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RE Verse reading–1 Corinthians 12:4-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:10-11 (day five)  “Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11)  “Truth through personality” is Phillips Brooke’s famous definition of preaching.  Famous, at least, with seminary students.  It allows that a preacher’s personality must always, and should, impact his message.  His outlook, his integrity, his experiences, his discipline–all are factors that the Lord uses to communicate the divine message.  Peter’s definition places the emphasis on the first part of the equation.  A sermon must be truth.  In order to “speak the very words of God”, a preacher must wait before the Lord, listen to the text and the Spirit and the needs of his people.  He must crucify any desire to communicate his own message or justify him own position.  To say “Thus saith the Lord” is a high, hard and holy responsibility.  Every spiritual gift is.  May the Lord inspire us to serve others well!

RE Verse reading–1 Corinthians 12:4-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:10-11 (day four)  “He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry”  (Ephesians 4:11-12)  Old story.  When the Bible was being translated by the King James committee, the translators put a comma in vs 12 after the word “saints”.  It divided the sentence into two separate ideas.  Clergy (apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor/teachers) were to equip the saints, AND do the work of ministry.  Years later the idea was challenged.  The work of ministry does not belong exclusively (0r even mainly) to professional ministers.  Paul’s original sentence should read “to equip the saints for the work of ministy”.   No comma.   All believers are ministers.   Peter agrees.  “As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace”. (1 Peter 4:10)  Ministry/service (same word) is every Christian’s responsibility/privilege.  To forget this is a catastrophe.

RE Verse reading–1 Corinthians 12:4-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:10-11 (day three)  “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7)  Strange question.  The answer will seem even stranger.  Yes, we can see the Spirit at work. . .or we should be able to.  Jesus said as much in John 3.  “You hear the sound of it” comparing the Spirit’s presence to the wind.  He uses hearing rather than sight, but the idea is the same. Paul reasons in similar fashion that we will all be given a manifestation of the Spirit.  Some observable indication of His power and presence.  It is strong encouragement for us to abandon the thought that the Spirit is only and always an invisible and unnoticed influence in our affairs.  Not true according to scripture.  We cannot see the Spirit, but we ought to see the evidence of His ministry.  Boldness. . .joy. . .ministry effectiveness. . .we should be observably different because He fills our lives.

RE Verse reading–1 Corinthians 12:4-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:10-11 (day two)  “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”  (1 Corinthians 12:7)  Christ is the end of our self-centerness.  When we follow Him, when we receive His extravagant love, we become obligated to give ourselves in return, to spend our lives for His purpose, His people.  Our gifts from God (spiritual and material) are not intended for individual gain or glory, but for “the common good”  The word is sumphero. Literally “to carry together”  The idea is of logs lying separate with limited potential for combustion.  When carried to a central place, when stacked together a new possibility is born.  Fire!  Warmth!  Light!  The Holy Spirit does the same for us.  He carries us together and sets us on fire for the glory of Christ.  No wonder He is so grieved by disunity.  His power is perfected when we lose our self-centeredness and work together for the common good.

RE Verse reading–1 Corinthians 12:4-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 4:10-11 (day one)  “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord”  (1 Corinthians 12: 4-6)  Occasionally, I meet someone who believes that the Holy Spirit’s power is missing from the lives of many.  I agree.  Sometimes,  these friends want me to believe that the filling of the Spirit is always/usually marked by “sign gifts” such as speaking in tongues, miraculous works of healing etc.  I disagree.  The clear testimony of scripture is that the Holy Spirit will make His presence and power known to us in a fascinating variety of ways. Filled with the Spirit we will all be very different from each other. Not one of us is the whole enchilada.  The body needs more than just more of me.  Hmmmmm. . .  For all the challenge it is to our pride, everyone does not have to be like us to be ok with God.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:1-8, 14-16 (day seven) “Let love continue. . .do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God”  (13:1, 16)  It is like an email that says “send this to someone else, don’t let it stop with you”  Like that, only better.  Every Christian generation has a choice– to spend the love of God or to give it away.  If we turn selfish, if we don’t love each other passionately and practically, if we forget that love is the Lord’s highest expectation, if we talk about it but don’t do it, we lose the powerful evidence that love gives to the unbelieving world. More neglect than anything.  We fail because we forget. “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”  (John 13:35)   Gathering for worship today, may this be our highest goal–that love will continue and that God will be pleased.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:1-8, 14-16 (day six) “Let mutual love continue.  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. . .remember those in prison. . .let marriage be held in honor. . .keep your lives free from the love of money. . .remember your leaders.”  (13:1-7)  If God is love and God is with us (Immanuel) then the sure sign of both will be the capacity and commitment to love.  Warm, practical and multi-faceted love.  We will love each other within the church.  We will welcome strangers (the word stranger meant a person from a different country or tribe).  We will visit prisoners (continuing to love when it is difficult or inconvenient, remembering people when it would be easy for them to be “out of sight-out of mind” )  We will protect marriage and our hearts from a false love of money.  We will remember our leaders.  1 Corinthians 13 says that love is the “greatest” of all the virtues.  Hebrews 13 says it is also the widest.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:1-8, 14-16 (day four)  “So, as those who  have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience”  (3:12)  When the Bible calls us to be holy, we usually hear it more as a demand than an invitation, a strict moral code rather than an expression of God’s desire to be with us.  “You be holy because I am holy” says the Lord in Leviticus 11.  “Without holiness no one will see the Lord”  says Hebrews 12:14.  Holiness is the way that our friendship with God can develop and deepen. We are thinking this week about loving others.  Paul’s thought in Colossians 3 is that none of us can love others until we experience God’s love for us.  Have you considered that the reason God calls you to be holy is that He loves you and wants you to be with Him?  It is not a harsh demand.  It is an invitation.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-4, Hebrews 13:1-8,14-16 ( day three)  “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  (Colossians 3:12)  “Put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him–a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew. . .slave and freeman”  (Colossians 3:10-11)  A uniquely Christian thought–the way forward is to “put on” a new self.  In union with Christ, the old self can be sloughed off like a dry snake skin, discarded like clothes that no longer fit because we have gotten in shape or lost weight.  New attitudes and values can now be worn, affecting all our relationships. Great hope!  We are not stuck being the people we always have been.  Our old wardrobe doesn’t fit anymore.  In Christ, we are new people.  New clothes are waiting to be put on.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:1-8, 14-16 (day two)  “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion. . .”  (Colossians 3:12)  Do you know that you are chosen?  It is not arrogant to believe.  Without any apology, the Bible declares this to be true.  The word is elect (Greek eklektos), but before you think of election/predestination and the big questions that attach, I hope you will let this truth speak its most important message to your heart.  God wanted you.  If you have come to Christ, it is because God chose and called you to be in His family.  In spite of your sins, He desired you–paid the high price of His dear Son to include you, daily He fills you with the Holy Spirit because He desires you still.  It will be important for you to know this as we consider being generous in our relationships.  Until we know, truly know,  that we are loved, we cannot give love away to others.