What Does a Healthy Spirit-Filled, Spirit-Empowered Church Look Like?

(This message was given by Julie Eickenroth. Thatnks,Julie!)

Key scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12, 13 & 14 

Other scriptures: Ephesians 4:16, 1 Peter 4:10, Luke 11:11, Matt. 7:9-11 

🖉

Good morning, dear family! Thank you, Anthony, for offering me the honor of  sharing with you guys today. So let’s jump right in ... Let’s talk today about what a healthy Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered church  looks like. 

I grew up in this church when it was the leading “Charismatic” worshiping  church in the area - cutting edge, contemporary worship (my husband Dave was  a forerunner in worship).  The baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit were emphasized and  practiced.  Some of you were here then. Some of you are new to our history.  

We were all young and on fire and passionate about the Holy Spirit and  the gifts and worship. It was wonderful.  We were also young and immature.  Truthfully, at times we kinda sucked at relationships. ☺ Sometimes we were pretty hard on each other.  

You’d think that “healthy” and “Spirit-filled/ Spirit-empowered” are automatically  synonymous, right? My experience has been “not necessarily”.  We just didn’t know much yet about healthy spiritual community and healthy  relationships. And babies make messes. ☺ We -- leaders, everybody -- all did what we were taught and what had been  modeled for us. Probably most churches are like that.  Sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know. You know?  

We have grown SO much since then.  A lot of that growth has been through painful experience ... painful mistakes - and we made a lot of them ...  But over time, thank God, we grew from those painful mistakes.  I am super proud of our leadership here - not all of whom were here back then  - but who took the lead in helping us grow up - because they personally committed  to it - they humbled themselves and have worked hard at it.

And gradually what they were learning and teaching us and modeling for us  began to permeate the atmosphere and culture of our community. It’s a much healthier place now, where authenticity, vulnerability and  commitment to growth and to each other are a real priority.  We are truly becoming a beautiful spiritual FAMILY.  

So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what would it really look like for a  community of believers to function in the Spirit’s power and gifts ~ AND ~  be relationally healthy - a safe place full of kindness and love. Reflecting the heart of Jesus in all we do together and in our community.  

Our Christian faith is at its core a deeply relational faith.  Because GOD is a relational God.  Therefore His Book is relational book.  The core doctrine of Christianity IS relationship.  LOVE. Healthy love in all its forms.  I believe God wants to bring correction and balance to our perspective on the  Holy Spirit and His gifts in the context of healthy spiritual community life - as it always should have been.  

Today we’re going to ground our discussion in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 &14,  as well as a few other scripture passages. 🖉 These three chapters in 1 Corinthians will give us a broad & brief overview or  framework, then we’ll home in on several specific passages that will address what a  healthy, Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered church can look like.  

There are two main purposes for the gifts of the Holy Spirit as outlined in  Scripture:  

1. To empower the preaching of the Gospel and endorse it with signs and  wonders. (REF: Matt 28:16-20, Luke 24:44-53, Acts 2:1-13)  In Jesus’ own ministry, miracles, signs and wonders followed His  preaching the Gospel. He actually functioned in ALL the gifts. Everything  He did in His life and ministry on earth, He modeled for US. I love that. ☺ 

2. To empower the church to help each other heal and grow up into mature love.   (REF: 1 Cor. 12, Ephesians 4:16, 1 Peter 4:10)

Today we’re going to focus on the second, but definitely not lesser purpose of the  gifts - the body building itself up in love. ... but more importantly, to put the gifts and the Holy Spirit’s work among us  in the proper context of our community life together.  

First, a disclaimer ... I am aware there is a lot of controversy over whether the gifts  of the Spirit are for today - a doctrine or belief known as cessationism. There is a  good deal of fear, ignorance, and unbelief surrounding the gifts, not to mention  abuse and misuse. However, establishing the context like that will take too long to get to my main  theme today so I have put some comments about this into an addendum at the end  of the notes. Perhaps we can have more conversation on these things in MessagePlus or  maybe even have a future class on this topic.  

Because it’s definitely a conversation worth having, to revive our proper  understanding of the Holy Spirit’s gifts in the life of the church, and in the  Great Commission.  Now - back to the overview of our texts in 1 Corinthians. Let’s look at the themes of chapter 12, 13, & 14 ... we’ll go back and forth  between them a bit in our discussion.

Picture the three chapters as a group, like a HINGE ...  

• 1 Cor 12: A list of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and a picture of the beautiful body  of Christ, and how we are to regard and treat one another in community. These themes are very tightly linked by Paul in this chapter. 

• 1 Cor 14: This chapter outlines the proper, orderly and responsible  function of the gifts in the context of corporate worship.  (We won’t spend any time in ch. 14 today other than to note it, because it’s more  important to establish the main points I want to focus on.) 

• 1 Cor. 13: the famous “love chapter”, I call this the “hinge” chapter - -- the critical chapter upon which chapter 12 and 14 turn.  

We’ll come back to ch. 13 in a minute.

CHAPTER 12 

Paul starts ch. 12 with: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want  you to be uninformed.” (be ignorant, misunderstand, be unaware)  

V. 4-6 says there are “varieties of gifts, service, and activities” that are given and empowered by the same Spirit, the same Lord, and the same God.  

V. 7 - then clearly links “the manifestation of the Spirit” in the various gifts to  serving one another, saying they are for “the common good” of the body. 

Then he lists the various kinds of gifts (NOT an exhaustive list of the gifts here): 

• the word of wisdom  

• the word of knowledge 

• faith 

• healing 

• working of miracles 

• various kinds of tongues (there are several) 

• interpretation of tongues  

... and says these are all empowered by one and the same Spirit, Who gives  these gifts AS He wills, to WHOM He wills. 

Next is Paul’s description of how critically important each person in the body  is to the whole body, to our family life together. 🖉[SLIDE] (1 Cor. 12: 12-21)✂ 

2 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For  we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we  were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many. 

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to  the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in  the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need  you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 

• we are all baptized by one Spirit 

• we were all given one Spirit to drink 

• we cannot reject/dismiss ourselves - “I don’t belong to the body!” • we cannot reject/dismiss others with contempt - “I don’t need you!” 

Now before we look at the next passage, vs. 22-26 ... I’m going to pause here and go back to 1 Cor. 13 for a minute.After discussing the Holy Spirit and His gifts to the Body of Christ, Paul then  points us to what he calls “the more excellent way”,with LOVE being the “more excellent way”.  

