Missions Paul

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no-one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭14‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭

In the context of the pathway being love and with the desire to receive spiritual gifts, Paul’s encouragement is to desire prophecy. And this is why. 

Prophecy is the speaking to people through supernatural revelation. Whereas the Prophet may well be used outside the Church, prophecy is for within the church (but can also speak to the unbeliever who is present) and comforts and edifies the whole Church. With this in mind we should be desiring this gift and excel in it for who doesn’t want to build up the church?

There are many conferences and church programmes helping us all on how to prophesy. I am certainly not going to teach anything here in this short devotion on how to prophesy. But very simply this is what I do, it is simply this: a) asking God to speak to you about the person/church; b) At the same time remind yourself of all that God has done and is doing for them; c) As your mind focuses on those things and may even speak them out let your heart connect and feel God’s heart of love for them; d) stay in that place of God’s love for them and silently again ask God what He wants to say; e) be confident that God will speak and it may start with a word or subject matter, a picture in your mind or something the person is wearing will cause an understanding not seen before

It is possible that prophecy was being held with contempt, hence the command of Paul. It is still true today. We are called to test prophesies and not despise them. Again this might help some but there are great books and resources for this. This is my measurement in no particular order: a) the opening line is not ‘This is the Lord speaking …’ but rather something like, ‘I believe the Lord is saying this’ b) is it in alignment with the Bible? c) does it build up? d) is it bringing me nearer to God? e) does it set me free or tie me up?

Satan wants us to despise the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. He wants to remove them from the Church and our lives and in some places he has managed to do so. It is true that some abuse the gifts today. There are still the doom-sayers today within the church and deception is never far from us. If he can remove faith and replace it with fear then he has won. This is the command Paul is speaking about. Let us not kill off prophecy. Whenever we meet together as Christians there is an opportunity for God to speak through the Written Word and the Spoken Word of prophecy.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13

So the previous verses would suggest only love remains but actually faith and hope also are unceasing. 

They’re like a powerful trinity in our discipleship.

FAITH is the foundation of our life. Faith in God and what Christ has done for us through His Spirit. Faith in His promises. Faith in His presence. Faith in His purposes for our life. 

HOPE sustains us through the many difficulties we experience in life. This isn’t wishful thinking but a definite knowledge that God holds us and will bring us through. Hope holds us in the storm. Hope says there’s still more to the story. Hope gives us strength to keep going. 

But why is LOVE greater? Eternity.

In eternity we won’t need faith because we will see; we won’t need hope because everything will be fulfilled; but God is love and love will be there for Him, from Him and for mutuality with others. 

And so ends a beautiful chapter and a dramatic pause as Paul addresses the abuse in the Corinthian church over several things and one including spiritual gifts. He goes back to it now hoping they have understood the importance 

It never dies. It never ceases. It lasts forever. It is eternal. This is the beauty and power of love. Whereas the spiritual gifts will not last forever. 

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬-‭12‬ 

Love is more important than spiritual gifts. Love takes precedence over spiritual gifts. 

What good are spiritual gifts without love? 

Yet if you have love and no spiritual gifts then that lies with the sovereignty of the Spirit but love is still working. 

The gifts will end.

Prophecy will cease.

Tongues will be stilled.

Knowledge will pass away.

Paul could go on but he’s made his point.

All the gifts that this church are either abusing or ignoring will come to an end. What will we be left with when we stand before God? Our badge of being able to speak in tongues and able to prophecy? Or will it be that we loved whilst here on earth? Will the church be commended for its giftedness or its love? 

But there’s more.

Paul says the gifts are partial and incomplete. 

Completeness is coming and when it does the gifts will fall away. 

To those who say completeness is the death of the last apostle or the finalisation of the canon of the Bible then these verses challenge those thoughts. 

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

‭‭v12‬.

Completeness hasn’t come yet for we are all still waiting for Christ to return. 

Only then (or when we die before He comes) will we see Him face to face. 

When that day comes we won’t need spiritual gifts to know God or what He is saying for we will fully know and will be fully known. 

What will be left? What will we stand before Him with? 

The answer is we will stand before LOVE with love. 

Love never ends. 

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV

Love keeps going! 

It’s not sympathy we need at times,
not even a listening ear … We need someone to say don’t give up!
What are you facing?
“Hold on! I love you! Don’t back away now!”

People never just give up. They gave up behind the smiles and laughter a long time ago. No matter how resilient you are if you do not know you are loved then you will fade. 

I’m not thinking we need to say ‘pull your socks up’ or to ‘keep smiling’ under duress. But rather have a conquering patience with anything that life can throw at us knowing that God who is love does love you!

