behindthewillowtrees » Gifts and Graces

First impressions

John Smith — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Despite my bleak contribution to Simon Jones’ excellent critic of “attractional” mission, I have (in time for Back to Church Sunday) been thinking about enhancing our welcoming and stewarding.

To that end I’ve dipped into First Impressions by Mark Waltz. Waltz argues that guests to church services want, when they arrive, to know two things from those they first meet: (1) Show me that you care about me and (2) Tell me what you what you are going to do for me now. Which should sum up the whole role of those welcoming and stewarding

Stewards, oikonomos (1 Peter 4.10) are, as I pointed out to our team, “house managers” or “overseers,” one who is entrusted with the care of something belonging to someone else.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms

Peter is telling us that stewards are to unselfishly serve others with the diverse gifts that God has freely bestowed on them in a manner that will please and glorify God

Waltz suggests that churches need to build a WOW factor into those first few moments of encounter. He says that before the service has even started most first timers have already decided whether to come again.

For those concerned about attractional mission, this is a key point. The sermon begins in the car park. First impressions need to the best impressions.

So I recently came across these ministry descriptions from a church clearly committed to ensuring that those who manage to bridge the cultural hurdle of turning up to Sunday services at least are still on board when the worship starts:

Do you want to make a difference in our church?

“People Matter”

When we welcome newcomers to church we are demonstrating the gracious love and care of God Himself.

It has been proven that the sermon starts in the car parking. The first ten minutes of a guest’s experience on Sunday morning matters most.

Our goal for our “First Impressions Team” is: “To do anything and everything to help our guests see Christ. We want to greet them with unconditional acceptance and respect that makes them feel welcomed at … . We want to give guests WOW moments”

This is a great place to get plugged into ministry as it takes so many people to make it run smoothly. If you like a smile, and can give one, you are needed!

Areas of Ministry Available:

Car Park Team: The Car Park Team assists with the traffic flow in any weather condition, must enjoy working outside, and be able to present a positive image as well as assist the elderly or the disabled with Parking and church entry.

Welcomer Team: The Welcomer is responsible to ensure that every person entering the church is greeted and that guests are offered assistance as appropriate so that everyone feels important and welcome.

Information Team: The Team will display a gracious, friendly attitude in showing guests the church facilities and answering questions regarding the facilities and ministries of the church. This team will portray the church in a positive image and help guests feel welcome.

Coffee Team Do you like a coffee shop environment? This could be the perfect place for you to volunteer. We’re looking for sharp, friendly and energetic people to help out. We are not a Starbucks but we brew fresh coffee and have hot chocolate, teas, muffins and bottled water available.

Steward Team: The Steward Team will regularly participate in worship services and will assist with overall operation of the church facilities. They will welcome, direct and seat guests and others as needed, as well as collect the offerings.

Spiritual Gifts and Graces (8) – Discovering Ourselves

John Smith — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +0000

1. Knowing who we are is a key part of knowing where to minister. So complete the worksheet: Style Assessment. Although very simple, it gives surprisingly accurate answers. Then us the interpretive sheet – to discover more about how you will server. Share your results with the others – it’s usually a really enjoyable part of the process

God has wired us all up differently!

2. Use the summary form to collect up all their answers from the last three weeks. Include the results from your Friends Assessment.

3. Share and pray with each other about ways to serve God which co-operates with what you have discovered about your passion, gifts and personality.

4. Plan to attend the mission fair at the end of the service on 12^th July to see there are openings for you in God’s service at GBC.

5. Seek out others with the same or complimentary passions, gifts and personalities to

6. Reflect and pray together about the whole of this series and what you have learnt in your cell group.

Going deeper with Ps 139

1. How does David feel about God’s total knowledge of him? How do you feel about God’s total knowledge of you? Why?

2. Why does it matter that God knows you so intimately? What difference does it make? Why does David make such a big deal over it?

3. How do people try to get away from God? Have you ever tried to get away from God? Why?

4. What dark situation in your life needs to be brought into God’s light?

5. What things about yourself do you have difficulty accepting, even to the point of questioning your Creator? Is there anything in the Psalm that helps you in this dilemma?

6. Faith can be defined as “choosing to believe God’s Word (promises) regardless of

our feelings or circumstances”. In other words, if my circumstances and feelings contradict what God says is true, I choose, by an act of my will, to believe and put my trust in God’s truth instead of what my feelings or circumstances may be telling me. If you are willing to believe the truth you have discovered in Psalm 139, regardless of what you feel about yourself and your circumstances, write a short prayer to God telling him you choose to believe the truths of him and yourself.

Spiritual Gifts and Graces – Understanding your personality and its impact on your prayer life

John Smith — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:31:00 +0000

I came across this list recently and was mightily impressed about how our personality determines our response in prayer, and greatly challenged by the need to spend more time co-operating with myself in prayer.

Use the Myers-Briggs test results to find your prayer type.

