God is no respecter of persons; yesterday, today, tomorrow
or any combination thereof. There are a
variety of gifts He gives to His followers, for ministry and growth in the
Christian Life. Salvation through Christ
and love are without a doubt, the greatest of all. What we will examine here are those gifts of
the Spirit as listed in Mark, 1 Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, Acts and Hebrews:
wisdom, knowledge, apostleship, helps, administration, faith, healing,
miracles, prophesy, distinguishing of spirits, casting out of demons, tongues, interpretation
of tongues, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, mercy,
evangelism, pastoring, preaching, hope and love. “There
are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of
them all.”[1] Romans 1:11 says that the gifts are given to
make us strong.
The gift of tongues is the most questioned and
maligned. Those who do not have the gift
of tongues don’t seem to understand its usefulness, or perhaps are jealous
because of a feeling of lack. I will
deal mostly with tongues here, as it seems to be the bone of most contention.
I lack the expertise to determine the differences between stopped,
abolished and cessation. These are terms
used to describe the disappearance of the gifts of tongues, knowledge and
prophesy. I do have some knowledge of
that which is perfect, and His name is Jesus. “Love will never fail. But where there are prophecies, they
will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is
knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but
when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. Now we see through a glass darkly; then we
shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I
am fully known.”[2]
When that which is perfect is come (Jesus second coming, at the end of the age),
He will show us everything. “God’s gifts
and His call are irrevocable.”[3] I have
heard the Bible is considered, by some, to be ‘that which is perfect’. I am sitting here with a King James Version,
a New International Version and a New Testament in 26 translations. It is somewhat difficult to discern which one
is the perfect one. There might also be
a jot or a tittle out of place. The
Bible may not be perfect word for word, but it is perfect thought for thought.
It is true that there are more important gifts than
tongues: unless you have reached the point of total exasperation and you
need tongues to express yourself to God in a way that you are, at that time,
incapable of doing. Have you ever been
at a loss for words?
There are
different kinds of tongues. First, there is the type used strictly
in praise and worship. Second, is the type used to deliver a
message from God, which is followed by interpretation (this is distinctly
different from prophecy). This is the
type that my wife first heard in a service at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in
Baltimore , Maryland America or return to
Africa .
This same thing went on at Pentecost when the crowd wondered how the
Apostles could speak in their various languages. “Now
there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under
heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment,
because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they
asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that
each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and
Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from
Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring
the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one
another, ‘What does this mean?’”[4] Third is the type that is used to
express yourself in prayer, to the Father, when you are not
sure how to express yourself, and ask the Holy Spirit to take over.
At
Pentecost, tongues were given as a ‘sign’[5] of
the filling of the Holy Spirit. “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in
other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”[6]. No, you don’t have to speak in tongues to be
filled with the Spirit. There are those
that are filled with the Spirit, but have never reached the point of
overflowing. Paul said that he wished we
all spoke with tongues[7],
but as in all things with God, in order.
In Acts 19:6,”Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on
them, and they spoke in tongues
and prophesied.”. “Therefore, my brothers, be eager
to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.”[8]
“Tongues, then, are a
sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for
believers, not for unbelievers.”[9] “In the Law it is
written: ‘Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I
will speak to the people, but even then they will not listen to me,’ says the
Lord.”[10]
“They heard those speaking in tongues, and
praising God. Then Peter said, ’should anyone keep these people from being
baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’ So he
ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ”[11].
I have seen the counterfeit gifts that are the result of
the Devil trying to lead people astray.
If the gifts were not real and in use by the Spirit today, there would
be no reason for the Devil to counterfeit them.
I have seen the abuse of some of the gifts, even in Christian
churches. I attended a service at a Lakeland , Florida
No one, not even God, is going to force you to speak in
tongues. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He will never force you to do anything (that
is why you have to accept the salvation of Jesus). The difference between Pentecost and the
continuing use of tongues is that now it has to be requested, and is not
the only way to know if someone is filled with the Spirit.
Not every Christian is given the gift of tongues. For that matter, apparently, no human being
is given all of the gifts of the Spirit.
The Spirit distributes the gifts as He pleases[12].
There seems to be some doubt if tongues are a genuine
spiritual gift when manifested today.
There are those who say that the gifts of tongues, prophesy and
knowledge have all passed away. In other
words, these gifts were only for the early church and petered out when John
petered out. This seems somewhat
selective when you consider the list of all the gifts. The knowledge you are gaining in reading this
must be different than that knowledge of the early church. There are some who say that it is possible to
have a genuine experience of tongues that is “not against scripture” [13](but)
“is not Biblical”[14]. Since the Bible is the scripture referred to
by Christians, I believe this to be a perversion (distortion) of
scripture. If anything is scriptural,
it’s Biblical. In Mark 16:17 Jesus said “And these signs will
accompany those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons; they will
speak in new tongues.”
There are those who describe differing dispensations of the
church. “Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on
a futurist biblical hermeneutic
that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations"
or periods in history in which God relates to
human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.”[15] I
know of two covenants: the Jewish one in the Old Testament and the New
Testament one from Christ. The church is the body of Christ. The dispensation we
are living through is the salvation of Christ, available through grace, and faith. The old dispensation was under the law of
Moses.
Since God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow; we
either believe Him or we don’t.
[1] 1 Corinthians
12:4, NIV
[2] 1
Corinthians 13
[3] Romans
11:29
[4] Acts
2:5-12 NIV
[5] Acts 2:4
[6] Acts 2:4
[7] 1
Corinthians 14:5
[8] 1
Corinthians 14:39
[9] 1
Corinthians 14:22
[10] 1
Corinthians 14:21, Isaiah 28: 11-12
[11] Acts
10:46-48
[12] 1
Corinthians 12:11
[13]
“Balancing the Christian Life” by Charles C. Ryrie, pg.171
[14]
“Balancing the Christian Life” by Charles C. Ryrie, pg.171
[15]
Wikipedia
0 comments:
Post a Comment