My soul clings to you,Your right hand upholds me.
“. . . The temptation to want to have signs and wanders, the temptation to want to have gifts of healings are gifts of miracles because they sound neat because they sound like they might make goose bumps go up and down your back, because they might make you real as a Christian is a deadly desire. . ..”
John Piper
Paul wrote the Christians in Corinth, who practiced the gifts of the spirit and were passionate about those things and said that they were “carnal”. He also said that they were nothing, no matter how great they practiced those gifts, without love. And in there seeking to do things by their wisdom and experience, he called them “puffed up” and asked them “was it from you that the word of God came” and told them to put away their childish thinking. I think this is a powerful message, both for those who do not believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and for those who do.
For those who don’t believe in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, I think the message here is just because the person who is practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit (are even the majority of people one encounters) is carnal, it doesn’t make the work of God less real or less important. I know; it has caused me to struggle with what I believe in this area, but my heart and mind are not bound by my experiences or what I see, instead they are bound by the word of God. I should not disbelieve the scripture because of men. And here we see Paul dealing with these same issues as he writes a church who is strong in practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but weak in maturity and faith. So, in this letter, I find that it should not shock me, when I see that in my own life, but like Paul instead of running away from these things, I should run to the truth of God’s word, in love. And in love run to build up my brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul instead of rebuking them for practicing the spiritual gifts calls them to bring their focus not on the spiritual gifts, but on love and building each other up in the maturity of the faith; to come closer together to Christ in whose image we are being transformed into from one glory to another. The “love chapter”, 1 Corinthians 13, is about this, to show the more excellent way. And as a warning to those who might despise the gifts, Paul says that we are to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. This is a command for the children of God. “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts”. I cannot harden my hearts but must be tender to the word of God and what it has to say about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This is especially the case for those who know the word of God and have sound doctrine. For those who know the scripture and have solid, sound doctrine, have a responsibility to be leading out in these things and teaching about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that the church might be built up by them.
This message is also for those who do believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit do not make you mature on their own, you must press into the authority of scripture with love and not your experiences. Do not be “puffed up” with pride thinking you are something because you say that you are “spirit filled”. Do not hold it as the highest thing to be attained. Do not be proud, and say this church is great because it is “spirit filled” Or say that being “spirit filled” makes you more mature. You can be very “spirit filled” and yet be rebuked by God for being carnal and unspiritual. The most spirit filled people, the most passionate, the most victorious, the most used by God people, I know are those who submit to God’s authority and to the scripture in love, who know God’s character deeply and have sound doctrine and a strong character from beholding Jesus and who love others deeply and with their lives. And this is regardless of whether or not they have believed in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are the great men and women of God. No matter how often the gifts of the Spirit are used, they should never surpass the use of the scriptures, sound doctrine, or love, these are the things that make one mature in the Lord. And without them the person is carnal, no matter how much of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are seen in them. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are good and wonderful, beautiful, and amazing, and they should not be quenched, but they are not the center of who the church is. The Gospel is the center or another way of saying it is Christ, who is the Gospel, is the Center of the church. The gifts are not to glorify themselves or to get us focused on them. They are to glorify Christ, and Christ alone.
Whatever side we are on this (sometimes I think I can fall in either), we can base our actions on our experiences, or we can base our actions on the scriptures and sound doctrine, having faith in the word of God. The scripture teaches us to pursue the most excellent way and that is to build one another up in Christ through our love for one another by the word, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are a part that. And so let us press into those things build the body Christ.
