Microchurch Minute
We have been learning about the Holy Spirit and took time on Sunday to dive into spiritual gifts. These aren’t just talents or something you can produce through your own willpower. Rather, they are distinct gifts given by the Holy Spirit. We didn’t log into “theholyspirit.com” to scroll through options and choose what appeals to us. On the contrary, one of the many blessings of being indwelled by the Holy Spirit is that He equips us with supernatural power to play our part in His masterfully orchestrated plan.
Do you ever doubt your gifting? I pray that you would receive it as it has been given to you, without questioning the good and loving Father who inscribed it with your name. Just like salvation, it is not something to be earned, but a gift freely given, meant to build up the Body of Christ.
As you observe others who are active in the church, you may notice that people are gifted in ways different from you. Don’t be discouraged, this is part of God’s design. If we’re not careful, our human mindset can become self-centered when it comes to our gifts. “That leadership team is so charismatic and outgoing… maybe I don’t belong here since I’m only useful in the nursery, kitchen, or behind the scenes.” Sound familiar?
The enemy uses comparison and pride to distort your identity. Either you begin to believe your gifting isn’t enough, or you fall into the trap of thinking your gift makes you more important than others. But that was never God’s intention for spiritual gifts.
I love the comparison Scripture gives us, the Body. A foot cannot see, but it can walk. An eye cannot walk, but it can see. A hand cannot smell, but a nose can. Each part is different, yet each part is essential. Your differences are not a flaw, they are exactly what make you an integral part of the Church.
This doesn’t dismiss the natural talents you’ve been given. Maybe you’ve always been creative, or you thrive in the kitchen, or you naturally lead a room. Those characteristics may very well be the places where the Holy Spirit has uniquely gifted you. The shift happens when our mindset changes from “Look what I’m good at.” to “Lord, how can I use this to serve and build up Your Church?”
When we walk in our spiritual gifts as God intended, the focus isn’t on the person, it’s on the work God is doing through them. As believers, we are called to do everything in love. When I use my gifts, it should flow from reverence for God and love for His people.
I look forward to us continuing to grow together, discovering our gifts, encouraging one another, and strengthening the Body of Christ so that we can more powerfully carry out God’s work together.
Microchurch Minute
Remember the last time you stirred up a nice cold glass of chocolate milk? You pour in just the right amount of chocolate syrup and mix it vigorously until it spreads all the way through the milk. The result is delicious, a satisfying treat that comes from taking the time to mix it well.
When we accept Jesus Christ and the reality of our redemption, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come to dwell within us. Like chocolate syrup poured into white milk, the Holy Spirit is now present in every believer. You can’t remove Him from the glass, His presence is there.
But here’s the question: are you letting Him settle at the bottom, or are you stirring things up?
While the Spirit fully lives within us, we are called to intentionally walk in step with Him and allow His presence to permeate every part of our lives. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you (your thoughts, decisions, relationships, and actions) requires surrender and daily dependence.
Don’t remain stagnant and let the richness settle at the bottom. Stir it up. Let the goodness move through every part of you until every “sip” of your life reflects the sweetness of the Holy Spirit.
His presence shouldn’t result in only a mild change (still mostly white milk) but a complete transformation, turning your life into something entirely new.
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” – Galatians 5:25
Microchurch Minute
We have spent the last few weeks going through the book of Galatians together. It’s been a powerful journey to see Paul’s complete anguish for the people of Galatia that are still buying into the idea that grace just isn’t enough. This letter wraps up on a few key points, the first of which is how believers handle the transgressions of other believers. We are called to lovingly address the sins of our spiritual family out of a place of desiring spiritual restoration for them – not a place of boasting our own superiority. This ideology is pretty backwards from worldly thinking. As the human race, we intrinsically want to point out the flaws and errors of our fellow man, put them on display at the whipping post and stand with a false sense of earned smugness as we watch them get what they “deserve”. But God. He wants us to leave the judgements, consequences and condemnations to Him. If we truly love God and have received His grace, we may simply desire our fellow believers to be forgiven and reconciled to the Father. After all, do we not trust the God of the universe to dish out consequences far more justified than we could ever imagine? Then we are called to share one another’s burdens. This required openness and vulnerability on both the burdened party and the believing brethren. Keep in mind, no one on earth may ever know just how obedient you are in this act of shouldering the burdens of other believers and your spiritual leaders, but God sees it. Are you pouring into your flesh or into the Spirit? God knows. Paul reminds us that we reap what we sow. If you’re stuck on using your resources to gratify your flesh, you will awake one day to find yourself disappointed in the unavoidable decay and ultimate death of the flesh. However, when you use your resources to pour into the Spirit as you are convicted to do, it is increased tenfold (or more!) for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. This falls into the discipline of tithing, but we will get into that at another time.
Our house church family is positioned in such an intimate way, that we can easily access one another to serve each other as needed. Do you ever notice that individuals who make statements like “why didn’t anyone at church help me?” are generally the individuals who tend to isolate and withdraw from community? But when we are actively in pursuit of our spiritual brothers and sisters, the fruit of the Spirit is often times evident in the way that we show up for, care for and pray for one another. That’s my kind of community! That is the community we are not only invited into but have the responsibility to help build on earth as we allow the Spirit to direct us.
