Learning Our God Given Gifts Not From A Book, But From God

But to each one of us grace was given

according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore He says:

"When He ascended on high

He led captivity captive,

and gave gifts to men."

(Psalm 68:18)

(Now this, "He ascended" -- what does it mean

but that He also first descended into

the lower parts of the earth?

He who descended is also the One

who ascended far above all the heavens,

that He might fill all things.)

(John 3: 13; Acts 1: 9)

Ephesians 4: 7 -- 10

            The Scriptures earnestly pressed upon the children of God to walk as those who have been called into Christ's Kingdom and glory.  Christian unity is at the very heart or spirit and this does not consist in just one set of worship or in one unity of heart and affection for it is brought forth by the fruits of the Spirit.  Yesterday I wrote in yesterday's blog in regards to this attempt to bring multiculturalism into the church which is simply and a utopian idea that everyone should be equal in every thing, every thought, every desire, and so on; but this is an impossibility and it is in contradiction to God.  Think about it, the birds alone are in various size shapes colors and patterns, the wildcats of the forest are in many different shapes, stripes, spots, large manes, and built for particular activity.  Think of man alone in which there are those who are of the Chinese race, of the Indian race, those of the European race, those of the African race and everything shows diversity. The bond that Christians have with all this diversity is a bond of peace and is the strength of authentic Christian society.  We must remember this fact; every Christian, every authentic Christian, everyone who has converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, is the temple of God.  Therefore let us persevere and seek and pray for the peace of the church, for the church is and are the children of God.

            Consider the variety of gifts that Jesus Christ has given to His people.  Christians who are members of Christ's Church agree on many things, yet in some may differ: we should not allow this to cause a difference of affection among the brothers and sisters, all Christian are derived from the same bountiful Author and Designer for the same great end.  Let us remember that there are matters of indifference and while we may not want to participate with one or another of those in differences yet there are those things that are not a matter of indifference and those are the things that we all should hold in common.  All authentic Christians have been given grace, some a special gift of grace, and all this for the mutual help for the brothers and sisters in Christ.  All of us have been given the message that we are to take it to the world this we hold in common.  We all owe to Jesus Christ the gifts that He has given, and possess, and should in the very least lead us to love one another.  Am I here saying that we should accept everything that is said or taught?  No!  We examine all things (1 Thessalonians 5: 21).  Those things that are in contradiction to the Word of God and are false teaching even to go so far as to be heresy we must remove from the church to purify the church and wash it clean.

            Paul reminds us of this diversity of gifts among Christians so that the body of Christ is fed to maturity: "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;" (Ephesians 4 11 -- 13).  It is Jesus Christ who gives the gifts and in this list of gifts we are shown the God has in His economy and dispensation provided for the church to edify the believers of Jesus Christ and to equip them for the ministry.  I am afraid that too many Christians today are "waiting" for the Lord to do something in their lives when the Lord said to do this: "as you go," so if you want God to do something we are not as a child of God to wait, we are to go and as we go we will be fulfilling the gift that God has given.  I want to address this word "perfect" for some in the past and even today believe that a Christian can reach a point where they cannot sin.  That is heresy!  Why?  Our sinful bodies, our sinful and corrupted soul will not reach perfection so that we cannot sin in this life and will only occur when Jesus Christ comes again to take His church, His bride back with Him to live with Him forever.  The word that we translate perfect, and that is a good word to use but we need to have a full understanding of the word: the word perfect carries this meaning: to be conformed absolutely to the description or definition of an ideal type and that type is Jesus Christ.  This is in conformance with the Greek word that is used here that comes from the Greek word to mean completeness, wanting nothing more necessary to complete them to be, consummated in integrity and in virtue.  This perfecting of the saints is for the ministry, and this perfecting of the saints is done by the gifts given to those who work to be Christians that God has intended, and teach Christians how to do the ministry.  Are you getting the point?  You are called to be a minister of the word, you are not called to be successful in business or anything else albeit that you may be successful in business by following the commands of God but this is done in order so that you can be a minister for the Gospel that you will have been called to do and to become.  Question: what has the priority in your life? Only you can answer that question.

He gives power to the weak,

            And to those who have no might

He increases strength.

                        Isaiah 40: 29

Give glory to God: use your gift

Richard L. Crumb

Rejectiong UnScriptural Tolerance

There is one body and one Spirit,

just as you were called

in one hope of your calling;

one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

one God and Father of all,

who is above all,

and through all,

and in you all.

