Calvin writes: “People are guilty of quenching the Spirit when instead of fanning the flames of their spiritual life more and more as they should, they make God’s gifts void through neglect.”
A PASTORAL LETTER
Dearest family,
On Sunday for D-Day I did the second of an intended four messages under the general title ‘Towards a theology of spiritual gifts’ with the focus very much on the relation and function of spiritual gifts to community life. If you are a member of the COSC community and have missed either of the last two messages then I would strongly encourage you to listen to them in order to be part of the “everyone” that Paul has on his mind when addressing this subject to the Corinthians.
There’s always a challenge in making room for the Spirit for all the reasons I suggested. (CONTROL, CULTURE, CONFORMITY, CONSENSUS, COMPROMISE, CONCERNS, CRITICISM, CONFUSION, CASUALNESS, CARELESSNESS) The things that make for room do not come naturally: letting go, relinquishing control, walking by faith, being filled with the Spirit. Of course, this does not pre-empt the need for three things: godly order, sensitive pastoral leadership, AND congregational discipline. In 1 Corinthians 14, please note Paul’s concerns:
• for intelligibility and meaning (tongues vs. prophecy) The goal is “that everyone may be instructed and encouraged” Zeal and enthusiasm can ride over these concerns and quench the Spirit as easily as neglect and laziness.
• for order: 14:26 ff “one at a time … keep quiet … in turn … spirits of the prophets subject to the prophets” v40 “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” The practice of spiritual gifts assumes the preservation of godly order. Paul’s desire is for diversity in unity, freedom in order, creed in charismata.
• for discernment: 1 Corinthians 14:29 says “weigh carefully what is said.” Paul’s heart in all this was to preserve liberty through faithfulness, and prevent license through falsehood. He was absolutely passionately committed to gifts that “build up the church” (14:12) Godly testing, evaluating, discerning, proving – helps preserve the Spirit’s fire. It is not a wet blanket as it is often perceived. We’re not primarily judges but encouragers of the gifts. Testing is not for the purpose of limiting but loosing; for instruction not correction; for excellence not exclusion; for love not legalism; for building up not pulling down.
There is a godly balance between testing and trusting in a Christian community. Of course, there will always be folks who avoid or evade the community context and treat the gifts as a personal matter and an individual possession. They often claim a right to express based on their own view of themselves and their gifting. A failure to receive them equals rejecting the Lord. This is dangerous ground. That is to fail completely to discern the gifts: their very nature and purpose. That route, that appears to be passionate for the gifts, will be as divisive as the one that seeks to suppress them, and thus divides the body, by separating the community member from the gift and most importantly, the gift-giver.
To test and trust we need: pastoral leaders who are open and sensitive to the workings of the Holy Spirit, and who trust congregational giftings, congregants who trust the leadership’s discernment, and leaders and congregations who commit together to mature in the manifestations and testing of the gifts of the Spirit. This is not a threatening exercise or a mysterious process. I suggested some tests that need to be applied that are rooted in scripture.
1. THE TESTS OF FAITHFULNESS
a. To the person of Jesus: Who’s in charge? Who gets the glory? Jesus Himself said that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth and glorify Him (John 16:13-14) “Test the spirits … this is how … every Spirit that recognizes that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:1-3) This is very particular when it comes to prophecy, as Jesus Himself is the Word – thus it must be consistent with His voice (His teaching) and His personhood (His character).
b. To the grace of the gospel: “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” (Galatians 1:8) There must be no contradiction or variance with the truth of the gospel, the faith once delivered.
c. To the truth of scriptures: “They received the message with great eagerness and examined the scriptures” (Acts 17:11). We live in a culture of drive-thru sermons, and anecdotal preaching, where the scripture is often the illustration for the story rather than the other way round. If we don’t do the text, we won’t discern the trouble.
2. THE TESTS OF FRUITFULNESS
a. Character and conduct of the person: “Watch out for false prophets … by their fruits you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:15) What we do is qualified by who we are. There are false motives: money, reputation and power (Balaam). There are distinctions between fruits and gifts: being and doing; required vs. desired; everyone to bear ALL the fruit but not necessarily exercise ALL the gifts; fruit at all times vs. specificity of gift manifestations.
b. Evidence of edification: “Everyone who prophesies speaks for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort … he who prophesies edifies the church.” (1 Cor. 14:3) Test of Ephesians 4:29- A for appropriate, B for beneficial, C for constructive
c. Submission to leaders and congregation: As Augustine put it, gifts only have meaning as they serve the community not the leader or the one ministering. Gifts are for the church and not an individual possession. The fruit of this Paul says (14:31) will be “order and peace”.
Can the Holy spirit be hindered or quenched in our public services? Yes. Who can be responsible? All of us, from a controlling or complacent leadership to a lazy, unparticipating, and unprepared congregation.
We do not want to quench the Spirit:
• for His sake – withstanding His affections and withholding ours
• for their sake – breaking fellowship, not building the body
• for our sake – withdrawal of His gracious influence in our lives
There are two basic ways to quench the fire:
• Do something: that extinguishes, smothers, diffuses, silences, stifles it
• Do nothing: ignore it, don’t engage it. “Where there is no fuel the fire goes out.” (Proverbs
26:20)
Usually with most of us it is not an either/or but a both/and. Calvin writes: “People are guilty of quenching the Spirit when instead of fanning the flames of their spiritual life more and more as they should, they make God’s gifts void through neglect.” It’s not “O dear I let the fire go out” but “O no I refused to feed it.” But of course we were feeding something – our pride and insecurities, our pleasures and preoccupations, our self-pity and our miseries, our vanities and our appetites. Feed the fire! DO NOT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT. DO NOT QUENCH THE SPIRIT’S FIRE.
Pastorally yours,
Stuart