St. John Studies

“There should be no more distinctive mark of the Christian than love.”

                                                                        Billy Graham from The Holy Spirit

This is an unqualified call to show this fruit of love [behavior of love] every day of our lives but I have to ask the hard question: how many of us fall short? 

You can find countless Scriptures imploring us to show love for one another.  Romans 13: 8 says “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”  First Peter 4:8 encourages “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.” First Corinthians 13:1-3 declares “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

“Love is an act of the will and that is why our wills must first be yielded to Christ before we will begin to bear the fruit of love” [Graham, 249].  Maybe that is why so many people do not exhibit love today.  They have not really given their lives to Jesus.  They say they have; in fact, they will declare that they have a personal relationship with God, but do they?  It should show. 

I don’t usually use this blog to “preach.”  I would rather pick important parts of a book and comment on them rather than share my own personal thoughts, but one of the first fruits that should be obvious to others when you give your life to Christ is that you love others.  It just seems that today, too many Christians just find themselves in situations where they are incapable of showing it.

American culture today makes it tough.   We live in a country that is obsessed with expression and too often the expression that is expressed is far from what I would call love.  So many people seem to be caught up in what has come to be called “social media”.  I find the term ironic.  I know I am not “hip” when I write this but social means conversation, one to one or one to small group.  Beyond small group it becomes public speaking [one to large group].  My point is social media is not social; interaction occurs directly between people.  Ideas get exchanged, we attend to words and body language and there can be mutual respect for other people.

Social media’s flaw is that it happens on a phone or computer as images are shared and words are added on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.  There is a barrier between the one with the ideas and the recipient of those ideas [that barrier is a phone or a computer].  There is safety when you express yourself without seeing any effect.  People seem to get bold when they have a firewall between themselves and their audience; they say hateful things, judgmental things, discouraging things.  You might expect that people who don’t believe in God would have no qualms about doing this…

But oftentimes, many of the negative things I see expressed come from Christians.

Lifestyle comments are so common today.  If anyone’s existence gets publicized on social media, or even television or the newspaper, people feel emboldened to weigh in on their circumstances.   I see comments all the time about people who have some unique situation in their life:  a parent who may have accidently left a child unattended, a man who is struggling to help his sick wife, a successful television personality who is struggling with an addiction.  We could go on and on.  Examples abound.   Many people feel they should comment on another person’s life as though they know the person involved.   People are complex and none of us need to comment, much less castigate others.  We don’t know others’ circumstances.  To use the cliché, we have not “walked a mile in their shoes” but we comment anyhow.

Some of those very uncharitable comments come from Christians.

The last area for me to focus on is in the arena of politics today.  Politics has become a blood sport and as we consider what side we want to identify with, it is open season for the use of hateful talk about others who don’t have our views. For example one party in America is supposed to hate the other, and after lining up with one party or the other, it is common to believe that the chosen party’s view on governance is right for our diverse society.   To be honest, when one studies policy from both parties, there are good and bad ideas in both.  To have effective government, it would be best to take the good ideas from competing parties and use all of them.  That is not what we do today.  We would rather go to a public forum, spew hateful comments at those who don’t believe like us and march back to our corner. 

Some of the most hateful comments I read come from Christians.

Let’s talk about irony.  I am a perfect example of irony. It is ironic that I would complain about social media and what do I do with this blog?  I put it on a platform that makes it available to the public [social media].  I put links to it on Facebook [social media].  My own ironic behavior is not lost on me.

But here is another irony that I want to reveal.  Billy Graham states “No matter how else we may bear our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, the absence of love nullifies it all”.    He goes further by writing “If love does not characterize our lives, they are empty.”   If Christians love Jesus Christ, we should be very concerned about what we put on social media, know that the device we are using to express ourselves is not an excuse for hateful comments.  I wonder what Jesus would think about us being so negative about other people we don’t even know.  I wonder what He would think of our disdain of others’ lifestyles when we don’t even know them.  Lastly, the world is a tempting thing and too many Christians are caught up in politics and don’t realize that they are supposed to love the people in the “other” party, that the “other” people are humans who are deserving of our love, even if they don’t think like us.  Here is a real shocker:  many of the people who are hated are Christians who just happen to have a different view of life.

I know this post may be one that angers readers but I have struggled with the “first fruit” of the fruits of the spirit: love.  I stand back from time to time and watch how we behave as a society and I am appalled.  I believe Graham when he says “There should be no more distinctive mark of the Christian than love.”

I also believe this because it calls us to examine our fruit as Christian brothers and sisters:  “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” [John 13; 35].

Stand back from time to time and consider your words.

What type of fruit are you showing?

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” [John 15: 5].

There are several scriptures about how “fruit” grows in the Bible but the beginning understanding of how that can happen occurs in John 15: 5.

I am the vine says Jesus as He is trying to explain His relationship with His Disciples and in essence, He calls them to be faithful loyal followers [if you remain in me and I in you] you will bear fruit.  Fruit is the behavior that a person can exhibit if they believe in Jesus and His Father God [love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodwill etc.*].

Apart from me you can do nothing are key words because Jesus says in those words that the source of your fruit is Him [belief in Him and His Father] and despite all your best efforts, trying to produce fruit on your own power just does not work.

