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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.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:1-8, 14-16  (day one)  “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  Bear with one another and. . .forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you.”  (vs 12-13)  One of the Biblical images of a generous life is of “putting on” certain attitudes toward others.  The Bible says that just as we choose what we wear in the morning, we can choose our inner attitudes–what others will see on the inside of us.  We can wear sympathy, kindness, patience and forgiveness–or we can choose to withhold these generous gifts.  Strange.  Many of these qualities are listed as “fruit of the Spirit”  (Galatians 5)  No contradiction here.  All these attitudes are products of the Spirit’s presence in our lives.  They are also choices that we must make in glad submission to Him.  When we do, we are all dressed up and ready to point the world to a glorious Christ.

RE Verse reading–Colossians 3:12-14, Hebrews 13:1-8, 14-16 (day five)  “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience”  (3:12)  The bible says God loves us.  I know the words.  Sometimes I lack the assurance/experience.  The remedy is the Holy Spirit.  In Romans 5, Paul says ” the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  For while we were still helpless. . .Christ died for the ungodly”  (vs 5-6)  Notice Paul’s reasoning.  The logic of love is the cross of Christ.  His death proves His love.  The experience of love is the person and presence of the Holy Spirit.  We need both.  It isn’t psycho-babble.  Unless we know with certainty God’s love for us, we will not be able to give it away to others.  “Jesus loves me this I KNOW” we teach children to sing.  It is, however, not just for children.  Something we all need to know.