Ephesians 4: 4 -- 6

             There are those who have a theology that stands outside of true biblical orthodoxy.  They see that God is singular and is not made up of a trinity so that God the Father stands alone and Jesus Christ is nothing more than a little god, and the Holy Spirit is nothing more than a power source even though it comes from God it is not a person of the Godhead.  These above verses reiterate once again that the children of God or called and until that call is given to them they stand outside the body of Christ.  This calling is a calling in one hope and that hopes lies in the promise of God and of Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ would come again to take back into heaven with Him as His bride and that bride is His because God has called them to be His bride.  Furthermore, there is only one faith and that faith is in the promises of God, security, and fulfillment of those promises, and in Jesus Christ who came to earth showing us that He is the Messiah that came to earth to pay for sin.  Also, there is one baptism, not that baptism as a way for regeneration as some have taught, no there is one baptism that a person who has converted to the Jesus Christ does to manifest to himself and to others that he truly is converted and has faith in Jesus Christ, in His promises and the final promise that He is coming for His bride.  Here is where some will misuse the scripture when it says that there is: "one God and Father of all."  They used this verse to say that there is no trinity for this is a singular "one."  Yet the scripture says that the God who is above all and through all is also in a person.  How can this be?  If one has a theology or a philosophy that is pantheistic, a belief that everything is God, a very fatalistic outlook on life, then they say this is proving their philosophy or their theology.  Jesus Christ said that he would send the Holy Spirit to dwell in a person, therefore, that which is indwelling you is God for the scripture says that God is indwelling you and this all comes about because of His Only Begotten Son.  In the scripture the three persons of the Trinity here outlined and shown to be all that there is for the Christian to have as a hope, faith, and indwelling.  This Scripture cannot be used to prove that there is not a trinity.

            Furthermore, when the Bible speaks of one body is not to say that there cannot be different denominations, or that these different denominations are in opposition to the scripture and there has been over the years a pursuit to bring into the church multiculturalism.  What is multiculturalism? Multiculturalism is a body of thought in political philosophy about the proper way to respond to cultural and religious diversity. Multiculturalists take for granted that it is “culture” and “cultural groups” that are to be recognized and accommodated. Culture is a notoriously overbroad concept.  Multiculturalism is an attempt to make cultural accommodations or accommodate group’s-differentiated rights that are rights of a minority group, or a member of such a group, to act in a certain way in accordance with their religious obligations or cultural commitments.  Unfortunately, multiculturalism often directly restricts the freedom of those who are not part of a particular group and even does not protect a minority's group culture. Getting to grips with the pathologies of multiculturalism is no easy task. Multiculturalism can be thought of as a reality or as an ideal.  The problem comes when we allow perception to become reality.  Multiculturalism found its footing especially in the 1960s with the hippie movement then a desire to make all people equal which is only a form of communism and then has crept into many churches.  In one way or another multiculturalism is to make an attempt to bring equality among church members which then leads to toleration.  He can be seen in some churches that toleration has allowed for those things that God: i.e.: homosexuality, same-sex marriage, women as preachers, and other tolerances so that they can bring about some sort of "love."  The English word love does not translate the Greek word used here that is a God love, agape.  We love as God does and we hate what God hates.  So why all this diversity for the scripture makes it abundantly clear that multiculturalism is the death of faith.  God has given a great gift and the gift is diversity, and it is part of His critical plan to save His children from every nation in people around the globe (Matthew chapter 28: 18 -- 20; Acts 2:).

            God has given different gifts to different people to accomplish His work upon the men and women who are to make up the bride of Jesus Christ.  We recognize the different gifts, and that there are different thoughts from people who are of a different culture, from a different environment, and we examine their culture in light of Scripture and correct that cultural thinking when it is in contradiction to scripture.  We cannot make all people equal: an example: one group besides in the church that on this day we are going to have this type of food and the other group is it really like that food or wishes to have their food on that day.  We now have a conflict in multiculturalism has broken down.  We are tolerant as Christians but we do not allow for those things that would teach and lead people into false teaching.  We love our brothers and sisters in all their diversity and variety and we do not attempt to bring some form of utopian communism into the church.  Paul adds: "but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift" (Ephesians 4: 7).

But I acted for My name’s sake,

            that it should not be profaned

before the Gentiles, in whose sight

            I had brought them out.

I am the LORD your God:

            walk in My statutes,

keep My judgments,

            and them

Ezekiel 20: 14; 19

Cast away unscriptural thoughts

Richard L. Crumb

Chosen, Called: To Be Sent!