Sensing Types

ISTJ ISFJ

Like to spend time alone with God Like to pray alone

May like structured prayer Enjoy silent prayer

May find prayer groups less to their taste

Need to spend longer in prayer than other types

Prayer journal helpful – records progression & brings order to spiritual life

Find prayer books and prayers of others helpful

Need substantial time alone with God each day

Spontaneous praying through the day feeds spiritual hunger

Need to work at:

Non-verbal prayer (Romans 8:26-27)

Developing art of listening to God through Bible – projecting self back into scenes from Bible

Spending at least 30-60 minutes praying per day

Spontaneous prayer

ISTP ISFP

Prefer action over prayer, so pray whilst working etc. Enjoy spontaneous praise & worship in group

Will find silence helpful

See God in art, creativity & nature

Will need simple structures & self discipline to profit from prayer

Will need assurances of God’s personal love for them

Like using imagination & spontaneity to pray

Experience of Spirit is vivid & real

Will need at least 30 mins prayer daily as thrive on deep thinking

Need flexible forms of prayer & concentration

Need to work at:

Spending at least 30 minutes each day alone with God

Learning to trust God to take care of things

Prayer journal: helps to maintain intimate contact with God

ESTP ESFP

Do not need as much formal prayer as other types

Will find prayer groups helpful & enjoyable

Enjoy spontaneous praying through day, whilst working, driving etc.

Enjoy visual images

May find praying out loud helpful

Enjoy fasting & all-night prayer

Good worshippers: like being led by Spirit in prayer

Experience God in nature

Able to experience presence, love & protection of God

Find praying with others helpful

Need to work at:

Finding to time to pray alone each day

Setting aside at least 30 minutes per day to pray: reading a short passage & reflecting on it – asking what is God saying to me?

ESTJ ESFJ

Need support of others to maintain prayer life – prayer groups

Love praying in groups – helpful to spiritual growth

Find set prayers helpful Intercessory prayer important

Find it harder than other types to feel God’s presence

Enjoy praising, singing, uninhibited displaying of emotions

Need at least 30 minutes a day praying alone

Alternate between feeling close to and apart form God

Need to work at:

Training themselves to imagine & feel themselves in Gospel scenes

Being quiet & listening to God (tendency to talk all the time)

Keeping open to Spirit’s presence

Learning to talk to God as a friend in prayer

Trying to pray spontaneously

Intuitive types

INFJ INTJ

Strong dislike of formal, repetitive prayer

Need much time of private prayer

Great need for silence

Able to find best form of prayer for own needs

Should tithe waking hours – 10% to prayer, (minimum 1 hour)

Won’t enjoy prayer groups

Conversational prayer is best

Don’t appreciate spontaneous or informal prayer

Symbols & poetic images important

Good at discernment – good counsellors & spiritual directors

Looking at different forms of prayer

Journaling effective

Need to work at:

Avoiding tendency to introspection

Being careful not to treat God as just an object of study

Learning to trust goodness, care & love of God

Developing spiritual imagination

INFP INTP

Great desire to pray alone & silently – need 1 hour per day

Prefer to pray alone, in quiet, for long periods

Like structured prayer.

Must set time aside for this each day

Constantly searching for new & better ways to pray

Good at writing prayers

Prayer groups often don’t fulfil prayer needs

Enjoy intellectual meditation & reasoning

Dislike set forms of prayer

Unstructured, conversational journal helpful

Expressing emotions and developing feeling in prayer

Need to work at:

Reading short Bible passages to discern God’s voice

Setting aside time each day to help others

ENFP ENTP

Prayer a necessity for survival – need 1 hour per day

Enjoy new, complex forms of prayer

Will enjoy prayers in Bible

Enjoy novelty & originality

Need to pray alone, but will enjoy help of others

Dislike traditional, standardised ways

Dislike repetitive prayer Best with improvised prayer

Need to work at:

Being quiet & listening to God Growing in structured, disciplined praying

Putting structure into prayer life to prevent it breaking down (but too much structure will inhibit communication with God)

Understanding others’ responses to prayer

ENFJ ENTJ

Need to pray alone for 1 hour each day – half praying, half listening

Enjoy leading others in prayer

Enjoy spontaneous, conversational prayer

Enjoy worship

Can use many types of prayer

Desire structured prayer life – logical, consistent development

Best reading short passage followed by reflection

Open to receiving insights, especially during sleep

Experience God in prayer

Need to work at:

Praying alone

Trying many different forms of prayer

Quiet contemplation

Spiritual Gifts and Graces (7) – Discovering our Spiritual Gifts

John Smith — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +0000

Adrian is preaching on Sunday but I thought I’d still blog the cell outline, in case it is helpful for those not at their cell group this week.

1. Use the Spiritual Gifts (Gifts Matching) worksheet and the Spiritual Gifts Guide to clarify your understanding of Spiritual Gifts. The aim is for you to get a really good idea of what each gift is for.