Throughout our reading of Galatians, has Paul made his point abundantly clear? DO YOU UNDERSAND THAT THE JUDAIZERS ARE MISLEADING? I imagine that Paul’s handwriting must have been big and bold by the way he wraps up this letter. These legalists had an end goal of growing their list of converts to boast in their own achievements, not in anyone’s actual salvation. Believers want only to boast in the cross. The cross is a dividing barrier between the worldly wants of the flesh and the eternal deliverance of the Spirit. The flesh hates the cross and what it stands for, but I will boast proudly in the cross and Jesus Christ who reconciled me to the Father!
There were those that believed circumcision was required. There were those that boasted in their refusal to partake in such ritual. But neither mattered to God. He is still seeking to see the new creating that you become when you accept the free gift of grace offered by Jesus’ death on the cross, His perfectly pure sacrifice. I can imagine by this point in his letter Paul would just be at an absolute breaking point in his frustration with the Jesus+ doctrine that he was trying so desperately to refute. After a long letter of rebuking, correcting, warning and pleading, we see that he ends his letter with grace, not law, to the people of Galatia.
Microchurch Minute
Freedom. Full freedom, in Christ. Freedom to rest in His protection, to be released from your old self that has passed away, to live as who you are called to be.
Freedom isn’t a side effect of the gospel of grace. Freedom is what we receive when eternity is secured in Christ. It still takes a level of personal accountability, we must guard our freedom. False prophets and partial truths from the enemy have been trying to lead believers astray since the dawn of Christ’s good work. We must be careful to acknowledge that the freedom we receive in Christ, isn’t some sort of permission to sin freely access. Instead, we have the permission to freely worship and serve one another. Freely giving of our time, money and talents – because at the end of the day, they all belong to God anyway. We have the freedom to trust that God will use all of these for His glory and we can follow His lead as the vessels through which He chooses to work. What beautiful responsibility to be entrusted with. His grace says that you are enough, you no longer have to strive to attain perfection to be worthy of the Kingdom of God. Even a child knows, none of us could ever earn that on our own. Paul reveals that there is an ongoing battle of the flesh and the Spirit. But flesh could never inherit the kingdom of God. Flesh strives for earthly glory, greed, immorality, gluttony and temporary pleasures. While the Spirit seeks God first and produces a good fruit. Others should be able to see by our lives that we are feeding off of God, in the same way that a plant grows fuller and brighter when given the correct nourishment. Do you see the fruits in your own life? Do others? Is there no doubt that you are producing:
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love
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joy
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peace
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patience
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kindness
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goodness
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faithfulness
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gentleness
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self-control
Let you love for Jesus and your true freedom in Him leave no doubt that you are actively choosing to live for something greater than yourself. Our victory against sin flows from our identity in Christ, it’s not something we can achieve on our own. The Spirit is alive in you and wants to move. Are you so desperately leaning in to God’s teaching that your desire is to allow the Spirit to move you?
Microchurch Minute
Paul continues his communication to the Israelites here. They were God’s chosen people, yet still rejected Jesus. The calling on Paul’s heart truly is for their salvation. He understands that God’s covenant with Abraham applies to all spiritual descendants, not just bloodline. Divine adoption is a powerful thing. It proves that God’s discernment is always the final say. His mercy has always chased after His own creation – Jew and Gentile through grace, not based on bloodline or human efforts. The mercy offered to us is forever undeserved. We are born sinners, the punishment for sin is death. We are incapable of living a life that could satisfy the law. Our striving efforts are in vain, if our heart isn’t heart fully yielded to God. Salvation is strictly dependent on God’s mercy for His creation. What glorious news!
There is an illustration given of the potter and his clay. Imagine the craftsmanship that goes into each piece of wetness. A blob of goo, carefully chosen my the potter. As he works with it and brings it to life. The potter determines the shape, size, depth, details and functionality of each piece before it is presented for use. Some of these might be everyday work pieces, used to bring water back and forth for animals and home, or a dinner plate to take in nourishment that God has blessed you with. Some pieces may be more ornamental and used for display purposes, to serve and be seen at the appointed time. Who is the clay to say to the potter “why did you make me this way?” We are to assume the posture of the clay piece, whatever it is, with thankfulness for the thought and creativity that went into every detail of our being.
God’s mercy chases us all. Paul even references back to Hosea where we see the similarity to when God called out Israel – they will be called His people. Those once rejected will be welcomed into the family of God. God has a chosen remnant, those that will not be abolished like Sodom and Gomorrah. Redemptive grace extends to all, Jew and Gentile alike. But it requires true faith in God and the actions that Christ took on the cross. Israel continued to pursue righteousness by works, the belief that Jesus’ death on the cross was enough for their salvation became their stumbling stone. It’s here that we see Jesus’ death is received one of two ways: either as an offense to the prideful or as salvation to the humble.