Pastor Billy Graham, like Jesus, likes to use illustrations to drive home a clear understanding.  He writes about a conversation a person could have with a grapevine.  One might ask a branch of a grapevine “How do you grow such luscious fruit?”.  The branch might reply “I don’t know.  I don’t grow any of it; I just bear it.   Cut me off from this vine and I will wither away and become useless.”  In other words, without the vine the branch can do nothing.  Graham writes “So it is with our lives.  As long as I strain and work to produce the fruit of the Spirit from within myself, I will end up fruitless and frustrated.”  We depend on the vine which is Jesus Christ.

We have to abide in Him.

What is this word abide?  It appears in John 15 when Jesus says “Abide in Me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit.”

Christians need firm foundations, like that tree planted by the river in Psalm 1.  That tree yields much fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither.  Where do we get that foundation?  We get it from the Christian disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with other believers. 

What do we get from these disciplines?  A close relationship with God through prayer, knowledge of God through Bible study and support and love from fellow Christians through fellowship.   We cannot display the fruit of the spirit if we have a weak fellowship with God, if our lives have been disrupted by acts of sin. 

One part of abiding resides in our efforts to know God and be close to God.

The other part of abiding resides in obedience.  If we study God’s word and pray to God and have fellowship with other believers, we begin to know what Jesus Christ expects of us.  As we come to know Christ, we should begin to take on characteristics of Christ and our behaviors should change.  Like the sap that flows from the vine to the branch, the sap nourishes the branch and produces fruit.   That fruit is our Christ-like behavior.

In our instant success world, some may think that this process can happen quickly; just grab a Bible, get a few pointers about how to pray and start hanging around church.  Well it does not work that way.  It takes time to incorporate new disciplines into life and it takes time to learn new ideas and new behaviors.  The fruit on the fruit tree takes time to mature, and that is where pruning comes into play. 

Novice gardeners know that the best way to produce strong plants, bushes and trees is to prune them.  As you cut back weak branches on a tree for instance, you force energy back down into the tree, into the root system and a new stronger tree will grow over time.   There is no such thing as instant maturity; many pruning’s over many years are needed to produce strong plants and good abundant fruit.

Again, using the power of a story, Graham tells of pruning grapevines.  Some years he picked small crops of substandard grapes for personal use, but he did not cut all his grapevines down.  He removed the weak branches; he pruned them carefully.  The next year the vines produced better fruit.  That same idea applies to us as Christians.  As we grow and mature in our beliefs, we hopefully will produce better fruit over time.

Our gardener is God.  When we have sinful behaviors that inhibit our ability to produce fruit, God prunes them away, leaving the Christ-like behaviors.

God our Father, tells us where we have fallen short and gone astray, all the time encouraging us, hoping we will grow stronger, hoping we will abide in Him and produce more fruit.

*We will elaborate on the fruit in later posts.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit are unique.  Just because one person gets a gift [such as teaching], that does not mean that all other believers get that gift.  Billy Graham was known to have the gift of evangelizing, but the Holy Spirit does not give that gift to just anyone [certainly not like He gave it to Billy Graham].  Part of the discussion of the gift of tongues is the envy that some people have because they don’t have a particular spiritual gift. For example if someone can speak in tongues, why can’t I? 

Again, it is because spiritual gifts are unique. 

But let’s write about something that is not unique…the fruit of the Holy Spirit.   When it comes to the Bible’s teaching on the fruit of the Holy Spirit, God wants all believers to have the fruit of the Spirit.   Let’s be clear; all believers should have all of the fruit of the spirit.  That is God’s expectation in our lives.

Graham interprets Matthew 13 as evidence of how the fruit is supposed to work.  When one professes belief in God, the process of “growing fruit” is supposed to begin.  Simply put, it is the development of a “Christlike” character that is supposed to manifest itself in certain outward behaviors as we conduct our lives. 

Matthew 13 explains why we don’t all exhibit the fruit; of course Matthew 13 is the parable of the seed and the sower.  Pastors, evangelists and teachers or any other Christian for that matter can sew the seed.  The problem is that some seed never grows.   The parable says that some seeds fall by the wayside and are eaten by birds.  Maybe that is the message of the Holy Spirit about Christian behavior that never is heard.  Some seed falls on rocky ground and without soil, it withers and dies.  The message is delivered and is heard but it does not take root.   For some, they hear the words but they are really not ready to receive them.  They are like rocks and nothing grows on a rock.  Other seed is sown and it grows for a while but eventually thorns begin to grow around the seed and the thorns choke out seed growth.  Maybe those thorns are sins that begin to take over and the sin will keep the seed from growing, literally choking out the production of “fruit.”  Finally is that group of seed that falls into good soil.  That seed begins to root and it brings forth abundant fruit.  The fourth situation is what God desires for all believers.   He wants the Word of God to take root in our lives in the power of the Spirit.   He wants that word to produce fruit.

We cannot produce fruit on our own.  In essence we cannot produce godliness in our lives apart from the Holy Spirit.  Graham hits the nail on the head when he says that all of us are filled with all kinds of “self-centered and self-seeking” desires which are in direct opposition to God’s will for our lives. 