The exercise is straight forward. Look at the first line on the worksheet: Administration. Then go to the Guide and look for “Administration”. Administration contributes the things in the “description” lines

…understand what makes an organisation function, and the special ability to plan and execute procedures that increase the church’s organisational effectiveness.

So in the “Contributes” box summarise that for yourself – let’s say you can write

“make’s things happen well”.

Finally look down the right hand column for the right matching description which in this case is “B”. That letter goes in the third box.

Check out your answers with each other.

2. Answer the questions on the worksheet Spiritual Gifts (Gifts Assessment). This is likely to be the most significant part of the whole process. Answer the questions by completing the table on the final page.

The Guide is an extraordinarily good record of how gifts function and practical advice on how to exercise them. On the Assessment Sheet you can then total down the column. You will be very encouraged and sometime surprised at the results. The letters on the Assessment Sheet relate to the Guide Booklet, and not the Matching sheet! Which are your top three? And your bottom three?

3. You can then refer back to the Guide to think more about your gifts. Does it ring true?

Going deeper

Use the Servitude or Servanthood table below to think about what motivates you in your ministry? How could you move more fully to being a servant? What actions or attitudes need to change?

servitude

noun

1. The condition of a slave, serf, or the like; subjection to a master; slavery or bondage

2. Work imposed as punishment for crime

servanthood

noun

1. The state, condition, or quality of one who lives as a follower of Christ; in submission to God first, and then submission to one another.

2. The condition or state of being involved in ministry to others rather than the service of self, by willingly giving of oneself to minister for and to others and to do whatever it takes to accomplish what is best for another.

A Christian prompted by servility

A Christian prompted by servanthood

Serves out of

Obligation

It’s an “I-have-to” kind of attitude.

Obedience

It is an “I want to serve God!” attitude.

Is motivated to

serve by

Fear of men

In servility the motivation is driven by:

what will others say if I don’t serve, or if I don’t serve in this ministry, or
don’t serve in this way, or
don’t commit this kind of time?

What God sees

In servanthood we serve because we have fellowship and communion with God. We understand that ultimately we have an audience of One.

Serves with the

attitude of

It’s not my job

Servility aims to do the minimum necessary to get by and fulfil the basics.

Whatever it takes

Servanthood is willing to go outside the “job description”.

Has a ministry

mindset that says

Me first

Servility wants to advance its own agenda, and is asking “What’s in it for me?”

Lord God first

Servants look up and say, “Lord, what would YOU have me do at this time? God, how could my life best honour YOU? How can I make a difference today in the way you have enabled me to touch lives?”

Serves with a

spirit of

Pride

When we serve out of servility, we look at what we did and say “Well, I did that, I have something to offer, I’m something.” I… I … I … I.

Humility

Servanthood says “GOD did that! GOD has given me a Spiritual Gift and has filled me with his spirit to empower me for the faithful and meaningful expression of that Spiritual Gift. GOD has used me to have an impact in a person’s life.”

The results are

Self seeking

Believers prompted by servility try to build up and draw attention to themselves.

God glorifying

Servanthood says “Don’t look at me, I am glad to serve you; give God the glory, isn’t he wonderful?”

Spiritual Gifts and Graces (6) – Discovering our Spiritual Passion

John Smith — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:30:00 +0000

1. There Must be a Better Way

We will not motivate people by guilt but by helping them discover their spiritual passion, discover their spiritual gifts and discover you they are.

2. Discovering our Passion is like doing a Jigsaw, we don’t need more pieces, we just need to sort them out and put them together.

3. Passion is God-given

Ex 20:1-17, Matt 22.36-40, Rms 12.1, Eph 4.11-12, 1 Peter 4

4. Passion is God’s Choice

Ps 37:3-5, Gal 1:15-16

5.Passion tells us “WHERE” we serve

Cell outline

There is a worksheet prepared for this week called Spiritual Gifts (Passion). Don’t be surprised if you put down unexpected things. God places on our hearts a great diversity of passions which in time widen our expectations of what he can do amongst us.

1. Complete the worksheet either before your cell meeting or at it.

2. Share what you have put down – and then using the Spiritual Gifts (Passion Help) sheet look for ways that a passion can be expressed. This is best done in a group or triplets, so that others can help with “dreaming dreams”.

3. Try to move from a simple passion e.g. “children”, through to the ways that children can be ministered to, e.g. “directly working with young children, supporting, single parent families, helping challenging children, …. “, the list can be endless. Help one another to write down all the things which come to mind.

4. In discussion and prayer, encourage one another to sense which of the many possible areas resonates with their spirit and the Holy Spirit!

Going deeper

1. In what ways can we impose our passion on others? What can we do to avoid doing so?

2. How can you avoid the temptation to be motivated by being made to feel guilty that something is not being done?

3. “Dependent – Independent – Interdependent”. This is the journey of life. Where are you on the same journey of relationships at GBC.

