The love of power and the power of love.

Today I find myself studying 1 Corinthians 12, which is by far the most explicit bit of scripture concerning Spiritual gifts but I am postulating that we are missing the big picture in this text all together if that is our focus, that being gifts! From talking with many people on both the charismatic and the evangelical side of things I have seen that in 9/10 cases the focus of this chapter becomes these supernatural gifts and the question then becomes "How do I obtain this power?"

Id like to turn the focus from you (the reader) and center in on what truly are the important factors to look at when reading this bit of scripture ... maybe, even all of scripture. Often times we read scripture with the wrong motives. Sometimes, we spend time with God's word in order to have the right and wrong answers about such and such, or we hold this mindset that if we would simply spend time reading a chapter or so a day that God will bless us, as if we are bartering with God. But, really God's word is exactly that, his words! In scripture lays the heart of God and His desire for His people. That may be a phrase you hear thrown around quite a bit and have become numb to but I implore you to open your heart and let that reality sink in! The purpose of reading scripture is to know God, and to see Him for who He says He is ... not what we would like Him to be.

Main focus of 1 Corinthians 12 ...

1. Trinity:

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone."-1 Corinthians 12:4-6

In this bit of scripture we see that we are powerless without the power of the triune God who is actively co-laboring along side us to advance His kingdom. Evangelism is after all one of the 2 reasons for these gifts, the other being the edification of the body. In verses 4-6 Paul is eager to list the Trinity as the source of this power and these gifts. It is important that we realize that we are NOT powerful, and we can do nothing apart from our faith in Christ.

People tend to seek the gifts rather than the Father. This, to me, seems to have become a form of self righteous idolatry. I have seen individuals who have been burdened by this pursuit of power ... it almost becomes a sort of "spiritual totem pole". But, Paul tells us the reasoning behind these gifts in verse 7: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

2. Unity:

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews of Greeks, slave or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit."-1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Paul knows that there will be ethnical differences within the body(Jew/Greek/free/slave) and he is urging the church not to consider those things as cause for division, or to entertain their superiority complexes. In fact, there is a warning in this text for those within the body who seek to compare themselves to those around themselves: "If the foot should say, "because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body." And if the ear should say, "because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of the, as He chose.(refer back to verse 7) If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body."-1 Corinthians 12:14-19

This whole bit of hands talking to feet and eyes talking to ears is obviously figurative but Paul is hammering home a great point. He is urging the body to seek God first! What use would there be in a hand telling a foot how to walk? It was God who "arranged the members in the body" ... shouldn't he have the first and last say so? I have seen this problem fairly often in my recent life. People are constantly seeking pastors and individuals who have made a name in the ministry as a "big swinger" to become to backdrop for their ministry. But, inevitably, these people often swing away to no avail. The body has to learn to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness"(matthew 6:33)

And, as if this whole talk of unity hasn't been made quite clear unto this point in Paul's letter, we see that he in fact keeps pushing the issue! I guess to Paul this is not a matter than you can exhaust. Read on: "The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be NO DIVISION in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

-Show no partiality (Romans 2:11; James 2:1) It is a sin (James 2:9)

-Do not consider your task of any greater or lesser significance, these parts are indispensable!

-Bear each others burdens.(Galatians 6:2)

Verse 28 puts these gifts in a sort of order. Maybe, we should give an eager ear and an open heart to what he is saying. "And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues."-1 Corinthians 12:28

1. Apostles

2. Prophets

3. Teachers

4. Miracles

5. Healing

6. Helping

7. Administration

8. Tongues

"Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?"-1 Corinthians 12:29 (see verse 7, 18, 24-25) But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way."

What is this more excellent way? You'll have to keep on reading in the text to find that answer. All of 1 Corinthians 13 is about love. Paul says: "If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic power, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I GAIN NOTHING!"-1 Corinthians 13:1-3

I end this blog with a thought for you to think on, and a bit of encouragement! 1 Corinthians 14:1 says "Pursue love, AND earnestly desire spiritual gifts" Why? Because they are are 1 in the same! "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."-1 Corinthians 13:13 Remember that Paul says that even if you do speak in tongues, prophecy, exhibit understanding and knowledge, and it is not in love you gain nothing. This opens a whole new can of questions for me that I want to answer but for now this will have to suffice.

Hope this finds you all well.

"If you cant do it in love, don't do it"-Greg Boyd

Unity through Paul's eyes.

