Tag: Speaking in Tongues

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When our body remembers and reminds us

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness. Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.” Luke‬ ‭3:2-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Luke starts this chapter with a quick list of authorities of who these leaders were and where they were serving. Then he gets to two of the high priests. These are two guys serving in a very long legacy line with very specific jobs working for God. However, Luke SKIPS over the Roman officials and his own priests and introduces John, a son of a priest himself. Luke wants us to know, this is the person God chose to talk to – “a message from God to John.”

What was the message? Repent of sin and SHOW life change by behavior change! Start with a symbolized object lesson of dunking, dying and resurrecting all clean and fresh. Then the crowd asks a brilliant question, “what should we do?” NOT, what should we believe. John’s mini-sermon is a wide-view lens of the entire Old Testament Prophets messages of “true repentance.” Here they are: take care of the poor, quit cheating people and stop being so greedy! Can this list of behaviors define righteousness? No, not entirely. Can this list guide our behaviors to better reflect God? Absolutely! Caring for outcasts, being fair in transactions and live within your means so you can be generous and not try to con your way through life – these are pretty good places to start.

Apparently sin makes us snobs, cheats and cheap! Who would have thought? The people that came because they were just curious but critical were offended. The people who came and were convicted went into the water to start their journey back to God.

Baptism isn’t magical, it’s a transformational marker. It’s a moment where our physical body remembers going under the cold water and our soul remembers the momentary feeling of embarrassment, the submission to another’s will, loss of control and rising to newness. It’s like remembering your first kiss – a powerful connection of emotions and feelings that lodge in your whole being, not just your brain.

The first step, John says, “in showing” repentance and turning to God. Physical actions, physical signs, memories and onlookers, these are important to behavioral change. Luke writes later about another such physical sign when it comes to being filled with the Spirit. It could be witnessed. These are moments that are captured, tracked and remembered. What behavior has changed in me that proves to me (and others) that I have not only been obedient, I’ve also been consistent in moving towards God and away from my sin, myself in the past?

PRAYER:

Dad,
I clearly remember the physical locations and purposeful decisions in my life where you challenged me and I responded with a YES. And with those memories, my body helps remind me that those moments weren’t a dream or a thought, they were real and powerful. I still remember being baptized in water with a bunch of people watching. I still remember being baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and having a new hunger for the Word of God, a keen sense of hearing your voice and a new boldness to become who who called me to be. I have no doubts that my ideals of change only become reality in my behaviors of change! Thank you.

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Some are just PASSIONATE about special abilities!

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me. 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 ‭14:10-12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​The Apostle Paul gets down to some serious Spirit-business! Churches in Corinth, they’re a wild bunch. Smart, savvy, metropolitan, maybe even cool. They were probably wealthier than their sisters and brothers in the other cities. Corinth was a major seaport, and you know those sailors – just kidding. The city was a high concentration not just of proud Greeks, but people from all over the known world. They were there buying and selling goods.

The church there was also bustling. With a mix of backgrounds and former ways of life, people were a bit more celebrative, you know a “happy” group. Paul addressed so many abuses in their theology and behavior that he wrote three or four letters explaining, in detail, a lot of things of the Spirit. There were HIGHS, the love chapter and LOWS, the sexual permissiveness scoldings.

I love how Paul frames the “speaking in tongue’s” conversation – “since you are eager…” Paul uses a word, “zélótés” or zealous. However, the root of that word, “zeloo” is jealous, or “eager to possess.” This church was crazy passionate about spiritual gifts.

Fine, Paul says, let’s just keep this in perspective…use them to STRENGTHEN the whole church – cough, cough, not just yourself! I’m also interested because in the verses that follow Paul instructs them about two different kinds of people that are in the church gathering. Those who are believers, members of Jesus body, the gathering of saints. And… the unbeliever. For if you bless God (eulogeó) in the Spirit, how can the uninformed, the “idiṓtēs”– a person who conspicuously lacks education, status or understanding benefit and join in?

Paul is concerned both for the church folk AND the person who comes in off the street. He gives an illustration of preference in verse 19. In the (ekklésia) assembly, a congregation I would rather speak FIVE intelligent words or instructive words than 10,000 words in tongues. Does Paul believe in speaking in tongues? Absolutely, he does so often, he writes. However, when gathering have some order, have some understanding, READ THE ROOM Corinthians – it’s not just about ME or even US, it’s also about THEM.

Don’t ya just love that the body of Christ is so beautiful, so diverse in color and culture? Yet, we are family. We are “blood” because of Jesus. We may have “denominations” for practical reasons or even preferences, but we are ONE under the lordship of Jesus. Churches in Corinth and Rome may be different in expression, but they are the same in belief!

PRAYER:

​Dad,
I don’t like the fact that there are so many different “denominations,” but I get it. Folks have to be able to free to live and live in ways that make them feel more comfortable.

But still, we should be able to see that these different gatherings are based on preferences, not theology. I get diversity in unity because you made us so different from each other in personality.

But as family, we are the same. As family we are thrilled to gather TOGETHER and celebrate the variations of perspective and opinion. Help us Oh God be one even as you are one!