What would God have us do?  First of all, He wants us to make an honest effort to root as much sin out of our lives as possible.   As that happens, He wants us to allow the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with spiritual fruit.   Colossians 3:5, 12 gives a clue to what The Bible means about “fruit”:  “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…. as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” 

Graham uses a simple and effective illustration to explain this transfer of behaviors.  He compares our spiritual lives as a home that is surrounded by a fence.  The fence has a gate and we all know what gates are used for. They are used for letting people in or keeping people out.  Inside our gate are all sorts of things that are unpleasing to God [i.e. sins].  We need to let those sins out, but we don’t have the power to open the gate.  Only the Holy Spirit can do that.  When does He open that gate?  He does that when “we yield to Him and look to Him for His fullness” [240].  At that point the Holy Spirit will come in and help us throw out the evil things in our lives.  Not only does He control the gate, He controls the purging of our heart, the development of new attitudes, new motivations.  Graham even says “He strengthens the gate with bars to keep out evil. 

In summary, the works of the flesh [sins] depart and the fruit of the Spirit comes in. 

What triggers this?

Did you note the word “yield?” 

Unless we are ready to yield to God, none of this will happen.  This is the “rub.”  Many people are not willing to yield to God; they cling to their habits, they cling to their need for sin, they may even cling to their feelings of guilt about their sin, and they can’t move forward.  They may have regret for their lifestyle choices, but they can’t totally agree with God over the matter.   Well known Christian author and lecturer Beth Moore says we are not ready to give up a sin if we still cherish it in our heart.   It is only when we develop a Godly sorrow for the sin that it has a chance to go away.   God can change our hearts at that point.  Again God changes us; we don’t change ourselves.  It is all about yielding to Him.

After reading this introduction to the Holy Spirit and sensing the need for some of this fruit [compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience] where are you in Matthew 13?

Are you letting the seed fall by the wayside, and you are not even paying attention to it?

Are you the rock, allowing the seed to land on your non-porous surface but it is not growing?

Are you the ground that receives the seed and it grows for a while but then it is choked out by your sin?

Are you the good ground that receives the seed and the seed grows and produces fruit?

Where are you in the parable?  Maybe you would like to be the good ground, but people cannot be that unless they are ready to give God control over your life.  In the story referenced above, Graham says this “as we yield to Him and look to Him for His fullness—He not only comes in but He helps us thrust out the evil things in our lives.”

He controls the gate.

He purges the heart.

He brings in the new attitudes etc.

God wants to us have His fruit of the Spirit…all we have to do is develop a Godly sorrow in our hearts and say to Him “help me”.  His response…

“Behold I make all things new.”

References to Billy Graham The Holy Spirit and Beth Moore Praying God’s Word.

Full disclosure: many Christians have such reverence for Pastor Billy that they love him no matter what his denomination.  In my mind, that is a very good thing.   He was a spirit-filled Christian who evangelized, calling millions of lost people to a relationship with Jesus Christ.  He did the work of The Lord.

He was an ordained Southern Baptist Minister.

What denominations today primarily speak in tongues?  Grahams writes that there are Presbyterians, Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists as well as Pentecostals who speak or have spoken in tongues.

Full disclosure: the denominations that are most associated with this spiritual gift are most often Pentecostal or Charismatic Christian churches.

As I have commented on his book The Holy Spirit, I have taken significant sections and I have broken them down, explaining Graham’s ideas, putting my own twist on his thoughts, adding to his ideas from other sources.   His book has been an extensive discussion of all aspects of the Holy Spirit, but no subject has been discussed as much as the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.   Being a Southern Baptist, the gift of tongues is not as common in his “mainline” denomination but it has occurred and it certainly deserves attention.  With Pastor Graham, I would say his lengthy discussion is an effort to be in “balance.”  He does not condemn this spiritual gift, but he also does not promote it.

Why do I say that?  I present six reasons from his book to support my assertion.

First, the various interpretations of speaking in tongues in Acts 1, 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 do not actually agree on the act of speaking in tongues.  That is ok, but the variation of the act itself may mean that we need to be very careful in accepting any utterance as a legitimate spiritual experience.

Second, tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, not a fruit.  Fruits of the Spirit should mark every Christian who is walking in the Spirit.  Graham and I cannot find any Biblical evidence that tongues is a gift given to all believers.  This can lead Christians who don’t have this gift to view themselves as “second rate” believers but feeling that way is not valid.  “It would be equally wrong for someone who has this gift to try to compel others to have it, or to teach that everyone must experience it” [227].

Graham says that the gift of tongues “is clearly one of the “less important” gifts of the spirit” [227].   He says that because it does not seem to provide any spiritual benefit to other believers.   The other gifts of the Spirit are exercised to build up and strengthen the body of Christ, but unless an interpreter is present, tongues in a public worship service does little for the mutual strengthening of believers present.

In a fourth point, Graham says that tongues are not a sign of baptism of the believer by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ.  “Nowhere in the Bible do I find it said that the gift of tongues is a necessary evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit in Christ’s body” [228].  Graham further states that some of the most Spirit-filled Christians he has ever known have never experienced the gift of tongues.

To further explain his position, Graham writes at length about the abuse of the gift of tongues.  He cites pride that can occur when a believer is given the gift, with the recipient feeling more spiritual than other believers.  I have already discussed at length the divisive nature of tongues [see January 23^rd post].   He cites imbalance that can occur when a believer focuses all of their attention on that gift and neglects other gifts.  Some feel that tongues can be thought of as a short-cut to spiritual maturity when in reality, millions of mature Christians have never spoken in tongues and many who have spoken in tongues are not spiritually mature.  The occurrence of tongues may be “counterfeit”; Graham cites historical examples of people who professed to speak in tongues, but they were found to be frauds.*   Today, Christians have admitted that they faked speaking in tongues just to be accepted in their worship groups.

