Build Up.

If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. – 1 Corinthians 14:7-12 ESV

Paul is not attempting to prioritize one gift over another. He is simply trying to point out the community mindset that should always be dictate the use of the gifts. They are meant for the body of Christ, not the individual. The gift of tongues, if used in a corporate context, but without interpretation, would be useless to those who heard it. It would be unintelligible and, therefore, of little or no value to them spiritually. As Paul mentioned earlier, the unknown language was not the point, but the message it conveyed. God gave the gifts for a purpose: to build up the body of Christ. There was a time and place for each of them to be utilized. To speak in a language no one in the audience understands would be inappropriate and unnecessary. It would have no purpose. In fact, it could end up being confusing. Paul compares it to a military bugler calling the army to battle, but playing a tune no one understands or recognizes. The result would be potentially devastating.

How is anyone going to enjoy a tune being played if the notes themselves are unrecognizable? You will hear sounds, but they will be unknown to you and the tune attempting to be played will go unrecognized. Paul seems to be indicating that there is to be a purpose behind the use of tongues. God is conveying a message through the gift, but if it comes across as unintelligible to the hearers, its value is lost. Once again, Paul is trying to point out the value of the content or message. Look closely at what he says:

Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. – 1 Corinthians 14:7 NLT

All of this reminds me of a contemporary worship service where the music team is playing a song that no one knows and the leader is encouraging the congregation to sing along. But the tune and the lyrics are unfamiliar to them. While the worship band plays and sings with skill and confidence, the congregation is lost and unable to join in with enthusiasm. They become spectators, watching and listening, but failing to participate in the worship experience as intended. Now, imagine being in that same situation, but the band is singing in a foreign language. They are gifted, skilled, energetic and well-intentioned. The song they are playing has wonderful lyrics with a powerful message. But the audience does not understand a word that is being said. How will they benefit from the experience? How will the content of the song being played have an impact if they cannot understand the words being sung?

Paul says, “It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space” (1 Corinthians 14:9 NLT). The objective should always be communication and comprehension for the purpose of edification. When it comes to the gifts, Paul says “seek those that will strengthen the whole church” (1 Corinthians 14:12 NLT). But the New Living Translation actually conveys an unintended message in their translation of this verse. It seems as if Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to seek out or to pursue particular gifts, as if it is somehow up to their discretion, but earlier in this same letter, he made it quite clear that the gifts are given by the Spirit. Back in chapter 12, Paul wrote, “It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have” (1 Corinthians 12:11 NLT). We don’t get to chose our gift, it is given to us by the Spirit of God.

In the original Greek, Paul is essentially saying, “In your eagerness to have a spiritual gift, make sure you don’t forget that their purpose is to build up the church.” The Corinthians were looking at the gifts from a selfish perspective, desiring particular gifts because of the perceived status they carried with them. They desired the more flamboyant gifts. But Paul is reminding them that God’s purpose behind the gifts is the spiritual edification of others, not the prideful elevation of the one with the gift. Three times in the first 12 verses, Paul emphasizes the building up of the body of Christ – the church.

A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. – 1 Corinthians 14:4 NLT

For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened. – 1 Corinthians 14:5 NLT

Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church. – 1 Corinthians 14:12 NLT

Paul emphasized the same thing in his letter to the church in Ephesus. “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT). Earlier in this letter, Paul wrote a very similar thing:

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles,

second are prophets,

third are teachers,

then those who do miracles,

those who have the gift of healing,

those who can help others,

those who have the gift of leadership,

those who speak in unknown languages. – 1 Corinthians 12:27-28 NLT

God the Father has appointed the gifts to be given to the church. But it required the life of His Son, Jesus Christ, be sacrificed before the gifts could be given. And once Jesus was resurrected the Holy Spirit was free to distribute the gifts as He deems necessary, for the good of the body of Christ. As a believer in Jesus Christ, your giftedness is guaranteed. And the objective behind your giftedness is clear: The building up of the body of Christ. When God saved you, He placed you within the body of Christ. He made you part of His family, the community of believers. Your presence within that corporate body is God-ordained, and your mission is clear. You are to use the gift given to you by the Spirit to help build up, edify, encourage and strengthen those around you.

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. – Romans 12:4-5 NLT

Rooted In Love.

Ephesians 3:14-21

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. – Ephesians 3:17 NLT

When Paul thinks about the mysterious plan of God for the church – the blending together of a wide variety and cross-section of humanity through the redemptive work of Christ – he can't help but fall to his knees in prayer to the Father. He understands that it was God who made it all possible. It was God who sent His Son to die in the place of sinners. It was God who expressed His own love to us while we were sinners, not after we got our spiritual act together. It was God who came up with the idea of the Church. It was God who sent His Spirit to reside within His people, empowering and enlightening them. It was ALL God.

