Thoughts on gifts and fruit of the Spirit

I can’t help but be drawn to the charismatic/evangelical movement at times. I understand that side of Christianity has made its share of mistakes, but I am overjoyed to know them. In case you wonder, not all of them are the crazy people you might think they are. I was listening in my class studying Galatians, where my professor, Dr. Witherington, mentioned the fruit as opposed to the gifts, and I got to preview Gordon Fee’s Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God. He mentions the idea of gifts and how he thinks the idea is portrayed in 1 Corinthians.

I really enjoyed Fee in that he stated that the “gifts” or “manifestations” are not a systematic listing at all and does not cover every base. I can’t help but cringe at the idea of a spiritual gifts assessment (this is more general evangelical as I do not want to put this on the Charismatics) in that most of them are limited and some do not allow for these things to be manifestations of God’s Spirit to His people. It’s hard to define a list of gifts because the lists in the letters are never exactly alike. It must be known that God does not always work in the same way and that he might shell shock our preconceptions of how God gives gifts to His people through His Spirit. Needless to say, Paul would be confused.

Realize that it is not about us having a gift as if it is our own…

but that. supernaturally, it is about God showing us that He is here…

IN POWER…

BEYOND OUR WILDEST IMAGININGS!!!

We get prepared to live out the future reality in this present age.

The other thing to remember is that Galatians 5 shows us the fruit of the Spirit and not the gifts. There is a distinct difference. The gifts are what are given to encourage and prepare us, but the fruit is what is produced by the presence of the Spirit. Paul’s community ethic under the Spirit would have put so much emphasis on the fruit and the gifts have to be secondary and subject to the existence of the fruit. Read the difference. Where one is about the supernatural happenings and the things that are given in affirmation, the fruit is about the life of the community, which is what the letters of Paul are quite repetitive about.

If we forget the fruits of bringing true blessings of God’s love to the community, then the gifts will not matter. “If I do not have love, I am just a clanging cymbal.”

I heard a story once of a woman who led in a ministry. Many were blessed by her musical gifts and she loved what she was doing. She was married to a man, but happened to find romance with another man who was not her husband. She asked her pastor, “Would this require me to give up my musical gifts in this ministry?” The pastor replied with compassion, “Daughter, it is not your gifts that are in question, but your character that is in jeopardy.”

Remember to tend to the fruit (your character) and the gifts will be given to you. And be ready if you live this out. God may give  you a gift that was never in your community before.

And to close, all are gifted.

I say that again with greater emphasis added…

ALL are TRULY gifted BY GOD’S SPIRIT.

Grace and peace to you all.

 

Childbearing

I hear many crazy things, but some things put extra cherries on my ice cream. Here’s a verse to start things off:

“And they will be saved through the childbearing, so long as they persist in faith and love and holiness with modesty.” – 1 Timothy 2:15d (my personal translation).

I know that most of your translations will not place an article in front of childbearing. Let’s explore that for a second. If you say that, from a strictly textual viewpoint, you can see how it seems as if men can be saved when they have faith in Christ, but women would be through childbearing. This seems a little off, however, since Paul has said that there is no male nor female in the kingdom. This doesn’t make theological nor biblical sense.

Look at it in the greek (if you can). There is an article in front of the word for bearing children. Let me give some 101 information on how articles are used in greek. If you do not see an article, there is a chance that the noun could be a general idea, but it can also be specific in idea, but that needs context. Here this is not the case. There is an article. If there is an article, then it has to be more specific. It cannot be general in a syntactical sense.

Here is what I propose. There is a specific birthing idea that Paul wishes to bring into mind. Considering how Timothy was a Christian in leadership, what would be the infamous birth that got the snowball rolling in this era of salvation history? You guessed it, the birth of Jesus the Christ. If you consider that all that Paul has said that although wives are subject to husbands, he is implicit and explicit in greek that women in general are free to participate in Church life. Even Luke in his book “The Acts of the Apostles” seems to imply this as well.

Although this may be what some of us were thinking all along, here is the ammunition you need to do effective ministry.

Grace and Peace to you all.

 

Fruits of the Spirit

I was thinking on Galatians. I can’t wait to take the class this upcoming semester. I’ve been doing work on it before hand. I noticed that in chapter 5 that this is the letter that lists out the fruits of the Spirit. Many have tried to make this a simple list of virtues and the list of effects of the flesh as a list vices. I’ve been wondering if that was necessarily the case. I have been trying to move toward looking at Scripture as more about the community known as the Church rather than so much about the individual. There are a few places where I have to accept that the individual is important, but here I might not have to, thanks to the use of an Anchor Bible commentary on Galatians.

When I look at the lists, they seem to follow a pattern of actually being general and ambiguous.

“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.”

I noticed that this list starts with 3 sexual elements, a reference to open sexuality, a violent sexuality, and a bragged about sexuality (subtleties of Greek), all of which are the abandonment of God’s purpose for sexuality (which was a Jewish opening to speech against gentiles).

“idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy”

And then we move to a list of a very religious matter but very peculiarly moves into an obvious list of things that are bad for the community. But I noticed that most of this list is in essence or things that could be viewed as bad for a community. Which leads to the next part of the list.