The last point is the speaking in tongues in a private, devotional sense.  Graham admits that over the years some of his friends have prayed such fervent prayers that they found themselves speaking in an unknown language.  Maybe this is real, as most of the recordings of this have never been publically acknowledged.  His friends have stated emphatically that their experience is real.   Maybe this has happened to you and if it was a private experience, who can declare it “counterfeit?” 

Graham’s last words on this spiritual gift are these; if you have this gift, that is good; if you don’t that is good too.  “We worship the same Lord, and for this we are grateful” [233].

Is this a gift that God has seen fit to give you?  Don’t be prideful about it.  Don’t be preoccupied with it.  Is this a gift that God has not given you?  Don’t be preoccupied that He has not given it to you.   Don’t let it divide you from your fellow believers.  “Whenever gifts of this nature are given, they must be used strictly in accordance with the principles God has set forth in the Bible.  This should also contribute to the unity of the Spirit.  And if God chooses to give these gifts to some today, we should always pray that they will be used ‘for the common good’ and the furtherance of the Kingdom of God” [235].

There are brothers and sisters who have a different emphasis than you, and different gift or gifts.  

Always remember that they are still your brothers and sisters in Christ. “love others, including believers who may not agree with your emphasis” [235].

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

We would all live our best lives if we focus on what unites us. 

We have to look no further than Christ’s second commandment.

*the ancient Greek oracle of Delphi, the Pharaoh’s magicians [recoded in the Bible]

**John 13: 34

As discussed in the previous post, the Holy Spirit “sign” gift of tongues is discussed by Pastor Billy Graham in his book The Holy Spirit more than any other gift that God gives to man. 

Why would that be?

One simple reason could be that the Bible has so many varied references to tongues in its pages.  When there is variation, that can lead people to different interpretations and even divisiveness.

One thing that Graham is sure about is this:  no gift of God should really lead man to divisiveness.  Evidence for this is in his words on page 220 of his book:  “Neither the Holy Spirit nor any of His gifts were given to divide believers.  That does not mean that we ought not have our own opinions about what the Bible teaches on tongues.  Or that we should not have local congregations in which prominence is given to tongues as well as those in which tongues are not prominent.  But I am certain about one thing: when the gift of tongues is abused and becomes divisive, then something has gone wrong.  Sin has come into the body of Christ.”

The historical background for this “sign” gift does exist in the Bible.   Most people who know Scripture point to Acts 2 when a band of Christians experienced the miracle of tongues.  A sound from heaven like a violent wind filled the house where they were gathered to worship.  Something like tongues of fire sat on each person in the room.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.  All of them spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them the ability to do so.  

Here is the interesting part.  The tongues were languages known to people from all over the Roman Empire who had come to Jerusalem for Pentecost but they weren’t known by the speakers.  Immediately this would lead to varied interpretations.  Some saw the miracle taking place in the ears of the hearers.  They heard the “tongues” and understood them.  Others say the miracle resides in the fact that people who could not speak a foreign language were given a language they did not know. 

However you see this, a miracle took place.

There are multiple additional references to being filled with the Holy Spirit in the Bible.   Acts 4:8 says that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit as he preached a sermon but the sermon was not in tongues.  John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in Luke 1:15 but John never spoke in tongues.  When Paul was converted and Ananias came to him to restore his sight, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues but his proclamations were not in tongues.

We don’t hear about tongues again until Acts 19: 6, when Paul was at Ephesus.  There he found believers who had heard nothing about the Holy Spirit, but when Paul laid his hands on them they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.  There were no tongues of fire or rushing winds.   There is no mention about the language spoken [whether the people speaking it or hearing it understood it or not].

First Corinthians has an instance of speaking in tongues.  In this instance, the Corinthians spoke a language that seemed unrelated to any language that anyone understood.  Many read this Scripture and conclude that this was some type of “ecstatic utterance” unrelated to any known human language.  Paul reports that this language was a gift that comes from the Holy Spirit.

What well-meaning Christians have done with all of this variation is to disagree about what speaking in tongues means and that is a shame.  Some feel that tongues is a sign that is given when a person is baptized; other don’t feel that way at all.  Some see the gift of tongues given to some but not to others.  Other even see tongues as a sign of spiritual maturity.  Paul has a lot to say about gifts in First Corinthians, referring to gifts as charismata.  The upshot of his comments is that every believer gets a gift but not every believer gets the same gift.   One gift is not common to all believers [i.e. tongues].  Maybe we ought to take Paul at his word.

Based on my experiences of speaking in tongues, conversations I have had and study I have done, I tend to believe Pastor Graham is right, that the Holy Spirit gift of tongues is a gift that God gives to further His kingdom, not to tear down His kingdom through divisiveness.  I found it interesting when Graham cites personal encounters with people who have spoken in tongues from his life.   He speaks of a pastor who was deathly ill and he prayed to God in a special language; he writes of a mother who spent an entire night praying in tongues that her horrible life burdens would be lifted.  The pastor recovered and the woman had better life circumstances soon after their times of speaking in tongues.  Graham felt both examples were legitimate communications with God in “God language” or tongues.  People around both of these people confirmed they could not decipher their prayers.  

