 1 Cor. 12:7–10).

No gift should ever be played down; each represents a mammoth benefaction, allocated “according to the measure of Christ’s own gift” (Eph. 4:7), and each is dynamically effective, “empowered by one and the same Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:11). God strategically distributes the gifts among his people, insuring that local churches are vested with the resources necessary to thrive for his glory; he arranges “the members of the body, each one of them, just as he desires” (1 Cor. 12:18).

Here is the most important thing to understand about spiritual gifts: they are given by the Holy Spirit in order to be given away, to be lavished on other members of the body for the growth of the body, “for the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). When every member of the local church gives away his or her gift, when each person is investing spiritually in others, the result is absolutely stunning: members of the church are bound together in a glorious union. “The whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Eph. 4:16). Indeed!

When people lavish their gifts on other members of the body, they draw others into a nearly seamless constitution with themselves. Pouring themselves out, they draw others in. The laws of physics would appear to be violated (who ever heard of an outward thrust creating a seamless union?) and yet it makes perfect sense. When each member of the body engages in an outpouring of service, all members become increasingly united, so much so that they actually begin to resemble Christ himself.

Indeed, what is being passed back and forth among them is precisely the love of Christ that indwells them. Characterized by multiple expressions of his cruciform love, the local church attains “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13) and “[grows] up in every way into him who is the head, even into Christ” (Eph. 4:15). To look at this body of people is to behold—in a very real sense—the Lord Jesus himself.



Popular posts from this blog

Speaking in tongues for today - Charles Stanley

-
Image
There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. … And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. … Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way - 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 28, 30—31 The Lord Jesus Christ had come and gone. The church—newly birthed—was in a transition time. The new covenant was seen as a threat to the Jewish leaders; therefore, there was persecution for those who had chosen to follow Christ. The new religion, in its infant stages, had no Bible, few leaders, and absolutely no support from the government. Astounding that it survived, isn’t it?  How in the world did it survive with so little going for it? Power. Not just a force, but mighty, visible power. Th...
Read more

What is the glory (kabod) of God?

-
Image
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 "This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." Scripture places a high value on God 's glory, and it is not hard to figure out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something that He prizes highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should, therefore, set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord's glory known will be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of; the divine glory (28:5; Rev. 21:23). Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word kabod , which is translated into English as "glory," has the root meaning of "weight" or "heaviness....
Read more

The Holy Spirit causes us to cry out: Abba, Father

-
Image
Pentecostés. Óleo sobre lienzo, 275 × 127 cm. Madrid, Museo del Prado. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) To bring out the same truth in another way, Paul says God sent Jesus (as a Man) to live under the Law in order “to redeem those under law, that we [Jews and Gentiles ] might receive the full rights [adoption] of sons” ( Galatians 4:5).  By “full rights” or “adoption” he means entering into the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. He uses it also of the sonship of Israel (Romans 9:4). Galatians 4:1, 2 indicate that the son and heir of a wealthy family in Paul’s day would be treated as a slave until he became of age.  Then he would receive the adoption, that is, all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that belonged to an adult member of that family. Adoption was also used in the modern sense, so that Gentiles who were not sons of Abraham became true heirs, true sons of God , by faith.  Jesus died, not just to save us from the fires of hell, bu...
Read more