So Paul prays that this very same God, who created everything in heaven and earth, would use the same unlimited resources He used to create the universe to empower His children with inner strength through His Spirit. He is praying for an intimate and intense relationship between God and His Church. Paul longs for them to experience in full what God has made possible through His Son. It is the life Jesus promised – life more abundant and full (John 10:10). The key word in Paul's prayer is "trust." As believers trust and put their faith in God, their roots will grow down into God's love and keep them strong. It is as we trust in Christ daily, that we learn just how much God loves us. We develop and experiential knowledge that is far better than simply academic knowledge. Reading about the love of God is one thing. Experiencing it is another. Reading about the power of God can be helpful. But experiencing it firsthand can be life-changing and faith-building.

Understanding the incredible depth of God's love is essential for the believer. To know God is to know His love, because God is love. The better we come to know Him, the greater we will come to appreciate His love for us. Trusting in Christ has a direct impact on our ability to know and experience God's love. God's greatest expression of His love for mankind came through His own Son and His death on the cross. And as we learn to trust in Christ, living our lives in keeping with His commands and according to His example, our spiritual roots will grow deeper and deeper into God's love – the very thing we need to sustain our lives on this planet. Paul prayed that they would understand the magnitude of God's love for them. But he also prayed that they would experience the love of Christ for them. The result would be spiritual maturity that manifests itself in fullness of life and power.

Paul's prayer conveys the idea of ever-increasing knowledge of God's love and an ever-growing understanding of all that God has made available to us through Christ's death and resurrection. In Paul's mind, there is no standing still, no status quo. We are to keep moving on in our relationship with Christ, growing in our understanding of His love as we trust in Him more and more. Salvation is just the start. We trusted Him for our forgiveness and redemption, but we must also trust Him for our ongoing sanctification and spiritual maturity. And Paul reminds us that, ultimately, God will get the glory because it is His power at work within us, that will accomplish His finished work in our lives – a transformation far more significant than we could ever hope or imagine.

Father, Your love for me is beyond comprehension at times. I can't fathom why You would love someone like me, but You did and You do. In love, You sent Your Son to die for me. You have lovingly placed Your Spirit within me. Your love placed me in Your family, the Church. Your love empowers me and protects me. Your love surrounds me. But at times, I still struggle with the feeling that I am unloved because I am unlovable. Help me understand how wide, how long, and how deep Your love really is. Amen.

Food Fights.

Romans 14:14-23

Don't tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. – Romans 14:20 NIV

In all things, our goal should be the building up of one another in love. There is no place in the body of Christ for petty arguments or disputes over rights and privileges. This entire section of Paul's letter has to do with food. At first glance, it may appear that Paul is spending an inordinate amount of time dealing with what appears to be a non-issue. After all, how big a deal is what we eat in our local fellowships today? We don't tend to fight and argue over issues of diet or culinary preferences. But in Paul's day, this was a problem. There were those within the local church in Rome who were still adhering to the Jewish dietary restrictions found within the Mosaic law. And they were placing those same restrictions on other believers within the church, demanding their adherence to them. There were others who, having come out of pagan religious practices, were reluctant to eat meat sold in the marketplace that had been sacrificed to pagan idols. Other believers, fully aware that their new-found freedom in Christ made all foods available to them. After all, Jesus Himself had said, "It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart" (Mark 7:15 NLT). He had also stated, "Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes)" (Mark 7:19 NLT). So as far as they were concerned, they could eat anything they like, whether it was sacrificed to an idol or not. They could even eat food that had been off limits according to the Mosaic law. As a result, you had all kinds of conflicts going on within the church over food. To us it sounds petty and childish. But there is a principle going on here that applies to every situation and circumstance within the church – regardless of the century. Paul makes it clear in verse 19. "So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up" (Romans 14:19 NLT). The Greek word for "build" was a construction or architectural term that had to do with the act of building something up. Metaphorically, it meant to build up, encourage, or strengthen. Paul used it to convey the idea of promoting the spiritual growth of another. The goal was mutual edification. Paul states, "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17 NLT). How easy it is to focus on the non-essentials. Today, we make it about things like music styles or worship preferences. We debate about what constitutes acceptable or appropriate clothing styles for church. Some feel comfortable attending worship in flip flops and shorts, while others are appalled by this apparent lack of respect, and prefer more dignified apparel for Sunday worship. As a result, judgments are made, criticism is leveled, and harmony is destroyed. To paraphrase Paul's words, he could just as easily have written, "Don't tear apart the work of God over what you wear."

Now don't get me wrong, when it comes to clothing, there must be careful consideration given to what we put on. Especially when it comes to modesty. Paul's entire point is built around not causing another believer to stumble. While we may feel completely free to dress casually when attending church, we must always consider how our choice of attire affects those around us. Women need to consider whether the outfit they select might cause a brother in Christ to lust. Is their choice of clothing putting the emphasis on the wrong part of their anatomy? Is it distracting or could it cause a brother to lust and, therefore, stumble? Just because you might feel that a suit and tie is the only acceptable attire for worship, wouldn't it be worthwhile to consider whether your choice of clothing might not cause another brother or sister in Christ to feel unwelcome or even unworthy to attend worship because they don't have the capacity to dress accordingly? "You may believe there's nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God" (Romans 14:22 NLT). What a difference it would make in our local churches if our main priority was the mutual building up of one another. What a radical impact we would see in our fellowships if it became all about US, not ME.

