stillgrowin

I pray that I never demonize another brother’s doctrinal standpoint over a secondary issue. I cringe at the thought of doing this, get tempted to judge others who seem to do this, and yet see how easy it is to do this myself. A brother at my church was recently told by a concerned friend that our church is the devil’s church and that we limit our ability to worship God because of our stance on the cessation of “sign gifts” (tongues, healings, prophecy, etc).

Yesterday, our pastor actually walked through 1 Corinthians 12 as part of a series and covered this very topic. I found this sermon to be very timely and helpful. Here are some points:

1. All Christians are convicted and drawn to repentance by the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit that dwells in us as believers.
2. The same Holy Spirit dwells in all believers and empowers us to worship God and serve Him.
3. All Christians are given specific gifts, talents, resources to use in the context of the church. We are not all gifted in the same way, but given different ones from a variety of gifts.
4. All members of a church represent a part of the overall body and life of the church. One is not more important than the other.
5. All gifts are meant for the edification of the church.

Based on these observations of the text, it would be inconsistent of one to say that he is able to worship more effectively or at a higher degree because he was given the gift of speaking in tongues. We are all called by one Spirit to repentance and given gifts to use for the edification of the church and ultimately for His glory.

The reality is that we’re not all preachers or all musicians or all planners. And none of us would dare say that the guitar player is more gifted, holy, or important than the people who set up the chairs for the congregation to sit on during service.

In the same way, if they existed today, we cannot all be given the gift of healing or speaking in tongues, and having these gifts wouldn’t mean you were better or a more effective worshipper. This kind of thinking would be very divisive and discouraging as it was in Corinth. Scripture is very clear when it describes the church as one body with many parts that all work together for the glory of the one who made it possible.