"I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment."- 1 Corinthians 1:10


The reason for this division is revealed in verse 12-13 where Paul says: "What I mean is that each of you says, "I follow Paul', or "I follow Apollos, or "I follow Cephas(Peter)", or "I follow Christ". Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

The thing that strikes me about this verse is that the issue is of a great significance yet Paul's answer to this is "all of you agree, and that there be no divisions amongst you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgement." I am at a lost as to how we achieve this without confrontation, and a good bit of admonishing. I find this especially hard to meet the social expectations for what love really is when faced with a circumstance such as this. The love of Christ is portrayed as this by the same author, Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians.

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.-Ephesians 6:1-2

In case you are wondering, that "therefore" is preceded by this: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were all sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor, and slander but away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God is Christ forgave you."-Ephesians 5:30-32. In fact, Ephesians chapter 4 is about unity in the body of Christ. You see, my thought is that it begins with unity, it does not winds up there by chance. I wonder if statements like 1 Corinthians 1:10 and Ephesians 4:1-3 are more of a contingency plan for backslidden members.

In Ephesians, like in 1 Corinthians, Paul is calling the readers attention to there mindset. Its all wrong, and as long as it is trying to fuse gentile thinking in with jewish thinking, and jewish thinking in with that of the gospel of Jesus Christ we will all suffer disunity within the body. However Ephesians 4:5 says "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through alland in all." The biggest problem we face is "How do we maintain this loving unity within the body if people are not exemplifying the gospel of Jesus Christ?" Do we surrender discipline, and our rebukes all for the sake of "smooth sailing"?

We should however remember that this focus of unity will never become a thing of the past. In fact, its something we will have to earnestly contend for. Even in the Philippians 2 we see Paul reiterating this for them even thought they are full of joy and thanksgiving.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, and comfort from love, and participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord with one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant that yourself."-Philippians 2:1-3

The 2 fragments of this passage I have underlined seemed to be connected in my mind. In fact, I would almost bet that the chief cause for disunity is not that we have the same love(for Christ), but rather, we love different things ... or maybe that love is a desire for something completely separate than God's kingdom. I am sure there have been churches planted on the foundation of a desire completely separate from the love of God. Sometimes, this love differs on major things like "love of self" or "the love of money" or doctrines and traditions. But sometimes you see major walls go up because different people within a church have decided that certain demographics are more important than others. To all of this Paul says "do NOTHING from rivalry or conceit". Are we holding onto our pride and casting an attitude of superiority? Well ... verses 5-8:

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."-Philippians 2:5-8

BUT! Then we add on top of this whole mess that which Jesus said about the true vine in John 15:

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."-John 15:12-14

OUCH! Can you imagine dying for the stiff necks at church who make attending church a real drag? Ahh but, a slight bit of relief is offered in 1 Corinthians 5 that offers a bit of self righteous zeal towards those who are clearly in the wrong. Paul says:

"What have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church that you are to judge? God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."-1 Corinthians 5:12-13

*disclaimer* The evil the man here is guilty of is incest. The sin is specific to a "brother" who is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, idolatry, reviler, drunkard, or swindler. Paul, says "dont even eat with them"(verse 11)

Can it be? Can we actually be this harsh on someone who is an obvious sinner, like the rest of us, and still maintain the love of Christ? I think it is according to Paul. Paul is in fact reverberating God's instructions for Israel in preserving holiness when flagrant, un-repented of sin is in its midst. Look at what Paul says prior to verse 12-13, in verse 6&8.

verse 6: "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens that whole lump?"

verse 8: "Let us therefore celebrate the festival(passover), not with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

Im sure that by now that most of you are hearing Romans 5:8 in your head and wondering how? If "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" can we be so harsh on a sinner? I have two verses for you to meditate on and. Ill start with Romans 6, preceding chapter, and finish things up with Hebrews 10.

"What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, sonow present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification."-Romans 6:15-19

"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and hasoutraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."-Hebrews 10:26-31

My cry here is that we would all be active participants in this unity! I often worry that our mindsets, and what we envision things like love and unity to be for God's people may be something completely separate from the truth of God's word. God does not intend for us to doormats, he intends for us to be servants. The problem here is that sometimes we think we are serving people in what seems like a righteous manner when in fact we may be aiding in their damnation because we are not being a community, or rather, THE kingdom of God. Please do not forget that confrontation is riddled through out the new testament.

