Led Astray

March 16

On Spiritual Gifts

Read: 1 Cor. 12, focus v.1-3

Led Astray

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed…” (v.1)

There is a very high likelihood that we are uninformed concerning spiritual gifts. There is a reason that Paul was writing this in 1 Corinthians. Spiritual gifts require community and instruction to understand and be used. It is quite possible for gifts to remain dormant / unused in an “uninformed” believer or to remain totally unknown to the person isolated and alone. The truth is that, “As each has received a gift, (we must) use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace…” (1 Peter 4:10) Using our gifts is a part of experiencing God’s grace and a matter of “stewardship” according to the word of God. It is a tremendous waste and frankly a shame to have gifts squandered within the body of Christ!

The use and development of our spiritual gifts is what stops us from wandering off to “mute idols”. Look at v.2: “You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.” What a picture of the human nature apart from Christ! We will wander off and worship tings that don’t even have the power to speak let alone do anything else… “mute idols”. It is hilarious to me the way that Paul says, “… however you were led”. Who knows what motivates the ridiculous decisions we make before Christ. What would ever drive us to worship something so lifeless… so powerless… so “mute”? This is the bitter truth though, that our habits apart from Christ do not lead us into life and communication with the LIVING GOD. Our “pre-Christ” habits and assumptions do not work within our “new life in Christ”. (cf. Romans 6) This is why we need to be coached, informed, and practiced in the use of our gifts and relationship with the Lord.

The first step or litmus test comes in what we say. No one being led by the Spirit of God will say “Jesus is accursed”. Speaking in the Spirit starts with our demeanor towards Christ. The Spirit is always going to affirm and encourage the mystery of the unity and he person of Jesus. We can start to learn when it is God speaking to us by beginning to think through what is being said. The Lord never says anything to us that wouldn’t / couldn’t be spoken in the midst of the Trinity, because we are “in Christ” and therefore participating in the Trinity. (cf. Col. 3:1-11) So… the Spirit would never say “Jesus is cursed”, but what ALWAYS comes from the Spirit is the message that “Jesus is Lord”. We cannot declare the message that Jesus is Lord in our actions nor correctly in our speech without the Spirit of God within us. When we are moving towards idols we are moving towards “mute-ness”… towards something that says nothing… we are declaring nothing about Christ. When we begin to live life in the Spirit, we move towards “saying something”… we come alive… we begin to speak… and the message we declare is that “Jesus is Lord”. We don’t drive at this message on our own, no we are LED by the Spirit towards God. (cf. John 15:26; Matt. 16:17, Rom. 10:9) This is our FIRST GIFT from God… our SALVATION and LIFE in Christ.

Too much is at stake for us to remain in the dark. “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” Some of us still wander towards “mute idols” motivated by Lord knows what. May the Lord wake us up, open our eyes, stop our meandering and aimless wandering, and put us to work with our gifts building up the body and declaring by the Spirit that “Jesus is Lord” in what we say and do. If you are not intentional about the use and development of your gifts, they will remain unused to the detriment and real loss of those people around you. Start by taking inventory of your words. What are you saying in the Spirit? The very first things we can say in the Spirit are words of worship and honor to Jesus. Start there today. Pray your words back to him. Sing songs of praise declaring “Jesus is Lord”. Tell someone else today about Christ. Share your journey with another believer. This is warm up and stretching that prepares you for the “higher gifts”. Maybe today you simply need to be convinced that Jesus truly IS Lord. He IS in control. He IS working. He IS a GOOD KING. There IS such a thing as the Kingdom of God and it IS expanding and growing. If we think that someone else is in control, or that sin is grater than the gospel, or Satan is going to win then we are essentially “cursing” Jesus. The Spirit will never declare that “Jesus is accursed” and neither should we! Love you guys. - JDP