Graham cites a Sunday school class that was interested in the Holy Spirit.  They began to study speaking in tongues because many people in their neighborhood around their church were interested in this subject and it had become a topic of discussion.  Not all agreed about the gift.  Graham recounts a person in the class who became preoccupied with speaking in tongues, doing little else for an extended period of time.  He did his best to make sure that others had the same experience he did.   Graham was not sure about this man’s experience, saying it could have been some “psychological influence” [maybe an obsession].  He later got over this fascination with tongues and become a gifted minister of the Gospel.

Lastly, Graham writes of a converted gang member fighter from a large city.  This person spent some time with the man above who was preoccupied with speaking in tongues.   He told others in the class that he recognized the language spoken; it was the same language his grandmother used when she earned her living as a spirit medium.  Graham says this could be an example of how Satan can use the gift of tongues for his own purposes, causing others to doubt the authenticity of the gift.

Accept tongues or not?

Who am I to say?

What is Billy Graham’s stand on this?  “While I do not pose as an expert on the subject of tongues, my opinions have come from my study of the Bible and conversations with many people.”

For me, the next statement is the most important.  I started this post with it and it is good to remember it regarding this controversial gift:  “Neither the Holy Spirit nor any of His gifts were given to divide believers.”

When people disagree about the gift of tongues, that is a “worldly thing.”   God knows if the gift of tongues is real and people who receive it know it is real.  Maybe our job is not to judge, but to take this gift on faith. 

The judgement about the reality or falseness of this gift?

Let’s leave that to God…

I have come to the end of my comments on the gifts of the Spirit. 

Since November 5, I have written on the gifts that God gives us, gifts that are given through the Holy Spirit.  Most of the gifts are skills and abilities that God has chosen to give us; skills and abilities that we can choose to use of not.  But each gift He gives is His way of furthering His kingdom through us.

Some gifts are “sign” gifts, like healing, miracles and prophecy.  The idea is that if you can heal a person, that is a “sign” that you have a special gift from God.

The last gift I will comment on is a sign gift; it is the sign gift of tongues.

This is a controversial gift; some Christians have strong doubts that people speaking glossolalia or speaking in tongues is real.   I don’t know if it is meaningful, but Pastor Graham devotes more pages to this sign gift than any other gift in his book The Holy Spirit. 

From my personal experiences, I have thought about this phenomenon for many years.   When I gave my life to Christ, I had a pastor from a “non-denominational”* church reach out to me and counsel me.   He never tried to get me to come to his church but I visited there quite a few times.  Glossolalia was often a part of the worship service as the pastor [or visiting pastors] would drop into tongues as part of the sermon.

On one instance at that church, I was surrounded by several members as they were praying for me as a group.  I listened to their words and some of their prayers were in a language I did not know [later finding out that several members were praying to the Lord in tongues].

I had a very good friend who belonged to an African-American congregation and her church has always had regular episodes of people speaking in tongues.  Once I asked her if she ever had that experience and I found her answer enlightening:  “I always was so aware of my communication that I never felt the gift.  I was always too worried about not really feeling the Spirit.  I always wondered if it would be real for me.”

I used to watch the television evangelist Joyce Meyer every morning.   When I was a beginning Christian, her messages were appealing.  She explained the basics of the Christian experience in language that was straight-forward, very easy to understand.   I became a fan of her ministry.  In the late nineteen-eighties, her ministry came to Nashville, Tennessee and my wife and I attended her evangelistic rally.  I   remember her talking about tongues as part of her presentation and I could tell that those in attendance were very familiar with this phenomenon.   I will never forget one part of her presentation when she called on the audience to respond in tongues and many of them did.   We were sitting on the upper deck of a large arena and as people began to speak, their sound was musical, like nothing I had ever heard before.

The church I attend is a Methodist Church, St. John United Methodist Church in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.  Since becoming a member about twenty-three years ago I have never heard anyone speak in tongues.   That is not to say that admission of this religious practice is not acknowledged in the church.    It is.  The logo of the United Methodist Church was adopted shortly after the merger of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church; it relates The United Methodist church to God through Christ (cross) and the Holy Spirit (flame).**

The flame in the logo is a reminder of Pentecost when witnesses were unified by the power of the Holy Spirit and saw “tongues, as of fire” [Acts 2:3] but the two tongues of a single flame may represent the union of two denominations into the United Methodist Church.

The Methodist Church has a history of glossolalia in its worship service.  In the mid-eighteenth century a “Great Awakening” occurred throughout Britain and the Thirteen Colonies.  This series of revivals in protestant churches often resulted in many manifestations of the Holy Spirit [including tongues].  The Second Great Awakening occurred in America in the 19th century.  Revival services were characterized as enthusiastic and emotional.  This was in opposition to the rationalism of the period known as the “Enlightenment” which gripped learned society.  Many denominations (including the Methodist Church) enrolled millions of members at this time.  It is a well-known fact that the Holy Spirit fell on many worshippers at this time and they displayed speaking in tongues.

Before we get to the comments on the sign gift of tongues by Pastor Graham, I wanted to acknowledge that I have had experience and knowledge of speaking in tongues for many years. 

As I wrote in the beginning of this post, many Christians have serious doubts about the authenticity of this.  I am not one of those.  I think some people have this gift, even though I don’t think I have ever manifested it in my life.  Maybe I am like my African-American friend; I am too aware of my communication for it to come upon me.   My mind gets in the way.

I do believe that God would not give man or woman something that would cause people to be excluded due to not having a gift.  In my personal belief, some people have this gift while others do not.  It is wonderful for those who have it and I take it on faith that this special gift from God is real.

For the rest of us, we don’t have it, but we should not be concerned.