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 was written some 2000 years ago, yet this list actually represents  many of the doctrinal emphases we see in the body of Christ today.  

• speaking with tongues 

• prophecy 

• spiritual knowledge of mysteries 

• other kinds of knowledge 

• faith – we see a lot about the word of faith movement these days • serving the poor 

• sacrificial martyrdom 

These could be characterized as “open hand” issues ... things about which we  personally can feel passionate and convinced, but are not central to the core of our  faith (“closed hand” issues). Paul says of all these things - they are nothing without LOVE.  Even faith, serving the poor, and martyrdom are nothing WITHOUT LOVE! 

The rest of Ch. 13 then tells us how each of us should look as we grow up and  begin to bear the fruit of mature love over time. 

Faith, hope and love ... and the greatest of these is LOVE. 

Because you can have faith - and not have love.  

And you can have hope - and not have love. 

But when hope and faith falter or fail, God’s love is what will carry us. 

And now we’ll circle back to my favorite passage and the other main point today.  

Paul talks about how we are to treat each other ... specifically, “the weak among  us”. 

1 Corinthians 12:22-26:  

22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary [indispensable]. 23 And the parts we regard as less  honorable [immodest] are those we clothe with the greatest care [modesty].  So we carefully protect [cover] those parts that should not be seen, 24while the  more honorable [presentable] parts do not require this special care.  

So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to  those parts that have less dignity [honor]. 25 This makes for harmony among the  members, so that all the members care for each other [have the same concern]. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the  parts are glad. 

“Weak” here doesn’t mean weak morally ... it simply means infirm, feeble, more  easily fatigued or injured, more easily affected with disease, etc.  God does not have contempt for weakness, so neither should we. (And honestly, sometimes our greatest strengths can become our greatest weakness  ... so there’s that. ☺) 

I love this passage ... the idea of adding honor to those who aren’t typically  honored, but instead marginalized, while those who are more gifted, talented,  attractive, charismatic, etc., need no special honor added to them. So what does that love look like? Now we come to the main point: 

Who might be “the weak among us”? Just a partial list, I’m sure you could think of more ... 

• The elderly - treasures stored up in their hearts that they could still be offering  to the body of Christ with just a little support  

• People who struggle with mental illness, depression, personality disorders • Women / children - certain interpretations of doctrine have marginalized and  degraded women ... and we all know what Jesus had to say about causing  little ones to stumble 

• The poor 

• The abused, traumatized, people with PTSD  

• The orphaned, abandoned, and lonely 

• Single parents 

• Women who’ve had abortions or are being pressured to have an abortion • Unmarried for whatever reason (single, widowed, circumstances, wounding) • Folks who live with chronic illness or disability  

🖉What do you do when a person’s illness or disability doesn’t yield to  our strongest, most faith-filled prayers? Too often I have seen people discarded marginalized or treated with contempt or distain and accused of   not having enough faith. I experienced this myself when I was diagnosed with breast cancer years ago.

Obviously we are to treat EVERYONE with kindness and honor.  But for the gifted, the strong, the attractive, etc. = “No extra honor is needed” Instead, we can add honor to “the weak among us”  So how can we add honor to “the weak among us”? A few suggestions: (There could be a LOT more -- MessagePlus?): 

• Ask the Holy Spirit to examine our own heart for judgments that would  cause our heart to grow cold/distant, to move away from people we don’t agree  with, or may have hidden pockets of fear or contempt for. 

The Holy Spirit will happily point out these areas if you ask Him.  Sometimes He’ll point them out even if you don’t ask Him. ☺

• Sit with people. Ask them, “What’s your life like? What’s it like to be you?”  Then listen -- and listen some more. Don’t preach, don’t scold, don’t cheerlead  -- sometimes even our most enthusiastic encouragement and cheerleading isn’t  what’s needed so much as LISTENING.  

To loosely quote from Dr. Dan Allender: “You don’t need five letters after your name to sit with people and hear their stories.” 

You guys know me. I love to teach, to exhort, build people up, to cheerlead. But sometimes my “coach” or “teacher-y vibe” isn’t what’s needed.  A dear friend taught me that some years ago. She shared her deepest heart  and pain ... I started teaching her about judgments ... and watched her deflate  and crumple in on herself. “Too many words, too many words”, she whispered.  In that moment, when she was being triggered in her pain, WORDS wre not  what she needed. She needed me to LISTEN.  

I could have been offended, but the Holy Spirit caught my heart in that  moment. Was this about her pain and her need in the moment - or my ego? So I asked her to teach me how to listen to her.  Since then she has honestly, courageously, and faithfully taught me how to  listen, to attune to what she needs. In return, she has been a great friend to me  as well. 

• Educate yourself. Read up on trauma and its long term effects on people.  Study up on autism. Go to an AA or NA meeting with a friend in recovery.  Volunteer at Thrive. You get the idea.  

• Then walk along with them. Go to them, don’t wait for them to call you.  Include them. Invite them. Invite yourself.  

It’s not always easy to sit with or walk along over the long-term with people  who have been abused, traumatized, marginalized, judged and dismissed for  various reasons. Sometimes we don’t know what to do or say. We don’t know  how to relieve or heal their pain and loss. Press in, anyway.  This stretches our love. But without exposing our hearts to opportunities to  grow with each other, our love remains thin and weak. All relationships require  RISK.  

Ultimately, the true measure of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and work among us is  defined best by our love and service to the weakest among us. 

1 Peter 4:10: "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve  others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

Ephesians 4:16: “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part  does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is  healthy, growing, and full of love.” (NLT) 

The Lord gave me a word years ago.  “I WILL pour my Spirit out on this church again,  but I’m teaching them to love first.”  That’s happening now. There is a powerful move of the Spirit at work in our  midst RIGHT NOW. The Holy Spirit is moving -- lives are quietly, but powerfully  being transformed RIGHT NOW. Is it happening on the platform or at the altar  every Sunday? Not so much as it’s taking place in our check-in groups ... I’m  seeing people being transformed in these groups right before my very eyes.  

The mighty Holy Spirit doesn’t need platforms ... He needs PEOPLE. 

Addendum Notes 

1. The gifts are for today.  

I am aware there is a discussion in the church whether the Holy Spirit’s gifts are for  today or whether they ceased with the establishment of the early church. This belief  is called “cessationism”. If you’re not familiar with it, you can read up on the  controversy, there’s lots of info online about this controversy.  

Personally, I see much evidence in Scripture that the endowment of the Spirit’s gifts  on the church are for today.  