There are so many things – petty, inconsequential things – that tend to divide and destroy the harmony of the local church. Paul's obsession was for unity. He wanted his readers to understand the non-negotiable nature of mutual edification and corporate spiritual growth. The goal then, as now, was spiritual growth. Nothing was to stand in the way of the spiritual maturity of each and every believer. And we all share in and must take responsibility for the spiritual growth of one another. And oftentimes, we allow petty matters and personal preferences to stand in the way of that goal. Instead, we are to "aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up" (Romans 14:19 NLT).

Father, give us the perspective of Paul. Help us to look past our petty, personal preferences and focus on the mutual edification of one another. May our goal be harmony and unity. May our desire be the spiritual growth and maturity of one another. May our rights be replace with focus on relationships and the task of building up the body of Christ. Amen.

Strengthen the Church.

1 Corinthians 14:1-25

 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church. – 1 Corinthians 14:12 NLT

Let love be your highest goal! Those are the words Paul uses to bridge his section on love and the specific application of that love when it comes to the gathering of the Corinthians for their worship services. Love is to be applicable and practical. It is not a feeling so much as it is an attitude and an action. Love must manifest itself in daily life. And for the Corinthians, one of the places where love was missing was their worship assembly. It would appear that they had an obsession with the spiritual gifts – with two of them in particular. Tongues and prophecy dominate this portion of Paul's letter and it was evidently because those were the two gifts that the Corinthians desired and practiced the most. But as Paul had stated earlier, they were doing so without love. Their use of those two gifts of the Spirit were not motivated by love, but out of pride. They had a preference for the two more spectacular gifts: Tongues and prophecy. But they were using them in such a way that they were causing confusion in the worship services. There were those who were speaking in tongues, but without an interpreter; a necessary requirement if others were to benefit from what was being said. All throughout this section, Paul emphasizes the need to build up, edify or strengthen the entire body. Tongues were really for the benefit of the individual or the unsaved. The key was that the hearer must be able to understand what was being said. At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and they spoke in tongues, they were speaking in foreign languages that none of them knew. But the Holy Spirit was directing their efforts in order to reach those in the audience who were foreigners and unsaved. They each heard the gospel in their own language and were edified. In the case of the Corinthians, they were speaking in tongues, or foreign languages, but to a room full of Greek-speaking people who had no idea what they were saying. So their words were unintelligible and unhelpful. It seems that when an individual spoke in tongues, the language he or she spoke was unintelligible to the speaker as well. They did not know what they were saying. That is why Paul would go on later in this chapter to give parameters or guidelines for the use of the gift of tongues in a worship setting. "No more than two or three should speak in tongues. They must speak one at a time, and someone must interpret what they say. But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately" (1 Corinthians 14:27-28 NLT).

Remember, Paul's point seemed to be, "Let love be your highest goal." This concept was to govern even the use of spiritual gifts. To use your spiritual gift in such a way that it failed to build up the body of Christ was unloving. To covet a particular gift because it seemed more flamboyant or "spiritual" revealed selfishness, pride and arrogance, not a spirit of love. Christianity is not a solo sport. It is not about the individual, but is to be about the body. All throughout this letter, Paul has emphasized the need for unity, order, and brotherly love. In this section, he repeatedly emphasizes the non-negotiable need to strengthen the entire church. Self-edification and self-gratification were not to be the goal. Paul was not diminishing the role of the spiritual gifts, but reminding the Corinthian believers that the gifts were given by the Spirit for the benefit and overall edification of the body, not the individual. For Paul, the motivation was always to be the instruction and edification of the body. "But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language" (1 Corinthians 14:12 NLT). Just like the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control), the gifts of the Spirit were always to be other-oriented, not self-centered.

Everything God does has order and purpose behind it. The gifts were given to build up the body, not the individual. When we allow our spiritual gift to become a prideful, self-centered sign of our own spiritual significance, we miss the point and turn what God had intended for good into something destructive and divisive. But if we remember that love is to be our highest goal, the tendency toward self-centeredness will fade into the background as we focus our attention and our gifts on the building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Father, we find it so easy to make it all about us. We are inherently self-centered in our outlook and have the unique capacity to make even the spiritual gift You have given us all about us. We fail to realize that even our salvation was not just to save us from sin and secure us eternal life, but to make us ambassadors for the cause of Christ on this planet. Otherwise You would have taken us when You saved us. But You left us here and placed us in the body of Christ, and equipping us with the tools we need to minister to and build up one another. continue to give us a passion for serving and loving one another like Christ had. May love be our highest goal. Amen.