The subject of the purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit has been raised earlier on this blog, but I’d be interested in discussing it further.
Ephesians 4:7-12 explains the reasons why the gifts were first given.
“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned
it. This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men.”
… It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
If we realize the large emphasis in the Scriptures on evangelism, then we must equally recognize the emphasis on discipleship. Matt 28.19 basically tells us that the end of evangelism results in the beginning of discipleship. Of course this ideal situation - which should be the norm - is far from it. Practically no one evangelizes, and even less disciple. Yet discipleship ensures the future of Christianity. If you have children, they are your future. If you said you loved them, but instead of saving up money for their college education, you spent it on a really nice car, or a jacuzzi, did you really love them? How can you love something, and not care about its future?
This is a subject that I’m writing a bit about elsewhere. I wanted to share a section of it, and hopefully more in the future as I work out the concept.
It has happened almost every Sunday. There is a fresh face in church and we rejoice to see them. We begin to embrace them as newfound a brother or sister in Christ and speaking to them as if they have been a Christian in a worldly body there whole life. WE invite them to the the next social event and if they liked the teaching. This might happen at a home fellowship, church or social function. What basis do we have to treat people this way? Why do we assume that people have heard, received and accepted gospel because they are at church? This attitude of “repentance assumed” was pointed out to me recently and its wasn’t a new or profound idea, but it did stir up concern. I think its very dangerous and bizarre to treat people this way.
This shouldn’t even be a discussion, but sadly it has to be perhaps. I enjoy watching football (granted I enjoy it more when the Jets win), but how does my passion for God on a Sunday compare to an afternoon of football games?
Piper’s questions are excellent I think. This is a good examination that we should all make of our own hearts. Would we miss watching our favorite team on a Sunday afternoon because we were tired? Would we miss church that morning for that reason though? Do we prepare for and get excited to have friends over to watch a game? How about our enthusiasum to review the sermon from the week before or fellowship with the saints after a worship service?
This was preached in 2002 to a youth evangelism conference to approx. 5,000 Southern Baptists. Paul Washer is a missionary who has spent years in the Andes Mountains of Peru and in Eastern Euroupe. His missionary organization is called Heart Cry. This sermon was preached to confront the modern notion that saying a prayer one time results in eternal salvation. The text is Matthew chapter seven. Although Paul himself believes in once-saved-always-saved he is not at all wishy washy about the doctrine. He contends that anyone who has not both had a genuine conversion (i.e. his or her life is completely changed) and live a holy life was never saved in the first place. Furthermore, he is a Calvinistic Southern Baptist which means he believes in the Trinity, heaven-at-death, eternal hell (yikes!), cross as gospel (no kingdom), and the predestination of all believers (and unbelievers). Regardless, what he says in this message is very biblical and much needed no matter what one’s doctrine of these other beliefs is. This sermon was one of the first sermons many of us heard that spoke of a radical conversion followed by a radical lifestyle of continual obedience. I would be interested in any thoughts you might have about it.
In our recent conversation about “Sacred Cows” some comments were brought up which I thought might be good to discuss further, yet in a different way.
You will often hear evangelicals talk about the “basic essentials” that one must believe to be a Christian/saved, etc. For example, the absolute infallibility of Scripture, the believer’s hope of heaven, the death, buirial and resurrection of Jesus, the trinity, and more would all be on this list. I find this interesting considering some of these basics are things I would disagree with Scripturally.
Can anyone think of the “basics” that you have been refering to as listed in Scripture? I think it would be easy for someone to argue that their list of basics is essential while another would disagree and have an entirely different list! Can we turn to Scripture for some guidance in this area? What do you think?
Recently, in speaking with people, and endeavoring to share the gospel, I have noticed quite a few folks have brought up a similar opinion. The general view that they seem to believe can be summarized like this: “Religion causes division among people. In fact all wars are rooted in religion or religious differences. Therefore religion is not a good thing.” What these individuals seemed to really be saying, in essence, was “I’m not interested in religion, and in particular, I’m not interested in Jesus or the gospel.”
Apparently, this thinking is more pervasive than I used to realize. For many people, this can be either a roadblock to hearing the gospel, or an excuse not to believe. So much so, in fact, that it seems important to consider how to address this argument, in order to help people get beyond this apparent obstacle.
This past week, a large Lutheran organization has been debating how to involve or exclude, recognize or remove the homosexual leaders of their church as well as determine their position on the union of same-sex couples.
USA Today reported: “The Rev. Robert Goldstein, a gay minister at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago, wore a rainbow sash around his cleric’s collar as he urged delegates to “go beyond the justice of incrementalism” and remove all limits on gay leadership in the denomination. I’m a gay pastor in this church. I serve faithfully. I love it,” he said. “Our church must go beyond institutionalizing fear.”
Thought the following article from Eric Simmons was very good. I found it at Boundless Online. Please read and comment with any thoughts.
Gray matters. We all deal with them … those places in our lives where the line between “right” and “wrong” gets fuzzy. Or even disappears.
Is it OK just to fast-forward the sex scene and watch the rest of the movie?
Should I smoke a cigar with my unbelieving father?
How tight is too tight?
Can a Christian play poker?
Can I have a beer with dinner?
I can’t tell you which movies to watch or what music to listen to. I can’t give you a list of Do’s and Don’ts. But together we can go to Scripture to cultivate discernment in the gray matters.
