Who is the man
that
fears the LORD?
Him shall He teach
in the way He
chooses.
Psalm 25: 12
The Hebrew
word; "חארי" "yir’ah” means "fear; reference." Therefore this word could also mean a fear
of men, or of things, and even of God, especially reference of God as Abraham said: "And Abraham said,
"Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they
will kill me on account of my wife" (Genesis 20: 11). As Christians we are to have a reverence for
God for He is Holy, not just an attribute called holy, rather God is Holy for
this is Him, and His very nature. All
of our thoughts should have their foundation in the life that is to be led and
lived for God, not just thinking about him, rather that our whole life inside
and out is to be completely consumed by the presence of God. Does this mean
that every thought has to have God as in our conscience so that that's all that
we think about? No, it is that we are so converted and consumed by God that we
don't even have to consciously think of him openly rather we are abiding in Him so
that we are led by Him in all that we do.
It is this relationship that leads us to look at everything in relation
to God and by this our consciousness of God is in the forefront at all
times. If we do not keep God in the
forefront then we are not allowing God to keep us and we rob ourselves
of the marvelous companionship that we can have with God. If this is so, that is our conversion is true, then, nothing can come and
destroy this relationship. It is when
we allow other things to take the place of true worship for God and only gives
us some euphoric feeling and emotion that we are somehow godly we might then be out of harmony with God. This is what the Corinthian church was doing
and had need for Paul to reprimand them and set them straight. This is also true for to date we have things
being done similarly and we need to set things straight according to
Scripture. For God said, that He will
teach us in the way that He chooses.
That choosing is by the inspired word of God that He caused to be written and
to reveal His principles and commands and the way we are to worship Him and to
live. If we do not allow Scripture, the
way that God had chose to reveal to us Himself and His will, then doctrines
purported may not necessarily be true to Scripture. One such a doctrine that is being taught in some churches today
and was being taught in the Corinthian church was that the evidence of being
filled with the Spirit was to have the ability to speak in some sort of
"tongue." What does Scripture
teach us as God had promised to us in the opening Scripture? Paul in writing to the Ephesians church: "Therefore do not be unwise, but
understand what the will of the Lord is.
And do not be drunk with wine, which is dissipation; but be filled with
the Spirit, speaking to one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for
all things to God the Father in the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting
to one another in the fear of God" (Ephesians 5: 17 -- 21). There is that word fear that carries the
meaning of alarm or fright and also a carries the meaning of reverential fear
of God, not just a fear of his power and His righteousness and retribution but
the wholesome fear or dread of displeasing Him. Notice here as well as in Galatians were he speaks of the fruits
of the Spirit, we are never told that the gift of speaking in "tongues," is the evidence of
being filled with the Spirit. Here is
what we are told have a song in your heart, be a joyful believer, have a
thankful heart, and a submissive heart a submissiveness that is basic to a the
relationship of our life with God and with our spouses as well. Where can we find someone who is submissive,
Spirit filled? Not necessarily on
Sunday morning when people are on their best behavior, or during those so
called charismatic prayer/praise session whether it be in the church or in the
home where people were on some sort of "spiritual high." Do you want to find a submissive joyful and
thankful spirit filled Christian? The
best place to look for him or her is to look right where the believer lives
during the week. How does this believer
react when things are not going well, or having such a bad day so that when he
comes home from work after this long hard day is he or she interacting by being
submissive and under the influence of God to his wife and children? In other words, the real test is where the
rubber meets the road.
It would be
so very nice to just move right on into Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, commonly
called, the love chapter. It would be
nice to give some sort of platitudes, some soft soap teaching that everyone,
even non-Christians, could agree with or accept. And I will get there, but we must cover these things that are
contentious within the Christian Church and causing provision that even
non-Christian point to as a proof that Christianity is nothing more than just
another religion. I don't want to seem
to be," harping," on this phenomena called "tongues," but
since this is such a major doctrine in regards to this gift of tongues, we must
understand is this speaking about real languages or unintelligible
utterances? Is this phenomena,
"speaking in tongues" is taking place today a real language or just
some nonsense gibberish? Let me close
to this blog with these two excerpts doubled in this discussion.
"Charismatics
see their tongues as God-given prayer language, perhaps angelic. But to those
who would only ever address God intelligibly, and who know from professional
linguistic scholars (who are unanimous on this) that glossolalia has no
language-character at all" (Christianity Today, March 7, 1980, pp.
16-17).
"William
Samarin, professor of linguistics at the University of Toronto wrote: `Over a
period of five years I have taken part in meetings in Italy, Holland, Jamaica,
Canada and the United States. I have observed old-fashioned Pentecostals and
neo-Pentecostals. I have been in small meetings in private homes as well as in
mammoth public meetings. I have seen such different cultural settings as are
found among Puerto Ricans of the Bronx, the snake handlers of the Appalachians
and the Russian Molakans of Los Angeles ... I have interviewed tongue speakers,
and tape recorded and analyzed countless samples of Tongues. In every case,
glossolalia turns out to be linguistic nonsense. In spite of superficial
similarities, glossolalia is fundamentally not language.'" (Cited in The
Charismatics, p. 162).
Remember that God has promised to
teach is His will and he does so by the Holy Spirit leading us as we study His word
and we allow His word to say exactly what He inspired the men who write. So, in the next blog this week cover other
portions of the gifts of the Spirit and especially this particular gift we will
refer everything to Scripture.
Therefore He says:
"Awake,
you lose sleep,
arise from
the dead,
and Christ
will give you light.
Ephesians
5:14; Isaiah 26: 19; 60:1
Do not be unwise but understand the will of God
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