Here are just a few Scriptures that point to that fact:  

• Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever . • 1 Cor. 12:11 says “the Holy Spirit gives His gifts as He wills, to whom He  wills”, as we saw in our text today.  

• 1 Cor. 12:7 states the gifts are given “for the common good” .  • If the Spirit’s gifts are given for “the common good” of the body of Christ, then  why could that have ceased with the early church? If anything, we need His  gifts now more than ever. 

• Romans 11:29 says “His gifts and callings are without repentance  [irrevocable]”, which means He hasn’t revoked the giving of His gifts after  the founding of the early church.  

• The Holy Spirit is our Advocate, Comforter, Counselor, and Helper.  He will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and the coming judgment. He  will teach us everything He hears from Jesus and lead us into all truth (John  16.7–15). 

2. We need not be afraid of the Holy Spirit’s gifts.  

Matthew 7:9-11 - For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and  to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him  for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how  much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask  him! 

Luke 11:9-13:9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will  find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and  the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What  father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, 

know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly  Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” 

The Holy Spirit is "the good gift" the Father has given us! 

Therefore the Holy Spirit is the “Good Gift” Who gives good gifts! 

~ bread vs. stone: God will give us something to nurture and feed us,  not something cold, hard, and dead 

~ fish vs. snake: He will not give us anything that will lead us into deception. ~ egg vs. scorpion: He will not give us anything stinging or deadly. 

The gifts of the Spirit are just that: GIFTS. They are not to be dishonored, ignored,  shamed, marginalized. Many are ignorant or fearful of the gifts due to misuse or  abuse. Some is simply due to immaturity and lack of training and experience.  

I love what Graham Cooke says: 

“The answer to abuse or misuse of the gifts 

is not NON-use, but PROPER use.” 

We are to grow in the gifts just like we grow in anything else - in our faith, our  knowledge of the Word, in love - WITH PRACTICE.  

Wrong use of the gifts:  

• to promote people and give them a platform 

• to monetize ministry and enrich them 

• to control and abuse others (God forbid!)  

The Holy Spirit and His gifts are not meant to be merely displays of the Spirit's  power to impress others (each other and the world), or to puff ourselves up, or to  monetize their use to enrich ourselves (like in many platform ministries). 

Again, GOD FORBID. 👓 

The Holy Spirit’s beautiful, mighty gifts were given to serve God’s people, to help  us grow up into mature love, and to help us bring the lost to Jesus Christ.  

With our natural gifts and talents, the Holy Spirit’s gifts are meant to help us serve  one another so we all grow in love and wisdom as the living, breathing expression  of God's love in the world.  

All power - whether the immense power given to us by God in the form of free will,  or whether His mighty supernatural power, must be rooted and grounded in love or  it will inevitably be misused or abused.  

Then the Holy Spirit adds His empowerment to our lives to help us do what we  cannot do in our own strength. But always, always, always, ALL power must be  rooted and grounded in love.

Harmony #10: Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:5-26)

I don't think the first two individuals we see Jesus interact with after He cleanses the temple are random placements of unconnected stories.  There are too many similarities and differences that seem very purposeful. Last week was Nicodemus; this week is the Woman at the Well. (The interlude with John the Baptist in John 3 connects these two stories. When you read it, think of both Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well.)

SIMILARITIES

• Neither understand “the gift of God”

• Both stories feature water and the Spirit[1] (the John the Baptizer interlude features water and an explanation of the Spirit)

• They (and the disciples) are confused about terms (birth/water/bread)

• Both initially see Jesus as a prophet (believe about rather than believe in)

DIFFERENCES

• Male vs. female

• Jewish vs. Samaritan

• Signs and wonders vs. no signs and wonders

• Nicodemus leaves confused; she leaves converted

• He leaves covertly; she leaves loudly and brings people back

THE STORY (Bible quoted in italics; commentary in regular font)

Jesus left Judea (where the Pharisees were thick) and set out once more for Galilee. But he had to pass through Samaria, which had long been a place of idol worship combined with worship of Yahweh. Israel’s Jews considered these cousins with Gentile blood and worship to be not just impure, but evil.[2] When traveling between Galilee and Judea, many Jews would cross the Jordan twice rather than pass through Samaria. Jesus headed straight through.

Now Jesus came to a Samaritan town called Sychar (which means, fittingly, “Drunken”).[3] It was near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.[4] Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water.

It wasn’t that unusual for people to draw water at this time (you didn’t get peak heat until around 3:00), but it wasn’t typical.  Was it her second trip because she had already used up her morning draw? Did something delay her that morning? Was she trying to avoid people? John doesn’t say why she was there at that time; he just tells us what follows.

We don't know if other people were there or not – the text doesn’t say – it just says that when the Samaritan woman arrived, Jesus asked for her help, which in the Middle East was a gesture that honored her.  Jesus said, “Give me some water to drink.” (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.) This was part of the protocol for hospitality, because the one requesting acknowledged a need that the one requested could satisfy.

But the Samarian woman had some questions. She said to him, “How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?”  (For Jews have no communion with Samaritans.) That’s an understatement. The Jews and Samaritans really didn’t like each other. The Samaritans had intermingled not only their families with hostile nations but also their temples with hostile gods, then had the audacity to desecrate Jewish temples while building their own temple and declaring it to be the true one. They also rejected every part of the Old Testament except the first 5 books. The rabbis had declared everything in Samaria unclean. Some went so far as to declare that if a Samaritan were in a town, all the spittle in that town was to be considered unclean (because it might derive from a Samaritan). To drink from her jar would have made Jesus ritually impure in the eyes of Jesus’ Jewish peers.

The early church writers consistently pointed something else out: she seemed to be concerned that Jesus was about to break Jewish law.[5] If she were as morally corrupt as she is often portrayed –and had the kind of animosity in her that Samaritans and Jews often had for each other - it’s hard to envision she wouldn’t have found it delightful to corrupt this strange Jewish man. But her first response is concern: “Are you sure you should be doing this?” File this away as we think of her….

Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God[6] and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you fresh, flowing water – the water of life.”  The rabbis spoke of Torah, the law, as a gift from God that was as refreshing as living water. But John uses the symbolism differently to refer to God’s own refreshing spirit, the Holy Spirit, that the prophets said would be poured out on all people. Paul will write later in his first letter to the Corinthians that we all drink of the same Spirit (12:13)

“Sir,” the woman respectfully said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is 100 feet deep; where then do you get this living water?  Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”  

Jesus didn’t just come out and say, “Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I am better than Jacob.”  He simply describes what He has to offer and lets her decide. He replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

Had the Samaritans used the entire Old Testament, this probably would have sounded familiar to her. Isaiah, for example, wrote (12:3), “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Zechariah wrote that living water would come from Jerusalem and cover the world (14:8). But, like I said earlier, the Samaritans only used the first 5 books of the Old Testament. They had nothing from the prophets. In fact, they thought Moses was the last prophet, and they looked forward to the next Moses.

The woman was likely testing this bold claim when she said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” Oh, so you can get fresh, running water when there is none in sight? Let’s see it! Does she think he’s bluffing and she’s trying to respectfully end this game? Is she hopeful that there is another, better source of water, maybe closer to home?  Maybe she could be the town hero if she found better water! We don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus pulls a Nicodemus Switcheroo and changes the subject entirely.

Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”  The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus, who had knowledge of her heart (like he did with Nathaniel and Nicodemus), said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully.”

Lots of ink has been spilled discussing how immoral this woman was (a serial adulteress? A prostitute?) That’s not at all clear from the text.

• If she was a known serial adulteress or a prostitute, men would not have kept marrying her (and because the Samaritans had the Law, the penalty would have been death).

• Perhaps she had been divorced most or all of these times (it was really easy for a man to initiate divorce over even the most minor things, like burning breakfast toast).

• Perhaps she was repeatedly widowed; if so, others might think that God was set against her because something was wrong with her.

It’s not even clear that she was living in a morally compromised relationship with the man in her life. I mean, maybe she was:

• She could have been living with a man (which would have been unusual for both of them).

• Maybe she was living with a man to whom she was betrothed (kind of married in that they had started the covenant process but not married in that they hadn’t finished it?)

• Maybe she was a concubine (which was allowed). 

• Maybe a vindictive husband put her away without divorcing her, and she eventually remarried (which would count as adultery).

But maybe, for a variety of reasons, her marriage had not yet been consummated, which was the act of covenant initiation (which no one would know except the woman, her husband, and now Jesus).  Maybe her deceased husband’s brother had married her (#OTlaw) but had never consummated the marriage.

WE DON’T KNOW. A loooooot is read into this text. What we do know is this: Jesus gets to an issue to which she responds with a term of respect, and without a sense of shame or anger. The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Hmmmm. Her spiritual eyes are opening. This is a revelatory moment: someone waiting for the next prophet - who would be an end time Restorer - acknowledges that Jesus – a Jewish man, not a Samaritan - is a prophet. So, what kind of question would you ask a Jewish prophet?  We would expect a petty or small-minded person to ask a petty or small-minded question, probably something like a parlor trick.  She has something on her mind much like Nicodemus: He wanted to make sure he was in the Kingdom; she want’s to know if she is getting her worship right.” Great question, because “zeal for the house of the Lord” consumes prophets.[7]

She continued, Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, Mount Gerizim, which is holy to us (Deut. 11:29; 27:12). Your people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem, but we Samaritans are unwelcome in Jerusalem’s temple. Who is right? Which temple is the right one? And if it’s the one in Jerusalem, how can I, a Samaritan, worship where I am supposed to worship?

Jesus said to her, “Believe me, my lady,[8] a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not know. How could you know? You have rejected the revelation of the prophets after Moses, prophets who revealed so much about Yahweh and His plan for His people and the world. We worship what we know, because it was always God’s plan that the source of salvation would arise from the Jewish people. But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit(by the power of the Holy Spirit) with truth[9] about God, which they lack.[10] The Father seeks such people to be his worshipers, identified not by where they worship but whom and how they worship together, as one people united by God. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to Jesus, “I know that the Messiah is coming; He will be a restorer, like Moses.[11]He will restore God’s divine favor that ended after Moses. We believe whenever he comes, he will tell us all things.”

Jesus said to her, “It is the I AM who speaks to you.”

 That was a phrase she recognized. That is how God identified himself to their hero, Moses. And I suspect this is where it really sank in that this was not a conversation just about water with just another prophet. This man offered the promised restoration, the return of God’s favor on outcast people and the repairing of the ruins in their temples, their homes, and their hearts.

Now at that very moment his disciples came back. They were shocked because he was speaking with a woman. Not only did traditional Mediterranean culture considered it inappropriate for a woman to talk with unrelated men in unguarded settings but also the Mishnah read, “He that talks much with womankind brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Law and at the last will inherit Gehenna.” Yikes.  However, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?” Good call, disciples.

Then the woman, thoroughly distracted from her original mission, left her water jar, went off into the town and said to the people the same thing Phillip had said: “Come and see. There is a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, can he?”[12] It would seem Jesus and the woman talked more than is recorded. The text hardly shows that he “told her everything she ever did.” It seems safe to assume that as they talked, Jesus demonstrated that he knew her – which to the Jewish and Samaritan people was something that would characterize the coming Messiah.

So they left the town and began coming to him. This is yet another detail that makes me think the woman was not an infamous as I was raised to believe. Who would believe the report about a spiritual issue (not just about a prophet but about the Messiah Moses promised) from a serial adulteress or a tragically promiscuous person, especially in a culture that did not think women were reliable narrators to begin with? Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?”

Oh, disciples. The learning curve is long for them. They think of physical food as quickly as the Jewish leaders thought of the physical temple, Nicodemus thought of physical birth, and the Samaritan woman thought of physical water. I’m sensing some patterns here in the storytelling.

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.[13]Don’t worry about me. You are missing what’s here for you. Don’t you know what the farmers say: ‘There are four more months and then comes the harvest?’ I tell you, look up and see that the fields are already white for harvest! You are in Samaria; they are ready to be brought into the Kingdom.The one who reaps receives pay and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together. For in this instance the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’  I am setting you up for the joy of reaping a harvest of souls that you did not work for; others, such as all the prophets, have labored before you, an now you have entered into their labor.”

Now many Samaritans from that town believed he was a prophet because of the report of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”[14] So when the Samaritans came to him, they began asking him to stay with them. He and his disciples stayed there two days, and because of his word many more believed.

They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the entire world.”  This echoes what John the Baptizer had already said: “God gives the Spirit without limit.” (John 3:34) Jesus promptly demonstrates what he told Nicodemus: God loves and offers salvation to the whole world, even the Samaritans – the ones His people most despised. He goes to them. He accepts their hospitality. He doesn’t worry that others might think he had compromised himself by treating them with dignity. They needed Living Water, and he took it to them.

