Tag Archives for edification

Guidance for Spiritual Gifts – Part 3: A Character of Service

spiritual gifts logo-imageBack to our gifts series after an extended delay. To catch back up, in part 2 I was stating that the Spirit-gifts will operate in accord with the Gospel and never in contradiction to it. Paul describes to us that the gifts of God will seek to provide edification to believers and clarity to unbelievers (what they do). Now, I’d like to spend a few paragraphs sharing about how they accomplish the desires of the Spirit.

So, a basic question to answer is simply, what are the gifts for?  Without entering a long discourse, we see the Apostle’s teaching repeatedly saying that the gifts are meant for God’s power to be demonstrated in human weakness. In other words, they are meant to meet needs and testify to the glory of God. It seems simple and beautiful enough, and it is.

However, don’t miss the part of God involving human agency. The Lord wants his people to be an active part of them. This isn’t magic fairy dust he is sprinkling on the Church. This is transformed people living and experiencing the active  power of God building others up. This is Heaven moving outward and pushing back the Hell-gates.

Accomplishing this purpose, therefore, the Spirit-mediated gifts flow into the church body through people who are faithful to God and faithful in service to others. Where can you see the gifts operate? Right where those who love God are serving others because that is the point where they flow into the Body from Heaven. I believe it is one of the most visible evidences of how “God-is-with-us” and where we see the activity of Immanuel himself.

Service is the point! Take a look at this great paragraph from the Porterbrook Learning material that was teaching on character:

…Spiritual gifts are abused when they are used as an excuse for self-fulfillment or for doing our own thing. The discussion of spiritual gifts in the New Testament is not addressed to individuals. It does not include a call to identify or operate within your gifting. The application in the New Testament is to celebrate the diversity that God has given to his people: humbly to serve other people and humbly to value the contributions of others. Paul does not tell individual Christians to identify their gifting and stick to it. He tells Christians to be servants, looking to the interests of others and modeling ourselves on the self-giving of the cross. More important than highly gifted individuals are individuals who are servant-hearted. [Porterbrook Learning FY-P2 Character: Gospel Relationships, p. 44] (emphasis mine)

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Guidance for Spiritual Gifts – Part 2 – the Gospel Guides

spiritual gifts logo-image

In our previous article, I wanted to differentiate between the gifts and the Gospel. When these get confused or switched, an abuse of the Spirit of God generally follows with an accompanying injury to members of the Bride.

Because the Gospel is primary, and it is the work of God’s Spirit to empower it and convict with it and then restore mankind to himself through it, the Spirit-gifts will always concur with the character and nature of the Gospel. The Spirit will neither fight against the Word nor represent it in a false fashion. Therefore, the gifts are guided by the Gospel. They will correspond to all of the facets of the Gospel message and activity. When a need is met that points men and women to the Gospel, it is the Spirit who is testifying of himself and bringing men to the truth.

What does that look like?

The Apostle Paul stresses in 1 Cor 14:23 that the gifts will be orderly, they will be for the building of the Body, and they will be for an accurate representation to unbelievers. In other words, if they don’t correspond to the nature of the Gospel and they abuse the Spirit who is giving them, then the result is that people will think the church has gone mad. Unity breaks down within the church and non-believers are repulsed and repelled away from the church.

The Lord is very careful to instruct us through Paul that he cares how the Gospel is presented to unbelievers and represented in believers. So then, how the Spirit imparts his gifts will testify to what the Father is doing through the Gospel; for believers, edification, and for unbelievers, clarity (so that they will worship God and declare that God is really among you. 1 Cor. 14:25).

Some examples might include when believers show hospitality that takes on the richness of ministering to the stranger or outcast, not just putting on a dinner party. Another time might occur when discernment is practiced that the Lord protects the testimony of his people and his good name through holy decisions. We often hear about the Spirit’s activity when someone is sharing their Faith-story and is amazed that many verses or “just the right verse” came to mind in the evangelistic gifting. We also see Gospel-guidance when various members start to pray over a simple request that continues to grow into a great burden and the Holy Spirit infuses them with energy and strength to pray with great depth. And, the Holy Spirit quite frequently graces his people simply when they are showing the love of Christ to one-another that unbelievers literally take notice and say, “What’s that?” There are tens if not hundreds of examples that can demonstrate how the Spirit will testify of himself and demonstrate the Gospel as beautiful and powerful.

If you can think of one that you’ve seen, would you share it with me?

In our next article of this series, we will look at how the gifts accompany and flow through service and character. I hope for God’s glory— in you!

Edify and then Evangelize

Spiritual growth occurs best in a caring community…
The Holy Spirit ministers to us, in large measure, through each other…
I can edify myself only as I edify the community. This has immediate implications for the evangelistic task. The individual believer’s responsibility is first of all to the Christian community and to its head, Jesus Christ. The first task of every Christian is the edification of the community of believers…
The idea that every Christian’s first responsibility is to be a soul winner ignores the biblical teachings about spiritual gifts. Further, it puts all the emphasis at the one point of conversion and undervalues the upbuilding of the Church which is essential for effective evangelism and church growth. This leads us to affirm, secondly, the priority of community in relation to witness. Fellowship and community life are necessary in order to equip Christians for their various kinds of witness and service. In one way or another every Christian is a witness in the world and must share his faith. But he can be an effective witness only as he experiences the enabling common life of the Church.¹

Cover of "The Community of the King"

This is a short excerpt from H. Snyder’s helpful book, The Community of the King. In this keen insight, Snyder is helping us to prioritize the life of the Church with the presentation of the Gospel, and rightly so.

We can then follow-on with one practical and important question about our ministry programs and priorities: If we emphasize evangelism out-ahead of edification, what demonstration of the Good News are we bringing people to when we call them to turn to Christ? 

In other words, if we declare the wonder of grace to a friend and then bring our friend into a place where we superficially know one-another and there is a scarcity of visible, devoted love for Jesus and brotherly affection for others, then our friend can get the same atmosphere at the local gym and the Good News is shown not to be so good after all. Therefore, edify first and then evangelize.

¹Snyder, Howard, The Community of the King, IVP Academic, pages 75-76