1 Corinthians 12:18-27

Here is a second question that is quite relevant to the Body of Christ today.

Ø Are Christians who have had the experience of speaking in tongues (or some other miraculous gift such as physical healing) in some way better or more spiritual than those who have not? (12:18-27)

Even if you are Pentecostal or Charismatic you may have an initial negative response to this question.  Of course there are no inferior/superior believers in Christ’s body!  But I would like to state the practical truth from one who has sat among Pentecostal/Charismatic brothers and sisters (may I say friends for that is what they are to us).  The effect of the stories they tell of amazing healings, levitations, calming of storms, raising the dead and so forth have this exact effect: to cause others who have not experienced these things to consider themselves inferior.  If they are not grounded in Scripture the conclusion they will come to is that they are missing something.  They may have the feelings expressed in today’s passage, that they are not needed (v21), weaker (v22) or less honorable (v23).  

I confess to having had such struggles in the early years of my walk with Christ.  UNTIL God brought me to the truth of what it means to be in Christ.  The significance of the believer is completely bound up in being in Christ and every believer IS, in fact, in Christ.  And in Christ we have every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3), we have ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4) and we are COMPLETE (Col. 2:10).  To deny any of this is to deny who Christ is, the One in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9).  I praise God greatly for bringing me to this simple understanding.

May I say as well that I know the blessing of seeing God’s sovereign work in matters of healing (in answer to prayer as we are instructed in James 5:12-18) and providential financial provision.  But these are not the “holy grail” that some make it out to be.  The evidence of true faith and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, as 1 Corinthians has made clear, is that they are changed in their lives; they are not what they used to be (1 Cor. 6:9-11).  Paul lived this way when he said that he had learned to be content in all things, to live with a little or a lot (Phil. 4:10-13).  And again, when he noted that God refused to take away his thorn in the flesh (which many consider to be some physical affliction, 2 Cor. 12:7-10).  He struggled financially and physically but it was not a reflection on his relationship with Christ.

I do not mean to be contentious.  In fact I have dwelt on this because of my concern and compassion for young believers who are tempted by these arguments.  We desire to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:28).  I encourage you to consider these truths.  Who we are is bound up in Christ and not in the supposed excellencies of our gifts or ministry positions in the Body.

Psalm 97

This great Hymn begins “The Lord reigns.”  Several Psalms in the “90’s” begin this way (93,96,97 and 99) while two others make specific reference to the Lord as “King” (95:3; 98:6).  God’s displayed great wisdom when Israel requested a king.  First He gave them Saul, a man who was everything the nations would have wanted in a king.  Then He gave them David, the man after His own heart.  One disobeyed God one inquired of God and followed God’s leading.  Thus God reigned over His people through David, as well as all David’s descendants that walked in David’s footsteps.

Another display of God’s great wisdom and unsearchable ways (Rom. 11:33) is the connection between David and the promised Messiah.  In Christ Jesus both David and God would reign at the same time for He is both Son of David and Son of God (Luke 1:32; Rom. 1:3-4).  God has set His Son on My holy hill of Zion, promising to give to Him the nations for an inheritance and the ends of the earth as His possession (Ps. 2:6-9).  God will reign over the entire of creation when every knee bows to Christ (Phil. 2:9-11).

For all this it is no wonder that the words The Lord reigns should be attended by the cry, Let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad (97:1)!  And given the world of evil in which we live, it is no wonder that all the earth has not bowed the knee to God.  The distinction is clear between wicked and the righteous.  And further, to love the Lord is to hate evil.  If it is not this way in our lives then we are clearly in rebellion against the Lord who reigns!

How do we know it is the Lord, YAHWEH/Jehovah, the God of Israel, who reigns?  It is because He is the only real God.  Ps. 97:2-6 describes the awesomeness of God.  Likely the Psalmist has been transported back to Mt. Sinai where all of this was visible to Israel.  The combination of what they saw (clouds and darkness, fire, lightnings, etc.) and what they received (righteous and just Laws) showed them a God who could be counted on.  Every other so-called god would put to shame those who served them.  From v7 the gods (Heb: elohim) who were carved images (something made by man; Ex. 20:4; Isa. 44:9-20) were mere idols (nothing, empty, worthless).  Only the Lord, YAHWEH, is the most high (Heb: elyown) above all the earth … exalted (Heb: alah) far above all gods.

Here’s something sad to think about.  There is a time coming when all the earth will see the fearfulness of the awesome God, in ways even more powerful than at Sinai.  And the Bible predicts that when men see this will not repent of their sin (Rev. 16:8-11).  They will not fear God nor give Him glory (Rev. 14:6-7).  They will neither rejoice nor give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name (Ps. 97:12).  What about today?  Will I rejoice in His Kingdom?  Will you?  There is only one way to humble ourselves before God, and it is to humble ourselves before His Son who is the Lord (Jn. 14:6; Rom. 10:9-10).  THE LORD REIGNS!

Exposition of the Song of Moses (5) (Deut. 32:15-22)

Having spoken of His goodness to Israel God now speaks of Israel’s response to His goodness.  They did not use the goodness to serve Him but rather became fat on God’s blessing and used His blessing to worship other gods that were demons (v15-18).  Ezekiel also picked up on this same progression of evil in his song (Ezek. 16:15-34).  Ezekiel said that Israel trusted in her own beauty and used that beauty to engage in spiritual harlotry, the worship of other gods.  Turning from the true God and pursuing idols are the same two sins Jeremiah spoke of (Jer. 2:13).

·        32:15: Jeshurun is a nickname for Israel having at it’s root the idea of being upright.  It is used here, in Deut. 5,26; and then once in Isa. 44:2 suggesting that Isaiah had been studying the Song of Moses.

·        32:15,18:  Again we call attention to Israel’s God as the Rock.  He is the Rock of [Israel’s] salvation, and yet they treated Him scornfully.  He is the Rock who begot [Israel], and yet they came to forget Him.

·        106:37) and refers to lords or masters.  The Jews actually believed that to worship other gods was to worship demons.  Yet they failed to recognize it in themselves.

God’s response to Israel’s idolatry was to do what He promised.  He would hide His face from them and then see what their end would be (v19-22).  When God hides His face He is no longer watching over Israel for good.  They will not be blessed by God.  When this happens the end can be nothing but desolation. 

·        32:19: God spurned Israel because Israel provoked (Deut. 31:20; same Heb. word) Him, becoming fat on His goodness and turning to idols.  This is vengeance, the law of the harvest: what you reap, you sow.  Vengeance belongs to God and God alone.  See it also with the word provoke in 32:21.

·        32:21: The Apostle Paul saw the Gentile-dominated Church in this passage.  The Church became the people of God after the cross and resurrection of Christ, experiencing the blessings of the New Covenant promised to Israel.  Thus (cf. Rom. 10:19; 11:11-14) Paul’s hope was that some Jews would be provoked to jealousy by the Gentiles and would seek God.  (If you think this means the Church replaced Israel you need to read the rest of the Song of Moses as well as the rest of Romans 11.)

·        32:22: The fire kindled in God’s anger speaks of a special term that would become central to the message of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  There is God’s anger and wrath.  But in the latter days of Israel’s corruption another term fury is used to indicate God’s extreme anger.  Note this in your own study, beginning perhaps at Jer. 6:11.  Even in His anger God shows mercy.  But a time will come when the fire will burn to the lowest hell.

Remember, this is a song.  It is meant to be a testimony to God’s faithful word.  He will keep His promise of judgment as He keeps His promise of salvation.