Spiritual Gifts and Graces – Second Thoughts

John Smith — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:20:00 +0000

I don’t often come back to an overlong sermon with a sense that I should perhaps have said even more. Today I took time to recap the previous four weeks and then still managed to run out of time on the new teaching. Grrrr!! As a result, I wasn’t sure that I’d given an adequate definition of prophecy. And some folk asked other questions too about 1 Cor 14.

1. What is prophecy?

In the sermon I said that prophecy is a word from God which strengthen the body, or a word which brings encouragement and comfort to believers, or it is an evangelistic word which brings conviction.

More fundamentally, it is a directional word given by someone speaking for God. Greg Haslam says in a very helpful explanation that:

There is divine energy operating within prophecy to achieve what God wants to achieve… The simplest life can relay blessings that may rock a continent for God. We are to believe in the possibility that God may use us in this way. Hebrews 4.12 tells “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

This is a graphic illustration of the power of God’s word when it goes forth with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It cuts precisely and often deeply, like a surgeon’s scalpel of sword. God knows where to cut, what to cut, and when to cut. The prophetic word has power to penetrate people’s hearts more deeply than any merely human words. A single sentence can change a person’s life for ever. It can even affect whole churches in this way.

In our spiritual gifts guide we say that the gift of Prophecy is the divine enablement to speak God’s truth with power and clarity in a timely and culturally relevant manner for correction, repentance, or edification.

Also of note is that Haslam understands the “word of God” in Heb 4.12 to be a prophetic word rather than the Word of God, i.e. the Bible.

2. What is the difference between prophecy and preaching?

Teaching and preaching are pre-planned, but prophecy is not.

Some people believe that prophecy and preaching are the same thing. Reluctant to allow for the direct gift of prophecy to be still operating today, they instead wish to believe that it has been replaced by inspired preaching. This, notwithstanding that the offices of prophet, pastor and teacher are listed as quite separate by Paul.

Certainly, there are times when a prophet will preach, or a preacher will prophesy. And sometimes the two merge together in prophetic preaching. It does not mean that prophet equals preacher, or that prophesying equates to preaching.

An example is the case of C.H. Spurgeon – often called the ‘Prince of Preachers’. Spurgeon was indeed a gifted preacher, with the power of the Holy Spirit very evidently operating in him and amongst his listeners when he spoke from his pulpit. But even Spurgeon was careful to distinguish between prophecy and preaching.
Ernest Gentile, in Your Sons and Daughters Shall Prophesy: Prophetic Gifts in Ministry Today, says “He reckons that there were as many as a dozen cases in which, interrupting his sermon, he had suddenly pointed to someone in his audience and given a striking description without any knowledge of the person. These spontaneous descriptions had usually caused the conversion of the person addressed.”

Bishop David Pytches, in Does God Speak Today?, recounts a story Spurgeon related in the first volume of his autobiography, C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years, 1834-1859: “While preaching in the hall on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd and said, ‘There is a man sitting there, who is a shoemaker. He keeps his shop open on Sundays. It was open last Sabbath morning, and he took ninepence – with fourpence profit from it. His soul is sold to Satan for fourpence!’”

Later a city missionary happened to meet the shoemaker. As they discussed Spurgeon, the shoemaker explained that Spurgeon’s word was exactly right and had caused his conversion. Fearful at first to return to the church and risk further exposure, the man finally concluded that it must have been God. From then on he shut up his shop on Sundays and went to God’s house to hear the Baptist prophet preach. (Gentile, Your Sons and Daughters Shall Prophesy)

Spurgeon himself described the ‘unction’ that came upon him at such times as, “a dew from the Lord, a divine presence which you will recognise at once … ‘an unction from the holy one.’” (Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students)

Another common misunderstanding is that prophecy equates to powerful preaching about societal ills, sin in politics, environmental destruction, exploitation of the vulnerable, and similar important issues. Of course, prophets and preachers may thunder about such things, and probably will, but it is not the thundering which makes such preaching become prophecy. Rather, it is the accuracy and authority which comes from hearing a direct word from God about what to say. As we can see in Spurgeon’s example – he could not have known what he said before he said it. This is one mark of true prophecy.

Anyone can preach about the sin they are aware of among those around them, but few have the gift of speaking about what they do not know beforehand – at least without making fools of themselves.

The words preach and prophesy come from two entirely different Greek words. To “preach” means to proclaim, announce, cry, or tell. Jesus said, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel..” (Mark 16:15). He didn’t say to prophesy the Gospel. The word prophecy means to “bubble up, to flow forth, or to cause to drop like rain.”

3. Does Paul contradict himself over whether women can speak in church?

Check my post to see it it helps.

Spiritual Gifts and Graces (5) – Spirit Led Worship

John Smith — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:30:00 +0000

RECAP

•What are spiritual gifts?