According to an early tradition, after the Resurrection she was baptized with the name Photini, “the enlightened one.” The story goes that she went with her 7 children to spread the gospel in Carthage, which was in Phonecia on the northern coast of Africa. She was eventually killed (along with her family) by Nero – who had her thrown into a well.[15]

 ________________________________________________________________________

[1] Is this story actually explaining the “water and Spirit” Jesus just told Nicodemus was needed for a second birth? Hmmmm……

[2] Background info from the commentary accompanying The Voice translation, ESV Reformation Study Bible, NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, NIV First Century Study Bible, Orthodox Study Bible, Believer’s Bible Commentary, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Adam Clarke’s commentary

[3] With this crime the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 28:1, Isaiah 28:3, Isaiah 28:7-8) charges the Ephraimites, within whose limits the city stood. (Adam Clarke)

[4] “This reference to Joseph in verse 5 will only become clear when we see that the Samaritan woman suffered in her life in a manner similar to Joseph. If this reading of the story is correct, than just as in Joseph’s life, unexplained suffering was endured for the purpose of bringing salvation to Israel, so the Samaritan woman’s suffering in her life led to the salvation of the Israelite Samaritans in that locale.” https://sarahbowler.com/2015/01/20/the-woman-at-the-well/

[5] The book series Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture records numerous early church writers pointing this out.

[6] Language used for the Holy Spirit elsewhere in the New Testament.

[7] This also makes me think the woman should be seen as more than a moral failure. She could have asked a lot of petty or vindictive things of a potential prophet to prove what he knows. She asks a really good question about the temple.

[8] “Woman” is too blunt a translation for our 21st century ears. It sounds rude, when it wasn't. It’s the same way he addressed his own mother in John 2:4.

[9] “In the Spirit and in truth”, or “in spirit and truth.”

[10] “The worship of the Samaritans was a defective worship - they did not receive the prophetical writings: that of the Jews was a carnal worship, dealing only in the letter…with types and ceremonies.” (Adam Clarke) 

[11] Making the water imagery very important, considering Moses’ role as a water-giver.

[12] “The Jews believed that one essential characteristic of the Messiah would be, that he should be able to tell the secrets of all hearts. This they believed was predicted, Isaiah 11:2-3. When the famous impostor Barchochab, who rose up under the empire of Adrian, about a hundred years after the incarnation, professed himself to be the Messiah, after having been deceived by him for two years, they at last thought of putting his divinity to proof on this ground: they brought before him persons whom he did not know, some of whom were very vicious, and others of a different character; they desired him to point out who were the righteous, and who were the wicked; which when he could not do, they rose up and put him to death.” (Adam Clarke)

[13] We are told in this story what spiritual nourishment looks like: our water is the Holy Spirit, our food is doing the will of God.

[14] The Samaritan woman is sometimes referred to as the first apostle because of her evangelism. In a culture where women were considered inherently unreliable had a second-class status to the men around them, this is yet another example of how God uses what is foolishness and weakness to the world to shame the arrogance of the ‘wise’ and ‘strong,’ and taking those who “are not” valuable in the eyes of society and demonstrating their value. (1 Corinthians 1:28-29)

[15] Orthodox Study Bible

Approach God Boldly (1 John 3:18-24)

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

By this we shall know that we are of the truth.

 Our obedience will reassure our hearts whenever our hearts condemn us. Because God is greater than our heart, we therefore (in the consciousness that we are of the truth) shall calm our hearts before God, however much our heart may accuse us.[1] (Remember that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything including everything in our hearts). 

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and can approach him with boldness; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 

 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. (1 John 3:18-24) 

****************

This is a notoriously confusing passage of Scripture when it comes to understanding a) how and why our hearts condemn us (false guilt or real guilt), b) what it means that God is bigger than our hearts (should this worry us or comfort us?), and c) what it means that we can ask for anything and get it. So, here we go.  

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. By this[2] we shall know that we are of the truth, and our obedience will reassure our hearts[3] before him whenever our hearts condemn us.[4] Because God is greater than our hearts[5], we therefore (in the consciousness that we are of the truth) shall calm our hearts before God, however much our heart may accuse us. (Remember that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything, including our hearts)[6]. 

When John wrote earlier (2:28-4:6) about how we can be confident, he said to "continue in Jesus" and "do what is right" (2:29; 3:7, 10), which is shown primarily by our love for others. Now he addresses what to do when our hearts (conscience) condemn us.  There are at least two possibilities for what John means.[7]  

#1. We could read this as our conscience is highlighting our genuinely wrong actions or inactions.[8] If that’s the case, our commitment to (not our perfection of) living in obedience to God’s truth is meant to reassure us. 

“A Christian’s heart burdened with a sense of its own unworthiness forms an unfavourable opinion of the state of the soul, pronounces against its salvation. If we are conscious of practically loving the brethren, we can [see] this as evidence of the contrary, and give the heart ground to change its opinion, and to reassure itself.”[9]

This usage suggests our hearts are telling us we did something wrong, but the pattern of our life (not all the particulars), is intended to reassure us of our commitment (not our perfection).

#2. Other commentaries see it as closer to the idea of us beating ourselves up unfairly when we fail. Self-condemnation can be brutal. If that is the case, then John is talking about that insidious voice of despair and condemnation that keeps whispering, “God doesn’t want you. You failed again. You just aren’t good enough to deserve love or respect. Why keep trying? Maybe you should quit.”  Even though imperfection is to be expected on this side of heaven, it’s easy to run with the fact that we have fallen short of it and run ourselves into the ground. 

Either way, we must remember that God knows everything.

Because God is superior to our consciences in being omniscient, we may (when our love is sincere and fruitful), persuade our consciences before Him to acquit us. Our consciences through imperfect knowledge may be either too strict[10] or too easy[11] with us: God cannot be either, for He knows and weighs all… He is a more perfect judge than our heart can be.[12]

When John writes that God knows our hearts, he doesn’t just mean the good parts even we don’t see. He means even the bad parts we don’t see. I mean, our proper sense of guilt and/or our self-condemnation probably only scratches the surface. 

I believe John intends it to be both sobering and comforting in that the worst that is in us is known to God, and still He cares for us and loves us as His children. Our discovery has been an open secret to Him all along. But God sees more: God sees into depths even we have not dared to explore. 