It is always too soon to give up when there is love.

Sunday 22nd January 2017 I stood with a married couple with 2 small children for a photograph. This was their farewell from the church as they were being sent as church planters to an area where there was absolutely no Christian witness. It was for me a most poignant moment for I knew the struggle that they would face. I was in the region of the world where the Church is continually persecuted. Christians carried injuries to their bodies because they were Christ followers. I was told of how their houses got burnt down, their children set upon and their entire family despised as worthless. I asked the question, “What happens when it all gets too much?” The answer that came shocked me. “We stay.”

You may enter your day struggling to get through it. You face internal pressures from external circumstances that are causing you to wonder if you will ever be free. Physical problems, loneliness, financial instability, loss of work and broken relationships are making you feel like you are swimming against the tide. Let the persecuted Christians help you today. They have found something that is priceless. If we do what they do then we will be saved in our circumstance. They have discovered perseverance that has come through knowing ‘God so loved the world’; they know they are loved and they love people. The power of love causes them to remain, to hold on, for love perseveres. 

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV

She did it first on 16th November 1952. Charlie Brown explains to Lucy: “All you have to do is hold the ball. Then I come running and kick it.” She’s not so sure. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea.” Charlie Brown comes running, but, at the last moment, Lucy pulls back the football, explaining to the prostrate kicker: “I was afraid your shoes might be dirty, Charlie Brown. I don’t want anyone with dirty shoes kicking my new football.” He tells her: “Don’t you ever do that again! Do you want to kill me? This time, hold it tight!” She does, so tightly, he kicks a ball, which doesn’t move, and tumbles onto his back. “I held it real tight, Charlie Brown.” He laments: “I’m not going to get up. I’m going to lie here for the rest of the day.” Lucy would continue some variant of the football snatch in almost every subsequent year of the strip, all the way to 1999. The same would happen nine times in animation. Drawing the strip for the last time, Charles Schultz said that he realized, sadly, that Charlie Brown would never kick that football, but, he also thought, having him succeed would have been a disservice to the character.

I wonder today if you are living with hope of kicking the ball?

Priest and theologian, Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) said this of hope, it “expects the coming of something new. Hope looks toward that which is not yet. Hope reaches out beyond ourselves to a power beyond us. Hope is grounded in the historic Christ-event … and as a dramatic affirmation that there is light on the other side of darkness.” (in Seeds of Hope)

After quitting school early and a brief time in Europe working as a Red Cross driver taking soldiers to the frontline he returned to Kansas to become a cartoon illustrator. But he lost his job because the editor claimed he had no imagination. How wrong that was! He headed out to Hollywood and had failure after failure with his ideas. Universal stole his ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’ idea and MGM rejected his talking mouse and his ‘Three Little Pigs’ never saw the light of day. But he kept going. Half the audience walked out of his ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’; ‘Pinocchio’ was a financial disaster; in fact all the classic films that I grew up on and which broke record after record at the Oscars and which billions of people have now watched was only possible because one failed man held on to hope. Of course the man is Walt Disney (1901-1966); the Walt Disney Company is estimated now at around $130 billion.

February 1st 1975, a famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela (who spent 27 years in prison) wrote to his wife Winnie, “You may find it difficult at first to pinpoint the negative features in your life, but the 10th attempt may yield rich rewards. Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying. … No ax is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise and win in the end.”

Hope is more than optimism. There may not be any hopeful aspects of a situation which optimism clings to. But hope is found not in a situation but in a loving Saviour.

Hope is more than being positive. There may be no moving forward, no direction and no increase. But hope is found not in progress but in a Person named Love.

In his book ‘Deserted by God?’, Sinclair Ferguson shares the following story:
“The first physician to die of the AIDS virus in the UK was a young Christian. He had contracted it while doing medical research in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. In the last days of his life, his power of communication failed. He struggled with increasing difficulty to express his thoughts to his wife. On one occasion she simply could not understand his message. He wrote on a note pad the letter J. She ran through her medical dictionary, saying various words beginning with J. None was right. Then she said, “Jesus?”
That was the right word. He was with them. That was all either of them needed to know.

Hope has a name and that name is Jesus.

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV

Let’s remind ourselves why the Apostle Paul is taking so long to explain what love is and is not. It’s because the church in Corinth needed to know. Mistrust was a common element in their church.

I know some reading this today will have experienced trust being broken. A promise not kept, a secret revealed or a boundary crossed. You have had to learn to trust again. To love again.

Choosing to trust is always an act of courage. Love is indeed that, courageous.