To be continued ...

Bah-hum-bug.

Tonight some friends and I watched "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey. I have not yet read the classic book by Charles Dickinson but judging by the language and voicing of the film it would not surprise me if the movie was very accurate to the book. What really stuck out to me about this movie was how much I could relate to some of Scrooge's thought process.

Lately I have had the desire to distance myself from people. This isn't an uncommon thing for me personally because honestly, I do love people, I love my friends, and family,(im not one to really say "I need my space" but I suppose we all have our breaking points) but sometimes I need time to think for myself and assess my motives and desires. I am discovering that I have some abandonment issues from past dealings, and, as of recent, I have discovered that I have a trust issue. I saw these things as fully matured ways of life in Ebenezer's life. When life gets me down I usually want to distance my self from people. I know why this is. I get fed up with relying on people, to any degree, and so often I want to just either take control and get things done at whatever cost, become a fly on the wall and do what I need to do away from the public eye, or just shut down and not do anything ... I think in essence I just seek to merely exist in the latter instance. Its at this point that I dont want anyones trust, trust is the one thing in people I strive to obtain, because there is a standard and degree of responsibility that is attached to that. So, I found myself relating to Scrooge's day to day way of life that was completely detached from as much social interaction as possible. Though, I know that this sort of life is not something that Jesus had in mind for me, or anyone for that matter, ultimately its a mentality that overcomes me from time to time. 

Another thing that Scrooge's personality really pulled into question for me was "do I allow my task to over power my emotions?" ... I dont think this is the case for me because, though emotions do not dictate truths for me on most levels, I find myself exhibiting certain emotions pretty frequently. Indeed, most responses can be spurred on by an emotion. Some emotion triggers each response inside of us, which begs the question "how can I control my emotional responses? ... Ultimately I have found out that I cant help the way I feel so much as I can prevent the way I respond. Yet again, this is a terrible conundrum for me because I am awful at holding things in, as was Ebenezer. But im also left with an emptiness, and a question: "what is MY task?

So, in essence, I relate to Scrooge because he doesn't want people to hurt him or effect him and by distancing himself from them he seeks to eliminate that outcome ... but he, and I at times, have forgotten that people can, and often do, effect me for the better. In fact, by hardening himself and creating distance he has indeed allowed them to effect him more than he is possibly aware of. In fact, when it comes to his failed marriage it was not he that was the victim, but rather his wife because he had become consumed with his task. He was the guy that Hebrews 13:5 is talking about. Ebenezer Scrooge was a horde, and a tight wad with everything! My dad would say "the boys so tight when he blinks the skin on his willy rolls back". The sad thing that he learns through his old business partner, Jacob Marley, is that his lack of love in life will forever bind him, and leave him in a state of emptiness and lost cause in death. At one point in the movie Ebenezer looks out his window to see many of these poor, lost spirits, like Jacob, who are forever bound and held captive in a sort of "purgatory" because of there deeds in life. One of the spirits is seen screaming at a women begging for money in the snow, exclaiming "I wish I could help you". But she does not oblige his plea because he is a spirit and she is a mortal, it doesn't even phase her. What finally broke Scrooge's heart was how people would remember him after he had passed on from this life. We all wish to avoid communal duties and still achieve an honorable legacy. How silly of us to think that the 2 do not coincide. Ultimately, I have to realize that this way of life is against the gospel, and I dont want that. I believe that God has good things for us, and even to the extent that we might be the good things in other people's lives.

Friends, I urge you, and hold me accountable also, to "Cast your bread upon the waters ..."(Ecclesiastes 11) and to lay your worries down to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness(Matthew 6:33-34). No one said it would be easy ... in fact, they warned us that it would not be. 

Kingdom warrior: Riley

So, what feels like a lifetime ago, I used to play in a metal band with some of my best friends. Along the way we met some pretty interesting people, some not so interesting people, but 1 person in particular has had an intense impact of my life. Now, I could talk about this guy for hours but I want to keep it short and I really want to urge others to reach out.

Our buddies had a band called Ashes of Augustine and we were constantly playing shows with them and had developed a solid relationship with all of them. One day I hopped onto myspace and saw that they had released some newly recorded jamz for all to hear so I turned my attention to their page to give it a thorough listening. I went to congratulate them on their new creation when I got the sudden urge to be silly. I think the comment I ended up making was something like "you guys are a bunch of boy lovers if I ever knew any ..." I immediately got text messages from half the guys and we started kidding around. Its always good to have friends that understand your humor, it they don't than it can be exhausting.

