Read I Corinthians 14

“Proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language
brings the whole church into growth and strength.”
(I Corinthians 14:4-5, The Message)

Food For Thought… I grew up in a tradition that embraced all the gifts of the Spirit, and actively welcomed their expression in our church services. Judging from the church’s collective reaction to a “move of the Spirit,” the gift of prophecy, which is what Paul was speaking of in the above verse, seemed to rank at the top of these expressions.

What I witnessed in both the drama surrounding a prophetic outburst as well as the congregation’s response to it led me to the conclusion that this gift was, for one thing, a very spooky, quite mysterious gift. A corollary to that conclusion was that the one speaking the prophecy must therefore have attained some high-ranking level of spirituality to be used in such a manner, i.e., they were a bit “spooky” too!

Another observation led me to conclude that the manifestation of a prophetic gift was synonymous with either predicting the future or revealing a secret sin or a deep dark struggle in the life of someone sitting in the church service, and although we never knew whom that person might be, it was sure fun trying to guess. In retrospect, neither of those outcomes—prediction and revelation—occurred, at least to my knowledge.

To be sure, if the Holy Spirit wants to reveal either an upcoming event or a personal struggle, he is free to do that—and the church ought to embrace that aspect of the prophetic. But I think the more healthy and helpful approach to practicing the prophetic in the church would be to take the mystery out of it and look at it as a much more practical gift. I agree with Eugene Peterson’s rendering of this verse in The Message version of the Bible, which defines the prophetic gift simply as “proclaiming God’s truth to the church in its common language” with an outcome that “brings the whole church into growth and strength.”

If we embrace that definition of this gift, several positives things will happen: One, prophetic utterances will no longer be only in the domain of the spiritual elite, but open to even ordinary Christians. Two, a prophetic gift will be delivered in the “common language” of the church rather than the special “God language” that often is “worked up” for a prophecy. Three, prophecy will be reduced not to foretelling the future, it will express itself in forth-telling truth; not just revealing secret spiritual stuff, but affirming what should be commonly known and embraced by the church.

Finally, by this definition, an authentic prophetic word will bring growth and strength to the congregation. If it weirds people out, spooks the saints, and causes the cringe factor, it is likely that the expression was either inappropriate and off the mark, or it was delivered in a way that was over-the-top, inartful, and inauthentic, the result of prophecy wrongly understood.

So, and this is just my opinion, but I am convinced of it, we ought to demystify prophecy (and the other utterance gifts as well). We would enjoy them and be edified by them much more often than we are now.

Prayer… Lord, let there be a resurgence of all the gifts of your Spirit in the body of Christ, rightly understood and authentically expressed.

One More Thing… “The gift of prophecy is not a new revelation, but a clearer understanding of already-given truth.” —Ray Melugin

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Read I Corinthians 12

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit
is given for the common good.”
(I Corinthians 12:7)

Food For Thought… Attitudes toward the manifestation of spiritual gifts vary from congregation to congregation. Some churches believe that the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the end of the New Testament era. Other churches would fall more into the category of the Corinthian church—anything goes as it relates to the operation of the gifts. In those churches, there are manifestations of spiritual gifts early and often, more akin to a free for all than a finely orchestrated Spirit-event.

The churches with which I am most familiar tend to embrace the gifts, at least in theory, but their use in church gatherings seems to suffer from a kind of benign neglect. This neglect primarily arises from what I would call the “cringe factor.” Let me explain:

The “cringe factor” occurs typically when one of the more mysterious and sensational gifts is expressed in a church service, like a message in tongues or a word of knowledge or a prophecy. When one of those occurs, a significant portion of the crowd “cringes” because they are not sure that the timing of that manifestion was appropriate, or if its content was substantive, or if the style and delivery of the message was authentic and relevant (it is amazing how God tends to use King James English when speaking through one of these dear folk), or if the one expressing the gift has much spiritual credibility. Frankly, because of these factors, it is easier not to have any expressions or manifestations of the Spirit at all.

Paul would advise differently. He would warn us not to forbid the expression of the gifts, and in fact, would encourage us to eagerly desire them (I Corinthians 14:39). However, Paul has laid down some pretty clear metrics for the authentic manifestation of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12,13 (the love chapter was written not for marriage ceremonies, but for moderating the gifts of the Spirit), and 14.

In a nutshell, both the motives and metrics for the manifestation of the Spirit is found in our verse for the day, I Corinthians 12:7. Three important governing rules are revealed:

First, every Christian has been given spiritual gifts. As you read the rest of the chapter, one gift is not better than the other. They are all needed. They are the internal organs that make the body of Christ work. We need the whole body and all the gifts to work in order for the church to be a healthy representation of Christ.

Second, the gifts are a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We do not conjure up and wish into existence these gifts, nor are they given as rewards to the spiritually mature or talented. We need to remember that the gifts originate with the Holy Spirit; he gives them as he chooses. Therefore, we ought be very careful how we steward them.

Third, the gifts are given, and to be expressed, for the common good. If you wonder how to measure the effectiveness of both the gift and the one expressing it, this is the best metric I know. Is it building up the body of Christ, or is it, in reality, nothing more than a “self-authentication” of the one expressing it? Is the gift interrupting the service, or does it contribute to the flow of the Holy Spirit? Is it a fine stroke that disappears into the portrait, or does it distract from the Master’s masterpiece? Does it bless and build up, or does it bother and break the momentum of what God had in mind for his people at that particular moment.

If we could ever truly grasp this “for the common good” concept, I have a feeling there would be a lot less weirdness in our services, the cringe factor would all but disappear, and there would be a much needed resurgence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church today.

Prayer… Lord Jesus, you have declared us to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. Now fill your temple, I pray, and let your Spirit freely manifest his gifts again in our day.

One More Thing… “If God were to take the Holy Spirit out of this world, most of what the church is doing would go right on, and nobody would know the difference.” —A.W. Tozer

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