God loves us all the same.

*Pentecostal or charismatic church…this denomination does not really identify their affiliation with any denomination.

**1968

And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues [1 Corinthians 12: 28].

This Scripture mentions several of the Holy Spirit gifts that we have been discussing. Note that first of all, we have to have apostles [leaders]. What this Scripture is really highlighting is that we have to have leaders in church. Romans 12:8 says “if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” This Scripture focuses on the one who is “to lead”; the Greek word for “to lead” in this Scripture translates “rule” or “govern”.

First Thessalonians 5:12 says in relation to ministers “And we beseech you brethren, to know them which labor among you and over you in the Lord. Note the words “over you”, a reference to the hierarchy of leadership. Pastors lead the church but God is over the pastor; never forget who is your true leader.

What we are talking about is what Graham* calls the spiritual gift of “governments” or the spiritual gift of leadership. Many church members are perfectly happy to not have this gift; they would rather be followers than leaders, but there is a simple question that must be asked of all churches. How can the church accomplish tasks, develop its congregation, serve the needs of its fellowship or establish a community witness? How can this be done without people who have the gift of leadership?

The simple answer… it can’t.

Pastor Billy Graham writes that “the Scriptures teach that churches must have government; they require leadership, whether professional or nonprofessional” [200]. Jesus spent His ministry time with twelve men, developing them into leaders who would carry on His work after He went to heaven. The Apostles appointed leaders over the churches they founded. Paul gives qualifications for Bishops in Timothy 3: 1-7, saying they are overseers, superintendents, or governors.

Some churches or assemblies may try to conduct the work of the Lord without appointed leaders but Graham “believe[s] this is virtually impossible” [201]. Many churches have appointed, ordained leaders who carry out the work of the church as part of their jobs, but every church also has members who rise to leadership roles even though they don’t have official titles.Whether a person is an appointed leader or just a naturally gifted leader, there are several qualities which distinguish the spiritual gift of leadership. First and foremost is the idea that they have the ability to lead because God has given them the gift. They do not see themselves as absolute rulers; they are subject to the One who is above us all. If God gives this Holy Spirit gift to us, acknowledging that prevents us from succumbing to pride or a sense of entitlement.

The leader in the church has the ability to sway others to think rightly, biblically and in a Godly manner in all matters. They feel the power of God in their lives, they exhibit that power as they lead their lives and they have the ability to use words and actions to convince others to consider the power of The lord. These words may come from the pulpit, but convincing also comes in the form of activities associated with various ministries in the church. The leader does not just talk about doing things; the leader follows through and takes action along with followers. Indeed “actions may speak louder than words.”

Graham says the qualifications of a leader are listed several times in the New Testament. A leader “must not be dictatorial, egotistical, or dogmatic; he is anything but that. Rather he is humble, gracious, kind, and filled with love; yet at times he must be very firm. For this reason, the gift of knowledge combined with wisdom is necessary” [201]. The leadership ideals in the New Testament are in opposition to pomp and pageantry. One can study the life of Jesus; instead of pomp and pageantry, He emphasized grace, humility and service.

The spiritual gift of leadership is given by God to men and women who will help the church to grow beyond the current generation. God did not give this gift for man to exalt himself; he gave it for God to be exalted.

When one thinks about the life of Christ, that life is the perfect example of the ideal Christian leader. Jesus came to serve and give His life for the ransom of us all. He humbled Himself as a servant, washing His Disciples feet. After doing that He said “a servant is not greater than his master.” He was not greater than His Father God. He said that every true leader is a helper, a servant or even a bond slave.

His most important message to us all was through love we are to serve one another. This is not a suggestion. It is a command.

Graham says it “applies with special force… to leaders.”

People who have the Holy Spirit gift of leadership.

*Billy Graham from his book The Holy Spirit

Sometimes a story is the best way to make a point.*

A couple of years ago I had a good friend who was in a pinch. He was a regular volunteer at a mission center in my community. This mission center had a weekly food distribution day. The normal people he depended on to distribute food were going to be gone and he was afraid that he would not have enough people to sort the food, box it up and hand it out, so he asked me to help. I had a free Thursday so I said yes.

This was my first time, so I did not know what to expect. I soon caught on to the fact that this ministry was all about providing basic provisions to the poor and homeless. At 9:00 a.m. a very long line of recipients started showing up for their food boxes. Before they got there I had some time to talk with other volunteers. Many homeless people were already at the mission because they had nowhere else to be. The center served them all around the clock so they were hanging around, talking and many of them smoking cigarettes.

As I began to have several conversations, I noticed one woman who did not seem to be very happy to be there. I talked to her a bit and in the bits and pieces of our conversation she inserted phrases like “handouts to the poor,” “I wish I could get some government cheese like these people” and “can’t they find something to do?” When she worked with the distribution, her body language seemed to fit her commentary. She struggled to do the work and she never had a smile on her face. She seemed to treat the food like it was not valuable and when she interacted with the recipients she worked quickly never exchanging a pleasantry with anyone. It seemed that when she handed them the food, she did it grudgingly. It was clear to me that she was very disturbed to be around this “class” of people.

