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Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

“Holy Spirit Experience” Explored

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The Holy Spirit receives so much attention these days it sometimes seems He is talked about more than Jesus. A few might think that is OK but I’m not so sure.

If everyone said the same things that would make it easier to accept but they don’t. Very different things are being said and that begs multiple questions.

Why is the Holy Spirit so prominent and how do we explain the divergent, sometimes contradictory, interpretations?

Outside of Jesus, He is the most common topic among Christians and the differing opinions not only confuse they sometimes cause conflict. One person’s ideas are often countered, not with “different” ideas, but with opposing ideas offered in a fractious manner. How do we understand this phenomena?

The one thing most Christians agree on is the Holy Spirit’s place in the Trinity. He is the third person of the Godhead and that, of course, means He is God. He has all the attributes of personality and divinity.

But, that also means we should be careful what we say about Him. Our teaching should be shaped in carefully worded statements all of which are substantiated by biblical reference. Spontaneous gushings, though sincere, may be ill informed.

A Word About Experience

That brings us to a very important topic, “Experience.”

People often base their ideas about the Holy Spirit on a personal experience they believe He caused. The experience becomes the guiding principle for everything they say or believe afterward. It is so paramount in their thinking that the experience is imposed on the Bible rather than the other way around.

That isn’t the way it is supposed to work. But, on the other side of the coin, those who oppose this approach aren’t very helpful. Merely mentioning the word “Experience” sends them into overdrive attempting to deny, not the theological implications, but the possibility that an experience ever occurred.

Dismissing “experiences” out of hand gives no one the right to claim higher intellectual/spiritual ground. [Read more…] about “Holy Spirit Experience” Explored

“Tongues” Is A Sign, Part 6

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Lesson 6: Comparing Different Gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14)

The New Testament teaches that every Christian is given spiritual gifts and these gifts determine the shape of our service to God.

1 Peter 4:10 says three things:

  • Every person has received a gift.
  • The gift is best used in ministering to the community – “one another.”
  • Doing so makes the best use of the grace God extends to us.

That is easy to understand. The problem is there are two types of gifts.

  • Some are “supernatural” and some are “natural.”
  • Some are sensationally demonstrated and some are expressed through practical skills.
  • Some display the power of God alone and some display God’s power working through the abilities of His people.
  • Some gifts are very exciting and appealing while others are more mundane.

But all of them are “spiritual.”

Paul mentions both kinds in 1 Corinthians 12. In fact, he makes a very clear statement of his subject, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant,” (v. 1).

Before we go further let’s define our terms more specifically. What is a spiritual gift? What qualifies to be called a spiritual gift? There are several facts to consider. [Read more…] about “Tongues” Is A Sign, Part 6

“Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 4

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Lesson 4: Comparing The Principle To The Experience (Acts 9:32-11:18)

Speaking in Tongues was a miracle so to talk about tongues is to talk about the miraculous.

That partly explains why people are so bewitched by this experience. It is natural for humans to be fascinated by miracles of any kind even when they happen to others. The prospect of “experiencing” one personally multiplies the fascination. And although tongues are usually represented as something everyone can experience the Bible says exactly the opposite.

Paul rhetorically made this point when he asked, “Do all speak in tongues,” (1 Corinthians 12:30). The answer is obvious.

Tongues is defined as the ability to speak in an unknown language miraculously. That is, the person who spoke in tongues was enabled by God, miraculously, to speak a language they did not already know in the hearing of people who did. Tongues was a three-way miracle.

God miraculously enabled person A to speak in tongues in the hearing of person B. Person B was the focus not A and in every case God wasn’t revealing a truth, He was emphasizing one that had already been revealed.

Another point that is rarely made is the fact that the use of tongues was more for the person hearing than for the person speaking.

It was a miracle used to convince the hearer to accept a truth he or she had already heard but had difficulty processing. In the case of tongues, Hebrew believers were being convinced to accept the fact that God is no respecter of persons. Anyone, including Gentiles could be saved. Tongues was the mechanism used to emphasize this point.

Tongues were spoken several times in the New Testament and, according to Paul, served this very specific and short lived purpose. Once the purpose was served, tongues were no longer needed.

That is really true of all miracles. God doesn’t pass them out like Halloween sweets and they have little to do with alleviating pain or rewarding faith. They are intended to serve God’s purposes not satisfy our need to feel special.

They don’t happen just because you “want” one and it is misleading to suggest faith is the determinant factor. They serve specific purposes, they may make a point but they are always strictly under God’s control.

Of all the miracles in the Bible tongues illustrates this truth best.

  • No one ever expected to speak in tongues.
  • No one even knew they were possible.
  • No one ever prayed for this experience.
  • And after they happened no one talked about them.

The meaning was obvious to the first generation of believers, most of whom were Jewish. Tongues wasn’t an issue until years after the fact.

They happened only when God allowed and they made the same strong statement every time… [Read more…] about “Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 4

“Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 3

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Lesson 3: Comparing The Principle To The Experience – Acts 8

So far in this series we have done two things: established a basic principle for understanding tongues and then used that principle to analyze the first historical event when tongues were spoken.

  • The principle is: tongues are for a sign to unbelievers not believers.
  • Tongues were first spoken miraculously in Acts 2:1-13.

In Acts 2 the unbelievers were the Jews who refused to believe the Old Testament prophecies pointing to Christ. They also rejected the avalanche of evidence from Christ’s ministry, all of which shouted His Messiah credentials.

Because the term “unbeliever” is also associated with any person who is not a Christian, Acts 2 wasn’t as clear an example as other events when tongues were spoken. Those who heard tongues in that passage were believing in Christ as well as a ministry transition. But, the other examples bring more clarity to the discussion.

With these thoughts in mind we proceed to the next occasion on which tongues were spoken in judgment against unbelief, Acts 8:1-25. [Read more…] about “Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 3