Charismata (1 Cor 12:4) Diakonia (v5) Energenata (v6)
Given to be used and seen to be used (1 Cor 15:28)

•What is the body of Christ?

–Not ‘like’, but are (1 Cor 12:27, 5:30-31)!
–Made up of unique members (1 Cor 12:14)

•What is worship?

–Worship (proskyneo) when the church gathers
(John 4:20ff; Acts 2; 1 Cor 12 11; 14:26)
–It is associating with heaven’s worship
(Rev 4:1-7:17)!

•All For the Common good

(1 Cor 12:7; 1 Cor 14:26; Eph 4:11-16)

2. WORSHIP INVOLVES EVERYONE (1 Cor 14)

Hymns and teaching and revelation and tongues and interpretation (v26-28)

3 cautions about tongues (14: 6-22)

3 positives about tongues (14:2-5)

4 reasons for the priority of prophesy (14:4, 24-25)

What is prophecy? In the New Testament the word can refer to a prediction or it can refer to someone speaking for God. Here are two verses to illustrate.

Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name . . .” Matt. 7:22

Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?” Matt. 26:67-68

These two verses capture the range of meaning of the Greek word. The basic meaning of the Greek word is, “to tell forth,” or “to speak for God.” It can mean predicting the future, but it always means speaking for God.

Moses’ seventy leaders also prophesied without apparently predicting the future (Num. 11:16-26). When the prophets spoke for God, sometimes they predicted the future. The prophets spoke “forth” for God and sometimes they predicted the future.

4 reasons then for the priority of prophesy (14:4, 24-25)

Strengthening

Encouragement

Comfort

Evangelistic

In chapter 14 we discover that there is a repeatedly comparison between the spiritual gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy. Each time we are encouraged to seek the greater spiritual gift of prophecy instead of tongues. For example,

Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor. 14:1

Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy . . . 1 Cor. 14:5

Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. 1 Cor. 14:20

Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 1 Cor. 14:39

Partly this is because everyone can understand prophecy, whilst tongues require interpretation. The spiritual gift of prophesy edifies, but tongues without interpretation does not (1 Cor. 14:3-5).

Tongues (1 Cor. 14:22-24) are a sign to unbelievers; prophecy is a sign to believers. Prophecy alone edifies both the unbelievers and believers. But, apparently, the Corinthians desired the more spectacular gift – tongues. Although Paul could speak in tongues more than all of them, in the church his desire was to speak five words with his mind so that he might instruct others, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. (1 Cor. 14:18-19).

Therefore, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 1 Cor. 14:39

Why can we say that prophesy is a greater gift than tongues?

Even though prophesy is preferred, tongues are not to be prohibited. However, we need to return 1 Cor 13 and the somewhat complicated end to the chapter:

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 1 Corinthians 13:8-10

The first clue that prophesy is a greater gift is found in Paul’s statement that the gift of prophecy and the gift of knowledge “will be done away” but tongues will “cease.”

Tongues Will Cease.
The Greek word translated as “cease” in this verse is the middle form of pauo. It means “to cease, auto-cease, come to an end, cause to stop, and stop on its own.”

The word has the idea of something simply stopping. For example, on one occasion we are told that Jesus had “finished” speaking (Luke 5:4), and on another occasion the wind and waves “stopped” (Luke 8:24). But, Jesus spoke sometime later, and the wind and waves still exist today.

Therefore, we can conclude that tongues will cease, as it where, on its own at some time in the future with the possibility that it could even reoccur at yet later point. Perhaps the history of the church reflects this pattern. This passage suggests that tongues are not as permanent or essential to the church as knowledge and prophecy.

Prophecy Will Be Abolished.

In contrast to tongues the same passage tells us that prophesy will be “done away.” The Greek word translated as “done away” is the passive form of katargeo. The word means “to make idle, to make inoperative, to render useless, to destroy, abolish, pass away, vanish away, and nullify.”

The Greek word is composed of a prefix “kata” which makes the word very strong and implies a strong decisive or cataclysmic event that destroys. That is, while tongues will stop on their own, knowledge and prophecy will be abolished by a direct action of God.

When will prophesy cease?
Prophesy will come to an end when “the perfect comes”. There are two major views in reference to “the perfect.” Some believe “the perfect” is the completed Word of God, that is, the Bible. They believe the perfect is the Word of God containing all of the books of the Bible: Genesis through Revelation. This view states that when the Bible was completed, prophecy and knowledge ended.

But this cannot be supported from any passage in the New Testament. It also does not agree with the idea of seeing something face-to-face in 1 Cor. 13:12. Notice the three locations where the phrase “in part” occurs.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 1 Cor. 13:9-12

The “in part” will disappear when we see “face-to-face” and then we will be fully known. A book cannot see us or know us, not even a sacred book.