But if we don’t take that step of faith to trust we miss what it is to be human at the deepest level.

We were created for community and for it to be at the love level and that involves trusting each other.

Our calling and our destiny is better discovered and expressed through community than trying to convince a community of our own individual and personal revelation of the ministry Jesus wants us to do.

We were never meant to go it alone.

• Such singular approach to life holds too many temptations for stardom. ‘I did it my way’ is the song of the individual who will not share their life with anyone. Your marital status is not the sign whether you are doing life alone or not. I’ve known married couples not trusting each other and I’ve known single people who have opened their life and live vulnerable lives in a group of people they trust. The gospel was meant to be shared together. That takes trust and it therefore needs love.

How are your horizontal relationships? Who are you walking with? Who is holding you accountable and who is laughing with you? Share your life, learn to trust, it is better that way. As you get older don’t let the disappointments of your life prevent the fulfilment of new friendships of trust.

“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭AMP‬‬

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There’s so much in this passage of love.

I love the translations above. It helps to form a picture that love protects others no matter what they have done or not done and never gives up on them.

Love.

Love was demonstrated over 3 days. 

Love was victorious over those 3 days. 

Love became the foundation for every follower of Jesus in those 3 days. 

Protect, bear with and never give up on anyone because Christ is with you and working through you. 

The light of the world was entombed in darkness.

God allowed man to do his worst. Nothing is blacker than a grave or more permanent than a tomb.

But remember who was behind the stone, LOVE. 

You may know the 1st day of pain.

You may know a 2nd day of nothing.

But we are people of LOVE.

We are people of the 3rd day.

We are people of tomorrow!

It will be better at dawn.

On the 3rd day God substituted Abraham’s son Isaac for a ram and rewarded his obedience.

On the 3rd day Moses was called to Mt Sinai to receive the commandments.

On the 3rd day God promised Hezekiah he would be healed and live a further 15 years.

On the 3rd day Esther went before the king on behalf of the Jews.

On the 3rd day Hosea says God will restore us so that we may live in His presence.

Those passages are more than coincidental. They speak of protection, bearing with and not giving up. Life had not ended. 

We are also people of the third day. 

Whatever is in front of you is not as secure as it makes out when LOVE is within you.

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭6‬ ‭

If you love films, then you must watch ‘True Story’. It tells the story of Michael Finkel who through a lot of cost to himself learnt the importance of telling true stories.

If you love dramas, then you must watch ‘The Capture’. It follows British soldier Shaun Emery and a case against him in which CCTV footage plays an important role. Surely CCTV cannot be wrong?!

Just because the story is amazing.
Just because the storyteller is charismatic and amazing.
Just because you desire to be part of the amazing.

Just because it has been amazing whilst it lasted.
It doesn’t make it true.

Next time it sounds unbelievable well just slow things down and check out the facts.

Just because you see a part and not the whole doesn’t make the part true. Truth is found in the whole, the beginning, the middle and the end, the alpha and the omega. 

Truth is a person, Jesus.

It is so difficult when people are speaking lies about you or when they believe things about you that are not true.

What is spoken against you is not as established as it may look.

What is spoken to you about someone else is not the evidence of the reality.

It takes wisdom to dissect a lie.

It takes courage to walk through a lie.

Truth sets prisoners free even if they have wrongfully served years in prison.

Untangle the lies and Truth will lead you out.

Truth will bring something beautiful out of the ugliness of the situation.

Search for the Truth amongst the misconception and the path will become clear.

Truth is hard to discover when there is no sacrificial self-awareness.

Put Truth on the cross and wait for Him to rise to a new day.

When love is the core, the very foundation of our life then it rejoices and celebrates truth. 

“It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭5‬ ‭

Yesterday the international news was basically about people getting angry!

Love was missing. It often is in the news items. 

Genuine love demonstrates restraint. It does not flare-up with the slightest provocation. It has created space for human mistakes. Moreover love can forget and if it cannot it resists bringing up past mistakes.

There are some incredible examples of love that are huge lessons for us all. If they can do this then surely we can also:-

1. Eva Mozes Kor had forgiven the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele. However her adoption of the grandson of Rudolf Hoss, the SS Commander of Auschwitz, revealed genuine, extreme and sincere love. “I’m proud to be his grandmother. I admire and love him. He had the need of love from a family he never had.”