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,

beseech you to walk worthy

of the calling with which you were called,

with all lowliness and gentleness,

with long-suffering,

bearing with one another in love,

endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit

in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4: 1 -- 3

            I pray that your New Year's celebration was a good one as you look forward to this new year and look backwards at the old year and reflection.  We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it, and by our reflection upon the past we can plan for the future.  We plan for the future, but we live moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year.  I pray also that your plan will include the Lord Jesus Christ and you're calling.

            Let us begin with an understanding that we are chosen to be a representative of the whole human race, both within a narrow circle of chosen people that even with all the variety within that chosen God has chosen you.  There is room for all, and for all to be in his service and to use your variety in unity.  It will be men and women with many different gifts and we must not despise any man's gifts, but that does not mean that we do not examine what a man does to ensure that they are gifted according to God's gift and not by their own abilities that they call God's gift.  The first thing that must be required of anyone who has been called by God is to become one of His disciples for if you are not a disciple you cannot become a prince in His kingdom.  From your discipleship you'll grow to be an apostle, no, not as one of the 12 who walked and talked with Jesus Christ, no, as one being sent forth with a message, a delegate, a messenger who bears a commission and with that commission comes with you God's authority.  Does this mean that you can go about trying to heal people and do all the crazy supernatural things at some Christians believe that they can do due to this authority?  No!  The message that you have been commissioned to impart is the gospel.  God calls men of all walks of life, humble men, educated men, non-educated men, and the call is that by this call the task given to you will come in a variety of ways.  What contributions a call?  Is it not made up of a need and the ability to meet that need?  You were called to be sent.  You have not been called to have a life of ease and quietness, rather to be in fellowship with His sufferings.  There is the calling and the sending and those two things are two sides of one coin.  Discipleship then ends in apostleship.  We are to follow Jesus Christ and He would and will make you as all those before you have been, His ambassador.  Think upon this Jesus did not write one single manuscript.  Jesus Christ made men and He will make you and this begins with discipleship and that can only begin if you are forgiven and then and only then will you be able to follow Him and be able to immediately respond to the call.  Can you sing this hymn written by Philip Doddridge: "Tis done, the great transaction’s done, I am the Lord's and He is mine; He grew me, and I've followed on, charmed to confess the voice Divine."  It is Jesus Christ Who has saved us, and has called us, and this with and holy calling (2 Timothy 1:9).  Conversion proceeds to call.  Service is not acceptable to God unless there is first of all salvation.  We serve the Lord Jesus Christ because we have been saved.  It is commitment that must come to the claims of Jesus Christ before He will commit to us the Spirit's power for service: "This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.  If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.  If we deny Him, He also will deny us.  If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.  Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to describe about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.  Be diligent to present your self up proved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  But shun profane and idle babbling, for they will increase to more ungodliness" (2 Timothy 2:11 -- 16).

            Ambassadorship, this is what all Christians are called to be and how much calling is activated in a person's life is not up to that person, it is up to God.  Ambassadors are not made out of nothing, they are made through direct instructions and have a course of practical training as apostles, and then they become ambassadors or messengers of Jesus Christ and go and preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  Unlike the early 12 apostles whose mission was at first only with Israel after Pentecost has become a mission to the whole world and the great thing is you been called to be part of that mission: Will you accept?

Apostleship, the final stage in your growth and calling.  Jesus Christ is no longer physically present on this earth and knowing that this was going to be the case has given the Holy Spirit and this promise of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit abides with us to give us a source of wisdom, comfort, and strength (Acts 1:8).  You are a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ and you are a sharer of His thoughts, a partner in His worldwide redemptive purpose. 

We begin at home, our church, among our brothers and sisters, and this means we bond with them in the unity of peace and this is done in love, agape love, that is a God centered in principled love.  This is done in all loneliness and gentlemen as, with long-suffering, and bearing with one another in love.  The new year has begun and I pray that you take time to study to read God's Word, to critically think upon that which is being talked to you and see if it actually aligns with the Word of God, and then having been taught the truth, as a disciple, move forward into apostleship for you have been called to be sent.  This sending may mean only there at your secular work, but no matter, you have been called to be sent.  Will you go?

But now, O LORD,

            You are our Father;

we are the clay,

            and You our potter;

and all we are the work of

            Your hand.

            Isaiah 64: 8

A New Year: Prepare to be sent

Richard L. Crumb