In this
issue:
i) Uniting
Attention - J. Carattini
ii) Spiritual
Gifts - Part 3 - C.E. Wigg
Uniting
Attention
Jill
Carattini
It is funny how
hypersensitive our ears can be to the sound of our own name. (Of course, any
parent might argue this is a trait quite capable of being deactivated.) But for
most of us, the crowded noises of a full room seem to stand in hushed attention
the instant our name is uttered. Even if aimed at another "Jill," I somehow feel
entitled to hear the rest of the sentence.
There is a
chapter in the Gospel of John that compels an attention of similar proportions.
Would you lean forward with heightened interest if you heard Jesus speaking to
God about you? Would you give weighted consideration to the words he chose, his
face focused on the Father, as he prayed with you in mind? Such is the powerful
image conveyed by one of the on-looking disciples as Jesus knelt in prayer
moments before he would walk alone to the Cross. Outlined in the Gospel of John,
Jesus first prays for himself, then for his disciples, and lastly for those who
will believe in him because of their word. He prayed for you.
The final words
of those on the verge of death are words we strain to hear. I recently came
across an entire website memorializing the last words of well-known men and
women. The last words of those we love are words are replayed in our minds and
carefully searched for significance. It is the last gift of a life in time as it
peers into eternity. How much more so this is true for the one who stepped into
time to bring us eternity. The final moments of Christ hold much to
consider; that he had your name in mind gives all the more reason to take heed
in a crowded room.
On the threshold
of death, facing his hour suffering, in the middle of the valley where life
isn't fair, Jesus chose to pray. With eyes focused on the Father, he chose to
accept the Cross before him to make a way for you to be with him. Not only is it
revealing that his last moments with his disciples are spent in prayer, but his
words were chosen with careful intention. He prayed for unity. Jesus cried,
"Holy Father, as you and I are one, so may they also be one" (John 17:23).
Alluding to our
pluralistic society, a former Vice President once quoted these words at a
Presidential Prayer Breakfast. He asked that we "might all be one" in our
pursuit of truth and spirituality. The call for unity is no doubt a call
commonly heard. But the question we would do well to ask is whether such unity
is an objective possibility or merely a philosophical exercise. Is it possible
to be united in a crowded room of individuals doing their own thing?
A.W. Tozer speaks
of unity in a manner that depicts a wholly different nature. Writes Tozer: "One
hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other.
They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another
standard to which one must individually bow." Oneness requires a common yielding
to that which is beyond both of us. Tozer's conclusion is well posed: "[O]ne
hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking to Christ, are in heart
nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become 'unity'
conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship."(1)
It was not by
accident that in his final moments, Christ left us not only with the image of
prayer, but with a prayer for unity. Both in his life and in his death, Christ
bowed to the will of the Father, reminding us again and again that faith is a
constant gazing at the heart of God. And in our gazing at He who is greater than
us, we find unity with the Father, as Christ did, and subsequently, true unity
with one another. No, it is not coincidental that oneness was on Christ's mind
as he looked death in the eye, for it was that common vision with the Father for
which he came in the first place. Christ died for that vision, "that they might
be one as You and I are one." He died with you in mind.
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(1) A.W. Tozer, The
Pursuit of God, (Christian Publications: Camp Hill Pennsylvania, 1993),
90.
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[Copyright(c) 2005 Ravi
Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with
permission.]
Spiritual Gifts - Part
3
Charles E.
Wigg
Having sounded these
warnings, let us now continue with our exposition of the chapter. The very first
verse is in the nature of a warning. The beloved Apostle did not want the
Corinthian believers to remain in ignorance as to the power that was motivating
them when speaking in tongues. While there was a genuine gift of the Holy Spirit
that enabled men to speak in other tongues, that is tongues other than the
tongue that they were accustomed to using, yet there also was a false ‘gift’,
that was demon powered and demon initiated. It has been pointed out by others,
that prior to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the only
language in which the true God had ever been addressed in prayer or in worship
was the Hebrew tongue, (language). But on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy
Spirit gave men the power of utterance those present testified to hearing in the
very tongue, (language), and the dialect of that language, the great things of
God, (not the Gospel necessarily, as is often stated). This was a great surprise
to most of them, as they had only ever heard such things in the Hebrew language.
So when the Church began, this gift of the Holy Spirit was to enable the
Apostles and the evangelists to present the Gospel and the Great things of God,
to all men including those of other languages, that is in languages other than
Hebrew.
However Paul warned the
Corinthians, and he would warn us also, that such a gift could be counterfeited,
and he reminded them of what used to happen to them before they were converted
to Christ, that is they were led, (by some foul spirit), and led away to dumb
idols. This spirit was obviously not the genuine Holy Spirit, but some other
spirit. Many of the saints at Corinth were from pagan background, and they had
been accustomed to visiting a temple at Delphi, where the Priestess was
suspended over some gasses that were coming from a fissure in the ground. She
would then speak in ‘tongues’, and the priest of the oracle would translate what
she said, which mostly would be a message for the inquirer on some matter. The
voice with which the priestess spoke, was supposed to be the voice of the god
Apollo.
In modern day
experience, I have noticed that those who emphasise the so called importance of
speaking in so called tongues, are generally not very interested in matters
truly Spiritual, but complain that such matters of the Holy Spirit are “too
heavy”, and they just switch off when the truth is ministered. Let us then look
at what is said in the chapter.
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[Reproduced by
permission of the
author]