The second and correct view says that Jesus Christ is the “perfect.” First, Jesus Christ was the perfect man in every res
pect (Heb. 5:9; 7:28). Second, Jesus is coming again (John 14:3; Acts 1:3-6). Jesus promised that He would return. If we combine both truths together, we discover that Jesus Christ is “the perfect” and He is coming back!

Prophesy and the spiritual gift of knowledge will continue until Jesus returns. When He comes, prophecy and knowledge will be unnecessary and will cease.

Tongues and Prophecy

Why does prophecy continue until Jesus returns but the same promise is not made about tongues? What is implied by the fact that tongues will cease on its own, but prophecy and knowledge will be abolished only at the end of the age?

The contrast of the two Greek verbs, pauo and katargeo, and the fact that two of the three spiritual gifts will continue until Jesus’ return reveals that tongues has a different role to prophecy and knowledge.

Tongues are a human-to-God form of communication. It is useful for as long we can only imperfectly speak to God. It ceases as we become able to better speak to God. The gift of tongues then is temporary to us.

Speaking forth for God is vital. It is God speaking to humans and must therefore continue until Jesus returns, Then God will stop it forever. It will be rendered unnecessary. Finished!

Weighing and then accepting instruction and encouragement (v29-31)

Order and peace come out of:

openness to the Spirit (v32-33)

focussing on the task (v34-35)

respect for gifting (v36-38)

3. WORSHIP – YOU, ME AND GOD

The body will mature as we desire and use the greater gifts (12:31; 14:39)

The body will mature as each of us engages with heaven in worship (12:31)

Cell outline

1. What advantages or good results does Paul attribute to the gift of prophecy in verses 1-5? How do these advantages compare with the results of speaking in a tongue?

2. Summarise Paul’s point in verses 7-11 in your words. What challenges with speaking in tongues in public worship do these verses reveal?

3. The NRSV translates verse 12 to say “strive to excel in spiritual gifts for the building up of the church.” What spiritual gift(s) could you excel in for the building up of our church?

4. What does Paul say about the importance of the mind in worship according to verses 14-16? What application would you make for the way the mind is used and involved in worship today?

5. What concern for outsiders and unbelievers appear in these verses? What principle guides Paul’s instructions on this subject? How should we apply that same principle to our worship today?

Going deeper

If the purpose of speaking in tongues (verse 22) is to serve as a sign to unbelievers, then what would the people you know who are not yet Christians make of it? Is there a cultural issue here, since the Corinthians might have been familiar with tongues used in the worship of other gods?

Prayer Ministry

John Smith — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:00:00 +0000

These are some notes from a seminar I led recently on prayer ministry.

God’s view of “dis-ease”

We are placed between two conditions of man.

There was no dis-ease in the Garden. Although the verdict is open as to whether there was an ecosystem in the same way as we know it, for example the food chain.

Nor with there be pain and sufering in heaven (Revelation 21:4).

But the Fall brought pain (Genesis 3:16-19) and death (Genesis 3:22).

Healing in Old Testament

God’s nature is to bring shalom for his people(Exodus 15:26; 23:25, Jeremiah 17:14). And there are numerous examples of healing (2 Chronicles 30:20; 2 Kings 5:14; 20:5) as the Spirit moved.

Isaiah (53:4-6) prophesies see that Jesus will deal with our sicknesses: ‘by his wounds we are healed’.

Healing in New Testament

The atonement foretold in Isaiah 53 is now realised.

Jesus’ three-fold ministry was to preach, teach, heal (Matthew 4:23, Matthew 8:16-17; 1 Peter 2:24).

And that now applies to us (Matthew 28:20 ‘all I have commanded you’). Sozo appears 100 times in the New Testament = salvation = made whole. Sozo translated as ‘heal’ 18 times, e.g.’ Your faith has healed you’ (Matthew 9:22). Salvation includes eternal life, forgiveness, deliverance from evil, healing.

Prayer ministry is integral part of:

Kingdom coming (Matthew 10:7) Jesus and his disciples healed all diseases and cast out demons.
Gospel is attested by healing, both for Jesus and in the early church.
Preaching the cross releases power (Matthew 4:23; 10:1; Acts 5:16)
Being church. The disciples were commissioned and commanded to heal (1 Corinthians 1:17-18; 2:1-5; Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:1)

Healing in church history

There has always been healing in the churches. The church carries on Jesus’ mission, including healing. No cessation after New Testament times. See my separate blog.

Pivotal role of faith

Healings in the Bible are accompanied by faith of the person with the problem, or a friend/ parent, or the one praying – or all of these.

Key word – expectancy. We need to settle in our heart that God wants us to change, and respond in faith in God.

Faith needs to rest in the power and the will of God, not the wisdom of man. Simple faith in Jesus as healer is necessary, and then we can seek the healing. We cannot measure faith. It is the object of our faith that is important. We have faith in Jesus, not our faith.

Role of medicine

God given. Work with it, not against it. Too much reliance.