I was talking with a guy who works in surgery, and he was telling me how people under certain kinds of anesthesiology will act out in a way that shows the real them. It’s like the drugs take away all the veils, and the real them emerges. They may swear like sailors, or flirt with the nurses, or just be chill.  ‘The deep’ emerges. 

I came out of the anesthesia of knee surgery once fighting with everyone. They had to restrain me. When they told me, the doctor said, “Have you been under stress?” Yep. That’s apparently a typical response. I have never been in a fight in my life, but something violent was nesting inside of me.

Perhaps it is that kind of image John is tapping into when he reminds us that God knows everything about our hearts - and he still loves us and calls us His child. We beat ourselves up for the failures that lie on the surface; God sees what is deep down in his soul and does not beat us up for it. He works to clean us up as an act of love, not condemnation.[13] He bore upon himself the weight of our condemnation so we don’t have to.

As the guys at Southside Rabbi pointed out in their last episode,[14] Jesus experienced what we experience in life, but there is one thing he experienced that his followers will never have to: the wrath of God falling on a person for their sin.[15] We partly know ourselves and loathe ourselves; God fully knows us and fully loves us.

“He knows all things; on the one hand the light and grace against which we have sinned, on the other the reality of our repentance and our love. It was to this infallible omniscience that S. Peter appealed, in humble distrust of his own feeling and judgment; ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love you’ (John 21:17).[16]

I think this translation from the Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges captures all of this discussion well. 

‘By loving our brethren in deed and truth we come to know that we are God’s children and have His presence within us, and are enabled to meet the disquieting charges of conscience. For, if conscience condemns us, its verdict is neither infallible nor final. We may still appeal to the omniscient God, whose love implanted within us is a sign that we are not condemned and rejected by Him.’

* * * * * 

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and can approach him with boldness; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 

This is the goal: to approach the throne of God with boldness. When we believe we are under the cloud of condemnation from ourselves or from God, we will not be bold. We will want to hide.

 As a kid, I remember that when I disobeyed my parents, I would hide. When my disobedience was known and dealt with, I didn’t. In fact, it was often freeing. A weight was gone. I think this might be the idea. 

What if we lived every moment in the freedom of knowing that nothing is hidden from God? There is no reason to try to hide something on the way to the cross. There is no reason not to be honest about our sins as a child of God. God already knows. He still loves us.  

How is it possible that we can approach God with this kind of boldness? 

• First, believing in Jesus Christ, that the death of God incarnate has saved us from the punishment we deserve, and that by committing our lives to him we can have eternal life that begins now and carries on (John 3:16-18). This is characterized by becoming more and more like Jesus.

• Second, committing to keeping his commands: Love God and love others. Love is the expression of true faith.[17] This is not about perfection; it’s about direction. What is our trajectory?

• Third, if our hearts (rightly) bring us godly sorrow or (unfairly) condemn us, we remember that God knows even worse things about us than we do; He anticipated it; He took care of it; He loves us more strongly than we can imagine. 

Now, he’s going to deal with us as a loving Father, which means a) there might be practical consequences we can’t avoid, and b) he’s going to love us too much to let us stay untransformed in that sin. But we didn’t surprise him. We didn’t suddenly go, “God, I don’t think you know this about me, but…” Nope. He brought us into His family knowing we would be at this point before we did. Be bold before God.

Now, about that “getting what you want.” 

This isn’t a formula for God becoming a cosmic Pez dispenser for our every whim. John is clear: if our will aligns with God’s will, when we ask what we will we are asking God to do what He already wills.  

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5)

"Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

So, let’s say we are at a place where we approach God boldly. And let’s say we request something that is just not what God has in mind. We know what follows thanks to the disciples. Mark records the following story (Mark 10: 35-45).

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.  They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”  “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”  

“We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.  

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Okay, kudos to the disciples for boldness. Notice Jesus doesn’t smack them down. He patiently explains that (like so many things we pray) they have no idea what they are asking. There is lot that will happen on the way to fulfilling that prayer request that is beyond their ability to know. As one country song notes, sometimes we should thank God for unanswered prayer. More importantly, that request did not align with God’s will.  

And then he teaches them how to ask for something in his will: Don’t ask for power and prestige in the eyes of people. Ask to be a servant. Ask how you might give your life for others. THAT’S a prayer that’s always in God’s will. This is the secret to powerful prayer: praying what is in God’s will to grant.

“To keep His commandments is to abide in Him. It is to live in close, vital intimacy with the Savior. When we are thus in fellowship with Him, we make His will our own will. By the Holy Spirit, He fills us with the knowledge of His will. In such a condition, we would not ask for anything outside the will of God. When we ask according to His will, we receive from Him the things we ask for.”[18] 

* * * * *  

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. (1 John 3:18-24)

While the Jewish community tended to think of the presence of the  Spirit as rare; Christians began teaching that God gave his Spirit as an indwelling presence to all of his children (Acts 2.17–18; Romans 5:5; 8:14-16).[19] Whereas before, God’s people would have asked the Holy Spirit to show up, now they simply thanked him for being present within them.  

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22 who also sealed us and gave [us] the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.”

Ephesians 1:13-14  “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation–having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of [God’s own] possession, to the praise of His glory.”

 John 14:15-18 "If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

Romans 8:15-16  “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

 Acts 5:32 “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."[20] 

Meanwhile the Old Testament told us what the Spirit of God would do (and this brings us back to what John has been writing about for this entire chapter):

"And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezekiel 36:27)

Bede paraphrases with a phrase I really like: “Let God be a home to thee, and be thou a home of God.”[21]

 That’s a fine goal for 2021.