“drunkenness, carousing, and things like these”

The first part is directed toward how alcohol can bring a person to only look at himself and ignore the needs of others. If this is a list of rules, it makes sense to say none of these things, but it seems as if the following words imply a general ambiguous list of things that point to a stronger point: the destruction of the community.

“I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”

The point of this is that those who try to disrupt the community and do not find value in the Church instead of themselves will be judged as not fit for the Kingdom of God, meaning that no matter how “on fire” for God some might think you are, if you do not love your brother as the Torah commands, then you will not be allowed into God’s presence when he fully takes over things here on earth. Paul does not imply that when God gives grace that He steps down from his throne. That would be a form of Deism.

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”

This verse sometimes puts the fruits as “borne” by the Spirit. In it the Spirit and who is led by it produce something, particularly something that is in contrast to what came before (the works of the flesh). It’s not an exhaustive list. Just look at how ambiguous it is. But it does have one core element, love reflected in a way that can only be seen in community. And anything done in love among those in community Paul describes as follows:

“There is no law against such things”

Very well said, Paul. No law against, and without saying that there is something free yet goal oriented about Christianity and how it performs community. It’s not a list of virtues, but an incomplete list of things springing from Godly community.

“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires”

So, then, we can choose to do something about this. We notice that there is a group of people (Christians) who belong to the Christ, who is Jesus. The crazy part is that these people have crucified the flesh. Many think that this is talking about crucifying your own flesh, but the flesh is actually seen as a cosmic power and is put as another entity which has it’s own will. So is the Spirit. As a community of God, we have already crucified the Flesh (or so we should have). This is rhetoric stating how it should be. It is something that is the way it should be, but things Word (will) of God always be fulfilled in order to be a reality.

So when you look at these lists, don’t just reproduce it.

See it’s meaning,

and then live it out.

Live out community in love.

Don’t just look at these fruits as something you get as an individual and as virtues that you as an individual, but look at these things as not the point at all, except for the words love, joy, and peace in the old Jewish sense (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18).

So when you find someone else this week.

Look at them.

Find some worth in them.

And see that we belong together as people.

Let’s find value together in the Lord, our Lord, God.

Grace and Peace.

 

Environmentalism, Responsibility, and Big Macs.

I have had many conversations in my day, but I have to disagree with many people who are the richest in the world. I’m not just saying Bill Gates rich, but I mean that if you have ridden in a plane, own a car, and make over $20,000. There is an epidemic in this country that seems to demand that we get what we want. Even people that act like they are getting the bare neccessities are being spoiled when looking at other parts of the world. I have heard of tin mines ruining villages. I have heard of Tobacco companies paying out farmers that grew food for their third world country to grow tobacco, which, in case you did not know, cannot be eaten. I have heard that their is some sort of coincidence that the rises in CO2 emissions can be paralleled to cancers and respiratory problems. Yet we still fight responsibility. In this entry, I cannot help but befriend uber-environmentalists. It can seem like these guys are living in a dreamworld of bare minimum, but can you blame them. We who are, from what I have researched, major contributors to the problem, deny the problem so we do not have to fix it, forcing the ones with heavier consciences to pick up the slack. We also make our children think that the move toward this kind of responsibility is a sham. Let’s stop this for a second and think. Just because you are conservative does not mean you have to be against these things.

I know that someone is going to put some anti-global-warming facts as a comment, so let me head that off at the pass. First, you might think that there is a half and half separation among informed scientists about this. From my studies, this is far from true. An overwhelming number of scientists are speaking in favor of the environmental issues. Second, you might retaliate with the view that the polar ice caps are back on the rise, so there is nothing to worry about. This may be true, but from what I have seen, this is in more recent years and the overall, long-term observations prove that the our planet is still hurting. And even if this were true, it does not answer to the cancer and respiratory problems and the effects that consumerism has on the poor and voiceless. Third, you might come at me by saying that Al Gore’s house around 20 times worse than the average american house in energy consumption. This is true, but it does not relieve you of responsibility. Just because a porn addict tells me that porn is wrong, that does not mean that I go on to look at porn on account of his failures. Good action is good action, no matter what.

Think about the struggles in the coffee industry to make better decisions while producing coffee. Coffee was poorly grown and caused tainted rivers, and the farmers growing coffee beens were poorly paid. Much has been done about this, but it proves the point that at the very least, stepping away from consumerism has been proven to make life better from everyone. It is right, it is good, and it is responsible.

If you think about it, we need the earth as much as it needs us. We plant, we cultivate, and we co-create the tree. If you notice that in Deuteronomy 20:19, the Isrealites are commanded that even when they are besieging a city, that fruit trees are to be left up. It also seems to credit to God a care that is evident about God through his works in our history. He wanted things to grow, so he told the earth to grow it, and it did just that. As a matter of fact, he uses us to express his love of this world, his masterpeice. Our dominion is only so far as cultivation, protection, and care allows, meaning that exploitation is out of the question. Just read the two creation accounts.

