Today is a day I want to slow down with my thoughts and reel them in a little, which I must tell you, it is not an easy thing to do. Although God the Holy Spirit undoubtedly leads and directs all the children of God we have a safe guard to make sure we do not lose our way with a particular thought. We have history on our side! Let me explain; God is the same yesterday, today and forever; He is the great I AM! Praise His glorious name. How then does history of any form play its part? Christ Spirit then plays His part through others who have gone before us. Every child of God, every true born again believer receives Christ’s Spirit at salvation. It is part of the exchange from old to new. So now, every believer has the same mind to work from; “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.” (1Corinthians 2:12-16)
With this understood I often find myself running ahead with a thought as revelation deepens and I get excited with my new found understanding. But in order to make sure I am not being blindsided by pride and the like it is a good thing to look to others who have the mind of Christ and see what they saw on the topic I now find myself contemplating. With that in mind I do not want us to forget the roles we have been called to play as individuals in the body of Christ; many members but one body; we do not all have the same function and we must understand this, which many of us haven’t actually understood, especially in reformed circles. We need each other in the Body of Christ, but we also need to give place to each and every member to function in the body of Christ (church), no differently to how my fingers work with my keyboard and my eyes direct them to the keys, with my mind processing the information. Unity in perfect harmony! It is the members of my body working together that help me achieve my objective, which is to post this blog shortly.
WE NEED ONE ANOTHER the sooner we understand this the better it will be for us and for all involved in the body of Christ. It is God’s design and if we want to be about His will then surely we need to function under his direction; “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” (Romans 12:4-11)
If a teacher now teachers the Word of God, it would be a good practice to see what other have taught on the same subject, However I would not say that we should live only in another man’s revelation, Christianity is personal and so we should learn to understand our role as believers, on a personal level. We have a teacher and He is God, God the Holy Spirit; “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
Nevertheless I also have an enemy and we know where he loves to play; in the minds of men; "Did God actually say, “ is the question he loves to ask, Satan our enemy! The Lord Jesus has defeated Him once and for all, but he still prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
My conclusions then, I take the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit very seriously, it is my first point of reference when looking to understand the scriptures in relation to my own life on a personal level. But I do not consider those who have already run their race and come out on the other side with much fruit to their lives, as something of the past. I believe that they too can help me understand what God requires from me when I look to see what they understood on any given subject. God the Holy Spirit was also their teacher as He is mine. If I do not reason with this clarity I then am conceited and what I am actually saying is that I am better than them, as God gives me direction but I am not sure they also received it. Pride waiting for a fall! His understanding should not be different as God is God and He cannot change as He is perfect and in no need of any change. As much as I need their input in my life, a man like C.H.Spurgeon has opened my eyes to a lot I would not have seen without His influence. God used Him and is still using him to teach me certain truths! However we must never be insensitive to the other perspectives that the other members of the body of Christ would bring to a certain subject. Think on it like this, ask five people to describe a sunset and then package that into one explanation and the listener would be far more informed about the sunset.
Where we go wrong is when the teacher wants to be artist and the artist looks to become the teacher; the hand looks to be the foot and visa-versa! Both members are needed in the body for it to function effectively.
God help us to understand the importance of each member in the church and to pray for their liberty within their particular churches so that Christ may be glorified and we may grow up in unity and into adults in love; “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:13)
Signing off
Tyrone
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