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[1] Translation suggested by Meyer’s NT Commentary

[2] “The construction and punctuation of what follows is doubtful; also the reading in the first and second clauses of 1 John 3:20. Certainty is not attainable, and to give all possible variations of reading and rendering would take up too much space. The conclusions adopted here are given as good and tenable, but not as demonstrably right.” (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Theology) 

[3] kardía – heart; "the affective center of our being" and the capacity of moral preference (volitional desire, choice); "desire-producer that makes us tick" i.e our "desire-decisions" that establish who we really are. (HELPS Word Studies)

[4] “Accuse us with unfavorable prejudice.” (Vincent’s Word Studies)

[5] “A more perfect judge of our hearts than we are.”  (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges)

[6] See 1 Chronicles 28:9. “He knows all things; on the one hand the light and grace against which we have sinned, on the other the reality of our repentance and our love. It was to this infallible omniscience that S. Peter appealed, in humble distrust of his own feeling and judgment; ‘Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee’ (John 21:17). It is the reality and activity of our love (1 John 3:18-19) which gives us assurance under the accusations of conscience.” (Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges)  “God is greater than our heart. It is asked whether this means that he is more merciful or more rigorous. Neither the one nor the other. It means that, although our conscience is not infallible, God is. Our hearts may be deceived; he cannot be. He knoweth all things. An awful thought for the impenitent, a blessed and encouraging thought for the penitent, He knows our sins; but he also knows our temptations, our struggles, our sorrow, and our love. 1 John 3:20”  (Pulpit Commentary)

[7] “The old controversy is, whether God is called greater than our heart as forgiving or as judging; the former is the view of Thomas Angl., Luther, Bengel, Morus, Russmeyer, Spener, Noesselt, Steinhofer, Rickli, Baumgarten-Crusius, Sander, Besser, Düsterdieck, Erdmann, Myrberg, Ewald, Brückner, Braune, etc.; the latter is the view of Calvin, Beza, Socinus, Grotius, a Lapide, Castalio, Hornejus, Estius, Calovius, Semler, Lücke, Neander, Gerlach, de Wette, Ebrard, etc.”  (Meyer’s NT Commentary)

[8] If that’s the case “condemnation” is another way of saying “godly sorrow that leads to repentance.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) The only other time this word is used outside of this passage is by Paul in Galatians 2, where he “condemns” Peter in Antioch because of something Peter did wrong. This is a different word than we Paul uses in Romans when he talks about “no condemnation” for those in Christ (Romans 8:1). That has to do with the results of doing something wrong, not if someone did something wrong or not.

[9] Quoted in Cambridge Bible Commentary

[10] The danger of Option B. It is sooo easy to see ourselves more severely than we should.

[11] The danger of Option A. It is sooo easy to give ourselves a pass and see ourselves more highly than we ought (Romans 12:3). 

[12] Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges 

[13] Good insights from the Expositor’s Greek New Testament reflected in this section.

[14] Season 2 Episode 12: “Floyd, Chauvin, and the War On Empathy.”

[15] 2 Corinthians 5 - 19 It is central to our good news that God was in the Anointed making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them….21 He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God.”

[16] Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges

[17] HT Believer’s Bible Commentary

[18] Believer’s Bible Commentary

[19] NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[20] I understand this to mean that the act of obedience which inaugurates the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is surrendering our lives to the lordship of Jesus and acknowledging the saving nature of his death on the cross (salvation); this verse and others seem to at least suggest that the expression of the Holy Spirit’s power (not presence!) and the abundance of fruit in our lives is in some sense associated with our commitment to obedience.

[21] The sign what we have arrived at this divine housing arrangement is a commitment to obedience (1 John 1:6, 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:6; 1 John 2:29, 1 John 3:6-7; 1 John 3:9). And that obedience is made possible by the Holy Spirit, the ‘life’ of God dwelling in us, His children.

Fan Into Flame The Gift Of God (2 Timothy 1:1-8)

Here’s the setting of Paul’s second letter to Timothy. 

Paul was in prison awaiting execution. Apparently, the congregations from the Roman province of Asia were against him (2 Timothy 1:15). Demas had left for Thessalonica because he ‘loved the world’ more than the gospel; Crescens and Titus were ministering elsewhere (2 Timothy 4:10). To add insult to injury, Alexander the coppersmith had ‘done him great harm’ (2 Timothy 4:14). It’s been rough road on the way to execution.

So, he writes to Timothy. Paul and Timothy first met while Paul was on his second missionary journey. Paul adopted Timothy as a spiritual son (Timothy’s father was a non-believer); it’s clear Paul cares deeply about him, and there is every reason to believe Timothy felt the same.  

This is the letter of a man who does not have much time left. The hum in the background is a sense of urgency to build and guide Timothy in the brief time he has left.  

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Timothy, you are constantly in my prayers. Day and night I remember you before God and give thanks to Him whom I serve with a clean conscience, as did my ancestors. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.

 God had given to Timothy a charisma, a spiritual gift.[1] Paul tells him to fan it into flame, a metaphor drawn from the fanning of the embers of a fire. 

The gift comes as an ember from the Holy Spirit; we must respond by making the right decisions and taking the right actions to fan it into flame. 

The Spirit enables us for ministry – perhaps we think not only of the gift, but the pneuma (spirit), the wind, fanning the ember from God’s side, as it has done since Genesis 1. But God’s gifts require a response if we want to experience them in their fullness:

1) First we are filled (1 Corinthians 3:16 and 6:10 make clear that when we become part of the temple, the Holy Spirit lives in us. We need to commit our lives to Christ and experience His salvation. See Romans 8:9-11; 2 Timothy 1:14; Galatians 4:6)

2) Second, don’t quench the influence of the Holy Spirit in you (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

3) Third, we fan it into flame.[2] The Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), expelled (Psalm 51:11), neglected (1Timothy 4:14). Instead, fan it so the embers become a fire.[3]

What are spiritual gifts? 

There are different manifestations of the Spirit to build up the body and bring glory to God (Isaiah 11:5; I Corinthians 12:1-11).   The Holy Spirit “gives gifts as He will” (I Corinthians 12:7-11), yet we are also instructed to diligently seek the gifts (I Corinthians 12:31, 14:1) We are recipients of gifts because of God’s good grace. Because they are freely given, they cannot be earned, but they must be ‘fanned’.

The gifts must be expressed in love, sincerity, and in an orderly and understandable way (I Corinthians 14:26-33) which honors others above ourselves (I Corinthians 13:1-13; Romans 12:1-10), lest our expression cause others to stumble (1 Corinthians 8).  Every attempt should be made to use the gifts in humility and service, so that we may share the desire of Jesus: that God must increase and we must decrease (John 3:30;15:26; 16:13-14).