Also, the fact that the beginning is tied into the idea of caring for the world since we are blessed with the responsibility means that it is all the more important. No where in my reading is there a mandate that relieves us of caring for the earth and all that is in the earth. We still maintain it as worsip to our God by obeying His will.

Even our dietary habits are crucial. It takes many resources to make beef. The health problems that people have from eating too much meat are noticed and emphasized by health professionals everywhere. Still, many over-weight people will not cut down on their Big Macs. I’m not just pointing to the obviously overweight, but also not so obvious. Cholestoral is a big problem as well. Many skinny people are going to have heart attacks before most of the seemingly fat people. Granted, eating meats is a part of the way of life, so I’m not saying be vegetarian, although some may feel compelled to do so, in which case I commend you greatly. I am saying that this is tied into the consumption nature of most of the civilized world.

Some of you may say that you have studied the issue and are well informed on things, but that is not enough. Knowledge is good to have, but knowledge and revelation and information alone is useless. If you have information, but do not act accordingly, you are pretty much taking up everyones much need air. I know that sounds cruel, but it is very true. Just like in theology, you can know it all, but if you go against God’s care for the hurting and the hopeless, then you are a pointless theologian.

All this is to say act responisbly, and do not deny what is obvious and backed up my much observation. Do your homework and be challenged by the knowledge you have. I have even been challenged by this, because our house probably produces more than the national average of trash and probably the same is true about our consupmtion of resources. This is not a dumb pursuit by a bunch of tree hugging, hippy liberal Americans anymore. This is a legitimate cause that ethical and responsible people are starting to look into. Environmentalists are not evil, they are actually in many ways responsible. So look into it and see for yourself the reason why the we might not want to be so quick to oppose environmetalism.

 

Bad Language and Creation

I was thinking a little bit wondering about some things that are tied into the English language. We have a lot of words. It is probably the hardest language known to man, at least I think so. But the thing demanded the most of my thought was the phenomena of bad language. It’s a funny concept if you start to think about it. Things like shit, damn, etc. It just seems funny that certain words for some certain reason has become a word that is abhord in this world.

Linguistically speaking I have to keep agreeing with the concept of no bad words. If you take the language itself and look at the words, there is no reason to call one word worse than the other, especially when they refer to the same thing. All words are merely sounds of something we think or see. We say shit. Shit refers to a feces. Hence a pile of shit. Other times it is a description of an event or feeling like stubbing your toe or losing your job. Hence you hear people yell the word shit. Still at other times it is tied into identity. You can think of the phrase “you piece of shit” and you know exactly what that entails.

Let’s look at those uses. The object of actual shit is the same as the word poop or terd, but you do not see anyone taking offense at these words. They hear and know what is being said. Or let’s look at the expression. You know something has happened when you hear the expression. Something bad has happened. Or the identity usage of the word. It says that someone is pissed off at someone or something.

I have thought about this for awhile. I let the idea that there is no bad language whatsoever run through my head. It was interesting for awhile. If I saw poop, I can say shit because that is describing what I see. If I hate my circumstance, then shit can describe how I feel. If I do not love someone, then I can scream the obscenity at them and feel good about myself. But I thought some more, adding more variables the equation of language. What is language? Is it just a series of sounds to express things? To just be able to communicate? Or is there something more? What if something is behind the words? What if what I passionately believe and chase after is in my words?

That really made my head spin. I applied to the word shit when thinking of feces and I did not feel anything. But I applied it to the other two things and felt a world of difference in my mind. To understand, we have to look at the two ideas.

Yelling shit says that I hate this. That is okay as far as that goes. Frustration happens, and just holding back would be asking you not to express how you feel. However, to look at the continual degrading of a situation like you have reached the end and no one is taking care of you is a discredit to God. Jacob felt the same way, yet God told him that however bad the situation is, nothing amounts to the love and care I will give you. And you will come through it all. Maybe before degrading the situation again, why not think of the God who carries you through. This, however, would apply to even saying you do not appreciate the moment you are in. This gift of opportunity. That you hate the trial that God has given you to make you better at what he wants you to be. At that point it becomes a complete transformation ungratefullness to hope that a brighter day will come. This takes a higher connection and realization of God.

Let’s look at the last one. The idea of yelling obscenities toward someone is on a simple level just a great stress relief. But let’s look closely. Is it good to tell someone, I wish that you were not? Your worth to me is like a piece of shit? Is that really good? I think the better question to ask would be how good is your connection to God’s people? Do you love those that come from our commone ancestor? Are you loving who God is loving? If so, then why not think on the next words you say to them. Say something that will lift them toward salvation, whoever it is.

The key to all this is the connection to God and His creation. To degrade his creation is a discredit to Him. It is not a matter of bad language or what people consider distasteful. It has now become a fact that to devalue God in your heart and mind is to move away from his plan. Words are words, but how you use those words can have effects on the lifting up of this earth. That means that even so called good language that can be used to call people names or degrade the gifts of God or His creation is bad language when used in such a manner. Think on this. This is crucial. This mean a transformation of your goals and thoughts. Here is one of the key variables to learning love. So love God. Love His gifts. Love His creation. Love His people. Then you will see what God’s will is, His righteous and holy will.