How should we pray

Technique is not that important.
Pray for right approach in each set of circumstances. Will vary in different situations.
Praying in twos is best, but frequently have to be on one’s own. More than three is not helpful.
Always best to have one person of the same sex as the person being prayed for.
There is a place for formal prayer (e.g. healing service, communion) and informal (e.g. after service, in homes, at work?).
Laying on of hands is not essential, but touch is helpful (in the right circumstances).
Anointing with oil is not essential – it is symbolic. Perhaps should be restricted to ‘the elders’. There is a special role for elders (see James 5:14) but this does not preclude others praying.
Prayer at communion can be powerfully used.
We should not necessarily expect manifestations. They are not essential, but sometimes happen.
Choose location for prayer according to needs expressed. Ask God to give words of knowledge, but he doesn’t always. Check how the person is feeling whilst praying; don’t be in a hurry.
Pray with eyes open may be best, unless people find it difficult.
Claim healing in faith. ‘Jesus heals you’. May need to rebuke illness/Satan.
What about evil spirits? Is it an evil spirit? Ask for discernment in the name of Jesus. Jesus is all-powerful. May need specialist help. Not too common yet in UK? May become more common with the influx of different nations and people open to other religions.

Prayer ministry at GBC

John Wimber commented ‘When we didn’t pray no-one got healed, when we prayed some did’. So let’s do it.

Someone should take overall responsibility.
Ideally pray in mixed couples, and vary who prays with whom. Pray for each other. Always pray together before ministering.
People involved must be generally acceptable to the congregation (though some will prefer to go to certain people).
Need to have a strategy re manipulative people (they deserve prayer too). Err on side of love.
Don’t expect glory. That’s God’s. It can be hard, draining work, without necessarily knowing results. Majority probably don’t report outcome.
Can take time to build up the confidence of the church.
Don’t elevate ministry. Anyone can pray with anyone when necessary – but some are called to minister.
Vary what we do e.g. formal/ informal; elders/ others. We need to seek to have prayer seen as a normal everyday occurrence
Expect God to act in little things too. Cell members should pray for one another. LT too. Expect response.
Allow people to come on behalf of others.
Persevere – we never give up praying for people’s salvation from sin, therefore never give up praying for their healing.
If regularly involved in prayer ministry expect to be shocked.

Who can pray and what for

All disciples. Some are used more than others and some are more experienced.

Are there times when we should not pray for healing? Yes, if God reveals it is time for death (‘the ultimate healing’), but always pray for pain relief.

An attitude of love and compassion is very important.

Jesus promised greater things than he did (John 14:12) Offer prayer to non-believers – this is seen as loving and caring. A loving community is healing in itself. Seek it.

Problems

Some people are not changed – fact. But we also have strong presuppositions that some things will not be touched and that needs challenging.

The Kingdom has not yet fully come. Jesus healed perfectly. We are imperfect. Faith varies from time to time. We may have faith in Jesus, but not for healing. We can pretend. Fear blocks healing. No illnesses are beyond healing but more serious ones test our ability to trust in Jesus more than less serious ones do.

Sometimes the wrong thing is being prayed for, or there is unconfessed sin, or unbelief. Here discernment and words of knowledge are helpful. It is wrong to blame anyone.

New Testament often mentions suffering. True, but usually in connection with persecution. If God’s will is to heal all, and he is sovereign, why is his purpose not fulfilled? See 2 Peter 3:9.

Encouraged by Satan, we can give up too soon. It is easy to assume it is not God’s will to heal when there is a delay. God’s timing or order of doing things is not necessarily the same as ours.

Married Women and Worship

John Smith — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:30:00 +0000

1 Corinthians 14 34-35 deals with an aspect of the participation of married women in worship.

These verses forcefully forbid women to speak in church. If they have questions they are to ask their husbands at home. They appear to directly contradict 1 Corinthians 11:5 where it is clear that women can and do pray and prophesy in church. A variety of explanations have appeared:

A traditional explanation has been that verses 34-35 are Paul’s standard teaching and that the material of chapter 11 must therefore refer to prayer meetings or some small group meeting rather than the worship service of the whole church.
The most popular explanation has been that the women at Corinth were involved in disruptive behaviour. According to this view, the principle of submission (v34) is being lost to a sprit of defiance (v35) and arbitrators of their own church order and doctrine (v36).