The next morning I woke up with a text message from the drummer, Joe. He had informed me that "ole Riley is on your case now" so I go on their myspace to see what was going on. Apparently, this kid had seen my comment and thought I was being serious and had made a rebuttal to it. I really didn't want to open up a full blown argument on their myspace so I just ignored it. Joe, being the peace keeper that he is, called Riley and told him that I am a good bro of theirs and that my comment was strictly humorous. I then got a message on my myspace that evening from Riley apologizing for the mix up. He commented on the bands, movies, etc that he and I had in common just from looking at my profile. But, what really surprised me was that he sent me a prayer that was a mile long. I had never had anyone do that and it really floored me. After viewing his profile I became aware of the fact that he is a paraplegic, he has been that way since birth. All the sudden, I remembered seeing him at random shows and how much he just got into the music ... all from the view of his wheelchair. I remember how much I wanted to meet him, which is weird for me because I don't typically seek people out. He was super anxious when I introduced myself because, from his assumptions about the people in that music scene, he thought I was going to beat him up. It actually took some time for me to gain his trust but it was worth every awkward moment. Riley is a boss of boss'!

Over the years he and I have had some pretty intense convos about faith, and doubts! He always wants to come to me with stuff ... and it really pushes me. He always quotes scripture to me and reminds me that God loves me. As simple as that sounds ... its necessary! He and I have maintained our friendship through the years and every once in a while ill get a prayer in my inbox from Riley! I am extremely thankful to be a part of his life, he has no idea how much he means to me! He actually writes lyrics and screams ... next band im in will be having guest vo-kills from Mr. Riley Stocks. Don't rule people out because of their situations. Riley has taught me that situations do not define us! In fact, they do not.

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God"-1 Corinthians 1:26-29


I urge you, friends, to never compare yourselves to anyone other than God ... thats a great way to see yourselves on a even keel. Remember, the ones you may write off could in fact impact your life more than the people you think are worthy of your time.


Its only fitting that I end this rant the same way Riley ends all of his letters.


"Peace, love, and hair grease brother."
 
I love you, Riley! Thank you for showing me God's presence within you and leaving me no room to boast.

Love like rain falls?

I cant stop watching this video over and over and over again. I am really wrestling with what I know is the truth of this message. "If you cant do it in love, don't do it"

Chasing the wind ...

"For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow."-Ecclesiastes 1:18

The odd thing about the wind is that it is constantly around you, everywhere you go. But, for you to feel it it has to go somewhere. All it needs is a little motivation.

Offensive?

I find myself balancing several desires and objectives on a daily basis. 1: I desire unity within the body of Christ. 2: I really do love people, despite how someone may feel about the way I go about certain things. 3: A healthy aspect of community and love is that we push one another and challenge one another.

All 3 of these points seem to hinge on my third point because it is the most misunderstood of the 3. I think people have the impression that living within a loving community means that we love people right where they are at and as true as that may be I have seen, and I know personally of people who have become numb in this mindset. Sometimes when we love people right where they are at we in turn encourage the bad in there lives. This love needs to be well balanced, kept in check, and always challenged. I am not here to justify myself or convince you of anything in this specific blog BUT, I am going to challenge your mindset and ask you to look at things through the lens of the gospel. How would the incarnate word of God, Jesus, view these things? This is a question people often dismiss by saying "we just gotta love one another" but there is much more going on here that just loving one another.

I worry that, as a whole, that we have associated the love of Christ with the love of the world. There are some important things about Jesus that we are missing and we are in fact being played the fools based on our narrow perspective of love. Can I challenge us to bring our objective away from JUST loving people but to also remembering that we are here to advance, and usher in the kingdom of God? Friends, the gospel is offensive. A good friend of mine once said "Sometimes loving people means tellin' em some shit they don't wanna hear". There have been numerous times in my life where I have had to tell people the truth, knowing all the while that what I had to say wasn't what they wanted to hear. But, I am much more concerned with them knowing the truth than entertaining them in sin. Sin distances all people from God! Let that sink in! Truth has a way of breaking the skin, and availing our hearts to the knowledge of God and his desire for His people and in fact all people! Christ said to serve one another ... Not to be doormats.

"love hurts"-Nazareth

There has to be something we are missing! What is it?