In contrast, I also conversed with a man who knew so many of the people at the mission by first name. He was a smoker and many of the homeless came over and bummed cigarettes off of him and he took the time to smoke with them and talk with them in a friendly manner. He was not dressed in his best clothing. I knew him and I knew he had an adequate income, but his good clothing was left at home. When he worked with the food, he handled it with respect; I overheard him say to someone else “They sure will appreciate this small canned ham.” When he distributed food he often carried it to their cars if they were elderly. I could hear him address older people as “sir” and “ma’am”. His body language communicated respect; he was not judging these people, he was there to help them and they thanked him. I heard some of those people say “thank you.” The words sounded heartfelt.

After my day was over, I wondered about the woman, thinking the mission center would probably prefer that she would stay home in the future.

The man was a different story. He understood how to help people and he was a good role model for all of us. He belonged at the mission center.

This example provided by these two contrasting people can just be an exercise in stereotypes. Who really knows why people act the way they do, why some people struggle to help others and some people have an ease about helping. It is too easy to come to conclusions based on a few smatterings of conversation and vague observations of a person’s body language, but this little story leads into a discussion of the Holy Spirit gift of “helps”. Some people have the Holy Spirit gift of “helps” while others don’t seem to have that gift at all.

Pastor Graham** refers to this gift that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12: 28. Helps comes from the Greek word meaning supporting or assisting. Some might think that helping in a ministry of a church or mission center or some other faith-based institution might not be a big deal but it is based on the idea that work needs to be spread around; one person or a small number of people cannot do it all. People with specific skills can do The Lord’s work.

What makes the Holy Spirit gift of helps special is the “attitude” of those who help. In the process of helping others, there can be a powerful witness for the Kingdom of God and it is in the graceful behavior of the helper. Graham writes that when he began his evangelistic ministry, he wanted to be involved in all phases of the ministry and he soon found that he was exhausted. One of his closest friends came to him one night and said “Why can’t we go at this as a team?” Suddenly Graham saw the wisdom of this offer and began to delegate phases of his ministry to very qualified people who could help him with his mission. This type of Holy Spirit “help” is found in churches all over, as lay people step in and do the work of the church. Some prepare meals for the sick, make home visits to first-time visitors, some mow the church yard and others write letters of encouragement to the bereaved. Others serve as leaders of ministries, church council members, or they can chair important committees. God can and does use these people to do His work. Pastors just cannot do it all. They depend on helpers; they depend on people with the Holy Spirit gift of helps who take their skills and use them as they are needed.
One need not think that the only ministry that “counts” is the ministry of the pastor or the ministry of the evangelist. God is heavily involved in the lives of all His sheep and He has given each person special talents. Just because you don’t have a highly visible leadership role does not mean that you cannot help. If you have a cheerful attitude and you give of yourself to others, you can be a powerful witness for God; maybe the strongest witness some people will ever see.

Yes, sometimes little things like treating others with respect, carrying a box of food to someone’s car and saying “sir” and “ma’am” can do the trick.

That may be what someone needs, a little help and some moments with a Godly helper.

*characters in this story are not meant to represent actual persons…
** from his book The Holy Spirit

When someone is witnessing, teaching or preaching on God’s behalf, are they always telling the truth? We hope so but is there a possibility that they could be lying?  Is there a possibility that they are not revealing the whole truth?

As believers, how do we determine truth or lies? How do we decide whether a person is truly representative of God?  Are they representing “dark” forces not related to God at all? Billy Graham* writes that the world has “hundreds of religious leaders who are not servants of God, but they serve the Anti-christ. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing; they are tares instead of wheat.” I don’t know about you but that sounds a bit ominous.

As Christians, we are commanded to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” [Romans 12:9]. But, unless we have true discernment, how can we determine what is “evil” and what is “good”? In order to maintain the purity of the gospel, the church must distinguish truth from heresy. Wisdom also demands that we properly discriminate between what is “best” and what is merely “good.”

What do we have to do in order to know what to do in situations like this?

Use discernment.

The problem is that not everybody has this Holy Spirit gift.

The word “discern” is translated from the Greek word anakrino in the New Testament. It means “to distinguish, to separate out by diligent search, to examine”.** Many think discernment is like wisdom, and one could make an argument that it is related, but discernment is much more than just wisdom. Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word of God is said to discern the thoughts and intentions of one’s heart. It has the ability to “discriminate.” This goes beyond head knowledge; it is spiritual knowledge.

The previous reference gives you a tip about discernment. People who have discernment have a deep familiarity with God’s word. A discerning person acknowledges the power of God’s word and studies The Word. Proverbs 8: 8-9 states “All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning, all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge.” Naturally, people who want to walk in righteousness have a hunger for the Bible and they can apply their Bible knowledge to situations that call for discernment. They may be able to separate the wheat from the tares.

Graham also says believers need to respect the opinions of those who have this gift. The Apostle John said “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” [1 John 4:1].

This again brings up something that was mentioned in the fourth sentence of this post, that term “dark forces.” Many Christians don’t like that reference. They don’t want to acknowledge that there are people who are actively working against God in our world today. Graham writes “Spiritism, the occult, the worship of Satan and activities of demons have increased rapidly throughout the western world.” In a Chapman University poll conducted in 2017, fifty-five percent of Americans believe that paranormal spirituality is real. Membership numbers for the church of Satan vary greatly due to the fact that many people practice privately and participate mostly online, but these people do exist. It is much easier to say that Satanists are not real rather than admit that they may pose a threat, but probably the “false teacher” does more damage than people who dabble in the paranormal or people who align themselves with Satan. The false teacher is one who appears to be a knowledgeable believer but they are not. They are the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” that Graham refers to above. They direct believers down the wrong path.