The scenario supposes that the women sat together on one side of the room and the men were on the other. If women shouted questions to their husbands or defiant remarks such behaviour would cause a major disruption of the worship. Such an explanation is certainly possible but we do not know if women and men were seated separately in early Christian worship or not. They were in the Jewish synagogues, but first century Christians worshipped in homes rather than church buildings.
Others suggest that the ‘speaking’ refers to nothing more than ‘chattering’; although Paul doesn’t use the word this way in other places. David Prior in his IVP commentary concludes that “these Christian wives had discovered a unique freedom in the life of the Christian community, and it is possible that this freedom had gone to their heads or, more precisely, to their tongues. This lack of self-discipline was causing confusion and disorder in the worship of the church”.
Another recent explanation has been that verses 34-35 represent a quotation from the Corinthians. That would solve the problem of contradiction with chapter 11. It also explains the very unusual use of the Old Testament Law as a rule for New Testament Christians to obey in their practice of worship. Talbert argues that verses 34-35 represent the position of at least some at Corinth and that verse 36 is Paul’s “indignant reply.” However, the normal indicators of a quotation from the Corinthians are lacking in this passage.
A significant number of commentators argue that these verses were added to 1 Corinthians sometime after Paul wrote the letter. Such an approach used to be labelled “liberal” but the recent massive commentary by the very evangelical scholar, Gordon Fee, takes this position.

The number of explanations put forth for verses 34-35 shows two things. Firstly, it is very difficult to understand these verses. They seem contradict too much of what we know Paul thought about women. And, secondly, no single explanation has been sufficiently satisfactory to gain general agreement.

We may never know with certainty the best way to explain why these verses appear in this place and what we are to make of them. In such cases, a spirit of grace and tolerance is better than one of dogmatic assertion.

Spiritual Gifts and Graces (4) – Spirit Led Worship

John Smith — Sun, 10 May 2009 09:30:00 +0000

Understanding worship 101

What is worship?

–A common expression

–Worship (latreia) all the time (Romans 12.1-2)

–Worship (proskyneo) when the church gathers (John 4:20ff; Acts 2; 1 Cor 12 11; 14:26)

What it isn’t!

–Audience

–Acting (Psalm 22:3)

But it is associating with heaven’s worship (Rev 4:1-7:17)!

Worship Involves everyone (v26-35; 39-40)

Hymns and teaching and revelation and tongues and interpretation (v26-28)

Weighing and then accepting instruction and encouragement (v29-31)

Order and peace out of openness to the Spirit (v32-35) and respect for gifting (v36-38)

1 Corinthians 14 34-35 deals with an aspect of the participation of married women in worship.

A traditional explanation has been that verses 34-35 are Paul’s standard teaching and that the material of chapter 11 must therefore refer to prayer meetings or some small group meeting rather than the worship service of the whole church.
The most popular explanation has been that the women at Corinth were involved in disruptive behaviour. According to this view, the principle of submission (v34) is being lost to a sprit of defiance (v35) and arbitrators of their own church order and doctrine (v36).

The scenario supposes that the women sat together on one side of the room and the men were on the other. If women shouted questions to their husbands or defiant remarks such behaviour would cause a major disruption of the worship. Such an explanation is certainly possible but we do not know if women and men were seated separately in early Christian worship or not. They were in the Jewish synagogues, but first century Christians worshipped in homes rather than church buildings.
Others suggest that the ‘speaking’ refers to nothing more than ‘chattering’; although Paul doesn’t use the word this way in other places. David Prior in his IVP commentary concludes that “these Christian wives had discovered a unique freedom in the life of the Christian community, and it is possible that this freedom had gone to their heads or, more precisely, to their tongues. This lack of self-discipline was causing confusion and disorder in the worship of the church”.
Another recent explanation has been that verses 34-35 represent a quotation from the Corinthians. That would solve the problem of contradiction with chapter 11. It also explains the very unusual use of the Old Testament Law as a rule for New Testament Christians to obey in their practice of worship. Talbert argues that verses 34-35 represent the position of at least some at Corinth and that verse 36 is Paul’s “indignant reply.” However, the normal indicators of a quotation from the Corinthians are lacking in this passage.
A significant number of commentators argue that these verses were added to 1 Corinthians sometime after Paul wrote the letter. Such an approach used to be labelled “liberal” but the recent massive commentary by the very evangelical scholar, Gordon Fee, takes this position.

Worship – You, me and God

•The body will mature as we desire and use the greater gifts (v12:31; 14:39)

•The body will mature as each of us engages 100% in worship (v12:31)

Cell Outline

When you come together [as a cell group], everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church”. How could you do that well in your group? What needs to change? Try and start today, by having a time of additional worship based on this principle.
How would someone today know that God is present at a service at GBC (v25)? How would you summarise in a brief prayer what you would like God to do for your church in this area?
What is the central advice given on worship in verses 26 to 40?
Explain what the statement (verse 33), “God is not a God of disorder, but of peace,” means to you in the context of the way you worship at GBC.
What application does verse 40 have for our worship at GBC?

Going deeper

What do you think Paul had in mind in the instructions for a woman to not speak in church in verses 34-35? How does 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 influence your understanding of verses 34-35?
What are verses 37-38 about? Is it fair? Is it right? Would a similar strategy by a pastor towards prophets in our time be appropriate? Why? or why not?

Witness

How can you use the witness of others in baptism this coming Sunday (17^th May) to share about Jesus to those you know? Could you ask someone to come with you to experience this powerful event?