This blog post has been revised and turned into a chapter in The Rethinking Series.
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Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical
Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.
Rethinking the Gifts of the Spirit: Part IV
Jon Zens
Something that didn’t leave my mind while reading this section of the series is that as blessed as I have been to see many expressions of Christ free to function like this in their gatherings over the last decade. I must add that those that extend this into the other 160+ hours of the week in shared lives seem to magnify Him not in multiples but exponentially and is reflected in all in the surrounding community. Some time indescribably Awesome.
Almost like a dome of peace and protection in a war torn battle ground.
Thanks Frank for another great series!!
Being raised in the Pentecostal IC, I’ve seen so much ‘stuff’ that was passed off as from God but was really man’s flesh.
As I’ve said before, you have put into words much of what I have felt for years.
Keepin’ on For Christ!!
“The church is a living organism…It will produce spiritual manifestations by sheer instinct if allowed…This is why we are encouraged not to quench the Spirit”
Love this all-important point. On the flip side, I am also wondering how we deal with the exercise of the gifts by those that mistakenly believe they have or are using them. Granted, the Lord can do anything through anybody if He wants, but we’ve all come across the situations where someone routinely believes they have a gift when they don’t. As we know, this can make meetings almost unbearable. Any practical advice for dealing with this situation lovingly?
It really depends on the kind of group you have and how things like this are dealt with. Different groups handle such situations differently. Some groups hammer such things out in private one-on-one meetings in a loving, gracious, “come to Jesus” way. Others do it in other contexts — not in the corporate gatherings themselves, but in smaller gatherings where people share issues and problems. Some have local leaders who deal with such things. There are just too many variables to give a universal answer for a particular fellowship. Except this … to treat the person the same way you would want to be treated if it were you. See my post “How (Not) to Correct Another Christian” in the Archives https://www.frankviola.org/archives
Praise the Lord! His River flows…Good stuff Frank.
Frank, I was taught that prophecy was words of encouragement, edification, consolation, and comfort for both the individual and the local congregation/assembly for that particular time and place, and was not to be confused with revelation(word of knowledge/wisdom) given to individuals and only rarely to other people, and never during”worship” time. Your thoughts on that. Thanks, enjoying the series.
I believe this distinction is incorrect and cannot be supported by the NT. See part III of the series where I explain my view of prophecy, revelation, and the other revelatory gifts. I trust it helps.
I appreciate the series. That is what we are going through at our fellowship.
A Men! Kalil and Catherin S, You both used the word “balance”. I’m not much of a writer but if I were, both of you expressed affirmation in the way I would’a if I could’a.
Well put Frank!
“To stress gifts over life is to breed confusion and division.”
It seems we always (quite often) want to place ourselves at the center. To make the whole thing a religious/spirituality ascendancy project.
I think we must battle those temptations.
Thanks, Frank.
Frank, thanks for this series, I love how you keep the balance, where your not pitting life against gift but how you put it “Spiritual gifts are the means by which we supply life to one another”. I also appreciate how you put it in one of your recent parts that gifts are alive and well today but they look different then the “charismaniac” way. The church that I’m apart of has been functioning in several gifts, however, I wasn’t aware of it until a sister from the church wrote a blog about several ways the group has been expressing life through those gifts. They look so different then what my religious background told me they were supposed to look like. In addition, seeing the same gift displayed more than once can even look different. For instance, there has been several healings that has occurred but, in each case they didn’t look the same. However, in all cases Jesus was lifted and the person or persons He chose to express himself through were not even noticed.
Amen!
I appreciate the way you’re encouraging a balanced, natural expression of the gifts of the Spirit. Those “harmful wrappings” are often affectations and attempts to elevate and draw attention to the individual exercising the gift, and they are frequently used to abuse or manipulate the body of Christ — all of which is contrary to the the Spirit’s intention of edifying the church and glorifying Jesus Christ.
Thank you. Praising Him for these confirming words this morning.
Yes! This series continues to say “yes” in me…for the body…produced by instinct when allowed…spiritual life and spiritual power.
I am enjoying this series Frank, thank you.