These gifts are given to the church to build up, encourage, and comfort the church. They are also far more varied than we often realize. It’s easy to think that there are kind of super gifts that people on pedestals have, but if we look at the entirety of the scriptural presentation, there is a remarkable variety of gifts attributed to God’s good grace. 

o   Prophecy (boldly proclaiming God’s mind and purpose) 1 Corinthians 12, 14; Micah 3:8

o   Serving (a wide variety of ministries that “make the dust fly”) – 1 Peter 4; 1 Corinthians 12:5

o   Teaching (explaining God’s truth) - Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4

o   Working (bringing energy to a project) - 1 Corinthians 12:6

o   Exhortation (motivational skills; encouragement) – Romans 12

o   Giving (joyful, sacrificial generosity) - Romans 12

o   Mercy (compassion) – Romans 12

o   Intercession (prayer) - Romans 8:26, 27

o   Wisdom (knowledge rightly applied to situations) - James 1:5; Numbers 27

o   Words of Wisdom (giving insightful, practical knowledge) – 1 Corinthians 12

o   Words of Knowledge (giving insight into doctrine/spiritual truth) – 1 Corinthians 12

o   Faith (unwavering commitment and trust that God works beyond human capabilities; good at encouraging others to trust in God in the face of apparently insurmountable odds)– 1 Corinthians 12

o   Healing (miraculous interventions for sickness) - 1 Corinthians 12

o   Miracles – (supernatural acts) - 1 Corinthians 12

o   Discerning spirits (insight into the “spirit” of a situation) – 1 Corinthians 12

o   Tongues (gifted in human or heavenly languages) – 1 Corinthians 12, 14

o   Interpretation of Tongues – (translating those languages) 1 Corinthians 12, 14

o   Apostle (in one sense, unique to the founding of the church; the ‘apostolic gift’ is probably best understood now as ‘church planting’) – 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4

o   Leadership (church planters and church sustainers) – Romans 12

o   Pastor (“shepherds” who guide and lead) – Ephesians 4

o   Evangelist/Missionary (boldness in sharing the gospel) - Acts 1:8; 5:32; 26:22; 1 John 5:6; Ephesians 4

o   Helps (helping/serving the poor and downtrodden) - 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Timothy 3:8-13; Romans 16:1-4; 12

o   Administration (the ability to give oversight) - 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Samuel 11 and 16

o   Celibacy (refraining from sex with purity) - 1 Corinthians 7:7

o   Marriage (committing to a covenant with integrity) - 1 Corinthians 7:7

o   Hospitality (openness and friendliness) - 1 Peter 4:9-10

o   Craftsmanship (building, construction) - Exodus 31:3; 35:30-35

o   The Arts (music, poetry, prose, painting…) – Exodus 31:2-6; Exodus 35:25-26; Psalm 150:3-5 Luke 1:1-3

o   Voluntary Poverty (forgoing wealth without envy, jealousy or judgment of others) - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

o   Business Sense (reward from hard work and investment) -Ecclesiastes 3,5

o   Courage (as seen in Gideon) - Judges 6

o   Strength (as seen in Samson) - Judges 13

o   Architectural Engineering (planning; constructing; building) - 1 Chronicles 28

 Like many lists in the Bible, I suspect this is giving us example after example while not necessarily being exhaustive. Every worked with elementary age students? It’s a gift. If you are a counselor, that’s a gift. If you can raise a large family and keep your sanity, that’s a gift. If you can keep cheering for the Lions… making a house feel like a home…being able to see people on the margins and draw them in….knowing how to diffuse tense situations… I suspect that the Holy Spirit takes virtually everything about life and “give gifts” of extraordinary ability to make that part of life an outpost of the Kingdom of God.

 “Fan these embers into flame.” How do we do this?

Identify them. Start with https://spiritualgiftstest.com/spiritual-gifts-test/#gf_7, which also has a personality test. Or https://gifts.churchgrowth.org/spiritual-gifts-survey/. Or 

https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/women-leadership-spiritual-gifts-growth-service. This isn’t everything on the above list of gifts , but it’s a start. 

Build them. Study, learn, observe in others. 

Use them. Like, do stuff! Where do your desires, skills and opportunities intersect?

To the glory of God. How does this build the church or make God’s name great in the community?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

My recommendation: take one of the spiritual gifts quizzes. As noted earlier, these aren't exhaustive. Feel free to identify other areas of your life where you believe the Holy Spirit has gifted you to do something really well. Then, talk about what it looks like in your life to “fan into flame” the gifts that you have.

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[1] ‘God never commissions anyone to a task without imparting a special gift appropriate to it’ (Guthrie).

[2] “We know that St. Paul frequently uses for his illustrations of Christian life scenes well known among the Greek heathen nations of the Old World, such as the Greek athletic games. Is it not possible (the suggestion is Wordsworth’s) that the Apostle while here charging Timothy to take care that the sacred fire of the Holy Ghost did not languish in his heart, while urging him to watch the flame, to keep it burning brightly, to fan the flame if burning dimly—is it not possible that St. Paul had in mind the solemn words of the Roman law, “Let them watch the eternal flame of the public hearth”? (Cicero, de Legibus, xi. 8.) The failure of the flame was regarded as an omen of dire misfortune, and the watchers, if they neglected the duty, were punished with the severest penalties.” (Ellicott’s Commentary)

[3] “O quench it not, damp it not, in yourself or others, by giving way to any lust or passion, any affection or disposition, contrary to holiness, either by neglecting to do good, or by doing evil. See note on Ephesians 4:30. It is easy to observe that the qualities and effects of the Spirit’s influences are here compared to those of fire. See note on Matthew 3:11. And as fire may be quenched, not only by pouring water upon it, or heaping upon it earth and ashes, but by withholding fuel from it, or even by neglecting to stir it up; so the enlightening, quickening, renewing, purifying, and comforting operations of the Spirit may be quenched, not only by the commission of known and wilful sin, and by immersing our minds too deeply in worldly business, and burdening them with worldly cares, but by omitting to use the private or public means of grace, the fuel provided to nourish this sacred fire, and by neglecting to stir up the gifts and graces which are in us.” Benson Commentary

“In a similar manner the apostle gives this direction to Timothy, "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up ἀναζωπυρεῖν anazōpurein, kindle up, cause to burn) the gift of God;" 2 Timothy 1:6. Anything that will tend to damp the ardor of piety in the soul; to chill our feelings; to render us cold and lifeless in the service of God, may be regarded as "quenching the Spirit." Neglect of cultivating the Christian graces, or of prayer, of the Bible, of the sanctuary, of a careful watchfulness over the heart, will do it. Worldliness, vanity, levity, ambition, pride, the love of dress, or indulgence in an improper train of thought, will do it. It is a great rule in religion that all the piety which there is in the soul is the fair result of culture. A man has no more religion than he intends to have; he has no graces of the Spirit which he does not seek; he has no deadness to the world which is not the object of his sincere desire, and which he does not aim to have. Any one, if he will, may make elevated attainments in the divine life; or he may make his religion merely a religion of form, and know little of its power and its consolations.” – Barne’s Notes On The Bible