1. Jung Jin-Wook and her husband had been Korean missionaries in Turkey since 2015, they were great evangelists. Then one day her husband, Kim, was attacked in the street whilst evangelising, he was fatally stabbed twice in the chest and once in the back. He was 41 years old. Later she wrote to her husband’s killer facing court: “I do not understand why you did this, but I cannot be angry at you. Many people want the court to give you a heavy punishment. But I and my husband don’t want this. We pray that you become worthy of heaven, because we believe in the worth of people. God sent his Son Jesus, who forgave those who persecuted him. We also believe in that and we pray that you would also repent of your sin.” It revealed genuine, extreme and sincere love.

1. The horrendous picture of the naked girl in 1972 running for her life with the other children from the napalm bombs dropped in the Vietnam War went global. But so did her genuine, extreme and sincere love in 1996 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C when she forgave the pilot who dropped the bomb.

These stories reveal:-

• Love conquering anger.
• Love letting go of the record keeping of wrongs.

Are you angry? 

Remember this …

“Moses take the staff, speak to the rock and water will come out for the people.” That was the instruction but Moses was thoroughly tired of the people of God. He had justification to be angry. If only the Apostle could have told Moses beforehand that when angry, make sure you do not sin.

Moses took the staff and gathered the people at the rock. He looked at the people and something happened … anger came to the surface and he said “must we do this?” Of course the answer was “Yes because God told you to do this!” But Moses turned his attention from God and focused on the people. In anger he raised his arm and struck the rock twice.

 This outburst of anger, of playing God, ended his destiny.

• Anger will keep you locked up until justice is done.
• Anger can lay undetected for a long period of time.
• Anger nullifies your position of being right.

 Are you angry?

 The Academy Award-winning movie Forrest Gump has been viewed by millions. There is a line worth noting. The scene has one of the central characters, Jenny, returning to her old home after her father has died. The old farm house is dilapidated and abandoned. As she reflects on the sexual abuse that she endured as a child, she is overcome by rage and begins throwing rocks at the house. The photography is powerful as it shows her rapidly reaching for rocks and then violently throwing them at the house. Jenny finally falls to the ground in exhaustion and the scene closes with Forrest Gump sympathizing, “Sometimes there just aren’t enough rocks.” Many of us struggle with anger. It can stem from a variety of reasons, and some anger seems very justifiable. Yet, unresolved anger leaves us reaching and crying out for more rocks. The rage is never satisfied, and contentment is never found. Through the power of Christ we can find the strength to speak into the solution and not strike the problem. Moses struck the rock as if he was striking the people.

 How you get your results is very important. Did you do it God’s way or your own way?

 Some leaders bully their congregations and berate them from the pulpit for all kinds of reasons. Little do they know that their people may arrive in the promises of God but they themselves may not.

How is always more important.

Are you angry? Let it go today.

 It’s not worth it.

It’s far better to not be angry because sin and stupid decisions are not far behind. The tie seller in the desert is the best example of this.

A man was dying in the desert. As he stumbled over a sand dune he was greeted by a man selling ties. The dehydrated man begged for water, but the salesman said he only had ties. In frustration and anger the weakened man continued on his journey for survival. In an hour he reached an isolated restaurant in the middle of the desert. Was it a mirage? As he drew closer, he saw it was real. He was ecstatic. With renewed energy he ran for the door. He was stopped at the entrance by a security guard who denied him entry. The guard said, “I’m sorry, sir, but you need to wear a tie to eat here.”

Be careful: what you may be angry at today could make perfect sense tomorrow.

“It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭5‬ ‭

Love does not insist on getting one’s own way.

Remember when Jesus said he was going to suffer and His disciples chose that moment to talk about who was the greatest?

Even Peter, James and John, the closest disciples to Jesus and who had been chosen to go up the mountain of transfiguration were not content to be in that close circle of Jesus, they too wanted to be number 1. They were full of ambition. 

Still today even leaders want to be a higher leader, members want to be pastors, Pastors want to be apostles, apostles want to be bishops, bishops want to be archbishops and archbishops want to be Popes. That’s in the church but it is everywhere. Naked, raw ambition, climb the ladder, get to the top, it is better up there. Ambition is a killer of the church.

These 5 key points may help you:

Stop looking in the mirror – Find another visual aid other than yourself. 

Have some self-awareness – This might sound strange because it is an inflated self-awareness that leads to desires of greatness. Unless we change where we are sitting and get a different perspective we will miss the point. How do people experience me? This is the question that leads to self-awareness.

Become vulnerable again – Acknowledge you don’t know it all, have it all and can do it all. You need others in your life and you need Him.

Practice lowliness – From a lowly humble position comes lowly thinking, lowly speech and lowly actions.

Look and serve beneath you – The presence and the power of the Lord is always to be found in the unlikeliest of places and not on the stages of this world.