The Christian with discernment believes what Jesus said about fruit: “a tree is recognized by its fruit” [Matthew 12: 33]. First of all, what does the Jesus-based teacher say about Jesus? Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, but a false teacher may not acknowledge that clearly. Anyone who denies that Jesus is equal with God, who downplays Jesus’ sacrificial death, or who rejects Jesus’ humanity is suspect. Examine this; does your teacher preach the Gospel? The gospel is defined as the good news concerning Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection; any teaching other than that should be condemned. Does your teacher exhibit character qualities that glorify the Lord? In other words, a false teacher “can be known by his pride (Cain’s rejection of God’s plan), greed (Balaam’s prophesying for money), and rebellion (Korah’s promotion of himself over Moses). Jesus said to beware of such people; that we would know them by their fruit.”***

Certainly God gives some individuals extraordinary abilities to discern the truth. Scripture tells us everywhere that anything religious should be evaluated very carefully; that even the churches where we go to worship must be examined to see if they are sound in truth.

It seems to me that discernment is a useful spiritual gift and maybe we should all desire it. After discussing it, maybe we should use the prayer that is expressed in Psalms 119: 125 as our guide: “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.”

The more that we dedicate ourselves to understanding God’s statutes in His word, the more we can separate the wheat from the tares, the wolves from the sheep.

Or maybe we can consult the Jesus believer who has the gift of discernment; they can certainly tell the difference between what is God and what is not…

*from his book The Holy Spirit
**from the “Got Questions” website “Discernment”
***from the “Got Questions” website “How Do I Recognize a False Teacher?”

What is a miracle?

Does God still perform miracles today?

What would be the value of performing miracles for the unbeliever or even the believer?

All of these questions center on something that people debate, believers and unbelievers: the existence of miracles in our modern world.

First of all, performing a miracle is a “sign” of the power of the Holy Spirit and Pastor Graham* calls the ability to perform miracles a “sign” gift of the Spirit. To explain simply, if one can do this, it is a sign of the manifestation of the power of God. “A miracle is an event beyond the power of any known physical law to produce; it is a spiritual occurrence produced by the power of God, a marvel, a wonder [Graham, 215].

Of course, examples of miracles abound in the Bible. One of the most well-known is the miracle of the animal sacrifice on Mount Carmel involving Elijah. This miracle was performed by God at the behest of the prophet Elijah. At the time of the miracle, the people of Israel were conflicted by their desire to either worship God or Baal. You may recall in this incident that Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to set up an alter on which they would place an animal sacrifice. Then Elijah told the people of Israel to watch for a confirming sign that God was the true God. Of course he knew that Baal was not the true god. What is so interesting about this sign miracle is that Elijah taunted the priests of Baal, saying that nothing would happen to the sacrifice if their god was asked to respond. The priests cried out to Baal for action, but nothing happened, a “sign” that Baal did not exist? Then Elijah poured barrels of water on the sacrifice and asked for a response from God [talk about confidence].  God sent fire that consumed the sacrifice in spite of the water, a sign that God was all-powerful: indeed, God exists.

New Testament miracles were common in the life of Jesus and in the life of his apostles. They healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, raised the dead and cast out demons. This was to “prove” they were connected to the true God.  God was the source of their power.  In that day, as today, the idea was if God could perform a miracle, then unbelievers would surely become believers.

However, let’s examine what really happened in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.   In the Old Testament, God performed amazing and powerful miracles for the Israelites but did that cause them to obey Him? I am afraid not. After the miracles, these people disobeyed and rebelled against God. The parting of the Red Sea was not enough; conquering the inhabitants of the Promised Land was not enough. It is interesting but one of the best scriptures to explain this lack of response to miracles is found in the New Testament, in Luke 16: 31. To provide context, a man in hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers. Abraham informed the man, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

The question about miracles today is this.  Would there be value in the performing of miracles in today’s world?   Maybe immediately, but as in the days of the Old Testament and the First Century world of the New Testament, for most people the effect would not be long-lasting. Many people of shallow faith would be amazed, but the moment would quickly pass from their consciousness. When the “next big thing” comes along, all attention would be turned toward that. Jesus knew a faith based on miracles is not a mature faith. Acts 2:22 declares “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know.” But all the miracles were not enough to win over the Jewish community. Jesus lost his life at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders and Roman oppressors of his time.

God may be performing miracles today but the result of those miracles would probably be like the past. Some may be impressed but many would not, quickly returning to their old ways.

Graham wonders if the spectacular miracles of the past are over. Maybe today our faith is just too small. Maybe those miracles of old were useful in the Old Testament to impress the Israelites [even for a short span]; maybe those miracles in the New Testament were useful to impress a first century audience, to help establish the Christian faith, but would they be useful today?

Graham wonders aloud about the end times.  Maybe that is the time when “signs” will emerge that convince a skeptical world of the power of God.  Maybe that is when we will see more miracles.

Maybe miracles are not necessary because we have the Scriptures, the cornerstone of our faith, the record of the greatest miracle [God coming to earth in the form of Jesus Christ].

Then there is the miracle of a transformed life. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we now have a Gospel that provides a pathway to forgiveness and a cleansed life. Maybe the true miracle is the transformed life of the new believer.   Every time a sinner is “born again”, the miracle of regeneration begins.

Maybe that is the miracle that really counts…

The very significant miracle of personal resurrection…

*from his book  The Holy Spirit…